truesee's Blog

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — An East Texas man with a prolific cattle rustling history spanning more than a decade has been sentenced to 99 years in prison for swindling bovines from a Mississippi rancher.

Carl Wade Curry, 44 from Athens was accused of stealing 400 head of cattle worth more than $200,000 last year.

District Attorney Staley Heatly says Curry placed an order with a Mississippi man using a fake name and cattle company in Vernon, where the owner shipped the cattle. The owner contacted authorities when he didn't receive payment.

A jury in Hardeman County took less than 30 minutes to both convict and sentence Curry on Wednesday evening. In the deal Curry used the name Earnest Jackson.

"He was going to mail me a check and he didn't," rancher David Sanders of Starkville, Miss., said. "Then he was going to Federal Express it to me. Didn't happen."

Sanders had already shipped the cattle to a non-existent address in Hardeman County. When Sanders didn't get paid he called the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. A special ranger with the association located the animals before they were sold.

"They really put their noses to the grindstone and got this guy good," Sanders said.

Testimony at Curry's trial revealed he had stolen 2,097 head of cattle worth nearly $1 million since 2007, Heatly said.

Curry represented himself at the trial but had stand-by counsel by John Weigel, who did not return a call for comment Thursday.

In April, Curry was sentenced to 20 years in a cattle rustling case in Smith County in East Texas and faces more charges there and in Louisiana, Hardeman County District Attorney Staley Heatly said Thursday.

"He is definitely" a serial cattle rustler, Heatly said. "Going back to the late 90s when he was convicted of bank fraud."

That case involved banks, feedlot owners and ranchers, Heatly said.

In a plea deal with federal prosecutors in Lubbock in 2000, Curry was ordered to pay restitution of $730,000, Heatly said. He served 18 months in prison and was released from probation of five years in September 2006 — still owing $680,000 in restitution.

It didn't take long for Curry to return to his old ways, Heatly said.

"All these started in '07," he said of the two charges for which he's already been convicted on and the pending cases.

One of his victims in the federal case, Jason Forester of 4F Cattle Co. in the East Texas town of Larue, said Curry wrote hot checks totaling about $94,000 for cattle he bought. The two men lived near one another growing up, and went to high school and college together.

Curry wanted to smooth talk people but lacked the skill, Forester said, who works in an industry where trust is currency and deals are sometimes sealed by handshakes.

"I always knew he wanted to be a big shot," he said. "And he wasn't capable. He thought he was capable but he wasn't. He's right where he needs to be now."

Sanders said the thefts were "mighty alarming," but he feels fortunate.

"I feel for the victims that didn't get anything," he said.

Lawsuit accuses Gretna cop of Tasering 7-year-old boy during traffic stop

 

Published: Monday, August 22, 2011, 4:53 PM   

Updated: Monday, August 22, 2011, 4:55 PM

 

 

 

A 25-year-old  man sued the Gretna Police Department Tuesday, alleging his civil rights were violated by a police officer who sicced his canine on him without provocation, leading the dog to bite into his groin area and virtually sever his penis.

Cody Melancon, of Gretna, said Tuesday the attack left him sexually dysfunctional. A doctor has recommended sexual enhancement pills and he faces neurosurgery in hopes of restoring the use of his penis, which was almost completely severed by the police dog's bites.

"I don't have any sensation down there," Melancon said. "I can't get an erection. I'm 25 years of age."

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, names the police department, Chief Arthur Lawson, Officer Joseph Mekdessie and Officer Roland Kindell, in their official and individual capacities. It alleges the police falsified reports to cover up their actions and violated Melancon's constitutional rights to due process and to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Melancon seeks a jury trial and $31 million for medical and other expenses and for punitive damages.

Melancon's attorney Roger Kitchens said his client also filed a complaint with Gretna police's public integrity bureau and has contacted the FBI.

Lawson did not return calls for comment Tuesday.

The lawsuit stems from a May 30 incident, when Gretna police went to his Monroe Street apartment in the shadow of the Crescent City Connection to arrest Melancon on charges he kicked in someone's front door and hit an occupant - charges he refutes. While he admits he initially tried to hide in the apartment from the officers, he surrendered upon hearing a cop threatened to release the dog inside.

As he knelt on the ceramic tile floor of his small living room and locked his fingers behind his head, Melancon said Mekdessie trumped up an altercation and let his dog, Zin, go.

"He started saying, 'Stop fighting with my dog,' and he released the dog on me," Melancon said Tuesday in his apartment, feet away from where he said the attack occurred. Zin went straight for his groin, and instead of commanding the dog to stop, Mekdessie tried to pull the dog away, causing it to bite more.

"I was in so much shock and pain," he said. "I couldn't do anything. I was just in total shock."

Melancon "sustained severe and debilitating injuries as a result of the actions of (the) defendants, including but not limited to severe mental anguish, loss of sexual function, severe nerve damage, loss of feeling in the genital region, a partially severed penis, tears to his scrotum, a urethra tear and loss of enjoyment of life and consortium, all of which require future medical care," Kitchens wrote.

Zin allegedly has bitten other people "unnecessarily and excessively," and Lawson allegedly did nothing, according to the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Mekdessie and Kindell "harassed" Melancon days before the incident outside a nightclub in Gretna, in which Kindell, Mekdessie and Zin conducted an illegal search of his car. Finding nothing, the officers allegedly claimed Melancon's truck radio was too loud and issued a citation to justify their search. Words were exchanged, and Melancon went home, the suit says.

Days later, according to the lawsuit, Kindell and Mekdessie learned of a warrant for Melancon's arrest and volunteered to help bring him in. They announced their presence outside Melancon's door. Melancon's fiancée, Ashley Braxton, and their two daughters were present during the arrest. Braxton lied to the officers when she told them Melancon was not there, according to a police report.

Officers said Melancon "refused to follow the K-9 officer's commands," and Zin bit him "in the genital area." Mekdessie, in another report, wrote he heard movement in back of the apartment "as if someone was trying to escape," and then released Zin, who located Melancon "running from the back bedroom toward the back of the apartment, at which time Zin bit the subject in the groin area."

Kitchens says the report is wrong, that Melancon's apartment didn't have a rear door or windows, so he had nowhere to run.

Gretna police emergency medical technicians who were on the scene gave Melancon morphine and transported him to a hospital, where his penis was reattached before he later was booked into the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center with resisting arrest and other charges.

Kitchens alleged Mekdessie visited Melancon in jail. "He was calling Cody 'nuts,' and saying 'Yeah, that's my handiwork,'" Kitchens said.

The Jefferson Parish district attorney's office, meanwhile, has charged Melancon with simple battery, resisting arrest, aggravated burglary and obstruction of justice. Braxton has been charged with accessory to aggravated burglary, according to records in the 24th Judicial District Court in Gretna.

LUFKIN, Texas (KTRE) -

Lufkin Police have arrested a woman accused of posing as a lawyer to help get someone out of prison.

Kimberly Raven Giacone, also known as Kimberly Raven Foley, 30, of Lufkin, is charged with falsely holding oneself out as a lawyer, a third-degree felony.

According an arrest warrant affidavit, the investigation began on June 21 when a woman met with a police officer and said she met Giacone at McDonalds. Giacone said she was an attorney and accepted $36 to help the woman get her son transferred out of the state prison system and into Rusk State Hospital, so that he could get a psychiatric evaluation.

Giacone accepted the money to start the paperwork, according to the affidavit.

Giacone contacted the woman by phone and said she has sent some paperwork to the Rusk facility, then asked if she could come to her residence to review it, according to the affidavit.

Giacone arrived at the home and handed the woman a cover letter that she said was sent to the prison system. The letterhead read "Giacone Law" and gave an address of 101 E. Lufkin Ave., Lufkin, Texas 75901.

The letter stated that the woman's son was to be transferred to the Rusk facility, and was signed "Raven Giacone, Attorney at Law," according to the affidavit.

Giacone gave the letter to the woman and asked for an additional $300 to complete the legal process, which the woman complied, according to the affidavit.

The woman later found Giacone was not an attorney after talking with a real attorney in Nacogdoches. The woman contacted Giacone and Giacone came to her home and returned the legal letters and the $336 and asked her not to contact police.

The woman contacted police anyway, and a detective called Giacone, who admitted to taking money for typing and admitted to inquiring about renting office space for paralegal work, according to the report. Giacone said she was not a paralegal but wanted to be one.

Police obtained a warrant for her arrest on Aug. 2 and she was booked into the Angelina County Jail on Wednesday. She bailed out the same day for $2,500.

Giacone has two previous theft convictions on her record. Her nickname is "Sugar Bear," according Angelina County Jail records.

Hall County pet sitter charged in $400K jewelry heist

 

David Ibata

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A 48-year-old Clermont woman is in the Hall County Jail, charged with stealing $400,000 in jewelry from a household where she had been helping to care for its pets, authorities said.

The investigation began Aug. 12 when sheriff’s deputies responded to a reported burglary at a home on Mountain Meadow Drive in Clermont.

“(Waddell) was initially named as a person of interest by the victim because she had access to the house. She was reportedly helping care for pets while the victim was away for a few days,” Wilbanks said.

“During the course of the investigation, she was interviewed and was connected to the theft,” he said.

Deputies arrested Waddell on Aug. 16. They recovered the missing jewelry and returned it to its owner.

The worst welfare abusers are college students

Many taxpayers object to government welfare programs. But so long as the state is in the business of confiscating some people’s wealth and awarding it to others, most would agree that welfare payments should be given only to the truly poor.

College students— or at least the vast majority of them — do not live in poverty.

But earlier this months, the state of Michigan discovered that there were 30,000 college students receiving food stamps under a program called the Michigan Bridge Card. This mass fraud stemmed from a loophole in state law, which required officials to consider income, rather than assets, when assessing an applicant’s eligibility for welfare. As a result, thousands of stu were able to qualify for the $200-per-month food stipend, regardless of their actual material conditions.

Woman caught breaking into cars after release from jail

 

Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

After posting $1,500 bond following her arrest for fighting, Gabrielle Begay was a free woman.

Within an hour of being released from the Douglas County jail last Friday, Begay, 21, was right back where she started. She was caught trying to break into vehicles in the jail parking lot, Chief Deputy Stan Copeland with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office said.

Begay also went across the street to J & T Tire and Hudson's Hickory House, where the owner spotted her trying to break into his vehicle, Copeland said. The owner walked to the sheriff's office to file a report.

"While he was in the lobby talking to one of our offices, another lady overheard and looked into parking lot of the sheriff's office," Copeland said. "She saw Begay trying to break into her car and told a deputy."

Begay was re-arrested, this time on entering an auto and criminal trespass charges, Copeland said. Her bond was set at $14,000, and so far, she's been unable to come up with the money, he said. Begay remained in jail Wednesday afternoon.