Salmonella found at Ga. plant as early as 2006
Owner Stewart Parnell refused to testify at hearing; 9 have now died
msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 7:13 p.m. ET, Wed., Feb. 11, 2009
WASHINGTON - See the jar, the congressman challenged Stewart Parnell, holding up a container of the peanut seller's products and asking if he'd dare eat them. Parnell pleaded the Fifth.
The owner of the peanut company at the heart of the massive salmonella recall refused to answer the lawmaker's questions — or any others — Wednesday about the bacteria-tainted products he defiantly told employees to ship to some 50 manufacturers of cookies, crackers and ice cream.
"Turn them loose," Parnell had told his plant manager in an internal e-mail disclosed at the House hearing. The e-mail referred to products that once were deemed contaminated but were cleared in a second test last year.
Summoned by congressional subpoena, the owner of Peanut Corp. of America repeatedly invoked his right not to incriminate himself at the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on the salmonella outbreak that has sickened some 600 people, may be linked to nine deaths — the latest reported in Ohio on Wednesday — and resulted in one of the largest product recalls of more than 1,900 items.
"Did you or any officials ever place food products into inner state commerce you knew to be contaminated with salmonella?" asked Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee.
"Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on advice of my counsel, I respectively decline to answer your questions based on the protections afforded me under the U.S. Constitution," said Parnell.
Moments later, as Parnell sat stiffly, his hands folded in his lap at the witness table, as Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., held up a clear jar of his company's products wrapped in crime-scene tape and asked if he would eat them.
Again, Parnell invoked the Fifth Amendment.
After he repeated the statement several times, lawmakers dismissed him from the hearing.
‘Total systemic breakdown’
Shortly after Parnell's appearance, a lab tester told the panel that the company discovered salmonella at its Blakely, Ga., plant as far back as 2006. Food and Drug Administration officials told lawmakers more federal inspections could have helped prevent the outbreak.
"We appear to have a total systemic breakdown," said Stupak, D-Mich.
Cookies, candy, crackers, granola bars and other products made with contaminated peanuts have been shipped to schools, stores and nursing homes, prompting the massive recall. The government raided the company's Georgia plant on Monday, and Peanut Corp. closed its Plainview, Texas, facility.
A federal criminal investigation is under way.
The House panel released e-mails obtained by its investigators showing Parnell ordered products identified with salmonella to be shipped and quoting his complaints that tests discovering the contaminated food were "costing us huge $$$$$."
In mid-January, after the national outbreak was tied to his company, Parnell told Food and Drug Administration officials that he and his company "desperately at least need to turn the raw peanuts on our floor into money."
In a separate message to his employees, Parnell insisted that the outbreak did not start at his plant, calling that a misunderstanding by the media and public health officials. "No salmonella has been found anywhere else in our products, or in our plants, or in any unopened containers of our product," he said in a Jan. 12 e-mail.
In another exchange, Parnell complained to a worker after they notified him that salmonella had been found in more products.
"I go thru this about once a week," he wrote in a June 2008 e-mail. "I will hold my breath .......... again."
Last year, when a final lab test found salmonella, Parnell expressed concern about the cost and delays in moving his products.
"We need to discuss this," he wrote in an Oct. 6 e-mail to Sammy Lightsey, his plant manager. "The time lapse, beside the cost is costing us huge $$$$$ and causing obviously a huge lapse in time from the time we pick up peanuts until the time we can invoice."
Lightsey also invoked his right not to testify when he appeared alongside Parnell before the subcommittee.
‘I want to see jail time’
Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) asked victims’ family members what they want to ask the Centers for Disease Control, United States Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the states’ health departments.
“I would like to ask why anyone would not want to have mandatory recall. Why do we leave it up to the company?" asked Jeffrey Almer, whose mother, Shirley Mae Almer, died Dec. 21, several months after the outbreak was first known about. The 72-year-old was in a Brainerd, Minn., nursing home recovering from cancer treatment when her daughter served her peanut butter toast.
"Their behavior is criminal, in my opinion. I want to see jail time," said Almer.
Darlene Cowart of JLA USA testing service said the company contacted her in November 2006 to help control salmonella discovered in the plant.
Cowart said she made one visit to the plant at the company's request and pointed out problems with peanut roasting and storage of peanuts that could have led to the salmonella. She testified that Peanut Corp. officials said they believed the salmonella came from organic Chinese peanuts.
An FDA inspection report had placed the earliest presence of salmonella in June 2007, the first of a dozen times the company received private lab results identifying the bacteria in its products.
Cowart said she believed Peanut Corp. stopped using her company for lab tests because it identified salmonella too many times.
The company's internal records show it "was more concerned with its bottom line than the safety of its customers," said committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
Charles Deibel, president of Deibel Laboratories Inc., said his company was among those that tested Peanut Corp. products and notified the Georgia plant that salmonella was found. Peanut Corp. sold the products anyway, according to an FDA inspection report.
"What is virtually unheard of is for an entity to disregard those results and place potentially contaminated products into the stream of commerce," Deibel said.
Deibel said he hopes the crisis leads to a greater role for FDA in overseeing food safety and providing more guidance to food makers.
The company, now under FBI investigation, makes only about 1 percent of U.S. peanut products. But its ingredients are used by dozens of other food companies.
The investigation is starting to zero in on the question of who was responsible.
Stupak said he wants know how Peanut Corp. managed to sell allegedly tainted goods month after month without triggering action by state and federal health authorities.
Federal law forbids producing or shipping foods under conditions that could harm consumers' health.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Ruth Maddoff- Thief
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009
Ruth Madoff Withdrew $15.5 Million Prior to Husband's Arrest
By Robert Chew
It was learned today that Bernie Madoff's wife, Ruth, withdrew some $10 million on Dec. 10, 2008, the day before her husband turned himself in to authorities and confessed his financial empire was all one big $50 billion "lie."
The $10 million withdrawal came on top of a $5.5 million withdrawal on Nov. 25, both from Cohmad Securities, which is co-owned by Madoff, according to Massachusetts Secretary of State, which released the information. (See photos of Bernie Madoff.)
Meanwhile, the case against her husband, alleged mastermind behind the greatest white collar crime ever, will have to wait another day as US federal prosecutors asked for and received another 30-day extension from a judge in US District Court today.
This is the second continuance in the highly anticipated case against Madoff, the former Nasdaq chairman who has been under house arrest since he was arrested December 11, 2008. The next preliminary hearing date is set for March 13, the US Attorney's office said. Marc Litt is the assistant US attorney handling the case.
The first 30-day extension was called for in mid-January by Manhattan-based US District Attorney's office, then still piecing together the stunning global fraud. The extension agreed to today by Feds and Madoff's lawyers appears to confirm the two sides are working hard on a plea bargaining deal. Litt's office, with no comment, has not tipped their hand either way. A guilty plea would mean Madoff would escape the glare of a trial and be sentenced quickly.
Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission cut a deal with Madoff, settling a civil case against him where he accepted a permanent asset freeze and agreed to the SEC's complaints against him were "established" and could not be contested. Madoff consented without "admitting or denying the allegations" that he allegedly ran the decades-long fraud under the nose of the SEC.
Many saw this civil case agreement as major signal that negotiations were moving fast on the criminal plea bargaining front, which may include Madoff's desire to keep his family out of trouble. Of course, Wednesday's revelation regarding Mrs. Madoff's financial withdrawals only raises the likelihood that prosecutors will look closely at family members' actions.
To date, Madoff is the only person charged in the case. He is still "free" on $10 million bail and is under house arrest, wearing an electronic ankle bracelet.
Ruth Madoff Withdrew $15.5 Million Prior to Husband's Arrest
By Robert Chew
It was learned today that Bernie Madoff's wife, Ruth, withdrew some $10 million on Dec. 10, 2008, the day before her husband turned himself in to authorities and confessed his financial empire was all one big $50 billion "lie."
The $10 million withdrawal came on top of a $5.5 million withdrawal on Nov. 25, both from Cohmad Securities, which is co-owned by Madoff, according to Massachusetts Secretary of State, which released the information. (See photos of Bernie Madoff.)
Meanwhile, the case against her husband, alleged mastermind behind the greatest white collar crime ever, will have to wait another day as US federal prosecutors asked for and received another 30-day extension from a judge in US District Court today.
This is the second continuance in the highly anticipated case against Madoff, the former Nasdaq chairman who has been under house arrest since he was arrested December 11, 2008. The next preliminary hearing date is set for March 13, the US Attorney's office said. Marc Litt is the assistant US attorney handling the case.
The first 30-day extension was called for in mid-January by Manhattan-based US District Attorney's office, then still piecing together the stunning global fraud. The extension agreed to today by Feds and Madoff's lawyers appears to confirm the two sides are working hard on a plea bargaining deal. Litt's office, with no comment, has not tipped their hand either way. A guilty plea would mean Madoff would escape the glare of a trial and be sentenced quickly.
Earlier this week, the Securities and Exchange Commission cut a deal with Madoff, settling a civil case against him where he accepted a permanent asset freeze and agreed to the SEC's complaints against him were "established" and could not be contested. Madoff consented without "admitting or denying the allegations" that he allegedly ran the decades-long fraud under the nose of the SEC.
Many saw this civil case agreement as major signal that negotiations were moving fast on the criminal plea bargaining front, which may include Madoff's desire to keep his family out of trouble. Of course, Wednesday's revelation regarding Mrs. Madoff's financial withdrawals only raises the likelihood that prosecutors will look closely at family members' actions.
To date, Madoff is the only person charged in the case. He is still "free" on $10 million bail and is under house arrest, wearing an electronic ankle bracelet.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Kimberly Trenor & Royce Zeigler II- Baby Killers
This story turned my stomach and these two rat bastards should be given the death sentence....
BABY GRACE KILLERS
Jurors weep at details of 'Baby Grace' torture
By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Writer Juan A. Lozano, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 7 mins ago
GALVESTON, Texas – Jurors wept Tuesday watching a woman describe how teaching her 2-year-old daughter proper manners turned into a daylong torture session in which the toddler was beaten with belts, dunked in cold water and flung across a room so violently that she died.
Kimberly Trenor, 20, detailed the abuse in a videotaped statement played for jurors during the first day of her capital murder trial.
Trenor, 20, told investigators in the statement that she hit her daughter with a thick leather belt to teach her to say "please" and "yes, sir."
The little victim was dubbed "Baby Grace" by investigators who worked to identify her decomposed remains after the body was found in a plastic container in October 2007 on a tiny island in Galveston Bay.
Trenor's 25-year-old husband, Royce Zeigler II, is to be tried separately on murder charges. His attorney argues that Trenor is responsible for the child's death.
But Trenor insisted it was her husband who became so enraged when the toddler didn't behave better that he hurled her several times across a room, ultimately fracturing her skull and killing her.
"I said we have to get her to a hospital. (Zeigler) said, 'No we can't. We'll go to jail,'" Trenor said in the videotape, crying. "There came a point where she stopped breathing. He started doing CPR on the floor. He took her ... and handed her over to me. I could just feel her going cold."
At the defense table, Trenor's eyes teared up as she watched the videotape on a large screen. Several jurors wiped away tears.
Riley Ann Sawyers tried to stop her mother and stepfather from beating her to death by reaching out to her mother and saying, "I love you," assistant district attorney Kayla Allen told jurors earlier in the day during her opening statement.
The toddler's pleas didn't stop her mother from brutalizing her, the prosecutor said.
Allen said that on July 25, 2007, Trenor and Zeigler disciplined Riley by whipping her with a belt, pushing her head against a pillow and holding her head under water. She said Zeigler tossed Riley across the room, fracturing her skull. An autopsy concluded the fractures caused her death.
Allen said the adults did nothing to help even as Riley lay dying.
Instead, the couple bought a plastic container, stuffed Riley's body inside and stored it in a shed for a month or two before setting it out to sea, the prosecutor said.
Defense attorney Tommy Stickler Jr. told the jury that Trenor never intended to kill her daughter and that things just "spun out of control."
Stickler portrayed Trenor as a scared 19-year-old girl who had moved to Texas from Ohio to marry a man she met while playing an online game. She said Riley's father, her former boyfriend, had assaulted her and Zeigler was her "knight in shining armor."
"I don't want to use the word accident, but this wasn't something that was intentional," Stickler said.
Trenor could receive an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of capital murder. The jury could also convict her of a lesser charge.
Prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty because they didn't think they could prove that either one would be a future danger, as required.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Micah Grimes -Coach
Micah Grimes
It's been a long time since I have posted but Micah Grimes has prompted me to note the following.... WHAT A PIECE OF GARBAGE RAT!
DALLAS -- A Texas high school girls basketball team on the winning end of a 100-0 game has a case of blowout remorse.
Now officials from The Covenant School say they are trying to do the right thing by seeking a forfeit and apologizing for the margin of victory.
Samantha Peloza grabs a rebound in practice a week after their 100-0 win.
"It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened," Kyle Queal, the head of the school, said in a statement, adding the forfeit was requested because "a victory without honor is a great loss."
The private Christian school defeated Dallas Academy last week. Covenant was up 59-0 at halftime.
A parent who attended the game told The Associated Press that Covenant continued to make 3-pointers -- even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points.
"I think the bad judgment was in the full-court press and the 3-point shots," said Renee Peloza, whose daughter plays for Dallas Academy. "At some point, they should have backed off."
Dallas Academy coach Jeremy Civello told The Dallas Morning News that the game turned into a "layup drill," with the opposing team's guards waiting to steal the ball and drive to the basket. Covenant scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and "finally eased up when they got to 100 with about four minutes left," he said.
Dallas Academy has eight girls on its varsity team and about 20 girls in its high school. It is winless over the last four seasons. The academy boasts of its small class sizes and specializes in teaching students struggling with "learning differences," such as short attention spans or dyslexia.
There is no mercy rule in girls basketball that shortens the game or permits the clock to continue running when scores become lopsided. There is, however, "a golden rule" that should have applied in this contest, said Edd Burleson, the director of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools. Both schools are members of this association, which oversees private school athletics in Texas.
"On a personal note, I told the coach of the losing team how much I admire their girls for continuing to compete against all odds," Burleson said. "They showed much more character than the coach that allowed that score to get out of hand. It's up to the coach to control the outcome."
In the statement on the Covenant Web site, Queal said the game "does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition. We humbly apologize for our actions and seek the forgiveness of Dallas Academy, TAPPS and our community."
Covenant coach Micah Grimes did not immediately respond to a message left by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Queal said school officials met with Dallas Academy officials to apologize and praised "each member of the Dallas Academy Varsity Girls Basketball team for their strength, composure and fortitude in a game in which they clearly emerged the winner."
Civello said he appreciated the gesture and has accepted the apology "with no ill feelings."
At a shootaround Thursday, several Dallas Academy players said they were frustrated during the game but felt it was a learning opportunity. They also said they are excited about some of the attention they are receiving from the loss, including an invitation from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to see an NBA game from his suite.
"Even if you are losing, you might as well keep playing," said Shelby Hyatt, a freshman on the team. "Keep trying, and it's going to be OK."
Peloza said the coach and other parents praised the Dallas Academy girls afterward for limiting Covenant to 12 points in the fourth quarter. She added that neither her daughter nor her teammates seemed to dwell on the loss.
"Somewhere during that game they got caught up in the moment," Peloza said of the Covenant players, fans and coaches. "Our girls just moved on. That's the happy part of the story."
It's been a long time since I have posted but Micah Grimes has prompted me to note the following.... WHAT A PIECE OF GARBAGE RAT!
DALLAS -- A Texas high school girls basketball team on the winning end of a 100-0 game has a case of blowout remorse.
Now officials from The Covenant School say they are trying to do the right thing by seeking a forfeit and apologizing for the margin of victory.
Samantha Peloza grabs a rebound in practice a week after their 100-0 win.
"It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened," Kyle Queal, the head of the school, said in a statement, adding the forfeit was requested because "a victory without honor is a great loss."
The private Christian school defeated Dallas Academy last week. Covenant was up 59-0 at halftime.
A parent who attended the game told The Associated Press that Covenant continued to make 3-pointers -- even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points.
"I think the bad judgment was in the full-court press and the 3-point shots," said Renee Peloza, whose daughter plays for Dallas Academy. "At some point, they should have backed off."
Dallas Academy coach Jeremy Civello told The Dallas Morning News that the game turned into a "layup drill," with the opposing team's guards waiting to steal the ball and drive to the basket. Covenant scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and "finally eased up when they got to 100 with about four minutes left," he said.
Dallas Academy has eight girls on its varsity team and about 20 girls in its high school. It is winless over the last four seasons. The academy boasts of its small class sizes and specializes in teaching students struggling with "learning differences," such as short attention spans or dyslexia.
There is no mercy rule in girls basketball that shortens the game or permits the clock to continue running when scores become lopsided. There is, however, "a golden rule" that should have applied in this contest, said Edd Burleson, the director of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools. Both schools are members of this association, which oversees private school athletics in Texas.
"On a personal note, I told the coach of the losing team how much I admire their girls for continuing to compete against all odds," Burleson said. "They showed much more character than the coach that allowed that score to get out of hand. It's up to the coach to control the outcome."
In the statement on the Covenant Web site, Queal said the game "does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition. We humbly apologize for our actions and seek the forgiveness of Dallas Academy, TAPPS and our community."
Covenant coach Micah Grimes did not immediately respond to a message left by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Queal said school officials met with Dallas Academy officials to apologize and praised "each member of the Dallas Academy Varsity Girls Basketball team for their strength, composure and fortitude in a game in which they clearly emerged the winner."
Civello said he appreciated the gesture and has accepted the apology "with no ill feelings."
At a shootaround Thursday, several Dallas Academy players said they were frustrated during the game but felt it was a learning opportunity. They also said they are excited about some of the attention they are receiving from the loss, including an invitation from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to see an NBA game from his suite.
"Even if you are losing, you might as well keep playing," said Shelby Hyatt, a freshman on the team. "Keep trying, and it's going to be OK."
Peloza said the coach and other parents praised the Dallas Academy girls afterward for limiting Covenant to 12 points in the fourth quarter. She added that neither her daughter nor her teammates seemed to dwell on the loss.
"Somewhere during that game they got caught up in the moment," Peloza said of the Covenant players, fans and coaches. "Our girls just moved on. That's the happy part of the story."
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Jocelyn Kirsch & Edward Anderton
This found on the Associated Press...
These two rats finks deserve more prison time...
College student swindler sentenced to 5 years
PHILADELPHIA – A college student who with her boyfriend stole the identities of friends and neighbors was sentenced Friday to five years in prison and ordered to pay more than $100,000 in restitution.
Jocelyn Kirsch, a former Drexel University student, and then-boyfriend Edward Anderton used the money for expensive salon visits, exotic vacations and fancy dinners.
Federal guidelines called for a prison sentence of 70 months, but U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno credited Kirsch for her apparent remorse and for her July 14 guilty plea to aggravated identity theft and other counts.
Kirsch, 23, and Anderton acknowledged stealing the identities of friends and neighbors in the Philadelphia area in 2006 and 2007 to net more than $116,000 in goods and services.
The scheme unraveled when an employee at an upscale salon told police that a check for Kirsch's $2,250 hair extension job had bounced. About the same time, a neighbor of the couple told police a package she did not order had been sent to her.
Police released photos showing the two posing in matching red swimsuits by a luxury hotel pool and kissing near the Eiffel Tower.
Anderton, a 25-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate originally from Everett, Wash., is to be sentenced Tuesday.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Summit County Sheriffs Department- Akron Ohio
Every person and agency listed in this article should be ashamed of themselves..While George Bush signed into law a 770 BILLION Dollar bailout of Wall Street this happened..
Woman, 90, Apparently Shoots Self During Foreclosure Eviction
POSTED: 2:20 pm EDT October 2, 2008
UPDATED: 6:09 pm EDT October 2, 2008
AKRON, Ohio -- A 90-year-old homeowner who was about to be foreclosed on shot herself when Summit County sheriff's deputies attempted to serve her with a foreclosure eviction, according to Summit County Sheriff's Department officials.Officials said when the deputies knocked on the front door of the home located in the 1100 block of Lacroix Avenue they did not get an answer. They heard a banging noise coming from the second floor of the home.A neighbor arrived and said he was concerned about the homeowner, so he got a ladder and entered the home through a second-floor bathroom window. She was found in her bedroom.The homeowner likely shot herself.Deputies said she was taken to an area hospital where she was admitted. It's unclear where she shot herself.According to court records, four years ago, the homeowner took out a loan against her house.The home was appraised at $28,000. As of last year, she owed more than $45,000 on the loan.
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