Category: Fraud

Paul “The Captain” Watson was not arrested this week as he came on land in Los Angeles, California after 15 months at sea. Watson, who appears to be the head of an ocean going environmental group known as Sea Shepherd, gained worldwide notoriety after his group was filed and the film became a successful series on the Animal Planet called Whale Wars. Normally, this is not the type of story I would write about, but one of The Captain’s former staff and crew members is currently working as my private investigator. When I asked my PI about the article, he indicated that …

Topless Activist to Die in Jail? Not Likely. Phoenix Feeley is in jail in Monmouth County New Jersey for not paying a fine she was assessed back in 2008 after she was cited for going topless in a lakeshore area. Who is Phoenix Feeley you ask? And why is this lawyer in California blogging about her? Feeley is described in the media as a “topless activist”, although my career counselor never gave me that category as a potential career choice. Maybe she didn’t think I had the body for it. In any event, Phoenix refused to pay her fine and …

One of Medicare’s most wanted fugitives was arrested today after he voluntarily flew back to Los Angeles from South Korea. Won Suk Lee, a Huntington Park acupuncturist, was said to have fraudulently billed Medicare over 2 million dollars for services which they do not cover. Lee is reported to have actually been paid over one million dollars for the services he billed. My question is why did the government pay the bills for services which they are not supposed to cover? My hope is that the bills were in fact fraudulent bills which described services which should be covered by …

The Los Angeles County Tax Assessor who was arrested months ago on charges of corruption and fraud was finally able to post bail with the help of friends, a competent bail bondsman and a a great deal of patience. John Noguez was in custody after a judge set bail at over 1million dollars. This means that Noguez would need to put up one million dollars to secure his release or he could pay a bail bondsman a fee of ten percent and the bondsman would post the million dollar bond to secure Noguez’ release. Not so fast said a Los Angeles …

Keri Atwood and her husband were both arrested for worker’s compensation fraud in Ventura County. Both husband and wife were arrested and released on bond earlier this week. Keri is said to be a civilian employee of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department. The Ventura County Star reported that Atwood had allegedly suffered a leg injury at work and had received disability payments of about $30,000 as a result of her being off work from the injury. Atwood was said to be getting medical treatment for her injuries and was using crutches or a wheelchair to get around to see her doctors. Investigators …

I’ve never heard of Katt Williams, but after reading about his situation, I thought I would write a fews words. It seems that Mr. Williams is a comedian who lives in Los Angeles and has had several issues with the law in recent months. He has lost custody of his children, has been arrested for guns and drugs and most recently missed a court date in Sacramento, California for a serious offense. Katt was out of $105,000 bail for felony evading arrest (Vehicle Code Section 2800.2) and misdemeanor reckless driving (VC 23103). Evading arrest is punishable by a mandatory minimum …

120,000 pounds of walnuts have disappeared in two separate thefts. Tehama County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating two separate heists by possible “imposter” truck drivers. The first theft involved 40,000 pounds of walnuts and the second was double that amount. In total this is $450,000 worth of nuts. The sheriffs do have a suspect who is described as a tall white mail with a strong Russian accent driving a white tractor trailer. The thief was described as having the correct purchase order numbers for the shipments of nuts when he picked up the product. This sounds like an inside job to …

Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez was arrested about 6 days ago after authorities suspected he was taking bribes in exchange for lowering peoples property taxes. In total he was alleged to have cost the County of Los Angeles $1.16 million in lost property taxes based upon his actions. Superior Court Judge Shelly Torrealba would not reduce Noquez’ bail when requested by his attorney. Typically base is set by “schedule” here in California. For every crime there is a corresponding bail amount. In certain cases like theft or fraud the bail schedule provides for setting bail at the same amount …

A six year probation officer was arrested Tuesday on allegations of filing nine fraudulent workers’ compensation claims over the last three years. Rochelle Williams, 35 is accused in 27 felony counts of forging medical records and other documents. She works as a Los Angeles probation officer and is responsible for placing minors in foster homes and other facilities. Williams is being accused of filing workers comp claims while she continued working so she could be paid both her regular salary and money from the state insurance program. The county has placed her on unpaid administrative leave. If you have questions …

Matthew Taylor, 33 was found guilty Tuesday of selling and possessing stolen art as well as income tax evasion, and wire fraud. Two paintings went missing from an East LA gallery. One impressionist landscape painting by Granville Redmond and another by Lucien Frank. Taylor tried to sell the Frank painting to a customer after painting over the original artist’s signature and trying to pass it off for another artist’s work. Charges that Taylor had sold more than $2 million in art he falsely represented by artists including Claude Money and Jackson Pollock, were dropped prior to the trial. Taylor was …

A yearlong police investigation targeting the Eastside Anaheim gang resulted in 33 arrests of various criminal activities including drug trafficking and possession of firearms. Anaheim has seen a rise in police shootings this year and attribute the violence to gang activity. The investigation, named Operation Halo consisted of more than 250 officers raiding over 50 locations in the Anaheim area. Local residents voiced fear as police barged into homes in the quiet neighborhood near the 91 freeway. Residents spoke of police ransacking their homes, being handcuffed and having property seized from the home. If you have questions about this or …

As the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office continues to investigate the allegations that City Councilman John Duran falsified expenses, the City of West Hollywood voted to defend the Councilman if charges are filed. Many of us in Los Angeles know John Duran, in my case from working in the County as a criminal defense attorney, and others know him through his hard work for the City of West Hollywood. The Los Angeles Times reports that Duran had more than $7,000 in meal expenses on city credit cards over a three year period. John, I’m not sure where you have been …

A staff member at a West Hollywood plastic surgery clinic was caught in the act of practicing medicine without a license. After getting complaints from the State Medical Board, investigators fromthe agency starting watching a clinic at Sunset medical Tower on Sunset Boulevard very closely. When the Board inspectors went to the facility what they found was scary. As staff member at the doctor’s office was not only diagnosing patients’ medical conditions but was administering laser treatment to patients. According the the local media, the owners of the clinic are manny and Pie Calayan, neither of whom are medical doctors …

Prosecutors in New York just sent a Chinese born American citizen to federal prison for 37 months for importing and selling millions of dollars worth of counterfeit Trojan brand condoms. 4.3 million counterfeit condoms were recovered in the 6 year investigation which lead to the conviction. Prosecutors indicated that condoms were tested and found to be defective and leak, burst or otherwise not be spermicidally lubricated as the authentic version should be. Court documents indicate that condoms were imported from China and packaged under several different names in the Trojan line. The products were then sold as authentic to both wholesale and …

94 people were charged Friday with defrauding the Medicare System of over $250 million. Arrests went down in Miami, New York, Detroit, Houston and Baton Rouge in what is being described as the largest Medicare scam in history. Suspects in several different states were alleged to have billed Medicare for supplies that were never received and treatment that never happened. Allegations include paying patients to visit doctors or otherwise allow the use of patients’ Medicare numbers for billing purposes. In one case nearly 4,000 claims to Medicare were allegedly submitted over a six year period on behalf of one woman in Brooklyn, …

IC just got probation after being charged with insurance fraud stemming from four years of taking premiums and not paying for workers compensation coverage for his client. The prosecutor alleged losses to the victim totally about $200,000.00. The California Department of Insurance found IC’s acts sufficiently offenses to take away his insurance license. I was able to get IC probation and work release and, of course, we are contesting the alleged loss amount. Just another day at the office.