What kind of thief steals from homeless people and at-risk youth? A federal jury in Fresno decided Thursday that 46-year-old former IRS employee Marcela Heredia is exactly that kind of thief. Now, the former Fresno resident faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine after her convictions...
Feds Arrest Fresno Man in $1 Million Fraud Scheme
Federal agents arrested a Fresno man, Kenneth Shane Patterson, at his home Friday morning after he was indicted by a grand jury for wire fraud, bank fraud, and tax evasion. According to federal court documents, Patterson, 42, persuaded a Southern California business owner to give him more than $1 million so...
Feds Say Former Clovis Pastor Committed $2 Million Fraud
The Department of Justice indicted Sherman S. Smith, 73, formerly the executive pastor of Sonrise Church in Clovis, on seven counts of wire fraud totaling more than $2 million Thursday. According to documents filed in federal court in Fresno, Smith allegedly induced investors, including church congregants, to give money to the...
Michael Avenatti Charged With Extortion and Wire, Bank Fraud
LOS ANGELES — U.S. prosecutors on two coasts have charged President Donald Trump critic and attorney Michael Avenatti with extortion and bank and wire fraud. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles said Avenatti was arrested Monday in New York. Spokesman Ciaran McEvoy says the lawyer best known...
Rep. Collins Will Stay on Ballot Despite Insider Trading Charges
NEW YORK — Republican U.S. Rep. Christopher Collins of New York was arrested Wednesday on charges he fed inside information that he gleaned from sitting on the board of a biotechnology company to his son, helping others dodge hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses when bad news came out....