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Criminals aren’t the brightest bulb in the pack as we have found out. This article in the Pioneer Press of an alleged bank robber proves this point once again.
Mark Myhre Jr. decided to rob a bank in St. Anthony on August 7. He walked into the TCF bank branch at 3988 Silver Lake Road in St. Anthony and got in the line. When it was his turn, he dug around into his pockets and realized he forgot something – the demand note – and turned and left the bank.
This didn’t stop him. He went home, wrote the note and came back to the same bank about twenty minutes later. This time he was prepared. He gave the teller the note that said, “This is a robbery.” The teller handed him $4,435 and an exploding pack of dye. He grabbed the money and ran out of the bank north on Penrod Lane. Surveillance-camera photos were taken of the crime and sent to local media asking for help in identifying the man. Law enforcement officers received numerous tips identifying Myhre as the man in the photos.
When police showed up at his home, they found Myhre with a bandaged injured hand from the exploding dye pack and about $1,500 in dye-stained money. He also was arrested on a check fraud warrant issued in Anoka County.
When arrested, Myhre told law enforcement officers that he was going to call them to turn himself in. He also confessed to the bank robbery, said that he was in debt and needed some money fast. Was Myhre a criminal with a conscience or just another stupid criminal who was caught?
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.
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.
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.
Back in March 2008, thirty-two bison were found slain on a private ranch in Park County, Colorado. What makes this crime so horrific is that these innocent bison were killed by so-called “hunters” gangland style.
Buffalo from Monte Downare’s ranch ran through the thin fence put up by Jeff Hawn, a newcomer from Texas. Hawn then called in 14 hunters to kill the bison. They left the dead buffalo where they were shot or where they eventually fell.
Rumor has it that the shooters dropped piles of corn or other foodstuffs to lure the bison off the Donware Ranch and into the killing zone. One of the shooters raced into the herd on a snowmobile to run the animals and make the kill at least a bit more sporting. Almost every one of the cows they killed, about twenty-nine of them were about to calve. Other rumors say that some of the hunters were Native American men and that they have a constitutional right to kill bison at any time of the year. However, the Native Americans living in the area say that this is not true. The law isn’t like that and they revere the bison and would never do anything like this.
The State of Colorado is an open range state and so the ethic and the law is that property owners are responsible for keeping animals on their property — and that you never kill a neighbor’s stock. The buffalo would cross from the Downare’s ranch next to Jeff Hawn’s 365 acres ranchette. Downare would bring them back but Hawn claimed they did damage to his property, including destroying a satellite dish. Then the bison crossed one more time and that’s when Hawn called in his gang of hunters to shoot the animals.
Local park County Sheriff and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation were called in. According to the Rocky Mountain News in May 2008, Jeff Hawn was charged with theft, criminal mischief and thirty-two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals. The loss to Downare’s herd was estimated at $77,000.
This past weekend, Cinco de Mayo celebrations were held across the country. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated on May 5th of each year to celebrate the victory of 4,000 brave Mexicans who fought off the French army of 8,000 at Puebla, Mexico, 100 miles east of Mexico City. This celebration should be filled with fun, family and plenty of delicious food. However, many Cinco de Mayo celebrations end in gang violence.
Take for example, the most recent gang violence at St. Paul’s west side last weekend. According to the Pioneer Press, three teens, two 17-year-old boys and a 14-year-old boy were charged in Ramsey County juvenile court for a drive by shooting and crime to benefit a gang. On Saturday, these teens shot another 14 year old in the back and another 17 year old in the leg.
During a Cinco de Mayo celebration that day, confrontation among rival gangs occurred but the police were able to break it up. Within and hour or two later, the gangs were back at it in a nearby quiet residential neighborhood at Mount Hope Avenue and Baker Street around 6:40 p.m. This is when the two young teens were shot.
West St. Paul police were called and stopped a car shortly after the shootings and arrested the juveniles as well as an adult. The adult was released pending further investigation. Minnesota now has the Metro Gang Strike Force involved in the investigation.
Lately, I’m sure you have heard about the Smiley Face serial killer or killers murdering dozens of male college students in the Midwest and making all the deaths look like accidents. This peaked my curiosity to find out what makes a serial killer do what they do.
In an article “The Real Serial Killer” by Pat Brown for Crime Library writes, “Everything we would like to know about how serial killers commit their crimes and how the cops catch these predators is detailed by profilers, ex-FBI men, true crime writers, and psychologists; we learn everything but the truth.”
Why is this?
Pat Brown further explains, “Because serial killers know they can get away with murder and most of the time we don’t even know they are out there. Even when some of them do get caught, we may not recognize what they are because they don’t match the distorted image we have of serial killers.”
Do serial killers do what they do because they don’t have control over their desires or is it because of genetic, hormonal, biological or cultural conditions? I don’t think anyone knows for sure until after a serial killer is caught and interviewed extensively. And then, who knows what goes on in their twisted mind at the time of their killings.
In her article “What makes serial killers tick” written by Shirley Lynn Scott for Crime Library she explains some of the excuses that serial killers come up with. Take for instance Henry Lee Lucas blamed his upbringing. Jeffrey Dahmer said that he was born with a “part” missing. Ted Bundy claimed pornography and Herbert Mullin blamed voices in his head told him to do it. One serial killer blamed a car accident and another said that the victims just deserved to die. As bizarre as this may be, most serial killers are rational and calculating.
Dealing with the human mind and emotions and explaining their actions is not a precise science. However, can this insight of what makes serial killers do what they do help law enforcement find the killer or killers of the Smiley Face murders? And is this true serial killings? For the sake of all the victims and their families, I hope they do find out the truth behind these killings.
Minnesota’s Operation NightCAP patrols are taking drunk drivers off Minnesota roads and making the roads safer. In March 167 DWI arrests were made. Of these arrests, 125 were in the Twin Cities metro area. More than 2,100 vehicles were stopped with more than 777 drivers cited for traffic and equipment related violations.
These patrols target the fifteen deadliest counties for impaired driving. The counties are Anoka, Beltrami, Blue Earth, Cass, Crow Wing, Dakota, Hennepin, Olmsted, Ramsey, Rice, St. Louis, Sherburne, Stearns, Washington and Wright. Between 2004 and 2006 these counties accounted for more than half of Minnesota’s alcohol related deaths of 272 and 762 serious injuries.
Operation NighCAP includes participating law enforcement agencies that include State Patrol, sheriff departments and local police departments. Lt. Mark Peterson of the State Patrol said that they plan to use these enhanced DWI patrols throughout the year. He hopes that these DWI patrols will make the streets safer from drunken drivers.
NightCAP is funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and is coordinated by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety.
The FBI is warning Minnesota residents about a new scam called “house stealing.” This scam combines identity theft and mortgage fraud to claim ownership of your home. The scammer picks out a house to steal. They steal your identity by obtaining your name and personal information from the Internet. They use your information to create fake IDs, social security cards, etc.
With this information in hand, they simply go to an office supply store and purchase forms that transfer property. They forge your signature and use the fake IDs to file deeds with the proper authorities. The house they pick is now theirs.
These scammers look for a vacant house, a vacation home or rental property and do a bit of research to find out who owns it. Once again, they steal the owner’s identity, forge papers and then put the house up for sale and pocket the money without the owner even knowing about it. These criminals are so bold that they even have stolen houses that people currently occupy.
What you can do to make sure that your house isn’t stolen is to be aware of your mortgage information. Make sure that your name is on any mail from a mortgage company, if not follow up with the company. Also from time to time, check with your county’s deeds office to make sure that they have your information recorded.
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