Articles Posted in Theft Crimes

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A federal investigation of a company in Irvine that offers financial and insurance services has led to charges for three executives of the firm who have allegedly been found to have stolen investments totaling over $4 million from several elderly clients.

50-year-old Mehmet Fatih Biyikoglu is the CEO and founder of Five Star Financial Services, LLC, a financial management and insurance firm in Orange County. 58-year-old Anna Marie Holt serves as the company’s president and chief operating officer, and Ida Shaghoian, 38, was a sales agent who was also once married to Biyikoglu.

The company practices have been under investigation that has led to accusations against Biyikoglu, Holt, and Shaghoian purporting that between 2014 and 2015 they recruited clients, typically elderly people, and assured them that if they invested into certificates of deposit they would earn significant returns. Instead of taking the clients’ money and putting it into a JP Morgan Chase Bank CD account as promised, the suspects have been accused of taking over $4 million in investments and using the cash for personal items such as real estate, jewelry, and expensive automobiles.

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An elementary school special education teacher has been accused of stealing iPads that belong to the school district and reselling them for profit. Her boyfriend is also a suspect in the purported activity.

42-year-old Amanda Mirkovich has been employed with the Clark County School District in Las Vegas since 2013. For the past three years, she has been on an assignment as a special needs teacher at Tate Elementary School.

During the course of an investigation, authorities were sorting through the transaction records from the local pawn shops on April 3 when they discovered three iPads that raised their suspicions. Upon further inspection, they learned that the electronics had black stickers placed on the underside that seemed unusual. When the stickers were removed an engraving saying “Property of the Clark County School District” was revealed beneath the concealing label.

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After work on the evening of April 17, a woman entered her home to find a stranger bathing in her tub and eating cheese curls.

29-year-old Evelyn Elaine Washington of Monroe, Louisiana, reportedly entered a home without permission and shed her clothing before drawing herself a bath and climbing in. She also allegedly helped herself to a plate of food that belonged to the person residing in the home.

Around 5:00 p.m. the occupant returned home from work and stumbled upon Washington in the tub in the nude. The woman reportedly witnessed Washington consuming Cheetos while soaking in the water, with a plate of food resting on the toilet in reach of the bath.

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Photo Courtesy of Fort Smith Museum of History

A man was taken into custody on Thursday as the suspected perpetrator of the theft of a tie pin reported missing from a display at a history museum in Arkansas in March.

Judge Isaac Parker sat on the bench of the U.S. Court for the Western District for 21 years, beginning in 1875 and ending in 1896. He became historically known as “The Hanging Judge” for the large number of death sentences handed out to offenders tried in his court. Parker was said to have worn a golden lizard-shaped pin while sitting on the bench.

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A New York Judge has been accused of burglary after he was reportedly caught in the act of illegally entering the home of a woman who previously worked as an intern for him in order to steal the panties from her laundry.

Suffolk County Republican District Court Judge Robert Cicale formerly worked as a town attorney, and during that time he hired a 23-year-old woman who provided him with intern services. Cicale and his ex-intern are both neighbors and residents of Long Island.

On April 29 the woman arrived at her home and allegedly heard a strange noise. The woman was alone and she went to investigate the sound when she noticed a man running away from her residence. She made a phone call to her mother to tell her what had happened and a call was placed to 911 to report the incident.

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A man who believes he is Jesus Christ called 911 on Wednesday morning to report that he had illegally entered a local Pizza Hut because he was hungry after returning to earth from heaven.

46-year-old Richard Lee Quintero arrived at the High Point, North Carolina, location of Pizza Hut in the pre-dawn hours on Wednesday morning. Quintero, who regards himself as Jesus Christ, allegedly shattered a door window to get into the restaurant and sat down to enjoy a pizza and Mountain Dew.

Afterward, Quintero placed a call to 911 to let them know that he was back on earth and wanted to tell them what he had done.

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A housekeeper in Tennessee has been charged with theft for accusations that she has stolen items from two of the homes that she was hired to clean.

36-year-old Cynthia Ward is the proprietor of the Chapmansboro based cleaning service Cynthia’s Housekeeping.

In December 2017 Ward cleaned the condominium of a client who returned home to find an Ipad, some gift cards, cash, a designer label planner, and a camera missing from their residence. The owner notified the authorities and reported the $4,400 worth of absent possessions, many of which were baby shower gifts she had received.

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Two Florida men are facing charges on suspicion that they broke into the home of a man with whom they had both reportedly had a previous intimate relationship and tried to hide evidence of the event by attempting to cause a fire using Ragu sauce.

A DeLand, Florida, man with a home protected by security cameras received a telephone notification near 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday telling him that his surveillance equipment detected movement inside of his dwelling. A towel had been placed over the lens of one of the cameras which further alarmed him that foul play might be taking place. The man notified the authorities, and Volusia County police dispatched to the location to investigate his report.

As deputies pulled up to the home they allegedly spotted a red SUV driving away from the site. The men inside the vehicle were pulled over before they were able to leave the area, and police found John Silva, 28, driving with a passenger identified as Derrick Irving, 36. Irving was reportedly clothed in a bull costume.

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On Sunday, when a woman in her apartment was the alleged victim of an intruder who was not wearing pants, she reportedly used a baseball bat in an attempt to protect herself from possible harm.

When Simone Parker came out of the bathroom in her apartment after hearing a strange noise she was allegedly confronted by 29-year-old Timothy Valdez in the act of burglarizing her residence. Valdez was said to have been in possession of a knife and nude from the waist down.

Valdez allegedly made the knife visible to Parker and ordered her to provide him with clothing and give him her cash. Parker retrieved a shirt and threw it at Valdez trying to use the distraction to run past him so she could get out of the apartment. Valdez allegedly prevented her attempt and the pair began to get physically aggressive with each other.

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An ex-insurance agent from San Clemente has been accused of using fraudulent practices to profit off of investments he made for at least six elderly clients in Southern California.

55-year-old Mark Malatesta, a man employed as a licensed insurance agent, was taken into custody on Monday after the California Department of Insurance detectives found what they believe is supporting evidence that he was taking part in a monetary ruse which cost his former clients over $1.6 million. The alleged victims were reported as senior citizens, who are said to be a target demographic of an increasing number of deceptions designed to cheat them out of their money, as reported by Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones.

Malatesta has been accused of a procedure called “churning,” wherein a broker who typically has permission to make independent determinations on how to invest money from the client’s account performs transactions “chiefly to generate commissions that benefit the broker,” as described by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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