Police in Whitley County have arrested a man who they say confessed to burglarizing and setting fire to an ice plant last Monday.

Crews arrived shortly after 1 a.m. Monday to encounter flames shooting up to 50 feet high at the Corbin Ice Company on the Cumberland Falls Highway.

No injuries were reported.

http://liarcatchers.com/arson_investigation.html

On Friday, officials announced the arrest of Joshua Stevenson, 22, of Corbin. They say he confessed to both burglary and arson in the case.

Ultimately, 50 percent of the building was lost, much of it in the stocking and storage area of the company.

A Westmoreland man is charged with two felonies after he allegedly used a stolen credit card to make purchases, New York State Police said.

Jeffery C. Mlinar, 22, of Westmoreland, is charged with felony identity theft in the second degree and felony grand larceny in the fourth degree.

http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html

Mlinar was arrested Wednesday after a two-month investigation into the theft and unlawful use of a debit card in the Town of New Hartford.

According to state police, Mlinar allegedly used a stolen credit card to make nine unauthorized withdrawals from a First Source Federal Credit Union account.

Thanksgiving isn’t just for shopping, it’s about being with the people you love, those you’re thankful for. However one central Kentucky family is missing a very special person.

Brookelyn Farthing, 18, disappeared in June and this holiday season her step-father is asking for only one gift.

She’s still here in the hearts of family, however her empty chair at Thanksgiving reminds everyone of the tough truth. “All of us celebrating Thanksgiving at the same time and it’s hard to find something to be thankful for when a big part of your heart is gone,” said Brookelyn’s step-father, Randall Walker.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

What’s missing in his life is Brookelyn. The daughter, sister, friend to many has been gone for five long months. “We can’t reach her, we can’t talk to her, we can’t touch her and we can’t love her… because she’s gone,” said Walker.

Brookelyn was last seen on June 22nd at a home in Berea. A man left her there that night, and said when he came back she was missing and a couch in the house was on fire.

“Right now she is gone and we want to know where she is at… we are all full of questions. Where’s brooke?” asked Walker.

Her family is left celebrating birthdays and holidays without her, as they desperately wait for answers. “Whoever that person is that knows what happened to Brooke, or where Brooke is, I ask that this time of year they open their hearts and finally tell us,” said Walker.

Until someone speaks up, Brookelyn’s family is asking everyone to do one thing. “Pray for Brookelyn. Just don’t forget her, we aren’t forgetting her and we never will,” said Walker.

A convicted sex offender pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted child molestation. Brian Coleman is accused of rubbing soap on at least one child in a Tacoma YMCA shower following swim lessons last spring.

Coleman was arrested recently in Texas and brought back to Washington.  He is being held in the Pierce County Jail on $500,000 bail.

http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html

According to probable cause documents filed with the Washington State Superior Court, a 7-year-old boy was showering in the locker room at the Pearl Street YMCA May 18 while his mother waited outside.

On the drive home, the victim told his mother a man named Brian rubbed soap on his back and stomach while he was in the shower. The victim said the man also tried to get him to go into a bathroom stall with him, but he refused.

According to the probable cause documents, the victim described the man as old and bald with a long white beard. He also said the man put soap on his friend, as well.

An investigation led the Tacoma Police Department to Coleman, a 53-year-old YMCA member and Level 1 sex offender with two 2008 convictions for sexual abuse.

According to the probable cause documents, surveillance video shows Coleman entering the YMCA locker room around the same time as the reported incident.

Police attempted to contact Coleman on June 11, but he said he was out of state and would not be returning until July 10, according to the probable cause documents.

Since that time, police had reportedly been unable to get in contact with Coleman, either at his home or on the phone. And, a warrant was been issued for his arrest.

“We’re deeply saddened by this incident,” said Michelle LaRue of the YMCA. “It is absolutely unfortunate. It’s something we work very hard to prevent.”

The YMCA confirms the suspect had been a member of the Tacoma facility for two years and somehow got passed their security check. “We do run our membership database against local and national registries every three months to identify sex offenders,” said LaRue. “He did not come up in our search at that time which was unfortunate.”

“I don’t know what they could do to keep that kind of problem,” said member Joshua Brooks. “Have somebody in there all the time to watch out for that, I think.”

The YMCA said it has its life guards routinely checking the locker rooms during the busiest times. And staff members are trained on identifying child abuse.

A Phoenix man is in jail for money laundering and drug trafficking after a police dog sniffed out $12,000 in cash believed to have come from illegal drug sales, police reported.

Mark Justin Hill, 28, of the 700 block of First Street, was lodged Monday in the Jackson County Jail on charges of unlawful manufacture, delivery and possession of marijuana. He remained there Wednesday on $50,000 bail, jail records showed.

http://liarcatchers.com/drugdogsweeps.html

Acting on a tip from a drug-sniffing dog, Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement investigators seized a FedEx package sent from Austin, Texas, to Hill’s address on Oct. 5. MADGE officials said they work with numerous shippers and look for suspicious-looking packages. If a police dog alerts on a package, they get a search warrant to check it out.

“The way the (Oregon Medical) Marijuana Program works, when people decide to divert marijuana into the black market, oftentimes they do it through the mail of some sort,” Lt. Brett Johnson of MADGE said, adding surplus amounts of Oregon marijuana often can net up to six times the street value in the Midwest, Texas and the Northeast. “If you look at a state that does not have a medical marijuana program, chances are they’re getting marijuana from Oregon.”

During the Oct. 5 search, the dog homed in on a package addressed to Hill’s Phoenix home. Four days later, MADGE got a warrant to search the package and found $12,000 in cash inside.

Police contacted Hill at his home, an Oregon Medical Marijuana Program grow site, this week about the package.

After talking with him, police got a search warrant for the house. They found 65 pounds of marijuana in numerous plastic bins, well over the amount permitted by the state’s medical marijuana program, police said.

Police also found trace amounts of methamphetamine and heroin, a small amount of dried psilocybin mushrooms, scales, packaging materials, shipping materials and $740 in cash believed to be drug-sale proceeds. Police also found remnants of other opened packages from Austin, Texas.

Outside, investigators found parts of 12 marijuana plants and one live plant, which were allowed by the number of OMMP cards Hill possessed.

Johnson said working with shippers has been an effective method for police to track down black-market sales.

“We try to be opportunistic,” he said, noting that investigators work with all major shippers.

Hill has a preliminary hearing set for 4 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, in Jackson County Circuit Court, records show.

A Foothill Farms man was arrested Thanksgiving morning on suspicion of killing his wife, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department officials said.

Gary Alan Eberly, 54, called 911 on Wednesday night to report that he had found his wife dead at the couple’s home on Glide Court, according to Sheriff’s Sgt. Lisa Bowman.

http://liarcatchers.com/wrongful_death.html

Eberly told detectives that she had been missing since Nov. 19 after they had an argument, and that he had not seen her until discovering her body, Bowman said. He did not file a missing person’s report or contact authorities prior to dialing 911.

The couple had “a long history of domestic disputes” that Sheriff’s deputies have responded to, Bowman said.

Eberly was arrested at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

Bowman said she had no details yet on the alleged motive or cause of death. Officials are withholding the name of the 51-year-old victim until they can notify other family members.

The Simi Valley Police Department is asking the public to be on the lookout for a missing 22-year-old man.

Officials say Jeremy Sears, who has some mild development disabilities, was last seen at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday.

Sears, a Moorpark resident, was last seen at 2150 First Street.

http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html

The missing man was wearing a black T-shirt, black jeans and carrying a dark-colored back back when last seen.

Sears is about 5 feet 9 inches tall, 135 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.

If you have seen Sears, you are asked to call the Simi Valley Police Department at (805) 583-6950.

Eleven men have been arrested in an online child sex trafficking sting in the western North Dakota oil patch, according to federal court documents unsealed Tuesday.

The men, who range in age between 18 and 50, are charged separately with attempted sex trafficking of children. Not all of them have appeared in court.

Last weekend’s arrests were part of an operation in which federal and state law enforcement officers, posing as online sex traffickers, offered underage girls for sex in the Dickinson area. A similar effort last month in the Williston area netted three arrests.

http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html

“The number of arrests resulting from this operation is very concerning,” U.S. Attorney Timothy Purdon told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Neil Fulton, head of the federal public defender’s office for the Dakotas, said he has yet to see documents for all of the defendants he has been assigned.

“Allegations of criminal activity remain only allegations until proven regarding the type of case or number of people charged,” Fulton said. “We will begin to review each case independently as it comes in.”

Charged in the case are Milton Davis, 50; Justin Hess, 32; Charles Hood, 43; Lawrence Hundley, 50; Clayton Lakey, 34; Justin Mattson, 41; Devin Schaner, 22; Ramont Thomas, 28; Rafael Torres, 32; Celestino Valle, 18; and Zachary Wolff, 21.

The indictments accuse each man of knowingly attempting to “recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, obtain and maintain by any means” a female minor for sex.

A judge has sealed affidavits with details about the case after prosecutors warned that further information might jeopardize the safety of undercover agents.

Hometowns for the men were not available, but most are believed to have to come to work in the oil patch from out of state.

“Anyone who does not realize that our hometowns in Western North Dakota are developing big city crime problems has not been paying attention,” Purdon said. “The results of this operation are just further evidence of these stark changes.”

Police in Whitley County are investigating after a man was found dead in the pool of a hotel.

http://liarcatchers.com/wrongful_death.html

The incident happened at the Cumberland Inn in Williamsburg. The coroner said the man found was a 25-year-old Zachary Richard, 25, of Ohio. He apparently hit his head and accidentally drowned. He was with his family and friends heading back from South Carolina to Ohio.

A Lafayette couple is being sought in connection with child sex trafficking charges, Louisiana State Police said on Tuesday.

Darneesha Lashay Martin, 22, and Alcoby Con LaSalle, 19, are wanted on charges of trafficking children for sexual purposes and promoting prostitution, according to State Police.

Martin is described as 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighing about 116 pounds. She has black hair that might be dyed red, state troopers said.

http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html

LaSalle is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 155 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes, according to state troopers.

Both have active warrants for their arrests in connection with the ongoing State Police investigation.

The focus of the case is combatting child sex trafficking and recovering the juvenile victims, State Police said.

Anyone who knows the whereabouts of either LaSalle or Martin is asked to call State Police at 337.262.3341 or 337.262.5880.

Anyone with information about the child victims of sexual exploitation are urged to call the Louisiana Clearinghouse for Missing and Exploited Children at 800.434.8007.