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Greene County Prosecutor's Office

    Criminal Cases in the News

 

LOCAL PHYSICIAN CONVICTED 

Sexual predators come in all shapes and sizes, all ages and economic classes, all levels of education.  Recently the defendant Henry William Albers, was a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. 

On Father’s Day, 2010, the Sugarcreek Police Department received information that Dr. Albers had sexually assaulted a 16 year old girl.  After an investigation by the police, Greene County Children Services and the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office, Albers admitted in his own handwriting that he had sexually molested the girl several times over a four to six month period. 

On July 6, 2011, Albers plead guilty to two counts of Sexual Battery and one count of Gross Sexual Imposition.  After a pre-sentence investigation, the judge sentenced Albers to two years in prison.  Upon his release, Albers must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

LOCAL NURSING HOME CARE ATTENDANT CONVICTED

On July 16, 2011, Kevin L. Burns entered the room of a nursing home patient in Yellow Springs, Greene County, Ohio and proceeded to sexually assault the disabled victim in his capacity as a care giver.  In doing so, Mr. Burns violated the law and the trust of both the nursing facility as well as the victim in his care.

On September 13, 2011, the defendant was convicted of one count of Rape and sentenced to nine years in prison as a result of the violation of that trust.  The conviction of Mr. Burns brought a sense of closure to a community which had its trust shattered as a result of this incident.


LAWRENCE MOTEN CONVICTED OF XENIA HOTEL ROBBERY 

A Greene County Jury returned a guilty verdict in early June in the case of State v. Lawrence Moten after 90 minutes of deliberation.   Defendant Moten robbed the Regency Inn at gunpoint on December 11, 2009 and tied up the aged and infirm clerk. He was convicted of Aggravated Robbery and Kidnapping, both with three year gun specifications. This case has been pending for a long time because of multiple attorney appointments, the last of which was the chief Trial Counsel for the Ohio Public Defender’s Office in Columbus.  

Congratulations to Docket Prosecutor David Hayes, Victim Witness Director Teri LaJeunesse, Det. Holly Clay of the Xenia Police Department, and the staff for the fine job they did in investigating, preparing and handling this very important case.  The trial team stayed on task and won a guilty verdict in a case involving gun violence in our community.  Sentencing will be within the next two weeks.


Drug Dealer Convicted and Sentenced to 19 Years in Prison

On March 2, 2011, after a two day trial, a Greene County jury convicted Micah Cox of six crimes related to Trafficking in Cocaine.  The trial was the culmination of a lengthy investigation conducted by the Greene County A.C.E. Task Force, which is a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement agency dedicated to ridding our streets of illegal drugs.  Assistant Prosecutor David H. Hayes tried the case and was assisted by Victim Advocate Riki Karolyi. 

On Monday, March 7, 2011, Judge Stephen A. Wolaver sentenced Micah Cox to 16 years in prison.  At the time he committed these crimes, Micah Cox was on parole for committing the same crime in 2004.  Judge Wolaver also imposed the balance of Micah Cox’s remaining parole resulting in a total prison sentence of over 19 years.


Greene County Hotel Manager Convicted and Sentenced for
Sexually Assaulting Employee

A single mother is employed by a small hotel chain in Greene County and works in housekeeping in order provide for her child and herself.  She has worked at the hotel for several years.  In 2009, the hotel has new owners and the young woman has a new motel manager, Hitesh Patel.  In September of 2009, after a month with the new manager, the single mother’s life would change.

On that day in 2009, the woman is busy with her housekeeping duties, cleaning the guest rooms at the motel.  While she is cleaning a bathroom, on her knees scrubbing a toilet, her back to the bathroom door, Hitesh Patel enters the bathroom.  Patel approaches from behind and assaults the woman.

She tells Patel to stop but he doesn’t.  He continues to assault her as she struggles to get free from his hold on her, and eventually does.  Patel leaves the bathroom.  Once alone, the woman begins to cry but knows she must get back to work.  She gathers her composure and starts to clean the next guest room at the motel.  It’s not until she finishes cleaning the next guest room that she sees Hitesh Patel again.  This time he is bearing a gift, a pizza for her.  As he tries to hand her the pizza, she rejects it and Patel tosses the pizza toward her and walks away.

The woman takes the pizza back to her supply room, eats a portion of it and rips the delivery tag off of the pizza box.  She feels the delivery tag might be important in the future.

In March of 2010, the husband of another female employee calls the Fairborn Police Department to report Hitesh Patel’s behavior toward his wife to the authorities.  As a result, an investigation begins, and through the investigation, the police learn about the young, single mother.  She recounts the events of September 2009 to the police and produces the pizza delivery tag to the police officer.

Mr. Patel was arrested by the Fairborn Police Department, was interviewed by the investigating detective, at which time he made several admissions as to what happened at the hotel under his management.

As a result of the investigation into Mr. Patel’s activities at the hotel, a Greene County Grand Jury indicted him for Rape, Gross Sexual Imposition, Sexual Imposition, and Abduction.  This past September 2010, a little over a year since the young mother was assaulted by Hitesh Patel, a jury trial began in the Greene County Court of Common Pleas.  Greene County Assistant Prosecutors Nicole Burke and Adolfo Tornichio tried the case for the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office.

The trial lasted a day and a half and the jury deliberated for about a day.  Thanks to the courageous young mother’s testimony, and the pizza delivery tag she kept from that night, Hitesh Patel was convicted of Rape, Abduction, Gross Sexual Imposition and Sexual Imposition and is currently serving his sentence in prison.


PROSECUTOR’S SEMINAR TRAINING PAYS OFF FOR TWO GREENE COUNTY CHILDREN

Mom and Dad are the divorced parents of two children; a boy and girl.

Dad was ordered to pay $559.18 per month, per child, for current child support, and $249.56 per month toward arrearages.  In 2008, payments stopped.

The Child Support Enforcement Agency referred this case to the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office for enforcement.

The case was reviewed by Assistant Prosecutor Chris Murray, Chief of the Prosecutor’s Child Support Enforcement Division.

In October of 2008, a Motion for Contempt was filed.  The Court set this case for hearing January of 2009.  The Court continued the hearing until February since Dad was in jail on an unrelated matter.  In February, Dad showed for the hearing and requested a Public Defender.  As a result, the Court continued the case until April of 2009.

Attendance at a seminar by Assistant Prosecutor Murray in June of 2007 paid off several years later in relation to this case.  The seminar dealt with qualified domestic relations orders and discussed collecting child support from pension plans.  Furthermore, Murray learned that if the child was the alternate payee of any withdrawal from a pension plan, the withdrawal would be taxable to the obligor. 

Using the information learned at the seminar, in April 2009 Murray reviewed the parties' divorce decree to find out the names of the retirement accounts Dad had.  After searching the internet and obtaining addresses for the various retirement accounts, he issued production subpoenas to the retirement accounts requesting information about current balances and distribution policies.

In May of 2009, Murray received a response from one of Dad’s retirement account holders indicating Dad had more than $38,000.00 in his Retirement Savings Plan.  Furthermore, Dad was eligible to make withdrawals from this account in June of 2009.  

Based on this information, Murray drafted the documents that joined retirement account holder as a party to the case and that prevented the holder from giving Dad any of this money until the Court held a hearing.  In addition, he drafted the restraining order that prevented Dad from withdrawing or otherwise spending any money from his Retirement Savings Plan.  

In December, Assistant Prosecutor Murray filed the qualified domestic relations order that allowed the Prosecutor’s Office to collect the child support arrearage from Dad's Retirement Savings Plan. 

In January of 2010, the Agency processed two payments totaling $28,505.05 that eliminated the child support arrearage.  Assistant Prosecutor Murray’s attendance at the seminar back in June of 2007 certainly paid off for the children in this support case.


CHI Q. DU GUILTY AS CHARGED!

A Greene County Jury returned a guilty as charged verdict to the offense of Attempted Aggravated Murder Thursday evening, March 18, 2010, at approximately 6:15 PM against Chi Q. Du. He was charged with two counts of Attempted Aggravated Murder and pled guilty to the one count involving his girlfriend before the trial started on Monday, and the jury considered the last charge against the male victim.

The Du case involved the horrific stabbing and near homicide of two Wright State students in October of 1997 outside of the WSU Library. Du took off after the stabbings and hid out in Canada for 11 years until he was captured in December of 2008.

A big congratulations for a job well done by Assistant Prosecutors Cheri Stout and David Hayes; Jeannette Adkins who served as Victim Advocate on this case since 1997; VW Director Teri LaJeunesse who provided additional assistance to the team; Sgt. Rodney Myers of the Fairborn Police Department who was one of the original detectives on the case and the State’s representative; our Investigator Mark Adkins for contacting America’s Most Wanted to help find the Chi Q. Du and for locating trial witnesses; the office support staff; Toronto, Canada Fugitive Detective Jason Tomlinson and the government of Canada; and Wright State officers who provided assistance recently and in the past regarding this case.

The facts of this case were compelling for the prosecution, but it was a huge challenge to put the case together after all of these years. We are proud of the effort that everyone put into this case to obtain this guilty verdict. More importantly, we are grateful that the two victims in this case have been vindicated with the guilty verdict and the earlier guilty plea. They deserve a great deal of credit for the courage it took for them to face their attacker and to tell the jury about the reprehensible and evil attack that they both endured.

Thanks to all of you for your dedication to the job and to victims of crime.

This case is proof that tenacity and the truth will win out in the end.

Steve Haller

Greene County Prosecutor