The Umansky Law Firm

A Florida Keys woman is accused of defrauding her mother of over $10,000 in order to get breast augmentation surgery, as well as set up credit lines at various big name stores.

According to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, the 34-year-old allegedly used her mom's name and social security number to get various credit accounts at places like Victoria's Secret, Walmart, and Old Navy.

To hide the fraud from her mother, the suspect allegedly had all financial correspondence sent to her Stock Island address.

The suspect's own mother called law enforcement after reviewing her credit report, and said her daughter was the person who allegedly committed the crimes.

The breast augmentation procedure is said to have cost $4200.

The suspect has been charged with seven counts of fraud and is in Monroe County Jail.

If you have been charged with fraud, theft, or shoplifting in the Orange County or Orlando, Florida area, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm for a free and confidential consultation. We believe everyone deserves a second chance.

A 27-year-old man from Virginia was arrested in North Carolina after allegedly stealing a school bus. The suspect was also allegedly under the influence at the time of his arrest.

According to a report the New Bern, North Carolina police chief gave to a local radio station, the bus was spotted driving erratically by a citizen around 7:30 pm. The citizen called police and followed the school bus. The bus had Virginia tags and allegedly drove through a railroad crossing with its crossing arm out.

The bus then was spotted weaving by a New Bern police officer who then stopped the vehicle.

The only occupant on the bus was the driver, who was taken into custody and charged with DWI and driving without a license. Charges of possession of stolen property are pending. He is being held on a $1000 bond.

Doing something you shouldn't when you are drinking can wind up giving you a bigger headache than a hangover. You may face jail or probation, serious fines, loss of your drivers license, or even loss of employment.

If you have been charged with DWI in the Orange County or Orlando, Florida area, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm today.

Three boys, ages 10, 12, and 14, have been arrested for allegedly breaking into and ransacking the same Lakeland church six different times. The three boys are being held in the Polk County Sheriff's Office for their alleged juvenile crime spree.

According to police, the New Faith Dimensional Church was most recently broken into this week. Books were damaged, gang graffiti was spray painted, and windows were broken. The boys have been accused of breaking into the church in February and March where they allegedly vandalized and stole numerous items. The PA system was damaged, a fire extinguisher discharged, and food, a DVD player, stereo, keyboard, electric guitar, speakers were stolen.

The 10-year-old and 14-year-old are brothers.

When your child is accused of a crime, it is never easy to hear. You may blame yourself for bad parenting, or hear this from those around you, but what it comes down to are that the actions of children are usually done without considering the consequences, especially criminal consequences. Even a crime performed multiple times, like this one, may not really be answered by these boys – if they are indeed guilty.

All we can do as parents and community is help to guide them better. Show them that their actions have consequences, get them to understand what these are, and explain to them what will happen if they do this as an adult. Everyone deserves a second chance. Children should be guaranteed another chance.

If your child has been charged with a crime in the Orange County or Orlando, Florida area, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm today.

The sheriff of Carter County, Missouri was arrested and charged with meth distribution earlier this month. The suspect allegedly gave meth to an informant at his remote cabin and then allegedly snorted the drug using a straw. He is being held on a $250,000 bond.

In addition to his arrest, his 23-year-old chief deputy was charged with burglary and receiving stolen property. In this case, it was a gun taken from the evidence room at the department.

Missouri lead the nation in meth lab busts for ten years before being overtaken by Tennessee in 2010. There were 13,000 meth lab "incidents" in Missouri in the past seven years. While other Missouri counties have had dozens of meth busts in recent years, Carter County has had just five. The drop allegedly corresponds to the two years the sheriff has been on the job. Missouri law enforcement believes his involvement with the drug may be the reason why.

Carter County is mostly rural, has just 6000 people, and very few jobs. The sheriff received his law enforcement certification and then ran for sheriff not long after receiving it. His challenger allegedly committed suicide weeks before the election, but before he could be replaced on the ballot. The sheriff then won the election by one vote. He then hired someone as the chief deputy who did not have any law enforcement training before the sheriff paid for her certification training.

These are not excuses as to why these individuals may, or may not, have done what they are accused of doing, but it does give some insight into why hardscrabble communities often find ways outside the law to make ends meet. Missouri is ravaged by meth, of that there can be no doubt. If law enforcement officers are involved in the distributing and use of meth, then Missouri, as well as communities across the country, needs to find the root causes of the problem and deal with those. Treatment is often a better solution than throwing these individuals in jail.

If you have been charged with drug distribution in Orange County or Orlando, Florida, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm today.

Former San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice on Wednesday in San Francisco, California federal court. The jury that convicted Bonds of giving evasive answers to a federal grand jury for questioning him about performance enhancing drugs deadlocked on three perjury charges. The judge declared a mistrial on those criminal charges.

The jury returned its verdict after a three-week trial.

The judge has set a hearing for next month to determine whether the government wants to retry the perjury counts. Bonds' attorney said they will ask the judge to throw out the verdict. He said the conviction for obstruction was not consistent with the deadlock of the other counts.

Bonds' conviction is a result of his giving evasive, false, or misleading testimony. When asked whether his trainer gave him performance enhancing drugs, Bonds answer was allegedly long and rambling. The jury determined this was a deliberate attempt by Bonds to interfere with the probe by the grand jury.

Bonds now faces up to two years in prison, but will likely only get house arrest according to legal experts who know the case.

If you have been charged with a crime in the Orange County or Orlando, Florida area, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm today.

For the second time in two years, former Miss Russia Anna Malova is facing drug charges. Malova was arrested in New York on Tuesday for allegedly using stolen prescription pads to obtain painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs from pharmacies.

Malova has pleaded not guilty to charges of petty larceny, forgery and criminal possession of controlled substances.

According to New York's Office of Special Narcotics Prosecutor, Malova allegedly forged prescriptions for Vicodin and Klonopin (clonazepam) on 11 different occasions. She obtained the prescription pads from psychiatrists she has allegedly been seeing.

In 2010, Malova was charged in a similar case brought by the Manhattan District Attorney's office. Reports state that case has been absorbed into the current one.

Malova's attorney asked that she be evaluated for the state's judicial diversion program so that she may avoid a potential jail sentence and have the charges dismissed, and get court-monitored treatment for drug addiction. The judge agreed and the prosecution did not object. Malova was allegedly already working on fighting a drug addiction long before these charges came.

If Malova's drug charges are not dismissed, she will be deported since she is not a citizen of the US. She is here on a green card granting permanent residence.

We hope Anna Malova, as well as hundreds of others in her position, are allowed diversion programs that help to treat drug addiction, rather than put in prison where they will not receive the kind of support they should have.

If you have been charged with drugs in Orange County or Orlando, Florida, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umansky Law Firm today.

At least 17 people in the Miami area have been charged with fleecing rich out-of-town visitors by luring them to private clubs where they are fed alcohol at exorbitant prices – something authorities have identified as fraud. Florida law enforcement and the FBI allege the "B-Girls," short for "Bar Girls," charged the victims upwards of $6000 a bottle. One person is believed to have lost at least $43,000 through the scam.

According to police, all the B-Girls involved are from Estonia and Latvia. The private clubs they worked at were not open to the public and were allegedly set up to prey on wealthy individuals. They would troll Miami hotspots, looking for people who looked rich based on their clothing or accessories, then invite them to the private clubs. They would then rack up charges on the credit cards. The B-Girls allegedly kept 20 percent of the profits, the owners ten percent.

When the alleged victims sobered up and saw how much they were charged, many refused to pay. However, Florida law requires bar and restaurant patrons to pay first and then take it up with credit card companies later. The B-Girls or the owners of the club would sometimes call police when they were not paid. Sometimes they would take pictures of their targets while they were drinking as proof.

The B-Girls and some of the owners are charged with wire fraud conspiracy, a charge that can carry a 20 year prison sentence.

If you have been charged with fraud in Orange County or Orlando, Florida, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umanksy Law Firm today for an initial case consultation.

A 37-year-old Bonita Springs woman is being held for allegedly stealing "well in excess of $100,000" of items such as gold, silver, jewelry, and money from homes she was cleaning.

According to the Collier County Sheriff's Office, there were seven victims in the Collier and Lee County areas. Police believe there may be more. The woman is charged with theft of more than $50,000 from persons 65 or older, fraud of more than $50,000, and exploitation of the elderly. If she is convicted, the suspect could spend the next 30 years in prison.

Police say the suspect has been under investigation since May, after they received several reports of a local housekeeper allegedly stealing cash and jewelry. Items include earrings, rings, and bracelets worth $10,000 taken from a woman in her 80s, an $84,000 diamond ring taken from a Pelican Bay woman, and more.

The suspect allegedly took the items to pawn shops. She contacted detectives after several of the stolen items had holds placed on them. Unfortunately, she confessed to the crimes, and was arrested. Police allege the woman claimed that if she knew she was going to be arrested, she would have "ran and never looked back."

If you have been charged with theft in the Orange County or Orlando, Florida area, or anywhere else in the state of Florida, please contact the experienced criminal defense attorneys at the Umanksy Law Firm. Do this before speaking to the police.