Showing posts with label Arizona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arizona. Show all posts

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Triple Amputee Brian Kolfage TSA Full Pat Down? Seriously?

Purple Heart triple-amputee veteran Brian Kolfage subjected to full pat down at Tucson International Airport


Daily Mail
Stephanie Haney
February 10, 2019

Florida Purple Heart veteran Brian Kolfage, 37, was subjected to an 'invasive' pat down by TSA agents
A concerned fellow traveler filmed the incident on Saturday in Tuscon, Arizona
'They groped and searched under his hips and buttocks, his groin and his half arm searching for what?'
YouTube users James Hoft said in the video caption
According to his website, Kolfage was severely wounded in a 2004 rocket attack at an Iraq air base, losing both legs and one arm and now has prosthetics
Kolfage, from Florida, was in the Tuscon area for a rally about building a border wall through crowdfunding
Kolfage raised more than $20 million through GoFundMe since December to support his effort, but fell short of his $1 billion goal triggering refunds to patrons
Now those who donated have the option to forward their support to a non-profit


The Florida triple-amputee veteran who garnered more than $20 million online to help build a wall along the southern US border was filmed being thoroughly searched by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents in Tuscon, Arizona.

A concerned fellow traveler filmed Purple Heart recipient Brian Kolfage, 37, being subjected to an 'invasive TSA pat down' on Saturday morning at Tuscon International Airport, following a 'We Build The Wall' rally in Sahuarita, which took place on Friday.

'They groped and searched under his hips and buttocks, his groin and his half arm searching for what?' YouTube user 'james hoft' wrote in the caption with the video, uploaded on Saturday.

'Brian is an Afghanistan War veteran. They also swabbed his prosthetic legs and wheelchair for explosives.'
read more here

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Homeless Vietnam veteran reunited with family

Couple reunites homeless veteran with family


FOX Carolina
Nicole Valdes
January 5, 2019

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (KNXV ) -- What started as a regular day at a Valley grocery store, has led to a life-long friendship.
“We saw him just holding this five dollar bill and just kind of wondering around," said Stephanie Blackbird. "He didn’t look well... He looked lost and I couldn’t walk away, I couldn’t in good conscience walk away without at least checking on this man.”

Stephanie, and her husband Al, met Alan Vandevander at a Whole Foods in North Scottsdale. They helped him get some food, started up a conversation, then parted ways, but the Blackbirds couldn't get the frail homeless man off their minds.

The next morning, they reconnected with him and helped him get to a hospital. Alan was severely malnourished.

“He said I’m glad they found me cause I was in trouble.” said Blackbird.

After getting to know him, the Blackbirds did some digging and found out Alan has quite the story. He served in Vietnam, and was awarded a purple heart, but he had also been missing for 40 years. His family in Indiana had no idea Alan was still alive.

“I started looking for him in 1990 and I kept coming across dead ends," said Alan's sister, Julie Vandevander. She says she last spoke to her brother in the 80's. “I never ever thought I would hear from my brother again.”
read more here

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Business rips off Disabled Veterans Of America!

DAV, their name got stolen...again!


"I call myself the Disabled Veterans of America instead of David's Advertising so I don't get hung up on," he explained.

Is Valley veteran business really doing charitable work?


Make a lot of money all while helping veterans? Sounds like a great job, but it's not a charity. So is this local business doing a good thing or is it a misleading way to make money?

An alluring ad you may have seen on Craigslist promises up to $8,000 a month for salespeople. And you'd be able to help veterans by working for the Disabled Veterans of Arizona.

For $199, businesses would get a disabled vet sticker for their window, an advertising tax deduction, and their name listed on a website showing they support vets.

But it was another part of the ad that we really questioned; it said that salespeople get to keep 60% of what they take in.
read more here



UPDATE
Here are a few more that ripped off veterans recently!

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) - A Thompsontown man has admitted in court that he defrauded a disabled veteran of more than $300,000.Jason Ehrhart, 48, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to health care fraud. He also agreed to make full restitution to the veteran’s estate, U.S. Attorney David Freed said.A sentencing hearing was not immediately scheduled.Prosecutors say Ehrhart in October 2006 successfully applied to serve as the legal custodian of a former Perry County resident who had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis while serving in the U.S. Army.The veteran received $476,260 in federal disability benefits from October 2006 to August 2016.
Legal News Line
SAN DIEGO — A California jury handed the state a legal victory by rendering an $8.8 million award in the state's lawsuit against operators of a veteran's charity scam who used donated funds for personal expenses. 
In a lawsuit filed last year, the California Attorney General's Office alleged Matthew and Danella Gregory, along with their adult children who served as directors for the Wounded Warriors Support Group and Central Coast Equine Rescue and Retirement, used donations earmarked for wounded veterans for personal use. According to the Attorney General's Office, the defendants used donated funds for shopping trips, personal credit card debt and traveling.
“These unscrupulous con artists exploited the generosity of Americans by falsely claiming to help our country’s wounded warriors and their families," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. "Instead, they used our charitable donations for personal gain. A jury of their peers has justly slapped down the Gregory family and their corrupt enterprise. 

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Vietnam Veteran Warns Others of Mile High Singles

Colorado veteran charged nearly $10,000 by dating service


FOX 31 News
BY SHAUL TURNER
NOVEMBER 5, 2018

DENVER -- Vietnam War Veteran Wesley James Nelson says he didn't want to be alone, so he turned to an agency called Mile High Singles to find love.

The company is run by Sheryl McDowell. Nelson says, “she called herself the Love Doctor and I'd have a personal concierge to take care of me as if I would be in a five-star resort. I’d be meeting really classy ladies.”

Nelson showed his bill, which featured a program fee of $8,995 plus other costs totally totaling $9,114, he says.

"I about fell over I told her I can't afford this then boy she really laid it on.” Then, Nelson charged the fee on his credit card. He says he never went on one date.

Others have come forward to lodge complaints. An investigation in 2017 revealed Mile High Singles changed its name from Great Expectations after being investigated by attorneys general in Washington and Arizona.
read more here

Thursday, October 25, 2018

PTSD Veteran and family denied rental over Trump's Wall?

Army veteran won't be renting from Phoenix landlord after a President Trump rant

NBC 12 News
Author: Mike Gonzalez
October 24, 2018
The landlord at first told her he was not accepting anyone receiving government payments because he was afraid Trump's proposed wall along the U.S. border with Mexico would threaten those payments. He has since said he regrets the exchange.
PHOENIX — When Alyssa Gillaspy and her wife reached out to try to rent a house near 89th Avenue and McDowell Road in West Phoenix, she was shocked at the email messages she received from landlord Gary Faulkinbury.

Faulkinbury apparently told her he was not accepting anyone receiving government payments because of President Trump.

“When we inquired on the home and got that back, it was very shocking," said Gillaspy, who is receiving benefits for her post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Iraq.

One of the emails to Gillaspy reads in part: "You stupid [expletive]. It’s called qualification. Trump is causing this not me. Get a job because he’s cutting your benefits and there’s nothing you can do," said Faulkinbury.

Team 12's Mike Gonzalez talked to Gillaspy via Skype from her Olympia, Washington, home.

She was still trying to figure out why the landlord had such a fear that President Trump would pull funding from veterans. Faulkinbury was apparently upset the president is threatening to build a wall on the Mexican border, in turn putting her disability benefits at risk.
read more here

Monday, October 8, 2018

Foundation says 2 firefighters commit suicide every week

Firefighter’s widow shares husband’s battle with PTSD, hopes to help others
KOLD 13 News
By Heather Janssen
October 7, 2018
He took his own life in April of 2017.
“To see him lose hope in himself from all the things he experienced was absolutely paralyzing,” she explained. His struggles with PTSD impacted the entire family, but the Samaniegos' story doesn’t stand alone.
TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - Helping others was second nature for Jose Samaniego, until he was the one who needed the help.

“(He was) so selfless. He was so laser focused on helping other people,” his wife, Serena Samaniego, explained.

He was a loving husband, a devoted dad, and a dedicated Golder Ranch firefighter.

But Jose struggled with post-traumatic stress and addiction. What he witnessed at work often haunted him when he got home.

Serena saw it firsthand.

“It was the middle of the night nightmares and not being able to sleep. It was being distracted and irritable throughout the day,” she said.

These were all signs of his struggle as he became imprisoned in his own mind, until he couldn't handle the battle anymore.
Mike McKendrick runs the Greater Tucson Fire Foundation. He said it’s likely two firefighters take their lives each week.
read more here

Monday, September 24, 2018

Family pleads with VA employees to step forward after veteran's suicide

Family of soldier who took own life asks VA whistle-blowers to come forward
AZ Family
Lindsey Reiser
September 24, 2018
The 2016 letter specifically mentioned Castaneda, among other veterans, saying the Phoenix VA failed him by not checking on him. "He was considered such a high risk that they were supposed to be having someone check on him at his home, and apparently they weren't not checking on him all the time," Smith said.
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Arizona's Family has been covering problems at the Phoenix VA for years. We told you in 2016, whistle-blowers wrote a letter alleging serious problems there.

Now, the family of one of the veterans mentioned in that letter is making a plea, asking those whistle-blowers to come forward to give them closure.

Three years after Army Ranger Antouine Castaneda took his own life, his mother-in-law, Margaret Smith, said they are still searching for answers. And she said her granddaughters ask questions about their dad.
read more here

Sunday, August 26, 2018

John McCain “He passed the way he lived, on his own terms"

Cindy and Meghan McCain mourn John McCain with heartbreaking tribute
Huffington Post
CARLA HERRERIA
Aug 26th 2018
“He was a great fire who burned bright, and we lived in his light and warmth for so very long,” she wrote. “We know that his flame lives on, in each of us.
The wife and daughter of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) wrote heartbreaking tributes to the lawmaker hours after his death on Saturday.

Cindy McCain, the senator’s wife of 38 years, expressed her grief on Twitter.

“My heart is broken,” she wrote. “He passed the way he lived, on his own terms; surrounded by the people he loved, in the place he loved best.”

Meghan McCain, the senator’s 33-year-old daughter, wrote an emotional statement thanking her father for being a hero to both her and the country.

“I was with my father at his end, as he was with me at my beginning,” she wrote. “In the thirty-three years we shared together, he raised me, taught me, corrected me, comforted me, encouraged me and supported me in all things.”
read more here

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

VA Employees saved suicidal man on I 10 overpass

VA employee helps save man's life on Interstate 10 overpass
FOX Phoenix 10 News
August 21, 2018
"He has just that absolute frustrated look on his face. That look on someone's face. You can tell deep inside, he was really hurting," said Odis Bailey. "You could tell the mixed emotions of rage, sadness."


PHOENIX (KSAZ) -- A man shut down part of the I-10 freeway in Downtown Phoenix during the morning rush hour, threatening to jump from an overpass into oncoming traffic.

Four people pulled over to help, and one man even climbed to the top of the overpass, in an effort to try and save a stranger's life.

The man was on top of the 3rd Avenue pedestrian bridge. Before law enforcement got involved, a group of Phoenix VA employees stopped their morning commute to help. The man was a stranger to them, but his distress was all too familiar.
Bailey climbed up the fence too, and they spent about 15 minutes talking. 
"The first part was basically trying to comfort him, that I do care, I was up here because I cared about him," said Bailey. "He had some family issues. Father who had passed away, battling drugs, dealing with not having contact with his son, and the straw that broke the camels back was he was sleeping behind a bush, and someone kicked him out."
read more here

Monday, July 23, 2018

Arizona may join states tracking veteran suicides

Arizona lawmaker planning bill to mandate tracking of veteran suicides
KTAR News
BY KATHY CLINE
JULY 23, 2018
“Before you can solve a problem, you’ve got to realize the extent of the problem,” said Mike Scerbo, spokesman for the family of Antouine Castaneda. Castaneda — a decorated Army Ranger who signed up after 911 — took his life on his 32nd birthday, July 23, 2015.
Rep. Jay Lawrence at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix on July 23, 2018. (KTAR Photo/Kathy Cline)

PHOENIX — A bill that would require the compilation of veteran suicide statistics could be introduced next session in the Arizona Legislature.

State Rep. Jay Lawrence — a Republican who chairs the House Military, Veterans and Regulatory Affairs Committee — hasn’t written the bill yet. In fact, he’s only submitted suggestions to the Arizona Legislative Council.

He does plan to have something ready for the coming legislative session.

As Lawrence envisions it: “[The bill would] require the state of Arizona to compile a report on veteran suicide and provide that report to the Legislature and the Department of Veterans Affairs beginning Jan. 1, 2020.”
A November 2017 study from Arizona State University found Arizona veterans were almost four times as likely to commit suicide as nonveterans.
read more here

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Veteran decided to become homeless veteran to tell their stories

Veteran commits to living in homeless veteran camp for 1 year
NBC News 9
By Jolina Okazaki, Multimedia Journalist
Wednesday, July 4th 2018

"The majority of the veteran suicides we get are Vietnam veterans and a lot of those guys are homeless," said Rodriguez. "The camp I'm going to, there's amputees, wheelchairs, they need help. The only way they can get more help is to tell that story and make sure people here in the country know that exists."

(KWES) -

Last year, we told you about a veteran who passed through the Permian Basin and walked to honor the 22 vets who take their lives every day. Now he's on another mission to be a voice for homeless vets.
Ernesto Rodriguez has always been an advocate to help veterans across the country, especially after dealing with PTSD. He still wants to continue his mission, but this time he's committing to one year with no A/C or roof above his head. 
"I walked across the country last year and I passed through Midland/Odessa area," said Rodriguez. "Anyone who has been in the service is going to pass by the Chris Kyle Memorial and pay their respects."
Rodriguez is heading to Tuscon, Arizona to a homeless camp that takes care of veterans. Rodriguez is joining his brothers and sisters to leave a life of air conditioning and a soft bed in order to live in a tent in the blazing heat.
read more here

Saturday, March 31, 2018

Disabled Vietnam Veteran shocked to discover he was wanted...again!

Iowa prison escapee on lam for 37 years arrested in Arizona; wife says it's all a mistake
The Republic
Derek Hall
March 30, 2018

Fugitive arrested in Ariz. after 37 years on the lam
Virginia Cagley said her husband was found to be permanently disabled by Veterans Affairs in 2006 as the result of post-traumatic stress disorder. He has been treated by the VA since 2004, she said.
"He had to go to Phoenix and get a letter sent to the (VA) stating that Iowa no longer wanted him and there was no warrant," Virginia Cagley said.

PHOENIX — Is he still wanted — or not?

Days after the arrest of a fugitive who had escaped from a prison work detail in Iowa in 1981, an alternative narrative has emerged.

Charles Leroy Cagley, 68, was arrested by Prescott Valley Police Department detectives this week, soon after the FBI notified the department about Cagley's fugitive status.
read more here

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Community rebuilt Navy Vietnam veteran's home

Community rallies to help build Valley veteran's home
ABC 15 News
Aldo Vazquez
11:04 PM, Feb 10, 2018
16 mins ago
Nearly 300 volunteers, along with several other organizations including mostly veterans, came together to help build the house from the ground up.
NEW RIVER, AZ - A big ‘welcome home’ was held for a Valley Vietnam veteran whose home burned down in a fire four years ago.

“I’ve been waiting three-and-a-half years, going on four years, to get back in my house,” said Jack Cooper.

Jack Cooper built his house 26 years ago in New River. Four years ago, an electrical fire burned his house down to the ground. The only thing that survived were two pictures of his times in the Navy.
read more here

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Suicide Awareness Must Have Past by Jacob Brown

Pushing "Awareness" Proved You Didn't Really Care About Them!
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 16, 2018

If you have a problem with the truth, then please don't bother to read this site anymore. If you really want to do what is popular, then you're in the wrong place. You are part of the reason it is as bad for our veterans as it is. 

Instead of sharing all the "22 a day" or "20" number, go back to sharing cat videos and puppies going down stairs. Hey, you can also share your fabulous life and what you want people to know about you. I'm sure they'll be overjoyed with you sharing your lunch pictures again.

Get a clue! If you think fun stunts and repeating slogans stolen from the headline of a reporter, who did not even bother to read the whole report, would change a damn thing, well you're right. You managed to let veterans know, not only did a lot of other veterans give up, but added in the additional fact that all these groups didn't even care they were doing it!

You proved a lot to them.

However, if you want to do the right thing and actually fight to make a difference in the lives of our veterans, please learn what is shared here and then, take action!

What you are about to read is yet one more example of veterans not getting the help they need and families having to face what no one has prepared them for...war coming home.

For all the bullshit about "resilience training" and making sure the families are prepared, you'd need a pay loader to pick it all up for the incinerator instead of  a pooper scooper.

They are coming home without a clue what PTSD is or even the tiniest hope of healing. 


Officer involved shooting report released

Payson Roundup
Alexis Bechman
January 16, 2018


Just minutes after two Gila County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at the Beaver Valley home of Jacob Brown, the tormented military veteran suffering from the delusions, paranoia and flares of rage from post traumatic stress disorder lay dead on the ground.

Jacob Brown walking around his Beaver Valley rental before a deadly encounter with GCSO deputies, taken from surveillance cameras.
The tragic confrontation in June between Brown, 35, and Deputy Cole LaBonte, 33, and Sgt. John France, 60, lay rooted in the demons that had stalked Brown for years. He emerged from a home full of his own surveillance cameras with a drawn shotgun to confront the deputies who shouted at him repeatedly to put down the weapons before firing a total of 10 shots, killing Brown on his front porch. Brown did not fire, with the safety still engaged on the shotgun.
The Roundup obtained the Department of Public Safety’s investigation of the shooting, which cleared the two officers of any wrongdoing.
Brown’s wife says her husband had been out of his mind days leading up to the shooting and she had fled the area after he got a strange look in his eyes. 
She knew he was back there. Back in the war. Fighting a battle she could not see or help him overcome.
While he had left the war, it had not left him.
 
His struggle to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder ended tragically. It left a family without a father, stamped the start of a young deputy’s career with a tragic shooting and apparently ended the law-enforcement career of a 36-year veteran.
read more here 

Yes, that is a picture of the last moment of Jacob Brown's life in Arizona. He survived combat but did not survive being home. 

Guess all that suicide awareness stuff got past him. Guess it got past his wife. Gee, must have gotten past all the officers left grieving for what they should have never had to do.

Maybe they all missed the "awareness" stunts there?

Here is the mind blowing headline from September 11, 2017
“It’s an epidemic:” Motorcyclists ride to raise awareness about veteran suicides
But they couldn't even get where the number came from. They have it as "Department of Defense instead of Department of Veterans Affairs.  
“They came up with a number in 2012, the Department of Defense," said Bill Byrne, a member of a New York chapter of Rolling Thunder. "22 veterans a day take their lives.”
As for Department of Defense, they never seem to know there are about another 500 a year committing suicide while still in the military or the simple fact that the two departments do not combine numbers! Here is the last suicide report from the DOD up to the first half of last year.

When awareness didn't work, veteran advocate took actionAZFamily-Jun 13, 2017 "We got tired of fighting veteran suicide just through awareness. We can throw all the big banners up. I can carry 22 ribbons every day. We aren't saving any lives. We were just making people aware," said Arthur. "We moved from awareness to actual action." Since that 2015 display, 
Why would he want to stop raising awareness?

Arizona veterans' suicide rate 4 times higher than civilians'




Want to start to make a difference, then go onto the sites of all these groups asking you for money using suicidal veterans to tug at your heart and ask them what are they trying to do. If they didn't take veterans seriously enough to read the damn report, learn any facts, show any kind of research on a subject this serious, then they are not serious about doing anything more than getting publicity for themselves!

People like me have done the research because saving lives, especially these lives required all the effort we could put into it.

Want to know the facts they won't tell you because they did not even bother to check? They need to stop raising awareness without learning first, but guess it wasn't important enough to them. Start learning for them and then ask them why they didn't bother to.

Here is a state by state list of veteran suicides, by ages and if they were able to list Military Service on their death certificates or not. Veterans Day Reminder of the Forgotten Find your state, how many veterans live there and how many the VA knows committed suicide. One more way to discover why the headline number is not even close to the number of hearts that stopped beating.

Here is the link to the report that has how many were kicked out of the military instead of helped. Guess what? They are not counted either! Kicked Out Instead of Helped

Monday, January 1, 2018

Homeless Veteran "They wouldn't help me."

Turned away at Bedford VA hospital, a life lost
Veteran's suicide adds to questions about response, policies
Lowell Sun
By Todd Feathers
UPDATED: 12/30/2017

He sought care at VA hospitals in Arizona, Wyoming, and South Dakota. About three years ago, Earles decided to move to Massachusetts.


BEDFORD -- Byron Wade Earles sat hunched over, his head resting in his hands, by Building 78 of the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital.
The nurse who rushed out to help found him bleeding and despondent.

"They wouldn't admit me," he told her, according to an account of the incident in Earles' medical records. "They wouldn't help me."

As the nurse spoke with him, Earles took out a knife and began to cut his throat.
Byron Earles, a homeless Army veteran,
tried to commit suicide on Nov. 7, 2016
after the Bedford VA hospital s mental
health clinic denied him admission.
He died by suicide two months later.
(PHOTO COURTESY OF PAUL EARLES)

The 44-year-old Army veteran had arrived at the Bedford VA mental health walk-in clinic on Nov. 7, 2016 -- days after being discharged from the Brockton VA -- asking to be admitted to the hospital because he was thinking about hurting himself and others.

The Bedford clinic turned him away, according to a portion of Earles' medical records obtained by The Sun, because a mental health worker did not believe his account of a recent suicide attempt and suspected he wanted to escape the cold.

Maureen Heard, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said Earles left of his own accord after a psychiatrist suggested he seek a homeless shelter. Hospital administrators declined an interview request, but Heard said several clinic policies changed as a result of the Earles incident.

While Earles didn't die that day -- two VA police officers convinced him to drop the knife so the nurse could treat his wound -- he did die by suicide two months later, on Jan. 6, after walking out of a counseling session at the Bedford hospital.
read more here

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Company Overcharged VA $89 Million From 28 States

Reminder:Congress has had control over how our veterans are treated, or mistreated, since 1946. Ask them why they never fixed it instead of doing this to our veterans! BTW, veterans pre-paid for their healthcare the day they joined the military!

Arizona-based VA contractor collected 'tens of millions' in over payments, federal audit says
The Republic
Dennis Wagner
November 13, 2017

"Veterans Choice, which has already cost taxpayers more than $12 billion, was created as an emergency stopgap to serve patients who were waiting weeks or months to see doctors in a backlogged VA healthcare system."

A Phoenix-based company that oversees about half of the private medical care for America's veterans is looking to extend its contract even as documents reveal it overbilled the government by tens of millions of dollars.

In addition: It's the target of a federal grand jury investigation.

The company, TriWest Healthcare Alliance, has multi-billion-dollar contracts with the Department of Veterans Affairs to administer private health-care appointments for ex-military personnel in Arizona and 27 other states.

The VA Office of Inspector General recently reported to Congress that TriWest and another company, Health Net Federal Services — which oversees private VA care for the remainder of the nation — collected at least $89 million more than they should have, sometimes by billing the government at improper rates or collecting twice for the same treatment.

That, lawmakers allege, means money that could have been spent on veterans' health care was instead taken by the two companies.
read more here

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Julia Jacobson's Ex Pleaded Not Guilty

Ex-husband accused of killing missing Army veteran pleads not guilty in Rancho Cucamonga court
Daily Bulletin
By BEATRIZ E. VALENZUELA
November 6, 2017


Police are still looking for the remains of Julia Jacobson, 37, of San Diego, and her wheaten terrier, Boogie. Jacobson was reported missing Sept. 2, 2017, and was last seen in Ontario. Her ex-husband, Dalen Larry Ware, 39, of Laveen, Arizona, was arrested Oct. 13, 2017, on suspicion of murder. (Photos courtesy of Ontario Police Department)
The man accused of killing his ex-wife — an Army veteran from San Diego — pleaded not guilty to charges of murder Monday, Nov. 6, in West Valley Superior court in Rancho Cucamonga, according to court records.
Dalen Larry Ware, 39, was first arrested on Oct. 13 in Arizona with help from the Phoenix police and the FBI’s Violent Crime Task Force. He was returned to California late last month to stand trial.
Despite the charges, the body of Julia Jacobson, 37, and her dog, Boogie, have yet to be found, Ontario police officials said. Jacobson’s family reported her missing Sept. 2.
On that morning, Jacobson was seen at a 7-Eleven in San Diego. Later that day, her debit card activity placed her at a gas station in Ontario, according to San Diego and Ontario police.
read more here

Veteran Threatened to "Euthanize" Himself

'Disturbed' Upstate NY man had grenade launcher, loaded AR-15, explosives cache

New York Upstate
Ben Axelson
November 7, 2017
According to family members, Reis had post-traumatic stress disorder, and had served in the Special Forces. The Times Union found publications from the 109 Airlift Wing mentioning a man named Edward Reis, and noting that he had awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal.

Edward Reis' weapons cache.(screenshot from WRGB-TV video) 
Police in the Capital Region have arrested a man described as emotionally disturbed who had an illegal arsenal of weapons and explosives, and had threatened to "euthanize" himself.
Edward J. Reis, 43, is facing numerous charges, including weapons and forgery charges, after police uncovered a grenade launcher, grenades, dozens of high-powered weapons and an AR-15 style rifle at his home, The Albany Times Union reported.
Albany County Sheriff's officers received a call saying that an emotionally disturbed man "wanted to go to Arizona and euthanize himself." Police were unable to find him at his home, but discovered the weapons cache and materials commonly used to make explosives in a locked room. 
read more here

Monday, October 23, 2017

Veteran Found Dead at Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center

Veteran's death outside Phoenix VA hospital investigated as possible suicide
AZ Central
Chris McCrory, The Republic
October 20, 2017

Phoenix police were investigating the death of a veteran who may have taken his own life outside Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center, officials said.

Police said the death was reported as a "self-inflicted gunshot wound" near the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department building on Friday morning.

The incident "happened outside the facility and was not done in sight of or around other people," said Paul Coupaud, a spokesman for the Phoenix VA Health Care System.

The agency urged any veteran experiencing a crisis, or family members concerned about a veteran's mental health, to contact the Veterans Crisis Line at 800-273-8255. This line is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Police had not released the man's name by Friday afternoon.
go here for updates

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Missing Veteran Julia Jacobson's Ex-Husband Arrested

Missing Army Veteran Julia Jacobson Now Believed Dead, Ex-Husband Arrested
NBC News
by BIANCA HILLIER
October 17, 2017

A San Diego Army veteran who disappeared last month is now believed to be dead, according to local officials.
Julia Jacobson, 37, has been missing since September 2, 2017. She was last seen on security video at a store in Ontario, California with her Wheaten Terrier, Boogie. According to a press release from the Ontario Police Department on October 16, “detectives now have reason to believe” Julia and Boogie are both deceased.

While Julia and Boogie’s remains have not yet been located, on Friday October 13, police arrested Julia’s ex-husband on suspicion of her murder.

According to the press release, through a coordinated effort with the Phoenix Police Department and the FBI’s Arizona Violent Crimes Task Force unit, Dalen Larry Ware was arrested at his home in Laveen, Arizona. He was then transferred to the San Bernardino County West Valley Detention Center and is awaiting booking.
read more here