U.P. Breaking News Exclusive: Like a perfect mirror to the U.P. Drug Epidemic – Federal meth crackdown leads to charges of dealing methamphetamines and attempting to manufacture it near a school in Baraga County and more – and one suspect was still on probation on state meth charges; The busts are great for public health but – The U.P. will not be able to arrest itself out of this epidemic of big city meth, heroin, crack, Seboxone, prescription medication and more – plus crisis with full jails and prisons – much needed is state and federal funding for a wide range of things including prevention, reaching out to addicts, and a desperate need for substance abuse treatment beds

39 year-old Matthew Gordon Lundy

24-year-old Jordan Michael Koskinen

By Greg Peterson
News Director, Owner
Upper Peninsula Breaking News

** Efforting suspect photos
906-273-2433

(Baraga, MI) – A crystal meth probe in Baraga County has led to two men to be indicted by a federal grand jury in Marquette last week on numerous felonies including attempting to make the highly addictive drug near a secondary school and scamming to get ephedrine – a key ingredient in the toxic mix of chemicals  – and they were arraigned on Friday.

24-year-old Jordan Michael Koskinen

39-year-old Matthew Gordon Lundy

Both men are believed to have lived in Baraga area prior to their arrests where they are accused of allegedly getting people hooked on meth – or at least supply current addicts.
Named in the indictment are 24-year-old Jordan Michael Koskinen and 39 year-old Matthew Gordon Lundy.

Lundy and Koskinen pleaded not guilty during their first appearance/arraignment this past Friday, August 19, 2016 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy P. Greeley who ordered both defendants held without bond.

The five-count federal indictment alleges all the crimes charged happened on or about June 29, 2016 in Baraga County. Lundy was sentenced on state meth charges last year, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) website.

Federal judges who preside in Marquette have called the meth epidemic a public health crisis that is strangling people of all ages – but many are addicted young. The judges have been shocked at how much the big city drug crisis has come home – and its been very evident over the past 5 to 10 years. Its not only meth.

 

Woman smokes marijuana pipe http://www.psypost.org Photo credit: Jonathan Piccolo (Creative Commons)

U.S. Distirct Court and Post Office in Marquette, MI June 22, 2016 by Greg Peterson. Reminder, Anyone can use my photo under Creative Commons

 

In epidemic proportions, U.P. law enforcement are witnessing a generation of young people hooked on prescription pills like pain medication and the downers like benzos (often stolen from the people they love and know). In absolute crisis proportions – the  U.P. has witnessed the big time return of heroin and even crack. The drug crisis is going to take a lot of money because of the costs of removing the volatile substances and much more.

The U.P. has also witnessed a rise in abuse of Seboxone –  a drug specially designed to help addicts not be so sick during withdrawal. But ways were found around that. It has gotten so bad that the state or federal government needs to help including with quality treatment facilities because the U.P. can not arrest itself out of this crisis. Plus the jails and prisons are over-populated.

Apparently Lundy pleaded either no contest or guilty on July 7, 2015 to a state of Michigan charge of attempted delivery/manufacture of methamphetamine that happened in May 2014 in Baraga County.
The maximum sentence was two years in prison, however was released on two years probation through July 2017 – instead of given prison time, according to the MDOC website.

Federal prosecutors allege in count 1 that the two suspects “knowingly and intentionally combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed with each other and with others, known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance.”

In count two, the two men are charged with attempting to “manufacture methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance, within 1,000 feet of a secondary school.”

In count three, the federal indictment charges both men with “knowingly and intentionally possessed equipment, chemicals, products and materials which may be used to manufacture a controlled substance, knowing, intending, and having reasonable cause to believe that such equipment, chemicals, products and materials would be used to manufacture methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance.”

In the final two counts, federal prosecutors alleged the same crime but separately for each man alleging they both procured pseudoephedrine, a vital ingredient in methamphetamine.

In count four, only Lundy is charged with “knowingly and intentionally possessed and distributed pseudoephedrine, a List I Chemical (pseudoephedrine), and aided, abetted, counseled, commanded and induced such possession and distribution, knowing and having reasonable cause to believe that such pseudoephedrine would be used to manufacture methamphetamine, a Schedule II
controlled substance.”

Koskinen was the only one of the two named in count five on a charge of selling, distributing, or dispensing involving a vital ingredient in methamphetamine with the indictment stating he had “reasonable cause to believe that such pseudoephedrine would be used to manufacture methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance.”

Photo of Judge R. Allan Edgar by David Laprad, Hamilton County Herald

Lundy and Koskinen were indicted on on Tuesday and arrested Thursday (August 18, 2016) by U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Agent Sarah Hill in Baraga, MI.
Hill is a member of the Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team and specializes in Native American reservation drug trafficking. The prosecutor in the case is Asst.U.S. Attorney Hannah Bobee.

The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is working with several other state and federal agencies to crack down on large scale drug dealing and related activities on Upper Peninsula Native American Reservations with two major cases underway involving pot and meth in the western and central U.P.
Both were indicted on similar charges. Both will be getting in-patient substance abuse treatment.

Both were indicted on three of the same charges including conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and the attempted manufacturing of methamphetamine; plus selling, distributing, dispensing of meth by the “possession and distribution of a list I chemical with knowledge that it would be used to manufacture methamphetamine.”
Both suspects were ordered to remain in custody at the Marquette County Jail in Marquette, MI.
Lundy may be undergoing addiction treatment.

In an effort to ask the judge to reconsidering no bond order, both are scheduled for a detention hearings before Magistrate Judge Timothy P. Greeley.
Federal prosecutors requested no bond on Friday because both suspects face over 10 years in prison if convicted.
Both were indicted on August 16, 2016 by a a federal grand jury sitting in Marquette, MI

Federal Indictment Returned by Federal Grand Jury sitting in Marquette, MI

Matthew Gordon Lundy was charge with counts 1 thru 4:

Count 1
June 29, 2016 Baraga County
Conspiracy to manufacture controlled substance; conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine
Federal prosecutors allege on June 29, 2016 in Baraga County the two suspects “knowingly and intentionally combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed with each other and with others, known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance.”

Count 2
Controlled substance – manufacture; attempted manufacturing of methamphetamine
In count two, the two men are charged with attempting to “manufacture methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance, within 1,000 feet of a secondary school.”

Count 3
Unlawful acts – controlled substance – distribution; possession of equipment, chemicals, products and materials with intent to manufacture methamphetamine
In count three, the federal indictment charges both men with “knowingly and intentionally possessed equipment, chemicals, products and materials which may be used to manufacture a controlled substance, knowing, intending, and having reasonable cause to believe that such equipment, chemicals, products and materials would be used to manufacture methamphetamine, a
Schedule II controlled substance.”

Count 4
Possession and Distribution of a List I Chemical with Knowledge that It Would Be Used to Manufacture Methamphetamine
Controlled substance – sell, distribute, or dispense; possession and distribution of a list I chemical with knowledge that it would be used to manufacture methamphetamine

——-

Jordan Michael Koskinen was named in counts 1, 2, 4, 5
Filed: 08/16/2016

Count 1
Conspiracy to manufacture controlled substance; conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine

Count 2
Controlled substance – manufacture; attempted manufacturing of methamphetamine

Count 4
Controlled substance – sell, distribute, or dispense; possession and distribution of a list I chemical with knowledge that it would be used to manufacture methamphetamine

Count 5
Possession and Distribution of a List I Chemical with Knowledge that It Would Be Used to Manufacture Methamphetamine
Koskinen is the only suspect charged in count 5 that alleges he “knowingly and intentionally possessed and distributed pseudoephedrine, a List I Chemical, knowing and having reasonable cause to believe that such pseudoephedrine would be used to manufacture methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance

—

Laws cited in counts 1 thru 5:

Citation: 21:846=CM.F
Offense Level: 4
21:846, 21:841(a)(1), 21:841(b)(1)(C)

Count: 2
Citation: 21:841A=CM.F
Offense Level: 4
21:841(a)(1), 21:846, 21:841(b)(1)(C), 21:860(a), 18:2(a)

Count: 3
Citation: 21:843A=CD.F
Offense Level: 4
21:843(a)(6), 21:843(d)(2), 18:2(a)

Count: 5 Citation: 21:841A=CD.F
Offense Level: 4
21:841(c)(2), 21:802(33) and (34)(K), 21 C.F.R. 1310.02(a)(11)

—

Related info and links:

Federal Prosecutor:

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah N. Bobee

(906) 226-2500 (wk)

906-226-3700 (fax)

hannah.bobee at usdoj.gov

The defense attorneys for the suspects are basically court-appointed federal public defenders

Elizabeth A. LaCosse (FPD)

Defense attorney Matthew Gordon Lundy

(906) 226-3050 (wk)

(906) 273-0070 (fax)

beth_lacosse at fd.org

—

Sarah Emily Henderson

Defense Attorney for Jordan Michael Koskinen

(906) 228-2855 (wk)

(906) 228-2863 (fax)

shenderson at casselmanandhenderson.com

——-

U.S. Parole Officer (USPO) Sheila Osborn

——-

Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team (UPSET)

P.O. Box 86

Marquette, MI 49855

(Donations can be sent to the above address)

(906) 228-1002

(906) 228-0756 (fax)

www.facebook.com/upsetdrugs

http://upsetdrugs.com

—

U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)

http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/BIA

http://www.bia.gov

http://www.bia.gov/cs/groups/xois/documents/document/idc1-028053.pdf

http://www.bia.gov/WhoWeAre/RegionalOffices/Midwest/WeAre/Michigan/index.htm

U.S. BIA Agent Sarah Hill

U.S Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF)

ATF Special Agent Aaron Voogd

www.ATF.gov

https://upperpeninsulabreakingnews.wordpress.com/tag/u-s-atf/

—

U.S. Magistrate Timothy P. Greeley

P.O. Box 698

Marquette MI 49855

(906) 226-3854 (office)

(906) 226-3854 (Case manager)

http://www.miwd.uscourts.gov/content/magistrate-judge-timothy-p-greeley

https://www.nmu.edu/criminaljustice/faculty-staff-greeley

https://www.nmu.edu/criminaljustice/here-comes-judge

https://upperpeninsulabreakingnews.wordpress.com/category/u-s-magistrate-judge-timothy-p-greeley

Baraga County Sheriff’s Department

http://www.baragacounty.org/government/county-sheriff/

Baraga County Sheriff’s Department

940 US Highway 41

L’Anse, MI 49946

Phone: (906) 524-6100 Ext. 695

Email: johnsonr at baragacounty.org

OPEN 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS)

Sheriff’s Office and Correctional Facility

Sheriff Rick Johnson

Undersheriff Jim Gabe

Deputies

Joe Brogan – Chief Deputy

Fabian Kristo

Joe Brogan

Chad Soli

Correction Officers

Shelley Lloyd

Ryan Treadeau

John Gransell

Bruce Tangen

Tyler Harkonen

Kim Mills

Nancy Kent

Part-Time

Daune Smith – Homeland Security Director

Alison King – Animal Control Deputy

Pat Chamberlain – Correction Officer

39-year-old Matthew Gordon Lundy

24-year-old Jordan Michael Koskinen

Editorial: Pure Michigan Campaign not only a lie but also sick joke – U.P. BREAKING NEWS DEMANDS that RICO charges be filed against Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, and several administration lackeys plus members of the Michigan Natural Resources Commission for the ongoing rape of the environment, blatantly lying to public about wolf hunt, destroying northern Michigan deer herd in many ways, and doing unspeakable crimes against children

U.P. Breaking News Editorial:

Pure Michigan Campaign Tour of U.P. is Final Straw – as Media lays down likes pigs on teat – throw this gov guy and his co-conspirators in prison on federal RICO charges

Federal RICO is only way to handle unrepentant Snyder – crimes fit the Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)

Hath Michigan Governor Rick Snyder No Shame?

Hath The U.P. Media No Shame?

 

Have you noticed the U.P. media feeding at the teat of Gov. Snyder’s Pure Michigan Campaign PR tour of the U.P. – with no critical thinking

Complete with his supposed floating town hall – to his poor attempt to look like a Yooper by taking kayak ride – this Creepy Governor Hath No Shame While He Oversaw Environmental Murder Organization and lying to Public

By Greg Peterson

News Director, Owner

Upper Peninsula Breaking News

PURE MICHIGAN campaign is not only false but a disgusting joke by Snyder Administration, its strong-arming lackeys within DNR that impose their will on biologists, and other insiders like the Michigan Resources Commission, administration should be rounded up on federal RICO charges.

Worst environmental Governor in Michigan History – while trying to look like a sportsman – a haggard-looking Snyder has been touring the U.P. touting the absurd “Pure Michigan” Campaign.

Wake up folks – wether you are Democrat or Republican – you should not be happy about the rape of the Michigan’s environment – then a disgusting coverup campaign named Pure Michigan

The Snyder Administration created an ongoing criminal enterprise and organization by:
Creating an environment within the MI-DNR that helped the creation and coverup of a statewide water crisis – like the entire generation of low income kids who were poisoned in Flint and in many cities – and lying to the public, betraying the wildlife, covering up with a fictitious Pure Michigan campaign.

The environmental gang rape of Michigan by lawmakers cannot even come close to any good things that have happened – many in a panicked response to their criminal enterprise becoming public. By the way – I have walked the walk with the Michigan environment – please go to Linked In and see what projects I have been directly involved in like helping pollinators.

The Upper Peninsula wildlife have no bigger enemy than the dastardly and CRIMINAL Administration of Republican Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (2011-not soon enuf).

There were also environmental crimes of the Democratic Administration of Jennifer M. Granholm (2003-2010).

While working for Indian Country Today, I submitted questions that Granholm refused to answer in reference to state mining corruption, and state materials and more being used to support the rape of Indian Treaties and the joke of a mine – a terrible tradeoff – the Acid Mine hidden in north Marquette County. Never has a mine been sold so quick as it was starting production – and only a handful of temporary jobs.

Meanwhile mining conglomerates suck away billions in precious metals – and if history is any example – leave a criminal environmental mess behind.

Also we praised CCI for long-term jobs until – in our opinion – CCI’s recent manipulations of the housing and land market and the closure of the Empire Mine – CCI made off big time.

We challenge the Snyder Administration, all of its DNR and NRC lackeys – to argue they did not blatantly lie to the public about the Michigan Wolf Hunt.

***A reminder to federal prosecutors – sorta like they got Capone on tax charges – the Governor, the NRC and others actually joked about the dwindling northern Michigan Deer Herd as they formed the public lie about opening up a wolf season.

Remember taxpayers spent millions of dollars per wolf – and with lawmakers spreading fear about wolves – they denied the real reason was the near destruction of the U.P. Deer Herd in past 8 years.

If you would like me to list all the pollution that plagues the state it would like take hours – and whether Yoopers admit it – they know we have screwed the pooch on the Michigan environment. No one should deer hunt in the U.P. (or the wasting disease) northern Lower Peninsula for at least a decade. Period. Unless you need meat.

But to list a handful that each have big time impacts – treaty violations, wolf hunt lie, U.P. And northern LP deer herd destruction in several ways, cozy deals, corruption in the Marquette County Road Commission disguised with pitiful record-keeping, you can’t eat but a few Lake Trout from polluted Lake Superior.

To see other Unpure Michigan – things visit the websites:

http://www.notsopuremichigan.com/

http://www.michigan.gov/emergingdiseases/0,1607,7-186-25806—,00.html

http://www.politicususa.com/tag/rick-snyder

http://wonkette.com/599112/looks-like-pretty-much-everyone-tried-to-warn-rick-snyder-about-flints-water

http://www.uptravel.com/events-6/

http://www.michigan.gov/formergovernors/0,4584,7-212–54132–,00.html

The KingPin in Criminal Sick Joke – Pure Michigan

http://www.michigan.org

https://www.pinterest.com/puremichigan/

What happens when a convicted felon brags about an AK-47 – This! Bust includes 1,600 rounds of AK-47 ammo and discovery gun had been hidden in Florence County, WI barn and originated in Romania making its way to Vermont, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Click to read Dickinson County AK-47 Federal Criminal Complaint 7-14-16 (2)

Click to read Dickinson County AK-47 Federal Criminal Complaint 7-14-16 (1)

Conn forgot he was a con – bragged about – and produced a fully loaded AK-47 with over 1,600 rounds of ammo

By Greg Peterson

News Director, Owner

Upper Peninsula Breaking News

(Marquette, MI) – Officials say a Kingsford man bragged to friends in Iron Mountain that he had a fully loaded AK-47 and a pile of ammo – but they knew he had a lengthy felony record.

Conn then brought the assault to those friends – he hid it for years in a barn. If that weren’t enough the convicted con Conn drew attention to himself by wrecking his vehicle – fleeing – and inside were over a case and a half of AK-47 ammo. Then he got caught telling a lie about the gun’s origin.

Ever heard of the term “your goose is cooked?”

The gun has a collapsible stock, a laser site and a 45-round magazine.

69-year-old Rodney Vernon Conn is a recent native of Florence, WI – but has a last “known address” of Balsam St. in Kingsford, MI, according to documents obtain by U.P. Breaking News.

A”multi-convicted felon,” Conn was arrested on July 15 by ATF agent Jim Petschke in Iron Mountain.

Conn is accused in a federal criminal complaint Conn is charged with unlawful interstate transport of firearm by a convicted felon.

According to the federal complaint:

On March 6, 2016 the Iron Mountain Police Department responded to a call from Shawn Bleicher that about 5 days earlier during a conversation with Conn the convicted con revealed “owning an AK-47 rifle that he had made some modifications to” and then fetched the weapon back to Bleicher’s home. Conn offered to allow Bleicher to check out the assault rifle – and Bleicher secured the AK-47 in his gun locker.

Bleicher said his wife believed that Conn was a convicted felon. Bleicher her refused to give the gun back to Conn and called police. Iron Mountain Police Officer Jeff Solka confiscated the weapon along with 40 rounds of ammunition.

ATF took possession of the weapon – a Romarm/Cugir, Model GP WASR 10/63 7.63x39mm rifle Serial Number 1973ET2731 .

The AK-47 tested fired as it was supposed to at the Michigan State Police Crime Lab.

Meanwhile as the federal probe continued, on May 22 Kingsford Department of Public Safety officers found Conn’s vehicle in a ditch. Conn was arrested and his vehicle “towed, impounded and searched.”

Cops say they found an additional 16 boxes of AK-47 ammo the same as was turned over by Bleicher. The ammo usually is sold with 100 rounds per box and 10 boxes per case – so over a case and a half of ammo

Conn, who is being held without bond, allegedly committed the crime in Dickinson County. Conn “admitted” to the ATF he had the AK-47 hidden in his Florence County, WI barn for 10 to 15 years and could not have fun shooting it but did not want to throw away a gun that is valuable.

Conn told the ATF he couldn’t “take it out and shoot it” but wasn’t going to “throw it away.”

Conn claimed he built the gun after purchasing at a Florida gun show – but an ATF records check showed Conn “falsely stated the origin of the gun.”

Conn had made the claim on May 23 during an interview with Iron Mountain Police Department Det. Lt. Michael Mooney – and interview that started with Conn being advised of his Miranda Rights. Conn told Det. Mooney that he purchased the “tactical parts” from a store in Green Bay, WI as the gun has the a collapsible stock, laser site and a 45-round mag.

But – an ATF records check revealed Conn was trying to perpetrate a con – lying about the gun’s history. On April 25, 2015, the gun was purchased by Andrew Sellinger of Rubicon, WI from a “Federal Firearms Licensee” Trip Wire in Delavan, WI.

In early July ATF Special Agent Aaron Voogd determined the gun was made in Romania and imported into the U.S. through Vermont.

The judge appointed a federal defense attorney for Conn, Federal Asst. Public Defender Elizabeth ‘Beth’ LaCosse. He first pleaded not guilty to state charges of possessing an AK-47.

LaCosse is the defense attorney in most federal court cases in the northern division involving defendants with the inability to pay for their own defense.

Conn has a long criminal history in several states and has been labeled a “habitual offender” – and that can make shorter sentences turn into life in prison – especially considering his age. A background check shows he was arrested again in 2015 in Florence County, WI.

Past convictions include a felon in possession of a firearm during 2013 in Florence County, WI and was convicted in 1994 of being an armed burglar and aggravated assault among other charges in Broward County, FL

——-

Laws cited:

18:922G.F

18:922(g)(1)

——-

Federal Asst. Public Defender Elizabeth ‘Beth’ LaCosse

(906) 226-3050

(906) 273-0070 (fax)

beth_lacosse@fd.org

——-

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maarten Vermaat

(906) 226-2500

Maarten.Vermaat@usdoj.gov

——-

Iron Mountain Police Department

http://www.cityofironmountain.com/index.aspx?nid=150

Director of Police and Fire Services Ed Mattson

Deputy Director of Police Services  Michael Mooney

Iron Mountain Police Officer Jeff Solka

111 E. Fleshiem Street

Iron Mountain, MI 49801

 

EMERGENCY  911

Non-emergency:

(906) 774-1234

(906) 774-4143 fax

City Hall Closures

——-

ATF agent Jim Petschke

ATF Special Agent Aaron Voogd

 

 

 

Feds in Michigan bust another U.S. Postal Service employee on theft charge for allegedly ripping off money from gift cards: The other two – now ex-postal employees – are in plea negotiations with federal prosecutors

Federal prosecutors keep watch on your mail when those hired to do it fail

By Greg Peterson
News Director, Owner
Upper Peninsula Breaking News
906-273-2433

 (Benton Harbor, MI) – For the third time in six weeks, a Michigan postal employee has been arrested on federal theft charges and the two others are involved in plea negotiations.

Harry L. Smith is charged with “unauthorized opening of mail by a U.S. Postal employee” for allegedly stealing money from greeting cards during June 2015 in Berrien County.

Meanwhile both of the other – now former postal employees – are involved in plea negotiations with federal prosecutors.

A Class A misdemeanor information accuses Smith of opening “approximately 32 greeting card-type envelopes” and gift cards stealing approximately $227 from the gift cards.

No court dates have been set.

The case is assigned to federal Judge Robert Holmes Bell.

The case was filed on Monday, July 11, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan Southern Division by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. McDonald. More information on Smith or his job is not immediately available.

Meanwhile updates this morning on the two other recent Michigan postal employee cases resulting in federal charges near Ypsilanti, MI.

Two Michigan Postal workers – including a small town postmaster accused in a kiting scheme – are charged with stealing and embezzling the mail and money orders while working about 30 miles apart.

Both suspects – Darci M. Webb and Joann Rice – are involved in plea negotiations including possible pre-trial diversion.

“The parties are actively engaged in plea negotiations” and “that the ends of justice served by continuing the preliminary examination and complaint outweigh the best interests of the public and defendant in a speedy trial,” according to similar federal documents signed by the prosecution and defense in both cases. Federal defense attorneys for both have signed an “ends of justice” document with federal prosecutor Matthew A. Roth.

Webb and Rice are “candidate(s) for the (U.S.) Pretrial Diversion Program,” according to the federal documents both titled “stipulation to continue preliminary examination and complaint.”

Both ends of justice documents were filed in late June 2016 signed by Assistant United States Attorney Matthew A. Roth and Deputy Federal Defender Stacey M. Studnicki representing Webb, and Deputy Federal Defender Brandy Y. Robinson representing Rice.

“The parties agree that additional time is required to determine if defendant is accepted for pretrial diversion,” the documents state.

“Overall, a continuance” will “allow defense counsel and the government additional time for the facilitation of plea negotiations,” the documents state. “The period of delay, as a result of the continuance, shall be excluded in computing the time within which the information or indictment must be filed.”

A federal criminal complaint accuses Darci M. Webb, 32, of Jackson, MI of stealing letters and parcels.

An initial appearance was held Tues., June 7, 2016 for Webb before U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen in Detroit federal court.

Meanwhile, a criminal complaint filed June 1 accused postal service employee Joann Rice of stealing money orders from the Whittaker, MI Post Office near Ypsilanti.

The criminal complaint against Webb was filed by U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Special Agent Craig M. Hales.

Postal inspectors “received information” that “U.S. Postal Money Orders issued from the (Whittaker) Post Office” were “not entered into the system or paid for in a timely manner” according to USPS-OIG Criminal Research Analyst (CRA) Holmes.

“Numerous postal money orders were identified as cashed prior to being reported as sold or paid for” and the criminal complaint alleges “this type of activity is a precursor to potential kiting schemes.”

Rice allegedly stole about $13,500 in money orders involving at least six transactions totaling $2,250 each “that were cashed prior to the issue date” by Rice, the complaint alleges. Further investigation identified another 23 money orders totaling $8,450 “were sold and made payable to Rice.”

About 22 of those money orders “were cashed by Rice before they were reported sold” and the others cashed on same day sold. An audit of the Whittaker Post Office stock revealed a shortage of about $2,000 involving money orders and stamps.

Postal employees are required to account for all post office stock including money orders and stamps. Saying she had not been kiting money orders long, Rice confessed “she only kited money orders a few times and usually paid it back the next day,” the complaint states. Rice claimed most of the transactions were to cover rent payments.

After Webb denied being involved, three postal inspectors, state police, and the latest victim on May 14 met in Grass Lake and “prepared a greeting card test letter” with “two marked twenty dollar bills” that was “scheduled for Webb’s route “in two days (May 16).

Webb was released after making an initial appearance in Detroit federal court before Magistrate Judge David R. Grand.

That’s when Webb broke down.

Webb admitted stealing mail, activating the victim’s debit card and said she’d been stealing cash from greeting cards since February. Webb confessed opening “general parcels and medication parcels” but “denied taking any of the contents.”

A search of her mail truck by postal inspectors revealed “three torn open greeting cards” including the test card and marked bills that were found among 85 dollars cash in her purse “which was open and inside the vehicle.” Webb confessed that all the money was stolen from her mail route.

The investigation began 10 days earlier.

On May 10, Hales contacted by the Michigan State Police (MSP) in Jackson after “a USPS customer in Grass Lake, MI reported a stolen ATM/debit card” that her bank mailed on April 28 and “had been fraudulently activated and used at an ATM” on May 6.

An investigation revealed the phone number used to activate the card is listed to postal carrier Darci Webb plus MSP “obtained video surveillance of the fraudulent ATM transaction.”

After being advised of her Miranda Warnings, Webb agreed to talk about her job as a USPS rural carrier in Jackson to MSP Trooper Tiler Bacon, but denied stealing the debit card even after agreeing it was her picture on the ATM surveillance video.

Webb said she was using her own card when the photo was taken.

“Multiple USPS customers on Webb’s route have complained about theft from greeting cards and opened medication parcels and all matched the days Webb was working.

Webb released from custody on a $10,000 unsecured bond

A preliminary examination for Webb is set for 1 p.m. on June 28.

——-

See federal documents in these cases and more:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/idtjxlg8qfdfniw/AABrFd-n1ROsPWnS6opAvpPPa?dl=0

Class A Misdemeanor Information

18:1703(b) Delay or Destruction of Mail or Newspaper; unauthorized opening of mail by postal employee

Kalamazoo:

Federal Building and Courthouse
410 W. Michigan Avenue
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
(Link to map)

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan Southern Division

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/victim-and-witness-assistance-program/federal-court-locations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_for_the_Western_District_of_Michigan

Asst. U.S. Attorney Michael A. McDonald

Michael A. MacDonald
U.S. Attorney (Grand Rapids)
The Law Bldg.
330 Ionia Ave., NW
P.O. Box 208
Grand Rapids, MI 49501-0208

(616) 456-2404

(616) 456-2406
michael.macDonald@usdoj.gov

https://www.justice.gov/archive/tax/usaopress/2009/txdv09_THall01132009.pdf

——-

Two Michigan Postal workers – including a small town postmaster accused in a kiting scheme – have just been charged with stealing and embezzling the mail and money orders while working about 30 miles apart.

http://upbreakingnews.com/MIPostalWorkersBusted

——-

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Holmes Bell

U.S. Magistrate Judge R. Steven Whalen

U.S. Magistrate Judge David R. Grand in Detroit

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. McDonald.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandy McMillion

Defense Attorney Penny Beardslee

U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Special Agent Craig M. Hales

USPS OIG Special Agent Fox

USPS OIG Special Agent Carr

MSP Trooper Tiler Bacon

U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Special Agent J.E. Marchak

USPS-OIG Criminal Research Analyst (CRA) Holmes

https://www.mailboss.com/blog/mail-identity-theft-january-2016/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta_Charter_Township,_Michigan

Postal Reporter.com

http://www.postal-reporter.com/blog/tag/usps-oig/

Postal News on PostalReporter.com

Postal News Blog

Lucille Caldwell
PostalReporter.com
P.O. Box 161
Walnut Creek, Ca. 94597-0161

postalreporter2@att.net

www.PostalReporter.com

https://twitter.com/postalreporter

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U.P. Breaking News Exclusive – It Goes Both Ways: Federal Native American Domestic Violence Crack down by federal prosecutors results in non-native female charged with assaulting a Native American man on tribal property

 U.P. Breaking News has been focusing on the problem of habitual domestic violence involving Native American Males and female victims – and this is first we’ve found to this point with a female suspect up on federal charges

 

By Greg Peterson
News Director, Owner
Upper Peninsula Breaking News
906-273-2433

(Grand Rapids, MI) – In the past two years, federal prosecutors have been making cases against male domestic violence suspects on Native American reservations across northern Michigan and now a non-native female has been charged with assaulting a Native American man on tribal lands.

Marissa Nicole Sherlock, a non-native, is accused of a Class B federal misdemeanor for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend on June 26, 2016 in Calhoun County “in Indian Country” on “lands held in trust Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians.” The tribal lands are located within Calhoun County.

The victim is “an adult Indian male” identified only as “L.D.”

A non-jury trial is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on August 30, 2016 at federal court in Grand Rapids. The final pretrial conference is August 23.

Sherlock is charged in a federal criminal information filed by Asst. U.S. Attorney Jeff J. Davis, the federal prosecutor in the case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. The federal misdemeanor charge carries a much lesser sentence than the federal felony habitual domestic violence cases that require three previous convictions in state or tribal court.

The case has also been assigned to Nancy A. Bogren, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Tribal Prosecutor and a Special Asst. U.S. Attorney

Sherlock is free on personal recognizance bond and must abide by several court conditions including not to contact the victim.

She was freed after entering a not guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ray Kent. Sherlock’s defense attorney is Asst. Federal Public Defender Richard D. Stroba, according to federal court documents.
The Nottawasepe Potawatamie Reservation is located in Athens Township in southwestern Calhoun County in southwestern Michigan. The tribe has purchased an additional 230 acres of land for its use and operates a gaming casino in Battle Creek, according to Wikipedia.

Related links:

Marissa Nicole Sherlock, Asst. Public Defender aka defense attorney

Richard D. Stroba

https://www.westmichigandefender.org/defenderContact/Dick_Stroba_Assistant_Federal_Defender.php

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Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians

Huron Potawatomi Inc.

2221 1 1/2 Mile Rd.

Fulton, MI 49052

(269) 729-5151

http://nhbpi.com

www.facebook.com/NHBPI

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottawaseppi_Huron_Band_of_Potawatomi

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Asst. U.S. Attorney Jeff J. Davis

U.S. Attorneys Offices:

Grand Rapids, Michigan HQ Office

616-456-2404

Marquette

906-226-2500

Lansing

517-377-1577

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/community-outreach/indian-country-initiatives

https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/miw/news/2011/2011_0628_CFrazier.html

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/pr/2014_1209_LLaVictor.html

http://www.sooeveningnews.com/article/20150513/NEWS/150519663

https://www.fbi.gov/detroit/press-releases/2010/de032910a.htm

http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/sault-ste-marie-man-gets-355-months-prison-term-for-sexual-assault-on-american-indian-woman/

http://www.aisc.ucla.edu/iloc/report/files/Appendix_C.pdf

Nancy A. Bogren

Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Tribal Prosecutor

Special Asst. U.S. Attorney

Paw Paw, MI

 

nbogren@nhbpi.com

269-704-8417

269-657-5357

 

Paw Paw Office

303 East Paw Paw Street

Suite 6

Paw Paw, MI 49079

 

http://nhbpi.com/sovereignty/tribal-prosecutor-2/

http://nhbpi.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Young-Child-Wellness-Council.pdf

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/news/local/2016/05/05/tribe-now-can-prosecute-non-natives-domestic-violence/83554052/

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/01/20/nhbp-tribal-council-swears-4-judiciary-seats-158775

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/tags/nancy-bogren

http://www.robotywysokosciowe.lublin.pro/attorney-general-v-carter.html

http://www.fedbar.org/Image-Library/Sections-and-Divisions/Indian/Newsletter/Fall-2010.aspx

http://hastingsbanner.com/terpening-denied-extra-athome-parental-p2934-87.htm

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U.P. Breaking News Exclusive: Two men charged with choking Upper Peninsula women in attempted strangulation in separate domestic violence cases

Domestic Violence is a U.P. shame and nightmare that happens daily: The choking and attempted strangulation of northern Michigan women is happening all too often

Robert Bert Curtis faces federal charges

Steven M. Devalle faces state charges

By Greg Peterson

News Director, Owner

Upper Peninsula Breaking News

(Marquette, MI) – The cases of two Upper Peninsula men accused of choking or attempting to strangle their girlfriends in separate cases were considered yesterday (Thurs., July 7, 2016) by judges in Marquette.

One case was in Marquette federal court yesterday for motions and the other suspect arraigned yesterday in Marquette County District Court.

48-year-old Robert Bert Curtis was recently indicted on one felony count of assault by strangulation in an Oct. 2014 attack on his girlfriend at the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in Baraga County.

Steven Devalle in 2016 Marquette County Sheriff’s Dept. Mugshot

Meanwhile, a Gwinn man is charged with allegedly choking his girlfriend at her residence early Tuesday (July 5, 2016) took off and crashed his truck, according to Forsyth Township Police.

42-year-old Steven Devalle was treated at St. Joseph Hospital in Delta County for injuries connected to the wreck of his Ford Excursion on U.S. Highway 41 and Perkins 30.5 Rd.

A district court hearing is set for July 19.

Robert Bert Curtis:

Robert Bert Curtis in 2009 Baraga County Sheriff’s Dept. Mugshot

Curtis allegedly “assaulted his dating partner” – identified in the indictment only by the initials L.D.W., “by strangling and (he) attempting to strangle her,” according to the June 15, 2016 indictment returned by a federal grand jury sitting in Marquette. Both the male suspect and female victim are Native American, court records state.

Curtis allegedly attacked his girlfriend on Oct. 25, 2014, in “Baraga County, in Indian Country, on lands located within the exterior boundaries of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community reservation,” the indictment states.

Steven Devalle:

Police were first called to the victim’s home to investigate a possible suicidal person and domestic assault. Devalle’s girlfriend told police that Devalle allegedly choked her and prevented her from calling 911.

The Marquette County Prosecutor’s Office filed two charges – assault by strangulation (10-year felony) and interfering with electronic communications (two-year felony) – for allegedly preventing the victim from calling 911.

It takes a lot for a person to be charged in federal court in connection with tribal domestic violence. Suspects must have three prior convictions for domestic violence related offenses either in tribal court and/or state courts before federal charges can be filed. However, federal prosecutors are aggressively prosecuting the cases.

A defense request for 21-day extension to file motions was filed yesterday (Thurs., July 7, 2016) by Assistant Federal Public Defender Elizabeth A. LaCosse of Marquette, MI and U.S. Interim Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Michigan Sharon A. Turek of Grand Rapids. Federal prosecutors did not file objections to the request, as often happens during the first months of charges winding through federal criminal court as often dates for various steps in the case get changed.

Thanks to the 2012 re-authorization of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, federal prosecutors across the country have been cracking down on habitual domestic violence on Native American Nations – including at all the reservations across the Upper Peninsula.

Federal prosecutor Hannah Bobee has been leading the charge against habitual domestic violence in the U.P. By turning the tables on the men and kicking their butts into prison.

Curtis remains in the Marquette County Jail following his arraignment on June 21, 2016 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy P. Greeley. Devalle also remains in the Marquette County Jail.

Curtis is charged in a single-count indictment alleging that he assaulted his dating partner, L.D.Q., an Indian female, by strangling and attempting to strangle her in violation of 18 USC §§ 113(a)(8), 113(b)(4), 2266(10), 1151 and 1153

An initial pretrial conference was set for July 12, 2016. The jury trial is tentatively set for September 2016 before U.S. District Court Judge Robert Holmes Bell. However, the dates could change.

U.P. Breaking News Exclusive: Feds Issue Big Warning to Northern Michigan Tribal Houses – Domestic Violence will end or you will go to prison – even is she forgives or stays with you

 

Feds continue their crackdown on tribal domestic violence and arresting a lot of people who prey on children and racking up convictions or guilty pleas

In the Upper Peninsula many of the cases are very brutal – This Predatory Behavior by Wimps Must Stop – and … Please my message to all the domestic violence victims – you must move on and leave your brutalizers in the dust – actually federal prison

By Greg Peterson
News Director, Owner
Upper Peninsula Breaking News

Here is an U.P. Breaking News Editorial followed by news stories.

We dedicate both to our late, dear friend Tillie Black Bear – who was once a lone voice in the wilderness exposing tribal domestic violence. A Lakota, Tillie was also abused by the criminal justice system, fellow tribes people, and finally some of her co-workers.

Watch Tillie Black Bear’s talk at Northern Michigan University where she explained that “tribal domestic violence was once punished by death.”

https://turtleislandproject.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/tillie-black-bear-tribal-domestic-violence-once-punished-by-death

 

(Marquette, MI) – Upper Peninsula Breaking News believes that if you physically attack your spouse that results in injury – then you should go to prison. Period.

That’s a lot easier on the domestic assault offender than the death punishment, that our friend Tillie Black Bear spoke of in Lakota custom.

It’s sad that federal prosecutors have to wait until the evil-minded suspects has racked up three other domestic violence-related convictions in tribal court or state courts.

A real man doesn’t put his hands on a woman with intent to injure. Then these batterers get all wimpy and try to play court jester around the U.S. Marshals that ship them off to federal prison that has no parole.

One Keweenaw Bay Indian Community batter was recently sent prison for choking his spouse and he blamed alcohol for the violence saying he was a mean drunk during a conversation with U.P. Breaking News – and then repeated that in court – noting the federal bust experience changed his life and he is now helping others and staying sober. He said drinking was no excuse for his violent crimes.

The tiny victim stood at his side and said she still supports and forgives him – but he has to stay away from booze.

First we look at the laws that have allowed this federal crackdown on tribal habitual domestic violence.

Feds Demand Domestic Violence Will End in Tribal Households across northern Michigan – or the FBI is coming to get you

Violence Against Indian Women

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is a landmark piece of legislation that sought to improve criminal justice and community-based responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking in the United States.

The passage of VAWA in 1994 and its re-authorization in 2000 has changed the landscape for victims who once suffered in silence.

Victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking have been able to access services, and a new generation of families and justice system professionals have come to understand that domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking are crimes that our society will not tolerate.

Federal Prosecutor Hannah Bobee Takes on the Bad Boys of the Tribes – and They Lose

Also Feds are cracking down on pervs who hurt children in ways that are sickening

 

 Kicking the Batterers’ Butts to the Pen – The Big House – To meet their friendly shower-mate Bubba

 By
Greg Peterson
News Director, Owner
Upper Peninsula Breaking News

(Marquette, MI) – A Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) man recently pleaded guilty to being a domestic violence habitual offender in a violent attack on his spouse involving putting his hands around her throat in an attempted strangulation.

Under the plea agreement with Glenn Daniel Tolonen, Sr., a KBIC fisherman, a second charge of assault by strangulation was dropped. Meanwhile, an Isabella Indian Reservation man in central Michigan was recently sent to federal prison for his violent attacks on females.

After hearing his defense attorney extol the good sides of Mr. Tolonen, the prosecutor said don’t be fooled because Tolonen is a manipulator.

Mr. Tolonen “is a batterer and this is how he manipulates victims,” said prosecutor Bobee.

 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah Bobee of Marquette is throwing tribal domestic batterers into federal prison. because if you have three tribal or state court domestic violence-related convictions – the fourth time the FBI is coming.

Bobee said the public must realize that women are being seriously hurt and even murdered – and the Tolonen case is serious because of “the gravity of this type strangulation” that could have led to death.

A federal judge said tribal batterer’s better take the domestic violence crackdown seriously. In other words, the government isn’t playing.

Mr. Glenn Tolonen, Sr. “is a batterer and this is how he manipulates victims,” said federal prosecutor Hannah Bobee.

Photo of now-retired Federal Judge R. Allan Edgar by David Laprad, Hamilton County Herald

“The federal government is prosecuting these cases – its meaningful,” said federal judge R. Allan Edgar during his final handful of sentencings before retiring after 20 years on the bench.

Judge Edgar was not pleased with Tolonen’s four domestic violence convictions and said Tolonen “obviously has not respected the law and the victims” adding that prison time for many may be a “deterrent.”

The judge said by giving prison terms family batterer’s will get a clue because “hopefully consequences will make them (batterers) think twice about doing it,” the Judge said.

“The federal government is prosecuting these cases – its meaningful,” said federal judge R. Allan Edgar during his final handful of sentencings before retiring after 20 years on the bench. “Hopefully (the) consequences will make (batterers) think twice about doing it.”

Tolonen received two-and-a-half years (30 months) in federal prison from U.S. District Court Judge R. Allan Edgar last Wednesday, June 22, 2016 – who held his final day of sentencings before retiring after nearly three decades on the bench and legal work. Following his release, Tolonen will be on two years supervised release.

Tolonen has been receiving alcohol treatment at the Phoenix House in Calumet and “there is a spiritual component,” said Assistant U.S. Public Defender Elizabeth A. LaCosse, adding that the treatment has made a “profound difference” in his life.

Mr. Tolonen is “very remorseful for his actions,” LaCosse said. Tolonen “hurts deeply in his soul.” for attacking his female companion.

While Tolonen is making no excuses for his crime, LaCosse said alcohol has always been “a precursor” to violent behavior. The alcohol “allows demons that would hit a woman or a girl,” LaCosse said.

Tolonen’s alcohol and domestic violence go “hand-in-hand”but she acknowledged he has been in an out of treatment that never sticks – until now. LaCosse said since his arrest by the feds her client has “helped people get into treatment – and helps the elderly a lot.”

LaCosse asked the judge to allow Tolonen to “self report” and reminded the court Tolonen is a “commercial fisherman” who will likely lose his job. However Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah Bobee would have none of that – saying the attack was “a violent offense” and he should be “taken into custody.”

By Susan Field, Mt. Pleasant News

Meanwhile, sentencing was held on April 11, 2016 in federal court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Bay City, MI  for Sean Michael Wilson of the Anishinaabe Isabella Indian Reservation located in the heart of the Lower Peninsula.

Listen to this rare, exclusive audio of the federal court sentencing of Sean Wilson.

Wilson pleaded guilty to habitual offender domestic violence and was sentenced to just over three years or 37 months in federal prison .

Wilson has three previous domestic violence related convictions including a felony weapons conviction of attempted assault with a dangerous weapon in Isabella County Circuit Court, domestic violence in Isabella County District Court and family violence in Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Court dating back 15 years involving a spouse.

Starting in 1988, court records show Wilson also has a long history of other crimes including resisting arrest, animal cruelty, drinking alcohol on a roadway, driving with no license, drunken driving and possession of pot.

Download, brochures, studies:

Listen to the rare audio of a federal court sentencing of a confessed tribal habitual domestic violence offender

House Republicans Add Insult To Native Women’s Injury

Policy Insights Brief_The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)_02-06-13

United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan  2013 Year_in_Review

Indian Affairs Committee in New Mexico 8-30-12 – Domestic Violence Combating Violence Against Indian Women and Children: Facts, Figures, and Resources Center for Native American Health

Sacred Circle Brochure

Guide to Understanding the Requirements of Purpose Area #5 OVW Tribal Governments Program) in the Fiscal Year 2016 Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation

Maze of Injustice: A Summary of Amnesty International’s Findings

Showing Support for the Women of Turtle Island

For the Women of Turtle Island are the real leaders if the Seventh Generation can’t get their act together

A true worry because we have left the Seventh Generation with a world full of pollution, hate and violence

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Anishinaabe Isabella Indian Reservation – The Seven Fires Prophecy

http://www.anishinabe-history.com/reservations/isabella.shtml

http://www.sagchip.org/ziibiwing/aboutus/history.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Indian_Reservation

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Stats, Info and the Fight Against Tribal Domestic Violence:

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Tribal Domestic Violence studies, information and help:

Tribal Court Clearinghouse, A Project of the Tribal Law and Policy Institute:

Violence Against Indian Women

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is a landmark piece of legislation that sought to improve criminal justice and community-based responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking in the United States.

The passage of The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994 and its re-authorization in 2000 has changed the landscape for victims who once suffered in silence.

Victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking have been able to access services, and a new generation of families and justice system professionals have come to understand that domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking are crimes that our society will not tolerate.

http://www.tribal-institute.org/lists/vaiw.htm

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA 2013) Implementation Update: Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) 2013 and the Tulalip Tribes Jurisdiction over Crimes of Domestic Violence

 

U.S. Justice Department remarks:

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch Delivers Remarks at Justice Department Event in Recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Acting Associate Attorney General Stuart F. Delery Delivers Remarks at Justice Department Event in Recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month

 

Resources:

Domestic Violence

Sexual Assault

Stalking

Victims of Crime

Office on Violence Against Women

 

Training and Technical Assistance Providers:

Mending the Sacred Hoop TA Project

Southwest Center for Law & Policy

Tribal Law & Policy Institute

Clan Star, Inc. (Coalition Grants)

Sacred Circle

 

Federal Agencies:

Office of Tribal Justice (OTJ)

Indian Health Service

HUD Office of Native American Programs (ONAP)

Office for Victims of Crime

OJJDP Tribal Youth Program

Office on Violence Against Women

Bureau of Indian Affairs

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Law Enforcement Services

more

 

Native Organizations:

Native American Rights Fund (NARF)

National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)

National American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA)

National Tribal Justice Resource Center

National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA)

Native American Children’s Alliance (NACA)

National American Indian Housing Council (NAIHC)

Navajo Nation Bar Association

California Indian Legal Services

Native Elder Health Care Resource Center

National Indian Child Welfare Association

more

 

Resources:

National CASA Association

Drug Court Clearinghouse

National Indian Law Library

Child Welfare League of America

National Children’s Alliance
Lisa Mitten’s Native American Sites
Native Web

Violence Against Women

http://www.niwhrc.com/Violence-Against-Women

 

University of Miami Law School Institutional Repository

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review 7-1-2013

‘House Republicans Add Insult To Native Women’s Injury’ By Ryan Devreskracht

http://repository.law.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=umrsjlr

 

A Guide to Understanding the Requirements of Purpose Area #5 Violence Against Women Tribal (OVW) Tribal Governments Program) Fiscal Year 2016 Coordinated Tribal Assistance

Contact Info: Call The Office on Violence Against Women Tribal Affairs Division at 202-307-6026.

Fiscal Year 2016 Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation.

Copy of the official solicitation may be obtained at:

http://www.justice.gov/tribal/grants.html

https://www.justice.gov/tribal/file/796091/download

 

Indian Health Service

www.ihs.gov/dvpi/resources

Break the Cycle: Empowering Youth to End Domestic Violence

Downloadable resources

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Screening: Fact Sheet and Resources

The National Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence (888-792-2873)

Futures without Violence website

The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Inc. (NIWRC) (855-649-7299)

The National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV) (800-537-2238)

The NRCDV’s VAWnet

U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Violence Prevention page

 

The Truth Out Organization – an important group

www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/25230-a-national-disgrace-violence-against-native-women

National Congress Of Americans Indians

www.ncai.org/attachments/PolicyPaper_tWAjznFslemhAffZgNGzHUqIWMRPkCDjpFtxeKEUVKjubxfpGYK_Policy%20Insights%20Brief_VAWA_020613.pdf

http://files.ncai.org/broadcasts/2013/February/VAWA%20toolkit_013113%20(2).pdf

Violence Against Women in Indian Country

Tribal Coalitions Program

Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS)

www.justice.gov/ovw/tribal-communities

The Indian Law Resource Center

http://indianlaw.org/issue/ending-violence-against-native-women

http://indianlaw.org/safewomen/violence-against-native-women-gaining-global-attention

 

At Last, Violence Against Women Act Lets Tribes Prosecute Non-Native Domestic Abusers: 3/6/2015 by Jennifer Bendery White House and congressional reporter, The Huffington Post

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/06/vawa-native-americans_n_6819526.html

Futures without Violence

www.futureswithoutviolence.org/userfiles/file/Violence%20Against%20AI%20AN%20Women%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

Sacred Circle – M ending The Sacred Hoop

Violence Against Native Women Fact Sheet

From: American Indians and Crime Report, Homicide and Suicide Among Native Americans

http://mshoop.org

http://mshoop.org/brochures-pdf/VAIWFact%20Sheet.pdf

Maze of Injustice: A Summary of Amnesty International’s Findings

www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/women-s-rights/violence-against-women/maze-of-injustice

http://mshoop.org/

http://www.amnestyusa.org/pdfs/MazeOfInjustice.pdf

The University of Mew Mexico – School of Medicine: Health Sciences Center Report on Indigenous/Native American/Tribal Domestic Violence

Combating Violence Against Indian Women and Children: Facts, Figures, and Resources

A Presentation to the New Mexico Legislature Indian Affairs Committee (Interim)

By Tassy Parker, PhD, RN

Associate Professor, Family and Community Medicine

Director, Center for Native American Health

Assistant Dean, Office of Academic Affairs

https://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/handouts/IAC%20083012%20-%20Domestic%20Violence%20CNAH.pdf

Sacred Circle, National Resource Center to End Violence Against Native Women

Tribes and tribal organizations are invited to contact Sacred Circle about their specific needs.

 

Sacred Circle

722 St. Joseph Street

Rapid City, SD 57701

 

1-877-RED-ROAD or 1-877-733-7623 (toll free call)

(605) 341-2472 (fax)

scircle@sacred-circle.com

www.ncdsv.org/images/SacredCirclebrochure.pdf

 

 

October 6th. 2015 panel presentation on Implementing VAWA 2013: Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction

The U. S. Department of Justice held a Domestic Violence Awareness Month event on October 6, 2015 which featured a panel discussion with representatives from the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona and the Tulalip Tribes of Washington.

On March 7, 2013, President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013) into law.

www.tribal-institute.org/lists/vaiw.htm

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Related links and info about cases in the U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan

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Assistant U.S. Public Defender Elizabeth A. LaCosse

Elizabeth A. LaCosse
Federal Public Defender – Marquette
925 W Washington, Ste. 104
Marquette, MI 49855

(906) 226-3050
(906) 273-0070 (fax)

beth_lacosse@fd.org

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Patrick A. Miles, United States Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, headquarter in Grand Rapids, MI – where there are numerous violent cases involving automatic weapons, machine guns and more.

Federal Prosecutors in Marquette, MI: Asst. U.S. Attorney Hannah Bobee, left, and Asst. U.S. Attorney Paul Lochner, right.

 

Federal Prosecutors in Marquette have the go ahead to put habitual tribal domestic violence offenders in prison from Michigan Western District U.S. Attorney General Patrick A. Miles.

Pictured above are, from left, are Miles, and Marquette Asst. U.S. Attorneys Hannah Bobee and Paul Lochner  They are not putting up with habitual offenders who regularly beat, strangle and seriously hurt their partner or others  on tribal lands

Cracking Down of Tribal Domestic Violence

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Patrick Miles, Jr. was nominated by President Barack Obama on March 29, 2012 to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 29, 2012 and assumed office on July 9, 2012.

Offices of the United States Attorney (federal prosecutor) for the Western District of Michigan

Grand Rapids, MI HQ

616-456-2404

Marquette, MI HQ

906-226-2500

Lansing, MI HQ

517-377-1577

www.miwd.uscourts.gov

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/meet-us-attorney

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/victim-and-witness-assistance-program

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/current-us-attorneys-office-openings

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/criminal-division

www.judicialwatch.org/document-archive/allan-r-edgar-financial-disclosure-report-for-2003

June 24, 2016:

Former Upper Peninsula Teacher Sentenced For Sexual Exploitation Of Children

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/pr

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/violent-crime-reduction-task-force-initiative

Making sure that victims of federal crimes are treated with compassion, fairness and respect

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/victim-and-witness-assistance-program

 

The Attorney General’s Smart On Crime Initiative

Western District of Michigan

Smart on Crime Action Plan 2014-2016

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-wdmi/pages/attachments/2015/04/10/wdmi_smartoncrime_actionplan.pdf

 

Project Safe Childhood

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/project-safe-childhood

 

Violent Crime Reduction Task Force Initiative

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/violent-crime-reduction-task-force-initiative

 

Giving Back to the Community through a variety of venues and initiatives

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/community-outreach

 

Marquette Federal Prosecutors

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Citizens Bank Building, 2nd Fl.

1930 US 41 W

Marquette, MI 49855

 

Asst. U.S. Attorney Hannah Bobee

(906) 226-2500

Hannah.Bobee@usdoj.gov

She is native American and and an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians

www.rosettelaw.com/attorney-bio-bobee.html

www.justice.gov/dea/divisions/det/2013/det061913.shtml

www.leadershipdirectories.com/profiles/Hannah-Bobee-Assistant-US-Attorney-Marquette-%28MI%29-Office-.htm

 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Lochner

(906) 226-2500

Email: paul.lochner@usdoj.gov

 

Asst. U.S. Attorney Maarten Vermaat

(906) 226-2500

Maarten.Vermaat@usdoj.gov

www.justice.gov/usao/miw/news/2012/2012_0525_VProtasoff.html

www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/07/12/attorney-actor-john-stamos-fling-year-old-student/

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Photo of Judge R. Allan Edgar by David Laprad, Hamilton County Herald

Judge R. Allan Edgar

Federal Judge R. Allan Edgar

U.S. District Court Judge R. Allan Edgar

U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan

P.O. Box 698
Marquette MI 49855

Office Phone: (906) 226-2084
Case Manager: (906) 226-2084

www.miwd.uscourts.gov/content/judge-r-allan-edgar

Judge R. Allan Edgar

A Marquette native, Edgar spent most of his career in Tennessee, first an attorney and then elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives. President Ronald Reagan appointed Edgar as a U.S. District judge in 1985.

His parents me at the Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Big Bay, MI.

Until age 13, Edgar lived as a child on West Magnetic Street in Marquette, MI

The family moved in 1953 when his his father got job in Tennessee.

The future Judge Edgar still spent summers in the U.P. with his grandparents and worked a summer job out at the exclusive Huron Mountain Club in Big Bay, MI.

Photo of Judge R. Allan Edgar by David Laprad, Hamilton County Herald

www.hamiltoncountyherald.com/Story.aspx?id=1210&date=4%2F16%2F2010

www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/564345/Home-again–Judge-has-U-P–roots.html?nav=5006

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Allan_Edgar

——-

Court Reporter Sandy Larson

Case Manager C.A. Moore

U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy P. Greeley

U.S. Probation Officer Matthew Luce

——-

U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy P. Greeley

www.nmu.edu/criminaljustice/node/75

http://abc10up.com/greeley-reappointed-u-s-magistrate-judge

www.nmu.edu/criminaljustice/node/135

www.miwd.uscourts.gov/content/magistrate-judge-timothy-p-greeley

www.historyforsale.com/html/prodetails.asp?documentid=175357&start=1&page=92

——-

Upper Peninsula Breaking News

Greg Peterson

News Director, Owner

Upper Peninsula Breaking News

UpperPeninsulaBreakingNews@gmail.com

906-204-2249 (hm)

906-204-0848 (cell)

www.UPBreakingNews.com

https://twitter.com/UPBreakingNews

https://www.facebook.com/UpperPeninsulaBreakingNews

https://www.youtube.com/UPBreakingNews

U.P. Breaking News Exclusive: Federal judge declares U.P. infested with drugs like cancer; First guilty pleas in massive heroin/crack pipeline from Detroit to U.P.

“Drugs in Detroit are being spread like a cancer here in the U.P.,” said U.S. District Court Judge R. Allan Edgar, who was presiding over his final sentencings before retirement. “There is really no excuse for it.”

Corrie Venta Ruth, left, was sentenced to 41 months or three years and five months in federal prison. Stephanie Rae Hatch, right, was sentenced to 33 months or two years and nine months in federal prison. Video still by Greg Peterson

Damon Ramone Belcher received 46 months or three years and 10 months in federal prison. Video still by Greg Peterson

youtube:

By Greg Peterson
News Director, Owner
Upper Peninsula Breaking News

**See the federal court documents including emotional letters to the judge from friends/relatives of one of the three who were sent to prison Stephanie Rae Hatch

(Marquette, MI) – A large heroin and crack cocaine pipeline from Detroit to the Upper Peninsula is being dismantled by federal prosecutors who oversaw the sentencing of three co-conspirators last week (June 22, 2016) and there are huge hints that more criminal charges and indictments are expected against others in the drug trafficking organization that can be violent.

“Drugs in Detroit are being spread like a cancer here in the U.P.,” said U.S. District Court Judge R. Allan Edgar, who was presiding over his final sentencings before retirement. “There is really no excuse for it.”

“Today we are dealing with the Houghton branch of the conspiracy,” the judge said, noting that the kingpin of the conspiracy was also bringing “heroin and crack cocaine to Escanaba.”

Federal prosecutor Paul Lochner said the cases are important to the U.P. because the cycles brought by highly addictive drugs have left a “wrath of social problems” on Yooper and national doorsteps – like meth, heroin and cocaine.

Even though the nickname of a Detroit drug baron and his wife were brought up several times during the sentencings, one federal official pleaded with U.P. Breaking News not to use the name because “lives are at stake” and suggested a temporary pseudonym be used in news coverage.

The kingpin is “good about hiding facts of the conspiracy” from each employee, federal officials said.

For the purposes of this story only and to protect lives, U.P. Breaking News will use the pseudonyms “Mr. Drug Kingpin” and “Mrs. Drug Kingpin.”

“Drugs in Detroit are being spread like a cancer here in the U.P.,” said U.S. District Court Judge R. Allan Edgar, who was presiding over his final sentencings before retirement. “There is really no excuse for it.“

Corrie Venta Ruth, left, was sentenced to 41 months or three years and five months in federal prison. Stephanie Rae Hatch, right, was sentenced to 33 months or two years and nine months in federal prison. Video still by Greg Peterson

Damon Ramone Belcher received 46 months or three years and 10 months in federal prison. Video still by Greg Peterson

Federal Judge R. Allen Edgar handed out these sentences:

• Damon Ramone Belcher, a.k.a. defendant “D” received 46 months or three years and 10 months in federal prison

• Corrie Venta Ruth, a.k.a. defendant “C” was sentenced to 41 months or three years and five months in federal prison

• Stephanie Rae Hatch sentenced to 33 months or two years and nine months in federal prison

All were interviewed and officially arrested by Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team (UPSET) agent Ron Koski in Houghton, MI

The three sentencing were each handled separately. But had several uncommon ties – sidebars.

In a rare event during sentencing, an official sidebar with the judge was requested by prosecutors and defense attorneys with their clients at their side. Sidebars are common during trials and sometimes pretrial hearings but rarely during sentencing.

Just to make sure no-one could hear what was being said, federal court officials turned on a white noise machine.

At issue is a major federal investigation into the Detroit to the U.P. of a heroin and crack cocaine pipeline – and high level trafficking of drugs in others areas.

Cooperating witnesses lives may be in jeopardy.

Federal Prosecutors in Marquette, MI: Asst. U.S. Attorney Hannah Bobee, left, and Asst. U.S. Attorney Paul Lochner, right.

Federal Prosecutor Paul Lochner painted Ruth as one of “multiple bagmen” in the organization and all said all three were in the game because of greed – “trying to make money.”

Lochner said he hopes the prison sentences will be a “deterrent” and send the message to would-be drug couriers that “easy money is not the answer.”

“It’s a dumb decision,” Lochner said. “The answer isn’t selling narcotics.”

Damon Ramone Belcher and Corrie Venta Ruth were indicted on two counts each of felony “distribution of heroin.”

On Nov. 18, 2015 in Houghton and Lake Linden, Belcher and Ruth “knowingly and intentionally distributed heroin, and aided and abetted the distribution of heroin,” the indictments state.

The defendants and their lawyer ask for leniency:

During each sentencing, Assistant U.S. Public Defender Elizabeth A. LaCosse tried to paint her clients in the best possible light and pleaded for leniency because their respective roles were minor compared to others being investigated in the coke-heroin pipeline.

LaCosse argue that in federal sentencing guidelines there have long been “powder and crack cocaine disparities” in sentencing – that the judge noted was important because crack is much more addictive and powerful – the cooked base of powdered cocaine.

LaCosse reminded the judge about recently changed sentencing guidelines set by the United States Sentencing Commission and that the judge has the discretion to give a prison term appropriate for each person’s involvement in the conspiracy that take into consideration the actual drug weights of involving each defendant.

The judge said he sentenced all three on the “low end” of the federal sentencing guidelines because of their cooperation and relatively minor roles in the conspiracy.

However, Public Defender LaCosse asked the judge to consider an even lower departure because future sentencing commission edicts are expected to give judges even more desecration, but the retiring judge appeared uninterested in reading the tea leaves.

Saying I am a lowly judge, the Judge Edgar said he was going to “administer the guidelines as given” and issues raised by LaCosse are “questions for the sentencing commission to decide.”

After the heart-wrenching information offered by the defense, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul D. Lochner reminded the judge that the cases are the latest example of the misery brought by drug traffickers in the U.P. – where an untold number of Yoopers are addicted.

Damon Ramone Belcher received 46 months or three years and 10 months in federal prison. Video still by Greg Peterson

Damon Ramone Belcher:

With the holidays approaching, Belcher needed “Christmas money” and made a dumb decision.

“He was unemployed” and desperate so Belcher “went back into crime,” said LaCosse, the court-appointed federal defense attorney.

LaCosse argued Belcher’s case is a “unique situation” because he was involved for only “14 days.”

Belcher “was hired (in Detroit) to sit on the bag” of cocaine and heroin as it was transported to the Houghton area by unnamed female conspirators, LaCosse said. Belcher “had no proprietary interest in the conspiracy.”

Damon Ramone Belcher received 46 months or three years and 10 months in federal prison. Video still by Greg Peterson

The judge described Belcher as an “enforcer” with a “limited function.” LaCosse described Belcher as “hired help” at the “bottom rung” of the drug pipeline.

“This is a bigger conspiracy” that could involve “all of the U.P.,” LaCosse said. Belcher is not “aware of subsections of the conspiracy.”

LaCosse argued that it wasn’t Belcher “did not transport drugs into the U.P.” However Judge Edgar said Belcher knew about the drugs in the vehicle and his job was to “accompany a female who was carrying drugs” often stashed in private places on their bodies.

“Two weeks and a $10,000 wire transfer” was the entirety of Belcher’s involvement, LaCosse said.

“He is not friends with all these people” involved in the heroin and cocaine conspiracy,” LaCosse said.

LaCosse said Belcher’s family depends on him and that he has taken “ownership (of his crime) and has learned responsibility.”

Belcher has a “mass on his colon” and may “require surgery in the near future,” LaCosse said.

Speaking to the judge before his sentence, Belcher said “I accept full responsibility – I did participate in the conspiracy.”

“I made a bad decision,” Belcher said. “I hope the Court shows some leniency.”

“I accept that what I did was wrong,” Belcher said.

Prosecutor Lochner said Belcher was “only being held responsible for the drugs he was involved with” and the bottom line is Belcher was “hired to come to the U.P. to sell cocaine Houghton.”

“A job he was doing well,” Lochner said. Heroin, cocaine, meth, painkillers (opioids), and other drugs that are being driven into the U.P. are “very addictive and very damaging” to the addict and the community.

Lochner said Belcher may claim he was after Christmas money but was the muscle in a smuggling ring – even if for a brief period..

Locking up people like Belcher and the others in the conspiracy serves “as a deterrent,” Lockner said.

Mr. Belcher should “consider people in Houghton who were fed coke (cocaine) by people like yourself.”

Woman smokes marijuana pipe http://www.psypost.org Photo credit: Jonathan Piccolo (Creative Commons)

“There has been a big spike in heroin use” in the U.P., Lochner said. From “oxycodone to heroin” the illicit drugs have been “devastating to the (U.P.) community.”

Lockner said Belcher’s “job was to make sure drugs went out and (bring) money back in.”

“They did accompany females from Detroit,” the judge said. The muscle escorting the women and drugs – like Belcher and Ruth – “were entrusted by suppliers downstate to protect the drugs,” Judge Edgar said.

The judge was not happy with Belcher’s criminal record that included “an armed robbery conviction.” Mr. Belcher got “back into criminal activity again – you were up here to make a buck,” the judge said.

As Belcher was being led away by U.S. Marshals, the judge offered a kind word.

“Good luck on your surgery,” Judge Edgar said.

Corrie Venta Ruth:

Ruth “was an idiot for trying to make quick money,” LaCosse said, adding Ruth is a “very nice person – not a street thug.”

However, LaCosse said Ruth grew up in a life surrounded by criminal “recidivism.” She asked Ruth be given credit for time served as he spent two months in the Houghton County Jail before “the (federal) government took over the case.”

Ruth told the judge he apologizes for bringing and “selling drugs” in the U.P.

“I want to apologize to the court,” said Ruth, in asking the judge to show “leniency.” “I apologize to the (U.P.) community.”

“I took the stupid easy route – this is not what I planned to do with myself,” Ruth said.

LaCosse said Ruth “didn’t know where he was going” when ordered by the Drug Kingpins but “did know it involved drug sales.” Ruth was the muscle hired to protect the shipment while the driving was handled by Damon Ramone Belcher, prosecutors said.

Ruth “had no idea about (the) Escanaba” arm of the drug ring, LaCosse said.

Corrie Venta Ruth, left, was sentenced to 41 months or three years and five months in federal prison. Stephanie Rae Hatch, right, was sentenced to 33 months or two years and nine months in federal prison. Video still by Greg Peterson

Stephanie Rae Hatch

Hatch allowed those involved in the conspiracy to “use her residence as a place to stay and to sell heroin and cocaine base” commonly known as crack cocaine, the indictments state.

Defense Attorney Theodore J. Greeley

“She was not an organizer or a leader” in the conspiracy said defense attorney Theodore Joseph Greeley, of the prominent U.P. law firm Casselman & Henderson P.C. Of Marquette.

 

Hatch was “not a decision maker” and only knew about the Houghton part of the drug ring – not the Escanaba tentacle, said defense attorney Greeley, the son of U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy P. Greeley.

Hatch has suffered from substance abuse since childhood – or three quarters of her life – including smoking pot at age 9, drinking alcohol at age 11 and started using cocaine at age 15 – addition to other drugs, defense attorney Greeley said.

She first “had trouble with the law” at age 9, said Greeley.

Greeley argued that judge because crack cocaine is highly addictive – it is not always “cheaper.”

Corrie Venta Ruth, left, was sentenced to 41 months or three years and five months in federal prison. Stephanie Rae Hatch, right, was sentenced to 33 months or two years and nine months in federal prison. Video still by Greg Peterson

Hatch wire transferred money from Houghton drug sales to Detroit area drug suppliers and their associates, the indictments state.

An admitted drug addict, Hatch allowed her home to be “back up house” for the conspiracy to stash and sell crack cocaine and heroin, Greeley told the judge, admitting his client sent wire transfers to the Detroit kingpins from a U.P. Walmart.

The conspiracy facilitates Houghton “drug addicts” who sometimes become dealers “trying to make money” and feed their addictions, prosecutor Lochner said in general but specifically referring to Hatch’s involvement in the conspiracy.

Lockner said once addicts can not afford their drugs “its spirals” and they sometimes sell drugs.

“Next is the sales of drugs,” Lochner said, adding “it supplies their habit – locals help out” the conspiracy.

“It is a public hazard to have her out there” in the community, said Judge Edgar.

Edgar described Hatch as a “local courier” and who “wired drug money to Detroit or someplace.”

“Her home was a staging point for sales,” Judge Edgar said. “She played a pivotal role making sure the money got down” to Mr and Mrs. Drug Kingpin.

Hatch “understood” that she and her home were “essential to the success of the operation in Houghton,” Judge Edgar said,

Unlike her co-defendants, Hatch did not make a statement to the judge prior to sentencing. Hatch’s parents and teenage daughter drove up from Grand Rapids to attend the hearing and show support for their family member.

The Plea Agreements:

Under the agreements, the trio agreed to “fully cooperate” in drug investigations including with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team (UPSET).

Under an agreement with federal prosecutors, Hatch, Belcher pleaded guilty to count one – felony conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine base.

The charges carried a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison that has no parole but the smaller time drug runners received much lower sentences under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

The judge waived fines due to defendant’s “inability to pay.”

As part of the plea agreement with the trio, the judge dismissed felony counts two and three – possession with intent to distribute heroin and possession with intent to distribute cocaine base. He also dismissed felony counts four and five against Belcher and Ruth.

Evidence obtained by prosecutors included cocaine base (crack cocaine), heroin, records of wire transfers, two undercover drug buys, prerecorded buy money, cell phone data, Walmart surveillance video, drug packaging, photographs, video of interview with Hatch.

During Ruth’s sentencing, the judge asked about the role of Mrs. Drug Kingpin (and other unnamed females) in the drug network – noting Mr. Drug Kingpin “used” his wife “to protect drugs.”

The federal prosecutor picked his words carefully in describing the hiding of drugs by female couriers.

“Their role is salient,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Lochner of Marquette. “It’s unique to females – let’s leave it at that.”

The defendants “conspired, confederated, and agreed with each other, and others, known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin” according to a five-page federal grand jury indictment of the three drug runners.

The judge waived fines due to inability to pay and all were sentenced to three years supervised release after prison, a $100 special assessment and must find jobs upon release from prison perform 20-hours weekly community service.

The trio were ordered to submit to DNA testing and cannot possess firearms, drugs or alcohol, testing and treatment for substance abuse and compete the cognitive behavioral treatment program.

The three were ordered to participate in a Michigan Bureau of Prisons 500-hour residential substance abuse program.

All three were given three years supervised released – a federal form of probation. Despite entering into plea agreements, the judge reminded the trio about their legal avenues for appealing his sentence. The three must complete a “cognitive treatment program.”

Damon Ramone Belcher received 46 months or three years and 10 months in federal prison. Video still by Greg Peterson

They can no longer posses guns, no drugs, no alcohol, undergoing regular drug and alcohol testing, and they can not visit establishments (bars) that serve alcohol, plus attend drug abuse treatment if determined appropriate by the U.S. Probation office. After release, they must serve 20 hours of weekly community service until they find a job.

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Related links and info:

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United States Attorney Patrick A. Miles, Jr.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi

U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan

PO Box 698

Marquette, MI

49885

 

906-226-2084 (Mqt office/case manager)

www.miwd.uscourts.gov

www.judicialwatch.org/document-archive/allan-r-edgar-financial-disclosure-report-for-2003

——-

U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy P. Greeley

www.nmu.edu/criminaljustice/node/75

http://abc10up.com/greeley-reappointed-u-s-magistrate-judge

www.nmu.edu/criminaljustice/node/135

www.miwd.uscourts.gov/content/magistrate-judge-timothy-p-greeley

www.historyforsale.com/html/prodetails.asp?documentid=175357&start=1&page=92

——-

Court appointed defense attorneys for Stephanie Rae Hatch:

Casselman & Henderson P.C.
148 W Washington St.
Marquette, MI 49855

Theodore Joseph Greeley

Sarah Emily Henderson

(906) 228-2855

(906) 228-2863 (fax)

tgreeley@casselmanandhenderson.com

shenderson@casselmanandhenderson.com

——-

Court appointed defense attorney for Damon Ramone Belcher

Assistant U.S. Public Defender Elizabeth A. LaCosse

Elizabeth A. LaCosse
Federal Public Defender – Marquette
925 W Washington, Ste. 104
Marquette, MI 49855

(906) 226-3050
(906) 273-0070 (fax)

beth_lacosse@fd.org

——-

Marquette Federal Prosecutors

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Citizens Bank Building, 2nd Fl.

1930 US 41 W

Marquette, MI 49855

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Lochner

(906) 226-2500

Email:

paul.lochner@usdoj.gov

Asst. U.S. Attorney Maarten Vermaat

(906) 226-2500

Maarten.Vermaat@usdoj.gov

www.justice.gov/usao/miw/news/2012/2012_0525_VProtasoff.html

www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/07/12/attorney-actor-john-stamos-fling-year-old-student/

Asst. U.S. Attorney Hannah Bobee

(906) 226-2500

Hannah.Bobee@usdoj.gov

She is native American and and an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians

www.rosettelaw.com/attorney-bio-bobee.html

www.justice.gov/dea/divisions/det/2013/det061913.shtml

www.leadershipdirectories.com/profiles/Hannah-Bobee-Assistant-US-Attorney-Marquette-%28MI%29-Office-.htm

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Federal Judge R. Allan Edgar

U.S. District Court Judge R. Allan Edgar

U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan

P.O. Box 698
Marquette MI 49855

Office Phone: (906) 226-2084
Case Manager: (906) 226-2084

www.miwd.uscourts.gov/content/judge-r-allan-edgar

Judge R. Allan Edgar

A Marquette native, Edgar spent most of his career in Tennessee, first an attorney and then elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives. President Ronald Reagan appointed Edgar as a U.S. District judge in 1985.

His parents me at the Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Big Bay, MI.

Until age 13, Edgar lived as a child on West Magnetic Street in Marquette, MI

The family moved in 1953 when his his father got job in Tennessee.

The future Judge Edgar still spent summers in the U.P. with his grandparents and worked a summer job out at the exclusive Huron Mountain Club in Big Bay, MI.

Photo of Judge R. Allan Edgar by David Laprad, Hamilton County Herald

www.hamiltoncountyherald.com/Story.aspx?id=1210&date=4%2F16%2F2010

www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/564345/Home-again–Judge-has-U-P–roots.html?nav=5006

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Allan_Edgar

——-

Court Reporter Sandy Larson

Case Manager C.A. Moore

U.S. Probation Officer Matthew Luce

——-

Woman smokes marijuana pipe http://www.psypost.org Photo credit: Jonathan Piccolo (Creative Commons)

Heroin Is the Most Dangerous Way to Increase Your Creativity

www.vice.com  Photo via WikiMedia Commons.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Heroin_asian.jpg

 

Woman-smoking-marijuana-pipe-by-Jonathan-Piccolo-Creative-Commons.jpg

www.psypost.org Photo credit: Jonathan Piccolo (Creative Commons)

 

Gorgeous Vintage Advertisements for Heroin, Cannabis and Cocaine …

www.pinterest.com

 

Bottles Heroin, Old Medicine Bottles, Drug Ads, Gorgeous Vintage, Vintage Ads, Vintage Advertisements, Drug Poster

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/97742254388543272

 

Take Two | The rise of Oxycontin addiction and abuse

www.scpr.org

OxyContin causes more overdoses than heroin and cocaine combined, according to a report by the Centers for Drug Control. Vitualis/Flickr/Creative Commons

Vancouver Drug Reform Group: Why Decriminalizing Hard and Soft Would Reduce Use In Canada

www.isciencetimes.com

Vancouver issued a report today urging the government to decriminalize all drugs–including hard drugs like heroin and crack. (Photo: Creative Commons)

Photo by wikipedia username Argv0 on Nov. 3, 2015 of two grams of cocaine

Argv0 talk contribs

——-

Upper Peninsula Breaking News

Greg Peterson

News Director, Owner

Upper Peninsula Breaking News

UpperPeninsulaBreakingNews@gmail.com

906-204-2249 (hm)

906-204-0848 (cell)

www.UPBreakingNews.com

https://twitter.com/UPBreakingNews

https://www.facebook.com/UpperPeninsulaBreakingNews

https://www.youtube.com/UPBreakingNews

——-

 

 

 

The Final Sentencing for a Federal Judge in Marquette, MI and renders Justice for “The Boys of St. Ignace” – Judge R. Allen Edgar sends St. Ignace man to prison for 15 years for using pen camera to videotape nude teen male athletes at LaSalle High School

Graphic of federal indictment

By Greg Peterson

News Director, Owner

Upper Peninsula Breaking News

Thomas Hamel sex offender photo

He carried an ink pen in his front pocket like thousands of teachers – except his pen was a high definition video camera.

He is a 68-year-old small-statured, bespectacled, diminutive man with a masters degree who never married.

He wept uncontrollably while trying to apologize in federal court and sat down apparently unable to finish the apology.

A seemingly nice elderly man who hid a dark heart with evil intentions, Thomas Kevin Hamel always made himself available to help when high school athletes were nude like weigh-ins and locker-rooms.

Photo by Greg Peterson

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Photo of the honorable U.S. District Court Judge R. Allan Edgar by David LaPrad, Hamilton County Herald

Hamel was sentenced in Marquette federal court Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge R. Allan Edgar.

In fact, after 31 years on the bench, Hamel was the final federal court sentencing for Judge Edgar, who has retired after some four decades in legal work that included growing up in Marquette until age 13 and becoming a lawyer, and a state representative, and then a U.S. District Court judge in Tennessee – who also presided in Marquette federal court because he and his family love the U.P. of Michigan.

——-

A confirmed bachelor with over 600 child porn images on his computer, Hamel is the scion of a prominent St. Ignace family – whose physician father “delivered most of the children” in the St. Ignace” area.

“I apologize to the city of St. Ignace, I apologize to the community and I apologize to the students I took care of,” Hamel said tearfully before breaking down and returning to his chair at the defendant table.

He never raised suspicion as a volunteer athletic trainer on the boys wrestling and football teams at LaSalle High School in St. Ignace were nude including wandering into the male showers being used by young athletes while he recorded everything between Nov. 2007 and Dec. 2012.

The unsuspecting student athletes liked Hamel who wrapped injured ankles, helping in many other ways even described as an assistant coach at times.

A retired teacher of 27 years turned volunteer in male teen sports, Hamel plead guilty Feb. 1, 2016 to sexual exploitation and attempted exploitation of a minor.

Hamel had a favorite 14-year-old that he videotaped on many occasions, prosecutors said in court.

Hamel made numerous still images from the videotape of “one boy he was particularly fond of,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Lochner.

The indictment alleges Hamel made secret videos of three young male wrestlers in their early teens at a weigh-in and another teen athlete who was “dressing in a locker room,” and another who was “partially nude” in a trainer’s room.

Mackinac County Jail mugshot of Thomas Hamel

While teen male athletes were nude below the waist “at a wrestling team weigh-in,” Hamel videotaped the boys and created videos involving the “lascivious exhibition of (the boy’s) pubic area”

A once proud St. Ignace family that’s struggling to deal with life-changing humiliation, Hamel’s siblings drove from the eastern U.P. to be in Marquette federal court Wednesday to show their support for him.

Hamel’s father delivered over 2,500 babies in the St. Ignace area.

While Hamel secretly videotaped, student athletes would be nude in front of him in the locker-room and Hamel taped “nude wrestlers at weigh-ins,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Lochner.

Surreptitiously, Hamel’s volunteer job “gave him access… it game him access as an athletic trainer,” Lochner said.

Hamel’s actions are a “hideous abuse of trust,” Lockner said.

Federal prosecutors take Hamel at his word that none of his videos and photos were distributed but rather for his own use. Nonetheless, the images were turned over to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children because federal prosecutors “can’t be certain” the images did not make it on the internet or private child porn video collections.

Among the reasons the feds believe the LaSalle High School images were not distributed is Hamel’s computer was not connected to the internet and he cooperated in providing passwords to his secret stock of child porn including the boys of St. Ignace.

In fact, parents, students and school officials were genuinely shocked when the FBI came knocking on their doors with the horrifying news the kids were exploited by the team’s athletic trainer.

When a defense attorney tried to argue that Hamel had no supervisory role, Judge Edgar disagreed.

“Minors were in his care,” Judge Edgar said. “The wrestling and football teams were entrusted to his career.”

Trying to paint his client as not as bad as fellow dangerous predators, defense attorney Joseph P. Kwiatkowski of Cheboygan noted Hamel “never touched or molested anyone.”

Kwiatkowski said Hamel cooperated fully with the FBI and U.S. Postal Service Inspector Wylie Christopher.

He pleaded with the judge not to give Hamel the maximum possible sentence of 30 years in prison calling it a “death sentence” due to Hamel’s elderly age noting even a 15-year sentence will put his client at the end of projected life expectancy as set by the U.S. Social Security Administration.

Technically a 180 month sentence equals 15 years, four days and four hours or 7,890,000 minutes.

Noting Hamel never forced children to pose for images, Kwiatkowski said his client knows the harm he has caused an offers “no excuses.”

Letters were written to the judge on Hamel’s behalf, Kwiatkowski noted, pointing out one is from Father Jim Williams. However, while these types of letters are often available in federal documents a check by Upper Peninsula Breaking News shows the Rev. Williams letter has apparently been restricted in this case.

Hamel started sex offender counseling after his the state and FBI raid.

Kwiatkowski noted the irony that Hamel would be in prison for 15 years in prison while on the same day serial child molester and disgraced former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Dennis Hastert began serving a 15-month sentence for financial crimes connected to molestation scandal involving young boys.

Hastert molested boys and made payoffs as hush money to cover up the crimes but could not be charged due to the Statute of Limitations. The 74-year-old Hastert used a wheelchair to wheel himself into a federal medical prison – an easy way to serve his sentence.
On April 21, a federal grand jury sitting in Marquette returned a six-count, seven-page felony indictment outlining his child porn activities.

The grand jury indicted Hamel on five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, and one count of possession of child pornography,

Hamel admitted buying child porn from overseas.

The FBI raided his home in Dec. 2012 after Hamel’s name appeared on the mailing list of an overseas child porn trafficking ring that distributed videos and more.

That’s when his secret photos and videos of student athletes were found by federal agents.

Related links and info:

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

http://www.missingkids.com/home

http://www.missingkids.com

https://www.instagram.com/1800TheLost/

http://www.missingkids.com/RSS

https://twitter.com/MissingKids

https://www.facebook.com/missingkids

https://www.youtube.com/user/missingkids

Dennis Hastert, perverted former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/speaker-house-dennis-hastert-report-prison/story?id=40026897

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-dennis-hastert-reports-to-prison-met-20160622-story.html

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/06/22/483075855/disgraced-former-house-speaker-dennis-hastert-heads-to-prison-today

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/22/politics/dennis-hastert-goes-to-prison/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/21/former-house-speaker-dennis-hastert-is-going-to-jail-this-week-heres-how-he-got-there/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Hastert

——-

Thomas Kevin Hamel

Filed: 04/21/2015

Mackinac County

2:2015-cr-00011

Thomas Hamil Plea Agreement

Sentencing Thomas Hamel 6-22-16

Thomas Hamel Indictment

http://www.homefacts.com/offender-detail/MI234937820160502/Thomas-Kevin-Hamel.html

Pleaded guilty

Count 1

Sexual exploitation of a minor and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor

Dismissed by Judge R. Allan Edgar under plea agreement:

Counts 2-5

Sexual exploitation of a minor and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor

Count 6

Possession of child pornography

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Federal Public Defender for Thomas Kevin Hamel

Elizabeth A. LaCosse

Federal Public Defender (Marquette)

925 W Washington, Ste. 104

Marquette, MI 49855

(906) 226-3050

(906) 273-0070

beth_lacosse@fd.org

Thomas Hamel defense attorney

Joseph P. Kwiatkowski

Patrick Kwiatkowski & Hesselink PLLC
11512 N Straits Hwy., Ste. 200
Cheboygan, MI 49721

Phone: (231) 627-7151

pklaw@pklawfirm.com

——-

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Lochner (Marquette)

Citizens Bank Building, 2nd Fl.

1930 US 41 W

Marquette, MI 49855

(906) 226-2500

Email: paul.lochner@usdoj.gov

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel S. Fauson of Grand Rapids, MI

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel S. Fauson

U.S. Attorney (Grand Rapids)

The Law Bldg.

330 Ionia Ave., NW

P.O. Box 208

Grand Rapids, MI 49501-0208

(616) 456-2404

joel.fauson@usdoj.gov

https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/pr/2016_0429_BKelsey

https://www.fbi.gov/detroit/press-releases/2013/former-grand-rapids-area-financial-adviser-sentenced-to-54-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud

https://www.fbi.gov/detroit/press-releases/2015/leader-of-the-black-p-stone-nation-gang-kenton-maurice-taylor-convicted-on-heroin-charges-by-federal-jury

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2015/02/mail_carrier_quits_dumps_mail.html

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2012/02/prosecutors_seeking_stiffer_pr.html

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-fauson-a3015895?trk=seokp-title_posts_secondary_cluster_res_author_name

http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/12a0178p-06.pdf

Asst. U.S. Attorney Maarten Vermaat

U.S. Attorney (Marquette)

Citizens Bank Building, 2nd Fl.

1930 US 41 W

Marquette, MI 49855

(906) 226-2500

Maarten.Vermaat@usdoj.gov

http://www.justice.gov/usao/miw/news/2012/2012_0525_VProtasoff.html

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/07/12/attorney-actor-john-stamos-fling-year-old-student/

Asst. U.S. Attorney Hannah Bobee

U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan

She is native American and and an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians

http://www.rosettelaw.com/attorney-bio-bobee.html

http://www.justice.gov/dea/divisions/det/2013/det061913.shtml

http://www.leadershipdirectories.com/profiles/Hannah-Bobee-Assistant-US-Attorney-Marquette-%28MI%29-Office-.htm

LaSalle High School St. Ignace Area Schools

http://stignace.eup.k12.mi.us/Domain/135

http://stignace.eup.k12.mi.us/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lasalle-High-School/733018816774702

http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/lasalle-saints-(st-ignace,mi)/football/home.htm

——-

Judge R. Allan Edgar

Federal Judge R. Allan Edgar

U.S. District Court Judge R. Allan Edgar

U.S. District Court Western District of Michigan

P.O. Box 698
Marquette MI 49855

Office Phone: (906) 226-2084
Case Manager: (906) 226-2084

http://www.miwd.uscourts.gov/content/judge-r-allan-edgar

Judge R. Allan Edgar

A Marquette native, Edgar spent most of his career in Tennessee, first an attorney and then elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives. President Ronald Reagan appointed Edgar as a U.S. District judge in 1985.

His parents me at the Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Big Bay, MI.

Until age 13, Edgar lived as a child on West Magnetic Street in Marquette, MI

The family moved in 1953 when his his father got job in Tennessee.

The future Judge Edgar still spent summers in the U.P. with his grandparents and worked a summer job out at the exclusive Huron Mountain Club in Big Bay, MI.

Photo of Judge R. Allan Edgar by David Laprad, Hamilton County Herald

http://www.hamiltoncountyherald.com/Story.aspx?id=1210&date=4%2F16%2F2010

http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/564345/Home-again–Judge-has-U-P–roots.html?nav=5006

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Allan_Edgar

——-

Statute of Limitations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_limitations

http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-law-basics/time-limits-for-charges-state-criminal-statutes-of-limitations.html

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/statute-of-limitations-state-laws-chart-29941.html

——-

Thomas Hamel mug shot courtesy Mackinac County Sheriff’s Department

——-

Previous Coverage

Ex-teacher, trainer secretly recorded nude athletes with pen camera by John Agar | jagar@mlive.com Follow on Twitter on Feb. 2, 2016. Agar covers crime for MLive/Grand Rapids Press

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2016/02/ex-teacher_trainer_secretly_re.html

Hamel Arraigned on Six Federal Charges

http://www.stignacenews.com/news/2015-04-30/News/Hamel_Arraigned_on_Six_Federal_Charges.html

Federal Prosecution Team Takes Over Hamel Case by Erich T. Doer

http://www.stignacenews.com/news/2014-02-13/News/Federal_Prosecution_Team_Takes_Over_Hamel_Case.html

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2015/04/volunteer_athletic_trainer_vid.html

http://www.9and10news.com/story/31144794/st-ignace-man-pleads-guilty-to-exploiting-children-filming-naked-in-locker-room

U.S. Breaking News Exclusive: Feds, WI Revenue agents go after Swiss bank account of sex offender who is about to finish prison term in northeast Wisconsin

By Greg Peterson
News Director, Owner
Upper Peninsula Breaking News

(Milwaukee, WI) – Federal prosecutors and Wisconsin tax collectors are going after the Swiss Bank account of a elderly convicted sex offender who is nearing the final year of his sentence.

69-year-old David Lawrence Comey is serving time at the Waupun Correctional Institution in northeast Wisconsin – where he was served with the federal civil complaint on Wednesday. He has served over 12 years and two months of a 13-year rape sentence. Prison records state he is eligible for mandatory release and that starts 12 years of extended supervision (probation) on July 1, 2017 and his “maximum discharge date” from probation is July 1, 2029.

Comey is self-proclaimed inventor, who apparently inherited millions, and was known in the mid-1980’s as a “critic” of the Elmbrook School District, whose arrest on a shoplifting charge was detailed in a April 16, 1985 story in the Milwaukee Journal.

Comey has served over 12 years and two months of a 13 year sentence.

On March 24, 2004, a Waukesha County jury convicted Comey of felony “2nd degree sexual assault of a mentally ill victim.”

Comey’s Wisconsin corrections department number is 00260220, but he is worth millions to the state and feds. If that weren’t enough, state records show Comey still owes nearly $21,000 in fines and fees on his sexual assault conviction.

One of the federal government’s superstar tax prosecutors filed a suit last week at federal court in Milwaukee to recover $1.1 million dollars in an “action to recover money.” Federal prosecutor Martin M. Shoemaker, a high profile trial attorney with the Justice Department’s Tax Division, filed the action on Wed., June 1, 2016 and the case was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge J. P. Stadtmueller in Milwaukee.

The U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Justice Department allege Comey violated a law that requires the filing of a “Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Reports, commonly known as an FBAR”

Comey never filed the FBAR – including in 2008 – that is due by June 30 “of each calendar year with respect to foreign financial accounts exceeding $10,000,” Shoemaker wrote in the complaint. “The penalty for willful violations of the reporting requirements mandated” is the “greater of (1) $100,000 or (2) 50% of the balance in the foreign account at the time of the violation.”

Milwaukee Federal Courthouse

“In 2007 Comey maintained a foreign financial account at UBS AG in Switzerland” and “failed to disclose his financial interest in that foreign financial account for 2007,” wrote Asst. U.S. Attorney Shoemaker in the June 1 civil action on behalf of the U.S.

“The balance of Comey’s foreign financial account was at least $1,963,566,” in 2008, the federal civil complaint states.

“Comey’s failure to disclose his interest in the foreign account was willful,” the complaint states. Comey “knowingly or recklessly failed to report his interest in the account and deliberately meant to conceal the existence of the account.”

U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.

Comey’s Swiss bank account has not escaped the eyes of state tax officials who are seeking over a million dollars in fines and interest. Wisconsin filed delinquent tax warrants against Comey 10 times between Jan. 1998-Aug. 2011 totaling over one million dollars in taxes, interest and penalties.

“After a dispute with the Wisconsin Department of Revenue over the payment of sales tax” by Comey’s small corporation, he “stopped paying personal income tax sometime in 1977,” states a Wisconsin Court of Appeals ruling dated March 25, 1999.

In 1995, Comey pleaded no contest and was convicted of five counts of failure to file state tax returns. Comey received probation years earlier after he was convicted of two counts of filing fraudulent sales tax returns for vehicles and two counts of failure to file personal income tax returns.

“Prior to those convictions, between 1988 and 1992, Comey transferred $951,000 into Swiss bank accounts, which (the Wisconsin Department of Revenue) cannot trace,” the state court of appeals ruling reads. “The court made it clear to Comey that he had to file state and federal income tax returns.”

Armed with a Northwestern University engineering degree, “Comey said “he was an inventor and he needed to protect the privacy of his inventions,” according to the state court of appeals ruling.

Comey “inherited a lot of money in the form of stocks which had increased in value.”

In banking documents, Comey allegedly stated he “would like to avoid disclosure of my identity to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service under the new tax regulations,” state records state. Comey declared in Nov. 2000 that he “expressly agrees that my account shall be frozen for all new investments in U.S. securities.”

Comey “instructed UBS to hold all mail from the account to ensure there was no paper trail entering the United States,” the state appeals court ruling states. “Comey has failed to file a federal income tax return” between 1992 and 1999 and “thus has failed to report either the amounts earned in his foreign account or the existence of the account on Schedule B of (income tax) Form 1040.”

Comey was convicted in 1995 “for taking a copy of the statutes on C.D. Rom from the Office of the Revisor of Statutes without paying for it,” the appeals court wrote outlining Comey’s extensive criminal history.

Comey has a misdemeanor criminal convictions for disorderly conduct in 1986 and shoplifting in 1998.

Federal suit against sex offender with Swiss Bank Account

Citing his inventing skills, Comey stated he needed to “protect the privacy of his inventions” and did “not want to file returns showing his legitimate deductions for research expenses, so he set up a system with a corporation to avoid having to file returns,” the appeals court ruling states.

“Comey stated that the IRS conducted an investigation, instigated by opponents when he ran for political office,” the ruling states. “Comey accused DOR employees of filing false affidavits” and “maintained he had legally managed to have no tax liability.”

The state court of appeals ruling dated March 25, 1999 was affirmed by Judge P. Charles Jones, a Dane County Circuit Court judge participated the Judicial Exchange Program that swaps judges between the trial courts and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

The prior convictions are the two counts of failure to file a personal income tax return and two counts of filing false sales tax returns that the prosecutor referred to at the July 2, 1997 sentencing.  On May 26, 1993, Comey was sentenced to four months’ in jail on one count of failing to file his personal income tax return received probation for one count of failure to file a personal income tax return and two counts of filing false sales tax returns. After Comey failed to file tax returns in violation of the probation conditions, his probation was revoked and on June 7, 1995 he was sentenced to 150 days in jail.

The WI Dept of Revenue filed a civil action against Comey, Cristeen B. Comey, and the 777 Corporation. Details of that case and the purpose of the 777 Corporation were not available.

The U.S. government filed a civil suit against Swiss bank UBS AG to reveal 52,000 American customers who allegedly conspired with the bank to defraud the IRS and federal government taxes. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) agreed to reveal information on 4,450 of the 52,000 accounts sought by the IRS, preserving the anonymity of more than 90 percent of their U.S. Customers.

On August 29, 2013, the U.S. Justice Department announced the Swiss Bank Program that “provides a path for Swiss banks to resolve potential criminal liabilities in the United States,” according to the USDOJ Swiss Bank Program webpage. Swiss banks were “required to advise the department by Dec. 31, 2013” that they may have “committed tax-related criminal offenses in connection with undeclared U.S.-related accounts.”

Banks under criminal investigation related to their Swiss-banking activities and all individuals were excluded from the program.

——-

Wisconsin Department of Revenue filed 10 delinquent tax warrants against Comey between Jan. 1998-Aug. 2011

Delinquent tax warrant in Waukesha County

Filed 08-17-2011 for 07-25-2011 judgment

$48,625.46

Two delinquent tax warrants in Waukesha County

Filed 08-17-2011 for 07-25-2011 judgment

$30,648.37

Delinquent tax warrant in Waukesha County

Filed 08-17-2011 for 07-25-2011 judgment
$171,172.46

Delinquent tax warrant in Waukesha County

Filed 08-17-2011 for 07-25-2011 judgment

$209,011.61

Delinquent tax warrant in Winnebago County

Filed 11-29-2010 for 08-30-2010 judgment

$30,648.37

Delinquent tax warrant in Winnebago County

Filed 11-29-2010 for 08-30-2010 judgment

$48,625.46

Delinquent tax warrant in Winnebago County

Filed 11-29-2010 for 08-30-2010 judgment

$209,011.61

Delinquent tax warrant in Winnebago County

Filed 11-29-2010 for 08-30-2010 judgment

$171,172.46

Delinquent tax warrant in Waukesha County

Filed 01-13-1998 for 08-18-1997 judgment

$11,212.65

——-

12-18-1996 shoplifting/retail theft guilty plea (one count dismissed on 03-20-1997)

11-22-1997 violation of domestic abuse injunction; dismissed

12-18-1997 pleaded guilty to harassment violating restraining order and a charge of misdemeanor bail jumping-misdemeanor was dismissed.

06-16-1998 found guilty of misdemeanor disorderly conduct

6-18-2003 misdemeanor disorderly conduct; dismissed on prosecutor’s motion Milwaukee County

11-18-2003 felony bail jumping; dismissed Waukesha County

03-24-2004 2nd degree sexual assault of a mentally-ill victim; found guilty by Waukesha County jury

——-

U.S. Treasury Department

Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Reports, commonly known as an FBAR

https://www.fincen.gov/forms/bsa_forms/fbar.html

https://www.irs.gov/uac/newsroom/taxpayers-with-foreign-assets-may-have-fbar-and-fatca-filing-requirements-in-june

http://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/NoRegFBARFiler.html

https://www.treasury.gov/services/Pages/TD-F-90-22.1-Report-of-Foreign-Bank-and-Financial-Accounts.aspx

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/report-of-foreign-bank-and-financial-accounts-fbar

FinCEN Regulatory Helpline

800-949-2732

General FBAR filing questions may be directed to the IRS hotline

1-800-800-2877, option 2

FBARQuestions@irs.gov

Foreign financial account at UBS AG in Switzerland

https://www.ubs.com/us

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBS

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBS_tax_evasion_controversy

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ubs-ag-admits-anticompetitive-conduct-former-employees-municipal-bond-investments-market-and

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/bank_agreement.pdf

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2009-02-19-ubs-tax-evaders-irs_N.htm

Wisconsin Department of Revenue

https://www.revenue.wi.gov/

Martin M Shoemaker, trial attorney with the Justice Department’s Tax Division

martin.m.shoemaker@usdoj.gov

202-514-6491 (office)

202-514-6770 (fax)

United States Department of Justice (DC)

Tax Division

Ben Franklin Station

555 4th St NW

PO Box 7238

Washington, DC 20044-7238

https://www.justice.gov/tax

https://www.justice.gov/tax/about-division

https://www.justice.gov/tax/swiss-bank-program

https://www.justice.gov/tax/file/631361/download

https://www.justice.gov/tax/file/631366/download

http://thetaxtimes.blogspot.com/2015/10/doj-is-following-money-trail-disclosed.html

https://twitter.com/thejusticedept

http://www.law360.com/articles/755483/a-look-at-the-doj-s-latest-offshore-tax-case

https://taxcontroversywatch.com/category/swiss-bank-program/

http://www.accountingweb.com/tax/individuals/contrary-to-reports-doj-will-continue-probe-of-ubs-swiss-bank-account-holders

https://www.blankrome.com/index.cfm?contentID=37&itemID=3859

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-four-banks-reach-resolutions-under-swiss-bank-program-0

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-final-swiss-bank-program-category-2-resolution-hszh-verwaltungs

https://taxcontroversywatch.com/2016/01/27/justice-department-announces-historic-conclusion-of-swiss-bank-program-for-category-2-institutions/

https://www.justice.gov/tax/offshore-compliance-initiative

Background:

https://www.wicourts.gov/ca/opinion/DisplayDocument.html?content=html&seqNo=13931

The court of appeals ruling was affirmed by Judge P. Charles Jones, a Dane County Circuit Court judge participated the Judicial Exchange Program that swaps judges between the trial courts and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals

https://wicourts.gov/courts/appeals/judexchange.htm

U.S. District Court Judge J. P. Stadtmueller in Milwaukee

414-297-1122

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Peter_Stadtmueller

www.wied.uscourts.gov/judges/jp-stadtmueller

www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/54417857.html

United States Courthouse Room 471
517 East Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53202

Taxes involving the United States of America represented by Martin M Shoemaker, trial attorney with the Justice Department’s Tax Division

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1688298/txw-3-2015cv00075-complaint-attachment-3.pdf

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1688298/txw-3-2015cv00075-complaint-attachment-3.pdf

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/tax/legacy/2009/11/09/dykeman_filed_complaint.pdf

https://www.treasury.gov/AUCTIONS/IRS/docs/oksrjo8294oth.pdf

http://famguardian.org/subjects/Taxes/CaseStudies/CHansen/Litigation/DOJInjunction20050502/Motions/20050822-StrikeJury/20050822-0021-22-NotMotionStrikeJury.pdf

http://www.quatloos.com/Q-Forum/viewtopic.php?t=9455

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/tax/legacy/2006/05/18/BishopInjunction.pdf

http://www.accountingweb.com/tax/irs/federal-court-halts-tax-fraud-scam-in-missouri

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/tax/legacy/2011/03/04/haney_complaint.pdf

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/tax/legacy/2009/01/16/GosneyComplaint_0.pdf

https://dockets.justia.com/docket/louisiana/laedce/2:2013cv06485/160171

https://www.justice.gov/archive/tax/Stoll_Perm_Inj.pdf

David L. Comey, DOC 00260220

https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseSearchResults.do?recordsPerPage=25&partyName.firstName=david&partyName.lastName=comey&partyName.businessName=&partyName.middleName=l&partyName.showMissingMiddleNames=true&&countyNo=0&caseNo.caseNo=&rss=1

http://offender.doc.state.wi.us/lop/detail.do

http://www.sorarchive.com/directory/WI/C/David_L_Comey_593441

https://www.wicourts.gov/ca/opinion/DisplayDocument.html?content=html&seqNo=13931

https://www.wicourts.gov/ca/opinion/DisplayDocument.html?content=html&seqNo=13931#_ftnref2

http://offender.doc.state.wi.us/lop/detail.do

https://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do;jsessionid=F8C172A065256C2F1813C63A4E87EB18.render6?countyNo=67&caseNo=2003CF000800&cacheId=A1921B6BB39CD5FCA56C7E8F693B1181&recordCount=1&offset=0

Wisconsin Department of Corrections

http://www.wi-doc.com

Waupun Correctional Institution

http://doc.wi.gov/families-visitors/find-facility/waupun-correctional-institution

Seal of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections .png
Fry1989
Hazmat2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waupun_Correctional_Institution

Waupun Correctional Institution

Mr. Brian Foster, Warden

920-324-5571 (office)
920-324-7250 (fax)

Waupun Correctional Institution
200 S. Madison St.
P.O. Box 351
Waupun, WI 53963-0351

Sex Offender Registry Program:

(608) 240-5830

Sex Offender Registry Office

DOC Sex Offender Registry Program Administration
3099 E Washington Avenue
Madison, WI 53704