Each Wednesday, Liberty brings you Crimes Committed by Criminals, a new feature intended to highlight the most important reason to screen for criminals.
Most persons arrested for criminal offenses have prior arrest records, and many have arrest records in more than one state.
(Federal Bureau of Investigation)
In a strange case, Russian mail-order bride agency appears to have defrauded an American man, Kevin Linehan, out of over $50,000.
Linehan believes that the parent company of the organization, KGA International, had a hand in the disappearance of his investment, "I don't know anything about where the money went, all I know is it disappeared."
One of the corporate officials of KGA, Anthony Lawhon, denied any wrongdoing, "I absolutely, unconditionally was not involved with dealing or defrauding Mr. Linehan. He's a disgruntled investor...If he believes Mr. Nichols {another KGA official} did these things, I had no participation in it."
Linehan's lawsuit claims that Lawhon know Mr. Nichols had a criminal record for felony crimes involving fraud, but didn't tell the partners. Further research indicates that Nichols has an extensive history of fraud and embezzlement.
"Do you think I would have signed papers and let my money get transferred if I had known he was a criminal?" Linehan said. "Lawhon had a duty to disclose that were going into business with a criminal."
The cost of failing to protect yourself and your interests is just this, easily preventable possible fraud. Unfortunately, it appears that Linehan has a long battle back to obtain his investment, and he adds, he still hasn't found a wife.
South Carolina's state capital is reading a bill that could affect some 150,000 South Carolinians receiving unemployment benefits. The bill would require a negative drug test to receive the benefits they need. Senator David Thomas proposed the bill, requiring anyone applying for the benefits to be tests and a then subject to random testing in the future.
South Carolina is headed into debt due to the large number of people receiving benefits in the state. Last year, they paid over $934 million in benefits to the unemployed and had to borrow from the federal government to make ends meet.
"They should not be expected to pay taxpayer money with this when that unemployment is being used for drug use," said Thomas. "It's actually meant to be helpful to these individuals perhaps if they are misusing drugs to say to them, nope, that's not what you should be doing with your money number one. Number two, if you're on drugs and you go to apply for work, don't you understand that you're going to be tested very likely in that place of employment and you're not gonna be able to get work?"
Other representatives fear such laws would push the drug users in the lives of crime, "When someone has no income and you'll see crime begin to elevate," said House Representative Leon Howard.
In a strange turn, an audit by the SSA's inspector general discovered that the department responsible for maintaining the E-Verify system has failed to check their own employees. It failed to check 19% of new hires in 2008 and 2009. Nearly half of the checks they did perform were not done according to time limitations set by E-Verify.
All federal agencies are required to check their new hires agaisnt the system. Federal contractors are also required to check new hires, and three states require all businesses check new hires.
What do you do when your best employee relocates to another city and another job? You're number one sales associate changes professions? Or your lead manager left for lunch and never returned?
In either scenario, you'll be left in a pinch. In situations such as these, impulse hiring can be tempting, replacing a valued employee can seem daunting, and rash decisions are easily made.
To keep your head on straight during this stressful period, remember a few golden rules:
1. Know the position. The better you understand the requirements of the job, the more simple it will be to pull out the most qualified candidates. Re-think the job description and make sure it truly describes the duties expected and required of the job.
2. Develop an outreach plan. Target your job market effectively by utilizing the appropriate listing services. Job seekers are online, on social networks and looking for the best position available to them. You want to collect the attention of the best job seekers so you want to advertise the position using as many outlets as possible.
3. Screen application. You should have a stack of excellent looking applications and resumes. When it comes time to narrow the playing field, you'll need to weed out anyone who isn't an immediate match. Pre-employment screening is an effective way to do this. Conduct background checks. Call references, not just those listed but check former employers as well. This last step is vital to insuring the safety of your organization.
All Federal contractors are required to process their employees through the government E-Verify program. It is an federally maintained electronic database system containing Social Security and other records. Now, cities across the US are getting in on the act.
Dallas' city areas have begun to adopt new requirements for city contractors in an attempt to tackle illegal immigration. "I want people we do business with to show they're doing their due diligence," said Lewisville city council member, John Gorena.
Though three states - Arizona, Mississippi, and South Carolina currently require all employers to make use of the system, Texas currently has no such requirement. The proposal was met with some criticism and opponents concerned about getting too involved in developing immigration policies.
Kevin Sluga and his wife Leslie, owners of California Business Solutions cooperated with authorities and admitted under oath that they prepared employment verification letters containing false information. The letters allowed their son-in-law, realtor David Crisp, his wife, and their associates to purchase homes they could not otherwise afford.
The letters contained misstatements about the borrowers' employment and occupation. The letters allowed more than $12.6 million worth in homes to be purchase. The lenders themselves were defrauded out of nearly $4 million.
The Nebraska government has a new bill in Legislature seeking to approve a measure to require all applicants for welfare to undergo mandatory drug testing to receive it. 22 other states attempted to pass the bill last year, but were unable to due to concerns about privacy and cost.
Sen. Charlie Janssen's bill requires Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services to develop a plan to test welfare recipients and applicants for drugs. A positive results would mean a loss of benefits for one year.
Janssen said, "When a taxpayer gives assistance to somebody, it's assistance so they can get back up on their feet. It's kind of a slap in the face to the tax payers when they say, 'We're going to get up on our feet while we're doing drugs."
In 1999, Congress authorized states to implement drug testing for welfare, but Michigan is the only state to implement it only to have it thrown out be a federal judge for allowing for random drug testing, violating constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
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