Man Sought for Fraud
<bt>The Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's assistance in locating a suspect wanted for fraud. Jack L. Coleman, 57, is accused of defrauding several people in Loudoun County and Leesburg out of money and property. In the months of January and February of last year, Coleman is alleged to have defrauded $7,000 cash from a Hamilton couple.
Coleman was last known to be living in the Purcellville area, but has since left the area. He has ties to Maryland and may have family or friends in Virginia.
Coleman is described as having gray hair, brown eyes, is 6 feet 1 inch tall, and weighs approximately 200 pounds. He has worked as a construction contractor and golf pro.
Those with information about the current whereabouts of Jack Coleman or any friends or family members are asked to contact Investigator S. Remick of the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division at 703-777-0475. To remain anonymous call Loudoun County Crime Solvers at 703-777-1919.
<sh>Gang Forum
<bt>County officials will hold a community forum on gangs, sponsored by the Gang Response Intervention Team (GRIT), from 7-9:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 27, in the auditorium of Farmwell Station Middle School, 44281 Gloucester Parkway in Ashburn.
Topics to be covered include gang awareness; local and regional trends; indicators of gang activity; what makes a child at risk to join a gang; and what parents can do to prevent children from joining gangs.
Members of GRIT and the Loudoun County Sheriff's Gang Intelligence Unit will make a formal presentation to be followed by a question-and-answer session.
Contact Dave Carver, GRIT coordinator, 703-777-0303 or visit www.loudoun.gov/GRIT.
<sh>Dog License Deadline Approaches
<bt>The deadline to purchase a Loudoun County dog license is Monday, Jan. 31. Cost is $5 for sterilized dogs and $10 for fertile dogs. Failure to purchase a valid license is a Class IV misdemeanor and punishable by up to $250 fine, plus court costs. Forms are available at the Loudoun County Animal Shelter and the Treasurers Office. They can also be downloaded from www.loudoun.gov/animals.
<sh>More Eligible for Flu Shots
<bt>The Loudoun County Health Department has expanded the categories of people recommended to receive the flu vaccine. The new criteria for those considered at high-risk include:
* all adults over 50 years of age;
* all household contacts of people in the high-risk categories;
* all children ages 6-23 months;
* persons ages 2-50 years with underlying chronic medical conditions;
* all women who will be pregnant during the influenza season;
* residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities;
* children ages 6 months-18 years on chronic aspirin therapy;
* health-care workers involved in direct patient care; and
* out-of-home caregivers of children younger than 6 months old.
The Loudoun County Health Department is providing flu vaccine on a walk-in basis to anyone meeting these new, high-risk criteria. The Health Department is located in the Shenandoah Building at 102 Heritage Way, N.E. Leesburg.
In addition, Loudoun Hospital's Mobile Health Van will be conducting flu clinics for anyone meeting the new, high-risk criteria at the following locations:
* Jan. 14: The Town of Leesburg, 25 W. Market St./Wirt Entrance, 9 a.m.-noon.
* Jan. 16: St. Francis DeSales Catholic Church, 37700 St. Francis Court, 9 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
* Jan. 18: Dulles Mall Center, 2100 Dulles Town Center, 4-8 p.m.
* Jan. 23: Leesburg Baptist Church, 835 Lee Ave., 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
* Jan. 23: Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 605 W. Market St., Leesburg, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
* Jan. 27: Town of Purcellville Office, 130 E. Main St., 2-7 p.m.
* Jan. 31: Town of Middleburg, in front of Safeway, 2-7 p.m.
<sh>Cell Phone Blamed in Accident
<bt>A cell phone may to blame for single-vehicle accident Monday, Jan. 10, on Cascades Parkway that left a Sterling woman hospitalized, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office.
Karen Romano, 46, was traveling northbound on Cascades Parkway near the entrance of the Potomac Lakes Sportsplex shortly after 4:30 p.m. when her 2003 Kia minivan traveled off of the right side of the roadway. At that time Romano is said to have lost control of the vehicle, narrowly missing a parked car, before she drove back across the roadway where she went down embankment and struck a tree.
The cause of the accident appears to be driver inattentiveness as Romano was using her cell phone at the time of the accident.
Members of Fire-Rescue quickly extinguished a small fire that had started near the rear of the vehicle where the heat from the tailpipe caught the grass on fire.
Romano, who was wearing her seat belt, was airlifted to Inova Fairfax Hospital where she was listed in stable condition.
The accident remains under investigation.
<sh>FBI Warns of Relief Fraud
<bt>The FBI alerted the public to a variety of scams currently being facilitated on-line, involving the solicitation of
additional relief funds for the victims of the recent tsunami disaster.
The FBI, through the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), has received reports of Web sites being established purportedly to assist with collection and relief efforts. So far there have been no complaints made in Loudoun County regarding these scams.
Complaints submitted to the IC3 have identified several schemes that involve both unsolicited in-coming e-mails (spam), as well as reports of responses to posted e-mail addresses, to assist for a fee, in locating loved ones who may have been a victim of the disaster. A fraudulent relief donation Web site has also been detected containing an imbedded Trojan exploit, which can infect the user's computer with a virus if accessed.
The IC3 is cautioning citizens against participating in this type of on-line correspondence. Consistent with previous guidance on incidents of phishing/spoofing and identity theft, when considering on-line options for providing funding to this relief effort consumers should consider the following: Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails. Be skeptical of individuals claiming to be surviving victims or foreign government officials asking for help in placing large
sums of money in overseas bank accounts.
To ensure that contributions to US.-based nonprofit organizations are used for intended purposes, go directly to recognized charity and aid organization Web sites, as opposed to following a link to another site.
Attempt to verify the legitimacy of nonprofit organizations by utilizing various Internet based resources, which may assist in confirming the existence of the organization as well as its nonprofit status. Be leery of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files, as the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from know senders. Several variations of this scam are currently in circulation.
Anyone who has received an e-mail referencing the above information or anyone who may have been a victim of this or a similar incident should notify the IC3 via the Web site, www.ic3.gov or contact their local law enforcement agency.