Trinity Mount Ministries

Showing posts with label North Carolina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North Carolina. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

Search continues for Madalina Cojocari two months after her disappearance

 


CORNELIUS, N.C. — Saturday marks two months since a missing 11-year-old Cornelius girl was last seen in public.

Madalina Cojocari was seen walking off a school bus on Nov. 21. Her mother, Diana Cojocari, last saw her at their Cornelius home on Nov. 23, but her mother didn’t report her missing until Dec. 15 -- 22 days later.

In January, Diana Cojocari and Christopher Palmiter each were indicted by a grand jury on the charge of failing to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement.

The search for Madalina expanded into Western North Carolina on Jan 6. Law enforcement sources told Channel 9 they came in contact with Madalina’s mother, Diana Cojocari, in a rural part of Madison County. A deputy came in contact with Cojocari at a pull-off area on U.S. Highway 25 near Lonesome Mountain Road, sources said.

Days later, newly unsealed search warrants shed more light on what investigators are looking for in the case.

According to the documents obtained by Channel 9, investigators went to the home of Madalina Cojocari on Dec. 15. with a search warrant looking for any potential evidence that could be associated with her disappearance. They seized three iPhones and 11 other items from the home, according to the documents.

Then later, on Dec. 21, Channel 9 was at the home as police seized more items.

Information about what was taken from the home on both dates was redacted from the warrants, but it appears investigators took nearly 40 pieces of evidence.

The Cornelius Police Department, the SBI, and the FBI continue to search for Madalina. Those departments have posted flyers and billboards of Madalina since she went missing.


Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Homeland Security Investigations Recognizes Asheville Federal Prosecutor For Her Work Combating Child Exploitation

 

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Western District of North Carolina

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – U.S. Attorney Dena J. King announced today that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has awarded Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Alexis I. Solheim the agency’s “Assistant U.S. Attorney of the Year” award, for her exemplary work in child exploitation cases investigated and prosecuted in the Western District of North Carolina. HSI’s recognition ceremony was held on Friday, October 7, 2022.

“The protection of the most vulnerable among us is a priority for my Office and the Justice Department,” said U.S. Attorney King. “AUSA Solheim is tasked with bringing to justice individuals who harm innocent children, which are often some of the most difficult and challenging cases handled by federal prosecutors. Through her legal work and advocacy, AUSA Solheim has demonstrated exemplary legal skill and professionalism, advocating for crime victims and holding offenders accountable for their actions. I am proud of AUSA Solheim’s achievement and I commend her for her legal successes and her work focusing on prevention and intervention.”

AUSA Solheim is a federal prosecutor in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville and serves as the Western District’s Project Safe Childhood Coordinator. In this capacity, AUSA Solheim is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of cases involving the sexual exploitation and abuse of minors. Launched by the Department of Justice in 2006, Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual abuse and exploitation. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Justice Department’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

The HSI award recognizes AUSA Solheim for her outstanding work in numerous federal criminal prosecutions involving the productionreceipt and distribution of child pornography, “traveler” or enticement crimes, and online child exploitation cases, among others. In addition to prosecuting federal matters, as the District’s Project Safe Childhood Coordinator, AUSA Solheim conducts trainings of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies on how to investigate and prosecute computer-facilitated crimes against children. AUSA Solheim also participates in community education programs, in order to raise awareness about the threat of online sexual predators and to provide the tools and information to children and parents on how to protect children and report possible violations.

AUSA Solheim began her career in public service in 2014, when she joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (SAUSA), working on criminal and civil matters in federal court. Ms. Solheim then became an Assistant District Attorney in Buncombe County, where she prosecuted state criminal offenses. In 2018, Ms. Solheim returned to federal prosecution as a SAUSA with North Carolina’s 43rd Prosecutorial District until 2021, when she was hired to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

AUSA Solheim received her undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina and her law degree from the Campbell University School of Law.

 





Saturday, May 4, 2019

Operation Southern Impact III: 17 children recovered, 82 arrested in child sex sting


Operation Southern Impact III child sex sting mug shots
A 4-month long investigation spanned eight southeastern states including both North and South Carolina.
Author: Phillip Kish

A firefighter. A business owner. A dishwasher. They were among 82 people arrested as part of a massive, multi-state child exploitation operation conducted across eight southeastern states, including Georgia.

Seventeen children were recovered in the operation, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

"It's not uncommon at all for us to find children in the homes of people who are collecting and viewing child pornography and it's not uncommon for them to be victims of that person," said GBI Special Agent in Charge Debbie Garner.

The operation began four months ago and culminated in three days of investigative actions to include search warrant executions, undercover operations, arrests and sex offender compliance verification visits in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

In Georgia, 31 people were arrested during the sting, which was dubbed "Operation Southern Impact III." Seven of those arrested had traveled to meeting a minor to have sex, the GBI said.

Investigators in Georgia "targeted those seeking out and distributing the most violent sexual abuse material involving infants and toddlers," according to the GBI news release.

A total of 56 search warrants were executed and 41 knock and talks were conducted in Georgia during Operation Southern Impact III.

During the operation, four registered sex offenders were encountered and arrested in Georgia on charges related to child pornography. One of the registered sex offenders arrested during Operation Southern Impact III was initially arrested by the GBI during a very similar operation in 2015.

The GBI said 972 digital media and devices were seized as evidence and illegal drugs and firearms were also found.

Those in custody and charged in Georgia as part of Operation Southern Impact III are:

Operation Southern Impact III child sex sting mug shots

Jimmy Abadio Lopez
1/10

James Barfield IV, 51, Atlanta, GA, home improvement store employee

Dillan M. Bell, 26, Allenhurst, GA, unemployed

Gerald Chamberlain, 34, Rome, GA, golf course maintenance worker

Carol Chellew, 56, Jefferson, GA, county employee

Doug Chellew, 56, Jefferson, GA, department store employee

Timothy Wayne Diggs, 39, Metter, GA, information technology specialist

Keith James Diver, 37, Norcross, GA, restaurant employee

Erick Noe Gonzalez, 26, Buford, GA, landscaper

Erik Gordon, 30, Morrow, GA, shipping company employee

Desmond Lemond Hasley, 27, Douglasville, GA, staffing company employee

Keidron Jayquan Isham, 23, Rome, GA, unemployed

Claude Martin Johnson IV, 21, Augusta, GA, unemployed

Andrew Kim, 30, Suwanee, GA, business owner

Jordan Logan, 33, Grovetown, GA, painter

Jonathan Craig Manning, 28, Rome, GA, railroad worker

Andrew J. Martz, 30, Tyrone, GA, student

Matthew James McDurmond, 26, Cedartown, unknown

Terry Menard, 61, Roswell, GA, multimedia designer

Daniel Joseph Mullinax, 35, Auburn, GA, unemployed

Justin Lee Myers, 22, Cleveland, GA, unknown

Andrew Benjamin Nelson, 42, Marietta, GA, construction worker

Michael David Quinn, 44, Roswell, GA, unknown

Matthew Steven Ramski, 37, Cumming, GA, graphic design artist

Arlen Lemuel Riddle, 46, Muscadine, AL, fireman

Malchijah Robinson, 40, Decatur, GA, unemployed

David Chris Sammons, 33, Eatonton, GA, factory worker

Omar S. Sanchez-Viera, 40, Jonesboro, GA, health supplement company employee

Chad Sitzwohl, 35, Dawsonville, GA, factory worker

Wille D. Slaughter, 33, Valdosta, GA, military veteran

Wan Yeung Tang, 45, Cumming, GA, dishwasher

Tyler Wooten, 21, Sharpsburg, GA, student

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Police: Body found in North Carolina is kidnapped teen girl


by The Associated Press

FILE photo of Hania Aguilar, who was reported missing out of Lumberton, North Carolina. (Photo credit: FBI)

Investigators believe a body found in North Carolina is a 13-year-old girl kidnapped from her home three weeks ago.

Authorities said at a news conference Wednesday that preliminary tests show the body found a day earlier is that of Hania Aguilar.

The body was found in a body of water in Robeson County about 10 miles south of the mobile home park where she was kidnapped on Nov. 5 after going outside to start a relative's SUV before school.

Police say a man forced the teenager into an SUV and drove off. The SUV was found several miles south of her mobile home park. The body was found a few miles farther away.

LIVE - Lumberton Police Department news conference:

The FBI issued a news release late Tuesday saying a body found in Robeson County earlier in the day was being taken to Raleigh for an autopsy and identification.

But authorities have not confirmed whether the body is Aguilar.
Police say a man forced the teenager into an SUV and drove off. The SUV was found several miles south of her mobile home park. The body was found a few miles farther away.
Authorities plan to hold a news conference at the Lumberton Police Department at 3:30 p.m. to provide an update on the investigation. 









Friday, January 18, 2013

Former Minister Pleads Guilty - llicit Sexual Conduct in Haiti:



Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 18, 2013
Former Minister Pleads Guilty in North Carolina to
 Engaging in Illicit Sexual Conduct in Haiti

WASHINGTON – A former minister pleaded guilty today in North Carolina to engaging in illicit sexual conduct in Haiti, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina Anne M. Tompkins and Brock D. Nicholson, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Georgia and the Carolinas.

Larry Michael Bollinger, 67, of Gastonia, N.C., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge David S. Cayer in the Western District of North Carolina to two counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.  Bollinger was charged in an indictment filed on May 15, 2012.

According to filed court documents and court proceedings, Bollinger was a former Lutheran minister who performed missionary work in Haiti.   Court records show that Bollinger regularly travelled to Haiti and served as the Haiti director for a Lutheran charity.  Bollinger admitted that from about August 2009 to October 2009, he sexually molested four Haitian females, between the ages of 11 and 16.  According to court records, one of the victims said that Bollinger offered to give her food and money in exchange for sexual acts. 

Bollinger has been in federal custody since he was charged in May 2012.   Each count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  A sentencing date for Bollinger has not been set yet.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimlani M. Ford of  the Western District of North Carolina and Trial Attorney Michael W. Grant of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS).  The investigation was conducted by ICE-HSI.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.





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Monday, November 19, 2012

Baseball hat, phone book could lead to clues in child exploitation case:




Posted: Nov 19, 2012 10:46 AM PSTUpdated: Nov 19, 2012 11:06 AM PST

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - The Federal Bureau of Investigations is looking for answers, and a man, in connection to a child exploitation case that could have a Charlotte connection.

According to the Charlotte Division of the FBI, agents are seeking the public's assistance to identify an unknown individual who may be able to provide valuable information in the case.
Investigators say they found a series of photographs online showing a prepubescent female, approximately 10 years old, posing naked in sexually explicit positions.
An unknown man is seen in the photos witnessing the child's behavior from a bed nearby.
Agents have released portions of this images to the public in hopes of getting information about the incident. They say the photographs have been circulated and traded as child pornography among various illegal Internet forums.
Investigators were able to enhance the background of one of the photographs. They found what they believe to be a child's drinking cup from the QuikTrip chain of gas stations. 
According to investigators, they believe the photographs were likely taken prior to November of 2005, in or around 13 U.S. cities, including Charlotte and Greenville/Spartanburg in South Carolina.
"A baseball cap displaying what could be the logo of a local sports team, as well as a partial image of what appears to be a telephone book, are also clues which may provide valuable information regarding the location of this endangered child," a release from the FBI stated.
This unknown man's identity and current whereabouts are unknown.
"He appears to be an older, white male between the ages of 55 and 65 with brown eyes, gray hair, and a full beard and mustache," the FBI stated.
"The public is reminded that no charges have been filed in this case and the pictured individual is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law."
The information is coming out as a part of the FBI's Rescue Me and Endangered Child Alert Program (ECAP) initiatives, both of which represent strategic partnerships between the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  
Rescue Me focuses on utilizing clues obtained through in-depth image analysis to identify the child victims depicted in child exploitation material, while ECAP seeks national and international media exposure of unknown adults (referred to as John/Jane Doe) who visibly display their faces and/or other distinguishing characteristics in child pornography images.
Anyone with information to provide should contact their local FBI office at 704-672-6100, submit a tip online at https://tips.fbi.gov/ , or call the FBI's toll-free tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Copyright 2012 WBTV. All rights reserved.
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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Nagging feeling led missing teens’ searcher back to bridge:

CharlotteObserver.com

Finding the vanished has become Monica Caison’s mission:


By Mark Washburn












The bodies of Jake Ziegler and Ray Pierce were found in this small lake under this bridge on I-20, 200 yards west of the Wateree River near Camden, SC. Authorities told reporters late Sunday that it appeared as if their Pontiac G-6 veered across the median and went down the embankment. Photo by Jeff Blake/Special to the Charlotte Observer.

Something about the bridges haunted Monica Caison.

Her search teams had spent two weeks looking for a car with two teens from Catawba County who had vanished on a trip to Myrtle Beach. An intense search along I-77 had yielded nothing, and on Sunday they were in their third day of scouring the fringes of I-20 between Columbia and Florence.

They had climbed the roadway banks already, hacking through jungle-dense vegetation in places, without finding a clue.

“There was something about it,” Caison said Monday. “I just didn’t feel good. I said, ‘Let’s go back in and get a second look.’ ”

Caison and her volunteer team of 15 decided on a new approach: They would check the bridges from the interstate’s medians rather than the sides.

Buck Creek bridge, 20 miles east of Columbia, was the first. At the base of the span, out of sight of motorists, they found a car bumper. A searcher kicked it over. Still attached was what authorities in two states were hunting – N.C. license plate BBD-8844. Just beyond it was the still, dark water of Buck Creek that had swallowed the car.

“I don’t see how these people found that wreck,” said Jim Matthews, sheriff of Kershaw County. “They are to be commended.”


Aimed for sunrise
Jake Ziegler, 18, and Ray Pierce, 17, seniors at Bandys High School in Catawba County, left a party in the early hours of Oct. 13. They told friends they were going to take Ziegler’s 2006 Pontiac G6 to Myrtle Beach, about four hours away, to catch the sunrise.

When they failed to return, authorities began a search by ground and air.

Among those helping was the Wilmington-based CUE Center for Missing Persons. CUE, which stands for Community United Effort, was started in 1994 by Monica Caison. She was looking to get involved in charity work and decided to focus on people who were missing.

Today, her organization has 10,000 trained volunteers across the nation and continues to grow. They have helped more than 9,000 families to date.

Caison, 49, a mother of five and grandmother of three, runs the organization from Wilmington. She has worked with police across the country in missing-person cases, augmenting their forces with her professionally trained volunteers.

She often goes on searches herself, and has been instrumental in helping find people. She draws no salary from the non-profit organization.

“I was one of 11 children,” Caison said. “My parents were very strict and organized. Everyone in the family was involved in charity work. It was instilled in us when we were young. Life’s true meaning is trying to help others.”


Solved friend’s case
Caison grew up in St. Petersburg, Fla., and has had first-hand experience with missing persons.
A childhood friend, 20-year-old Melinda Harder, disappeared in July 1980. CUE does a road trip annually to draw attention to missing-persons cases, and in 2008, it went to St. Pete. Posters were put up around town showing pictures of Harder with an age-progression portrait.

A police investigator saw the poster at a convenience store while stopping for coffee. She looks like a Jane Doe from an earlier case she knew, thought the investigator.

DNA proved her right. Harder’s remains had been found in a rolled-up carpet in 1989, but no one knew who she was.

Through Caison’s efforts, Harder’s body was identified. Her killer has never been found.

Searching for teens
CUE entered the search for Ziegler and Pierce at the beginning.

Trained search-team members came from as far away as Florida and Virginia. They took time off from work, or helped out on weekends. Rotating volunteers every few days, Caison had a team of about 15 on the case at all times.

Volunteers come from many walks of life. Some are searching for their own missing family members, others are in public service or retired from the military, police or fire agencies. Some have lost family to homicide and find it therapeutic to help others.

Caison’s troops started along I-77 and worked south. They checked for skid marks or tire tracks leading away from the highway. They drove along the edge of woods lining the road. When they didn’t have a clear view into the woodland, they would stop and hike in, up to a half-mile, looking for the car.

On Friday, they began looking on I-20 East with the same routine: Look for anything out of place, any disturbance that might hint at a wayward car.

By midday Sunday, they’d finished their canvass of the interstate, but the bridges were still nagging Caison.

Only trace at edge
Buck’s Creek was the first bridge they rechecked. Caison dropped a team of four off to walk down the grassy median. As they approached the water, they saw some debris, then the bumper.

Sheriff Matthews said the car apparently came out of a curve and into the median, threading a narrow pocket between guard posts on either side of the road. A slight incline at the top of the embankment sent the car airborne. It cleared a fence and some trees at the bottom of the slope and disappeared into Buck’s Creek.

Ziegler’s parents, who were driving a nearby highway to look for clues, soon arrived. Caison comforted them but kept them away from the crash site.

Matthews said he walked the scene Sunday and was amazed Caison’s team had located the car containing the teens’ bodies. There were no skid marks on the road, no sign that anything had happened there.

“If the bumper had stayed on the car,” he said, “I don’t know when those boys would have been found.”
Washburn: 704-358-5007

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/10/29/3631631/nagging-feeling-led-missing-teens.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/10/29/3631631/nagging-feeling-led-missing-teens.html#storylink=cpy

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Monday, October 15, 2012

Missing teens may be Myrtle Beach bound:



MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - Two North Carolina teens who have been missing since Friday may be headed to Myrtle Beach and police are asking for help finding the duo.
wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina |

Missing teens from NC

The Catawba County Sheriff's Office confirms it is looking for two high school students, and both families are extremely worried about their well being.
Jake Ziegler, 18, and Ray Pierce, 17, attend Bandys High School. Ziegler's sister, Jackie, says the two friends were headed to Myrtle Beach and the last phone call from the pair came in around 3 a.m. Saturday from the Rock Hill area. Jackie says she hopes police will take her case seriously, because it is unlike her younger brother, Jake to not contact her.
"I understand the statistics and I understand that but this is not my brother. And there's no chance in hell he would go this far without contacting me," Jackie Ziegler said, "there is no activity on their cell phones, on their debit cards. We don't believe they have any cash with them. They have one Shell card for gas and they can use it for food. However, I can't trace it until Monday morning."
Myrtle Beach Police Captain David Knipes said the city is a magnet for runaway teens and people looking for a hide-out.  But, he added, missing juveniles does not go unnoticed. Knipes said a special group of officers make up a juvenile department, specializing in locating missing persons.
"They'll take the flyers and literally canvas door to door and ocean boulevard, hand out the flyers to the different hotels and see if somebody might have seen these people to give them that extra little help," Knipes said, "they're just an anonymous face. With Myrtle Beach having such a high transient population with people coming in for a weekend or a week at a time there's different faces all the time so they can just blend in a lot easier."
Dozens of family and friends drove down I-77 to Columbia Monday morning to see if they could locate the car the teens were driving. Ziegler says they are looking for a 2006 Green Pontiac G-6 with NC plates BBD-8844. Ziegler's dad drove to Myrtle Beach and rented a helicopter to survey the area and surrounding areas. As of Monday evening, their search left them empty-handed.
On Monday, both boys' families publicly urged them to go home.
"You are not in trouble. Our hearts are broken. I will not stop at anything until he is home. And I mean it. If he doesn't want us to find him, I'm gonna find him. We're waiting here with open arms and we're gonna do whatever it takes because that's what family does and that's what family's for," Jackie Ziegler said.
"You have two sisters. You have a family that loves you, that's concerned, that wants you home safe. Please come home if you're listening to this," Pierce's mother Wendy Pierce said.
If you see the teens, or the vehicle they are reportedly driving, please call Myrtle Beach Police at 843-918-1300.
Copyright 2012 WMBF News. All rights reserved.
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