New Jersey Man Charged with Cyberstalking February 8, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: cyberstalking
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Vincent P. Johnson, of Brick, New Jersey, was arrested Friday by FBI agents. A federal grand jury handed up a 14-count indictment against him, charging him with four counts of interfering with the exercise of civil rights, and five counts each of making interstate threatening communications and using a computer with the intent to place a person in reasonable fear of death or bodily injury, commonly called cyberstalking.
The Government alleges that between November 2006 and February 2009, Johnson used the Internet user name “Devilfish579″ to repeatedly send threatening e-mails to employees of the Latino Justice Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund; the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund; the National Council of La Raza; the League of United Latin American Citizens; and the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders.
Story is here.
Two men charged in alleged used-car sales fraud February 3, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: theft by deception
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Authorities allege that Brett Golkin and Peter Schladebeck, 46, both from Colts Neck, sold 32 vehicles at their dealership, Freedom Auto Center in East Brunswick, but used the proceeds to pay personal expenses. They were charged with theft by deception and theft by failure to make the required disposition of cash received for the vehicles.
Manuel Sameiro, assistant Middlesex County prosecutor, said Golkin and Schladebeck sold the cars at the dealership’s two locations on Route 18 on consignment for wholesalers and some individuals from January 2008 until September 2009 when the dealership closed. The alleged scheme was discovered after customers who paid for vehicles but did not receive titles complained to police. The wholesalers and other original owners kept the titles while waiting for Freedom to pay them.
Golkin and Schladebeck also were charged with issuing $59,289 in bad checks between May 8, 2009, and Aug. 5, 2009, to three vehicle owners who demanded payment. An audit of the dealership’s records showed that on Oct. 15, 2008, the defendants accepted $229,000 from an investor to assist in their purchase of real estate. However, they allegedly kept the investor’s money without telling him they already owned the property.
I had a case along these lines where I represented a car dealer that took cars on consignment, received money and then gambled it away. Of course, my client was not charged as I worked out the case before the police were involved.
Story is here.
Annapolis Mortgage Broker Charged in Fraud Scheme February 2, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: Ponzi scheme, wire fraud
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Mortgage broker David Wehrs, Sr. of Annapolis, Maryland, has been charged with wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud investors and financial institutions of approximately $2.3 million. According to the information and court documents, Wehrs owned Maryland Title and Escrow Company, Inc., located in Annapolis, and operated a small home remodeling company called Show-Me. From 2007 to October 2009, Wehrs allegedly induced individuals to invest money through Maryland Title into a purported FDIC-insured money market fund that Wehrs “guaranteed” would pay monthly interest payments of 10.85 percent. Instead of depositing the money into an “American Funds Fixed Rate Money Market” as promised, Wehrs allegedly deposited investor funds into one of two bank accounts he controlled in the name of his title company. Wehrs then wire transferred a large portion of these investor funds to a brokerage account in the name of his title company at Terra Nova Financial LLC located in Chicago, Illinois.
The Government also alleges that Wehrs then used the money he obtained to “day trade.” During the scheme, Wehrs is alleged to have conducted millions of dollars of stock trades per month. In addition to day trading, Wehrs allegedly used some of the investor funds to: pay “monthly interest” and “redemptions” to other investors; pay expenses of his other businesses, including Show-Me; make escrow payments for his title company; buy real estate and personal property; and pay other personal expenses.
The Government further alleges that when Wehrs had no money left in his personal bank accounts or day trading accounts to pay interest due to investors, he used $630,611 earmarked to pay lending institutions for mortgage payoffs from his escrow account at Maryland Title to pay investors, causing a loss of such amount to a title insurance company. He also allegedly used $100,000 from the Maryland Title escrow account that was earmarked as earnest money for the purchase of an individual’s home to pay interest to investors, causing a loss of $100,000 to the home buyer.
As a result of the scheme, Wehrs is alleged to have caused a total loss of $2,371,06 to investors and the title insurance company. The worst part for Wehrs is that it seems like he doesn’t have a ton of money to pay back to make this go away.
4 men charged with bilking school district of more than $2 million February 2, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: money laundering
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The Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office has charged four men after a more than year-long investigation, alleging they bilked the Bernards School District out of more than $2 million. Even though the money has since been repaid, the bad news for these four is “Somerset County”. Good luck.
Charged were Robert E. Titus Jr., 52, of Citadel Drive in Jackson; John Paris, 61, of Sherman Avenue in the Belford section of Middletown; Edward G. Beach, 52, of Woodfern Court in Toms River and Gabriel Caponetto, 50, of Milton Street in Howell. They face charges ranging from first-degree money laundering to second-degree conspiracy to theft by deception and forgery.
Aramark Corp. and school district officials jointly reported an alleged long-term theft by an employee of Aramark from the district. Aramark provides food, janitorial and facility management services to the school district. Titus, who began working for Aramark in 1992, became an on-site manager at the district’s Ridge High School in 1999, and was responsible for maintaining facilities and overseeing projects performed mostly by outside subcontractors. He was able to contractors without the school district having to obtain bids. In addition, one of those contractors, John Paris Construction, in turn hired other subcontractors to perform work without following a bidding process.
In July 2008 the district’s newly appointed business administrator began noticing inconsistencies between invoices Titus submitted for payment through Aramark and work performed in the district. When confronted by the schools superintendent, Titus admitted he had ‘doctored” an invoice, apologized, cleaned out his office and left the district. This will present another problem for everyone involved as he may be the first to flip.
This is the type of case where an attorney really needs to move on this case right away to quickly figure out which way the case may go, what a trial would look like, which charges will stand up, who will flip, etc.
New Jersey charged with theft, fraud after Craigslist car sale February 1, 2010
Posted by jefhenninger in News.Tags: theft by deception
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James Maltese, of Harmony Road, Middletown, New Jersey turned himself in at police headquarters on Friday after police began to look into a transaction he made with a Delaware couple who reported having trouble with a 1999 Dodge Durango moments after buying it for $2,995 on Craigslist.
Police say that the car was initially sold to someone else for $150. That person was told by a mechanic in Keyport that the head gasket was blown. Maltese somehow obtained possession of the car and then brokered the sale online. What really hurts Maltese is that he issued a fraudulent temporary license plate. He also never informed the buyers of the car’s mechanical problems but there is no indication that he knew about the problems.
He was charged with theft by deception, falsifying records and engaging in the business of a vehicle dealer without a license. The fake plate is the worst part of the case for him as otherwise, this is just a bad sale. The good news is that the dollar amount of the loss is low. A good attorney should be able to wrap this up pretty quickly for him unless he has a big record.
Story is here.
