Woman arrested after daughter was left...

Woman arrested after daughter was left in car

Costa Mesa Police arrested a 34-year-old woman Tuesday on

suspicion of child endangerment after officers found her 4-month-old

daughter left in a car alone for about 30 minutes, officials said.

Mary Gisella Selby of Huntington Beach had parked her car in the

2300 block of Harbor Boulevard and had gone grocery shopping, Costa

Mesa Police Lt. Dale Birney said.

“We initially got a call from the Fire Department about the

situation,” he said.

When officers arrived, they saw all four windows cracked open and

the baby in a car seat.

“But they saw that the baby was clearly in distress,” Birney said.

“Her face was red and she was sweating.”

Just as officers got the baby out of the car, Selby arrived

pushing a grocery cart, he said. Officers arrested her and took the

child into protective custody. She was later picked up by her father,

Birney said.

Selby is being held in Costa Mesa jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Arraignment set for Newport businessman

A 60-year-old businessman formerly based at the Balboa Bay Club is

scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 23 on federal wire fraud charges,

officials said.

Jack D. Franks, who officials say also has a home in Alamos,

Mexico, was arrested Oct. 21 on suspicion of using investors’ money

for his own benefit. Franks took about $20 million from investors for

the purpose of developing a 54-hole golf course and residential

development called Country Club of the Desert in La Quinta, said Thom

Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

He said between mid-1997 and November 2001, Franks allegedly

diverted about $3.4 million for his personal use and spent it on two

planes, a yacht and various residential and investment properties in

California and Mexico.

Franks faces a felony charge that carries a maximum possible

sentence of five years in federal prison with a $250,000 fine.

Suspected elderly bank robber pleads not guilty

A 73-year-old man who allegedly told police he needed money to pay

his rent pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that he held up two

Orange County banks and tried to rob a third.

Randall has been charged with two counts of bank robbery and one

count of attempted bank robbery. A trial date has been set for Jan.

14 in Los Angeles.

He allegedly tried to rob a Bank of America branch in the 4100

block of MacArthur Boulevard in Newport Beach on Sept. 27, but fled

without getting any money. He allegedly robbed the Far East National

Bank in the 4600 block of Jamboree Road in Newport Beach on Oct. 30

and got away with $1,333.

Police traced the license plate of a black Plymouth Neon seen

fleeing a holdup in Irvine and arrested Randall at his home that day.

Man pleads guilty to $4.4-million fraud

A Newport Beach man pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraud charges

stemming from his participation in a work-at-home telemarketing

scheme that swindled more than 12,000 persons out of almost $4.4

million, officials said.

Daniel Eugene Carr, 35, is the eighth member of the scheme

convicted of federal fraud charges in U.S. District Court in Santa

Ana, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in

Los Angeles.

The eight defendants named in the case worked at a telemarketing

boiler room variously called Data Medical Capital, Data-Med and

Medco, he said. Members of the scheme solicited victims by placing

advertisements in newspaper classifieds and advertising sections of

newspapers across the country. The advertisements called for people

who were interested in working at home by processing medical claims

on their computer, Mrozek said.

When victims called the toll-free number listed in the

advertisement, Medco telemarketers told victims that for a fee of

about $400, they would receive software, instructions, technical

support and, most importantly, the names of doctors who were

interested in hiring a person to process medical bills

electronically, he said. Medco telemarketers falsely told victims

that they had to act quickly because Medco had only a limited number

of positions available in the victims’ area. Mrozek said.

Medco sent victims billing software, instructions and a generic

list of doctors in the victims’ states, but none of the doctors on

the list had ever heard of Medco and none needed assistance with

their medical billing, he said. Medco operated from about July 1998

until Oct. 1, 1999, when it was shut down after federal agents

executed a search warrant at Medco’s offices.

Carr and two other defendants in this case are scheduled to be

sentenced March 3 by U.S. District Judge Alicemarie H. Stotler in

Santa Ana.

Search for 2 missing boaters called off

The U.S. Coast Guard and local safety agencies called off a search

Monday for two boaters who reportedly disappeared off Bolsa Chica

State Beach on Sunday, officials said.

Hyong Kum Kim, 46, of Burbank and Dae Kyu Kim, 35, of Los Angeles

were reported missing by the Huntington Beach Police Department after

Bolsa Chica lifeguards found the men’s abandoned boat outside the

surf line at Bolsa Chica, said Louis Hebert, spokesman for the U.S.

Coast Guard.

A Coast Guard boat and helicopter, the cutter Blackfin, Bolsa

Chica and Long Beach lifeguards, as well as the Costa Mesa Police

Department, Huntington Beach Harbor Patrol and State Park Service

searched for the two men for more than 25 hours, Hebert said.

The men were reportedly fishing Sunday afternoon before they

disappeared. Bolsa Chica lifeguards found a wallet and the keys to

the boat’s ignition on board, Hebert said. The lifeguards were also

able to start the boat’s engines without problems. Officials have

suspended the search pending further development.