Free Republic

21-year-old Dallas Miller received an awkward email from her friend. The White Creek, Tennessee resident was told that her face was showing up in advertisements on Backpage.com for prostitution. As WKRN ABC News 2 reports, there are some problems with this: 1) Dallas isn’t a prostitute. 2) She never gave her permission to have her pictures used in ads for prostitution, because, as I just mentioned, she isn’t a prostitute. Dallas’ pictures show up in an ad that, in part, reads, “best time of your life 100% guaranteed satisfaction [phone number redacted] OUTCALL ONLY – 21.” Ms. Miller told WKRN,...

Police on Wednesday night served 25 search warrants at LAX in connection with the theft of passenger property by airport workers, officials said. Workers are accused of stealing luggage and other items in terminals and on the tarmac, authorities said. Police from both the LAPD and airport officers converged for the raids at the airport and locations across south Los Angeles County. LAX Assistant Police Chief Michael Hyams would not name the contractor involved. Most of the action at the airport took place at Terminal 4 and the Tom Bradley International terminal. Other locations included Inglewood and Paramount.

**SNIP** Last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a companion version of legislation written by U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) that would make tax return identity theft a greater priority for the federal government and strengthen criminal penalties against identity thieves. The “Stopping Tax Offenders and Prosecuting Identity Theft Act” would also expand the definition of an identity theft victim to include not only individuals, but also businesses and organizations that have had their identities stolen for phishing schemes in an attempt to obtain sensitive personal information from consumers. “Every year, millions of hard-working Americans file tax returns in...

A former high-ranking EPA staffer convicted of stealing nearly $900,000 by pretending to be a CIA spy had virtually no experience, got his job with help from a college buddy, and went on to play a key role in sweeping environmental regulations, according to a report Senate Republicans released Wednesday. Those regulations remain in place despite John C. Beale’s lack of environmental expertise, Republican investigators said, adding that they want the Environmental Protection Agency to review the work in which Beale was involved during his 24-year tenure. The report said Beale led an “itinerant life” as a police officer and...

Is identity theft a real enough problem to warrant $10/month monitoring service? I must decide whether or not to get the service but to initiate it I must trust the service with a lot of personal data.

<p>Authorities are investigating after $600,000 in checks and cash was stolen from a safe at Pastor Joel Osteen's Houston megachurch, which has one of the largest congregations in the country.</p> <p>Police spokesman Kese Smith said Tuesday $200,000 in cash and $400,000 in checks were stolen from a safe sometime between 2:30 p.m. Sunday and 8:30 a.m. Monday.</p>

Thousands of dollars in cash and checks - along with written credit card information – were stolen from Houston's Lakewood Church on Sunday, according to an email sent by church leaders to members on Monday. Houston's KRIV-TV is reported that the total amount was somewhere around $600,000, although church officials have said that the money in the safe had not yet been counted. Church leaders said they are not sure how that dollar amount was reached. Someone broke into the church's safe Sunday evening, taking cash, checks and envelopes containing written credit card information, the church statement to members said....

Lakewood Church is dealing with a violation of the Ten Commandments after the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars. “Thou shalt not steal.” But someone did. Lakewood Church has sent out a notice that donations collected at services Saturday and Sunday, the 8th and 9th, were stolen. And, they advise anyone who gave by check or credit card to watch their bank accounts very carefully and report any suspicious activity.

The junior Senator from New Jersey Democrat Corey Booker has a lot of explaining to do provided of course, someone will ask him a few questions. Since the 1970’s a parade of crooked Democrats have been siphoning off millions of dollars from The Newark Watershed Conservation Development Corporation (NWCDC) the major supplier of water to Northern New Jersey. The NWCDC has been turned into a cash cow of the type the fictional Tony Soprano would have shaken down. A recently released New Jersey State Comptroller’s report has outlined the criminality attached to this operation just from the last several years...

A US couple who unearthed gold coins worth more than $10 million might have to return them as they may have been stolen, a report said. The California couple uncovered eight cans filled with more than 1,400 coins on their property, in what is believed to be the most valuable treasure trove ever discovered in the United States. They took them to a firm specializing in ancient coins, Kagin's Inc, which valued them and announced last week that they will sell them, via online retail giant Amazon.

A California couple who found a stash of buried gold coins valued at $10 million may not be so lucky after all. The coins may have been stolen from the US Mint in 1900 and thus be the property of the government, according to a published report. The San Francisco Chronicle's website reported that a search of the Haithi Trust Digital Library provided by Northern California fishing guide Jack Trout, who is also a historian and collector of rare coins, turned up the news of the theft. The California couple, who have not been identified, spotted the edge of an...

Cary woman charged with financial exploitation of elderly woman in her care Mar 01, 2014 5:21 AM CST CARPENTERSVILLE, Ill. (Sun-Times Media Wire) - A northwest suburban woman hired to be a caregiver for an elderly resident with Parkinson's disease is facing criminal charges for allegedly using the 86-year-old victim's credit cards without her permission, running up thousands of dollars in charges. The Kane County State's Attorney's office charged Lalaine Regencia, 46, of Cary, with financial exploitation of the elderly and two counts of theft, all Class 2 felonies, Carpentersville Police Commander Timothy Bosshart told the Elgin Courier News. Regencia...

Obamacare isn't just impacting the uninsured. Americans who already had health coverage before the Affordable Care Act will likely pay more this year and even more in the years to come. Insurance companies, faced with new Obamacare fees and taxes meant to help fund the law, are planning to pass along the added costs to consumers. This includes the multibillion-dollar annual “Insurance Providers Fee,” which took effect in January and is assessed to each company based on its share of annual premiums collected by the entire industry. This new fee is expected to raise $8 billion this year and more...

While advocates for more money for public schools say school districts are facing a financial crisis, one point they concede is underplayed: the districts claiming distress overwhelmingly have declining enrollments. So, should a district that has fewer students to teach each year receive more money? While districts with as differing demographics as Alpena and Detroit and Ashley and Flint ran deficits, they shared one common characteristic — declining enrollment. In fact, 39 of the 47 conventional public schools in deficit in 2012-13 had declining enrollments from 2008-09 to 2012-13. The state has increased overall state funding to K-12 education from...

(Reuters) - Cyber criminals have infected hundreds of thousands of computers with a virus called "Pony" to steal bitcoins and other digital currencies, in the most ambitious cyber attack on virtual money uncovered so far, according to security firm Trustwave. Trustwave said on Monday that it has found evidence that the operators of a cybercrime ring known as the Pony botnet have stolen some 85 virtual "wallets" that contained bitcoins and other types of digital currencies. The firm said it did not know how much digital currency was contained in the wallets.

**SNIP** As a teacher who worked there for many years, I can tell you that it wasn’t because the city wasn’t warned. The children of PS 106 were failed by administrators, government lawmakers and union officials — a host of top people who couldn’t be bothered to care. **SNIP** To show just how clueless and uncaring the administration was — in December 2013, PS 106 received a glowing report. At the time, there was no mandated gym, no special-education teacher (I had left and wasn’t replaced), no books, no art and no extended-day services! PS 106 received millions in extra...

When President Barack Obama introduced a new retirement savings plan during his State of the Union speech last month, the Republican response was uncharacteristically muted. Although Republicans were upset about the president’s new reliance on executive authority to push his agenda, they had few harsh words about the details of the retirement idea. Dubbed MyRA, Obama’s initiative is intended to allow workers who do not have access to other workplace savings plans to open an account overseen by the government that would invest in low-risk Treasury bonds. It’s a relatively modest proposal, one that would be entirely voluntary for employers...

Colorado health-exchange director on paid leave DENVER — A director with Colorado's health-care exchange is on paid leave after it was discovered she has been accused of stealing from a nonprofit housing organization she oversaw in Montana. Christa McClure is the director of partner engagement for Connect for Health Colorado, the state program that implements the Affordable Care Act. According to the Denver Post, program spokesman Ben Davis says in her Colorado job, McClure does not have access to any of exchange's finances. The eight-count indictment against McClure was filed in U.S. District Court in Billings, Mont., in January.

<p>Hews Media Group-Community News has obtained a lawsuit filed in the California Central US District Court claiming that former US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, a current candidate for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, was provided thousands of dollars worth of free private jet travel without declaring the trips on the federal government required forms, paid for by the powerful International Union of Operating Engineers based in Pasadena during the same period she was undergoing confirmation hearings to become part of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet.....</p>

Please PRAY for my wife, she's doin' TAXES!!