Friday, December 29, 2017

Year in Review 2017: Newsworthy court cases


 Eric and Angela Corcoran of Deerfield Township were sentenced to three years probation in February after being convicted of second-degree child abuse for isolating their adopted son

in their basement in June 2016. The Livingston County judge had said in court that the 32 days the couple spent in jail was punishment enough.

 Mark Diaz of Holly was charged in February with reckless driving and causing damage to Holly Academy property. Diaz was the president of the Detroit Police Officers Association at the time of the incident. In October, an Oakland County Circuit Court jury found him guilty of reckless driving for taking his police issued pickup truck and driving off-road on the school property. The jury acquitted him of the malicious destruction of a building charge. He served time and has been released from the Oakland County Jail.

 Abdurrahman (Abdu) Ahmed Akl, 17, was found competent to stand trial for the March 4, 2017 shooting death of his friend, Brady Alan Morris, 18, who had been living at the Akl’s Fenton Township home on Lake Fenton. According to the autopsy report, it appears that Morris was shot from behind at point blank range on the top left side of his head. Akl is to appear in court on Jan. 18, 2018 for a probable cause conference.

 In May, along with an 11-year federal sentence, Michael LaJoice, 38, formerly of Tyrone Township, learned he will spend seven to 20 years in state prison on embezzlement charges. Over the course of 12 years, LaJoice embezzled $18.6 million from the credit union he worked at in Brandon Township. He turned himself in to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 6, 2016.

 Matthew Dues, 36, Jennifer Young, 34 and Joshua Forsythe, 35, were arraigned on multiple 20-year felonies following a house fire on Belle Glade Court in Fenton Township on March 20. The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office reported that it was arson, and that the fire was intentionally set to hide evidence of a meth lab. Dues and Young lived at the house and Forsythe is a Fenton City resident. A jury trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 9, 2018 for Dues and Forsythe. An arrest warrant has been issued for Young after she failed to appear at a court hearing.

 Brent Owings, 27, of Davisburg, was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison after being convicted of first-degree home invasion and assault with intent to commit great bodily harm less that murder or by strangulation. His earliest release date is April 2033. His conviction resulted from a situation involving his 3-year-old daughter and the child’s mother, which occurred in April.

 Robert Dennis, 41, is currently serving a 30-50 year sentence each for four counts of criminal sexual conduct (CSC) with a minor under the age of 13. His earliest release date is February 2076. The charges stem from crimes committed in Oakland County in October 2010. Dennis was also convicted of CSC-first degree with a defendant under the age of 13 in Genesee County. His sentence is 25 to 50 years in prison. According to court records, Dennis assaulted someone he knew, a person under the age of 13, over a three-year period in Fenton.

 John Tomlinson, 65, of Flint, is a hypnotherapist with an office in Grand Blanc Township. He has been accused of sexually assaulting three women patients undergoing hypnotherapy. A nurse testified in court earlier this month that a female victim said Tomlinson was “going up her pant leg and forcing her legs apart.” The nurse testified that the victim had signs of strangulation. The case was adjourned until Jan. 18, 2018 at 8:30 a.m.

 A second case against Tomlinson involves two additional victims and four counts of criminal sexual conduct second-degree. The case was bound over to Circuit Court. Tomlinson’s medical license has not been revoked and he can continue to practice.

 David Norris, 34, of Flint, was sentenced to three to 15 years in state prison after being convicted of second-degree home invasion at a home in Fenton Township on April 28. The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office said Norris’ accomplice was Michelle Ann Scott, 34, of Flint. Norris and Scott were arraigned in May. Scott was charged with two counts of first-degree home invasion and one count of breaking and entering a motor vehicle causing damage. Scott is currently being held in the Genesee County Jail on a $25,000 cash/surety bond.

 A jury acquitted Charles Raymond Warren, 70, of Waterford in May after he was charged with killing Michigan State Police Trooper Chad Wolf in October 2015.

 Warren faced two felony charges in Wolf’s death — reckless driving causing death and failure to stop at the scene of an accident causing death. He was acquitted of both in Oakland County Circuit Court. Wolf left behind a wife and four children.

 Kody Brewer, 17, one of the defendants in the Linden school shooting plot, violated his probation a second time and could now go to prison. He is scheduled to be back in court on Jan. 17, 2018 for a show cause hearing. Brewer had been serving a five-year probation sentence for his role in an alleged plot with two other boys to shoot up Linden schools in October 2015. He was charged with attempted false report of terrorism, a five-year felony. Co-defendants Ryan Stevens, 20, spent nearly a year in the county jail before being sentenced to five years probation, and Lamarr Dukes, 17, was sent to a yearlong rehabilitation program in Pennsylvania.

 Predrick Hurt, 45, of Flint, is serving two years of probation after a plea deal for torturing a puppy in April. Probation will be complete in July 2019. The mixed-breed puppy, named Harvey Dent by the Genesee County Animal Control (GCAC) based on the Batman character, sustained severe burns all over his head and the left side of his body. The GCAC turned the puppy over to Adopt-A-Pet in May and the Fenton organization tended to his medical needs and sought a family to rescue him.

 Read more about Harvey Dent on page 3B

 Justin Winslow, 23, of Caro, and Kathryn Serra, 32, of Fenton Township, were arrested following a stabbing of a 28-year-old Fenton Township man in Fenton Township on July 28. Winslow was charged with assault with intent to commit murder. A cash surety bond of $500,000 was ordered. He was also charged with mayhem and false report of a felony. He has a review hearing in Genesee County 67th District Court on Dec. 27. If convicted as charged, he faces up to life in prison. Winslow’s co-defendant, Serra, was sentenced to 12 months probation. The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office reported that Winslow, Serra and the victim met when they were all patients in a psychiatric unit at a Flint hospital in April. The two men became romantically involved with Serra. The men had a falling out because of their relationships with Serra, and Winslow moved to Caro.

 Michael Fisk, 38, formerly of Flint, was charged with felonious assault after allegedly attacking and choking a man and woman in a Comfort Inn hotel room on Silver Parkway in Fenton on Aug. 5. A 55-year-old woman and her 50-year-old boyfriend, both formerly of Flint, were the victims. Police said alcohol was a factor with all three individuals. Fisk’s case was bound over to Circuit Court for a jury trial, which is set to begin on Jan. 30, 2018.

 Levi Frederick, 26, of St. Clair Shores, was sentenced on Nov. 11 to 137 days in the Oakland County Jail for pleading no contest to assaulting a 30-year-old man, his 30-year-old girlfriend and their 7-year-old daughter, all of Garden City on Sept. 16. Oakland County sheriff deputies assigned to the Renaissance Festival were advised that an assault had just occurred on the pedestrian trail. The three victims were treated for minor injuries at the scene by paramedics and were released.

 John Curtis Osborne, 46, of Fenton Township, was ordered to undergo three months of treatment at Odyssey House, a drug and alcohol treatment center in Flint. This came after he was charged with a misdemeanor of failing to report a dead body in his trailer at the Lake Ponemah Mobile Home Park. The Genesee County Sheriff’s Office estimates the body of Osborne’s girlfriend, Julie Persons, 47, had been dead in the trailer for as many as 10 days before being discovered on Oct. 1 by another friend.

 Douglas Walsh, 60, of Linden is facing six counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC) involving alleged victims under the age of 13. Walsh’s wife owns an in-home daycare center in Linden City. She is not facing any charges, however, the daycare was shut down pending this criminal case. Walsh’s case was bound over to Genesee County Circuit Court for a jury trial.

 Ray Matthew Moore II, 46, of Fenton, was arrested Nov. 6 for attempted production and actual production of child pornography, and possession of child pornography. According to the federal complaint, Moore used multiple Facebook accounts to solicit juvenile females for photos of themselves constituting child pornography. A search warrant was executed on Nov. 6 at the residence where he was living in Fenton. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled at the U.S. District Court – Eastern District of Michigan for Jan. 2, 2018.

 Lawrence Adell Sefa, 54, of Tyrone Township, is facing 15 felony charges, including conducting a criminal enterprise, and 15 misdemeanors. Investigators allege Sefa stole tens of thousands of dollars from Michigan residents who were facing mortgage foreclosures. Sefa operated his alleged scam through his company, LAS Loan Assistance Centers. Attorney General Bill Schuette filed the charges against Sefa on Nov. 9 in Livingston County. Sefa was arraigned Nov. 14. Sefa posted bond. He is prohibited from conducting business relating to credit services or mortgage services and cannot contact victims while the criminal proceedings are ongoing. His case is pending in Livingston County.

 Josh Waldrop, 24, of Burton, is facing federal charges related to attempting to buy a 7- to 10-year-old girl for $100 for sex, and to later marry and have his children. He faces up to 100 years in prison. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. On Nov. 20, the court ordered Waldrop to undergo hospitalization and examination for up to 30 days to determine if he is competent to stand trial.





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