Call us:
888-740-4600
Family’s surveillance cameras rolling as tornado hits West Liberty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWiPWwOajtY
It is a dramatic look at the tornado that hit one week ago today, unlike any we’ve seen before,
http://liarcatchers.com/electronic_surveillance.html
LANCASTER — Police raided a suspected crack house Friday morning two blocks from an elementary school.
http://liarcatchers.com/drugdogsweeps.html
Members of the Fairfield-Hocking County Major Crimes Unit, the Lancaster police special response team and Lancaster police broke down the door of 1121 1/2 W. Seventh Ave. about 9:15 a.m.
“This was someone we’ve been looking at since January,” said Eric Brown, commander of the Major Crimes Unit. “He kept moving around to different rental properties, but this time he moved within a couple blocks of the school, so we moved on him.”
A 32-year-old man, Christopher Edward Glenn Sensabaugh, was arrested in the home and charged with multiple counts of trafficking in crack cocaine, all fourth-degree felonies, Brown said.
Brown said the unit contacted West Elementary School before the raid and asked it to be locked down.
West Principal Terri Garrett said she was contacted by Lancaster Police Chief Dave Bailey before the raid.
“We have great communication between us and the police,” Garrett said. “He told me what was going on, about when and how he thought it would happen.”
Garrett said they locked down the school just before 9 a.m.
“We positioned teachers near all the doors and told them to pull any late students into the building until after the arrest,” Garrett said. “Classes went on as normal.”
Garrett said she got a call from the chief after the arrest saying that it was all clear.
No one was injured in the raid.
The raid woke up neighbors Joshua Smith and Amy Hopkins.
“You kinda knew they were running drugs or something over there,” Smith said. “Too many people coming and going from the house.”
“It was this real loud bang,” Hopkins said. “So I looked out of the window and saw this guy wearing a ski mask and then I saw the gun he was carrying.”
She then spotted the police vehicles on the street.
“It was a little exciting,” Hopkins said. “You just don’t expect that outside near your home.”
Both had come out on their porch on Seventh Avenue to watch the police continue their search.
Brown said they found $800 in cash while searching the home.
“Our dog also alerted to a dresser we are searching,” Brown said. “We found drug paraphernalia there.”
WOODS CROSS — A father watching a TV news program recognized his son as one of the people wanted in a computer store burglary, police say.
http://liarcatchers.com/electronic_surveillance.html
While the two were eating breakfast Friday morning, the father persuaded his son, Jeremy Blair, 26, of Kaysville, to turn himself in to the Davis County Sheriff’s Office, said Woods Cross Police Detective Adam Osoro.
Blair was booked into Davis County Jail on an unrelated warrant out of Clearfield Justice Court, a third-degree felony burglary and a third-degree felony criminal mischief.
The Davis County Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case for formal charges.
“A father was watching the morning news with his son and saw his son on TV in the surveillance tapes that we released,” Osoro said. “The dad is a really nice man.”
Osoro said Blair and an unidentified man drove to StarWest Computers, 1181 S. Redwood Road, Woods Cross, at 12:30 a.m. Monday in a dark-colored or black Audi A4. They broke the front windows, ran inside the store and took about $6,500 in computer equipment.
“It took less than three minutes,” he said.
Police responded to an alarm, but the two men were gone before officials arrived.
Dave Jones, vice president of StarWest Computers, said that “one of them wasn’t careful with his hoodie and (pulled back the hood),” so his face, both from the front and the side, showed up on the cameras.
This is the third time the computer store has been hit, Osoro said.
People, including thieves, really like computers, Jones said.
“They must be easy to sell,” he said.
After each burglary, the store upped its security, adding cables, latches, bolts, bars and, most recently, the surveillance cameras.
Osoro said he does not know why the two men chose this store.
“We’re still looking for the second suspect,” he said.
Osoro said Blair refused to talk to him at the jail and asked for an attorney.
The second man is described as white, in his mid-20s or early 30s, wearing blue jeans and a light-colored sweatshirt.
Anyone with information can call 801-451-4151.
New surveillance video connected with a deadly hit-and-run on the Rickenbacker Causeway shows the driver charged with leaving the scene of the accident pulling past his condominium gate guard afterward, as the guard stares at the banged-up Honda Civic with a shattered windshield.
http://liarcatchers.com/electronic_surveillance.html
Just before sunrise on Feb. 15, Michele Traverso’s car slammed into cyclists Aaron Cohen and Enda Walsh, leading to Cohen’s death the next day, police said.
Traverso, 25, has pleaded not guilty to charges of leaving the scene of an accident causing serious bodily injury and driving with a suspended license. His attorney has said the only crime Traverso committed was leaving the scene.
The video just released by the State Attorney’s Office shows Traverso pulling into a spot at his Key Biscayne condo. He gets out and walks, back and forth, seemingly a bit unsteady.
Moments later a man in a red shirt walks into view – Traverso’s father, who he lives with.
It looks like both men embrace, the older man rubbing the younger’s back, before they disappear from the frame, presumably checking out the car.
Then they both walk away from the car, looking like they are arguing, the young man shoving the older one.
Investigators noted in a newly released search warrant affidavit that it was condo security who first called them telling them “a car with heavy damage to the front, hood and roof area entered the complex and parked,” driven by a “young, white male.”
Police said they soon arrived to find a car cover over Traverso’s Honda, whose roof damage could still be seen through it. The right rear view mirror was missing, and police also found yellow scuff marks on the car, which they say was transferred from Cohen’s yellow safety bike helmet.
HENDERSON (KYTX) – A new drug testing program at Henderson I.S.D. schools has proven to be successful.
http://liarcatchers.com/drugdogsweeps.html
Administrators with the school district say with the help of the police department, they’ve made a non-issue out of something that last year, was considered a drug problem.
Middle school and high school students are now randomly drug tested at school and Henderson parents CBS 19 talked to are thrilled with the results.
Five of James Edmonds’ seven grandchildren are students at Henderson I.S.D. schools. He’s glad to hear about random drug tests at the middle and high schools.
“I think every child should be drug tested. Whether they’re just regular students, or football players.”
He says the random drug tests are stopping a problem before it starts.
“We need to start when they’re young, real young,” Edmonds says, “and the sooner the better.”
Detective Chad Bradley with the Henderson Police Department says marijuana and prescription pills are the most common drugs he’s helping eliminate on local campuses.
“The drug testing itself, the kids’ knowledge that the drug dog will be on campus, those things I believe have helped prevent the number of incidents on campus,” Bradley says.
The random drug testing began this year.
“Each month we test on average about 80 students,” said Henderson I.S.D. Communication and Human Relations Director Stacey Sullivan. “These are students that are in any extracurricular activity or drive on campus, so that’s hitting the majority of our students.”
The school district contracts an outside entity to select the students at random and perform the tests.
“They do a random selection, they bring that list to the campus, and the administrators actually go to the rooms and get the students who have been selected and they bring them to the testing area,” Sullivan said.
She says the results – have been astounding.
“Last year we had 17 drug incidents at Henderson High School. As of today, there has been one.”
Edmonds says the effects of drugs are widespread, especially in a small, tight knit community like Henderson.
“It doesn’t just affect the kids,” he said. “It affects the families and their friends and their classmates. It affects everybody.”
So he’s glad the entire community is being proactive.
Police and school district leaders say the drug dogs and drug tests are preventative measures giving students a reason to make good decisions and stay away from drugs.
Henderson police say there has been a big spike in prescription drug use among students because they’re easy to get – a warning to parents to make sure they’re kids aren’t getting into their medicine cabinets.
Sullivan says the school district pays about $12 for each drug test. She says considering the results, the cost is minimal
METUCHEN – Authorities have charged a Metuchen dentist with falsifying the dental records of three children who were among five victims of a house fire in South Plainfield two weeks ago, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan, Chief James Parker of the South Plainfield Police Department, and Acting Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Ronald Chillemi of the state Office of the Attorney General announced Thursday.
Paresh Patel, 46, of Edison, was charged with falsifying or tampering with dental records and obstruction of the administration of law by providing the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office with false dental records of three of the children who died during the fire on Feb. 23.
http://liarcatchers.com/insurance_fraud.html
He also was charged with insurance fraud by submitting five or more false claims totaling more than $1,000, and was charged with five counts of healthcare claim fraud.
Patel, owner of a Metuchen dental clinic known as Healthy Smiles Dental Associates, LLC, was charged after initial efforts to identify the youngsters determined Patel allegedly provided records that showed certain dental work had never been performed.
The false records prevented and delayed positive identification of the children.
Police further determined that after allegedly falsifying dental records between April and May 2011, Patel allegedly billed Medicaid for the procedures that never were performed.
Kaplan praised the South Plainfield Police Department and the state Attorney General’s Office for their work on the case.
Earlier this week, police confirmed the identities of the children as: Christopher Jefferson, 5, Tyler Davis, 7, and Alize Jefferson, 12.
Also killed in the fire were the children’s grandmother, Ann Jefferson, 62, and Elijah Taylor, 2.
Autopsies performed by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office showed the victims died from smoke inhalation.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Police and volunteer firefighters received a call at 3:09 a.m. on Feb. 23, 2012, and went to the scene of the fire at 1407 Clinton Avenue, where nine family members resided.
Four victims were treated for injuries suffered in the fire at the two-family home. One family member remains hospitalized in stable condition.
Anyone with information on the insurance fraud is asked to call Investigator Donald Heck of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 1-732-745-8848, or the Attorney General’s Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at 1-877-55 FRAUD (1-877-553-7283).
The charges against Patel are merely accusations; he is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
A Calcium woman who is a self-employed home health aide surrendered Thursday morning to Watertown police to face her second round of prosecution on fraud allegations involving more than $85,000.
http://liarcatchers.com/insurance_fraud.html
Cheryl L. LaQuay, 62, of 24437 Gracey Road, also has prosecution pending in Onondaga County after being accused in November of collecting $53,000 fraudulently from the state Insurance Fund.
In Jefferson County, Ms. LaQuay is cited in a $32,629 welfare fraud case. She was arraigned Thursday in Watertown City Court on four felony counts brought by the fraud unit of the Jefferson County Department of Social Services: third-degree grand larceny, third-degree welfare fraud, first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and misuse of food stamps. She was released without bail following arraignment before Judge Eugene R. Renzi.
Her charges in Onondaga County are second-degree insurance fraud, workers’ compensation fraud and first-degree offering a false instrument for filing. Three state agencies — the Department of Financial Services, the Insurance Fund and the inspector general of the state Workers’ Compensation Board — conducted a joint investigation to file those charges. They alleged that she collected insurance benefits while failing to report her employment in private homes from October 2006 to last September.
KITTERY, Maine — Attorney General Michael A. Delaney and Insurance Commissioner Roger A. Sevigny announce Thursday that Tammiann Searle of Kittery, Maine pleaded guilty in the Hillsborough County, Northern District Superior Court, to a Class B felony insurance fraud.
http://liarcatchers.com/insurance_fraud.html
As part of the terms of the plea, Searle received a sentence of 11⁄2 to 3 years at the New Hampshire State Prison, and was fined $4,000.
All of the prison sentence and $3,000 of the fine were suspended for two years upon good behavior. Searle was also required to make restitution of $24,139 to Liberty Mutual Insurance Corporation.
The charge stemmed from a suspicious claim which was investigated by the New Hampshire Insurance Department Fraud Unit.
On June 3, 2009, Searle reported the contents of her apartment were damaged beyond repair after water from firefighting efforts in the apartment upstairs, leaked down through the ceiling and walls.
In order to receive the proceeds of her renter’s policy with Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, Searle signed a false proof of loss form and concealed property from inspection by Liberty Mutual adjusters by claiming that it had been taken to the dump because it was destroyed by water damage.
Searle was paid by Liberty Mutual to replace all the items she claimed were destroyed.
Through its investigation, the Fraud Unit located many items which Searle claimed were destroyed. Some items were found in the possession of Searle’s friends. These included high-end bedroom, living room and dining room furniture sets, a 37-inch flat screen TV as well as other furnishings. The items were all in good condition and were either being stored or in use. All of the items recovered could be restored with little or no refurbishing.
The prosecution was the result of collaboration between the Attorney General’s Office and the N.H. Insurance Department Fraud Unit. The Fraud Unit was formed under RSA 417 to investigate and prosecute Insurance Fraud and other insurance-related criminal activity with the assistance of the NH Department of Justice.
Rudy Kurniawan, a California wine collector and dealer, was charged by U.S. prosecutors with fraud, including a scheme to sell more than $1.3 million in counterfeit wine.
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
Prosecutors charged Kurniawan with “multiple fraudulent schemes relating to his wine business” from 2007 to 2012, including phony wine sales and fraudulent loan applications.
“The bad-faith sale of any commodity you know to be a counterfeit, fake or forgery is a felony,” Janice Fedarcyk, head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York office, said in a statement today. “Whether you are peddling a Picasso or a Petrus, a Botticelli or a Burgundy, unless it is what you say it is, the sale is a fraud.”
Kurniawan, 35, an Indonesian man living in Arcadia, California, was arrested today and charged with three counts of wire fraud and two counts of mail fraud. He was scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles today, according the statement. The charges were unsealed today.
In 2009, billionaire wine collector William Koch sued Kurniawan in Los Angeles state court claiming he had sold him phony vintages. If convicted, Kurniawan, who is living in the U.S. illegally, faces as many as 20 years in prison on each of the fraud charges, according to prosecutors.
The case is U.S. v. Kurniawan, 12-MAG-606, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
After serving more than a dozen years on the Wainscott School Board, Iris Osborn abruptly resigned Wednesday amid allegations by the school board that her grandchildren are illegally going to Wainscott schools.
http://liarcatchers.com/studentresidency.html
“Unfortunately, I’m very, very upset,” Osborn told board members Nancy McCaffrey and David Eagan, and Superintendent Stuart A. Rachlin, at a special budget-related school board meeting on Wednesday. “I don’t feel I can be a member of this board,” she said before handing a letter of resignation to Rachlin and walking out.
Osborn’s exit stems from a letter her son Elisha Osborn and his former partner Marianne Ward received in January.
The hand-delivered letter written on Wainscott School District letterhead was addressed to both Ward and Elisha Osborn and signed by Rachlin. At issue was the residency status of the couple’s two children, who, according to the parents, divide their time between their mother’s home in Springs and their father’s Wainscott residence.
“Please take notice,” the letter read, “that, under the authority of Section 100.2(y) of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education there has been a determination that your children, Maximillian Osborn and Gabriella Osborn, are not residents of the Wainscott School District and are, therefore, not entitled to attend the public schools of this District.”
Max Osborn is a student at East Hampton Middle School, where Wainscott School District sends its students after fourth grade, and Gabby Osborn is in her last year at the Wainscott School.
The letter said keeping the students in the district if they are not residents could end up with the school either seeking tuition payments or taking legal action which could include charging the parents with fraud. They do have the right to appeal.
Sunday’s letter is the latest development in a dispute that, Ward and Osborn said, began in December when a letter went home in the kids’ school folders asking all parents to provide proof of residency. However, Ward and Osborn said that they never got that form.
“At the last minute,” Osborn said, “I had put in an old tax bill for a rental house because I had misunderstood what they were looking for. They said they were looking for a tax bill, so I gave them my tax bill. I own a rental house [on Osborn Farm Lane], but I live on Main Street.”
Ward and Osborn submitted a letter explaining how the children’s time is divided and Osborn submitted additional utility bills. “And I apologized,” said Osborn, “They said, ‘You handed in this tax bill that said that you lived on Osborn Farm Lane, you committed fraud.’ And I said, I didn’t mean to commit fraud, I just did the easiest thing to do at the time. My arrogance was that everybody knew me.”
Osborn is a graduate of the Wainscott School and the Osborn family has lived in Wainscott for 12 generations.
Ward’s aunt, Sandi Kruel, a longtime member of the Sag Harbor School Board, said that the Wainscott School Board had, “no right to tell a parent, whose kids split their time with the parents evenly and deal with the day-to-day decisions of the kids, where the kids go to school.”
Kruel cited a section of the New York State School Law Book, pertaining to student residency that says: Where a child’s time is essentially divided between the household of divorced parents, with both parties assuming day-to-day responsibilities for the child, the determination of the child’s residence ultimately rests with the parents.
“We have kind of a unique circumstance,” said Osborn, “We haven’t set a custodial parent. New York State hasn’t and we haven’t, so we are wondering how the school is allowed to. The school is basically telling us who the custodial parent is.”
Both Osborn and Ward stressed that the children divide their time equally with both parents. “There are parents who will write affidavits to say that they drop their kids off to play with my kids,” said Osborn. “But they never asked for any more information,” said Ward.
Ward said that she had called and asked for the residency matter to be put on the school board agenda and the board’s response was that, “They did not discuss personal matters at school board meetings.”
“You can’t tell people that they’re liars and cheats, and tell them that you proved that they’re liars and cheats, and then expect them not want to air it in public,” said Osborn, referring to the use of the word “fraud” in Sunday’s letter.
Prior to Iris Osborn’s resignation, the Wainscott School Board had been comprised of three elected members: Nancy McCaffrey, president, her son-in-law, David Eagan, and Iris Osborn. Because she is the grandmother of the children in question, Iris Osborn had recused herself from the case.
“It’s not like we can talk to one without the other,” Elisha Osborn said, questioning the make-up of a two person school board, “because they’re mother-in-law and son-in-law. You’re not dealing with a school board anymore, you’re dealing with a family.”
“This whole matter is nothing but unfortunate,” said Eagan said following Osborne’s resignation, adding, that the situation was “thrust upon us . . . It was nothing we looked for.”
Eagan declined to discuss the situation further, saying the board had an obligation to the students’ privacy.
When asked how the residency issue first came to the board’s attention, Ward seemed to agree. “From what we understand … Rachlin himself said in his office that day that this came up when a parent who was interested in sending her kids to Sag Harbor said that our kids were not living in district.”
Rachlin also declined to comment for this story.