A grand jury will hear the case of a Knox County couple accused of abusing a toddler.

Sierra Shepherd and Tyrone Person have already entered not guilty please.

Police say a 2-year-old boy was taken to the hospital after being burned by scalding bath water.

http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php

Shepherd claims she was not home when her boyfriend burned her child during a bath, and she says he threatened her when she tried to get help.

Shepherd says her son had a skin graft operation at UK Hospital.

Kentucky State Police are looking for a suspect involved in five theft/scam attempts in Carroll, Owen and Trimble counties.

Police say the five attempts happened on Saturday, July 26. In each case, a man either called the store or came in person and asked for information about the owner and management. Sometime later, an unknown man called the stores posing as the store owner or district manager. The caller claimed that an employee was stealing from the store. He then instructed the clerk to put all of the money from the safe and registers into a money bag, and give it to a person coming into the store to pick it up, or to bring the money to a person waiting in the parking lot.

http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php

Police say the man who came into the stores was in his mid-20s. He stood approximately 5’10” with short black hair, a brown goatee and an unknown tattoo on the right arm. He was wearing a Cincinnati Reds baseball cap, a blue T-shirt, blue jean shorts, and red and white shoes.

Lexington police arrested a state social worker accused of trading drugs for an in-home visit with a child.

Police say Chad Albert Buckley made a deal to obtain four Oxycontin pills valued at $100 in exchange for the home visit. According to the police report, Buckley paid $30 cash, gave a $25 gift card and arranged an in-home visit in return for the drugs.

http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php

Police say Buckley works as a social worker for the Kentucky Cabinet of Health and Family Services. According to court documents, he used the child as a “bargaining tool.”

Police arrested Buckley Tuesday and charged him with conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance, official misconduct and bribery of a public servant.

Officials in Mason County have issued a Golden Alert for a woman who went missing Tuesday evening.

Deputies say Virgie R. Beckett, 76, left her home in the Eastern Hills subdivision in Lewisburg sometime around 5 p.m. driving a silver 2001 Chevy Impala. Officials say family members indicated that she might harm herself. Beckett has health issues that require medication.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Beckett stands about 5’4″ and weighs around 130 pounds. She has brown eyes and partially grey hair. Beckett has connections in Mason County, Lewis County, Greenup County, and Brown County, Ohio. If you have information about her whereabouts, call the Mason County Sheriff’s Office at 606-564-3309.

A Burlington man was arrested Monday on sex charges involving a child.

Alamance County sheriff’s detectives arrested Fransisco Avila Torres, 53, of Dixon Swimming Pool Road. Torres faces three felony counts of first-degree statutory sex offense.

The charges stem from an incident alleged to have occurred Friday in the southern part of the county.

Torres knew the victim, who is 8, but is not related to her. Her parents reported the incident to the Sheriff’s Office.

http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html

Torres was arrested without incident and placed in the Alamance County jail under a $250,000 secured bond. His first court appearance is today.

Mansfield police continue to search for a 17-year-old girl reported missing from the area more than three weeks ago.

Tabitha Moore disappeared from the Mansfield area around 6 p.m. July 4, stepmother Sheryl Moore said.

Tabitha was supposed to be with friends that night, but Sheryl said she made calls to Tabitha’s friends’ parents and no one could find her.

Sheryl said she filed a missing person report with the Mansfield Police Department less than 24 hours after she discovered her stepdaughter missing.

Mansfield police Chief Ken Coontz said immediately upon receiving the missing person report, an officer entered Tabitha’s information into the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System. Should an officer anywhere in the country run Tabitha’s name through the LEADS system, Coontz said, that officer would be notified she has been listed as a missing person in Mansfield.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Coontz said an officer created fliers with Tabitha’s identifying information to distribute among officers.

In the weeks following the missing person report, Sheryl said she and her daughter Abigail received tips from neighbors who had information about Tabitha’s location, which she passed along to police.

Sheryl said she fears for her stepdaughter as she may be in the company of a suspected heroin dealer.

At one point, Sheryl said, Tabitha called a friend from a blocked number and told her that she was in Jacksonville, Florida.

That friend contacted Tabitha’s family and asked about Tabitha; a man in the Jacksonville area called that person and expressed fear Tabitha might have overdosed on illegal drugs.

Sheryl said she reached out to law enforcement in Jacksonville, but did not receive any leads. Sheryl then said contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about her case on July 21.

Two hours later, Sheryl said, she received a call from Mansfield police detectives informing her Detective Bill Bushong was assigned to the case.

Bushong said detectives will continue to follow up on all leads. Bushong said officers contacted Galion Police Department, and officers there searched for the man suspected of being with Tabitha. Officers were unable to find him.

Tabitha is 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs about 175 pounds. She has auburn hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information related to Tabitha or her whereabouts is asked to call the Mansfield Police Department at 419-755-9432.

Caring for the elderly is a position of great trust. However, Lexington Police said a woman betrayed that trust when she stole from a couple who is well into their 80’s.

Police said Karlen Jett got away with thousands of dollars in forged checks and stolen jewelry, before the 84-year old man and woman realized something was wrong.

LEX 18 News crews sat down with the victims’ daughter, who fears there may be other victims out there.

“The reality is, that it can happen to anyone,” said Joyce Watts. Even a close knit family, like hers, can fall victim to fraud. It’s a truth that’s hard for Watts to face.

http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html

“I was shocked and disappointed and very hurt for my family. My parents cared for her and we trusted her, they trusted her with everything,” said Watts.

Her Father and his wife trusted Jett, who was their full time caregiver for nearly two years. That is, until they noticed a discrepancy in their bank statement this Saturday, and talked to Jett.

“She told me that she had done these things and that she knew that it was wrong,” said Watts. “She forged checks. She made checks out to herself and she forged their signature to them.”

Watts said that over the last few months Jett took around $10,000 dollars in at least seven stolen checks. Watts said Jett then went to the Bank Of The Bluegrass where a relative works. The bank president told LEX 18 News that she did not want to comment on the case.

“She cashed them all at the same bank,” said Watts.

Watts said Jett also stole jewelry and pawned it. Priceless family heirlooms now gone, in a way this family never expected.

“That’s one of the saddest things about this. She took the best care of her and why she would risk going to prison? I don’t know,” said Watts.

Watts said they hired Jett through Assisting Hands Home Care, who did a background check. A representative from their company said Jett only worked for their company for one day, before the elderly couple hired her full time. Jett then worked as an individual caregiver, unassociated with an agency.

Now as this family starts their search over, they’re keeping faith, but say they can never fully trust again.

“Pray that things like this don’t happen,” said Watts. “I hope it never happens to anyone, it’s so very painful.”

Jett was arrested for two counts of exploiting adults, having forged checks and tampering with evidence. As of Monday night she was in the Fayette County Detention Center and did not wish to tell her side of the story.

If you know of anyone else who might have fallen victim to this crime, you’re asked to call police.

Six months after a manager said he was robbed and stabbed during a robbery at a Morehead business, police have issued a warrant for his arrest.

32-year-old Jason Allen, a manager at the Sonic in Morehead, told police back in January that he had been stabbed in the cheek and torso during a robbery.

Now, police say Allen made up the story.

http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php

When arrested, he will face theft by unlawful taking charges and falsely reporting the incident.

The Morehead News reports, a total of $4,119.53 was reported missing at the time.

A 34-year-old man was arrested and charged Monday with kidnapping a New Hampshire teenage girl who returned home recently after vanishing nine months ago.

Authorities said Nathaniel Kibby was arrested without incident at his Gorham home and was charged with felony kidnapping.

Police allege Kibby knowingly confined Abigail “Abby” Hernandez, then 14, on Oct. 9, sometime after she left Conway High School for her home.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Kibby was scheduled for arraignment Tuesday at Conway District Court. It was not immediately known if Kibby has a lawyer. Attorney General Joseph Foster said he will have a press briefing after the arraignment.

Abby returned to her home sometime the night of July 20. Authorities have not explained the circumstances of her return.

Abby’s mother said in a television interview that rumors that the girl, now 14, was pregnant aren’t true. Zenya Hernandez told NBC’s “Today” that many people think her daughter was pregnant, but she was not.

She also said she believes Abby did not run away and didn’t know the man believed to have driven off with her. Police released a sketch of him last week based on Abby’s description.

Abby also issued a statement thanking people who searched for her and saying she believes their hopes and prayers “played a major role in my release.”

Her mother said when Abby returned home, she was thin and pale and had “a look in her eyes I’ve never, ever seen before. And that’s something that’s haunting me, and I think will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

Attorney General Joseph Foster said when the girl disappeared she apparently had no way to get about or secure food, shelter or other necessities on her own.

Townspeople who searched and prayed that she would return are relieved, but also are looking for answers about where she’s been and how she got home.

“I feel like they just ripped something out of our souls,” Zenya Hernandez said. “And just as I swore that I’ll find her, I’ll find the person, I’ll find out what happened.”

He’s accused of telling a made-up sob story to prey on people all over the Bluegrass, even taking cash from the emotionally vulnerable.

Gary Goodman, the man arrested earlier this month at the University of Kentucky Hospital, may have been caught in the act again in Laurel County.

Snapped around noon Tuesday, some pictures show a man in a t-shirt and ballcap with a phone to his ear. A woman driving by the area believes that man is Gary Goodman.

http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php

911 CALL:
Caller: “I saw a news report about a guy that was going to different hospitals to ask for money with a sob story about his mother. That guy is actually at this McDonalds doing the same thing to customers.

Dispatcher: “He’s there in the parking lot?”

Caller: “He’s inside right now, but he went up to the guy next to us and used the same story about his mother.”

Dispatchers in Laurel County confirm an officer was sent out, but couldn’t find the guy.

Arrested at the University of Kentucky Hospital earlier this month, police say Goodman pretends to be on the phone with a family member, and telling people his mother just died, the 36-year-old solicits donations.

Goodman was banned from UK Hospital in 2013, accused of begging. Court documents show he’s also been arrested three times since 2008 for begging at Central Baptist in Lexington.

Since our initial stories aired, LEX 18 viewers have reported the Winchester man pulling the same act at hospitals and businesses in Clark, Fayette, Madison, Montgomery, Jessamine and Rockcastle counties. Now, it appears Laurel County can be added to the list.