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Complicated phone scam targets Social Security recipients

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Federal law enforcement is warning about widespread phone scams where callers impersonate government officials. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri and the Social Security Office of the Inspector General warn that imposters talk about a Social Security-related problem to gain a taxpayer’s trust and steal their money. The agencies’ message: hang up on the caller.

Investigators say that these callers:

• threaten arrest or legal action if the victim does not immediately pay a debt, fine or fee;
• say your Social Security number has been suspended, offer to increase benefits or resolve identity theft problems in exchange for payment;
• demand payment using retail gift cards, prepaid debit cards, wire transfers, internet currency or by mailing cash;
• demand secrecy in handling a Social Security-related problem or tell the victim to make up a story to tell friends, family or store/bank employees;
• text victim without permission about a problem with  Social Security number or benefits;
• or email victim attached documents containing personal information to look like they are Social Security officials.

Taxpayers should be cautious if they don’t recognize the problem or issue they’re calling about. The Social Security agency will mail taxpayers a letter with payment options and appeal rights.
Report Social Security scams at www.oig.ssa.gov — and other scams at ftc.gov/complaint.

 

MSU Professor: same-sex marriage issue puts Koster in ‘awkward’ political position

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The issue of gay marriage seems sure to feature in the 2016 race for governor in Missouri after four same-sex couples were married last week in St. Louis. Their unions set up a challenge to Missouri’s constitutional ban on gay marriage that Democratic Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Chris Koster must defend.

Missouri State University Department of Political Science head Dr. George E. Connor

Missouri State University Department of Political Science head Dr. George E. Connor

In a statement Koster says he supports “marriage equality,” but has indicated he will defend the state’s laws.

Missouri State University Political Science Department head, professor George E. Connor, says he thinks the situation could come back to hurt Koster more than help him.

“I think Mayor (Francis) Slay’s action really may come back to hurt Attorney General Koster more than help him,” says Connor. “Although we’re talking about years down the road before the general election, it is difficult for me to see a statewide movement towards legalization of gay marriage so much that it would help Attorney General Koster in a statewide bid. Right now I don’t see that.”

AUDIO:  Connor elaborates on whether the gay marriage issue hurts Koster in the 2016 gubernatorial race

Conner says there is evidence that Missouri voters are leaning more conservative now than they did when they enacted a constitutional ban on gay marriage a decade ago. He says that is the product of population shifts as much as ideological shifts.

“The decline in Missouri population is in predominately Democratic areas and the growth in Missouri population is in predominately Republican areas,” says Connor. “I think that puts a Democrat running for statewide office in a pickle, basically.”

AUDIO:  Connor is asked whether it is definitively known where current Missouri voters stand on the issue of same-sex marriage

Connor says no matter what happens in the next two years, Republicans will make an issue of how Koster argues the state’s case.

AUDIO:  Connor on what Republican campaign managers will look for in Koster’s defense of the same-sex marriage ban

The issue is also expected to attract the attention, and the funding, of interest groups from outside Missouri.

“As we have seen in other states where gay marriage has been questioned or challenged, the money begins to pour in from outside interest groups,” says Connor, “So it becomes not an issue being decided by the citizens of Missouri so much as it is decided by the money of outside interest groups and this is going to be true on both sides of the issue.”

Connor says Koster’s statement on the four marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples last week in St. Louis attempts to speak to voters on both sides of the issue, and portions of it will likely be used in campaigns both for and against him.

St. Louis sets up test to Missouri’s constitutional ban of same-sex marriage

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The City of St. Louis has set up a challenge to Missouri’s constitutional ban on gay marriage by issuing marriage licenses to four same-sex couples in a ceremony Wednesday night at City Hall. The four couples were then married by a municipal judge in the office of Mayor Francis Slay.

St. Louis Recorder Sharon Quinn Carpenter and the four couples married in the office of Mayor Francis Slay on Wednesday. (courtesy; St. Louis Recorder's Twitter feed)

St. Louis Recorder Sharon Quinn Carpenter and the four couples married in the office of Mayor Francis Slay on Wednesday. (courtesy; St. Louis Recorder’s Twitter feed)

The city says it will voluntarily stop issuing any more same-sex marriage licenses as it expects to defend the first four, in a challenge to the constitutional ban. City officials tell the St. Louis Post-Dispatch they will take the issue all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

Slay said the ceremony made him proud. “St. Louis is a city that doesn’t tolerate discrimination. We are sending a message on what’s right, and I can’t think of anything more right than this.”

The Attorney General’s Office Thursday morning sought a temporary restraining order blocking the city’s Recorder of Deeds from issuing further marriage licenses. Circuit Judge Rex Burlison denied that motion, noting that Recorder Sharon Quigley Carpenter agreed that while the case is going on she would issue such licenses only after giving the Attorney General’s Office and the Court two business days’ notification. A spokeswoman for the Attorney General says a hearing will be held at a later date on preliminary and permanent injunctions.

Missouri voters in 2004 approved an amendment to the state Constitution defining marriage as only being between a man and a woman.

Federal appeals courts on Wednesday issued rulings against same-sex marriage bans in Utah and Indiana.

Winfield attorneys seek stay from U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice

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Attorneys for convicted murderer John Winfield have asked U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito to issue a stay in Winfield’s execution, scheduled for early Wednesday morning at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center at Bonne Terre.

John Winfield (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

John Winfield (courtesy; Missouri Department of Corrections)

A stay issued last week by a federal judge in St. Louis is still in place.

His attorneys ask Justice Alito to halt the execution until his appeal filed in a case brought by several condemned Missouri inmates is resolved. That is pending in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has declined to stay the execution in light of it.

Justice Alito has issued stays in other recent executions scheduled in Missouri, including that of inmate Russell Bucklew, which last month was halted by the full Court after Alito’s action.

See Winfield’s attorneys’ filing with the US Supreme Court (pdf)

See the Missouri Attorney General’s Office’s response (pdf)

Winfield’s attorneys say a lower court agreed with their arguments that Winfield faces a risk of being harmed by Missouri’s use of pentobarbital that is unregulated by the Food and Drug Administration, provided by an unknown maker, of unknown composition, and made through an unknown process, but the court dismissed his claim because Winfield and the other prisoners did not point to a comparatively safer method of execution.

They also argue that the state’s method of execution could cause Winfield “serious illness and needless suffering.” They point to the halting of the Bucklew execution as an acknowledgement by the Supreme Court of hazards posed by Missouri’s execution method.

The Attorney General’s Office responds to the request for a stay by saying Winfield’s pending appeal does not entitle him to a stay of execution, based on prior rulings.

It responds to the argument that Winfield might suffer by noting Missouri has carried out six executions using pentobarbital and more than 120 witnesses have reported nothing to suggest that those were not quick and painless. It says nothing has changed since the Supreme Court denied stays in those six cases regarding the existence of a more humane form of execution.

Of the Bucklew reference, the Attorney General’s Office says the halting of his execution was based on his health problems, which Winfield does not suffer from.

U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry last week issued a stay of Winfields’s execution based on concerns that Department of Corrections officials interfered with the clemency process.  The Attorney General’s Office has asked for that order to be changed.

Winfield was sentenced to death for the 1996 murders of Arthea Sanders and Shawnee Murphy, friends of his then-girlfriend, Carmelita Donald, whom he also shot, rendering her blind.

UPDATE: Attorney General asks federal judge to change order halting next week’s execution

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The Attorney General’s Office has filed its response to the stay of execution issued for convicted inmate John Winfield, who is scheduled to be executed Wednesday.

A federal judge on Thursday issued the stay citing concerns that Department of Corrections officials interfered with the clemency process. Winfield’s attorneys say a Corrections employee was pressured not to write a letter in support of their request for clemency for Winfield.

Attorney General Chris Koster argues that the claim is moot because a copy of the employee’s letter in support of Winfield is available in public record and media reports. He says Winfield’s attorneys failed to prove that the Governor’s Office had no knowledge of the employee’s statement.

Winfield was sentenced to death for the 1996 murders of Arthea Sanders and Shawnee Murphy. They were friends of his ex-girlfriend, whom he also shot and rendered blind.

See earlier story

AG: Alleged charity fraudster kept donations meant for wounded veterans

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The Attorney General’s office accuses a man of keeping money he collected in the name of a veterans charity, including that collected in lieu of gifts at the birthday party of a teenage girl.

William Harshbarger is alleged to have collected and kept at least $6,200 that donors thought was going to the Wounded Warrior Project. He faces seven felony counts in St. Charles County and four felony counts in St. Louis County including stealing, stealing by deceit, forgery, financial exploitation of the elderly and making misrepresentations in soliciting charity funds.

The charges were brought by Koster’s office as well as the St. Louis County and St. Charles County prosecuting attorneys.

Koster says the charity contacted his office after learning Harshbarger was collecting money in the name of the Project though he was not authorized to do so.

Allegations include that Harshbarger accepted an invitation to attend a girl’s 15th birthday party to receive donations for the Project in lieu of gifts to the girl, where he collected $1,080 and kept the money for himself.

He is also alleged to have kept nearly $750 from a 3-day fundraiser at an O’Fallon Christian school and to have altered a check written by a senior citizen for $30 to appear that she made it out for $300.

Wounded Warrior Project Communications Director Michelle Roberts says the organization sometimes learns of people using its name to collect money.

“It is important for people to know that we as a reputable nonprofit organization do not solicit cash donations door-to-door or outside of stores,” says Roberts.

Attorney General issues statement on Ferguson execution

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Missouri’s Attorney General has issued a statement following the execution early this morning of Jeffrey Ferguson at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.

In the statement, Chris Koster says, “More than two decades have passed since Jeffrey Ferguson kidnapped, raped, and murdered seventeen-year-old Kelli Hall. While this sentence cannot bring Kelli back, her parents have waited a quarter-century for justice for their daughter. My thoughts and prayers tonight are with Kelli Hall’s family and friends, in the hope that they can now have a degree of closure and finality on this awful crime.”

Attorney General’s Office doesn’t believe Target customers’ compromised PINs safe

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Target says the personal identification numbers that were obtained along with other information on some 40-million debit and credit cards used at its stores was encrypted, and is therefore safe. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office isn’t convinced.

Chief Counsel for its Consumer Protection Division Joe Bindbeutel says, “Whether or not (those) can be easily de-encrypted is a subject of some debate between those investigating this incident and Target at this point.”

Bindbeutel says Target is right to say that some level of encryption was used on those numbers, but his office feels they there is no guarantee they are safe.

“It is our position that those PINs by themselves and with the available technology right off the internet are in a position where they could be de-encrypted fairly readily,” says Bindbeutel.

He recommends anyone who shopped at Target between November 27 and December 15 using a card with a PIN have that number changed.

“It is a very simple process to do. You contact your bank or credit card issuer. It can usually be done over the internet.”

Bindbeutel says his office is working with counterparts from other states and could take legal action against Target it if is determined the company didn’t do enough to protect Missouri consumers.

The Attorney General’s Office estimates as many as 500-thousand Missourians’ credit and debit cards might have been exposed in the Target breach.

Bindbeutel also told Missourinet that the Attorney General’s Office is looking at all its legal options regarding the Target breach.

Attorney General ‘looking at all legal options’ in Target card breach

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The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is “aggressively” seeking information from Target concerning how information on credit and debit cards used at its stores was obtained in a data breach.

A sign at a Target Store (Scott Olson-Getty Images)

A sign at a Target Store (Scott Olson-Getty Images)

Consumer Protection Division Chief Counsel Joe Bindbeutel says his office could act it if is determined that Target was negligent in protecting Missouri consumers.

“We are going to be very, very careful in our examination and our investigation of this matter,” Bindbeutel says. “We have teamed up with a number of different states to pool our resources and pool our information about this matter.”

Bindbeutel says before his office would decide to act it must know more about how Target responded to the breach and how the company encrypts its data. He compares this breach to one at Schnucks earlier in 2013 in which an estimated 2.4 million customers were impacted.

“In the Schnucks instance the Personal Identification Numbers were, we believe, unaffected. That information was not stolen from Schnucks. With Target the investigation is ongoing but it looks like if not stolen, these PINs could be easily de-encrypted and used.”

Target said late last week that its investigation revealed the breach had included PINs, but it felt they were safe because they were encrypted. Bindbeutel says his office is not convinced of that and encourages anyone who shopped at Target between November 27 and December 15, 2013 using a card with a PIN to change it.

Attorney General’s Office says it will not retry Ryan Ferguson

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Ryan Ferguson

Ryan Ferguson

The Attorney General’s Office has said it will not seek additional charges against Ryan Ferguson, the Columbia man whose conviction for the 2001 murder of Columbia Tribune Sports Editor Kent Heitholt was vacated a week ago.

In a statement the Attorney General’s office says it has reviewed the opinion of a 3-judge panel that vacated Ferguson’s conviction and has reviewed the remaining evidence in the case, and “will not retry or pursue further action against Ryan Ferguson at this time.”

The state has until November 20 to re-file charges against Ferguson, who has been serving 40 years for the murder of Heitholt.  He is anticipated to be released this afternoon. Assistant Attorney General Susan Boresi was named the special prosecutor in the case on Saturday.