THE PLAIN DEALER FRIDAY, MAY 14, 1999 CLEVELAND AREA TODAY TOMORROW A mixture of clouds and sunshine; breezy. Mostly sunny and becoming warmer; nice. High near 70. Lake shore high 62. Wind High 74.
Lake shore high 68. Wind south east to northeast at 10-20 mph. Tonight, becoming onshore at 6-12 mph. Mainly partly cloudy to clear. Low 49.
clear and comfortable at night. Low 54. Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Turning out Mostly sunny Sun, patchy clouds Partly sunny, warm Warm; perhaps a partly sunny. and warmer. and warmer.
and breezy. thunderstorm. High 70, Low 49 High 74. Low 54 High 80. Low 58 High 84, Low 60 High 84, Low 62 OHIO City Thurs.
Today Sat, Sun. Akron Ashtabula Aurora Chillicothe Cincinnati Cleveland Columbus Dayton Findlay Lorain Mansfield Marietta Medina Mentor Toledo Youngstown Zanesville Neighboring Cities Erie, PA Huntington, WV Richmond, IN Ft. Wayne, IN Wheeling, WV REGIONAL NE Ohio, NW and N.Y.: A mixture of clouds and sunshine today. Partly to mostly sunny in northwestern Pennsylvania and western New York. Highs 60-70.
Tonight, partly cloudy to clear. Lows 44-52. Mostly sunny NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY: Clouds and rain are in store across the Carolinas and Virginia today. Sunshine will continue to brighten the Northeast. Dry air will gradually slip southward through the Midwest, bringing a return of some sun to many areas.
While showers and thunderstorms occur across parts of the Plains, showers will linger in the Northwest. 0s 208 508 1 709 Seattle 56 Billings 55 38 (PLEASANT Chicago New York (COOL 70 50 San Francisco Cleveland 1 70 49 Washington Denver Kansas City 68 50 76 463 478 60 Los Angeles Atlanta L'68 78 1,57 El Paso Houston. Showers 88 T-storms HOT Rain Miami 89 70 Fronts Flurries Snow Cold Ice Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Warm Temperature bands are highs for the day. Forecast temperatures are given for selected cities.
Stationary tomorrow with a pleasant and warmer afternoon. Highs 66-76. Central and SE Ohio, SW and W.Va.: Today, clouds and a shower in spots this morning, then some sunshine gradually returns this, afternoon. Mostly with a showers in West Virginia. Highs 66-72.
Tonight, clearing. Lows 46-52. Sun and patchy cloudiness tomorrow; a warmer afternoon. NW Ohio, and Chicago: Patchy morning cloudiness and fog giving way to some sunshine today. Highs 64-72.
Tonight, partly cloudy to clear. Lows 46-52. Sunny to partly cloudy tomorrow; a warmer afternoon. Highs 74- 80. Even warmer with some more sunshine Sunday.
HIghs 78-84. SW Ohio, and Clouds and a couple of showers here and there this morning, then a little afternoon sunshine. Highs 70-74. Tonight, clearing. Lows 50- 56.
Sunny to partly cloudy tomorrow with a warmer afternoon. Highs 76-80. TODAY'S REGIONAL FORECAST Huron TORONTO BUFFALO Michigan DETROIT 70 50 Erie CHICAGO TOLEDO Ft. Wayne ITSBURGH Richmond COLUMBUS INDIANAPOLIS CINCINNATI CHARLESTON 601.50 AIR QUALITY Yesterday's Index: 33, Good Main Pollutant: Particulates Other Pollutant Levels: Sulfur Dioxide 20 Carbon Monoxide 4 Ozone 16 Today's Outlook: Good (Pollution Standard Index Rating: 0-50, Good; 51-100, Moderate; 101-200, Unhealthful; 201-300, Very Unhealthful; 301-500, Hazardous.) Yesterday's pollen .........136, Very High Academy of Medicine Pollen Hot Line 520-1050 City of Cleveland Air Quality Index 441-7474; Complaint Hotline 441-7442 ALMANAC New First Q. Full Last Q.
May 15 May 22 May 30 June 7 Sunrise 6:10 a.m. Moonrise 5:56 a.m. Sunset 8:38 p.m. Moonset 7:43 p.m. LAKE FORECAST Turning out partly to mostly sunny today.
Wind east to northeast at 12-22 knots. Waves 3-5 feet. Visibility usually clear to the horizon. Wind east diminishing to 8-16 knots tonight and Saturday. FOR THE RECORD YESTERDAY (through 9 p.m.) High temperature 58 at 9:15 a.m.
Low temperature 50 at 1:30 p.m. Lake Erie temperature 55 (Wednesday High 66 Low 49) Temperature departure from normal: Yesterday: Month: Year: Hourly Temperatures 6 a.m. 52 2 p.m. 51 7 a.m. 52 3 p.m.
51 8 a.m. 54 4 p.m. 52 9 a.m. 57 5 p.m. 52 10 a.m.
55 6 p.m. 52 11 a.m. 55 7 p.m. 52 12 noon 53 8 p.m. 52 1 p.m.
51 9 p.m 51 Precipitation yesterday 0.07" Month to date 0.21" normal 1.43" Year to date 11.75* normal 11.71" TODAY Normal high temperature 68 Normal low temperature 47 High temperature last year 84 Low temperature last year 58 Record high temperature 91 in 1962 Record low temperature 30 in 1996 COMFORT FACTORS Humidity at noon Barometer at noon 30.09", rising Apparent Temperature: 8 a.m. 53 noon 64 4 p.m. 66 UV INDEX TODAY Today's highest UV index 3-4zlow. 5-6-moderate, high All maps, forecasts and data provided by AccuWeather, Inc. 1999 www.accuweather.com NATIONAL TEMPERATURES Yesterday's extremes, continental U.S.: Gila Bend, 97; Saranac Lake, N.
20 City Thurs. Today Sat. Sun. Albany Albuquerque Amanlio Anchorage Asheville Aspen Atlanta Atlantic City Austin Baltimore Birmingham Bismarck Boise Boston Brownsville Buffalo Burlington Canbou Casper Charleston, SC Charleston, WV Charlotte Cheyenne Chicago Columbia. SC Dallas Denver Des Moines Detroit Duluth El Paso Fairbanks Fargo Flagstaff Hartford Helena Hilo Honolulu Houston Indianapolis Jackson, MS Jacksonville Juneau Kansas City Las Vegas Little Rock Los Angeles Louisville Madison Memphis Miami Milwaukee Mobile Minneapolis Montgomery Nashville New Orleans New York Norfolk Oklahoma City Omaha Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland, ME Portland, OR Providence Raleigh Reno Richmond Rutland Sacramento St.
Louis Salt Lake City San Antonio San Diego San Francisco Santa Fe St. Ste. Marie Seattle Shreveport Sioux Falls Spokane Syracuse Tampa Topeka Today's Acapulco Amsterdam Athens Auckland Bangkok Barbados Barcelona Beijing Beirut Belgrade Berlin Bermuda Bogota Bombay Bonn Brussels Budapest Buenos Aires Cairo Cancun Casablanca Copenhagen Dubai Dublin Edmonton Florence Frankfurt Freeport Geneva Glasgow Hamburg Helsinki Hong Kong Istanbul Jakarta Jerusalem Karachi Kiev Kingston Kuwait Legend: t-thunderstorms; WORLD temperatures 4 s-sunny; po-partly r-rain; Clevelander gets nine years in prison for participating in ide identity-theft ring By JAMES EWINGER PLAIN DEALER REPORTER It has been called identity theft, the crime of the 21st century and an epidemic, and yesterday it cost a Cleveland man nine years in prison. Rodney Smith, 24, was convicted of 25 felonies Tuesday after a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas jury deliberated for less than an hour. According to Assistant County Prosecutors James Gutierrez and Hillary Goldberg, Smith and four co-defendants used stolen identities to run up illegal purchases and to run down the good names and credit ratings of four area residents.
Two of the victims put it more poetically yesterday when they appeared at Smith's sentencing. One victim who lives in another county likened the crime, the sense of personal violation and consequent stress, to a burglary: "Rodney Smith broke into my life and took my identity," she said. Another victim, living in an eastern suburb, said her ordeal began when she innocently went to her neighborhood video store. TEMPERATURES and conditions Lima Lisbon London Madrid Manila Mexico City Milan Montreal Moscow Munich Nassau New Delhi Oslo Ottawa Paris Perth Prague Reykjavik Rio Riyadh Rome St. Petersburg San Juan Sao Paulo Sapporo Seoul Shanghai Singapore Stockholm Sydney Taipei Tokyo Toronto Vancouver Venice Vienna Warsaw Winnipeg Yakutsk Zurich sh-showers; st-snow flurries; sn-snow, i-ice.
She said it took three months to clear up her credit after the theft of her name, birth date and Social Security number. Though she was the victim, she had to prove to creditors that she did not make the purchases. She also had to issue affidavits and give handwriting samples. Goldberg and Gutierrez said the victims' names were public record but asked that they not be identified because the entire case was about their loss of privacy at the hands of criminals. Both victims' present yesterday asked the judge to give Smith the maximum sentence, which was more than 47 years in jail.
Defense attorney James Kersey said he sympathized with the victims, but called the potential sentence excessive, "because it puts it up there with a murder case." Judge Timothy J. McGinty imposed a nine-year sentence. Under a 3-year-old sentencing law, Smith cannot get early release. The crimes included a racketeering charge and numerous theft, false ID and credit card charges. As McGinty went down the counts and totaled the sen- On May 7, 1999, filed revisions with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) changing the usage rates for Collect calls placed via 1800 CALL ATT (or other access number so designated by to $0.33 per minute.
This revision is scheduled to become effective on May 10, 1999. Newly appointed commander to return to former position An officer who was promoted cers on April 30, White said Gingto commander by Mayor Michael ell was the only officer that he R. White two weeks ago has asked and Flask had to persuade to take to Chief go back Martin to his Flask old job, confirmed Police the promotion. yesterday. "I respect his decision, but I Gary Gingell, the commander have to say I'm disappointed," of the Bureau of Special Investi- Flask said.
"He is highly regations, said he found the position spected and a natural-born took too much time away from his leader. But he is a family man, wife and children, Flask said. The and the last few weeks in such a chief said Gingell would be re- demanding job have kept him turned to his former rank of cap- from his family." tain assigned to the 3rd District afternoon shift. Flask said he planned to keep the position vacant until he and When Gingell was sworn as White can find a candidate who in commander with seven other that the job is not alNOTICE TO CUSTOMERS ways conducive to a personal life." He said he was pleased that Gingell admitted that he was having problems. The commander of the Bureau of Special Investigations oversees elite units such as those that investigate homicide, sex crimes and child abuse, and the Repeat Officer Program unit.
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Blvd In Midtown Plaza ml. South of Rte. 43 Across from McDonald's 888.573.9300 440.205.9999 440.716.9999 916.661.9200 440.342.9900 440.878.9900 VA All andy to now only Or yes out check and actuate lie Customer mat prance bling arthra within a GTE melet where a Chore (AC de de Cheer he used key calls or cling a In wed Aged legid Equement not dad achy he of AC dude de with any other re or off pest feature Free ting calls to Cho mat bad aves Three pre pad sever agerment wured la pogng a equpment not induded Some 1700 1 her Weirs he. Lotd ever wes orly tence yesterday, he sounded like a check-out clerk at a supermarket. The crimes occurred between April and August last year.
The ring totaled up about $15,000 in fraudulent purchases, the prosecutors said. One defendant worked for a Bureau of Motor Vehicles license office and created false ID cards and driver's licenses with the birth dates and Social Security numbers furnished by other defendants. Those documents allowed them to get credit cards and to make the actual purchases. Another worked for a mortgage company and could check on the credit ratings and net worth of potential victims. Gutierrez, with the prosecutor's economic crime unit, said Smith's band "was not a mature ring.
We stopped them after a few months." But he said the crime is growing, and may account for up to $1 million a year on the good names of Cuyahoga County residents alone. Regional superintendent resigns from schools Robert Henry, a regional superintendent with the Cleveland schools, has resigned. Henry was one of six regional superintendents hired this year by Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the district's chief executive officer. Henry was superintendent for Region 4, which includes schools on the city's near West Side. Before coming to Cleveland, Henry had been a high school principal and consultant to Blue Valley High School in Escazu, Costa Rica.
Henry's family still lives in Costa Rica, and the school district cited their desire to live in an East Coast city as a reason for his leaving. Henry will be replaced by Esther M. Johnson, the district's manager of human resources since 1998. Johnson joined the district in 1981 as a bilingual speech and language pathologist. She has also served as curriculum coordinator for the bilingual multicultural education office and supervisor of student activities in the health education office..
