From the L.A. Daily News

Scam artists prey on seniors, pose as young relatives needing money

BEVERLY HILLS - The Beverly Hills Police Department is warning the public today to be on guard against scam artists who prey on seniors by posing as youthful relatives in desperate need of emergency funds.

Typically, a scammer will contact a target by telephone or email pretending to be a favorite grandchild, niece or nephew, wait for the responding party to say a name, assume that person's identity and claim to need money to deal with an accident or other crisis.

"Often times they will add, 'Don't tell mom or dad,'" said Lt. Mark Rosen of the Beverly Hills Police Department.

The money usually is sent via Western Union or MoneyGram, Rosen said.

"While many seniors have reported the scam without falling prey to it, unfortunately, many others have been victimized," he said.

Rosen said criminals generate lists of potential victims from various sources. Anyone receiving such solicitations should contact other family members to verify the request, Rosen said.

Court ruling on juveniles could affect 12 from Erie, Crawford

Life might no longer mean life for 12 state inmates from Erie and Crawford counties.

The 12 are serving mandatory life sentences with no parole for murders they committed when they were younger than 18.

Parole has become a possibility for each of them after the U.S. Supreme Court in June banned mandatory life sentences, without parole, for juvenile offenders.

Local officials expect the Supreme Court ruling to be retroactive, but they are waiting for direction on how to follow the 5-4 decision, issued June 25.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly is preparing to act. On Tuesday, the state Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing in Harrisburg on the Supreme Court decision, which held that mandatory life sentences, without parole, for juveniles violated the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and inhuman punishment.

The decision does not affect inmates who received those sentences for murders they committed as adults.

What the state Legislature does will help determine the process by which the affected inmates would seek relief, by petitioning a judge, for example, or by filing an appeal with the state Board of Probation and Parole.

More than 2,000 inmates who committed murder as juveniles are serving life sentences with no parole nationwide, including 373 in Pennsylvania, according to the state Department of Corrections and the Juvenile Law Center, of Philadelphia. Nine of those 373 inmates are from Erie County, and three are from Crawford County.

"It is kind of up in the air," said Erie County's chief public defender, Pat Kennedy, a former assistant district attorney. "Is there going to have to be a resentencing?"

Kennedy, who handled cases in Juvenile Court as a prosecutor, said she is tracking the developments to determine when her office may have to get involved in the inmates seeking relief.

Erie County President Judge Ernest J. DiSantis Jr., who is also monitoring the possible changes, said the state Parole Board might have a role. He said the board, rather than county judges, has control over whether to grant parole for inmates serving state sentences, including inmates sentenced to life.

"If they file something with us," DiSantis said of the inmates sentenced as juveniles, "I don't know whether we would have jurisdiction."

The Parole Board is studying the Supreme Court decision but has no comment at this time, a spokesman for the board said.

The Supreme Court ruling, made in the case of Miller v. Alabama, does not prohibit a juvenile convicted of murder from serving a life sentence without parole.

The justices ruled that such sentences cannot be mandatory, as they had been in Pennsylvania and other states for juveniles tried as adults and convicted of first-degree murder, or a premeditated homicide; or second-degree murder, or a killing committed during a felony, such as a robbery.

The Supreme Court found that a life sentence without parole can be an option, but not a requirement, for a juvenile, Erie County District Attorney Jack Daneri said.

Under the ruling, he said, a sentencing judge, for example, must have the discretion to impose a life sentence with or without parole, based on the facts of each case.

Life sentences without parole for juveniles "are no longer automatic," Daneri said. "It is kind of a limited ruling."

He said the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association will ask the Legislature to draft a law to create a sentencing structure to reflect the Supreme Court ruling.

Daneri said he was disappointed with the ruling. He said the juveniles affected by it were sentenced not for typical crimes, but for the most serious of offenses.

"The ones who got life without parole were convicted of first- or second-degree murder," Daneri said.

Community policing: Shelby officers saturate neighborhoods to combat violent crime

by Rebecca Clark

Last year, no one was murdered in the “City of Pleasant Living,” according to Shelby police.

2012 is another story.

In January, Kelton Jerrard Ross was shot and killed in a home on Morrison Street.

In May, Devosia Chapman was killed on U.S. 74 in a drive-by shooting.

Police have already responded to more assault calls this year, too, than in all of 2011.

Chief Jeff Ledford said many of the assault calls are domestic-related. Others are from small groups of people attacking each other.

“After the arrest of some of those involved was made, both state and federal level, we saw that trend go away,” Ledford said.

Seth Treadway, an officer with Shelby Police Department's problem-solving unit, said “pseudo gangs” are a significant issue in Shelby.

Police said the death of 22-year Chapman was gang-related, as were some of this year's assaults.

Treadway said Shelby gangs aren't typically committing gang-on-gang crimes but are a source for other lawbreaking, including break-ins and shootings that result out of disputes or personal vendettas.

Whether the cause of the violence is gangs, drugs or another source, how police fight back is a big question.

“It reiterates the point, we've got to stay on top of it,” Ledford said.

Crime-fighting approach

Despite the sudden spike in violent crimes, police said the past decade paints a more positive, peaceful outlook for Shelby.

Over the past 10 years, homicides, assaults and other violent crimes have decreased in the city, according to police department data.

Ledford said the department tries to strike a balance between building relationships in the community and enforcing laws to combat crime.

He said Community Watch programs, Project Safe Neighborhood meetings and talking to people in the community are all important.

Community policing, an effort by everyone in the police department, is a key element for crime prevention and intervention, Ledford said.

He said officers use data to pinpoint problem areas and focus on those neighborhoods or a specific home.

The city is divided into three zones, with three or four officers assigned strictly to each of those areas, along with cars that respond to calls throughout all of Shelby.

“That's their home zone,” he said, referring to officers assigned to specific areas. “They can more easily recognize when something is out of place.”

Comfortable in the community

It's a quiet afternoon at Parkside Villa Apartments.

A group of children play on the sidewalk in front of the building while their mothers watch from the doorway.

The Parkside Villa complex, located off DeKalb Street, used to be known as Ramblewood.

“This used to be a very bad place,” Shelby Police Sgt. Craig Earwood said, pulling up in front of the complex in his patrol car.

Shootings, stabbings and other violent crimes were nearly synonymous with the word Ramblewood.

Now, although a little worn, it looks like any other apartment complex in town.

Earwood attributes some of that decline in crime to the police department's effort to make law enforcement more personal. He is also part of Shelby Police Department's problem-solving unit. When out on patrol – sometimes by car, other times by bike – he wears a badge, a bullet-proof vest and running shoes.

Earwood keeps his window rolled down and snags any chance he gets to stop and chat.

“How you all doing today?” he greets anyone he sees sitting on a porch or walking down the street.

Sometimes, he gets out of the car and spends a few minutes talking to a woman watering her flowers or a group of people sitting under the shade trees in their front yards.

“It definitely makes me feel a whole lot more comfortable to see them (police) out here,” said Gina Arnett, who lives at Parkside Villa. “They have definitely changed this neighborhood for real.”

Arnett said her children love seeing police officers visit the neighborhood.

“That's the first thing I say, ‘if something happens, go to the police,'” she said.

Focus on ‘problem' areas

Although Ramblewood has seen a decline in crime, other areas of Shelby have been hit by shootings.

Earwood said that means the problem-solving unit still has work to do.

He said instead of applying a Band-Aid to an issue, the unit tries to find and attack the root of the problem.

“Our unit is based on crime trends,” Earwood said. “We'll go into an area that's seen an increase in crime and focus on that area.”

He said the problem-solving unit responds as a result of repeated calls for service.

“We're not just going in to find people breaking the law but to build a relationship with them,” Earwood said.

Earwood said once a community relationship is built, people are more likely to report problems.

Police are also able to connect residents to the right resources.

An abandoned house that might be the site of criminal activity can be reported to city code-enforcement officers.

If police repeatedly respond to a home for domestic violence calls, officers can refer them to an agency that provides assistance for domestic violence.

He said Shelby has seen a steady decline in violent crimes over the past decade.

“Ten years ago, it was all the time,” Earwood said. “Today it's more of a flare-up.”

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