Latest news with #DaveYost
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Robocaller behind millions of illegal calls in Ohio permanently banned, attorney general announces
A robocaller responsible for billions of illegal calls has been permanently banned in seven states, according to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Texas-based robocaller John Spiller previously offered telemarketers robocall dialer and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services through his companies Rising Eagle Capital Group, JSquared Telecom, and Rising Eagle Capital Group-Cayman. TRENDING STORIES: Man with filet knife arrested after standoff in Mercer County Local spa accused of operating as brothel; 2 arrested Popular music center gets a new name, $60 million gift to transform the venue Yost said this led to massive amounts of robocalls and often targeted numbers on the Do Not Call Registry. Spiller received a court order that barred him from making or facilitating robocalls in 2023. However, he used different names to create new companies that would continue facilitating the same types of illegal robocalls, according to Yost. These violations prompted eight attorneys general, including Yost, to seek a contempt of court order. Yost announced that a federal judge in Texas found Spiller in contempt of court on Thursday. Spiller is permanently prohibited from launching future telecommunications companies or operating in the telecom industry and must pay $600,000 in fees for violating the 2023 court order. He also cannot collaborate with the people who helped his operation, use aliases in government filings, or make deceptive statements, according to Yost. 'This scammer's line is dead — and it's not coming back,' Yost said. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost was joined in this effort by the attorneys general of Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota and Texas. 'The judge's latest ruling sends a strong message that bad actors cannot evade court orders by simply operating under different business names,' Yost said. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Ohio report highlights missing children statistics for 2024, unsolved disappearances
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ohio officials recently released a report that details statistics about children who went missing in 2024 and highlights unsolved disappearances from years past. The Ohio Missing Children Clearinghouse, a repository run by the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation since 1993, releases an annual missing children's report. The initiative stems from a coordinated effort between local law enforcement agencies and the National Crime Information Center. Each American state has a missing children clearinghouse that collects and disseminates information. The report covering 2024 revealed 21,342 people were reported missing in Ohio, a number that decreased by 1,032 compared with 2023. The downward trend remained true for missing children, who made up 16,404 of total missing people, which is 1,001 fewer than the previous year. Of the missing children, 96.5%, or 15,834, were recovered safely before the end of the year while three were found dead, the report states. 'Every missing person is someone to somebody – a child, sibling, loved one or friend,' Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a statement. 'I am proud of the dedication shown by Ohio law enforcement to keep Ohio's children safe and commit that my office will continue to do everything in its power to support that mission.' The report found 8,758 of the missing children were girls and 7,646 were boys. Minors between the ages of 13 and 18 made up 14,681 of the missing children, with those aged 6 to 12 representing 1,556 cases and kids between 0 and 5 making up 167 cases. Franklin County saw the highest number of missing children, at 2,792. Montgomery followed close behind at 2,760, then Cuyahoga at 2,717. Franklin and Cuyahoga are the most populated counties in the state, while Montgomery has the fifth-highest population. Where in Columbus you're most likely to get pulled over for speeding In missing children cases where the circumstances were specified, 8,415 were classified as runaways, 37 were abducted by a noncustodial parent and nine were abducted by a stranger. Last year, Ohio issued 13 Amber Alerts involving 15 children. Fourteen of the kids were recovered safely and one was found dead. The state also sent out 17 endangered missing children alerts involving 18 individuals, 17 of which were safely recovered while one was found dead. Endangered missing children alerts are issued for disappearances where police cannot determine whether the child was abducted, but the circumstances otherwise meet Amber Alert criteria. Data from the clearinghouse report is taken from missing child reports from law enforcement, which is entered into the National Crime Information Center database. Once a child is found, the report is closed and the case is updated in the database. The report put a spotlight on the case of Ashley Summers, who disappeared at 14 years old on July 9, 2007. She was last seen in the vicinity of a relative's house on West 44th Street in Cleveland, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Summers has a tattoo of the name 'Gene' surrounded by a heart on her right arm. Today, she would be 31 years old. Also included in the report is Neveah Holton, who went missing at 2 years old. While she was last seen at a doctor's appointment on Nov. 13, 2012, she was first reported missing by a social worker six years later. Holton has a distinctive white patch of hair as she was diagnosed with Waardenburg Syndrome, a genetic condition that affects pigmentation. Today, she would be 15 years old. Nylo Lattimore went missing at 3 years old on Dec. 4, 2020. The child's stroller was found near the Ohio river in Cincinnati, where his mother's body was discovered. Desean Brown has been accused of killing the pair and is set to go on trial this year. Police believe Lattimore was thrown into the river, but he has never been found. Today, he would be 7 years old. The final disappearance included in the report is that of Jamel Williams, who went missing at 3 years old on May 25, 1994. His mother reported him missing, claiming she last saw him on the rear steps of her apartment in the east side of Toledo. Police stated neighbors reported that they never had seen the child at the apartment since his mother began living there in April 1994. Today, Williams would be 34 years old. Anyone who has information about an unsolved disappearance included in the report should contact the police department for the city where the individual went missing. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Federal judge bars Texas man, source of billions of robocalls nationwide from business
May 29—Ohio and seven other states have received a permanent ban against a Texas-based robocaller behind billions of illegal calls, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in a release. According to the release, John C. Spiller II previously offered robocall dialer and Voice Over Internet Protocol services to telemarketers, leading to huge volumes of robocalls, many of which targeted numbers on the Do Not Call Registry. In 2023, he was put under a court order that barred him from placing or facilitating robocalls, but used aliases to launch new companies providing the same kind of robocalls, the release said. As a result, a federal judge in Texas recently found Spiller in contempt of court and imposed the strictest penalty, permanently barring him from launching future telecommunications companies, operating in the telecom industry, collaborating with those that helped in his illegal businesses, make deceptive statements or use aliases in government filings, the release said. He was also ordered to pay more than $600,000 in attorney's fees and litigation costs for violating the order. Attorneys general from Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio and Texas were involved in the contempt order. "This scammer's line is dead — and it's not coming back," Yost said.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Opponents warn of harm to eligible voters if Ohio lawmakers require citizenship documents
A voter shows identification to an election judge. (Photo by) Ohio senators are considering a plan to require voters show proof of citizenship to register to vote. In a hearing this week, more than a dozen organizers and activists argued the bill's stringent requirements would wind up disenfranchising eligible voters. There is still no evidence of widespread voter fraud, despite Republicans warning for years about the threat posed by alleged noncitizen voters. In Ohio, for instance, the attorney general found six cases of illegal voting spread over twelve years. Meanwhile, there is solid evidence that many Americans, more than 9% of voting-age citizens according to one study, don't have up-to-date documents proving citizenship readily available. Name changes from marriage and/or divorce, and the availability of that documentation, complicates things further. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announces six voter fraud indictments two weeks from Election Day Under Ohio Senate Bill 153, new voters and those updating their registration would have to prove their citizenship before being allowed to vote. In practice, most verifications would happen behind the scenes. Voters would provide their state driver's license or ID number, and the BMV which typically has record of a person's citizenship status, will give the board of elections a thumbs up or down. But if for some reason the BMV can't verify a voter's status, they'd need to provide a valid birth certificate, U.S. passport, or naturalization document before casting a ballot. If they don't, the voter would have to cast a provisional ballot and then provide proof after the fact. SB 153 takes a skeptical view of those voters. Anyone who casts a provisional ballot and then doesn't show up with the required documentation would have their registration cancelled. Over and above the registration changes, the bill would eliminate ballot drop boxes and impose new requirements on petition circulators. Some of that amounts to red tape — the canvasser would have to personally tally the number of signatures they collected rather than someone else in the campaign, for instance. Another change would require paid circulators to wear a badge identifying themselves as such. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Opponents of the bill emphasized the complications it will create for voters. All Voting is Local Action Senior Campaign Manager Greer Aeschbury argued the changes would lead to a dramatic increase in provisional voting. Her organization tracks provisional ballots, and found some 34,000 of them got rejected in the 2024 election. 'The second most popular reason for rejection was a lack of proper ID,' she explained. 'This means that voters attempted to vote, but because of our strict photo ID rules, they either didn't have the proper ID or simply forgot to bring it in.' Under SB 153's changes, Aeschbury said, those voters could show up at the next election, ID in hand because of that prior experience, only to learn their registration got canceled. Scott Sibley recalled helping his 86-year-old grandfather get a state ID card when he was no longer able to drive. They gathered several documents including birth certificate and Social Security card, but couldn't meet all five of the elements required by the state BMV. It took a total of three visits, Sibley said, to get all the necessary documents. 'At the time government photo IDs were not yet a requirement for voting, but after this episode, I understood the arguments against such requirements,' he said. 'Is this any way to treat an elderly World War II veteran? I cannot imagine that we would have made it through this new process under SB 153. I think we would have thrown up our hands.' In addition to making registration more onerous for voters, Kelly Dufour, from Common Cause Ohio, explained the bill also puts new burdens on election officials already reeling from recent changes. In the last two years, she said, more than '85 sections of related Revised Code have been amended, deleted or removed.' The current proposal would amend 46 more and add three new ones. 'It seems to me it's a system that's set up to fail,' she said. 'So, I'm just asking to please slow down, maybe let the new laws simmer. Visit with election officials to get some of their input on meaningful improvements.' She and others commented on election officials' absence. While lawmakers were holding the hearing elections officials around Ohio were busy certifying the May 6 primary election. While many organizers criticized the bill's aggressive approach to verifying registrations, several others argued it doesn't go far enough. Half a dozen people showed up to speak as an 'interested party,' warning poll workers aren't adequately trained to verify citizenship documents, or that state officials should be even more proactive in reviewing the voters rolls. Scott Taylor described himself as a poll worker from Montgomery County, and he zeroed in on the idea of a person providing proof of citizenship on Election Day. 'I got wondering, what would that certificate look like?' he told the committee. Taylor said he went online, found an example and did a bit of editing. He held up the printout, framed with an ornate, official-looking border a bit like a dollar bill. 'So I generated my own certificate of citizenship, and I produced this in about 15 minutes,' Taylor said. 'I went on to Google, and I found an example, and I just cut it up a bit, put a picture of a cat on it.' He argued that it's unfair to ask poll workers to distinguish a real document from a fake, so he said that any voter who hasn't proven their citizenship prior to Election Day should be forced to cast a provisional ballot. Gail Niederlehner from Butler County insisted that in several ways the bill 'closed the front door' only to 'leave the back door open.' She said that voters shouldn't even be allowed to register without providing proof of citizenship. 'Without pre-registration verification, the risk of noncitizen registration continues,' she said. Niederlehner criticized the bill for accepting expired documents like a passport as proof of citizenship and said the proposal's regular reviews of the voters aren't stringent enough. To this point there has still been just one entity to voice support for the measure. FGA Action, which previously went by Opportunity Solutions Project, is a Florida-based think tank that advocates for conservative policies in statehouses around the country. It gets some of its funding from the conservative dark money network controlled by former Federalist Society president Leonard Leo, and it backed the effort by Republican lawmakers in 2023 to make it harder to amend the Ohio Constitution. Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Yahoo
Missing children reports up locally
May 20—LIMA — Allen County authorities processed 182 missing children reports in 2024, according to a new report issued by Attorney General Dave Yost on Monday. That's up 12 compared to the 170 seen in 2023's report. The state's annual missing children report provides an overview of the 16,404 children reported missing to Ohio law enforcement agencies last year. Ninety-six percent of children reported missing were accounted for by year's end, while three children were found deceased and others remained missing, the report found. "Every missing person is someone to somebody — a child, sibling, loved one or friend," Yost said in a news release accompanying the report. "I am proud of the dedication shown by Ohio law enforcement to keep Ohio's children safe and commit that my office will continue to do everything in its power to support that mission." Auglaize County increased from nine reports in 2023 to 11 in 2024. Van Wert County increased, with nine in 2024 compared to seven in 2023. Hardin County also went up, to 30 in 2024 from 24 in 2023. Putnam County was the only area county with a decrease, with one report in 2024, compared to two in 2023. The report is a joint effort between local law enforcement agencies and the National Crime Information Center, a missing person and criminal information database operated by the U.S. Department of Justice. Law enforcement agencies create a missing person report whenever a child goes missing. That information is entered into the NCIC database, which is accessible to other law enforcement agencies, and is updated once a child is found. Law enforcement agencies received 1,001 fewer missing children reports last year than in 2023, according to the report. More than half of the missing children reports involved runaway children, or children who left home without permission and stayed away overnight, accounting for 8,415 cases in 2024. Another 37 cases involved abductions by a non-custodial parent, while nine missing children reports involved abductions by strangers, according to the report. Law enforcement agencies issued 13 AMBER alerts and 17 endangered missing children alerts last year. Two of those children were deceased by the time law enforcement located them. All others were recovered safely, according to the report. 2024 MISSING CHILD REPORT BY COUNTY Allen County: 182 Auglaize County: 11 Hardin County: 30 Putnam County: 1 Van Wert County: 9 Source: Ohio Missing Child Clearinghouse Report, 2024 Featured Local Savings
