Crime

American Fugitive Kelly Lynn Miller, Who was Arrested in Phuket, Back in Alabama

Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies lead longtime fugitive Kelly Lynn Miller into the Jefferson County Jail in Bessemer, Ala

ALABAMA – Kelly Lynn Miller, who fled to Thailand to avoid prison, stepped foot back in Alabama Friday night for the first time in five years.

Miller, convicted in a fatal 2004 DUI crash, stopped and briefly spoke to the media as she was escorted into the Jefferson County Jail in Bessemer. “Honestly I know you guys have painted a really ugly picture of me as someone who just doesn’t really care and that’s not the case,” she said. “Like I cried, when this accident happened 10 years ago, I was 26 and I cried every day for months and I never ever forgot about it.”

Her victim, 57-year-old Donnie Goodwin.

She apologized to the family of her victim, 57-year-old Donnie Goodwin. “For the man’s family, for Donnie’s family, I know they’ve had to suffer a lot and I truly am deeply sorry.”

Asked why she ran, Miller hesitated and then became emotional. She was unable to answer the question. “Honestly, I’m having a tough time,” she said. “I’ve just lost my child.”

Two Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies flew to California Thursday to bring the 36-year-old Miller back. She arrived in Birmingham via a commercial Delta flight at 9:36 p.m. and then was taken directly to the Jefferson County Jail in Bessemer. She arrived at the jail about 11 p.m.

Miller was deported from Thailand, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. U.S. Marshals and other government investigators escorted her to California where she remained in lockup for two weeks.

Miller fled the state five years ago to avoid going to prison for the DUI fatality in Hoover. Authorities say she left Alabama and hid out in New Orleans until investigators started questioning friends and family there. From New Orleans, she flew to Dallas, then Hong Kong and finally Thailand.

Kelly Lynn Miller, 36, was arrested in Thailand in March 2015 after five years on the run to avoid going to prison in the 2004 DUI crash death of Donnie Goodwin.

She was taken into custody Feb. 10 by Phuket Tourist Police, who had been watching her for a month, according to Thai Authorities. She had her two-month-old son with her at the time of her arrest. The boy reportedly stayed in Thailand with his father.

Miller’s arrest was announced at a press conference in Thailand March 11. Miller applied lipstick during the news conference. Authorities said when Miller learned the media was waiting for her at the Jefferson County Jail Friday night, she asked a female deputy escorting her if she had any makeup Miller could use. The deputy didn’t provide Miller with any makeup.

A 1996 Pelham High School graduate and “self-employed entertainer” who reported a $4,000 monthly income before she fled the U.S. years ago, Miller fled Alabama and the country in 2009 to avoid the five-year prison sentence.

Miller, then 26, was charged with drunken driving in the Goodwin’s death on Interstate 459 in Hoover in 2004. Goodwin had parked his truck in the right emergency lane near Parkwood Road bridge and was checking his tires when he was struck and killed.

Hoover and Bessemer police responded to the scene, which happened about 12:15 a.m. that Tuesday. Police believe Miller sideswiped the truck with her car and then hit Goodwin. She paid a $1,000 bond and was released later that day.

A Jefferson County grand jury in 2006 indicted Miller on vehicular homicide, according to Alabama court records. She was arrested again, and then released on $10,000 bond. The case was set for a jury trial on Jan. 22, 2007 but Miller pleaded guilty. Her lawyer, Ralph “Buddy” Armstrong, who has since passed away, applied for probation.

Instead of granting probation, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Teresa Petelos sentenced Miller to five years in prison. The judge set a $50,000 appeal bond. Miller eventually made bond, and then fled to Thailand. She was official declared a fugitive in 2010.

It wasn’t immediately clear when she will be moved to Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka. Miller will have to appear before Circuit Judge David Hobdy to answer to the failure to appear charge before beginning her sentence in state prison.

Authorities are looking into whether time will be added to her sentence, and also whether charges will be filed against those who helped her while she was on the run.

“The family has been more or less holding our breath wondering if she was ever going to pay for this,” Brenda Bagwell, Goodwin’s sister, said. “A sentence of only five years was a slap in the face and then when she ran it was unbelievable.”

Bagwell has said she hopes her family can begin to heal. “There’s not a day that has gone by that I have not thought about that person,” she said of Miller. “She took away a brother I was very close to. My mother is 87 years old and she was very close to him. It’s been a tough few years. He was a good brother and son and we miss him really bad.”

By Carol Robinson

Longtime Fugitive Kelly Lynn Miller Returns to Alabama

Crime

Police Officer Being Ordained at Temple Arrested for Running Scam Call Center

Police in Northern Thailand have arrested a fellow officer as he was being ordained at a temple in Ngao district of neighbouring Lampang province.

Pol Lt Col Bandit Khonkan chief inspector from the Hang Dong police station was disrobed and taken to the Chang Puak station in Chiang Mai. He was arrested on charges of running a call centre scam gang in Chiang Mai Province.

According to Thai Media Chiang Mai Provincial Police Region 5 obtained an arrest warrant for Pol Lt Col Bandit on Friday from the Chiang Mai Provincial Court for procuring illegal telecom equipment, setting up a station and using public airwaves to run a telecommunications business without permission.

Pol Lt Col Bandit reportedly told investigators that he was not the ringleader and was only a member of the gang with Chinese partners.

His arrest followed the apprehension of his 26-year-old daughter, Miss Wanuchapond, 26, and three others during raids at three housing projects in Chiang Mai on Friday, Pol Maj Gen Weerachon Boontawee, deputy chief of Provincial Police Region 5 told Thai media.

During the raids police police discovered around 12 GSM gateways, or SIM boxes, which are devices used for converting cellular networks into mobile phone numbers used domestically.

The chief inspectors daughter Miss Wanuchapond told the arresting officers that she was paid 8,000 baht a month at each of the three locations for renting thr rooms and monitoring devices.

She claimed she had no idea what the devices were and accepted the job because the pay was attractive.

Police investigators working with telecom regulators used a special tracking device to monitor the gang’s communications and learned that its base was in Myanmar opposite Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai.

The call center gang used the GSM gateways to make calls over the internet to scam people in Thailand out of million of baht.

The GSM gateways transmitting signals via SIM boxes to convert them into domestic phone numbers, duping victims into thinking they were being called from Thai government agencies.

Pol Maj Gen Weerachon said that each SIM box held 32 SIM cards, with a capacity of up to 300,000 calls a month. The seized devices had made fraudulent calls over 3.6 million times.

He said the their investigation is ongoing and they are working to track down the remaining conspirators, including Chinese and other Thai suspects.

Authorities are still deciding whether Pol Lt Col Bandit will be dismissed from the force, he said, adding that so far, no other officers are known to have been involved.

Police in Chiang Rai Launch Crackdown on Cyber Criminals in Golden Triangle

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Settha Thavisin has authorized the establishment of an emergency cyber center operated by the Royal Thai Police to combat transnational crimes committed by call center gangs along the Thai border in Chiang Rai province.

On July 19, Prime Minister Settha Thavisin directed the Center to combat information technology crimes. The Royal Thai Police (Royal Thai Police) will crack down on call center gangs in Myanmar, Laos, and along the border.

His directive comes as call center gangs ratchet up their scams to defraud people of their money, causing concern among Thais and jeopardizing the country’s economic and social stability.

Related Police News:

Machete Wielding Man Shot an Killed by Police in Chiang Rai

https://www.chiangraitimes.com/chiangrai-news/machete-wielding-man-shot-an-killed-by-police-in-chiang-rai/

Crime

Thai Immigration Police Arrest Colombian Tourists Over Home Invasions

Immigration police officers have arrested four Colombian nationals in connection with a series of home burglaries at luxury housing complexes in the Bangkok metropolitan area and Chiang Buri Province.

Pol Maj Gen Panthana Nuchanart, deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, told a press briefing that three of the suspects were apprehended in Nonthaburi Province and the fourth in South Pattaya, Chon Buri Province.

According to the Bangkok Post, the Colombians were charged with stealing conspiracy and seized around 3 million baht (US$82,500.00).

According to Pol Maj Gen Panthana, the criminals rode motorcycles through housing estates, scoping out the properties and waiting for the owners to depart before committing their crimes.

He stated that all four of the accused denied any involvement in the home break-ins, but the arresting squad discovered evidence that implicated them.

Police called to home invasion

Meanwhile, police were dispatched to a luxury housing development in Tambon Nong Prue, Chonburi Province, after a Chinese man was attacked during a house invasion.

When they arrived, they discovered the house owner, Mr. Qian Peng Yi, visibly scared and with marks from being tied up with a cable. He informed police that three Chinese males broke into his home at 9 p.m., one of whom brandished a gun at him and directed him to his bedroom.

They bound his hands and feet, gagged him with fabric, taped his head, and forced him into the bed. The intruders then attempted to compel him into transferring 10 million baht in cryptocurrencies to them, endangering the life of his 33-year-old cousin who was in a second-floor bedroom.

While they scoured the house in search of riches, Mr. Peng Yi managed to flee and hide; he subsequently observed them leave with his cousin. Officials investigated the property and analyzed security camera footage from the incident and surrounding areas.

Around 9 p.m., a 30-year-old van driver came at the Bang Lamung police station after being contacted by an agency to carry Chinese customers from Pattaya to Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The driver informed authorities that he was supposed to pick them up at a motel about a kilometer from the Chinese businessman’s home. He then drove them to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, arriving at 1 a.m. and receiving 1,800 baht.

The driver took a snapshot of the group smoking at the airport gate and identified one of them as the victim’s cousin. Police suspected coordination between her and the three suspects in her cousin’s heist, who all departed Thailand on the same aircraft.

Other Bangkok News:

Police in Bangkok Discover Six Vietnamese Tourists Dead in 5 Star Hotel

Police in Bangkok Discover Six Vietnamese Tourists Dead in 5 Star Hotel

Crime

Son of Thailand’s Leading Legal Scholar on Corruption Arrested for Running Online Gambling Network

The son of a former senator and leading economist and expert on corruption and gambling in Thailand has been arrested for on charges of running an online gambling network and its payment system.

Police from Thailand’s Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) have confiscated assets worth more than (US$ 11.1 million) 400 million baht.

Narote Piriyarangsan, 33, was arrested following crackdowns in three sites around the city, according to Pol Maj Gen Athip Pongsiwapai, commander of the police Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD).

Mr Narote’s father, Sangsit Piriyarangsan, is an economist who has written articles and books about corruption and gambling. He was one of the appointed senators that were investigating the government’s intention to legalize casino gaming before their terms expired.

Police also detained 39-year-old Narayut Narakaew, the owner of the gambling website 69pgslot.com. The Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the couple for operating an internet gambling service and money laundering.

According to the Bangkok Post, police seized two desktop computers, one laptop computer, 14 mobile phones, 21 bank passbooks, 53 ATM cards, and four high-end cars — a Ferrari 926 GTS, an Aston Martin, a Lexus, and a Subaru — totaling more than 400 million baht.

Police launched the inquiry after discovering the online gambling site, which accepted funds via an automatic deposit-withdrawal system through bank accounts and deposits in the AskMePay system. Players scanned the VPay QR code as well as the QR codes for Heng Online 888 or Heng Pay Company.

Police also discovered that payments received via QR code scans were transferred to the account of Heng Pay Co and then to the gambling website’s mule accounts using AskMePay, which did not use banks’ face recognition scanning. An inquiry indicated a monthly turnover of approximately 5 billion baht.

According to investigators, the website has been up and running for around four years, with the payment mechanism in use for roughly eight months.

According to Pol Maj Gen Athip, Mr Narote owns the gaming website’s payment systems and is the director of Heng Pay Co. After gathering evidence, authorities requested arrest warrants for 14 people.

Thailand does not allow almost any kind of gaming. Even though the law doesn’t say anything specific about online gaming, it is still considered gambling. The country has pretty strict rules about gambling. Thai punters can bet on the national lottery and horse races, but they can’t bet on any other types of games.

But it’s not a secret that there is a huge illegal gaming business in Thailand, even though it’s illegal.

The illegal casinos, online betting shops, underground lotteries, and pop-up bookies that take bets on everything from cockfights to Muay Thai make a shadow economy that is worth billions of dollars every year.