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.
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