A Brooklyn man pleaded guilty to one Count of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument and one Count of Identity Theft, both felonies, in Albany County Court.  Saihing Chan, 21, faces up to 4-12 years in state prison when sentenced on March 3.

On August 5, 2013 Bethlehem Police, United States Secret Service, United States Department of Homeland Security, New York State Police, and other local law enforcement agencies executed a search warrant pursuant to an identity theft investigation at the Golden Town Buffet on Route 9W in the Town of Bethlehem.

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During the execution of the warrant, the authorities arrested Heng Li, then 27, of Brooklyn, for using a credit card skimmer device to obtain personal identification information of 39 credit card numbers by fraudulent pretenses.  LI also was in possession of a forged Michigan driver’s license and under an active deportation order at the time of the search warrant execution, as were three other employees that were present at the restaurant at that time.

The investigation led the authorities to other individuals involved in this identity theft scheme, including Chan, who with others, used stolen credit card numbers and identities to purchase thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise.

On December 11, 2013, Li was sentenced to 2 1/3 to 7 years in State Prison after pleading guilty to (1) Count of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, a Class D Felony, and (1) Count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, a Class E Felony, before the Honorable Stephen Herrick in Albany County Court.

Another employee of the buffet, Pheng Sathongoth, then 42, of Manhattan, New was sentenced to 2 1/3 to 7 years in State Prison and ordered to pay $4,549.64 in restitution.

A final case against co-defendant Bao Liu remains open and pending at this time.

A Clay County woman has been charged with criminal abuse which police say is related to the death of her husband.

Clay County 911 received a call for an ambulance at Amy Burkhart’s residence. Burkhart’s husband Charles Jr. was under her care after being paralyzed in a 2007 car accident. According to the citation, when paramedics arrived they found Burkhart Jr. in bed extremely malnourished and dehydrated. He was also covered in bed sores.

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Charles Burkhart Jr. died at Manchester Memorial Hospital.

Amy Burkhart was arrested and charged with first degree criminal abuse. The investigating trooper tells LEX 18 that it may be upgraded to murder when they consult with the Commonwealth Attorney.

An autopsy is set to be performed on Burkhart Jr. on Friday morning.

Is getting a gift card for $100 from Walmart or Target worth giving up your bank account number or other information that could make you a victim of identity theft? That’s what could happen if you fall for a fake survey offer that’s showing up in your inbox and Facebook streams.

In the tempting offer from Walmart, it says visit here and fill out our survey and get $100 gift card. At first the survey questions are standard but here’s where the red flag comes into play. They start asking for personal information

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like your credit card number and address. Or they offer $100 off suspect products like credit monitoring … which later start showing up as charges on your credit card.

A similar offer from Target is making the rounds. Kevin Hinterberger with the Greensboro BBB says it could infect your computer with a virus.

“Whether it’s a virus that goes into get additional information as far as email addresses and so forth or it could be something that’s a little more dangerous in that you’re downloading a virus and it’s looking for banking information that’s on your computer,” says Kevin.

These fake emails don’t have the tell-tale signs line misspellings or awkward language but Kevin posed a really interesting question you should ask when you see this or anything that seems too good to be true: that goes into get additional information as far as email addresses and so forth or it could be something that’s a little more dangerous in that you’re downloading a virus and it’s looking for banking information that’s on your computer,” says Kevin.

“If I’m running a business would I pay someone hundred dollars to complete a survey and is that a sustainable business model?,” says Kevin.

Here’s a few other ways you spot customer survey scheme:

– Don’t believe what you see. It’s easy to steal a logo off a website.

– Hover over the link and see where it takes you – is it a site for the real business?

– Do a quick web search to see if there’s an alert.

And Kevin had one more piece of advice 2 Wants to Know loved about emails: “If it’s unsolicited, delete it.”

Walmart does offer a legitimate survey. It gives five winners a $1000 gift card every three months, but it’s only advertised on its receipts.

Police have released details of a sexual assault on EKU’s campus.

A woman says she was assaulted inside the Alumni Coliseum Wednesday afternoon. The victim describes her assailant as white, possibly in his 20s, with short brown hair and facial hair.

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Police are still looking for the suspect.

If you have any information on this case, please contact EKU police at (859)-622-1111.

Cathy Ayala has been charged with robbery and wanton endangerment. Officials say that the woman stole from a local Kroger store and proceeded to run over and drag an employee with her car.

Authorities say Ayala was trying to escape from police when she hit the victim. The victim was then flung to the pavement. There are no reported injuries.

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Police arrived to the scene shortly after. A witness wrote down the suspect’s license plate number. Police then arrested Ayala is charged with robbery and wanton endangerment.

Tarrish Tellis, who federal prosecutors contended was the mastermind of a stolen-identity tax refund fraud scheme that defrauded the government of more than $700,000, has been found guilty on three federal charges.

A jury found the 38-year-old Montgomery resident guilty of conspiracy to commit theft of public money, theft of public money and aggravated identity theft, after a three-day trial in Montgomery, according to the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama and the Internal Revenue Service.

Tellis’ co-conspirator, Nakia Jackson, obtained approximately 700 names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers from an employee of the Alabama Medicaid State Agency, according to evidence presented at his trial.

http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html

Jackson provided some of the names to Tellis, who in turn used them to file false tax returns. In exchange, Tellis taught Jackson how to file false tax returns, according to federal prosecutors.

To hide his involvement in the scheme, Tellis orchestrated a complicated method of concealing the origin of the funds, recruiting friends and relatives, including Bobby Joe Means, Delancey Tolliver, Glen Powell Jr. and Tracey Montgomery, to open up bank accounts to receive the fraudulent tax refunds, according to court testimony.

When a tax refund was deposited into their bank accounts, Tellis directed them to withdraw the money and provide it to him. He directed more than $300,000 to those accounts. Tellis took additional steps by recruiting a bank teller, Laquanta Clayton, who used her position to open up bank accounts in the name of fictitious individuals and in the name of her daughter’s father.

Tellis directed around $200,000 into the accounts that Clayton controlled. Clayton then withdrew the majority of the money to give to Tellis. Tellis also took steps to conceal his involvement in the filing of false tax returns, including filing numerous tax returns by accessing a residential wireless router that was not password protected to make it appear that the owner of the residence had filed them.

At his April 15 sentencing, Tellis faces a statutory minimum sentence of two years in prison and a statutory maximum sentence of 125 years in prison, plus fines and forfeiture.

On April 25, 2014, Jackson was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison. Clayton was sentenced on Feb. 19, 2014, to serve one year and nine months in prison. Tolliver was sentenced to serve one year and three months in prison, Powell Jr. and Means were each sentenced to serve a year and a day in prison and Montgomery was sentenced to serve six months in prison.

The case was investigated by special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorneys Gregory P. Bailey, Charles M. Edgar Jr. and Michael C. Boteler of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, with the assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Brown for the Middle District of Alabama, prosecuted the case

Officials say a 13-year-old girl and her 18-year-old boyfriend missing from Grayson County were spotted in South Carolina.

Cheyenne Phillips, was reported missing on Jan. 3. Officials say she is with Dalton Hayes. Witnesses reportedly spotted the pair at a Walmart about 90 minutes north of Charleston.

Officials say the teens were in a stolen 2006 Toyota Tacoma with Kentucky farm license plate 005-OCD. The truck had an unloaded long gun inside when the teens took it.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

“We’re hoping the two of them have enough sense not to do something with that gun, and hoping it never comes to that,” Grayson County Sheriff Norman Chaffins said.

Police say Phillips was wearing a black long-sleeve shirt, black sweat pants and cowboy boots. Hayes was last seen wearing jeans, a UK T-shirt and black tennis shoes.

Hayes’ mother, Tammy Martin, said the teenagers recently started dating. Martin said she didn’t know Phillips was only 13 years old, and said Hayes didn’t know until recently either. She tearfully pleaded for them to come home.

“I don’t know why they’re doing it,” Martin said. “I just wish they would turn themselves in.”

She said she last heard from her son via text message on Jan. 6

“It says, ‘Mommy, don’t worry. I’m fine, okay — plenty of money and food. Love you, good night, sweet dreams,'” Martin said.

She said recent phone calls went straight to voice mail, which is full.

Deputies say the behavior of the teens continues to become increasingly “brazen and dangerous,” and the teenagers’ situation will get worse the longer they remain on the run — especially if law enforcement officials who don’t know them personally start chasing them.

“Whatever it is, it can be worked through,” Chaffins said. “That’s what we want to tell these young people — we want them to come home.”

Nearly one month since the disappearance of a Roosevelt Park mother, her family is speaking out, pleading for answers.

Bobbie Maples was last seen on December 15, just 11 days after giving birth to a baby girl.

Now, as her family cares for the newborn child, there are new questions as to who may know what happened to the 32-year-old, who had a history of drug abuse.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Bobbie’s mother Muriel admits her daughter used drugs and says her new baby was born addicted to Soboxone, but Muriel also says Bobbie knew she had help and never has — and never would — just disappear.

“Bobbie had been Facetiming me on my phone everyday at the hospital with her,” said Muriel.

She says this was Bobbie’s chance to get things straightened out.

“She had the crib, the clothes,” Muriel said. “She was all excited about it. She was ready for her to come home.”

As her baby daughter Aryonna remained in the hospital, Bobbie and her mother discussed rehab.

But that time never came, as Bobbie soon went missing.

“The hospital said the last time they saw her was that Sunday (December 15),” Muriel said. “She came in to feed Aryonna like she did every day and said she was going to go home, change her clothes, and come back. And she never showed. That was the last she was seen.”

First named a “voluntary” missing person on December 15 by Roosevelt Park Police, Bobbie’s mother says police have now upgraded Bobbie to officially “missing.”

Muriel says her daughter has a rough past, starting her drug use at age 17.

“She was a good person,” she says. “She just had a lot of troubles in her life, and, ya know, made some bad choices.”

She says there have been conflicting stories from the people in Bobbie’s life, including when and where she was last seen.

“If she was going to leave Aryonna, she would have called somebody like me to come get her,” Muriel said. “There’s no way she would just walk out and leave her.”

Bobbie’s sister now has temporary custody of the baby as both women work around the clock caring for the baby and continuing the search for her mother.

“I call her phone every day,” Muriel said. “I send her pictures of the baby on her phone, even though the phones not working.”

“I do it every day just hoping maybe whoever has her…I think somebody might have killed her myself.”

Anyone with information on the disappearance of Bobbie Maples should call the Roosevelt Park Police Department at 231-755-3721 or Silent Observer at 231-72-CRIME.