Rizzo Environmental Services has been cooperating in a federal white collar crime investigation involving alleged widespread corruption in Macomb County government. As recently reported in the Detroit Free Press, the results of the investigation and the coming slew of anti-corruption charges are expected to have far-reaching effects throughout local governments in southeast Michigan. This past Thursday, the first domino fell as Clinton Township Trustee, Dean Reynolds, was charged in federal court with accepting cash bribes from Rizzo to help secure the lucrative $18 million dollar government contract extension to pick up the township's trash until 2026.
Self Defense & Guns: Careful Who Has Access to Your Firearms
Concerned about Self Defense & Guns? Know what the law will hold you accountable for. A retired civil servant and law-abiding gun owner with no prior criminal record was convicted because her son used her firearms in a shootout with local law enforcement. According to an article on FoxNews.com, Jeanne Tinker-Smith, a 64-year-old former accounting coordinator in the state of Washington, was found guilty in Seattle Federal Court for helping her son, Cecil, possess firearms despite his prior 2006 felony drug possession conviction. Though Cecil was killed in the 2014 standoff with police, the government still charged Ms. Tinker-Smith for aiding and abetting a felon to possess a firearm. This unusual Second Amendment case is important because it can have lasting negative effects for gun owners nationwide. Everyone interested in Self Defense & Guns needs to pay attention.
Employees Beware of White Collar Crime
White Collar Crime affects employees too. In the recent Volkswagen scandal where the automaker designed ways for their cars to fraudulently "pass" emissions tests, the government is rolling out a new prosecution strategy: going after the employees. The Detroit Free Press recently reported on Volkswagen engineer, James Liang, who plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Detroit to conspiracy to defraud U.S. regulators and Volkswagen customers, wire fraud, and violations of the U.S. Clean Air Act. He is not only the first Volkswagen employee to be convicted of criminal charges in this matter, his conviction is also a warning to all employees that just following company orders can lead to serious criminal consequences.
