On Q Professional Investigations

Chile’s Investigative Police, or PDI, arrested 14 people belonging to a gang that on Oct. 31, 2014 robbed an armored car that was carrying close to $1 million, officials said.

According to the PDI, the gang’s leaders and their partners are under arrest awaiting trial for making off with a mountain of cash from an armored car of the Prosegur company, which at the time forced the Carabineros militarized police to block traffic on Route 68, the main expressway to the seaside resort city of Viña del Mar.

Police operations were directed by the Robbery Investigation Brigade (Biro) of the Santiago metropolitan region.

PDI officials told EFE that the same gang was found to have carried out at least one other such assault. Previously, on Oct. 3, 2014, they held up another armored car and one of the thieves was killed in the process.

“Up to now we have established that the gang stole close to $1 million, though we have managed to seize several properties they acquired with the stolen money, but not the cash,” the police official said.

Gang members bought two homes in the city of Quinteros, one in San Antonio, another in Algarrobo and finally, one in El Quisco, all on the central coast of Chile, as well as 10 brand new vehicles.

In 2014, according to official records, 20 armored cars were looted for a total haul of $18 million, an amount 10 times greater than all the money stolen in similar crimes in 2013.

The most daring robbery last year was undoubtedly the one on Aug. 12, when eight criminals fooled the entire air terminal security force and got away with some $10.5 million after assaulting a Brink’s armored car in the loading zone of Santiago International Airport

Several of those robbers, of whom six are under arrest, went dressed as airport workers with fake IDs before the armored car arrived, and when the other gangsters joined them, they all put on ski masks and brandished firearms, including an assault rifle, witnesses said.

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A Birmingham woman was sentenced after pleading guilty to stealing social security benefits awarded to her grandmother—for more than two decades after she died.

Wendi D. Baldwin, 41, was sentenced to six months in prison and also six months of in-home detention, according to a news release from Joyce White Vance, the U.S. Attorney for Alabama’s northern district.

She pled guilty February to one count of theft of government property.

The benefits were deposited into Baldwin and her grandmother’s shared bank account from Jan. 1992 until July 2013, according to the plea agreement.

Her grandmother died in 1991.

The Social Security Administration became aware of the theft when it could not reach Baldwin’s grandmother after several attempts.

She was also ordered to forfeit $30,934 to the government and pay that much to the SSA

According to the release, Baldwin stole more than $155,000 in social security benefits, but the statute of limitations only allowed the government to recover five years’ worth of benefits.

A Birmingham woman was sentenced after pleading guilty to stealing social security benefits awarded to her grandmother—for more than two decades after she died.

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BRANCHBURG, NJ — A New Jersey man has been indicted on burglary charges after police say he inadvertently dialed 911 and let authorities in on his plans.

Police say they heard Scott Robert Esser and an accomplice talk about breaking into homes, emptying drawers and stealing goods.

NJ.com reports Friday that officials described the call as an errant, open-line emergency cellphone call “commonly referred to as a ‘butt dial.’”

The 42-year-old Esser was indicted on burglary, theft and other charges in connection with burglaries in Branchburg and Stafford townships and Berkeley Heights.

He’s jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail. Information on his lawyer wasn’t immediately available.

Esser was arrested July 29 on the Garden State Parkway. Police say they found jewelry, electronics, $11,300 in bonds and a handgun in his car.

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Dallas Task Force Helps Put Violent Criminals Behind Bars

Two Texas men who committed violent jewelry store robberies in the Dallas/Fort Worth area were recently sentenced to lengthy prison terms thanks to an FBI-led task force that helped bring them to justice. The case is a classic example of local and federal law enforcement officers working together to make their communities safer.

For a seven-month period between 2013 and 2014, Michael Demon Jackson and Mark D. Whitfield robbed numerous jewelry stores at gunpoint, in part to feed their heroin habits. Last May, after pleading guilty to the crimes, Jackson was sentenced to 594 months in federal prison, just shy of 50 years. In June, Whitfield received a 309-month prison term.

“Jackson had a previous murder conviction, and the judge took that into consideration,” said FBI Special Agent Gil Balli, who supervises the Dallas Violent Crimes Task Force that investigated the case. The fact that both men were charged federally resulted in stiffer sentences and no chance of parole.

“Being able to bring federal charges in violent criminal cases is one of the strengths of the task force,” Balli said. Established two years ago, the task force consists of FBI agents and officers from the Dallas Police Department and other local police departments from Garland and Carrollton, Texas. When necessary, the task force partners with other state and federal agencies.

“Our mission,” Balli said, “is to target criminal groups and individuals, including fugitives, who commit the worst violent crimes in our area.”

Balli receives daily updates about robberies that have occurred in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in the previous 24 hours. He consults with Dallas Police Department officials and other task force members about which crimes might rise to the level of task force involvement. “We all exchange intelligence on a daily basis,” he said, adding, “We are looking at the most violent offenders in our communities, who often commit serial robberies.”

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RICHMOND, Texas – Rosenberg Police arrested a man after a shooting incident Sunday morning at an elementary school in Fort Bend County.

Police arrested Christian Pieper, 20, after he allegedly fired shots in an unknown direction around 8 a.m. Sunday while standing on the roof of William Velasquez Elementary School in the 400 block of Macek Road in Richmond.

Pieper and another man were initially taken into custody, but police determined one of the men was not involved in the incident and was later released.

Police say there were no injuries during the incident, but they did discover some property damage.

Although the incident happened on a school campus, officials do not believe the suspect had intent to harm the school or students.

Lamar Consolidated Independent School District officials sent an e-mail to parents of Velasquez Elementary School students informing them of the incident.

Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office deputies determined the gun the Pieper had was later reported stolen.

Officials said Pieper faces charges of trespassing and criminal mischief, among others.

Investigators said there is surveillance video and Pieper never actually made it into the school. Officials said this was an isolated incident and there are no threats toward students and faculty of the school.

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Gov. Nikki Haley has approved armed guards at S.C. National Guard sites as a response to last month’s ambush-style killings of four Marines and a sailor near Chattanooga, Tenn.

Haley signed an executive order Monday that calls for a variety of security upgrades at recruiting, armory and depot sites around the state.

Additionally, S.C. Adjutant General Robert E. Livingston Jr. has changed S.C. National Guard policy to allow personnel to carry a weapon while in uniform under certain circumstances.

Among the areas covered in Haley’s order are increased hard-site security, protection training to be coordinated through the State Law Enforcement Division, and assigning and arming individuals who successfully complete training for station at all guard facilities in the state.

The long-term effect is that all National Guard locations will have permanent protection measures in place, the governor’s office said.

The announcement came after lone gunman Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, 24, drove to a military recruiting office and to a Navy-Marine operations center outside Chattanooga, opening fire at both places. Four Marines were killed, and a sailor wounded in the attack died, as well. Abdulazeez also died.

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WASHINGTON – Fourteen years after its reported theft from a Paris museum, a Pablo Picasso painting will be returned to France. The repatriation of “La Coiffeusse” follows an investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) as a part of Operation Toile.

ICE Director Sarah R. Saldaña presided over the official transfer of the painting at a ceremony held at the French Embassy in Washington Aug 13.

“The recovery and return of stolen artwork and other cultural artifacts remains a significant priority for ICE,” said ICE Director Saldaña. “As our world continues to shrink, protecting cultural treasures has become even more important and we are committed to doing everything we can to return them to their rightful owners.”

Pursuant to an investigative lead, HSI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials conducted an inspection of a targeted shipment in December 2014 in Newark, New Jersey. Upon inspection, the painting was revealed and seized as the shipment contained, in addition to the stolen painting itself, fraudulent statements regarding the shipment’s value, country of origin and description. The shipping label described its contents as a low-value handicraft valued at 30 euros.

In reality, the cargo contained a $15 million painting by Picasso, which has been listed on the Interpol Stolen Works of Art database since it was reported stolen in 2001.

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Albanian Crime Group Used Violence, Intimidation in Business Dealings

Loan sharking. It’s a term that might conjure up historical images of shadowy organized crime figures handing out questionable loans at exorbitant interest rates to desperate customers, usually followed by threats of violence if the loans aren’t paid off.

Unfortunately, loan sharks are alive and well in 2015 and continue to benefit from the financial misfortunes of others. Last month, the two top leaders of an Albanian criminal organization operating in the Philadelphia area were sentenced to lengthy federal prison terms for running a violent loan sharking and illegal gambling ring. Ylli Gjeli, the boss, and Fatimir Mustafaraj, the muscle, were convicted late last year after a six-week trial. Two other defendants were convicted at the same trial.

From 2002 to 2013, Gjeli and Mustafaraj led the multi-million-dollar criminal enterprise with two primary sources of income: loan sharking and illegal gambling. The illegal gambling arm of the operation included an online sports betting website that contributed more than $2.9 million in gross profits to the group’s criminal coffers. There was often crossover between the two arms of the organization—when customers couldn’t cover their gambling losses, bookies would refer them to the loan sharking side of the house.

The illegal activity took place in various Philadelphia bars and coffee houses owned or controlled by the organization. In addition to the gambling operation, Gjeli, Mustafaraj, and company generated money by making loans to customers at interest rates that ranged from 104 percent to 395 percent and demanding weekly repayments.

These repayment demands were almost always accompanied by acts of intimidation. Customers were menaced with firearms, hatchets, and threats of physical harm to themselves or family members. In a number of instances, perhaps to create the false impression that the Albanians were part of a larger and more powerful organization, customers were told that “people from New York” were willing to cause bodily harm to anyone who didn’t pay up.

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Sonoma CA-Two men found sleeping Wednesday morning in a car parked at the Graton Resort & Casino near Rohnert Park were arrested at gunpoint when the car turned out to be stolen, a Sonoma County sheriff’s official said.

Casino security workers called law enforcement at about 8:25 a.m., asking them to check on the men sleeping in a silver Toyota Camry. A check of the vehicle’s plate showed it had been stolen Tuesday from a Rohnert Park location, sheriff’s Lt. Steve Brown said.

Deputies and Rohnert Park police responded and took the men into custody.

Inside the car deputies found several vehicle keys, suspected of being used to steal cars, Brown said.

The two men, believed to be transients from Santa Rosa, were both wanted on different arrest warrants, according to court records.

As well as the warrants, Armando Lopez, 29, and Filemon Vazquez-Montoya, 21, were arrested on suspicion of possessing stolen property and burglary tools – misdemeanor charges.

Who stole the Camry remained under investigation.

Sonoma County has experienced a substantial jump in stolen cars so far in 2015 over 2014. In the last several weeks, several stolen cars have been found parked near the casino in the northwest corner of Rohnert Park, according to law enforcement officials.

The casino parking lot case netted one more person wanted by the law – Rohnert Park resident Dayna Grimwood, 35.

Brown said a woman’s identification was found inside the stolen Camry and casino security went inside to see if she was in the casino. They found a woman they believed matched the identification but it turned out to be someone else – Grimwood – who was wanted on a no-bail arrest warrant. She also was taken to jail, Brown said.

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SAN ANTONIO – Two gas station clerks are in hot water, accused of stealing thousands of dollars in a fake lottery scam.

Police said two employees at a northeast-side 7-11 cashed out thousands of dollars in lottery tickets. The only problem? They were all fake.

Derreain Cosby, 31, and Sarah Ramirez, 28, were arrested Tuesday night on theft charges.

According to arrest warrants, the two clerks at the Interstate 35 and Eisenhauer 7-11 cashed out more than $82,000 in fake lottery tickets.

Investigators said each time they would pretend a customer came in with a winning lottery ticket and they would pocket the money.

Police said this happened daily over a period of five months before a manager caught on.

Investigators said they also have video surveillance of the two in action.

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