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Two men who escaped from Blackburn Correctional Complex in Lexington are now back in custody.
Cincinnati police officers found Willard Wilson and Donnie Johnson today near Spring Grove Avenue and Winton Road.
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The two escaped from the correctional complex Sunday.
Wilson was serving a 22-year sentence for burglary, and Johnson was serving 13 years for robbery.
Snohomish County Sheriff’s detectives are seeking the public’s assistance in locating 28-year-old Heather M. Hemmer, a resident of Everett who has been missing since Jan. 11.
Relatives are concerned because Hemmer has children, who are safe, and it is unusual for her not to stay in contact with them.
Hemmer stands 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 122 pounds. She has blonde hair, blue eyes and several tattoos. She may be in either the Everett or Arlington area.
http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html
If anyone has seen Hemmer, please contact the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office Tip Line at 425-388-3845.
Alci Bonannee, 36, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has been found guilty of running an identity theft tax fraud scheme from December 2010 to June 2012, during which approximately 2,000 fraudulent tax returns were submitted to the IRS seeking $11 million in refunds, of which several million dollars were deposited into bank accounts controlled by Bonannee and her co-conspirators, who then withdrew the money in cash.
http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html
“Law enforcement officers searched Bonannee’s home and found a notebook and folder containing more than 1,000 names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers belonging to identity theft victims, court records related to the case show,” writes The South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Ihosvani Rodriguez. “Bonannee was convicted Monday of one count of conspiracy to defraud the government, nine counts of filing false claims in violation, nine counts of aggravated identity theft and fourteen counts of wire fraud, according to federal prosecutors.”
“According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, the defendant filed a large percentage of these fraudulent returns from her house in Fort Lauderdale, from her friends’ houses in Broward County and from a hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement. “The defendant filed many of these fraudulent returns using compromised personal identification information obtained from a nurse at a local hospital.”
Bonannee, who will be sentenced on April 26, 2013, faces a maximum sentence of 351 years in prison.
The owner and general manager of a Palm Desert swimming pool construction and maintenance company faces criminal charges for alleged misconduct while running the company, the district attorney’s office announced Friday.
Hemet resident Michael Gregory Silverberg, 31, owner of United States Pools Corp., is accused of defrauding the California Compensation Insurance Fund, two insurance companies and the state Board of Equalization, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
http://liarcatchers.com/insurance_fraud.html
Silverberg faces two counts of falsifying statements to reduce worker’s compensation insurance rates, one count of falsifying workers’ compensation and one count of failing to collect taxes, all felonies, and a misdemeanor charge of signing a report to evade an amount due. He also faces a sentence-enhancing allegation of taking more than $500,000 through the commission of two or more white-collar crimes.
Silverberg was arrested on Jan. 21 and pleaded not guilty on Jan. 25 at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
He is due back in court on Feb. 26. If convicted, he faces up to 16 years in prison, according to District Attorney’s Office spokesman John Hall.
The Inland Empire Premium Fraud Task Force started investigating Silverberg after a complaint was made about him by a trade organization serving the California swimming pool industry, Hall said.
Silverberg allegedly reported his pool cleaning employees as independent contractors to avoid paying the appropriate payroll taxes and workers’ compensation insurance premiums. He also allegedly failed to report his new pool construction employees on his workers’ compensation policy, Hall said.
In addition, the investigation revealed that Silverberg allegedly failed to properly report the required sales tax due to the state Board of Equalization on an account with a local pool contractor supplier, Hall said.
The alleged fraudulent actions resulted in a loss of about $566,950 to the various agencies between Jan. 1, 2007, and March 5, 2012, Hall said.
The case is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Michael Mayman.
The Inland Empire Premium Fraud Task Force includes investigators from the Riverside and San Bernardino county district attorney’s offices and the California Department of Insurance’s fraud division.
A supervisor of the Wise County Sheriff’s Department inmate work crew was in jail Friday, facing eight charges involving the sexual assault of a child, according to a news release from the department.
Bail for Jeff Shurbet, 47, of Paradise was set at $645,000.
The department received a complaint about Shurbet on Tuesday, and Texas Ranger Jim Holland was asked to investigate to avoid the appearance of partiality toward an employee, the news release stated.
http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html
Sheriff David Walker suspended Shurbet without pay and removed him from county property during the investigation.
“Ranger Holland conducted numerous interviews and gathered physical evidence,” the news release stated. “Jeff Shurbet was interviewed and admitted to the allegations of eight felony sexual offenses.”
Those are seven counts of sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony, and one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child, a first-degree felony, according to the release.
Bail was set at $75,000 for each of the second-degree felonies and $120,000 for the first-degree felony.
Shurbet remained jailed Friday afternoon.
A Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to 20 counts related to child sex abuse and child pornography was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison.
Curtis Wehmeyer, 48, was taken into custody at the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center in St. Paul after his sentencing Friday afternoon.
The criminal sexual conduct involving two brothers, then ages 14 and 12, more than two years ago in a camper parked at Blessed Sacrament church in St. Paul, where he lived and worked as the parish pastor.
http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html
In early November, Wehmeyer admitted to one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, punishable by up to 25 years in prison and a possible $35,000 fine, as well as two counts of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct and 17 counts of possessing child pornography.
“I’m very pleased with the sentence, and I hope that it sends a very strong message to people who are abusing children, especially in positions of power and authority,” said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi.
During the summer of 2010, Wehmeyer brought the two young brothers to his camper, parked in the lot of the church, and showed them pornographic movies. He gave them alcohol and marijuana as he molested one and exposed himself to the other.
The priest had quietly admitted to touching one boy’s genitals on more than one occasion, masturbating in front of them and possessing pornographic photos and movies showing nude prepubescent boys alone and engaged in sexual acts with each other.
Investigators found the videos and photos on the priest’s laptop computer in a closet of the rectory in July. Many of the images had been deleted but were still retrievable from the hard drive, an allegation to which Wehmeyer admitted.
Each of the 17 child porn counts is punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000 or both.
Wehmeyer also was ordered to provide a DNA sample for registration as a predatory sex offender, and he will be on conditional release for 10 years after prison.
In June, the archdiocese was informed of Wehmeyer’s criminal actions and immediately reported it to St. Paul police. The archdiocese cooperated fully with the police investigation, and Wehmeyer was immediately removed from all of his ministerial duties.
Upon pleading guilty, the archdiocese petitioned the Holy See for Wehmeyer’s dismissal from the clerical state, which, if accepted, will prohibit him from ever exercising priestly ministry.
Wehmeyer was ordained a priest in 2001, and served as parochial vicar at St. Joseph parish in West St. Paul between 2001 and 2006. He served at Blessed Sacrament parish in St. Paul from 2006 to 2009, and was named pastor on July 1, 2009. Blessed Sacrament merged with St. Thomas the Apostle in 2011, and Wehmeyer remained pastor until he was removed on June 21, 2012.
The archdiocese said in a statement, it “deeply regrets the pain caused by Wehmeyer’s actions and continues to offer support and assistance to all concerned.”
Anyone having knowledge of misconduct within a parish or school should call the proper authorities and is encouraged to notify the archdiocese at 651-291-4497.
Two Towamencin men had felony and misdemeanor insurance fraud charges held over for Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas on Thursday, after waiving their preliminary hearings in Lansdale, according to The Reporter.
Ian Jared Crotzer, 30, of the 100 block of Monroe Drive, Towamencin Condominiums, allegedly filed a false claim that his vehicle was stolen. Sterling Dustin Hall Jr., 33, aka Dawson Mullin, of the 1000 block of Winfield Court in Morgandale in Towamencin, was allegedly involved in the conspiracy, police said.
http://liarcatchers.com/insurance_fraud.html
The Reporter wrote that both declined to comment on the case afterward, as did Crotzer’s attorney Stephen Geday.
Crotzer is charged with the following:
Felony Filing a False/Fraudulent/Incomplete Insurance Claim
Felony Conspiracy to File a False Insurance Claim
Misdemeanor Tampering with Evidence
Misdemeanor Filing False Reports on an Offense that Did Not Occur
Hall is charged with the following:
Felony Conspiracy to File a False/Fraudulent/Incomplete Insurance Claim
Misdemeanor Tampering With Evidence
Crotzer had turned himself in to police on Nov. 29. Hall, whose whereabouts where previously unknown, was taken into custody Dec. 8 at his job on the 200 block of DeKalb Pike in Montgomery Township on a warrant issued by Towamencin Police.
Police said Crotzer allegedly filed a false claim that his vehicle was stolen, and Hall was involved in the conspiracy.
On Nov. 8, Crotzer allegedly reported to police that his $42,000 2011 Infiniti G-37 sedan was stolen from a parking spot at his home in Towamencin Condominiums, police said. Crotzer told police his car was locked and he had both sets of keys, police said. There were no signs of forced entry into a vehicle observed at the scene, police said.
The Infiniti was financed and insured, and a claim for a stolen vehicle was made, police said.
The car was financed for more than its current value and gap insurance had also been purchased, police said. If a loss occurs, gap insurance will pay the difference between the actual case value of a vehicle and the current outstanding loan balance.
Through an investigation, police learned that Crotzer allegedly asked Hall for assistance with the fraud, police said.
Police said Hall allegedly allowed Crotzer to hide his car in Hall’s garage at Morgandale.
An alleged agreement was Hall would dispose of the Infiniti and keep whatever money he could get from it, police said. Crotzer would then be free from financing from the insurance coverage, police said.
Crotzer allegedly relocated the Infiniti from Hall’s garage to another location in Morgandale, police said. It was at this location where police recovered the vehicle.
This is Crotzer’s first criminal offense in Montgomery County.
This is Hall’s tenth criminal offense in Montgomery County since 1998, according to court records. Of those 10, six were heard at the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas.
FBI agents spent about three-and-a-half hours inside a Port Orange storage facility Thursday, trying to figure out how a group obtained tens of millions of dollars through the mortgage process.
The raid was conducted at the home of Waverly Media, LLC, which is on Dairy Court, just off Spruce Creek Road.
We’re told it’s part of a nearly three-year investigation conducted by a Mortgage Fraud Task Force, made up of the FBI, Daytona Beach Shores Police Department and Florida Division of Financial Services.
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
Agents were looking for paperwork and computers as part of this investigation.
Typically, how this works is there’s someone working from the inside of a real estate transaction, either an attorney or a closing agent. They’ll add in extra money into a mortgage application on the seller’s end and walk away with the extra cash. They can even do this with the same property over and over again before just walking away from it, leaving it in foreclosure — which could take years.
Agents say actions like this makes it that much more difficult for honest homebuyers to get the loans they need for legitimate purchases.
These properties were located in Volusia County, as well as Pinellas, Pasco and Orange Counties. We’re told they were extremely high-end properties.
No arrests have been made. The warrant used to conduct this raid has been sealed.
Agents on the scene say this case may have grown out of a federal investigation into South Daytona’s former mayor and special magistrate, and their role in a condominium complex in that city.
Ronald Clifton and Jerome Mitchell both pleaded guilty to bribery.
Clifton also pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI.
Burlington, NC – Police in Burlington are looking for a man with medical conditions who walked away from his home Thursday morning.
Officers said they were called to the 1500 block of Morningside Dr. at 7 a.m. Friday. They were told Bernard Ray Foard, 54, has medical conditions that require medication and supervision.
http://liarcatchers.com/arson_investigation.html
Foard is a black man who is about 5’10” and weighs around 215 pounds. He has shoulder-length, brown braided hair and a moustache. Police said he may be wearing a sweater and a hat. They said he likes to go to thrift and discount stores on N. Church St.
If you have any information about Foard’s whereabouts, call Crime Stoppers at (336) 229-7100.
A Fairfield County grand jury has indicted a volunteer firefighter on aggravated arson and other felony charges related to a fire set in the men’s room of a Lancaster restaurant.
The indictment issued today also charges Robert N. Steiner with tampering with evidence, attempt to commit tampering with evidence and two counts of vandalism.
Steiner is accused of starting a fire in a vent in the men’s room of the Fiesta Tropicana Restaurant at 1236 N. Memorial Drive on Jan. 5.
http://liarcatchers.com/arson_investigation.html
Steiner, 35, of Lancaster, volunteers with the rural Hocking Township Fire Department in the southern part of the county, said Lancaster Police Sgt. William C. Tolley.
The fire was reported at 7:52 p.m. and was minor, resulting in a lot of smoke, but it was a serious matter because customers and employees were inside the restaurant at the time, Tolley said.
Aggravated arson is a first-degree felony punishable by a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison.