FBI, KCSO (TN) Looking for Bank Robbery Suspect

FBI, KPD, and KCSO, as Part of the Safe Streets Task Force, and the KCSO Major Crimes Unit are Searching for Man who Robbed a Knoxville Bank Late Today

The Knoxville Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones of the Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the man who robbed a Knoxville bank late this afternoon, according to a press release issued Friday by the FBI.

At approximately 5:20 p.m., a man entered the First Tennessee Bank located at 10606 Hardin Valley Road, in Knoxville, Tennessee. After displaying a dark, large frame revolver with wooden grips, the suspect jumped the teller counter, obtained an undetermined amount of money, and fled the scene on foot headed east into nearby woods.

Witnesses described the suspect as an unshaven white male in his 50s to early 60s with gray facial hair, tanned arms, approximately 5’7” tall, with a slim build, and weighing approximately 160 pounds. The suspect was wearing blue jeans, a yellow or gold shirt, black gloves, black dress shoes and a black ski mask.

A reward is being offered for information which leads to the arrest of this individual. Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at 865-544-0751 or the KSCO at 865-215-2243. This matter is being investigated jointly by the FBI Safe Streets Task Force and KCSO Major Crimes Unit.

All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.








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The article above was taken directly (via cut-and-paste) from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (Knoxville, TN)web site. To view the article on the FBI's site, go to http://knoxville.fbi.gov/pressrel/2009/kx062509.htm.

Other news items from the FBI's Knoxville site can be viewed at http://knoxville.fbi.gov/press.htm.

Unemployment Up in May

Over three hundred thousand people lost their jobs in May, according to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Employers took 2,933 mass layoff actions in May that resulted in the separation of 312,880 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month," the report stated. Each of the mass layoff actions affected a minimum of 50 employees.


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To read the entire Bureau of Labor Statistics report, please go to http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/mmls.pdf.

Nelson brings oil fight to Panhandle

There comes a time when common sense needs to take the reins away from greed. It appears that Florida Senator Bill Nelson is again trying to grab those reins.

"I don’t think Florida should have to trash its coastline and its $65 billion economy just so big oil can increase its profit margin," Nelson said in a statement. He planned to stop this morning at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa before heading to Tallahassee, Panama City and Pensacola on Monday.

According to an article from Florida Trend, The Aquarium is "home to some of the state’s marine life from the common to the most rare. He chose the aquarium in part because it showcases the richness of Florida’s environment and way of life that will face destruction from offshore drilling in the Gulf."

Nelson, who has fought against drilling in the Gulf, spoke by phone with Florida Governor Charlie Crist about the proposed drilling. Nelson has said that he "will not only argue environmental damage but also a national security angle," stating that drilling will reduce "the last remaining unfettered training range" for military pilots.

"The operative policy and law of the United States is to use much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico as the last remaining training range for our military pilots," he said. "Give that up to the oil boys and you sacrifice national security."

Might I add this: Right on, Bill. Florida needs all the voices of reason we can muster.


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Information for this article was taken from both Florida Trend and TampaBay.com's The Buzz. To read more on this, please check out Florida Trend at http://floridatrend.com/article.asp?aID=51240, as well as TampaBay.com's The Buzz at http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/bill_nelson/.

New Jersey University Hospital to Pay Additional $2 Million to Resolve Fraud Claims

WASHINGTON - The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) has agreed to pay the United States $2 million to resolve federal civil fraud allegations that its hospital defrauded Medicaid, the Justice Department announced (Tuesday). From 1993 to 2004, UMDNJ’s University Hospital submitted claims to Medicaid for outpatient physician services that were also being billed by doctors working in the hospital’s outpatient centers. By submitting duplicate claims for payment, University Hospital effectively doubled billed the government’s Medicaid program.

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To read the entire article that this is from, check the U.S. Department of Justice's website (www.USDOJ.gov) or, for a direct link to the article, go to http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-civ-566.html.

Four Plead Guilty to Conspiring to Support Terrorists

Disclaimer: The following article is cut-and-paste from The United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York via the U.S. Department of Justice website (www.USDOJ.gov) or at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nye/pr/2009/2009jun09.html.

FOUR PLEAD GUILTY TO CONSPIRING TO PROVIDE MATERIAL SUPPORT TO THE LTTE, A FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION

DEFENDANTS INCLUDE THE LEADER OF THE LTTE IN THE UNITED STATES AND ONE OF THE LTTE'S SENIOR ARMS PROCUREMENT AGENTS

Defendants’ Wide-Ranging Support of the LTTE Included the Purchase of Arms and Explosives, Attempted Bribery of U.S. State Department Officials, Fundraising, and Covertly Financing a U.S. Congressman’s Trip to Sri Lanka


Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, defendants Karunakaran Kandasamy, Pratheepan Thavaraja, Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy, and Vijayshanthar Patpanathan pled guilty to, among other crimes, conspiring to provide material support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a designated foreign terrorist organization. The guilty plea proceedings were held before Chief United States District Judge Raymond J. Dearie. Kandasamy and Pratheepan face a 20-year maximum statutory sentence. Vinayagamoorthy and Patpanathan face a 15-year maximum statutory sentence.

The LTTE was founded in 1976 and uses illegal methods to raise money, acquire weapons and technology, and publicize its cause of establishing an independent Tamil state in northern Sri Lanka. The LTTE began its armed conflict against the Sri Lankan government in 1983, and utilizes a guerrilla strategy that often includes acts of terrorism. With an army of several thousand combatants, the LTTE had, until the last several months, controlled most of the northern and eastern coastal areas of Sri Lanka. Over the past 17 years, the LTTE has conducted over 200 suicide bombings, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of victims, and carried out numerous political assassinations, including the May 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the 1993 assassination of the President of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa, the July 1999 assassination of Neelan Thiruchelvam, a member of the Sri Lankan parliament, the June 2000 assassination of C.V. Goonaratne, the Sri Lankan Industry Minister, the August 2006 assassination of the Sri Lankan government’s peace secretariat, Ketheshwaran Loganathan, the January 2008 assassination of Sri Lankan Minister for Nation Building, D.M. Dassanayake, and the April 2008 assassination of Sri Lankan Highways Minister, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle. Beginning in 2002, the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government operated under a tenuous cease-fire agreement, but that agreement ended, and between April 2006 and May 2009, tens of thousands of people were killed in the escalating conflict. In May 2009, after 25 years of armed conflict, the current LTTE leadership was defeated by the Sri Lankan military, resulting in the death of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and several other senior LTTE officials.

The LTTE relies on sympathetic Tamil expatriates residing in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and several other countries to raise and launder money and smuggle arms, explosives, equipment, and technology into LTTE-controlled territory. To coordinate these activities, the LTTE established “branches” in at least 12 countries, including the United States. Defendant Kandasamy was the director of the American branch of the LTTE, which operated through charitable front organizations, including the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (“TRO”). As the director of the American branch, Kandasamy oversaw and directed the LTTE’s various activities in the United States, including raising millions of dollars for the LTTE and laundering it through the TRO. Defendant Vijayshanthar Patpanathan assisted Kandasamy and others in these fundraising and money laundering activities.

Defendant Pratheepan Thavaraja was a senior procurement agent for the LTTE, involved in the purchase of improvised explosive devices, missiles, machine guns, artillery, radar, and other equipment and technology from countries around the world, including the United States. A single spreadsheet of “priority” items to purchase, which was found in Pratheepan’s laptop computer, totaled $20 million in arms and equipment. It included, among other things, six “25mm Anti Aircraft Gun[s]” at $160,000 each, six “30 mm Twin Barrel Mounted Naval Gun[s] Type 69 (with base)” at $30,000 each, thousands of automatic rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, grenade launchers, 50 tons of C4 explosive, five tons of “Phlegmatized RDX” explosive, 50 tons of “TNT - based on Chinese specification,” and 50 tons of Tritonal explosive. Pratheepan and defendant Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy were also involved in the attempted bribery of purported U.S. State Department officials to remove the LTTE from the list of designated foreign terrorist organizations. In addition, Vinayagamoorthy participated in laundering LTTE money through a Swiss bank account to covertly fund a U.S. Congressman’s trip to LTTE-controlled territory in Sri Lanka.

“Just weeks after the LTTE’s leaders in Sri Lanka were defeated in that country, the leader of the LTTE in the United States and other LTTE supporters have been brought to justice,” said United States Attorney Campbell. “The defendants were convicted for their involvement in efforts to raise millions of dollars and acquire arms and technology for use by the LTTE.” Mr. Campbell added that this successful prosecution is the result of a coordinated international effort by law enforcement led by the Newark and New York Divisions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, with assistance provided by more than 20 of the FBI’s Field Offices, including New Haven, Buffalo, Seattle, Baltimore, Chicago, and San Jose; the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); the U.S. Department of State; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police National Security Program; and British and Indonesian law enforcement authorities.

The government’s LTTE cases are being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeffrey H. Knox, Andrew E. Goldsmith, Greg D. Andres, and Marshall L. Miller.

The Defendants:

KARUNAKARAN KANDASAMY, also known as “Karuna”

PRATHEEPAN THAVARAJA, also known as “Raja Pratheepan,” “Thambi Sampras,” and “Steeban”

MURUGESU VINAYAGAMOORTHY, also known as “Dr. Moorthy” and “Vinayagamoorthy Murugesu”

VIJAYSHANTHAR PATPANATHAN, also known as “Chandru”

Disclaimer: The previous article is cut-and-paste from The United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York via the U.S. Department of Justice website (www.USDOJ.gov) or at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nye/pr/2009/2009jun09.html.

United States Files Suit Against California Mortgage Lender

The Department of Justice filed suit Tuesday against California mortgage lender Capmark Finance Inc., charging that Capmark violated the False Claims Act by making false statements on applications for federal mortgage insurance covering residential nursing homes, according to a DOJ news release (http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-civ-570.html).

In the suit, filed in United States District Court in Los Angeles, the United States alledges to that Capmark made false statements in HUD applications when applying for mortgage loans.


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To read the U.S. DOJ release, please check http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-civ-570.html.

U.S. Appeals Court Rejects Klansmen's Conviction Challenge

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected a challenge to the conviction of a former member of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Mississippi Friday, according to a U.S. Department of Justice website.

In 2007, a federal jury in Mississippi convicted James Ford Seale and other klansmen of "conspir(ing) to abduct, interrogate, beat and eventually murder Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charlie Eddie Moore" in 1964. Seale was sentenced to three life terms in prison.


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The entire release can be read on the U.S. Department of Justice website (http://www.usdoj.gov/) as well as http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-crt-558.html.

Medical Students and Dr. George Tiller

Medical Students for Choice has been assisting abortion providers since 1993. An article on med students' reaction to last Sunday's murder of Dr. George Tiller is available at Women's Enews. The link to the article is http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/4035/context/cover/.

DOJ Launches Investigation into Fed. Crimes of Tiller's Death

The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Kansas has launced an investigation into federal crimes in the connection with the Sunday murder of Dr. George Tiller.

The USDOJ released the following statement on their website: "The federal probe will consist of a thorough review of the evidence and an assessment of any potential violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) or other federal statutes. The federal investigation will be conducted in close coordination with the Office of the Sedgwick County, Kan., District Attorney, and the state's ongoing murder prosecution will have the full support of federal investigators (http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-crt-555.html)."

Congress enacted the FACE Act in 1994 "to establish federal criminal penalties and civil remedies for violent, obstructionist or damaging conduct affecting reproductive health care providers and recipients (USDOJ)."

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Loretta King has directed the U.S. Marshals Service to protect "appropriate people and facilities" following the May 31 murder of Dr. Tiller.

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To read the USDOJ's entire press release, please go to: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/June/09-crt-555.html.

House Passes Federal Paid Parental Leave Act

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Federal Paid Parental Leave Act in a 258 to 142 vote last night. The bill would Federal Employees with 4 weeks of paid parental leave after the adoption or birth of a child. If the Senate passes the bill, it is expected that President Obama will sign the bill into law.

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To read more, go to the Feminist Daily News at http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=11738 or to Govtrack.us at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-626 .

Planned Parenthood Statement on Dr. Tiller's Murder

The murder Sunday of a doctor who performed late-term abortions might not have come as a complete surprise, but it has saddened many in the pro-choice community. In fact, Dr. George Tiller had received death threats and a previous attempt on his life. Yet he continued to perform lat
e-term abortions when a woman's life was endangered.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America released a statement on Sunday, which reads as such:
"NEW YORK, NY — Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, today issued the following statement on the murder of reproductive health care provider Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, KS.

"The entire Planned Parenthood family is deeply saddened by the murder of Dr. George Tiller. While he was not a Planned Parenthood provider, he was an integral part of our community and his loss is felt by all of us. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and those close to him who are suffering a personal tragedy.

"Dr. Tiller was the epitome of high-quality medical care underscored by deep compassion for his patients. He provided critical reproductive health care services, including abortion services to women facing some of the most difficult medical circumstances. He was continually harassed by abortion opponents for much of his career — his clinic was burned down; he was shot by a health center protester; and he was recently targeted for investigation only to be acquitted by a jury just a few months ago. None of this stopped George Tiller from his commitment to providing women and their families with compassionate care that others were unwilling to offer.

"His death is an enormous loss for the patients who relied on him, his dedicated staff, the medical community and for women and their families across America." (Planned Parenthood Federation's website)

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The above statement, as well as a summary of Planned Parenthood Federation, can be read online at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/planned-parenthood-federation-america-statement-murder-dr-george-tiller-27643.htm.

Bartender Saves Woman from Burning Building

Think only Superman and firefighters save people from burning buildings? Think again.

Shortly after midnight Thursday, Dustin Harper was with friends at Original Joe's in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada when someone told them that the apartment building next door was on fire.

In spite of, or maybe because of the smoke and fire pouring out of the building, Harper and one of his friends went inside and started banging on doors to alert tenets. After Harper's friend left, one of the tenets helped Harper continue alerting others inside the building.

Harper entered one apartment and called to Dorothy Sparks that her home was on fire. Sparks, 55, had just woken up and was looking for her glasses.

According to an article in the Red Deer Advocatem Sparks "'was in her socks, so I picked her up and started running out and the embers are coming down,' Harper said.

"His friend was yelling at the bottom of the stairs, 'Get out, get out, the roof’s coming down.' ("Bartender makes daring rescue," by Stacy O'Brien, Red Deer Advocate, May 29, 2009)"

Pieces of the roof, as well as embers, fell around them as they made their escape.

Sparks lost everything she owned in the fire, but later said that she was greatful to have been saved. All the tenets made it out safely.

"Harper shrugs off any suggestion that he is a hero. The bartender at Original Joe’s said he has never done something like that before, but he knew someone was in there and would have felt sick to his stomach if he didn’t go in after her ("Bartender...")."

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The article from the Red Deer Advocate can be found here: http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradvocate/news/local/Bartender_makes_daring_rescue_46461717.html.