Judge Blasts MI Man Accused of Bilking Process Service Clients

MUSKEGON -- A judge blasted a longtime Muskegon County process server Thursday for bilking nearly 200 clients out of money over a six-month period.

Robert Ostrander, 62, of 6117 Ridgeview, Norton Shores, was sentenced by Kent County Chief 63rd District Judge Sara Smolenski on one count of false pretenses over $200 but less than $1,000, a one-year misdemeanor.

The charge stems from incidents that occurred in 2008. The case was handled by the Kent County Prosecutor's Office and assigned to a Kent County judge because the Muskegon County 60th District Court had used Ostrander's services.

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Acting Sheriff Won’t Accept Subpoena From Controller

Luzerne County Controller Walter Griffith attempted to serve his first subpoena Tuesday afternoon to obtain information about sheriff’s office guns, but acting Sheriff Charles Guarnieri wouldn’t take it.

“I tried to hand it to him, and he said he was not accepting it,” Griffith said.

Griffith said he now has to ask county Coroner John Corcoran to serve the subpoena on Guarnieri because the sheriff, who would normally serve subpoenas, can’t serve himself.

Griffith said he was disappointed that Guarnieri is forcing him to involve the coroner. Guarnieri must accept the subpoena if it comes from the coroner, Griffith said.

Guarnieri could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

County controllers have authority to issue subpoenas demanding the appearance of county employees and other outside witnesses to answer questions about county finances. People who are subpoenaed may also be ordered to produce books, vouchers and “papers relative to such accounts,” according to state law. Controllers also have the power to administer oaths to all people appearing before them, the code says.

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Toyota Receives Subpoenas From U.S. Grand Jury, SEC

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it has received subpoenas from a U.S. federal grand jury and the Securities and Exchange Commission, both requesting documents related to unintended acceleration of its vehicles and the braking system of its Prius hybrid.

The company's disclosure comes one day ahead of the start of congressional hearings into its handling of safety problems responsible for the recall of more than six million vehicles.

Toyota said it intends to cooperate with the investigations and is preparing its responses to the requests.

A person familiar with the matter said the securities-fraud unit of the U.S. attorney's office is handling the investigation but declined to say anything further.

The securities-fraud unit brings cases involving violations by public companies, including improper disclosures or misleading statements made to investors, among other things.

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Process Server Linked to Second Murder Case

LAS VEGAS -- A process server who was arrested in the murder and attempted murder of a Las Vegas couple is now facing more charges.

Police say Gregory Hover will be charged with the kidnapping and murder of 21-year-old Prisma Contreras. Her burned body was found in her Jeep in a desert area near U.S. 95 and the Nelson Landing Road south of Boulder City on Jan. 15th. Contreras had been reported missing the day before. She was a waitress at Hooters Hotel and Casino.

Richard Freeman, who police say is an accomplice, is also facing charges.

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Washington Man Threatens Process Server with Shotgun

FERNDALE,Wash. -- A Whatcom County man faces charges for allegedly firing three shotgun blasts at a process server.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Kevin Meade says the process server presented legal papers to the 65 year old Steven Kayser at his home in the 7100 block of Everett Road near Ferndale Thursday afternoon.

Kayser became upset and told the server he had five seconds to leave the property or he would be shot.

The server retreated as Kayser retrieved a 12 gauge shotgun from his shop and fired a round into the air.

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Bristol Palin Subpoenas Playgirl, but Not Pistachio Co.

Bristol Palin doesn't believe for a second that her Playgirl-posing ex, Levi Johnston, is unable to fork over the amount of child support she's seeking from him, and she's taking legal action to get answers, TMZ is reporting.

Palin, the daughter of former Republican vice presidential candidate and half-term governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, has subpoenaed many, but not all, the places that Johnston drew paychecks over the past year to determine whether he can afford the $1,688 monthly payments laid out in court. The pair have a year-old son, Tripp. Bristol claims his take for 2009 was more than $105,000; however, Levi claims he earned far less than that and that prior to 2009 he'd never made more than $10,000/year.

Palin's legal team released a paycheck stub from 2008 that shows Johnston was paid $18,594 from one employer in 2008.

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Committee Subpoena Could Loom for Toyota CEO

A subpoena from Congress could be next for Toyota's top executive after he declined a committee appearance Wednesday.

The office of the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said that Issa and committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) would take further steps to get testimony from Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda on his company's recent safety recalls.

"Obviously, Mr. Toyoda is not as eager too give Congress and the American people answers as we first thought," Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella said in a statement. "It's telling that the only way he'll come before the Oversight committee is by formal invitation."

Toyoda said Wednesday that he planned to travel to the U.S. next week, but said that Toyota North America President Yoshimi Inaba would be the best-suited person to testify before the Oversight committee.

Toyoda has sought to wage a PR offensive after millions of his company's vehicles were recalled for a faulty accelerator problems. Over 100,000 of the company's fuel-efficient Prius line were also recalled for braking problems.

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Alabama Oxendine contributors reject Georgia subpoenas

Ten Alabama political action committees, found last year to have funneled insurance company money to Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine’s campaign for governor, have rejected subpoenas from the Georgia State Ethics Commission.

Michael Waters, a Birmingham attorney for Alamerica Bank, where the PACs are located, wrote the commission last week that the commission did not have jurisdiction over the bank.

“The bank questions whether subpoenas issued by an agency in a state other than Alabama is a proper, lawful subpoena issued on the Bank,” he wrote.

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Senate Subpoeaned In Connection With Queens Charity

The US attorney's office has served the Senate Democrats with a subpoena seeking information about the member items directed by Senate President Malcolm Smith to a controversial Queens charity he helped found, sources confirm.

The subpoena, which landed yesterday, asks for details about the more than $100,000 Smith has tried to send since 2001 to New Direction Local Development Corp., a nonprofit he and Rep. Greg Meeks founded ostensibly to provide assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina - a goal that went largely unmet.

Senate Democratic spokesman Austin Shafran said he could neither confirm nor deny the subpoena, but Republican sources said the Democrats have reached across the aisle for assistance in tracking down information about Smith's member items.

Since the GOP was in the majority at the time Smith sought taxpayer cash for New Direction, it was also in charge of doling out the money. Another Smith connection to New Direction: His counsel, Mortimer Lawrence, is the group's chairman.

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Serving Papers is Big Business in this MO County

By law, there are two things the sheriff's department is required to do: Run the jail and serve legal papers. And the business of serving papers is a booming one for the Cole County Sheriff's Department.

"We keep going up, and we're never going back down," said Lt. Wayne Kem, who heads up the civil division, which has seen the number of garnishments served go up 85 percent since 2005.

As of 2008, Cole County was third in the state in terms of the number of papers served, mainly due to the fact that it's the seat of state government.

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Police: Legal Runner Returned to Home, Shot Husband and Wife

A man who worked for a legal runner firm serving civil papers is facing murder, kidnapping and robbery charges after a husband and wife he served papers on were attacked last month in their Las Vegas home.

Gregory L. Hover, 38, was arrested Saturday in connection with the shootings of Roberta and Julio Romero. Julio Romero was shot dead in his home in southwestern Las Vegas in the early morning hours of Jan. 25. His wife, Roberta, was shot in the face, but survived.

A criminal complaint was filed today charging Hover with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping, each count with a deadly weapon; two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon; two counts of burglary, with one burglary count enhanced with use of a deadly weapon; attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon; and one count of coercion with use of a deadly weapon.

According to an arrest report, Hover first made contact with the Romeros when he came to their home, near the intersection of Jones Boulevard and Russell Road, on Jan. 24 in search of a person named Santiago Pozzi. Pozzi, a friend of the Romeros, owed $10,000, Hover said, telling the couple he had legal papers he needed to serve on Pozzi, the report indicated.

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Ex-H.S. Coach has Records Subpoenaed in Sex Probe

The Boston District Attorney’s office has subpoenaed the employment records of former Christ the King boys basketball coach Bob Oliva, who has been accused of molesting a family friend during a trip to Massachusetts more than 30 years ago, sources told The Post.

Oliva resigned from the Middle Village, Queens high school last year amid the sex abuse allegations, levied by longtime friend Jimmy Carlino, who is scheduled to testify in front of a grand jury on Feb. 10, The Post has learned.

In April 2008, Carlino accused Oliva of sexually abusing him more than 30 years ago and reportedly demanded $750,000 and Oliva’s resignation in a letter from a Florida law firm to make the case go away.

Oliva refused and Christ the King officials at the time vehemently defended Oliva, calling the accusations a shakedown. Oliva took a medical leave of absence, citing heart problems brought on by stress, before retiring in January 2009 after 27 years as head coach. He accumulated a record of 549-131 and won four CHSAA Class AA intersectional titles.

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Serial Suer Drops All Lawsuits

Erik Estavillo has a long record of litigation against a number of large gaming corporations and celebrities for reasons some might call "frivolous". In July, he sued Sony for banning his PlayStation Network account, which he relied on for socialization due to suffering from agoraphobia, a fear of crowds. In November, he sued Microsoft after his Xbox 360 suffered the infamous "red ring of death," as well as Nintendo for a recent update that disabled a homebrew Wii Channel that he used to unlock characters in Mario Kart Wii.

The suits failed to take into account niggling details such as the fact that Estavillo was banned for behavior, the "red ring of death" is fixable at no cost to the consumer, and there were a number of updates available to re-enable his homebrew channel, but Estavillo has never shown much interest in the details of his case. Furthermore, many of his cases were outright dismissed, though until now that hadn't stopped him from trying.

In his decision to drop the cases, he cited the stress of the long wait for his cases to resolve, which in turn led to his doctor advising he walk away. Estavillo also cited panic disorder and Crohn's disease as health issues keeping him from following the lawsuits to completion. Also, a number of changes were made that apparently appeased Estavillo.

The fact that he couldn't afford the process server fees to serve people like Bill Gates and Winona Rider probably helped the decision along as well. Estavillo has since dropped off the map: All his sites and blogs have been obliterated from the internet. Whether we've truly heard the last of this man remains to be seen.

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Deputies at Odds on Pay for Serving Papers

Luzerne County Controller Walter Griffith said sheriff’s deputies have indicated that they might continue using their personal vehicles to serve civil and mortgage foreclosure documents, but they would seek reimbursement based on mileage traveled rather than extra pay.

Griffith said he won’t release payment for this mileage unless it is approved by county commissioners because he believes the county’s travel policy requires commissioner approval of all travel over $1,500.

He said he advised deputies to use sheriff’s vehicles to serve documents unless they obtain commissioner approval. Commissioners won’t meet again until Feb. 12.

Sheriff’s office representatives have argued that the department does not have enough available vehicles.

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Barnes and Noble Receives Subpoena from New York State Attorney General in Online Retailer Investigation

Bookseller Barnes & Noble acknowledged that it has received a subpoena from the New York State Attorney General for information concerning an investigation into online retailers who link customers to discount clubs that charge hidden fees.

Barnes & Noble said that it wants to reassure customers that it is not one of the retailers who turns over personal or credit or debit card information to discount clubs.

"We welcome the Attorney General's review because it will show that Barnes & Noble does not, nor has it ever, shared customer debit or credit card information with discount clubs," said William Lynch, President, of Barnes & Noble.com. "Customers should be reassured that their personal information, including credit and debit card information is not and never has been shared with discount clubs."

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