Six charged with trying to defraud Nissan www.privateofficer.com

 

Nashville TN May 18 2013 Six people have been indicted in a plot to defraud Nissan out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by making fake claims that they purchased lemons when they bought their cars.
The indictment, filed Friday in federal court in Nashville, accuses Kenneth Carter, 44, of Corona, Calif.; Francisco DeLaRosa, 40, of West Covina, Calif.; Adrian Franklin, 39, of Chandler, Ariz.; Bruce Young, 49, of Compton, Calif.; Tracey Young, 45, of Los Angeles, and Wendell Young, 34, of Inglewood, Calif., of stealing more than $571,000 from Nissan.
Authorities say Carter worked in Franklin as an arbitration specialist whose job was to negotiate claims by people who say the cars they bought turned out to be lemons. As part of the scheme, Carter helped approve settlement checks after the five others submitted fake lemon claims — about 80 in all, authorities said.
The six could face up to 50 years on a combination of mail fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges.

Source-The Tennessean

Cameron Park Man Charged with Bank Embezzlement www.privateofficer.com

 

SACRAMENTO, CA May 1 2013—Ethan George Banaszak, 34, of Cameron Park, was arraigned today on charges of bank embezzlement, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. Banaszak pleaded not guilty to the charges; he was released on a $75,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell, Jr. for a status conference on May 17, 2013.

On Thursday, April 25, 2013, a federal grand jury returned an eight-count indictment charging Banaszak with embezzling thousands of dollars from his employer, a federally insured bank. According to court records, Banaszak made more than $660,000 in unauthorized withdrawals from bank customers’ accounts and took $16,000 cash from the bank’s vault.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Lee S. Bickley is prosecuting the case.

If convicted, Banaszak faces a maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

Former Tuscaloosa Police Sergeant Pleads Guilty to Civil Rights Violation and Sex Assault www.privateofficer.com

 

WASHINGTON DC April 19 2013—Jason Glenn Thomas, 34, a former sergeant with the city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama Police Department, pleaded guilty today to a criminal civil rights charge for using his authority as a law enforcement officer to sexually assault a woman.

According to court documents filed in connection with his guilty plea, Thomas admitted that while on duty shortly after midnight on March 27, 2011, he stopped and detained a female pedestrian without placing her under arrest. Thomas then transported the woman in his department issued patrol vehicle to a remote area and sexually assaulted her.

“This former officer did the unimaginable when he used his police powers to sexually assault this victim,” said Roy L. Austin, Jr., Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute those who abuse their position and authority to harm those individuals whom they have sworn to protect.”

“Most police officers work diligently every day to protect the citizens,” said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Joyce White Vance. “A community must be able to trust its police officers. My office is committed to prosecuting any officers who abuse the authority of the badge to commit a crime. This abuse of the public’s trust will not be permitted.”

“Mr. Thomas dishonored his badge and his fellow officers when he violated the civil rights of a female pedestrian while on duty, in uniform, and in a marked patrol car,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Birmingham, Alabama Field Office Richard D. Schwein, Jr. “Citizens have a right and should expect ethical and proper treatment from all law enforcement officers and we, as civil servants, must never forget that we have sworn an oath to serve and protect them. The public can be assured the FBI will continue to aggressively pursue those rogue officers who violate that trust.”

Thomas faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for July 18, 2013, before U.S. District Judge C. Lynwood Smith.

This case was investigated by the Tuscaloosa Resident Agency of the FBI’s Birmingham Field Office and was prosecuted by Trial Attorney D.W. Tunnage of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney George Martin for the Northern District of Alabama.

Clinical Laboratory President and New Jersey Doctor, Others Charged with Company in Multi-Million-Dollarl Scheme www.privateofficer.com

 

NEWARK, NJ April 11 2013—Federal agents arrested the president and part-owner of Parsippany, New Jersey-based Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services LLC (BLS), a New Jersey physician, and two other BLS employees this morning on charges they participated in a long-running scheme to bribe doctors to refer patient blood samples to BLS and to order unnecessary tests, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in profit for the company. The charges were announced today by New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.

BLS president David Nicoll, 39, of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey; Scott Nicoll, 32, of Wayne, New Jersey, a senior BLS employee and David Nicoll’s brother; and Craig Nordman, 34, of Whippany, New Jersey, a BLS employee and the CEO of Advantech Sales LLC—an entity used by BLS to make illegal payments—are charged in a federal complaint with conspiring to bribe physicians over a period of several years. BLS is also charged with the conspiracy.

Frank Santangelo, 43, of Boonton, New Jersey, a New Jersey physician with offices in Montville and Wayne, is charged in the complaint for allegedly accepting bribes to refer patients to BLS and violating his duty of fidelity to his patients. Santangelo allegedly received more than $700,000 in bribe payments from BLS and sent the company more than $4.2 million in blood referrals.

The defendants are scheduled to appear this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark federal court.

“People depend on their doctors to make medical decisions about care based solely on medical need,” said U.S. Attorney Fishman. “When doctors order extra tests or choose particular labs in exchange for cash, they abandon their obligation to their patients and to all of us who support our nation’s health care system. No patients should have to worry that their doctors’ loyalty and judgment have been bought by a salesman trying to make a buck.”

“The FBI views health care fraud as a severe crime problem that affects every American,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford. “Fraud and abuse take critical resources out of our health care system and contribute to the rising cost of health care for everyone. Today’s arrests are the result of a long term, multi-agency investigation into a complex health care fraud scheme, requiring substantial investigative resources. The FBI, with its law enforcement partners, will continue to provide a significant amount of expert resources to investigate these crimes.”

“Kickbacks have no place in the healthcare industry. Financial inducements only cloud medical judgment. This elaborate kickback scheme had one goal, and that is greed,” said Tom O’Donnell, Special Agent in Charge for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Federal and state taxpayers, and vulnerable patients, deserve better.”

According to the complaint unsealed today:

Between 2006 and 2013, BLS and entities it funded paid millions of dollars to physicians to induce them to refer patient blood samples to BLS. From these referrals, BLS received at least tens of millions of dollars from private health insurance companies and Medicare.

Numerous physicians were bribed under the guise of lease, service, and/or consulting agreements. Under the lease and service agreements, between 2006 and 2009, physicians were frequently paid thousands of dollars a month by BLS for space in medical offices that BLS did not need or actually use and to perform routine blood drawing services that had little real dollar value.

In a text message referenced in the complaint, David Nicoll wrote to Santangelo about the status of their referral agreement, stating that BLS “really can’t afford the 40-50,000 [dollars] a month if the girls aren’t going to be drawing any blood,” to which Santangelo responded by stating, “U no u can count on me” and “I never let u down.”

When the state of New Jersey sought to address the problem of laboratories using lease agreements to bribe physicians for referrals—effectively prohibiting all leases between blood laboratories and physicians in 2010—BLS, David Nicoll, Scott Nicoll, and Nordman funded and used at least half a dozen entities to disguise bribe payments to physicians.

In one example from the complaint, a physician was paid $1,500 per month by Nordman—who identified himself as both a BLS employee and the CEO of Advantech—for spending less than two minutes each month filling out a one-page questionnaire asking how often sales representatives visited the physician’s office, which insurance companies were in-network for the physician and which out-of-network insurance companies did the physician bill. In reality, the payments were to refer patients’ blood samples to BLS.

Various recorded conversations are also detailed in the complaint, including one in which Nordman urges another physician to order “more tests,” stating, “That’s where it really is. I mean, if we get 10 bloods for $1,000 as opposed to 10 bloods for $4,000 or five bloods for $4,000, obviously there’s more. We get paid a percentage, obviously.” In a second conversation, Scott Nicoll tells this same physician, “I would like to be able to get you, you know, around 1,500 [dollars] a month if I can, but I need—we would either need more tests or more patients or something along those lines…you’re doing about a $1,000 a bag per patient…if we could, we could somehow get that up in the two’s then I’m looking at making 4,000, and I have no problem paying you know 1,500 [dollars] for it.”

Over the course of the charged conspiracy, BLS has made more than $200 million from the testing of blood specimens and related services. David Nicoll received more than $33 million in distributions from BLS during that same time period, during which he also spent millions on personal items: more than $5 million on high-end and collectible automobiles, including approximately $580,000 for a Yenko Nova and approximately $365,000 for a Yenko Chevelle, approximately $300,000 for a Ferrari, and approximately $291,000 for a Corvette; more than $700,000 to purchase a Manhattan apartment for a female companion; $600,000 on private jet charters; $392,000 on tickets to sporting events; $216,000 at electronics stores; and $154,000 at a gentleman’s club and restaurant.

“It is alleged in today’s complaint that the president and other employees of BLS bribed physicians to refer patients to their lab and order unnecessary lab tests, reaping millions of dollars, all in the name of greed,” stated Shantelle P. Kitchen, Acting Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Newark Field Office. “Medical tests should only be run when medically necessary, not so someone can buy exotic cars and charter private jets. This type of health care fraud will not be tolerated and IRS-Criminal Investigation, along with our law enforcement partners, will vigorously investigate these crimes to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

“Postal Inspectors, along with other law enforcement agents, unraveled a sophisticated false billing scheme that resulted in millions of dollars in losses,” said Acting Inspector in Charge Maria Kelokates, Newark Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. “Postal Inspectors will continue to aggressively pursue investigations in which the U.S. mail is used to facilitate a crime.”

David Nicoll, Scott Nicoll, and Nordman are charged with one count of conspiring to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Federal Travel Act. Santangelo is charged in two counts—with substantive violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Federal Travel Act, for allegedly using the interstate mails in aid of commercial bribery. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison on each of the counts with which they are charged. Each count also carries a maximum $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. BLS is also charged with the conspiracy, and faces a maximum potential penalty of five years of probation and a $500,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss.

U.S. Attorney Fishman praised special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ford; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge O’Donnell; IRS–Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Kitchen, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Acting Inspector in Charge Kelokates.

The government is represented by Senior Litigation Counsel Andrew Leven, Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Jampol and Deputy Chief Jacob T. Elberg of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Ward of the office’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Unit.

Michigan Mortgage Fraud Ringleader Sentenced to 13 Years www.privateofficer.com

Detroit MI April 10 2013

U.S. Attorney’s Office April 10, 2013

•Eastern District of Michigan (313) 226-9100

A 45-year-old Fenton man was sentenced today to 13 years in prison in connection with a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud conspiracy, United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced.
Joining McQuade in the announcement was Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley, III, head of the Detroit Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
U.S. District Judge Julian Abele Cook, Jr. also sentenced Ronnie Edward Duke to pay a $1 million fine and $94 million in restitution. Duke led the scheme for close to four years, ending in July 2007 when the FBI executed seven search warrants in metropolitan Detroit and Florida.
The scheme involved more than 450 fraudulent mortgage loans, more than 100 straw buyers, and approximately 180 different residential properties in metropolitan Detroit that were used as collateral for the loans. Most of these loans went into default and foreclosure. The loans ranged from roughly $350,000 to $600,000. Lenders were deceived by counterfeit purchase agreements, fake closing documents, and fictitious title companies that were actually controlled by Duke and his co-conspirators. The warranty deeds and mortgages associated with the majority of the loans went unrecorded, leaving the lenders completely unsecured. Such loans were commonly referred to as “ghost” loans by the defendants during the scheme.
“Mortgage fraud not only harms lenders, but it also affects all of us when foreclosures lead to vacant homes, which reduce property values and create havens for criminal activity,” McQuade said.
“Those who orchestrate and conduct mortgage fraud schemes that steal millions of dollars from innocent victims will face severe consequences for their crimes,” Foley said. The FBI remains committed to pursuing and prosecuting anyone who engages in these illegal acts.”
Fifteen of Duke’s co-conspirators were previously sentenced, including:
•Ryan Andrew Zundel, 38, of Brewton, Alabama—10 years
•Nicole Lynn Rothe (formerly Nicole Lynn Turcheck), 34, of Gibraltar—10 years
•William Camsell Wells, III, 42, of Howell—eight-and-a-half years
•Wilinevah Richardson, 35, of Davison—five years
•Donna Marie Walbrook, 50, of Westland—five years
•Anthony Edward Peters, 75, of Monroe—41 months
•Robert Brierley, 46 of Westland—33 months.
Duke spent his fraud proceeds to operate a car racing business called Hardcore Racing Inc. He purchased numerous sports cars, race cars, boats, motorcycles, and a helicopter. Duke’s co-defendants used their proceeds to finance unrelated businesses and to purchase luxury items, including cars, boats, motorcycles, race horses, residential properties, and travel to the Caribbean and other overseas vacation destinations.
Duke’s criminal history includes embezzlement, credit card fraud, receiving and concealing stolen property, escape, aggravated stalking, and disturbing the peace.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Erin Shaw and Stephen Hiyama and investigated by the FBI, with the assistance of the U.S. Secret Service.

Rock Hotel & Casino meth suspects await prosecution www.privateofficer.com

TULSA OK April 5 2013 – Seven suspected methamphetamine users are awaiting prosecution after a sting at a Green Country casino led to their arrest.
John Hunt, 68, Gene Miller, 53, Shelley Boothe, 30, Carol Fogelman, 30, Ayla Jones, 20, Charles Yahola, 24, and John Cooper, 34, were busted trying to buy large amounts of meth at The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa last week.
Casino security first responded to a smoke alarm in a seventh-floor hotel room, where 31-year-old Raven Holmes was found smoking meth, according to arrest affidavits. The documents go on to state Holmes had more than a pound of meth, scales and other drugs packaged for sale in the room.
Hard Rock officials then reportedly called for police backup, which, with the help of local, county and federal law enforcement, set up a sting that netted the seven suspects.
The suspected buyers were all arrested for charges ranging from possession of a controlled substance to endeavoring to traffic drugs.
All seven, with the exception of Cooper, are listed as Tulsa residents.
Holmes and 35-year-old Gonzalo Ponce-Arturez of Austin, Texas, were indicted on federal drug charges Monday.
According to court documents, Holmes admitted to selling large amounts of meth out of Tulsa hotels on several occasions. She claims to have sold the drugs for a man who is member of a Mexican drug cartel.
“This is a plague in our community,” said Rogers County District Attorney Janice Steidley. “With the efforts of all the law enforcement involved, we got that off the streets of Rogers County. That’s something we are quite proud of.”
Steidley’s office is expected to prosecute the suspected buyers.

source- http://www.kjrh.com/

Nashville couple put child in oven www.privateofficer.com

NASHVILLE, TN March 25 2013   A Nashville couple faces charges of aggravated child abuse and neglect after they were accused of routinely putting their 5-year-old inside an oven as a form of punishment.

Lavelldo Washington, 34, and Corneisha Wilkerson, 23, were jailed on $50,000 bond each after a grand jury indictment this week. “He should be locked up and don’t get no bond, no nothing,” said neighbor Shermaine Poole.

Police began investigating last year when the couple’s 2-month-old child was treated at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for a broken leg.

The parents told hospital staff the child woke up one morning screaming, and they said they thought she had been bitten by an insect, according to police. Bruises were also found on both the child’s legs, and police said the couple then refused other interviews with hospital staff.

Authorities later discovered that Washington would allegedly discipline the couple’s 5-year-old by placing the child in a non-activated oven. “Certainly, I’m not an expert on child discipline, but most of the time, appropriate forms are discipline are those things that most folks would know,” said Metro police Cpt. Gordon Howey. “What if the child had been in the oven and somehow it had turned on?”

Neighbors at the family’s apartment complex say they know them well. Washington has at least 29 arrests on his record and is a registered sex offender. As bad as it might seem for him, the family’s neighbor considers it just as bad for Wilkerson who, police say, knew what happened and did not stop it. “I don’t know. It’s just heartbreaking, really,” Poole said.

“She knew it was going on, and her kids are endangered by that. Like, they could really just really be more than hurt. They could be dead. No – it’s her fault, too. She should be locked up.” The couple has three children, and each remains in state custody as the investigation continues.
Source: WSMV .com

Off-duty D.C. officer opens fire on carjacking suspect www.privateofficer.com

Prince George County ND March 17 2013 An off-duty Washington, D.C., police officer opened fire this morning on a carjacking suspect attempting to steal the officer’s personal vehicle — which had the officer’s 9-year-old daughter inside, according to Prince George’s County police.

Police are searching for the carjacking suspect in the incident that occurred around 8:20 a.m. in the 5000 block of Vienna Drive in Clinton. Police said the off-duty officer’s wife had started the vehicle in their driveway and put her 9-year-old daughter inside when a carjacking suspect approached. The mother rushed inside and notified her husband, who is an off-duty officer with the Metropolitan Police Department, county police said.

Police said the officer came outside and began shouting at the suspect, who had gotten into their vehicle with the daughter still inside. “He then tries to order the suspect out of the car. He’s saying, ‘Get out, get out, get out,’” said Julie Parker, a county police spokeswoman. At that time, the daughter jumped out of the vehicle, and the suspect put the car in drive and began driving toward the officer who was standing in front of the car. In fear for his life, the officer discharges his duty weapon multiple times, and the suspect crashes the car a short distance away,” Parker said of the black Toyota Camry that had struck a parked Chevy sport utility vehicle across the street. Police said the suspect then got out of the car and ran to another nearby vehicle and drove away. It remains unclear if the suspect was struck, police said. By Friday afternoon, Vienna Drive was laden with detectives and police officials from Prince George’s County and the Metropolitan Police Department.

Prince George’s police used a helicopter and a bloodhound to search for the suspect immediately after the incident, Parker said. Police also made calls to hospitals and health clinics in case they receive any patients with gunshot wounds, she said. A description of the suspect was not available by Friday afternoon, but Parker said he is said to have driven away in a champagne-colored Toyota Camry with temporary tags. Parker said police do not know if the suspect was armed.

The officer, who has been placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated, has not been identified, but Washington, D.C., police said he is a 19-year veteran of the department. Clinton resident Perry Baker said he lives a block away from the officer’s home. “No place in the United States is safe.

These are very dangerous, lethal crimes perpetrated against good people and young children,” he said. “The fact that they could do this to innocent people is just unforgiveable.” This is not the first incident in southern Prince George’s County involving off-duty law enforcement officers this year. On Feb. 12, an off-duty sheriff’s deputy from the Alexandria, Va., sheriff’s office was returning to his Fort Washington home when he noticed someone had broken into his residence, according to police.

When he entered the home, he was confronted by the break-in suspect, and the off-duty deputy fatally shot the man, police said. On Feb. 19 in Hillcrest Heights, an armed man who was high on PCP approached another man pumping gas at a gas station, police said. The man allegedly on PCP, Duane Lamar Williams, 34, of southwest Washington, D.C., reportedly chased the victim at the gas station and fatally shot him when an off-duty Metropolitan Police Department officer was nearby and identified himself as an officer to apprehend Williams. The officer did not discharge his weapon, according to county police, and Williams allegedly attempted to fire at the officer, but the gun jammed.

Williams was charged with first- and second-degree murder, police said, and the officer was uninjured.
Source: Gazette.net

Two Campbell County Schools officers fired over misconduct allegations www.privateofficer.com

JACKSBORO TN Feb 23 2013 – A Campbell County school resource officer and an auxiliary officer have both been fired following accusations of misconduct.
A statement released Thursday morning says Campbell County Sheriff Robbie Goins received information of possible misconduct by both men.
SRO Roger Todd Hatmaker, 34, who worked at Jacksboro Middle School, and Auxiliary Officer Steven Todd Miller, 38, are accused of exchanging inappropriate electronic photos with the same Campbell County High School female student.
Those allegations were turned over to the Eighth Judicial District Attorney General and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Hatmaker took the job with the school last year and Goins said he was well-liked by everyone at the school.
Steven Miller was a volunteer officer who usually worked one day a week and always with a full-time officer.
Sheriff Goins says he was tipped off to the inappropriate texts by another school resource officer.
“We enforce laws. We know better. We’re going to enforce those laws even on our own people,” he said.
Mary Siler, whose grandson, Devin, is a sixth grader at the middle school was not happy to hear the news.
“They’re hired to protect our children. I think that’s what they should have been doing,” said Siler.
An investigation into the alleged misconduct is continuing.
Neither man has received formal charges yet.

Source:WATE

Pennsylvania Jeweler Pleads Guilty to $3 Million Ponzi Scheme www.privateofficer.com

U.S. Attorney’s Office
Press Release

ALEXANDRIA, VA Feb 23 2013—Matthew James Addy, 34, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty today to securities fraud charges for running a $3 million Ponzi scheme that involved the fake purchase and resale of wholesale jewelry and loose precious stones.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge James C. Cacheris.

Addy faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on May 10, 2013.

According to court records, Addy owned Edward J. & Company, which operated a retail jewelry store in Lancaster called La Porte Jewelers. In 2010, Addy began recruiting individuals to invest in promissory notes purportedly linked to transactions involving wholesale jewelry and loose precious stones, which would be purchased through Addy’s businesses and resold to retail jewelers for a profit. Addy ultimately recruited more than 40 investors from throughout the United States, including within the Eastern District of Virginia, and Europe, and obtained more than $3 million in invested funds. Addy recruited many of the victim investors from within religious groups with which he was associated and used the affiliations to gain their trust.

The investment scheme was a fraud. Addy never conducted any of the contemplated wholesale jewelry transactions, and Addy used the vast majority of the invested funds on unrelated business and personal expenses. Approximately $670,000 was paid back out to investors during the course of the fraud as supposed profits on their investments and was designed to conceal the fraud and induce further investments in the scheme. Most of these payouts came directly from funds contributed by new investors, which made them Ponzi payments.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office. Assistant United States Attorney Paul J. Nathanson is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

Central Virginia couple arrested after stealing 2,000 worth of liquor www.privateofficer.com

RICHMOND, Va. Feb 22 2013 – A Central Virginia couple is charged with stealing more than $2,000 worth of liquor from nine Central Virginia ABC stores. The suspected shoplifters stole bottles of Cognac, tequila, gin and vodka, according to an email from the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Demond Jerome Loney, 35, of Richmond, was charged with 12 counts of grand larceny third offense. Jennifer Patrice Harrell, 34, of Chesterfield County, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit larceny.
The ABC said the pair went on a crime spree from January 23 to February 13 shoplifting from nine stores across Central Virginia. The stores they are accused of stealing from include:

Carytown – Richmond
3100 West Broad St – Richmond
6030 Brook Road- Richmond
7036 Forest Hill Ave. – Richmond
618 West Southside Plaza – Richmond
6504 Hull Street Road – Richmond
4302 South Laburnum Ave. in the Laburnum Park Shopping Center – Henrico County
2610 Buford Road – Chesterfield County
7057 Mechanicsville Turnpike – Hanover County
“Our security system did exactly what it was set up to do,” director of ABC’s bureau of law enforcement Shawn Walker said. “In addition to the enhanced safety and security provided for our customers and employees by the store camera and security systems, valuable footage has been used in the arrest and conviction of shoplifters.”
Both Loney and Harrell are being held without bond in the Richmond jail, according the ABC.

Source-WTVR

Four women charged with thefts at Columbus K-Mart www.privateofficer.com

COLUMBUS, Miss. Feb 11 2013 — Columbus police have arrested four woman they say took over $500 from a local business.

Authorities say they were notified the woman took items from K-Mart on Highway 45 North Wednesday night.

The vehicle they were traveling in was stopped a short time later.

Brenda Lee Roby, 43, Labrenda Denise Roby, 21, Sheila Shavon Roby, 36, and Shameka Letrese Roby, 34, all of Columbus, are charged with shoplifting over $250 – third offense.

Shelia Shavon Roby is also charged with speeding and two counts of contempt of court.

Bond has not been set.

Source-WTVA

Fort Worth ISD teacher and coach arrested for indecency with a child www.privateofficer.com

Fort Worth TX Jan 24 2013 A former Fort Worth ISD teacher and coach was arrested Tuesday on an indecency with a child charge after having an inappropriate relationship with a student.
Chad Hawkins, 34, resigned from his teaching position at Arlington Heights High School last week. Westworth Village police found him making out with a 16-year-old student in a car in front of a fitness center on Jan. 16. The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office took over the investigation.
He claimed he was giving the student from his history class a ride home. Police started investigating the relationship before arresting him Tuesday. He was taken to the Tarrant County jail Wednesday and bail was set at $15,000.
Hawkins is a former pitcher in the Texas Rangers minor-league system, our Gerry Fraley reports. He was coaching basketball and baseball at Arlington Heights. He pitched at Grapevine High School and Baylor University.
The club selected him with the 39th overall pick out of Baylor in 2000, and he received a $625,000 signing bonus from the Rangers. He pitched three seasons in the minor-league system before retiring because of arm problems.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that police documents chronicle online flirtation between Hawkins and his student. He created a fake Facebook account using the name Thomas Durdan.
The female student was Durdan’s only friend. They frequently sent flirtatious and often risque messages to each other.
He’s quoted as sending the student a message on Jan. 10 saying, “I want you to walk into my class next period and sit right on my lap ha!”
Source-dallas morning news

Charges dropped against Warren Hospital security officers www.privateofficer.com

Phillipsburg PA Dec 14 2012 Authorities have dropped charges against two hospital security guards that alleged the pair operated a tuition reimbursement scam.
Robert Fulpe, 34, an ex-security director at the former Warren Hospital in Phillipsburg, and Bruce Sutton, 54, a former security guard at the hospital, no longer face allegations that they cashed and split tuition checks meant for courses at LionInvestigation Academyin Freemansburg.
Fulper said he’s waited more than two years for the truth to be realized.
“I don’t consider myself a strong person, but I do believe in the truth,” he said. “I never would have stolen from my WarrenHospital family, never.”
Police arrested Fulper on Sept. 1, 2010, after the alleged scheme was reported to authorities. Sutton told police Fulper solicited his help from July 2007 to September 2008 in collecting nearly $7,450 in tuition checks, according to documents obtained today by The Express-Times.
At the time of his arrest, Fulper was no longer working at what is now St. Luke’s Hospital in Phillipsburg. He was fired in 2009 for unrelated reasons. Hospital officials did not immediately return calls for additional information.
“My client never wavered in his position and hoping that justice would be served,” defense attorney Jeff Russo said.
Police arrested Sutton on Nov. 4, 2011, after he was indicted in connection with the alleged scam. He continued to work for the hospital until at least March 2011, when he was featured in the hospital’s newsletter for receiving an award for helping a patient.
Sutton declined to comment on the charges being dropped and would not indicate if he still works for the hospital.
“While it took time, we respect the prosecutor’s decision,”said Sutton’s attorney, Leonard Artigliere. “They did a complete and thorough investigation.”
The two men had repeatedly rejected plea deals from the prosecutor’s office, most recently in July when both declined offers of no prison time in exchange for reduced charges. Warren County Prosecutor Richard Burke did not return calls for comment.
“I feel vindicated knowing that this fallacy was proven true by the prosecutor’s request to dismiss the charges,” Fulper said in a prepared statement. “I am hopeful that the petty, vindictive actions of those that took part in this calculated attack on my character will someday be held accountable for their irreparable damage.”

Multi-state drug ring busted in Nashville-29 people arrested www.privateofficer.com

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn.Oct 31 2012 – A six month long investigation has led to the arrest of 29 people involved in a multi-state drug trafficking conspiracy.

Police said the investigation revealed that hundreds of pounds of high grade marijuana were being shipped from California, Arizona, and Nevada to two men in Nashville.

“This investigation is noteworthy in that, while 21 of the defendants are from the Nashville area, 3 are from Nevada, 2 are from California, 2 are from New Mexico and 1 is from Arizona,” Chief Steve Anderson said. “The message being sent is that drug trafficking involving Nashville is very much on the radar of our detectives, regardless of where the defendants live. Serious conduct will be met with serious charges, including engaging in a marijuana conspiracy, money laundering and the requested judicial forfeiture of property.”

The two main distributors of the drugs were found to be James E. Roberts Jr., 55,  and William Gupton III, 28. Roberts was also a volunteer assistant basketball coach at Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet High School, but police said there was no evidence that he was distributing the drugs at school. Police estimated that both Roberts and Gupton had been working in the Nashville area since 2008.

A local Nashville realtor was also found to be involved in the nationwide trafficking. Police said that 60-year-old Alexis Mayes used homes that were for sale in the Nashville area as a place to receive drug shipments.

A Nashville’s General Sessions Court drug treatment manager was also alleged to have been involved. Officials said that William Scott Ross, 44, was charged with engaging in a marijuana conspiracy after it was discovered that he had tipped off a co-defendant about the drug investigation. Ross later resigned his position within the courts.

Other persons charged in this case are:

 •Tifphany Wilson, 39, Roberts’ girlfriend, of Candlewood Drive, Nashville. She is accused maintaining a stash house.

 • Shelly Roberts, 48, Roberts’ wife, of Hawkins Street, Nashville. She is accused of taking part in the marijuana conspiracy.

 •Vanessa Roberts-Fuqua, 48, Roberts’ sister, of Meharry Boulevard, Nashville. She is alleged to have accepted marijuana parcels on behalf of Roberts.

 •Markia Gupton, 36, Gupton’s wife, of Riverchase Boulevard, Madison. She is accused of engaging in the marijuana conspiracy, attempting to take part in a money laundering conspiracy and attempted forgery.

 •Matthew Hoffman, 37, of Strada Mia Court, Las Vegas, Nevada. He is alleged to be one of theNevada suppliers of marijuana that was shipped to Nashville.

 •Crystal Zornes, 27, Hoffman’s fiancée, of Strada Mia Court, Las Vegas, Nevada. She is accused of assisting Hoffman in supplying marijuana to Nashville from Las Vegas.

 •Enrique Gomez “Pig” Ahumada, 39, of Fillmore Street, Phoenix, Arizona. He is alleged to be anArizona supplier of marijuana that was shipped to Nashville.

 •Anthony Guajardo, 28, of Waterlilly View Street, Henderson, Nevada. He is alleged to be aNevada supplier of marijuana that was shipped to Nashville.

 •Richard (Rick) Valmonte, 35, of Medinah Street, Fontana, California. He is alleged to be aCalifornia supplier of marijuana that was shipped to Nashville.

 •Michael Hummer, 29, of Lyndie Lane, Temecula, California. He was arrested with Valmonte after a parcel of marijuana was sent to Gupton.

 •David Davis, 30, of Packard Drive, Antioch. He is alleged to be a local distributor of marijuana received from Gupton.

 •Carl Dunn, 40, of Saunders Avenue, Nashville. He is alleged to have received marijuana parcels on behalf of Gupton.

 •Mark Gerald, 45, of West Yorkshire Court, Old Hickory. He is alleged to have bought large amounts of marijuana from Roberts.

 •Antonio Swinger, 32, of Blackstone Avenue, Madison. He is accused of buying large quantities of marijuana from Roberts.

 •Mamie Brinkley, 59, of Kirkwood Avenue, Nashville. She is charged with accepting marijuana parcels on behalf of Roberts.

 •Mable Anita Sowell, 55, of N. 2nd Street, Nashville. She is alleged to have accepted marijuana parcels on behalf of the organization.

 •Joseph Travierso, 48, of Green Harbor Court, Old Hickory. He is accused of buying marijuana from Roberts and investing in the organization.

 •Rudolph Woodberry, 55, of Chateau Valley Drive, Nashville. He is charged with buying large amounts of marijuana from Roberts.

 •Michael Phillips, 54, of Setter Court, Nashville. He is accused of picking up marijuana parcels on behalf of Roberts.

 •Jubal Boyce, 34, of Wright Avenue, Alamogordo, New Mexico. He is charged with driving marijuana to shipment points on behalf of Roberts.

 •Jennifer Boyce, 26, Jubal Boyce’s wife, of Wright Avenue, Alamogordo, New Mexico. She is accused of accompanying her husband in the transportation of marijuana to shipment points.

 •James Keith Kephart, 53, of Old Horton Highway, Nolensville. He is accused of buying large amounts of marijuana from Roberts.

 •Corey Clemons, 36, of Apple Valley Road, Madison. He is charged with buying large amounts of marijuana from Gupton.

 •John Scott Orr, 52, of Illinois Avenue, Nashville. He is charged with taking part in the marijuana conspiracy.

 •Donald Halbert Lauderdale, 65, of Sam Davis Boulevard, Smyrna. He is accused of taking part in the marijuana conspiracy.

Trio charged with burglary in Vallejo theft www.privateofficer.com

 

Vallejo CA Oct 31 2012 Telling police she needed clothes for a trip, a woman filled a red suitcase full of expensive clothes from Kohl’s department store and allegedly tried to steal them, Vallejo Police Sgt. Herman Robinson said Monday.

The woman, plus two others, went to Kohl’s early Sunday afternoon, and filled a cart with $1,000 worth of clothes, found a large suitcase and packed the clothes inside, Robinson said.

The three left the store and got into a black Pontiac which security officers followed. Police stopped the car at Redwood Street and Fairgrounds Drive.

“She told officers she was going on a trip and wanted to see how much would fit into the suitcase,” Robinson said.

Officers arrested Racquel Parkinson, 26, and Roy Hellman, 34, both of Antioch; on suspicion of burglary and conspiracy.

Jillian Beasley, 33, of Concord was arrested on suspicion of burglary, Robinson said.

Fed indicts 17 in $75 million Charlotte mortgage fraud scheme www.privateofficer.com

CHARLOTTE, NC Oct 26 2012

17 people were charged in a major mortgage fraud investigation made public by the U.S. Attorney’s Office Wednesday afternoon.

The charges include racketeering, investment fraud, mortgage fraud, bank bribery and money laundering.

It’s the latest round of charges resulting from Operation Wax House, a mortgage fraud scheme that stole more than $75 million from investors and mortgage lenders.

The federal racketeering indictment was returned by a federal grand jury sitting in Charlotte on July 26, but remained sealed until Wednesday.

The indictment alleges that the 17 defendants and others were part of a criminal organization, known as the Enterprise, that operated principally in the cities of Charlotte and Waxhaw, and stole more than $75 million from investors and mortgage lenders.

The indictment was unsealed following the arrests this week of 11 members of the Enterprise, including three of its leaders, James Tyson, Jr., his mother, Carrie Tyson, and Victoria Hunt. James Tyson Jr. was arrested on Sunday, October 21st at Washington Dulles InternationalAirport upon arrival in the United States from a flight originating in Dakar, Senegal, which is Tyson’s last known residence.

The Enterprise, which operated from about 2005 through the present, engaged in an extensive pattern of racketeering activities, consisting of investment fraud, mortgage fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, and distribution of illegal drugs.

Members of the Enterprise also bribed bank officials and committed perjury before the Grand Jury. The co-conspirators targeted professional athletes and doctors as well as their personal and professional acquaintances and convinced them to invest in a series of sham corporations controlled by the Enterprise.

The co-conspirators stole over $27 million from more than 50 investor victims, including monies that the investor victims were induced to obtain as loans from financial institutions. Rather than investing victims’ money as promised, the Enterprise diverted victims’ money to finance its mortgage fraud operations and to support its members’ lifestyles. For example, members of the Enterprise used the stolen money to purchase luxury vehicles, take lavish vacations, organize extravagant dinners and parties, and invest in other sham businesses or investments. In addition, the conspirators made Ponzi-style payments to other victims.

The Enterprise’s mortgage fraud operations involved acquiring luxury homes in neighborhoods inSouth Charlotte and Waxhaw. One member of the Enterprise would agree with a builder to purchase a property at the “true price.” The Enterprise would then arrange for a buyer to purchase the property at an inflated price.

In most circumstances, the buyer would agree to purchase the property in his or her own name and sign whatever documents were necessary, in exchange for a hidden kickback. The builder would sell the property at the inflated price, the lender would make a mortgage loan on the basis of that inflated price, and the difference between the inflated price and the true price would be extracted at closing by the Enterprise.

The 17 defendants charged in Wednesday’s indictment and the 14 defendants who have agreed to plead guilty bring to a total of 81 the number of defendants charged in connection with “Operation Wax House” to date. (A complete list of all 81 defendants is attached). Charged in the indictment are:

Ramin Amini, 44, of Tehran, Iran, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, mortgage fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Leader and promoter in the scheme. Status: Fugitive.

• Vonetta Tyson Barnes, 38, of Wahiawa, Hawaii, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud to defraud investors and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Promoter. Status: Released following arrest and initial appearance.

• Travis Bumpers, 36, of Charlotte, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, mortgage fraud, wire fraud to defraud investors, bank bribery and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Promoter. Status: Fugitive.

• Glynn Hubbard, 35, of Charlotte is charged with Racketeering conspiracy, mortgage fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Promoter. Status: In federal custody, pending release on conditions, following arrest and initial appearance.

• Victoria Hunt, 36, of Charlotte, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, mortgage fraud, wire fraud to defraud investors and money laundering. Role: Leader and promoter. Status: Currently in federal custody pending detention hearing.

• Toby Hunter, 37, of Fort Mill, S.C., is charged with racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud to defraud investors and money laundering. Role: Promoter. Status: Released following arrest and initial appearance.

• Steven Jones, 44, of Waxhaw, is charged with securities fraud, wire fraud to defraud investors and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Promoter. Status: Currently in federal custody pending detention hearing.

• John McDowell, 40, of Dunn, N.C., is charged with racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, mortgage fraud, wire fraud to defraud investors and money laundering. Role: Promoter. Status: Arrest warrant issued.

• Kurosh Mehr, 52, of Charlotte is charged with racketeering conspiracy, mortgage fraud and money laundering. Role: Promoter and buyer. Status: Currently in federal custody pending detention hearing.

• Ann Tyson Mitchell, 61, of Charlotte, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, mortgage fraud and money laundering. Role: Facilitator. Status: Released following arrest and initial appearance.

• John Wayne Perry, Jr., 31, of Charlotte, is charged with racketeering conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Promoter. Status: Released following arrest and initial appearance.

• Donte Thorogood, 34, of Durham, N.C., is charged with racketeering conspiracy, mortgage fraud and money laundering. Role: Promoter. Status: To appear for an initial appearance pursuant to a summons.

• Carrie Tyson, 58, of Winterville, N.C., is charged with racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, mortgage fraud, wire fraud to defraud investors and money laundering. Role: Leader and promoter. Status: Released following arrest and initial appearance.

• James Tyson, Jr., 32, of Dakar, Senegal, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, mortgage fraud, wire fraud to defraud investors, bank bribery and money laundering. Role: Leader and promoter. Status: Currently in federal custody pending detention hearing.

• James Tyson, Sr., 61, of Charlotte, N.C., is charged with racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud to defraud investors and money laundering. Role: Promoter. Status: Currently in federal custody pending detention hearing.

• Nathan Shane Wolf, 41, of Charlotte, is charged with racketeering conspiracy, mortgage fraud and money laundering. Role: Real estate agent. Status: To appear for an initial appearance pursuant to a summons.

• Purnell Wood, 41, of Palmyra, N.J., is charged with racketeering conspiracy, mortgage fraud and money laundering. Role: Promoter. Status: Arrest warrant issued.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office also filed criminal bills of information and plea agreements against 14 other defendants who acted as mortgage brokers, real estate agents, straw buyers, and a home builder in the scheme. They acknowledge taking part in the mortgage fraud conspiracy and have agreed to plead guilty. They are:

• Crystal Goodson-Hudson, 44, of Kannapolis, N.C., is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Mortgage broker. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• Shannon Lee (Somer Bey), 47, of Charlotte, is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Real estate agent. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• Robert Mahaney, 52, of Ridgeway, S.C., is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Mortgage broker. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• George Moore, 44, of Charlotte, is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy. Role: Buyer. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• Kevin Smith, 46, of Oxford, N.C., is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy. Role: Buyer. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• Holly Pasut, 56, of Charlotte, is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Real estate agent. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• Danielle Vaughn, 34, of Greenbelt, Md., is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Mortgage broker. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• Mary Vaughn, 58, of Charlotte, is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy. Role: Buyer. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• Jamaine Wallace, 41, of Conyers, Ga., is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy. Role: Buyer. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• Phillip Wellington, 46, of Charlotte, is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Promoter. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• William Wellington, 30, of Amityville, N.Y., is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy. Role: Buyer. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• Marcia Williams, 36, of York, S.C., is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Mortgage broker. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• Sean Williams, 41, of Orangeburg, S.C., is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Role: Mortgage broker. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

• Mark, Wittig, 41, of Matthews, N.C., is charged with mortgage fraud conspiracy. Role: Builder. Status: To appear for initial appearance upon a summons.

Source-WBTV

Department of Health and Human Services employee sentenced for theft of $114,494 www.privateofficer.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. Oct 26 2012 – An employee of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was sentenced today in Asheville, N.C., to six months in prison for stealing $114,494 in government funds, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Elton Malone of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations, Special Investigations Branch.

Jihan S. Cover, 34, of Arden, N.C., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger in the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to her prison term, Cover was ordered to forfeit $114,494, pay $114,494 in restitution to HHS and serve three years of supervised release, including six months of home confinement, following her prison term.

Cover pleaded guilty to one count of theft on Aug. 22, 2011.

According to court documents, Cover worked as a purchasing agent with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI), a subdivision of HHS, from approximately 2006 through December 2011. Cover’s sole job function involved procuring authorized items and services for NIH/NCI using assigned government credit cards.

According to plea documents, between June 2009 and December 2010, Cover, who received regular training in the proper use of government credit cards, used and caused to be used NIH/NCI credit cards assigned to her to complete over 250 unauthorized personal transactions totaling approximately $114,494.

During this period of time, according to her plea, Cover used and caused to be used her NIH/NCI purchase cards to make over 170 personal purchases totaling approximately $16,000 from Amazon.com for items that included toys, exercise equipment, books, clothes and other personal times. Almost all of these items were shipped to Cover’s residence in Arden. In addition, Cover admitted using her NIH/NCI purchase cards to pay off over $29,000 in balances she accrued with various cash advance and payday loan vendors.

According to plea documents, Cover also used and caused to be used her NIH/NCI purchase cards to make more than $47,000 in payments to personal accounts she caused to be created on PayPal, an online payment website. Cover directed over $46,000 from these PayPal accounts to be deposited into bank accounts that she controlled. Plea documents also revealed that in an effort to conceal her misuse of assigned purchase cards, Cover created additional PayPal accounts associated with email accounts that she controlled and which she selected to resemble the name of a legitimate NIH/NCI vendor. In this manner, Cover made over $11,000 in additional hidden payments to these PayPal accounts.

According to court documents, Cover also engaged in additional fraudulent personal transactions totaling approximately $11,000.

In addition, Cover admitted that she further sought to conceal her actions by submitting various dispute forms to the bank servicing her purchase cards, claiming that she did not recognize certain charges or did not authorize them, when, in fact, she knowingly made or caused to be made the personal charges. During her plea hearing, Cover admitted that in or about January and June 2011, she lied to investigators, claiming that she had satisfied personal transactions made with her NIH/NCI purchase cards using her personal bank account, which in fact she knew she had not. Previously, when confronted by her supervisor at NIH/NCI regarding suspicious transactions, Cover claimed falsely that she had been the victim of identity theft, when in fact she knew that she had caused the transactions.

This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Eric G. Olshan of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section. This case was investigated by the HHS Office of Inspector General.

Information provided by the U.S. Department of Justice

Trio nabbed in televisions thefts from Fla Walmart www.privateofficer.com

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla.Sept 30 2012- Charlotte County Sheriff’s detectives arrested three people involved in stealing two televisions from Walmart, located at 19100 Murdock Circle. Sue Ann Moats, 31, of 4228 Worchester Drive; Anna Elizabeth Cusack, 28, of 2290 Lakeshore Circle; and Eric Charles Householder, 34, of 21150 Gertrude Ave., were arrested and charged with Grand Theft.

CCSO received a call Sep. 25at 6:04 p.m. from Walmart security concerning a past theft. Surveillance video showed at 1:51 p.m. two women entered the store through the GardenCenter, went to the Electronics department, placed two televisions in their cart and left the store without paying. They drove off in a grey Chevrolet HHR. Security said the same vehicle matched the same description from a few other thefts at that store, which remain under investigation. Detectives obtained a license tag that came back to Householder, an associate that worked for Walmart before being let go.

Detectives went to Householder’s apartment Thursday and observed two women in front that matched the descriptions seen in the surveillance videos. Detectives also talked to Householder and said they were investigating the thefts from Walmart; they then learned of their identity of Cusack and Moats. Cusack told detectives she did steal the two televisions; Moats said she needed to steal the televisions for money to get her water turned back on. Detectives learned that Householder took Moats and Cusack to Walmart; he stayed in the vehicle while they stole the televisions and brought them out to the car.

All three were arrested and transported to the Charlotte County Jail. Moats remains in jail on no bond, she is a convicted felon with 12 bookings. Cusack is also being held on no bond, her third booking; Householder posted a $2,500 bond and was released.

Source:WinkNewsNow.com

Four shoplifters face felony charges in Home Depot scam www.privateofficer.com

 

SALEM NH Sept 10 2012 — Two shoplifting suspects chose a vanity at Home Depot Wednesday evening, then walked around the store, filling it with tools and other items, police said.

The two then went to a self-checkout register, scanned a few of the items and left the store with the goods, valued at $2,000.

Police stopped the suspects’ car as it was leaving the parking lot just before 5:30 p.m.

The four people in the car were arrested and all face at least one felony charge. They all remained in the county jail yesterday evening.

Tiffany Harrison, 24, of Brooklyn is charged with felony willful concealment and false report to law enforcement.

Pierre Louis, 28, of Philadelphia and Rodrigue Domingue, 29, of Brooklyn both face felony charges of criminal liability for conduct of another.

Kenton Ames, 34, of Brooklyn faces a felony charge of theft by deception and possession of false identification.

Harrison, Domingue and Ames all refused the services of a bail commission and were taken to the county jail pending their arraignment in 10th Circuit Court in Salem.

Lous had cash bail set at $5,000, but did not post it and also remains in jail.

Source:eagletribune.com

Florida man pleads guilty in robbery-murder of Brinks guard www.privateofficer.com

 

Miami Dade Fla Sept 8 2012 A Miami Gardens man pleaded guilty Thursday to his role in the August 2011 robbery and shooting death of a Brinks guard at the Calder Race Track and Casino on the border of Miami-Dade and Broward counties, according to federal court records.

Reginald Mitchell, 27, a former security employee at the track and casino, pleaded guilty to robbery conspiracy, interfering with commerce, and possession of a firearm resulting in death during a crime of violence, in federal court in Miami.
Another man, Vladimir Louissant, 34, of Pembroke Pines, is charged with firing the fatal shot at the guard, Alvaro Lopez Ramos.

Mitchell and his girlfriend, Victoria Barkley, 27, also of Miami Gardens, have both pleaded guilty to their roles. A third man, Byron Kyler, 24, of Miami, is scheduled for a change of plea hearing later this month.

Louissant and another man, Uri Ammar, 27, of Hollywood, who worked as a security supervisor at the track, have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

Man tried to smuggle meth to Japan as Snickers bars, feds say www.privateofficer.com

 

Los Angeles CA July 31 2012 A Long Beach man has been charged by federal authorities with trying to smuggle more than four pounds of methamphetamine from Los Angeles to Japan in what looked like Snickers bars, officials said Monday.

Rogelio Mauricio Harris, 34, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations while preparing to board a flight to Japan.

Harris faces a charge of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. If convicted, he faces at least 10 years in prison and a possible maximum sentence penalty of life in prison. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

The agents were conducting routine baggage inspections when they noticed a large box labeled as Snickers bars inside Harris’ checked luggage and discovered 45 individually wrapped, full-sized “candy bars.”

Each “was coated in a chocolate-like substance to make the contents of the package appear to be a real candy bar,” officials said. Agents tested the bars and found they contained “a white, crystalline substance” determined to be methamphetamine, the agency said in a statement.

All told, the contraband candies contained four pounds of methamphetamine with a street value of about $250,000 in Japan, the agency said.

Source:LA Now

Former BISD employee and wife charged with felony theft www.privateofficer.com

 

Beaumont TX July 31 2012 A BISD employee who was fired in May turned himself into authorities, according to a Jefferson County Correctional Facility personnel.

Daryl Johnson, 42, a former warehouse maintenance supervisor, was charged with two counts of felony theft on $10,000 and $20,000 bonds.

He turned himself into authorities last Friday and bonded out the same day, according to the Jefferson County Correctional Facility.

His wife Erin Johnson, 34, also turned herself in the same day and bonded out, according to the jail personnel. She was charged with one felony count of theft on a $20,000 bond.

Beaumont ISD detective Danny Moore confirms that Johnson was investigated for theft for approximately $280,000.

The district released a statement in May that Johnson, who was not named at the time, was fired because he appeared to have paid wages to two persons who did not work for the district.

Source:www.beaumontenterprise.com

Man holds doctor at knifepoiint at Blaine Medical Center www.privateofficer.com

 

BLAINE TN July 19 2012 - A Grainger County doctor was held at knifepoint Tuesday by a man in a doctor’s office.

Grainger County sheriff’s deputies and Blaine police ended the hostage situation when they busted down the door and subdued the suspect.

Grainger County sheriff’s deputies say Vern Evart Long, 34, of Morristown, entered the Blaine Medical Center at 11:00 a.m. and barricaded himself with Dr. John Neece, 55, in an exam room.

They say Long threatened to kill the doctor and cut his own throat.

The doctor received superficial injuries. Long was taken to Tennova Medical Center and then to UT Medical Center for treatment.

Long is likely to face a long list of charges, including especially aggravated assault, kidnapping and vandalism.

Blaine Police Chief Jamie Winstead said Long has a history of violence.

Officials have not said what started the incident.

Sheriff Scott Layel says authorities are seeking to enter Long into a mental health facility

Source:WATE.com

Wife Turns In Oklahoma Teacher Accused Of Having Sex With Student www.privateofficer.com

 

CLAREMORE, Oklahoma July 11 2012- A Sequoyah Public Schools music teacher was arrested Monday afternoon for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old student.

Mark Thomas Buchanan, 34, of Claremore, was booked into a Rogers County jail without bond.

Police said Buchanan’s wife spoke with them Monday and told them her husband had admitted to having sex with a 14-year-old girl. Kelly Buchanan said he had come forward because the student had told him that she was “late,” and feared that she was pregnant.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Buchanan is accused of having sex with the student in a closet attached to the choir room at a Sequoyah public school on four separate occasions, over the last six months.

Buchanan faces 18 charges total, including four counts of rape in the first degree, six counts of lewd molestation, and eight counts of sodomy.

Sequoyah Public Schools said Tuesday that Buchanan has been suspended with pay.

Source:newson6.com

Former Kansas City, Kan., police officer sentenced for thefts www.privateofficer.com

 

Kansas City KS July 5 2012 A former Kansas City, Kan., police officer was sentenced today to eight months in federal custody for stealing electronics while serving residential search warrants.

Jeffrey M. Bell, 34, was one of three members of a special department unit charged in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., after a joint sting operation by the police department and the FBI.

Authorities arrested them in January 2011 after cash and electronics were left in a house that was under audio and video surveillance. According to Bell’s written plea agreement, he took a Nintendo DS game system during the sting and also admitted to taking electronics while serving previous search warrants.

Bell pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to deny civil rights.

His attorney, Scott Toth, asked for probation, but Toth said after the sentencing that Bell was prepared to accept whatever sentence the judge deemed appropriate.

“Mr. Bell is extremely remorseful for the damage his actions caused for the public and the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department,” Toth said.

One of the other officers was sentenced last week to one year and one day in prison. The third is to be sentenced Thursday

Source:www.kansascity.com

Four Florida men charged with running Foster care porstitution ring www.privateofficer.com

 

Miami Fla June 27 2012 Police and prosecutors arrested four alleged pimps Monday morning as part of an ongoing investigation into a ring of human traffickers who preyed on abused and neglected children in foster care.

The men, police say, were part of an organized conspiracy to lure underage girls into prostitution. The four were charged with conspiracy, racketeering and unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

Using a teenage foster child as a recruiter, police say, the four men plied underage girls with cash, affection and gifts. Ultimately, the girls became prostitutes who earned the ring about $100 for every man with whom they had sex. The girls, in turn, were paid $30 or $40 of that original $100.

Beginning in January of 2011, members of the ring would call girls on cell phones supplied by the men and arrange for them to have sex at a building in Homestead that the ring used as a kind of brothel, records say.

Charged Monday were Eric George Earle, 29, called “E-Nasty,” Willie Calvin Bivens, 65, called “Tank,” Anturrell Nathaniel Dean, 30, and David Zarifi, 34. A fifth person — a 17-year-old foster child who is identified only by the initials S.S. — is listed in a 13-page sworn statement as a “recruiter” for the ring, though she is not charged with any crimes. As of late Monday, the four men remained in jail: Zarifi on $53,000 bail, Earle on $60,000 bail, Bivens on $35,505 bail, and Dean on $45,000.

The human trafficking investigation also involves a now-suspended child abuse investigator for the agency that oversees child welfare efforts in Florida. Jean LaCroix, a child protective investigator employed by the Department of Children & Families, was placed on paid administrative leave while police and prosecutors investigate allegations he repeatedly had sex with a teenaged foster child whose safety he was assigned to protect.

Sources have told The Miami Herald that LaCroix placed the girl at a group home for dependent children — and turn returned to the home repeatedly to pick the girl up for sexual favors. The girl, sources say, also was working for members of the ring who were arrested Monday.

LaCroix had spearheaded a 2006 child abuse investigation — prompted by a call from worried teachers and administrators — into the welfare of Nubia Barahona, a twin who was adopted from foster care and was killed in 2011, police say by her own adoptive parents, Carmen and Jorge Barahona. LaCroix was named in a lawsuit alleging DCF failed repeatedly to protect Nubia, and her brother, Victor, whom police say also endured years of torment.

LaCroix has not been charged with any crimes.

The investigation began in December 2011 when a foster child disclosed that she had been having consensual sex with a man.

The 17-year-old, identified as M.D., allowed police to search her cellphone. It contained images of the girl both naked and having sex with Zarifi, a sworn statement says. M.D., police say, suffers from cognitive impairments.

M.D. told police that, soon after she went sent to live in a state-operated group home in September 2011, she was recruited by a housemate, S.S., who told her “she could make money by having sex with men,” a warrant states. At first, she was introduced to a man she then knew only as “E-Nasty.” But Earle introduced her to Zarifi, whom she told police was “nice to her.” M.D. liked Zarifi so much that she had sex with him for free after being paid four times.

Eventually, M.D. agreed to have sex with other men, the warrant says. Either Earle or Zarifi would call her on her cellphone, and arrange to pick her up either at school or at her group home. From there, M.D. would be driven to a home operated by Bivens, where she would be paid $40 to have sex with men, the warrant says.

M.D. also had sex with Zarifi in a room at Bivens’ house, the warrant says.

A review of text messages on M.D.’s phone by police recovered several messages from Earle involving johns, including a message that “somebody wanna pay u to [have sex].”

Another resident of the group home, which was operated by Children’s Home Society, told police that she, too, had been recruited into prostitution by S.S. and Earle. The girl, identified only as C.W., said that Earle gave her clothes – at first without asking for sex in return. Later, C.W. had sex with Earle, who then coaxed her into having sex with Bivens, as well, “as a kind of trial run,” the warrant states.

Shortly after that, police say, Earle asked C.W. to meet with his brother, Dean, who had recently been released from jail. Dean gave the girl cash without requiring that she have sex, the warrant says. But by March 2011, C.W. was prostituting herself for Dean. The arrangement lasted until the following August, the warrant says, and then briefly a month later. C.W. told police that Dean charged johns $100 to have sex with the girl. He paid her $30.

Another foster child who lived at the group home, identified as J.D., told police that Earle tried to recruit her, as well, to work for him as a prostitute. “She states that ‘E’ knew that they were minors at the time he recruited them,” the warrant says.

Though child welfare administrators typically try to place foster children in homes with foster parents, some children prove to be more challenging. Older children with developments disabilities, mental illness or behavioral problems end up in group homes, rather than with foster families, because it’s hard to find families willing to take them.

The ease with which ring members had access to the girls showed the “extreme lack of supervision of these girls, said Carole Schauffer, a children’s advocate who is working with DCF to recruit foster parents and improve the quality of foster parenting. “Nobody is looking at them as a parent would,” Schauffer said.

Source:miamiherald.com

National Park Service Ranger Dies During Mount Rainier Rescue www.privateofficer.com

 

MOUNT RAINIER, Wash. -June 22 2012- A rescue operation turned deadly on Mount Rainier Thursday when a park ranger fell to his death during an attempt to rescue four climbers.

The National Park Service identified the ranger as Nick Hall, 34, from Maine. Rangers said Hall fell from the 13,700 foot level to about 10,000 feet on the mountain’s northeast side while helping the injured climbers evacuate the mountain by helicopter.

One climber remains on the mountain Friday morning, forced to spend the night there with rescue crews following the accident. She will come down the mountian under her own power, unless weather permits another helicopter rescue attempt, said Ranger Kevin Bacher.

The accident that killed Hall happened just before 2 p.m. Thursday. In all, four climbers, two women and two men, were scaling down the mountain along the Emmons Glacier route when the two women slipped and fell into a crevasse.

One of the climbers in the group had a working cell phone and called park rangers. Rrescue crews located the climbing group and began to rescue the women out of the crevasse.

All four climbers were injured, but none of their injuries were life-threatening.

It was reportedly while harnessing one of the injured climbers to a Chinook helicopter that Hall slid to his death.

The helicopter was able to evacuated three of the climbers to safety, but inclement weather and the accident that killed Hall halted the rescue operation. Rescue personnel spent the night with the one remaining climber on the mountain.

The four climbers are from Waco, Texas and successfully summited the mountain before the incident. Their names will be released once all four families have been notified.

Ranger Nick Hall is a 4-year veteran of Mount Rainier National Park’s climbing program and a native of Patten, Maine.

“Nick…has been part of the team that’s been up there on the mountian keeping people safe and bringing people out for a long time. He’s a valued member of our team,” said Ranger Bacher.

Mount Rainier posted a picture of the Climbing Ranger Team on their Flickr page Friday. Nick Hall is pictured at the far left.

Chicago police arrest two in stabbing of Guardian Angel patrollers www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Chicago IL June 4 2012 A second Chicago man was arrested in connection with the stabbing of four Guardian Angels last month when he decided to visit the other person charged in the crime in jail.

Julius Price, 23, of the 200 block of South Sacramento Boulevard, was charged at 2 a.m. this morning with four counts of aggravated battery and use of a deadly weapon, according to Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak.

Judge Israel Desierto ordered Price held on $750,000 bond. Prosecutors said Price was arrested yesterday after going to visit his jailed co-defendant.

Price was positively identified by witnesses as one of the individuals “who, while armed with a handgun, robbed, battered and stabbed victims” in the incident on a CTA train and at the CTA station at Division & Clark on May 15, police said.

The other man accused in the incident is Keith Gunn, 34, of the 5800 block of West Midway Park. Gunn is accused of pistol-whipping a 27-year-old Edgewater man aboard a Red Line train on May 15 as it pulled into the Clark and Division stop and stealing his iPhone, prosecutors said in court Saturday. Gunn is charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery and was ordered held in lieu of $600,000 bail Saturday.

The Angels volunteers saw the robbery and were waiting for Gunn as he ran from the train onto the platform, one of the men told the Tribune a day after the incident.

The four witnesses wrestled Gunn to the ground, but his accomplice, whom police believe to be Price, pulled a knife and stabbed them before he and Gunn ran out of the station, officials said.

Photos from surveillance cameras in the station show Gunn and the other suspect then running from the platform, officials said.

Three of the Angels and the man who was robbed of his iPhone were treated and released from hospitals, while the fourth Angel wasn’t hospitalized, according to court records.

Source:Chicago Tribune

Foyil Public Schools employee arrested for alleged sex crime www.privateofficer.com

 

FOYIL, Oklahoma May 31 2012 - A Foyil Public Schools employee was arrested for an alleged sex crime against a minor, according to the Rogers County Sheriff’s Department.

Jeffery Loveless Harris, 34, of Chelsea, was booked into the Rogers County Jail last Thursday under three complaints of lewd or indecent proposal/acts to a child. He has since bonded out.

Harris is employed in the alternative education department of Foyil schools.

No other information was immediately available.

source-newson6.com