Tag Archive | "prosecutors"

Former Hospital Executive Accused of Stealing


The former vice president of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is now accused of stealing $1.7 million from the esteemed facility, authorities announced Thursday.

The United States Attorney’s office said that Roosevelt Hairston, Jr. effectively hid the theft from CHOP by coming up shell companies, opened bank accounts under their names, and established deceptive offices for them.

One of the prosecutors said that 55-year old Hairston used the money to support her luxurious lifestyle. He has high-end cars, a yacht and a captain to maintain it, and a real estate, among many other luxury items. The prosecutors added that the fraud begun on 1999 and continued until he was caught earlier this year.

On top of these charges, he is also accused of identity theft and deliberate lying to his co-workers and staff. Moreover, the government also charged him for failing to report income to the Internal Revenue Service.

Howard Bruce Klein, Hairston’s lawyer, said that Hairston made a lot of huge mistakes in his life and he admits to some financial irregularities. He, however, insists that there is another side to him. Klein added that Hairston works with the hungry and homeless thru his public interest law center. He also mentored many students. Klein said that he is hoping that those kind actions will be taken in to consideration as the trial proceeds.

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Beauty Queen Quits in the Middle of Identity Theft Charges


The state beauty queen of Wisconsin has voluntarily given up her title just a few weeks before she was scheduled to fight for the national crown. Identity theft charges filed against her by prosecutors prompted this move.

26-year old Shaletta Porterfield was set to represent Wisconsin in the Miss USA Pageant in Las Vegas next month after winning the 2011 Miss Wisconsin-USA crown. However, the pageant officials announced that Porterfield decided to resign last week following a three-count criminal case filed against her by the Dane County, Wisconsin prosecutors.

Based on the complaint, Porterfield used to work as a commission-base sales representative for a company in Illinois which sells Internet and telephone directory ads. In order to increase her commissions, Porterfield allegedly drew up questionable contracts with three companies in Wisconsin and forged signatures in the process.

The companies only found out about the drafted contracts after the American Marketing and Publishing, Porterfield’s employer, sent invoices for a total amount of $4,670.

If proven guilty, Porterfield could be imprisoned for up to six years in state prison and pay fines of as much as $30,000 for all three charges. Robert Nagal, the beauty queen’s attorney, refused to make a statement and comment on the issue. He was apparently out of his office on Tuesday.

As the first runner-up of the Miss Wisconsin-USA 2011, Jordan Morkin will represent the state in the national competition next month in Las Vegas.

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Mom Convicted After She Withheld Cancer Medications


A mother from Massachusetts who withheld chemotherapeutic drugs was convicted Tuesday. Those were supposed to be given at home from her autistic son who also has non-Hodgkins lymphoma. She was convicted of attempted murder after jurors dismissed Kristen LaBrie’s claim that she thought side effects of those drugs could kill her son.

LaBrie was decided guilty of child endangerment, as well as battery and assault for not giving her son, Jeremy Fraser, 5 months worth of cancer medications. The boy was diagnosed with cancer in 2006 and died three years later at the age of 9.

LaBrie said that she deliberately stopped her son’s cancer treatment because she was seeing his son get really sick from the medicine’s side effects. Prosecutors see this as her way of running away from her responsibilities as a single mother to Jeremy.

One of the jurors Paul Holladay said that it was easy for them to reach a decision on the minor charges but had a really difficult time discussing LaBrie’s attempted murder case. He further said that when the trial started, they did not think they’d find her guilty and neither did they want it to end up that way.

However, Holladay also said that as more pieces of evidence were reviewed, the more they were pushed to the conclusion that the single mother is guilty. LaBrie was aware of the implications and importance of the treatment for her son but continued to deprive him of it.

LaBrie became teary-eyed while the verdict was read but consoled her sister who was then sobbing in the front row. When she was led away, she mouthed “I love you” to her family.

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Jaycee Dugard’s Kidnapper to Plead Guilty this Week


A man accused of kidnapping young Jaycee Lee Dugard in 1991 is expected to plead guilty on Thursday, a lawyer involved in the case said on Monday.

Phillip Garrido, 59-years-old, consented to plead guilty under the deal arranged with the prosecutors that will evade him and Jaycee of court trial. However, the plea will likely put him in jail for the rest of his life, said Steve Tapson, the attorney that represents Phillip’s wife and co-defendant.

However, Philip’s wife, Nancy Garrido, was still convinced to go through a trial despite her attorney’s efforts to negotiate her of plea deal that might somehow spare her from lifetime imprisonment. Prosecutors involved in the case refused to comment. The public defender chosen to represent the accused man could not be reached as well.

Phillip and Nancy Garrido are accused of kidnapping 11-year-old Dugard from a street near her home in South Lake Tahoe on June 10, 1991. They held her captive for 18 years in a private area behind Garrido’s house.

Dugard’s living quarters were covered with tents, tarpaulins and old car, which were often overlooked by police officers investigating the scene. During the time of her captivity, authorities said Dugard bore two daughters with Philip Garrido.

Their identity was kept secret until Garrido roused suspicion among the police while he tried to hold a special Christian gathering on a school campus. Dugard’s reappearance in 2009 made international headlines. She was then 29 years-old.

According to Tapson, the Garridos fully confessed to the El Dorado County authorities. The attorney wishes to give Nancy Garrido some mercy as she has no criminal records in the past and was only influenced by her husband at time the child was kidnapped.

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Former Gucci Computer Technician was Charged with Hacking in New York


Gucci Ex-employee HackerA former Gucci Computer technician from New York’s headquarter was charged with hacking into Gucci’s computer system.

Sam Chihlung Yin hacked into the luxury retailer’s system and caused about $200,000 worth of damage. He pleaded not guilty over all the charges against him. He was not just charged with computer tampering but the 34-year-old Sam was also charged with identity theft, falsification of business documents and many other charges. His charges were brought up in Manhattan Federal Court last Monday.

Despite all the allegations presented he was released without bail.

Yin was actually fired from Gucci because of abusing his employee’s discount privileges. According to the prosecutors, he bought bulk Gucci items and sent them to Asia for resale. The disgruntled former Employee hacked into the computer system and deleted several files including virtual servers. He was also able to turn off a storage network and removed a network of storage areas. Aside from those, he was able to delete a storage disk which contained corporate emails from the server.

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