Arlington National Cemetery. Major events today and a link to local military facility events at Military.com https://www.military.com/memorial-day/memorial-day-events-and-discounts.html
I hope you have all had a wonderful Easter and that others of you are enjoying Passover with your loved ones. Besides being a talented writer, Leo is also a gifted photographer. Titled “She’s back” appears on his website https://leohohmann.com/2019/04/18/a-personal-note-from-the-author/#more-2969
My heart goes out to my good friend Leo Hohmann and his wife Marty who is facing breast cancer surgery in about two weeks time. Having undergone breast surgery and the follow-up chemo and radiation myself in 2013 and 2014, I know personally what they are going through.
However, their apprehension about the future is compounded by the fact that because of Leo’s brave investigative journalism, he has been excluded from certain employment opportunities that someone with his skill could expect and that has put a huge financial strain on the family.
Rather than explain their situation myself, please readLeo’s personal noteat LeoHohmann.comand consider making a contribution to help defray the medical costs that will surely be overwhelming if we don’t step in with whatever contribution we can make to help ease their burden. (Information on how to donate is on his page.)
Their life challenge is going to be hard enough as it is without the compounding financial devastation that seems likely just around the corner.
Thank you so much for considering my appeal! Ann
Editor:I’m reporting the news as it was reported by many media outlets yesterday, but I have to say my gut tells me there is something fishy going on here. My earlier posts are hereand here.
While the Egyptian national who was released (and was given his passport back) has an attorney, Santana Renee Adams desperately needs someone courageous to defend her.
Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan and attorney Michelle Protzman speak during a news conference Thursday, April 4, 2019, at the Barboursville Police Department in Barboursville, W.Va.
When Adams was arrested and charged yesterday, she had no attorney. Sources who spoke with Adams family report that there is a lot more to the story than the police and the media are saying. Hereis the Associated Press version of what happened,
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A woman who told police that an Egyptian man had tried to kidnap her daughter from a West Virginia shopping mall was jailed Friday after the accusation unraveled, a police detective said. Adams, mother of several small children, under arrest. No attorney present. https://www.wtap.com/content/news/Police-to-charge-woman-who-falsely-accused-Egyptian-man-of-abduction-in-WVa-mall-508166861.html
Barboursville Police Detective Greg Lucas said Santana Renee Adams was charged with falsely reporting an emergency incident, a misdemeanor that carries up to six months in jail and a $500 fine. The 24-year-old Adams turned herself in about 2 p.m. and was jailed after a magistrate judge set bail at $20,000, Lucas said. She was calm and quiet while she was booked and ignored questions from a throng of reporters waiting for her at the courthouse, he said. Lucas said she didn’t have an attorney yet.
The charge capped a sensational tale of a mother using a gun to thwart a brazen abduction attempt that quickly fell apart amid inconsistencies.
More here. For those of you wondering if this is all about the fact that she had a gun, I am told that there is no requirement in West Virginia to have a permit for a concealed weapon. WV is a Constitutional Carry state, see here.
Did she reveal her gun to the Egyptian man during the disputed incident?
The spokesman for the Barbourville Police Department says in this press conference (scroll down in story) that he didn’t know if she did, or did not, because there is no surveillance video of the interaction, he said!
So, if there is no video of the incident, and no witnesses, then this whole case revolves around her story versus his story, and who is more believable, right?
But, making matters more confusing for those of us smelling a rat, the police spokesman says in that same video that “there is still an uninvited touching of a child.” That is considered battery, he goes on to say.
He sounded so sure that the unwanted touching is not in dispute, so was he basing that only on what Adams said, or did Zayan confirm that as well? Zayan says he wants to be cleared so he can come back and forth to America!
I wonder because in another news account Zayan said this when charges were dropped against him,
Zayan, speaking to reporters, said he had never seen Adams and would not be able to point out her or her daughter if they were standing in front of him.
“I haven’t seen her. I don’t know her,” he said.
I assume he said all that in English, so if anyone finds that video of that press conference, let me know because this is what we were told when he was arraigned,
An interpreter was present for Zayan’s arraignment as he spoke Arabic and did not speak English.
Bottomline, with questions swirling in my mind, I’m losing some sleep over this story and I sure hope someone, preferably a good (brave) lawyer! jumps in to help unravel what happened at the mall that night.
But, perhaps even more importantly: Were there political machinations going on behind the scenes after the Egyptian consulate became involved?
Going forward, please don’t hesitate to send me information on this case and those involved. But, remember I can’t post hearsay! Send to: frauds.crooks.criminals@gmail.com
CNBC recently publisheda list of the Top Ten Scams that are perpetrated against seniors in the US.
Scams cheat older Americans out of almost $3 billion a year. Here’s what to watch for
Seniors lose an estimated $2.9 billion annually from financial exploitation, according to the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
Impersonating the IRS was the No. 1 scam targeting seniors in 2018.
More than 1,500 seniors across the country contacted the committee’s fraud hotline in 2018; however, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in recent testimony that only 1 in every 24 cases of elder exploitation gets reported.
“Despite that under-reporting, statistically one in every 10 Americans age 65 or older who lives at home will become a victim of abuse,” he wrote.
Here are the top 10 scams targeting seniors last year, according to the Senate aging committee’s 2019 Fraud Book:
For a description of each of the ten, go back to CNBC or the Fraud Book mentioned above.
Identity thieves not only drain bank accounts and charge credit cards, but they also defraud the government and taxpayers by using stolen personal information to submit fraudulent billings to Medicare and Medicaid.
The Senate aging committee recommends that victims place a fraud alert, report identity theft or file a police report if a scam is suspected.
Sit down with elderly relatives and explain the kinds of frauds that they might experience and then take time and report fraud or suspected fraud.
Almost a day doesn’t go by that I don’t get some call about “free” knee braces and such! How about you?
Ketan Shah was arrested recently at a casino in California after he skipped town with proceeds from a scam where he allegedly “sold” non-existent tickets to the Atlanta Super Bowl game.
Shah was described in news accounts as being a member of the board of the Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce which quickly dumped him from the board. See here.
Does it annoy you, it does me! to see that there are organizations like this one in America where they are working to promote their own ethnic group.
What happened to the idea of assimilation? Is America a hodgepodge of ethnic and racial groups each looking out for their own interests? I never see the ‘melting pot’ pushers try to discourage this practice for ‘new Americans.’
From the Gwinnett Daily Post,
Gwinnett businessman accused in $1 million Super Bowl ticket scam arrested in California casino
The Gwinnett County man accused of scamming people out of nearly $1 million in Super Bowl tickets has been arrested in California.
Police began looking for Ketan Shah days before the Super Bowl, after several people, including his own mother, claimed the Lawrenceville man went missing after taking thousands of dollars. From Shah’s LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ketanvip At least six people had reported to Gwinnett Police that Shah had offered to sell them Super Bowl tickets. One of the victims also reported he paid $500,000 for his entertainment company to host a large Super Bowl event at “an arena.”
The setup, incident reports show, was the same for almost all of the victims: Shah, a well-connected businessman in Gwinnett who was a board member of the Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, would provide the victims with their requested number of tickets after they sent Shah their money.
But that never happened, said Cpl. Wilbert Rundles, a spokesman for the Gwinnett County Police Department.
It was discovered that Shah was reported as a missing person in December. He returned home and was removed from the system, police said. It was discovered that he had gone to Las Vegas, Nevada, on what was described as a mid-life crisis. He left again a couple days later and his family had not seen him since.
More here.
Heck, this is such a strange fraud scheme, I’m going to leave it uncategorized!
By the way, as I build an archive of stories here, use the categories found in the right hand sidebar at Frauds and Crooksfor further reference.
Tags at the end of each post include states (if applicable) so eventually you will be able to see how your state is doing in the frauds, crooks and criminals department!
