Three former Verizon store employees accused of identity theft opened accounts and bought phones with information obtained from a local car dealership, Tuscaloosa police said.

The women were arrested this week after an investigation that went on for longer than a year.

Investigators believe that Keenya Martin, Christi Jones and Chemeria Smith, all 27 years old, obtained victims’ personal details from a group of men that bought the information from a Locklear Dodge sales associate. Police believe the women used that information to create false accounts and obtain phones that they sold back to those men.

http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html

The men had not been charged as of Wednesday. A warrant has been issued for the former Locklear employee, but he hasn’t yet been arrested.

The investigation began when the director of sales for Wireless Advantage in Essex Square Marketplace contacted Northport police in January 2016, according to court documents filed this week. The sales director had conducted his own investigation and turned the results over to criminal investigators.

He scheduled a staff meeting at a Tuscaloosa hotel, and invited four Northport officers to attend. The sales director asked the employees to place their phones in a box before he began the meeting.

He then revealed that he was conducting an investigation and had contacted police. During the police interviews that then took place, the women admitted to obtaining personal information from the men.

Northport investigators searched the suspects’ phones and found partial or full identities and began contacting them. They soon realized that many of the victims had recently bought or made inquiries at Locklear Dodge.

The investigators enlisted the help of Tuscaloosa Police Department’s handwriting expert, and compared the list of the stolen personal information with documents from the car dealership. That led them to an employee, who admitted that he had sold the names and information to three men, according to court documents.

As of Wednesday, none of the men had been charged in the case. A warrant was issued last week to charge the Locklear employee with trafficking in stolen identities. The investigators recovered personal information of 267 potential victims on the suspect’s phones, and made contact with 74 of them, according to court records.

Each of the women was charged with trafficking in stolen identities and first-degree theft and has been released on bond.

An Arkansas man who ran a missionary orphanage in Jacmel, Haiti, has been arrested and charged with traveling in foreign commerce with the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

The arrest was announced by U.S. Attorney Wilfredo A. Ferrer, of the Southern District of Florida, and Mark Selby, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

According to court documents, Daniel John Pye, 35, of Ashdown, Arkansas, originally from Bradenton, Florida, traveled from Florida to Haiti on multiple occasions from 2008 through 2011 allegedly for the purpose of sexually abusing minor female children.

http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html

HSI Miami led the investigation with significant support from HSI Santo Domingo, the HQ Forced Child Labor Program, HSI Texarkana, HSI Harrisonburg, HSI Austin, HSI Raleigh, and the HSI Forensic Interview Team.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of ICE-HSI and thanked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for their assistance. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Widlanski.

A criminal complaint is only an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free tip line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. From outside the U.S. and Canada, callers should dial 802-872-6199. Hearing impaired users can call TTY 802-872-6196.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI’s Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

A Liberty man was arrested Wednesday morning after an investigation into a shooting that occurred on Tuesday.

State police say that 21-year-old Marcus Bryant was charged with Assault 1^st. The shooting happened on Tuesday around 8:30 p.m. after Bryant and 21-year-old Hunter Gillock, of Liberty, had all been involved in an altercation.

http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php

Gillock sustained a single gunshot wound and was flown to UK Hospital where he remains in stable condition, according to KSP.

Bryant was lodged in the Casey County Jail.

The investigation continues.

A California man is facing identity theft charges after authorities allegedly caught him with mail and credit card information from a Pipers Hill Road resident’s mailbox, police said.

On Feb. 21, Wilton police learned of three separate incidents of mail theft and potential identity theft from residents of Thunder Lake Road. The following day, a Pipers Hill Road resident alerted police about a suspicious vehicle whose operator was removing mail from neighbors’ mailboxes.

http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html

In response, police set up a surveillance operation in the areas of north Wilton where activity had been reported and, around noon on Feb. 23, detectives observed a vehicle that fit the description of the previous day’s suspicious vehicle complaint in the area of Whipstick and Nod Hill roads.

Upon pulling the vehicle over, police found Elijah Jamel Chin, 26, with mail and a credit card in the name of a Pipers Hill Road resident in his lap. A subsequent search of the vehicle revealed further mail and credit card information of Wilton residents.

Chin was charged with third-degree identity theft, sixth-degree larceny, attempted trafficking in personal identifying information and possession of less than a half-ounce of marijuana. He was released on bond, and is expected in court on March 6.

Police are still investigating the crime, and are asking residents, especially those from around Thunder Lake and Pipers Hill roads, to monitor their credit reports for any suspicious inquiries or account that they did not authorize.

If a resident learns of his or her identity theft, police ask that you contact the department at 203-834-6260.

A Sharpsville woman is going to prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl, then recording the acts on video and sending it to other people.

On Monday, Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher St. John handed down a sentence of six to 20 years in prison to Carissa Lee Vadala.

The 20-year-old woman pleaded guilty in November to 15 charges including aggravated indecent assault of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, photographing or filming a sex act, disseminating photos or films of child sex acts, sexual exploitation of children, indecent assault of a child, corruption of minors, and child endangering.

http://liarcatchers.com/pedophile_tracking.html

The charges were filed in June following an investigation by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General’s Child Predator Section.

Evidence in the case included video that investigators say shows a woman inserting objects in the 10-year-old girl’s vagina and anus.

The criminal complaint also alleges that the suspect also performed oral sex on the child.

The charges were filed following a child pornography investigation that began in South Carolina and led South Pymatuning Township Police to search Vadala’s Anchorage Road home.

Vadala is also required to register as a tier three sex offender for the rest of her life.

Three people have been arrested in connection with a robbery at a Lexington McDonald’s restaurant.

Lexington Police say around 6 a.m. Wednesday, February 15th, officers were called to the McDonald’s on Harrodsburg Road for an armed Robbery. Witnesses reported a man walked in with a handgun and demanded cash.

http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php

An employee handed over cash, then the suspect took off in a vehicle.

After investigating, officers were able to identify and locate the robbery suspect, as well as two others who they say were accomplices to the crime.

Brandon Coon, 30, Anthony Harris, 35, and Nicole Stewart, 30, were each charged with first degree robbery Tuesday.

All three suspects are in the Fayette County Detention Center.

The Montana Department of Justice has issued a Missing/Endangered Person Advisory for 15-year-old Nacheyla Dempsey.

The MEPA was issued on Tuesday afternoon, and says that Nacheyla has been missing since September 2016.

On Tuesday, February 28, at 11 a.m., officials with the Confederal Salish & Kootenai Tribal Social Services agency received a phone call from Nacheyla’s non-custodial parent, Rena.

http://liarcatchers.com/missing_persons_investigations.html

Rena said that Nacheyla was in an undisclosed location in Helena, was out of control, and was using heroin.

An altercation was heard over the phone, and contact was lost.

Authorities believe that Nacheyla is in danger.

Anyone with information about Nacheyla is asked to call Flathead Tribal Police at 406-675-4700, or call 911.

A Georgia couple was sentenced to 35 years total Monday for their role in terrorizing a black child’s birthday party.

Authorities described Jose Torres and Kayla Norton as “white supremacists.” Police say the couple were in a group with about a dozen other people who drove trucks flying Confederate flags past a home where a black child’s birthday party was being held in July 2015.

Officials say Torres and Norton yelled racial slurs and threatened to kill partygoers, including the children. Torres pointed a shotgun at the victims before police arrived.

Torres and Norton were both found guilty in a trial Monday. They were in tears nearly the entire hearing.

http://liarcatchers.com/contact.php

Before the judge sentenced the couple, family members took the stand to talk about the pair, who have three young kids together.

Norton stood afterward and said she accepted responsibility and that it was the worst decision of her life not to walk away when she had the chance.

“And we didn’t go home, and I don’t know why,” she said. “But I want you all to know that is not me. That is not him. I would never walk up to you and say those words to you, and I’m so sorry that happened to you. I am so sorry.”

The apology caused some to break down and even leave the courtroom, but one mother stood up and testified.

“You stayed, and you affected my life and you affected my children’s lives,” she said. ” But, I forgive you. I forgive all of you. I’m not a mean-spirited person. I forgive you,” she said.

When the judge sentenced the couple, he called their crimes hate-filled and racially motivated.

Torres was sentenced to 20 years, with 13 of those years to be served in prison.

Norton received a 15-year sentence, with six of those years to be served in prison.