$35 million awarded to Tinley woman
Misdiagnosis led to woman's brain damage; board expected to approve settlement today
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Daily Southtown
by Jonathan Lipman
A Tinley Park woman who suffered severe brain damage while having surgery at Oak Forest Hospital will get $35 million under a settlement expected to be approved today by the Cook County Board.
The payment to the family of Neveen Morkos, an Egyptian immigrant, is the highest medical negligence settlement ever paid by the county, litigation subcommittee chairman Peter Silvestri said.
"Here's a young woman — mother of two, wife, vital person — who walks into the hospital and comes out basically not living, though not dead," said Silvestri (R-Elmwood Park). "The amount is certainly large, but certainly justified. We try to do the right thing."
Cook County taxpayers will pay $20 million of the settlement; the county's insurance companies will pick up the rest. Silvestri said he and other committee members believed a jury could have forced a higher payment if the county did not settle.
Morkos' family hopes to use the money to bring her home. She has been rehabilitating at Burbank's Brentwood nursing home for six months.
"That's why we rushed this case, otherwise she might have wound up back in a county facility, back at Oak Forest, because she didn't have health insurance," said Morkos' attorney, Eugene Pavalon. "Now she'll be able to get the proper care she needs and be surrounded by a loving family."
Neveen Morkos, 30, and her husband, Hany, came to the United States in February 2004 to join her sister and his brother, who are also married. Christians living in a mostly Muslim country, the Morkos family sought to escape persecution, Pavalon said.
Both of them were college educated, Neveen with a degree in computer science and Hany in business. But neither spoke English, so Hany worked at a restaurant while Neveen cared for their children Halana, 6, and Victor, 3, Pavalon said.
Neveen Morkos started feeling sharp pains in her stomach May 19, 2004. With no insurance and ineligible for public aid as a recent immigrant, the only hospital Morkos could afford was Oak Forest. Like the other two county hospitals, Oak Forest accepts all patients, regardless of what they can pay.
Doctors diagnosed her with an inflamed appendix and ordered an emergency appendectomy. Doctors later discovered she had only a viral infection, Pavalon said, and the operation was not needed.
The hospital's anesthesiologist, Dr. Gustavo Albear, inserted a breathing tube down Morkos throat before putting her to sleep, Pavalon said. But it became dislodged, starving Morkos of needed oxygen and leading to permanent brain damage.
Albear, 78 at the time, retired after the incident, county officials said, and he is no longer practicing medicine.
Morkos still cannot speak, but she can write single words with her right hand, he said.
Hany continued to work at the restaurant while he learns English, Pavalon said, while Neveen's mother flew in from Egypt to care for her daughter around-the-clock.
With the settlement money, the family plans to buy a new home and renovate it for Morkos' special needs.
"This is one of those traumatic incidences that simply should not have happened," Pavalon said.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.suffredin.org/news/newsitem.asp?language=english&newsitemid=997
Editor's note: Mrs. Morkos is in the hands of Judge Kawamoto and her team on the 18th floor of the Daley Courthouse. This Shark wonders how much of the 35 million is left. God help Mrs. Morkos. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
KawamotoDragon.com
Saturday, March 31, 2012
An Obituary - Interesting and sadly rather true.
An Obituary - Interesting and sadly rather true.
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- And maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.
Editor's note: One of our research sharks had come across several banks who hold multi-million dollar estates assets without paying interest. Our sharks have found an incestuous relation between these banks and the "Judicial-Nursing Home Complex". Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Connecticut condo owner told to remove Jewish religious ornament or face fines
Connecticut condo owner told to remove Jewish religious ornament or face fines
By Joshua Rhett Miller
Published March 30, 2012
FoxNews.com
A Connecticut condominium owner has been told by the complex's management association that she must remove a Jewish religious symbol or face fines, advocates told FoxNews.com.
Barbara Cadranel, an internationally-renown harpsichordist living in Stratford, Conn., contacted the Connecticut Regional Office of the Anti-Defamation League earlier this month to report that she had been told by the California Condo Association to remove the mezuzah -- a small object inscribed with Hebrew verses from the Torah placed on the doorpost of a Jewish family's home -- or face fines of $50 per day, according to ADL's Connecticut Regional Director Gary Jones.
"It's pretty rare," Jones said of disputes between condominium association and owners involving mezuzot. "The obligation to place a mezuzah on the doorframe or doorpost is a right in the Bible. Jewish people everywhere, including those in condominiums, post a mezuzah as a reminder of their religious obligations."
Jones said Cadranel, 60, who could not be reached by FoxNews.com for comment Friday, has retained Nathan and Alyza Lewin of Lewin & Lewin, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that has notified the condominium association that its actions are in violation of the Federal Fair Housing Act.
Cadranel told The Hartford Courtant she received the mezuzah as a gift last fall. She now feels "violated" after being told to remove it, she told the newspaper.
"I'm bullied and I'm saddened," she told the Courant. "It's changed my whole existence here."
Cadranel, who "travels the world" playing harpsichord and other classical instruments, travels so often that "she doesn't have a real home," Jones said.
"For the first time in awhile, she's had a place to call home," he continued. "So it's very disconcerting to her that this would be an issue.
"It's not a decorative choice, or a choice at all when a condo association or anyone says that a mezuzah can’t be put on a doorpost or doorframe. Basically, they are telling the Jewish person that he or she cannot live there."
Attempts to reach representatives at the California Condo Association were not successful Friday. According to an agreement with its condo owners, the display of items like Christmas wreaths and crosses on doors is allowed, but the display of other items such as mezuzah on doorposts is not, the Jewish Ledger reports.
The association's attorney has said that Cadranel was well aware of the bylaws when she purchased the unit on Aug. 31, 2010, the Courant reports.
"The declaration expressly prohibits unit owners from hanging or displaying anything on the outside windows or outside walls of any building, and also prohibits any sign from being affixed to or placed upon the exterior walls … without prior consent of the association's board of directors," attorney Kurt Ahlberg, said in a March 21 response.
Jim O'Neill, spokesman for the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, said his office had not received a complaint on the matter.
"If she files a complaint, we'll certainly look into it," O'Neill told FoxNews.com.
Similar disputes have occurred at condominiums around the nation.
In the most well-known case, a Chicago couple sued after being told they couldn't put the symbol on their door. The case dragged on from 2005 to 2009, eventually making its way to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals before the parties settled. The couple was permitted to keep the symbol in place.
The case led city officials and Illinois state Legislature to pass laws barring condominium associations from banning the symbols. Some states have enacted laws specifically protecting condo residents’ rights to put up mezuzahs.
Click here for more on this report from Fox CT
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/30/connecticut-condo-owner-told-to-remove-jewish-religious-ornament-or-face-fines/?test=latestnews
Hotel Heir's Murder Sparks Miami Feud
Hotel Heir's Murder Sparks Miami Feud
Will Stripper Widow Inherit Slain Millionaire's Loot?
getty imagesSeamy Side: The brutal killing of Ben Novack Jr., whose father owned Miami Beach’s famed Fontainebleau resort, has led to a nasty family feud over his fortune. His ex-stripper widow is accused of setting up the murder.
By Mary Jane Fine
Published March 19, 2012, issue of March 23, 2012.
Miami — Initially, the brutal killing of Ben Novack Jr., heir to the founder of Miami Beach’s famed Fontainebleau Hotel, looked like the sordid story of a wealthy couple’s sexually charged marriage gone very wrong. A year later, the alleged murder of Novack Jr.’s mother was thrown into the mix. Then, in late February, the bizarrely tangled case escalated into a full-scale family feud involving the respective extended families of both husband and wife.
At issue: whether former stripper Narcisa Novack orchestrated her own widowhood and, if so, whether the Novack family fortune of some $6 to $10 million can be kept from benefiting her and her daughter and grandsons by way of a previous relationship.
police file photoBen Novack Jr.“We are trying to have Narcy Novack declared ineligible to collect on her husband’s estate, the theory being that you can’t collect if you’re responsible for the death,” said attorney Mark Hanson, who filed a Petition to Determine Heirs in a Florida probate court on behalf of Novack Jr.’s aunt and three Novack cousins.
Should Narcy Novack, who faces trial in April for her husband’s murder, be found guilty, the disposition of the Novack estate could depend on a court’s interpretation of Florida’s so-called slayer rule, which says a killer “forfeits all benefits…. with respect to the decedent’s estate.”
In Florida, it has never been decided whether the family of a person found guilty of murder can benefit, Hanson said. But even if Narcy Novack is acquitted, Hanson told the Forward, he will pursue a civil route to deny benefits. Civil cases utilize a lesser standard of evidence than criminal cases to determine guilt. Hanson cited the O.J. Simpson case, in which Simpson was acquitted in the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman, but a civil trial jury found him liable for the wrongful death of Goldman and awarded the Goldman family $33 million.
It was Harvey Morse, a Florida-based private investigator and international genealogist, who first got Hanson involved in the Novack case. Morse, who did not know the Novack family but learned about Ben Jr.’s murder through the media, recalled discussing the case with friends over lunch and saying to himself, “I’m gonna go find the relatives.”
broward county sheriff's officeNarcisa NovackMorse soon found four family blood relatives who might legitimately be heirs to both Novack’s estate and that of his mother, Bernice Novack: Maxine Fiel, who is Bernice Novack’s sister, and Novack Jr.’s first cousins —Andrea Danenza Wynn, Joseph Danenza and Gerald P. Brezner. Wynn is married to Las Vegas hotel and casino magnate Steve Wynn.
“I got hold of Maxine and I started to feel bad, being Jewish myself, and knowing what she’s gone through,” Morse said. He will also get paid a percentage in the event that any of these heirs inherit money from the estate.
At issue, Morse says, is the possibility that Narcy Novack’s daughter or grandsons could inherit Novack’s estate and use the money to benefit Narcy Novack. “She sits in jail,” he explained during a phone conversation, spinning out a possible scenario. “They get the money. She calls and asks for a loan to hire a defense attorney.”
Among the key assets of the estate is Novack Jr.’s famed collection of Batman memorabilia, valued at some $2 million.
The whole squalid business began on July 12, 2009, when Novack Jr.’s body was discovered, bound and bludgeoned, his eyes slit by a knife, in Room 453 of the Hilton Westchester in Rye Brook, N.Y. Four days short of the one-year anniversary of Novack’s death, Preet Bharara, United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the indictments of Narcy Novack, then 53; her brother, Cristobal Veliz, and two other men on charges of interstate domestic violence and stalking. “As described in the indictment,” Bharara said, “the plot that led to the brutal death of Ben Novack was a family affair.”
George Venizelos of the FBI’s New York field office said: “The killing of Ben Novack was not a spur of the moment crime of passion. It was the end game of considerable planning.”
getty imagesAndrea WynnThe charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The day after Novack Jr.’s body was found, investigators questioned Narcy Novack extensively. They got an earful, including accounts of sex games between the two, a sometimes volatile marriage, and her late husband’s obsession with Batman, and with pornography involving amputees. They considered the possibility of sex games that turned brutal having caused his death, but ultimately they concluded that Narcy Novack had conspired to set up the slaying. Three months earlier, Bernice Novack had been killed in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a death initially attributed to a series of accidental falls. But last year a federal indictment charged Narcy Novack with arranging that murder, as well.
Ben Novack Jr. reportedly met his wife when she was an exotic dancer performing under the stage name Sylvia in a now-defunct strip club in Hialeah, Fla. He had grown up in and around the glamour of his father’s world-renowned hotel. The creative crown of American architect Morris Lapidus’s career, the Fountainbleau is, even today, a palatial icon of Miami Beach high life. It has been the site for everything from films starring Frank Sinatra (“A Hole in the Head,” 1959), Jerry Lewis (“The Bellboy,” 1960) and Al Pacino (“Scarface,” 1983) to the real-life headquarters of the Black Tuna Gang, a notorious marijuana-smuggling ring busted by the FBI in the late 1970s. In Woody Allen’s 1971 movie “Bananas,” when an ousted Latin Ameri can dictator flees his country aboard a plane, he calls the Fontainebleau en route to reserve a room.
But for the Novack family, the dream ended when Ben Novack Sr. lost the Fontainebleau to bankruptcy in 1977. His son established and operated Convention Concepts Unlimited, a multimillion-dollar venture that organized and oversaw business conventions. The Novacks’ 2009 trip to New York from their home in Fort Lauderdale was, in fact, a business trip: an Amway convention.
Narcy Novack told detectives that her husband had been awake when she left their room, shortly after 7 a.m., but upon returning, less than an hour later, she tripped over his body.
Videotape obtained by Miami’s CBS affiliate and carried on its Web site shows Narcy Novack answering investigators’ questions. “I walk in and I trip on something, and I realize he’s on the floor,” she tells them on the tape. She also talks about the couple’s sex lives: “He likes rough stuff,” she says. But Novack Jr.’s spouse steadfastly denies culpability, telling her questioners, “I have nothing to do with my husband’s death.” Investigators theorized that she conspired with her husband’s killers, allowing them entrance into the room.
Multiple calls seeking comment from Narcy Novack’s attorney, Howard E. Tanner, went unreturned.
Novack Jr.’s 35-page will leaves the majority of his estate, with the possibility of more in offshore accounts, to his wife and a smaller amount to her daughter, May Abad, and two teenage grandsons; it also leaves “all tangible properties” — household effects, jewelry, furniture, automobiles and collections — to his wife or, had she died first, to his mother. Novack Jr.’s tangible assets reportedly include an original Batmobile.
A sizable portion of Novack Jr.’s holdings has been sold or auctioned off, with the money held in trust, according to Hanson.
In a final bit of irony, Novack Jr.’s will also leaves explicit burial instructions, directing that the “casketed remains” of Narcy Novack and Novack Jr. be interred “side by side” at the family mausoleum at Mount Lebanon Cemetery, in the Glendale section of Queens.
Contact Mary Jane Fine at feedback@forward.com
Read more:
http://www.forward.com/articles/153028/hotel-heirs-murder-sparks-miami-feud/?p=all#ixzz1qfj7Fk4i
http://forward.com/articles/153028/hotel-heirs-murder-sparks-miami-feud/
Will Stripper Widow Inherit Slain Millionaire's Loot?
getty imagesSeamy Side: The brutal killing of Ben Novack Jr., whose father owned Miami Beach’s famed Fontainebleau resort, has led to a nasty family feud over his fortune. His ex-stripper widow is accused of setting up the murder.
By Mary Jane Fine
Published March 19, 2012, issue of March 23, 2012.
Miami — Initially, the brutal killing of Ben Novack Jr., heir to the founder of Miami Beach’s famed Fontainebleau Hotel, looked like the sordid story of a wealthy couple’s sexually charged marriage gone very wrong. A year later, the alleged murder of Novack Jr.’s mother was thrown into the mix. Then, in late February, the bizarrely tangled case escalated into a full-scale family feud involving the respective extended families of both husband and wife.
At issue: whether former stripper Narcisa Novack orchestrated her own widowhood and, if so, whether the Novack family fortune of some $6 to $10 million can be kept from benefiting her and her daughter and grandsons by way of a previous relationship.
police file photoBen Novack Jr.“We are trying to have Narcy Novack declared ineligible to collect on her husband’s estate, the theory being that you can’t collect if you’re responsible for the death,” said attorney Mark Hanson, who filed a Petition to Determine Heirs in a Florida probate court on behalf of Novack Jr.’s aunt and three Novack cousins.
Should Narcy Novack, who faces trial in April for her husband’s murder, be found guilty, the disposition of the Novack estate could depend on a court’s interpretation of Florida’s so-called slayer rule, which says a killer “forfeits all benefits…. with respect to the decedent’s estate.”
In Florida, it has never been decided whether the family of a person found guilty of murder can benefit, Hanson said. But even if Narcy Novack is acquitted, Hanson told the Forward, he will pursue a civil route to deny benefits. Civil cases utilize a lesser standard of evidence than criminal cases to determine guilt. Hanson cited the O.J. Simpson case, in which Simpson was acquitted in the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend Ronald Goldman, but a civil trial jury found him liable for the wrongful death of Goldman and awarded the Goldman family $33 million.
It was Harvey Morse, a Florida-based private investigator and international genealogist, who first got Hanson involved in the Novack case. Morse, who did not know the Novack family but learned about Ben Jr.’s murder through the media, recalled discussing the case with friends over lunch and saying to himself, “I’m gonna go find the relatives.”
broward county sheriff's officeNarcisa NovackMorse soon found four family blood relatives who might legitimately be heirs to both Novack’s estate and that of his mother, Bernice Novack: Maxine Fiel, who is Bernice Novack’s sister, and Novack Jr.’s first cousins —Andrea Danenza Wynn, Joseph Danenza and Gerald P. Brezner. Wynn is married to Las Vegas hotel and casino magnate Steve Wynn.
“I got hold of Maxine and I started to feel bad, being Jewish myself, and knowing what she’s gone through,” Morse said. He will also get paid a percentage in the event that any of these heirs inherit money from the estate.
At issue, Morse says, is the possibility that Narcy Novack’s daughter or grandsons could inherit Novack’s estate and use the money to benefit Narcy Novack. “She sits in jail,” he explained during a phone conversation, spinning out a possible scenario. “They get the money. She calls and asks for a loan to hire a defense attorney.”
Among the key assets of the estate is Novack Jr.’s famed collection of Batman memorabilia, valued at some $2 million.
The whole squalid business began on July 12, 2009, when Novack Jr.’s body was discovered, bound and bludgeoned, his eyes slit by a knife, in Room 453 of the Hilton Westchester in Rye Brook, N.Y. Four days short of the one-year anniversary of Novack’s death, Preet Bharara, United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the indictments of Narcy Novack, then 53; her brother, Cristobal Veliz, and two other men on charges of interstate domestic violence and stalking. “As described in the indictment,” Bharara said, “the plot that led to the brutal death of Ben Novack was a family affair.”
George Venizelos of the FBI’s New York field office said: “The killing of Ben Novack was not a spur of the moment crime of passion. It was the end game of considerable planning.”
getty imagesAndrea WynnThe charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The day after Novack Jr.’s body was found, investigators questioned Narcy Novack extensively. They got an earful, including accounts of sex games between the two, a sometimes volatile marriage, and her late husband’s obsession with Batman, and with pornography involving amputees. They considered the possibility of sex games that turned brutal having caused his death, but ultimately they concluded that Narcy Novack had conspired to set up the slaying. Three months earlier, Bernice Novack had been killed in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a death initially attributed to a series of accidental falls. But last year a federal indictment charged Narcy Novack with arranging that murder, as well.
Ben Novack Jr. reportedly met his wife when she was an exotic dancer performing under the stage name Sylvia in a now-defunct strip club in Hialeah, Fla. He had grown up in and around the glamour of his father’s world-renowned hotel. The creative crown of American architect Morris Lapidus’s career, the Fountainbleau is, even today, a palatial icon of Miami Beach high life. It has been the site for everything from films starring Frank Sinatra (“A Hole in the Head,” 1959), Jerry Lewis (“The Bellboy,” 1960) and Al Pacino (“Scarface,” 1983) to the real-life headquarters of the Black Tuna Gang, a notorious marijuana-smuggling ring busted by the FBI in the late 1970s. In Woody Allen’s 1971 movie “Bananas,” when an ousted Latin Ameri can dictator flees his country aboard a plane, he calls the Fontainebleau en route to reserve a room.
But for the Novack family, the dream ended when Ben Novack Sr. lost the Fontainebleau to bankruptcy in 1977. His son established and operated Convention Concepts Unlimited, a multimillion-dollar venture that organized and oversaw business conventions. The Novacks’ 2009 trip to New York from their home in Fort Lauderdale was, in fact, a business trip: an Amway convention.
Narcy Novack told detectives that her husband had been awake when she left their room, shortly after 7 a.m., but upon returning, less than an hour later, she tripped over his body.
Videotape obtained by Miami’s CBS affiliate and carried on its Web site shows Narcy Novack answering investigators’ questions. “I walk in and I trip on something, and I realize he’s on the floor,” she tells them on the tape. She also talks about the couple’s sex lives: “He likes rough stuff,” she says. But Novack Jr.’s spouse steadfastly denies culpability, telling her questioners, “I have nothing to do with my husband’s death.” Investigators theorized that she conspired with her husband’s killers, allowing them entrance into the room.
Multiple calls seeking comment from Narcy Novack’s attorney, Howard E. Tanner, went unreturned.
Novack Jr.’s 35-page will leaves the majority of his estate, with the possibility of more in offshore accounts, to his wife and a smaller amount to her daughter, May Abad, and two teenage grandsons; it also leaves “all tangible properties” — household effects, jewelry, furniture, automobiles and collections — to his wife or, had she died first, to his mother. Novack Jr.’s tangible assets reportedly include an original Batmobile.
A sizable portion of Novack Jr.’s holdings has been sold or auctioned off, with the money held in trust, according to Hanson.
In a final bit of irony, Novack Jr.’s will also leaves explicit burial instructions, directing that the “casketed remains” of Narcy Novack and Novack Jr. be interred “side by side” at the family mausoleum at Mount Lebanon Cemetery, in the Glendale section of Queens.
Contact Mary Jane Fine at feedback@forward.com
Read more:
http://www.forward.com/articles/153028/hotel-heirs-murder-sparks-miami-feud/?p=all#ixzz1qfj7Fk4i
http://forward.com/articles/153028/hotel-heirs-murder-sparks-miami-feud/
Friday, March 30, 2012
Indianapolis attorney Stacy Sheedy pleads guilty in $596,000 fraud
Indianapolis attorney Stacy Sheedy pleads guilty in $596,000 fraud
1:01 AM, Mar. 22, 2012
An Indianapolis attorney and accountant pleaded guilty Wednesday to theft as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
An investigation discovered late last year that $596,000 was missing from accounts managed for clients by attorney Stacy H. Sheedy. She was charged in January.
Sheedy admitted to two counts of theft, according to a release from Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry, and will receive a sentence of up to eight years. Sentencing is scheduled for April 26 in Marion Superior Court.
The missing funds came from a guardianship account and a family trust account for which Sheedy was responsible. Sheedy entered the guilty plea in court Wednesday.
"As an attorney and accountant, Stacy Sheedy had a fiduciary and ethical obligation to protect her clients," Curry said in a prepared statement. "Not only did she fail her clients by her fraudulent conduct, she knowingly and repeatedly abused a position of trust."
Sheedy also has agreed to the release of three seized bank accounts and movie memorabilia.
The guardianship account supported an elderly widow with Alzheimer's disease residing in a nursing home. Grand jury investigators uncovered unauthorized withdrawals and unaccounted-for funds from the guardianship accounts totaling more than $172,000, the release stated. Sheedy made at least 32 unauthorized withdrawals over six months, investigators found.
That discovery led grand jury investigators to also examine Sheedy's role as trustee of a family trust. A brokerage account within the trust was valued at $501,000 when Sheedy became trustee, the release stated, and was valued at $168 in January. Prosecutors alleged that Sheedy made unauthorized withdrawals from the trust account of $412,500.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120322/LOCAL/203220373/Indianapolis-attorney-Stacy-Sheedy-pleads-guilty-596-000-fraud
Editor's note: Now why can't we have some of the crooked lawyers arrested in the Probate Court of Cook County? FEDs...maybe one or two as an example? Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
1:01 AM, Mar. 22, 2012
An Indianapolis attorney and accountant pleaded guilty Wednesday to theft as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
An investigation discovered late last year that $596,000 was missing from accounts managed for clients by attorney Stacy H. Sheedy. She was charged in January.
Sheedy admitted to two counts of theft, according to a release from Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry, and will receive a sentence of up to eight years. Sentencing is scheduled for April 26 in Marion Superior Court.
The missing funds came from a guardianship account and a family trust account for which Sheedy was responsible. Sheedy entered the guilty plea in court Wednesday.
"As an attorney and accountant, Stacy Sheedy had a fiduciary and ethical obligation to protect her clients," Curry said in a prepared statement. "Not only did she fail her clients by her fraudulent conduct, she knowingly and repeatedly abused a position of trust."
Sheedy also has agreed to the release of three seized bank accounts and movie memorabilia.
The guardianship account supported an elderly widow with Alzheimer's disease residing in a nursing home. Grand jury investigators uncovered unauthorized withdrawals and unaccounted-for funds from the guardianship accounts totaling more than $172,000, the release stated. Sheedy made at least 32 unauthorized withdrawals over six months, investigators found.
That discovery led grand jury investigators to also examine Sheedy's role as trustee of a family trust. A brokerage account within the trust was valued at $501,000 when Sheedy became trustee, the release stated, and was valued at $168 in January. Prosecutors alleged that Sheedy made unauthorized withdrawals from the trust account of $412,500.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120322/LOCAL/203220373/Indianapolis-attorney-Stacy-Sheedy-pleads-guilty-596-000-fraud
Editor's note: Now why can't we have some of the crooked lawyers arrested in the Probate Court of Cook County? FEDs...maybe one or two as an example? Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Crime: Great-Grand Larceny
Crime: Great-Grand Larceny
March 18, 2012
Some friendships aren't strong enough to stand the test of time. Or, if they are, some succumb to the manipulative power of greed.
In a strange case that was concluded one year ago, Harry Abrams, 76, was sentenced to jail time for laundering about 400,000 dollars from his friend, 98-year-old Emanuel Baetich. Harry Abrams plead guilty to all charges, including grand larceny, forgery, and money laundering.
Abrams initially faced a maximum of 15 years in prison, more than likely the rest of his life. However, Abrams wrote a 388,000 dollar restitution check to his friend, allowing his fantastic sentence to be considerably truncated. Abrams was sentenced to a year of weekends in jail for his crimes.
When Baetich checked into a nursing home in 2009, Abrams jumped on the opportunity and snooped through private banking files that Baetich had left at his office.
What really stands out about this case is obviously their respective ages. Sometimes, wisdom does not accompany age, even though the two appear to be linked. The elderly can still make stupid, corrupt, and ultimately evil decisions. It's just lucky that the whole situation was resolved in a matter of two years. Unless Emanuel Baetich is going for the world record, his days are undoubtedly numbered.
One year later, Harry Abrams no longer spends weekends in jail, and the whole situation is a distant memory.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://oneyearlater.hubpages.com/hub/Crime-Great-Grand-Larceny
Prominent Payson attorney suspended
Prominent Payson attorney suspended
Disciplinary panel suspends Harlan Green for six months
By Pete Aleshire
March 16, 2012
Allegations prominent Payson attorney Harlan Green took financial advantage of a mentally disabled woman, mishandled a trust account and neglected his duties prompted the Arizona Supreme Court to suspend his practice of law for six months.
The court also ordered the former Payson town attorney and leading Rim Country criminal lawyer to pay the $4,532 cost of the investigation and go into arbitration to settle fee disputes with three previous clients.
After six months, Green can seek a reinstatement of his right to practice law according to the ruling of the three-member panel led by the Acting Presiding Disciplinary Judge of the Arizona Supreme Court.
The panel regulates the practices of 17,000 Arizona attorneys and concluded that Green had violated several Rules of Professional Conduct including rules concerning communication with clients, fee agreements, conflict of interest, accounting, violation of court orders and cooperating with the court’s investigations of his conduct.
Last year, the state supreme court suspended 43 attorneys and disbarred 43, based on recommendations of the Arizona Bar Association.
Green on Thursday did not return calls seeking comment.
The longtime Payson attorney has handled many locally prominent criminal cases. For instance, he represented a Tonto Basin woman arrested for helping her son hide out after his escape from prison in 2010. Back in 2002, Green defended Payson Mayor Ken Murphy against disorderly conduct charges stemming from a dispute with Fire Marshal Jack Babb who was trying to enforce capacity restrictions at the Oxbow Saloon during rodeo weekend.
The court concluded Green had violated professional standards in four cases. The court’s conclusions included:
Trust Account 2004
Green failed to properly handle or account for money held in the trust account of a man who had a spinal injury and had undergone 10 surgeries in 14 years. The man hired Green to sue a home inspection company and the people who sold him a mobile home that had water damage and mold. Green ultimately won a $33,750 settlement, but mingled the settlement money with his own accounts and ended up collecting half of the settlement in legal fees and costs, according to court documents. The court concluded Green violated rules of conduct by charging the man his $260-an-hour rate for legal advice when he handled problems like broken pipes or talking to a credit card company. The court concluded Green had co-mingled funds and charged “unreasonable” fees.
Forming an LLC 2010
Green took nine months to form a simple limited liability corporation for a client, a deal that cost the client thousands of dollars in extra tax payments. Green collected $1,000 to cover costs and fees, but failed to communicate with the client, return phone calls or form the corporation in a timely fashion. As a result of the delay, the client ended up taxed for the transfer of trust property at a 50 percent rate. The court ruled that Green failed to distinguish between costs and fees, didn’t keep the client “reasonably informed” and neglected to inform the client of her rights.
Mismanaged estate 2009
Green failed to abide by court orders while acting as personal representative of a probate estate and didn’t satisfy his financial responsibilities to the client. Moreover, Green sold a car out of the estate to the mother of his daughter’s friend, without informing the heirs. Even worse, Green told Gila County Superior Court Judge Peter Cahill that he didn’t know who had bought the car, when the judge asked for information. The court also faulted Green’s handling of money from a reverse mortgage included in the estate and his record keeping concerning various assets of the estate.
Took advantage of mentally ill client 2010
Green failed to communicate with a mentally vulnerable client and took advantage of her financially, the court concluded. For instance, after the woman had a dream she had seen a dead person, Green charged her $260 an hour to conduct an Internet search trying to find the person. The woman was trying to get out of a violent and abusive relationship and suffering various mental health problems. After she filed for an order of protection, she allegedly became argumentative and combative with police who arrested her for disorderly conduct. She claimed that she was physically abused. Green failed to get tapes of her booking and arrest in a timely manner, ruining her chance of winning a case, the court concluded. He failed to keep her informed about her legal situation, didn’t clearly explain his fees, charged her his legal advice hourly rate for non-legal services and deposited fees into the wrong account.
Trade names
Green identified his law firm as Payson Law Center, in violation of the rules concerning trade names.
The court concluded that Green “violated duties owed to clients, the legal system and as a professional caused actual and potential injury.”
The three-judge panel concluded that suspension is an appropriate penalty when a lawyer “knowingly engages in conduct that is a violation of a duty owed as a professional and cause injury or potential injury to a client, the public or the legal system.”
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.paysonroundup.com/news/2012/mar/16/prominent-payson-attorney-suspended/
Editor's note: This sure sounds like the conduct of one of the attorneys involved in Alice Gore's estate in the Probate Court of Cook County...and yet that attorney goes unpunished. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
KawamotoDragon.com
Disciplinary panel suspends Harlan Green for six months
By Pete Aleshire
March 16, 2012
Allegations prominent Payson attorney Harlan Green took financial advantage of a mentally disabled woman, mishandled a trust account and neglected his duties prompted the Arizona Supreme Court to suspend his practice of law for six months.
The court also ordered the former Payson town attorney and leading Rim Country criminal lawyer to pay the $4,532 cost of the investigation and go into arbitration to settle fee disputes with three previous clients.
After six months, Green can seek a reinstatement of his right to practice law according to the ruling of the three-member panel led by the Acting Presiding Disciplinary Judge of the Arizona Supreme Court.
The panel regulates the practices of 17,000 Arizona attorneys and concluded that Green had violated several Rules of Professional Conduct including rules concerning communication with clients, fee agreements, conflict of interest, accounting, violation of court orders and cooperating with the court’s investigations of his conduct.
Last year, the state supreme court suspended 43 attorneys and disbarred 43, based on recommendations of the Arizona Bar Association.
Green on Thursday did not return calls seeking comment.
The longtime Payson attorney has handled many locally prominent criminal cases. For instance, he represented a Tonto Basin woman arrested for helping her son hide out after his escape from prison in 2010. Back in 2002, Green defended Payson Mayor Ken Murphy against disorderly conduct charges stemming from a dispute with Fire Marshal Jack Babb who was trying to enforce capacity restrictions at the Oxbow Saloon during rodeo weekend.
The court concluded Green had violated professional standards in four cases. The court’s conclusions included:
Trust Account 2004
Green failed to properly handle or account for money held in the trust account of a man who had a spinal injury and had undergone 10 surgeries in 14 years. The man hired Green to sue a home inspection company and the people who sold him a mobile home that had water damage and mold. Green ultimately won a $33,750 settlement, but mingled the settlement money with his own accounts and ended up collecting half of the settlement in legal fees and costs, according to court documents. The court concluded Green violated rules of conduct by charging the man his $260-an-hour rate for legal advice when he handled problems like broken pipes or talking to a credit card company. The court concluded Green had co-mingled funds and charged “unreasonable” fees.
Forming an LLC 2010
Green took nine months to form a simple limited liability corporation for a client, a deal that cost the client thousands of dollars in extra tax payments. Green collected $1,000 to cover costs and fees, but failed to communicate with the client, return phone calls or form the corporation in a timely fashion. As a result of the delay, the client ended up taxed for the transfer of trust property at a 50 percent rate. The court ruled that Green failed to distinguish between costs and fees, didn’t keep the client “reasonably informed” and neglected to inform the client of her rights.
Mismanaged estate 2009
Green failed to abide by court orders while acting as personal representative of a probate estate and didn’t satisfy his financial responsibilities to the client. Moreover, Green sold a car out of the estate to the mother of his daughter’s friend, without informing the heirs. Even worse, Green told Gila County Superior Court Judge Peter Cahill that he didn’t know who had bought the car, when the judge asked for information. The court also faulted Green’s handling of money from a reverse mortgage included in the estate and his record keeping concerning various assets of the estate.
Took advantage of mentally ill client 2010
Green failed to communicate with a mentally vulnerable client and took advantage of her financially, the court concluded. For instance, after the woman had a dream she had seen a dead person, Green charged her $260 an hour to conduct an Internet search trying to find the person. The woman was trying to get out of a violent and abusive relationship and suffering various mental health problems. After she filed for an order of protection, she allegedly became argumentative and combative with police who arrested her for disorderly conduct. She claimed that she was physically abused. Green failed to get tapes of her booking and arrest in a timely manner, ruining her chance of winning a case, the court concluded. He failed to keep her informed about her legal situation, didn’t clearly explain his fees, charged her his legal advice hourly rate for non-legal services and deposited fees into the wrong account.
Trade names
Green identified his law firm as Payson Law Center, in violation of the rules concerning trade names.
The court concluded that Green “violated duties owed to clients, the legal system and as a professional caused actual and potential injury.”
The three-judge panel concluded that suspension is an appropriate penalty when a lawyer “knowingly engages in conduct that is a violation of a duty owed as a professional and cause injury or potential injury to a client, the public or the legal system.”
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.paysonroundup.com/news/2012/mar/16/prominent-payson-attorney-suspended/
Editor's note: This sure sounds like the conduct of one of the attorneys involved in Alice Gore's estate in the Probate Court of Cook County...and yet that attorney goes unpunished. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
KawamotoDragon.com
Bank of America branch manager admits stealing $2M from customers
Bank of America branch manager admits stealing $2M from customers
Published March 30, 2012
FoxNews.com
Authorities say a former Bank of America (BOA) Texas branch manager accused of stealing more than $2 million from customers' accounts has pleaded guilty.
Pamela Kay Cobb is facing up to 30 years in federal prison for the crime, which spanned nearly 10 years.
According to a press release from U.S. Attorney Sarah Saldana, the 40-year-old worked at the Bank of American branch in the Fort Worth suburb of River Oaks. As branch manager she had full access to customers' bank accounts.
Cobb admitted she fraudulently used customers' names and bank account numbers to fill out withdrawal slips and withdrew customers' cash through her tellers, sometimes telling them it was for the customer and occasionally saying the customer was waiting in her office.
The tellers did not question the legitimacy of the transactions because they trusted Cobb, who later admitted using the stolen money for personal expenses like vacations, clothing, jewelry and the purchase of land.
Read more:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/30/bank-america-branch-manager-admits-stealing-2m-from-customers/
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Woman sentenced in embezzlement case
Woman sentenced in embezzlement case
6:28 AM, Mar. 24, 2012
COLUMBUS -- While Christina Lynn was supposed to be helping two veterans entrusted to her, federal prosecutors said she was busy stealing more than $305,000 from them.
For that, and her guilty plea to a related charge in October, a judge sentenced her to serve 27 months in prison and repay the money.
Lynn, 41, of Williamsport, committed the crime while working as a legal assistant for the law firm of Huffer and Huffer in Circleville. While working in that capacity, she was appointed a legal guardian for the two veterans by the Veterans Administration and Social Security.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Lynn received benefit payments for medical payments and to pay bills.
However, prosecutors said between April 2004 and April 2010, Lynn took $247,000 of the benefits for her personal use and took an additional $58,000 from the trust funds of several of the firm's clients.
She pleaded guilty in October to one count of embezzling public money and was ordered to pay $305,127 in restitution and will serve three years of supervised release after her prison term is done.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20120324/NEWS01/203240310
KawamotoDragon.com
6:28 AM, Mar. 24, 2012
COLUMBUS -- While Christina Lynn was supposed to be helping two veterans entrusted to her, federal prosecutors said she was busy stealing more than $305,000 from them.
For that, and her guilty plea to a related charge in October, a judge sentenced her to serve 27 months in prison and repay the money.
Lynn, 41, of Williamsport, committed the crime while working as a legal assistant for the law firm of Huffer and Huffer in Circleville. While working in that capacity, she was appointed a legal guardian for the two veterans by the Veterans Administration and Social Security.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Lynn received benefit payments for medical payments and to pay bills.
However, prosecutors said between April 2004 and April 2010, Lynn took $247,000 of the benefits for her personal use and took an additional $58,000 from the trust funds of several of the firm's clients.
She pleaded guilty in October to one count of embezzling public money and was ordered to pay $305,127 in restitution and will serve three years of supervised release after her prison term is done.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20120324/NEWS01/203240310
KawamotoDragon.com
Dulles airport TSA manager accused of running prostitution ring
Dulles airport TSA manager accused of running prostitution ring
Published March 29, 2012
FoxNews.com
A manager at the Transportation Security Administration at Dulles airport has been arrested for allegedly running a prostitution ring out of a Maryland hotel.
According to court documents, the agency had received a complaint of "very similar" activities back in 2009.
Bryant Jermaine Livingston, 39, was arrested while on the job as a supervisor of TSA agents at Dulles International Airport. The Manassas, Virginia resident, said by phone he is innocent of the charges, but declined to discuss the details of the case.
According to charging documents, on February 15th, Livingston used cash to rent a room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring, Md. The hotel manager recognized Livingston as a previous customer who, on earlier occasions had "groups of males and females frequently entering and exiting Livingston's room," according to a court document.
Similar activity was happening on February 15, so the manager called Montgomery County Police to report likely prostitution. Responding officers offered to accompany the manager as she went to evict the people from the room.
At the doorway, Livingston denied prostitution was occurring, and invited the manager and police into the room.
Responding officers say they saw, "11 people inside the room [including] three naked females and four males attempting to get dressed. Multiple people were laying on the two beds and other people were sitting in chairs and standing in the room."
Read more:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/29/dulles-airport-tsa-manager-accused-running-prostitution-ring/
New York Jewish school tells students to get off Facebook or be expelled
New York Jewish school tells students to get off Facebook or be expelled
Published March 29, 2012
New York Post
For Facebook users at a Hasidic all-girls high school in New York it's either Exodus -- or expulsion.
Students at the Orthodox Beth Rivkah High School have been ordered to immediately delete their accounts on the popular social-networking site and pay a $100 fine, or be kicked out of the school.
"Girls are getting killed on the internet -- that's the reason for it," Benzion Stock, administrator of the Crown Heights school, said.
Stock said Facebook is also off-limits because it encourages girls to violate the Orthodox code of modesty.
"The internet is a good way to ruin marriages and families," Stock said. "We don't want them there, period. It's the wrong place for a Jewish girl to be. Facebook is not a modest thing to do. Socializing on Facebook could lead to the wrong things."
Read more:
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/03/29/new-york-jewish-school-tells-students-to-get-off-facebook-or-be-expelled/#ixzz1qUDGBAyf?test=latestnews
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Around the World on $69 Million in Welfare Funds
Around the World on $69 Million in Welfare Funds
Please view this video at link below:
http://videos2view.net/welfare-vacations.htm
Siegel turns self in; Michalk recuses from case
Siegel turns self in; Michalk recuses from case
By Nancy Flake
Posted: Thursday, March 22, 2012 12:12 am
An attorney facing two felony charges for allegedly lying on candidate filing applications turned herself in Wednesday on the warrant for the second charge.
And while Jessica Siegel’s case has been assigned to the 221st state District Court, Judge Lisa Michalk recused herself from the case. A retired Liberty County district court judge will oversee the court proceedings, Siegel’s attorney said.
Siegel, 47, a family law attorney, originally attempted to file her ballot application in December to run against incumbent 418th state District Court Judge Tracy Gilbert in the primary. That application was turned down by local Republican Party officials because Siegel lacked the needed length of residency to qualify.
And when Siegel filed her application again March 9, she was arrested moments later by a Texas Ranger at Montgomery County Republican Party headquarters in downtown Conroe. She has been charged with two counts of tampering with a government document, a state jail felony.
If she is convicted, she faces 180 days to two years in jail and a fine up to $10,000 for each charge.
Siegel, who was booked into the Montgomery County Jail that day on one charge, turned herself in around midday Wednesday, said her attorney, Jarrod Walker. She was released shortly after on a $3,000 bond.
She will be arraigned March 29, Walker said.
Siegel did not return calls seeking comment.
“It’s full-steam ahead on the campaign,” Walker said.
Dr. Walter Wilkerson, chair of the MCRP, announced Monday that Siegel can remain on the primary ballot. When Texas Ranger Wende Wakeman, who arrested Siegel March 9 at MCRP headquarters began her investigation soon after Siegel’s first failed application, the evidence Wakeman found showed Siegel moved from Harris County to a Conroe apartment in late February 2011.
A candidate on the primary ballot for the judge seat must have been a resident of the county or appropriate district for two years prior to the November general election.
Siegel previously said she has evidence showing she lived in the county before February 2011 but would not give specifics. Walker also would not say what evidence his client may have.
“We’re going to put on a vigorous defense,” he said.
Walker also predicted the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office would request a special prosecutor to handle the case. He thinks putting the case on a fast track for a speedy resolution before the primary might be best for Siegel, he said.
But no determination has been made yet on either a special prosecutor or a speedy resolution to Siegel’s case, First Assistant District Attorney Phil Grant said.
Michalk recused herself from the case because it involves Gilbert, another judge, said her court coordinator, Sidney Scott.
“It’s common practice in cases like this,” she said. “It removes all appearances of impropriety. We want to make sure she gets a fair trial.”
Michalk requested that Judge Olen Underwood, presiding judge of the Second Administrative Judicial Region of Texas, assign another judge to the case, Scott said. He selected retired Judge C.T. Hight, who formerly presided over the 75th state District Court in Liberty County.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/siegel-turns-self-in-michalk-recuses-from-case/article_150af64a-1830-591a-a7c4-fe04da558cf7.html
By Nancy Flake
Posted: Thursday, March 22, 2012 12:12 am
An attorney facing two felony charges for allegedly lying on candidate filing applications turned herself in Wednesday on the warrant for the second charge.
And while Jessica Siegel’s case has been assigned to the 221st state District Court, Judge Lisa Michalk recused herself from the case. A retired Liberty County district court judge will oversee the court proceedings, Siegel’s attorney said.
Siegel, 47, a family law attorney, originally attempted to file her ballot application in December to run against incumbent 418th state District Court Judge Tracy Gilbert in the primary. That application was turned down by local Republican Party officials because Siegel lacked the needed length of residency to qualify.
And when Siegel filed her application again March 9, she was arrested moments later by a Texas Ranger at Montgomery County Republican Party headquarters in downtown Conroe. She has been charged with two counts of tampering with a government document, a state jail felony.
If she is convicted, she faces 180 days to two years in jail and a fine up to $10,000 for each charge.
Siegel, who was booked into the Montgomery County Jail that day on one charge, turned herself in around midday Wednesday, said her attorney, Jarrod Walker. She was released shortly after on a $3,000 bond.
She will be arraigned March 29, Walker said.
Siegel did not return calls seeking comment.
“It’s full-steam ahead on the campaign,” Walker said.
Dr. Walter Wilkerson, chair of the MCRP, announced Monday that Siegel can remain on the primary ballot. When Texas Ranger Wende Wakeman, who arrested Siegel March 9 at MCRP headquarters began her investigation soon after Siegel’s first failed application, the evidence Wakeman found showed Siegel moved from Harris County to a Conroe apartment in late February 2011.
A candidate on the primary ballot for the judge seat must have been a resident of the county or appropriate district for two years prior to the November general election.
Siegel previously said she has evidence showing she lived in the county before February 2011 but would not give specifics. Walker also would not say what evidence his client may have.
“We’re going to put on a vigorous defense,” he said.
Walker also predicted the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office would request a special prosecutor to handle the case. He thinks putting the case on a fast track for a speedy resolution before the primary might be best for Siegel, he said.
But no determination has been made yet on either a special prosecutor or a speedy resolution to Siegel’s case, First Assistant District Attorney Phil Grant said.
Michalk recused herself from the case because it involves Gilbert, another judge, said her court coordinator, Sidney Scott.
“It’s common practice in cases like this,” she said. “It removes all appearances of impropriety. We want to make sure she gets a fair trial.”
Michalk requested that Judge Olen Underwood, presiding judge of the Second Administrative Judicial Region of Texas, assign another judge to the case, Scott said. He selected retired Judge C.T. Hight, who formerly presided over the 75th state District Court in Liberty County.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/siegel-turns-self-in-michalk-recuses-from-case/article_150af64a-1830-591a-a7c4-fe04da558cf7.html
Waukeganite charged with swindling elderly woman
Waukeganite charged with swindling elderly woman
BY JOHN ROSZKOWSKI jroszkowski@pioneerlocal.com March 27, 2012 8:12PM
Updated: March 28, 2012 2:47AM
A Waukegan woman is being held in Lake County Jail on $250,000 bond on charges she swindled an elderly Lake Forest woman out of approximately $100,000 over a nearly two-year period.
Maria R. Manzanero, 41, of 1709 W. Monroe St., was arrested on a warrant at her home March 25 and charged with financial exploitation of the elderly, aggravated identity theft and theft.
Lake Forest police say Manzanero worked as a home health-care provider from November 2009 through July 2011 at the home of a Lake Forest woman who was over 80 years old.
Reports say she knowingly used personal identifying information of the victim to fraudulently obtain cash from the victim’s bank account.
Lake Forest Deputy Police Chief Glenn Burmeister said the amount of money stolen from the victim was about $100,000.
Burmeister said family members discovered money missing from the victim’s account after another employee took over as health-care provider. The family members reported it to police, who launched an investigation in early December.
The arrest followed a more than three-month investigation by Lake Forest police.
Manzanero is scheduled to appear in Lake County Circuit Court for a bond review hearing March 30.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://newssun.suntimes.com/11561368-418/waukeganite-charged-with-swindling-elderly-woman.html
BY JOHN ROSZKOWSKI jroszkowski@pioneerlocal.com March 27, 2012 8:12PM
Updated: March 28, 2012 2:47AM
A Waukegan woman is being held in Lake County Jail on $250,000 bond on charges she swindled an elderly Lake Forest woman out of approximately $100,000 over a nearly two-year period.
Maria R. Manzanero, 41, of 1709 W. Monroe St., was arrested on a warrant at her home March 25 and charged with financial exploitation of the elderly, aggravated identity theft and theft.
Lake Forest police say Manzanero worked as a home health-care provider from November 2009 through July 2011 at the home of a Lake Forest woman who was over 80 years old.
Reports say she knowingly used personal identifying information of the victim to fraudulently obtain cash from the victim’s bank account.
Lake Forest Deputy Police Chief Glenn Burmeister said the amount of money stolen from the victim was about $100,000.
Burmeister said family members discovered money missing from the victim’s account after another employee took over as health-care provider. The family members reported it to police, who launched an investigation in early December.
The arrest followed a more than three-month investigation by Lake Forest police.
Manzanero is scheduled to appear in Lake County Circuit Court for a bond review hearing March 30.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://newssun.suntimes.com/11561368-418/waukeganite-charged-with-swindling-elderly-woman.html
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Al Jazeera not to air French killings video
Al Jazeera not to air French killings video
Network says broadcast of video showing shootings that left seven dead in southern France does not meet code of ethics.
Last Modified: 27 Mar 2012 14:51
Residents pass near a boarded balcony of the building where police staged an assault on Merah in Toulouse [Reuters]
Al Jazeera has said it will not air a video that it received showing three shooting attacks in Toulouse and Montauban in southern France this month.
The network on Tuesday said the video did not add any information that was not already in public domain. It also did not meet the television station's code of ethics for broadcast.
The video shows the attacks in chronological order, with audible gunshots and voices of the killer and the victims. But it does not show the face of the confessed murderer, Mohammed Merah, and it does not contain a statement from him.
Merah appeared to be acting alone in the video, entitled "Al Qaeda attaque la France" - meaning "Al-Qaeda attacks France".
The 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent, who said he was inspired by al-Qaeda, admitted to killing three soldiers, three Jewish children and a rabbi in a spate of shootings that sent shockwaves through France.
Merah boasted of filming his killings and witnesses told police that he appeared to be wearing a video camera in a chest harness.
The Paris prosecutor in charge of the case confirmed last week that the Merah had filmed each of the shootings.
Tracing the source
French police said on Monday they had copies of the videos, shot by Merah during the series of killings, that had been sent on a USB memory stick to Al Jazeera's office in Paris.
The package, which also contained a letter written in poor French with spelling and grammar errors, was dated March 21 - the day police surrounded Merah in his apartment in Toulouse after a massive manhunt.
Zied Tarrouche, Al Jazeera's Paris bureau chief, said the images were a bit shaky but of a high technical quality. He also said the video had clearly been manipulated after the fact, with religious songs and recitations of Quranic verses laid over the footage.
"Investigators are trying to find out whether the letter was posted [last] Tuesday night by Mohamed Merah himself or by an accomplice Wednesday morning," Le Parisien daily newspaper reported.
The French newspaper Le Figaro reported that the package containing the video files was sent from a southern suburb of Toulouse, and a French official close to the investigation has said it was not sent by Merah.
'Despicable images'
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in mid-campaign for re-election, urged television networks on Tuesday not to broadcast the video. Family members of the victims also asked that the footage not be aired.
"I ask the managers of all television stations that might have these images not to broadcast them in any circumstances, out of respect for the victims - out of respect for the Republic," Sarkozy said.
Meanwhile, Merah's father, who was estranged from his son and lives in Algeria, has reportedly said he wants to file a complaint for Mohammed's death. In his address, Sarkozy expressed outrage at that idea.
"It's with indignation that I learned that the father of the assassin of seven people - including three soldiers and three children - wanted to file a lawsuit against France for the death of his son," Sarkozy said.
"Do we need to remind this man that his son filmed his crimes and diabolically made sure to send these despicable images to a television station?"
Sarkozy has said Merah was not part of a terror cell, but four anti-terrorist judges are heading the investigation into whether his brother, Abdelkader, was an accomplice, and whether anyone else might have been involved.
Preliminary charges for complicity in murder and terrorism have been filed against Abdelkader, though no evidence has emerged that he took part directly in the shooting.
Mohammed, who had attended an Islamist training camp in Pakistan, used a stolen scooter and a Colt 45 pistol to carry out his attacks over eight days before being cornered by police and eventually shot dead after a dramatic 30-hour siege.
The gunman's family has decided to have him buried in Algeria, his parents' native country, to avoid a grave in France being attacked or becoming a place of pilgrimage, an official of a Paris mosque said.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/03/20123271265948416.html
Network says broadcast of video showing shootings that left seven dead in southern France does not meet code of ethics.
Last Modified: 27 Mar 2012 14:51
Residents pass near a boarded balcony of the building where police staged an assault on Merah in Toulouse [Reuters]
Al Jazeera has said it will not air a video that it received showing three shooting attacks in Toulouse and Montauban in southern France this month.
The network on Tuesday said the video did not add any information that was not already in public domain. It also did not meet the television station's code of ethics for broadcast.
The video shows the attacks in chronological order, with audible gunshots and voices of the killer and the victims. But it does not show the face of the confessed murderer, Mohammed Merah, and it does not contain a statement from him.
Merah appeared to be acting alone in the video, entitled "Al Qaeda attaque la France" - meaning "Al-Qaeda attacks France".
The 23-year-old Frenchman of Algerian descent, who said he was inspired by al-Qaeda, admitted to killing three soldiers, three Jewish children and a rabbi in a spate of shootings that sent shockwaves through France.
Merah boasted of filming his killings and witnesses told police that he appeared to be wearing a video camera in a chest harness.
The Paris prosecutor in charge of the case confirmed last week that the Merah had filmed each of the shootings.
Tracing the source
French police said on Monday they had copies of the videos, shot by Merah during the series of killings, that had been sent on a USB memory stick to Al Jazeera's office in Paris.
The package, which also contained a letter written in poor French with spelling and grammar errors, was dated March 21 - the day police surrounded Merah in his apartment in Toulouse after a massive manhunt.
Zied Tarrouche, Al Jazeera's Paris bureau chief, said the images were a bit shaky but of a high technical quality. He also said the video had clearly been manipulated after the fact, with religious songs and recitations of Quranic verses laid over the footage.
"Investigators are trying to find out whether the letter was posted [last] Tuesday night by Mohamed Merah himself or by an accomplice Wednesday morning," Le Parisien daily newspaper reported.
The French newspaper Le Figaro reported that the package containing the video files was sent from a southern suburb of Toulouse, and a French official close to the investigation has said it was not sent by Merah.
'Despicable images'
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in mid-campaign for re-election, urged television networks on Tuesday not to broadcast the video. Family members of the victims also asked that the footage not be aired.
"I ask the managers of all television stations that might have these images not to broadcast them in any circumstances, out of respect for the victims - out of respect for the Republic," Sarkozy said.
Meanwhile, Merah's father, who was estranged from his son and lives in Algeria, has reportedly said he wants to file a complaint for Mohammed's death. In his address, Sarkozy expressed outrage at that idea.
"It's with indignation that I learned that the father of the assassin of seven people - including three soldiers and three children - wanted to file a lawsuit against France for the death of his son," Sarkozy said.
"Do we need to remind this man that his son filmed his crimes and diabolically made sure to send these despicable images to a television station?"
Sarkozy has said Merah was not part of a terror cell, but four anti-terrorist judges are heading the investigation into whether his brother, Abdelkader, was an accomplice, and whether anyone else might have been involved.
Preliminary charges for complicity in murder and terrorism have been filed against Abdelkader, though no evidence has emerged that he took part directly in the shooting.
Mohammed, who had attended an Islamist training camp in Pakistan, used a stolen scooter and a Colt 45 pistol to carry out his attacks over eight days before being cornered by police and eventually shot dead after a dramatic 30-hour siege.
The gunman's family has decided to have him buried in Algeria, his parents' native country, to avoid a grave in France being attacked or becoming a place of pilgrimage, an official of a Paris mosque said.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/03/20123271265948416.html
BEFORE THE HEARING BOARD OF THE ILLINOIS ATTORNEY REGISTRATION and DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION
Attorney Ken Ditkowsky Answers ARDC Complaint
"I just finished up an edit of the Reply. I am forwarding this response to the various blogs with the hope that they will post it. I want to demonstrate that now all attorneys shake in their boots when confronted by a wrongful disciplinary action reasonably intended to inhibit our free speech. The ARDC case that was filed against me is 'bogus' and intended to shut me up.
It is not going to happen as I was called a liar, even though every word I communicated was absolutely objectively true and based upon the information of people who I respect and believe to be credible.
I sent our requests to admit to the ARDC as I wanted to give them an opportunity to admit or deny the facts that I allegedly lied concerning. The choice was very simple. Admit that certain facts are true and dismiss the case, or on the hand deny that the facts were true and prove them. Instead, the ARDC admitted that they never investigated the facts and did not have sufficient information. Illinois law requires a degree of due diligence before filing a lawsuit. It appears that the attorney for the ARDC ignored that requirement in total and just filed a complaint that accused me of being a liar and posted it on the internet.
That scenario suggests something very sinister and wrong! I do not intend to allow such a scenario to remain in secret or to be covered up. I also do not intend to allow the Human and Civil Rights of either Mary or Gloria or any of the other aggreived individuals similarly situated to be just forfeited. My latest missile is:"
BEFORE THE HEARING BOARD OF THE ILLINOIS ATTORNEY REGISTRATION and DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION
In the Matter of: )
)
KENNETH KARL DITKOWSKY, )
) Commission No. 2012 PR 00014
Attorney-Respondent, )
)
No. 642754 )
Reply
To Response to Motion to Dismiss Complaint
Now comes Kenneth Ditkowsky and renews his Motion to dismiss this ARDC complaint by this reply and in support of the motion states:
Prefatory Statement
Objection is made to the lack of candor that the Administrator’s response to this Motion to Dismiss. For instance in paragraph 1 the Administrator after fortuitously denigrating the Motion with editorial comment states a fact that is untrue. The Administrator claims that there are no affidavits in support of the Motion. In fact there are several. The affidavit of Gloria Sykes and the affidavit of Scott Evans are both provided in support of the motion. Had whoever drafted the Response read the Motion, that person would have noted these affidavits.
Of a more serious nature is the fact that the alleged Administrator’s Response to the Request to Admit is an admission that either no investigation was done prior to the filing of the complaint herein, or the Administrator has not been candid. If the Administrator in fact, prior to bringing his complaint, had done the investigation required by Supreme Court Rule 137 the administrator would have been able to admit or deny all the facts requested to be admitted or denied by the Request to Admit. (The Supplemental Motion to Dismiss addresses this issue.)
Reply
An Attorney and his/her clients are afforded Constitutional Rights and the protections of 735 ILCS 110/et seq. The protections of the Constitution of the United States of America and the State of Illinois are applicable to even the disciplinary proceedings of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. Cavalier responses to serious issues may be the current vogue in some legal circles, but the issues involved in this proceeding and its related proceedings are indeed serious. The fact is that the Administrator in his response to the First Wave Requests to Admit reveals that he “does not have sufficient knowledge to admit or deny ***” the very facts that he must allege in his complaint. Yet, the Administrator concludes that the respondent lied and then wrongfully published the defamation on the ‘web!’. Such perfidy is not only chilling, but an admission that this instant complaint is grossly improper and intentionally violative of intent and spirit of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 137[1] and 735 ILCS 110 et seq. The aforesaid Response to the First Wave Request to Admit is attached hereto and made part hereof as exhibit A as if set out in detail and incorporated by reference.
The granting of authority to the Administrator was not a grant to run rough shod over the rights of citizens, including attorneys. Even a cursory examination of the complaint raises the question of the First Amendment applicability. Count 1 misinterprets words and phrases of an inquiry letter in the most procrustean manner so as to distort the letter’s meaning and seek discipline against respondent for words and phrases that were never communicated. Such a request coupled with the pejorative averments that the non-uttered statement was a lie raises ‘red flags’ and suggests an improper motive in bringing the complaint.
The conclusions of the 2nd count are equally troubling as once again the derogatory ‘name calling’ substitutes for the pleading of facts. In particular, as the Sodini criterion according to our view of the record in In re: Sykes was never met there are no judicial officials and in particular Guardian Ad Litem Stern and Farenga, approximately two years after their appointment, have no standing in the probate proceedings. The plenary guardian and her attorney are similarly acting sans jurisdiction. As the response to the Request to Admit indicates that the Administrator does not have knowledge of such a basic fact, how does the Administrator get the authority to publish a ‘naked statement’ to the public that the respondent is a ‘liar!’
More significantly, all the statements that are alleged to have been made by the respondent are clearly protected statements under the 1st and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution. The 2-619 Motion is thus appropriate to redress the chilling prospect of a citizen being denied Equal Protection of the Law and his right to the First Amendment protections of protest, speech, and assembly. It is significant that the Administrator chooses to ignore these basic Constitutional Rights and at the very same time respond to Requests to Admit with:
“The Administrator does not have sufficient knowledge to admit or deny***”
Supreme Court Rule 137 admonishes exactly this type of conduct on the part of the attorney for the Administrator (i.e. bringing a complaint without doing any due diligence or investigation of the facts so as to be able to certify that the facts alleged are true) and 42 USCA 1983 counsels that color of Statute ought not be employed to deny a citizen of his/her Constitutional laws.
735 ILCS 110 et seq. makes it very clear that a legal proceeding cannot be used to silence a citizen. It may be very inconvenient that Ms. Sykes, Mr. Evans and others have verified by their affidavits the very facts that the Administrator will have to prove false to prove me a ‘liar!’ The Sykes/Evans’ affidavits stand in stark contradiction to the statement of the Administrator in paragraph 1 of his response. The said affidavits also stand as strong contradiction to the conclusions pleaded by the Administrator.
It is respectfully submitted that if the attorney for the Administrator had read the Motion before it was responded to, the complaint would have been non-suited. It is further respectfully submitted had the files of the ARDC and the complaints filed by various friends, relatives, and neighbors of Mary Sykes been reviewed prior to the filing of the complaint filed herein the complaint would never have been filed. Even in 21st Century America the objective truth is not a lie, and the publication of the truth – no matter when or where – is not a prevarication. Similarly, to protect the rights of citizens and to prevent exactly what appears to have happened to Mary Sykes and Gloria Sykes in the Sykes case the legal profession has been very jealous of protecting the First Amendment Rights of the brethren. As a profession lawyers cannot tolerate the deprivation of human rights and/or civil rights of anyone – including them.
When an attorney demands the investigation of the conduct of such ‘august’ persons as a guardian ad litem and an attorney for a plenary guardian, in a case in which a senior citizen is deprived of her liberty, property, and human rights under extremely suspicious circumstances, such effort should be aided and abetted in the interest of justice – not punished. This instant reply draws attention to the Affidavits of Gloria Sykes and Scott Evans. This panel is requested to examine the Court file in the Sykes case and is respectfully requested to take judicial notice of the same. In the Court file, unless I have misread the docket and the transcripts of Mr. Schmiedel’s statements, the Jurisdictional Sodini notices and affidavits of service are missing. As they were never sent by the attorney for the plenary guardian *****. As the Appellate Court of Illinois has noted (in Sodini) these notices are jurisdictional Mr. Stern, Ms. Farenga and the plenary guardian are engaging in their alleged pernicious activities ultra vires. Right or wrong, I have not waived my First Amendment Rights and any attempt to silence me or diminish my said rights is not only wrongful, but clearly a violation of the policy of the State of Illinois as stated in 735 ILCS 110/5.
Moreover, the Response to the First Wave Request to Admit is a clear admission that Rule 137 was ignored by the attorney for the Administrator in drafting the complaint. The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission in being charged with regulating Attorney conduct should be a ‘Cesar’s wife!’ The commission is charged with not only being an example of legal ethics and propriety, but being an example to the profession. It is respectfully suggested that the complaint, and the two responses are examples of the nadir of the profession rather than the best and, therefore, the complaint filed herein should be dismissed with prejudice.
Wherefore pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/2-619 this complaint be dismissed, and a complete and through investigation be commenced as to the Sykes case and pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 137 the motivations for bringing this instant complaint in the manner it was filed.[2]
Respectfully Submitted
Kenneth K. Ditkowsky
Attorney number 0642754
Pro se
5940 W. Touhy Ave
Niles, Illinois 60714
847 600 3421
[1] Had a private attorney acted with such careless disregard the attorney would be subject to sanctions and possible discipline. Rule 137 even in its most liberal interpretation requires enough due diligence on the part of the attorney drafting a complaint that the attorney (and his client) has knowledge of the basic facts upon which the complaint is founded. It is respectfully submitted that this is not true in the instant complaint against me.
[2] Calling a practicing attorney a ‘liar’ and publishing the same on the internet is not something that can be taken lightly or ignored. As the affidavits of Sykes and Evans clearly refute any suggestion that I lied as to anything this is a serious matter and a clear violation of 735 ILCS 110/ and 42 USCA 1983. On day one the attorney for the Administrator had a duty based upon the ‘traditions of the bar’ (if not an ethical responsibility) to do a full investigate of the charges that were brought and to have a clear knowledge of the facts upon which the charges were being brought. In the instant scenario the ARDC has received numerous citizen complaints totally consistent with the statements allegedly made by me. The Court record is also consistent with the charges that have been made by Gloria Sykes et al. No one can deny that Mary Sykes was helped by Court employed people to prepare a Petition For A Protective Order. No one can deny that this Petition was duly filed and never heard. No one can deny that neither Guardian ad Litem petitioned the Court to voice any complaint as to a possible conflict of interest on the part of the plenary guardian.
No one can deny the videos posted by various citizens on the internet, and no one can deny that Mary Sykes in the early videos appears to be perfectly competent. Indeed, no one can deny that not a scintilla of medical evidence was heard by the Probate Court prior to declaring Mary Sykes incompetent. Nor can anyone deny the transcripts of August 2009 and August 2010. Similarly, no one can deny that the 14 day Sodini notices are claimed by the close relatives of Mary Sykes to have not been served and more importantly Mr. Schmiedel has not made a clear statement stating that these vital notices were indeed properly served as required by Statute. These notices are jurisdictional as they are the protection against vulnerable people being ‘railroaded’ into the loss of liberty and property by dishonest practitioners.
Similarly no one can deny that family members of Mary Sykes have disclosed that the safety deposit box contained valuables and these valuables were never inventoried. The record is clear that Mr. Stern, and Ms. Farenga failed to alert the Court to this oversight. Of course, the record indicates that Mary Sykes had many emergency room visits. The probate record does not reveal any report of these visits by the GAL. It is respectfully submitted that the record in the probate division upon which the Administrator must rely upon to aver that I am liar suggests that some very unusual events have taken place that are disingenuous and possibly criminal. THE PROBLEM THAT THE RESPONSE TO THE REQUEST TO ADMIT DISCLOSES is that the Attorney drafting the complaint apparently was ignorant of these serious factual scenarios.
Ken Ditkowsky
www.ditkowskylawoffice.com
"I just finished up an edit of the Reply. I am forwarding this response to the various blogs with the hope that they will post it. I want to demonstrate that now all attorneys shake in their boots when confronted by a wrongful disciplinary action reasonably intended to inhibit our free speech. The ARDC case that was filed against me is 'bogus' and intended to shut me up.
It is not going to happen as I was called a liar, even though every word I communicated was absolutely objectively true and based upon the information of people who I respect and believe to be credible.
I sent our requests to admit to the ARDC as I wanted to give them an opportunity to admit or deny the facts that I allegedly lied concerning. The choice was very simple. Admit that certain facts are true and dismiss the case, or on the hand deny that the facts were true and prove them. Instead, the ARDC admitted that they never investigated the facts and did not have sufficient information. Illinois law requires a degree of due diligence before filing a lawsuit. It appears that the attorney for the ARDC ignored that requirement in total and just filed a complaint that accused me of being a liar and posted it on the internet.
That scenario suggests something very sinister and wrong! I do not intend to allow such a scenario to remain in secret or to be covered up. I also do not intend to allow the Human and Civil Rights of either Mary or Gloria or any of the other aggreived individuals similarly situated to be just forfeited. My latest missile is:"
BEFORE THE HEARING BOARD OF THE ILLINOIS ATTORNEY REGISTRATION and DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION
In the Matter of: )
)
KENNETH KARL DITKOWSKY, )
) Commission No. 2012 PR 00014
Attorney-Respondent, )
)
No. 642754 )
Reply
To Response to Motion to Dismiss Complaint
Now comes Kenneth Ditkowsky and renews his Motion to dismiss this ARDC complaint by this reply and in support of the motion states:
Prefatory Statement
Objection is made to the lack of candor that the Administrator’s response to this Motion to Dismiss. For instance in paragraph 1 the Administrator after fortuitously denigrating the Motion with editorial comment states a fact that is untrue. The Administrator claims that there are no affidavits in support of the Motion. In fact there are several. The affidavit of Gloria Sykes and the affidavit of Scott Evans are both provided in support of the motion. Had whoever drafted the Response read the Motion, that person would have noted these affidavits.
Of a more serious nature is the fact that the alleged Administrator’s Response to the Request to Admit is an admission that either no investigation was done prior to the filing of the complaint herein, or the Administrator has not been candid. If the Administrator in fact, prior to bringing his complaint, had done the investigation required by Supreme Court Rule 137 the administrator would have been able to admit or deny all the facts requested to be admitted or denied by the Request to Admit. (The Supplemental Motion to Dismiss addresses this issue.)
Reply
An Attorney and his/her clients are afforded Constitutional Rights and the protections of 735 ILCS 110/et seq. The protections of the Constitution of the United States of America and the State of Illinois are applicable to even the disciplinary proceedings of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. Cavalier responses to serious issues may be the current vogue in some legal circles, but the issues involved in this proceeding and its related proceedings are indeed serious. The fact is that the Administrator in his response to the First Wave Requests to Admit reveals that he “does not have sufficient knowledge to admit or deny ***” the very facts that he must allege in his complaint. Yet, the Administrator concludes that the respondent lied and then wrongfully published the defamation on the ‘web!’. Such perfidy is not only chilling, but an admission that this instant complaint is grossly improper and intentionally violative of intent and spirit of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 137[1] and 735 ILCS 110 et seq. The aforesaid Response to the First Wave Request to Admit is attached hereto and made part hereof as exhibit A as if set out in detail and incorporated by reference.
The granting of authority to the Administrator was not a grant to run rough shod over the rights of citizens, including attorneys. Even a cursory examination of the complaint raises the question of the First Amendment applicability. Count 1 misinterprets words and phrases of an inquiry letter in the most procrustean manner so as to distort the letter’s meaning and seek discipline against respondent for words and phrases that were never communicated. Such a request coupled with the pejorative averments that the non-uttered statement was a lie raises ‘red flags’ and suggests an improper motive in bringing the complaint.
The conclusions of the 2nd count are equally troubling as once again the derogatory ‘name calling’ substitutes for the pleading of facts. In particular, as the Sodini criterion according to our view of the record in In re: Sykes was never met there are no judicial officials and in particular Guardian Ad Litem Stern and Farenga, approximately two years after their appointment, have no standing in the probate proceedings. The plenary guardian and her attorney are similarly acting sans jurisdiction. As the response to the Request to Admit indicates that the Administrator does not have knowledge of such a basic fact, how does the Administrator get the authority to publish a ‘naked statement’ to the public that the respondent is a ‘liar!’
More significantly, all the statements that are alleged to have been made by the respondent are clearly protected statements under the 1st and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution. The 2-619 Motion is thus appropriate to redress the chilling prospect of a citizen being denied Equal Protection of the Law and his right to the First Amendment protections of protest, speech, and assembly. It is significant that the Administrator chooses to ignore these basic Constitutional Rights and at the very same time respond to Requests to Admit with:
“The Administrator does not have sufficient knowledge to admit or deny***”
Supreme Court Rule 137 admonishes exactly this type of conduct on the part of the attorney for the Administrator (i.e. bringing a complaint without doing any due diligence or investigation of the facts so as to be able to certify that the facts alleged are true) and 42 USCA 1983 counsels that color of Statute ought not be employed to deny a citizen of his/her Constitutional laws.
735 ILCS 110 et seq. makes it very clear that a legal proceeding cannot be used to silence a citizen. It may be very inconvenient that Ms. Sykes, Mr. Evans and others have verified by their affidavits the very facts that the Administrator will have to prove false to prove me a ‘liar!’ The Sykes/Evans’ affidavits stand in stark contradiction to the statement of the Administrator in paragraph 1 of his response. The said affidavits also stand as strong contradiction to the conclusions pleaded by the Administrator.
It is respectfully submitted that if the attorney for the Administrator had read the Motion before it was responded to, the complaint would have been non-suited. It is further respectfully submitted had the files of the ARDC and the complaints filed by various friends, relatives, and neighbors of Mary Sykes been reviewed prior to the filing of the complaint filed herein the complaint would never have been filed. Even in 21st Century America the objective truth is not a lie, and the publication of the truth – no matter when or where – is not a prevarication. Similarly, to protect the rights of citizens and to prevent exactly what appears to have happened to Mary Sykes and Gloria Sykes in the Sykes case the legal profession has been very jealous of protecting the First Amendment Rights of the brethren. As a profession lawyers cannot tolerate the deprivation of human rights and/or civil rights of anyone – including them.
When an attorney demands the investigation of the conduct of such ‘august’ persons as a guardian ad litem and an attorney for a plenary guardian, in a case in which a senior citizen is deprived of her liberty, property, and human rights under extremely suspicious circumstances, such effort should be aided and abetted in the interest of justice – not punished. This instant reply draws attention to the Affidavits of Gloria Sykes and Scott Evans. This panel is requested to examine the Court file in the Sykes case and is respectfully requested to take judicial notice of the same. In the Court file, unless I have misread the docket and the transcripts of Mr. Schmiedel’s statements, the Jurisdictional Sodini notices and affidavits of service are missing. As they were never sent by the attorney for the plenary guardian *****. As the Appellate Court of Illinois has noted (in Sodini) these notices are jurisdictional Mr. Stern, Ms. Farenga and the plenary guardian are engaging in their alleged pernicious activities ultra vires. Right or wrong, I have not waived my First Amendment Rights and any attempt to silence me or diminish my said rights is not only wrongful, but clearly a violation of the policy of the State of Illinois as stated in 735 ILCS 110/5.
Moreover, the Response to the First Wave Request to Admit is a clear admission that Rule 137 was ignored by the attorney for the Administrator in drafting the complaint. The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission in being charged with regulating Attorney conduct should be a ‘Cesar’s wife!’ The commission is charged with not only being an example of legal ethics and propriety, but being an example to the profession. It is respectfully suggested that the complaint, and the two responses are examples of the nadir of the profession rather than the best and, therefore, the complaint filed herein should be dismissed with prejudice.
Wherefore pursuant to 735 ILCS 5/2-619 this complaint be dismissed, and a complete and through investigation be commenced as to the Sykes case and pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 137 the motivations for bringing this instant complaint in the manner it was filed.[2]
Respectfully Submitted
Kenneth K. Ditkowsky
Attorney number 0642754
Pro se
5940 W. Touhy Ave
Niles, Illinois 60714
847 600 3421
[1] Had a private attorney acted with such careless disregard the attorney would be subject to sanctions and possible discipline. Rule 137 even in its most liberal interpretation requires enough due diligence on the part of the attorney drafting a complaint that the attorney (and his client) has knowledge of the basic facts upon which the complaint is founded. It is respectfully submitted that this is not true in the instant complaint against me.
[2] Calling a practicing attorney a ‘liar’ and publishing the same on the internet is not something that can be taken lightly or ignored. As the affidavits of Sykes and Evans clearly refute any suggestion that I lied as to anything this is a serious matter and a clear violation of 735 ILCS 110/ and 42 USCA 1983. On day one the attorney for the Administrator had a duty based upon the ‘traditions of the bar’ (if not an ethical responsibility) to do a full investigate of the charges that were brought and to have a clear knowledge of the facts upon which the charges were being brought. In the instant scenario the ARDC has received numerous citizen complaints totally consistent with the statements allegedly made by me. The Court record is also consistent with the charges that have been made by Gloria Sykes et al. No one can deny that Mary Sykes was helped by Court employed people to prepare a Petition For A Protective Order. No one can deny that this Petition was duly filed and never heard. No one can deny that neither Guardian ad Litem petitioned the Court to voice any complaint as to a possible conflict of interest on the part of the plenary guardian.
No one can deny the videos posted by various citizens on the internet, and no one can deny that Mary Sykes in the early videos appears to be perfectly competent. Indeed, no one can deny that not a scintilla of medical evidence was heard by the Probate Court prior to declaring Mary Sykes incompetent. Nor can anyone deny the transcripts of August 2009 and August 2010. Similarly, no one can deny that the 14 day Sodini notices are claimed by the close relatives of Mary Sykes to have not been served and more importantly Mr. Schmiedel has not made a clear statement stating that these vital notices were indeed properly served as required by Statute. These notices are jurisdictional as they are the protection against vulnerable people being ‘railroaded’ into the loss of liberty and property by dishonest practitioners.
Similarly no one can deny that family members of Mary Sykes have disclosed that the safety deposit box contained valuables and these valuables were never inventoried. The record is clear that Mr. Stern, and Ms. Farenga failed to alert the Court to this oversight. Of course, the record indicates that Mary Sykes had many emergency room visits. The probate record does not reveal any report of these visits by the GAL. It is respectfully submitted that the record in the probate division upon which the Administrator must rely upon to aver that I am liar suggests that some very unusual events have taken place that are disingenuous and possibly criminal. THE PROBLEM THAT THE RESPONSE TO THE REQUEST TO ADMIT DISCLOSES is that the Attorney drafting the complaint apparently was ignorant of these serious factual scenarios.
Ken Ditkowsky
www.ditkowskylawoffice.com
Some Thoughts on Ken Ditkowsky
Some Thoughts on Ken Ditkowsky
Ken Ditkowsky is a modern John Brown who placed his life on the block to fight a "peculiar" institution called slavery. Ken Ditkowsky is fighting a "peculiar" institution within the probate court system called legalized theft. The similarities between the two men and their struggles are haunting. Brown's plan was a statement rather than a plan. Brown fought the might of the United States and the slave state of Virginia with 18 men; Ken Ditkowsky fights the powerful probate court and ARDC with his wits, skill and knowledge. Even die hard abolitionists felt that Brown rocked the boat...until his off the cuff, spontaneous and eloquent 600 word speech denouncing slavery in the Virginia courtroom after he was sentenced to death. I have faith that Ken Ditkowsky's eloquence will be heard and his mission will succeed. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Ken Ditkowsky is a modern John Brown who placed his life on the block to fight a "peculiar" institution called slavery. Ken Ditkowsky is fighting a "peculiar" institution within the probate court system called legalized theft. The similarities between the two men and their struggles are haunting. Brown's plan was a statement rather than a plan. Brown fought the might of the United States and the slave state of Virginia with 18 men; Ken Ditkowsky fights the powerful probate court and ARDC with his wits, skill and knowledge. Even die hard abolitionists felt that Brown rocked the boat...until his off the cuff, spontaneous and eloquent 600 word speech denouncing slavery in the Virginia courtroom after he was sentenced to death. I have faith that Ken Ditkowsky's eloquence will be heard and his mission will succeed. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Monday, March 26, 2012
Inspector general wants McMahon business banned from city work
Inspector general wants McMahon business banned from city work
By TIM NOVAK, CHRIS FUSCO,
ROBERT HERGUTH
and ANDREW SCHROEDTER
Staff Reporters
tnovak@suntimes.com
Last Modified: Mar 26, 2012 07:45AM
A few months after Mayor Richard M. Daley took office in 1989, Nancy McMahon and her sister-in-law Kathleen McMahon — two stay-at-home moms — went into business. They started Windy City Electric Co., which would go on to win millions of dollars in work from the City of Chicago — including contracts set aside for women contractors.
Under its two current deals with City Hall, Windy City Electric has been paid more than $10 million over the past five years.
Now, Joseph Ferguson, the city of Chicago’s inspector general, is urging Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration to permanently ban Windy City, its owners and their husbands from doing any more work for the city. Ferguson says that, eight years ago, the sisters-in-law falsely claimed they were the operators of Windy City so they could be certified by the city as a woman-owned business enterprise. That made them eligible for city work set aside for women-owned businesses.
Among those city jobs: City records show they were supposed to get $100,000 as a subcontractor on a project to install wireless Internet service — Wi-Fi — at Chicago’s two airports as part of a deal that ultimately paid Daley son Patrick Daley $708,999. But Windy City lawyers say the company was never involved in that project.
In his report last summer seeking the city ban on Windy City, the inspector general also says the sisters-in-law’s husbands — brothers John K. McMahon and Anthony P. McMahon — operated another company, Ace Mechanical Co., as a minority “front” that got more than $900,000 in city work before going out of business.
Since 2005, City Hall has paid Windy City Electric a total of $30.6 million, city records show. The Chicago Public Schools have paid the company an additional $16.2 million.
The company also has done work for the federal government, Cook County and the Chicago Housing Authority.
Nancy McMahon, of Sauganash, and Kathleen McMahon, of Park Ridge, have hired attorneys Thomas Needham and Thomas Breen to fight the inspector general’s effort to ban Windy City, which has been under review by Emanuel’s Department of Procurement Services since Aug. 1.
Citing that review, city officials declined to comment. The McMahons and their lawyers also declined to comment.
John and Anthony McMahon also own Plumbing Systems Inc., which city records show has made payments of $5,000 or more each of the past two years to Daniel T. Hebert, a business associate whose wife is a top aide to powerful Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th).
Plumbing Systems has done more than $1.1 million worth of work for City Hall and other government agencies since 2005.
Windy City has two locations, including a one-story building on Marshall Boulevard in Little Village owned by the McMahons’ older brother, Frank J. McMahon, city records show. That building also is home to McMahon Food Corp. — owned by Frank McMahon and his children — which supplies milk and other dairy products to the Chicago Public Schools, the Cook County Jail and other government facilities.
When the McMahon sisters-in-law incorporated Windy City Electric in October 1989, John McMahon was a 33-year-old electrician for the city of Chicago. His brother, Anthony, then 37, was an electrician for Cook County.
Ban sought in 2005
The following year, City Hall certified Windy City Electric as a woman-owned business enterprise after the sisters-in-law filed papers with the city saying they owned and operated the company. As a certified WBE, Windy City was able to get government contracts set aside for companies run by women.
With that certification, their business quickly took off. Six years later, Windy City had $6.2 million in contracts, including a deal with the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation, and turned a $1.2 million profit, according to records provided to the city.
In January 2005, Windy City ran into trouble with City Hall, which declared that the company wasn’t owned and operated by women after all.
“During a site visit on September 24, 2004, it was discovered that Ms. McMahon relies on non-minority males for the firm’s daily operations,” city officials wrote.
So, after getting millions of dollars in government contracts and being in business for 16 years, Windy City could have been banned then from getting any more city work. Instead, City Hall allowed the business to “graduate” out of its women-owned business program and thus keep getting city contracts — as long as it subcontracted some of the work to women- and minority-owned firms.
By that time, the McMahon brothers had come up with a new way to win work through city set-aside programs, according to the inspector general’s report. The brothers became partners with Jimmy Acevedo, president of Ace Mechanical.
In 2002, City Hall certified Ace as a minority-owned plumbing and electrical contractor. A year later, the city gave Ace and Windy City a $1 million contract to install an emergency generator at Midway Airport.
“Although the company was ostensibly owned by the Hispanic male, the two brothers actually controlled the company,” the inspector general’s report says.
Ace Mechanical went out of business in 2008.
Acevedo, of Crown Point, Ind., declined to comment.
His late sister, Anita Gallardo, was the fiancee of the late James P. Harney, a Chicago Public Schools administrator who pleaded guilty in 1996 to taking bribes from contractors he oversaw on school projects, according to court records.
Pricey wedding gifts
The McMahon brothers — Anthony, John and Frank — each wrote letters asking a federal judge not to send Harney to prison. Harney went to prison anyway.
Harney’s son, Patrick Harney, was a high-ranking official in the Chicago Department of Aviation between 2002 and 2006 — a period when Windy City Electric and Ace Mechanical obtained three contracts from the city agency worth $13.5 million. Now Emanuel’s second-in-command at the Chicago Department of Transportation, Harney acknowledges his father’s friendship with the McMahons but said Windy City and Ace weren’t shown any favoritism.
Ferguson’s office began investigating Windy City and Ace in 2009. Last summer, Ferguson recommended the city “permanently debar” Windy City, the McMahon brothers, their wives and Acevedo from getting city business.
Such a ban would presumably affect Plumbing Systems, the McMahon company that has paid Hebert at least $5,000 a year in 2009 and 2010, according to a financial interest statement filed with the city by Hebert’s wife, Michelle M. Murphy, a top aide to Burke’s City Council Finance Committee.
Hebert married Murphy, the daughter of former U.S. Rep. Morgan F. Murphy Jr., in December 2008. Murphy reported that she and her husband received wedding gifts, each worth $500 or more, from Anthony and Kathy McMahon, John and Nancy McMahon, and Frank McMahon.
Robert Herguth and Andrew Schroedter work for the Better Government Association
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.suntimes.com/11421122-417/inspector-general-wants-mcmahon-business-banned-from-city-work.html
Editor's note: Again, General Ferguson, BGA guys and FEDs, you guys have all the graft, corruption, crooked judges in one place; the 18th floor of the Daley Courthouse. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
By TIM NOVAK, CHRIS FUSCO,
ROBERT HERGUTH
and ANDREW SCHROEDTER
Staff Reporters
tnovak@suntimes.com
Last Modified: Mar 26, 2012 07:45AM
A few months after Mayor Richard M. Daley took office in 1989, Nancy McMahon and her sister-in-law Kathleen McMahon — two stay-at-home moms — went into business. They started Windy City Electric Co., which would go on to win millions of dollars in work from the City of Chicago — including contracts set aside for women contractors.
Under its two current deals with City Hall, Windy City Electric has been paid more than $10 million over the past five years.
Now, Joseph Ferguson, the city of Chicago’s inspector general, is urging Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration to permanently ban Windy City, its owners and their husbands from doing any more work for the city. Ferguson says that, eight years ago, the sisters-in-law falsely claimed they were the operators of Windy City so they could be certified by the city as a woman-owned business enterprise. That made them eligible for city work set aside for women-owned businesses.
Among those city jobs: City records show they were supposed to get $100,000 as a subcontractor on a project to install wireless Internet service — Wi-Fi — at Chicago’s two airports as part of a deal that ultimately paid Daley son Patrick Daley $708,999. But Windy City lawyers say the company was never involved in that project.
In his report last summer seeking the city ban on Windy City, the inspector general also says the sisters-in-law’s husbands — brothers John K. McMahon and Anthony P. McMahon — operated another company, Ace Mechanical Co., as a minority “front” that got more than $900,000 in city work before going out of business.
Since 2005, City Hall has paid Windy City Electric a total of $30.6 million, city records show. The Chicago Public Schools have paid the company an additional $16.2 million.
The company also has done work for the federal government, Cook County and the Chicago Housing Authority.
Nancy McMahon, of Sauganash, and Kathleen McMahon, of Park Ridge, have hired attorneys Thomas Needham and Thomas Breen to fight the inspector general’s effort to ban Windy City, which has been under review by Emanuel’s Department of Procurement Services since Aug. 1.
Citing that review, city officials declined to comment. The McMahons and their lawyers also declined to comment.
John and Anthony McMahon also own Plumbing Systems Inc., which city records show has made payments of $5,000 or more each of the past two years to Daniel T. Hebert, a business associate whose wife is a top aide to powerful Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th).
Plumbing Systems has done more than $1.1 million worth of work for City Hall and other government agencies since 2005.
Windy City has two locations, including a one-story building on Marshall Boulevard in Little Village owned by the McMahons’ older brother, Frank J. McMahon, city records show. That building also is home to McMahon Food Corp. — owned by Frank McMahon and his children — which supplies milk and other dairy products to the Chicago Public Schools, the Cook County Jail and other government facilities.
When the McMahon sisters-in-law incorporated Windy City Electric in October 1989, John McMahon was a 33-year-old electrician for the city of Chicago. His brother, Anthony, then 37, was an electrician for Cook County.
Ban sought in 2005
The following year, City Hall certified Windy City Electric as a woman-owned business enterprise after the sisters-in-law filed papers with the city saying they owned and operated the company. As a certified WBE, Windy City was able to get government contracts set aside for companies run by women.
With that certification, their business quickly took off. Six years later, Windy City had $6.2 million in contracts, including a deal with the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation, and turned a $1.2 million profit, according to records provided to the city.
In January 2005, Windy City ran into trouble with City Hall, which declared that the company wasn’t owned and operated by women after all.
“During a site visit on September 24, 2004, it was discovered that Ms. McMahon relies on non-minority males for the firm’s daily operations,” city officials wrote.
So, after getting millions of dollars in government contracts and being in business for 16 years, Windy City could have been banned then from getting any more city work. Instead, City Hall allowed the business to “graduate” out of its women-owned business program and thus keep getting city contracts — as long as it subcontracted some of the work to women- and minority-owned firms.
By that time, the McMahon brothers had come up with a new way to win work through city set-aside programs, according to the inspector general’s report. The brothers became partners with Jimmy Acevedo, president of Ace Mechanical.
In 2002, City Hall certified Ace as a minority-owned plumbing and electrical contractor. A year later, the city gave Ace and Windy City a $1 million contract to install an emergency generator at Midway Airport.
“Although the company was ostensibly owned by the Hispanic male, the two brothers actually controlled the company,” the inspector general’s report says.
Ace Mechanical went out of business in 2008.
Acevedo, of Crown Point, Ind., declined to comment.
His late sister, Anita Gallardo, was the fiancee of the late James P. Harney, a Chicago Public Schools administrator who pleaded guilty in 1996 to taking bribes from contractors he oversaw on school projects, according to court records.
Pricey wedding gifts
The McMahon brothers — Anthony, John and Frank — each wrote letters asking a federal judge not to send Harney to prison. Harney went to prison anyway.
Harney’s son, Patrick Harney, was a high-ranking official in the Chicago Department of Aviation between 2002 and 2006 — a period when Windy City Electric and Ace Mechanical obtained three contracts from the city agency worth $13.5 million. Now Emanuel’s second-in-command at the Chicago Department of Transportation, Harney acknowledges his father’s friendship with the McMahons but said Windy City and Ace weren’t shown any favoritism.
Ferguson’s office began investigating Windy City and Ace in 2009. Last summer, Ferguson recommended the city “permanently debar” Windy City, the McMahon brothers, their wives and Acevedo from getting city business.
Such a ban would presumably affect Plumbing Systems, the McMahon company that has paid Hebert at least $5,000 a year in 2009 and 2010, according to a financial interest statement filed with the city by Hebert’s wife, Michelle M. Murphy, a top aide to Burke’s City Council Finance Committee.
Hebert married Murphy, the daughter of former U.S. Rep. Morgan F. Murphy Jr., in December 2008. Murphy reported that she and her husband received wedding gifts, each worth $500 or more, from Anthony and Kathy McMahon, John and Nancy McMahon, and Frank McMahon.
Robert Herguth and Andrew Schroedter work for the Better Government Association
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.suntimes.com/11421122-417/inspector-general-wants-mcmahon-business-banned-from-city-work.html
Editor's note: Again, General Ferguson, BGA guys and FEDs, you guys have all the graft, corruption, crooked judges in one place; the 18th floor of the Daley Courthouse. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Quinn still unpopular in Illinois, Tribune poll finds
Quinn still unpopular in Illinois, Tribune poll finds
Only 3 in 10 voters approve of governor's job performance, while 54 percent disapprove
By Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune reporter
10:30 PM CST, February 9, 2012
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn finds his leadership under fire from Illinois voters unhappy with the state's economy, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.
The survey found 54 percent disapprove of Quinn's job performance, compared with only 30 percent who approve. It was the highest level of Quinn disapproval registered in Tribune polling since August 2009, seven months after he took over from an impeached Rod Blagojevich.
The dim view of Quinn comes a year after the governor and fellow Democrats steered Illinois in a more liberal direction by approving a major income-tax increase, abolishing the death penalty and legalizing civil unions. Despite the tax hike, state government remains mired in debt, limiting Quinn and legislative leaders' ability to move Illinois forward.
The governor, however, has shown great political resiliency. Quinn's approval rating is at its lowest level since early September 2010, when it registered at 28 percent. Weeks later, Quinn ended up narrowly winning the governor's election against conservative Republican state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington.
The poll of 600 registered voters, which has an error margin of 4 percentage points, was conducted Feb. 2-6. The interviews began a day after Quinn delivered an optimistic State of the State speech to lawmakers in Springfield in which he declared that after three years of his leadership, "Illinois is back on course. Illinois is moving forward. And Illinois is a place that we can be proud to claim as our own."
That's not the view many Illinoisans hold about the state's economy. About three-quarters of Illinois voters said they failed to see an improvement in Illinois' economy or thought that it is getting worse. Of that group, 88 percent disapproved of Quinn. The numbers prove the political adage that presidents and governors tend to wear the jacket for a down economy.
The general discontent with Quinn stretches across partisan, geographic, racial and gender lines.
The governor scores best within his own party, though the poll found fewer than half of those who identified themselves as Democrats approve of Quinn's job performance — 44 percent. But 61 percent of independent voters, always a key political demographic in statewide elections, expressed disapproval with his handling of the job.
In Democrat-dominated Chicago, only 43 percent of voters liked the job Quinn is doing, while 41 percent disapproved. In suburban Cook County, 45 percent of voters disapproved while 43 percent approved. In the collar counties, 57 percent didn't like Quinn's job performance, compared with only 27 percent who approved.
Quinn's numbers were even more dismal among voters outside the six-county Chicago metropolitan area: 65 percent disapproved while only 18 percent approved. The disapproval numbers outside the metro area and in the collar counties are the worst recorded in Tribune polling on Quinn since he became governor.
Among African-American voters, a key Democratic constituency, Quinn's support was soft at 48 percent, with 35 percent of blacks surveyed disapproving.
Among voters who called themselves liberals, Quinn's approval rating was 49 percent. But among those who called themselves moderates or conservatives, clear majorities disapproved of Quinn's governance.
The survey also found 60 percent of men and 50 percent of women were unhappy with Quinn's leadership. That includes 43 percent of white suburban women, a socially moderate voting demographic credited in part with the Democratic governor's 2010 election victory because of his Republican opponent's socially conservative views.
Since the election, Quinn agreed to a 67 percent increase in the state's personal income-tax rate, a larger tax hike than he supported during the campaign. During a lame-duck session after the election, lawmakers approved a ban on the death penalty and a bill allowing same-sex couples to get civil unions. The two measures staked out new territory for the state on long-standing controversial social and cultural issues. The governor signed both bills into law.
The higher personal and corporate income taxes have not erased Illinois' budget problems. The state still has billions of dollars in unpaid bills to providers of state services such as health care to the poor. A public employee pension debt eats away more and more of what money the state does have to spend.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-governor-pat-quinn-0210-20120210,0,3719363.story
Only 3 in 10 voters approve of governor's job performance, while 54 percent disapprove
By Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune reporter
10:30 PM CST, February 9, 2012
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn finds his leadership under fire from Illinois voters unhappy with the state's economy, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.
The survey found 54 percent disapprove of Quinn's job performance, compared with only 30 percent who approve. It was the highest level of Quinn disapproval registered in Tribune polling since August 2009, seven months after he took over from an impeached Rod Blagojevich.
The dim view of Quinn comes a year after the governor and fellow Democrats steered Illinois in a more liberal direction by approving a major income-tax increase, abolishing the death penalty and legalizing civil unions. Despite the tax hike, state government remains mired in debt, limiting Quinn and legislative leaders' ability to move Illinois forward.
The governor, however, has shown great political resiliency. Quinn's approval rating is at its lowest level since early September 2010, when it registered at 28 percent. Weeks later, Quinn ended up narrowly winning the governor's election against conservative Republican state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington.
The poll of 600 registered voters, which has an error margin of 4 percentage points, was conducted Feb. 2-6. The interviews began a day after Quinn delivered an optimistic State of the State speech to lawmakers in Springfield in which he declared that after three years of his leadership, "Illinois is back on course. Illinois is moving forward. And Illinois is a place that we can be proud to claim as our own."
That's not the view many Illinoisans hold about the state's economy. About three-quarters of Illinois voters said they failed to see an improvement in Illinois' economy or thought that it is getting worse. Of that group, 88 percent disapproved of Quinn. The numbers prove the political adage that presidents and governors tend to wear the jacket for a down economy.
The general discontent with Quinn stretches across partisan, geographic, racial and gender lines.
The governor scores best within his own party, though the poll found fewer than half of those who identified themselves as Democrats approve of Quinn's job performance — 44 percent. But 61 percent of independent voters, always a key political demographic in statewide elections, expressed disapproval with his handling of the job.
In Democrat-dominated Chicago, only 43 percent of voters liked the job Quinn is doing, while 41 percent disapproved. In suburban Cook County, 45 percent of voters disapproved while 43 percent approved. In the collar counties, 57 percent didn't like Quinn's job performance, compared with only 27 percent who approved.
Quinn's numbers were even more dismal among voters outside the six-county Chicago metropolitan area: 65 percent disapproved while only 18 percent approved. The disapproval numbers outside the metro area and in the collar counties are the worst recorded in Tribune polling on Quinn since he became governor.
Among African-American voters, a key Democratic constituency, Quinn's support was soft at 48 percent, with 35 percent of blacks surveyed disapproving.
Among voters who called themselves liberals, Quinn's approval rating was 49 percent. But among those who called themselves moderates or conservatives, clear majorities disapproved of Quinn's governance.
The survey also found 60 percent of men and 50 percent of women were unhappy with Quinn's leadership. That includes 43 percent of white suburban women, a socially moderate voting demographic credited in part with the Democratic governor's 2010 election victory because of his Republican opponent's socially conservative views.
Since the election, Quinn agreed to a 67 percent increase in the state's personal income-tax rate, a larger tax hike than he supported during the campaign. During a lame-duck session after the election, lawmakers approved a ban on the death penalty and a bill allowing same-sex couples to get civil unions. The two measures staked out new territory for the state on long-standing controversial social and cultural issues. The governor signed both bills into law.
The higher personal and corporate income taxes have not erased Illinois' budget problems. The state still has billions of dollars in unpaid bills to providers of state services such as health care to the poor. A public employee pension debt eats away more and more of what money the state does have to spend.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-governor-pat-quinn-0210-20120210,0,3719363.story
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Detective in 50-shot killing of NYC man is fired
....Detective in 50-shot killing of NYC man is fired
NEW YORK (AP) — An undercover police detective who fired the first bullets in a 50-shot barrage that killed an unarmed New York City man as he left his bachelor party has been fired and three other officers involved in the slaying will resign, ending a disciplinary process that dragged on for nearly 5½ years.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly made the decision to push the four officers out Friday, four months after a department administrative trial judge concluded that detective Gescard Isnora acted improperly in the 2006 killing of the would-be groom, Sean Bell.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Friday that "there was nothing in the record to warrant overturning the decision."
Isnora and fellow detectives Marc Cooper and Michael Oliver and Lt. Gary Napoli were widely condemned and brought up on criminal charges following the shooting outside a Queens nightclub, but they were acquitted on all counts at their 2008 trial.
Bell was black; the officers involved in the shooting were black, white and Hispanic. The shooting drew national attention and reopened questions of race and whether black men were unfairly targeted by police, but critics eventually came to focus more on the use of deadly force.
The detectives, who had been monitoring the club for drug activity, decided to stop Bell and his friends after they left the nightspot and got into their car following a verbal altercation with another group of men. Isnora said he believed they were in the vehicle to retrieve a gun. In fact, the men were unarmed, but Isnora began shooting when the driver hit the gas and rammed a police van.
Isnora fired 11 shots into the car. The 23-year-old Bell was killed and two friends seriously wounded. Cooper and Oliver also fired shots. Another detective who fired his gun, Paul Headley, has already resigned, while a fifth shooter was ruled by the administrative judge not to have acted improperly. Napoli was a supervisor at the scene.
The firing means that Isnora will lose his pension and health care benefits.
Isnora's lawyer, Philip Karasyk, told The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/GU1fZz) that the decision to fire the officer was "extremely disheartening and callous and sends an uncaring message to the hard-working officers of the New York Police Department who put their lives on the line every day."
Mike Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association, said Saturday that the union and its lawyers were reviewing the decision to see if Isnora has any legal recourse.
"The decision is demoralizing and it's unsetting for all members of the NYPD," Palladino said. "The message is that you could be in a life-or-death situation, act within the law, be justified by the courts and still lose everything — your livelihood as well as your retirement."
Please read complete article at link below:
http://news.yahoo.com/detective-50-shot-killing-nyc-man-fired-135936652.html?ugc_c=s8A0cpn12QBIepvXrWFTCkt3Zr.EWQ22F4YSyygDpZ6HgYZomgczXEyM_UqNJujmlP7S4wWcs.dwGCigVXX_zdJUj69fiMrG8bKJLZtajoVZWzURQb1fZyiOyigIora6Bqr2iSQScOsXVXtxDrtFjc8_AZQp0u7kGK8t2qrvP_S.p9yjvv1epbl_vEYThrBVuy7sGsLm2MSKIa7P0Ef0RyTXSuEgVoHWox0xbxjthQ1UxzPplkH3N_m._A--&bcnv_s=e&ugc_scnv=1&ll=2
NEW YORK (AP) — An undercover police detective who fired the first bullets in a 50-shot barrage that killed an unarmed New York City man as he left his bachelor party has been fired and three other officers involved in the slaying will resign, ending a disciplinary process that dragged on for nearly 5½ years.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly made the decision to push the four officers out Friday, four months after a department administrative trial judge concluded that detective Gescard Isnora acted improperly in the 2006 killing of the would-be groom, Sean Bell.
NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Friday that "there was nothing in the record to warrant overturning the decision."
Isnora and fellow detectives Marc Cooper and Michael Oliver and Lt. Gary Napoli were widely condemned and brought up on criminal charges following the shooting outside a Queens nightclub, but they were acquitted on all counts at their 2008 trial.
Bell was black; the officers involved in the shooting were black, white and Hispanic. The shooting drew national attention and reopened questions of race and whether black men were unfairly targeted by police, but critics eventually came to focus more on the use of deadly force.
The detectives, who had been monitoring the club for drug activity, decided to stop Bell and his friends after they left the nightspot and got into their car following a verbal altercation with another group of men. Isnora said he believed they were in the vehicle to retrieve a gun. In fact, the men were unarmed, but Isnora began shooting when the driver hit the gas and rammed a police van.
Isnora fired 11 shots into the car. The 23-year-old Bell was killed and two friends seriously wounded. Cooper and Oliver also fired shots. Another detective who fired his gun, Paul Headley, has already resigned, while a fifth shooter was ruled by the administrative judge not to have acted improperly. Napoli was a supervisor at the scene.
The firing means that Isnora will lose his pension and health care benefits.
Isnora's lawyer, Philip Karasyk, told The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/GU1fZz) that the decision to fire the officer was "extremely disheartening and callous and sends an uncaring message to the hard-working officers of the New York Police Department who put their lives on the line every day."
Mike Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association, said Saturday that the union and its lawyers were reviewing the decision to see if Isnora has any legal recourse.
"The decision is demoralizing and it's unsetting for all members of the NYPD," Palladino said. "The message is that you could be in a life-or-death situation, act within the law, be justified by the courts and still lose everything — your livelihood as well as your retirement."
Please read complete article at link below:
http://news.yahoo.com/detective-50-shot-killing-nyc-man-fired-135936652.html?ugc_c=s8A0cpn12QBIepvXrWFTCkt3Zr.EWQ22F4YSyygDpZ6HgYZomgczXEyM_UqNJujmlP7S4wWcs.dwGCigVXX_zdJUj69fiMrG8bKJLZtajoVZWzURQb1fZyiOyigIora6Bqr2iSQScOsXVXtxDrtFjc8_AZQp0u7kGK8t2qrvP_S.p9yjvv1epbl_vEYThrBVuy7sGsLm2MSKIa7P0Ef0RyTXSuEgVoHWox0xbxjthQ1UxzPplkH3N_m._A--&bcnv_s=e&ugc_scnv=1&ll=2
Saturday, March 24, 2012
City fires head of Animal Care and Control
City fires head of Animal Care and Control
By Ryan Haggerty and John Byrne
Tribune reporters
4:00 PM CDT, March 24, 2012
The executive director of Chicago's Animal Care and Control was fired Friday and replaced with one of the department's former deputy directors.
Cherie Travis confirmed in an interview today that she was fired Friday. She said the city did not explain why she was let go.
A statement from Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office also did not explain why Travis was fired.
Travis has been accused of no wrongdoing. "We simply decided to go in another direction with the leadership" at Animal Care and Control, said Sarah Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Emanuel.
Travis will be replaced by Sandra Alfred, who previously served 11 years as deputy director at Animal Care and Control and has twice been the department's acting director.
In his statement, Emanuel described Alfred as "a champion for animal rights and advocate for animal care. She knows every facet of the Department of Animal Care and Control and is a natural choice to lead the department's efforts."
Emanuel also thanked Travis for her leadership and said she has been "a strong advocate for the safety and well-being of animals across Chicago."
Animal Care and Control impounds about 20,000 animals a year, including dogs, cats and reptiles, according to its website.
rhaggerty@tribune.com and jebyrne@tribune.com
Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking
Please reread complete article at link below:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-chicago-animal-care-and-control-cherie-travis-sandra-alfred,0,2432318.story
Editor's note: Come on, Ryan and John, what is the real story? Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
By Ryan Haggerty and John Byrne
Tribune reporters
4:00 PM CDT, March 24, 2012
The executive director of Chicago's Animal Care and Control was fired Friday and replaced with one of the department's former deputy directors.
Cherie Travis confirmed in an interview today that she was fired Friday. She said the city did not explain why she was let go.
A statement from Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office also did not explain why Travis was fired.
Travis has been accused of no wrongdoing. "We simply decided to go in another direction with the leadership" at Animal Care and Control, said Sarah Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Emanuel.
Travis will be replaced by Sandra Alfred, who previously served 11 years as deputy director at Animal Care and Control and has twice been the department's acting director.
In his statement, Emanuel described Alfred as "a champion for animal rights and advocate for animal care. She knows every facet of the Department of Animal Care and Control and is a natural choice to lead the department's efforts."
Emanuel also thanked Travis for her leadership and said she has been "a strong advocate for the safety and well-being of animals across Chicago."
Animal Care and Control impounds about 20,000 animals a year, including dogs, cats and reptiles, according to its website.
rhaggerty@tribune.com and jebyrne@tribune.com
Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking
Please reread complete article at link below:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-chicago-animal-care-and-control-cherie-travis-sandra-alfred,0,2432318.story
Editor's note: Come on, Ryan and John, what is the real story? Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
State Supreme Court Holds Lawyers, Conservators Accountable In Probate Cases
State Supreme Court Holds Lawyers, Conservators Accountable In Probate Cases
Rick Green
8:55 PM EDT, March 23, 2012
The state Supreme Court stood up Friday for a simple right that matters deeply for all, but especially to the old, sick and disabled.
The job of a lawyer appointed by probate court is to fight for the client, whether he is healthy or a stubborn 86-year-old man.
In a unanimous ruling in the long-running civil rights case of Daniel Gross, the justices ruled that court-appointed lawyers do not have immunity from lawsuits if they abuse their clients. The court also ruled, in a divided opinion, that conservators appointed by probate have limited immunity. The justices also ruled that a nursing home does not have immunity from lawsuits in probate cases.
The ruling has far-reaching implications for our troubled probate court system. It means that a court-appointed lawyer, and to a lesser extent the conservator — who is appointed by probate when a person can no longer live independently — cannot ignore the wishes of a client. The message to probate court is clear: Lawyers and conservators must be held accountable.
For probate courts, this has huge implications because many of the unsettling and outrageous cases I have been writing about for the past six years stem from abuse by conservators and court-appointed lawyers and judges who don't pay enough attention.
Although Gross died in 2007, his civil rights case lived on. The lasting lesson is that the old or disabled — even if they are unwell and cranky — have the same rights as the rest of us.
"It means that if you get a court-appointed lawyer, that lawyer cannot have any doubt that the lawyer's job is to listen to you,'' said Sally Zanger, the Connecticut Legal Rights Project lawyer who represented Carolyn Dee King, Gross' daughter. "It's what the lawyer is supposed to be doing."
Amazingly, that's been the problem in the probate cases I've been telling you about since 2006. Gross' was the first and most heartbreaking case I stumbled upon, when a Legal Aid lawyer told me an unbelievable tale of an old man from Long Island being held against his will in a Waterbury nursing home.
Elderly but still independent, Gross became ill while visiting his daughter in Waterbury. He was hospitalized, and while his children fought over his care and who should control his finances, Waterbury Probate Judge Thomas Brunnock approved his involuntary conservatorship.
Gross wanted to go home to Long Island. He wasn't told of the hearing where he was ordered conserved. His court-appointed lawyer, Jonathan Newman, failed to object to the conservatorship, even though Gross just wanted to leave Connecticut. His conservator, Kathleen Donovan, had him placed in a locked, restricted ward at Grove Manor Nursing Home in Waterbury. His roommate was violent.
Later, when Gross was on a day visit to his Long Island home, he was hospitalized. Donovan brought him back to Connecticut in an ambulance against the wishes of Gross' New York doctor.
In June 2006, Superior Court Judge Joseph Gormley, at a dramatic writ of habeas corpus hearing, ordered Gross freed, declaring that "a terrible miscarriage of justice" had taken place and that the man had been "deprived of his liberty."
King, Gross' daughter, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Brunnock, Donovan, Newman and the nursing home. Brunnock, as a judge, could not be sued, but the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals sent the question of immunity for the others back to the state Supreme Court for a ruling. King's lawsuit against Donovan, Newman and the nursing will now go back to federal court.
Newman's lawyer — who argued to the Supreme Court that his client's role was like that of a lawyer for a child — did not respond to my call. A lawyer for Donovan, Richard A. Roberts, said the ruling might mean that conservators and court-appointed lawyers will be forced to go to a judge for every decision they make.
But Fairfield Probate Judge Daniel Caruso, president of the association of probate judges, said that his colleagues will welcome the ruling.
"When the Supreme Court articulates and provides brighter lines as to what is and is not within the bounds of immunity, it helps everyone," he said.
Public-interest lawyers hailed the decision because it provides new accountability to a court system that critics say still lacks oversight.
"Our legal system has safeguards. Even when you are appointed by the court you are accountable for what you do,'' Tom Behrendt of the Connecticut Legal Rights Project told me.
When I reached King, she reminded me of her father's humiliation before a court that was supposed to protect him.
"He was robbed of his humanity at the end of his life,'' King said. "He was used as a pawn. They just ignored him."
We can't change that, but the elderly man's lasting legacy is a powerful one. If you are old or disabled, probate court is a less-frightening place thanks to Daniel Gross.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-green-probate-judge-decision-0324-2-20120323,0,3395932.column
Editor's note: All the judges in the Probate Court of Cook County should read this article. They should be required to view the movie, "A Man For All Seasons"...Sir Thomas is what they as lawyers should strive for as their exemplar. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Rick Green
8:55 PM EDT, March 23, 2012
The state Supreme Court stood up Friday for a simple right that matters deeply for all, but especially to the old, sick and disabled.
The job of a lawyer appointed by probate court is to fight for the client, whether he is healthy or a stubborn 86-year-old man.
In a unanimous ruling in the long-running civil rights case of Daniel Gross, the justices ruled that court-appointed lawyers do not have immunity from lawsuits if they abuse their clients. The court also ruled, in a divided opinion, that conservators appointed by probate have limited immunity. The justices also ruled that a nursing home does not have immunity from lawsuits in probate cases.
The ruling has far-reaching implications for our troubled probate court system. It means that a court-appointed lawyer, and to a lesser extent the conservator — who is appointed by probate when a person can no longer live independently — cannot ignore the wishes of a client. The message to probate court is clear: Lawyers and conservators must be held accountable.
For probate courts, this has huge implications because many of the unsettling and outrageous cases I have been writing about for the past six years stem from abuse by conservators and court-appointed lawyers and judges who don't pay enough attention.
Although Gross died in 2007, his civil rights case lived on. The lasting lesson is that the old or disabled — even if they are unwell and cranky — have the same rights as the rest of us.
"It means that if you get a court-appointed lawyer, that lawyer cannot have any doubt that the lawyer's job is to listen to you,'' said Sally Zanger, the Connecticut Legal Rights Project lawyer who represented Carolyn Dee King, Gross' daughter. "It's what the lawyer is supposed to be doing."
Amazingly, that's been the problem in the probate cases I've been telling you about since 2006. Gross' was the first and most heartbreaking case I stumbled upon, when a Legal Aid lawyer told me an unbelievable tale of an old man from Long Island being held against his will in a Waterbury nursing home.
Elderly but still independent, Gross became ill while visiting his daughter in Waterbury. He was hospitalized, and while his children fought over his care and who should control his finances, Waterbury Probate Judge Thomas Brunnock approved his involuntary conservatorship.
Gross wanted to go home to Long Island. He wasn't told of the hearing where he was ordered conserved. His court-appointed lawyer, Jonathan Newman, failed to object to the conservatorship, even though Gross just wanted to leave Connecticut. His conservator, Kathleen Donovan, had him placed in a locked, restricted ward at Grove Manor Nursing Home in Waterbury. His roommate was violent.
Later, when Gross was on a day visit to his Long Island home, he was hospitalized. Donovan brought him back to Connecticut in an ambulance against the wishes of Gross' New York doctor.
In June 2006, Superior Court Judge Joseph Gormley, at a dramatic writ of habeas corpus hearing, ordered Gross freed, declaring that "a terrible miscarriage of justice" had taken place and that the man had been "deprived of his liberty."
King, Gross' daughter, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Brunnock, Donovan, Newman and the nursing home. Brunnock, as a judge, could not be sued, but the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals sent the question of immunity for the others back to the state Supreme Court for a ruling. King's lawsuit against Donovan, Newman and the nursing will now go back to federal court.
Newman's lawyer — who argued to the Supreme Court that his client's role was like that of a lawyer for a child — did not respond to my call. A lawyer for Donovan, Richard A. Roberts, said the ruling might mean that conservators and court-appointed lawyers will be forced to go to a judge for every decision they make.
But Fairfield Probate Judge Daniel Caruso, president of the association of probate judges, said that his colleagues will welcome the ruling.
"When the Supreme Court articulates and provides brighter lines as to what is and is not within the bounds of immunity, it helps everyone," he said.
Public-interest lawyers hailed the decision because it provides new accountability to a court system that critics say still lacks oversight.
"Our legal system has safeguards. Even when you are appointed by the court you are accountable for what you do,'' Tom Behrendt of the Connecticut Legal Rights Project told me.
When I reached King, she reminded me of her father's humiliation before a court that was supposed to protect him.
"He was robbed of his humanity at the end of his life,'' King said. "He was used as a pawn. They just ignored him."
We can't change that, but the elderly man's lasting legacy is a powerful one. If you are old or disabled, probate court is a less-frightening place thanks to Daniel Gross.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-green-probate-judge-decision-0324-2-20120323,0,3395932.column
Editor's note: All the judges in the Probate Court of Cook County should read this article. They should be required to view the movie, "A Man For All Seasons"...Sir Thomas is what they as lawyers should strive for as their exemplar. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Friday, March 23, 2012
Ex-city worker pleads guilty in DUI crash 1 victim said 'forever changed my life'
Ex-city worker pleads guilty in DUI crash 1 victim said 'forever changed my life'
By Ryan Haggerty
Tribune reporter
2:29 PM CDT, March 23, 2012
A brace on her right foot and a cane in her right hand, Jennifer Anton, 26, walked slowly to the front of a Cook County courtroom today to describe the pain she's endured since a former City of Chicago employee who was drunk and on-duty crashed a city pickup truck into her and other pedestrians on the Near North Side last spring.
Anton took a seat at the witness stand and stated the date of the crash -- May 21, 2011 -- before breaking down in tears. She paused to collect herself, then described that Saturday as "a day that forever changed my life."
The truck's driver, Dwight Washington, 62, had pleaded guilty moments earlier to four counts of aggravated DUI causing great bodily harm. He is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday.
Anton, who has undergone a dozen surgeries to repair a broken pelvis and multiple leg fractures but still needs more operations, said after court that it was hard to look at Washington in the courtroom as he listened to her, other victims and their relatives describe the struggles they've endured since the crash.
"He's a person just like you, but he caused so much pain and so much hardship," Anton said of Washington, who declined to address the court when given the opportunity. "I hope he knows what he did and understands."
Washington was working as a laborer for the Department of Streets and Sanitation when he crashed at Cedar and Rush streets in the bustling Gold Coast neighborhood.
The truck jumped a curb and slammed into Anton, a nanny who was out for a walk with a toddler in her care. Anton shoved the stroller out of the way just before she was hit.
Tyler Jones, the 20-month-old girl whom Anton was pushing in the stroller, escaped with only minor injuries. The child's father, Hugh Jones, later hailed Anton as a hero.
Six other pedestrians -- including people participating in a commercial photo shoot depicting a wedding -- were hurt, one critically.
One of the victims, Stephen Dewart, said in court today that he broke four vertebrae and will spend the rest of his life with a titanium rod in his right leg.
The horror of being pinned under the truck in the moments after the crash still haunts him, he said.
"I was delusional to the point of wondering whether I was alive or dead," he said from the witness stand.
Washington had a valid driver's license and a clean driving record at the time of the crash, but prosecutors said he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.183 percent, more than twice the legal limit to drive.
Police who responded to the crash smelled alcohol on Washington and noticed he had bloodshot eyes and was unsteady on his feet, according to court records.
An open bottle of E&J brandy was found lodged under the truck's gas pedal.
Washington's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Monique Patterson, said in court that Washington was supposed to be off the day of the crash but was called in to work.
She said he had been drinking before being called in but was afraid to turn down the shift because he feared he'd lose his job if he didn't work.
"Mr. Washington is deeply regretful about what occurred," said Patterson, who asked Cook County Associate Judge James B. Linn to be as lenient as possible when he sentences Washington next week. "He is willing to accept responsibility for the tragic accident that happened that day."
Washington, who is in custody, is no longer employed by Streets and Sanitation, a department spokeswoman said.
rhaggerty@tribune.com
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-former-city-employee-pleads-guilty-in-dui-accident-that-injured-8-20120323,0,1184451.story
Editor's note: Mr. Washington has the same disregard for the public as do the denizens of the Probate Court of Cook County. Both Washington and the judges feel that they have immunity from accountability and responsibility for their misdeeds. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
By Ryan Haggerty
Tribune reporter
2:29 PM CDT, March 23, 2012
A brace on her right foot and a cane in her right hand, Jennifer Anton, 26, walked slowly to the front of a Cook County courtroom today to describe the pain she's endured since a former City of Chicago employee who was drunk and on-duty crashed a city pickup truck into her and other pedestrians on the Near North Side last spring.
Anton took a seat at the witness stand and stated the date of the crash -- May 21, 2011 -- before breaking down in tears. She paused to collect herself, then described that Saturday as "a day that forever changed my life."
The truck's driver, Dwight Washington, 62, had pleaded guilty moments earlier to four counts of aggravated DUI causing great bodily harm. He is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday.
Anton, who has undergone a dozen surgeries to repair a broken pelvis and multiple leg fractures but still needs more operations, said after court that it was hard to look at Washington in the courtroom as he listened to her, other victims and their relatives describe the struggles they've endured since the crash.
"He's a person just like you, but he caused so much pain and so much hardship," Anton said of Washington, who declined to address the court when given the opportunity. "I hope he knows what he did and understands."
Washington was working as a laborer for the Department of Streets and Sanitation when he crashed at Cedar and Rush streets in the bustling Gold Coast neighborhood.
The truck jumped a curb and slammed into Anton, a nanny who was out for a walk with a toddler in her care. Anton shoved the stroller out of the way just before she was hit.
Tyler Jones, the 20-month-old girl whom Anton was pushing in the stroller, escaped with only minor injuries. The child's father, Hugh Jones, later hailed Anton as a hero.
Six other pedestrians -- including people participating in a commercial photo shoot depicting a wedding -- were hurt, one critically.
One of the victims, Stephen Dewart, said in court today that he broke four vertebrae and will spend the rest of his life with a titanium rod in his right leg.
The horror of being pinned under the truck in the moments after the crash still haunts him, he said.
"I was delusional to the point of wondering whether I was alive or dead," he said from the witness stand.
Washington had a valid driver's license and a clean driving record at the time of the crash, but prosecutors said he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.183 percent, more than twice the legal limit to drive.
Police who responded to the crash smelled alcohol on Washington and noticed he had bloodshot eyes and was unsteady on his feet, according to court records.
An open bottle of E&J brandy was found lodged under the truck's gas pedal.
Washington's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Monique Patterson, said in court that Washington was supposed to be off the day of the crash but was called in to work.
She said he had been drinking before being called in but was afraid to turn down the shift because he feared he'd lose his job if he didn't work.
"Mr. Washington is deeply regretful about what occurred," said Patterson, who asked Cook County Associate Judge James B. Linn to be as lenient as possible when he sentences Washington next week. "He is willing to accept responsibility for the tragic accident that happened that day."
Washington, who is in custody, is no longer employed by Streets and Sanitation, a department spokeswoman said.
rhaggerty@tribune.com
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-former-city-employee-pleads-guilty-in-dui-accident-that-injured-8-20120323,0,1184451.story
Editor's note: Mr. Washington has the same disregard for the public as do the denizens of the Probate Court of Cook County. Both Washington and the judges feel that they have immunity from accountability and responsibility for their misdeeds. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Suit blames Lake County for jail death
chicagotribune.com
Suit blames Lake County for jail death
By Robert McCoppin
Tribune reporter
12:37 PM CDT, March 23, 2012
The sister of a man who died about four months after being injured in Lake County jail has filed suit against the county and Sheriff Mark Curran, blaming them for his death.
Eugene Gruber, 51, of Grayslake, died March 3 as a result of injuries suffered at the jail, claims the suit, filed Thursday in federal court.
The suit also names numerous other defendants, including Jennifer Witherspoon, described as the head of the jail at the time, numerous sheriff's officers and supervisors, and Correct Care Solutions and its nurses, which provided medical services at the jail.
The suit alleges that on Oct. 31 of last year, Gruber was arrested and brought to the jail, where he was pepper-sprayed, assaulted and beaten by sheriff's officers in front of supervisors.
Though Gruber had "catastrophic" injuries and asked for medical help, none was provided until the following day, the suit states.
On Nov. 1, Gruber was brought to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, where he was treated for neck injuries and paralysis, and he later died while being treated for those injuries at Schwab Rehabilitation Center in Chicago on March 3.
The federal suit, filed by Eileen Siwula, Gruber's sister and administrator of his estate, alleges excessive force and a callous disregard for Gruber, and deprivation of medical care.
Eugene Gruber was drunk, hostile and uncooperative when he walked into the Lake County Jail, but a day later, he was paralyzed, had a broken neck and barely registered a pulse after an encounter with guards, records show.
How Gruber was treated over the 24 hours following his arrest on disorderly conduct and trespassing charges Oct. 31 led to a criminal investigation by the Lake County state's attorney and the firing of at least one jail nurse, according to documents released to the Tribune in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
The state's attorney's office declined to press charges after finding no evidence of criminal intent, officials said.
But documents and video from the investigation raise questions about jail procedures and the physical handling of Gruber, who complained for hours that he couldn't move his legs before paramedics were called the next morning.
Gruber's case marks the second unusual incident reported at the jail since last fall.
Inmate Lyvita Gomes, an India native who had shown signs of mental illness in jail, died Jan. 3 after launching a 15-day hunger strike.
Her family has questioned her treatment in jail and events leading to her incarceration, which began when she missed jury duty — something she was ineligible to serve, anyway, as a non-citizen — and was charged with resisting arrest.
Gruber's injury appeared to have resulted from a neck-twisting "take-down" maneuver made as guards struggled to change his clothes, records show.
Officers did not document the physical altercation in their required daily reports, noting only that they pepper-sprayed him because he was combative and threatened violence against guards, according to records.
A nurse told jail guards that if Gruber were really paralyzed, he would "urinate on himself" — a test that a physician later told investigators was not an appropriate measure for paralysis.
During Gruber's incarceration, security videos show, deputies hoisted him by the armpits and carried him, legs dragging, through the jail.
Other images appear to show an officer holding a slumping Gruber up for his mug shot.
No cameras were present in the cells where the pepper-spraying and take-down maneuver occurred, so investigators had to rely on witness reports, some of which contained conflicting statements, according to records.
rmccoppin@tribune.com
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-eugene-gruber-death-blamed-on-lake-county-jail-20120323,0,6115964.story
Editor's note: Your ProbateShark believes that Lake County is at best, becoming a third world banana republic, at worst, 1930's Third Reich! Al Sharpton, where are you? Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Suit blames Lake County for jail death
By Robert McCoppin
Tribune reporter
12:37 PM CDT, March 23, 2012
The sister of a man who died about four months after being injured in Lake County jail has filed suit against the county and Sheriff Mark Curran, blaming them for his death.
Eugene Gruber, 51, of Grayslake, died March 3 as a result of injuries suffered at the jail, claims the suit, filed Thursday in federal court.
The suit also names numerous other defendants, including Jennifer Witherspoon, described as the head of the jail at the time, numerous sheriff's officers and supervisors, and Correct Care Solutions and its nurses, which provided medical services at the jail.
The suit alleges that on Oct. 31 of last year, Gruber was arrested and brought to the jail, where he was pepper-sprayed, assaulted and beaten by sheriff's officers in front of supervisors.
Though Gruber had "catastrophic" injuries and asked for medical help, none was provided until the following day, the suit states.
On Nov. 1, Gruber was brought to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, where he was treated for neck injuries and paralysis, and he later died while being treated for those injuries at Schwab Rehabilitation Center in Chicago on March 3.
The federal suit, filed by Eileen Siwula, Gruber's sister and administrator of his estate, alleges excessive force and a callous disregard for Gruber, and deprivation of medical care.
Eugene Gruber was drunk, hostile and uncooperative when he walked into the Lake County Jail, but a day later, he was paralyzed, had a broken neck and barely registered a pulse after an encounter with guards, records show.
How Gruber was treated over the 24 hours following his arrest on disorderly conduct and trespassing charges Oct. 31 led to a criminal investigation by the Lake County state's attorney and the firing of at least one jail nurse, according to documents released to the Tribune in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
The state's attorney's office declined to press charges after finding no evidence of criminal intent, officials said.
But documents and video from the investigation raise questions about jail procedures and the physical handling of Gruber, who complained for hours that he couldn't move his legs before paramedics were called the next morning.
Gruber's case marks the second unusual incident reported at the jail since last fall.
Inmate Lyvita Gomes, an India native who had shown signs of mental illness in jail, died Jan. 3 after launching a 15-day hunger strike.
Her family has questioned her treatment in jail and events leading to her incarceration, which began when she missed jury duty — something she was ineligible to serve, anyway, as a non-citizen — and was charged with resisting arrest.
Gruber's injury appeared to have resulted from a neck-twisting "take-down" maneuver made as guards struggled to change his clothes, records show.
Officers did not document the physical altercation in their required daily reports, noting only that they pepper-sprayed him because he was combative and threatened violence against guards, according to records.
A nurse told jail guards that if Gruber were really paralyzed, he would "urinate on himself" — a test that a physician later told investigators was not an appropriate measure for paralysis.
During Gruber's incarceration, security videos show, deputies hoisted him by the armpits and carried him, legs dragging, through the jail.
Other images appear to show an officer holding a slumping Gruber up for his mug shot.
No cameras were present in the cells where the pepper-spraying and take-down maneuver occurred, so investigators had to rely on witness reports, some of which contained conflicting statements, according to records.
rmccoppin@tribune.com
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-eugene-gruber-death-blamed-on-lake-county-jail-20120323,0,6115964.story
Editor's note: Your ProbateShark believes that Lake County is at best, becoming a third world banana republic, at worst, 1930's Third Reich! Al Sharpton, where are you? Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Theory as to the relationship between Elder Abuse, Financial Exploitation of the Elderly and the Nursing Home Industry.
Theory as to the relationship between Elder Abuse, Financial Exploitation of the Elderly and the Nursing Home Industry.
The nursing homes (Now called rehabilitative care) are set up as profit generating machines; the nursing home ‘cabal’ has a strict regime of operation. A particular unit operates for about ten years, and then it changes its structure and continues on the very same business as a new operation. Even the limited partners change.
To augment the profits and regulate the cash flow, each nursing home is serviced by a series of cabal owned companies – It is suggested that ReHab Assist is one of those companies. The cabal owned companies; (satellite companies) are under contract to provide all the essential services to the Cabal owned nursing homes, i.e. - nursing , transportation, pharmacy, rehab, social service, cleaning, utilities, etc. Each satellite company appears to be independent, but its real ownership is the Cabal. The officers of these companies are paid large salaries to look the other way as fine tuning of cash flow occurs. These officers are essentially hired to take the heat if anything goes wrong.
The cabal to avoid detection (and avoid taxes) has its own currency. The most obvious currency is nursing home beds. The beds have a fixed value. I was told that for outsiders it is $2500.00, however for cabal members $1000.00. Because patterns emerge and the United States of America has a tendency to prosecute Medicare and Medicaid frauds to make any informant or 'turncoat' appear to be a 'nut' and unreliable a 2nd personal currency is used. My informant was not aware of what the 2nd currency was currently but he knew it existed and was in wide usage.
By accident, I discovered the 2nd currency. The best way to describe it is to say that it is opportunity. For instance, a share of the 'loot' in the Sykes case is an opportunity. Someone on the inside, makes a Guardianship in the Sykes case available to a person who is anxious to be a Court appointed *****. (The Court appoints guardian ad litem, plenary guardians, attorneys etc). For their valuable services the appointees are offered a fee by the cabal. This fee may or may not have a relationship to a Court awarded fee.
It is understood that the appointees will pay a referral fee of x dollars to the person or entity responsible for the appointment. This referral fee will be paid to a particular entity. If one of the cabal as an example wishes to contribute to a political campaign the contractor makes the campaign contribution. Similarly, other purchases can be arranged, and the cabal member directing the transfer totally undisclosed.
The 2nd currency traffics in 'supervised visitation,' 'nursing home placement,' 'appointments by the Court', etc. This current may or may not be related to a particular nursing home investment.
I am not privy to the operation by the cabal, I just happened to stumble upon it. The Evidence for this theory is found in the Sykes case, and a series of lawsuits in which I represent limited partners against certain general partners. It should be noted that all nursing homes are not owner or operated by the cabal, however, enough are to be of great concern.
Ken Ditkowsky
www.ditkowskylawoffice.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)