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WEST CHESTER — The Phoenixville man charged with bringing a loaded handgun into the Chester County Justice Center waived his preliminary hearing Tuesday. His lawyer blamed the incident on “a stupid mistake.”

Brian Benjamin, 42, is charged with misdemeanor counts of carrying an unlicensed firearm and possessing a firearm in a court facility. He is being held in Chester County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail.

A freelance photographer and graphic designer, Benjamin was arrested last week when a security officer at the Justice Center noticed the image of a handgun inside a briefcase as it passed through the monitoring station. A .45-caliber, semiautomatic found inside the case was loaded with eight rounds of ammunition, court officials said.

Benjamin was on his way to a scheduled support hearing at the Domestic Relations Office with the mother of his daughter.

Attorney John Neumann Hickey of Media, representing Benjamin, said after the hearing that his client would likely plead guilty in the case and that his goal now is to convince a Common Pleas Court judge to lower Benjamin’s bail. Magisterial District Judge Mark Bruno, who set the bail on May 19 and was to preside over a hearing in the case Tuesday, declined Hickey’s request.

“We don’t dispute the fact that this happened,” Hickey said in an interview after the hearing. “We are interested in a resolution in which he will take responsibility for his actions.”

Normally, first-time offenders charged with a nonviolent misdemeanor offense might be accepted into the county’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, which would not require a prison sentence and would allow them to have their record erased after probation, but Hickey sounded doubtful he would be able to win entry into that program for Benjamin.

“The problem we face is that this looks worse than it is,” Hickey said. “A man brings a gun into a courthouse on his way to a domestic relations hearing; it sounds very sinister when in fact it is not. When you sit down and talk with him, you see it was just a stupid mistake.”

Hickey said Benjamin had been on his way to the hearing where his ex-girlfriend and her attorney wanted to set a schedule for child support payments. Benjamin, who according to court records has gone through financial problems recently, told Hickey he had assembled a thick file of tax returns and financial statements.

He told Hickey he stuffed those records into a briefcase that also contained a Springfield 1911 handgun that he had forgotten about.

Benjamin “was as surprised as anyone when it came up on the monitor,” Hickey said.

When Benjamin passed through the security station at the building entrance about 10:55 a.m., he placed the briefcase on the X-ray machine’s conveyor belt. On a monitor, Security Officer Donald Erdman saw what appeared to be a handgun inside the briefcase as it passed through the machine.

According to reports, Erdman then notified Deputy Sheriff Steven Sibbett, who approached Benjamin and asked if he was a law enforcement officer or had a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Benjamin replied that he did have a permit but that he had left it at home.

The criminal affidavit filed against Benjamin indicates he also checked his wallet to see if he had the permit with him. He did not.

Benjamin said he had received the permit in Chester County. While another deputy detained Benjamin at the entrance, Sibbett went to the county Sheriff’s Office on the first floor of the Justice Center and asked the deputy in charge of firearm license records to check for Benjamin’s permit.

A review of the records showed that Benjamin lacked a valid permit.

Benjamin was then handcuffed, taken to the sheriff’s lockup and charged after being interviewed by the Chester County detectives.

Hickey acknowledged that Benjamin lacks a current license to carry a concealed weapon as is required but may have had one in the past and let it expire.

Hickey also maintained no animosity exists between Benjamin and his ex-girlfriend. He said tthe couple shared joint custody of their daughter for seven years and never had any problems about custody or support.

At the waiver of his preliminary hearing Tuesday, Benjamin was accompanied by relatives who visited the Justice Center in his support, Assistant District Attorney Megan Kampf, who was prosecuting the case, said.

Hickey said his client would be unable to post the required $100,000 bail and noted the sentence in a case such as this is typically probation or a month in prison.

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MEMPHIS, TN – He’s out of jail but still in a mess. A Memphis man who signed up for Shelby County’s Child Support forgiveness program says he was arrested yesterday when he showed up in court, even though the program is supposed to keep people who owe child support out of jail. Marlow Hill got out of jail late last night, but his brother Daniel said he’s too shaken up to go on camera. Still, the family wants to know one thing: why was he arrested.

“This morning, they took the warrant off,” Daniel Hill recounted yesterday. “The warrant has been taken off. They told him to come back up at 12:30. When he came back, they locked him up!”

Hill insists the family doesn’t know why his brother was arrested.

“This is a scam,” he said. “This has got to be a scam. Who’s going to pay $250 and say ‘ok, lock me up?’ It’s not right. It’s not fair.”

We checked, and couldn’t find any other charges or convictions on his brother’s record. Shelby County’s Children’s Services office won’t talk about the specifics of the case, but Project Manager Frenchell White Phipps insists “we’re not talking about locking individuals up.”

The program is supposed to work like this: pay $250, get your drivers license reinstated, and any outstanding warrants against you will be dismissed.

“Our main goal is to get people back on track, have them come down and sit down and tell us what is going on, and what has gotten them off track,” Phipps explained.

Phipps said her office doesn’t handle issues not related to child support.

“If someone has not resolved their issues, if there are other issues outstanding by the courts, these individuals will have to address those issues before the courts,” she said.

While courts handle criminal issues, she wants to “work with them to get them into compliance,” she said. “They cannot ignore it.”

The amnesty program has helped hundreds.

“We served 535 individuals and we collected $136,000 in child support during that week,” Phipps pointed out.

The campaign will be revived next month, from June 14th through the 18th, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Then Saturday, June 19th, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. It’s at the Shelby County Child Support office at 3915 South Mendenhall Road in Memphis.

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A Farmingham man who has been ordered to pay his ex-wife and adult daughter 250k in missed child support payments and other expenses is in jail.

A constable arrested M. David Cohen at 1 p.m. Monday as he sat in Mel’s Commonwealth Cafe in Wayland.

Middlesex Family and Probate Court Judge Randy Kaplan had issued a capias, or a civil arrest, warrant in December after Cohen failed to show up for his trial on the outstanding support payments.

Cohen is being held in Middlesex Jail in Cambridge and is scheduled to appear today before Kaplan in probate court, said Patricia Davis, lawyer for Cohen’s ex-wife, Shelley Cohen.

The hearing today is a surrender hearing, and he could be sent to jail for non-payment. He has previously served 60 days in jail.

Shelley Cohen says her former spouse owes her and their 23-year-old daughter $66,441 for child support, $75,000 for college, $60,730 for medical expenses for their daughter and $46,200 in alimony.

Regarding one previous order to make weekly child support payments of $300, David Cohen had produced records showing he had paid about $6,000.

Davis said the constable, who is also a private investigator, had been investigating Cohen for some time and tracked him to a home on Woodmere Lane where he lived with a female acquaintance. A constable can only arrest someone on a capias warrant if that person is outside the home.

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In the world of apartment leasing, the tenant is often in a position of weakness. Not usually knowledgeable regarding landlord/tenant law, they are often victims of unscrupulous landlords who withhold security deposits without good reason, raise rents without notice, ignore vital repairs, and attempt to evict tenants with no real justification.

Since most tenants believe they cannot afford to get professional legal counsel at $200-300 per hour, the actions of landlords go unchallenged and the tenant suffers. Recently, however, the tide has turned. Tenants are finding that they can gain a professional ally at a cost much lower than anticipated.

Independent Associate Glyn Norman, who works with Prepaid Legal Services, Inc., explains: “Probably half my calls are from tenants being abused by landlords. They are being unfairly victimized and don’t know where to turn. There is usually a great sigh of relief when I tell them they can get a consultation with a lawyer, and a letter written to the landlord upholding their rights, and that it will cost them nothing more than a $26 per month legal plan.”

In 90% of the cases, this seems to be all that is required. When the landlord discovers that the tenant is not going to accept their actions, and that they have legal assistance backing them up, they usually put right whatever is wrong, and stop taking advantage. In the USA, the richest 10% of Americans have a lawyer on retainer, and the poorest 10% qualify for Legal Aid. That leaves a gaping hole for the middle 80%, and this is a hole that Prepaid Legal Services aims to fill, with over 1.5 million families already taking advantage of their legal plans. Finally tenants have someone on their side.

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As a homeless advocate, I’ve seen dozens of elderly homeless people living in shelters and on the streets. While I wish that they could all be housed, there are a few hard luck cases that really stand out to me. I’ll describe two such cases here — that of a woman who became homeless at the age of 87 but has since been housed and that of a presently homeless 74-year-old man who lives in various homeless shelters.

Ellen lived in the same apartment for over thirty years. Then, in 2007, when she was 87, her apartment complex underwent a renovation. Her rent had been $750.00 per month. After the condo conversion, the same apartment would’ve cost $2,400.00 per month. Being on a fixed income, she couldn’t afford the increase.

One day her landlord walked into her unit and told her very bluntly, “Get out.” She stepped into the hall. He grabbed her purse off of the table and handed it to her. With that, she was gone. While Washington, D.C. has laws to protect the elderly from such abuses and while no landlord in the city has the right to evict someone without going through landlord-tenant court, many people don’t know their rights. When they learn their rights, it is often too late; they have unwittingly forfeited their rights by “voluntarily” walking away from the unit. Various homeless/housing advocates (including myself) have pushed for a new law that would make it mandatory for landlords to apprise people of their rights, as opposed to violating the rights of the uninformed.

Ellen then went to a homeless shelter that was located in a church. Then, an apartment complex next to the church burned to the ground, with the flames damaging the roof of the church. She went to the hospital for four days, due to smoke inhalation, and then moved to another shelter. (I met her in April 2008, shortly after the move.) While at the second shelter, she was accidentally pushed down as people rushed to the food line and broke her hip. While she was in the hospital, I e-mailed the city’s Department of Human Services and it sent a representative to visit Ellen and connect her to services. Ellen spent a year recovering in a nursing home and has since been housed. Before last fall she walked without a walker, but now uses one.

She went through more trouble than anyone should ever have to go through at her age. She should not have been evicted in the first place and might not have, if only she’d known her rights. Upon entering a shelter at 87, she was not quickly connected to services for the aging. She was only rehoused after breaking her hip. There were some clear systemic failures in her case. However, her situation has a happier ending than that of a 74-year-old homeless man named Henry.

While I don’t know how Henry became homeless, I do know that he is a veteran who has diabetes. He also walks with a cane and has a very hard time getting around. I recently helped him transport his belongings after he was discharged from the hospital. (He’s been hospitalized at least four times within the past two months.) I couldn’t help but notice that he walked at about one-fifth of my speed. His fixed income enables him to ride the public transportation, rent a storage unit and purchase a few small amenities, but it won’t enable him to afford housing.

His life is full of the same rigors that younger homeless people deal with on a daily basis: leaving the shelter at 7 a.m., traveling across town to a feeding program, finding things to do until 6 p.m. (since looking for work is out of the question) and then returning to the pick-up spot in front of the library where dozens of homeless men await the shuttle bus that takes them to shelters in far-flung parts of town.

I’ve called DHS for Henry, just like I did for Ellen. However, by the time that anyone goes to see him in the hospital, he has already been discharged. This makes it harder to find him, as he goes to different shelters based on the availability of beds. The fact that he must leave the shelter during the day makes it impossible for DHS staff to know where to find him during the day. So he hasn’t been housed yet, even though DHS’s stated purpose is creating Permanent Supportive Housing and ensuring that those who would die without housing be housed.

I’ve sat in meetings as DHS personnel spoke of how they didn’t want anyone to die homeless. However, Henry has surpassed the average life expectancy for a man and yet remains homeless. To its credit, DHS has tried to find him more than once. But because of the homeless services that he uses being spread all over town, officials can’t keep up with him, in spite of his decreased mobility. Each time that he returns to the hospital, I’m left to wonder if he’ll ever be housed so that he doesn’t die homeless. How will his story end?

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Numerous income making options and various possibilities are available for home owners to pursue with regards to real estate. Anyone with vision and some financial ability will be able to supplement their income in proceeding with one of a number of different options regarding their existing property, like turning it into rental units. It is critical that you put in some upfront research so that you can become a successful landlord and do well in the tenant business, if you have chosen to change from being just a home owner into a landlord.

One of the most important parts of the landlord tenant relationship is that of the property management company. Property management companies provide a voice for both the landlord and the tenant. More importantly for landlords, property management companies are responsible for the day to day operations, removing much of the stress from the landlord. With the real estate boom now bust because of the subprime mortgage crisis, the rental business has begun to expand very quickly.

History of a Firm. So that you can ascertain the firm’s quality of service which it will provide you with, you should consider this helpful criterion. Learn as much as you are able to concerning the background of this firm, their credibility, reputation, as well as how long they have been in business.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions or request an interview. This is a big decision, so you’ll want to have as complete and thorough a picture of the company as you can get, which means going to the company and requesting the information. Be sure to ask what services they provide, what type of properties they may have managed in the past and what properties they are currently managing. During the interview, you’ll be looking for information that will provide you with an idea of how much management experience they have in properties that are similar to yours as well as a sense of how honest they are.

Quality Customer Service. In your first appointment with the firm, or even your first phone call, you should be able to ascertain this. As you would be engaging with them on a routine basis if you go with their outfit, make sure that you observe this closely. You should also think about their rapport building with you, their speed in getting back with you on your various queries, and their capability of communicating.

Cost. Management companies usually have a variety of service packages, offering an array of services and rates. Decide which services are best suited for your needs then find a price and package that will help you succeed.

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About two weeks ago, the D.C. Superior Court announced its new Housing Conditions Calendar, which allows tenants to sue their landlords for housing code violations in Superior Court on an expedited schedule. It doesn’t look like many people know about it yet, though–a Courts spokeswoman tells Housing Complex that only four cases have so far been filed. Three of them will be heard on May 24, and the last one two weeks later.

While tenant advocates worked hard for the new procedure and celebrated its announcement, some have also voiced reservations about how the court is set up. For one thing, it’s only held on Mondays, which could be hard for working folk to make. For another, says Farah Fosse of the Latino Economic Development Corporation, the new court doesn’t have an escrow function like landlord-tenant court, which provides for rent to go into a special account until the case is settled.

“The judge will able to say, ‘make repairs,’” says Fosse. “But if there was no heat for a month? The judge won’t have the power to say, ‘the tenant doesn’t have to pay x amount of rent.’”

Fosse says she hopes that the procedure can be improved over time.

“We’re really excited about it and I’m glad that it’s happening,” she says. “But probably there will be a need for some changes.

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A landlord-tenant dispute turned bloody on Thursday when a Purvis Street tenant allegedly beat his landlord in his garage, according to Watertown Police.

William Lingos, 57, of 33 Purvis St. was arrested around 9:30 p.m. on May 6, after police answered a call about two men fighting in a garage.

When they arrived, police said officers saw a man wearing a white T-shirt who appeared to be covered in blood climbing up the fire escape.

Inside the garage, a man later identified as the property’s owner was walking around dazed, bleeding heaving from the forehead and face, according to police.

While EMTs treated the landlord, Lingos leaned over the railing on the back porch of the building and told police if they wanted him to “come and get him,” authorities allege Officers entered his apartment, where they found that Lingos had changed his clothes and tried to bleach the bloodstained clothes.

Police allege Lingos also threatened a witness, saying he’d kill the witness if the witness spoke to police.

Lingos was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, attempted murder and threatening to commit a crime.

The landlord was taken to Mt. Auburn Hospital with “head and facial injuries including a large laceration above the left eye, (a) probable deviated septum and a split lip,” according to the Fire Department.

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Selfish and stupid from start to finish, Sarah York will probably never comprehend the damage she has done to the Queen, to her ex-husband, to her children. In return for a handful of chump-change, she has blown all prospect of future happiness and any chance she might have had to rehabilitate herself in the public eye.

So nobody should be surprised at her unfrocking by an undercover reporter posing as a businessman – only that it took so long to come about.
Tragically, the story isn’t over yet. Yesterday’s revelations are sure to trigger a rush by her many creditors to get their bills settled before the duchess sinks for ever in the bankruptcy proceedings which seem certain to engulf her following the revelation that she has no money left.
Indeed, she owes bills across town and, weeks ago, friends signalled to me that they feared her overdraft is as high as it was in the bad old days.

Last time around – immediately after her 1996 divorce from Prince Andrew – Fergie was indulged by the banks who asked too few searching questions about her precarious financial status and extended her line of credit. This time, they won’t.
The situation would make some people suicidal. But Fergie?
‘Sarah’s reaction to what was an extreme situation was remarkably calm,’ recalled her former friend and adviser Dr Allan Starkie of a former crisis. ‘She looked on her overdraft as something which has nothing to do with banks or people – it was just a bad circumstance, like having a sick child.’

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I am a Process Server in the NYC area. In my profession I have served divorce documents for many spouses. Now that Elin Nordegren is filing for divorce from Tiger Woods (http://snipurl.com/wpwso) and all the other celebrities filing for divorce, is divorce in the US out of control?

I believe that the increase in the divorce rates are due to several conditions that are going on in today’s society(http://snipurl.com/wq3pv). First, society looks upon marriage as a perfect union amongst people who are not perfect. Meaning, that when a couple gets married they look towards their mate as being this perfect match to themselves. It is always this way in the beginning because we are blinded by the courtship, sex and the materialistic things that surround the relationship. Once marriage settles in and the reality and the flaws of the spouse begins to surface, that’s when trouble in the relationship starts.
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Infidelity is one of the main reasons why couples get divorced in the US. Lets break down the meaning of the word Fidelity. Fidelity is the quality of being faithful or loyal. Its original meaning regarded duty to a lord or a king. In modern human relationships, the term can refer to sexual monogamy. This is where human beings, not being perfect, get lost in this concept. From the beginning of time man was never faithful or loyal. Man has always been deceitful and treacherous. This is exactly why Jesus was persecuted. The Kings, Emperors, Lords, Queens, always had sex outside of their marriage. They felt it was their privilege to have sex with whom ever they choose to. There was no divorce back then. The Queen was not leaving the King because he had sex with one of the maidens. The Queen was not taking half of the Kingdom and going about her business. Who came up with this concept of sexual monogomy and why?( http://snipurl.com/wq3w3) (http://sn.im/wq90y)

Money is another reason why couples get divorced. Money is the root of all evil. Who ever coined this phrase, hit it right on the head. Human beings have always looked towards wealth as a status to define who they are. The more money you have the more powerful you become. This leads to greed, which is one of the seven deadly sins, which eventually leads to everyones down fall. When you lose your money you seem to lose the power that came along with it. In today’s society, having money is so crucial to the well being of the family. If a spouse loses their income and was the only source of income for the family, then the entire family collapses until that spouse finds another source of income. This financial burden can lead to divorce or even death in some cases
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If you are wealthy and go through a divorce you stand to lose a great deal of your money. Many celebrities, athletes and wealthy business men find themselves in court having to dish huge sums of money to their spouse (http://sn.im/wq950). Some people see these celebrities as cash cows and go after them to milk them for their money. If you have children, you are guaranteed child support once you separate. Some of these spouses have never worked a day since they got married and reap the benefits of their wealthy mates once they decide to separate (http://sn.im/wqah8). These celebrities, athletes and wealthy business men, may can afford to separate with millions of dollars to support their kids and their ex-spouse, but should they be cleaned out for transgressions that can not be controled, because they are only human and are not perfect? http://sn.im/wqc2b

I have only touched upon the surface on this topic which I’m sure you’ll will hear more about in the upcoming year. Many people are concerned about the economy and feel that it is the cause of the breakdown of American society. They should first be concerned about the breakdown of families that fuel the American economy.

If you find yourself in need of getting a divorce, I recommend that you seek advice from an Attorney and try to settle your difference amicably.( http://sn.im/wqcbn) You will need a Licensed Professional Process Server to serve your documents. Here at Coleman Process Service, Inc. (http://www.colemanprocessservice.com) we can assist you in serving your documents. You may contact us through our website or email contact@colemanprocessservice.com. You can also follow me on Twitter@ColemanProcess1

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