Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Feds Join Shooting Probe

From the Spokesman Review:


A man charged with attempted second-degree murder in connection with a shot targeting three black youths was ordered held in jail Tuesday as federal authorities also indicated that they would investigate the shooting as a possible hate crime.
Jimmy J. Blackburn, 29, pleaded not guilty before Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza, who ordered Blackburn to remain in custody on a $500,000 bond. Cozza set Blackburn’s trial on the three attempted murder charges for Nov. 19.
Blackburn was arrested Sept. 13 as Spokane police officers converged at the Days Inn, at 120 W. Third Ave., to investigate the shooting of Paul A. Haney, 33, who was found dead in the parking lot.
According to court records, investigators believe Kevin M. Heaton, 35, is responsible for that shooting and remains on the loose. Heaton had paid for the room in which Blackburn was found at the Days Inn, but the court records don’t indicate whether Blackburn had any involvement in the Haney shooting.
Outside the hotel, however, investigators found a red 2012 Rocketa Sicily moped that was linked to a shooting the day before near 33rd Avenue and Thor Street.
In that case, three black youths were walking on 33rd Avenue at 4:20 p.m. on Sept. 12 when they heard a white man yelling racial slurs at them. That man was later identified as Blackburn, according to court records.
Blackburn challenged them to fight. “At this time, (Blackburn) asked the victims, ‘Have you guys ever had a gun pointed at you?'” according to court records.
Blackburn then walked over to the moped – which had been reported stolen earlier that day – and grabbed a locked pistol box, the records say. Unable to open it, Blackburn threw it on the ground several times until it opened.
According to one of the boys, Blackburn “pointed the handgun” at them and said “they could have a six second head start before he shoots them,” court records state. Blackburn then began yelling for someone named “Suicide” to come out of the house at 3304 E. 33rd Ave.
Full article can be found here.

SEC Warns on Rise of Affinity Fraud

From AdvisorOne:


The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of Investor Education and Advocacy on Wednesday issued an Investor Alert to help educate investors about affinity fraud, a type of investment scam that the agency is seeing more of that preys upon members of identifiable groups, such as religious or ethnic communities or the elderly.
As the SEC explains, affinity fraud almost always involves either a fake investment or an investment where the fraudster lies about important details (such as the risk of loss, the track record of the investment, or the background of the promoter of the scheme). "Many affinity frauds are Ponzi or pyramid schemes, where money given to the promoter by new investors is paid to earlier investors to create the illusion that the so-called investment is successful," the SEC says.
Fraudsters who carry out affinity scams frequently are (or pretend to be) members of the group they are trying to defraud. “Fraudsters target any group they think they can convince to trust them with the group members’ hard-earned savings,” the SEC says.
For instance, a recent SEC action was against a Ponzi scheme promoter who sold promissory notes bearing purported annual interest rates of 12% to 20%, telling primarily African-American investors that the funds would be used to purchase and support small businesses such as a laundry, juice bar, or gas station. The promoter, the SEC says, also sold “sweepstakes machines” that he claimed would generate investor returns of as much as 300% or more in the first year.
At its core, the SEC says, “affinity fraud exploits the trust and friendship that exist in groups of people who have something in common.” And “because of the tight-knit structure of many groups, it can be difficult for regulators or law enforcement officials to detect an affinity scam.” Victims often fail to notify authorities or pursue legal remedies. Instead, they try to work things out within the group. This is particularly true where the fraudsters have used respected community or religious leaders to convince others to join the investment.
Full article can be found here.

IRS Boosts Staff in Tax Refund fraud



The Internal Revenue Service is tripling the number of staff members nationwide who are dedicated to addressing the issue of identity theft tax refund fraud, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said.
Castor, the Tampa Democrat, said she was briefed Friday by IRS officials regarding progress the agency is making to tackle the epidemic of fraud in which the Tampa area leads the nation.
Thieves use stolen personal information — such as names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers — to file tax returns with fake income information and obtain fraudulent tax refunds.
According to a recent inspector general report, thieves in the Tampa area alone stole more than $400 billion last year from federal taxpayers this way. Nationwide, identity thieves are stealing billions from the federal government through refund fraud.
Castor said the IRS assured her it is increasing its screening filters, designed to detect fraudulent returns before refunds are issued. Across the board, law enforcement officials have repeatedly said the fraud is so pervasive, it cannot be stopped by arrests and prosecutions — that the IRS needs to stop sending "refunds" to thieves.
The IRS told Castor that so far this year, it has prevented 2.3 million fraudulent refunds from being issued, totaling $15 billion. That's compared to 1.4 million fraudulent refunds stopped in 2011, worth $11 billion.
Part of that effort apparently involves increasing scrutiny of tax filings originating from Tampa, Castor noted.
"I said, 'Geographically, where you know there is an epidemic, like the Tampa Bay area and the state of Florida, I assume filters are place.' They said yes.
"They say they're on the cusp of instituting many, multiple new filters to prevent the fraud from happening in the first place," Castor said.
"So they will flag, for example, multiple returns coming to the same address. That's a question I keep getting. How can it be that the IRS is sending multiple debit cards and returns to the same address over and over?"
Castor also noted something police have been saying: often crooks will use the same fake numbers repeatedly on numerous returns. For example, two suspects indicted this week were accused of filing 17 tax returns, each seeking refunds of $1,453.
The new filters, Castor says she was assured, "will flag that."
While Castor was encouraged by the new IRS approach, she added, "I know from the folks coming to my office with checks and calls and people I see in the grocery store, this is still a huge problem and we've got to continue to press the IRS until Tampa no longer is number one for tax fraud."
Full article can be found here.

Iowa State Nice

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Iowa Launches Website Listing Blood Alcohol Tests

A website recently launched by the state will allow the public, as well as law enforcement, to search for breath alcohol test results, certification records on breath test machines and officers’ alcohol training status.

Criminalist Jim Bleskacek of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said he proposed the idea to ensure the breath-testing equipment is working and accurate because those results can determine whether someone will be charged and possibly convicted of operating while intoxicated.

The DCI is responsible for making sure the breath alcohol equipment is maintained properly and certification is updated,” Bleskacek, said. “The equipment is certified once a year, according to Iowa code, but we probably check the calibration and do maintenance about every 10 months.”Criminalist Jim Bleskacek of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said he proposed the idea to ensure the breath-testing equipment is working and accurate because those results can determine whether someone will be charged and possibly convicted of operating while intoxicated.

Bleskacek said while the intent of the site is to provide complete transparency, it also protects the rights of individuals, who in many cases have only been arrested and not charged and convicted. The names and driver’s licenses are not included in the statistics or results.

“You would have to know a date of birth in order to bring up a specific person’s results,” Bleskacek said.

The site allows the public to search for breath alcohol tests by county, date range, gender or name of officer, Bleskacek said. The 170 breath test machines in the state automatically download the data for the site via the Internet. Bleskacek monitors the site every day to ensure everything is properly uploading and there are no malfunctions.

The test results are usually posted within 12 to 24 hours of the arrest, Bleskacek said.

Mike Lahammer, Cedar Rapids defense attorney, said he checked out the site and doesn’t see any privacy issues.

“It’s interesting information and would be a good resource to look at certification (of equipment) and history of an officer,” Lahammer said.

“The statistics of average blood alcohol content levels are interesting but not really valuable for a defense,” Lahammer said. “In a defense, you look at the individual and the circumstances like their weight, height, age, how much they drank over a period of time, what time of day was it.”

Full article can be found at the Gazette here.

Warrantless wiretap bill passes in US House, Authorizes 5 More Years of Domestic Spying

From the Verge:


In a 301 to 118 decision, the US House of Representatives has voted in favor of the FISA Amendments Act Reauthorization Act of 2012, a bill which will extend the US government's previously established warrantless wiretapping programs for the next five years. The bill preserves far-reaching and highly controversial enhancements to government surveillance powers granted under amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in 2008, and has been met with considerable resistance from privacy groups and members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.
FISA was originally tasked with preventing American citizens from being spied on following a 1978 scandal that found Richard Nixon's administration using US intelligence agencies to target activists and political opponents. But those protections have since been severely eroded, first by the USA Patriot Act in 2001, and again by the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, greatly expanding government surveillance powers to allow warrantless wiretapping of phone, email, and other communications.
Full article can be found here.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

“A Criminal Justice System for Spokane That Works"


The Smart Justice Campaign Presents

“A Criminal Justice System for Spokane That Works"

Douglas B. Marlowe, J.D., Ph.D.
Thursday∙ September 13, 2012 ∙ 6:30 pm ∙ FREE
The Bing Crosby Theater  ∙  901 W. Sprague Ave.

Dr. Marlowe will describe what alternatives to incarceration and other programming have been proven to be more effective than incarceration in reducing crime, and how these Smart Justice programs could benefit Spokane County.

For more information contact:
Anne Martin - anne@spokaneprogress.org 
Julie Schaffer - jschaffer@cforjustice.org

Monday, September 10, 2012

Oregon Federal Defender Search and Seizure Update

Every year the Oregon Federal Public Defender publishes a search and seizure update. The free download, available here, is a free fifty-two page summary of federal search and seizure law. A great place to get your research started.

FBI launches $1B ID search program


The Federal Bureau of Investigation is stepping up in its quest to exploit new technology to hunt down criminals, investing in a new system steeped in biometrics.
The FBI's $1 billion Next Generation Identification (NGI) program's aim is to significantly improve the existing fingerprint identification service. The ambitious project may raise the hackles of privacy advocates, but the FBI is intent on including facial recognition, iris scanning, DNA analysis and voice identification tech as the new face of criminal investigation -- reliability and accuracy concerns aside.
The NGI program is also reported to include rolled and latent finger and palm prints.
A pilot scheme is currently being run by the agency compiles all of this information for different purposes. As an example, one test matches up headshots in crowd photos which are then compared with database-stored images from security footage.
Through the NGI, an algorithm would conduct an automatic search and return potential 'hits' to officers. In an additional advancement, a database will store visuals of scars, tattoos and other physical marks.
The FBI has collected this kind of information for a long time. For example, voice recognition can be matched when a recording is sent from another group, as can facial images. However, the new scheme is being rolled out nationwide -- a first for the organization.
In addition, the FBI plans to provide access to the new databases to state law enforcement agencies. In an age of security systems like Trapwire and torrent swarm poisoning, perhaps privacy advocacy groups have a right to be worried -- as the database may also capture and store images of the general public. However, it may also streamline services and make criminal investigations easier for the FBI to conduct.
It is expected to be implemented nationwide by 2014.
Full article can be found here.