Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 7-21-17

Features
Inmate Who Feared For His Life Dies In Prison
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
Omar wanted to tell his story that ‘In- mates Lives Matter, Too.’
An inmate who has been housed at Marion Correctional Institute for the past 3 years, died at that facility earlier this week.
The family of Omar Billups was notified early Tuesday (1 a. m.) of his death. Billups was 30 years old; he would have turned 31 years old on Thursday (July 20th).
Although no one at the correctional institution told her, Mrs. Alisha Billups said she was in- formed that her husband had been stabbed to death following an altercation. His death is under investigation, Mrs. Billups said.
Billups was serving a 15-year sentence for robbery.
While there were numerous stories and events about “Black Lives Matter,” Billups had written a letter about “Inmates Lives Matter, Too.” Billups wanted to “expose the truths about ex- cessive abuse of governmental authority.” He gave the names of officers at the facility who he says caused him to be placed in confinement “for their malicious acts.”
He also wrote, “being incarcerated doesn’t mean that we are to be treated like animals...God is the judge and He without sin is perfect. We all make mistakes and we all must pay for our trans- gressions.”
Mrs. Billups says her husband wanted to be moved from that facility because of the treatment he received. He was released from confinement on July 7th and the family was there to visit him on Sunday, July 16th, she said, and told her he felt that something was going to happen to him.
Omar Billups, his wife, Alisha Billups, sons, Jahmaur, 10, Omar, 8, (Dustin, 8, twin died at 8 days old), daughter, Herashiona, 7, Mauris, 6 - New Vision.
Ms. Joann Billups, Omar’s mother, said she too, tried to have her son moved. Their re- quests fell on deaf ears. However, Mrs. Billups says her husband continued to pray for safety.
Omar is also the son of Omar Beacon, who resides in Georgia.
Family members in Tampa have been holding fish fries this week in Oakhurst Square to garner funds for his burial. The fish fries will continue throughout the week. Funeral arrangements are incomplete at this time.
Woman Who Plead Guilty To Tax Fraud To Be Sentenced
A local woman who pleaded guilty to tax fraud will be sentenced Friday morning. She is facing a max- imum of 15 years in federal prison on one charge and 5 years in prison on a second charge.
Ms. Nejah Prince is slated to appear before U. S. Federal Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich at 10:30 a.m.
According to the plea agreement, in February 2013, the Tampa Police Depart- ment conducted a search at the home where Ms. Prince resided. During the search, officers found copies of confi- dential Veteran’s Affairs med- ical records, notebooks containing personal informa- tion of more than 200 people, printed tax returns, and sev- eral computers.
During the investigation that followed, federal agents learned that Ms. Prince, 31, had used the identity of one of the persons whose name ap- peared on the VA records to open a credit account at a local store. She then made more than $1,300 in pur- chases using the card, includ- ing a large screen television set.
As the investigation con- tinued, agents discovered that
NEJAH PRINCE
Ms. Prince had been in- volved in the use of another person’s personal informa- tion and filed a fraudulent in- come tax return for more than $8,200. The investiga- tion revealed that fraudulent federal income tax forms had been filed in the names of several individuals on the VA’s medical records list. Their information was found inside the home where Ms. Prince lived.
In the plea agreement, Ms. Prince pleaded guilty to the charge of access device (credit card) fraud and mak- ing a false claim against the United States.
Officials said the scam re- sulted in the Internal Rev- enue Service suffering a loss of more than $173,000.
FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 3-A