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Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Final conspirator pleads guilty in mortgage fraud case
CINCINNATI — A Monroe woman, one of six people indicted in June 2008 on federal charges connected to an extensive mortgage fraud scheme, became the last of the six to plead guilty to felony charges on Wednesday, July 29.
Jessica A. Zbacnik, 42, appeared before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Barrett. She pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
The six defendants were part of a scheme that affected 210 residential properties, including 205 in Montgomery County,according to Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.
In court, Zbacnik admitted that she was part of the conspiracy that took place between March 2002 and June 2008. The conspirators operated and controlled various mortgage and title insurance businesses and corporations.
According to the statement of facts filed in court, Zbacnik admitted that she had helped arrange, facilitate and manipulate documents associated with real estate sales and closings. The purpose was to fraudulently obtain excess mortgage loan proceeds generated from the sale of residential properties.
Zbacnik’s five co-conspirators were:
— Edward McGee, 74, of Dayton, who pleaded guilty on May 12, 2009 to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
— Kenneth O. McGee, 49, of Dayton, son of Edward, who pleaded guilty May 12, 2009 to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
— Julian M. Hickman, 31, formerly of Centerville and now living in East Cleveland, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax crimes on December 15, 2008.
— Robert Mitchell, 42, of Vandalia, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering on March 11, 2009.
— Kamal J. Gregory, 34, of Centerville, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering on April 14, 2009.
All six co-conspirators are awaiting sentencing.
Zbacnik faces up to 30 years imprisonment on the charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, plus a $1 million fine.
For the other conspiracy count, she faces up to 20 years in prison, plus a fine of whichever is greater: $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved.
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Club Ivy trial: the case goes to the jury
DAYTON — Assistant Montgomery County prosecutors told the jury that James D. Williams III is guilty. So did Williams’ defense attorney.
The difference is what they say he is guilty of.
Williams is accused of setting the Aug. 26 fire at the Club Ivy, 3509 N. Main St., which claimed the life of Robert C. Fabia, 50, who was the chef and was still inside the structure.
Williams, 28, of Trotwood, whose trial in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court started Monday is charged with three counts of aggravated arson, three counts of murder, arson and two counts of possessing criminal tools. Judge Mary Wiseman charged the jury with the case at 4:45 p.m.
The jury deliberated briefly before breaking off for the evening. Deliberations are to resume at 9 a.m. Thursday.
The murder counts are dependent on convictions for aggravated arson. A conviction on the arson count alone would not allow a conviction for murder, though the jury will be allowed to consider an involuntary manslaughter charge. Should the jurors decide that Williams is not guilty on the aggravated arson counts, or if they deadlock on those three charges, they could find him guilty of arson then consider involuntary manslaughter.
Involuntary manslaughter is a first-degree felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Murder is an unclassified offense and is punishable by 15 years to life in prison.
Assistant county prosecutor Sarah Schenck told the jury during her closing argument that Williams is guilty of aggravated arson under three different parts of the statute: harm to person, harm to an occupied structure and agreement for hire. Therefore, he should be convicted of murder, she said.
“Robert Fabia was a hard worker and he worked late,” Schenck said. “And for that, he lost his life.”
Defense attorney Douglas Hess said that Williams was only guilty of arson, and that he had no idea that someone was inside the building, which was set on fire between 1 and 2 a.m.
“What he knows is very important, and he did not know that someone was there,” Hess said. “If you don’t know the structure is occupied, it’s just arson.”
Assistant county prosecutor Sandra Hobson disagreed with Hess’ interpretation, and said the prosecutors did not have to prove that Williams knew it was an occupied structure, just that it was one.
Hobson pointed out that Williams told Dayton homicide detective Dan Hall that he asked the man who hired him to torch the building whether it was occupied after he noticed Fabia’s car parked nearby. Hall also testified that Williams said he stomped his feet on the roof and jiggled wires to check if someone was still inside.
“That’s going through his head,” Hobson said.
Earlier Wednesday, Hall testified Williams told him that he was paid $500 to set the fire, but did not know anyone was inside the bar. Hall identified the man who Williams said hired him to set the fire and accompanied him that night. That man was not been charged in the case.
Williams said that another, unidentified person hired the second man to set the fire, paying that man $1,000. The unidentified person apparently had a financial dispute with the club’s owner, Hall said.
On Tuesday, Dayton fire investigator Victoria Carr testified that she found a ladder next to the club. Her investigation showed that the perpetrator poured gasoline down a roof vent, then set it on fire, she said.
Hall said Wednesday that Williams admitted taking a ladder to the scene, pouring gasoline down a roof vent, then igniting the gasoline.
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Female child porn suspect pleads guilty
DAYTON — A local woman accused of enticing an Arizona boy to make child pornography by emailing her a picture of his penis pleaded guilty Wednesday, July 29 to one count of possessing child pornography.
Kendra L. Sasser, 32, wept as assistant U.S. Attorney Sheila Lafferty read aloud the facts of the case. Her voice broke as she said the word “guilty.”
U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose ordered a pre-sentencing investigation and set a sentencing date of Oct. 29. Sasser could face up to 10 years in prison, and will be required to register as a sexual offender.
The boy was 16 at the time of the Internet communications, which occurred throughout August and September 2007. Sasser was arrested Sept. 25, 2007 at her Miamisburg home, 28 S. Ninth St. A federal magistrate placed her on home detention days later, and she has been living with her grandparents and wearing an electronic bracelet for the past 22 months, according to assistant Federal Public Defender Tom Anderson.
Sasser has also been in counseling to deal with several issues, Anderson told Rose.
Sasser had been in contact with the boy, who lived in Yuma, for several weeks and the two exchanged explicit photos, according to an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Scott W. Warren.
According to the complaint, Sasser used MySpace.com and XBox LIVE to entice the boy to produce images and videos of himself. During an online chat session Aug. 10, 2007 with him, Kendra Sasser noted she had been disappointed to learn his age.
The investigation started after Sasser’s husband, Ron, contacted the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 6, 2007. He said his wife was having sexually explicit communications with minor males via the Internet, according to the affidavit.
Ron Sasser had been monitoring his home computer since late July, when he installed software designed to capture and record keystrokes.
She was using MySpace to chat with the boy when the discussion about his age occurred, according to the affidavit. The two were chatting online Aug. 27 when she sent the boy a picture of her face. He asked for more pictures.
According to the affidavit, she responded: “This last pic is 4 ur personal enjoyment grinzz you gotta make sure this last pic no one sees okay?” she wrote. “You might wanna hide this one. You can’t let parents see it or ur screwed srsly!”
Sasser downloaded a picture of her genitals from her cell phone and e-mailed it to him. They then continued in sexually explicit conversation.
“It’s weird because of the age difference and because you live on the other side of the country, that’s what’s weird,” the boy wrote in the middle of the conversation.
“Ohhhhhhh now who is bringin up the age thing?” she responded.
On Sept. 4, she asked the boy for a picture of his genitals. He sent one. After Sasser asked for another, he sent a second.
During their online chats, the two also discussed using Xbox LIVE video chat to give a “free show to each other.” The boy said he did not have the money.
On Sept. 11, Sasser bought a $40 gift card from a Game Stop store in Centerville and mailed it to the boy.
GameStop determined the card was used Sept. 14 to purchase an Xbox LIVE Web camera from an EB Games store in Yuma.
The boy’s MySpace profile identified him as 16 years old in 2007. The FBI confirmed his age through the registrar at a high school in Yuma, according to the affidavit.
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Club Ivy trial: Defendant admitted setting fire, according to poilce; closing arguments later Wednesday
DAYTON — Closing arguments in the trial of James D. Williams III, charged with setting a bar fire that killed a man, will be Wednesday afternoon, July 29.
Assistant Montgomery County prosecutors rested just before noon, after presenting witnesses for three days. The defense rested immediately afterward without presenting any witnesses.
Williams, 28, is on trial for three counts of aggravated arson, three counts of murder and two counts of possession of criminal tools.
The Aug. 26 fire at the Club Ivy, 3509 N. Main St., claimed the life of Robert C. Fabia, 50, who was the chef. Fabia, who often slept there on a couch in the back, was found dead in the kitchen area.
Earlier Wednesday, Dayton homicide Detective Dan Hall testified that investigators did not have any suspects in the fire until Williams’ girlfriend called police on Oct. 2 and gave them his name.
Hall said he interviewed Williams in the Montgomery County Jail, and Williams told him that he was paid $500 to set the fire, but did not know anyone was inside the bar.
“He told me that he felt like he was set up,” Hall said. “He did cry at times, several times.”
Hall identified the man who Williams said hired him to set the fire and accompanied him that night. That man was not been charged in the case.
Williams said that another, unidentified person hired the second man to set the fire, paying that man $1,000. The unidentified person apparently had a financial dispute with the club’s owner, Hall said.
On Tuesday, Williams’ ex-girlfriend Valerie Heyes, the woman Hall said turned him in, testified that Williams asked her to watch the news the morning after the fire, though he did not tell her what to watch for. When Heyes told him that someone had died in the fire, Williams appeared surprised and became upset, Heyes said.
Also Tuesday, Dayton fire investigator Victoria Carr testified that she found a ladder next to the club. Her investigation showed that the perpetrator poured gasoline down a roof vent, then set it on fire, she said.
Hall said Wednesday that Williams admitted taking a ladder to the scene, pouring gasoline down a roof vent, then igniting the gasoline.
