Posts Tagged ‘PERJURY’

Palmdale Man Convicted in Million-Dollar Public Assistance Fraud Case

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

LOS ANGELES – Following three days of deliberations, jurors today convicted the mastermind behind a massive child care fraud ring that depleted the public treasury of more than $1.4 million.

Deputy District Attorney Tamia Hope of the Public Assistance Fraud Division said Demetrius Eugene of Palmdale – a former employee of the Department of Incorporations within the California Secretary of State’s office – was convicted of five counts of grand theft and six counts of perjury. Jurors also found true an allegation that the defendant stole more than $200,000 in case No. BA333770.

Co-defendant Kmond Day, 36, was acquitted of all counts in this case.

Eugene, who was originally charged in four public assistance fraud cases filed in 2008, then proceeded to enter a guilty plea in his last pending consolidated case involving three of the original cases filed. The defendant pleaded to three counts of grand theft and admitted an allegation that he took more than $500,000.

The cumulative loss attributed to Eugene’s conduct is $1,404,070. The 40-year-old defendant was acquitted of a single count of grand theft.

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MAN SENTENCED TO TWO YEARS IN PRISON FOR FAMILY SCHEME TO DEFRAUD OVER $140,000 IN PUBLIC ASSISTANCE BENEFITS

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

WESTMINSTER- A man was sentenced today to two years in state prison for his role in a family scheme to defraud multiple county agencies out of over $140,000 in public assistance benefits by lying and failing to report assets on aid applications. Hai Dien Luu, 49, Garden Grove, pleaded guilty to the court to one felony count of perjury, 11 felony counts of grand theft, and a sentencing enhancement for excessive taking over $100,000.

Luu’s ex-wife Hue Thi Chu, 37, Garden Grove, to whom he was married at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty Nov. 23, 2011, to a court offer to 15 felony counts of perjury, 11 felony counts of grand theft, and a sentencing enhancement for excessive taking over $100,000. She was sentenced to two years in state prison.

Chu’s niece, Lieu Thi Ha, 38, Westminster, pleaded guilty Nov. 23, 2011, to a court offer to 37 felony counts of perjury, 11 felony counts of grand theft, two felony counts of public assistance fraud, and a sentencing enhancement for excessive taking over $100,000. She was sentenced to two years and eight months in state prison.

All three defendants are collectively ordered to pay $140,000 in restitution.

Between June 2002 and February 2010, the defendants fraudulently applied for and received public assistance benefits by signing under penalty of perjury false income, asset, occupation, and homeowner information. The defendants fraudulently collected a total of over $140,000 in public assistance benefits by lying on aid applications for financial assistance with housing, cash, child care services, and food stamps through the Orange County Housing Authority (OCHA), Children’s Home Society of California (CHS), and Social Services Agency (SSA) of Orange County.

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Leslie Scott McAfee has been charged with multiple counts of grand theft and perjury

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

SAN FERNANDO – An attorney suspected of stealing more than $300,000 in valuable guns, jewelry and art from the estate of a deceased friend has been charged with multiple counts of grand theft and perjury, the District Attorney’s office announced today.

Leslie Scott McAfee, 59 (dob 9-10-51), was arrested Tuesday by Los Angeles Police at his Sylmar home. Detectives executed a search warrant and arrested McAfee on a felony complaint for an arrest warrant filed by the Deputy District Attorney Karen Rizzo. He is being held on $2.2 million bail.

McAfee is suspected of stealing a vast specialty gun collection, along with cash, a coin collection, jewelry and art from the estate of William Sherinyan, a friend who died of cancer in March 2010. When the named beneficiaries in the man’s will received nothing from the estate, one beneficiary contacted police.

Prosecutors allege McAfee unsuccessfully tried to be appointed the estate’s executor.

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Nativo Lopez pleaded guilty to voter registration fraud

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

LOS ANGELES – Political activist Nativo Lopez pleaded guilty today to voter registration fraud after a judge said jury selection would begin without further delay, the District Attorney’s office announced.

Judge William C. Ryan immediately sentenced the Orange County resident to three years probation and ordered him to complete 400 hours of community service. The remaining seven felony counts, including perjury, filing a false instrument and fraudulent voting, were dismissed by Deputy District Attorney Ed Miller with the Public Integrity Division.

Trial was scheduled to begin today on an eight-count Grand Jury indictment returned June 29, 2010. Lopez, 59, of Santa Ana, was charged with using leased office space in Boyle Heights to register to vote in 2006, even though he lived with his family in Orange County. Lopez also was charged with casting an illegal ballot in L.A. in the 2008 presidential primary.

The case was delayed several times when Lopez refused to identify himself to the court and was ordered to undergo three psychiatric evaluations. A judge in April ruled he was competent to stand trial.

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Are prosecutors immune from lawsuits for fabricating evidence?

Thursday, November 5th, 2009

In 2005, Curtis W. McGhee and Terry J. Harrington, both convicted of murder in 1978, sued Pottawattamie County, Iowa, and former county attorneys Joseph Hrvol and David Richter under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging, inter alia, that the Pottawattamie prosecutors coerced false testimony from third party witnesses and then introduced that testimony in their murder trials. The prosecutors argued that they were immune from the lawsuit based on the doctrine of absolute immunity, but both the district court and the Eighth Circuit disagreed. The Supreme Court’s decision will reveal the extent to which prosecutors are immune from liability for their pre-trial misconduct. This clarification may affect the way prosecutors try cases, and will, undoubtedly, influence the degree to which defendants can hold their prosecutors accountable for due process violations.

The Constitution prohibits shielding prosecutors who, well in advance of trial, fabricate evidence in order to frame innocent citizens.

Pottawattamie County, IA v. McGhee (08–1065) | LII / Legal Information Institute

Oral argument: Nov. 4, 2009

Question presented

Whether a prosecutor may be subjected to a civil trial and potential damages for a wrongful conviction and incarceration where the prosecutor allegedly (1) violated a criminal defendant’s “substantive due process” rights by procuring false testimony during the criminal investigation, and then (2) introduced that same testimony against the criminal defendant at trial.

Issue

Can a prosecutor who knowingly procures false testimony and introduces such testimony at trial be subject to a §1983 civil suit?

Facts

In 1978, Petitioners Joseph Hrvol and David Richter obtained convictions and life sentences against Respondents Curtis McGhee and Terry Harrington for the murder of retired police captain John Schweer in Council Bluffs, Iowa the previous year. See McGhee v. Pottawattamie County, 547 F.3d 922, 925 (8th Cir. 2008). Although police attention initially focused on Charles Gates, a man identified by two witnesses as being near the scene with “a shotgun and a dog,” Hrvol and Richter soon turned their attention to McGhee and Harrington. See id. at 926. The foundation of their case against McGhee and Harrington was 16-year-old Kevin Hughes. See id. Hughes, who already had a lengthy criminal record, was facing charges for stealing a Cadillac and possible involvement in the Schweer murder. See id. Detectives offered not to charge Hughes for the murder and drop the laundry list of other criminal charges against him and held out the possibility of his recovering a $5,000 reward for information regarding the Schweer murder if he cooperated in the investigation. See id. at 927. Hughes agreed. See id. (more…)

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