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East Oregonian
IRS tax scam ring busted
Scheme netted an estimated $2 million
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
Treasury Department has arrested ive
people in Miami accused of posing
as IRS agents in telephone calls and
demanding immediate payment of
overdue taxes, a scheme that netted
them an estimated $2 million, a top
oficial said Tuesday.
J. Russell George, who heads the
Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration ofice, said Tuesday
that the ive defrauded about 1,500
people.
The IRS has called similar imper-
sonators the largest such scam in
agency history. George said overall,
1.2 million Americans have reported
receiving such calls, and around 6,400
of them have reported being cheated
out of $36.5 million.
The callers pose as IRS or Treasury
agents and demand immediate payment
of back taxes or other fees, threatening
arrest if they don’t. George said some
scammers demand that people pay
using iTunes or other prepaid debit
cards.
The ive arrested had their victims
quickly wire them money — something
George said the IRS does not do.
Sahil Patel of Tatamy, Pennsylvania,
was sentenced last July to more than
14 years in prison for leading a similar
scheme that prosecutors said victimized
people in nearly every state.
The ive arrested Monday were
charged with wire fraud and conspiracy
to commit wire fraud, George said.
He identiied them as Jennifer Vale-
rino Nunez, Dennis Delgado Caballero,
Arnoldo Perez Mirabal, Yaritza Espi-
nosa Diaz, and Roberto Fontanella
Caballero.
A senior oficial with the ofice said
they began investigating those arrested
Monday after one victim complained to
the Senate Aging Committee.
That oficial said the ive all live
in Miami and are Cuban nationals. He
spoke on condition of anonymity to
provide details he wasn’t authorized to
discuss publicly.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine,
who chairs the Aging panel, said in a
statement that her committee contacted
Treasury investigators after hearing
from a woman whose distraught
husband had an auto accident after
receiving a w call instructing him to
wire $2,000.
CONNER: Made her way back to Pendleton in the 1980s
Continued from 1A
As a student at University
of Portland, she competed in
downhill and slalom skiing with
Ski-ente club. She graduated
with a degree in administration
of justice and worked at the PSU
School of Social Work. Because
of the federal Indian Relocation
Act, she moved to several
large cites for employment. In
Colorado Springs, Colorado, she
worked as a secretary for a Jewish
auction house; in Albuquerque,
she worked odd jobs; and in Los
Angeles, she was employed by an
athletic club.
Eventually, after two divorces,
she made her way back to Pend-
leton in the 1980s where she raised
her nine children and worked for a
time with the Tribes’ Children &
Family Services. El Shoura said
her mother encouraged each child
to ind their own way. El Shoura,
who is now Muslim, received no
pushback from her mother, who
was an elder with the Tutuilla
Presbyterian Church.
Conner camped each year at
the teepee village at Round-Up
and also at the Wallowa Tamkaliks
celebration, which her brother Taz
founded. Last year at Tamkaliks,
Conner was named as the oldest
rider at age 81.
“She had an ornery horse, but
it didn’t faze her,” El Shoura said.
“She handled it like she always
does.”
After the interment on
Monday, El Shoura, Conner,
Jones and about 80 other family
members made their way into
the longhouse in Mission for the
traditional greeting of the family.
They slowly made their way past
non-family members who encir-
cled the large room, stopping for
hugs and handshakes.
One person at the gathering,
Jennifer Karson Engum, a
cultural anthropologist for the
CTUIR who had listened to oral
history from Conner, said the
elder knew how to mesh her
Indian traditions with modern
American culture. Engum said
she often ran into Conner at the
Roundup Athletic Club after
the woman had inished water
aerobics. Conner, she said, would
take earthy-smelling dried root
used in sweat lodges into the
RAC sauna.
“She was living her identity
wherever she went,” Engum said.
El Shoura said she will miss
sharing sushi and movie nights
with her mom. She and her
husband are adopting Sully,
Conner’s Jack Russell terrier. She
and the rest of the family can’t
quite wrap their minds around the
fact that they’ll never see one of
Conner’s warm smiles again.
“It’s hard to let her go,” said El
Shoura. “We wanted to keep her
around forever.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or
call 541-966-0810.
Etta Conner poses wearing her Indian regalia
as a young women.
SHERIFF: Served city with a tort claim notice
Continued from 1A
DeFord in Grant County
Circuit Court, seeking to
obtain public records.
“For the past two
months, Plaintiffs have
made routine public records
requests from defendants,”
the complaint states. “At
nearly every turn, however,
plaintiffs have met a stone
wall of resistance.”
The lawsuit seeks public
email, phone and social
media records; informa-
tion about the number of
concealed handgun licenses
issued, crimes reported and
arrests; arrest reports where
Palmer was the primary
arresting oficer; commu-
nications with Salvatore
Cascuccio, Fred Grant
Kelly and the Oregon Fire-
arms Federation; reports
concerning the investi-
gation and arrest of Scott
Willingham; and reports
about the 2015 hazardous
materials response to a
possible
contaminated
envelope
received
by
Palmer.
Palmer, DeFord and
county counsel Ron Yockim
did not respond to requests
for comment. Boyd said
Hostetter Law Group is not
representing Palmer in this
lawsuit.
Palmer submitted a
lengthy public records
request to the city of John
Day before serving the city
with a tort claim notice,
which serves as notice of his
intent to sue and protects his
right to do so in the future.
John Day City Manager
Peggy Gray said Monday
the city had not been
notiied that the sheriff had
actually iled the lawsuit.
BEAR: ODFW has documented ive bear attacks
Continued from 1A
he was treated and released.
“I give this young man
some pretty good kudos,”
Pallis said. “Anyone who
can ight off a bear the way
he did ... that’s an under-
taking in and of itself.”
Pallis, however, added
that Thomas was lucky.
He said the incident under-
scores the need for hunters
to have a partner with them
in the wilderness in case of
an accident or, in this case,
an attack.
“It’s always something
you have to consider,”
Pallis said. “Accidents can
happen, and animals can
attack and hurt you.”
Michelle
Dennehy,
spokeswoman with the
Oregon Department of
Fish & Wildlife, said bear
attacks are extremely rare in
Oregon, but not unheard of.
The agency has documented
ive incidents, none of
which have been fatal. Two
of the previous cases — one
in Douglas County, and the
other in Coos Bay — came
under
similar
circum-
stances, where a wounded
animal came back to attack
a hunter.
“This is not the irst
time this has happened,”
Dennehy said.
She said hunters need to
approach wildlife carefully,
especially if those animals
have been shot and injured.
Dennehy said they are
not sure what happened
to the bear that attacked
Thomas.
Oregon is home to
between 25,000 and 30,000
black bears, according to
ODFW. Spring bear hunting
season runs through May 31
in northeast Oregon.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
STUDENT
OF THE
WEEK
Josseline Monez
Ukiah High School
Ukiah High School junior Josseline Monez is selected as an
Outstanding Student because of her winning personality and
her attention to details in every aspect of her high school life.
Josseline has participated in sports throughout the year, and
was a valuable member of volleyball and basketball teams. In
classwork, she always submits assignments completely and on
time. She makes a point to speak to everyone, at school or in
the community, in a kind and caring way. Josseline is a person
who demonstrates enthusiasm for life. Thank you, Josseline,
for being outstanding.
Proudly Sponsored by
2801 ST. ANTHONY WAY • PENDLETON • 541-276-5121
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
ENERGY: Wants the
city to approve a rate
increase of 4.4 percent
Continued from 1A
that in 2015 Hermiston
Energy Services customers
were without power for an
average of 3.5 hours each
year.
The average, however, is
not spread out evenly. Some
connected to the Butte
substation, for example,
experienced power outages
Feb. 22, May 13 and
May 18, while other HES
customers have not expe-
rienced any disruption in
service all year.
A mid-2014 comparison
by the East Oregonian
found that HES customers
were without power an
average of 3.6 hours over
the course of past 12
months, compared with 3.1
hours for Umatilla Electric
Cooperative customers, 1.4
hours with Paciic Power
and less than a minute with
Milton-Freewater Electric.
“We’re
providing
service 99.96 percent of
the time, but people notice
when it’s off,” Rivera said.
Improving
reliability
costs money, however, and
Hermiston Energy Services
doesn’t have as much as it
used to. The utility didn’t
raise rates between 2003
and 2015, preferring to
subsidize operating costs
through its reserve fund
rather than increasing costs.
As a result, HES rates for
the average residential
customer run about $116
per month, compared to
$118 for UEC, $199 for
PGE and $227 for Paciic
Power.
Rivera said in 2014-
2015, the utility used almost
$1 million of its reserves
— which is why the city
implemented an 11 percent
rate increase in 2015.
Much of the increased
cost of doing business is
due to the increased price
of wholesale power created
by the Bonneville Power
Administration,
which
Hermiston Energy Services
purchases from.
To put HES operations in
“We’re providing
service 99.96 per-
cent of the time,
but people notice
when it’s off.”
— Nate Rivera,
Hermiston Energy Services
superintendent
the black and also come up
with the money for capital
improvement,
Rivera
recommended the city
approve a rate increase of
approximately 4.4 percent
for the coming iscal year
and a similar or larger
increase the year after.
He also recommended
that the city reinance
the bond that funded the
formation of the municipal
utility in 2001. There are
currently 17 years left on
the bond, and various rei-
nancing options would save
the city money on interest
payments.
Rivera said the budget
he has submitted for 2016-
2017 includes $500,000
for the new substation. A
bond reinance would mean
that the utility would only
pay interest, not principal,
in 2016-2017. That would
provide an extra $450,000
in savings to also pay for
the new substation.
“It really makes sense
for us to look at this,” he
said.
City councilors and
Mayor David Drotzmann
agreed.
“We can’t keep using our
savings,” Drotzmann said.
“That’s not sustainable.”
No action was taken
at Monday’s meeting, but
Rivera said now that he has
direction from the council
he will put together more
detailed information on the
reinance and rate increase
and come before the board
later this summer.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.