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<channel>
<title>Dayton Courts: Legal and crime news</title>
<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/</link>
<description>Lou Grieco covers courts for the Dayton Daily News.</description>
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<dc:date>2012-05-24T15:47:09-05:00</dc:date>
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<item>
<title>Raleigh Trammell: The prosecution rests</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/24/dayton_montgomery_county_reimb.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; Montgomery County reimbursed the Southern Christian Leadership&amp;#8217;s home delivery meals service $38,000 for 7,000 meals that were not delivered, a county investigator said Thursday. Tom Mygrants, an investigator with the prosecutor&amp;#8217;s fraud office, was the state&amp;#8217;s final witness...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; Montgomery County reimbursed the Southern Christian Leadership&amp;#8217;s home delivery meals service $38,000 for 7,000 meals that were not delivered, a county investigator said Thursday.

Tom Mygrants, an investigator with the prosecutor&amp;#8217;s fraud office, was the state&amp;#8217;s final witness in the trial of former SCLC official Raleigh Trammell. The defense will start calling witnesses Friday morning.

Mygrants listed eight people on a spreadsheet he created who were to have received those meals between 2005 and early 2010. Two of the people testified that they never received any meals, and did not know who signed them up for the program, run by the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, another Trammell-controlled organization, out of the SCLC headquarters.

Two others were deceased at the time they were supposedly sent hundreds of meals billed to the county. Defense attorneys contend that, in those cases, unknown individuals defrauded the program without the knowledge of Trammell or any other SCLC employee. The other cases are the result of accounting and other errors, defense attorneys have said.

Trammell, 74, faces 51 felony counts stemming from the alleged thefts. The trial is expected to continue into next week.

Also Thursday, Burma Thomas, the former executive director for The Foodbank, testified that the SCLC was a Foodbank member. The Foodbank obtains food through various sources, much of it donated, which it then sells to non-profit groups that help the poor.

Asked whether it was proper to purchase Foodbank food then use it in a for-profit restaurant, Thomas said &amp;#8220;Absolutely not.&amp;#8221;

On Wednesday, former SCLC employee DaMisha Douglas testified that she and Trammell would pick up the food from the Foodbank, then divide it between the meals program, a food bank at the SCLC, and Chris&amp;#8217; Kitchen, a soul food restaurant run from the SCLC headquarters.

The ministerial alliance was a Foodbank member, meaning Trammell could purchase food for 4 cents a pound. That membership was suspended after the ministerial alliance missed a quarterly dues payment in the fall of 2007, Thomas said.

In that fiscal year, the ministerial alliance should have paid about $2,400 in dues, she said. When Trammell tried to get the status back, he said he did not have the money.

Thomas testified that she told Trammell he would have to layoff people, including some of his relatives, and &amp;#8220;he said he could not do that.&amp;#8221;

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<dc:date>2012-05-24T15:47:09-05:00</dc:date>
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</item>
<item>
<title>Raleigh Trammell: SCLC employees testify about food quality, for-profit restaurant</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/23/dayton_clients_of_the.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; Clients of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference&amp;#8217;s home-delivered meals program complained about the food&amp;#8217;s quality &amp;#8220;all the time,&amp;#8221; a former employee testified Wednesday at the trial of Raleigh Trammell. DaMisha Douglas, who once worked as Trammell&amp;#8217;s assistant, said...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; Clients of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference&amp;#8217;s home-delivered meals program complained about the food&amp;#8217;s quality &amp;#8220;all the time,&amp;#8221; a former employee testified Wednesday at the trial of Raleigh Trammell.

DaMisha Douglas, who once worked as Trammell&amp;#8217;s assistant, said that she drove him around and also occasionally worked as a cook in the restaurant at the SCLC building that served both the food program, paid for by taxpayers, and Chris&amp;#8217; Kitchen a for-profit soul food restaurant.

Trammell, 74, faces 51 felony counts stemming from the alleged theft of $50,000 from 2005 to 2010 from a home-delivered meals program for the elderly that Trammell&amp;#8217;s social service agency administered. 

Douglas filed a lawsuit against Trammell in 2010, claiming he repeatedly sexually harassed her. That lawsuit was settled out of court, according to court records in January.

Douglas testified that Trammell would obtain food from the Emergency Food Bank, which would be divided between Chris&amp;#8217; Kitchen, the meals program and a food bank at the SCLC. Some of the food cooked at the restaurant would be used for the meals program, if it was burnt or spoiled, she said.

The food quality varied, depending on funding, Douglas said. A meal often would be a sandwich, a salad and some fruits and vegetables. But if supplies were short, it might be burnt, leftover BBQ from Chris&amp;#8217; Kitchen, she said.

If people complained, Trammell would have another meal from the same batch of food sent to them, she said.

Douglas, who grew up going to Central Missionary Baptist Church, where Trammell has been pastor since 1966, said she recognized names of parishioners on the delivery lists. One was Oscar Davis, a deacon in the church and Trammell friend for decades. Invoices introduced as exhibits show that Davis received HOW MANY meals when he was living in the Dayton VA Medical Center&amp;#8217;s nursing home. On Tuesday, different VA employees testified that it was impossible that Davis received those meals.

Douglas said that, on occasion, food was delivered to Davis at the VA, but it was food from the Chris&amp;#8217; Kitchen menu. 

&amp;#8220;Oscar was special, so Oscar could call and ask for anything he wanted,&amp;#8221; Douglas said.

One time, she delivered a chicken cheese steak sandwich to Davis. She also said she drove Trammell on three to five occassions to visit Davis at the VA.

Also Wednesday, two other former SCLC employees testified. Michael Ecton said that he prepared the invoices that were submitted for reimbursement, but had no knowledge that some of the people on those lists were not receiving meals, or that two of them were dead.

Glenn Herring, who served as a delivery driver for the food program between 2006 and 2008, said the food quality &amp;#8220;never&amp;#8221; went down and he ate it himself at times.

The trial will continue Thursday with more testimony from Douglas. Prosecutors will finish direct testimony, then the defense will get a chance to cross examine her.

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<dc:date>2012-05-23T17:20:53-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>lgrieco@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
<title>Man pleads to voluntary manslaughter in Whitney Young Estates slaying</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/23/man_pleads_to_voluntary_mansla.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Wednesday in the Oct. 6 slaying of another man in the parking lot of the Whitney Young Estates apartment complex. Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Katherine Huffman set Jamar...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Wednesday in the Oct. 6 slaying of another man in the parking lot of the Whitney Young Estates apartment complex.

Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Katherine Huffman set Jamar Carpenter&amp;#8217;s sentencing for June 11. Under the plea agreement, Carpenter is facing 10 years in prison for the death of  Essien S. Obong Jr.

Carpenter turned himself in to the Montgomery County Jail on Oct. 10. At the time, his attorney, Jon Paul Rion said Obong&amp;#8217;s shooting was self-defense.

Witnesses said a large group was in the parking lot when shots rang out about 4:15 p.m. Obong was hit several times.

In court records from 2010, Obong&amp;#8217;s address is listed as the 500 block of East Beechwood Avenue. Several witnesses said he had recently been released from prison.

Obong pleaded no contest to single counts of drug possession involving heroin, cocaine and marijuana, as well as criminal trespass and resisting arrest. He was sentenced Oct. 20, 2010, to two concurrent one-year terms.

He served time in 2004 for receiving stolen property and attempted robbery, and in 2006 for drug possession (cocaine). In August 2008, Obong was arrested at the now-closed Club Cream for trying to carry in a handgun. Police said he told them he needed the gun because someone was trying to kill him. He was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon and having a weapon as a convicted felon. 

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<dc:date>2012-05-23T16:35:16-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>lgrieco@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
<title>Raleigh Trammell: civil rights leader&apos;s fraud trial starts</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/21/raleigh_trammell_civil_rights.html</link>
<description>DAYTON - The trial of Raleigh Trammell, the former Southern Christian Leadership Conference official accused of stealing taxpayer money intended to help the poor, opened with a quote from the SCLC&amp;#8217;s most famous founder. &amp;#8220;Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:...</description>
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DAYTON - The trial of Raleigh Trammell, the former Southern Christian Leadership Conference official accused of stealing taxpayer money intended to help the poor, opened with a quote from the SCLC&amp;#8217;s most famous founder.

&amp;#8220;Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: &amp;#8216;Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness,&amp;#8217;&amp;#8221; assistant Montgomery County prosecutor Ward Barrentine said. &amp;#8220;This defendant, Raleigh Trammell basked in the light of being someone who was there for the needy and the poor. But what you will find is that he was really in it for himself.&amp;#8221;

Two of the people who Trammell claimed to feed were dead, two had never heard of his program and three were in long-term care facilities and were not receiving extra meals, Barrentine said.

But Trammell&amp;#8217;s attorneys portrayed a different man: one who had fed the poor for decades, one who made accounting errors, but ultimately meant well.

&amp;#8220;Raleigh Trammell cared about feeding people in the community and he did the best he could with the resources he had,&amp;#8221; said Candace Crouse. &amp;#8220;There were mistakes that were made. There was no intent to steal any public funds.&amp;#8221;

The trial, before common pleas Judge Michael L. Tucker, started Thursday, but jury selection took up the first two days.

Trammell, 74, faces 51 felony counts stemming from the alleged theft of $50,000 from 2005 to 2010 from a home-delivered meals program for the elderly that Trammell&amp;#8217;s social service agency administered. 

The trial is expected to last more than two weeks in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. 

A Montgomery County grand jury indicted Trammell on the charges after a Dayton Daily News investigation found that Trammell&amp;#8217;s program claimed to be providing meals to people who weren&amp;#8217;t being served, including a trustee of his church who was living at the Dayton Veterans Affairs nursing home and the trustee&amp;#8217;s hospitalized wife. 

The newspaper also found that Trammell accepted federal funding for a food pantry and a battered women&amp;#8217;s shelter that didn&amp;#8217;t exist. Public officials withdrew $419,000 in county, state and federal funding in 2010 for two Trammell-controlled groups, the Dayton chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.

&amp;#8220;He literally stole money from the poor,&amp;#8221; Barrentine told the jury during his opening statement.

Barrentine said that Trammell claimed his agency modeled its services on the &amp;#8220;Meals on Wheels&amp;#8221; program at Senior Resources Connection, which charged the county $6.10 per meal. Trammell&amp;#8217;s group charged $5.48 per meal and was funded to serve about 10 people at any time. Between 2005 and 2009, the SCLC received between $36,000 and $39,000 for the program, Barentine said.

One of those people who was on the SCLC invoices was Oscar Davis, a long-time friend of Trammell, an amputee and stroke victim who lived at the Dayton VA Medical Center. The SCLC used a different address for Davis in its invoices sent to the county for reimbursement, Barrentine said.

During that same period, Trammell visited Davis at the hospital, so he knew that the address was false, Barrentine said. 

&amp;#8220;This defendant, and only this defendant, controlled all the money,&amp;#8221; Barrentine said.

At times, the checks from the county went into Trammell&amp;#8217;s personal bank account, he said.

But Crouse said that Trammell and his wife often loaned money to the SCLC for the program, which would be reimbursed for costs later by the county.

Crouse also said that some of the people who should not have gotten meals received them because they lied to the SCLC. The agency was cooking meals for up to 100 people every day, she said. 

The quality of the food did fluctuate, Crouse said, but the SCLC did develop menus with the consultation of a nutritionist. The organization had no motivation to make up false people because there was a waiting list, she said.

She also said county officials did check on the SCLC and gave the agency good reviews for its programming.

&amp;#8220;Raleigh Trammell is a very polarizing figure in the Dayton community,&amp;#8221; Crouse said. &amp;#8220;Some people love him and some people hate him. Raleigh Trammell did not steal public funds.&amp;#8221;

Trammell, a former top county welfare official convicted of grand theft and larceny in a welfare scam in the 1970s, was sentenced to 4 to 10 years in prison, but served just over a year before receiving parole in 1980. He was elected to head the Dayton SCLC chapter in 1983 and held on to that post for more than three decades.

He continued to rise in the national leadership of the SCLC as well, becoming vice chairman in 1996 and national chairman in 2004. 

Trammell was ousted from the local and national SCLC in 2010 after a faction of the national SCLC board accused Trammell and the SCLC treasurer of misappropriating more than $569,000. In November, the Fulton County, Ga., district attorney determined there was no proof the expenditures weren&amp;#8217;t approved.

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<dc:date>2012-05-21T11:12:25-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>lgrieco@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
</item>
<item>
<title>Teen sentenced to prison for January slaying</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/18/teen_sentenced_to_prison_for_j.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; The teen convicted of fatally shooting a man in the street in January was sentenced to 21-years-to-life in prison on Friday. A jury convicted Levi Slaughter, 19, on April 27 of murder and illegal discharge of a firearm...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; The teen convicted of fatally shooting a man in the street in January was sentenced to 21-years-to-life in prison on Friday.

A jury convicted Levi Slaughter, 19, on April 27 of murder and illegal discharge of a firearm near prohibited premises. A third count of being a felon in possession of a weapon was tried to the bench, and Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Dennis J. Langer convicted him of that as well.

All charges were in connection with the Jan. 17 shooting of Douglas Byrd, 30, at Salem and Pittsburg avenues. Byrd was shot several times in the back of the head. Slaughter was 18 at the time.

&amp;#8220;The state convicted an innocent man, so a killer remains on the streets,&amp;#8221; Slaughter told Langer.

But Langer told Slaughter that the &amp;#8220;evidence is overwhelming you committed this crime.&amp;#8221;

Langer noted that eyewitnesses who knew him and were present testified he was the shooter, that surveillance video showed Byrd and Slaughter together minutes before the shooting, and that the description given by a disinterested woman who saw the slaying matched Slaughter. Langer also read part of a letter written by Slaughter that incriminated him in the homicide.

&amp;#8220;This is your own handwriting,&amp;#8221; Langer said. &amp;#8220;You&amp;#8217;re lying when you say you didn&amp;#8217;t do this.&amp;#8221;

Langer also noted that Slaughter, after he was convicted, turned back to Byrd&amp;#8217;s family and &amp;#8220;you used the F word and you laughed at them.&amp;#8221;

Byrd had 10 children, said Langer, who also read Slaughter&amp;#8217;s lengthy juvenile record into the record, including aggravated robbery, receiving stolen property and theft counts.

According to sheriff&amp;#8217;s detectives, Byrd was in a vehicle with others when an argument erupted. Witnesses told deputies that Byrd got out of the vehicle and started to walk away. Another occupant then got out, walked up behind Byrd and fired a gun several times.

Slaughter was captured Feb. 6 at an apartment building in Huber Heights by a federal strike team.

At the time, Sheriff Phil Plummer said Byrd was known to be involved in gang activity and speculated that the killing may have been gang-related. But sheriff&amp;#8217;s officials later said the investigation uncovered no gang connections. 

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<dc:date>2012-05-18T11:42:11-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>lgrieco@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Man whose DNA linked him to 2001 rape is sentenced to prison</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/18/man_whose_dna_linked_him_to_20_1.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; A man whose DNA linked him to the 2001 rape of a 14-year old Englewood girl, leading him to plead guilty to several felony charges, was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison. Robert S. Bernardi, 44, pleaded...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; A man whose DNA linked him to the 2001 rape of a 14-year old Englewood girl, leading him to plead guilty to several felony charges, was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison.

Robert S. Bernardi, 44, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and counts of aggravated burglary, gross sexual imposition and kidnapping on April 13. He appeared before Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Dennis J. Langer.

Bernardi was linked to the Englewood attack after his DNA was collected during his arrest for an unrelated offense in July. 

The victim was sleeping in her bed at her family&amp;#8217;s ranch-style home on April 8, 2001. The weather was warm and the windows were open. The attacker removed a screen from a window, entered the room and attacked her, according to police.

Her parents and a sister were asleep during the attack. Another sister was on the phone but did not hear anything, according to police.

A DNA profile, obtained from evidence left at the scene, was entered into the Combined DNA Index System.

The case went cold after police were unable to identify any suspects. In 2003, the prosecutor&amp;#8217;s office filed a &amp;#8220;John Doe&amp;#8221; indictment against the person with the DNA profile found at the scene to keep the statute of limitations from expiring.

Miami County sheriff&amp;#8217;s deputies arrested Bernardi on July 2 in connection with the abduction of a 15-year-old girl. He was charged with aggravated menacing and unlawful restraint, according to court records.

But deputies also collected a sample of Bernardi&amp;#8217;s DNA, as mandated by a July 1 change in Ohio law. That change expanded DNA testing of those arrested for but not convicted of crimes.

His DNA was entered into the database, which then identified him as the other girl&amp;#8217;s assailant, according to the Montgomery County Prosecutor&amp;#8217;s Office.

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<dc:date>2012-05-18T10:35:54-05:00</dc:date>
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<item>
<title>Raleigh Trammell: jury selection will continue Friday</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/17/raleigh_trammell_jury_selectio_1.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; Jury selection will continue Friday for the trial of former Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader Raleigh Trammell, who is accused of stealing taxpayer money intended for a local program to help the poor. Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; Jury selection will continue Friday for the trial of former Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader Raleigh Trammell, who is accused of stealing taxpayer money intended for a local program to help the poor.

Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Michael Tucker started Thursday morning with a special jury selection, bringing in small groups to discuss pre-trial publicity. After the panel is winnowed through that process, then standard jury selection will start.

The small groups were asked about what they knew of Trammell, a public figure in the Dayton area for decades, and how closely they followed news coverage.

Trammell, 74, faces 51 felony counts stemming from the alleged theft of $50,000 from 2005 to 2010 from a home-delivered meals program for the elderly that Trammell&amp;#8217;s social service agency administered.

The trial is expected to last more than two weeks in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, though court officials originally said they hoped to have a jury empaneled by the end of Thursday.

A Montgomery County grand jury indicted Trammell on the charges after a Dayton Daily News investigation found that Trammell&amp;#8217;s program claimed to be providing meals to people who weren&amp;#8217;t being served, including a trustee of his church who was living at the Dayton Veterans Affairs nursing home and the trustee&amp;#8217;s hospitalized wife.

The newspaper also found that Trammell accepted federal funding for a food pantry and a battered women&amp;#8217;s shelter that didn&amp;#8217;t exist.

The county subsequently cut off $419,000 in public funding in 2010 to two Trammell-controlled groups, the Dayton chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.

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<dc:date>2012-05-17T16:40:28-05:00</dc:date>
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<item>
<title>Harts, who locked girl in bathroom for years, sentenced to prison</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/17/dayton_brian_and_rivae.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; Brian and Rivae Hart, who admitted keeping Mrs. Hart&amp;#8217;s granddaughter locked in an apartment bathroom for more than four years, were both sentenced to 36 months in prison Thursday. &amp;#8220;She is a child and no child should be...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; Brian and Rivae Hart, who admitted keeping Mrs. Hart&amp;#8217;s granddaughter locked in an apartment bathroom for more than four years, were both sentenced to 36 months in prison Thursday.

&amp;#8220;She is a child and no child should be abused,&amp;#8221; Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Dennis Langer told the Harts. &amp;#8220;End of discussion.&amp;#8221;

Brian Hart, 51, pleaded guilty April 11 to permitting child abuse. Rivae Hart, 50, pleaded guilty April 6 to abduction and child endangerment charges. All of the charges were third-degree felonies, punishable by up to 36 months in prison.

Though initial reports said that the girl, now 11, had been locked up for six years, Langer said it was four. She was 9 in January 2010 when she told a teacher that her custodial parents were keeping her locked up in the bathroom except when she went to school.

Brian Hart stood silently before Langer. His attorney, assistant county public defender Adelina Hamilton, referred Langer to the 9-page statement she filed on her client&amp;#8217;s behalf.

Rivae Hart, accompanied by court-appointed attorney Casey Dagenhardt, read a statement in which she apologized to her children.

&amp;#8220;I have made some mistakes and poor judgment calls,&amp;#8221; she said. &amp;#8220;I wanted to keep my children protected but I failed.&amp;#8221;

She told Langer she had been going to a faith-based class that helped with her self-esteem as well as attended a domestic violence class.

Langer noted that Brian Hart&amp;#8217;s written explanation was that the girl had severe behavioral problems and they worried that she would harm her younger brother, but Langer added &amp;#8220;there were other options&amp;#8221; besides locking her up.

He also told Rivae Hart that she lied during a suppression hearing, when she testified that she allowed police to search her home because she was afraid she would get shot with an assault rifle if she didn&amp;#8217;t. 

&amp;#8220;You committed perjury in that suppression hearing,&amp;#8221; Langer said.

The Harts, who lived at 4825 Hassan Circle in the Woodman Park Apartments with their two biological sons, the girl and her biological brother, have been in the Montgomery County Jail since they were arrested.

The Harts had been the grandchildren&amp;#8217;s legal guardians since 2004.  Authorities have said the girl was kept in a small bathroom area blocked by stacked dressers and was rarely allowed out for several years. Police have said the Harts told them they confined the girl because of behavioral problems.

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<dc:date>2012-05-17T16:28:19-05:00</dc:date>
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<title>Raleigh Trammell: jury selection starts, deals with pre-trial publicity</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/17/raleigh_trammell_jury_selectio.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; Jury selection is underway for the trial of former Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader Raleigh Trammell, who is accused of stealing taxpayer money intended for a local program to help the poor. Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Michael...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; Jury selection is underway for the trial of former Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader Raleigh Trammell, who is accused of stealing taxpayer money intended for a local program to help the poor.

Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Michael Tucker started Thursday morning with a special jury selection, bringing in small groups to discuss pre-trial publicity. After the panel is winnowed through that process, then standard jury selection will start, probably some time Thursday afternoon.

The small groups were asked about what they knew of Raleigh Trammell, a public figure in the Dayton area for decades, and how closely they followed news coverage.

Trammell, 74, faces 51 felony counts stemming from the alleged theft of $50,000 from 2005 to 2010 from a home-delivered meals program for the elderly that Trammell&amp;#8217;s social service agency administered.

The trial is expected to last more than two weeks in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, though court officials said they hope to have a jury empaneled by the end of Thursday.

A Montgomery County grand jury indicted Trammell on the charges after a Dayton Daily News investigation found that Trammell&amp;#8217;s program claimed to be providing meals to people who weren&amp;#8217;t being served, including a trustee of his church who was living at the Dayton Veterans Affairs nursing home and the trustee&amp;#8217;s hospitalized wife.

The newspaper also found that Trammell accepted federal funding for a food pantry and a battered women&amp;#8217;s shelter that didn&amp;#8217;t exist.

The county subsequently cut off $419,000 in public funding in 2010 to two Trammell-controlled groups, the Dayton chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance.

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<dc:date>2012-05-17T11:49:22-05:00</dc:date>
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<title>Disruptive juror who caused mistrial gets jail time, ordered to pay costs</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/17/dayton_the_juror_who.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; The juror who disrupted a trial last month, leading to mistrial, was sentenced to 10 days in the county jail Thursday and ordered to pay $1,610 in restitution. &amp;#8220;You absolutely obstructed the administration of justice,&amp;#8221; Montgomery County Common...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; The juror who disrupted a trial last month, leading to mistrial, was sentenced to 10 days in the county jail Thursday and ordered to pay $1,610 in restitution.

&amp;#8220;You absolutely obstructed the administration of justice,&amp;#8221; Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Katherine Huffman told Nicolas A. Hudson. &amp;#8220;I have never seen such outrageous behavior and I have seen thousands of jurors in the past 10 years.&amp;#8221;

Huffman found that Hudson was in direct contempt of court April 19, when he was part of the prospective jury pool for the trial of Mollie Parsons, a nurse who is accused of allowing her 14-year-old patient to starve to death.

Hudson, 28, was repeatedly disruptive, even jumping over the railing at one point. By his own admission, he made several statements about whether Parsons was guilty, which may have been heard by other potential jurors, Huffman said.

Hudson&amp;#8217;s attorney, assistant county public defender Kristine Comunale told Huffman that his behavior was out of character and due to stress. Hudson told the judge that he was &amp;#8220;deeply deeply and sincerely sorry. There are no excuses for my actions.&amp;#8221;

But Huffman said the 77 other potential jurors, who were dismissed after she declared a mistrial, probably felt stress as well. She said his actions caused additional anxiety for the attorneys and the defendant, all who deserved a fair process.

&amp;#8220;It was apparent from the beginning&amp;#8221; that he was trying to evade service, which &amp;#8220;is a responsibility of every American, even though it is inconvenient and not what they want to do,&amp;#8221; Huffman said.

Hudson will serve his time for two-day stints the next five weekends. Huffman ordered him to arrive at the jail by 6 p.m. each Friday. He will be released each Sunday at 6 p.m. If he is late, Huffman said, he can be returned to court for another contempt hearing.

The restitution represents the $710 paid to jurors for that day of service, $600 paid by the prosecutor&amp;#8217;s office for expert testimony costs, and $300 for subpoenas and service fees paid by the defense, Huffman said.

Parsons, 42, of Dayton, is charged with two felonies, involuntary manslaughter and failing to provide for a functionally impaired person, and a misdemeanor count of tampering with records. All charges concern the death of Makayla Norman, 14, who weighed 28 pounds when she died March 1, 2011, minutes after medics got her to Children&amp;#8217;s Medical Center of Dayton.

Parsons, a licensed practical nurse who was to care for Makayla eight hours a day, six days a week, permanently surrendered her license in August.

Parsons was to go on trial along with two other nurses and Makayla&amp;#8217;s mother, Angela. The trials for the other two nurses were reset for June 5, after prosecutors agreed with defense attorneys&amp;#8217; requests to sever their cases from Parsons. 

Angela Norman, 43, of Dayton, pleaded guilty April 6 to involuntary manslaughter, a felony count of endangering children and a misdemeanor count of endangering children. Huffman sentenced Norman to nine years in prison Thursday after Hudson&amp;#8217;s contempt hearing.

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<dc:date>2012-05-17T08:59:33-05:00</dc:date>
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<title>$1 million bond set for ER doctor accused of child rape</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/08/1_million_bond_set_for_er_doct.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; A Montgomery County Common Pleas judge set a $1 million bond Tuesday for Keith Donald Goldblum, the emergency room physician indicted on 17 sex-related charges involving children. Goldblum appeared with his attorney, Steven Pierson, who entered a not...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; A Montgomery County Common Pleas judge set a $1 million bond Tuesday for Keith Donald Goldblum, the emergency room physician indicted on 17 sex-related charges involving children.

Goldblum appeared with his attorney, Steven Pierson, who entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. Judge Dennis Adkins set a scheduling conference for May 23. 

Should Goldblum raise the $1 million, he would be placed on electronic home detention, under the conditions set by Adkins.

Goldblum was one of two men involved in high-profile child sex cases who appeared at arraignments Tuesday morning. Adkins continued the $1 million bond for Patrick Rieder, who was indicted Friday on four counts of rape of a child younger than 13, then indicted Monday in connection with a woman at knife-point in the parking lot of the Rite Aid at 2916 Linden Ave.

Rieder, 31, has been held in the Montgomery County jail since he was arrested on the suspicion of child rape. Rieder was one of three men arrested in February as the result of an undercover investigation on Craigslist by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The victim recognized Rieder on television once news outlets began reporting the accusations of child rape against him, according to Greg Flannagan, a spokesman for the Montgomery County Prosecutor&amp;#8217;s office.

Goldblum, 58, who worked in the Emergency Room at Good Samaritan Hospital, was indicted Friday on 16 felonies involving three victims: Three counts of voyeurism, nine counts of rape of a child younger than 13, two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, and two counts of menacing by stalking.

He was also indicted on a misdemeanor count of attempted voyeurism. The indictment does not specify a victim. Flannagan said last week there are four victims.

The indictment states that the crimes started in 2002 and continued through February 2011, the month when a parent made a report to the sheriff&amp;#8217;s office.

Goldblum, who lives in Washington Twp., has been suspended from working at Premier Health Partners, which runs Good Samaritan, according to a spokeswoman.

An online biography said Goldblum, a native of New Mexico, graduated in 1978 from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. He took residency training at C.T. Hayden VA Medical Center in general surgery and was for a time affiliated with Phoenix Baptist Hospital in Arizona.

State Medical Board records show Goldblum has been licensed to practice in Ohio since 1990. Goldblum previously was associated with Kettering Medical Center.

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<dc:date>2012-05-08T10:00:43-05:00</dc:date>
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<title>Trial starts for restaurant owner accused of insurance fraud</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/07/dayton_eva_christian_looked.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; Eva Christian looked inside her bedroom closet and told the deputy sheriff exactly which purses, watches, jewelry and other items were missing &amp;#8212; including their prices. &amp;#8220;By memory I guess,&amp;#8221; deputy Noel Meyer told former assistant Montgomery County...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; Eva Christian looked inside her bedroom closet and told the deputy sheriff exactly which purses, watches, jewelry and other items were missing &amp;#8212; including their prices.

&amp;#8220;By memory I guess,&amp;#8221; deputy Noel Meyer told former assistant Montgomery County prosecutor Jennifer Brumby. &amp;#8220;I was shocked.&amp;#8221;

Christian, 44, a Dayton-area restaurateur for 15 years and owner of Boulevard Haus in Dayton&amp;#8217;s Oregon District, is charged with five felony counts related to burglaries she reported at her Washington Twp. home and at her now-defunct Cena Brazilian Steakhouse in Miami Twp. Her trial, before common pleas Judge Barbara P. Gorman, started Monday and is expected to go into next week.

Meyer testified that he became suspicious when he realized that a Microsoft Xbox had been taken, but the games had been left behind. Usually, burglars will take the games, which are easy to sell, he said.

Brumby, who now works for the Ohio Attorney General, told the jury that, during the last months of 2009, Christian told different police agencies that she had been burglarized and shot at.

&amp;#8220;At least that&amp;#8217;s what she wants you to believe,&amp;#8221; Brumby said, adding that Christian, who had filed for bankruptcy in 2008, was &amp;#8220;desperate and greedy,&amp;#8221; employing two heroin users to burglarize her home.

One of the five counts is engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a first-degree felony that is punishable by up to 11 years in prison.

But Christian&amp;#8217;s attorney, Bobby Joe Cox, said that Christian was &amp;#8220;a strong woman, a business woman,&amp;#8221; who was the victim of disgruntled employees.

&amp;#8220;There&amp;#8217;s two sides to the story because, if there wasn&amp;#8217;t, we wouldn&amp;#8217;t be here,&amp;#8221; Cox said.

Christian reported a burglary at her home at 6855 Saint Laurent Circle in the early hours of Oct. 11, 2009. She also reported a burglary and vandalism at Cena after the Miami Twp. restaurant closed on Christmas Eve 2009. Cena, which had been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, never re-opened. 

A grand jury also indicted Christian on two counts of insurance fraud and two counts of making false alarms. One of the insurance fraud counts is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, and the other is a fourth-degree felony, punishable by up to 18 months in prison. The two counts of making false alarms are fifth-degree felonies, punishable by up to a year in prison. 

Christian is also being sued by the Cincinnati Insurance Co., though that matter is still pending in common pleas court before a different judge.

The company paid a $52,000 insurance claim to Christian for the home burglary. She reported that televisions, computers, jewelry, rare coins and a safe containing cash were stolen, according to a police report.

In an interview with the Dayton Daily News, Christian has called the accusations against her &amp;#8220;absolutely absurd and false.&amp;#8221;

The restaurant owner is free on her own recognizance after posting a $10,000 surety bond. Boulevard Haus remains open and is operating business as usual.

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<dc:date>2012-05-07T16:02:49-05:00</dc:date>
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<title>Businessman admits to $1.4 million coupon fraud scheme</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/04/businessman_admits_to_14_milli.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; A Centerville man pleaded guilty Friday to four counts of mail fraud in connection with what authorities described as a $1.4 million coupon fraud scheme. Ali A. Jaber, 51, also known as &amp;#8220;Jack Sal,&amp;#8221; according to prosecutors, appeared...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; A Centerville man pleaded guilty Friday to four counts of mail fraud in connection with what authorities described as a $1.4 million coupon fraud scheme. 

Ali A. Jaber, 51, also known as &amp;#8220;Jack Sal,&amp;#8221; according to prosecutors, appeared before U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose. He ran the scheme through his Dayton-based business, Southern Ohio Groceries Service Co., which served as an an association for at least 30 independent grocery stores throughout Ohio and Kentucky.

Between 2003 and 2011, Jaber received through the mail approximately $l,491,802.73 in fraudulent coupon reimbursement payments, according to Carter M. Stewart, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dwight Keller told the court that SOGSC was authorized to collect properly redeemed coupons from its member stores and submit them in bulk shipment for processing and cash reimbursement. Between December 2002 and June 2011, Jaber shipped approximately 465 &amp;#8220;banker&amp;#8221; boxes of coupons for redemption to a processing company.

Jaber admitted that the vast majority of the coupons he shipped were fraudulent, in that they had not been redeemed by the member stores, Keller said. 

&amp;#8220;Many of the SOGSC stores from which these coupons purportedly originated from were either closed, or did not in-fact sell or stock the underlying merchandise for which the coupons were being submitted by SOGSC for redemption,&amp;#8221; Keller said. 

Under terms of the plea agreement, Jaber will serve 36 months in prison, forfeit more than $100,000 in cash seized from his house and from a bank account and will make full restitution to victims. 

Rose scheduled a sentencing hearing for August 10, 2012. 

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<dc:date>2012-05-04T18:12:36-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>lgrieco@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Doctor indicted on sex crimes involving children</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/04/doctor_indicted_on_sex_crimes.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; An emergency room physician at Good Samaritan Hospital was indicted Friday on 17 sex-related charges, nine of them rapes, all pertaining to alleged assaults on children. A Montgomery County grand jury indicted Keith Donald Goldblum on: &amp;#8212; Nine...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; An emergency room physician at Good Samaritan Hospital was indicted Friday on 17 sex-related charges, nine of them rapes, all pertaining to alleged assaults on children.

A Montgomery County grand jury indicted Keith Donald Goldblum on: 

&amp;#8212; Nine counts of rape of a child under 13, first-degree felonies punishable by up to 11 years in prison.

&amp;#8212; Two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, third-degree felonies punishable by up to 60 months in prison.

&amp;#8212; Two counts of menacing by stalking, fourth-degree felonies punishable by up to 18 months in prison

&amp;#8212; Three counts of voyeurism, fifth-degree felonies punishable by up to 12 months in prison.

The misdemeanor is a count of attempted voyeurism, punishable by up to six months in a county jail.

There are four victims in the case, all female, and the alleged incidents start in January 2007 and end in February 2011, said Greg Flannagan, spokesman for the Montgomery County Prosecutor&amp;#8217;s Office.

None of the cases involve his medical practices, Flannagan said. They appear to have happened at sleepovers at his residence, 9586 Paragon Road, Washington Twp., Flannagan said

At least three of the victims are now in their mid-teens, Flannagan said.

&amp;#8220;Pending investigation, we have suspended Dr. Goldblum from working in any of our facilities,&amp;#8221; said Diane Ewing, vice president of marketing and communications for Premier Health Partners.

Ann Stevens, spokeswoman for Montgomery County Department said that child protective services was &amp;#8220;involved with this family for three months last year.&amp;#8221;

A parent reported an allegation to the sheriff&amp;#8217;s office in February 2011, said Maj. Dave Hale said. As detectives investigated, other complaints surfaced, he said.

Goldblum was not in custody late Friday afternoon, though an arrest warrant had been issued. Hale said detectives were trying to locate him.

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<dc:date>2012-05-04T17:22:34-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>lgrieco@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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<title>Troy man, already indicted for sex crimes against children in Miami County, is indicted in Montgomery County</title>

    

    


<link>http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytoncourts/entries/2012/05/04/troy_man_already_indicted_for.html</link>
<description>DAYTON &amp;#8212; Kenneth Brandt, already indicted on 31 counts of felony rape in Miami County involving three boys who were living with him, was indicted on seven more felonies Friday in Montgomery County. The grand jury also indicted a Dayton...</description>
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DAYTON &amp;#8212; Kenneth Brandt, already indicted on 31 counts of felony rape in Miami County involving three boys who were living with him, was indicted on seven more felonies Friday in Montgomery County.

The grand jury also indicted a Dayton man, Patrick Rieder, of four counts of rape of a child under 13. The victim in that case is one of the children who were living with Brandt.

Brandt, 39, of Troy, is the adoptive father of two of the boys as well as a daughter, all between the ages of 9 and 12 years old. He is accused of allowing Rieder and Jason M. Zwick, to have sex with one of the boys.

Zwick, 29, of Beavercreek, was indicted in Miami County on three counts of rape. That indictment, along with Brandt&amp;#8217;s indictment in that county, was handed down in March.

In Montgomery County, the grand jury approved three counts of rape of a child under 13 and four counts of complicity to commit rape against Brandt.

The three men were arrested in February as the result of an undercover investigation on Craigslist by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The investigation began in January.

Investigators said initial contact was with Zwick. According to a police report, Zwick told an undercover detective, who was posing as the father of two boys, that he had just met a man who had allowed him to have a sexual encounter with his juvenile son.

Zwick then introduced the detective, via the Internet, to Rieder who also said he had a sex with the boy. The detective was eventually introduced to Brandt. 

The sexual assaults involving Zwick are alleged to have happened at Brandt&amp;#8217;s home. The sexual assaults involving Rieder are alleged to have happened at Rieder&amp;#8217;s home in Dayton.

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<dc:date>2012-05-04T11:52:10-05:00</dc:date>
<dc:creator>lgrieco@coxohio.com</dc:creator>
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