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deniscollins · 6 years

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They’re Falsely Accused of Shoplifting, but Retailers Demand Penalties

Lesleigh Nurse was accused of stealing groceries from a self-checkout line at a Walmart outside Mobile while she shopped with her husband and two children. If you were a Walmart manager, what would you do if the customer asked to see video surveillance footage of the alleged crime: (1) show the footage or (2) have a collect agency demand $200 repayment and now show up in court? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

Crystal Thompson was at home watching the Rose Bowl parade when a county sheriff came to arrest her for shoplifting from the local Walmart.

Ms. Thompson, 43, was baffled and scared. An agoraphobic, she had not shopped at a Walmart in more than a year. She was taken to a Mobile jail, searched, held in a small room and required to remove her false teeth, something she didn’t even do in front of her husband.

Four days after she returned home, the letters from Walmart’s lawyer started to arrive. The lawyer demanded that Ms. Thompson pay the company $200 or face a possible lawsuit. She received three letters over two months in early 2016.

Shoplifting is an intractable problem for retailers, costing stores more than $17 billion a year, according to an industry estimate. To get the money back, many companies employ aggressive legal tactics and take advantage of loosely written state laws, pushing for restitution even when people have not been convicted of wrongdoing.

Many of the laws were established so retailers could pursue shoplifters without clogging up the courts. Retailers, though, often move on both fronts, pressing criminal charges against suspects, while demanding that they pay up before cases are resolved.

In many states, retailers do not have to return the money they collect if the cases are ultimately dismissed or the people are cleared. A Walmart executive, in a court deposition, acknowledged that the company did not follow up to check on whether people it sought money from had been convicted of shoplifting.

Walmart and other companies have created well-oiled operations, hiring law firms to send tens of thousands of letters a year. Walmart set a collection goal of about $6 million in 2016 for one of its go-to firms, Palmer Reifler & Associates, according to a court paper filed as part of a lawsuit Ms. Thompson brought against the retailer. The firm also pointed out to Walmart that minors tended to pay off more frequently, the filing said.

“It is my word against this company,” said Ms. Thompson, whose criminal case was dismissed after no one from Walmart appeared at a hearing to testify against her. “I’m nobody special. I didn’t feel like I had a prayer.”

Walmart declined to comment on individual cases, citing continuing litigation.

“While there are multiple steps that our associates follow before initiating a civil claim against a customer, people can make mistakes,” the company said in a statement. “We are deeply sorry when that happens. We continually evaluate the effectiveness and benefit of our programs.”

Starting decades ago, the retail industry lobbied state legislatures for legal recourse to pursue shoplifters with fines. Retailers argued that the penalties would go a long way toward deterring future theft, and that rampant shoplifting ate into already thin profit margins, potentially raising prices for consumers.

In some states, companies have been able to collect more than the value of the allegedly stolen items, up to $1,000 in some instances. Despite numerous lawsuits against retailers and news reports about collection tactics, the laws have remained largely intact.

Maryland is one of the few states to revise its shoplifting statutes. In 2016, the state began requiring retailers to report the number of collection letters they send. To date, no retailer has complied with the new requirements, according to state records.

In Illinois, a 2015 proposal to reduce the penalties that retailers can demand from shoplifting suspects died in the legislature. One of the bill’s sponsors said an industry lobbyist had warned him that the issue was a “third rail” among retailers with deep political influence in the state.

“There is no evidence that these laws have decreased shoplifting or decriminalized petty crime at all,” said Ryan Sullivan, an assistant professor at the Nebraska College of Law who studies the impact of shoplifting laws.

Yatarra McQueen got ensnared in the system after she exchanged an inflatable mattress for a grill at a Walmart in Montgomery, Ala.

Store employees suspected that she had stolen the mattress. But they let her make the exchange and leave the store.

A few days later, Ms. McQueen found an arrest warrant in her mailbox. She drove to a detention center, where she was searched and made to wear a blue jump suit.

At the same time, Walmart forwarded her name to Palmer Reifler. The firm sent her two letters demanding that she pay $200 or face a potential lawsuit on top of the criminal charge, according to a suit she later filed against Walmart. Ms. McQueen said she was scared of being sued, but she did not have the money to pay.

“The most powerful company in the world called me a thief,” Ms. McQueen said in a court document. “I was terrified.”

No one from Walmart showed up at her criminal trial, and the case was dismissed. While she was awaiting trial, Ms. McQueen said, her temporary nursing license was put on hold for nearly six months.

“This is an unpopular constituency,” said Christian Schreiber, a lawyer who filed a lawsuit in California state court against Home Depot over the practice. The suit resulted in a settlement for about 3,500 people who received demand letters from Palmer Reifler. “These are people accused of theft, so there is not a big interest in their rights.”

In Burlington, N.C., Anna Marie Martin said two police officers “threw” her on a couch, handcuffed her and took her to jail, according to a lawsuit she filed against Walmart. Her alleged crime: stealing a Bryan Adams CD and two others, totaling $25.62, then hitting a car in the Walmart parking lot and driving away.

Palmer Reifler sent her two letters demanding that she pay $150 within 20 days. “You may be held civilly liable” for as much as $1,000, the letters said.

Both letters were sent before the authorities determined that Ms. Martin had been “mistakenly charged” and dropped the criminal case, according to her suit. A Walmart employee had told the police that she was “80 percent sure” that Ms. Martin was the thief.

Ms. Martin recently settled her suit with Walmart for an undisclosed sum.

For many, a mere charge of shoplifting can do damage.

Lesleigh Nurse was accused of stealing groceries from a self-checkout line at a Walmart outside Mobile while she shopped with her husband and two children. She said that Walmart refused to show her video surveillance footage of the alleged crime. In the weeks after her arrest, Ms. Nurse said she got at least two letters from Palmer Reifler demanding $200, but she was advised by her lawyer not to pay.

Ms. Nurse appeared in court three times. No witnesses from Walmart ever showed up, she said, and her case was eventually dismissed. The letters stopped coming to Ms. Nurse once her case was dropped.

But Ms. Nurse has still had to repair her reputation. The day after she reported to jail, an internet police blotter posted her mug shot on a popular Facebook feed. Her husband said he had to pay more than $100 to the site’s operator to take down her photo.

“I can’t erase what people think of me in the back of their mind,’’ she said in an interview.

In a deposition this year in Ms. Thompson’s civil case, a senior Walmart manager at the time, said Walmart did not audit whether the people who received the demand letters had committed a crime.

He said such due diligence was the responsibility of Walmart’s outside law firms, which had “expertise” in the area.

“What investigations do you expect the law firms to conduct to determine whether these allegations are true?” Ms. Thompson’s lawyer David McDonald asked the executive in a deposition.

The executive replied: “We do not get involved in their processes because they are an independent contractor.”

In Alabama, Palmer Reifler hired a lawyer who had not practiced law in 27 years to sign letters sent to shoplifting suspects. The lawyer said he was employed part time at a funeral home while also working for Palmer Reifler. In a deposition, he said he was typically paid a retainer of $200 a month to sign collection letters.

The law firm did not return calls seeking comment.

In Ms. Thompson’s suit, a Walmart employee acknowledged in a deposition that he mistakenly accused her of shoplifting in December 2015.

He said it had appeared that one of Ms. Thompson’s daughters failed to scan about $70 worth of groceries at the self-checkout line.

The employee followed Ms. Thompson’s daughter out to the parking lot and wrote down the license plate of her car, which was registered to her mother. Based in part on the license plate, Walmart sought a criminal complaint against Ms. Thompson.

Mr. McDonald said that if Ms. Thompson’s daughter took the groceries without scanning them properly, it was by mistake. Video surveillance, reviewed by The New York Times, shows her daughter trying to scan and rescan groceries at the checkout machine for about 17 minutes.

Walmart has not filed shoplifting charges against Ms. Thompson’s daughter.

“They are playing games with people’s future,” Ms. Thompson said.

#Shoplifting #Walmart

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spreaditnews · 2 years

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Woman, Who Was Falsely Accused Of Shoplifting At Walmart, Is Awarded $2.1 Million In Damages

A woman from Alabama has won a lawsuit against Walmart, stemming from an incident that took place in 2016 when the corporation accused her of theft. A Mobile County jury has ruled in her favor in a unanimous fashion. Lesleigh Nurse wins after Walmart accused her of theft. In November 2016, Lesleigh Nurse was accused of stealing products worth almost $48 and was ordered to pay $200 in restitution…

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classydeergarden · 2 years

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Jury awards woman Walmart accused of shoplifting $2.1 million | Fox Business

DAMN GREEDY CORRUPT WALMART!!! THEY TREAT THEIR EMPLOYEES LIKE SHIT, AND CUSTOMERS FALSELY ACCUSED OF THEFT??? THEN WANT $200.00 WHEN THEIR CUSTOMERS ARE FALSLEY ACCUSED?? BULLSHIT STUPIDITY ABUSE OF A CORPORATION!!! WON'T EVER SHOP AT WALLY WORLD AGAIN. NO CUSTOMERS, NO MONEY!!!

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newstfionline · 4 years

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Saturday, October 31, 2020

Wonders from weeds (Times of London) Colleagues quietly scoffed when Alessandra Devoto, a plant biologist, started dedicating her time to researching the medicinal properties of a roadside weed. After years of study, however, she appears to have proved them wrong. Scientists have found that Arabidopsis thaliana, also known as mouse-ear cress or thale cress, stops the growth of breast cancer without damaging the healthy cells. It could help the development of chemotherapy treatments without side-effects. “The plant is very much like the Cinderella of the medicinal plant world—no one thought it was so special, but it has shown its true colors,” Professor Devoto, from Royal Holloway, University of London, said.

Walmart Pulls Guns, Ammo Displays in U.S. Stores, Citing Civil Unrest (WSJ) Walmart Inc. has removed all guns and ammunition from the sales floors of its U.S. stores this week, aiming to head off any potential theft of firearms if stores are broken into amid social unrest. The retail giant, which sells firearms in about half of its 4,700 U.S. stores, said customers can still purchase guns and ammunition upon request even though they are no longer on display. “We have seen some isolated civil unrest and as we have done on several occasions over the last few years, we have moved our firearms and ammunition off the sales floor as a precaution for the safety of our associates and customers,” a Walmart spokesman said. The company hasn’t decided how long the items will stay out of view, he said. Walmart also removed firearms and ammunition from stores this summer in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by police when several of Walmart’s stores were damaged.

Foreign journalists covering the US election (CJR) With the election approaching, America is a prime global news story, and foreign correspondents are playing a crucial role translating the febrile atmosphere for readers and viewers back home. (Donald Trump has fans abroad, of course, but most international observers seem to want him gone: only around fifteen percent of respondents to a recent poll covering seven European countries hope that he’s reelected.) This week, the New Yorker released a documentary about how foreign correspondents view the United States. Larry Madowo, a Kenyan journalist who works for the BBC, said that he’s been stunned to see that “the same things that America has been lecturing Africa on appear to be happening right here at home.” Alan Cassidy, who reports for the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, described America in 2020 as “a car-crash situation: you don’t really want to watch, but you have to because it’s so outlandish and crazy and insane.” Jesper Steinmetz, of Denmark’s TV2, said that “it’s great working in this country, because it is fun to keep being baffled by what happens.” Arjen van der Horst, of the Dutch broadcaster NOS, argued that, contrary to many Americans’ view of themselves, “in so many ways, you’re the opposite of exceptional.” Svanberg and some of the journalists interviewed by the New Yorker feel that not being from the US is an advantage in their reporting, and affords them a measure of protection: they are, after all, not part of the “fake” domestic news media that Trump has encouraged many Americans to hate. But rubber bullets don’t discriminate—and American immigration officials do. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security outlined proposals for reforming the visa that foreign correspondents typically use to work in the US. As of now, the visa is valid for five years, but officials want to cut that period to two-hundred-and-forty days. The change would, ostensibly, “reduce fraud and ensure national security,” but it’s more likely a pretext to crack down on journalism. “The US was the paradigm for democracy. And now it’s not that way anymore,” Camila Zuluaga, a journalist with Caracol TV and Blu Radio in Colombia, said. “What do we see from the outside? It’s like it’s an empire that is going down.”

Report: US knew of problems family separation would cause (AP) Months before the Trump administration separated thousands of families at the U.S.-Mexico border, a “pilot program” in Texas left child-welfare officials scrambling to find empty beds for babies taken from their parents in a preview of bigger problems to come, according to a report released Thursday by congressional Democrats. Documents in the report suggest Health and Human Services officials weren’t told by the Department of Homeland Security why shelters were receiving more children taken from their parents in late 2017. It has since been revealed that DHS was operating a pilot program in El Paso, Texas, that prosecuted parents for crossing the border illegally and took their children away to HHS shelters. The problems revealed by the pilot program presaged what would happen months later: government employees caring for babies and young children in so-called tender age shelters and many parents being deported without their kids. The consequences linger today: Lawyers working to reunite immigrant families have said they can’t reach the deported parents of 545 children who were separated as early as July 2017.

Coronavirus dims Mexico’s bright Day of the Dead celebration (AP) Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebration this weekend won’t be the same in a year so marked by death, in a country where more than 90,000 people have died of COVID-19. Many of those had to be cremated rather than buried, and even for those with gravesides to visit, the pandemic has forced authorities in most parts of Mexico to close cemeteries to prevent the traditional Nov. 1-2 observances when entire families clean and decorate tombs, cover them with orange marigolds, light candles and chat with their deceased relatives, perhaps over a glass of their favorite beverage. “This year, the Day of the Dead must be celebrated virtually,” said Mexico City cultural secretary José Alfonso Suárez del Real, inviting city residents to post photos or videos of their altars on a city website. “It is fundamental that we recover and adopt once again the altars to our dead, which are household altars.”

As Coronavirus Surges, Dutch Wonder, ‘What Happened to Us?’ (NYT) As coronavirus cases have shot through the roof, waiting times for tests and results have grown so lengthy that the health authorities have considered sending samples to labs in Abu Dhabi. Contact tracing, divided among 25 competing contractors, has never gotten off the ground. After months of discouraging the use of masks, saying they promote a false sense of security, the government just did an about face, calling for them to be worn in all public spaces. And topping it all off, the royal family, ignoring the government’s advice to travel as little as possible, flew off to their luxurious holiday home in Greece, adding to growing mistrust and resentment at home. Britain? Spain? No. It’s the Netherlands, one of Europe’s wealthiest countries, renowned for its efficient and organized government in most circumstances—but not, apparently, in the pandemic. As a second wave surfaces across Europe, the Netherlands stands out with the Czech Republic and Belgium as among the hardest hit. It currently ranks sixth among European Union countries when it comes to the rate of new infections, with 56 cases per 100,000 inhabitants—its highest total ever.

Parisians flee, sidewalks empty as France enters lockdown (AP) Parisians fleeing for the countryside jammed the roads ahead of France’s lockdown to slow the spread of resurgent coronavirus infections, and there was only a sprinkling of people hurrying along city sidewalks Friday as the nationwide restrictions went into effect. In France, concerns were growing that rising infections would swamp the country’s health system, so authorities ordered another four-week lockdown beginning Friday. Many areas of the French capital resembled a regular lazy weekend morning—on what would normally have been a bustling weekday. Those who were out frequently clutched permission forms proving they had an exemption that allowed them to to be on streets. The only places that were busy were grocery stores and markets as people stockpiled food and other necessities. All of France’s 67 million people have been ordered to stay at home at all times with no visitors, or risk steep fines or prosecution. There are a handful of exceptions, such as being allowed out for one hour of exercise a day within a half-mile (1 kilometer) of home, to go to medical appointments, to a place of work, or to shop for essential goods. Restaurants and cafés are shuttered, apart from those that offer takeout.

The war in the Caucasus nears a bloody tipping point (Washington Post) This past weekend, the United States brokered a cease-fire between warring neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan. According to some accounts, the uneasy truce barely lasted an hour. Instead, the conflict in the Caucasus rages on, marking the worst period of hostilities in the region in almost three decades. Civilian casualties are mounting, with both sides accusing the other of ferrying in foreign fighters and indiscriminately targeting urban areas with missile strikes and artillery fire. On Wednesday, Azerbaijani authorities said at least 21 civilians were killed and dozens more injured after rockets fired by Armenian forces using a Russian-made Smerch missile system hit the Azerbaijani town of Barda, which is some 20 miles away from the front lines of the conflict. Amnesty International confirmed that those rockets had unleashed cluster munitions, which are designed to inflict indiscriminate damage and banned under international convention. “The firing of cluster munitions into civilian areas is cruel and reckless, and causes untold death, injury and misery,” said Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in a statement. “As this conflict continues to escalate, Armenian, Armenian-backed and Azerbaijani forces have all been guilty of using of banned weapons that have endangered the lives of civilians caught in the middle.” “The conflict may soon reach an irreversible point where it will not stop without a dramatic expansion of fighting and increased loss of life,” wrote Carey Cavanaugh, a professor at the University of Kentucky who helped lead internationally mediated negotiations between the sides in 2001.

Powerful Aegean earthquake kills at 19 people in Turkey and Greece, injures hundreds (Washington Post) A powerful earthquake in the Aegean Sea left at least 19 people dead Friday in Turkey and Greece, flattened at least 20 buildings in coastal Turkey and sent a surge of seawater flooding streets near the Turkish city of Izmir. The magnitude 7 earthquake—felt as far away as Istanbul and Athens—occurred about 10 miles north of the Greek island of Samos, according to U.S. Geological Survey. At least 17 people were dead and more than 700 injured in Turkey, according to Turkey’s disaster management agency, which said one of the victims had drowned. At least 20 structures, including some multistory apartment buildings in Izmir, collapsed and rescue crews and volunteers combed through the rubble into the night. It was the second major earthquake to hit Turkey this year. In January, at least 41 people were killed in an earthquake that struck Elazig in central Turkey.

Hungry bears with a taste for grapes and chestnuts are causing havoc in Japan (Washington Post) Hungry bears with a taste for grapes and chestnuts are causing havoc across Japan, and thousands of the animals are ending up dead as a result. Two people have been killed and almost 100 have been injured this year as human-bear encounters soar, according to Environment Ministry data and media reports. Four prefectures have put residents on high alert, with some children carrying bells on their way to school. Farmers are counting the cost this week after bears raided their vineyards and munched through thousands of dollars’ worth of premium grapes. Crop losses in many areas are rising. But the news is even more grisly for the bears. More than 9,000 Asiatic black bears have been caught and killed since the start of 2019, according to the Environment Ministry, by far the highest rate since data began in 1950. Bears have been spotted in school grounds and even wandering around a shopping mall in central Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture in recent weeks. Another injured four people, at one point ramming into a police car and puncturing a tire with its claws. A shortage of acorns is propelling the bears down from their mountain homes in search of food ahead of their winter hibernation. As Japan’s rural population shrinks, people have pulled out of the foothills that formed buffer zones between the bears’ mountain homes and the flatlands where people live. “Those farmlands have been abandoned, and they have grown into forests,” said Shinichi Koike, associate professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. “They in turn become part of the habitat for bears, boars and monkeys. Gradually, the habitat for wild animals is expanding toward flatter areas across Japan, and approaching the flat areas just behind populated areas.”

Protesting Thai students boycott royal graduation day (Reuters) Some students sympathetic to Thai protesters said on Friday they were boycotting graduation ceremonies led by King Maha Vajiralongkorn in a show of anger at the monarchy amid growing calls to reform it. The ceremonies, at which the monarch personally hands out degrees, are a rite of passage for graduates and their families with photographs of the moment displayed with pride in many Thai homes. But protests since mid-July have brought open criticism of the monarchy and calls to curb its power, defying a longstanding taboo and lese majeste laws that set a jail term of up to 15 years for criticism of the king or his family.

Angered at French call to ‘reform’ Islam, tens of thousands gather in protests across Muslim-majority countries (Washington Post) Anti-French protests erupted across Muslim-majority countries on Friday, with tens of thousands expressing anger over the French government’s call for “reform” of Islam, a day after three were killed in a church in what President Emmanuel Macron referred to as “an Islamist terrorist attack.” In Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, police said 20,000 protesters took to the streets after Friday prayers, rallying under the banner of two Islamist groups. The demonstrators carried signs reading: “Stop Religious Defamation,” “Freedom of Speech is not Freedom to Abuse,” and “Boycott French Products.” Thousands of Muslims marching in Pakistan stomped over French flags while calling for boycotts of French products after prayers, the Associated Press reported. Police officers blocked roads near the French Embassy in Islamabad, the capital, in anticipation of protests there, according to the AP. The demonstrations were the latest sign of rising anger across the Muslim world, directed at Macron’s government’s rhetoric defending cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper, which denigrated the prophet Muhammad. France has been stunned by a series of deadly knife attacks carried out by Muslim assailants in several cities. But the response to the violence by the French authorities, which included a crackdown on Islamist groups, has energized parts of the Arab and Muslim world like few issues in recent memory.

#headlines #news

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allpowerfulspacevalkyrie · 4 years

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“They should have just listened and followed the orders of the cops” - White people.

Really!? Cops come up to you out of the blue, accuse you of selling drugs or robbing a store, they tell you to raise your hands and spread your legs for a search, and you’re just going to obey? You’re not going to question the legality of it at all?

I can’t even ask White people for a receipt as they walk out of Walmart without them having an absolute meltdown and questioning the legality of it. So many times have I had White people say to my face “Do I look like someone that would steal?” In my experience, White people steal all the time because “they don’t look like someone that would steal.” And no, the plastic bags are not enough. I’ve caught White people before taking handfuls of bags from an unattended register in sporting goods or electronics. I have very good reason to not trust White shoppers and asking for a receipt isn’t even an direct accusation of theft.

But White people will accept a completely bonkers, false accusation against them by the police about selling drugs or robbing a store? They’ll just bend over for an illegal search and after the violation to their very person, not do anything about the publicly humiliating and false accusation?

Bullshit.

#white people

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kacydeneen · 5 years

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Man Arrested in Car Theft Related to Abduction Hoax: MDPD

A man accused of stealing a car from a South Florida woman who was arrested after she falsely claimed her young grandson had been taken during the car theft has also been arrested.

Antonio Monzon, 32, was arrested Tuesday on a grand theft auto charge for stealing the Hyundai Accent back on Nov. 18, Miami-Dade Police said.

According to an arrest report, Monzon met with 37-year-old Antoinette Rowan to perform a title transfer and give her a temporary tag for the Hyundai in exchange for $150.

Monzon and Rowan went together to a Walmart and ended up at a Sunoco gas station on Southwest 112th Avenue. Rowan said she went inside to buy beer and Monzon drove off in her car, the report said.

Rowan initially told police her 3-year-old grandson was inside the car when it was stolen, but after an extensive search it was learned the child was at home with Rowan's daughter, police said.

Rowan told investigators she lied about the child being in the car in the hopes that the car would be found faster, police said. She was later arrested and charged with filing a false police report.

Monzon was spotted driving the car in southwest Miami-Dade on Tuesday and arrested. He told detectives he had a verbal agreement with Rowan to buy the car from her and on the day of the alleged theft was meeting with her to make the final payment, the arrest report said.

Monzon said he got into a dispute with Rowan because he refused to drive her to buy heroin, so he left her at the gas station, the report said. He said he believed he had purchased the car and claimed Rowan is a drug addict and a compulsive liar, the report said.

Jail records showed Monzon was being held on $5,000 bond Thursday. Attorney information wasn't available.

Photo Credit: Miami-Dade Corrections Man Arrested in Car Theft Related to Abduction Hoax: MDPD published first on Miami News

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stephmolliex · 6 years

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Apple crime blotter: Find my iPhone locates carjacker, iPhone X chase, and more

From coast to coast, law enforcement follows the Find My iPhone signal to recover stolen devices. Plus, a theft spree during a marathon in India, and multiple burglaries from schools as they gear up for the fall return of students. The suspects in the Apple Store robbery (via Costa Mesa Police Department) The latest in an occasional AppleInsider feature: A look at Apple crime around the world. Another Apple Store robbery in California The latest in a series of robberies of Apple Stores around the country this summer took place in Costa Mesa, Calif., on July 23. According to ABC 7, five suspects ran into the store and took $29,000 worth of iPhones and iPads. The suspects grabbed the display items and ran out. It's unknown if any of the recent Apple Store thefts have been related to one another, and it also doesn't appear that any arrests have been made. 60 iPads taken from Georgia middle school Thieves stole 60 iPads, as well as music equipment, art supplies and other items from a middle school in Athens, Ga. According to Fox 5 Atlanta, at least one of the iPads has been recovered, after someone bought it stolen. A school spokesperson told the TV station that the school's insurance policy will cover the cost of the items, "but it's the principle." California elementary school theft nets over 100 iPads Not to be outdone, thieves reportedly stole 172 iPads, with a value of $90,000, from an elementary school in Poway, Calif. According to NBC San Diego, the school's library and 11 classrooms were broken into at Tierra Bonita Elementary, an Apple Distinguished School. The thieves are believed to have scaled a wall and entered the school through the roof. Man accused of using stolen credit card for $4,000 Apple Store purchase Police in Manchester, N.H., are looking for a man who they say stole a credit card from a workout facility and then used it at the Manchester Apple Store to purchase $4,000 worth of goods. According to Manchester Ink Link, the man was clearly photographed while inside the store. NBA's J.R. Smith accused of throwing fan's phone Basketball player J.R. Smith may face charges in connection with an incident in which he allegedly grabbed a man's smartphone and threw it into a construction site. According to TMZ Sports, the man had attempted to take a picture with Smith outside a New York City night spot last Saturday, but the NBA player rebuffed him. Later, when the fan took a picture anyway, Smith grabbed the "$800 phone" -- referred to as an iPhone in some other media reports -- and tossed it into a nearby construction zone. New York City police are investigating the incident. iPad helped police track stolen ambulance After a woman stole an ambulance from a hospital in Houston at 4 a.m. on July 30, police tracked it after they found a way to track an iPad that was in the ambulance and had pinged. According to ABC 13, the woman crashed the ambulance, and after she was pulled out of the wreckage, she was brought to the hospital. Find My iPhone catches a carjacker Two teenagers in Omaha, Neb. helped foil a carjacker by utilizing the Find My iPhone feature. According to KETV, two 17-year-olds were at a gas station with their Chevy Cruze when the carjacker approached, said "Sorry bro, I have to do this," and he took off with the car. Because the driver's phone was in the car, his friend activated "Find My iPhone," and alerted police. A police helicopter tracked the suspect to his location, where he ditched the car on foot and was eventually arrested. He was charged with theft and obstructing a police officer. Stolen iPhone X leads to chase In another story of a car chase aimed at tracking down a single stolen iPhone, a sheriff's deputy in Northern California followed and then apprehended a suspect for about 9 miles on I-80 after he stole an iPhone X. According to the Auburn Journal, the suspect had taken the device from a T-Mobile store, and once caught was arrested on suspicion of both the theft itself and "being in possession of a cutting tool alleged by investigators to have been the device used to lop off the phone's anti-theft cable." Chase scene leads to discovery of several iPhones In another part of California, another T-Mobile was robbed of phone merchandise, leading to a high-speed highway chase. According to the Santa Clarita Valley Signal, a man and woman took seven phones -- five iPhone 8 phones and two Samsung phones -- from the store and took off on Interstate 5. Following a chase that reached speeds of 100 miles per hour, the two were arrested at a Carls Jr. restaurant. iPhones stolen during marathon in India Ten phones, at least one of which was an iPhone, were stolen July 30 from a marathon in Vashi, India. According to The Hindu, which attributed the theft to "unidentified miscreants," the phones were taken when the thieves broke into cars of runners during the race. Police told the news outlet that they tracked the stolen iPhone nearly 60 miles away in Nalasopara but had lost track of it. They also said that the organizers of the marathon had not received permission to hold the event, and therefore there had been no arrangements made to guarantee security. Couple arrested for stealing iPad, MacBook, dog A man and woman have been arrested in Youngstown, Ohio, for a home burgarly in which they took a MacBook, an iPad, expensive jewelry, and a dog. According to WKBN, the dog, a French bulldog, was returned shortly after the robbery, and the couple was later arrested at an OVI checkpoint. Woman arrested for selling stolen iPhone A 50-year-old woman was arrested this week in North Carolina for taking an iPhone that had been stolen from a Sprint store within the hour and selling it on an ecoATM kiosk. According to CBS 17, the woman was charged with felony larceny and obtaining property by false pretense. iOS phishing scam leads to "Lance Roger at AppleCare" A new variety of phishing scam has emerged, one that brings up a fake AppleCare windows. According to Ars Technica, the scheme is meant to get users to sign up for fake mobile device management services, and eventually extract money. The scam has been known to use a bogus persona named "Lance Roger from Apple Care." Walmart employee's $6,000 theft spree included Apple Watch, accessories An employee at Walmart in Louisiana was arrested August 1 and is accused of stealing nearly $6,000 worth of electronics items from the store, including iPhone charges and earbuds that he had removed from an iPhone box. According to My Arklamiss, the 24-year-old man did not steal the iPhones themselves from those boxes, but he did take an Apple Watch series 3and several Samsung products. https://goo.gl/XD2GGw

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takebackthedream · 7 years

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Charter Schools Do Bad Stuff Because They Can by Jeff Bryant

Charter schools have become a fetish of both Democratic and Republican political establishments, but local news reports continue to drip, drip a constant stream of stories of charter schools doing bad stuff that our tax dollars fund.

Keys Gate Charter School, Homestead, FL. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

An independent news outlet in New Orleans, where the school district is nearly 100 percent charter, reports that two homeless children were kept out of class for a month because they didn’t have monogrammed uniforms.

In Oakland, California, a state-based news outlet reports charter school enrollment practices ensure charter schools get an advantage over district schools when academic performance comparisons are made. The advantage comes from charters being able to enroll students who are more “academically prepared” than students who attend district-run schools.

Oakland charters, when compared to public schools, also tend to enroll fewer students with special needs and fewer students who enter the school year late and are, thus, often academically behind.

In Arizona, which has a higher percentage of students enrolled in charter schools than any other state, the demographic characteristics of charter school students don’t resemble anything close to what characterize public schools in the state. According to a state based news outlet, “enrollment data show the schools don’t match the school-age demographics of the state and, in many cases, their neighborhoods. White – and especially Asian – students attend charter schools at a higher rate than Hispanics, who now make up the greatest portion of Arizona’s school-age population.”

In Florida, local newspapers tell of an operator of a chain of charter schools who is charged with racketeering in a scheme to use public education money from the charter operation for his own personal gain.

The charter operator allegedly used more than $1 million for “personal expenses and to purchase residential and business properties.” The charges include falsely marking up bills for school supplies, inflating student enrollments in grant applications, spending public funds on companies affiliated with the owner, and using school money to pay for plastic surgery and cruises and trips to the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia.

Next up, a Philadelphia news outlet reports a charter school, unable to pay employee and other expenses due to a dispute with the district over $370,578 in missed payments to the teacher pension system, simply closed shop over the weekend. It’s unclear how parents would have found out about the closure, and teachers weren’t told until late Monday afternoon, in an email, that students would not be returning.

In Michigan, a charter school recently closed before the school year ended because of a dispute over $640,000 owed to the financial firm supporting the school. Even though the school is closing, it will still get state school aid payments through August.

A news report from Arkansas tells of a charter school that has been in operation for nine years and has never met proficiency standards established by the state.

And here’s a California charter school chain that “misappropriated public funds, including a tax-exempt bond totaling $67 million” and “failed to disclose numerous conflict-of-interest relationships.” The charter operator was able to divert $2.7 million of public charter school funds without any supporting documents. Eight different entities the charter operator was associated with benefited from doing business with the schools.

Public schools are occasionally plagued with similar scandals, but there is an important distinction to be made from public school scandals and what happens in the charter school industry.

As University of Connecticut professor Preston Green explains to me in an email, much of the malfeasance of charter schools comes from the entities that manage them. Called education management organizations (EMOs) or charter management organizations (CMOs), these outfits “create an agency issue with charter school governing boards that generally does not occur in traditional public schools,” Green explains.

“Public schools do not sign over operations to EMOS,” Green states. “By contrast, EMOs operate 35-40 percent of all charter schools.” And while nonprofit boards governing charters may want to ensure their schools are operating in a fiscally sound manner, the EMOs running the show “have the incentive to increase their revenues or cut expenses,” says Green.

Those incentives can lead to numerous bad acts including engaging in conflicts of interest or cherry picking students.

Where is the regulatory function that could intervene in these cases and ensure public tax money is being appropriately spent?

In the case of the NOLA charter impeding the education of homeless students, a federal law requiring schools to accommodate homeless students was the basis for any grievances. But the state’s charter school regulations consider such treatment of students a breach of contract that warrants the school to only provide the students with the opportunity for make-up work or tutoring. In other words, the consequences are more of a burden for the student than they are for the school.

In the case of the Oakland charters gaining an edge over public schools because of their enrollment practices, the report that outs the malfeasance notes that state “revenue policies” incentivize charter schools’ bad behavior.

Charter school closings like we see occurring in Florida, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere are a feature of charter schools, not a bug. An analysis by the National Education Association finds that “among charter schools that opened in the year 2000, 5 percent closed within the first year, 21 percent closed within the first five years, and 33 percent closed within the first ten years.”

Charter school scandals of the sort we see in Florida and California have become routine occurrences, yet a national organization that ranks state laws governing the charter industry rates Florida in the top ten of its annual assessment of states with the best charter school laws. And efforts to rein in the abuses committed by California charters have been routinely turned back by the state’s governor, Jerry Brown, who started two charter schools in Oakland.

As for that Arkansas charter school that was able to stay in business despite poor performance, the school has “powerful friends,” according to the reporter. “The Walton Family Foundation, [the charity operated by the heirs of the Walmart fortune,] provided cash infusion to fix [the school’s] red-ink-bathed books. The money was passed through an opaque, unaccountable charter management corporation,” and lobbyists in the state legislature “put the cherry on this hot mess sundae” in support of the school.

Whenever I write a post about charter school malfeasance like this I get accused of writing “screeds” that cherry pick negative anecdotes. But these news reports I cite above occurred within just the past two weeks.

Carol Burris, an award-winning former public school principal and the current executive director of the Network for Public Education, writes in a piece for the Washington Post, “Proponents of charter schools promised that in exchange for freedom from regulations, charters would be more accountable and held to higher standards. Twenty-five years later, however, we find that freedom from the safeguards that regulations provide has too often resulted in theft, mismanagement, fraud, and less transparency.”

The freedom granted to charters to hire third party contractors like EMOs is proving to be especially problematic.

“EMOs have taken advantage of poorly trained governing boards” Green explains, “and the lack of coordination between governing boards and authorizing bodies” ends up benefiting the interests of charter management groups “at the expense of charter schools” themselves and the students who attend them.

I have been reporting the bad stuff done by charter schools since 2009. Most recently, my reporting on the shadowy business of the charter school industry was cited by media watchdog Project Censored as one of the top 25 most under-reported news stories of 2016.

This is the second time I’ve won this award. The first time was for a piece in 2014 on charter schools that Salon published.

When do you think the malfeasance committed by charters won’t be “under reported”?

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