Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Fake Rockefeller Faces $50 Million Bail

A German citizen who calls himself Clark Rockefeller pleaded not guilty Monday to charges related to the kidnapping of his 7-year-old daughter off a Boston street in July.

Magistrate Gary Wilson set bail at a sum befitting a true Rockefeller — $50 million.

Investigators say "Rockefeller" is really Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, who has been living under fake identities since coming to the United States in 1978. He also has been identified as a "person of interest" in the 1985 disappearance of a California couple.

Gerhartsreiter pleaded not guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to charges he grabbed his daughter, Reigh, during a supervised visit, shoving away a court-appointed social worker, then fleeing in a hired car. He also was charged with lying to police about his identity.

The man and daughter were found Aug. 2 at a home in Baltimore. The girl has since returned to England, where she lives with her mother.

Gerhartsreiter has hinted he was a member of the wealthy Rockefeller family, but descendants of the oil tycoon said he is not a relative.

Gerhartsreiter's attorney, Stephen Hrones, conceded Monday that his client had lied about his roots. But he said there was no basis for the kidnapping charges because he contends his marriage to Reigh's mother was never valid, so no custody agreement could be, either.

Hrones said he would appeal the bail amount at a hearing Thursday.


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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Foreign Fugitives Delaying Justice

Two years ago today, a little girl in West Chester was left parentless. Her mom bled to death from stab wounds. Her dad, accused of being the killer, went on the run.

That sad scenario helps motivate Detective Lori Beiser to keep chipping away at a seemingly impossible task: finding a foreign fugitive who could be anywhere in the world, using virtually any name.

“I keep thinking about getting justice for the little girl – and for Jackelin,” Beiser said.

The girl’s mother, Jackelin Romero, 24, suffered more than 20 stab wounds on Sept. 23, 2006. She lay undiscovered while relatives, caring for her 5-year-old daughter, filed a missing-persons report. The next day, police found Romero dead in her bedroom at the Trails of West Chester apartments.

Romero’s husband, Melvin Ramon Mejia, a native of Honduras, fled as West Chester police were charging him with murder.

“He headed south – and he was gone,” Beiser said.

Local authorities say Mejia is among a rising number of fugitives who are believed to be hiding in foreign countries to dodge prosecution. The charges they face range from theft to rape to murder. Some are foreign-born suspects who return to their homelands. A few are U.S. citizens who reinvented their lives abroad under assumed names.

Most stand little chance of being captured.


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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Bondsman Arrested for Aggressive Behavior

A bail bondsman is on the other side of a jail cell this morning on burglary and kidnapping charges.

Pablo Alcalde owns the Real Bail Bonds company, and as bail bondsman, Alcalde is allowed to bring in those who skip bail.

Orem Police said on Sept. 4, Alcalde went to the home of a man related to a suspect who reportedly jumped bail. Alcalde handcuffed the suspect's relative and threatened him with bodily harm if he didn't help him find the alleged bail-jumper.

Alcalde then took the captive relative to another home, where he found the suspect's wife and forcibly put her in hand cuffs after she told him she didn't know where her husband was. Police say he searched the home without permission, and when he found nothing he forced the handcuffed woman into his car.

Officers say Alcalde drove the suspect's family members around looking the bail jumper, and when he had no luck, he released them on a street corner in American Fork.

Alcalde is currently in the Utah County Jail on $200,000 cash bail for investigation of kidnapping, burglary, assault, and a slew of other charges.


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Bondsman Hit With Car While On The Job Speaks

Following a story we first brought you earlier this week, A bounty hunter speaks out after he says a fleeing suspect ran him over in a truck.

Jamie Mikel says he knows that there are risks involved every time he goes to work, but he also says that he's never had someone try to get away like the man who goes by the name Pork-Chop did on Sunday. EMS workers load bounty hunter Jamie Mikel into an ambulance Sunday afternoon. This comes after Mikel says this man, Dennis Ryals, better known as Pork-Chop, ran him over at a local gas station when Mikel tried to take him into custody.

"It always works in the movies it just didn't go my way that day," Mikel says with a chuckle.

But Mikel says his encounter with Pork-Chop was no laughing matter. He says the suspect tried to take off in his truck while Mikel held onto the steering wheel.

"They said that I hit the pumps with my head and bounced off and bounced into the rear of the truck and that's when they say it ran over me," Mikel says.

And Mikel's body has the bruises to prove it. He has two staples in his head, a broken hand, a number of cuts and bruises, and you can still see the tire marks on the shirt he wore that day.

"He didn't mean to hurt me, he was trying to escape, Pork-Chop didn't mean to hurt me, but he did mean to get away from me," Mikel says.

And that's why Mikel's friends and fellow bounty hunters hit the streets looking for Pork-Chop the next day. They climbed through windows and banged on doors. And eventually DID find Pork-Chop and take him into custody.

"It was just like a block had been lifted from my chest, I was just so amazed at how fast they got him," Mikel says.

And today Mikel sits on his couch, recovering with many of the same friends who helped place his alleged attacker behind bars.

"It makes me want to cry when I think of what they've done for me, they was there for me, they know that I would be there for them as well," Mikel says.

And it turns out that Mikel does not have insurance. His fellow bounty hunters have set up a fund where people can help him at the Ace Bonding Company in East Ridge.

Ace Bonding Company

4312 Ringgold Rd. Suite 6

East Ridge, Tennessee 37412

Ryals, or Pork-Chop, is being held at the jail on no bond and court records show that he now faces an aggravated assault charge after his run-in with Mikel.




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Bounty Hunter In Anthony Case Questioned by FBI

Detectives from Orlando flew to Sacramento to talk to well known bounty hunter, Leonard Padilla. They believe Padilla may know something about the now infamous Casey Anthony case.

Bounty hunter Leonard Padilla was one of the few people to talk face to face with Casey Anthony after he helped bond her out of jail, which is why Orlando investigators flew all the way to California to speak to him.

Padilla says Casey told him a different story about where she last saw her little daughter Caylee.

Allegedly telling him she left the three-year-old with the nanny at Blanchard Park in East Orange County, which is a big change what she told investigators about leaving her with the nanny at an Orlando apartment complex.

"There was no truth in that, a new story on me," says Padilla.

Padilla says the 22-year-old mother kicked him out of the house after talking with him for ten minutes when Padilla didn't buy her story. Padilla eventually revoked her bond because he believes the child is dead and that she had something to do with her disappearance.

Padilla also believes murder charges are coming soon.


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Jury Seeks 40 Year Prison Term for Bondsman's Murder

Bad timing cost James E. Carr seven years of freedom.

A Richmond jury recommended yesterday that Carr serve 40 years in prison for first-degree murder and felonious use of a firearm in the death of bail bondsman James W. Woolfolk III.

Minutes before the jury signaled that it had reached a decision on the sentence in its second day of deliberations, Carr's defense attorney and Richmond prosecutors had reached a plea agreement that would have given him 33 years in prison.

"I really have no reason to accept the plea agreement," Circuit Judge Beverly W. Snukals told the attorneys before calling in the jury to render its verdict.

Snukals will sentence Carr on Nov. 7, but members of Woolfolk's family left court yesterday satisfied with the jury's decision. The jury convicted Carr of first-degree murder on Tuesday.

"Though nothing will bring him back, this sure helps," said Theresa Godbold, niece of the 39-year-old bail bondsman, who was killed March 6 in South Richmond while trying to arrest Carr, 20, for skipping court on a felony drug charge.

James Woolfolk was the first bail bondsman killed in Virginia while on duty in recent memory. He was unarmed when he was shot three times from behind after finding Carr hiding in a bedroom closet at 2313 Joplin Ave.

"I shot him three times in the back. . . . I did a cowardly act," Carr confessed Tuesday evening during testimony on the sentencing.

Prosecutors said Carr had a simple reason for shooting Woolfolk: "He just did not want to go back to jail," said Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Cabell Baskervill, who called the shooting "a cold-blooded execution."

Carr's stepfather, Michael Morris, testified that Woolfolk had turned his back and started toward the living room when he was shot. "He said, 'All right, Jimmy, you know what this is. Let's go.'" Woolfolk's mother, Theresa Woolfolk, said the family was satisfied with the recommended sentence. "We hope the best for James Carr and his family," she said.

Defense attorney Dean C. Marcus said Carr had shown remorse from the beginning for killing Woolfolk. "It's been eating him up," Marcus said after the jury rendered its recommendation.

But Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Matthew P. Geary responded, "If Mr. Carr was truly remorseful for what he did, he would have spared his family and the victim's family the agony of trying this case."

Carr still faces charges in Richmond of illegal possession of a firearm by a felon, felony drug possession, and failure to appear in court -- the charge that brought Woolfolk to the house where he died. He also faces a charge that he violated his probation on a robbery charge in Henrico County, where he had a suspended sentence of 10 years.

Geary said his office is working with Henrico to revoke the suspension and reinstate the full sentence.

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Thursday, September 18, 2008

"Dog" Causing Controversy in Colorado

Family of the fugitive whom Duane “Dog” Chapman is chasing on the Front Range say the famous bounty hunter has repeatedly threatened them during the course of his investigation.

Chapman, however, said he and his posse, featured on the A&E television show “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” have done nothing out of the ordinary.

Tony Padilla, father of Mesa County fugitive Marco Padilla, said Chapman and his crew over the past two weeks have shown up at his Aurora home and threatened him.

“I don’t know what to do,” Padilla said. “I swear to God. This is scary.”

Tony Padilla said Chapman and company threatened him, swore at him and demanded as recently as Monday night that he say where Marco is staying.

“I don’t know where he’s staying,” Padilla said. “I don’t know his phone number. Marco has changed his number.”

Marco Padilla, 32, is wanted on a $150,000 failure-to-appear warrant after he failed to show up for sentencing in a 2007 drug case in Mesa County.

Chapman and his crew, according to a police report filed Tuesday, also have harassed Elizabeth Padilla, Marco’s sister in Aurora. Padilla, according to the report, allowed Chapman, his wife, Beth, and his crew to search her home in August. Their interactions took a turn for the worse, the report said, when Chapman and his wife tailed her Sept. 10 after she left a Wal-Mart


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Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Bail Jumper: Derrick Davalos

Children in the community are at risk from an Amarillo suspect who could be selling drugs in your neighborhood.

Local bond agent, Shawn Galmor is concerned that a suspect who skipped his bail months ago is back on the streets with more drugs and the potential to hurt someone.

She is taking action action turning to the community for help looking for bail jumper Derrick Davalos. He's 22 years old 5'6 165 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. Davalos is wanted for not showing up in court for drug possession charges. "It is very frustrating it's easier if they go to court it saves me time and money and saves them time and money," Galmor said.


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Monday, September 15, 2008

Bail Increased $4.75 Million for Teen

A Philadelphia judge yesterday increased from $250,000 to $5 million the bail for Andre Butler, the 16-year-old Mantua youth charged with third-degree murder and related crimes for allegedly driving the stolen car that killed a police officer.

Municipal Court Judge Patrick F. Dugan granted a request by defense attorney Brian F. Humble to postpone Butler's preliminary hearing until Dec. 3. But on his own initiative, Dugan ordered the increase in the youth's bail, Assistant District Attorney John Doyle said.


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"Dog" Arrests 4 in Colorado

Bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman has arrested four people wanted in Mesa County. The suspects were found in Aurora.

According to televised reports, one suspect is being held in Denver City Jail and the other three are being held in the Arapahoe County Jail.

The suspects were wanted on meth or fraud warrants.


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State to Probe Reliability of GPS Tracking

Hours after a prosecutor dropped violation of probation charges against convicted serial rapist David Pollitt that were based on a faulty GPS reading, judicial officials said they'd investigate the reliability of the monitoring system for which the state pays a contractor nearly $1 million a year.

Pollitt, 55, was arrested Wednesday on charges that he violated the terms of his probation. Pollitt has been staying with his sister in Southbury since his release from prison last fall. He had been convicted in a series of sexual assaults and had to wear a GPS monitoring device on his right ankle as a condition of his release.

After his arrest Wednesday, Pollitt's family paid about $7,500 to a bail bondsman to post $100,000 bail. Pollitt was released until a court appearance Friday in New London.

That's where New London State's Attorney Michael Regan told Judge Susan B. Handy the arrest warrant was based on faulty data from the contractor that provides GPS monitoring services to the state.

"The GPS system was not functioning properly at the time [of] the reading," Regan said. "In light of what probation has stated to me, I'm going to withdraw that warrant."



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Australian Refused Bail in "Bizarre and Evil" Religious Sexual Assault Charges

An Australian churchgoer accused of sexually assaulting a woman during prayer sessions meant to lift a black magic curse on her was refused bail Sunday, it was reported.

A magistrate described the allegations against 61-year-old Sydney man Tony Golossian as "bizarre and evil" and declined to grant him bail, Australian Associated Press reported.

"Having read the allegations ... I must say that if this is proven it would be one of the most bizarre and evil cases I have come across in more than 40 years," magistrate Graham Johnson told a court in Sydney's western suburbs.

Golossian has been charged with more than 150 offences dating from 2001 to 2005.

New South Wales police alleged the woman approached Golossian, who claimed to be a senior member of the Coptic Orthodox church, for spiritual cleansing believing she had been cursed by a member of Sydney's Greek community.

Police alleged she was blindfolded and sexually assaulted at "prayer sessions" that took place at various hotels around western Sydney.


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Tuesday, September 09, 2008

In the UK, Sparks Fly Over Bail

More than one-in-three crimes in the North-east are being committed by bail bandits, the Evening Express can reveal today.

Latest figures show that 3,498 crimes were dealt with by the courts in 2006/7.

And out of those a staggering 1,261 involved people who were on bail.

At Aberdeen Sheriff Court, bail bandits accounted for 14 out of the 66 serious assaults, and nearly half of all robberies – 20 out of 43.

Recent offenders include Debbie Buchan, who was involved in the horrific killing of Laura Milne in Aberdeen back in December last year.

Buchan viciously attacked her helpless victim before 22-year-old Stuart Jack slit her throat.

Buchan admitted attempting to murder Laura by punching and kicking her on her head and body, forcing her to the floor, and repeatedly stamping on her.

Just two months earlier, the 19-year-old had been found guilty of holding a blade to a man’s throat – but was freed while she awaited sentencing.

Today Laura’s father Brian called for a tightening up of the bail system, which can allow violent offenders to be left free in the community while awaiting trial or sentencing, or while they appeal a conviction.

He said: “People shouldn’t be let out if they’ve held a knife against somebody’s throat.

“They keep saying they’re trying to stop this knife crime, but this is not helping anybody.

“The bit I can’t get my head round is that she was let out like it was a minor crime.”

In 2003 two men went on to kill in Aberdeen while out on bail.

Mark Lindsay was convicted of stabbing 51-year-old Michael McGuire in Mastrick.

He had been released pending an appeal after being jailed for four years for crimes including assault.

And Lawrence Davidson was convicted of bludgeoning to death Aberdeen grandad Stanley Tawse after luring him to his Rose Street flat.

Davidson was out on bail after being accused of attacking an 82-year-old pensioner who later died.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that of 3,130 crimes dealt with by Aberdeen Sheriff Court in 2006/7, 939 involved people who had been on bail at the time.

This included more than half of shoplifters (300 out of 580), one in three house-breakers (69 out of 206) and one-in-three thieves who targeted vehicles (58 out of 168).

And one-in-five crimes of handling an offensive weapon (26 out of 130) were down to bail bandits.

In rural areas it was a similar pattern.

In 2006/7, bail bandits were responsible for 37 out 208 crimes dealt with in Banff, 166 out of 815 in Elgin, 113 out of 496 in Peterhead, and six out of 110 in Stonehaven.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Legislation to tighten the law was brought into force in December, including increased maximum sentences for breaching bail conditions.

“An accused who breaches their bail now has no excuse – the effect of their bail conditions will have been explained to them when granted bail, including the penalties available if they breach their conditions.

“Tough enforcement action, including increased maximum sentences for bail breach, will send a clear message that bail breaches will not be tolerated.

“We want to see greater consistency and rigour in the overall use of bail and believe that the new measures – which are part of wide-ranging reforms to our criminal courts – can help achieve this.

“If a court thinks an accused should be remanded because, for example, they have a poor record of breaching bail, then the court should remand them to protect the public.

“And the courts have indeed been remanding more people than before.”




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Bail Laws Create Problems

The Law Society of New South Wales says tough bail laws introduced last year need to be reconsidered because they are causing overcrowding in the state's juvenile detention centres.

The laws restrict the number of times people can apply for bail for serious offences and place a presumption against bail on certain crimes.

Since the legislation was introduced, about half of all juvenile prisoners are being kept in jail on remand - meaning they have been denied bail, but not yet convicted in court.

The NSW Law Society's president, Hugh Macken, has told the ABC's Background Briefing it shows the bail laws are counterproductive.

"We would like to have the matter revisited," he said.

"Clearly the statistics might show the Government that perhaps it hasn't worked quite as they intended to work, and they can revisit this issue without necessarily go back to an earlier system."

You can hear more on that story on Radio National's Background Briefing on Sunday at 9:00am (AEST).


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Bounty Hunters Dogged By Image of Glamour Job

Leather jackets, long hair, a fleet of SUVs and a film crew are not standard gear for local bounty hunters.

But if your name is Duane “Dog” Chapman and you are the star of “Dog the Bounty Hunter” on A&E, then by all means bring the bling and let the cameras roll.

By contrast, local bondsmen — and women — say they try to remain as inconspicuous as possible. Some are upset Chapman has landed in western Colorado, while others are a bit more appreciative, even lending the Dog a helping hand.

“I think he is glamorizing this like it is a fun job,” said Fred Schultz, 51, of AKA Bail Bonds in Rifle. “In all the time I have been bounty hunting and bail bonding, I have had one fight. It wasn’t all this drama. It is like he is the Jerry Springer of bounty hunting.”

Alma Krabbe, 54, owner of Mr. C’s Bail Bonds, said Dog making headlines in the local press is making her life more dangerous.

“It is putting us all at risk because (wanted people) are all in hiding,” Krabbe said. “Now they are just scared, so now we are going to have problems. He is going to come in and do his little thing and just leave, and we are going to be stuck with a big mess. A lot of (local fugitives) are leaving the state because he, the Dog, needs to find them for his show.”

There is some question as to whether Chapman and his posse are still in town, or even in the state.

“To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Chapman left Mesa County shortly after he left the Justice Center (Wednesday),” Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger said. “I don’t think Mr. Chapman is here, and I don’t think he is looking for anybody in this county.”

At least two local bounty hunters said they have been in communication with Dog and his associates Friday.

“It is my man that he is looking for,” said Dean Hergenrader, 38, owner of AA Bail Bonds in Montrose and Bail-Ya Bail Bonds in Grand Junction. “He missed court, I’m guessing approximately 100 days ago. I don’t remember the charges.”

Hergenrader said he dropped off paperwork Friday with one of Dog’s associates on his bail jumper, for whom he posted a $40,000-plus bond.

Now Hergenrader is on the hook for that amount. If his insurance company pays off the bond, it could come after him for compensation, he said.

That’s the nature of the beast. Bondsmen can charge customers up to 15 percent of their bond, but to make money, those people have to show up in court. So, to be a successful bondsman, it pays to get as much information on clients as possible before posting bond, said Nancee White, 47, owner of Extreme and Goods Bail Bonds.

“I can usually tell when a person is going to take off just by their handwriting,” she said.

If the people are evasive and offer little personal information on their bond application, that’s a good indication they may jump bail, White said. When that happens, she has a deep-rooted network, like any good bondsman, to ferret out leads on peoples’ whereabouts.

Dog knows this and that’s why he’s been in touch with White, she said.

“I’ve been speaking with Dog. I’ve been on the phone with him all morning,” White said Friday. “He knows he can not infiltrate this area without local help.”

Dog has a standing offer to pick up, for free, anyone a local bondsman is having trouble apprehending, White said.

“My feeling is that they are out of episodes, and that is why they are here,” she said. “Why else would they be out here?”


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Actor Accused of Stabbing Faces Reduced Bail

A California judge has reduced by millions the bail amount of the Indian-origin U.S. actor Shelley Malil, who is accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend.

The 43-year-old actor allegedly stabbed his ex-girlfriend Kendra Beebe more than 20 times at her home in San Diego, California, last month.

A veteran Hollywood actor best known for his performance in the hit 2005 comedy “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” Malil was being held on $10 million bail and on Friday, a Superior Court judge reduced it to $3 million.

Malil’s attorney, Steve Meiser, argued that the higher figure was unreasonable and that his client was not a flight risk.

Malil pleaded not guilty to one count of attempted murder, with a special circumstance of premeditation and one count of personal use of a knife and inflicting great bodily injury.

Lawyers for Beebe, 35, claim their client sustained life-threatening stab wounds to her lungs and throat but prosecutors said she was expected to recover.

Malil faces life in prison if convicted of all charges. He is next due in court on Oct 3 for a status hearing. The actor, was born in Kerala in 1964 and migrated to U.S. at the age of 10, has played a supporting role in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” besides appearing in dozens of TV shows including “NYPD Blue” and “Scrubs.”


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Mother of Missing Girl Gets Bail - Again

Casey Anthony, mother of missing toddler Caylee Marie Anthony, will be released from jail for a second time Friday after her parents made new arrangements for her half-million-dollar bail on a child-neglect charge.

Bond documents show that George and Cynthia "Cindy" Anthony put up the collateral to obtain their daughter’s freedom. The paperwork did not explain the source of the collateral but said the couple signed off on a "promissory note indemnity agreement" — essentially a contract that requires the parents to repay the bondsman for any losses.

A public-relations firm that represents Casey Anthony’s attorney, Jose Baez, issued a statement saying that said an "individual" who wishes to remain anonymous posted bond for Anthony because of concern that her constitutional rights have been violated.

"She is going home," said Todd Black of Press Corps Media.

Anthony, 22, will live with her parents at their southeast Orange County, Fla., home and must wear an electronic monitor at all times, Orange County jail officials said.

This will be her second shot at freedom. Anthony, whose 3-year-old daughter was reported missing more than seven weeks ago, was released Aug. 21 on similar terms but was rearrested Aug. 29 and jailed on bad-check charges. Her previous bail bondsman then revoked her bail on charges of child-neglect and giving false information to authorities.

Jail officials said Thursday that bond had been arranged on all the charges. Bond companies combined forces to meet the $500,000 bail for child neglect, the most serious offenses with which she is charged.

Anthony has told investigators she left the child with a baby sitter, who cannot be found. Investigators have disclosed that tests of air samples from the trunk of the abandoned car she drove detected gases from human decomposition, and that traces of chloroform also were found. The lead investigator in the case has said there was a body in the trunk and that it likely was Caylee’s.

Earlier Thursday, Cindy Anthony blasted Texas EquuSearch, the volunteer search-and-recovery team the family summoned to find the toddler.

The grandmother complained that the group’s founder, Tim Miller, had suggested that Caylee might be dead, accused Cindy Anthony of not cooperating with the search and didn’t spend enough time with Caylee’s family. She maintained that Miller agreed to look for a living child, not a dead one.

"It is evident his motives were to obtain publicity for his organization at the expense of exploiting my granddaughter’s disappearance," Anthony said in a release sent by a family representative. "Although I feel his organization has a purpose, his misrepresentation has tainted the efforts of so many people with good intentions."

Miller said he is working hard to find Caylee Marie, alive or dead. He has been searching for the missing child’s possible remains in Orange County since Aug. 29.

"We are holding onto that little bit of hope that Caylee is still alive," Miller said. "But if not, it’s important that her little body is found."

EquuSearch, along with volunteers and the Sheriff’s Office, have combed about 15 square miles since the search began, but not all areas have been completely cleared, Miller said. Heavy rains have made some places impassible or difficult to search.

More than 100 volunteers were looking for the child Thursday, Miller said.

In other news related to the case, George and Cindy Anthony have enlisted high-profile Orlando defense attorney Mark NeJame to help them with intense media scrutiny and refocus attention on the search for Caylee, NeJame said Thursday.

"They’ve been maligned, and I think there’s been just a real mischaracterization of them in the media and on the Internet," he said. "People have completely lost sight of the fact that they are victims."


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