From Jurist: Halliburton [corporate website] pleaded guilty [DOJ press release] in US federal court on Thursday to charges that it had destroyed evidence in connection with its role in the BP oil spill in 2010. The company admitted that it...
"Halliburton pleads guilty to tampering with BP oil spill evidence "
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Crash on Pearl Road in Boise County claims one
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer
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IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE
District 3 Patrol 700 S. Stratford Dr., Meridian 83642
(208) 846-7550
Fax (208) 846-7520
For Immediate Release: September 21, 2013 7:47 pm
Please direct questions to the District Office
On Saturday, September 21, at approximately 1:28 a.m., Idaho State Police investigated a single vehicle fatality crash at milepost 11 on Pearl Road, two miles west of State Highway 55, south of Horseshoe Bend.
Nicholas L. Garshelis, 33, of Meridian, ID, was driving a 2007 Ford F350 pickup north on State Highway 55, when he was observed traveling at a high rate of speed by a Boise County deputy. The deputy attempted to initiate a traffic stop. Garshelis failed to yield and a pursuit was initiated. Garshelis turned west onto Pearl Road and the pursuit was discontinued. Garshelis continued westbound on Pearl Road, failed to negotiate a curve, went off the left shoulder, and overturned.
Garshelis died at the scene. His passenger, Cayce M. Myers, 35, of Ada County, was seriously injured and transported by air ambulance to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. Garshelis and Myers were wearing seatbelts. Next of kin has been notified.
This crash is under investigation by Idaho State Police.
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Fatal Crash Thompson Falls, Shoshone County
IDAHO STATE POLICE NEWS RELEASE - generated by our News Release ListServer
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Idaho State Police
Regional Communication Center - North
615 W Wilbur Ave
Suite A
Coeur d Alene, Idaho 83815
Please direct questions to the appropriate District Offices
District 1 (208) 209-8620 Fax (208) 209-8618
District 2 (208) 799-5150
CASE # C12002007
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DATE: 09/21/2013 TIME: 1:47 pm LOCATION: Thompson Falls Pass, Shoshone County
ASSISTING AGENCIES: Shoshone County, Mineral County, MT
VEHICLE #1
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DRIVER: Patrick M Ryan AGE: 46
ADDRESS: Calgary AB
INJURIES: Fatal
HOSPITAL/LOCATION TAKEN: Shoshone County Funeral Home
VEHICLE: 2006 Kawasaki Motorcycle
WRECKER: Silver Auto
HELMET WORN: Unknown
INCIDENT NARRATIVE: Ryan was SB on Thompson Falls Road when he failed to negotiate a curve and went off the road. Ryan succumbed to his injuries on scene. The crash is still under investigation and next of kin has been notified.
DSP INITIALS BAM
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"Pasadena leads the way in reducing police role on campuses"
From the L.A. Times: A new agreement to limit the role of Pasadena police on school campuses marks a California milestone in the national movement to minimize student encounters with the criminal justice system, advocates say. As school districts in...
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Recent Case Win-Reduction Granted on Possession of Marijuana Case
214-402-4364 Writ Bond Hotline
bo@kalabuslaw.comwww.rosenthalwadas.comwww.kalabuslaw.com
Office: 972-562-7549
The client was arrested for allegedly having possession of marijuana. The State of Texas believed it had a relatively easy case to prove. My client was charged with a Class B misdemeanor, which is punishable up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
After working on the case to develop some of the issues that were helpful to his defense, I filed a motion to suppress the marijuana located during the search on the theory the officer's stop of my client's vehicle was unlawful, meaning that the officer stopped my client for no reason, or that he lacked probable cause to do so. I set the motion for hearing and as a result I was able to gain leverage in negotiations and prosecutor agreed to reduce the Class B charge to a Class C misdemeanor paraphernalia charge. This essentially reduced the offense to the equivalent of a traffic ticket, which is punishable by fine only--no threat of jail time. Moreover, the 6-month probation period is the non-reporting type of probation (basically just keep your nose clean during the probation period), which saves my client the fees associated with reporting probation. My client not only saved the money on fees, he also saved valuable time since he does not have to meet with a probation officer on a monthly basis. This reduction was a huge relief for my client and he was pleased with the result.
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Tonry on Crime Trends
Michael Tonry (University of Minnesota Law School) has posted Understanding Crime Trends in Italy and Elsewhere ('Organized Crime, Corruption, and Crime Prevention: Essays In Honor of Ernesto U. Savona', Stefano Caneppele and Francesco Calderoni, eds., Springer, 2013) on SSRN. Here...
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Respondent is the mother of the three subject children
Respondent is the mother of the three subject children. Prior to the commencement of this proceeding, all three children resided in Brooklyn with respondent and her husband. The eldest son was born in the Dominican Republic. Respondent moved to the...
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Family Court Act §372.2
A Queens Criminal Lawyer said that, respondent who was adjudicated to be a juvenile delinquent by order dated March 11, 2011, has moved for an order pursuant to Family Court Act §355.1 vacating the adjudication of juvenile delinquency and the...
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Can I be charged with DUI for taking my prescription drugs?
Yes. Under the "affected by" prong of DUI law in Washington State you can be charged with DUI if the prescription drugs you were taking affected your driving to an appreciable degree. I have had many cases like this over...
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Teacup Texans (and New Yorkers)
In Cohen v. California the U.S. Supreme Court said: The ability of government, consonant with the Constitution, to shut off discourse solely to protect others from hearing it is, in other words, dependent upon a showing that substantial privacy interests … Continue reading →
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Kevin Jacko, Jupiter, Florida Police Officer, Arrested for Aggravated Battery
Kevin Jacko, a Jupiter, Florida police officer, was arrested Thursday after he was accused of using excessive force while arresting 24-year-old Cody Blankenship in June, news sources report. Jacko, 43, was booked into police custody on charges of aggravated battery. He was later released on a $5,000 bail bond. The press did not say whether Jacko has hired an attorney.
According to reports, Jacko has been a police officer for more than two decades. During that time, he has worked at the Miami Gardens Police Department, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, the North Palm Beach Police, and the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, sources report; he began working with the Jupiter Police Department in November 2009. During his time as an officer, Jacko does not appear to have had any complaints filed against him. The department placed him on administrative leave without pay pending the outcome of his case.
Based on reports, the incident in question occurred on June 6 of this year. Officer Jacko and a fellow police officer were apparently sent to follow up on a report of trespassing. The pair found Blankenship in the vicinity and questioned him, sources say. When they asked Blankenship about what looked like a syringe that was shoved into the waist of his pants, Blankenship allegedly reached for the object, prompting Jacko to attempt to stop him. Blankenship then ran, sources say.
Jacko and the other officer purportedly pursued the suspect through several lawns and to a fence. Blankenship was nearly over the fence when Jacko reached him, sources indicate. When Jacko caught up with him, Blankenship allegedly "reared his right leg back and then forward, striking [Officer Jacko] with his right foot on the right side of [Jacko's] face."
Blankenship made it over the fence, but backup officers apprehended him at the corner of Hepburn Avenue and Center Street, reports say. Several officers, including Jacko, arrived to the scene to restrain Blankenship, who was on the ground. During the struggle, Jacko allegedly struck Blankenship in the face and side numerous times with a police baton, even while Blankenship was restrained and unable to move. Jacko later said he though Blankenship was going to use the needle hidden in his pants to attack the police officers who were restraining him, reports say. A police car's dash cam reportedly captured the beating.
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Philippe Archer, Miami Beach, Florida Police Detective, Accused of Excessive Force
Philippe Archer, a Miami Beach, Florida police detective, has been accused of using excessive force against arrestees Andrew Mossberg, Megan Adamescu, and Guy Moulin, news sources report. Archer is now being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's public corruption task force. It is too early to say whether Archer will face criminal charges for his supposedly inappropriate actions. So far, no defense attorney appears to have spoken on Archer's behalf.
Reports say Archer is a 21-year veteran with the Miami Beach Police Department. During that time, Archer has had a record of good service, sources say. The Miami Beach Mayor said that the allegations tarnish the police department's appearance, but added that such cases are in the minority, reports say. "I want my residents to feel that the police are doing a good job," the mayor reportedly said. "The police need to understand that this has to stop."
Not everyone blamed the officers, instead pointing a finger at the city's new and stricter policies for the recent influx in officer-related violence. "Many officers, like Archer in this case, have a stellar record for over 21 years... this new policy that the city attorney's office is obviously employing to try to settle these cases without really looking at the merits of this case, is causing their reputation[s] to be damaged," a Miami Beach Fraternal order of Police president reportedly said after the case broke to the public.
Guy Moulin was the first person to accuse Detective Archer of wrongdoing. Earlier this year, Moulin was vacationing in South Florida with his children, sources indicate. Detective Archer and other officers, all dressed in plain clothes and possibly working undercover, approached Moulin's kids and seized their necks, reports state. The officers apparently thought the children were violating some law at the time, though further details are not available.
Moulin witnessed seemingly ordinary people grabbing his kids and stepped in, sources say. "He went to intervene and then he got the beating of all beatings," Moulin's attorney reportedly said. Moulin and his attorney later filed a suit against the city of Miami Beach and were awarded a $60,000 settlement. It is not clear whether Moulin is pursuing action against Archer himself.
On June 26, Detective Archer assaulted two more people without just cause, Andrew Mossberg purportedly claims. The incident occurred at the South Bay Club condominium complex on West Avenue in Miami Beach, sources indicate. Megan Adamescu was reportedly drunk and causing a scene, and the concierge of the complex had called police. Archer, who was not wearing a uniform, had responded to the call was apparently searching for Megan Adamescu's ID in her purse at the time.
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Jason Robert Williams, James Paul Williams Jr., Phillip Brian Stinson, and Jose Ramon Quinones, South Florida Charity Managers, Arrested for Hiring Felons
Jason Robert Williams, James Paul Williams Jr., Phillip Brian Stinson, and Jose Ramon Quinones, all South Florida managers for the charity Police Protective Fund, were arrested Tuesday for allegedly hiring felons, news sources report. Facing third-degree felony charges of hiring felons to raise charity money are Williams, 33, of Holiday; Williams Jr., 60, of Tarpon Springs; Stinson, 31, of New Port Richey; and Quinones, 49, of Davie. It is unclear whether the defendants qualified for bail bond. It is similarly unclear whether the defendants had hired defense attorneys.
According to reports, the father-son Williams duo, along with Stinson and Quinones, worked for Police Protective Fund prior to their arrests. The organization's website states that, "for more than 20 years, Police Protective Fund has been a destination for people who wish to make a difference in the well-being of police officers and their families" by funding police programs for children, leadership seminars for officers, and grief support. The charity was placed on a list of America's worst charities recently for allegedly donating only $260,000 of the $35 million they raised between 2001 and 2010.
The Police Protective Fund has telemarking offices in Clear Water, Davie, New Port Richey, and Port Richey, sources say. The co-founders of the charity, David Dierks and Phil LeConte, have apparently remained mum regarding these recent arrests. The two co-founders have apparently founded several charities that are currently facing litigation in various states.
This is not the first time the Police Protective Fund has been cited for hiring felons. Florida officials went to one of the Port Richey telemarketing locations for an unspecified reason about three years ago. Several employees were found to have criminal records, including fraud, armed robbery, and theft charges, sources say. Williams Jr., the manager of the center, reportedly claimed the center could not pay for background checks. The officials issued a warning rather than charges in that case.
James Campanelli, who reportedly worked at a Port Richer Police Protective Fund telemarketing office for nearly a year, purportedly said that everyone knew about employee's criminal pasts. "It wasn't a hush-hush thing, but I thought it was weird they were getting people's credit card numbers," Campanelli reportedly told reporters. "It seemed like the people who did real well were the guys that did time. They learned how to be smooth." Campanelli left the office in July 2011, sources say.
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Clay County Criminal Defense Lawyer :: Jury Convicts Clay County Man in Child Sex Sting
After a four-hour long jury deliberation, a Clay County man was found guilty of arranging to meet a child for sex by an Alachua County jury on Sept. 13.
According to the 8th Circuit State Attorney's Office, the 33-year-old man was arrested last year as part of an undercover sting investigation.
The man will be sentenced on Oct. 28.
The man was arrested in February 2012 during a sting operation where the Alachua County Sheriff's Office posted an advertisement on Craigslist offering sex with a juvenile.
He was charged with soliciting a minor for unlawful sex using computer services or devices, improper use of computer services and traveling to meet a minor.
Internet solicitation charges between an adult and minor are viewed as a very serious offense throughout the state of Florida. The government has made it quite clear that an undercover detective posing as a juvenile online is not entrapment, and for every solicitation made, you could be slapped with a third-degree felony. This means that you could be facing five years in prison for every solicitation made. Additionally, Florida legislature has specific laws and punishments for adults who meet with minors after a solicitation has occurred. Any adult that travels to meet a minor for the purposes of engaging in sexual activity can be charged with a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years behind bars.
While Internet sex crimes are all fact specific, understand that any and all sex crime allegations are serious. One simple accusation can dramatically affect your reputation, relationships and possibly your freedom. If you have been accused of any type of sex crime in Orange Park, Green Cove Springs, Middleburg, Keystone Heights or the surrounding area, you need the help of a Clay county Criminal Defense Lawyer at Whittel & Melton who can protect your reputation and work to minimize the potential punishment. As trial attorneys, we are here to help you understand what to expect should you face a sex crime charge or conviction.
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"A Tie to Mental Illness in the Violence Behind Bars"
From the New York Times: AMARILLO — The most violent prisons in the Texas state system share a common factor: they house a high proportion of mentally ill inmates. . . . Advocates of overhauling criminal justice say the numbers...
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Utah Cases Which Have no Statute of Limitations
Utah authorities believe that a murder for which the trail had long since grown cold has now been solved, and the suspect can be tried since there is no statute of limitations on murder in Utah. The alleged murderer of a 17-year-old girl in 1995 is currently being held in a Florida prison, awaiting extradition [...]
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TD Bank To Pay $52.5 Million In Fines To Regulators Over Role In Rothstein Ponzi Scheme
A South Florida financial institution has agreed to pay over $50 million in fines to several federal agencies to settle charges that it played a role in Scott Rothstein's elaborate $1.4 billion Ponzi scheme. In separate announcements by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC"), TD Bank agreed to the imposition of $52.5 million in total fines based on its extensive role in Rothstein's scheme, including the Commission's characterization that it "told outright lies to [Rothstein] investors." Former exec Frank Spinosa was also named by the SEC, and has indicated he plans to fight the charges.
TD Bank was the primary banking institution used by Rothstein while he sold over $1 billion in purportedly-discounted pre-lawsuit settlements to investors for several years until October 2009. Potential investors were told that the settlements had already been deposited into a separate trust account in their name at TD Bank, and were provided so-called "lock letters" signed by Spinosa indicating that distribution of the funds was restricted only to the investor named in the lock letter. Spinosa also participated in at least one conference call with potential investors in which he supplied scripted answers to a series of Rothstein's questions. In total, Rothstein raised approximately $1.4 billion from investors.
According to the Commission, none of these representations concerning TD Bank were accurate. In reality, the "locked" accounts described by Rothstein typically contained less than $100, and there were no procedures employed by TD Bank locking or restricting the accounts in any way.
Additionally, the OCC alleged that numerous activities occurring in Rothstein's accounts should have triggered alerts in the bank's anti-money laundering system that warranted the filing of suspicious activity reports ("SAR's"). However, TD Bank either ignored or dismissed this activity, and no SAR's were ever filed that could have potentially prompted further scrutiny into Rothstein's activities.
While TD Bank agreed to settle with the OCC and the Commission, Spinosa indicated through his lawyer that he planned to fight the charges and maintained that he denied the Commission's allegations. These allegations included that Spinosa provided false "lock letters" to investors, provided false balances to investors, and made false representations regarding purported restrictions on investor bank accounts. The Commission is seeking the imposition of civil monetary penalties against Spinosa.
According to the OCC, TD Bank's exposure from the Rothstein Ponzi scheme has nearly eclipsed $600 million, including hundreds of millions of dollars in jury verdicts and settlements and a $73 million settlement with the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, Herbert Stettin.
A copy of the complaint against Spinosa is here.
A copy of the Commission's Cease and Desist Order is here.
A copy of the OCC's announcement is here.
Previous Ponzitracker coverage of the Rothstein Ponzi scheme is here.
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CA - Telling Your Story to the Media
Video Description:
Josh Gravens talks about how to successfully use the media to make the public understand the wide-spread harm done to registrants and the families of registrants as a result of the laws passed by states to isolate and punish registered sex offenders.
See Also:
All RSOL 2013 Conference Videos
© 2006-2013 | Sex Offender Issues (Facebook)
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit our blog for full links, videos, studies and more! ]]
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CA - O.C. city likely to drop Halloween law aimed at sex offenders
Original Article
Keep in mind that Halloween is the safest day of the year for children, from what we've read, and there hasn't been any (maybe one) cases of where a child was sexually harmed by a known or unknown sex offender, it's all hype and hysteria over emotions and nothing else.
09/21/2013
By Adolfo Flores
A lawsuit challenges a city of Orange law requiring sex offenders to post signs to discourage trick-or-treaters.
An Orange County city will probably toss out a law...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit our blog for full links, videos, studies and more! ]]
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WORCESTER MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO POSSESSING AND DISSEMINATING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY BY FEDERAL PROSECUTORS SAY HE WAS ABOUT TO DO EVEN WORSE
You won’t be seeing 40-year-old Geoffrey Portway of Worcester (hereinafter, the “Defendant”) around for awhile. A 27 years while.
The Defendant pleaded guilty in May to distribution and possession of child pornography as well as solicitation to commit a crime of violence. Pending his sentencing, federal prosecutors wrote in their sentencing recommendation that he “has pled guilty to some of the most vile and heinous crimes known to our society,"
Last Tuesday, he was sentenced to just under the 27-year, three-month sentence sought by prosecutors.
As much as we consider pedophilia a sickness and the collection of child pornography a criminal extension of such a sickness, the Defendant’s intentions are said to be much darker and much sicker. According to the prosecution, his current crime involving the pornography was not enough for him.
He wanted to go further.
The government says that he wanted to kidnap, rape, kill and eat children. In fact, he is said to have chatted online, under his moniker “Fat Longpig” with other men about such mutual desires.
Apparently, it was these chat sessions that put the Defendant on the radar screen of police. Last year, his residence in Worcester was searched for child pornography. Authorities say they found tens of thousands of computer images and videos of child pornography and 4,500 exchanges of child pornography between the Defendant and the people he chatted with online. That might be bad enough, as such exchanges means not mere possession but dissemination of the material.
But these were not all child pornography of the typical variety. They included pictures of children being cooked and prepared to be eaten, according to court documents. Searching further, authorities also found a locked basement, court documents show. Photos taken the day of the Defendant’s arrest, and released by prosecutors, show a narrow wooden staircase leading downstairs to a soundproof room.
The room was furnished with a metal cage with a circular hole for feeding, butchering tools, metal restraints, a rusted and worn steel-topped table, as well as multiple kinds of metal bondage equipment. A child-sized coffin made of plywood was also found on the floor nearby.
Prosecutors say that the Defendant’s computer shows that he solicited people for help for a kidnapping with the intent of raping, killing and eating a child. One of the chat transcripts is said to indicate that the Defendant had assembled everything he needed to carry out his plan… except for a child.
The prosecution argues that plans were in the works to solve that problem. The chat reads, "I want to eat ... the two boys you will bring me…Perhaps not today, but it will happen. That is all I live for. ... I am serious. It is the only thing that gets me up in the morning."
The Defendant’s attorney referred to the soundproof room in the basement as a "theater" rather than a dungeon, and said the Defendant used it as part of his "fantasy world."
"He walked in there and he would do his fantasies, and he would do it in the privacy of his own home," the lawyer argued. He further argued that his client, a computer programmer, never tried to put himself in a position where he would have contact with children and never "laid a hand on any minors."
"In [the Defendant’s] case, there's pornography, there's a fantasy world, there's no child," he said.
The prosecutor these claims saying that claiming it was only a fantasy and he has not done any of the violence yet is the only thing he can claim.
Maybe, but then again, that does not mean the argument is not accurate.
Attorney Sam’s Take On “Crimes” Of The Mind ?!?
This case has other interesting issues in it we could discuss sometime, but, clearly, the primary issue is summed up in the prosecutor’s words, "[The Defendant’s] collection is truly chilling and demonstrates a real risk based upon which the Court should sentence The Defendant to a substantial term of years in order to protect the public."
What do we know that we have here?
We seem to have both the possession and distribution of child pornography. Really, really bad child pornography. We also have steps taken which indicate to the prosecution that the Defendant was about to wreak some of the havoc that appears in the pictures he collected.
But, then, there is no evidence that he had actually tried to do any such wreaking yet. In fact, the Defendant claims it was all part of his fantasy…which could be consistent with the worst pictures, photos or whatever, and chats that were found.
As bad as dealing in child pornography is, does it really fit under the prosecutor’s description as the “most vile and heinous crimes known to our society”?
Or is that referring to something else? Something not charged and, not something for which the Defendant has been convicted?
In other words, actions that might or might not have ever taken place in the future but had not taken place yet.
One might argue that, at most, it is a crime of the mind.
It is not as simple as you might think!
Let’s continue this discussion tomorrow.
To read the original stories upon which this blog is based, please go to http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/12/justice/cannibal-eat-children-case/index.html and http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/feds-27-yr-sentence-child-porn-case-20275776
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