Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel's Anti-Fraud System Fails Again-Radio interference stops when CB operator jailed on other charges

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 19:26:50 -0500

Nextel's Anti-Fraud System Fails Again-
Radio interference stops when CB operator jailed on other charges

COMMENTARY
By NANCY J. SULOK
Tribune Columnist
The unwanted noise has stopped on
Debra Walker's telephone and
television set.

It has stopped because her neighbor
man is in jail after being charged in
connection with the theft of cell
phones from Nextel and Motorola Inc.

Her neighbor, Vernado Malone, 31, apparently
turned himself in Tuesday at the St. Joseph
County Jail after the county prosecutor filed
charges against him in connection with the
telephone thefts.

Malone was the subject of my Sunday column.
His neighbors, including Walker, complained that
his citizens band radio transmissions were
disrupting the peace and quiet of their homes on
the northwest side of South Bend. The CB
conversations were coming over telephone lines
and television sets, even when the phone or TV
set was not in use. A nearby church reported
hearing the conversations over its public address
system.

Walker had been frustrated in her efforts to
persuade anyone to do anything about it.

After Sunday's column, Detective Sgt. Dominic
Zultanski of the South Bend Police Department
called. He said Malone was a wanted man. He
was believed to be out of town for a few days but
surrendered to police Tuesday morning.

Malone is charged with forgery, two counts of
theft and a charge of being a habitual offender.

The court papers say Malone has been ordering large numbers of cell
phones from Nextel and Motorola in another person's name. WhenFederal
Express delivered the phones on Feb. 20, Malone reportedly signed the
other person's name, thus the fraud charge.

The theft charges say Malone exercised unauthorized control over the
phones. The charges place the value of the phones at $20,000, but police
and the prosecutor's office said the loss could be much higher. In
addition to the phones delivered to Malone, Zultanski said, police
intercepted $90,000 worth of telephone equipment in a single weekend.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Frank Schaffer said the stolen phones could be
worth as much as $100,000.

"Everyone on the streets knows he is the one to go to if you need a
phone," Zultanski said. He said Malone is known by the nickname Dunnie.

Malone was caught thanks to the excellent detective work of Zultanski,
with help from other officers. Zultanski said police arrested people who
were taking deliveries for Malone, which forced the suspect to take the
deliveries himself. However, he was using addresses other than his own
for the deliveries, court papers say.

Zultanski credited the regional coordinating officer for the west side,
Sgt. Thomas Cameron Jr., with helping to put the pieces together.
Cameron spotted the CB complaint against Malone that had been filed by
Earl Walker, Debra's husband, and he forwarded the complaint to
Zultanski. That helped police figure out where the suspect was living,
so they were able to execute a search warrant on his home, Zultanski
said.

A person whose name was used to order the phones said he realized the
deception when he opened his Nextel bill last month. The bill included
an order for more than two dozen phones and various services, totaling
$15,000, he said.
Zultanski said the cell phones retail for $300 to $400 each when sold
legitimately. Malone allegedly has been selling them on the streets for
an average of $125, the detective said.

When police searched Malone's home, court records say, they found a
computer that was being used to activate the phones. They said they
found more than $20,000 worth of Nextel phones and more than $20,000
worth of Motorola phones.
Malone has been in trouble with the law in the past. A federal grand
jury indicted him on March 11, 1999, on charges of credit card fraud.
Court records indicate Malone had obtained rolls of credit card receipts
from a local business and used five of the numbers to order six
computers.

Malone pleaded guilty and was sentenced to federal prison for 15 months,
to be followed by three years of supervised release. He was to pay
restitution totaling $17,386 to the victims of his fraud.

Malone also had served two years in an Indiana state prison for robbery.
He was convicted in November 1994 in that case. In September 1997, he
received a two-year sentence for criminal recklessness, but most of the
sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation.

The U.S. Secret Service was involved in investigating the 1999 credit
card fraud case and in the latest case involving the unauthorized
purchase of cell phones. Schaffer said the Secret Service was involved
because Malone allegedly used the mail to transport goods for fraudulent
purposes.

Court records indicate Malone has a very poor record of showing up for
court hearings and of reporting for probation appointments.

He appeared Wednesday afternoon before Superior Court Magistrate Richard
L.  McCormick, who assigned the case to Judge William H. Albright.
Malone is to appear in court again on April 12.

Nancy J. Sulok's columns appear on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. You
can reach her at [email-masked], or by writing c/o South Bend
Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626, telephone (574)
235-6234.

http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2004/03/25/local.20040325-sbt-FULL-D1-Radio_interference_s.sto

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