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Douglas Boucher, 39, of Mason died after a 2009 tasing incident with Mason Police. Boucher’s family has filed a a lawsuit in federal court against the city, police department and two officers involved. . Provided photo

A federal judge on Friday refused to throw out a civil rights lawsuit filed in the case of an unarmed, mentally ill Mason man who died after a confrontation with police.

Judge S. Arthur Spiegel denied a request by the city of Mason to dismiss the suit filed by the family of Douglas Boucher, who died on Dec. 13, 2009 after two Mason police officers Tased him seven times, kicked and repeatedly struck him with a baton — all mostly after he had fallen face-first onto cement and stopped moving.

The suit alleges Mason Police Officers Daniel Fry and Sean McCormick unreasonably seized and used excessive force on Boucher, 39, and that the city of Mason failed to adequately train and supervise officers’ use of Tasers or conduct a meaningful investigation of the incident.

Neither officer was disciplined, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation cleared both of wrongdoing.

The two officers apprehended Boucher after a 19-year-old clerk at the Speedway gas station on Reading Road reported to them that the 6-foot-tall, 290-pound musician allegedly made a lewd comment to her.

When officers tried to take Boucher into custody, police say he punched Fry in the head twice and then chased the store clerk. Fry shot Boucher in the back with his Taser, the shock of which knocked Boucher face-first onto the pavement.

• Read more details of the confrontation
• Read the judge’s ruling

Boucher died of a skull fracture sustained from the fall, although Butler County Deputy Coroner James Swinehart said he couldn’t rule out that the seven Taser shocks contributed to his death.

Mason had requested the case be dismissed, arguing the officers acted reasonably and within the bounds of the law in response to an encounter with an aggressive subject who resisted and assaulted officers.

While Spiegel dismissed the plaintiff’s claim that stopping Boucher was a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights, he denied the officers qualified immunity.

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Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: al gerhardstein, city of mason, cyril wecht, daniel fry, daubert, death, denied, doug boucher, douglas boucher, excessive force, gary becker, jennifer branch, lawsuit, mason, mason police department, s. arthur spiegel, sean mccormick, taser, tasing, u.s. district court, unreasonable siezure, wrongful death

Douglas Boucher, 39, of Mason died after a 2009 tasing incident with Mason Police. Boucher’s family has filed a a lawsuit in federal court against the city, police department and two officers involved. . Provided photo

A federal judge will decide if a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the city of Mason and two police officers should move forward in U.S. District Court.

Judge S. Arthur Spiegel Tuesday heard arguments in two motions filed by the city in the case of Douglas Boucher, who died in 2009 after Mason police shocked him with Tasers

Attorneys for the city filed both a motion for summary judgment in the case and to exclude the expert opinion testimony of Dr. Cyril H. Wecht concerning the alleged cause of death.

The suit alleges Officers Daniel Fry and Sean McCormick unreasonably seized and used “dangerous” and “excessive” force on Boucher, 39, who was mentally ill when he died on Dec. 13, 2009 after he was Tased seven times in the parking lot of a Speedway gas station.

The suit, filed by renowned Cincinnati civil rights lawyer Al Gerhardstein, demands a jury trial and seeks compensatory and punitive damages from the city of Mason and the two officers.

Officers Fry and McCormick were at the Speedway gas station on Reading Road the night of the incident when Boucher allegedly made a lewd comment to the 19-year-old clerk. The frightened clerk reported the incident to the officers and told them Boucher had made the same comment to her earlier that day, according to court records.

The two officers approached Boucher, a 6-foot-tall, 290-pound musician who had untreated bipolar disorder, and asked him to go outside. When Boucher tried to get in his car to leave, McCormick said he approached Boucher from behind and put a hand on his shoulder.

Boucher allegedly then spun around, clenched his fists and screamed at McCormick, who said he pulled his Taser and ordered Fry to handcuff Boucher. Fry said he cuffed Boucher’s left wrist when Boucher turned and punched the officer in the head twice.

McCormick said he then deployed the Taser on Boucher, shocking him in the chest and causing him to fall to his knees. The officers say Boucher then spotted the clerk outside, got up — dislodging the Taser probes in the process — and ran toward her while screaming.

(more…)

Posted in: News |

Tags: Tags: al gerhardstein, city of mason, cyril wecht, daniel fry, death, doug boucher, douglas boucher, excessive force, gary becker, jennifer branch, lawsuit, mason, mason police department, s. arthur spiegel, sean mccormick, taser, tasing, u.s. district court, unreasonable siezure, wrongful death

The Enquirer

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: child pornography, cindy foster, crime, deerfield township, john foster, primrose school, rape, u.s. district court

A Mason business owner has been ordered to pay nearly $200,000 in restitution and to serve six months home incarceration for dodging taxes and filing false tax returns.

Maria Georgievsky, 55, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Herman J. Weber in U.S. District Court.

Georgievsky, who’s been out on bond, pleaded guilty to one count income tax evasion in March, according to court documents.  The charge carries up to five years in prison and fine of up to $250,000.

As part of a plea agreement reached earlier this year, she has been sentenced to probation, with a condition of home confinement for six months, and ordered to pay restitution in  the amount of $196,980

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.”

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: business owner, crime, herman j. weber, income tax, labor agency, maria georgievsky, mason, sentenced, standard services inc, tax fraud, u.s. district court

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 Mason financial planner who swindled clients out of millions will serve more than three years in prison, the U.S. Justice Department said.

Elliot Kravitz, 54, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to 41 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $1.8 million in restitution to customers of LPL Financial Services, said Carter Stewart, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.

The sentence was handed down by Senior U.S. District Judge Herman J. Weber.

Kravitz pleaded guilty to wire fraud in May of 2011.  He faced up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors say the fraud occurred between 2004 and 2010, during which time Kravitz defrauded nine of his customers out of more than $2 million.

According to his plea agreement, Kravitz served as an independent client investment representative with LPL Financial Corp., formerly Waterstone Financial Corp., and sold securities through those financial institutions.

In July 2007, Kravitz advised one of his clients to pull money out of the stock market, telling the client the market was too volatile, and to instead put his money in a real estate investment trust, Stewart said.

Kravitz instead stashed the money in an account he controlled, Stewart said.

He then made 12 additional withdrawals totaling more than $713,000 from the client’s account by changing the dates on the original distribution form and faxing the requests to the company holding the account, and sent the client a phony portfolio listing the fake investments, court records say.

He similarly diverted about $1,127,603 from eight other clients for his personal use, Stewart said.

To date, LPL Financial has restored all but one of the victims.

“His criminal conduct was knowing and manipulative, particularly because his victims were long-time customers who completely trusted him with their finances,” Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Barry wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court. “Kravitz took advantage of these relationships and abused a position of trust.”

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: elliot kravitz, financial planner, investor, jennifer barry, judge herman weber, lpl financial, mason, u.s. district court, waterstone financial corp

Did authorities — including the lead detective on the Ryan Widmer murder case — illegally raid an adult birthday party and falsely arrest partygoers?

That’s among the main questions that a jury will be asked to decide in a federal civil-rights lawsuit trial that begins today in U.S. District Court, Cincinnati.

Jury selection began this morning in the case involving a family in Warren County’s Hamilton Township.

As part of the trial, former Widmer murder case detective Jeff Braley once again will face being grilled about his alleged resume fraud, court records indicate.

Braley and other officers are accused of conspiring to raid an adult birthday party under false pretenses, then falsely arresting partygoers, whose charges were later dropped. The Pritchard family and their partygoers allege that nearly two dozen officers and state liquor agents stormed the property in 2007 based on unsupported suspicions of underage drinking, court records say. The party was being thrown for Ted Pritchard’s 51st birthday, court records say.

The Pritchard family later learned that the raid happened partly because a Hamilton Township officer’s wife called the Hamilton Township police department from her Butler County home, pretending to be calling from Warren County and reporting she heard loud noise coming from the Prtichards’ party, court records say.

Prospective jurors in the Pritchard case denied recognizing Braley from the highly publicized Widmer case, which ended with Widmer, now 31, who last lived in Mason, being convicted in the 2008 bathtub drowning of his wife. His case went to trial three times, but only two of the prospective jurors in the Pritchard case said they followed any phase of the case closely.

Braley resigned last year after an investigation into false statements on some of his employment documents, though he denied ever making the misrepresentations. Lawyers for Widmer, who is serving 15 years to life in prison for murder, say that Braley’s credibility issues raise questions about the integrity of the Widmer investigation.

A Warren County judge rejected that argument earlier this month. Widmer’s lawyers say they will appeal.

Posted in: Crime, News, Widmer Trial |

Tags: Tags: bathtub murder, birthday party, civil rights, fraud, hamilton township police, jeff braley, lawsuit, lt. jeff braley, murder, pritchard, resume fraud, ryan widmer, sarah widmer, ted pritchard, u.s. district court, warren county

A Mason man and former West Chester Township elementary school teacher could face up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges, reports the Enquirer’s Dan Horn.

Ryan Brant Fahrenkamp, 42, entered the plea Wednesday in U.S. District Court and admitted that he kept sexual images of children on his school-issued laptop computer and that he used the computer to access pornographic websites.

He also acknowledged in court documents that he took inappropriate photos of a boy during an out-of-state trip.  Court records describe the boy as a former student.

Fahrenkamp has worked in the Lakota school system for 14 years and most recently taught fifth-grade at Endeavor Elementary School in West Chester Township.

The legal troubles of Fahrenkamp began in May 2010 when Lakota school officials called police about a parent’s complaint that he was sending text messages to a student.

Dan Horn has more details:

Federal prosecutors say the text messages were not sexual in nature, but school officials have said they contacted parents and placed Fahrenkamp on administrative leave after learning about them.

Investigators say Fahrenkamp resigned three months later, at which time school officials examined his laptop, found photos of shirtless male students and learned he had accessed adult pornographic websites.

Prosecutors say a subsequent search of a storage unit rented by Fahrenkamp led to the discovery of computer files with more than 600 images of children “engaged in sex acts.”

Fahrenkamp’s personnel file showed no discipline related to other allegations of sexual misconduct, but he was reprimanded in 2009 for an “inappropriate communication” with another student.

In that case, he was accused of responding favorably to a derogatory comment one student made about another.

Fahrenkamp is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 1 before Judge Herman Weber. His plea deal states that he could face between five and 20 years in prison.

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: child pornography, endeavor elementary school, guilty, judge herman weber, lakota, lakota schools, mason, ryan brant fahrenkamp, school, teacher, u.s. district court, west chester, west chester township

University of Cincinnati Coach Bob Huggins hugs guard Anthony Buford during the final seconds of a victory over Memphis State on March 29, 1992. Buford, of Mason, pleaded guilty to one one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud.

Former University of Cincinnati basketball star Anthony Buford pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court this week to charges of mortgage fraud conspiracy.

Buford, 42, and Jolie O. Neal, 47, both of Mason, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud lending institutions out of $2,779,500 by cheating the system in order to obtain mortgages on three properties they owned and keeping the money rather than paying off existing loans.

According to court documents, Buford and Jolie O. Neal of Mason conspired to commit felony bank, wire and mail fraud from 2004 through July 2007.

During that time, Buford worked as a mortgage broker for Dynus Financial Services, which had offices in Bond Hill and Fairfield.

Neal owned Tri-State Title Co. in Sharonville, where she was a closing agent.

Together, Buford and Neal brokered fraudulent deals to refinance property they owned individually and together in Mason by making false representations to Fifth Third Bank and Lehman Brothers, according to court papers.

The properties included 5763 Clearwater Drive, which Buford owned; 6492 Hunters Green, which Neal owned; and 7694 Plantation Drive, which the pair owned together.

Buford and Neal applied for and received nine loans totaling $2.77 million for the three properties in Mason.

Rather than using the loan proceeds to pay off existing mortgages, they used the dollars for personal benefit, Brenda Shoemaker, financial crimes chief for the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Ohio, alleges in the filing.

As part of the scheme, the U.S. attorney’s office says, the pair committed mail and wire fraud by mailing and using wire transfers to send off their fraudulent mortgage documents.
Buford was a starting guard on the Bearcats’ 1992 Final Four team. He also has been a television announcer for UC basketball games.

Buford and Neal each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud. They face a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison, a fine of $1 million or twice the gain to the defendant or loss to the victim and mandatory restitution. The plea agreement reached includes a recommended restitution of $2,779,500.

Carter M. Stewart, United States attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and J. Mark Batts, acting special agent in charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced the pleas entered Tuesday before Senior U.S. District Judge Sandra S. Beckwith.

The judge will set dates for sentencing for the defendants.

Lisa Bernard-Kuhn contributed to this story

Posted in: Crime, News |

Tags: Tags: anthony buford, bank fraud, basketball, conspiracy, court, felony, fraud, jolie neal, mortgage fraud, mortgage fraud conspiracy, u.s. district court, uc bearcat

A Mason financial planner pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding customers of more than $2 million.

Prosecutors say Elliot Kravitz, 54, convinced nine clients to invest in real estate through his company, EMC Financial Services, and instead stashed the money in accounts he controlled. He sent at least one client phony portfolios listing the fake investments, court records say.

Prosecutors say the fraud occurred between 2004 and 2010. Kravitz pleaded guilty to wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Herman Weber. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in August.

Posted in: Business, News |

Tags: Tags: elliot kravitz, emc financial services, fraud, judge herman weber, mason, u.s. district court