Kentucky State Police in Harlan County are trying to track down two people who are accused of breaking into an elementary school.

Police say it happened around 12:30 a.m. at Ross-Point Elementary School.

http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php

State police say two people went into the school wearing hoodies and masks. Investigators say they broke into the juice machine and stole cash.

Nothing else was stolen.

A city man was sentenced Monday in Jefferson County Court to seven years in state prison for having sexual contact with a child over a three-year period.

Joshua P. Koutrakos, 27, whose last known address was 1007 Bronson St., was also ordered to undergo seven additional years of supervision and register with the state as a sex offender upon his release from prison. He pleaded guilty July 15 to first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child.

http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html

He had been accused of having sexual contact with the child from January 2009 through January 2012, starting when the child was 7 years old, at his former residence in Black River.

In other court activity:

Terry C. Sawyer, 56, of 29801 Burnup Road, Black River, pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted identity theft. He admitted that on Nov. 12, 2012, he tried to use his brother’s identification to set up a utility account while living in Cortland County. At the time, his brother was living in Jefferson County. If Mr. Sawyer pays $823 in restitution prior to his Nov. 14 sentencing, he is expected to be sentenced to a conditional discharge. If he fails to pay the restitution, he could be sentenced to up to three years’ probation.

Daniel J. Kakolewski, 42, of 15917 Military Road, Sackets Harbor, pleaded guilty to felony driving while intoxicated. He admitted driving while intoxicated June 7 on Mill Street. The charge was a felony because he had been convicted of misdemeanor DWI in March 2009 in City Court. He is expected to be sentenced Nov. 7 to a three-year conditional discharge and be ordered to complete the Bridge program. He will also be fined $2,000, have his driver’s license revoked and be ordered to install an ignition interlock device on any vehicle he owns or operates.

Al-Tawan R. Alston, 24, and Tyrell L. Alston, 20, both of 913 State St., were arraigned on grand jury indictments unsealed in court alleging that had and sold heroin. Al-Tawan Alston is charged with four counts each of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, while his brother faces two counts of each charge.

It is alleged that Al-Tawan Alston sold heroin within the county on four occasions in late July, while Tyrell Alston is alleged to have sold the drug on two occasions in later July. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges and were sent to the Metro-Jefferson Public Safety Building on $10,000 bail.

Lexington police continue to investigate a pair of violent overnight robberies.

Police say a man and a friend were walking along Trade Center Drive, just of New Circle Road, around 2 a.m., when a car pulled up and four men jumped out. One man chased the friend, and the other three attacked the victim and took his wallet. Officers say one of the robbers hit the victim in the head with a pole, but the victim did not suffer serious injuries. Police say they only got a vague description of the suspects.

http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php

Officers say about an hour earlier, a man fought off a knife-wielding robber downtown. Police say the victim told them two men, one armed with a knife, tried to take his backpack along Oliver Lewis Way, near West High Street. The suspects ran off empty-handed, but the victim suffered a cut to the hand.

A man accused in an 11-year-old murder case was sentenced to 12 years in prison Monday morning.

A judge sentenced Joshua Abnee to the recommended sentence of 12 years in the murder of David Sadler, who was found by family members with a single gunshot wound inside their Nicholas County home in 2003.

http://liarcatchers.com/wrongful_death.html

Abnee had pleaded guilty to facilitation of murder and complicity to robbery in the second degree in August. He also agreed to testify against co-defendant Shawn Fryman.

Abnee will serve five years for one count, and seven for the other, consecutively.

Abnee was arrested in March, 11 years after the murder. Fryman was arrested in February and the Carlisle Mercury reported in July the death penalty could be sought against Fryman.

Sadler’s wife, Brenda, said both suspects were considered friends of her husband. She and her son found David Sadler dead from a single gunshot wound inside their home on March 31, 2003.

Drinking, flirting and jealousy preceded the suspected beating and kidnapping of a 25-year-old Wright County man whose whereabouts remain a mystery three weeks later, according to felony charges against a Hutchinson, Minn., couple.

Robert O. Nuttall, 28, was charged Friday with kidnapping Christopher Rossing, of Albion Township. Also charged was his live-in girlfriend, Gwen M. Butcher, 33. Butcher is accused of aiding an offender after the fact. Both remained jailed Sunday.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Investigators determined Rossing was involved in “a physical altercation” with Nuttall about 1:30 a.m. Aug. 23 along Hwy. 12 in Howard Lake, according to Sheriff Joe Hagerty. The two had been drinking earlier at the American Legion, according to the charges.

Rossing’s whereabouts remain unknown, and the Sheriff’s Office is urging anyone with information about this case to call its investigators at 763-682-7637. A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the missing man.

Prosecutor Brian Lutes said Sunday that “the circumstances of this case permitted us to charge the kidnapping” without having yet located Rossing.

Rossing’s car was found in Howard Lake four days after he vanished. It was parked in a lot between a gas station and a flower shop with the keys in the ignition and the windows down.

Law enforcement and private searches have turned up nothing else so far, and a fundraising website run by the family holds out little hope that Rossing will be found alive.

“The outcome is looking to be the worst case scenario for our family & for our sweet, fun-loving Christopher,” a posting read. “Foul play has been confirmed …”

According to the charges against both defendants:

Rossing and Nuttall were at the American Legion and flirting for the attention of the same woman, creating friction between the two. Butcher arrived and was irritated that Nuttall had been paying attention to another woman and spending money.

Nuttall left with Butcher, and Rossing went to Troubles Bar. Nuttall and Butcher later showed up at the bar and the trio fought after leaving the bar.

Nuttall and Butcher then drove home with Rossing in the SUV and Butcher told police Nuttall said he drove Rossing to Howard Lake.

According to the complaint, a search of the SUV showed it appeared “efforts had been made to clean the interior of the vehicle.”

The family of a missing girl from Spring is asking for the public’s help to find her. Crowds of family and friends have been out every day this week looking for 13-year-old Jennifer Cobos.

“We have every reason to believe that she is with a 21-year-old male that she has no business being with. He has no business having her and we want her back,” said Jennifer’s mother Michelle Cobos.

“This little girl went missing, she’s 13, and he’s 21,” Jennifer’s father Al Cobos said, holding up fliers outside a Tomball gas station.

“They’re gonna have to eat, they’re gonna have to get gas,” said Michelle.

So the family’s passing out fliers anywhere the pair might stop, hoping someone has seen them, or the man’s car, a gray Ford Mustang with a red hood and partial TX plate F–15.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

“We believe it’s been seen in the area,” Al told another stranger as he handed her a flier.

The family has hired private investigators, who got a call that someone may have seen the car, in the parking lot of a Walmart off 249 in Tomball on Tuesday, the day Jennifer went missing.

Jennifer’s parents say they said goodnight to her Monday night, then woke up to the dog barking in the early morning.

“She wasn’t in her room, the window was slightly cracked open. We knew somehow she had gotten out,” said Al.

It was their biggest fear. They say they knew this guy had been hanging around their daughter and had reported him to police.

“We did the best we could as parents to monitor it and limit it and cut it out and keep her protected and it was too late, he already had too strong of a hold on her,” said Michelle. “He is a predator. He has worked her well to get a hold of her.”

“We are looking for this girl, have you seen her?” Michelle asked one more stranger.

Now as they search to get her back, the family wants Jennifer to remember her parents, grandfather, nephew, who are all waiting for her with one message.

“Just come home and it’ll be alright,” said Jennifer’s grandfather Mike Dehner.

Anyone with information can call the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, but the family is also requesting they contact their private investigators, at 832-592-3550.

A living hell; that’s what a family says the last five days have been like since the 28-year-old woman they love went missing on Tuesday.

“I know what hell feels like because I am in it right now,” said Ramon Gonzalez, father of the missing woman. “Until the day I find my daughter and I see her, it’s not going to stop. I’m here now in the worst situation that a parent could be. I don’t know what stone to turn upside down anymore.”

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

For the first time in four days, Ramon Gonzalez showered and changed clothes. He has been tirelessly searching for his daughter, 28-year-old Tanya Gonzalez.

Gonzalez says his daughter was just starting a new phase of her life. Tanya just moved into a new apartment after breaking up with Roy Blanco, her live-in boyfriend of five years.

Gonzalez says Blanco was controlling and obsessive, distancing Tanya from her family, monitoring her phone and stopping Tanya from going anywhere without him.

“She felt (she didn’t) feel nothing for him no more,” said Gonzalez. “She told her mother, she told me, she told him. (Blanco) went ballistic.”

Tanya had just started dating someone new. Her family believes Blanco was stalking her when she went missing. Although police haven’t named Blanco a suspect or even a person of interest, Gonzalez’s family believes he was involved in her disappearance.

Gonzalez’s family says Blanco rented a boat in the days since Tanya went missing from a Coconut Grove marina, loading his mom and two dogs on it. The family says Blanco never returned the boat and was later found off the coast of Key West when he ran out of gas.

Gonzalez’s family believes Tanya’s missing car may be the key to finding her. She drives a dark blue 2011 BMW with Florida license plates 705-YLJ.

“God knows where’s my daughter now because I’m not stupid. I’m only trying to pray and hope. I can’t imagine life without her. It cannot be. I will not allow it. I’m going to find her. I’m going to find her and when I find her, I’m going to take her with me.”

Blanco’s whereabouts are unknown. Dogs that may belong to him were found in a North Miami park.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Miami Police Department at (305) 603-6300.

Two cars collided head on early Sunday morning leaving one dead and two others hospitalized.

Police say that around 5 a.m. two cars collided on Iron Works Pike near Berea Road. Authorities have called in their accident reconstruction unit to analyze how the collision happened.

“This is a divided highway and with being a head on collision, obviously there’s someone at fault. We will autopsy this individual, we do expect that charges will be filed on someone,” said Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn.

http://liarcatchers.com/accident_reconstruction.html

Ginn was unable to confirm any other details about the crash but did say that the victim was “hispanic.” and that the other two drivers were sent to the hospital.

A growing number of people are telling federal investigators they lost money in a scheme orchestrated by Gina Palasini, a Mississippi fugitive arrested Aug. 29 in Palm Springs, California.

Palasini had operated a series of businesses claiming to help seniors obtain Medicaid or veterans benefits. Sometimes clients transferring their life savings to her to reduce assets to qualify for benefits. Palasini pledged to give money back, but sometimes didn’t.

http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html

Sunflower County Sheriff James Haywood tells The Clarion-Ledger (http://on.thec-l.com/1BEzgXN) she will be extradited Monday to his county, where she faces felony bad-check charges.

She’s also due in Wayne County for sentencing on a felony false pretense charge to which she pleaded guilty in 2013. She remained free under order to reimburse victims, but never did.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service says it’s investigating Palasini for wire fraud.

“There are more victims than we can even get ahold of,” said Memphis-based U.S. Postal Inspector Kyle Parker.

Parker would not say exactly how many people allegedly lost money to Palasini but confirmed it’s “well over” the nearly one dozen interviewed by The Clarion-Ledger.

“A lot of these people are at the age right now where if they knew their whole life savings was gone, they’d be ruined,” Parker said. “It’s a very delicate situation. We don’t know how much longer these people have.”

Transferring funds served two purposes: With little or no assets, clients qualified for government benefits they otherwise would not have received. And they thought Palasini put their money into interest-earning accounts from which they could withdraw cash at any time. Upon a client’s death, designated beneficiaries would get the assets.

Parker called it a Ponzi scheme in which Palasini allegedly used one client’s money to pay for withdrawals made by other clients. But she appears to have spent most of the cash on herself and on high-priced gifts, including vehicles and vacations, which she gave to family and friends. When she couldn’t afford to pay a client, she made up excuses or simply wrote bad checks that bounced.

Clients who threatened to sue sometimes got a bit of their money back in installments, Parker said, but those payments usually stopped after a few months.

A few victims eventually did sue and even won judgments, including one for $155,000 in DeSoto County Circuit Court last year, but Palasini has not faced trial on any of them.

Other victims say their financial losses pale in comparison to the trouble Palasini caused them with Medicaid or the Department of Veterans Affairs. Investigators say she jeopardized several of her clients’ ability to obtain government benefits by withholding paperwork or using enrollment tactics that amount to fraud.

This prompted the VA Office of the Inspector General to join the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on the case, Parker said.

Austyn Enahoro Afenkhena, 53, of Houston, has been ordered to prison for four years following his convictions of 11 counts of wire fraud and four counts of aggravated identity theft, announced United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson. Afenkhena pleaded guilty June 16, 2014.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner handed Afenkhena a total of 24 months for the wire fraud convictions. He also received a mandatory two years for each of the identity theft convictions which will be served concurrently to each other but consecutively to the underlying sentence, resulting in a total of 48 months in federal prison. At the hearing, the court considered the multiple victim statements provided. Afenkhena was further ordered to pay restitution to those victims in the amount of $245,847.72 and will serve two years of supervised release following completion of his sentence.

http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html

Beginning in at least January 2008, and continuing through June 2013, Afenkhena obtained credit cards that were created from stolen identities. He would then run the cards through his store front, Phase 2 Auto Repair on Harwin Drive, in order to obtain cash.

To facilitate the scheme, Afenkhena also created fake merchant accounts under the names of Phase 2 Auto Inc., Phase 2 Automotive, ENA Auto Repair and ENA Automotive, so that he could obtain multiple credit card machines on which to run the fraudulent cards. Afenkhena often created false documentation such as invoices and receipts whenever necessary to further the scheme. He would use these documents to falsely represent to multiple banking institutions that transactions occurred at his store.

He will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Searle is prosecuting.