Court Digest

Iowa
‘Easter Santa Bunny’ cited as prosecutor in cases

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A check of Iowa’s online court system shows a unique name for the prosecutor in hundreds of cases: The Easter Bunny.

The Des Moines Register reports that on April 4, online docket sheets for hundreds of Polk County cases were revised to indicate the prosecution had been transferred from an assistant county attorney to “Easter Santa Bunny.”

Bret Lucas, an assistant county attorney, said the situation stems from a recent realignment of cases within the county attorney’s office. Some cases were “transferred” to the Easter Bunny until all the work on the digital case transfer could be finished.

Lucas said it appears that the Judicial Branch and the IT department decided to use the fake placeholder name.

Stacy Curtis, a supervisor for the criminal division of the Polk County Clerk of Court’s Office, said the references to the Easter Bunny should not have been visible to the public.

 

Indiana
Judge rejects sex abuse plea deal for suspended Indy priest

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A judge rejected a proposed plea agreement for a suspended Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy in 2016 and instead set a trial date for the cleric Thursday.

Hamilton County Superior Court Judge Michael Casati threw out the deal that would have allowed David Marcotte to plead guilty to one count of dissemination of matter harmful to minor in exchange for the state dismissing charges of child solicitation and vicarious sexual gratification.

Casati scheduled a jury trial for Oct. 10 on the three felony counts, WRTV-TV reported.

The boy was 14 and 15 when Marcotte allegedly texted him inappropriate photos and engaged in sexual conduct via social media platforms, court documents state.

Marcotte met the boy in 2016 when he worked at St. Malachy Church and School in Brownsburg. The abuse allegedly happened in 2017 and 2018, according to a probable cause affidavit.

At the time, Marcotte was also assigned to St. Martin of Tours Parish in Martinsville. He was serving as a chaplain at Roncalli High School, the University of Indianapolis and provided sacramental assistance at Sts. Francis and Clare Parish in Greenwood when the Archdiocese of Indianapolis suspended him from the priesthood in 2019.

 

Oregon
Former OHA worker allegedly embezzled COVID vax funds

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A former Oregon Health Authority employee has been indicted by a Marion County grand jury for allegedly embezzling nearly $1.5 million in federal COVID-19 funds intended to support the state’s vaccination effort.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports an arrest warrant affidavit from the Oregon Department of Justice agent who investigated the case said Marzieh Abedin was hired by the OHA to process invoices submitted by outside vendors who provided services related to the vaccination effort. OHA had also hired Deloitte Consulting to assist with management of the payments.

In November, Deloitte discovered payments to one vendor, Leone Catering, were missing supporting documentation. The invoices were related to catering services at large vaccination events, but events had not taken place at the locations and dates on the invoices, the affidavit said.

A subsequent review by OHA discovered another fraudulent payment to a different, legitimate company, T-Bev, located in Eugene. Authorities say Abedin had allegedly submitted an invoice from that company for $3,874, but using a false address. After Department of Administrative Services noticed a discrepancy in the billing address, a check was issued to the company at its Eugene location, and the company deposited it.

The Department of Justice was able to recover $1,485,899 from the accounts related to Leone Catering, and T-Bev agreed to return the $3,874 they had received, the affidavit said.

OHA later terminated Abedin. During that process, OHA said Abedin informed them she had returned to the country that issued her passport, which was not identified in the affidavit. The DOJ agent was able to confirm she no longer lives at her Portland address and that she had purchased plane tickets on an airline that serves the region in question and later made purchases at two airports.

The grand jury on Tuesday indicted Abedin on 21 counts of theft, forgery, identity theft, aggravated theft, aggravated identity theft, computer crime and official misconduct. The DOJ has requested an arrest warrant.

 

Missouri
Ex-teaching assistant convicted of sexually assaulting child

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A former teaching assistant in suburban St. Louis faces sentencing in June after being convicted of sexually assaulting a second grade student at school.

A jury on Thursday found 39-year-old Deonte Taylor of St. Louis County guilty of three counts sodomy and one count of knowingly exposing someone to HIV. Taylor is still awaiting trial on a charge that he tried to hire a hitman to kill the boy, his mother and grandmother.

Authorities say the crime happened in 2015 at Lusher Elementary School in Florissant. The boy, now 14, testified Tuesday about the crime. He said he told his mother that afternoon that Taylor had sexually assaulted him.

Taylor has been HIV-positive since 2012. Court testimony indicated the boy has tested negative for the virus.

Prosecutors have said that Taylor’s boyfriend, Michael Johnson, gave money to someone he thought was a hitman, but was actually a confidential police informer, to have the boy and his mother killed. Johnson is also charged in the case, which is still pending.

 

New York
Man gets over 4 years in prison for pandemic fraud

NEW YORK (AP) — A Chinese man was sentenced to more than four years in prison Thursday after admitting that he fraudulently tried to get $20 million in federal coronavirus-relief funds meant to rescue distressed businesses.

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman announced the four-year, four-month prison term for Muge Ma at a sentencing hearing in Manhattan.

The judge said the prison term was necessary because of the seriousness of the crimes and the need for others to be warned against abusing government programs meant to help people in a national emergency.

Ma, 38, was arrested in May 2020 by federal authorities who said he had applied to at least five banks to try to get over $20 million in government-guaranteed loans from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. Both programs were designed for businesses harmed by coronavirus shutdowns.

Authorities said he falsely claimed to be paying hundreds of employees millions of dollars in wages through two companies he controlled. To support the claims, he submitted fraudulent bank, tax, insurance and payroll records and provided banks with links to websites that described the companies as “global,” prosecutors said.

In fact, they said, Ma at the time was working alone out of his $1.5 million Manhattan condominium, falsely claiming that one of his companies was representing New York state and was helping then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to procure COVID-19 test kits and personal protective equipment for frontline workers.

Ma, a lawful permanent resident jailed since his May 2020 arrest, repeatedly said he was sorry before the sentence was imposed. He came to the U.S. in 2011 on a student visa.

“I love America,” Ma said. “I’m very, very sorry to my country, America.”

Besides decrying jail conditions over the last two years as “dirty, harsh, extremely cruel,” he repeatedly apologized for his crimes and said: “I detest myself so much.”

The self-criticism reached such a point that Berman interrupted Ma, telling him: “Mr. Ma, I don’t have any doubt about how sorry you are.”

“I’m not seeking blood from you,” the judge said before he urged Ma to stop dwelling on his crimes and focus on how he can be successful in the future.

Prosecutors said Ma’s fraud convinced one bank to approve and disburse over $800,000 in loan funds for one of Ma’s companies, although the money was frozen during the investigation. They said another $650,000 in loans had been approved and a $10,000 loan advance had been provided.

In a release Thursday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Ma carried out his crimes within days of Congress authorizing billions of dollars to help small businesses harmed by the pandemic.

“Muge Ma saw it as an opportunity to enrich himself by applying for millions of dollars in funds to pay wages to hundreds of employees that never existed,” Williams said.


Wisconsin
Teen charged in fatal shooting to stay in adult court

RACINE, Wis. (AP) — A judge in Racine County has decided a boy who was arrested at age 14 in a fatal shooting should remain in adult court after weighing the teen’s criminal history and other factors.

Sincere Senmeon Granados, now 15, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree intentional homicide in the death of 17-year-old Jayden Cronin, who was a senior at Racine Unified’s Turning Point Academy.

Cronin was walking home from a football game the night of Sept. 3 when he was killed. A motive for the shooting has not been released, The Journal Times reported.

Defense attorney Laura Ann Walker argued that the case be moved to juvenile court because at age 14 it would be another 6 to 10 years before the teen’s brain was fully developed.

Factors such as impulse control and the ability to weigh decisions “in a reasonable and sensible fashion … could not have been done by him at the time,” she said.

Assistant District Attorney Antoinette Rich argued that Granados’ criminal history was relevant to keeping him in adult court. A Racine County Human Services Department case study stated Granados was charged with secondary reckless endangerment when he was 9 years old and had four more cases in the juvenile system after that, including attempted armed robbery at age 12.

Judge Timothy Boyle, noting Grandados’ record, said the adult institutions would have better programming to assist with his needs if he was convicted in the homicide case.

 

Tennessee
Man admits using federal COVID-19 aid for himself

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man has pleaded guilty to receiving more than $600,000 in COVID-19 aid and using it for himself, a federal prosecutor’s office said.

George Thacker, 59, of Spring City, pleaded guilty to wire fraud on Thursday, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

Thacker applied for and received over $600,000 in paycheck protection program and economic injury disaster loan proceeds, the prosecutor’s office said in a news release.

Thacker certified that he would use the funds to pay employees and for other operating expenses but instead used the money for himself, buying cryptocurrency and funding personal investment accounts, the release said.

He is to be sentenced Sept. 22 and faces up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.