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A Loveland man has been reunited with his stolen golf clubs, thanks in part to a quick-thinking Deerfield Township store manager.

David Palmer feared he’d seen the last of his golf clubs when they were stolen from his car parked in his driveway in April.

He reported the crime to Loveland Police Officer Tony Pecord, who suggested he call Play it Again Sports in Deerfield Township and ask that they keep an eye out for someone attempting to sell the clubs.

Three hours later, police had the clubs — and the suspected thief — in hand.

Loveland Police Chief Tim Sabransky said Pecord received a call from the manager of the new and used sporting goods store reporting a call received from someone offering to sell a set of gold clubs that matched the description of the stolen set.

The unidentified manager believed the caller was en route to the store, Sabransky said.

Pecord contacted Warren County/Deerfield Township deputies who apprehended a man with the clubs at the store. The suspect told police he had found the clubs somewhere along Loveland-Madeira Road, said Sabransky.

When Pecord took the man into custody, the man tried to kick the window out of the police car, Sabransky said.

“The suspect’s vehicle was searched and there were several GPS units, a Sirius satellite radio unit and a banjo inside a black case,” Sabransky said.  “The suspect admitted the banjo was stolen but he did not know from where.”

Loveland police charged Jacob Rutherford, 27, of Loveland, with receiving stolen property and took him to the Warren County Jail.

“Officer Pecord conducted a good investigation in cooperation with Play it Again Sports and the Warren County Sheriff’s Office to recover the golf clubs, make an arrest and reunite the owner with his property,” Sabransky said.

Community Press reporter Jeanne Houck contributed

Posted in: Crime, Deerfield Twp., News |

Tags: Tags: crime, david palmer, deerfield township, loveland, play it again sports, theft, tim sabransky, tony pecord

The Enquirer

Kilo, a drug-sniffing black Labrador retriever working for the Warren County Sheriff/Warren County Drug Task Force, has lived up to its name. The dog recently helping authorities confiscate five kilograms of heroin with a street value “well over $1 million,” said John Burke, commander of the drug task force.

On April 30, Donna Mae Herriges of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was pulled over by the Ohio State Highway Patrol for a traffic violation on Interstate 71 a couple of miles north of the Jeremiah Morrow Bridge. Then Kilo the dog went to work, finding five kilos of drugs – about 12 pounds – that were initially thought to be cocaine. “It tested at the lab as very high-grade heroin,” Burke said.

He said the bust was the result of a new collaboration between state troopers and the drug task force.

Herriges, 32, has been indicted on charges of trafficking and possession of heroin and possession of criminal tools. She is in the Warren County Jail.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: commander, crime, donna mae herriges, drugs, jeremiah morrow bridge, john burke, kilo, ohio state highway patrol, warren county drug task force

Kimball Perry reports:

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: cathleen schmid, crime, henkel co, mason, national stark, rob dziech, theft, west chester

Dan Horn reports:

A Mason will likely spend the rest of his life in prison for molesting boys at his mother’s in-home day care and sharing photos of the abuse over the Internet.

A federal judge sentenced Andrew Keith, 29, to 80 years in prison Wednesday for producing and sharing child pornography.

Prosecutors say Keith used his mother’s West Chester day care as a “personal hunting ground for victims” and routinely photographed the boys while he abused them. Keith pleaded guilty last year to 15 counts related to child pornography.

He faced a minimum 30-year prison sentence and had asked U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott to consider such a sentence. An evaluation of Keith found he had been abused as a child and his attorneys said that could qualify him for a lesser sentence.

But federal prosecutors said Keith did great harm to his victims and poses a continued threat to others if he ever is released.

They also said his use of the Internet to share images of the abuse will inflict damage on his victims for years to come.

“Keith continued to exploit children by trading hundreds of sexual abuse images,” said U.S. Attorney Carter Stewart. “The photographs are forever in the stream of commerce. They can never be removed from the worldwide web.”

Keith admitted last year that he abused and photographed at least three young boys from 2002 to 2003, traded those images with others and collected 600 photos of child pornography on his computer.

Prosecutors say he obtained many of those images by bartering with other pedophiles over the Internet, swapping his images of abused children for theirs.

Keith also could have been charged in state court, but police and prosecutors are increasingly choosing to use federal child pornography charges when possible. That’s because federal sentencing rules are tough and pornography cases often are easier to prove than abuse cases that require the testimony of young victims.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: adrew f. keith, andrew faires keith, andrew keith, child abuse, children, crime, day care, daycare, mason, molestation, pornography, teresa bailey, west chester

A Warren County jury indicted a Mason woman Friday on charges she had sex with a minor and provided the teen with alcohol.

Jennifer J. Alghzawi, 38, faces charges of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a third-degree felony, and a first-degree misdemeanor count involving underage persons.

Officials say Alghzawi and the teen, who is 15, had sexual conduct in June 2011 and that she allowed the teen to consume alcohol in her home on West Line Drive.

Court records show she posted a $30,000 bond on March 12 and informed the court she had changed her address on March 30.

If found guilty on both counts, Alghzawi faces more than five years in prison.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: crime, grand jury, indictment, jennifer alghzawi, mason, sex, teen, warren county, west line drive

Stuart Vance, 39, was sentenced to eight years in prison on robbery charges in Warren County on Monday, April 2. He was nicknamed the "rush hour robber" by police for his tendency to rob banks during busy times, usually at the end of the workday. Photo/Warren County Jail

A Warren County judge sentenced the man dubbed by authorities as the “rush-hour robber” to eight years in prison Monday.

Warren County Common Pleas Judge Neal Bronson sentenced Stuart Vance, 39, on two counts of aggravated robbery, two counts of receiving stolen property and one count of attempted burglary for crimes committed four years ago in Warren County.

Vance was accused of robbing the People’s Community Bank at 8350 Arbor Square, Deerfield Township, on Sept. 12, 2008.

He also faced charges in the Oct. 7, 2008, robbery of a bank less than a half-mile away, the now-closed Mason branch of National City Bank on Mason-Montgomery Road.

Later that year, Vance attempted to enter a Mason home while a resident was inside.  When he was arrested in November 2008, police found blank checks and credit cards reported as missing from homes in Clearcreek Township in his possession.

The Clarksville man, already convicted of an Indiana burglary, pleaded guilty to the charges last month.  He was also ordered to make restitution to the banks.

Bronson ordered the sentence to run consecutive to the time Vance is currently serving in an Indiana prison for burglary.  Indiana prison records show that he was sentenced in 2009 to 12 years in prison for burglary, theft and receiving stolen property.

Vance was convicted of those charges in Shelby County, Ind., and is expected to complete his prison sentence in November 2014.

The “rush-hour robber” got his name because he had a tendency to rob banks during busy times, usually at the end of the workday. In most of the robberies, the suspect wore a dark business suit, dress shirt and tie.

Vance faces additional bank robbery charges in Hamilton and Montgomery counties and is a suspect in robberies in Louisiana and Mississippi, according to the Warren County Prosecutor’s office.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: bank robbery, clarksville, crime, deerfield township, judge neal bronson, mason, national city bank, people's community bank, robbery, rush-hour robber, stuart vance, warren county, warren county common pleas

David Kurilko / Provided

Paul McKibben reports:

A man with a gun threatened two Kings High School students Tuesday morning as they sat in a parked car near the school, police said.

The man, according to police, approached the two students on Church Street in Kings Mills – near the high school but not on school property – and complained the students were playing their car stereo loudly.

Warren County Sheriff’s deputies arrested David Kurilko, 23, at his home on Church Street shortly after the incident, which occurred at approximately 7:30 a.m.

Neither of the teenage boys – a junior and senior at Kings High School in Warren County – were injured.

The boys told a teacher when they arrived at the school and police were alerted immediately, said Kings Superintendent Valerie Browning.

“We had the situation under control, and the student body was safe and secure during the incident with many not even knowing the situation occurred,” she said.

School operations were not affected, Browning said.

Kurilko was charged with one count of aggravated menacing and is being held at the Warren County Jail.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: church street, crime, david kurilko, gun, kings high school, threaten, warren county jail, warren county sheriffs

A Mason business owner accused of dodging taxes and filing false tax returns has entered into a plea agreement in U.S. District Court.

Maria Georgievsky, 54, pleaded guilty to one count income tax evasion, according to court documents.  The charge carries up to five years in prison and fine of up to $250,000.

As part of the plea agreement, Georgievsky will be sentenced to probation, with a condition of home confinement for six months, and be ordered to pay restitution in  the amount of $196,980.

She is scheduled to be sentenced before Senior U.S. District Court Judge Herman J. Weber on July 11.

According to court records, between April 2006 and October 2008, Georgievsky was the sole owner of Standard Services, Inc., a Mason-based temporary labor agency.  The company contracted with area hotels and one high school to provide personnel for housekeeping, laundry and other unskilled labor services.

Georgievsky directed and assisted a Russian immigrant to incorporate a shell entity called Ask Service, Inc., to be used as a payroll service for the business’ employees.   She then failed to file federal forms in 2006 and 2007 and pay federal employment taxes on $1,287,453 in wages paid out to employees, according to the plea agreement.

Georgievsky also admitted to filing false federal forms for the fourth quarter of 2007 through the fourth quarter of 2008 by claiming herself as the only employee of Standard Services, Inc.

“Business owners have a responsibility to withhold income taxes for your employees and then remit those taxes to the Internal Revenue Service,” said Special Agent in Charge Darryl Williams, of the IRS Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati field office.  “The failure to pay over employment taxes as a very serious offense and provides business owners with an unfair competitive business advantage.”

Georgievsky was released on bond pending the July 11 sentencing.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: ask services inc, courts, crime, darryl williams, internal revenue service, irs, judge herman j. weber, maria georgievsky, standard services inc, tax evasion, u.s. district court

A new trial date has been set for a Mason man accused of sexually assaulting and raping his girlfriend’s 9-year-old daughter.

Jorge Velasquez, 33, will stand trial for a second time April 19-20 in Warren County Common Pleas Court.  His first trial in February ended in a mistrial when the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.

Velasquez is charged with one count of rape of a child.  In his first trial, prosecutors added a lesser charge of gross sexual imposition.  He pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Prosecutors say Velasquez, the longtime boyfriend of the girl’s mother, digitally penetrated the girl’s vagina.  The alleged incident happened in Mason between August 2006 and December 2006, according to prosecutors.

Velasquez took the stand in his own defense during the first trial.  Both he and the girl’s mother testified that the girl, now 14, fabricated the accusations to retaliate against Velasquez for preventing her from seeing an adult boyfriend.

The rape charge, a first-degree felony, carries a penalty of up to life in prison.

Velasquez has been held at the Warren County Jail on a $500,000 bond since his Nov. 29 arrest.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: child rape, crime, gross sexual imposition, jorge velasquez, judge james flannery, mason, mistrial, rape, retrial, second trial, theresa hiet, warren county common pleas, warren county jail, warren county prosecutor

A Warren County grand jury has indicted four people on charges of safecracking and theft.

Prosecutors say that in November, James Lewellen, 23, of Mason, and Korey Sory, 22, of Charlestown, Ind., were contracted to do work at an apartment in Mason.

The two men, along with Angel L. Snider, 18, and Nelson Wolf, 41, both of Charlestown, Ind., broke into a safe at the residence and stole $7,500, according to prosecutors.

All four were indicted on charges of safecracking and grand theft.  The charges, both fourth-degree felonies, each carry sentences of up to 18 months in prison.

Lewellen faces additional charges for the possession and trafficking of drugs and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, all first-degree felonies.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: angel l. snider, crime, drugs, james lewellen, korey sorg, mason, nelson wolf, safecracking, theft