Category: Petty Crimes

Texas Man Says He Was Arrested Over Student Loan Debt 

  

Via Complex– When Houston resident Paul Aker answered the door to find seven armed U.S. marshals waiting to arrest him earlier this month, he was understandably shocked. “I was wondering, why are you here?” Aker told FOX 26 on Tuesday. “I am home, I haven’t done anything. Why are the marshals knocking on my door?” Aker, who was arrested and presented before a federal court, had been targeted by the U.S. Marshals over a (gather yourself before reading this) 29-year-old student loan in the amount of (gather yourself again before reading this next part) $1,500.

“You’d have to be made of stone not to feel for these students,” Arne Duncan, former Secretary of Education, told the Guardian of the recent headlines-making Corinthian Colleges scandal and its impact on the current state of student loan programs. “Some of these schools have brought the ethics of payday lending into higher education.” As seen in Aker’s case, which is (sadly) far from unique, federal resources are being used to essentially carry out the duties one would usually attribute to a lowly debt collector. This seemingly ridiculous allowance, as noted by Rep. Gene Green, was made possible thanks to Congress just a few short years ago.

According to Green, private debt collection agencies are getting judgments against the owners of these debts (even, apparently, 29-year-old debts) secured in federal court with ease. After a judgment is secured, the agencies are apparently asking for (and being granted preposterous access to) the usage of armed U.S. marshals.

Aker, who was forced to sign a repayment plan for his 29-year-old debt, will sadly not be the last person to be arrested by armed federal agents. In fact, FOX 26 estimates that another 1500 arrest warrants are expected to be issued over unpaid federal student loans in the Houston area alone.

See the video and sound off in the comments! 

Missouri Couple Robbed Of Over $30K In Possessions By Scam Moving Company Hired On Craigslist 

  
A Missouri couple lost most of their things after they hired movers off Craigslist to take their belongings to North Carolina and got duped.

The couple hired a company that identified itself as “Robinson Moving LLC” after they saw an advertisement for the business on Craigslist, KTVI reported. They paid the movers $1,100 up front with an additional $300 promised once they delivered the items to the couple’s new home in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The U-Haul truck — and the couple’s estimated $30,000 worth of stuff — never made it to North Carolina, according to the news station.

One of the movers called to say the couple’s things needed to be moved onto a different truck but promised it would still arrive in Charlotte on time, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. After the couple got to Charlotte, they received their last call from the movers, who claimed the truck broke down on the highway a short distance from the couple’s new home, according to the paper.

The pair called police, who managed to track down a suspect using the phone number listed on the Craigslist ad. Authorities arrested Deandre M. Robinson, 33, but released him as they applied for charges, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Phone Tracking App Eroniously Leading People To Atlanta Couple’s Home

  
For months now, angry strangers have been showing up at Christina Lee and Michael Saba’s front door with a curious demand: “Give me back my stolen phone!”

Sometimes, families will show up; other times, it’s groups of friends or a random person with a police officer in tow, according to Fusion. 

Despite using different service providers, everyone who bangs on their door has been led to the suburban Atlanta home by a phone-tracking app.

The problem — as the couple desperately tries to explain visitors — is that the missing phones aren’t at the house and never have been.

They are not, in fact, thieves. Saba is an engineer; Lee is a journalist.

The pair doesn’t understand why exactly, but both Android and iPhone users on various networks are being directed to their house by phone-tracking apps.

Once the awkward situation is explained, most lost-phone-seekers are understanding. But the couple told Fusion that a smaller number of people who place absolute faith in their tracking technology are convinced that the couple is lying, provoking potentially volatile conflicts.

Saba told Fusion by email:

“My biggest fear is that someone dangerous or violent is going to visit our house because of this. If or when that happens, I doubt our polite explanations are gonna go very far.”

“The majority of incidents happen later at night, after dinner,” Lee told the BBC, noting that neither she nor Saba have an idea why the problem persists.

On several occasions, Fusion reports, the problem has led to serious misunderstandings, such as an incident in which the couple briefly became suspects in a missing persons case:

In June, the police came looking for a teenage girl whose parents reported her missing. The police made Lee and Saba sit outside for more than an hour while the police decided whether they should get a warrant to search the house for the girl’s phone, and presumably, the girl. When Saba asked if he could go back inside to use the bathroom, the police wouldn’t let him.

“Your house is a crime scene and you two are persons of interest,” the officer said, according to Saba.

Read more of this story and see the video on Washington Post