Stolen: Cookies, Money & Sense

The Grinch that Stole Cookies

          Woodruff resident, Christopher Maurice Morton (37) has admitted to stealing $18,900 worth of Girl Scout Cookies from a shipment that he was hired to transport via semi.  Morton was arrested on Wednesday on a breach of trust charge more than $10,000.  According to investigators, the theft happened at a Spartanburg warehouse and police were notified by owner, Brian Carey (Carey Moving and Storage), when he noticed that more than 450 cases of the famed cookies where missing.  Per Carey’s statement, the shipments of cookies began arriving at his facility on February 15^th and it has been assessed that the theft occurred on the 26^th.  While doing inventory, it was discovered that cases of Thin Mints and Shortbread cookies were unable to be accounted for.

     Master Deputy Kevin Bobo has revealed that 352 cases were found BEHIND Carey Moving and Storage and Morton (a company driver) has been fire in lieu of the theft and his arrest.  No one has commented on where the remaining cases are or why Morton stole them. 

Fees Funded Fieldtrips

     Founder/superintendant (Lisa Hamm) and treasurer (Stephanie Millard) of the Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy (CCPA) have been indicted on 26 charges including: theft, tampering with evidence and tampering with records and unauthorized use of property.  Per the indictment filed in Hamilton County Court, the acts took place from October 2006 through February 2013 with the amount misspent funds totaling $148,000. 

   Hamm is accused of taking over 20 trips with family members and staff.  Some of the trips were labeled as training but the vast majority were “best practice visits” and the allotted budgets for the trips were consistently surpassed.  Millard would pay the credit card bills after each trip without the CCPA board’s knowledge.  Not once did Millard inform the board that the budgets were being exceeded or that Hamm was prone to rent cars with drivers and take such lavish trips (at times) void of staff members. 

     Court documents state that among Hamm's trips was a $20,000, 10-day tour through California which covered expenses such as a rental car with hired drivers, expensive meals and hotel stays above and beyond what was required for her training in San Diego. On other occasion, Hamm was supposed to make visits to Chicago charter schools but attended a Tina Turner concert instead. Hamm also coordinated a trip to Boston to see Oprah Winfrey and took a sightseeing tour of Europe when the purpose of her trip was to fulfill residency requirements for her doctorate program. 

   Hamm and Millard’s attorney, Mike Allen, remains hopeful that the duo will be vindicated.  "It's a dispute between the auditor's office and our clients as to what constitutes a legitimate expense for a seminar and again, we expect to prevail in court."

Plastic Surgery or Photoshop

   Lil Kim and her staff have stated that they are waging war on the paparazzi claiming that they are photo shopping her photos.  After some extremely unflattering pictures of her surfaced on a blog, a member of her staff released a statement insinuating that members of the paparazzi were intentionally placing the female MC in a bad light.