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Worker arrested for embezzlement had criminal past

2009-08-17T18:34:00.000-04:00

By MELANIE C. JOHNSON
The Press-Enterprise

REDLANDS - Court records show that a temporary worker arrested last week for allegedly embezzling money from the city of Redlands has a criminal record.

Robin Denise Bradford, arrested Aug. 6 on suspicion of stealing hundreds of dollars in cash, along with some checks and credit card receipts, plead guilty in July 2008 on a misdemeanor charge of grand theft of personal property, according to court records.

Three phone calls to a number listed for Bradford's Highland residence went unanswered Thursday.

Richard Young, supervising deputy district attorney, said his office is still reviewing the current case.

No charges have been filed yet, which lists the city of Redlands, Hillside Memorial Cemetery and the Redlands Police Department as the alleged victims, Young said.

Redlands officials do background checks for some of its own employees according to its personnel rules and regulations.

But Bradford, 50, was a temp brought in from an outside agency, not a city employee.

Carl Baker, Redlands spokesman, said Bradford was brought in under an existing contract with a temp agency called Ajilon Professional Staffing, so the city did not perform the background check.

Generally, the agency is responsible for performing background checks on the employees it provides. That policy is being revised, he said.

Anthony Guerrieri, an Ajilon spokesman, said by e-mail that he could not comment on the background checks or the incident, citing the investigation.

"We are just as disappointed as the City of Redlands that this incident has happened and we are in full support of any investigation by local authorities," he said.

Bradford came to the city in May to fill in for several weeks in the Treasurer's Office for a fulltime city employee who was out of the office for surgery, he said. Her duties included providing counter coverage and processing utility payments, he said.

In July, city employees noticed suspicious cash shortages. Several hundred dollars was missing, as were checks and credit card receipts, according to Baker.

On the morning of Aug. 6, Redlands Police Detective Leslie Martinez conducted an investigation and served a search warrant at Bradford's Highland home. Police recovered most of the stolen checks and credit card receipts, but not the cash, he said.

She was arrested on suspicion of embezzlement, possession of stolen property and grand theft.

Redlands' former city treasurer Michael Jon "Mike" Reynolds plead guilty in August 2008 of embezzling more than $38,000 from the petty cash fund over a 13-year period. That prompted the city to institute some verification procedures to make it easier to check for errors or discrepancies.

Finance Director Tina Kundig said in a statement that the changes helped finance office employees discover the thefts quickly.

Reach Melanie C. Johnson at 951-368-9489 or mjohnson@PE.com

Arrested cab driver has lengthy criminal record

2009-08-17T18:26:00.001-04:00

The San Antonio cab driver accused of assaulting a female passenger has a long history of run-ins with the law.

Fifty-nine-year old John Willis’ criminal background includes two convictions for unlawful carry of a weapon, one for criminal mischief, two for criminal trespassing, three for driving with a suspended license, and two convictions for DWI. All of his convictions occurred more than six years prior to him receiving his operators permit from the city of San Antonio in 2003.

All cab driver must undergo a criminal background check with the police department before receiving a permit. SAPD says it was aware of Willis’ troubled past when it approved his permit.

“In this particular case this individual’s record was clean for many years," said Assistant Police Chief Geraldine Garcia.

San Antonio has an ordinance pertaining to issuing permits to individuals with criminal records, but Garcia said the ordinance is not clear as to what crimes make an applicant ineligible.

In 2008, the city rejected nearly one in four applications for cab driver permits.

Garcia said, "We can't predict the future, but we do as much as we can."

Driver Involved In Shooting Had Criminal Record

2009-06-23T19:32:00.000-04:00

WOODBRIDGE, Va. (AP) ―
Court records show that a bus driver charged in the slaying of a fellow driver had a criminal record.

Glenn Wade of Woodbridge was charged with murder in the shooting death of Darnell McPherson of Dale City, both of whom drove buses for the Potomac and Rappahannock Transit Commission. Officials say the two had a fight before shooting broke out Monday.

Court records show that Wade had prior convictions for crack cocaine possession, evidence tampering and witness tampering. He also spent nearly four years in prison.

Officials with contractor First Transit say they didn't know about Wade's criminal background before they hired him in 2004. Spokeswoman Glenda Lamont says at the time, the company only conducted county and state background checks, not nationwide ones.

She says the company is trying to independently confirm Wade's prior convictions.

___

Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com

Registered sex offender fired from Renaissance Festival

2009-06-23T19:26:00.000-04:00

FAIRPLAY - 9NEWS got a tip from a viewer Thursday about a sex offender working at the Colorado Renaissance Festival. We contacted the organization and found out that yes - a registered sex offender was working for one of the vendors.

According to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, he did everything right when he moved, he registered and wasn't restricted from having access to children.

That is why 9NEWS is choosing not to name the man or show his picture. The man's criminal record shows a 2001 conviction in Minnesota. His crime was punishable by one year in prison and a fine.

T. R. Rice, an attorney for the festival, told 9NEWS the festival doesn't do background checks and doesn't require vendors to do so.

The Renaissance Festival said it employs about 150 high school and college students to work for 16 days each summer.

It also contracts with 200 vendors who sell arts and crafts. The festival says it didn't do anything wrong, the vendor hired this man and the man was fired as soon as his charges came to light.

Rice says the organization doesn't have plans to change its policy and start checking all employees' backgrounds.

"The children we have out at the festival are routinely accompanied by their parents and they need to be accompanied by their parents," Rice said. "Because we haven't had a problem in 33 years, there isn't a reason to go overboard on this."

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation does background checks for various professions. The agency's spokesperson, Lance Clem, says the legislature has indicated that if a profession comes in regular contact with children, then background checks are required.

Clem said the Renaissance Festival may not be included in that because it deals with a broader age group. Certain child care facilities or organizations dealing with children are required by law to background check their employees.

Water World and Elitch Gardens tell 9NEWS they do so.

(Copyright KUSA*TV, All Rights Reserved)

Child-care providers with criminal past getting licenses, state funds

2009-06-15T13:01:00.004-04:00

A couple of days before Thanksgiving in 1996, Lisa Johnson took her 12-year-old foster daughter to the basement, pulled out an extension cord and whipped her with it, repeatedly.

Johnson turned on some music and cranked up the volume to drown out the girl's cries. Still, other foster children in the house later told Milwaukee police that they could hear the girl beg for mercy.

"I swear to God, Mama, I will be good," the children reported hearing.

Good - meaning she would never chew gum in school again.

Johnson, now 42, was charged with felony child abuse and in 1997 pleaded guilty to battery and domestic abuse. Her foster license was revoked.

Yet three years later, she opened a certified day care center in Milwaukee County called Planting Seeds.

And as of April 2009, she had taken in more than $430,000 from the taxpayer-supported Wisconsin Shares child-care program, while running a center with numerous violations and recurring problems.

Johnson's story isn't that unusual. The Journal Sentinel found that child abusers and people who have committed other serious crimes are becoming licensed child-care providers and are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars through the Wisconsin Shares system. Nearly 500 child-care providers in Wisconsin with criminal records have received funding from the state in the first half of 2009 alone, according to a computer analysis by the Journal Sentinel.

The $350 million-a-year program subsidizes child-care costs for roughly 35,000 low-income working families. But the system has been easily scammed by parents and providers.

In addition to posing a potential safety risk to the state's neediest children, some criminals appear to be conning the child-care system, doctoring attendance records, the Journal Sentinel found.

It's difficult to gauge the full scope of child abusers in the system because even when police and child-welfare workers find substantiated cases, not all abusers are criminally charged. And when they have been charged, many of the details are considered private information. To tell this story, the Journal Sentinel reviewed thousands of pages of public documents and obtained from sources dozens of additional documents that state and county regulators refused to release.

State regulators typically conduct background checks on a child-care provider every two years, when the provider's license needs to be renewed. If a provider commits a crime in the interim, the person is supposed to report it to regulators. The state does not run systemwide criminal-activity scans of providers.

"That makes me nervous," said Beverly Anderson, executive director of Ebenezer Child Care Centers and co-chairwoman of the Milwaukee Child Care Alliance. "I certainly hope someone is taking a look at this."

Nothing in the regulations prohibits people convicted of crimes from getting into the child-care business. There is no permanent ban, no matter what crime has been committed. If the crimes are directly related to children or are considered serious, the child-care providers need to prove to regulators that they have been rehabilitated before they are eligible. Even those convicted of homicide or sexual assault can qualify, as long as they can convince a three- or four-member panel that they are fit to operate a center.

Proving rehabilitation
That's what Lisa Johnson did after her domestic abuse conviction. She told state and county panel members in July 2000 that she was going through a stressful time when she beat her foster child. Her husband had just been killed in a car accident, according to a hearing transcript. She said the girl was the most difficult of her four foster children, and the child had been shouting obscenities at her teachers the day of the beating.

"I guess I allowed a lot of anger to build up within myself," she told the panel. "I know what I did was wrong, and I'm not trying to minimize it. . . . And I do take full responsibility."

Johnson also acknowledged that it was not the first time she had whipped the girl with an electrical cord. But Johnson said she had since taken parenting classes that taught her it was not the proper way to discipline a child.

"I have changed," she said.

The panel was convinced. A few days later, the state Department of Health and Family Services issued a letter informing her, "You have demonstrated sufficient evidence to support rehabilitation approval."

Milwaukee County certified her as a day care provider, and a year later, she became licensed by the state with the stipulation that she take two anger management classes or consult with a mentor.

In subsequent years, she was cited repeatedly for numerous violations, including not keeping proper attendance records and not taking the biennial training classes on child abuse and neglect, but she had not been cited for abusing children.

State regulators revoked Johnson's license in April after questioning by the Journal Sentinel. The reason: She owed the Department of Revenue more than $5,700 in back taxes. Johnson did not pay the taxes or appeal within the required 30 days and was officially shut down May 14, according to Erika Monroe-Kane of the state Department of Children and Families.

But in an interview last week, Johnson said she had not lost her license and continues to operate her day care center. She said she was not aware of any back taxes and had never been notified by the state of any revocation.

In fact, she received nearly $2,000 in child-care subsidies June 6 for care delivered in the last two weeks in May, state records show.

State regulators said they sent the revocation letter by certified and regular mail but don't follow up with a phone call or visit.

"If the letter sent through the regular mail is not returned, the presumption is that this was received," Monroe-Kane wrote in an e-mail to the Journal Sentinel. "We expect that once a business has received a closure notice, they will cease operations. In our experience, it would be rare that a center continue to operate after this."

After her interview Wednesday with the newspaper, Johnson contacted the state and paid her back taxes. Monroe-Kane said Thursday that Johnson's day care license will be reinstated.

'This lady is really bad'
A lack of oversight and lax rules allow people whom the state has warned to stay away from day care centers to become licensed child-care providers.

In 2003, Willie Kohlheim was licensed by the state to care for up to eight children at his home on N. 17th St. Regulators granted Kohlheim the license with one stipulation: His wife, Pamela, would not be allowed on the premises.

Pamela Kohlheim had been denied certification to run a child-care business by Milwaukee County the prior year.

"This lady is really bad," a county worker warned in an e-mail to state regulators about Willie Kohlheim's pending license in 2002.

Pamela Kohlheim's history includes arrests, charges or convictions for various crimes such as dealing drugs and writing bad checks. She also was accused of threatening to kill Willie Kohlheim's ex-girlfriend. She was sentenced to 90 days in the House of Correction and 18 months' probation in 2002 for violating a domestic abuse order.

The state Department of Health and Family Services determined that Pamela Kohlheim had "exhibited past behavior that establishes a pattern of criminality." Her conduct gave regulators "concern for the health, safety and welfare of children," Cinda Jones, regional licensing chief with the state, wrote in the stipulation letter.

There were other red flags. Willie Kohlheim had a full-time job for 17 years, making it difficult for him to run a child-care center on the side.

"This lady will probably be doing the care. That is scary!!" a county worker wrote in an e-mail to the state.

But Willie Kohlheim claimed he was separated from his wife. He guaranteed she would not be involved in the day care center.

The state licensed Willie Kohlheim.

Soon after, complaints began rolling in. Parents and employees reported in 2004 and 2005 that Pamela Kohlheim actually was running her husband's business while he worked elsewhere.

In fact, the state's own documents show he earned nearly $75,000 in 2004 and 2005 working for Metz Baking Co. Those same years, the state paid him about $175,000 for reportedly taking care of children.

Other complaints at the time claimed that Pamela Kohlheim offered parents employment and kickbacks if they would enroll their children. Employees told inspectors that the Kohlheims billed for kids not in attendance and left older kids in charge while they stayed in their bedroom.

Sometimes, the Kohlheims fought in front of children, kicking over furniture, punching each other and using obscenities, employees said.

In the midst of it all, Willie Kohlheim received more than $725,000 from the Wisconsin Shares program from 2003 to 2008.

And then, in 2008, instead of shutting down the day care center, the state licensed Pamela Kohlheim to care for up to 31 children at a new Milwaukee day care center called From Up Above on N. Humboldt Blvd.

Throughout the year, as she received public funding, Pamela Kohlheim repeatedly was cited by the department for not keeping accurate attendance reports, not properly supervising children, keeping or serving leftover milk and old food, not cleaning the diaper changing area, leaving dangerous materials within reach of children and other violations.

Inspectors visited her center 13 times in 2008, mostly in response to complaints, records show.

Also that year, the Kohlheims filed restraining orders against each other, with both claiming that one had threatened to kill the other. The court granted the injunctions.

Yet the Kohlheims still qualified to care for kids.

In that one year alone, Pamela Kohlheim received more than $540,000 from Wisconsin Shares.

Billing suggests scam
And if December's billing is indicative of earlier months, the money was spent on what police and regulators consider a likely scam.

All 19 children for whom Pamela Kohlheim charged the state that month belonged to employees of the center. Authorities say that type of situation often indicates fraud. Parents would not need to show up for work, under those circumstances, if they were just taking care of their own kids.

In December, Pamela Kohlheim voluntarily closed her center with the hopes of reopening a smaller center in her home.

She was denied a license in February when she reapplied. State regulators now are considering legal options to recover some of the $540,000 she received in 2008.

Regulators can't say why Pamela Kohlheim went from being barred from her husband's business to being licensed to run her own center.

"I don't want there to be any confusion about our opinion of the service they were providing," Monroe-Kane said. "This is not a quality center, and as result they no longer have a license."

Willie Kohlheim voluntarily closed his business in 2008, shortly after Pamela Kohlheim opened hers. He reapplied in January of this year for a new child-care license. The state Department of Children and Families denied his application May 29, weeks after the Journal Sentinel began asking questions.

New rules being put in place or considered by lawmakers will make it easier for regulators to shut down providers like Willie and Pamela Kohlheim more swiftly, Monroe-Kane said.

State-county miscues
Poor communication between state and local agencies allows some providers to remain in the system when they shouldn't.

In the case of Patricia Carter-Lee, the state and Milwaukee County were aware of accusations that she had abused a child. Yet they failed to communicate, and Carter-Lee's home-based business, Joy's Day Care Center on N. 25th St., kept on chugging.

In April 2002, regulators with the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare investigated accusations that Carter-Lee hit one of her foster children with a belt.

Carter-Lee was certified by the county to provide day care for as many as six children. She also was licensed by the state to care for eight children.

State regulators suspended her day care license immediately during the investigation.

Carter-Lee and her husband, Terry Lee, denied physically punishing their foster children, records show. They did, however, admit to using belts, paddles and their hands to "whoop" their own children.

Still, an attorney with the state division of appeals wasn't convinced that Carter-Lee was a threat to children. Attorney Brian Schneider ordered that the suspension be rescinded. There were no allegations that Carter-Lee abused children in the day care, Schneider reasoned.

"I question whether there is imminent danger to the day care children, even with the investigation pending," Schneider wrote.

Then in July 2002, when county welfare workers concluded their investigation and found the allegations to be substantiated, Milwaukee County regulators yanked her child-care provider certification.

The state allowed her to keep her child-care license.

It's unclear if the state was aware of the county's findings. The state declined to release some of the documents that would explain exactly what transpired, citing confidentiality laws.

There was another allegation of child abuse against Carter-Lee in 2001 that was unsubstantiated. And one in 1997 that was substantiated by local child welfare workers but overruled years later by a state administrative law judge.

It's also unclear whether state regulators knew that Milwaukee County had revoked her child-care certification.

Carter-Lee did nothing to clue in state regulators. In fact, records show, she lied repeatedly on her license renewal applications. On four separate occasions, she denied that she had ever had a certification revoked.

Repeated violations
Over the years, Carter-Lee expanded her business, collecting more and more Wisconsin Shares funding. In 2008, she brought in nearly $125,000. By April 2009, she was on pace to make more than $140,000.

All the while, state regulators have cited her repeatedly for not keeping accurate attendance records. She also has been cited for inadequate training of her staff, failure to serve proper meals to children and other serious rule violations.

In 2003, her day care center was investigated for reported sexual abuse of a child. Milwaukee child welfare workers could not substantiate the allegation, according to records.

In 2005, someone complained that kids were left alone in Carter-Lee's van in the parking lot of a Dollar Store for 20 minutes, records show. A state inspector at the time, Mark Mitchell, confronted Carter-Lee a week later. She denied the allegation.

"Not able to substantiate," Mitchell wrote in his report.

Regulators suspected her of fraudulent billing in 2007. And that same year, she admitted that all the children in her care belonged to people who worked for her center.

In April, she was cited for 18 rule violations, including not keeping accurate attendance reports, state records show. Regulators issued yet another warning in May.

That hasn't stopped Carter-Lee.

When the Journal Sentinel stopped by her house last month, she had two children in her care. She usually bills for between 16 and 24 kids per day. She said the others wouldn't be coming that day because her husband had jury duty and couldn't pick them up.

None of her employees was available to help, either, she said. She said she wrote a letter to parents notifying them that they would have to find other arrangements. But she could not find a copy of the letter.

She said she has never abused a child at her day care center.

"I ain't going to whip no day care kids," she said. "That ain't my responsibility."

Still around kids
Sometimes, it's not the provider who commits the crime or abuse, but someone who lives in the house and is around the children in the day care center.

Regulators with Milwaukee County revoked Rodney Bowman's child-care provider certification in 2003, based on criminal arrests for battery in 1994, 1998 and 2002.

"You have established a pattern of behavior that could put day care children at risk," the revocation letter states.

Bowman had run his home-based operation, called Milwaukee's Finest Child Care, for two years out of a house on W. Galena St., around the corner from a day care of the same name run by his mother, Fannie Bowman. Fannie Bowman's business also is based in her home.

Within weeks of his license revocation, Rodney Bowman moved in with his mother, according to court records and interviews with the Bowmans.

He lived there while he had been convicted of felony drug dealing and violating a domestic abuse order. Documents show he lived there in 2006, when he was charged with felony child abuse, and in 2007, when he was convicted of criminal trespassing and violating another domestic abuse order. That same year, he also was found guilty of obstructing an officer.

Rules require home-based day care providers to disclose the names of all individuals living in their homes. And day care providers are restricted from having certain types of felons, such as convicted drug dealers, living in the home where they care for kids, unless they've received approval from regulators.

Fannie Bowman told the Journal Sentinel that her son moved out a couple of months ago but that it was no secret that he lived there all those years. State regulators knew it all along, she said.

"He had to live somewhere," she said. "He was always here when they (state inspectors) came around."

Rodney Bowman was at his mother's house while she cared for children when the Journal Sentinel stopped by last month.

He said he regretted having drugs in his mother's house and said he had learned from his mistakes. He said all the other criminal charges against him were fabricated by a former girlfriend.

Over a two-year period, Fannie Bowman was cited by the state for violating rules nearly 30 times - including not keeping accurate attendance records. In January, regulators issued an enforcement order warning her to comply with transportation, safety and record-keeping rules, records show.

State regulators said they were never notified by Fannie Bowman that Rodney Bowman was living in her home.

Fannie Bowman collected $46,000 from the state's subsidized child-care program in 2008. She is on pace this year to double her income from the program.

Ben Poston of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Man accused of assaulting girl was working at Burleson library

2009-05-20T17:43:00.002-04:00

A 68-year-old Fort Worth man accused of sexually assaulting a family friend’s young daughter almost four years ago has been working at the Burleson Public Library as a part-time library aide.

Harold J. Ard has previous convictions for public lewdness and prostitution.

Library and city officials said that, until an inquiry by the Star-Telegram on Thursday morning, they were unaware of Ard’s past conviction and of the aggravated sexual assault of a child charge filed against him on Feb. 20.

City Manager Curtis Hawk said Ard was placed on administrative leave without pay pending an investigation.

"It’s obviously a situation that we cannot allow to continue," Hawk said. "He’s gone while we follow up on it."

Ard has denied any wrongdoing in connection with the pending charge, according to court documents. His attorney, Mark Daniel, declined to comment Thursday.

Ard, who previously worked as a full-time librarian for Fort Worth, was hired by Burleson in 2003 before the city began requiring criminal background checks for such positions.

"That’s how Harold, his situation, kind of slipped by on us," Hawk said. "We weren’t checking the backgrounds for people in his position at that time."

The affidavit

Fort Worth police began investigating Ard in September after a woman reported that her niece had made an outcry about the sexual abuse.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Ard had been friends with the family for many years, and the girl and her younger brother sometimes stayed overnight at his house. The girl, now 10, told a forensic interviewer that during one of those sleepovers, she had fallen asleep on Ard’s couch and awoke to find him carrying her to his bed. She said Ard and a second man at the residence sexually assaulted her after Ard removed her clothes and that Ard also made her perform a sex act.

"The victim said this happened more than one time," Detective R.J. Zomper wrote in the affidavit. "The first time she was 5 or 6 years old."

Sgt. Marie Ornelas, supervisor of the crimes against children unit, said Thursday that police are still trying to identify the second man.

According to the affidavit, Ard met with detectives and acknowledged that the girl had stayed at his house but denied touching her.

Criminal record

Ard was arrested Feb. 20 and released from jail upon posting $40,000 bail. Tarrant County court records show that on March 9, a judge ordered Ard have no unsupervised contact with any child under 17 as an added condition of his bail.

A Tarrant County prosecutor said Thursday that she believes that Ard’s work at the library would be a violation of his bail condition.

"It takes only a matter of moments to molest a child, and if those with whom he worked were unaware of his charges, then his contact with children was not supervised," said Christy Jack, an assistant district attorney. "I will notify the court immediately and request that he be remanded to custody for violating the conditions of his release.

"The public has a right to be safe — especially when they bring their children to the library, of all places."

Tarrant County court records show that Ard was convicted of two charges of public lewdness, one in 1985 and one in 1986. He was also convicted in 1998 of prostitution and sentenced to 10 days in jail and a $164.25 fine, records show.

DEANNA BOYD, 817-390-7655

Legislation signed to protect kids

2009-05-12T18:48:00.000-04:00

Jessica Hayes - http://www.wthitv.com/dpp/news/news_team/Reporter_Jessica_Hayes

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Representative Clyde Kersey of Terre Haute called it the most important piece of legislation he's ever authored.

House Bill 1462 closes what he called loopholes regarding existing background checks for teachers.

Prior to this legislation, the Hoosier state required only limited background checks for school employees. This meant it was possible for convicted felons from other states to slip into our schools.

"There were problems with that because we have teachers moving in from outside state," said Representative Kersey. "They might have committed a felony in another state."

The new law requires a national criminal background check through the FBI once a teacher applies for a job in Indiana.

The law also covers other school corporation employees from bus drivers to janitors.

A move local parents were happy to hear.

"If someone was teaching my kid that was involved in some kind of criminal activity, I would be outraged," said Terre Haute parent Johnny Russell.

The law also requires school corporations run employees names through the national sex offender registry.

To ensure teachers and other school corporation employees maintain clean criminal records, House Bill 1462 mandates follow-up checks every five years.

This bill will go into effect July 1.

Instant Background Checks vs. Investigator Assisted Background Checks

2009-04-30T12:49:00.002-04:00

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Assault Suspect Had Murder Conviction

2009-04-22T14:38:00.002-04:00

Mentor Worked in School DespiteMurder Conviction
Last Edited: Wednesday, 22 Apr 2009, 11:41 AM EDT

Created On: Tuesday, 21 Apr 2009, 7:39 PM EDT

Paul Wagner
By PAUL WAGNER/myfoxdc

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A Peacoholics mentor who is facing charges of molesting a teenage girl was allowed to work inside a Northeast D.C. high school despite having a previous conviction for murder, investigators say.

It was a job he shouldn't have gotten if a criminal background check had been properly done. The co-founders of Peaceoholics, a group that works with at-risk youth, say background checks for its workers go back 10 years, but there is nothing in the D.C. code that puts a limit on the number of years. In fact, if the check had been done, according to law, Barry Harrison would never have been cleared to work at Spingarn High School.

The D.C. code says background checks are required from:

"An applicant who is under consideration for paid employment by a covered child or youth services provider."

It also says:

"An applicant, employee, or volunteer required to apply for a criminal background check...shall submit to a criminal background check by means of fingerprint and National Criminal Information Center checks conducted by the Mayor and the FBI."

At the top of the list of crimes that would prevent employment is murder. Records show 50-year-old Barry Harrison was convicted of murder in 1986. He was released in 2006, and he was serving as a paid intern with the Peaceoholics when police say he molested a 15-year-old girl in the basement of Spingarn High School.

"You can't condemn an entire organization because of the action of one, an awful act," said Marion Barry, a City Council member representing Ward eight, "Peaceoholics have about a hundred people on its payroll, that's the first thing. Secondly its obvious Peaceoholics need to do a better job of screening people-- gotta get a rap sheet, a background check."

Barry says the Peaceoholics should be responsible for screening their own people, but councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr. of ward five, whose district includes Spingarn, doesn't see it that way.

"I don't even put the onus on the Peaceoholics, I put the onus on this government," Thomas said. "I put the onus on us as leaders we should have the most stringent safe guards in place of any outside vendors that come in contact because in essence we are funding those sources."

The Peaceoholics say had they known Barry Harrison had been in prison for murder, they would never have sent him to work in the school. They say they need to employ ex-offenders in order to mediate disputes in some of the District's toughest neighborhoods.

For the second day in a row, FOX 5 asked Mayor Adrian Fenty's office to provide us with the policy allowing Peaceoholics to work inside D.C. schools. Late Tuesday, a document was emailed to FOX 5 by mayoral spokesperson Mafara Hobson. It was signed by the previous superintendent of schools, Clifford Janey, and expired last year.

There is nothing in the document that requires Peaceoholics employees to undergo background checks. Hobson says D.C. Schools is now conducting an investigation into how Harrison was permitted to work in the school. She says he should have been fingerprinted with the prints sent to the FBI.

Bloomington sex offender worked with children after record missed

2009-04-21T16:28:00.003-04:00

Despite a sexual misconduct conviction, Randy Ronning slipped through the cracks when he applied for a job in the Bloomington school system and later as a coach.

By ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune

Last update: April 17, 2009 - 12:55 AM

A convicted sex offender and former Bloomington youth sports coach recently charged with molesting two girls apparently slipped through a background check to work for Bloomington Public schools a decade ago.

Randy Lee Ronning, 36, of Bloomington, was charged last week with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct after a witness allegedly saw him molesting a girl in a motel room at a Bloomington Days Inn, where he was babysitting.

Police talked to one girl who said Ronning touched her inappropriately, while a second said that Ronning, her longtime babysitter, had molested her since she was 8 years old.

Ronning helped coach floor hockey in early 2008 and softball in the spring of 2006 for the Bloomington Athletic Association (BAA). The teams were for girls ages 8 to 10.

The BAA did not do a background check on Ronning, the group said. Police said they will work with the BAA on how to do such checks.

The revelation prompted police to send letters to parents whose children might have had him as their coach, though there was no evidence that Ronning committed any offenses while coaching, said Bloomington police Sgt. Mark Stehlik.

In 1992, Ronning was convicted of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct in Hennepin County. Police say that although the circumstances were different, that crime also involved a juvenile female. Police say a background check would have revealed that conviction.

Despite the existence of that record, the Bloomington public schools system hired Ronning in June 1999 to work as a school bus aide in the transportation center. Though his 1992 conviction should have stood out on a background check, it slipped by, said Bloomington Schools spokesperson Rick Kaufman.

Kaufman said that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension performs the school system's background checks and that no offenses by Ronning were found.

"Had that conviction shown up, I can guarantee you he would not have been hired to work in the district," Kaufman said.

Julie Lackner, Minnesota Court Information System manager for the BCA, said the background check was performed too long ago to determine exactly what went wrong.

"The reason that might happen is law enforcement is required to report arrests to us by submitting fingerprints and demographic data," Lackner said. "If for some reason they don't fingerprint [a defendant] or don't submit the records, we will not have a record."

Ronning's duties as a part-time bus aide included transporting disabled children to and from the bus before and after school and during field trips. He was never left alone with the children, Kaufman said.

He resigned in October of 2000. There was no disciplinary action on his record, Kaufman said.

Upon learning of charges against Ronning, Bloomington school officials ran his name through their database. When they learned he was a former employee, they contacted police. The school does not plan to notify parents of children who may have ridden the bus at that time, Kaufman said.

"We feel very confident that the Bloomington Police Department has done an adequate job of sharing information and asking those with information, or victims, to come forward," he said.

Ronning was in the Hennepin County jail Thursday in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Julie Lackner, Minnesota Court Information System manager for the BCA, said the background check was performed too long ago to determine exactly what went wrong.

"The reason that might happen is law enforcement is required to report arrests to us by submitting fingerprints and demographic data," Lackner said. "If for some reason they don't fingerprint [a defendant] or don't submit the records, we will not have a record."

Ronning's duties as a part-time bus aide included transporting disabled children to and from the bus before and after school and during field trips. He was never left alone with the children, Kaufman said.

He resigned in October of 2000. There was no disciplinary action on his record, Kaufman said.
Upon learning of charges against Ronning, Bloomington school officials ran his name through their database. When they learned he was a former employee, they contacted police. The school does not plan to notify parents of children who may have ridden the bus at that time, Kaufman said.

"We feel very confident that the Bloomington Police Department has done an adequate job of sharing information and asking those with information, or victims, to come forward," he said.
Ronning was in the Hennepin County jail Thursday in lieu of $150,000 bail.
Abby Simons • 612-673-4921

Kids' Coach Arrested On Drug Charges

2009-03-18T19:16:00.003-04:00

Sheriff: Little League Coach Sold Pot To Undercover Officers

WJXT-TV

YULEE, Fla. - A man with whom some parents in Nassau County trusted their child turned out to be a criminal, according to Sheriff Tommy Seagraves.

On Monday, deputies arrested Yulee little league coach Charles Lloyd on drug charges after they said Lloyd sold drugs to undercover officers.

"It's demeaning to our community, and it's demeaning to the little league program," Seagraves said.

Just last weekend, the sheriff said he talked with the little league players and their parents as the season got under way. That's why he was very upset that one of the coaches has been arrested, accused of selling marijuana to undercover officers.

Seagraves said the drugs were not purchased at the little league field. Lloyd was arrested during a traffic stop.

"During the course of the investigation, we found that he was a coach here in the little league area in Yulee. He had some equipment that needed to get back to the little league board," Seagraves said. "We were able to return the equipment to someone there so they could continue with the program with the kids."

The sheriff said Lloyd coached little league for several years, and had a team of 7- and 8-year-old players.

The Yulee Little League Organization does background checks, but it only checks records for felonies.

Lloyd has one local drug-related arrest on his record. In 1985, he was charged with possession of marijuana and paraphernalia. However, because the arrest was for a misdemeanor it did not show up on his background check.

Lloyd is being held in the Nassau County Jail.

Ex-cons who got loan-originating licenses commit scores of frauds that cost customers millions

2009-03-18T19:00:00.004-04:00

Criminal past no barrier to mortgage field

By Cary Spivak of the Journal Sentinel

A killer, a handful of drug dealers and a onetime leader of the Latin Kings - these are just some of the criminals who have received state-issued licenses to write your mortgage loan.

Those ex-cons are among hundreds of people with convictions ranging from prostitution and drunken driving to burglary and armed robbery who obtained state permits to work as mortgage loan originators, commonly called loan brokers - a profession that operates with minimal state oversight.

The licenses give the ex-cons easy access to a client's personal financial information, including bank account and Social Security numbers. More importantly, the licenses open the door to the mortgage market, which was awash in billions of dollars until it crashed, sparking the national economic crisis.

Today, regulators and investigators nationally are discovering scores of illegal real estate schemes that helped contribute to the nation's mortgage meltdown, particularly in the now-moribund subprime market. Many of the illicit deals were hatched by people who had criminal histories before receiving state permits to enter the business.

A Journal Sentinel review of Wisconsin records related to licenses held by brokers last year found:

• More than 340 mortgage brokers who had licenses last year admitted to felony or misdemeanor convictions on their license applications, a number that balloons to more than 500 when drunken-driving convictions are included. Among the felons who have held licenses was James Lytle. He already had a long rap sheet - which he didn't disclose to regulators - when he obtained his license and used it to mastermind a $4 million mortgage fraud scheme. He is serving seven years.

• Licenses were held by about 40 people with drug convictions, including dealers who sold marijuana, cocaine and GHB, commonly known as a "date rape" drug. Cocaine dealer Michael Lock got his license right after walking out of prison and quickly became the brains behind a $2 million mortgage scam. He's now serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2007 for two murders - crimes he committed before he got his license.

• Theft convictions are on the rap sheets of more than a dozen loan brokers; five are burglars, and one did time and is still on state supervision for armed robbery.

Lorrie Keating Heinemann, secretary of the Department of Financial Institutions, defended her department's issuance of the licenses to known criminals, saying that state law prohibits employment discrimination.

"But we do realize that loan origination and mortgage fraud has been actually pretty rampant in the United States," Heinemann said.

The attraction of mortgage lending to criminals is simple:

"It's extremely lucrative and you are less likely to be prosecuted and less likely to be shot at," said Rachel Dollar, a California attorney who tracks mortgage crime nationally for her Mortgagefraudblog.com Web site.

The hurdles to entering the profession are relatively low. Even criminals on probation can receive a license, as long as they pass a test and pay the $250 fee.

Applicants are asked if they have convictions or disciplinary problems in any state, but regulators here run the applicants' names against only Wisconsin state criminal and court records. Regulators don't check the applicants' names against the computerized listings of federal court records available online.

State regulators admit they worry about some of the people who get licenses, but they say state laws give them no choice. Although a new federal law soon will require states to ban felons from getting a license within seven years of a conviction, regulators in Wisconsin say they are required to grant licenses to people who used to make a living selling drugs or even did hard time for violent crimes such as homicide, rape or battery.

"No application is DOA," said Christopher Green, the department's general counsel.

College of criminality

Sometimes the seeds for a real estate career are planted in the prison yard.

Real estate is a popular subject among the drug dealers and white-collar criminals doing time in low-security federal prisons - facilities often called Club Feds.

"A lot of the guys I dealt with in prison were good guys, sharp guys - a lot of businessmen, stockbrokers, lawyers," said one drug dealer turned mortgage broker who insisted on anonymity for fear of hurting his business. "Real estate is always an area guys talk about . . . they make it sound so easy."

Michael Rowsey's foray into real estate began almost the moment he was placed behind bars.
Rowsey was sentenced to 17 years in prison for first-degree reckless homicide for shooting and killing a Milwaukee man in 1991.

A cellmate at the Dodge Correctional Institution talked incessantly about real estate. When Rowsey transferred to the Waupun Correctional Institution, he made a visit to the prison library.

"The first book I picked up was a real estate book," he said.

Rowsey got his loan broker's license in 2005. Like many ex-cons who earn a license, Rowsey has drawn no complaints from law enforcement, state regulators or probation officials.

But other ex-cons have not kept out of trouble.

Consider the case of Billy Joe Cannon.

Cannon forged a relationship with Larry E. McKenzie while the two men were briefly locked up on separate drug charges in federal prison more than a decade ago. Both later received loan broker's licenses and worked together at a Mequon firm.

One of Cannon's ex-bosses, Sarabjeet Singh, said he didn't realize Cannon or a second employee had felony records, even though both had disclosed the information on their license applications.
"If they have these types of serious problems, how did they get a license?" said Singh, owner of the now-closed United Lending in Milwaukee. "It's a nightmare. If I had known they had this kind of background and they were this kind of people, I would have never hired them."

Cannon, who served about nine years for dealing cocaine, obtained his loan broker's license in 2004, one month after he completed probation. He has been involved in several questionable deals.

Criminal investigators from the Internal Revenue Service recently seized documents related to dozens of mortgages written by Cannon as part of an ongoing investigation of mortgage-related crimes.

The IRS and the FBI have launched separate investigations into the home purchase made by Pedro Medellin and the role Cannon played in the transaction.

Medellin is a learning-disabled bank teller from Waukesha who said he was duped into taking out a $103,500 mortgage and buying a central city house. The Journal Sentinel first chronicled his situation last summer.

Cannon, who was facing tax fraud charges at the time, was the mortgage broker on the deal.
In addition to the routine fees paid to a mortgage broker in such a transaction, a company Cannon owns pocketed more than $38,000 from the loan proceeds - a payment that wasn't disclosed on closing statements.

Alisia Flores also had dealings with Cannon. She bought four properties through him, three of them sight unseen.

She said Cannon in 2003 found the properties for her to buy and arranged the subprime mortgages to finance the deals. She put no money down and received mortgages totaling $244,000, according to Flores and county records.

"I was so young, I was thinking I could build my credit," said Flores, a 25-year-old mother of three who now lives in Atlanta.

When she couldn't make needed repairs or keep up with her mortgage payments, she told Cannon to find buyers for the properties.

That was the last she heard from him.

Unknown to Flores at the time, three of the properties - which she had bought for $174,800 - were sold for more than $255,000, according to county records.

Flores contends she was never told of the sales, didn't approve of the prices and did not sign any documents to complete the deals.

"I never got a dime," said Flores, who said she was interviewed at length by the FBI this year about the transactions.

Instead of boosting her credit score, she saw it fall as she missed payments on one of the high-interest loans.

"You'd think that if somebody has a state license, they would help you and be on your side," said Flores, adding that she often went to the United Lending offices searching for Cannon. "He used his license to his advantage and he took advantage of me."

Attempts to reach Cannon for this article were unsuccessful. Visitors who approach his modest Sherman Park home are greeted by a sensor light and recorded voice announcing, "You are trespassing."

Cannon's attorney, Michael Chernin, declined to comment.

New federal regulation

A new federal law requires states to ban felons such as Cannon from getting a license within seven years of their convictions.

During a January interview, Michael Mach, the state's top bank regulator, said Wisconsin would begin enforcing the new law by spring 2010. The timetable was moved up, however, when Gov. Jim Doyle inserted the tougher standards into the budget repair act signed into law last month. It orders enforcement of the tougher standards by Jan. 1.

The new rules also mandate national background checks for mortgage broker applicants. Certain felons, such as money launderers and those whose crimes involved fraud or dishonesty, will be forbidden from getting licensed. It will be up to the state to define which crimes will qualify for the lifetime ban.

Mach said Wisconsin will seek to revoke licenses granted in past years to felons who will no longer qualify under the new law, though attorneys predict that move will likely face a tough court challenge.

Dollar, the California fraud expert, said much of the nation's mortgage fraud was committed by people who had records before entering the business.

"The fact is that a lot of felons do become repeat offenders," she said. "We do see a significant number of mortgage fraudsters who engaged in similar conduct or in other forms of criminal conduct in the past before obtaining licenses."

The ranks of criminals with loan broker's licenses were likely trimmed in the past couple of years as thousands of brokers left the business. There are about 6,300 loan brokers licensed in Wisconsin today, down from more than 15,800 in 2005.

Current state law permits the Department of Financial Institutions to reject licenses for people who committed a crime that "constitutes improper, fraudulent, or dishonest dealing."

State regulators, however, say that doesn't extend to drug dealing. Law enforcement officials say that interpretation makes no sense.

"If you're trafficking drugs, you can't be honest. Period," said Sally Tess, regional chief of state probation.

Green, the lawyer for the Financial Institutions department, said it's not so clear cut.

"Is drug trafficking inherently dishonest?" Green said. "I don't think you could say that as a regulator.

"You could be the most honest drug dealer in the world," he added. "I'm not making light of it, or saying it's not illegal, but where is the dishonesty there?"

Mach, who heads the department's banking division, said there are no ironclad rules for deciding what crimes should disqualify a person from being licensed. Instead, he said, regulators use a subjective approach that targets for rejection those who have "honesty, fraud type of convictions."

"Drug dealing is one I think we have to look pretty hard at," Mach said. "Is it at least reasonably related to the industry? . . . Our conclusion has been, I don't think we can say it's that related."

Adds Heinemann, whom Doyle named a cabinet secretary in 2003: "The great thing about America is we all have second chances."

Amazingly easy to get

Many in law enforcement are bewildered by how easy it is for a criminal to get a mortgage broker's license.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said he has toughened his stance since his office and federal prosecutors dealt with Lock, the drug dealer who obtained his loan broker's license less than three months after his release from prison in 2005.

Lock is serving life sentences for orchestrating two murders while running a crime group known as the Body Snatchers. He was convicted in December of mortgage fraud for running a scheme that caused more than $2 million in losses. Lock pocketed some $300,000 of that, according to the evidence in federal court, where he is scheduled to be sentenced this week.

"If you asked me that question before getting involved in the Lock case, I would say a ban on felons getting licenses is not needed," Chisholm said. "Now, I'd say yes, it does concern me. What it may reflect is people who have already engaged in criminal conduct on one level may find a new level to explore."

Carol Kraft, an assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted Lock for mortgage fraud, said the ease of making money without the risks of violence makes the mortgage business irresistible to drug dealers who have no intention of giving up crime.

"Here's an enterprise that can bring in big money if you can figure out how to manipulate it, and it's fairly safe," Kraft said. "Somebody is not going to come in and shoot you because they want your mortgage records - not like a drug dealer who is in a transaction that could go bad."

As for Lock, he sees selling mortgages as a natural field for a drug salesman.

"When you look at the nature of a drug dealer or a drug deal, period, it's what you call wheeling and dealing," Lock said at the Waukesha County Jail.

Some experts say the access to other people's money attracted many ex-convicts to the business, especially during the subprime mortgage heyday.

"Big money, easy money," said H. James Browning, owner of MoneyLine Mortgage, a defunct Mequon brokerage that employed numerous felons, including several drug dealers and a rapist. "We created an industry where the demand was there, and you didn't have to work too hard."
Browning said he inherited some felons when he bought the company in 2003. He acknowledged that he also hired other felons. He said he fired several of them because he questioned the deals they were writing.

Ex-cons are especially attractive to brokerages looking for loan originators able to generate business in the inner city, which in Milwaukee was ground zero for subprime lending.

"They know the neighborhoods. They know the streets. They know the people," said Rodney Cubbie, a former federal prosecutor who now works as a defense lawyer.

Mach noted that the vast majority of loan originators with criminal pasts have few or no complaints. But he acknowledged that with just four people assigned to oversee more than 6,000 brokers and 485 brokerages, there is little active oversight of the industry.

"Unfortunately, the volume that we deal with in this particular area is at times staggering," Mach said.

Federal records unchecked

When brokers' licenses come up for renewal every two years, state regulators don't check federal court records to see if there have been any new convictions. So regulators wouldn't have known that Cannon was convicted of tax fraud in November 2007. The state didn't revoke his license until after the Journal Sentinel published the details of his conviction.

And the state only recently disciplined Rick Roloff, a Pewaukee loan originator who pleaded guilty to bank fraud charges in a scheme that prosecutors say cost lenders more than $100,000. On Jan. 29, Roloff agreed in federal court to plead guilty. But he kept his broker's license for another month, losing it only after regulators saw a Journal Sentinel story about his crime.

Several of the ex-cons contacted by the Journal Sentinel declined to be interviewed. They include Gamaliel Matos, a former Latin Kings leader now working in real estate. Matos said he simply wants to work during the day, go home to his family at night and not bring any attention to himself.

Matos' 2001 drug trial gained notoriety because prosecutors said he was a gang leader and because former Green Bay Packers great Reggie White urged the court not to send Matos to prison.

Matos was sentenced to eight years. He was released in December 2004. He obtained his loan broker's license seven months later and got a real estate license in 2006.

He lost his loan broker's license last year over delinquent tax bills.

On his honor

Joseph DeFilippo, an Outagamie County loan originator, shows what can happen when the state relies on an honor system during the application process.

DeFilippo received licenses to be a loan originator and to own a brokerage in 2000 - even though he failed to disclose a 1996 felony drug conviction in Texas where police found 40 pounds of marijuana in his trunk.

DeFilippo renewed his license in 2002, again without disclosing the conviction.

In 2004, he violated a domestic abuse restraining order. That's when the state finally learned of his criminal record and refused to renew his license.

Mach said he learned about the convictions in a vitriolic e-mail from Steve Malchow, an Outagamie County district attorney's investigator.

"At his last trial he informed the court on the record he had no prior criminal convictions," Malchow wrote. "We produced his Texas judgment of conviction to the court. (The judge) was not amused at being lied to by Mr. DeFilippo. My experience with Mr. DeFilippo leads me to believe he is incapable of telling the truth."

Finally, in 2007, DeFilippo disclosed his convictions on his application - and the state approved his license.

"I felt we did not have a basis to turn it down," said Mach, explaining that applicants who lie about their past are generally banned from getting a license for two years.

"I have nothing but good things to say about the department," DeFilippo said. "I thank them for giving me a chance."

Mach admits to a bit of queasiness at the prospect of DeFilippo's taking loan applications that include personal financial histories. He acknowledged having the same uneasiness about others his division has approved.

Would the state's top banking regulator feel comfortable giving his Social Security number to DeFilippo?

Mach stared silently at DeFilippo's file, several inches thick, for a good 10 seconds before responding:

"I'll be honest," he said. "I would say no."

Staff writers Ben Poston and John Diedrich contributed to this story.

City of Wilmington performs selective background checks for employees

2009-03-16T20:28:00.003-04:00

Posted: March 13, 2009 10:35 AM EDT
Updated: March 13, 2009 05:54 PM EDT

Reported by Claire Simms - bio email

Posted by Debra Worley - email

WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - The man behind the wheel in a police chase last month was a city employee who had a lengthy criminal record, according to prosecutors.

He has since been charged and fired from his position, but officials say they do not do criminal checks for all city jobs.

City officials run criminal checks on potential employees based on the job title. They often hire people with prior records to help them earn legitimate money and stay away from crime.

40-year-old Anthony Pierce was a Wilmington employee before being indicted for second degree murder of a police officer.

Pierce had an extensive criminal record before becoming a sanitation worker, a job city officials say does not require a criminal background check.

The city tries to help former inmates get steady work, but not all residents think that's a good idea.

"We do try to look carefully at those we know have been, perhaps, in the legal system before to see if they would be a good fit and that we can try to see if they would work out," said Malissa Talbert.

"I guess it's something you don't think about, kind of taking things for granted," said resident Casey Sherman. "You don't think about your trash man, if he's a criminal or not but those are guys that are at your front door every day almost."

Pierce collected garbage for the city from Oct. 2006 until he was fired Feb. 27, 2009, which was nine days after Wilmington Police Officer Richard Matthews died responding to a police chase where Pierce was behind the wheel.

The city said they do criminal background checks on employees who will be working with children or in sensitive positions where money is involved.

School more cautious after case

2009-03-10T16:45:00.003-04:00

School more cautious after case

Julie Wootton, News Editor

Published: Monday, March 9, 2009
Updated: Monday, March 9, 2009

The university fully cooperated with requests by attorneys for documents and information regarding former trustee Thomas Delanty, said Greg Orwig, director of university communications.

Delanty was arrested on charges of theft from Nancy Huegli, a 92-year-old woman, in 2006.In December, a King County Superior Court jury found Delanty guilty of 26 first- and second-degree counts of thefts from Huegli. He was sentenced to five years in prison and reported to the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, Wash., at the end of January.

“We are deeply sorry for the victim and the victim’s family,” Orwig said.

Delanty served on the Board of Trustees for eight years before opting out of reelection in 2005. During his time on the board, he served as chair of the endowment committee.

Orwig said he first became aware of the charges that Huegli filed against Delanty after he was contacted by a reporter from The Seattle Times.

“We were caught by surprise about Delanty’s activities with regards to his victims,” Orwig said.

When Orwig knew that the article was coming out in The Seattle Times, he communicated with alumni, donors and parents in western Washington to alert them about the article and to notify them that he was prepared to answer any questions they may have.

At the time Delanty was elected to the board, the school did not run criminal background checks on new trustees.

The school did not know about Delanty’s 1983 conviction for federal mail fraud in Oregon. He spent 60 days in prison out of a year-long sentence, The Seattle Times reported in January 2007.

Delanty also told Whitworth administrators and fellow trustees that he had earned degrees from Harvard University and Dartmouth College, managed 37 different companies in the United States and abroad and held the titles of CEO of a business in France, a small CPA practice and a CFP or managing partner in several of his businesses, according to court records.

However, according to court records, Delanty never earned a degree from Harvard. He also did not manage several of the companies he said he did.

In 2006, the university created a new policy of running criminal background checks on all potential employees, including members of the Board of Trustees.

“We are increasingly more careful about the process of voting in new board members,” Burns said in a November interview with The Whitworthian. “We take more time to get to know them and their character.”

Orwig said the Delanty case underscored the importance of doing background checks on trustees.

“We certainly take responsibility for not having those things in place,” he said. “At the time, it was unusual for schools our size to do background checks on trustees.”

He said the school had begun to conduct background checks on some employees before the Delanty case and was figuring out how to implement them for other employees and trustees.

“Others say they’ve been victimized by Delanty,” Orwig said. “We have been victimized by his deception as well.”

Contact Julie Wootton at julie.wootton@whitworthian.com.

Whistleblower 9: In-Home Caregiver Accused Of Stealing From Patient

2009-03-10T16:37:00.003-04:00

Whistleblower 9: In-Home Caregiver Accused Of Stealing From Patient
Posted: 3:49 pm EST March 5, 2009
Updated: 6:37 pm EST March 5, 2009

LINCOLNTON, N.C. -- A Lincolnton woman said an in-home caregiver provided by the county stole thousands of dollars worth of jewelry from her.

Eyewitness News learned that same worker already had a criminal record for stealing. Now she wonders how something like that that could happen, so she called Whistleblower 9. Eyewitness News reporter Mark Becker spent the last two weeks investigating.

Myra Kemp has learned to live with pain. Over the last 20 years, she's had more than a dozen surgeries for tumors on her brain, kidneys and spine.

But she said it's nothing like the pain she felt when she found out that a woman sent to her home to care for her, a woman with a history of stealing, is now suspected of stealing $6,000 worth of her jewelry.

“I've cried more about this than I have cried over all of my surgeries combined,” Kemp said.
And when the crying stopped, Kemp began to ask how it could happen.

Her questions started with the Lincoln County Department of Social Services, where she'd signed up for the program providing free home health care.

Dean Bethea of Adult Services said DSS contracts with several private companies that provide the home health care workers.

“Do you check the employees they hire and send into these homes?” Becker asked.
“We're really not in a position to check their employees,” Bethea said.

One of those companies is Premier Home Care, based in Granite Falls. That’s the company that sent 35-year-old Misty Rohr to Kemp's home, despite the fact that she has a criminal record that includes larceny, the legal term for stealing.

“If Premier of Granite Falls had done a background check, they would have come up with at least what I came up with, which was arrests and convictions that go back to 2007,” Kemp said.
So Eyewitness News went to Premier Home Care to ask how they screen employees.

“Is there anyone who can tell me how you do background checks?” Becker asked.

“No, we really can't give any comment,” a worker said.

When Becker tried calling the owner on her cell phone, he only got her voicemail.

But Eyewitness News reviewed state regulations and found that home health care agencies are required to check the criminal history records before hiring workers who will go into a patient's home. If they find a conviction for what the guidelines call a relevant offense, the agency has to consider several factors before hiring that person.

“I would not, in my wildest dreams, have imagined that a county agency would let someone send a convicted criminal into my house,” Kemp said.

Rorh is now in jail on another charge of larceny. Detectives said she confessed to stealing Kemp's jewelry.

As for Premier Home Care, according to records with the state, they haven't had any complaints filed in the last two years.

Right now, Lincoln County still has the company on the list of home care providers.

Unfortunately, state records for home care companies are not on line. However, plenty of Web sites offer basic background checks and some are as cheap as $10.

If you want to file complaints about a caregiver or a company, visit the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

If you have questions about home care agencies in North Carolina, contact the N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation, Home Care Staff, at 919-855-4620.

For complaints regarding home care agencies in North Carolina, contact the complaint hotline at 1-800-624-3004 (North Carolina only) or 919-855-4500 (Out of state calls).

Crime no barrier for loan sellers

2009-03-10T16:26:00.004-04:00

Crime no barrier for loan sellers
Law requiring background checks too late for many homeowners

By ERIC NALDER - P-I INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER

Numerous convicts -- including embezzlers, robbers, meth dealers and rapists -- sold mortgage loans to unsuspecting homeowners in Washington in recent years while state lawmakers and members of Congress debated and tabled requirements for licensing and background checks, records show.

Ronald Bernard Cox Sr. was among them. The convicted felon sold mortgages for as many as eight years, freely admitting in an interview that he sold loans even while on work release for felony theft in 2003. The Federal Way man, who says many of his customers were higher-risk, lower-income subprime borrowers, is among a handful of sellers named in an ongoing state investigation of one of the mortgage companies he worked for.

Roswitha Martha McKinney sold mortgages for only two years. But during that time she bilked two mortgage company owners, a co-worker and a close friend out of a total of $78,000 using bogus checks, according to police and court and state records. Although McKinney stole from friends and associates rather than customers, she and other convicted check forgers, as well as identity thieves and extortionists, had ready access to bank statements, accounts and other such information.

Criminals who were barred from the mortgage business in other states continued to sell loans to Washington borrowers. Garrett Sytsma of Kennewick violated numerous licensing rules in Oregon, losing his license there in a 2003 suspension made permanent in 2004, then gave a mortgage broker a bad check for his own home purchase. He pled guilty to a gross misdemeanor in Oregon in 2005.

That crime ultimately led to the loss of Sytsma's license in Washington state, but only because the Washington Legislature finally agreed to require licensing and background checks for mortgage originators in 2007, although employees of federally chartered banks and consumer lending companies weren't included.

The Seattle P-I examined the histories of loan sellers, taking advantage of records made available for the first time because of the new requirement.

A total of 299 loan originators with criminal records applied for licenses in 2007 when licensing and criminal background checks were first required. They applied even though they knew their fingerprints would be checked by law enforcement and that all felonies and gross misdemeanors involving dishonesty within the previous seven years would disqualify them.

Half of them -- 149 -- were denied licenses because of their convictions, and the other half kept their licenses because their convictions were more than seven years old. But that's only temporary, because if the Legislature enacts a proposed law to conform with a new federal law, they, too, will be prohibited from renewing their licenses at the end of 2009. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other loan originators with criminal records probably didn't apply. Although the mortgage industry was booming before licensing, and thousands of loan originators were being hired, the industry had collapsed by the time licensing was imposed.

"The whole mortgage industry was out of control," said Ted Naff, who until recently was the designated broker at Abacus Mortgage, one of the largest mortgage brokers in the Seattle area.
The fight against requirements for state background checks and licensing was led by lobbyists for the powerful mortgage banking industry. One reason: The nation's federally chartered banks have long fought against any type of state regulation of their industry, preferring federal oversight. At the same time, state-chartered mortgage lenders didn't want an added layer of regulation that was not imposed on their federally regulated competitors.

But state-licensed mortgage brokers -- the street-level vendors of loans -- came out in favor of state licensing of their loan originators as a way of improving the reputation of their increasingly tainted industry.

Even today, many other states don't require licensing or background checks, though a federal law passed last year by Congress will soon require all of them to impose licensing and backgrounding of loan originators.

Naff, whose brokerage company employed at least a dozen criminals among hundreds of others, said though he was unaware of some of the criminal records, he knowingly kept a few ex-convicts on his work force because they did a good job and followed the rules better than others.
Among them was Ryan David Bishop, 35, who pleaded guilty in 2001 in federal court in Spokane to a scheme in which he and others sold drugs and distributed counterfeit $100 bills. Naff said Bishop "turned the corner" and the state showed unusual leniency, allowing him to re-enter the mortgage business the next year. However, the new federal law will likely ban him. Bishop said he did well in the mortgage industry, "my last chance as an adult to succeed in anything," and now he is in a Spokane partnership that is advising others how to get out of debt.

The chaos that reigned throughout the mortgage industry between 2002 and 2007 fomented lawlessness even among those without criminal records, Naff said. He fired hundreds of loan originators each year, criminals and noncriminals, because many of them violated rules and laws. But they simply went to work elsewhere unscathed, he said, because it was too easy to get commission-only jobs during the hot lending market, and there was nothing preventing it.
Deborah Bortner, director of consumer services for the state Department of Financial Institutions, said she has heard that criminals and others banned more recently from state-licensed institutions sometimes went to work for consumer loan companies where there is no state licensing of loan originators.

Records at the DFI show the largest companies such as Naff's had as many as 700 loan originators at a time, all on commission, originating more than a half-billion dollars in loans annually just at his company.

The root causes of the mortgage meltdown were relatively low interest rates, escalating property values and a gusher of credit that flowed from Wall Street. Exempted from liability by Congress, Wall Street investment firms sold record volumes of toxic mortgages to investors in packages known as mortgage-backed securities. That increased eightfold the money available for high-risk lending in just a half-decade. Lending institutions invented dozens of new products to accommodate the gusher that hit a trillion dollars. One product offered extravagant loans to borrowers with practically no proof of income. Mortgage brokers hired loan originators to distribute the low-hanging fruit to home seekers.

"I think we are all at fault," said Naff, who now works for Axia Financial. "From the borrowers to Wall Street, all of us, we were all guilty of greed."

Naff said he became so alarmed at the blatant law violations he witnessed three years ago, he asked a priest who was a friend whether he should quit the business. The priest suggested he stay and try to reform it from within. But Naff found it an impossible task.

"The lack of regulation made it hard for an individual, conscientious mortgage broker to enforce as many standards as we would like," said Naff, whose former company, Abacus, came through a state examination cleanly. "Loan originators would simply go to someone who had no standards, or lower standards."

Naff said he made less than a third of the income of some of his more successful loan originators.
The churn in the mortgage industry became an opportunity for Cox.
Cox, 44, had been caught stealing thousands of dollars from a Seattle fencing company, court records show, when he said he was hired by Home Capital Funding of Tukwila to sell mortgages. State records show that was about eight years ago.

The mortgage business was a refuge for him, he said, an easy place to get a job.

"I knew some girl that used to process loans that got me into it," Cox recalled. " 'I can get you a job where I work,' she said. 'Want to be inside? Come talk to my boss.' "

When Home Capital Funding hired him, his previous employer had caught him stealing but he had not yet been convicted, King County Sheriff's Office records show.

Cox pled guilty to first-degree theft in June 2003 in an Alford plea, refusing to admit responsibility but admitting the evidence against him was overwhelming. He had stolen $23,700 from the fencing company, according to a Sheriff's Office affidavit. He confessed to police that he regularly changed records at the Statewide Rent-a-Fence Office in South Seattle so he would get more money for installing and uninstalling chain-link fences at construction sites, according to the affidavit. Cox said in an interview that his mortgage company boss reacted to his guilty plea by asking him how much time he needed to take off, but he said he was able to sell loans anyway during the brief work release he was required to serve under the plea agreement in July 2003.

His plea deal wasn't his first break. A sharp-eyed record keeper first caught him falsifying payment claims in 1999, but Statewide Rent-a-Fence allowed him to continue work so he could reimburse the company. He kept stealing "to pay back what he owed," according to a court affidavit. When finally arrested in March 2002, he had a stranger's missing credit card in his pocket, though he explained he found it at a gas pump, the Sheriff's Office reported.
Previous criminal convictions included misdemeanor car prowling, in Renton District Court in 1996, and misdemeanor possession of stolen property, in Kent Municipal Court in 1995, according to court records. Cox declined to discuss his misdeeds.

Cox continued to originate loans for Home Capital Funding for two years after his guilty plea, then left for a better mortgage-selling job in 2005, according to his license application.
Last June, after a state investigation, Home Capital Funding repaid borrowers $134,000, and paid a state fine of $30,000 and an investigations fee of $1,380, according to a Department of Financial Institutions consent order. A DFI audit stated the company had been selling mortgages containing unauthorized fees, failing to provide mandatory disclosures and making "false representations" to borrowers, according to DFI records. The investigation was limited to loans originated during a period starting in October 2005, after Cox left the company. Bortner said they are no longer operating in Washington, but are licensed in California.

Cox said he joined his new company, A+ Mortgage, in May 2005 because a recruiter was "hounding me and hounding me." He said A+ also charged him $100 less for loan processing fees. Cox said he informed A+ of his conviction, but it didn't seem to matter given the fact he was paid by commission.

"They got half of what I made, why wouldn't they hire you?" Cox said. "What have they got to lose?"

Greg Nick, president of A+, didn't dispute the possibility that one of his supervisors might have known about Cox's record when he was hired. He said his company did background checks. But Nick said he personally "wasn't aware of the full impact of his troubles" or he wouldn't have hired Cox. Home Capital Funding officials didn't respond to messages.

Nick said he shut down A+ Mortgage in March and now is working as a branch manager for another firm, Sound Mortgage, out of the same Tukwila building. Nick said he owns the building. A+ was a large mortgage brokerage house, employing hundreds of originators on commission, and generating upward of $600 million in loans a year, according to DFI documents. Size, Nick said, was one reason his company had a dozen criminals apply for licenses under the company name.

A+ is under state investigation for unfair and deceptive loan practices, and the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has recommended the company repay more than $185,000 for bogus fees and charges, according to HUD records.

The state Department of Financial Institutions said in July that it plans to revoke the company's license, prevent Nick from operating as a state-licensed mortgage broker for five years, impose a $250,000 fine and require $150,000 in restitution to borrowers because of an audit of its lending spanning August 2005 through September 2007.

Charges by the state regulator include that borrowers' income was inflated, signatures were falsified, fees were inflated over initial disclosures, fees paid to lendingsourcesweren't disclosed, and variable rates and interest rate increases weren't properly disclosed. A+ is appealing the proposed sanction. Nick said the complaints involved a tiny percentage of loans. He and his attorney, John Bley, declined to discuss the details.

"I'd really love to tell you my side of the story," he said, but expressed fear his statements could be used against him.

Cox is one of only a handful of individual loan originators cited by name in the complaint against A+. He continued to process a mortgage transaction after his license was denied by the state, which was a law violation, records show. State regulators also accused him of asking the couple that was borrowing the money to backdate documents, apparently to conceal the fact he was placing the loan after his ban, records show. He also was accused of failing to properly disclose loan terms to the couple, according to the records.

Cox said he believed it was unfair for the state to invoke a licensing requirement after he was allowed to work in the industry for so long without one -- a sort of bait and switch.

"Really, I feel that law should have been there from day one. How about that?" he remarked with irony, during a telephone interview from a Hawaiian vacation.

Cox acknowledged that he tried to mislead the state when he filed his online application for a loan originator license in November 2006. The state ruled, in fact, that he was deceptive in his answers. His answer when asked whether he'd ever been convicted of a crime was: "Possession of stolen property back in 2000. I was given something I had no idea was stolen. But honestly I don't remember if it was a felony or misdemeanor."

Asked why he wrote that, he said: "Why not?"

"You can actually apply with an excuse," he said, meaning that the form allows an applicant to explain any convictions.

The state ran his fingerprints and got his record. They denied him a license until 2013, though a new federal law may ban him forever. He appealed the state ban, but an administrative law judge rejected his appeal on summary judgment.

Cox, who lives in a luxurious 3,500-square-foot home in Federal Way, assessed at $570,000, said during his career he placed more than a hundred home loans. He estimated he made $65,000 a year before the state refused him a license in 2007, a figure that could not be verified. At least half of the loans he sold were to high-risk, lower-income borrowers, Cox said, adding that "wealthy people don't come to folks like us."

"Incredible," said Bill Bardon, his former employer and president of Statewide Rent-A-Fence. "And then you wonder why everyone is having so much trouble right now with mortgages."

OVERSIGHT

More than 13,000 loan originators worked in the state during the height of the boom, a number cut to 4,400 under licensing and the mortgage bust.

The state polices them as well as brokers and lending institutions with only 11 investigators, many of them lawyers, and two supervisors.

Two investigators handled the task in 2002.

P-I reporter Eric Nalder can be reached at 206-448-8011 or ericnalder@seattlepi.com. News researcher Marsha Milroy contributed to this report.

Three Village teacher charged in Mount Sinai rape

2009-03-04T19:57:00.001-05:00

Three Village teacher charged in Mount Sinai rape
BY BILL MASON AND JOHN HILDEBRAND
February 26, 2009

A Three Village schoolteacher with a criminal record was arrested yesterday and charged with the brutal beating and rape of a Mount Sinai bartender earlier this month, police said.

Michael J. Wachholder, 30, a physical education teacher at an East Setauket elementary school who has worked for the district for the past five years, was charged with first-degree rape, second-degree aggravated sexual abuse and second-degree assault.

Wachholder was arrested yesterday morning by Sixth Squad detectives while on his way to work at Arrowhead School from his home in Rocky Point, police said. He was to be arraigned today in First District Court, Central Islip.

Det. Lt. Glen McVeigh, the commanding officer of the Sixth Squad detectives, said Wachholder raped and beat Feb. 3 a female employee of a Mount Sinai bar.

"She seems to be on the way to recovery," McVeigh said. "She was beaten up badly. Her jaw is wired shut."

In the earliest report of the attack, police said two men entered the bar about 3:30 p.m., and after ordering drinks and engaging the employee in conversation, struck her from behind on the head and face, knocked her to the floor and sexually assaulted her.

"It was a vicious, violent attack," McVeigh said. "He kept banging her head into the floor."
Police have located the second man in the bar at that time - an acquaintance of Wachholder - but he did not participate in the attack, McVeigh said. Although he did not initially come forward, he has been cooperating with police and won't be charged, he said.

In a prepared statement, Ralph P. Ferrie, Three Village school district superintendent, said: "The teacher has been placed on indefinite leave from his position pending the outcome of the legal process. In compliance with New York State law, a background check was conducted prior to hiring this individual, and the state reported no prior criminal record."

A Newsday check of Wachholder's criminal background yesterday indicated a number of arrests since the 1990s, including a felony criminal mischief arrest in 2000. But that charge, and other arrests for misdemeanors, ultimately resulted in either dismissals or guilty pleas to lesser offenses, including a misdemeanor conviction for operating a vehicle while impaired and several violations.

Michael Conte, a spokesman for the school district, said yesterday, "The state had reported no prior criminal conviction when the district checked his record pursuant to state law. We plan to look into this tomorrow to ascertain why these prior convictions were not reported to the district."

McVeigh said after police asked the public for information about the attack and put out a sketch of the suspect, several tips came in from people who said they recognized Wachholder.

Firm cleared school presenter, despite arrest record

2009-03-04T19:48:00.002-05:00

Firm cleared school presenter, despite arrest record
By Alfred Lee, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/26/2009 04:08:01 PM PST

SAN GABRIEL - Despite a felony record and a lewd conduct conviction, an outside contractor cleared background checks ordered by a company that booked him to put on an astronomy program at a San Gabriel elementary school last year.Daniel Roy Smith, 43, of Fullerton was arrested a day after the assembly at Washington Middle School and was later tried on charges of inappropriately touching four girls during the presentation.

At the conclusion of his trial last month, Smith was acquitted of three of the four counts against him. Prosecutors have said they will retry Smith on the one remaining felony count of committing lewd acts on a child under 14.

Although he has a criminal record, Smith passed a background check ordered by Michigan-based Mobile Ed Productions, which books subcontractors to put on educational presentations at schools around the country.

Background checks are done on all contractors booked by Mobile Ed Productions by a service called Intelligent Investigations, said Joanne Love, CEO of Mobile Ed.

Smith's check came out clear, said Larry Thompson, president of Mobile Ed Productions.
"The background check that I received had no listing of any felony arrest," Thompson said.
He defended the reputation of Intelligent Investigations and said he had not contacted or second-guessed the service after its apparent failure to screen out Smith.

"How would I know what service to use? Tell me," Thompson said. "I'm supposed to do a double-check on somebody because it didn't come up? I don't know how they do this stuff."
If he had known about a history of lewd conduct, he would have reconsidered hiring Smith, Thompson said, but added that a felony arrest would not automatically prevent him from hiring someone.

"I didn't know that if somebody had an arrest that took place 13 years ago, that he should be held responsible for that for the rest of his life," he said.

Intelligent Investigations has been reported by consumers for delivering incomplete background checks, according to the Web site Ripoff Report.

The company's Web site does not list a phone number, and representatives did not respond to e-mails seeking comment.

Mobile Ed continues to provide subcontractors for programs at another San Gabriel Unified District campus - Coolidge Elementary.

Smith was hired through Mobile Ed by Washington Elementary's Parent Teacher Association.
At his trial, prosecutors said Smith's criminal history includes a 1996 arrest for masturbating while parked in front of a playground in Anaheim.

In 1996, Smith also pleaded guilty to a felony count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, and was sentenced to two years in prison, according to court records.

In 1994, Smith pleaded guilty to three felony counts of receiving stolen property and one felony count of unlawfully taking of a vehicle and was sentenced to 16 months in state prison.

Although the background checks used by Mobile Ed Productions were not able to detect Smith's criminal record, the PTA at Coolidge Elementary continues to use the company to book shows.
A Benjamin Franklin presentation was booked through Mobile Ed at Coolidge in February 2008, followed by a "Magic of Science" presentation in September 2008 and a "Living Abe Lincoln" presentation scheduled for May 2009.

Coolidge's PTA and school administrators took a hard look at Mobile Ed after the Smith incident and determined they could still trust the company, said Coolidge's Principal Martin Hranek.
"We felt very comfortable after our research that our students were safe," Hranek said, adding that PTA members spoke with Mobile Ed at length about their background checks. "We didn't feel it was fair at that point to eliminate the entire company if it was simply because of one individual's allegations."

Washington Elementary's PTA stopped working with Mobile Ed after Smith's arrest, said Mandy Ng, who was PTA president at the time. "They're not really up to the standards that will be safe to our students," Ng said.

San Gabriel Unified board member Scott Svonkin said he recommended that the district's schools and PTAs stop working with Mobile Ed.

"The firm that hired this predator should not be allowed to do business with us," Svonkin said. "This company failed us once, and I think the risk is too great for them to fail us again."
The school district does not regulate the hiring of contractors by the PTA, said district board President Lee Freeman.

Freeman was unsure what steps the district had taken in the last year to prevent future incidents.

"I don't know specifically what we have done," Freeman said. He cautioned against getting rid of educational presentations altogether and called for the need to be "more vigilant next time."
Thompson wrote a letter to Coolidge Elementary's PTA in January 2008, after the Smith incident, and asked them not to cancel presentations booked by Mobile Ed.

"We have performed thousands and thousands of times," he wrote.

"We have always taken strong measures to screen our performers and to require background checks. We are very proud of our record, and of the 30-40 performers who work with us every year."

Thompson said his company had worked without a problem for decades.

"I've been in business for 30 years," Thompson said. "In 30 years I've never had an incident take place other than the one you're talking about."

No criminal check on Minneapolis choir director accused of sexual assault

2009-03-04T19:19:00.005-05:00

No criminal check on Minneapolis choir director accused of sexual assault

Minneapolis public schools confirmed that Gregory B. Washington, who has a past conviction for sexual assault, taught music in three district schools. He's currently facing charges in a similar incident.

By PATRICE RELERFORD, Star Tribune
Last update: February 26, 2009 - 7:14 AM

A local gospel singer and choir director who has been charged with sexually assaulting an underage Brooklyn Park girl was a contract music teacher in three schools on Minneapolis' North Side, though he was on probation in connection with an earlier sexual assault.

Nobody with the district ran a criminal check on Gregory B. Washington before he was hired. District policy requires contractors to complete background checks on their employees and the district reserves the right to review individual employees records. But in this case, Washington owns Miraculous Music, a music production and education group that contracted to teach at the Jenny Lind Elementary/Olson Middle upper campus and Cityview Elementary School in September.

"I would have to be honest and say our implementation of [the background check policy] hasn't been perfect," said Margaret Westin, Minneapolis schools' general counsel. "We know this is something we need to work on."

And Washington's company was never asked to run a criminal check on its employees. Instead, the business mistakenly went through a vetting process for groups that don't have direct contact with students. It requires proof of insurance and other documentation but doesn't always include criminal checks.

This isn't the first recent case of an instructor being accused of sexually assaulting a student in a metro school. Last school year, a hockey coach in the Robbinsdale district and a self-defense instructor in Forest Lake schools were charged with criminal sexual conduct, accused of having sex with underage girls.

Those cases and discrepancies around criminal background check policies from school to school led Education Minnesota, the state's teacher's union, and legislators to call for tougher state screening rules for adults who have contact with students.

It's just nauseating when these things happen. It seems like no matter what we do, sexual abusers sneak through the cracks," Rep. Mindy Greiling, DFL-Roseville and chairwoman of the state House Education Finance Committee, said at the time.

Susan Eilertsen, Minneapolis schools communications chief, said the school board approved the contract with Miraculous Music in September.

Olson Principal Karon Cunningham reportedly heard rumors about Washington's past sexual misconduct in November and told him he could no longer work in the schools. Eilertsen said Cunningham reported the rumors to the school district's legal department.

"The contract is still in place [through June], but we're writing a letter to terminate it immediately," Eilertsen said.

Miraculous Music's website features professional portraits of Washington, who also goes by the name MiracG. Thomas Kelly, Washington's lawyer, would not comment on the current charges or the extent of his client's work in schools.

In the current case, the Brooklyn Park girl was 15 at the time the assaults allegedly took place in her home and his Plymouth home. The girl's mother discovered the alleged sexual nature of their relationship after she learned he had given the girl a ring and after the mother read explicit text messages the two exchanged, the charges say.

Washington was convicted in a similar incident in St. Paul more than 10 years ago that involved another 15-year-old girl.

Washington is also the director of Voices of Praise, a Minneapolis gospel group, and the choir director at the Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in south Minneapolis. At the time of the St. Paul assault, he was the music director at Zion Baptist Church in north Minneapolis.
Eilertsen said Minneapolis schools haven't received any complaints or allegations of abuse against Washington from parents, teachers or students.

"We have a policy that no outside providers are alone with any students at any time," she said. That applies "whether it's a special teacher or program that comes into the schools."

Patrice Relerford • 612-673-4395

Fugitive caught at her job in Oregon courtroom

2009-02-15T19:34:00.003-05:00

Fugitive caught at her job in Oregon courtroom

ID-theft case - Phuong Anh Ly translated for non-native speakers in courtSaturday, February 14, 2009 AIMEE GREEN and STEVE MAYESThe Oregonian Staff

Kelly Aimone was a familiar face in county courthouses throughout the state, where she worked for the Oregon Judicial Department as a freelance interpreter.

Aimone, who translated for Vietnamese speakers accused of crimes, had an unforgettable smile and long black hair sweeping down her back. She was easy to talk to and brought treats for courthouse employees.

So many were jolted when she was arrested Monday morning as she walked through the front doors of the Multnomah County courthouse amid the usual stream of judges, attorneys and defendants arriving for hearings.

Aimone, who turned out to be Phuong Anh Ly, has been on the lam for nearly four years, authorities say, fleeing from prosecutors who say she stole the identity of one of her Vietnamese-speaking clients when she worked as a translator for a medical clinic.

Court records show Ly has a criminal history stretching back to age 18 that includes five convictions for second-degree theft, criminal trespass, criminal mistreatment or negotiating a bad check. She most recently was indicted in 2005 on accusations of identity theft, forgery and giving false information to police, but she disappeared before her first court hearing.

She was hired in August 2007 as a freelance interpreter for the Oregon Judicial Department. The job, which pays $25 an hour, sent Ly into courtrooms in nine county courthouses, where she mingled with law enforcement daily and sat as an interpreter in front of some of the judges who had sentenced her.

The judicial department didn't run a criminal background check on Ly, and as a result, didn't look to see whether the woman they knew as Aimone had a criminal history, said Nori Cross, special counsel for the state court administrator. But even if the department had checked her criminal history, it's unclear whether anything would have come up because the department doesn't do fingerprint checks on any of its employees.

Authorities say Ly finally encountered someone who recognized her last week, when she went to Clackamas County traffic court to translate for a man who got a speeding ticket. Clackamas County sheriff's deputy Ed Stelle happened to be working that night.

Stelle thought the interpreter bore a strong resemblance to a woman he had arrested in 2004 for trying to open a bank account under a false name.

"She was well-dressed," Stelle said. "She brought a bottle of perfume to give to the tellers. It was well thought out.

"Even to the point I put the handcuffs on her, I remember how smooth she was. She said 'This is all a big mistake.' "

Ly was released pending charges. Investigators with the sheriff's office and Portland police delved into Ly's activities, and found that she held at least three driver's licenses in other names. Authorities say she had asked patients for extensive personal information, such as Social Security numbers, in addition to interpreting for the medical staff.

Stelle remembered that the woman, who presented a stolen check at the Sterling Savings Bank in Wilsonville, was not a stereotypical criminal.

A grand jury issued an indictment on the stolen check charges, but by then, authorities couldn't find Ly.

Although Stelle was fairly sure he was looking at the same woman, he couldn't leave his post. The next day, he pulled up an old mug shot of Ly and confirmed his suspicion.

He found out she was scheduled to work next at the Multnomah County Courthouse, so Monday morning, he was waiting for her. He said he didn't want to leave the job to another officer who might not recognize her.

"She is so skillful, my concern is she'd pull out a new piece of ID and say 'You've got the wrong person,' " Stelle said.

Ly is in Clackamas County jail pending a review of her immigration status. Her attorney, Mark Bailey, said Ly and her husband have four children, ages 3 to their early teens, and the arrest is devastating to the family.

"There's a very different version of the story that's going to come out," Bailey said, adding that the accusations aren't true.

Ly was arraigned on the 2004 charges Wednesday. She was tearful as she responded to questions during the brief hearing.

Portland police say they're concerned that Ly may have victimized non-native English speakers who may not have come forward because of the language barrier.

"She is so good at conning people with that smile of hers," Stelle said. "I figure she thought she was home free. And she probably would have been right, if I hadn't signed up for night court."

Aimee Green: 503-294-5119; aimeegreen@news.oregonian.com

February 2009 Newsletter - Background Check and Security Products with Identity Theft Protection Information

2009-02-10T19:56:00.002-05:00

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2009-01-23T17:10:00.004-05:00

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2009-01-19T22:37:00.004-05:00

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National Database Coverage
Database	Coverage	Details
Aircraft & Pilots	National	50 States
The Aircraft and Pilots database provides information from the Airman Directory as well as the Aircraft Registration master file, which contains the records of all US Civil aircraft registered with the FAA, including air carrier and general aviation aircraft.
Bankruptcies	National	50 States + DC
The Bankruptcies, Liens, and Judgments database includes records obtained from the final bankruptcies, liens, and judgments found in court records.
Boats Database The Boats database provides data from various state agencies. Not every state requires or provides the same registration information. State registration records may (if applicable) include: Owner/Co-Owner Name, Address, Hull ID Number, Serial Number, Registration Number, Title Number, Expiration Date, Make, Model, Use Type, Propulsion, and more.	National	AL, AZ, AR, CO, CT, FL, GA, IS, IA, KY, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NC, ND, OH, OR, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WV, WI, WY Historical Watercraft Registration Records *Tennessee does not provide title numbers
Corporate Records The Corporate Records database provides access to state business entity filing information as recorded by Secretaries of State.	National 47 + DC	(Excluding AL, DE and NJ)
Court Records The Court Records data (from the Administrative Office of the Courts) is specifically related to superior criminal, superior civil, municipal criminal, municipal civil, municipal probate, municipal small claims, family law, unlawful detainer, and superior domestic court data, and related information. This data contains criminal-court records in addition to traffic citations for each state that provides the information. The records contain information pertaining to the offense that was committed and most records are labeled as felonies, misdemeanors, traffic citations, or infractions.	9 states	AK, AR, CA, NC, NY, PA, TN, TX, VA
Criminal and Sex Offender Records Information supplied from each state varies as do the through dates of the information.	National	50 States - Click Here For Exact Coverage
DEA Controlled Substances The DEA Controlled Substances database includes names of businesses and individuals who have a controlled substance license inclusive of the schedules of drugs in which the licensee may dispense.	National	50 States + DC, Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands
Death Filings The Death Filings database is compiled from the Social Security Administration and Florida and Texas death records. The absence of a particular person is not proof this person is alive. Information may include dates of birth and/or death, Social Security Number, and last known address.	National	50 States + DC, Guam, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands
Deed Transfers The Deed Transfers / Real Property database provides records resulting from a sale of property, quit claim deed, grant deed, etc. Records may include names of buyers and sellers as well as mortgage holder information	National 45 + DC	(Excluding AK, ME, MS, ND, SD)
FCC Marine Radio Licenses The FCC Marine Radio Licenses database includes information on licenses for anyone who operates a Marine Radio. Applicants for licenses can be Individuals, Partnerships, Associations, Corporations or Government Entities. Ships are classified as Merchant, Pleasure, Rescue, Fishing, and Official Vessel.	National
Federal Firearms The Firearms and Explosives Licenses database provides data from the Federal Firearm Licenses and Federal Explosives Licenses. Firearms and Explosives License records may include: Licensee Name, Trade or Business Name, Premise Address, Mailing Address, Business Phone Number, License Number, License Type, Expiration Date, Region, County, and IRS District. Firearms Licenses expire every 3 years and explosives licenses expire annually, with the exception of a Binary Explosive License, which is a one time license.	National	50 States
Neighbors (0-20)	National
Others/Possible Associates	National	50 States
Professional Licenses The Professional Licenses database provides licensing information recorded from various state licensing agencies.	National 47 +DC	(Excluding HI, IN, WA)
Real Property	National 47 +DC	(Excluding ME, RI, VT)
The Real Property database includes information on County Tax Assessor records. The database includes information on the taxable value of a property and may include market and/or appraised property values.
Relatives (20 w/ or w/out phones)	National
UCC Records The UCC Filings database provides information on Uniform Commercial Code Filings. Records may include information related to a business loan or lease, debtor, and secured party.	National 46 + DC	(Excluding KY, VT, HI, WV)

State Database Coverage
Database	Coverage	Details
Banking and Finance The Florida Banking and Finance Licenses database provides information as recorded by state agencies.	State	FL
Beverage Licenses The Florida Beverage Licenses database provides information as recorded by state agencies. The Oregon Liquor Licenses records reflect only the data that has been reported.	State	FL, TX, OR
Boating Arrests The Florida Boating Citations database provides information as recorded by state agencies.	State	FL
Concealed Weapons Permits The Florida Concealed Weapon Permits database provides information as recorded by state agencies.	State	FL
Daycare Licenses The Florida Day Care Licenses database provides information as recorded by state agencies.	State	FL
Handicapped Parking Permits This database contains records of people granted a Handicapped Parking Permit in the State of Florida. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles handle applications for Handicapped Parking Permits. Section 320.0848 of the Florida Statutes requires certification from a Physician, Osteopathic Physician, Podiatrist, Chiropractor licensed within the state of Florida; the Division of Blind Services; the Adjudication Office of the US Department of Veterans Affairs of the Florida Department of Veteran Affairs.	State	FL
Hotel Permits The Florida Hotels and Restaurants database provides information as recorded by state agencies.	State	FL
Marriage/Divorce The Florida Marriages/Divorces database provides information (from 1970 to present) as recorded by state and county agencies.	State	FL
Money Transmitters The Florida Money Transmitter's Licenses database provides information on all companies in the following categories: check cashing, pawn, auto title loans, transmit funds.	State	FL
Real Estate Agents	State	FL
Saltwater Licenses The Florida Salt Water Products database provides information on Commercial Salt Water Fishing Licenses.	State	FL
Security Dealers The Registered Dealers information is comprised of firms currently registered in the State of Florida. Registration is through the Florida Department of Banking and Finance, Division of Securities.	State	FL
Tangible Property Tangible personal property tax is paid on property and equipment used in a business. It includes all property other than Real Property (land, buildings, and anything permanently affixed to it) and other than Intangible Property (property without intrinsic value, such as stocks or certificates of deposit). Household goods (furniture, appliances, personal effects) and vehicles are specifically exempt. Licensed vehicles (cars, boats, planes etc.) are not taxed because revenue is collected via license fees. Notes: Data for 1996 does not include Nassau County and data for 1995 does not include Flagler, Liberty, and Oskaloosa Counties.	State	FL
Teachers The Florida Department of Education database provides information as recorded by state agencies.	State	FL
Tobacco Licenses The Florida Tobacco Licenses database provides information as recorded by state agencies.	State	FL
Unclaimed Property The Florida Unclaimed Property database contains unclaimed property records including inactive bank accounts, credit balances, utility deposits and refunds, non-cashed dividend, royalty, payroll or cashier's checks, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, safe deposit contents, and tangible property including watches, jewelry, coins, currency, stamps, etc. Records date back to 1961.	State	FL
WA Corps	State	WA
Workers Compensation Claims The Florida Workers' Compensation Claims database contains records dating back from the 1970s until April 29, 1998. This database is no longer updated.	State	FL

County Database Coverage
Database	Coverage	Details
Accidents	County	Broward
Broward County Felonies	County	Broward
Broward County Traffic	County	Broward

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Private investigators offer tips on thwarting employee theft

2008-12-30T10:01:00.003-05:00

Private investigators offer tips on thwarting employee theft
Employee theft can cripple a business.
Here’s what you can do to protect yourself.

By Douglas Rooks
Mainebiz contributing writer

At first glance, it didn’t seem like a case of employee theft.

But the employee had apparently visited unauthorized websites. A lot of websites. The investigation finally showed that the employee had spent literally hundreds of hours in front of the computer not working.

The private investigator working on the case, Mark Cayer, says it’s probably typical of the loss of productivity and income employers suffer every year from the disappearance of merchandise, damaged equipment, time spent on non-company business, fraudulent benefit claims and, yes, taking cash from the till.

By every indication, employee theft is a major problem for Maine businesses large and small, and it’s expected to grow as the recession deepens. “Every time the economy turns down, theft goes up,” Cayer said. “Employees are under a lot of financial pressure. Sometimes they make bad choices.”

Cayer and his fellow PI, Kevin Surette, have lots of advice for businesses concerned about losses from employee theft, and they’ve done numerous investigations for various companies over the years. Like many Maine private investigators, they are essentially one-man shops — Cayer based in Lewiston, Surette in Litchfield — but often network with each other, and with other PIs to take advantage of individual skills.

Cayer, for instance, served in the Rumford Police Department for two decades, and is particularly good at interviewing and spotting who’s using deception. Those skills proved useful in cracking the web-surfing case, where he interviewed more than a dozen employees to get at the facts. The reason the problem went undetected, he said, was that other employees were covering for the offender, and sometimes engaging in the same conduct themselves. While Cayer’s work is done, the employer, which operates in the public sector, is still considering disciplinary consequences.

The two investigators have plenty of alarming statistics about employee theft. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that, given enough opportunity, up to 75 percent of employees will steal. If that sounds harsh — and debatable — it’s a cold, hard fact, based on FBI files, that a third of all business bankruptcies can be traced to employee theft.

“For a small company, it can be just devastating,” said Surette. Smaller businesses typically have fewer reserves or lines of credit, and a significant theft can spell the end for them.

Early preparation key to avoiding theft

So what’s a business owner to do? The PIs say the first step is to acknowledge the potential dimension of the problem. “No one is saying not to trust your employees,” Surette said. “You can’t run your business that way. What we are saying is to put systems in place that discourage fraud, that prevent theft, up front.”

The best time to start is before an employee is hired. Surette said background checks are essential before anyone is hired, particularly for a position that involves handling money.

Basic checks are pretty easy to do. Driving records are public and available from the Secretary of State’s office. They will quickly show where someone’s had problems behind the wheel. “Do you really want someone in a company car who’s been convicted of a major offense?” Surette asked.

Checking criminal records and the civil docket — whether a potential employee has been sued over past employment — is a little more involved, but basic background checks can be conducted for $100-$300. Surette says that’s a small price to pay considering the thousands of dollars that can be quickly stolen by a dishonest employee.

Surette also said that even small companies should use job applications rather than just resumes when making hiring decisions. A properly designed application form will show gaps in employment that could indicate legal problems with a previous employer. And an application is useful if problems do develop, and it turns out that an applicant made false statements.

If it’s a resume, it may not be actionable, but a false statement on an application is a criminal offense, he said.

Establish internal controls, including yourself

Employers can deter theft by setting a good example themselves, Cayer said. In a small retail business where cash turns over quickly, it can seem a small matter to take a few dollars out of the register, or for a sandwich shop owner to make his own lunch and not pay for it.

“People pattern themselves on what they see around them,” Cayer said. “If an employee sees the owner taking a twenty from the cash register, they’re more likely to do it themselves.”

There’s more protection against the more obvious ways businesses suffer losses. “Shrinkage,” as missing inventory is euphemistically called, continues to be a major problem for retailers. But what many business owners would prefer not to acknowledge, Surette said, is that more items are stolen by employees than by customers, who are the more frequent targets of security screening and cameras.

“There are all sorts of gimmicks,” Cayer said. He recommends store owners check the trash regularly to make sure it doesn’t contain merchandise employees intend to pick up at the end of the shift. “That’s one of the oldest, but least detected, ways to steal,” he said.

Store aisles should be designed to avoid the “dark, out of the way corners” that thieves find hospitable, said Surette. “You look in the back of the store, out of sight, and that’s where all the empty packages are, where stuff was taken.”

Other techniques are important, too. The greeters one finds at Wal-Mart and other big box stores aren’t there just to be friendly, Cayer points out. “If people are recognized, if someone makes eye contact with them, they’re more likely to feel identified, and less likely to think they can just walk out of the store with something.”

Both say surveillance cameras and other equipment can be useful. In the past, image quality was a big problem. “There have even been bank robberies where the tape quality was so poor you couldn’t make an ID,” Surette said.

That’s changed with the rise of digital technology. Now, low-cost cameras can provide effective coverage. It’s worth hiring a security firm if a sophisticated surveillance system — including dummy and disguised cameras — is needed. The latter are useful against theft by employees who may not realize they’re being monitored.

“You have to be realistic,” Surette said. “One camera in a huge parking lot is really not going to accomplish anything.” Yet even a limited number of cameras may help some businesses. “You can probably find something at Home Depot that’s a lot better than doing nothing,” he added.

Gotcha! Now what?

If a theft is detected, an employer then has some big decisions to make. Cayer advocates bringing law enforcement in right away. “All thefts should be reported,” he said. While it’s true that a low rate of arrests results from theft reports, doing so provides an important legal record for employers. “If it happens again, then you can go back and show a pattern,” which is important if a case ends up in court.

As for employees, Cayer advocates “zero tolerance” for any form of theft. He admits that not all employers are comfortable with this idea. “Someone taking paper clips, or a few pens, you might say, ‘What’s the big deal,’” he said. “But where’s the line? If it’s OK to take pens, what about a laptop that’s not being used?” Back when laptops were new, and expensive, they were “flying out of the storerooms,” he said. “You take one home for the weekend, and nobody notices, and it seems like it’s OK.”

Cayer emphasizes that not all theft is premeditated. He gives the example of a single parent who’s behind on the rent, and facing possible eviction if another payment is late. “Taking $100 on the job can seem reasonable to that person,” he said. “They intend to pay it back, but next month it’s tight again, and soon it’s too late.” A lot of major fraud cases involving employees start just that way — small amounts, undetected, soon lead to bolder, larger thefts.

If “zero tolerance” isn’t the standard, “You really have to decide what the rules are, spell it out in your written policies, and go over it with employees at least one a year,” Cayer said.

He concedes that small thefts raise other business questions — will it be worth spending the time in court? — but it’s still important to be clear, in advance, what the response will be.

Surette has some sobering news on this subject. “You might think your problem is the discontented employee, the one who’s always complaining and you think is slacking off.” In fact, he said, “the really dedicated employee, the one who never takes a vacation or a sick day” may be the problem — they never miss a day because that’s the way they might get caught.

The answer, both PIs said, is not to suspect everyone but to use systems of checks and balances. “The person who makes up the bank deposit should not be the same person entering the checks,” Surette said. It may be of some help to require two signatures on larger checks, but the more important point is to have at least two sets of eyes scrutinizing every financial transaction.

Another step in the process is the audit, which Cayer said is the way most inside thefts are discovered. “It’s absolutely necessary to have an independent audit. You may have had the same bookkeeper for 10 years, and that may be the problem.”

While all auditors are trained to discover discrepancies, it may be necessary to go further and conduct a forensic audit. The auditor, in these cases, is someone specifically familiar with criminal conduct, and who can spot the most likely ways employees are covering their tracks.

Cayer has worked with forensic auditors in the past and, yes, it can get complicated, and usually takes a long time to sort out — which, he says, is why it’s such a good idea to create good accounting methods and financial systems as soon as a business opens.

While larger businesses may have trained security professionals and more elaborate accounting systems, they are far from immune to employee theft, Cayer said. Their very size makes it easier for employees to rationalize theft or fraud, since they may have little or no contact with the owner, and less of a sense that insider theft could be hurting the business.

Business owners should be rational about the problem, and be aware that it probably isn’t possible to eliminate all theft despite even the most elaborate security and crosschecks. But minimizing losses from theft is just as important as smart purchasing or initiating production efficiencies, he said.

“If you look at it objectively, just as a cost factor,” Cayer said, “there’s probably no faster way to go out of business.”

Douglas Rooks, a writer in West Gardiner, can be reached at editorial@mainebiz.biz.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Playing it safe
Employee theft and fraud costs U.S. businesses billions of dollars a year, and, according to the FBI, is a major cause of business bankruptcies. Here are some tips to protect your business, from Maine private investigators Mark Cayer and Kevin Surette:

Set up systems that discourage theft and fraud up front. Before you hire anyone, perform a background check, including a perusal of criminal and civil dockets to detect employment problems or criminal convictions

Require job applications. A formal application will show gaps in employment history that might be glossed over in a resume. Lying on a job application is a criminal offense; padding a resume is not

Set a good example. If you grab a ream of paper from the supply closet for your home computer, your employees might think it's OK to do the same

Consider investing in theft-prevention devices. There is equipment for every business situation, from cameras and surveillance equipment to computer software

Draw a line in the sand. Establish your company's employee theft policy and adhere to it. Make sure everyone on the payroll understands it and what the consequences are if they violate it

Require employees to take vacation. Sadly, it's often the most dedicated employees who take from the till. Covering for an absent employee is one of the surest ways to detect theft or lapsed procedures

Hire an independent auditor. Fresh eyes and a critical perspective will help identify where your business is vulnerable to theft.

For license renewals in Florida, no criminal background checks

2008-12-23T21:09:00.002-05:00

For license renewals in Florida, no criminal background checks
BY JACK DOLAN AND ROB BARRY
jdolan@MiamiHerald.com

At least 20 Florida mortgage brokers maintained their licenses even after committing the most obvious violation of public trust -- mortgage fraud.

Hundreds more kept their licenses after other serious crimes. A reputed mobster convicted of racketeering renewed his from prison, records show.

That's possible because, while some states run criminal background checks each time a broker renews a license, Florida does not.

Instead, the state relies on an honor system. Once regulators issue a license, they trust brokers to self-report future convictions and disciplinary actions taken by other regulatory agencies.

The brokers have 30 days to notify the Office of Financial Regulation, but the agency makes no effort to track compliance, The Miami Herald found.

Maria Caldwell, 39, pleaded guilty in 2003 to her part in an $876,000 scheme to falsify documents and coax loans from banks for phony buyers.

One $178,000 mortgage arranged by her group went to a jobless 17-year-old girl whose loan application said she worked at "Pebbles and Bam Bam, Inc., " court records show.

Caldwell was sentenced to four months in jail and four years of probation, but still has an active license.

Caldwell did not respond to several requests for comment for this report.

In 2001, FBI agents called OFR regulators with a tip: They were investigating Veronika Smith-Riley, who worked for a Miami brokerage, on suspicion of mortgage fraud.

Nevertheless, when she applied for a license, the OFR granted it in November of that year.

Three months later, in February 2002, Miami-Dade County police arrested Smith-Riley twice on the same day. First, it was for stealing a client's house -- she had filed a fraudulent quit-claim deed and transferred it to her own name, court records show.

Less than two hours later, they arrested her for grand theft. She had stolen a different mortgage client's identity, using his financial information to get a loan to finance a friend's breast implants.

Guilty in both cases, she was put on a year's probation.

TRANSITORY CONCERNS

In the fall of 2002, she applied to the OFR for a separate license to open her own mortgage brokerage business.

Internal OFR documents make no mention of her arrests for mortgage fraud and grand theft. But regulators raised two concerns: She was still under investigation by the FBI, and she bounced her $425 check for the licensing fee.

But when the check cleared, they granted the license, and Trinity Empire Mortgage Corp. was in business with Smith-Riley as president.

The man whose house she stole was stunned when he learned that the OFR had given her another license.

"How the hell can you do that if you just got convicted of fraud?" asked Kevin Thelwell, 37.
A year later, in the summer of 2004, Smith-Riley was arrested again. She had filed a fraudulent loan application for a man who was in prison, and masqueraded as a lawyer to steal the equity from foreclosed properties, court records show.

While awaiting trial, she maintained both licenses in good standing.

In 2005, the FBI acted on its own investigation, charging Smith-Riley with yet another case of mortgage fraud. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 11 months in prison. But she kept her licenses until June 2006, when the OFR finally revoked them.

Smith-Riley did not respond to a request for comment made through her lawyer.

AGENCY'S RESPONSE

OFR officials interviewed last week said they were not familiar with the details of Smith-Riley's case and could not explain why her licenses were finally revoked.

But when told that other states do a fresh background check before they renew a license, Terry Straub, director of the OFR's Division of Finance, turned to an agency lawyer and said, "The obvious question is why don't we?"

Joseph Rubbo, 44, had no criminal record when he got his broker's license in 1999.

Three years later, he pleaded guilty to running a Florida-based boiler room for one of New York's original Mafia families -- the Bonannos. His phone bank had sold residents $11.7 million worth of stock in a company that did not exist, according to the federal indictment.

That same year, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a restraining order against another Rubbo venture, "Make it Reel" productions, which sought investors for a $90 million film starring Tom Cruise and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Neither actor ever heard of the movie, SEC investigators discovered.

There is no indication in Rubbo's OFR file that regulators found out about either case, although both scams made headlines in Florida's largest newspapers.

Regulators did catch Rubbo in one offense, however: He failed to pay his $150 license renewal on time.

On Jan. 13, 2004, Rubbo got a sharply worded, all-capitals notice from Tallahassee, warning him that it's "NOT LEGAL TO WORK AS A MORTGAGE BROKER WITH AN INACTIVE LICENSE."

Rubbo paid. Regulators renewed his license five days before he entered federal prison, records show. In September 2005, regulators renewed it again -- while Rubbo sat in prison.

Free Background Check Contest Giveaway

2008-12-22T18:50:00.002-05:00

eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc. - The Background Check Superstore!® Free Background Check Giveaway

Starting January 1, 2009 eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc.® will be starting a monthly contest for a Free Background Check. The winner will be selected on the last day of every month and contacted within 48 business hours. The contest will begin on the first of every month. For full giveaway contest rules and policies you may click here. eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc.® is looking for people who are in need of a background check for any reason. Contestants need to submit a story on why they deserve a free background check. The appropriate background check will be selected based on the details and demonstrated need of situation provided. There is no limit or minimum to word count on provided story. To submit your entry, please click here.

If you have any questions or comments about our contest, please send them to giveaways@eFindOutTheTruth.com

Teacher Accused Of Exposing Himself To Student Has Prior Arrest

2008-12-21T12:49:00.003-05:00

Teacher Previously Arrested On Statutory Rape Charge In Tenn.

WJXT-TV

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The former First Coast High School teacher who was arrested last Friday and charged with sexual assault has a previous arrest on his record from more than 10 years ago when he was accused of statutory rape, Channel 4 has learned.

Jacksonville police said while Odis Moreton Jr. and a 16-year-old student were alone in his classroom the teacher unzipped his pants and then touched the girl inappropriately.

School board officials said the 36-year-old immediately resigned when the accusations surfaced in late September. However, the alleged incident was not the first time Moreton has been in trouble with the law.

The former teacher was arrested, accused of statutory rape in Tennessee years ago.

The Duval County School District said it found Moreton's arrest on the background check and his application was rejected; but the district said Moreton came back with proof that there was no prosecution.

Channel 4 has learned that Moreton was indicted on two counts of statutory rape in Tennessee in 1997.

"We did know that he had been arrested but had not been prosecuted, and to our knowledge it had not even made it to a pretrial detention. So you can't take that into consideration in his part of hiring," said school board spokeswoman Jill Johnson.

According to the Shelby County District Attorney's Office in Tennessee, the case involved Moreton and two of his students.

Moreton then disappeared and was picked up nearly 10 years later while teaching at a high school in Mississippi. He was sent back to Tennessee, but what happened to the statutory rape charges remains a mystery.

Moreton's record has been wiped clean. Prosecutors in Tennessee said the case might have been dismissed because it was too old or because the witnesses were missing or uncooperative. Moreton could also have been found not guilty or he could have completed a probation program.
Duval County schools said Moreton was not considered a red flag because records showed only the arrest and not a conviction.

However, after the latest allegations at First Coast High School, Moreton will not be given any second chances in Jacksonville, the district said.

"He's a do not hire here so he won't ever be working in Duval County again," Johnson said.

The district said it is looking into revising its hiring policies, but in the meantime, the district is sending Moreton's most recent arrest report to the professional practice commission in Tallahassee, Fla., where the commission will determine whether or not to pull Moreton's teaching certificate in Florida.

Moreton is currently being held in the Duval County Jail on a $1 million bond.

A 10-point Checklist for Avoiding a Ponzi Fund

2008-12-16T19:31:00.003-05:00

December 16, 2008, 12:44 pm
A 10-point Checklist for Avoiding a Ponzi Fund
Posted by Deal Journal

Elizabeth Pfeuti and David Walker, of Financial News, filed this list on how to avoid a ponzi scheme. Financial News is a Dow Jones publication and a contributor to Deal Journal.

Some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated investors lost money in the alleged Ponzi fund run by New York asset manager and market maker Bernard L. Madoff. To prevent such howlers in the future, Financial News has compiled a list of 10 danger signs that should alert investors considering putting money in a fund.

1. Does the fund have an independent agency verifying the performance of their portfolios, and are they well known?

2. Are other service providers to the funds independent of the firm?

3. Is the firm a registered investment adviser, and has it undergone a regulatory audit?

4. Is there adequate separation between those running the money and the fund’s overall management?

5. Can you provide me with independent references for the manager and key people at the firm?

6. Have investors got access to management and timely updates on funds?

7. Are you blinded by the reputation of a manager or following the herd after hearing about a “superstar” manager?

8. Does it look too good to be true?

9. Have you learned lessons from former blow ups?

10. Has the fund ever been in a legal dispute with any investors past or present?

Feds Charge: The $50 BILLION Scam: One Man's Amazing Crime

2008-12-16T18:39:00.004-05:00

The below story is quite scary and very unnecessary if you do your due diligence. Again, we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to conduct background check investigations on people; especially, the ones you give your money to. We offer a Due Diligence Venture Capitalist Background Check and have now for over a year. If you are going to take a risk, please do not do it without verifying the individual or business by conducting a necessary background check. When investing thousands, millions, and/or billions a $400.00 background check should not seem like a lot. It is a very small price to pay considering the risk and possible chance of loss. Background Checks aren't going to give all of the answers to someone's integrity, but it sure is a great place to start.

Feds Charge: The $50 BILLION Scam: One Man's Amazing Crime"There Is No Innocent Explanation," Wall Street Banker Madoff Tells FBI

By RICHARD ESPOSITO

December 11, 2008

A powerful New York financial advisor whose handful of clients routinely expected -- and received -- double digit returns, up market or down, may have instead been running a decades long Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of $50 billion dollars, according to a one-count criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in New York.

Bernard Madoff, 70, a former chairman of NASDAQ, was an investment advisor who catered to a handful of high net worth clients, one of whom told ABC News that Madoff was so sought after that, as recently as two months ago, he was turning down potential new business.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission document filed in Jan. 2008, and cited in the complaint, the firm had between 11 and 25 clients for the fiscal year ending Oct. 2007 and managed about $17 billion in assets in 23 different accounts.
Bernard Madoff Investment Securities, in addition to that private client practice, is also a market maker that trades with other dealers in bonds, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, according to Bloomberg News.

The firm was the 23rd largest market maker on NASDAQ in October, handling a daily average of about 50 million shares a day. The firm specialized in handling orders from online brokers in some of the largest U.S. companies, including General Electric Co. and Citigroup Inc., Bloomberg News reported.

But on Wednesday, Madoff allegedly told senior employees at his firm that his entire business was a fraud. According to the federal complaint, Madoff told those employees that he was "finished" and that "it's all one big lie." Madoff estimated "the losses from the fraud to be at least approximately $50 billion," the complaint states.
At that time Madoff also told those employees that he intended to surrender to authorities, but before he did he planned to use $200-300 million he had left to make payments to "selected employees, family and friends," the complaint states.
Madoff started his business in 1960 with $5000 in savings. He resides in New York City and, according to clients, also maintains a posh waterfront home. Known to his clients as Bernie, he has a long and significant history on Wall Street and has been a chairman of the board of the NASDAQ and was a founding member of the board of the International Securities Clearing Corp. in London.

Bernard Madoff's ArrestThe Web site for Madoff's firm, in its company profile, says, "Clients know that Bernard Madoff has a personal interest in maintaining the unblemished record of value, fair-dealing, and high ethical standards that has always been the firm's hallmark." Madoff was arrested Thursday morning by FBI agents and charged with criminal securities fraud by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. The complaint states that he used "manipulative and deceptive practices." The complaint cites two senior employees in describing how Madoff kept his client records "under lock and key" and how he left them in the dark about how he managed the private client funds. One of those employees, in interviews with the FBI, said that Madoff was "cryptic" in his statements. This, according to clients, is in keeping with the aura that Madoff cultivated among his clients, some of whom have kept funds under management with him for generations.
But by the first week of December, when clients began clamoring for redemptions -- to the tune of $7 billion -- the complaint states that Madoff began a struggle to obtain the necessary liquidity. The stress began to show, the employees said.

In a meeting at their boss's Manhattan apartment -- held there following a confrontation in the office Wednesday because Madoff wasn't sure "he would be able to "hold it together" if the conversation took place in the office -- the employees came away believing that Madoff was "saying, in substance that he had for years been paying returns to certain investors out of the principal received from other, different investors."

The next day, Dec. 11, Madoff spoke with FBI agent Theodore Cacioppi and invited the agent and another agent to his apartment. Cacioppo stated in the complaint that he told Madoff he came by to see if "there's an innocent explanation."
"There is no innocent explanation," Madoff replied, according to the sworn complaint.
Dan Horowitz, Madoff's lawyer, did not return ABC News' call Thursday, after the complaint was unsealed. However, he told the Wall St. Journal earlier in the evening that "Bernard Madoff is a long-standing leader in the financial services industry with an unblemished record. He is a person of integrity. He intends to fight to get through this unfortunate event."
Madoff was released on $10 million bond following a court appearance in Manhattan.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/WallStreet/story?id=6444781&page=1

The Importance of Conducting Background Checks

2008-12-01T12:47:00.003-05:00

A new customer today purchased a $14.95 Basic Background Check. In their notes they state they have given this "contractor" over $90,000.00 for work on a home that this "contractor" has never completed. In addition, the customer states they now want to "find out as much information about him as possible (see if he has done this before, etc.)". Of course, the $14.95 Basic Background Check is not going to tell you "everything". The Basic Background Check only comes with an SSN verification, address history, and a basic nationwide criminal record search. When running the nationwide criminal record search we did find previous theft charge(s) on the "contractor". We as a company cannot instill how important it is to run background checks on people you are hiring before giving them money or letting them into your home. The $14.95 Nationwide Basic Background Check would have given this customer an idea of this "contractor's" integrity and saved them over $90,000.00. We also have an actual Contractor Background Check for $99.95 that provides more detail regarding their specific duties and is a small price to pay for piece of mind.

Cyber Monday Security Safety 50% off Everything

2008-11-30T21:47:00.004-05:00

CYBER MONDAY SPECIAL - 50% OFF STOREWIDE - ENDS 12AM EST. COUPON CODE: CRAZYDEAL50 - ENTER CODE INTO PROMOTIONAL BOX ON CHECKOUT PAGE.

50% EVERYTHING off Black Friday - Cyber Monday

2008-11-26T23:10:00.004-05:00

COUPON CODE: CRAZYDEAL50
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First EVER, one of a kind deal. 50% off EVERYTHING on eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc. - The Background Check Superstore!® with NO exclusions or limitations. Act now and act fast as this sale will end FOREVER as of Cyber Monday, December 1st, 2008 12AM EST.

ATTENTION AFFILIATES/CUSTOMERS – HIGH EARNING POTENTIAL FOR AFFILIATES – HUGE SAVINGS FOR CUSTOMERS

2008-11-25T14:09:00.001-05:00

Don’t miss our Cyber Monday Black Friday CRAZY SALE 50% off Background Checks, Criminal Records, Employment Screenings, Investigative Services, and More. Don’t forget our Diversion Safes, Safety Products, Stun Guns, Tasers, Pepper Spray, Fake Dummy Cameras, Wireless and Wired Security Alarms, CCTV Surveillance, and much more all items 50% off. This offer leaves most items on the site well below any wholesale or any online posted discount prices. Affiliates make 10% of every sale and any return purchase for 365 days with fantastic earning potential so put this offer on your home page to increase your commissions. This is the first deal of this kind in the background check and security / safety product industry the sale starts on Thanksgiving night and goes throughout the holiday weekend ending Cyber Monday 12 AM EST. Quantities are limited on some items first come first serve. Wishing all of you a prosperous and successful weekend and year!

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2008-11-11T13:58:00.002-05:00

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Criminal Record Products and Pricing

2008-11-06T12:23:00.001-05:00

Background Check Products and Pricing

2008-11-06T12:22:00.000-05:00

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2008-11-06T12:15:00.001-05:00

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Interested in a FREE Background Check with Nationwide Criminal Record Search?

2008-11-06T12:12:00.001-05:00

Is it your birthday?

Interested in a FREE Background Check with Nationwide Criminal Record Search?

Yes, we're for real.....We have noticed an overwhelming number of requests for a 100% free, no obligation, no strings attached, free background check. Free background checks and free criminal records research in the past have been an allusive myth that many sites promise but do not deliver. eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc.® has always been a first mover in this industry by providing a free criminal record search with every background check purchased. We are now proud to introduce our 100% free birthday background check. We are so confident that once you try our service that you will see why we are quickly becoming the leader in the background check criminal record employee screening industry. In order to qualify you simply must provide us with proof that it is in fact your birthday (this information is NOT stored or ever placed into a database). Please scan and send via eMail (research@eFindOutTheTruth.com) or fax (954-252-4493) a copy of your photo ID (driver's license) new customers only.

Newly Updated Website From eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc. - The Background Check Superstore!®

2008-10-07T13:49:00.002-04:00

Greetings valued eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc. - The Background Check Superstore® customers and partners,

As some of you may already be aware we have recently updated and renovated our website. We have lowered prices on several of our most popular reports as well. Today only for the next 24 hours we are offering an additional 10% off your purchases. There is no limit as to the amount you will be able to purchase at this discounted rate. This offer will be valid through 11:59 PM EST Thursday September 25, 2008. We hope that you find our new format to be easy to read, understand, and utilize. As always LIVE ONLINE CHAT will be available to answer any questions you may have. Just use the code NEWWEB10 at checkout to redeem this offer.

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eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc. - The Background Check Superstore!®
Customer Service Fax Line: 954-252-4493
Customer Service eMail: research@eFindOutTheTruth.com
LIVE ONLINE CHAT located on the right hand side of our homepage

Operator of Wikipedia didn't check operations chief's background

2007-12-24T14:19:00.000-05:00

Dec. 21, 2007, 11:45PM
Foundation under fire
Operator of Wikipedia didn't check operations chief's background

By BRIAN BERGSTEIN
Associated Press

TOOLS

The foundation that runs — and accepts donations for — the online encyclopedia Wikipedia neglected to do a basic background check before hiring a chief operating officer who had been convicted of theft, drunken driving and fleeing a car accident.

Before she left in July, Carolyn Bothwell Doran, 45, had moved up from a part-time bookkeeper for the Wikimedia Foundation and spent six months as chief operating officer, responsible for personnel and financial management. In March, she signed the small nonprofit's tax return, which listed more than $1.3 million in donations.

At the time, she was on probation for a 2004 hit-and-run accident in Virginia that had landed her seven months in prison. Doran had multiple drunken-driving convictions, and records show earlier run-ins for theft, writing bad checks and wounding her boyfriend with a gunshot to the chest.

The revelation comes as the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the volunteer-written Wikipedia and its sister Web encyclopedias in other languages, is staging a fundraising drive and trying to expand beyond a ragtag startup.

"This is indicative of poor management of the Wikimedia Foundation," said Charles Ainsworth, a frequent Wikipedia contributor. Ainsworth said he had been considering donating to support the encyclopedia, but won't "unless they clearly get things fixed."

No issues found

The foundation said it had no indication Doran did anything improper with donors' money. However, the organization's most recent audit is incomplete, despite a goal of completing it months ago.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who is on Wikimedia's board, said he did not expect to find anything amiss but would personally cover any losses that turned up.

"We are very saddened and hurt by these shocking revelations," Wales wrote in a message to the Wikipedia community. "Of course we are doing soul-searching about what we could have done different."

Doran's background was reported first in The Register, a London-based technology Web site. The Associated Press independently examined Doran's record.

Jailed in Virginia

On May 20, while she was still with Wikimedia in St. Petersburg, Fla., police arrested Doran for another DUI and driving with a suspended license. She was released on bond that day. In August, a month after she left Wikimedia, she was arrested for violating probation on the 2004 hit-and-run. She was extradited to Virginia and has been jailed there.

Her attorney did not return messages seeking comment.

Wikimedia leaders said they knew nothing of her past until the Register story broke last week. She had been sent by a temporary agency in 2006 and worked part time as Wikimedia's bookkeeper. Soon after, its board voted 6-1 to promote her to chief operating officer.

Philip Greenspun, a computer scientist who recently gave the foundation $20,000, said he wasn't surprised it would stumble on a background check, something that "isn't core to their mission."

"I would be more dismayed," he said, "by a lengthy server outage."

Plastic Surgeon Background Checks $9.95

2007-12-14T15:47:00.000-05:00

Protect yourself don’t become another alarming statistic conduct a plastic surgeon background check before you select your plastic surgeon only $9.95.

Doctor Background Check with Nationwide Criminal Record Search
Results Returned May Include:
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Sanctions
One (1) nationwide criminal record search

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Item#: DRBC-001
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The Journal of the American Medical Association states that doctors and physicians contribute to over 200,000 deaths a year in the United States. This is the third leading cause of death in this country. These numbers clearly indicate the growing need for background checks on medical care professionals. The selection of a doctor, plastic surgeon, dentist, chiropractor, physician, or any medical care provider is one of the most crucial decisions that we are faced with in life. Their level of expertise is in fact a matter of life or death. A background check will uncover disciplinary action taken against medical care providers for actions such as malpractice, substance abuse, sexual misconduct, poor record keeping, and the over prescribing of drugs and medicines. Doctors prescribing more prescription drugs than needed account for more than 106,000 deaths in the US per year. Can you afford not to know the truth about your doctor? Let our licensed private investigators assist you in protecting your most valuable asset your life and the lives of those you love.

CHOOSING A PLASTIC SURGEON

http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/544

The recent tragic death of Kanye West’s mother, Donda West, has put a spotlight on plastic surgery and the risks involved. If you are considering cosmetic or plastic surgery, do not overlook the importance of choosing the right physician. Consider these tips when researching your potential plastic surgeon:

1. Make sure the surgeon is board certified.

All plastic surgeons are not alike. Plastic surgeons that are certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS) are uniquely qualified and specially trained. They have been proven to provide the best patient care and have the lowest rates of complications.

Do not assume that all doctors who claim to be "board certified" have the same training. Be sure that your doctor is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. In Canada, look for a physician who is certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Don't be fooled by other professional-sounding boards.

If a doctor is certified by the ABPS this means that they are certified in plastic surgery and have met the following requirements:

They have earned a degree from an accredited medical school
They have completed 3 years of general surgery
They have completed 2-3 years of supervised residency in plastic surgery
They have had at least 2 years of professional practice
They have passed rigorous written and oral exams (only about 70 percent of physicians who take the test pass it)

The ABPS is recognized and overseen by the American Board of Medical Specialties and sets high education and training standards. To find out if your doctor is board certified, check with the American Board of Medical Specialties.

--SmartPlasticSurgery.com

2. Check the surgeon’s record.
Track down your state’s medical board. You can find out more about a surgeon’s record from these organizations, which record any disciplinary actions against the cosmetic surgeon. Contact the board and ask for a report. Each state treats a doctor’s record a little differently. In some states you may be able to view a surgeon’s records online. In other states you have to request the information through the mail. Pay close attention to any settlements or records of disciplinary action. Also make sure that your surgeon is licensed to practice medicine within the state.

--eHow.com

3. Ask if the surgeon has hospital privileges.
This is important because hospitals do background checks. If they don’t have hospital privileges, that is a red flag. Dr. Phil’s guest, Dr. Pearlman Hicks, says, “The hospital has balances and checks on your practice. They know what you’re doing. They know that you’re doing the right workups and that sort of thing. And also, if there’s a complication, you have a place to take your patient. Oftentimes when you’re doing surgery in an outpatient setting, there’s no place to take a patient if you can’t admit them to a hospital.”

4. Come armed with questions for your doctor.

According to The Arizona Medical Board, some questions you should ask your plastic surgeon include:

How many times has the physician performed the procedure?
How long has the physician performed the procedure?
What other procedures does he/she perform?
Who will assist in the procedure? Their qualifications and training?
Are all involved licensed in good standing?
What is involved in the procedure? How is it performed?
Will the physician use sedation? If yes, what level of sedation will the physician use?
Who will administer and monitor the sedation?
How long will the procedure last?
How long will the sedation effects last?
How long will it take to recover in the facility before discharge?
Where will the surgery take place?
What are the emergency plans?
To which hospital would you be taken?
Will post-operative medicine be necessary?
Will there be noticeable scarring?
What realistic result can I expect?
Will the physician perform the procedure from the first cut to the last stitch?
What are the risks associated with this procedure?
What are the warning signs or concerns to watch for?

Child predators face tougher penalties, but parents are best protectors

2007-10-08T18:09:00.000-04:00

Child predators face tougher penalties, but parents are best protectors

Daniel Vasquez | Consumer columnist
October 8, 2007

If you're a parent buying a computer for a child, you have a lot to consider: Hard-drive speeds. Memory space. Rebates and online deals.

Just don't forget to pay serious attention to the digital doorway opened by home computers and the Web for child predators.

Fortunately for parents, new laws under Florida's CyberCrimes Against Children Act took effect last week that increase prison sentences for online predators and child porn collectors. And for the first time in the nation, the Florida law takes aim at adults who use the Internet to befriend a child for the purposes of meeting for sex or other abuses.

Staying informed about these laws is one way parents can protect their children from online dangers. It's also important to keep up on affordable technologies, services and products that help parents guard a child's doorstep, virtual and real.

Predators in Florida
Florida is fourth in the nation in the volume of child pornography confiscated by police. And Attorney General Bill McCollum says that at least one in five children online in Florida have been sexually solicited.

That's much higher than the national average of one in seven children aged 10 to 17 who are contacted by an adult (many of whom pretend to be children) while surfing the Web, according to figures from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

But today, legislators deserve a lot of credit for attempting to make Florida one of the last places predators would want to be caught, particularly if they rely on the Web to lure their young victims.

Possession of more than 10 images of a child 5 or younger having sex or being abused is now punishable by up to 15 years in prison, triple the former penalty. Promotion or distribution of such images can mean up to 30 years behind bars, double the time of previous sentencing rules.

Florida's Legislature also made it a separate crime for anyone "grooming" children online — enticing children often by using a false identity or age — to gain a child's trust for the purpose of meeting them in person to take advantage of them.

Last week, a CBS freelance technical manager visiting South Florida to cover a Dolphins game was arrested in an online predator sting operation.

Daniel Barron, 56, is accused of using his company laptop and an America Online chat room in an attempt to make arrangements to film himself having sex with a child.

Barron was arrested two days before Florida's "grooming" law took effect, the first of its kind in the nation. It stipulates that anyone who preys on a child using chat rooms, social Web sites like MySpace or Friendster, e-mail or other online communications to strike up a relationship with a minor and arrange to meet in person for sex faces up to 15 years in prison, triple the old sentence.

Software safeguards
As new laws pop up, so do products and services that can help parents stay one step ahead of predators.

Internet providers like AOL, AT&T and Comcast offer a menu of parental controls and filters, many of which cost nothing.

If you're a customer, check online for what is offered or call your provider.

For less than $50, parents can purchase Net security programs like NetNanny, CyberPatrol and CYBERsitter that filter objectionable Web sites and e-mail exchanges.

Or for free, parents can download similar software at www.k9webprotection.com. The program can block more than 55 categories of content, including pornography, hate speech and sites that promote violence or permit gambling.

Parental supervision
Experts also suggest putting limits on a child's computer use. Another tip is to place a child's computer in a living room, kitchen or other busy area in the home so it's easier to monitor Web activities.

And never assume popular sites like MySpace or Friendster are safe. South Florida-based Sentinel Tech was recently hired by MySpace to check criminal records of members and found that 30,000 were convicted offenders.

MySpace kicked them off its service. It's not clear if other popular social Web sites are as vigilant.

Unfortunately, the power behind Florida's latest online predator laws don't mean much until after a crime is committed and successfully prosecuted. And technology won't stop every criminal.

That's why when it comes to protecting children online, parents are still the best cops around.

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2007-10-07T13:24:00.000-04:00

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Sex offender named as robbery suspect

2007-10-07T13:12:00.000-04:00

Sex offender named as robbery suspect

Saturday, October 06, 2007

By PAMELA H. METAXAS

pmetaxas@repub.com

CHICOPEE - A 35-year-old homeless man who just registered with the Chicopee police as a sex offender has been named in an arrest warrant stemming from the Sept. 29 armed holdup of Neighbors Variety, 447 Springfield St.

Kyle Kervian, described as 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighing 210 pounds with brown eyes and blonde hair, is being sought by city police for the 8:40 p.m. holdup, Detective Lt. Mark S. Higgins said yesterday.

Higgins said the warrant charges Kervian with robbery while armed and masked.

Police said he was armed with a saw blade when he held up a clerk and fled with an undetermined amount of money.

Police are asking for the public's help in seeking Kervian.

Higgins warned the public not to approach him and use caution if anyone spots him and call police at (413) 594-1730 .

Higgins said Kervian just registered with the Police Department after the Sex Offender Registry Board determined that he is at a high risk to re-offend and that the degree of dangerousness posed to the public is such that a substantial public safety interest is served by active community notification.

Offense committed is indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years of age on Nov. 10, 1992.

Following his registration with Chicopee police, authorities developed information linking him to the armed holdup, Higgins said.

Sex offender caught at fairgrounds

2007-10-07T13:10:00.000-04:00

Sex offender caught at fairgrounds

Grahamsville -- An alert off duty parole officer and a quick thinking Sullivan County Sheriff’s deputy apprehended a level 3 sex offender at the Grahamsville fairgrounds on Saturday, October 6.

New York State Parole Officer Wayne Martin, who was off duty with his grandchildren, spotted Gary Fulton , 29, of Liberty, a parolee and level 3 sex offender, near the stage where awards were being presented to children who had participated in the Pumpkin Parade. Martin alerted Sergeant Luis Alvarez of the Sheriff’s Patrol who was standing nearby, monitoring the crowd.

Sergeant Alvarez took Fulton into custody without incident. Fulton was charged with violating a condition of his parole that requires that he has no contact with children under the age of 18. His presence at the Pumpkin Festival is still under investigation.

Fulton was sent to the Sullivan County Jail pending further action by the State Board of Parole.

Sullivan County Sheriff Michael Schiff said the public was never in any danger. “This event in Grahamsville was well covered by sheriff’s deputies, state troopers, and the DEP Police,” he said.

Sex offender arrested in Virginia

2007-10-07T13:04:00.000-04:00

Sun Oct 7, 9:39 AM ET

ORLANDO, Fla. - William Joe Mitchell's flight from authorities ended at a Virginia truck stop.

The 46-year-old sex offender accused of running off with a 15-year-old Florida girl was arrested Saturday by state police at the Flying J Truck Stop in Winchester, Va., according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office in central Florida.

The girl had been released at a Wal-Mart store last week.

Mitchell is wanted in Alabama on allegations including rape and kidnapping and Florida officials accuse him of enticing a child via the Internet, violating his probation and other allegations.

He is being held without bond at Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center in Winchester.

State police were notified that the U.S. Marshals Service had tracked Mitchell to a truck stop on Interstate 81, near the West Virginia border. Four state troopers surrounded Mitchell and took him into custody without incident around 11:30 a.m.

Mitchell was standing alongside a 2000 black Chevrolet Lumina that detectives believed he had been driving throughout the investigation. Personal belongings of the girl were visible inside the vehicle, officials said in a statement.

Mitchell was being served federal and state warrants, none from Virginia, said Corinne Geller, spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police, who had no further details. She did not know whether he had a lawyer.

The 15-year-old girl spurred a statewide manhunt when she sneaked out of her house before dawn on Monday. She told friends she was running away for love, to be with a boy she met online. She believed Mitchell was in his early 20s.

The Associated Press is not naming the girl because she is a suspected sexual abuse victim.

Police believe heavy publicity in the hours after the girl disappeared pressured him into dropping her off at a Wal-Mart in the Florida Panhandle.

The girl told authorities Mitchell had a handgun and said he would kill her if she drew attention to herself in the store. He told her he was going to another part of the store and would meet her in five minutes, then disappeared, authorities said.

Mitchell had 14 prior arrests ranging from burglary and bomb threats to lewd and lascivious conduct, police said.

The girl ran away the day a new Florida law took effect making the state's sex predator penalties some of the toughest in the nation.

The law requires offenders to register e-mail and instant message handles with authorities, information that will be shared with social networking sites like Myspace.com. The state also tripled the maximum sentences to 15 years for soliciting minors for sex and possessing child pornography.

Dateline NBC: To Catch a Predator

2007-09-22T20:52:00.001-04:00

To Catch a Con Man

2007-09-22T20:34:00.001-04:00

Master of the Con

2007-09-22T20:33:00.001-04:00

Who's teaching your child?

2007-09-15T22:27:00.000-04:00

Who's teaching your child?

Kim Komando
America's Digital Goddess
http://www.komando.com/kids/tip.aspx?id=3886
9/15/2007

My little Ian has started the first grade. Gosh, he's growing up so quickly! It seems like he was a baby only yesterday.

Anyway, I took him to school on his first day. While there, I had a startling thought: I'm entrusting my boy to these people. And I don't know much about them!

Teachers in Arizona are certified, just like elsewhere in the country. They're also fingerprinted, as are administrators and other school employees. The fingerprints are checked through the Arizona system, and with the FBI. Practically everyone in Arizona is from somewhere else. So a national check is necessary.

The checks are done to weed out convicted felons. I don't want to continue to punish people endlessly. But I don't think felons should hold positions of authority over children. So I'm all for the fingerprint checks.

Some things don't fall in the criminal area, however. For instance, how have teachers' students done in the past? What about past complaints against teachers by parents?

Looking around online

Can you find this information online? Well, you never know what will pop up. There is a lot of information about people on the Web. Begin by putting the teacher's name in Google. See what shows up. Maybe an angry parent has a blog.

I would make my next stop the state's department of education. It may be called something else. Search for it in Google. It should be easy to find.

Check the department's site. It may show a way to check teachers' backgrounds. If not, call. Some states probably have public information; most probably do not. But ask what you can do.

Florida posts teacher records

Florida is probably the most advanced state in this area. It has a database available atwww.myfloridateacher.com. Teachers who have had serious run-ins with the law are included. Other incidents may also be shown. If your child attends school in Florida, check it out.

Other states may also have databases. If yours doesn't, or you can't figure it out, call the state. Demand more information.

You can also do your own sleuthing. Court records practically everywhere are available. The National Center for State Courts lists links to local courts. Yours may not be online; some courts are not. Also, the teacher may be from somewhere else.

But checking locally is worthwhile. Court documents are public record. So, if they aren't online, you can still see them. You just have to go to the courthouse and ask. I've done this. I found the people at the courthouse helpful.

You might find paying a site to do this work worthwhile. A number of sites offer these services. Try eFindOutTheTruth.com and CaseBreakers.com. The listed fees are small. I have more information in a tip.

More places to look online for info

Also, look at social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Younger people, especially, maintain pages on these sites. Sometimes they disclose remarkable amounts of information.

You should also check out blogs. There are countless blogs on the Internet, making a search difficult. But it can be done.

A tip on my site covers social-networking sites and blogs. It is geared toward helping parents find their kids' sites. But the information there will help you find teachers.

Also, check my newspaper column from June on finding background information.

Finally, you may want to check teachers' academic credentials. That would include their degrees. This information generally is not available online. But you can often get it from schools over the phone. Start with the registrar's office.

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2007-09-12T15:48:00.000-04:00

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Background Check and Criminal Record Update

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Background Check and Criminal Record Newsletter August 7 2007

2007-08-06T21:05:00.000-04:00

Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
Weekly Background Check and Criminal Record Newsletter

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Dear Customer and Friend,

1. New Affiliate Program to be launched this week! Don’t miss this great money making opportunity
It has been a busy Monday at eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc. We are proud to announce that our new affiliate program is scheduled to launch this week. Don’t miss this great money making opportunity. Our program features: an unlimited target market, superior products, it’s a great money maker for affiliates 10% of total purchase price. We are the background check, criminal record, and employment screening superstore. We also sell a wide variety of tangible merchandise such as wireless and wired security alarms, diversion safes, pepper sprays, stun guns, and GPS vehicle surveillance and much more. Each consumer and business in the US as well as internationally is within our target market and can benefit from our services and merchandise. Our competitive advantage in this marketplace is our ability to offer the most accurate investigator assisted research at the lowest possible price. We are not an instant point and click database like the great majority of our competition. Licensed private investigators handle each case and customers may contact us seven days a week via live online chat. We offer volume pricing and bulk background checks receive deeply discounted rates below those listed on our site as a per search fee. We have been ranked #5 worldwide in 2006 and 2007 regarding the background check industry by an independent rating company Top 10 Reviews
( http://background-check-services-review.toptenreviews.com/efindoutthetruth-com-review.html ) Our company has been featured in numerous print, radio, and television media such as Entrepreneur Magazine, USA Today, Slick Deals, the Kim Komando Show, and the Miami Herald among others. Our ticket prices range from $1.00 to over $400.00. Our average checkout amount is $39.95 though this amount may vary greatly. We offer 10% of the total sale amount to the referring site.

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Pedophile Website Assists Sex Offenders in Locating Children – Take Action Today!

2007-07-30T18:12:00.000-04:00

If this page does not load properly for any reason please go to: http://www.eFindOutTheTruth.com/background_check_newsletter.htm

Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Weekly Background Check and Criminal Record Newsletter

New in this issue:

1. Pedophile Website Assists Sex Offenders in Locating Children – Take Action Today!
2. $1.50 Nationwide Sex Offender Search including Megan's Law

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Dear Customer and Friend,

Pedophile Website Assists Sex Offenders in Locating Children – Take Action Today!

Self proclaimed pedophile Jack McClellan is currently working hard scanning and posting the locations of prominent children’s events the California and Washington state areas. Unlike convicted sex offenders, who are required to stay away from places that cater to children, in this case the police say that they can do next to nothing, because this man, Jack McClellan, currently appears to be doing nothing illegal. Please see full video coverage on the CNN website via: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2007/07/30/roberts.blogging.pedophile.cnn The government and police are fully aware of his website. As of today July 30, 2007 it is up and running assisting pedophiles worldwide in finding events in which they can locate the greatest numbers of children quickly and efficiently. The website itself goes into great detail rating public events in the Los Angeles and Seattle areas for the number of children in attendance. It rates the events by heart ratings from one to five hearts. A five heart level indicates that there are a great number of children in attendance at a certain event. Likewise, a one heart level indicates that there are not very many children.

Mr. Jack McClellan is currently living out of his car while attending, ranking, and posting his findings on children friendly events on the internet. He states that he really enjoys the “ambiance” of children. He went on to state in another interview that he likes the area because there are so many world-class children’s attractions here, Disneyland, festivals and whatnot along with the good weather for outdoor children’s events. He freely admits to being a pedophile but denies being a sex offender. He goes on to say that parents should get used to it because he is allowed to attend the same festivals that you do. The Santa Monica police department recently questioned and photographed Mr. McClellan. He has also stated that he now plans to take legal action against the Santa Monica Police Department for harassment. Lieutenant Thomas Sirkel of the Special Victim’s Unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department states, “If you look at things he has posted, he clearly is a pedophile.” “Has he acted on it? I can’t say but I’ve been in this business for 20 years, and I have never seen one who has not.” Mr. McClellan, who is 45, refers to himself as a pedophile, but says he has never actually sexually touched a child. He claims he has, “embraced them in a nonsexual way, mostly in Latin American countries.” He says he has never been convicted of a sex crime, and law enforcement officials in Los Angeles say they know of no convictions.

We here at eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc. are shocked and appalled that this website is currently still up and running and at this very moment assisting those with less than desirable intentions in locating children’s events. Only through public outrage sparking legislative change can we protect our children from individuals such as Mr. McClellan. It is our feeling that this website should be taken down immediately as it shows intent and provides a medium in which criminal activity is promoted. The laws in the US regarding child predators and sex offenders needs to be changed. Only a public outcry for change can affect the way that this country handles sexual predators, child molesters, and sex offenders. We encourage you to visit the following website: http://www.stopchildpredators.org/involved/ for more information on how all of us can assist in enacting real change. This site provides a sample letter that one may use as a template to contact the governmental representatives in your area. Get involved today!

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Background Check and Criminal Record Newsletter July 24, 2007

2007-07-23T22:43:00.001-04:00

If this page does not load properly for any reason please go to: http://www.eFindOutTheTruth.com/background_check_newsletter.htm

Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Weekly Background Check and Criminal Record Newsletter

New in this issue:

1. More information = Better results. Help our investigators help you!
2. Federal Crimes vs. State Crimes
3. BOGO: Buy One Get One FREE Combined Federal Bankruptcy, Civil, and Criminal Docket Search and $1.00 Federal Prison Inmate Search

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More information = Better results. Help our investigators help you!
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Federal Crimes vs. State Crimes.
In this issue we would like to point out as well as examine the differences between federal criminal records vs. state, county, or local criminal records. Federal cases are typically investigated by federal agencies, including the FBI, DEA, Customs, Treasury, and other federal agencies. Sometimes state and local agencies also file charges in federal court if the offenses involve major quantity of drugs, weapons (or other contraband), a crime that is made illegal by U.S. federal legislation, or a crime that occurs on U.S. federal property. The federal government has more resources to prosecute cases, including special units to prosecute drugs, fraud, and violent crimes. Federal crimes include but are not limited to: mail fraud, conspiracy, counterfeiting, embezzlement, and racketeering.

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Background Check and Criminal Record Newsletter July 17 2007

2007-07-23T22:40:00.000-04:00

If this page does not load properly for any reason please go to: http://www.eFindOutTheTruth.com/background_check_newsletter.htm

Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Weekly Background Check and Criminal Record Newsletter

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NEW USER FRIENDLY INTERFACE AND OUR ALL NEW PRICE VS. PRODUCT / COST VERSUS BENEFITS COMPARISON CHART. You may have noticed some changes in the structure and layout of our website. We hope you find this new user friendly interface to be easy to use and navigate through. As always we offer the largest selection of background checks online as eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc. is the background check superstore. The variety of background check options offered has prompted many questions in the past weeks via our Live Online Chat. Due to user feedback we have developed a side by side price versus product offerings comparison chart. Our new background check service cost vs. benefit comparison chart is housed here: http://www.efindoutthetruth.com/background_check_plans.htm We always welcome your questions and feedback. Drop by live online chat anytime to ask any questions you may have. Our knowledgeable staff will gladly assist. Live chat is available 7 days a week.

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Thursday, June 28, 2007 Background Check and Criminal Record Newsletter

2007-07-23T22:39:00.000-04:00

If this page does not load properly for any reason please go to: http://www.eFindOutTheTruth.com/background_check_newsletter.htm

Thursday, June 28, 2007
Background Check and Criminal Record Newsletter

New in this issue:
1. BOGO: BUY ONE GET ONE FREE PLATINUM BACKGROUND CHECK FOR $39.95.
2. eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc. NAMED BY THE SMALL BUSINESS JOURNAL AS AN IMPORTANT PRE EMPLOYMENT SCREENING RESOURCE.
3. DON'T FORGET NEW LIVE HELP CHAT - ASK THE INVESTIGATORS - IN REAL TIME: DUE TO OVERWHELMING RESPONSE CHAT WILL BE AVAILABLE 7 DAYS A WEEK (EXCLUDING HOLIDAYS).

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THE SMALL BUSINESS JOURNAL NAMES eFindOutTheTruth.com AS AN IMPORTANT PRE EMPLOYMENT SCREENING RESOURCE.
The Small Business Journal reminds us that formalizing hiring practices can help you boost productivity and profitability in your business. The best way to make sure you are hiring the right employee is to conduct a thorough background check. If you run a business, the odds are good that you’ve made a few hiring mistakes over the years. Well, you’re not alone. By some estimates, 75 percent of new hires fail to meet expectations and end up costing valuable time and money. The cost of mis-hiring one employee can be staggering. Direct costs of turnover include recruitment and training of new employees. Indirect costs include such things as increased workloads and overtime expenses for coworkers, as well as reduced productivity associated with low employee morale. By some estimates the cost of a mis-hire can run as high as one year of the employee’s salary, or more. WOW!

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We are proud to introduce our new interactive live online support seven days a week. You will be surprised how late into the evening our live help feature will be available. We understand how frustrating it can be to have a question that needs an immediate answer only to find that there is no one there to assist you. Many of you have already utilized this service for quick and easy answers to your immediate questions. This is just another way that eFindOutTheTruth.com is differentiating itself from the competition. Stop by and check out our new features we are sure you will find that we out perform the competition in service, price, and quality of information.

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We appreciate your business and are working hard to earn it.

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Tuesday June 19th Background Check Newsletter

2007-07-23T22:36:00.000-04:00

Dear customers and friends,

Welcome to this edition of eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc.’s sales and specials. We would like to thank you for subscribing to our newsletter by letting you in on a few great cost effective background checks and criminal records searches. We think you will see why we are leading the industry for price, selection of products, and superior customer service.

<<>> Don’t forget that LIVE ONLINE CHAT is available to answer any questions you may have. Ask us about: 1) Rush Services 2) Special or Custom Packages 3) Bulk Discounts
Keep an eye out for our new AFFILIATE PROGRAM. Many of our loyal customers and associates have requested that we start an affiliate program. In response to your inquiries we are working to implement a program just as soon as possible. In the meantime please feel free to add your information to our waiting list. As soon as the program is up and running we will contact you to let you know how you can earn revenue promoting and discussing our products and services online. Important Links: http://efindoutthetruth.blogspot.com/ http://www.efindoutthetruth.com/affiliate_program.htm http://www.efindoutthetruth.com/Corporate_Background_Check.htm http://www.efindoutthetruth.com/sales_and_specials.htm http://www.efindoutthetruth.com/air_taser_guns.htm - NEW PRODUCT PREVIEW We value your continued business we look forward to working with you again soon,
The eFindOutTheTruth.com, Inc. Team