Category: Crime

The Ashbury Park Press tells how Elizabeth Honig and her Computer Insight Learning Center ripped off the Department of Veteran Affairs of about $2.8 million;

Authorities said Honig, of the Morganville section of Marlboro, enrolled veterans who were not eligible to join the school, unlawfully applied for benefits herself by posing as a veteran and allowed 62 out-of-state students to join the school, despite knowing the Department of Veterans Affairs – which approved the school – required veterans to learn on-site.

Honig also allowed spotty attendance from students and did not report it to the VA, according to William Fitzpatrick, acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey. As a result, the VA continued to pay veterans who were not entitled to the money.

Honig enrolled 182 veterans in her school, Fitzpatrick said, but the “vast majority” of the veterans were not eligible to participate.

The VA approved the school to teach military veterans, including those veterans who received tuition assistance from the Veteran’s Retraining Assistance Program, or VRAP.

[…]

In addition, Honig said she logged onto the applications system more than 100 times to claim falsely she was a veteran applying for benefits, Fitzpatrick said.

She’s being sentenced in September and eligible for a ten year sentence in prison and millions of dollars in fines.

Kevin Patrick Mallory, 60, of Leesburg, Virginia, a self-employed consultant with GlobalEx LLC appeared in court yesterday to answer to charges of “making materially false statements to the FBI” and “gathering or delivering defense information to aid a foreign government.”, according to the Department of Justice;

During a voluntary interview with FBI agents on May 24, Mallory stated that PRC1 represented himself as working for a People’s Republic of China think tank, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS). Since at least 2014, the FBI has assessed that Chinese intelligence officers have used SASS affiliation as cover identities.

Mallory told FBI agents he traveled to Shanghai separately in March and April to meet with PRC1 and PRC1’s boss. After Mallory consented to a review of a device he had been using to communicate with PRC1, FBI viewed a message from Mallory to PRC1 in which Mallory stated that he had blacked out security classification markings on documents transmitted to PRC1. Analysis of the device also revealed a handwritten index describing eight different documents. Four of the eight documents listed in the index were found stored on the device, with three containing classified information pertaining to the same U.S. government agency. One of those documents was classified TOP SECRET, while the remaining two documents were classified SECRET.

According to the Washington Post, Mallory had served in the active duty military and worked for the State Department Diplomatic Security Service until 1990 and for the CIA until 2012;

Prosecutors say Mallory sent three documents containing classified information, one of which was labeled top secret, to a Chinese intelligence operative in May.

“Your object is to gain information, and my object is to be paid for it,” Mallory wrote to the Chinese contact at around the same time, according to an affidavit from FBI agent Stephen Green filed in federal court. Mallory allegedly added that he would “bring the remainder of the documents” on a June trip.

“My current object is to make sure your security (sic) and try to reimburse you,” the operative allegedly replied.

According to the Justice Department, Mallory received about $20,000 for his espionage by the Chinese.

Thanks to David for the tip.

Chief Tango sends a link from WTOP which reports that Antonin DeHays, a French historian, has been charged with stealing “dog tags and other documents belonging to U.S. servicemen whose planes had crashed during World War II” which he then traded for favors and sold on Ebay.

On at least one occasion, the Justice Department said DeHays traded a dog tag from a Tuskegee Airman for the chance to sit in a Spitfire, the iconic British World War II fighter plane.

The statement read that the thefts occurred between October 2015 and last Friday, and that investigators, following up a search warrant, found six dog tags and other documents at DeHays’ home. He was charged with theft of government records….

Here’s a picture of DeHays returning a dogtag to a World War II veteran, James Kelson, in 2012 from this article in French;

The Washington Post quotes my former boss, the Archivist of the United States;

“The theft of our history should anger any citizen,” the Archivist of the United States David Ferriero said Tuesday in a statement, “but as a veteran I am shocked at allegations that a historian would show such disregard for records and artifacts documenting those captured or killed in World War II.”

This is equivalent to Stolen Valor – stealing our heritage for personal profit.

The Washington Post reports that House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot by a rifleman while Scalise was manning second base at a Republican Congressman baseball team practice for a game between Democrats and Republicans for charity tomorrow at Nationals Field. Witnesses claim that about 50 shots were fired – between the unidentified gunman and Capitol Police who were on the scene.

[Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.)] told CNN that he heard a loud “bam” behind third base.

“I see a rifle, and I see a little bit of a body and then I hear another bam and I realize there’s still an active shooter. At the same time I hear Steve Scalise over at 2nd base scream — he was shot,” he said.

Brooks said he ran to the first base side and hit behind a batting cage as gunfire continued. He estimated 50 to 100 shots were fired.

He said Scalise crawled out of the outfield leaving a trail of blood, and that he was given liquids and put pressure on a chest wound.

From Fox5;

Police say Scalise and others, including aides and two law enforcement officers, were shot around 7:30 a.m. at a baseball field in 400 block of East Monroe Street.

Alexandria police said a suspect in the shooting was in custody.

The shooter initiated the shooting with a rifle until he ran out of ammunition and drew a sidearm right before he was subdued by Capitol Police.

ADDED: Congressman Roger Williams (R-TX)is also wounded injured.

The shooter, James T. Hodgkinson, is reportedly dead;