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Maine Lawyer Arrested For Registration Fraud
Court Watch |
2007/04/16 07:39
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PORTSMOUTH - A local attorney was arrested Friday on four charges alleging he used the address of his downtown law office to register three cars, in spite of living in Kittery, Maine. According to Katie Daley, spokeswoman for the New Hampshire Highway Patrol, Richard Foley, 53, was charged at the Newington Police Department on three felony counts of title fraud. If convicted, according to Daley, Foley could be sentenced to a maximum of seven years in prison. The convictions could also be punishable by a maximum $4,000 fine for each of the four felony counts. Foley was also arrested on a misdemeanor count of tampering with public records, punishable by up to one year in prison and a $1,200 fine. The Division of Motor Vehicles Highway Patrol reports that Foley's arrest followed a two-month investigation. That investigation, according to the state, was based on information that Foley was using his 414 State St. law office to claim New Hampshire residency for the purpose of registering and titling three of his own vehicles. Daley said the state is not releasing the attorney's Kittery street address. Automobiles registered in New Hampshire are not subject to an excise tax, as is the case in Maine, where auto insurance is also mandated. The amount of the Maine tax is determined by the age of the vehicle and the suggested retail price. Following his arrest, Foley was released on $4,000 personal recognizance bail and is scheduled to be arraigned May 23 in Portsmouth District Court. |
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Las Vegas jury finds ex-cop guilty
Court Watch |
2007/04/15 10:44
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A former Manhattan Beach police sergeant has been found guilty of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in Las Vegas. Shawn Michael Shelton, 40, once the fastest-rising officer in his department, could face the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison following the Clark County District Court jury’s decision, reached Friday night after two hours of deliberations.
Following two days of testimony, jurors concluded that Shelton was guilty of first-degree kidnapping, sexual assault with a minor under 16 years old, battery with intent to commit sexual assault with a minor under 16 years old, and use of a minor in pornography, court information officer Michael Sommermeyer said. Jurors acquitted Shelton of one count of robbery. A charge of transmission of the AIDS virus previously was dropped. Shelton is HIV positive. The guilty verdicts came after jurors listened to the boy, now 15, describe how he was sitting at a bus bench outside a mall May 21, 2006 , when Shelton pulled up, displayed a badge and told him he was a police officer. He persuaded the boy to get into his Hummer. The boy told jurors that Shelton said he was investigating a homicide, handcuffed him, drove him into the desert and forced him to perform oral sex in the back seat, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. During his testimony, the boy described the .50-caliber bullet hanging on Shelton’s key chain and the brand of cigarettes Shelton smoked. Police found the cigarettes in Shelton’s Hummer when they arrested him May 26 in Corona, the newspaper reported. Besides the identification, prosecutors had key forensic evidence to pin the crime on Shelton, who had been an experienced detective. Following the oral sex, the boy wiped his mouth with his T-shirt. The act absorbed Shelton’s DNA into the cloth, the newspaper said. |
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Ohio man pleads not guilty to terror charges
Court Watch |
2007/04/13 12:12
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US citizen Christopher Paul pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he conspired to assist terrorists and to bomb European tourist sites and US military and government facilities overseas. Paul, from Columbus, OH, did not request to be released on bond during his arraignment in the US Southern District of Ohio.
Paul pleaded not guilty to all three counts of conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists, conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, and providing material support and resources to terrorists. Paul is allegedly connected to two other men from Columbus who have also been indicted on terrorism charges. Iyman Faris, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge, attended the same mosque and became friends with Paul. Nuradin Abdi, a Somali awaiting trial on 2004 charges that he plotted with other al Qaeda operatives to blow up a Columbus-area shopping mall, used Paul as a reference on a government employment application. Officials also found evidence in Paul's apartment that will be used against Abdi at trial. According to investigators, Paul traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the early 1990s to receive military training at an al Qaeda training camp and, upon his return to the US, continued to funnel money and other resources to al Qaeda. The indictment also alleges that Paul provided explosives training to co-conspirators in Germany to carry out future attacks on European and United States targets. If convicted of all charges, Paul could receive a maximum penalty of life in prison. |
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CA. CPA Temporarily Barred from Giving Legal Advice
Court Watch |
2007/04/13 09:06
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WASHINGTON – The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California has issued a preliminary injunction against Lowell Baisden, a Bakersfield, Calif., Certified Public Accountant, the Justice Department announced today. The injunction prevents him from promoting his tax scheme and was issued after a two-day evidentiary hearing in Fresno, Calif. The court issued the injunction after it found that Baisden had promoted a plan which encourages and assists customers to create corporations into which they allegedly had their incomes deposited for the primary purpose of decreasing their tax liability. Several of Baisden's customers are physicians and nurse anesthetists from North Platte, Neb., many of whom have not filed past-due tax returns. According to Baisden's plan, the customers created real estate and forestry corporations, but almost all of the income reported by the corporations was derived from the customers' income from their jobs in the medical profession. Baisden reported deductions for the corporations for customers' lawn care expenses, expenses related to their personal residences, car expenses, and for one customer, the purchase cost and storage fees for an airplane. Baisden also prepared tax returns in California which characterized wages as rent, which is not subject to self-employment or employment taxes. The court found that Baisden prepared tax returns that identified customers as investors when they were actually physicians or nurses and claimed business deductions for non-deductible personal expenses of customers or for which he and his customers did not provide supporting documentation. The tax returns he prepared also failed to report a reasonable compensation to owners of such corporations and otherwise mischaracterized their income. Finally, the court found that Baisden engaged in misconduct related to his representation of customers by falsely advising them not to comply with IRS document and meeting requests, filing meritless requests to delay civil audits, advising clients to make insufficient estimated tax payments, and advising customers not to file lawfully due returns. More information about this case is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv06670.htm.
USDOJ |
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Man pleads guilty in massive mortgage fraud scheme
Court Watch |
2007/04/11 08:56
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A man accused of stealing the identities of children, the homeless and people in drug rehab as part of a massive mortgage fraud scheme pleaded guilty to federal charges in three states Tuesday. Matthew Cox, 37, faces up to 54 years in prison and $2 million in fines at his Aug. 22 sentencing, but will likely not receive that stiff a punishment. As part of a deal Cox struck with the government, prosecutors have agreed to recommend that U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten sentence Cox at the low end of federal guidelines. The exact range has not been determined. Cox pleaded guilty to six charges that were leveled in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee: bank fraud, identity theft, passport fraud, two counts of mortgage fraud conspiracy, and violating his probation for a previous mortgage fraud conviction. Forty-one other counts against him in Georgia will be dropped as part of his plea agreement. Prosecutors say Cox and Rebecca Marie Hauck rented properties, fraudulently erased mortgage liens on the properties and then stole the owners’ identities and fraudulently took out multiple new mortgage loans. They also used stolen identities to obtain driver’s licenses, purchase vehicles, lease mail drops, rent apartments and open bank accounts to receive proceeds from their schemes in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina, authorities said.
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Sunderland man found guilty of killing eagle
Court Watch |
2007/04/11 04:56
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The owner of a Sunderland trout hatchery, who pleaded guilty last month to killing herons and ospreys that were feeding at his fish pools, also was convicted on Tuesday of killing a bald eagle. U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor in a nonjury trial found Michael Zak, 59, guilty of one count of shooting and killing an eagle, and one count of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which provides protection for migratory birds through international cooperation and treaties. Zak, owner of the Mohawk Trout Hatchery, had pleaded guilty on March 26 to two counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and one count of conspiracy.
His attorney, Vincent Bongiorni, said then his client was not willing to accept a guilty plea for the eagle charge. "There was a factual basis to support those two counts and our claim is that it doesn't support the bald eagle count," he said. Zak's employee, Timothy Lloyd, 30, of Easthampton, pleaded guilty March 23 to two counts of violating the migratory bird act and one count of conspiracy. Federal investigators said they found more than 250 great blue heron carcasses, as well as carcasses of ospreys and a bald eagle on hatchery property. Tests showed the birds were killed by gunshots. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents say they staked out the hatchery periodically and saw Zak shoot at a heron with a scoped rifle and Lloyd shoot and kill an osprey. The men are to be sentenced on June 27. Zak faces up to three years in prison and Lloyd faces up to 18 months. |
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Two former TYC employees indicted in sex abuse case
Court Watch |
2007/04/10 23:14
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Two former administrators at a Texas juvenile prison were arrested Tuesday on 13 charges of improper sexual conduct with six students. Former West Texas State School principal John Paul Hernandez and former assistant superintendent Ray E. Brookins each resigned in 2005 as an investigation by Texas Rangers; the case has only recently moved forward as Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has taken over the case from a local prosecutor who declined to pursue most cases relating to the school from 2005-2006. The investigating Rangers alleged that they presented their findings to the state and US Attorney offices as well as the Department of Justice, but that no office showed interest in prosecution. Hernandez was charged with nine counts of improper sexual activity with a person in custody and nine counts of improper relationship with a student. Brookins faces up to 20 years in prison for charges of an improper relationship with a student and two years in prison for improper sexual activity with a person in custody. A 2006 US Department of Justice report said that sexual violence in US prisons, perpetrated by both inmates and prison staff, often goes unreported because abused inmates fear a reprisal. Last month, Texas Gov. Rick Perry appointed a commission to review the records of approximately 90 percent of the state's juvenile inmates following allegations by families and community activists that prison officials extended sentences in retaliation for inmates filing grievances. Staff-initiated sexual misconduct constituted 38 percent of allegations. The authors of the report also warned against placing juvenile inmates with the adult prison population, finding that the incidents of rape and abuse are five times higher against juveniles. The report, which was the second in an annual series required by the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, showed a marked improvement over staff sexual misconduct and harassment since the initial 2004 study.
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