Tag: west virginia
WV Grave Robber Ripped Off Grieving Families
⏱ 3 min read Jeffrey Phares, 65, of Fayetteville, West Virginia, is a cold-hearted thief who preyed on families at their most vulnerable. The cemetery owner pleaded guilty to a massive fraud scheme where he pocketed cash from grieving relatives for grave markers, then failed to deliver. The scam unfolded across four cemeteries in North…
WV Dope Pipeline: Reyes Pleads
⏱ 3 min read David Reyes, 61, of Hagerstown, Maryland, admitted today to being a key cog in a major drug pipeline that saturated Berkeley and Jefferson Counties in West Virginia with fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin. The operation, run out of an autobody shop in Martinsburg, wasn’t some nickel-and-dime operation – it reached directly back…
Wheeling Doc Gets 41 Months for $2.5M Tax Rip-Off
⏱ 3 min read Nitesh Ratnakar, 50, a gastroenterologist and medical equipment manufacturer from Elkins, West Virginia, is trading his stethoscope for stripes. Ratnakar was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison today in Clarksburg after admitting to cheating the IRS out of $2.5 million between 2020 and 2022. He ran a scheme where he…
WV Felon Caught Packing Heat
⏱ 2 min read Robert Thomas, 30, of St. Albans, West Virginia, is staring down a long stretch after copping to federal gun charges. Cops busted him January 27th in the Jefferson area of Kanawha County with a Glock Model 27 .40-caliber pistol – a loaded weapon he had no legal right to own. Thomas’s…
WV Barber Board Staffer Skimmed Fees
⏱ 3 min read Gauley Bridge, WV – Crystal Renee Severson, 45, admitted in federal court she was quietly robbing the West Virginia Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists. For nearly two years, from August 2019 through January 2022, Severson, an administrative assistant, siphoned off over $1,855 in application fees, lining her own pockets. It wasn’t…
WV Biz Owner Pilfered $300K in COVID Funds
⏱ 2 min read Bradley Temple, 48, a former Wheeling, West Virginia business owner, just confessed to treating nearly $300,000 in COVID-19 relief funds like a personal piggy bank. He pled guilty today in federal court to unlawful money transactions, admitting he didn’t use a cent of the money for its intended purpose. The scheme…
WV Trucker Fleeced COVID Funds
⏱ 2 min read Bradley Temple, 48, a former Wheeling, West Virginia trucking boss now living in Florida, just confessed to ripping off $277,456 in COVID-19 relief cash. Temple, who ran Righteous Brother’s Trucking, lied on applications for both Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds. The scheme unfolded during 2020-2021,…
Wheeling Trucker Fleeced COVID Funds
⏱ 2 min read Bradley Temple, 48, a former Wheeling businessman now squatting in Florida, just copped to a brazen scheme: ripping off $277,000 in COVID-19 relief money. The ex-owner of Righteous Brother’s Trucking pled guilty in federal court this week to unlawful money transactions. The feds say Temple lied to get the cash, then…
