Page 30 - Florida Sentinel 4-15-22

Crime
This past weekend, two unrelated murders tookplace. The St. Petersburg Police De- partment is asking the public for information leading to in- formation about the murders. There is a $5,000 reward being offered in each investi- gation.
According to the St. Pe- tersburg Police Department, the first murder took place last Sunday, shortly after 7 a.m. The victim has been identified as 60-year-old Ver- non Gene Williams. Williams was bleeding when police arrived at the 900 block of Melrose Avenue, South. He died as a result of his injuries.
Two days later, on April 12th, police responded to the 2900 block of 17th Avenue,
$10,000 Reward Offered In Two Separate Murders
Man Sentenced To 18 Months For Making Counterfeit Currency
VERNON GENE WILLIAMS
South, in reference to a shoot- ing. The victim was identified as Corlenzo Williams. Williams later died as a re- sult of his injuries.
Although they do not be- lieve the shootings are related, they do believed that both were unprovoked. A $5,000 reward is being offered for in-
CORLENZO WILLIAMS
formation leading in the cases. Persons providing the information can remain anonymous.
Anyone with information about either murder is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 1800-873-TIPS, or on line at www.crimestoppersofpinel- las.org.
A federal judge sentenced a Bradenton man to serve time in prison for the manu- facturing of counterfeit money. He pleaded guilty on January 14, 2022.
Anthony Wayne Smith, 58, to 18 months in federal prison for manufactur- ing counterfeit currency. The Court also ordered Smith to forfeit a firearm and ammuni- tion found during a search of his house.
According to the plea agreement, Smith manufac- tured U. S. Federal Reserve
notes at his home in Braden- ton. During the execution of a search warrant at Smith’s residence, law enforcement officers recovered, among other things, a large quantity of counterfeit notes hidden throughout the residence, tex- turized printing paper, and printers.
Additionally, Smith’s lap- top computer contained digi- tal images of U. S. Federal Reserve notes that had been used in the production and manufacture of counterfeit currency.
Woman Sentenced To Two Years For Bank Fraud
U. S. District Judge Char- lene Edwards Honeywell sentenced Bridgitte Keim, 52, of Temple Terrace, to 24 months in federal prison for bank fraud. The Court also or- dered Keim to forfeit $7,500, which was traceable to pro- ceeds of the offense. Keim had pleaded guilty on January 5, 2022.
According to court docu- ments, between April and May 2021, Keim defrauded a fed- erally insured financial insti- tution and the U. S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) by submitting false and fraudulent loan applica- tions and supporting docu- mentation for federally guaranteed Payment Protec- tion Program (“PPP”) loans that were designed to assist
businesses suffering adverse economic effects from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keim recruited family members to provide their per- sonal information in exchange for free “COVID money.” Keim prepared and submit- ted false and fraudulent PPP loan applications to the finan- cial institution on behalf of her relatives in the names of fictitious businesses, knowing that her relatives did not have existing businesses, did not have employees, had no busi- ness income, and had no pay- roll expenses as required by the SBA to qualify for PPP loans.
Keim also impersonated the family members in com- munications with the financial institution.
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