We get lots of calls about internet scams, like winning the UK Lottery, or the classic check scam where you have to pay taxes up front for the $2 million you inherited overseas. Usually if it is too good to be true, it is. MSNC just posted an article about the Internet’s Most Successful Scams that is good reading and a good follow up to the FBI Jury Duty scam we posted this week. Check it out HERE. Don’t forget to sign up for our Social Network and Internet Safety Class April 30. You can sign up HERE.

An identity theft scam has been verified by the FBI (link included below). Please pass this on within your organizations and social circles. The scam is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call. Most people take summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty that this new and ominous fraud has surfaced.

The caller claims to be a jury coordinator and tells you there is a warrant out for your arrest for missing jury duty. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and your identity was just stolen.

The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma, Illinois and Colorado. This swindle is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system.

The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites in the past, warning consumers about the fraud.
Check it out HERE and HERE.

Registration is now live for our Social Network and Internet Safety class. The class is free of charge, and geared toward parents of children 13 and up.

The program will be held April 20, 2010 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM at the UVA Wise Slemp Student Center, 5th Floor Dogwood Room. Registration is limited to 200 people.

You can register on our website, www.wisecwa.com, or by clicking HERE.

The suspects in a June 12, 2009 robbery of a Pharmacy in Norton, Va, entered pleas today in Wise County Circuit Court with no plea agreement.  Both Woods and Newsome will be sentenced on June 24, 2010 in Wise County Circuit Court after pending presentence reports are completed.

Christopher Aaron Woods was convicted of robbery, using a firearm in the commision of robbery, wearing a mask to obscure his identity, brandishing a firearm, and battery, as well as multiple forgery, uttering, and larceny charges not related to the robbery.

Alisha Newsome was convicted of robbery, use of a firearm in a robbery, brandishing a firearm as well as larceny charges not related to the robbery.

The Norton Police Department Investigated these cases.

Christopher Charles Blevins

On March 1, 2010, Christopher Charles Blevins, 32, of Wise, Virginia was convicted of Arson and sentenced to 15 years in prison with 5 years suspended. Blevins was accused of setting fire to his mother-in-law’s home in Coeburn, Virginia on June 26, 2009. Blevins entered a guilty plea under the Alford rule, admitting the Commonwealth possessed enough evidence to convict him of the crime.
Upon release, Blevins will be placed on supervised probation for 3 years followed by 5 years of unsupervised probation. This case was prosecuted by Sarah Wynn Jessee of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and investigated by the Wise County Sheriff’s Office and Virginia State Police.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ron Elkins expressed his gratitude to agencies involved in the investigation. “We have great law enforcement agencies in Southwest Virginia that work well together, and I appreciate all of their hard work” said Elkins.

For more information, contact Sarah Wynn Jessee or Ron Elkins at the Wise County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office: 276-328-9406