Ann Arbor Criminal Defense Blog

It’s about a two-hour drive due west of Ann Arbor to get to Kalamazoo. The city is home to five people recently arrested on federal white collar crime charges involving allegations of identity theft and credit card fraud in several West Michigan towns.

A spokesperson for the United States Postal Inspection Service alleged that the suspects opened credit cards in the names of victims, had the cards shipped to their homes and then stole the cards from their mail. The cards were then reportedly used at Meijer stores in Kalamazoo, Portage, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor and other towns.

Some of the most difficult cases in family law involve parental alienation. A recent article in the Michigan Family Law Journal by attorney Ashish Joshi notes that "parental alienation is an unjustified campaign of denigration against a parent, often referred to as the 'target parent.'"

Because target parents are often denied parenting time and visitation, they will ask the court to intervene. The court - often frustrated as well because its child custody orders are being ignored by the "favored parent" and the child in question - will assign a GAL (guardian ad litem) or LGAL (lawyer-guardian ad litem) to help sort matters out. The court's hope is that the guardian will investigate, make dispute resolution recommendations and help the process "to move towards a collaborative model where divorcing parties treat each other with dignity and respect," Joshi writes.

As our regular readers know, we do not share political views in our Ann Arbor criminal defense blog. But so many news items have been politicized in these highly charged times that it’s impossible not to note the political significance of some news reports.

A federal court recently ruled that Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen must remain behind bars as he appeals a conviction in April of last year for Medicare fraud. Melgen was a co-defendant with Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey in a corruption case that ended in mistrial in late 2017.

On its website, the Department of Justice recently announced charges against 601 people across the United States as part of its National Health Care Fraud Takedown. The defendants include 76 doctors who are accused of illegal prescription peddling “and distributing opioids and other dangerous narcotics.”  

Among those arrested were 35 in the Eastern District of Michigan. The DOJ said they are facing charges of fraud, money laundering and participating in drug diversion schemes that resulted in about $197 million in false Medicare claims for medical services that weren’t necessary or weren’t performed.