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Hennepin County’s DWI Court targets people who are likely to repeatedly drink and drive. So far, in the court’s first year the success rate shows that only one person reoffended. That compares to a 60 to 80 percent rate of reoffending for repeat DWI offenders using the traditional probation supervision model.
The mission of the DWI court is “to enhance public safety through a court-supervised program designed to assist repeat DWI offenders and restore them as law-abiding members of our community. A collaborative and strength-based approach is used to support participants while holding them accountable.”
The Star Tribune reported that more than 100 repeat DWI offenders entered the DWI court during the year. Three years ago the DWI court started in St. Paul and then Hennepin and St. Louis counties picked up the program. The surrending suburbs are also beginning this program. It is modeled after the successful drug courts that were developed in the 1990’s.
The success of the program is made possible by a rigorous schedule that includes intensive supervision that lasts for at least 18 months. Once an offender is doing well, they receive praise from a judge but if an offender is not doing well they receive sanctions.
DWI court defendants can win back limited driving privileges quicker . This allows them to drive to work, court, AA and aftercare but with significant safeguards. Offenders must have insurance and use an ignition interlock that monitors alcohol consumpiton and prevents them from driving if they have been drinking.
In order to fight violent crimes throughout Minnesota the HEALS (Hope, Education, and Law and Safety) program was established over 10 years ago. This unique program involves both corporate commitments and public agencies in collaboration to help reduce violent crime.
One of the corporate sponsor’s for HEALS is Honeywell, Inc. Back in 1996, a New York Times article named Minneapolis as “Murderapolis” reflecting a sharp rise in homicides from 60 in 1994 to 86 in 1996. Honeywell’s world headquarters is located in one of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in Minneapolis. As a result, Honeywell was concerned for the safety of its employees and property and for the quality of life in the surrounding neighborhood. Honeywell decided that in order to remain in the inner city, it had to do something about violent crime.
In 1997, Honeywell’s chief executive officer recruited other CEO’s from private corporations such as Allina Health Systems, 3M, General Mills, and the staff of the Minnesota Business Partnership. They met with the Governor to share their concerns about the escalating local and statewide crime rates. The Governor pledged his support and a series of planning meetings were held with the business community along with Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies where they developed the Law Enforcement Task Force.
Today, Minnesota HEALS is a 61-member organization made up of private corporations and local government agencies. This includes the chiefs of police and mayors’ offices of Minneapolis and St. Paul, sheriff’s offices, attorneys’ offices and commissioners from Hennepin and Ramsey counties. With 25 to 30 law enforcement representatives from the Minneapolis and St. Paul police departments’ gang, homicide, and narcotics units, the probation department; and Federal agencies such as the FBI, DEA, ATF, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office the HEAL program targets specific groups such as gangs, homicide suspects and helps victims of these crimes.
The Minnesota HEALS program offers a rapid response team, saturation patrols, state gang task force and community and prevention strategies.
Embezzlement may be considered as a white-collar crime, however, any way you look at it, embezzlement is just plain stealing. The definition of embezzlement is the fraudulent appropriation by a person for his own use of property or money entrusted to their care but owned by someone else.
For more than 30 years, people have been stealing from their employers or even financial institutions. A clerk or cashier can slip a few dollars here and there or an entrusted accountant writes a check or two to pay a bogus invoice. This all begins because a person may want to cover a small, short-term financial need even if they intend to give the money back.
Recently, the Minnesota Sun Newspaper reported that a Minnetonka businessman who co-owns Sela Roofing was charged Aug. 5 with numerous federal crimes for allegedly embezzling $600,000 from his business partner and hiding it from taxation. Amit Yitzhak Sela was charged in federal court in Minneapolis with one count of conspiracy, two counts of mail fraud, two counts of tax evasion, three counts of filing a false tax return and one count of procuring a false tax return. He owns half of Sela Roofing, a company based in St. Louis Park with offices in White Bear Lake and Brooklyn Park. If convicted, he could serve as many as five years in prison on the conspiracy count; five years on each tax evasion count; three years on each false-tax- return count; and three years on the procuring count.
He also conspired with Abdullah S. Noaman, Jr., 43 of Shakopee. The federal indictment alleges that from September 2001 through September 2004, Amit Sela and Noaman devised and executed a scheme to embezzle money from Sela Roofing’s other co-owner with fraudulent invoices and then hide the money from the IRS and Minnesota Department of Revenue. They contracted with several vendors to do work for Sela personally and had these vendors falsify addresses on invoices to say the work was done for Sela Roofing Company. In addition, Noaman wrote checks from his business account to pay Sela’s personal expenses, including credit card bills, yard work, house cleaning, vehicle payments, utilities, boat storage, swimming pool payments, interior decorating and jewelry.
The IRS-Criminal Investigation Division led this investigation and said that customers of the roofing company weren’t affected by this embezzlement scheme. The initial court date set is August 19th.
According to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press, a 23-year-old Little Canada man was indicted in Federal court recently on three counts of child pornography. Aaron Jay Lemon was charged with one count of production of child pornography, one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
The United States Attorney’s Office indictment cited that Lemon coerced “a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct.” He is also accused of distributing child pornography using a computer. If convicted, this low-life faces 30 years in prison for producing child pornography, 15 years for distributing and 10 years for possessing.
Child pornography is a blight on society. This terrible crime injures many innocent children and has devastating and lasting effects. Children suffer from physical injuries in the course of their molestation, such as genital bruising, lacerations, or exposure to sexually transmitted diseases. Child victims can also experience depression, withdrawal, anger, and other psychological disorders. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s web site explains these effects on children.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, one in 33 children receives an unwanted sexual solicitation online each year. One in four children experiences unwanted exposure to sexually explicit material on the Internet each year. And this is shocking - more than 20,000 images of child pornography are posted on the Internet every week.
Recent research conducted by the Federal Bureau of Prisons indicates a strong correlation between possessing or distributing child pornography and committing sexual-contact crimes against children. The Project Safe Childhood (PSC) is a national initiative that encourages the use of multi-jurisdictional task forces to investigate and prosecute cases that involve the sexual exploitation of children over the Internet. PSC urges that law enforcement efforts be complemented by community-wide campaigns to assist victims of exploitation and to educate parents, other adults, and children about Internet safety.
Right after the new Minnesota texting law (see - New law hits texting violators in Minnesota) went into effect, the police pulled over a 25-year old driver in Cass County who was speeding at 80 mph and drifted into a wrong lane while text messaging a friend. But it didn’t stop there, this driver was arrested on suspicion of drinking and driving.
According to the Star Tribune the driver was traveling in the wrong lane when he approached the Cass County deputy’s squad car on Hwy. 371 near Walker. The driver swerved to avoid hitting the squad car, then took off at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour before pulling over.
This traffic incident was part of Operation NightCAP, a twice-monthly operation that focuses on catching drunk drivers. Not only will the driver be charged with drinking and driving and speeding but also charged with operating a motor vehicle while using a wireless communication device to write, read or send an electronic message. The fine for this violation is up to $300.
The moral of the story is don’t text message from your speeding car especially if you are drunk.
Effective August 1, 2008, it is illegal on Minnesota roads to text message, email or access the Web on a wireless device while driving. This new law is considered as a primary offense, which means law enforcement can stop a motorist if they observe the motorist violating the law.
Actually, the law goes even further. If you are operating a motor vehicle, using a wireless communication device to write, read or send an electronic message you can be pulled over and fined up to $300. This applies to drivers of all ages.
This law came about through a study of fatal crashes during the years 2005 through 2007. The study showed that at least 15% of all fatal crashes and 240 traffic deaths occurred because the driver was distracted while texting, emailing or using a wireless device to communicate. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distraction is a major factor in about 25 percent of all crashes.
Since 2006, cell phone use for teen drivers with a provisional license was completely prohibited by law. With this new law, teen drivers cannot text their friends while driving. According to an informal DPS Minnesota teen driving survey, teen respondents said texting was their biggest distraction while driving and the “most unsafe” behavior their friends engaged in while driving.
Texting when driving does not make you a criminal, but not texting while driving will save your life.
Because of the high price of copper, thieves are stealing copper wiring from construction sites, abandoned buildings and even from farms. Copper thieves remove copper from irrigation pivots on farmland and sell the copper wiring worth about $3.00 a pound. They vandalize new construction on homes and buildings, strip the copper, and take it to a recycling company for quick cash.
One group of copper wire criminals recently stole copper from the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. The police caught three people in this copper wire crime. They charged them with theft of up to $40,000 worth of copper wire. The thieves worked together to take 40 100-pound rolls of extension cords between July 19 and July 21st.
They were caught because Minnesota passed a new state law that required recyclers to trace the sales of all scrap metal. The thieves took the stolen copper wiring to Northern Metal Recycling of St. Paul. The recycler provided police with videotapes of their transactions and said that these same three people received over $1,000 for at least 344 pounds of the metal around the time of the crime.
This type of crime also causes thousands of dollars of damage through break-ins during the crime as well as during removal of the copper. Homeowners and farmers have to pay additional cost to replace the stolen copper.
The Minnesota legislature has been working hard this last session to pass new laws that affect consumers, crime, elections, energy, health, family, housing and much more. Below is just a few of the criminal laws passed and will take effect on August 1, 2008. To see a complete summary of all laws passed by the 2008 Legislature, go online to the House Public Information Services Office web site.
Here is summary of some of the Crime fighting laws that the Minnesota Legislature has passed.
Dogfight spectator penalties -Under current law, anyone who pits animals against one another, trains the animals, takes admission to the fights or allows others to use their premises for the games is guilty of a felony. Effective Aug. 1, 2008, anyone who buys a ticket to the fights is guilty of a gross misdemeanor; previously this was considered a misdemeanor offense. The new law does not apply to hunting a wild animal.
No touching peace officer gear - Trying to disarm a peace officer could lead to a felony charge. This new law clarifies that it is illegal to take from a peace officer any defensive device issued for their protection, including a firearm, tear gas, Taser or baton. Violation is a felony, with a possible five-year prison sentence and $10,000 fine.
Tougher nuisance law - Under current statute, a public nuisance exists if there are two or more separate instances of various incidents such as gambling and the unlawful sale of alcohol. When it comes to prostitution, unlawful drug sale or possession, or illegal use or possession of a dangerous weapon, the law is modified making it a nuisance if there is only one instance. In addition, the law also replaces the term “firearm” with “dangerous weapon” to account for objects such as knives and machetes, or any other object capable of causing serious bodily harm or death.
On July 26, 2008, the FBI celebrated its 100th anniversary. Charles Bonaparte established the FBI with a small group of 34 investigators. Since then the FBI now employs more then 30,000 people who are evolving with the changing threats facing our nation. Their mission is to help protect you, your communities, and your businesses from the most dangerous threats facing our nation. From international and domestic terrorists to spies on U.S. soil along with cyber villains to corrupt government officials as well as from mobsters to violent gangs and child predators and serial killers.
The most famous director of the FBI was J. Edgar Hoover who was the director for the FBI from 1935 through 1972. As the director, his leadership spanned eight Presidential Administations and encompassed several eras such as Prohibition, the Great Depression, World War II, The Korean War, the Cold War and the Vietnam War. Through the years the U S moved from being a rural nation with strong isolationist tendencies to an urbanized superpower.
Over the past century, the FBI has been part of American history and our country’s most high-profile national security and criminal issues. Some of the myths and misunderstandings about the FBI have evolved over time. Many of these myths are untrue. For example, many people believe that the FBI knows about the X-Files; the FBI prosecutes cases; there were no minority agents during J. Edgar Hoover years; the FBI spies on all Americans; and that the FBI doesn’t cooperate with other agencies.
The men and women of the FBI have always worked to protect us and defend our nation. They work hand-in-hand with law enforcement and intelligence partners across the country and around the globe.
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