Articles Posted in Theft Crimes

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As a result of a food stamp fraud program ran by three sheriffs in Butler county, Ohio, 15 employees of two meat distributing companies were indicted in September for charges of illegally trading food stamp benefits for cash and narcotics, while many more also potentially face penalties.

The 15 employees of US Beef Cincinnati LLC and Butcher Shop Food Distributors LLC face charges of wire fraud, food stamp benefits fraud, theft of U.S. government property, money laundering and possession with intent to distribute and actual distribution of controlled substances.

The owners of US Beef, 45-year old Scott Traum and 43-year old Joey Traum, pleaded guilty in federal court last week to charges arising from their involvement in food stamp fraud. Both will be sentenced April 12.

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The FBI has charged 5 men and 4 corporations with illegally exporting high-tech microelectronics to Iran, in violation of the International Emergency Powers Act. Three of the men, including one from Aliso Viejo, were taken into custody in Houston, Texas. Two other men are believed to be out of the country.

The Iran-based company Faratel and Smart Power Systems in Texas were allegedly building uninterruptible power supplies and shipping them off for use by the Iranian Ministry of Defense, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and the Iranian Centrifuge Technology Company. According to the FBI these electronics can be used in military equipment such as surface to air and cruise missiles. The indictment states the items would be shipped to a company in Taiwan, then on to a company in Turkey, which would then send them to Iran.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIn a scene likely to be reenacted in Grand Theft Auto, a Palm Springs man stole a police car from the Orange County Sheriff’s Academy where recruits were being trained. Two men were arrested in January after investigators found the squad car missing and several other police cars burglarized.

The vehicle was found abandoned in Garden Grove the next day. The alleged perpetrator and his cohort were found in possession of stolen police items and were booked on charges of burglary, vehicle theft, and possession of stolen property.

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An Albuquerque man is accused of breaking into a home and stealing $250,000 worth of jewelry from the home while the owners were on vacation. Police investigating the crime found an opened can of soda and an unflushed toilet where he allegedly relieved himself, but forgot to flush.

Investigators were reportedly able to use the DNA left on the toilet and the soda can to identify the man and arrest him for residential burglary and larceny. He is currently in custody and has pled not guilty to the charges.

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Sleeping in safetyA man with a criminal history of carrying an unregistered, loaded gun, and corporal injury to a spouse has been arrested again in Venice, CA. This time, the man is accused of breaking into a woman’s house.

When the man reportedly entered the woman’s house, she sought escape, crawling out a window onto the roof of her two story home. Fortunately, she brought a cell phone with her and hid under an eave, frantically calling 911.

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Mclaren_mp4-12c_goodwood_festival_of_speed_2010Two teens were arrested in Sonoma County on June 5 and now face charges for credit card fraud, receiving stolen property, identity theft and vehicle theft after the teens allegedly rented a $240,000 McLaren 12C using one or more stolen credit cards.

The 19-year old teens were somehow able to rent the McLaren, which is unusual because car rental agencies do not usually allow drivers under the age of 25 to rent high-end sports cars. They reportedly paid the $13,000 rental payment for the car and were able to get the keys before the agency realized the credit card was stolen.

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With tax day coming tomorrow, it’s tempting to make a few tweaks to reduce the amount of tax you owe to the federal government. But allow yourself to get carried away and you may find yourself in federal prison on tax evasion charges. The former city of Bell chief administrator was convicted of allegedly falsifying losses on his taxes, but that’s only half the story.

As the city administrator, he reportedly misappropriated taxpayer funds to pay himself a salary far in excess of what he should have received, and then claimed more than $770,000 in non-existent losses to the IRS to inflate his take-home pay up to $1.18 million per year.

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When a man applied for a job selling life insurance, his potential employer pointed out a blemish on his background check that indicated he had an outstanding tax lien. Without missing a beat, the man replied that it had been taken care of and he would send proof. Shortly thereafter, a faxed letter was sent to the company indicating that the tax lien’s “amounts in question have been satisfied completely.” It concluded with, “there are no outstanding fees or penalties due, and your record has been cleared of any restrictions or liens.” The letter was signed in the name of a US District Judge.

The company was suspicious and sent the letter to Alicemarie H. Stotler, the judge indicated on his letter. The judge reviewed the letter and saw her forged signature on it. Surprisingly, the judge knew the man, since she once sentenced him to prison for filing a false tax refund claim. She reported the crime and FBI agents who later confronted and arrested the man, who “was cooperative and made a full confession.”

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With the holidays approaching, more shoppers will come out in force to pick up a holiday gift for their loved ones. Understandably, retailers will be keeping a closer eye on their products to ensure that the shoppers don’t become shoplifters.

Shoppers can unwittingly become victims of the criminal justice system, even if they’re not shoplifters. High-end retailers have been under recent scrutiny for acts of discrimination against potential buyers, in one circumstance even telling a black woman that she would not be able to afford the item she was looking at, before the clerk realized she was Oprah Winfrey.

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A group of Yale researchers recently conducted a jury trial study. They formed a group of 471 “jurors” of various body sizes to read a case surrounding the crime of check fraud while viewing one of four possible images of the “defendant.” Each image depicted a lean female, a lean male, an obese female, and an obese male. The participants in the mock trial were asked to rate the culpability (or guilt) of the defendant on a 5-point scale.

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