CARLYLE WOMAN ASSAULTED AT ST CLAIR MALL
On Friday evening around 7 o'clock, the Fairview Police Department was called to investigate an incident which occurred on the South Sears parking lot at St. Clair Square. A 29 year-old female reported that she parked her car and was preparing to get her two small kids out. A suspicious Pontiac Grand Prix pulled up along side her and a black female, about 25 years old with a thin build, stepped out of the passenger side of the Grand Prix, pulled a handgun, and demanded the woman's keys. The mother resisted and there was a struggle. The suspicious woman got back in the Pontiac and fled the area. A black male, with no other description, drove the Grand Prix. The victim received minor injuries. The children remained in the vehicle and were not assaulted in any way. St. Charles Police are investigating the possibility that the Grand Prix had been stolen earlier that day. If anyone has any information, please contact the St. Charles Police Department.
TAX EVASION ATTEMPTS
Skyrocketing diesel fuel prices are prompting truckers to try to evade motor fuel taxes by burning untaxed diesel fuel, intended for use off the highway. In 2008, the Department of Revenue's Bureau of Criminal Investigation has already caught 117 trucks using untaxed diesel fuel for highway use, a major increase since 2006, when only 46 trucks were caught. Drivers offer a variety of excuses. Some deny any wrongdoing or blame others, such as the fuel delivery guy. Some just admit it, like the trucker caught just outside of Cairo, who lowered his head and admitted, "I'm as guilty as a four legged possum."
FORMER PRESIDENT OF MERCY REGIONAL PLEADS GUILTY
This Thursday, Clayton Hobbs, former President of Mercy Regional Health Systems in Benton, Illinois, plead guilty to 16 counts of failing to pay federal employment taxes. As President and Operator of Mercy Regional, 30 year-old Hobbs withheld federal payroll taxes from the employees and failed to pay over 1.7 million dollars of federal employment taxes to the IRS. Sentencing is scheduled for December 5.
In a similar case, Mercy Regional Health Systems Effingham Advanced Ambulance System pled guilty to one count of false statements relating to healthcare matters, one count of embezzlement from an employee benefit plan, one count healthcare fraud, and two counts of mail fraud. Mercy Regional allegedly made false statements to its employees relating to their healthcare coverage and failed to forward contributions to employees' 401 K plans.
Plea agreements for both Hobbs and Mercy Regional Health Systems require restitution totaling nearly $265,000, plus over 1.7 million in unpaid federal payroll taxes to be paid to the IRS.
