10-Year Sentence For Identity Theft

SALISBURY — A Salisbury man was sentenced to 10 years in prison last week after leading an identity theft scheme targeting at least 100 mental health patients and employees of a program that treated them.

U. S. District Judge Catherine Blake last week sentenced Christopher Andre Devine, 34, to 10 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiring to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme to use the personal information of dozens of individuals in a mental health program to open bank accounts and fraudulently obtain cash, merchandise and services.

According to his plea agreement, from December 2008 to December 2011, Devine and his co-defendants, Quanisha Williamson-Ross, Lenee Williamson and Quashona Williamson, opened or recruited others to open checking accounts at banks and obtain check cards. The conspirators then deposited fraudulent checks into the accounts and used the associated check cards at ATM machines to make cash withdrawals.

According to evidence presented to the court, the co-conspirators gave all of the proceeds from the scheme to Devine, who provided them with little more than food and shelter. The three co-conspirators were completely financially dependent on Devine. According to testimony, Devine led the conspiracy with violence and intimidation, at one point punching and throwing a co-conspirator across a room.

Devine obtained the personal information of at least 40 individuals who were patients of a mental health program, along with 60 more individuals who were current or former employees. Devine also participated in a scheme to defraud the IRS by preparing and filing false tax returns in the names of the victims whose identities he and his co-conspirators had stolen. For example, in 2010 alone, at least 34 false tax returns were filed claiming refunds totaling over $123,000, which were then deposited into the fraudulent accounts.

In December 2011, law enforcement officers searched a van and two residences in Salisbury used by Devine and his co-conspirators. Hundreds of pieces of evidence were recovered including credit and debit cards, Social Security cards, fraudulent driver’s licenses and other personal information of roughly 300 individuals.

“Perpetrators of identity theft schemes are motivated by greed, acting as if they are above the law and with total disregard for the consequences to the victims, but today’s sentence has brought an abrupt end to Mr. Devine’s criminal behavior,” said IRS Special Agent In Charge Thomas Kelly. “

Salisbury Moving Ahead With Business Disclosure Changes

SALISBURY — A Business Disclosure Ordinance is being advanced by the Salisbury City Council this week with supporters calling it a clear-cut transparency law while opponents argue that there is no need or public demand for the measure.

The ordinance would require any vendors who contract with Salisbury for more than $3,000 in a single agreement or $10,000 for the fiscal year to fully reveal all partners or owners with more than a 5 percent stake in the company. It would mean that all parties in a LLC or all officers in a corporation would also have to be known before contracting with the city.

“I’d like to see it apply to our vendors as it does in other places,” said Council President Terry Cohen. “It’s only a two-page form and we’re not asking them to disclose their finances, we’re asking them to disclose their beneficial ownership.”

It’s a standard operating procedure in many areas, according to Cohen, including Frederick County in the state of Maryland.

Just because Frederick is doing something similar, countered Councilwoman Shanie Shields, doesn’t mean that Salisbury should follow suit.

“I don’t see us becoming a lone wolf or one of a few cities doing this,” she said.

Shields worried that the extra level of scrutiny might discourage business. There also doesn’t seem to be much pressure from the public to see the ordinance implemented, she said.

“I have not understood the reason for doing this at all. I don’t see any reason for doing this, a legitimate reason,” Shields said.

There were other downsides, added Councilwoman Laura Mitchell, who felt that liability risks increase if the council demands to know the identities of everyone they contract with.

“By knowing, we open ourselves up to additional liability, I feel,” she said.

If the council doesn’t know who the members of an LLC are, for example, there can be no charges of favoritism, Mitchell concluded.

Operating in the dark, even if it offered some protection, wasn’t a good policy, asserted Councilman Tim Spies.

“I have not heard anything and again as far as nationally, statewide, regionally, locally, where the public wants to know less about the people they deal with, less transparency,” he said. “I haven’t heard anybody asking for less transparency in government.”

Spies commented on the “fluidity” of LLCs and their ability to camouflage members.

“We could do business with a group on Thursday and Friday it may be somebody else,” he said.

Cohen also lined up the issue as a simple increase in transparency.

“I feel like when you’re dealing with public money nobody should have anything to hide,” she said.

But Mitchell claimed the ordinance wasn’t about vendors trying to hide and instead framed it as a personal “vendetta” held by members of the council.

“I’m not talking about hiding. This is your vendetta,” she told Cohen. “This isn’t about hiding anything.”

Cohen took issue at the “personal remark” but didn’t respond and asked that discussion remain on topic.

“We are not going to have another session of personal attacks. We are here to discuss a transparency law,” she said. “This type of law has been implemented in other parts of the country.”

According to Mitchell, her remarks were on topic. There is no need for the ordinance, she added, because it doesn’t “serve a transparency purpose if you’re not making [the information] public.”

“It’s a policy that doesn’t make any sense based on an actual need to know,” Mitchell said.

The public would have access to the information, noted Cohen, through outlets like a Freedom of Information Act filing. But Mitchell maintained that the setup was an excessive hassle, especially after the majority of councilmembers agreed that both owners and officers in a company should fall under the disclosure.

“It’s getting bigger and bigger,” said Mitchell.

City Attorney Mark Tilghman pointed out that if the council wanted to include all owners of a company with a 5 percent share or greater that it only made sense to include officers as well.

“With a corporation, the officers really do make the decisions … officers are more important than owners,” he said. “Once they are elected officers they are the business until the next board of directors meeting. So you do need the officers.”

That’s debatable, according to Mitchell, who felt that officers won’t necessarily have the final say since owners could have other employees not designated as officers making the final calls.

Shields and Mitchell’s reluctance weren’t enough to discourage the other councilmembers, however, and the ordinance will advance from work sessions to the legislative stage by a vote of 3-2.

Coast Guard Forced To Suspend Missing Men Search

ASSATEAGUE — The Coast Guard late Thursday afternoon suspended the search for two men missing from a disabled fishing vessel 15 miles off the coast of Assateague after rescuing via helicopter a third man who was found in a life boat during the storm on Wednesday.

Around 10:40 a.m. on Wednesday, Coast Guard Fifth District watchstanders received an emergency position indicating radio beacon, or EPIRB, from the 67-foot fishing vessel “Seafarer” reporting a position about 15 miles off the coast of Assateague Island. The Coast Guard contacted the vessel’s owner, who believed the “Seafarer” had become disabled and the vessel’s sister ship, the “Captain Alex,” started towing the “Seafarer.”

However, the “Captain Alex” lost its connection with the boat. According to reports, the two missing men were in the vessel’s pilot house when a large wave swept the pilot house from the deck of the boat.

Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City launched a Jayhawk helicopter and crew to report to the last reported position of the “Seafarer”. Upon arrival on the scene, the Coast Guard Air Crew recovered one man, identified as Patrick Small, of New Bern, N.C., from a small life raft and took him to PRMC.

Meanwhile, the search continued for two other men who were aboard the “Seafarer.” The Coast Guard deployed a 47-foot motor life boat from Station Chincoteague to search the area. Late Wednesday night, the Coast Guard temporarily suspended the search, citing low visibility l and on-scene winds topping out at 60 mph.

The search resumed around sunrise on Thursday with a second Jayhawk helicopter deployed along with the 47-foot motor life boat. The search continued through much of the morning hours and into Thursday afternoon before being suspended around 1 p.m. pending further developments. Still missing as of late Thursday was the vessel’s captain Walter Tate, Sr. of New Bern, N.C. and his nephew, Steve Tate, 60, also of New Bern.

“We want to extend our most sincere condolences to the families of the missing crewmembers,” said Thomas Botzenhart, a search and rescue controller at the 5th Coast Guard District command center. “We have expended multiple Coast Guard assets to search for their loved ones. We have searched over 560 square nautical miles of the Atlantic Ocean off the eastern shore of Virginia in an effort to locate and rescue their family members.  It is with a great deal of sorrow that we have been unable to locate them at this point of time.”

Going Bald For A Cause In WOC; Event Benefits Child Cancer Foundation

WEST OCEAN CITY — The latest batch of freshly shorn heads will be revealed Saturday when the men and women of the Delmarva Emerald Society go under the clippers at a West Ocean City restaurant.

At least a dozen members of the Delmarva Emerald Society, an Eastern Shore branch of the historic brotherhood of firefighters and first-responders, will have their heads shaved at the Station 7 restaurant in West Ocean City for the benefit of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which was founded in 2000 with the goal of bridging the funding gap for research and support of childhood cancer causes by shaving the heads of men and women with a fun event loosely based around the St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

The first-ever St. Baldrick’s event was held on March 17 at Jim Brady’s Pub in Manhattan when 17 brave souls agreed to have their heads shorn with the goal of raising $17,000. The inaugural event blew away all expectations when organizers were able to collect $104,000, which was donated to the Children’s Oncology Group.

Since then, the organization has grown by leaps and bounds with hundreds of events across the country each year around St. Patrick’s Day and thousands going under the clippers for the cause.

The Delmarva Emerald Society, representing firefighters and first-responders from all over the shore, got into the act with their first event three years ago and promptly raised around $26,000 for the cause.

Last year, the Delmarva Emerald Society raised just around $10,000 in its second annual event and the organization is hopeful of reaching that goal again this year with its event on Saturday.

Organizer James Jester said this week about a dozen society members had committed to have their heads shaved, including at least two women.

“We have about 12 people officially signed up and the sponsor donations have been coming in at a pretty good rate, but we fully expect to really pick up momentum on the day of the event,” he said. “Typically, people that just came to watch, or were just there anyway, get caught up in the spirit and join in.”

Jester said the St. Baldrick’s event is just one way the Delmarva Emerald Society supports the community.

“I’m not really sure how we got started doing it,” he said. “I was doing an Internet search for something else and this organization came up. I read about it and thought what a great and fun way for us to help.”