50 year old "petty crime" costs man his job!

This is exactly why you don't want a criminal record.  It keeps coming up time and time again, costing you a job, or preventing you from getting a job. Having a criminal record is embarrassing and it is the type of thing that just stays with you for your whole life.  If you have been charged with a crime or need a crime expunged from your record please contact an experienced criminal defense attorney.  Don't be like this poor gentleman.

A 'nickel-and-dime' crime almost 50 years ago gets 68-year-old employee fired

By Ed Payne, CNN
updated 5:31 AM EDT, Thu Aug 30, 2012

(CNN) -- Sometimes life can turn on a dime. Just ask Richard Eggers, a former Wells Fargo employee.  The 68-year-old Eggers was fired by the company's home mortgage division in West Des Moines, Iowa, in July for a petty crime he committed nearly 50 years ago. He got caught using a cardboard cutout of a dime to run a laundromat washing machine when he was 19.

Officially, the crime is called operating a coin changing machine by false means, court records from 1963 say.  "It was silly and stupid," Eggers told CNN affiliate KCCI-TV. "I am not terribly proud of it, but, it doesn't warrant a termination a half a century later." Wells Fargo says it's following federal laws laid down by the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIC). They're designed to weed out employees guilty of identity theft and mortgage fraud.  "Wells Fargo is ... bound by US Federal law ... to protect our customers and their personal financial information from someone who we know has committed an act of dishonesty or breach of trust -- regardless of when the incidents occurred," Vickee J. Adams, vice president of external communications, said in a statement.

"It is uncomfortable, but it is a law that we have to follow," she said. "We have the responsibility to avoid hiring or continuing to employ someone who we know has a criminal record."  Wells Fargo says between May 2011 and May 2012, it performed thorough background checks on all its team members, regardless of when they were hired. The screenings were the same as those required for new hires.  "The whole thing was too absurd for words," Eggers told KCCI. "They had their instructions and there was nothing I could change, but I wanted to let them know I didn't accept it as a logical and reasonable business practice."

Wells Fargo says Eggers has been put in touch with an FDIC case manager to work on steps to "make him eligible for reemployment."  Leonard Bates, an attorney representing Eggers and three other employees who used to work for the company, said he may file a class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo and the FDIC.
"Common sense tells you that Mr. Eggers and his 49-year-old crime was not the downfall of the mortgage industry in 2008 and 2009," Bates told KCCI.

Criminal Charges filed against Jailor over Excessive Force

Looks like a jailor is in some hot water.  Many detention officers are really good people that perform a service to the tax payers as well as the inmates, but some cross the line far to often, forgetting that inmates are people also.  Just because someone is in prison or jail does not mean that they deserve to be treated like this.  I commend Miami County for taking some action criminally against this jerk.  Here is the article from KCTV5.

Kansas AG files charges against jailor accused of using excessive force
MIAMI COUNTY, KS (KCTV) -     

By Laura McCallister, Multimedia Producer -

By Eric Chaloux, Reporter -

 

A couple of years ago, a former Miami County Jail inmate lost a federal civil lawsuit against a jailor and Miami County Officials, claiming excessive force from a 2009 incident. There is now a new twist in the case as the Kansas Attorney General has just filed criminal charges against the jailor.

Dennis Roberts used to deal with a lot of men who were on the wrong side of the law as a jailor in Miami County over the last five years.

Roberts left the job as an investigation began in January at the county jail in Paola, KS that involved inmate Tyler Hendry. A spokesman for the jail said the sheriff watched a video tape of the 2012 incident between Hendry and Roberts and turned it over to the Kansas Bureau of Investigations. No details are available about the 2012 incident that was caught on tape.

On Friday, the KBI's case led to the Kansas Attorney General filing misdemeanor charges from the January incident for mistreatment of a confined person and another count of battery.   In the case of the inmate that claimed excessive force against Roberts for the 2009 incident that failed in federal civil court, the attorney general just decided to file two more criminal counts against Roberts for mistreatment of an inmate and battery.  A spokesman for the AG declined to comment on the case Tuesday.

KCTV5's Eric Chaloux spoke to Christopher Johnson, the alleged victim from 2009, by phone. Johnson said he was tased numerous times inside the jail after a scuffle between he and Roberts broke out over a reported jail rule violation. "I'm finally glad to see here is some justice being done. This type of thing should not happen. I am glad the KBI and AG's office took the time to investigate and that there were things that were not right with the situation," said Johnson during the phone conversation.

Roberts told KCTV5 News he had no comment. He'll make his first appearance before a Miami County judge March 8.

Illegal to be mexican and have money? Apparently in Tennessee it is.

I came across this the other day, and it is one of the most rampant abuses of police power I have seen in awhile.  I understand forfeiture law, and how the police have the ability to confiscate the expected proceeds of drug sales and drug activity.  I even see where it has a useful purpose in some limited cases.  But this type of shakedown mentality is just appalling.  What kind of a police state is Tennessee running?  With competing agencies fighting over the ability to pull over drivers passing through so that they can confiscate cash off of the driver and not even charge them with a crime.

It seems like they are running a very expensive toll road.  Check out the video.



If this type of stuff is allowed to continue we all need to take a good long look at the laws in this country. Some of the memorable quotes included.

"We are taking advantage of how the laws are, to use the money to be able to put back to fight the drugs." -Police Chief

Reporter: "So if these officers don't come up with cash then they might lose their job?"
Police Chief: "It's a possibility, yes"

Reporter: "It looks like they are not concerned with stoping the drugs they just want the money?"
Police Chief: "That shouldn't be the case but thats what it looks like."

Kansas City Man gets 164 years in Prision!

Just came out on an FBI press release that Abasi Baker of Kansas City, MO was convicted on multiple charges originating from a series of armed robberies on the Kansas side of the metro.  Considering the man's history and the nature of the crimes a Federal Judge all but threw the book at him.  The most notable quote came from the U.S. Attorney stating,  “This should send a clear message to convicted felons with guns,” said United States Attorney Barry Grissom. “Gun crimes mean hard time.”

164 years of "Hard Time" might be an understatement. 


Here is the Press Release:

KANSAS CITY, KS—A Kansas City, Missouri man has been sentenced to 164 years for a string of armed robberies, United States Attorney Barry Grissom said today.

Abasi S Baker, 32, Kansas City, Missouri, was convicted in a jury trial in September on 21 counts including seven counts of robbery, seven counts of unlawful possession of a firearm after a felony conviction, and seven counts of brandishing a firearm during a robbery.

“This should send a clear message to convicted felons with guns,” said United States Attorney Barry Grissom. “Gun crimes mean hard time.”

During trial, prosecutors presented evidence Baker committed seven robberies including:

January 6: Payday Loans, 7636 State Ave ., Kansas City, Kansas.

January 10: Radio Shack, 7612 State Ave ., Kansas City, Kansas.

January 12: Payday Loans, 10327 Metcalf Ave ., Overland Park, Kansas.

January 16: Dollar Store, 8144 Parallel Parkway, Kansas City, Kansas.

February 16: Check Into Cash, 11044 Quivira, Overland Park, Kansas.

February 22: Check Into Cash, 15241 W 135th, Olathe, Kansas.

March 3: Radio Shack, 6945 W 75th, Overland Park, Kansas.

Co-defendant Mark R Davis is set for a jury trial March 5.

Grissom commended the following agencies and individuals for their work on the case: The FBI and the FBI Violent Crimes/Fugitive Task Force; the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office; the United States Attorney, Western District of Missouri; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Kansas City, Mo ., Police Department; the Kansas City, Kansas ., Police Department; he Overland Park Police Department; the Olathe Police Department; the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office; the St. Joseph, Mo ., Police Department; the Lee’s Summit, Mo ., Police Department; the Mission, Kansas ., Police Department; and assistant United States Attorney Terra Morehead, who prosecuted the case