Articles Posted in White Collar Crimes

Last month, a Royal Oak man pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain for his involvement in the fraudulent filing of tax returns with the IRS. Shane Bateman, 42, is alleged to have stolen the identities and obtained mailing addresses and other information to use for filing false tax returns.

Bateman reportedly stole this information and gave it to other individuals, who used the stolen identities to file fraudulent tax returns. All of the returns were completed in a way that the purported taxpayers were owed a refund. Once the refunds were processed by the IRS, they were loaded onto Turbo Tax Visa debit cards. In all, the fraudulent tax returns filed with the IRS requested refunds of about $1.7 million. There were approximately 180 false tax returns filed; Bateman’s take in the scheme via ATM withdrawal amounted to about $186,000.

Acting Special Agent in Charge of the IRS, Criminal Investigation Carolyn Weber and U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade announced Bateman’s involvement and guilty plea in the scheme. Bateman collected the personally identifiable information from victims during a time period beginning in September of 2011 through April of 2012, according to court records. Bateman is scheduled to be sentenced on October 2. The criminal penalties for filing fraudulent tax returns include up to ten years in prison, fines of up to $250,000, and restitution.

Bateman’s plea agreement states that he was not aware of the entire scope of the scheme to defraud innocent people. His part in the scheme was to collect the addresses and other personal information of innocent individuals, then provide that information to a “supervisor” in the scheme.

White collar crimes such as tax fraud typically do not involve violence, however the criminal penalties are still harsh. White collar crimes are generally money-related, financial crimes in which the defendant uses some devious or underhanded method to steal money that belongs to someone else. Money laundering, tax evasion, embezzlement, health care fraud, and racketeering or RICO charges are all examples of white collar crimes.

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Anthony Carta, a 53-year-old Detroit resident who formed a religious-based nonprofit and is the founder of Freedom by Faith Ministries, was arrested on Wednesday April 3. Carta allegedly bilked Detroit residents out of $300,000 in a mortgage scam by using faith to entice innocent victims, according to a news article at Mlive.com.

More than 100 people were duped in the scam according to reports, which indicate that Carta used religion to gain the trust of individuals with mortgage issues. Carta allegedly took the $300,000 from those who had confidence that he would help them, and pocketed the money for his own use according to Attorney General Bill Schuette, who called Carta’ scheme “deplorable.” Carta is charged with five counts of false pretenses $1,000 to $20,000, one count of false pretenses $20,000 to $50,000, and one count of conducting a criminal enterprise. All are felony charges; false pretenses $20,000 to $50,000 is a 15 year felony, the remaining five counts are five-year felonies. Conducting a criminal enterprise is a 20 year felony.

Carta has a website on which he sells faith-based books for $11 each. The Attorney General’s Office said that in addition to not assisting those who gave him money with their mortgage issues, Carta hosted the website, which advertised both his books and his mortgage assistance program, but did not hold regular faith-based gatherings.

In 2011, Schuette says that Carta hired a salesman to sell his mortgage modification service. The salesman later began to suspect that Carta was not providing clients with the service he advertised, and contacted the AG’s office. Bill Schuette’s office said that the woman salesman had hired Carta with assistance in modifying her own mortgage, but that she lost her home and the faith leader never contacted her bank.

Schuette also called Carta a “scam artist,” saying that “Using the guise of faith to trick innocent people into entrusting their money to a sham organization is deplorable.”

At the time of news reports, it was not known if Carta had a defense lawyer. His arraignment was scheduled for Thursday in Southfield 46th District Court.

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Mande Lynn Bishop, a 39-year-old Grand Rapids woman formerly employed as an officer manager for Strategic National, a political consulting firm, recently pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $148,000 from her employer to play Keno. News reports at Mlive.com state Bishop embezzled the money over a six-month period beginning in January of last year.

Bishop was sentenced to one year in jail and ordered to pay restitution of nearly $150,000. On Tuesday January 21 Bishop attended her sentencing hearing, bringing a $25,000 check to begin paying the restitution, according to her defense attorney who said the check would be delivered to the court clerk’s office that day.

According to Grand Rapids police, the defendant confessed that she had forged checks written directly to herself, using the money to play Keno, a state lottery game. Bishop said in court that she was sorry for her “despicable” actions, and very remorseful. Because she is a mother of a 2 1/2 year old child with no prior felony convictions, she asked Judge Donald Johnston to consider these factors when determining her sentence. While the judge considered these facts, he said that considering the time span of the embezzlement and the hefty total, a period of confinement was in order. Bishop will begin her 12-month jail sentence on January 31; the judge allowed her to return home until that time.

Embezzling is a very serious criminal offense in the state of Michigan. In fact, the criminal penalties for those convicted vary depending on factors including the amount of money involved. Had Bishop not pleaded guilty and gone on trial, she may have faced up to 20 years in prison for this felony crime.

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Elizabeth Campbell, a 42-year-old former Portage City Councilwoman, has been ordered to stand trial on charges of embezzlement in connection with money she allegedly stole from the Portage Rotary Club’s coffers beginning in January of 2010, according to news articles. Campbell has been charged with a single count of embezzling more than $20,000 but less than $50,000.

Campbell is believed to have embezzled the money after she began having financial difficulties; news reports indicate she had racked up more than $50,000 on credit cards, and was behind on bills.

Lead investigator in the case Detective Randy Dylhoff said in his report that Campbell began funneling the money when she closed one of the rotary club’s accounts with the Keystone Bank. She allegedly withdrew the money in the account in the form of three cashier’s checks; the total taken from the account was over $12,000. Two of the cashier’s checks totaling less than $1,400 were then deposited into accounts at Michigan Commerce Bank which were in the Rotary Club’s name. The remaining $11,000 was deposited at JP Morgan Chase in a new account set up by the defendant. This account was opened under Portage Rotary Charities; Dylhoff claims that Campbell used the funds in this account for herself for approximately one year, until February 2011.

Campbell allegedly continued the scheme months later when she secured a cashier’s check for more than $26,000 from another of the Rotary Club’s accounts at Michigan Commerce Bank. Dylhoff said that this money was placed in an account under the Portage Rotary Charities name at Bank of America. For the next four months, checks from this account were issued to Campbell’s husband, father, and herself. The amounts of the checks issued from the account ranged from $800 to nearly $8,000.

Campbell took out another cashier’s check and cash in March of this year; after all was said and done, Dylhoff determined in his investigation that Campbell had racked up just over $39,000 for her own use from Rotary Club funds. Dylhoff accused Campbell of moving money back and forth from one account to another quickly so that it would be difficult to trace; Campbell admitted to the fact.

Ultimately, Campbell was charged with one count of felony embezzlement of more than $20,000 but less than $50,000 in October. If convicted, she may face a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Embezzlement is a serious white collar crime which will leave the individual convicted facing severe criminal penalties. Not only may Campbell spend several years behind bars, her career and reputation will likely be ruined. In embezzlement cases involving the amount of money Campbell is accused of stealing, penalties may also include fines of up to $15,000 or three times the value of the money, whichever is greater.

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Deborah Salmon, a 48-year-old former Kentwood Parks and Recreation clerk, recently pleaded guilty to stealing more than $100,000 from the city. Salmon pleaded guilty to embezzlement; city officials suspect that she may have stolen up to $300,000 from programs designed for seniors, children, and upkeep of the city’s parks.

According to a news article at Mlive.com, Salmon may spend a minimum of one year in jail when sentenced. Employed with the city for approximately 15 years, part of Salmon’s duties included making bank deposits for the city. Recently, a new financial tracking system was implemented by the city; it was shortly thereafter that indications of corruption in department records came to light.

After conducting an audit of records from March of 2010 to March of this year, it appeared that over $130,000 did not make it to the bank when documentation submitted to Salmon’s supervisor regarding deposit slips was reviewed. City leaders claim that ongoing investigations indicate additional money was taken.

Investigators suspect that Salmon had substantial personal debts, and that the city funds transferred to her personal bank accounts was to be used to pay these debts. Salmon was placed on administrative leave in March, and subsequently terminated. She pleaded guilty to embezzlement charges on Monday, September 23. While the maximum penalty for the embezzlement charge is 20 years, prosecutors requested Salmon be sentenced to 12 to 20 months at her November 7 sentencing hearing.

Michigan embezzlement attorneys know the criminal penalties set forth for a conviction are severe; in this case, penalties for embezzling more than $100,000 in property or money is a felony offense, punishable by fines of up to $50,000 or three times the value of the property/money, whichever is greater, along with up to 20 years in prison.

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In January, we reported about a Lima Township man who had embezzlement charges against him dismissed, and new charges filed against him in connection with funneling money from A2 Auto Glass. Now, Oral and Janice Molden are scheduled to go on trial for embezzling roughly $250,000 from the glass company where both were employed according to a news article at AnnArbor.com. The couple’s trial date has been set for November 4 by a Washtenaw County judge.

Oral and Janice Molden allegedly embezzled a quarter of a million dollars over a 3 1/2 year time period. The two were first charged in 2011, however the case has been trudging through the judicial system ever since.

The news article states that on Wednesday, June 12, the couple appeared in court together briefly following a bench conference in which their attorneys requested a trial date.

Oral Molden was originally charged with embezzling $20,000 or more, however that charge was dismissed due to insufficient evidence; instead, Molden has now been charged with false pretenses of more than $20,000, false pretenses between $999 and $20,000, malicious use of a telecommunications service and permitting a false tax return. Janice Molden is charged with three counts of using a computer to commit a crime, embezzling $100,000 or more, embezzling $25,000 or more, and embezzling more than $999 but less than $20,000.

The two were both employed at A2 Auto Glass located in Scio Township, where Oral Molden performed computer work and Janice Molden was a bookkeeper.

Michigan embezzlement attorneys know the serious penalties individuals convicted of this type of criminal offense face. If convicted of embezzling $100,000 or more, Janice Molden may face up to 20 years in jail, along with fines of as much as $50,000 or three times the value of the property/money allegedly stolen.

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