Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Guity on 20 of 21 Counts of Bribery & Corruption Charges

Ray Nagin, the former Democrat Mayor of New Orleans (The Chocolate City) has been found guilty on 20 of 21 counts of bribery, fraud and corruption charges.

Ray Nagin, the former two-term mayor of New Orleans indicted after he left office, was convicted Wednesday of 20 federal corruption charges for illegal dealings with city vendors, dating back to 2004. A jury delivered its verdict just before 1 p.m., after six hours of deliberations that followed a nine-day trial.

Nagin, 57, joins a list of Louisiana elected officials convicted of misdeeds while in office, but he is New Orleans’ first mayor to be convicted of public corruption. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he could face a 20-year prison term, possibly more, lawyers have said

CNN:

Ray Nagin came into the mayor’s office in New Orleans as an avowed scourge of corruption and led the city through the worst disaster of its modern history.

He left a federal courthouse a convict Wednesday, after a jury found him guilty of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and other favors from businessmen looking for a break from his administration. Of the 21 counts against him, he was convicted of 20.

“He got a lot of media attention as being a reformer, a non-politician, first run for office — a businessman who was going to come in and get it right,” said Pat Fanning, a veteran New Orleans lawyer and no fan of the former two-term mayor.

After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city in 2005, the onetime cable television executive would reassure people queasy about sending taxpayer money to a state with an epic history of corruption by telling them, “Google me. You’re not going to find any of that in my record,” Fanning said, quoting Nagin. “Well, Google him now.”

Nagin, who left office in 2010, had little to say as he left the courthouse Wednesday afternoon, telling reporters only, “I maintain my innocence.” A small knot of supporters yelled, “Keep your head up” and “He’s just a patsy,” CNN affiliate WDSU reported.

UPDATE I: Ray Nagin juror: Defense should have put on more evidence.

To the juror who wished that Nagin’s defense team had provided more evidence during the ex-New Orleans’ Mayor’s trial … the answer is, because they couldn’t.

A juror wished Ray Nagin’s defense attorney put on more evidence to help his client in the federal corruption case that ended with convictions on 20 counts that could send the former New Orleans mayor to prison for 20 years, possibly more.

Speaking outside the federal courthouse after the verdict was read, Lisa Hamaker, a juror from St. Tammany Parish who described herself as a “stay-at-home-mom,” said she wished defense attorney Robert Jenkins put on more evidence. Much of the prosecution’s case went unchallenged, she said

The Gateway Pundit has a list of the 20 charges that Nagin was found guilty.

Count 1: Conspiracy – Guilty
The charge: Creating, through a variety of bribes and kickbacks, “a scheme and artifice to defraud” the residents of New Orleans of his honest services as a public official. Many of the individual elements of this scheme make up the other 20 crimes with which Nagin was charged.
Maximum prison term: 5 years

Count 2: Bribery – Guilty
The charge: Accepting $60,000 from the three principals of Three Fold Consulting, an engineering firm, in exchange for special treatment.
Maximum prison term: 10 years

Count 3: Bribery – Guilty
The charge: Accepting a $2,500 bribe from Rodney Williams, a principal in Three Fold Consulting, in exchange for favorable treatment.
Maximum prison term: 10 years

Count 4: Bribery – Guilty
The charge: Accepting a shipment of granite from Frank Fradella’s company, Home Solutions, in exchange for favorable treatment.
Maximum prison term: 10 years

Read the rest here.

Daily Commentary – Thursday, February 13, 2014 – Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Dairy Reveals Struggle

• The private journals revealed his struggle with drug addiction and that he was ashamed of it

Daily Commentary – Thursday, February 13, 2014 Download

Carly Scott, 27 Years Old & 5 Months Pregnant Has Been Missing Since 2/9/14 in Maui, Hawaii (Update: Carly’s Dog & Vehicle Found Burned)(Update: Missing Woman’s Clothes Found)

27 year old Carly Scott has been missing since Sunday, February 9, 2014 in Maui, Hawaii. Carly Scott is 5 months pregnant. Scott was last seen Sunday night at her sister’s house in Haiku. According to reports, Carly Scott got a call from her ex-boyfriend on Sunday night saying he needed help after his car had stalled and needed help near mile marker 20 on Hana highway. Search efforts have focused on Hana highway  between mile marker 20 and in between mile markers 27 and 29. Also, Carly’s dog, who was with her Sunday night, was found at the Nahiku market place on Monday.

Watch VIDEO here.

Police say Carly Scott was last seen Sunday night at her sister’s house in Haiku. The 27-year-old is five months pregnant, has red shoulder length hair, green eyes and is about 5-foot-10.

Carly’s dog, who was with her Sunday night, was found at the Nahiku market place on Monday. That’s where today’s search began.

“Anybody who goes out there, please wear bright clothing. Don’t be on Hana Highway walking. Carly would not thank any of us for getting hurt on her account,” said Kimberlyn Scott, Carly’ mother.

Kimberlyn says her daughter got a call from her ex-boyfriend Sunday night saying he needed help after his car stalled near mile marker 20 of Hana highway.

She was last seen in a silver colored 1997 Toyota 4Runner with Hawaii plates MDE-889.

Carly Scott (left) – ex-boyfriend Steven Capobianco (right)

UPDATE I: Missing Maui woman’s car found, search continues for Carly Scott.

Carly Scott’s vehicle was found Wednesday night at the top of Jaws surf break on the North Shore.  Scott’s mother, Kimberly said, “They said that on a hunch because of where Steven lives, they decided to go down there and look and they found her car.” This is not looking good and all eyes have to be focused on the ex-boy friend at this point. He was the last person to see Carly and his account of what happened do not seem to jive with locations of Carly’s dog and vehicle being found.

Friends, who say they were “searching on a hunch”, discovered the car of a missing woman on Maui this evening, but still no sign of five-month pregnant Carly Scott.

It’s now been 72-hours since family members or friends have seen or heard from Charly, as those close to her call her.

Friends tell Hawaii News Now they discovered her car at the top of Jaws surf break just after 6 p.m. Wednesday night.

“They said that on a hunch because of where Steven lives, they decided to go down there and look and they found her car,” described Scott’s mother, Kimberly.

Steven is Scott’s ex-boyfriend, who family members describe as estranged and the father of her unborn baby.

According to her ex-boyfriend, that’s where she drove to help him after his car broke down Sunday.  He reported to police she was following him back to Haiku — but all of a sudden, she was gone. Scott’s car was found 20 miles in the opposite direction.

Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL UPDATE II: Missing Maui woman’s car found burnt, on side.

The search for a missing Maui woman who is five months pregnant continues Thursday. In a phone interview Thursday morning on Hawaii News Now Sunrise, Carly Scott’s mother Kimberlyn said her daughter’s car was found, “on its side and part of it was burned.” Today’s search will focus on the stretch of road from Keanae to Haiku.

 Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL

UPDATE III: Breaking: Clothes of missing pregnant woman found.

More very bad news in the search for missing 27 year old Carly Scott. The missing woman’s clothes has been found near the Hana highway where Carly’s dog was found. So far no body has been found.  Carly’s ex-boyfriend and the father of her unborn baby, 24 year Steven old Steven Capobianco, has not been charged and is not a suspect. YET! The ex-boyfriend has been questioned by the police and took a lie detectors test, that authorities say he failed.

So let’s get the story straight here that the ex is telling … Steven Capobianco calls up his estranged girlfriend who is 5 months pregnant with his child to help him because his car broke down. Carly drives to help him. So what was wrong with his car? Is Carly the 2010′s version of Marisa Tomei, Mona Lisa Vito, from ‘My Cousin Vinny’? How exactly did she help him with his broken down car? One would think that all she could do is drive him back home or to a gas station so that he could call a tow truck. But no, Steven Capobianco says that she was following him in her car and because he drives faster, she was out of site. He never called her or texted her to see if she was ok. WHO DOES THIS? So this guy called her to help him and he didn’t have the where with all to make sure she and his unborn child was ok.

Sorry, does not pass the smell test.

Charli Scott’s sister found clothes that she says Charli was wearing when she disappeared Sunday night.

Sources tell Hawaii News Now, the sister found the items while searching the area around the Hana Highway.  The family called police Thursday evening and were apparently told them to stay there with the items until a detective arrived.  But the sister instead drove the items to the police station in Kahului where the clothes and blanket are being processed.

This comes one day after Charli’s SUV was found torched near Jaws surf break.

Pic – screen grab from Hawaii News Now Video above

UPDATE IV: Search underway in Maui for missing pregnant woman.

A private search party was looking for a missing pregnant Hawaii woman whose SUV was found torched two days earlier in a rural area.

The search continued Friday for Scott, who is five months pregnant.

Maui police said someone in the search party found “possible evidence” Thursday. But police aren’t revealing what was found. They’re asking searchers who find possible clues not to touch or move them.

For Updates, provide your own opinions and analysis and to read others, go to Scared Monkeys Missing Persons Forum: Carly Scott.

If anyone has any information on this missing woman case is asked to call Maui Police at 808-270-6516.

Could There Finally Be a Break in the 1975 Case if Missing 12 Year Old Sheila Lyon & 10 Year Old Sister Kate Lyon … Looking at Convicted Sex Offender Lloyd Lee Welch Jr

Could there finally be a break in the 40 year old missing persons case of sisters Sheila and Katherine Lyon?

Twelve year old Sheila Lyon and her 10 year old sister Katherine went missing March 25, 1975 while walking home from Wheaton Plaza in Kensington, Maryland.  40 years ago, several witnesses, including the girls’ older brother, saw the two girls inside the shopping mall before their disappearance. An extensive search and investigation ensued, but the two girls were never found nor heard from and no one had ever been charged in the case. Now after all this time, the police belive they may finally have a break in the case. Authorities have identified a “person of interest in the 40 year old Lyon’s missing person’s case … he is  57 year old Lloyd Lee Welch, an already convicted sex offender.

Person of Interest, Convicted Sex Offender Lloyd Lee Welch Jr.

Pic – (Montgomery County police)

Welch traveled extensively throughout the United States from the 1970s through the mid-90s, authorities said. He worked as a ride operator for a carnival company, which often set up at malls. He has a criminal history that includes arrests in several different states for sexual offenses against young girls, according to the station.

CNN:

The two little girls vanished nearly 40 years ago, their disappearance long faded from the public consciousness, their names etched in a stone marker their hope-sapped parents placed in a local cemetery.

But Maryland police have been tenacious about solving this cold case. And on Tuesday they breathed new life into it, when they announced a possible breakthrough.

Convicted sex offender Lloyd Lee Welch Jr., 57, who’s been serving a prison sentence in Delaware since 1997, was near Sheila and Katherine Lyon on that March day in 1975 when they went missing, Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger told reporters Tuesday.

Welch was at a plaza that was among the last places that the two girls were seen alive, and he was observed paying attention to the sisters, Manger said. He declined to state how police obtained this lead.

UPDATE I: Inmate Lloyd Welch named as ‘person of interest’ in 1975 Lyon sisters case.

Old case file documents show that a young girl who was with the Lyon sisters that afternoon had described a man who followed the three of them that day. Police developed a sketch partly based on that description, they said. It resembles a mug shot taken of Welch a few years later — in 1977 — when he was arrested in a burglary case in Montgomery.

Welch went on to assault girls in South Carolina and Delaware, where he is in prison, police said. The details of the Delaware case are not clear, but court papers show that he pleaded guilty in 1998 to several sex offenses. Officials said he is due to be set free in 2027 but has asked for early release. The Board of Pardons has scheduled a hearing for July.

Welch’s niece, Debbie Roe, 38, of Dover, Del., said she is the only member of the family who is in regular contact with him. She said she has written letters on and off to him for the past 13 years during his incarceration. She described him as “sweet” and said he is excited when she visits him in prison.

She said that Welch has denied involvement in the disappearance of the Lyon girls but told her that he was at Wheaton Plaza that day.

For more updates, provide your opinions and analysis and read others, go to Scared Monkeys Missing Persons Forum: Sheila and Katherine Lyon.

Authorities are seeking the public’s help to learn more about Welch. Anyone with information is asked to call investigators at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or they can submit a tip online at http://tips.fbi.gov.

Daily Commentary – Wednesday, February 12, 2014 – Talk at the Sochi Olympics is All About Bob Costa’s Eyes

• Seems many are talking about Bob Costa’s pink eye which spread from his left eye to his right. Someone even created a Twitter account for Bob Costa’s Eyes