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Officer Don's Crime Prevention Tip |
Preventing Vandalism
Schools pay out millions of dollars each year to clean up graffiti, repair buildings, or replace vandalized equipment. That means less money for books, computers, sports equipment, and student activities.
Local governments pay the bills for broken street lights, stolen signs, and vandalized parks.
Businesses pass the costs of vandalism on to customers through higher prices.
You Can Help Prevent Vandalism:
Educate the public, especially young people about the costs of vandalism;
Clean up vandalism as soon as it happens -- replace signs, repair playground equipment, paint over graffiti;
If you see anyone committing vandalism, report it to the police, school authorities, or someone who can take action;
Protect your house or apartment from vandalism by using good lighting and locking gates and garages;
Support recreational programs for young people in your community. Volunteer your time, donate money or supplies, and help in any way you can.
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| Sheriff Kathy Witt |
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Fugitives Wanted by the Fayette County Sheriff's Office
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WANTED |
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Lawrence Wolford Lucas |
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Burglary 2nd |
DOB: 11/29/1984
Race: White
Sex: Male
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 150
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green |
Click here to see who is wanted by the Fayette County Sheriff's Office. |
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| Issue: #35 |
September/2008 |
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 Welcome to our E-Newsletter Feel free to forward our E-Newsletter to others.
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TOP STORIES
The Crime-Fighters' Fact-Checker
Update on the Public Defenders' lawsuit for more money! Franklin Circuit Judge enters Temporary Injunction which requires Public Defenders to do their job.
Next on American DA - LIVE
The contract killing of Sparkle Michelle Rai -- father-in-law paid to have daughter-in-law killed because he thought she disgraced his family.
Meet Kentucky's Felony Prosecutors
Matthew B. Leveridge, Commonwealth's Attorney for Russell and Wayne Counties.
Recent Court Case
Father admits to violently shaking baby - ten-year prison sentence imposed for Criminal Abuse.
Death Row Inmate Of The Week
This killer bludgeoned two elderly men and an elderly woman to death.
Information Center
Want to know what cases were Indicted, Dismissed, or Transferred Back To District Court by the Grand Jury and what cases are set for trial? Check it out here.
Who is on Home Incarceration in Lexington?
Convicted criminals in the Home Incarceration Program (HIP) in Lexington. Last Week's Circuit Court Sentencings
Who went to prison and who was probated. |
| The Crime-Fighters' Fact-Checker |
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 Fact-Checker - Update On The Public Defender's Lawsuit For More Money!
Franklin Circuit Judge enters Temporary Injunction which requires Public Defenders to do their job.
The Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy (Public Defenders) sued the state government for more money. They claimed that their caseload-per-lawyer was so high that it constituted a violation of the constitution. As a result, they turned to the courts in an attempt to circumvent the legislative budget process.
The Franklin Circuit Court entered a Temporary Injunction requiring them to represent indigent defendants. In its order the judge raised a number of questions about the claims made by the Public Defenders in their lawsuit.
The court said there are substantial questions about:
1. The accuracy of the Public Defenders' caseload claims;
2. Whether the present Public Defenders' budget allocation is really "inadequate";
3. Whether the Public Defenders' plan not to represent some indigent defendants is legal and ethical.
The success of the Public Defenders' lawsuit depends completely on the accuracy of their caseload "claims." For the past few years Public Defender Ernie Lewis has trooped around Kentucky spouting his "claims" about the "unconstitutionally" high caseload of Kentucky's Public Defenders.
No one really checked the accuracy of Lewis' "claims." Until now. Meanwhile, the media, some judges, some legislators, and the Kentucky Bar Association all simply accepted his caseload "claims" as accurate and became unwitting advocates for Lewis' cause.
If they would have taken the time to have examined the case records of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) and compared them to the case-load reports of the Department of Public Advocacy (DPA), they would have discovered, as the Franklin Circuit Judge did, that there are substantial questions about the "accuracy" of the DPA case-load data.
Below are the comparison of those AOC Records and DPA's case-load "claims."
In Kentucky's Circuit Courts:
| Total 2007 criminal cases reported by AOC |
31,818 |
| Total 2007 criminal cases in which DPA was appointed to represent indigent defendants |
18,789 |
| Total 2007 criminal cases "claimed" by DPA |
33,316 |
 Fact-Checker's conclusions from simply comparing the reports of AOC and DPA:
1. That DPA was appointed to represent only 59% of Circuit Court cases in 2007;
2. That DPA "claimed" 1,498 more cases than actually existed in Kentucky's Circuit Courts during 2007.
In Kentucky's District Courts:
| Total 2007 criminal cases reported by AOC |
254,015 |
| Total 2007 criminal cases in which DPA was appointed to represent indigent defendants |
83,298 |
| Total 2007 criminal cases "claimed" by DPA |
110,890 |
Fact-Checker's conclusions from simply comparing the reports of AOC and DPA:
1. That DPA was appointed to represent only 33% of District Court cases in 2007;
2. That DPA "claimed" to have represented 27,592 more indigent cases than DPA attorneys were actually appointed to represent by judges.
Fact-Checker's bottom-line:
Based on DPA's own figures, there are 335 Public Defenders throughout Kentucky, which had a caseload of 310 cases each.
| 56 Circuit Court cases per DPA attorney during 2007.
That equals 1.07 new felony cases per week. |
| 248 District Court cases per DPA attorney during 2007.
That equals 5 new misdemeanor cases per week. |
| Further, that DPA only represented 35% of the 2007 Circuit and District Court cases in 2007. |
If DPA only represents 35% of the criminal cases in Kentucky's Circuit and District Court Cases, then maybe their present legislative budget allocation is adequate. Any funding disparities in funding allocations between the various regional DPA offices and DPA's administrative office in Frankfort would be an issue of management of resources within the DPA itself. |
| Next On American DA - LIVE |
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The Contract Killing Of Sparkle Michelle Rai
 By Intern Cortney Roehrs
On June 26, 2008, after an eight-day trial in Atlanta, Georgia, Chiman Rai, age 68, was found guilty of felony Murder and Burglary. The jury sentenced him to life without parole plus 25 years for the hired killing of his daughter-in-law, Sparkle Michelle Rai.
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Chiman Rai, Defendant |
Sparkle Rai, Victim |
Chiman Rai was born in India and, in the '70s, he moved his family to the United States. Once in the United States, Mr. Rai and his wife owned a variety of businesses, including a hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, which their son Rajeeve "Ricky" managed. Ricky hired Sparkle Michelle Reid as a clerk at the hotel.
In October of 1998, Ricky and Sparkle began to date and two months later she was pregnant. The couple moved back to Georgia so that Sparkle could be close to her family. During this time, Chiman Rai and Ricky Rai had a much strained relationship because Chiman believed that Ricky dating an African American woman would bring shame to the family.
In March of 2000, Ricky and Sparkle married without Ricky's parents in attendance. A few weeks after their wedding, on April 26, 2000, Sparkle was found dead in their Union City, Georgia apartment. She had been strangled with a vacuum cord and stabbed a dozen times. Their 7-month-old daughter, Alana, was found nearby, unharmed.
The case remained unsolved until two witnesses, a 15 and 16-year-old at the time of the murder, confessed to police what they had witnessed. Upon receiving their accounts, police were able to piece together the case. Chiman Rai contacted Willie Fred Evans and Herbert Green to be his middlemen in the murder. Evans and Green then contacted two brothers, Cleveland and Carl Clark, to actually carry out the murder for $10,000 that would be paid by Rai.
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Sheila Ross, Prosecutor | The 15-year-old, who was the cousin to Cleveland Clark, told police she and the other witness knocked on the door to Mrs. Rai's apartment. Upon opening the door, Cleveland rushed into the apartment and began to strangle Mrs. Rai with the cord to a vacuum. The witness then stated that Cleveland did not think she was dead so he proceeded to get a kitchen knife and stab her repeatedly until he was sure that she was dead. Cleveland then got into the car that Carl was driving and left the scene. The witness also stated that later she and the other witness heard a conversation over the phone in which Cleveland ensured that the work was done. Cleveland Clark faces the possibility of the death penalty for carrying out the murder in his trial scheduled for early next year. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Sheila Ross who proved that Rai was indeed a racist and that he contracted the killing of his daughter-in-law. Rai faced the death penalty but was spared by the jury on grounds they felt that since he was not actually in the apartment, it was not warranted. The defense tried to make it seem as though Cleveland wanted drugs and it was "a robbery gone bad," however, because of the evidence and the witnesses, Rai was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.
On American DA - LIVE on WVLK 590 AM at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, September 25, 2008, Ray Larson and Jack Pattie talk with prosecutor Sheila Ross about the contract killing of Sparkle Michelle Rai. |
| Meet Kentucky's Felony Prosecutors |
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Matthew B. Leveridge, Commonwealth's Attorney For Russell and Wayne Counties
"Matthew is one of many bright, young Commonwealth's Attorneys. He serves his community well," says Ray Larson.
 Matthew B. Leveridge has been the Commonwealth's Attorney for the 57th Judicial Circuit (Russell and Wayne Counties) since 2007.
Matthew graduated from Western Kentucky University in 1996 and from the UK College of Law in 1999. He clerked for Judge Sheila Issac in the Fayette Circuit Court from 1999 - 2000. Matthew was an Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney in the 57th Circuit from 2003-2005. |
| Recent Court Case |
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Father Admits To Violently Shaking Baby -- Ten-Year Prison Sentence Imposed For Criminal Abuse
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Adale Robinson |
In March of 2008, doctors at the UK Medical Center treated a baby who was less than five months old. Examination of the child revealed retinal bleeding, a healing skull fracture, and a hemorrhage in the baby's brain. These injuries can indicate child abuse because they tend to occur when an infant is picked up and shaken violently.
Detectives from the Family Abuse Section of the Lexington Police Department conducted an investigation. The baby's father, Adale Robinson, age 22 at the time, admitted that he would occasionally get "fed up" with the baby and sometimes "give her a shake."
Robinson's criminal history, apart from traffic offenses, shows one misdemeanor conviction for Criminal Facilitation to Commit Burglary. He pled guilty to two counts of Criminal Abuse, First Degree, and was sentenced to serve ten years in prison. |
| Death Row Inmate Of The Week |
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What did this killer do to convince a jury to sentence him to death?
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Karu White
20 at the time
Male, White |
Karu White, along with two accomplices, robbed a store operated by two elderly men and an elderly woman in Breathitt County in 1979. The victims were ages 74, 75 and 79. Using a wrench, a tire tool and a tree limb, they bludgeoned the victims to death. The trio took a billfold containing $7,000, coins, and a handgun. Due to the brutal nature of the fatal beatings, the victims had to be buried in body bags.
White was sentenced to death on March 29, 1980.
That's what he did. He sentenced himself to death. |
| Information Center |
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To see the latest Grand Jury returns, including Indictments, Dismissals, and cases Returned to District Court, click on the dates below:
The Fayette Commonwealth's Attorney's Office Criminal Trial Schedule is updated each Monday. To see our trial schedule, click here. |
| Who Is On Home Incarceration In Lexington? |
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| Convicted Criminals In The Home Incarceration Program (HIP) in Lexington
Inmates who are nearing the end of their sentences can be placed into the Home Incarceration Program (HIP) under certain circumstances. Offenders who are part of this program are technically still incarcerated; however, they are placed in the community under electronic monitoring rather than being behind the walls of a correctional facility.
To learn the identity of the inmates presently in the Home Incarceration Program in our community, click here. |
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Fayette Circuit Court Sentencings Friday, September 19, 2008 |
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| 3rd Division - Judge James Ishmael | |
ATKINS, Charles W.
Age: 54 |
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| Sentenced to 1 year in prison for the prosecution's amended charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance, 1st Offense, and 1 year in prison for Tampering with Physical Evidence, to run consecutive for a total of 2 years in prison, probated for 3 years. | |
CRUTCHER, Jewell M.
Age: 29 |
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| Sentenced to 1 year in prison for Use/Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, 2nd Offense, probated 3 years. | |
PREWITT, Barbara Jean
Age: 52 |
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| Sentenced to 12 months in jail for the prosecution's amended charge of Attempted Fraudulent Use of Credit Cards, and 12 months in jail for the prosecution's amended charge of 2nd degree Bail Jumping, to run consecutively for a total of 2 12 months terms in jail. Sent to jail. Ordered to pay $238 in restitution. | |
PRUYEAR, Eureka Angelicia
Age: 28 |
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| Sentenced to 1 year in prison for 1st degree Possession of a Controlled Substance, 1st Offense, and to 12 months in jail for Use/Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, 1st Offense, to run concurrently for a total of 1 year in prison, probated 3 years. | |
| WATKINS, Kathryn Newman
Age: 51 |
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| Sentenced to 30 days in jail and a 2 year license suspension for the prosecution's amended charge of Driving under the Influence, time served. | |
WILLIS, Christian Jason
Age: 29 |
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| Sentenced to 12 months in jail for 4th degree Assault, probated 2 years. | |
| 4th Division - Judge Pamela Goodwine | |
BAILEY, Wiley J.
Age: 45 |
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| Sentenced to 8 years in prison for the prosecution's amended charge of 2nd degree Robbery and 2 years in prison for Tampering with Physical Evidence, to run concurrent for a total of 8 years in prison, probated 5 years. | |
BLANKS, Shawn Lee
Age: 37 |
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| Sentenced to 5 years in prison for the prosecution's amended charge of 2nd degree Assault and 1 year in prison for 1st degree Bail Jumping, to run consecutive for a total of 6 years in prison, probated 5 years. | |
| 7th Division - Judge Ernesto Scorsone | |
BROWN, Zirl Laray
Age: 24 |
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| Sentenced to 12 months in jail for the prosecution's amended charge of Criminal Attempt, 1st degree Possession of a Controlled Substance, 1st Offense, a $30 fine for Possession of an Open Alcohol Beverage Container in a Motor Vehicle, and a $100 fine for Operating on a Suspended/Revoked Operators License, to run concurrently for a total of 12 months in jail, probated 2 years. | |
WILLIAMS, Steven D. III
Age: 23 |
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| Sentenced to 1 year in prison for the prosecution's amended charge of Theft by Unlawful Taking over $300, probated 5 years. | |
| 8th Division - Judge Thomas L. Clark | |
BUSTAMANTE, Damiano
Age: 23 |
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| ILLEGAL ALIEN: Sentenced to 12 months in jail for the prosecution's amended charge of 3rd degree Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, 12 months in jail for the prosecution's amended charge of Facilitation to Counterfeit Intellectual Property, 12 months in jail for the prosecution's amended charge of Facilitation of Possession of a Forgery Device, and 12 months in jail for the prosecution's amended charge of Facilitation to Offer for Sale/Rent Illegal Copies of Recordings, to run concurrently for a total of 12 months in jail, conditionally discharged for 2 years, serve 30 days. Ordered to pay $500 in restitution. IMMIGRATION CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE) NOTIFIED. | |
PIMENTEL, Artemzo Utrera
Age: 20 |
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| ILLEGAL ALIEN: Sentenced to 3 years in prison for 2nd degree Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, 1 year each in prison for 2 counts of 2nd degree Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument, and 12 months in jail each for 9 counts of the prosecution's amended charge of 3rd degree Criminal in Possession of a Forged Instrument, 1 year is to run consecutive to the 3 years and all other counts to run concurrently to the 3 years for a total of 4 years in prison, to serve 45 days without credit, probated for 5 years. IMMIGRATION CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE) NOTIFIED. | |
| SNELL, Jesse Alonzo
Age: 46
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| Sentenced to 2 years in prison for 4th degree Enhancement Assault Domestic Violence Minor Injury and 1 year in prison for 1st degree Possession of a Controlled Substance, 1st Offense, to run consecutive for a total of 3 years in prison. Sent to prison. | |
STACY, Brett Alan
Age: 26 |
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| Sentenced to 1 year in prison for Fraudulent Use of Credit Cards over $100 within a 6 Month Period, probated 3 years. Ordered to pay $2, 072.75 in restitution. | |
TUCKER, Robert Antonio
Age: 37 |
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| Sentenced to 1 year in prison for Flagrant Non Support, probated 5 years. Ordered to pay $22,313.58 in arrearages. | |
TURNER, Rico Pierre
Age: 32 |
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| Sentenced to 60 days in jail for the prosecution's amended charge of Giving an Officer a False Name/Address, 30 days in jail, and a 45 day license suspension for Operating a Motor Vehicle Under the Influence of Alcohol/Drugs .08, 1st Offense, and 30 days in jail for the prosecution's amended charge of No Operators License, to run concurrently for a total of 60 days in jail. Sent to jail. | |
| 9th Division - Judge Kimberly Bunnell | |
BROWN, Dorothea Elizabeth
Age: 40 |
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| Sentenced to 5 year in prison for 1st degree Trafficking in a Controlled Substance, 1st Offense, 1 year in prison for 2nd degree Trafficking in a Controlled Substance, 1st Offense, 12 months in jail for Possession of Marijuana, and 12 months in jail for Use/Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, 1st Offense, to run concurrently for a total of 5 years, serve 30 days, probated for 5 years. | |
| GOMEZ-HERNANDEZ, Omar
Age: 27 |
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| Sentenced to 10 years in prison for the prosecution's amended charge of 2nd degree Burglary and to 10 years in prison for 1st degree Assault, 3 years of the 1st 10 years to run consecutive and 7 years to run concurrent with the 2nd 10 years for a total of 13 years in prison. Sent to prison. | |
| HO, Mun Loon
Age: 40
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| Sentenced to 6 years in prison for 2nd degree Burglary, to serve 180 days with credit, probated 5 years. | |
| HUNTER, Zacchaeus Elsaadig
Age: 28 |
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| Sentenced to 1 year in prison for Theft by Deception over $300, and 12 months in jail for Possession of Marijuana, to run concurrently for a total of 1 year in prison. Sent to prison. Ordered to pay $848.86 in restitution. | |
PENDYGRAFT, Russell D.
Age: 43 |
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| Sentenced to 1 year in prison for Use/Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, 2nd Offense, and a $500 fine for Possession of Marijuana, to run concurrently for a total of 1 year in prison, to serve 30 days, probated 2 years. | |
TERRY, Michael Brandon
Age: 18 |
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| Sentenced to 12 months in jail for 4th degree Assault, probated 2 years. | | | |
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