Tag: theft

Nigerian professor pleads guilty to stealing $1.4 million from Grand Rapids preschool nonprofit

A highly acclaimed Nigerian professor at Aquinas College is facing two decades in prison after she admitted to swindling more than $1 million from taxpayers and poor minority children in West Michigan.

Nkechy Ezeh, founder and CEO of the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative, pleaded guilty last week to wire fraud and tax evasion in a scheme that forced the nonprofit to shut down after a dozen years preparing about 8,000 preschoolers for kindergarten in Kent County, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, WOOD reports.

Ezeh worked with ELNC bookkeeper Sharon Killebrew to create nearly $500,000 in fake invoices, as well as created fake daycare businesses to siphon off hundreds of thousands of dollars more, which Ezeh used for personal travel to Hawaii, Nigeria and Liberia, according to court documents cited by the news site.

The case comes amid sprawling investigations into fraud in government funded child care programs in Minnesota, Ohio and other states.

The investigations are motivated in part by a viral YouTube video last month that featured what appeared to be a largely vacant “Quality Learing [sic] Center” in Minneapolis that collected $4 million in recent years to provide child care services to the Somali community, Fox News reports.

The learning center is part of a broader scandal involving alleged social services fraud largely tied to the Somali community in the Twin Cities that U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said last month could exceed $1 billion once investigations into Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program are complete. Officials have followed some of the funds to the Somali terror group Al-Shabab, according to Fox.

Ezeh’s attorney, Mary Chartier, told MLive her client “is committed to taking full responsibility and accountability for her actions.

“She is deeply remorseful to anyone who has been negatively impacted,” Chartier said.

ELNC President Amy DeLeeuw offered a decidedly different perspective following Ezeh’s plea hearing in U.S. District Court on Jan. 14, noting in a statement the former CEO’s “failure to meaningfully articulate the nature and scope of her criminal misconduct.”

“Her theft of million of dollars intended for the most vulnerable of children was brazen, all encompassing and unconscionable,” DeLeeuw said.

“To date, Nkechy has made no effort to repay any of the millions of dollars she stole from ELNC,” the statement read. “I trust Nkechy’s demeanor at today’s hearing did not go unnoticed by Chief Judge Hala Jarbou. I and the board will have more to say in our victim impact statement and look forward to her sentencing hearing on May 13.”

Killebrew pleaded guilty earlier this year to engaging in conspiracy to defraud a federally funded program of $1,170,935 and tax evasion, and was sentenced to four years, six months in prison.

Ezeh agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Early Head Start Programs and other organizations as part of her plea agreement, which also detailed $390,000 in back taxes, according to media reports.

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OC School District Official Accused of $14M Embezzlement

Jorge Armando Contreras, 52, of Yorba Linda allegedly siphoned more than $14 million from the district over a seven-year period and used it to buy luxury items, a $1 million Yorba Linda residence and cosmetic treatments from a dermatologist.

“I was most surprised by the amount he is alleged to have stolen,” said Debbie Peterson, former mayor of Grover Beach in San Luis Obispo. “In the last few months of his tenure at the district, he was averaging almost $370,000 a month in addition to his substantial salary.”

Peterson is the author of The Happiest Corruption: Sleaze, Lies, & Suicide in a California Beach Town and CITY COUNCIL 101 – Insider’s Guide for New Councilmembers.

“The bad news is at the local government level, we simply do not have the checks and balances that we do at the federal level where the legislative, executive, and judicial branches balance power and accountability,” she said.

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‘No one is above the law.’ Former New Haven police chief admitted to stealing at least $10,000, city officials say

The city of New Haven is freezing a police bank account used to fund its confidential informant program after former police chief Karl Jacobson admitted to stealing thousands of dollars from it.

City officials shared new details about the investigation Wednesday.

The scandal began on Monday, when a group of assistant chiefs questioned Jacobson about discrepancies in withdrawals from the city’s confidential informant fund.

Mayor Justin Elicker says the former police chief admitted to stealing $10,000 from the city, but the amount could actually be more.

“Everything I’ve heard from everyone is just how shocked they are,” Mayor Elicker says. “I want to make it clear: we do not know how much money was taken.”

Jacobsen oversaw the account as assistant chief.

Despite calls for him to relinquish control when he was promoted to chief, city officials say Jacobson continued to make authorized routine withdrawals of $5,000 each month from the account to pay confidential informants.

“What the chief had done was basically make it where he would be the sole holder of the money,” acting police chief David Zannelli says, “and what he would say to us commonly is that he was doing that to protect us from any kind of liability.”

The preliminary investigation uncovered two extra $5,000 withdrawals were made by Jacobson at the end of 2025: one in November, and another in December.

Mayor Elicker was originally going to place him on administrative leave, but Jacobson said he was retiring instead.

The confidential informant program has been paused as state investigators work to find out if any other city bank accounts were affected and if any other police officers were involved.

“No one is above the law, and we are all held accountable,” acting police chief David Zannelli says. “We will move forward as a police department.”

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Former Madera County worker arrested in CalFresh benefits theft case

55-year-old Leticia Mariscal, a former benefits eligibility worker in Madera County, has been arrested on charges of stealing over $40,000 in CalFresh benefits.

Investigators said she used the identities of more than 15 individuals, including the elderly and deceased.

U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced her arrest, saying she allegedly accessed county databases from December 2020 to April 2025 to carry out the scheme.

She reportedly approved benefits for these individuals, printed EBT cards in their names, and used the funds herself.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Madera County District Attorney’s Office, conducted the investigation.

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Rich People, Poor Morals: Wealthy Are The Most Likely To Rip Off Self-Checkout Machines

Rich people, poorer morals? A new LendingTree report claims the shoppers most likely to rip off the self-checkout machine aren’t the desperate — they’re the well-off, according to the NY Post.

Americans making over $100,000 a year are twice as likely to steal at self-checkout compared to low-income shoppers. A hefty 40% of six-figure earners admitted they’ve deliberately skipped scanning an item, while just 17% of those making under $30,000 confessed to the same.

The Post writes that middle-income households didn’t look much better: 27% of people earning between $50K and $99K say they’ve helped themselves without paying. And men are the biggest culprits overall, with 38% admitting to theft versus only 16% of women.

Even with AI scanners and weight sensors trying to outsmart sticky fingers, self-checkout theft is still rising.

A chunk of shoppers don’t feel bad about it either. Nearly one-third say big retailers make plenty of money, so swiping something “doesn’t hurt.” Another 35% defend the habit by claiming they’re basically unpaid store workers and grabbing an item or two is “compensation.”

Still, most blame inflation rather than guilt-free shoplifting. Forty-seven percent say rising prices are forcing people to cheat at the register — meaning even wealthy shoppers might be feeling the squeeze, just not enough to pay for everything in their cart.

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NY Times Admits Somalis Are ‘Raised in a Culture of Stealing’ Following Massive Welfare Fraud in Minnesota

Even the far-left New York Times has admitted that Somalians are raised in a culture of widespread theft and graft in their country as the news of massive welfare fraud among the Somali community in Democrat Gov. Tim Walz’s Minnesota grows.

The paper’s opening line for its Nov. 29 article gets straight to the point, reading, “The fraud scandal that rattled Minnesota was staggering in its scale and brazenness.”

There have been an astounding series of cases of hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud in state welfare, housing, healthcare, food, COVID relief and other programs, much of it centered on members of the Somali community.

The fraud has been so endemic in Minnesota that even the usually far-left Times is joining Breitbart News and calling it out. Indeed, the paper even noted that early on many liberals waved off the fraud as a “one-off abuse,” but as each new case rolled out from federal prosecutors the sense of alarm has grown and the blame is undeniable.

“Over the last five years, law enforcement officials say, fraud took root in pockets of Minnesota’s Somali diaspora as scores of individuals made small fortunes by setting up companies that billed state agencies for millions of dollars’ worth of social services that were never provided,” the Times reported.

The paper does not spare exposure of the Somali community.

Macalester College professor Ahmed Samatar, a Somali native, said that the fraud among Minnesota’s Somali migrants should not be surprising. The Times added that “Somali refugees who came to the United States after their country’s civil war were raised in a culture in which stealing from the country’s dysfunctional and corrupt government was widespread.”

The fraud has been so deep that it has undermined all of the state’s welfare programs.

“No one will support these programs if they continue to be riddled with fraud,” federal prosecutor Joseph H. Thompson told the media. “We’re losing our way of life in Minnesota in a very real way.”

One of the first such cases centered around an organization called “Feeding Our Future,” run by a group of Minneapolis-area Somali migrants. Prosecutors say that the organizers bilked $250 million from the state in child food assistance funding.

In a different case, tens of millions were stolen from Minnesota’s autism treatment program, again by Somali migrants. There is also the case of more than $550 million stolen from the state’s coronavirus pandemic relief program.

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Spain Approves Extradition of Former UN Official Vitaly Vanshelboim to the United States, Accused of Embezzling Over $60 Million in Humanitarian Funds and Operating a Bribery Network

The National Court has approved the extradition to the United States of Vitaly Vanshelboim, a former high-ranking official of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), accused of embezzling approximately $60 million intended for humanitarian projects and receiving bribes and laundering money within the United Nations structure.

This decision, made after several months of judicial review, allows Vanshelboim to be tried in the United States for charges of wire fraud, bribery, and money laundering in a case that shakes the ethical foundations of the UN and reignites debate over the lack of oversight in major international institutions.

A Ukrainian national, Vanshelboim served for years as Deputy Executive Director of UNOPS, a key UN agency responsible for managing infrastructure, procurement, and technical service projects in humanitarian contexts.

According to the formal indictment filed by U.S. authorities, the former official manipulated contracts to benefit companies linked to a single British businessman, thereby diverting public funds and violating the organization’s transparency standards.

Court documents indicate transfers of approximately $60 million in grants and unguaranteed loans, tied to programs for sustainable housing, renewable energy, and community development that never materialized.

The investigation claims Vanshelboim received direct bribes of at least $2 to $3 million in cash, along with interest-free loans, luxury vehicles, and personal benefits for family members.

UN authorities confirmed that his actions were decisive in the reputational collapse of the “S3i – Sustainable Investments in Infrastructure and Innovation” initiative, designed to attract private investment for sustainable projects but which ended up as a network of personal favors and fund misappropriation.

A UN internal tribunal had already ordered Vanshelboim in 2023 to repay $58.8 million, a figure reflecting the scale of the economic damage and the lack of controls within the agency. However, the criminal proceedings gained momentum when U.S. authorities issued an international arrest warrant.

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Failed Democrat Candidate Is Accused of Stealing Georgia Power Trade Secrets

A Democrat former Public Service Commission (PSC) candidate was accused Tuesday of stealing trade secrets from Georgia Power.

Patty Durand was arrested and charged with felony theft, Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) reported Wednesday.

A hearing was held regarding “Georgia Power’s request to add two Plant Vogtles’ worth of new power, mostly for data centers,” the outlet said, adding that Durand opposes such centers and rate hikes and operates the watchdog group known as Georgia Utility Watch.

Video footage taken the day of the hearing allegedly shows Durand, in a brown jacket, walk up to a desk and pick up a booklet. However, she puts it back down and moves to the other end of the room.

Moments later, Durand approaches another desk and appears to pick up another booklet before allegedly placing it inside her bag and leaving the room.

The GPB article said:

Durand criticized the lack of transparency in Georgia Power’s agreements with data centers in an interview with GPB in August.

“The Public Service Commission allows very heavy redactions and trade secrets,” she said. “So the contracts between Georgia Power and the data centers are also redacted and trade secreted. So no one will know what they actually charge data centers.”

It was unclear what officials believed Durand was going to do with the material she allegedly stole, and Georgia Power is working with authorities on the case, Fox 5 reported.

According to an article by the Georgia Recorder, “This week’s PSC proceedings were held to consider a request from Georgia Power to add nearly 10,000 megawatts to the state’s power grid. About 60% of the energy requested would come from expanding or building new gas plants, while 40% would come from renewable energy.”

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EU to propose new plan to leverage €170bn of frozen Russian money

Brussels is pressing ahead with a plan to use €170 billion of Russia’s frozen sovereign assets to back “reparation loans” for Ukraine, the Financial Times has reported. The EU faces growing pressure to find additional funding for Kiev as US cuts back its support.

Moscow has condemned the asset freeze and warned that any seizure of its money would amount to “theft.” 

Western nations froze an estimated $300 billion in Russian funds after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 – some €200 billion of which is held by Brussels-based clearinghouse Euroclear. The funds have accrued billions in interest, and the West has explored ways to use this revenue to finance Ukraine. While refraining from outright seizure, the G7 last year backed a plan to provide Kiev with $50 billion in loans to be repaid using the profits generated by the funds. The EU pledged $21 billion.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has proposed going further by creating a ‘reparation loans’ mechanism, which she described as urgently needed to finance Kiev.

People familiar with discussions said the plan involves channeling cash balances from Russia’s immobilized assets into EU-issued bonds, with the proceeds transferred to Ukraine in tranches. Brussels argues the system would provide Kiev with immediate support while sidestepping a formal seizure.

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Cardiff Man Wrongly Accused of Theft After Facial Recognition Error Triggers Privacy Complaint

A Cardiff man has filed a formal complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office after being wrongly accused of theft in a store using facial recognition software.

The case is now drawing wider attention to the unchecked spread of biometric surveillance in everyday retail environments.

On 29 April 2025, Byron Long, 66, arrived at the B&M outlet in Cardiff Bay Retail Park expecting an ordinary shopping trip.

Instead, he was approached by staff and told he was barred from the premises. In front of other customers, he was accused of stealing £75 ($101) worth of goods during a visit earlier that month.

That accusation was entirely false. During the visit in question on 9 April, Long had bought a single item: a £7 ($9.50) packet of cat treats. He paid for them in full. He later obtained CCTV footage showing himself at the checkout in a Red Bull Formula 1 jacket, clearly completing the purchase.

“It was a horrible experience, and I haven’t been back to the store since. The incident has had a very serious impact on my mental health, which is very fragile anyway, and I am now very anxious whenever I go shopping,” Long said, as reported by Nation Cymru.

The misidentification came from Facewatch, a private firm contracted by retailers to run facial recognition scans on customers. Images from Long’s previous visit were processed and matched to a database of alleged offenders. That match triggered the alert that led B&M staff to accuse him.

B&M later acknowledged the error, issuing a written apology and stating: “Our B&M store and security teams have a duty of care to all our customers and to our company, and this includes challenging people that they believe are potentially shoplifting. This is an extremely difficult task, and sadly we don’t always get it right; your case would be one of these instances…We can confirm your data has been removed from Facewatch.”

They also offered a £25 ($34) voucher as compensation, an offer Long flatly rejected.

Facewatch responded to the incident by suspending the user who had submitted the incorrect data. Michele Bond, the company’s Head of Incident Review and Data Protection Enquiries, said: “Facewatch Incident data is submitted by authorized users, who must confirm the accuracy of the information provided. Once the error was identified, the user responsible was immediately suspended from using the Facewatch system.”

Long has since taken the matter to Big Brother Watch, a civil liberties group focused on privacy and surveillance. The organization has now submitted a complaint to the ICO on his behalf.

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