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March 2009
Woman who pimped her daughter placed on probation
DAYTON — A woman convicted of offering up her adult daughter for sex was sentenced Tuesday, March 31, to five years community control.
As part of the sentence handed down by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Michael Tucker, Teresa Lynn Brock must have no contact with her daughter.
Brock, 45, was indicted Feb. 23 on one count of promoting prostitution and pleaded guilty on March 17. The charge is a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison.
Brock had remained in the Montgomery County jail since her Jan. 29 arrest.
Her daughter, Danielle K. Brock, 19, is charged with soliciting, a third-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail, according to Dayton Municipal Court records.
Police arrested Teresa Brock arrested at 30 South Horton St. after vice detectives called her phone during an undercover prostitution sting, according to police.
During the conversation, Brock offered her daughter for sexually-related services, according to police.
Undercover detectives later met up with Danielle K. Brock and, after a brief discussion, arrested her.
A background check found Teresa Brock has been arrested numerous times for soliciting and prostitution-related charges. Danielle Brock has no arrest record prior to the incident and has since been released from the county jail.
WHIO settles lawsuit with Diamonds Cabaret owners
DAYTON — WHIO-TV agreed to pay $1,500 to the owners of Diamonds Cabaret on Monday, March 30, settling a defamation lawsuit the owners filed against the television station.
The trial was to start Monday. Luke Liakos and Scott Conrad, owners of Diamonds Cabaret in Washington Twp., claim the station defamed them in a January 2003 news broadcast, including advertisements and the lead-in to the broadcast, concerning the Total Xposure club in Troy.
“The court notes that it is possible that some members of the viewing public could have drawn impressions from the story about Total Xposure that were not intended by WHIO,” Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Barbara Gorman said in a statement for the record that was approved by both parties.
Under the settlement agreement, the station is not acknowledging any liability, said Robert Bartlett, attorney for WHIO-TV.
The decision was financial, as the station decided it would be cheaper to pay $1,500 than to go to trial for a week, said Bartlett who has represented the Dayton Daily News and other Cox Ohio Publishing newspapers on First Amendment issues for many years.
Reporter Becky Grimes declined comment, as did Liakos.
“I think this is a good compromise of a difficult situation,” said attorney Dennis Lieberman, who represented Liakos and Conrad.
At issue was now-defunct nightclub Total Xposure, which had been owned by Liakos and Conrad, but was closed in October 2003.
In advertisements and lead-ins, the station aired statements from a former dancer who “stated that the owners at the Club wanted to have sex with her and that she refused and implied that a former employee refused to have sex within the club and therefore lost her job,” according to the plaintiffs’ statement filed with the clerk of courts office.
The woman also said that the club owners wanted her to perform sex acts, live on the Internet.
Liakos and Conrad claimed the dancer only worked at the club for four hours and never met them, and that her statements dealt with club owners in general. But the editing of the interview tape would lead a reasonable viewer to conclude she was talking about Total Xposure, Liakos and Conrad, according to plaintiffs’ statement.
WHIO claimed that it was clear that those statements were about club owners in general, and that the plaintiffs have admitted all specific statements about Total Xposure are true, according to defendant’s statements filed by Bartlett.
WHIO also denied that the stories damaged the plaintiffs, because “the stories did nothing to injure Plaintiffs’ already poor reputations,” and that the station will show that sales at Total Xposure increased after the station did stories about the club, according to the defendant’s statement.
Troy police raided Total Xposure on May 4, 2003. On Oct. 16 that same year, an order issued by Miami County Common Pleas Court shut down the cabaret portion of the club.
Liakos and Conrad were asking for damages due to revenue loss from the January 2003 broadcast until the club closed, in the approximate weekly amount of $3,500.
Child porn recipient sentenced to 72 months in prison
DAYTON — A Dayton man convicted of receiving child pornography was sentenced Thursday, March 26, to 72 months in federal prison.
Patrick Laake, 30, pleaded guilty in August, 2008 to one count of receipt of child pornography.
Under the sentenced handed down by U.S. District Senior Judge Walter H. Rice, Laake will be required to attend a sexual offender treatment program while incarcerated. He must also serve a term of 10 years of supervised release after his prison term.
On March 9, 2007, FBI agents executed a search of Laake’s Dayton residence and seized a personal computer belonging to Laake. A forensic analysis at Miami Valley Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory revealed that Laake had downloaded from the Internet approximately 7 images, 49 videos and one animated video, all depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including images of prepubescent children, according to Gregory G. Lockhart, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.
The visual depictions, images and movies included minors that were identified as actual known children who were catalogued in the National Child Victim Identification Program (NCVIP), Lockhart said.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/ http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/ .
Trotwood man indicted on drug charges, could face life sentence
DAYTON — A Trotwood man indicted on drug trafficking charges could face a life sentence as an armed career criminal, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Stanley Ray Mason, 48, was indicted Tuesday, March 24, on one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Because Mason has at least three prior felony convictions, he could be sentenced as an armed career criminal if convicted of possession of a firearm as specified in count three of the indictment, said Gregory G. Lockhart, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.
“If convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm as charged in count three, he would face a mandatory minimum 15-year sentence and up to life imprisonment if the court finds him to be an armed career criminal,” Lockhart said.
ATF agents and Trotwood Police officers arrested Mason early in the morning March 13 in a car outside a Dayton apartment complex. They found six bags of marijuana and a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol in the car with Mason. Mason has been in custody since his arrest.
Conviction of possession with intent to distribute marijuana is punishable by five years imprisonment, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime carries a potential penalty of five years to life imprisonment consecutive to any time served for the drug charge.
Convicted ethnic intimidator sent to prison for four years
DAYTON — A white Jefferson Twp. man who told his black neighbors he would burn their house down if they didn’t move out of the neighborhood was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday, March 25.
Earl L. McLearran pleaded guilty March 17, to charges of intimidation of a police officer and ethnic intimidation. Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Katherine Huffman told McLearran then that she intended to sentence him to four years.
Huffman also said the parole board could tack on additional prison time because McLearran’s new conviction violates terms of his parole in an earlier case.
Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies arrested McLearran, 39, of 304 Albers Ave., on July 31 after he was accused of yelling a racial slur at neighbor Saundra Ballard’s son and threatening to burn her house because he didn’t want blacks living in the neighborhood. McLearran was jailed.
While Ballard and her sons were testifying against McLearran before a grand jury, her house was set afire. A teenager later was charged as a juvenile with arson in the fire.
McLearran was convicted in 2005 for setting fires to several houses under construction because he didn’t want new houses in his neighborhood that would be occupied by blacks.
Teen pleads guilty to gunning down Damarion Flippin
DAYTON — The accused killer of Damarion Flippin pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault charges Tuesday, March 24.
Scott Cook, Jr., 18, who was described by a juvenile judge earlier this month as a “high-ranking gang member,” will be sentenced April 7 by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Frances E. McGee.
Both charges include firearms specifications, which would add three years to any prison sentence.
Flippin, 17, who lived at 108 Pointview Ave., was shot about 6:30 a.m. Nov 13 after a brief argument at the RTA bus stop on Santa Clara and Wheatley avenues.
Flippin was pronounced dead six hours later at Miami Valley Hospital. He was on his way to the Isus Institute of Construction Technology, a charter school. Both Flippin and Cook, who was 17 at the time, were students at the school.
Police arrested Cook the same day, and he was held in juvenile detention until March 3, when Juvenile Court Judge Anthony Capizzi ordered him transferred to the Montgomery County Jail and set a $1 million bond.
Capizzi, who said that investigative reports called Cook a “high-ranking member” of the GVC gang, said Cook was not amenable to treatment in the juvenile system and said Cook should be tried as an adult.
Capizzi said that he did not know if Flippin’s death was the result of gang activity, but said Flippin had done nothing to provoke Cook, who apparently went to the school after the shooting for an expulsion hearing.
Isus principal Barbara Wagner testified March 3 that during that expulsion hearing, a staff member handed her a note that stated police were there for Cook.
Cook had 10 unexcused absences and 19 tardies between, Sept. 26, his first day at the school, and his suspension in early November. He was suspended with a recommendation for expulsion because he entered the basement, which is off limits to students, then left the school property without permission, Wagner testified.
During the March 3 hearing, prosecutors also called Johnny Vance, Cook’s probation officer, who said that Cook had more than 40 referrals to the juvenile system during the previous five years, but never before for a felony offense. Many of those referrals were unruly or truancy offenses, and had been generated by phone calls from Cook’s mother, Vance said.
Cook was “non-compliant” in counseling programs and had his probation extended four to five times during a three-year period, Vance said.
Sex offender gets seven years for failure to register
DAYTON — A sex offender who failed to register after moving from Indiana to Dayton was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison.
U.S. District Senior Judge Walter H. Rice sentenced Alfred W. Cash late Tuesday, March 24. Cash pleaded guilty Dec. 11 to one count of failure to register as a sex offender.
Cash, 50, who moved from Indiana to Dayton in 2007, is currently serving a six-year sentence in state prison for Nov. 2008 convictions of gross sexual imposition of a child younger than age 13. He will serve his federal term after finishing his state term.
Cash’s sentence was enhanced because he committed the state crime of gross sexual imposition while he was unregistered in Ohio, according to Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.
Once he is released from prison, Cash will be required to stay under U.S. District Court supervision for the rest of his life, and to register as a sex offender.
In 1990, Cash was convicted in Oklahoma of child rape. He moved to Indiana in 1998, where he maintained his required sex offender registration from 2004 until July 2007, Lockhart said.
Cash never notified Ohio authorities when he moved to Dayton in September, 2007. Under the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), Cash is required to register as a sex offender as a result of his 1990 rape conviction in another state.
Dayton police arrested Cash on Sept. 2 on an arrest warrant out of Indiana, due to his failure to update his sex offender registration there. He has been in police custody since his arrest.
A Montgomery County grand jury indicted Cash three weeks later on four counts of gross sexual imposition of a child younger than 13 and two counts of public indecency. He pleaded guilty to two of the GSI counts on Nov. 26 and Common Pleas Judge Gregory F. Singer sentenced him on Jan. 8.
SORNA is part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act passed by Congress in 2006. The law requires anyone convicted of sex crimes under federal law, or anyone convicted in state court and traveling in interstate commerce, to register with law enforcement agencies where they live, work or are a student.
Cheeks Gentleman’s Club owner convicted of tax charges
DAYTON — The owner of Cheeks Gentleman’s Club was convicted Tuesday, March 24, of three counts of filing a false corporate income tax return.
The trial of Elbert Lee Hale and his ex-wife Joyce Hale started March 16. The jury got the case on Monday, March 23.
Elbert Hale, who lives in Washington Twp., was convicted of three counts concerning the 2002, 2003 and 2004 income tax years. The jury acquitted Hale of 23 counts of structuring financial transactions.
Joyce Hale, of Dayton was found guilty on one count of making a false statement to federal investigators. The jury acquitted her of a second count of the same charge.
Elbert Hale has owned and operated Cheeks Gentlemen’s Club, 906 Watertower Lane, West Carrollton, since 1998. Evidence presented at trial showed that Hale intentionally understated the club’s business income on corporate income tax returns for the period spanning 2002 through 2004, according to Gregory G. Lockhart, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.
The counts involving structuring financial transactions dealt with 23 occasions between July 2006 and January 2008, when Elbert Hale deposited more than $10,000 cash into company accounts, but broke the deposits into smaller amounts to evade federal cash transaction reporting requirements, according to the indictment.
Joyce Hale was charged with telling investigators in May 2006 that she did not know about the club’s financial information. She told them she was unaware of how income generated by female dancers was accounted for and did not know of any accounting books or ledgers for the club, according to the indictment.
Federal investigators testified that they seized a secret set of accounting books from the trunk of Joyce Hale’s car while executing search warrants at Cheeks on May 12, 2006. Prior to seizing the records Mrs. Hale denied to Federal agents having any knowledge of the existence of such books. This second set of books, penned in Joyce Hale’s handwriting, documented an under-reporting of business income of more than $3.1 million in the three-year period, Lockhart said.
“The government called 17 witnesses to testify during the trial, including two former dancers and a business partner of Hale’s,” Lockhart said. “As a result of their testimony and the evidence presented, a conviction was obtained.”
Each of the three counts of filing false corporate income tax returns is punishable by three years imprisonment, a $100,000 fine, restitution of unpaid taxes along with interest and penalties to be calculated by the IRS. Making false statements is punishable by up to five years imprisonment.
Chief U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott will schedule a sentencing hearing.
Man who pleaded guilty to double shooting at prayer vigil changes his mind
DAYTON — A man who pleaded guilty to shooting two people near a peace and prayer vigil for a dead teen, killing the teen’s father, is trying to rescind that plea.
Kwame Lamont Eugene Nooks pleaded guilty on Feb. 10 to voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault. He was originally to be sentenced on March 5 by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Dennis J. Langer. Under the original agreement, the sentencing range was to be between eight to 12 years.
Instead, Nooks has changed attorneys — his original attorneys filed a motion to withdraw on March 4, citing irreconcilable differences. On Thursday, March 19, Nooks’ new attorney Marshall Lachman filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
“Based on the transcript of the plea hearing, it is plain and clear that the Defendant was pressured into entering his guilty plea given the threat of a murder charge and at least 15 years to life if he did not accept the deal as offered, even though he had never been indicted on any murder charge,” Lachman wrote.
The plea deal offered by Montgomery County prosecutors was good for one day, as Nooks was repeatedly reminded, Lachman wrote.
“Time and again during the plea, the Defendant indicated he did not want to enter a plea that day, but each time he was pressured into proceeding that day,” Lachman wrote.
Nooks, 19, is accused of being one of two gunmen who on Sept. 16 fired into a car leaving the vigil, injuring Augstine O. Ubaike, Jr., 23, and killing Dwight Hardy, 34, of Trotwood. The shooting occurred on Catalpa Avenue.
The vigil was for Hardy’s son, Kendrick Pope, who was shot Sept. 11, Dayton police said. The vigil occurred on what would have been Pope’s 18th birthday.
Ubaike was shot in the shoulder and leg, police said.
Nooks was indicted Oct. 2 on two counts of felonious assault, but pleaded to a bill of information on the new charges Tuesday.
Two from Walnut Hills Family Care drug ring are sentenced to prison terms
DAYTON — Two people involved in a prescription drug ring run from a doctor’s office were sentenced to prison terms this week.
U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose sentenced Sherry Marshall, 41, to 15 years and eight months in federal prison on Thursday, March 19. Rose sentenced John Andy Mayl, 35, to 10 years and one month, on Friday, March 20.
Both were part of a conspiracy to fraudulently dispense and distribute thousands of unit doses of prescription medicine between January 2007 and January 2008, according to Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.
Several people were indicted in the case, including Marshall’s husband Kenneth and her boss, Dr. Richard Sievers II. Authorities estimate that Sievers was paid thousands of dollars to illegally prescribe “hundreds of thousands dosage units” of medication valued at $5 million.
Marshall was office manager for Walnut Hills Family Care, located at 1900 Wayne Avenue in Dayton. She admitted she conspired to distribute prescription drugs including Oxycodone (Oxycontin), Methadose (Methadone), Hydrocodone (Vicodin) and alprazolam (Xanax).
Marshall pleaded guilty on Dec. 19 to one count of conspiracy to dispense and distribute prescription drugs.
Mayl pleaded guilty on Dec. 16 to one count of conspiracy to dispense and distribute prescription drugs. Mayl was a “patient” of the clinic and recruited others to obtain bogus prescriptions.
The investigation determined that hundreds of thousands of dosage units of controlled substances were illegally distributed in southwest Ohio, Kentucky and Florida, according to Lockhart.
Kenneth Marshall, who was hired on to do odd jobs at the clinic, was actually the “muscle,” for the drug ring. Marshall pleaded guilty to one conspiracy count and was sentenced in January to 37 months in prison.
Sievers is scheduled to go on trial on April 27. Sievers wrote prescriptions for a mixture of anti-anxiety pills and addictive painkillers called a “360 cocktail,” according to an FBI affidavit filed in U.S. District Court.
Two men sentenced for 2008 murder
DAYTON — Two men convicted of murder in the April 10 shooting of Christopher Ousley were sentenced Monday, March 16 to long prison terms.
Timothy Reid, 59, who spent more than 20 years in prison for a 1974 homicide in Arizona, was sentenced to 29 years to life by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Timothy N. O’Connell.
Lonnie B. Scandrick, 43, was sentenced to 27 years to life, also by O’Connell.
The two were tried separately in February. Reid was convicted Feb. 13 of murder, felonious assault and being a felon in possession of a weapon.
Scandrick was convicted of murder and felonious assault on Feb. 27. Before the trial started, he pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon and being a felon in possession of a weapon.
Ousley, 28, of Courtwood Avenue, was shot outside Nathan’s Superette, 3219 Delphos Ave., but was pronounced dead at Miami Valley Hospital.
Woman accused of pimping daughter pleads guilty
DAYTON — A woman accused of offering up her daughter for sex will be sentenced March 31 on one count of promoting prostitution.
Teresa Lynn Brock, 45, was indicted on the count Feb. 23 and pleaded guilty on March 17 before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Michael T. Hall.
The charge is a fourth-degree felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison.
Brock, 45, has remained in the Montgomery County jail since her Jan. 29 arrest.
Her daughter, Danielle K. Brock, 19, is charged with soliciting, a third-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail, according to Dayton Municipal Court records.
Police arrested Teresa Brock arrested at 30 South Horton St. after vice detectives called her phone during an undercover prostitution sting, according to police.
During the conversation, Brock offered her daughter for sexually-related services, according to police.
Undercover detectives later met up with Danielle K. Brock and, after a brief discussion, arrested her.
A background check found Teresa Brock has been arrested numerous times for soliciting and prostitution-related charges. Danielle Brock has no arrest record prior to the incident and has since been released from the county jail.
Man who shot at police sentenced to 94 years in prison
DAYTON — A man accused of shooting at police before leading them on a high-speed chase through western Montgomery County last year was sentenced to 94 years in prison Wednesday, March 18.
The sentence handed down by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Dennis J. Langer is to be consecutive with the 42-year sentence Rayshaun D. Hudson will serve from Clark County, said Hudson’s attorney William Daly.
Hudson, 31, of 215 W. Nottingham Road, pleaded guilty Jan. 20 to all charges in his indictment, including multiple charges of felonious assault, failure to comply, according .
The charges stem from a series of incidents on June 2, when Hudson shot at or near county sheriff’s deputies and a New Lebanon police detective, robbed a New Lebanon feed store, leading police on the chase and taking a car.
Dayton police Lt. Randy Beane said in June it was the “wildest police chase I’ve seen in my 32 years” of police work.
The chase started when sheriff’s Maj. John Brands and Capt. Rob Streck spotted Rayshaun D. Hudson in a maroon Ford Explorer just before 1 p.m. near Ohio Route 4 and Germantown Pike.
As Hudson was turning around, he fired two shots at Brands and Streck, according to Sheriff Phil Plummer.
Trotwood and Dayton police quickly joined the chase before a Trotwood officer lost control of his car on U.S. 35, just before the Gettysburg Avenue exit, about 1:20 p.m.
Sgt. Richard Wright was attempting to cross a raised median while trying to avoid eastbound traffic when he lost control. The car flipped on its top. Wright was treated and released from Miami Valley Hospital.
Hudson’s SUV became soon inoperable and he bailed out. He then carjacked a Jeep Cherokee.
The hour-long chase ended when the jeep collided head-on with an unmarked Montgomery County sheriff’s car and careened into the front porch of a home in the 1100 block of Burleigh Avenue.
Man caught with child porn sentenced to two years in prison
DAYTON — A Harrison Twp. man convicted of child pornography possession was sentenced Friday, March 13, to 24 months in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release.
Clifton B. Cole, age 43, appeared before U.S. District Senior Judge Walter H. Rice,
who also ordered Cole to participate in a Sex Offender Treatment Program while in prison.
FBI agents interviewed Cole in April, 2007 after he visited an undercover Website that Cole believed to contain child pornography. Cole agreed to a search of his computer by the agents. Analysis of his desktop computer by the Miami Valley Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory located numerous photographic images and 88 videos depicting child pornography on his computer.
Cole pleaded guilty on January 16, 2008 to one count of possession of child pornography.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Man who killed co-worker in crash gets 9 years in prison
DAYTON — A Miamisburg man who pleaded guilty to killing his co-worker in a van crash was sentenced to nine years in prison Wednesday, March 11, by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Michael L. Tucker.
William S. Stamm, 37, was on trial last week when he suddenly halted the trial Tuesday, March 10, and pleaded guilty to all counts, including: operating a vehicle under the influence, aggravated vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter. The charges involved the July 11, 2007 death of Carl B. Trent.
Trent, 36, of Carlisle, was a passenger in the vehicle, which struck a utility pole in front of 9723 S. Union Road, according to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. Trent was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officials raising concerns about juvenile offenders
DAYTON — Local officials are trying to raise awareness about juvenile offenders following a number of serious crimes at Dayton public schools and Third and Main streets in downtown.
“It’s crazy how many cases we’ve gotten,” said Julie Bruns, chief of the juvenile division of the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office. “The kids who want to be in school to get an education are being hindered.”
County Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck, Jr, Sheriff Phil Plummer, Dayton police chief Richard Biehl, schools Superintendent Kurt Stanic and school board President Jeff Mims, Jr., had a press conference Wednesday, March 11, to raise awareness after several incidents, according to Heck, including:
• two Dunbar High School basketball players were arrested in February after trying to break into a house to steal a gaming system.
• A fight involving eight juveniles occurred Feb. 19 at Meadowdale High School
• On Feb. 24, a 17-year-old boy got into a fight, then assaulted Dayton police officers who responded. He also kicked the window out of a cruiser.
• On March 3, a 15-year-old boy assaulted a teacher at Wilbur Wright Middle School after she took his cellular phone.
• On March 9, a 16-year-old boy brought a handgun to Longfellow Learning Academy
“In all of these incidents, we have 14 to 17-year-old students acting out violently and committing criminal acts,” Heck said. “We are hear to day to take a stand and to send a unified message — this type of behavior and criminal activity will not be tolerated.”
Crack cocaine dealer sentenced to 10 years in prison
DAYTON - A Dayton man was sentenced Wednesday, March 4, to 120 months in federal prison on drug conspiracy charges involving possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine.
Donnell L. Cook, 28, pleaded guilty in November, 2008 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute in excess of 50 grams of cocaine base, commonly known as crack cocaine.
This charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison, except when a defendant qualifies for a sentence reduction under the “safety valve” features of the law.
Federal law allows courts to impose a sentence below a minimum mandatory level only if a defendant meets certain criteria The Court ruled that, because Cook possessed a gun, he was ineligible for the “safety valve.”
“Associating themselves with guns is the surest way for those involved in the drug trade to fail the ‘safety valve’ test, regardless of whether they meet the other factors,” said Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. “If they don’t qualify for a safety valve reduction, they can expect to spend at least the minimum mandatory sentence in prison.”
Cook was immediately remanded to the custody of U.S. Marshals at his sentencing. Upon his release from prison, Cook must serve five years of supervised release, a form of parole.
Man accused of raping his son’s mother is indicted
DAYTON — A registered sex offender accused of raping his 4-month-old son’s mother, then kidnapping the baby, was indicted Thursday, March 5, on felony charges.
The Montgomery County grand jury indicted Brandon Knight on two counts of rape, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of failure to comply with a police officer’s order.
Dayton police arrested Knight, 27, following a chase on Feb. 23.
The chase occurred after Knight, distraught over problems in another relationship, held a screwdriver at the mother of his child in his apartment on Frederick Pike and demand she remove her pants, according to police and 911 audio.
The woman was able to flee just before noon after being raped, but said Knight would not let her have the baby, she told a 911 dispatcher.
Special victims unit detectives were minutes away from issuing an Amber Alert about 2:25 p.m. after the baby’s father, Brandon S. Knight, began text-messaging pictures of him and the boy, along with words that referenced the “after life,” according to police
A Dayton officer in the first district spotted Knight’s white Pontiac Grand Am about 2:30 p.m. near Bartley Road and North Dixie Drive, police said.
The chase lasted about 20 minutes before Knight went off the road in a residential cul-de-sac near Little York Road and President Court in Butler Twp. and his left front tire blew out. He then bailed out of the vehicle with the baby still inside, ran into a wooded area and was Tased by pursuing officers, police said.
Court records show Knight was convicted in 2000 on a fourth-degree felony charge of corruption of a minor and again in 2002 on a felony charge of unlawful sexual contact with a minor. He served just under three years in prison for both offenses, according to court records.
NOTE: An earlier entry included an incorrect charge.
Judge rules in DDN’s favor: newspaper did not libel former Trotwood police officer
DAYTON — A Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge has found that the Dayton Daily News did not libel a former Trotwood police officer when the newspaper identified him as a suspect in the July 2001 disappearance of Marilyn “Niqui” Renee McCown.
Judge Mary Wiseman sustained a motion on Monday, March 2, for summary judgment filed on behalf of Dayton Newspapers, Inc., publishers of the Dayton Daily News, and Tom Beyerlein, the reporter who wrote the stories.
The lawsuit, filed June 9, by Thomas L. Swint, also identified as defendants the Richmond Palladium-Item newspaper, Palladium-Item reporter Ryan Clark, former Trotwood police Chief Mike Etter, Trotwood Maj. Dan Swafford, and three Richmond officers.
Also on Monday, Wiseman found in favor of the Trotwood and Richmond officers. Swint’s attorney Anthony VanNoy filed a voluntary dismissal in August which removed the Palladium-Item and Clark from the case.
In the lawsuit, Swint claimed the defendants made or published false and defamatory statements about him in connection with the July 2001 disappearance of McCown, who lived in Richmond and worked with Swint at the Montgomery Education and Pre-Release Center, a Dayton state prison.
The Dayton Daily News published three stories about Swint, all written by Beyerlein, on Oct. 13, 2007 and Oct. 18, 2007.
The Dayton Daily News quoted Trotwood and Richmond police officials, who said Swint was forced to resign from the Trotwood police Aug. 31, 2007 after a Richmond detective told Swint’s superiors of his connection to the McCown case, city officials said. Swint was sworn in July 16, 2007.
Richmond Police Chief Kris Wolski told the Dayton Daily News in October 2007 that the investigation “has come down to two or three people,” including Swint and McCown’s fiance, Robert Webster.
McCown, then 28, was last seen July 22, 2001, at a Richmond laundromat. Her SUV was found months later at a Harrison Twp. apartment complex.
Man charged in cold-case rape found incompetent to stand trial
DAYTON — The suspect in a Decmeber 1997 rape, who was indicted in November after a DNA match, has been found incompetent to stand trial.
Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Katherine Huffman ruled Feb. 25 that Demetrius P. Chambers was incompetent, but restorable, and ordered him placed in a maximum-security mental health facility.
Competency relates to the defendant’s ability to understand the legal proceedings around him and to assist his attorney in preparing a defense. Competency does not deal with the defendant’s mental state at the time of the crime. Should Chambers be restored to competency, his case will continue.
Authorities arrested Chambers, 35, on Nov. 27 in the 1500 block of North Keowee Street on a warrant for rape, according to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office. The warrant was issued after a grand jury indicted him on felony charges of rape, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary on Nov. 7, according to court records.
The case was reopened after Chambers’ DNA sample was entered into a national database while he was incarcerated at the Belmont Correctional Institution. His profile matched that of evidence gathered in the rape of the woman, authorities said.
Detectives then located the female victim and she picked Chambers out of a group of photos as her attacker, according to police.
Investigators said Chambers knocked on the woman’s door in the 2200 block of Emerson Avenue and forced his way into the house when she opened it. Chambers held the woman against her will, raped her and then stole undisclosed items from the house before leaving, according to police.
He has an extensive criminal background, including convictions for escape in 1996 and receiving stolen property in 2005, according to court records. He also been arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, drug abuse and public indecency.
Authorities announce diversion program for “Sexting” offenses
DAYTON — Montgomery County authorities, concerned about teens sending sexually explicit photographs to each other, have started a diversion program to prevent some first-time offenders from being labeled as sex offenders.
“Sexting” refers to the sharing of sexually explicit or nude photographs via cellular phones. The diversion program will also be available for juveniles who post pictures online, said Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias H. Heck, Jr., who announced the program Wednesday, March 4, with Juvenile judges Nick Kuntz and Anthony Capizzi.
Heck said that one recent study shows that one in five teens say they have sent or posted on-line nude photos of themselves, and 31 percent report having received a nude or semi-nude photo of someone else. About two-thirds of the photos are to or from a boyfriend or girlfriend, Heck said.
“The act of “sexting” appears to be, in some cases, a result of our teens not understanding appropriate sexual boundaries and not thinking of the consequences of their actions,” Heck said.
The problem is that, under Ohio law, sending or receiving such photos could be a felony crime, Heck said. In some cases, a conviction could include designation as sex offender, requiring registration for 10 or 20 years.
Juveniles charged with “sexting”-type offenses will be screened by one of Heck’s Diversion Officers.
Juveniles accepted into the program will be under supervision for a minimum of six months, must agree to relinquish their cell phones for a period of time, and will perform community service. They must also attend four hours of education dealing with the legal ramifications, effects on victims, age-appropriate sexual boundaries and responsible use of the internet, cell phones and other communication devices. For those who successfully complete the program, the pending charges will be dropped.
“In some cases, charging a juvenile with a felony and labeling them a sexual offender when their actions were clearly a result of poor judgment and ignorance of the law seems harsh for first-time offenders,” Heck said.
Two home invasion suspects indicted
DAYTON — Two men arrested in connection with a Huber Heights home invasion were indicted Wednesday, March 4, on multiple felony counts.
The charges against Anthony Wayne Jones and Demetrius Ewing concern a Feb. 22 robbery at 5483 Misty Lane, in which a man was shot in the groin area.
The grand jury indicted Jones, 52, and Ewing, 29, on two counts of aggravated burglary, four counts of kidnapping, five counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of felonious assault, three counts of assault and one count of being a felon in possession of a weapon. Jones was also indicted on one count of tampering with evidence.
According to police reports, two men entered an apartment in the 5400 block of Misty Lane through a back door while three people were in the residence. A woman’s wrists were bound, a man was put in a closet with the door tied shut and a second man handcuffed and shot in the groin area. Property was allegedly stolen from the apartment and the victims told police they did not know their attackers.
Ewing and Jones have remained in the Montgomery County Jail since their arrests.
Man convicted of retalliation killing is sentenced to prison
DAYTON — A Dayton man convicted of gunning down another man in retaliation for his brother’s slaying was sentenced Wednesday, March 4, to 36 years to life in prison.
Antonio M. Alford, 26, was convicted of murder and other charges Feb. 27 after a four-day trial before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Barbara P. Gorman.
LaQuan S. Sanford, 26, was killed May 11. Investigators said Alford incorrectly believed Sanford was a family member of the person who shot him and his brother, killing his brother.
“You were wrong, Mr. Alford, wrong in thinking that revenge would make the hurt go away,” said Gilbert Frazier, stepfather of LaQuan A. Sanford. “You gained nothing because your brother’s real killer is still out there.”
Frazier wept as he made his victim impact statement, but Alford taunted him, yelling “I’ll be back, on appeal,” until sheriff’s deputies grabbed him and placed a Taser on him.
Alford then told Sanford’s family that he was not Sanford’s killer. But Gorman said that the jury had found him guilty, and that he continued to show “total disrespect” for Sanford’s family, to life, and to the law.
“You chose to kill a innocent person in some kind of twisted sense of revenge,” Gorman said.
Alford was also convicted of felonious assault, being a felon in possession of a weapon and tampering with evidence. The jury acquitted Alford of one count discharging a weapon upon or over a public highway. The jury also approved the firearm specifications to the counts Alford was convicted of. Those specifications added three years to his sentence.
Alford’s brother, Maurice N. Alford Jr., 26, was killed in an early morning drive-by shooting on Feb. 24 on the Third Street Bridge near Edwin C. Moses Boulevard. Antonio Alford was with his brother and was shot several times in the arms and torso as the two drove home from Club Cream, 80 N. Main St. in Dayton.
Frazier said he was sorry for the loss of Maurice Alford’s life, but that by killing Sanford, Antonio Alford merely caused another family to feel the same hurt and loss.
“You have the mark of Cain forever on your forehead,” Frazier said as Alford taunted him. “I will be praying for you.”
Woman convicted in identity theft scheme sentenced to probation
DAYTON — A Trotwood woman accused of stealing identity information from dead hospital patients was sentenced Wednesday, March 4 to five years community control.
Lisa Kidd, 39, appeared before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Michael L. Tucker. She pleaded guilty Feb. 4 to one count of identity fraud and 19 counts of money laundering, all third-degree felonies.
During the sentencing hearing, Tucker noted that Kidd had fully paid restitution of $6,200. Kidd did not make any statement during the hearing.
Kidd and her co-defendant, Linda McDermott-Dorsey, were indicted in December on multiple felony charges. McDermott-Dorsey, 41, also of Trotwood, was granted diversion in lieu of conviction on Feb. 20.
According to Englewood police, the two women used their positions at Samaritan North Health Center to access information, which was then used to apply for online loans.
Englewood Police Sgt. Mike Lang said in December that Samaritan North Health Center did an internal investigation and called police after being contacted by an online loan company the women are accused to trying to swindle. The families of the deceased were unaware of the loan applications, Lang said.
Lang said the women allegedly obtained a little more than $7,000 using information from 24 people over about a five-week period in May-June 2007. They checked newspaper obituaries and used the hospital computer system to gather the personal information of deceased persons who had been Good Samaritan Hospital patients, Lang said.
The money laundering charges stem from online bank accounts opened and used to transfer funds.
Gang leader to be tried as adult in bus stop slaying
DAYTON — A man described as a “high-ranking gang member” will be tried as an adult in the Nov. 13 shooting death of Damarion Flippin, a Montgomery County juvenile judge ruled Tuesday, March 3.
Judge Anthony Capizzi set a $1 million bond for Scott Cook, Jr., now 18, and ordered him transferred to the Montgomery County Jail. Cook has been held in juvenile detention since his arrest the day of Flippin’s slaying.
At issue was whether Cook was amenable to treatment in the juvenile system. Capizzi, who said that investigative reports called him a “high-ranking member” of the GVC gang, said Cook was not amenable to treatment.
Flippin, who lived at 108 Pointview Ave., was shot about 6:30 a.m. after a brief argument at the RTA bus stop on Santa Clara and Wheatley avenues.
He was pronounced dead six hours later at Miami Valley Hospital. He was on his way to the Isus Institute of Construction Technology, a charter school.
Both boys were 17 at the time of the shooting. Cook, whom authorities have identified as the shooter, is charged with delinquency counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide. Both offenses include firearms specifications.
In January, Cook waived his right to a probable cause hearing. Capizzi found probable cause that Cook committed the two charged offenses.
Capizzi said Tuesday that he did not know if Flippin’s death was the result of gang activity, but said Flippin had done nothing to provoke Cook, who was also a student at the school.
Cook apparently went to the school after the shooting for an expulsion hearing.
Isus principal Barbara Wagner testified that during that hearing, a staff member handed her a note that stated police were there for Cook.
Cook had 10 unexcused absences and 19 tardies between, Sept. 26, his first day at the school, and his suspension in early November. He was suspended with a recommendation for expulsion because he entered the basement, which is off limits to students, then left the school property without permission, Wagner testified.
Dr. Laura Fujimura, the court’s psychologist, testified that Cook had intellectual and leadership potential that had not been realized due to his chronic behavioral problems in school.
“He has rather consistently chosen to not go down the right path,” Fujimura said. “His need is very strong to be in control and to exert power.”
Under cross examination by attorney Anthony VanNoy, Fujimura said that Cook was exposed to domestic violence as a young boy and was physically abused at the hands of a day-care provider when he was three. She said that Cook’s control issues could be the result of those experiences.
“Scott does not have much trust or respect for adult authority figures,” Fujimura said.
Asked whether Cook was ready to embrace the counseling programs in the juvenile system and make a positive change in his life, Fujimura said “Only he really knows. At this point, I don’t think he’s there.”
Prosecutors also called Johnny Vance, Cook’s probation officer, who said that Cook had more than 40 referrals to the juvenile system during the previous five years, but never before for a felony offense. Many of those referrals were unruly or truancy offenses, and had been generated by phone calls from Cook’s mother, Vance said.
Cook often expressed anger at his father, whom he had little contact with, but who lived nearby with his “other family,” Vance said.
Cook was “non-compliant” in counseling programs and had his probation extended four to five times during a three year period, Vance said.
“He has not demonstrated himself to be amenable,” Vance said.
VanNoy called one witness, Cook’s mother Victoria Kirk, who said she thought her son made a breakthrough, when he finally opened up to her about his anger toward his father and about the mistakes Cook himself had made. This happened during conversations at juvenile detention.
Her son expressed a desire to get his life together and go to college, Kirk said.
“I’m not taking anything away from the Flippin family,” Kirk said. “I feel for them, I do. But at the same time, I feel for my son.”
Cook broke down in tears during his mother’s testimony.
But Capizzi said that he did not believe Cook would sincerely take responsibility for his actions.
“This young man blames everybody else for what he does,” Capizzi said. “The victim in no way caused his death. He was a young man with a future who no longer has it.”
Man banned from WPAFB pleads no contest to sex charges involving children
DAYTON — A man who was barred from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 1995 for a sexual offense there with a minor but returned to volunteer at the museum, pleaded no contest Friday, Feb. 27, to two counts of gross sexual imposition of a child under age 13.
Andrew J. Huff, 64, Vagabond Lane, appeared before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Dennis J. Langer. He will be sentenced April 2 by Judge Mary Wiseman.
Huff was indicted Aug 20 on three counts of gross sexual imposition and arrested the following day. He has been free in lieu of $100,000 bond, which Langer continued Friday.
The current charges involve a relative’s children. In May, police received a complaint that Huff had allegedly fondled the children, according to a Riverside police report.
But Riverside police investigators found that Huff, who had retired from the U.S. Air Force, also had been accused in 1995 of making suggestive remarks and sexually touching a boy in a gym shower at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, based on military police reports.
In a written statement for base police, Huff said he had “a compulsion” and would start getting therapy. Huff was banned from the base in 1995 and allowed to return only for medical care. He pleaded guilty to a lesser offense of sexual imposition without consent in federal court in 1996 and to a count of trespassing for going back on base despite the ban. He was fined $200 for the sexual offense, $100 for trespassing, and placed on probation for two years. In 1998, he was charged in federal court again with trespassing on base again but the case was dismissed.
Huff volunteered at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force from April 2006 until until June 2008, when museum officials became aware of Riverside’s investigation. Base spokesperson Derek Kaufman said last fall that museum officials were not previously aware Huff had been banned and he was immediately terminated as a volunteer. Kaufman said measures have since been taken to ensure that the museum is aware of debarment orders so no one is accepted as a volunteer after being banned from the base.
Huff told Riverside police during their investigation in May that he is HIV-positive and had slept with boys in Kentucky, according to Riverside police reports. A few days later, he denied that, saying the young men were 18 and it was only oral sex, according to the police reports.
Valryn Warren contributed to this report
