As the Navy Vets probe widens, Ohio prosecutors get first guilty plea

[seafan]

Source: St. Petersburg Times

CLEVELAND — Clad in handcuffs and the blue prison garb she has worn since October, an emotional Blanca Contreras pleaded guilty today to a series of charges linking her to a multi-state scam that fleeced millions from donors who thought they were contributing to veteran causes across the United States.

.....

It was the first successful prosecution in an expanding investigation of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, a nonprofit that reported raising tens of millions of dollars since 2002 and having 66,000 members, a national headquarters, and 41 state offices.

A series of articles published by the St. Petersburg Times beginning in March 2010 exposed the charity as an elaborate fraud that steered hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations into the campaign accounts of conservative politicians across the nation, as well as some prominent elected officials in the Tampa Bay area. In fact, the newspaper first detected the charity after it gave $500 to then Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White — who was arrested last week by the FBI on an unrelated charge of bribery.

.....

Contreras isn't the mastermind of the operation. The real target of these multiple investigations was nowhere to be found Wednesday.

The man known as "Bobby Thompson" has eluded investigators since he vanished more than a year ago. It was Thompson who founded the nonprofit in 2002 from a $600-a-month, roach-infested duplex in Ybor City. Investigators regard Contreras as a lower-level accomplice, said Arvin Clar, a special agent with the Ohio Attorney General's office.

Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/as-the-navy-vets-probe-widens-ohio-prosecutors-get-first-guilty-plea/1176692

---

Nationwide warrant for head of sham veterans' charity: Diverted money to Republican campaigns, November 10, 2010


"Bobby Thompson", now a fugitive on the run:



(Ohio Attorney General’s Office)


(Ohio Attorney General’s Office)

[DainBramaged]

1. It's always a fucking Republican....

[PavePusher]

8. Except of course, that it isn't always. Really, we don't want to start that game today... n/t

[Hassin Bin Sober]

14. Bullshit. Prove it.

[Angry Dragon]

2. He also donated to bachmann

and had a picture taken with her and palin in Minneapolis

Something like $10,000

[LiberalAndProud]

3. I wonder who's identity he stole this time.

Not that Contreras doesn't deserve what's coming to her, but "Bobby" will probably get away. And the cynic in me thinks he may be calling in some favors to do so.

[Plucketeer]

4. There's a supposed police aid outfit

that goes by the acronym of COPS. Those suckers are super-crooked! REAL con artists, they are. They started hounding me for money after I first expressed intrests in donating, and then got suspicious. I had told them I'd give $50 bucks, but then refused to give them my credit card number. Man, those guys called here for MONTHS - literally telling me what an ass I was for not giving the money I'd "pledged". Heh - I looked up their tax statement for the previous year - they'd taken IN over FOUR MILLION in donations, while paying out to "needy" cops a grand total of $66K dollars. Man, that's SOME overhead!!!
I finally had our local sheriff's dept call them. That shut them up. Of course, the sheriff's dept did NOTHING to investigate further!

[Hubert Flottz]

5. GOP = Terrorists.

[Archae]

6. I don't blame republicans for this.

They got royally suckered by this bastard "Thompson" also.

[bahrbearian]

13. They didn't use Reagan Mantra " trust but verify"

[russspeakeasy]

7. How low can you go ??

[Octafish]

9. K&R

BFEE Wannabe

[UTUSN]

10. Let's not omit *this* lovely pic of Mc5planes:

And, as to the sentiment posted above about not blaming Rethugs for this because they got screwed by this con man, uh, first of all crooked a-holes are attracted to one another naturally, and secondly if the con had succeeded the Rethugs would be totally embracing him publically, which they would covertly in any case. I despise Rethugs.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. Some Virginia politicians received donations too.

The Roanoke Times has been covering the story from that angle.

Treasurer of phony charity U.S. Navy Vets is convicted

By Laurence Hammack
981-3239

As Virginia authorities continue to investigate a charity that collected millions of dollars in the name of military veterans, a woman was convicted in Ohio on Wednesday for her role in what prosecutors say was a scam.

....
In Virginia, an investigation by the Office of Consumer Affairs found that the U.S. Navy Vets raised more than $2 million from state residents, mostly through telephone solicitations.

The case was turned over to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in February.

....
Cuccinelli was the biggest benefactor of Thompson's campaign contributions in Virginia, receiving $55,500 from the bushy-haired and bearded man when Cuccinelli was running for attorney general two years ago.

[lonestarnot]

12. K & R

Do we have a pic w/o that thing on his face?