Diner says thieves targeted her at Metro Atlanta restaurant

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A diner at a Cobb County Cracker Barrel restaurant said she became a crime victim there.

Channel 2′s Cobb County Bureau Chief Chris Jose spoke with a victim who is warning families and walking us through how she was tricked.

The victim said the crime happened at the Cracker Barrel location on Chastain Road near Kennesaw State University.

“I want to be bold, but also want to be smart,” said the victim who asked to be identified under the alias of Jeannette Smith. She is worried because the perpetrators have her personal information.

“I probably look vulnerable,” she said. “I’m a senior citizen. I probably look like an easy target.”

Smith said one of the perpetrators held open the restaurant’s exterior door for her but then blocked her from entering the foyer. The pause permitted the other person to unzip Smith’s purse and steal her wallet.

“He acted like he was opening the door and holding it for me but he was actually blocking it so I couldn’t get through,” Smith explained.

Smith said how quickly the crooks acted is what truly caught her off guard.

“And they’re doing it in the foyer. Probably not just Cracker Barrel, other places with a foyer, with double doors. So you go in one door and then you have to go through the other door and there’s no security camera. It’s a very, very clever scam,” she said.

Within 30 minutes, the thieves were using the credit cards at retail stores, Smith said. One purchase included $3,000 worth of gift cards at Sam’s Club. Smith spoke with a manager who said he received multiple reports of a similar scheme. Police are investigating.

“If this were your mother, if this were your sister, and somebody did that to them, how would you feel?” Smith asked.

A spokesperson for Cracker Barrel emailed a statement that said in part:

“After speaking with the guest on that particular day, we engaged local authorities for an investigation into the reported incident and stand ready to work with them.”

Smith is hoping retailers will install additional cameras to help stop these kinds of crimes.

“I’m begging all these restaurants, these department stores and places like that, that have these foyer areas, please put security cameras in there so this could stop,” she said.

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Diner says thieves targeted her at Metro Atlanta restaurant 

A Florida attorney stole $53,000 from a senior citizen client. What happens to him next?

By David J. Neal

Johnie Cooper The Florida Bar

There’s no question Starke attorney Johnie Cooper ripped off a client for $53,097, according to the Florida Bar. Now, the question is how much punishment Cooper will get.

Professionally, Cooper gave up his law license via disciplinary revocation, according to the monthly Florida Bar discipline report, which was released last Thursday. Disciplinary revocation makes any Bar discipline matters go away, but the attorney is, essentially, disbarred. Usually, the attorney requests and receives the option of applying for readmission in five years.

Cooper, 60 and admitted to the Bar in 1991, asked to be given no chance to reapply.

Disciplinary revocation does nothing to criminal charges, such as what Cooper is facing in Bradford County Court: one count of theft of more than $50,000 from a victim 65 years or older.

Cooper’s disciplinary revocation petition says he paid his victim back the $53,097 plus interest.

“I would hope that would result in some leniency,” Cooper’s attorney Robert Rush said Wednesday, “and he took that action before criminal charges were filed, I believe.”

Cooper was the attorney for George Browning when Browning tried to sell C&C Storage facility in Starke. A potential buyer couldn’t complete the deal, thus losing his $75,000 in escrow, $53,097 of which was to go to Browning. Sunshine Title Company sent a check for Browning’s money to Cooper on Sept. 17, 2018, according to court documents and it was deposited that day in Cooper’s trust account.

“Browning stated that he contacted Cooper several times about the $53,097 and Cooper would tell him the judge had not released the funds yet,” the probable cause affidavit said.

Finally, on March 3, 2020, Browning contacted Sunshine about the money and the title company showed him the checks that had been issued. The next day, Browning was in Cooper’s office demanding his money, the affidavit said. Cooper asked for two weeks to come up with the cash.

Browning went to the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office.

Rush said he guesses this case will be resolved in three to six months.

 

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A Florida attorney stole $53,000 from a senior citizen client. What happens to him next?

Medically Kidnapped Senior Citizen’s Health Deteriorating in Missouri, Wife of 44 Years Forbidden to Help

Helen with Charley when she 

was still allowed to visit. Photo 
Source: Taylor family.

It is going on four years since Charley Taylor has been held against his will in a nursing home under the control of a conservator.  This is despite having two doctors say that he is competent.  It has been a month since his wife Helen has been banned from the nursing home, and the couple is heartbroken.  Since that day, Charley’s health has significantly declined, according to his wife Helen.  Helen said that her husband has been “throwing up non-stop” since she was ordered off the premises indefinitely, or risk being arrested.  She said:

He’s as weak as a kitten, I can’t hardly even understand him.  When he talks to me, I’ve got to ask over and over what he said, because he’s so weak.

Charley is bedridden, and reportedly, has been begging for a shower for 14 days.  Helen said that Sunday night Charley finally got one because of an employee who has compassion on him.  She said that he is still having to go up to ten hours without having his Depends changed.  Helen said that Charley told her:

I’m tired of being in prison.

Helen told Health Impact News:

Prisoners at least see their families on Sunday.

On Monday, Helen received more devastating news.  Charley told her that he is being moved permanently to a facility in Jefferson City, which is about 30 miles away.  This is especially troubling because Helen does not have a vehicle.  Since having their property and belongings plundered after Charley was taken, she does not have a vehicle and cannot afford one.  She has been renting an apartment within walking distance from his current nursing home.  Helen longs to be near him, even if she is not allowed to see him.

See the original story:
Husband of Retired Missouri Couple Medically Kidnapped — Estate Plundered to Pay for Unwanted Medical Confinement

Now, the couple can only speak by phone and are subject to arbitrary rules regarding it.  Charley does not have a phone in his room.  He has to use the one that is in the common area, and it is shared by residents and others.

Concerns About Not Enough to Eat

Helen is concerned now more than ever about Charley.  She called the nursing home Sunday night to ask about Charley.  She said that the staff member told her that he ate all of his breakfast and all of his lunch, and talked about “how good he was feeling.”  However, afterwards Helen spoke to Charley to find that he did not eat well that day, and he was not feeling better. She told us:

He is so weak.  He doesn’t want to eat.

She said that one day last week, all he had was applesauce that was taken from him before he could finish it.  Monday, all he had to eat was half of a biscuit and gravy and half of a grilled cheese.

He’s so weak that he can hardly even talk.  His health is going down.  He’s gone down so far.  It’s worse every time I talk to him.

She said that while she was on the phone with him, he had to have something to drink just to talk to her.  She said that as he spoke, he would choke.  She told him:

You’re dehydrated.  You need something to drink.

She said that Charley does not want the drinks that the nursing home gives him because of the laxatives they put in them.
She is concerned about his health:

He thinks it’s his heart.  He was doing this right before he went to have his stint put in.  He was having a heart attack while he was throwing up, but he didn’t feel it.

Since Helen was told that she was banned from the nursing home by his court-appointed guardian Amanda Huffman, she can only look on from a distance to see if she can catch a glimpse of what is going on there.  She said that sometimes she sees Charley when the workers take him outside.  Medical Kidnap reported last month that Helen was given a letter stating that she was no longer allowed to visit her husband because she was interfering with his care. (Click to Continue)

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Medically Kidnapped Senior Citizen’s Health Deteriorating in Missouri, Wife of 44 Years Forbidden to Help