The Charleston County Sheriff’s office has found 77-year-old Julia Mudgett’s vehicle in Ridgeland.

Deputies say they found the vehicle Monday afternoon near a boat landing on Tuten Landing Road. The vehicle was towed back to the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office to be processed as part of the investigation.

Mudgett was reported missing on May 6, 2014, from her home in Hollywood.

The Sheriff’s  office is continuing to investigate the incident as a missing person investigation, but believes foul play is involved in Mudgett’s disappearance.

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The Charleston County Sheriff’s office is working with authorities in Beaufort, Bluffton and Jasper counties to try to find Mudgett. Search efforts are planned in Beaufort and Jasper counties on Tuesday.

Police say she has been at it for months posing as a former employee for places like Walmart and Kmart to trick the real employees into letting her walk out with merchandise without really paying.

Lexington Police says the woman they are looking for successfully pulled off her scam at retailers in Lexington, Georgetown, Frankfort, Versailles and Louisville. And she’s racked up more than $8,000 in cash with her fake ‘buying, then returning for cash’ scheme.

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Here’s how she does it – she goes to purchase a 300 baby monitor, but tells the clerk she’s paying with what she calls a ‘cash card.’ But what the clerk doesn’t realize, is that there really is no such thing. She tells the employee to hit ‘cash’ and ‘exact amount’ on the register and she pretends to run a card.

Though her receipt says she paid in cash, she never really paid anything. Yet, she is able to return the items at a different store, and walk out with cash in pocket.

“In the [surveillance] videos, when she’s first buying the items, she always has a ball cap on or her hair up. When she goes to do the returns she has long hair, about mid-way down her back that she constantly plays with the entire time she’s doing the transaction,” said Detective Mike Helsby.

Detectives say she’s driving an older model, dark colored Toyota Corolla that appears to be pretty beat up. They believe that she is from the area.

Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward for information leading to an arrest. Call the Crime Stoppers tip-line at 859-253-2020.

Three people were arrested Monday after troopers say they were trafficking heroin out of a home on Ghent Eagle South in Sanders.

Troopers went to the home to serve a warrant for possession of marijuana on 21-year-old Joshua Smith. They found Smith with some drug related paraphernalia, officials said.

A search of the home lead to the discovery of heroin, syringes, six marijuana plants, and other drug paraphernalia.

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Smith, 26-year-old Aaron Johnson, and 19-year-old Sydney Carder were arrested and charged with trafficking heroin, cultivation of marijuana – 5 plants or more, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. All three are being held in the Carroll County Detention Center.

Trooper Dave Roberts is leading the ongoing investigation.

Cherokee, North Carolina authorities have arrested a man for allegedly committing sex acts on a child under 13.

Gary Lee Mitchell of Marble, North Carolina was arrested May 7 for “First Degree Sex Offense With a Child under 13 years of age.”

Investigators said after allegations came forth, the department sought the assistance of the HAVEN Child Advocacy Center in Murphy, who they say were able to gather enough information to present the case to a North Carolina magistrate who issued an arrest warrant for Mitchell.

http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html

He is being held on a $100,000 bond. His first court date is scheduled for May 20.

Sheriff Keith Lovin stated “It is through team work such as involving HAVEN Child Advocacy Center as well as keeping our Assistant District Attorney informed early in our investigations that we are able to bring these horrible cases to resolve.”

To report suspicious activity and suspect violations of the law please call 828-837-3144 or submit a tip at crime.tips@cherokeecounty-nc.gov.

A former New York City firefighter living in Castle Rock has pleaded guilty to a felony charge in connection with a massive disability pension fraud investigation there.

John Colombi, 46, pleaded guilty Friday to a reduced charge of third-degree grand larceny, according to New York Supreme Court records, for his role in collecting more than $295,000 in Social Security disability benefits since July 2004.

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Two other charges are expected to be dropped as part of a plea agreement, and Colombi is likely to forfeit a pair of retirement bank accounts he turned over to prosecutors last month as part of a separate civil collections lawsuit.

Colombi and his attorney, Marc Gann, did not immediately respond to efforts to reach them Monday.

At the time of the indictments, Gann had said Colombi “was a productive guy who wanted to work but couldn’t, who had a legitimate work-related injury with legitimate issues and will ultimately be vindicated” from the charges he faced.

It’s unclear whether Colombi’s firefighter pension, earned following a 14-year career that ended with a wrist injury suffered in a fall, would be impacted by his plea.

New York City investigators said none of those indicted had a known psychiatric condition that would qualify them for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits and that many who collected more than $400 million lived lifestyles vastly different than what was represented on their applications.

Several blamed their sufferings on the events of 9/11, although it’s unclear if Colombi was one of them.

Colombi founded The Gym of Castle Rock with his wife, Frances, and another couple in August 2008. Gann has said Colombi is not an owner in the business, which is run by Frances.

The investigation has so-far netted more than 130 people, including more than 100 former New York City police and firefighters, many of them already collecting legitimate pensions.

Prosecutors said a small number of them have pleaded guilty to charges connected to the case, though none as yet has been sentenced. The first are expected next week.

The third suspect on trial in connection with the 2012 death of Charlie Moore was found guilty on four of the nine counts against him Monday.

The jury came back with four guilty verdicts for Joshua Hammond including Reckless Homicide, Robbery 1st, Assault 1st and Tampering With Physical Evidence.

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Hammond was found not guilty on charges of Manslaughter, Assault 2, Robbery 2, Wanton Endangerment and Murder.

Instead of a recommended sentence from the jury, both attorneys agreed on sentencing and recommended 25 years total.

He will be eligible for parole in 2031.

The case revolves around the discovery of Moore’s body on the side of the on-ramp from Kentucky Highway 127 onto Interstate-64 back in 2012.

The other two suspects, James Simons and David Bruce II, have already been sentenced in connection with the crime.

Simons pleaded guilty to manslaughter, robbery, assault and tampering with physical evidence in Monroe’s death.

Bruce has already been sentenced to 20 years in the case.

Hamilton police are seeking the public’s assistance in locating an 18-year-old man who has not been heard from in more than a month.

Todd Bradley Mathis was last seen by his mother April 1 when she went to his Shuler Avenue residence to give him money, a police report shows.

He has a history of being reported as a missing person, in April 2013 and August 2012, said Sgt. Ed Buns in a prepared statement.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Mathis has personal and medical issues that may have led to his latest disappearance.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Hamilton Police Detective Kevin Holstein: 513-868-5811, ext. 1280, or Mathis’ mother, Katrina: 513-393-4479.

Police arrested two men after a deadly shooting in Oldham County Sunday night.

Police say a fight started inside a home on East Washington Street in La Grange around 10 p.m. The fight spilled into the front yard, and at some point a shot was fired into the the victim’s chest.

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Officials say Justin Rogers, 24, died at the scene.

Police arrested Robert Carbera and Henry Schultz-Eggenspiller, and charged them both with murder.

The former mayor of Martin, Kentucky has been convicted of intentionally violating voters’ civil rights during her reelection campaign in 2012.

On Thursday evening, a federal jury in Pikeville, Kentucky, convicted former Martin Mayor Ruth Thomasine Robinson, 69, of conspiracy to violate civil rights and one count of vote buying. The jury also convicted her husband, James “Red” Robinson, 64, of the conspiracy count and one vote buying count. Her stepson, James Steven Robinson, 32, was found guilty of the conspiracy count and two of three vote buying counts and another co-defendant, Johnny T. Moore, 32, was acquitted of all charges. The jury returned the verdicts after approximately two hours of deliberation, following three days of trial.

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According to evidence introduced at trial, Thomasine Robinson and her co-conspirators intimated poor and disabled citizens in order to gain their votes during the 2012 general election in Martin. For instance, members of the conspiracy directed residents of public housing to vote by absentee ballot under the supervision of Thomasine Robinson or another member of the conspiracy. The members of the conspiracy also targeted residents of private housing owned and leased by Thomasine Robinson.

The trial testimony established that the members of the conspiracy filled out absentee ballots, marking the conspirators’ choice of candidates, and then had the voters sign the pre-marked ballots. Voters who cooperated with this arrangement and voted for Thomasine Robinson received promises of better living arrangements and other consideration. Voters who did not comply faced consequences such as eviction and the loss of priority for public housing.

In addition, the evidence at trial established that the defendants offered to pay several voters to vote for Thomasine Robinson.

Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Perrye K. Turner, Special Agent in Charge, FBI; and Jack Conway, Kentucky Attorney General, jointly announced the conviction.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kenneth R. Taylor and Andrew T. Boone represent the federal government in this case.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 9. The defendants face a maximum of 10 years in prison for the conspiracy offense and a maximum of five years in prison on the vote buying offenses. However, the court must consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statutes before imposing a sentence.

The Wayne County Sheriff’s Department has confirmed the body found Sunday evening off Hwy 3106 is that of a man who had been reported missing in March.

According to a Monticello radio station, the Sheriff’s Department has identified the body as that of 69-year-old Marshal Kay Alley.

Kay Alley had been missing since Feb. 21, when officials said he had just been released from the Wayne County Detention Center where he was for violating the terms of a domestic violence order.

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A deputy from the jail had given Alley a ride to the corner of Walnut and Huffaker Street since he had a son who lived in that area, officials said. Officials believe Alley possibly had contact with one other person after he got out of the vehicle.

He was reported missing in March by a grandson who became concerned when he was unable to reach his grandfather.

The body was found around 7:23 p.m. near a creek bank in Wayne County Sunday and was taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office where an autopsy is scheduled. Preliminary cause of death is expected later.

Kentucky State Police and the Medical Examiner’s office continues the investigation.