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

Three Former Employees of Timeshare Consulting Firm Admit Conspiring to Defraud Timeshare Owners www.privateofficer.com

 

CAMDEN, NJ May 10 2013 —Three former employees of The Vacation Ownership Group LLC admitted to conspiring to defraud owners of timeshare properties by offering phony consulting services, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. One of the defendants also admitted to illegally collecting unemployment benefits.
Jeffrey Sawyer, 50, of Mullica Hill, New Jersey, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Steven Cox, a/k/a “Steve Coluzzi,” 49, of Ventnor, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on May 7, 2013, before Judge Hillman to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Eric K. Reiff, a/k/a “Skip,” a/k/a “Skip Ray,” 41, of Ocean City, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on May 1, 2013, before Judge Hillman to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and one count of wire fraud.
According to documents filed in these cases and statements made in court:
The Vacation Ownership Group, a/k/a VO Group LLC, had offices in Mays Landing and Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, and claimed to offer consulting services to owners of timeshares, including cancelling, purchasing, and upgrading the timeshares.
In 2010, the four defendants started working at the VO Group and were trained by VO Group managers to call customers using prepared scripts. The defendants each called customers and gave the customers the false impression that they were working for a bank or lending institution. After hearing defendants’ false representations, some customers sent checks to the VO Group. Reiff falsely told an individual with the initials “SK” that SK could settle all of SK’s timeshare debt for a “one time” price and induced SK to send a check for $21,328.28 to the VO Group. Cox told “NP” that NP could settle his timeshare debt for a large discount by mailing a $26,585 check to the VO Group. Sawyer pretended to be a satisfied VO Group customer to persuade others to send money to the VO Group. Each defendant admitted causing substantial losses: Sawyer admitted causing more than $70,000 in losses; Reiff admitted causing more than $120,000 in losses; and Cox admitted causing more than $200,000 in losses.
Reiff also admitted to devising a separate scheme to defraud the New Jersey Department of Labor by collecting unemployment compensation benefits while working at the VO Group. Reiff admitted to applying for and being awarded $12,600 in unemployment compensation benefits to which he was not entitled.
On January 23, 2013, co-owners Adam Lacerda and Ashley Lacerda and other members of the VO Group were charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and other charges. Additional members of the VO Group were also charged by criminal complaint in April 2012. As for the Lacerdas and other defendants who have not been convicted in this case, the charges, and allegations against them are merely accusations, and they are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The mail and wire fraud conspiracy charge to which the three defendants pleaded guilty is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss caused by the offense. The wire fraud charge to which Reiff pleaded guilty is also punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gain or loss caused by the offense.
Sentencings are scheduled as follows: Sawyer and Cox, September 27, 2013; Reiff, September 20, 2013.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents from the FBI’s Atlantic City Resident Agency, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark; and special agents from the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Robert Panella, New York Region, for their roles in the investigation leading to the guilty pleas. He also thanked the New Jersey Department of Labor, Benefit Payment Control Unit, for its assistance.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alyson M. Oswald and R. David Walk, Jr. of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden.

Former Real Estate Broker and Former Police Captain Sentenced in Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud www.privateofficer.com

 

U.S. Attorney’s Office
FBI
Press Release

EUGENE, OR May 2 2013—Chief U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken sentenced Tamara (Tami) Sawyer, 49, and Kevin Sawyer, 60, of Bend, Oregon, today for their roles in an investment fraud scheme that cost investors almost $6 million. Defendant Tami Sawyer, a former real estate broker, was sentenced to 108 months in federal prison for a litany of charges, including conspiracy, wire fraud, bank fraud, making false statements to financial institutions, and money laundering. Defendant Kevin Sawyer, a former Bend Police captain, was sentenced to 27 months for making false statements to financial institutions. The defendants were also ordered to pay $5,820,307.55 in restitution to the victims of the fraud. At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, both defendants were remanded to custody of the U.S. Marshals Service to begin serving their sentence with the Bureau of Prisons. Upon release from their prison terms, both defendants are ordered to five years of supervised release.

Defendants ran a fraudulent real estate investment scheme through their company Starboard LLC. They enticed investors by falsely promising high rates of return, typically 12 percent, and secured the investments with promissory notes. Rather than investing the money as promised, defendants used it to pay other investors, to fund their other companies and ventures, and to pay personal expenses, including cars, credit cards, and the construction of their $2 million vacation home in Mexico. As a result of defendants’ fraud, investors and banks lost almost $6 million.

“Lying, cheating, and stealing never pays in the end,” commented U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall. “Individuals like these defendants, who use positions of wealth, prominence, or trust to further their scheme, rob others of more than their hard-earned money and financial independence. They also rob their victims of their ability to trust others, isolating them in society. This behavior cannot and will not be tolerated as shown by today’s sentence.”

“The Sawyers used their standing in the community to sell their investors on what was supposed to be a golden opportunity. However, it was an opportunity tarnished by greed,” said Greg Fowler, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon. “More than 30 victims have paid the price for that greed, but today, they can be assured that the court system has delivered on a promise of justice.”

“The IRS is committed to identifying fraudsters who prey on others in order to satisfy their own greed and to working with our law-enforcement partners to shut them down. Hardworking people entrusted Tamara Sawyer with their savings and financial futures, and she violated that trust for her own financial gain,” said Steven J. Bellis, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in the Pacific Northwest. “This sentencing is a warning that being trusted with money from investors carries a duty to the highest standard of conduct and that willfully ignoring that duty carries severe consequences.”

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott E. Bradford and Amy E. Potter.

Southern California Physician and Two Co-Conspirators Found in Medicaid Fraud www.privateofficer.com

 

WASHINGTON DC April 26 2013 —A Southern California physician, a durable medical equipment (DME) supply company employee, and a health care professional were found guilty late yesterday by a federal jury in Los Angeles for their roles in a $1.5 million Medicare fraud scheme, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California André Birotte, Jr.; Bill L. Lewis, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office; and Glenn R. Ferry, Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Region of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG).

Godwin Onyeabor, 49, of Ontario, California; Sri J. Wijegunaratne, 58, of Anaheim, California; and Heidi Morishita, 48, of Valencia, California, were each found guilty in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California of one count of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks. Wijegunaratne was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and six substantive counts of health care fraud. Onyeabor was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and 11 substantive counts of health care fraud.

The trial evidence showed that between January 2007 and February 2012, Onyeabor, an officer at Fendih Medical Supply Inc., a DME supply company located in San Bernadino, California, and others paid cash kickbacks to Wijegunaratne, a physician, and Morishita for fraudulent prescriptions for DME, including power wheelchairs. The evidence showed that Wijegunaratne wrote prescriptions for power wheelchairs and other DME that Medicare beneficiaries did not need and sometimes never used. After receiving prescriptions from Wijegunaratne and Morishita, Onyeabor and others used the prescriptions to fraudulently bill Medicare for the medically unnecessary DME.

At trial, several Medicare beneficiaries testified that they were lured to medical clinics with the promise of free items such as vitamins and juice, only to receive power wheelchairs that they did not need and did not want. The beneficiaries further testified that their attempts to reject delivery of the power wheelchairs from Onyeabor’s supply company were unsuccessful.

As a result of this fraud scheme, Onyeabor, Wijegunaratne, and others submitted and caused the submission of approximately $1.5 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare, and received almost $1 million on those claims.

At sentencing, scheduled for September 9, 2013, Onyeabor, Wijegunaratne, and Morishita face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Chief Benton Curtis and Trial Attorneys Fred Medick and Alexander Porter of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was investigated by the FBI and the Los Angeles Region of HHS-OIG.

The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. The Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations are part of the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a joint initiative announced in May 2009 between the Department of Justice and HHS to focus their efforts to prevent and deter fraud and enforce current anti-fraud laws around the country.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers. To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to http://www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.

Summerville school teacher arrested on drug charges www.privateofficer.com

 

Berkeley County SC April 20 2013 A Summerville Elementary School teacher was arrested on drug charges Wednesday in Berkeley County.

Terri Wooten, 49, a fourth-grade teacher, and David Eugene Cauthan, 39, both of Douglas Wayne Road in Ladson, were charged with trafficking methamphetamine, distribution near a school, possession of a schedule 4 narcotic and possession of LSD, according to the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, during a search at the home, agents found the components to manufacture meth, nearly a half ounce of a white powder that tested positive for meth, about 2 grams of marijuana, 12 doses of LSD and 46 Xanax pills.

Wooten and Cauthan were being held at the Hill Finklea Detention Center Thursday.

“We did get information from Berkeley County Law Enforcement this morning that a teacher at Summerville Elementary had been arrested,” said Dorchester District 2 spokesman Pat Raynor. “The board policy is very specific. The individual is placed on administrative leave with pay until there’s a resolution of the situation.”

Principal Lori Dibble’s “immediate priority was to take care of the children in that class,” Raynor said. “This morning a qualified teacher has been moved over to that classroom. The main concern is certainly that there be no disruption to those children.”

According to the school’s website, Wooten started teaching in Dorchester 2 in 1988 and took a few years off when her two children were young.

This year she had been teaching the same class of all girls that she taught in third grade last year.

Source- The Post and Courier

Man Charged with Sexual Assault of a Minor on Cruise Ship www.privateofficer.com

U.S. Attorney’s Office
FBI Press Release

GALVESTON, TX April 4 2013—Todd Eric Nordahl, 49, of Tucson, Arizona, has been arrested on charges that he had sexual contact with a minor while in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today.
Nordahl was arrested Sunday, March 31, 2013, after the cruise ship returned to port. He is set for a probable cause hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge John R. Froeschner Thursday at 2:00 p.m.
According to the criminal complaint, on or about March 27, 2013, Nordahl knowingly engaged in sexual contact with a boy he knew to be a minor.
The case arose after a Royal Caribbean security officer contacted the FBI, reporting allegations made by a 15-year-old boy onboard the Mariner of the Seas while in international waters.
Nordahl allegedly provided an alcoholic beverage to the minor victim and purportedly made sexual advances toward him. After a brief period of “cuddling,” Nordahl performed oral sex on the minor boy, according to the criminal complaint.
The FBI investigated with the cooperation of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Assistant United States Attorney Sherri. L. Zack is prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.

Former Property Evidence Technician Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Drugs from the Asheville Police Department’s Evidence Room www.privateofficer.com

US Attorney’s Office

FBI Press Release 

ASHEVILLE, NC March 29 2013—A criminal bill of information was filed on Tuesday, March 26, 2013, in U.S. District Court charging the former property evidence technician with the Asheville Police Department (APD) with embezzling between $10,000 and $30,000 of controlled substances from the police department’s evidence room, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
William Ledessie Smith, III, 49, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis Howell to a federal charge stemming from a joint federal and state investigation into the misappropriation of property from APD’s evidence room.
Roger A. Coe, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, and Greg McLeod, Director of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (NC SBI), joined U.S. Attorney Tompkins in making today’s announcement.
According to the criminal bill of information, the filed plea agreement, and statements made at today’s plea hearing, up until April 2011 Smith was a civilian employed for over 20 years by APD as the police department’s property evidence technician. In that capacity, Smith oversaw APD’s evidence room and had access to items including cash, firearms, and controlled substances, which were stored in the room as evidence.

According to the charging document and today’s plea hearing, Smith surreptitiously opened envelopes containing controlled substances after their return from the SBI lab, where they had been analyzed. Smith then removed some or all of the controlled substances and then resealed the envelopes with a new layer of tape, carefully re-applied directly over the layer of tape that the SBI chemist had used to seal the envelope, with the chemist’s signature or initials. An analysis by the FBI lab revealed that in many instances, Smith’s fingerprints were found on the underside, or sticky side, of the new tape layer.

Filed documents indicate that Smith embezzled between $10,000 and $30,000 of controlled substances from the police department’s evidence room.
“Mr. Smith betrayed the trust placed in him by the Asheville Police Department and the citizens of Buncombe County,” said U.S. Attorney Tompkins. “Instead of fulfilling his duties and safeguarding the evidence room, Mr. Smith pilfered controlled substances and, in the process,
compromised the integrity and good name of the Asheville Police Department. My office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to root out public corruption and prosecute those who abuse their positions of trust for their own benefit.”
“Not only did Mr. Smith treat items inside the Asheville Police Department’s evidence room as his own property, he put countless criminal cases in jeopardy. The success of this case was due in great part to our strong relationship with the SBI. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the SBI to see that corrupt public officials are brought to justice,” said Roger Coe, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Charlotte Division of the FBI.
“I’m proud of our SBI agents’ excellent work in this case, which once again demonstrates our strong partnership with federal prosecutors in rooting out public corruption,” said SBI Director Greg McLeod.
Smith pleaded guilty to one count of federal program fraud. As the criminal information alleges, federal jurisdiction is based on the fact that the Asheville Police Department received over $10,000 in federal funds in the one-year period that includes April 1, 2011. At sentencing, Smith faces a maximum term of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He has also agreed to pay restitution, the amount of which will be determined by the court at sentencing. The defendant has been released on bond and a sentencing hearing has not been set yet.
The investigation into Smith was handled by the SBI and FBI. U.S. Attorney Tompkins also thanked the Asheville Police Department and the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office for their invaluable assistance with the investigation.
Buncombe County District Attorney Ronald L. Moore stated, “I appreciate the hard work and diligence of the SBI, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. I also want to thank Mike Wright, the owner of Blueline Systems and Services, who conducted a meticulous audit of APD’s evidence room.”
The prosecution is handled by Richard Edwards of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville.

Former Jackson Attorney Clay McCormack Indicted for Bank Fraud, Making False Statements www.privateofficer.com

JACKSON, TN March 23 2013—Clay McCormack, 49, of Jackson, Tennessee, was indicted today by a federal grand jury for his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain loan proceeds from federally insured mortgage lenders, announced U.S. Attorney Edward L. Stanton, III.
The indictment alleges that as early as October 2007, McCormack entered into a criminal conspiracy with James Lee Bishop, a local real estate investor. Bishop would recruit individuals or limited liability companies to purchase real property for the purpose of investment. While acting as the closing attorney for Teel, McCormack, and Maroney, a law firm in Jackson, Tennessee, McCormack would indicate on the HUD-1 reporting documentation that certain lenders were paid off via check as a result of the closing. He would then void those checks, or have others void the checks, within days and then reissue the checks to Bishop.
This money was then used by Bishop to provide the funds at closing on behalf of the borrowers; and the paperwork would fraudulently reflect that the funds had actually been provided by the borrowers. McCormack would provide a letter to the new lender indicating that they were in first lien position on the property.
Counts one and two of the indictment allege that McCormack’s scheme defrauded Community Bank, 3200 North Highland Ave. in Jackson, Tennessee, and FirstSouth Bank, 1862 Hwy. 45 Bypass in Jackson, Tennessee. Counts three and four allege that he created false documentation and submitted it to the banks in furtherance of his crime.
McCormack faces up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each of the two bank fraud counts; and up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the two counts of making false statements. The government is also seeking a criminal forfeiture money judgment of $3,832,366.88, representing the amount involved in the two bank fraud charges.
This case was investigated by the FBI Memphis, Jackson Resident Agency, and by the United States Postal Inspection Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Henry on behalf of the government.
The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Former Employee of Eastern Kentucky Agriculture Program Pleads Guilty to Mail Fraud www.privateofficer.com

LEXINGTON KY March 15 2013—A former employee of an agriculture program in eastern Kentucky admitted in federal court she defrauded the program of more than $200,000.
Debra Marshall, 49, of Clayhole, Kentucky, pleaded guilty Monday to mail fraud.
Marshall worked as the District Administrative Secretary for the Breathitt County Conservation District (BCCD), a program that administers federal, state, and local grants and provides other assistance to county farmers. In this position, she had day-to-day control over the operations and the finances of the organization.
According to her plea agreement, from 2005 until March 2010, Marshall took money from the district in a variety of ways, including issuing herself extra paychecks, embezzling grant money that was intended to go to local farmers, and using the district’s credit card for personal purchases. When the district’s operating account dwindled because of her scheme, Marshall cashed the BCCD’s certificates of deposit without authorization and placed that money into the district’s operating account.
Marshall admitted she covered up the scheme by falsifying accounting records and submitting financial reports that falsely inflated the district’s financial condition.
BCCD uses local, state, and federal funding to promote soil conservation, efficient utilization of natural resources, and progressive farming practices.
Marshall was indicted in July 2012.
Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Perrye K. Turner, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Rodney Brewer, Commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, jointly made the announcement today.
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Kentucky State Police. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kenneth R. Taylor and Andrew T. Boone.
Marshall will appear for sentencing on June 10, 2013. Mail fraud carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. However, the court will impose sentence after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the applicable federal statutes.

Police charge bus driver, monitor after leaving boy, 5, on bus for hours www.privateofficer.com

SUMTER COUNTY, SC March 11 2013   A Sumter School District bus driver and bus monitor have been charged with cruelty to children after allegedly leaving a 5-year-old boy on a bus for three hours Monday morning, according to police.

Sumter Police Chief Russell Roark said former bus driver Delinda Bradley, 49, and former bus monitor Marley Reynolds, 21, were each charged on Tuesday, a day after being fired by the district for not following procedure. According to district spokesperson Shelly Galloway, the boy was picked up at 7 a.m. and was scheduled to be dropped off at Kingsbury Elementary School at 8 a.m.

The child apparently fell asleep and did not get off the bus at his school. After the morning route was complete the driver took the bus to Sumter High School. Galloway says the child was on the bus for a total of 3 hours, but was alone for an hour.

While doing a pre-check for the next route, a different driver discovered the child.   The child was taken to Kingsbury Elementary and his mother was notified, Galloway said. Sumter Police officers later responded to Tuomey Regional Medical Center’s emergency room where the child was being checked as a precaution. Galloway said it is district policy for drivers to search buses before and after each route.
“The care and safety of our students is a top priority,” said Galloway. “The school district is fully cooperating with law enforcement in this matter.” The misdemeanor charge carries a penalty of not more than 30 days in jail or not more than a $200 fine. Both Bradley and Reynolds were released from jail on personal recognizance bonds and are expected to appear in court on March 11 at 2 p.m.
Source:WISTV

Fifteen Charged in Telemarketing Scheme to Defraud Timeshare Unit Owners www.privateofficer.com

Press Release Miami Fla March 9 2013 Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announced today a two-count indictment charging conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The indictment charges the following 15 defendants: Pasquale Pappalardo, 60, of Coral Springs, Florida; Pasqualino Agovino, 49, of Coral Springs, Florida; Patride Ditroia, 43, of Coral Springs, Florida; Louis Duany, 64, Wilton Manors, Florida; Michael Bleich, formerly of Boca Raton, Florida, 36; Audwin Lovinsky, of Tamarac, Florida, 35; Ibrahim Al-Dabbas, 47, Deerfield Beach, Florida; Michael Vincent Scheel, 50, of Boca Raton, Florida; Diana Harrington, 65, of Boca Raton, Florida; Ashley Lowton, 24, of Clermont, Florida; Charles Lee, 24, of Coral Springs, Florida; Kenneth Rockmore, 27, of Lauderhill, Florida; Ricardo Davis, 25, of Tamarac, Florida; Milton Oliver, 37, of Boynton Beach, Florida; and Clinton Ross, 57, of Redondo Beach, California.

All defendants are charged in count one of the indictment with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1349. Count two charges defendants Pappalardo, Agovino, Ditroia, and Duany with conspiracy to commit money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956. Defendants Pappalardo, Ditroia, Lovinsky, Oliver, Agovino, Duany, Lowton, Davis, and Lee all appeared in court today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lurana S. Snow. Bond hearings are scheduled for tomorrow. Arrests are expected to continue during the week.
So far, 41 defendants have been charged to date for their involvement with a timeshare resale telemarketing room called Timeshare Mega Media and Marketing Group Inc. (TMMMG). The other cases previously filed include Case Nos. 11-60190-CR-Cohn, 11-60247-Cr-Marra, 11-60268-Cr-Hurley, 12-60019-Cr-Scola, 12-60149- Cr- Scola, and 12-mj-6114-RSR.
According to the indictment, in June 2009, Pappalardo incorporated TMMMG, using defendant Duany and Duany’s mother as nominee owners. Pappalardo was a co-owner of TMMMG, and Ditroia, Agovino, and Duany helped run TMMMG for him. According to the allegations in the indictment, the defendants conspired to unlawfully enrich themselves by making false representations over the telephone to individuals who were trying to sell their time-share units. Among the false statements, the defendants would tell customers, most of whom lived outside of the state of Florida, that the defendants had successfully sold their time-share unit and asked the customer to pay a fee to finalize the sale, a which fee would purportedly be refunded at closing. This fee ranged from at least $1,996 to as much as $10,000.
According to the indictment, the defendants knew that TMMMG never had any buyers for any of the sellers of their timeshare units. In this way, during the 10 months that TMMMG was in business, it fraudulently induced customers to send approximately $5,000,000 to TMMMG, of which Pappalardo received at least $300,000 in checks and hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash from victims.
If convicted, defendants Pappalardo, Agovino, Ditroia, and Duany each face a possible statutory maximum sentence of up to 40 years in prison. Defendants Bleich, Lovinsky, Al-Dabbas, Scheel,
Harrington, Lowton, Lee, Rockmore, Davis, Oliver, and Ross each face a possible statutory maximum sentence of up to twenty years in prison.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the FBI. Mr. Ferrer also recognized the assistance provided by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and the Federal Trade Commission during this investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey N. Kaplan.

Woman convicted of rape www.privateofficer.com

SAN DIEGO CA March 8 2013  — A woman accused of committing a sexual attack on a younger woman in a moving car, then leaving her naked on the side of a San Diego freeway, was convicted Wednesday of rape with a foreign object.

Catherine McCoy, 49, faced several charges in connection with the Aug. 18, 2011, attack. In addition to rape, the jury found several allegations to be true, including kidnapping and personal use of a deadly and dangerous weapon.

McCoy was convicted in a previous trial of kidnapping, assault and making a criminal threat, but that jury was unable to reach a verdict on the rape charge. The panel deadlocked 11-1 in favor of finding her guilty. Prosecutors retried her on the sole remaining count.

After taking the verdicts Wednesday, San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser set a sentencing hearing for March 22. McCoy now faces a maximum of 33 years to life in prison, said Deputy District Attorney George Modlin.

The victim, who was 21 at the time, was targeted because she had sex with McCoy’s boyfriend, according to previous testimony. The younger woman had been warned to stay away from him by McCoy and others.

The victim testified that she had been doing drugs at a City Heights home with some of the people who lived there. The morning of the attack, she took a brief trip across the border to Mexico to buy heroin and returned to the house later to collect some belonging she had left behind.

McCoy beckoned her into the garage, and moments later Christopher Carrera grabbed her by the hair and forced her into the back seat of a white Ford SUV.

McCoy got into the vehicle and proceeded to strike the woman with her fists and a flashlight while Carrera drove. After ordering the woman to remove her clothes, McCoy assaulted the woman with a golf club, the prosecutor said.

The attackers then left the woman on the side of state Route 125 in the Spring Valley area north of state Route 54.

McCoy’s lawyer, Charles Adair, said during the trial that McCoy admitted she had beaten the woman but did not rape her.

Carrera was convicted last year of felony charges related to the attack and a separate incident in Old Town involving a father and his teenage son. He was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison.

Bribery scheme at VRE leads to 2-year prison term www.privateofficer.com

Washington DC Jan 20 2013

A former Virginia Railway Express employee was sentenced to two years in prison Friday for taking bribes in order to ensure that a rail subcontractor was retained, officials said.
Former facilities manager Kevin W. Jannell, 49, of Fredericksburg had pleaded guilty to orchestrating a kickback scheme under which he received thousands in payments from 2003 through March 2012, according to court documents.
He was ordered to repay $357,000 and complete 100 hours of community service, prosecutors said.
“Bribes should never be just another cost of doing business with the government,” U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride said in a statement. “Those who corrupt the contracting process will spend years in prison paying for their crimes.”
Jannell conspired to have a person from a company identified in court documents only as “Company A” make monthly deposits of about $4,000. He gave the company positive internal evaluations and spoke with the primary maintenance contractor’s executives to help ensure that the company was retained as a subcontractor.
Mark Roeber, a VRE spokesman, has said that the arrangement under scrutiny involved a subcontractor who was hired as part of a five-year, $2.6 million-a-year contract for landscaping, trash removal and other maintenance work.
The primary contractor, NV Enterprises of Reston, was offered a six-month extension for $1.6 million in October because VRE’s leaders were worried about switching contractors just before winter was to start. VRE officials plan to put the contract out for bidding at the end of the six-month extension, Roeber said.
NV Enterprises has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and company officials have assured VRE that they did not know about the scheme. They have also replaced the subcontractor.
A copy of a subcontractor’s invoice obtained by The Washington Post indicates that a $3,000 payment for “consulting services” was given to a company owned by the former employee. That was the scheme prosecutors outlined in court documents. Jannell sought to keep the payments secret by having them deposited into a shell company’s account.
Jannell’s attorney, federal public defender Whitney Minter, declined to comment Friday.

Source-Washington Post

Fla police charge three people with Target store shooting www.privateofficer.com

MIRAMAR Fla Dec 15 2012 — — Police on Thursday released surveillance video and the names of three suspects accused of shoplifting at a Target Superstore that triggered a police shooting.
Eugene Foster, 49, Nemiah Covington, 42, and Rubie Mosley, 58 were arrested after Foster, Covington and another woman stole two flat-screen televisions from the Target at 16901 Miramar Parkway on Wednesday evening, police said.
Surveillance video from Target shows a man pushing a red cart down the aisle to the electronics department in the back of the store. At least two people are seen loading two large boxes into the cart and wheeling their way back toward the front of the store and out the door.
A parking lot surveillance camera shows Covington walking to a green Toyota followed by what appears to be Foster pushing the cart with the flat screen TV boxes. They load them into the car and leave.
Three of the four suspects were taken into custody a few hundred yards away after a traffic stop in a neighboring strip shopping center on Wednesday night. Miramar police were still searching for the fourth suspect a day later.
The arrests happened after an officer spotted the suspects’ Toyota traveling eastbound on Miramar Parkway without lights on. The car pulled into a nearby Chili’s parking lot. The suspects got out of the car, disobeying police orders, and Covington ran off, police spokeswoman Tania Rues said.
The other three jumped back in the car and drove to the west side of Chili’s where the fourth suspect bailed out and ran off. The driver, identified as Mosley, with Foster as a passenger, sped toward a Miramar police officer who was searching for Covington on foot, Rues said.
“That officer is the one that fired at the vehicle that was heading toward him,” she said. His name was not released because of the ongoing investigation.
The Toyota was hit by gunfire but neither Mobley nor Foster was wounded, she said.
The gunshots could be heard in the neighboring Nautica gated community, resident Keven Tia Roustan said.
“I was sitting in bed with the windows open and I heard 5 or 6 shots and then police sirens,” she said. “I thought it was just somebody playing with a BB gun in the neighborhood. I didn’t think it was actual gunshots.”
The Toyota sped around the Chili’s parking lot before crashing into a parked car, several sign posts and some landscaping before coming to rest near a palm tree inches from the restaurant’s wall. The crash caused minor damage, police said.
Foster and Mosley were taken into custody, along with Covington, who was arrested after police used a helicopter and police dogs to search the surrounding neighborhoods to find him.
Detectives were still searching for the fourth suspect, described as a heavyset woman who was wearing a white jacket over a blue dress.
Miramar police ask anyone with information to contact Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.

Source-tribune.com

Rome Georgia police charge 4 people with thefts www.privateofficer.com

 

Rome GA Nov 8 2012 Officers arrested four people on shoplifting charges on Friday, two each from two different locations, according to Floyd County Jail reports.

According to the reports:

Melinda Gay Green, 49, of 87 Hennon Drive, and her son Cory William Green, 23, of 107 Kirton St., were each charged with misdemeanor shoplifting from the West Rome Walmart. The Greens stole nearly $50 worth of health and beauty products which Melinda Green concealed in her purse just before 12:30 p.m.

Kerry Waymond Wood, 24, of 1736 Johnson Lake Road, Cedartown, and Hannah Brittany Welchel, 22, of 239 Felton Rockmart Road, stole clothes valued at $298 from Belks on Martha Berry Highway on Friday just before 1 p.m. They were each charged with misdemeanor theft by shoplifting.

Wood, Welchel, and the Greens remained in jail Friday night.

Source:RN-T.

Staten Island man busted for impersonating Red Cross worker – attempting to burglarize Sandy evacuated homes www.privateofficer.com

 

Staten Island NY Nov 7 2012 A Staten Island man was busted for impersonating a Red Cross worker and attempting to burglarize evacuated homes during the Hurricane Sandy relief effort, police said.

Alfonso Manzo, 49, of Tottenville wore a red and white Red Cross jacket to give the impression that he was helping storm victims, according to authorities.

Officers spotted Manzo peering into windows along Midland Avenue in Midland Beachat 7:30 p.m. on Friday, reported the Staten Island Advance.

He allegedly claimed to be a volunteer for the humanitarian organization helping storm victims, but he did not have any documentation confirming those claims.

Manzo admitted that he was neither helping others nor affiliated with the Red Cross, according to court documents.

He was reportedly carrying six white pills, which appeared to be methadone, at the time of his arrest.

He was charged with second-degree criminal impersonation and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to the Staten Island Advance.

Manzo has a long history of robberies dating back to 1986. He was arrested earlier this year and charged with grand larceny after allegedly stole a Chevrolet Equinox froma Tottenville repair shop and drove it down to Caesars Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, police said.

source-www.nydailynews.com

Former DeKalb County Deputy Police Chief sentenced for taking bribes www.privateofficer.com

 

DeKalb County GA Oct 28 2012 A former DeKalb County Deputy Police Chief who accepted bribes and the businessman who bribed him were sentenced today by United States District Judge William S. Duffey, Jr.

Donald E. Frank, 49, of Monroe, Georgia, and Amin Budhwani, 48, a citizen of India who resides in Atlanta, previously pleaded guilty and cooperated against a third defendant in the case, Willie Daren Durrett, 47, of Tucker, Georgia. Durrett, who was serving as a DeKalb County Police lieutenant at the time of the bribery, will be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, October 26, 2012, before U.S. District Court Judge William S. Duffey, Jr.

United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “Budhwani paid Police Officers Frank and Durrett to act as his collection agents and to intimidate citizens they were sworn to protect into settling their financial disputes with him. Instead of enforcing the law, these officers chose to break it, lining their own pockets in the process. Their corrupt conduct is deserving of the sentences the court imposed.” (FBI press release)

Mark F. Giuliano, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office said, “Criminal investigations involving police corruption are always disheartening but, because of their very nature, remain a priority for the FBI. The sentencing of defendants Frank and Durrett, who were experienced officers that held rank within their department, brings to a close a case that ended two promising law enforcement careers because of their abandonment of their sworn oaths and the public’s trust for personal gain.” (Ibid)

Frank was sentenced to three years, seven months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and 100 hours of community service. On April 1, 2011, Frank pleaded guilty to entering into a conspiracy with fellow DeKalb police officer Willie Darren Durrett to take bribes from Budhwani.

Budhwani was sentenced to one year, eight months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and fined $15,000. On June 1, 2010, Budhwani pleaded guilty to bribing Frank.

According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: From September 2008 through August 2009, Willie Daren Durrett, who was then serving as a DeKalb County Police lieutenant, conspired with Donald E. Frank, who was then serving as the Deputy Chief of Police for DeKalb County, to accept money from an area businessman, Amin Budhwani, in exchange for influence and official actions as DeKalb County Police officers.

Budhwani, who owned and operated several gas stations and convenience stores in the Atlantaarea, initially approached Durrett in 2007 to help him intimidate a small business owner with whom Budhwani had a financial dispute. Durrett made threatening phone calls to the business owner while identifying himself as a DeKalb County Police officer, which resulted in the individual paying Budhwani over $10,000 to settle the dispute. Durrett also required the employees of the business to cash their paychecks at Budhwani’s convenience store.

In 2008, Durrett introduced Budhwani to Deputy Chief Frank after Budhwani sought Durrett’s assistance in persuading a woman with whom Budhwani was involved to stop seeing him. Durrett suggested that Budhwani go to Frank because he could better deal with the matter. Durrett told Frank that when he did anything for Budhwani, he should make sure and get paid for the work. Durrett, in turn, shook Budhwani down for payments, asking Budhwani “How do you like our services?” Durrett was referring to the work that he and Frank did on Budhwani’s behalf. Budhwani testified he paid Durrett $5,000 for this incident.

Budhwani had another dispute with a business partner in October 2008 for which he again sought assistance from Frank and Durrett. This business partner was Pakistani and was working inAtlanta. Budhwani had Frank call the business partner and intimate that he was being investigated by Homeland Security. Frank arranged for other DeKalb County officers to conduct a traffic stop of the business partner and to drive around the hotel where the man was staying. Budhwani then convinced the business partner that law enforcement was following him, must think he was a terrorist, and that he should leave the country, leaving all his business interests to Budhwani. Budhwani then arranged for Durrett to meet him and the business partner at the airport to escort the partner through security. In reality, this business partner was never under investigation and did not need an escort, but because of Frank, Budhwani, and Durrett’s actions, the Pakistani business partner felt threatened and frightened. Budhwani testified he paid Durrett $2,000 for his assistance at the airport.

Deputy Chief Frank continued to coerce individuals who owed Budhwani money to pay Budhwani the money they owed. An employee of Budhwani’s testified at trial that Frank made him sign a repayment letter agreeing to pay Budhwani $20,000. The employee complied with the request out of fear of being jailed or deported.

Ultimately, Budhwani paid Frank and Durrett thousands of dollars each in cash for using their positions as DeKalb County Police officers to assist Budhwani with these personal matters. Their corrupt activity came to the attention of the FBI after other DeKalb County officers reported these police officers to the FBI. Frank was fired from the DeKalb County Police Department on May 26, 2010. Durrett resigned from the DeKalb County Police Department in 2011.

After a trial, during which both Frank and Budhwani testified against Durrett, Durrett was found guilty by a jury on July 20, 2012, of conspiring to take bribes and on two counts of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes from Budhwani between 2007 and 2008.

Organized New Jersey shoplifting team pleads guilty www.privateofficer.com

Jersey City NJ Oct 26 2012 A man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a second-degree shoplifting charge after leading an organized retail theft ring that targeted Home Depot stores in New Jersey.

Julio Arriola Suarez, 49, of West New York, a.k.a Jimmy R. Alcivar, admitted to committing thefts totaling more than $1,000 in merchandise as part of a retail theft enterprise, according to the NJ Office of the Attorney General.

Suarez was arrested on April 3 in Jersey City. An investigation determined that he led a ring that committed thefts at multiple Home Depot stores per day, stealing hundreds of dollars in merchandise by “under-ringing” it through self-checkout areas.

The state will recommend that Suarez be sentenced to four years in state prison. The sentencing for Suarez is scheduled for Dec. 14.

Three additional members of the ring pleaded guilty earlier this month and face jail time.

David Pulgarin, 29, formerly of Union City and West New York, and Javier Duque Piza, 56, formerly of West New York, pleaded guilty on Oct. 9. Julio Duque Barahona, 30, recently in prison in New York state, pleaded guilty on Oct. 10.

Pulgarin is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 2, and Piza and Barahona, on Nov. 16. The state will recommend that each man be sentenced to 364 days in the county jail and a period of probation.

A fifth man, Nicholas Arriola Cortez, 49, formerly of Union City, was charged in April in the investigation. He remains a fugitive and is being sought on a warrant.

The ring members were based in Hudson County. Pulgarin is a naturalized U.S. citizen, but the others are not U.S. citizens. Suarez, Piza and Barahona could potentially face deportation on the charges.

The theft ring targeted approximately 70 Home Depot stores, primarily in New Jersey, but also in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

Man convicted of slithering on movie theater floors stealing credit cards www.privateofficer.com

HARTFORD CT Oct 25 2012 — A man who may have stolen as much as $70,000 a week by slithering beneath theater seats while movies were playing and lifting credit cards from women’s’ pocketbooks was convicted Monday of fraud and identity theft crimes.

Anthony Johnson, 49, and a string of accomplices used the stolen cards to collect thousands of dollars in cash advances from Connecticut’s gambling casinos and to make tens of thousands of dollars more in retail purchases in Connecticut and elsewhere, authorities said.

On a “good” weekend, Johnson collected $50,000 to $70,000 from the scheme, one of his accomplices testified last week at his trial at U.S. District Court in Hartford. He had to settle for $30,000 or $40,000 on a bad weekend, the accomplice said.

The accomplice, who agreed to cooperate with authorities, said Johnson, of Philadelphia, typically worked with women accomplices. They bought tickets to motion pictures likely to be popular with female audiences and chose seats from which they could watch how women in the audience stored their pocketbooks.

“Once the movie started, Johnson crawled on the floor, removed credit cards from the stored purses, and returned the wallet to the purses,” according to an FBI affidavit. “Johnson crawled in this manner around the theater until he was done…”

Afterward, Johnson used counterfeiting equipment to manufacture driver’s licenses bearing the photograph of his current accomplice and the identifying information of the owner of the stolen credit cards.

Armed with phony identification, Johnson and his accomplices went on shopping sprees.

With three cards stolen from the pocketbook of a woman watching a feature at the Bow-Tie Cinema in Greenwich on Dec. 27, 2008, Johnson and his accomplice ran up $54,000 in charges. A variety of retailers and the Foxwoods Casino turned down another $40,000 in charges.

The FBI credited a big break in the case to dogged work by a Greenwich police detective who took the complaint from the Greenwich theater and refused to drop it in spite of setbacks. The detective collected evidence of crimes fitting the same pattern elsewhere in New England and the Northeast.

The detective put together profiles of Johnson and his various accomplices, according to information provided by the FBI.

Johnson was tried and convicted of crimes associated with thefts from the Bow-Tie Cinema inGreenwich, the Gallery Cinemas in Colchester and at Fairfield Cinemas in Fairfield.

During a theft from the Colchester theater on Aug. 15, 2010, one of the stolen credit cards was used at a gas station 52 minutes into a 90-minute feature. Later in the day, the card was used to obtain $4,000 in cash advances and an $863 item from a Coach store at the Mohegan Sun casino.

The FBI said Johnson has been creeping over theater floors since at least 2007, when he was released from prison in a case involving the theft of a diamond in the Philadelphia area.

A jury convicted Johnson Monday of seven counts of unauthorized use of an access device, such as a credit or debit card, and two counts of aggravated identity theft. The access device convictions carry maximum 10-year sentences and the identity theft charges carry additional two-year sentences.

Source-hartford courant

Four Chicago school employees charged with stealing over $380,000 www.privateofficer.com

 

 

Chicago IL Aug 27 2012 When Carol Howley was hired by the City Colleges of Chicago in 1995, the professor allegedly told administrators she was working toward her PhD.

She never received a the degree, but for the next 15 years, Howley lied to her superiors and eventually presented them with fake transcripts from Rush University that showed she reached her goal, allowing her to pocket an extra $307,000, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said.

If it weren’t for a prospective out of state employer, diligent local investigators and others, Howley, 64, and a handful of other former Chicago-area educators would have continued stealing money allocated for schools, Alvarez said Wednesday in announcing charges against the group in her ongoing “Operation Cookie Jar” probe.

“The theft of public money by individuals who are in positions of public trust is always egregious, but the theft of money from schools is absolutely outrageous and extremely offensive when the ultimate victims are our school children,” said Alvarez. She was joined by inspectors general for the Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges and by Thomas Utz, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General.

Howley remains in Fort Collins, Colo., where she currently lives, but she is expected to be arraigned here soon, officials said.

Another former City Colleges employee, Natatia Trotter-Gordon, 43, allegedly asked Northwestern Memorial Hospital workers who helped coordinate a conversational Spanish class to mail checks to her instead of Kennedy-King College. Through that ploy, Trotter-Gordon, then Kennedy-King’s director of Business and Industry, ended up with more than $51,000 in her personal bank account, Alvarez said.

Trotter-Gordon was ordered held in lieu of $75,000 bail for forgery Wednesday.

Louis James, 58, a former sports administrator for the Chicago Public Schools, is accused of forging checks, purchasing items and then returning them — and then pocketing the cash to buy champagne, flowers, chocolate, condoms and a king-size mattress.

Another former Chicago Public School employee, Sonia Lopez, 49, wrote 14 fraudulent checks to herself totaling $21,000 while she worked as a teaching assistant at Thurgood Marshall Middle School, Alvarez said.

Lopez is also accused of swiping $3,000 in cash from student fees and other payments.

Both James and Lopez were ordered held in lieu of $30,000 bail for their alleged crimes Wednesday.

Alvarez’s announcements came a day after former Harvey-Dixmoor School District 147 Supt. Alex Boyd was ordered held in lieu of $150,000 bail for theft and official misconduct charges for allegedly stealing the cash-strapped district’s money to line his own pockets.

Boyd’s secretary, Mable Chapman, was also charged with helping Boyd pull off his ruse by signing off on the fraudulent transactions, Alvarez said. Boyd, now 65, would allegedly buy Chapman airline tickets for trips using district funds. Five of Chapman’s friends and relatives ended up on the payroll, officials said. Chapman also asked maintenance staff to use district equipment to clear snow off her driveway in Harvey, Alvarez said.

Chapman, 58, wasn’t in court Tuesday but arrangements have since been made for her surrender, Alvarez said.

Source:Sun-Times

Upshur County teacher arrested for having sex with14-year-old female www.privateofficer.com

 

 

BUCKHANNON WV Aug 14 2012 — A fifth-grade teacher in Upshur County has been arrested for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old female.

The victim, who is now 15, told the Upshur County Sheriff’s Department that Thomas Brian Lamb, 49, of Buckhannon had sexual intercourse with her between December 19, 2010 and November 14, 2011, according to the criminal complaint in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s office.

According to W.V.a State Code, “A person is guilty of sexual assault in the third degree when:

“(1) The person engages in sexual intercourse or sexual intrusion with another person who is mentally defective or mentally incapacitated; or

“(2) The person, being 16 years old or more, engages in sexual intercourse or sexual intrusion with another person who is less than 16 years old and who is at least four years younger than the defendant and is not married to the defendant.”

Lamb was arraigned before Magistrate Mike Coffman, who set bond at $100,000.

He remained in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail Sunday afternoon.

As a condition of his bail, Lamb is not permitted to have contact with the alleged victim’s family or contact with anyone under the age of 18, according to the file.

Lamb is a fifth-grade teacher at Buckhannon Academy Elementary School.

If convicted, Lamb faces confinement in a state correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than five years, or a fine of not more than $10,000 and imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years.

Lt. Mark Davis is the investigating officer.

Source:the record delta

Upshur County Teacher Arrested on Sexual Assault Charges www.privateofficer.com

 

BUCKHANNON WV Aug 11 2012 - The Upshur County Sheriff’s Department arrested a Buckhannon man Thursday on sexual assault charges.

Thomas Lamb, 49, of Buckhannon is charged with sexual assault in the third degree. The criminal complaint said a 15-year-old girl states Lamb had sexual intercourse with her.

Lamb is a teacher at Buckhannon Upshur Intermediate School, according to a news release from the Upshur County Sheriff’s Department.

Lamb was arraigned before Upshur County Magistrate Michael Coffman, and bail was set at $100,000.

He remains in the Tygart Valley Regional Jail.

If convicted he will face up to five years in prison.

source-wboy.com

Former Daytona Beach police sergeant and son arrested for drug trafficking www.privateofficer.com

 

Daytona Beach Fla June 6 2012 A former Daytona Beach police sergeant and his son were arrested this morning for dealing in prescription pills, a South Daytona police official said.

Former police Sgt. Anthony Annatone, Jr., 49, and his son Aaron Annatone, 24, were arrested along with two others — Angelo Lavezza, 22, and Desirae Shamp, 22.

The four people were arrested after a two-year surveillance by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, said South Daytona Police Lt. Ronnie Wright.

Anthony Annatone, who was under surveillance, was arrested on his way to work this morning.

“He was stopped at State Road 40 and Timber Creek Road at 9 a.m. this morning while driving a truck from Turner’s Pest Control,” Wright said.

Mark Slater, Chief Executive Officer for Turner Pest Control, said Anthony Annatone had only been with the company as a part-time field technican for a little more than a week.

A background check and drug test done on Annaotone when he was hired did not raise any red flags, Slater said.

“He was clean,” Slater said. “I just want people to know that Annatone does not necessarily repesent the kind of people that work for us. We have a lot of good people who have worked hard to make our company what it is.”

Aaron Annatone was arrested at an apartment at 1600 Jones Street at 8 a.m. after the FBI Gang Taskforce/Safe Street Taskforce, made up of members of the South Daytona and Daytona Beach police departments and Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, raided it, Wright said.

Lavezza and Shamp were the brokers of the oxycodone dealings, and the transactions took place in South Daytona, Wright said.

Shamp was picked up at an apartment at Sweetgum Lane in Port Orange while Lavezza was arrested at his girlfriend’s Daytona Beach apartment at 1600 Big Tree Rd..

Anthony Annatone, Jr., and his son, Aaron Annatone, were each charged with trafficking in oxycodone and arrested on $50,000 bail. Anthony Annatone has bailed out of jail, Wright said.

Lavezza and Shamp were each charged with principal to trafficking in oxycodone and were both taken into custody on $50,000 bail, Wright said.

Source:daytona news journal

Chelsea bouncer charged with stabbing patron www.privateofficer.com

 

Chelsea MA May 24 2012 A bouncer at a Chelsea strip joint is being held on $50,000 cash bail on charges he stabbed a club-goer 10 times in the head, neck and chest after clocking out and tailing the drunken victim when he was booted from the club, authorities said.

Jody Lassiter, 49, of Everett, had argued with the victim, a 33-year-old Somerville man, earlier in the night on May 15, and then started a fight with him steps from the front entrance of King Arthur’s Lounge, according to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.

The bloody brouhaha sent the victim to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he remained in critical condition before being released five days later, authorities said.

Lassiter, meanwhile, had “fled into the night,” Chelsea police said. The victim had been kicked out of the club after he became “visibly drunk and belligerent,” according to the district attorney’s office.

Lassiter, a “floor man” at the club, was arraigned yesterday in Chelsea District Court, where Judge D. Dunbar Livingstone imposed the hefty bail, authorities said.

The situation sparked memories of past violence at the Beacham Street club, including a brutal shooting spree in 2008 when authorities said 280-pound “Fat Jesse” Camacho unleashed a hail of bullets, killing 28-year-old Jeffrey Santiago as he lay face down on the floor.

Camacho, who also injured two others during the bullet-laden barroom brawl, was sentenced in 2010 to life in prison without parole, but only after authorities tracked him down in Mexico.

Police were also called to the club in December for an alleged dancer-on-dancer attack. Eva Jimenez, 30, is facing charges she slashed a 21-year-old co-worker in the face with a box-cutter when she accused Jimenez of stealing money from her, costing Jimenez her job, authorities said

NJ shoplifter unknowingly walks into a police stakeout www.privateofficer.com

 

Morris County NJ May 21 2012 A Bronx man who allegedly got creative with attempts to shoplift from The Home Depot was caught on Wednesday when he unknowingly walked into a police stakeout, said police.

Police report that John Hussain, 49, of the Bronx, N.Y., was a shoplifting suspect at the Route 23 store when he returned to the scene of the alleged crime… and police were watching. Sgt. Chris Biro had already launched an investigation into a May 2 shoplifting incident in which the suspect allegedly stashed Home Depot items in a garbage bag in the store’s garden center and came back after closing to cut the fence and snatch the bag.

Through the police’s investigation, Sgt. James MacIntosh came up with a description of both the suspect and the vehicle – a black Lexus.

“The individual was caught on video cutting the bottom of the fence in the garden department and removing items they had placed there earlier,” said MacIntosh.

On Wednesday, May 9, Sgt. Biro allegedly saw a black Lexus parked in the store’s lot and observed the suspect walking into the store. He tipped off the store’s loss prevention personnel, which was able to maintain surveillance of the individual while he was inside The Home Depot.

“He was seen walking around the store selecting multiple items and placing them in the garden center,” said MacIntosh. He said Hussain then allegedly left the store without purchasing anything.

Police officers set up the stakeout at 9:20 p.m., suspecting that Hussain would return that evening. At 10:20 p.m., the Lexus was observed outside The Home Depot and the suspect was apprehended at the scene by officers Travis Roemmele and Charles Quant Jr. In a black garbage bag, police allegedly found a Delta faucet valued at $218.

Sgt. Biro charged Hussain with possession of burglary tools, shoplifting, and criminal mischief, the latter stemming from damage to the store’s fence.

Furthermore, Detective John Barone charged Hussain with shoplifting, burglary, and criminal mischief in connection with a May 2 incident at the store.

With bail set at $25,000 and no 10-percent option, Hussain landed in the Morris County Correctional Facility. The Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration Department has been notified and may place a detainer against Hussain in light of warrants on felonies from New York relating to burglary and theft, authorities said.

In addition, the Lexus was been impounded and police are awaiting a search warrant for its contents.

Source:northjersey.com

Dorchester County Teacher Arrested on Charge of Soliciting Minor www.privateofficer.com

 

Dorchester County SC May 14 2012 Sheriff deputies have arrested a man they say committed criminal solicitation of and inappropriately touched a minor as a teacher at Dubose Middle.

William Albert Brown, 49, of Summerville was arrested Friday after a Thursday incident was brought to the authorities, according to Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office PIO Maj. John Garrison.

According to the office, deputies received a call about a Dubose Middle teacher making inappropriate comments to a 14-year-old student. Investigators discovered the student was also allegedly touched in an inappropriate manner.

Brown is charged with assault second degree and criminal solicitation of a minor.

This matter is still under investigation.

Ohio man pleads guilty to robbery at Mentor Walmart www.privateofficer.com

 

Mentor OH May 13 2012 A Painesville Township man pleaded guilty to robbery after he scuffled with a security guard at the Mentor Walmart back in January.

Virgil Combs, 49, pleaded guilty to robbery, as well as an unrelated charge of receiving stolen property, Monday in Lake County Court of Common Pleas.

Combs faces between two and nine years in prison when Judge Richard Collins Jr. sentences him June 4.

Combs was arrested on Jan. 13.

A security guard spotted Virgil Combs walking around the the Walmart that evening. The guard thought Combs looked like someone who had stolen a television from Walmart previously, Mentor Police Lt. Ken Zbiegien said at the time of Combs’ arrest.

Consequently, the guard watched Combs and saw him take a TV and use wire cutters to cut the scanner from its box. Then Combs tried to take the television but security guards and the store manager stopped him.

Combs refused to cooperate and scuffled with the guards.

At one point, he shouted, “I have a gun and I’ll shoot you,” according to the police report.

Combs then pulled the wire cutters from his pocket and hit one of the guards in the neck, giving him a 1-inch cut, Zbiegien said.

An off-duty Mentor Police officer happened to be shopping at the store. He saw the fracas and handcuffed Combs.

The guard who was cut declined medical treatment.

Source:mentor patch

Sprague High School teacher arrested on sex abuse charges www.privateofficer.com

 

SALEM OR April 18 2012 - A Sprague High School teacher was arrested on sex abuse charges Monday.

Michael Montgomery, 49, was arrested on five counts of second-degree sex abuse, according to Salem Police Lieutenant Steve Birr.

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife officer found Montgomery and a 17-year-old student in a car parked at the Baskett Slough recreation area on Friday, Birr said.

Police initially did not have any information regarding criminal activity. But the girl on Saturday confirmed a relationship with Montgomery had been sexual, investigators said.

Montgomery was hired in 1986 at McNary High School and has been at his current school since 1989. He teaches English, Spanish, French and Social Studies.

Police said at one point, the victim was a student in one of Montgomery’s classes, but it was unclear whether that was still the case.

The district put him on paid administrative leave.

Virginia Beach police sergeant arrested in prostitution sting www.privateofficer.com

 

CHESAPEAKE, Va. April 4 2012 - A Virginia Beach police sergeant was one of five men arrested during an undercover escort operation bust in Chesapeake, police spokesman Jimmy Barnes confirmed with WAVY.com.

The arrests were made on Friday, March 30. Chesapeake Police were investigating the solicitation of prostitutes in the Greenbrier area of the city, according to Officer Kelly O’Sullivan.

The following five individuals were arrested and charged with solicitation of prostitution, a misdemeanor.

•Dale R. Lamaine, 46, of the 600 block Jacqueline Av, Virginia Beach

•Jonathan W. Barlett, 26, of the 2800 block Lambert Trail, Chesapeake

•Brandon L. Green, 21, of the 1700 block Birch Trail Circle, Chesapeake

•Luis A. Solano Herrera, 30, of the 5400 block Reunion Pt, Raleigh NC

•Mark E. Vidrine, 49, of the 1000 block Boagie Ct, Virginia Beach

Chesapeake police spokeswoman Kelly O’Sullivan said the suspects used the internet or telephone to arrange a meeting with a prostitute, who was really an undercover officer. When both parties arrived to the 1500 block of Crossways Boulevard, which O’ Sullivan described as the hotel district, the purpose for the meeting was again verified, resulting in the arrests.

Vidrine is employed by the Virginia Beach Police Department as a Sergeant Supervisor. According to Barnes, Vidrine has been with the force 17 years. He is currently on administrative assignment.

Source:WAVY.com

Former Alabama state trooper charged with felony theft and ethics charges www.privateofficer.com

 

 

MOBILE, Alabama –March 18 2012
Attorney General Luther Strange announced the arrest today of another former state trooper for felony theft and ethics charges. Terry Stallworth, 49, of Mobile, surrendered today at the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office. His arrest comes a month after the arrests of two other former state troopers and a former custodian for a trooper post.

Stallworth had been assigned to the Mobile office of the Department of Public Safety, as had been one of the troopers arrested last month. The other trooper and the custodian had been assigned to the Tuscaloosa State Trooper Post.

Attorney General Strange’s Office presented evidence to a Mobile County grand jury on March 1, 2012, resulting in the indictment of Stallworth. Specifically, the indictment charges Stallworth with:

Second-degree theft of gasoline valued at more than $500, occurring and continuing between the approximate dates of December 1, 2010 and March 8, 2011; and
Use of his official public position as an Alabama State Trooper for unlawful personal gain to himself or a family member, the gain being gasoline.
No further information about the investigation or about Stallworth’s alleged crimes other than that stated in the indictment may be released at this time.

Second-degree theft is a class C felony, punishable by one year and a day, to 10 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $15,000. Use of official position for personal gain, a violation of the state ethics law, is a class B felony, punishable by two to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $30,000.

Attorney General Strange commended those involved in the case, noting the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, Assistant Attorney General Pete Smyczek and Deputy Attorney General Mike Duffy of the Attorney General’s Public Corruption and White Collar Crime Division.

Source:AL.com