Gahanna Home Invasion, Assault Investigation
GAHANNA -- A group of men are on the run after breaking into a Gahanna home early Wednesday morning, beating the homeowner and stealing his gun and car.
 
It happened around 4:30 a.m. at a home in the 1400 block of Harris Pond Drive.

Police told ABC 6/FOX 28 News that three or four men broke in, assaulted the homeowner and took at least one of his guns.

The owners car was later found several miles away at an apartment complex on Heatherbridge Lane.

None of the suspects were with the vehicle.

Investigators said a gun was found inside the car, but they were still trying to determine if it belongs to the victim or the suspects.

"We're not sure exactly what the motivators are at this time," said Lt. Thomas Basso with the Gahanna Police Department. "They did remove items from the home, so we're thinking it's a burglary or robbery."

The victim was taken to Grant Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Stay with ABC 6/FOX 28 News for the latest on this developing story.
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REPORTER: Mike McCarthy
WEB PRODUCER: Nick Bona

Schools Getting Casino Tax Money
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The state says Ohio schools are getting nearly $38 million from casino-tax revenue.
  
It's the first distribution to schools since casinos opened last year.

The money is distributed on a per-pupil basis twice per year to more than 1,000 school districts and charter schools across Ohio.

It works out to just under $21 for each of the roughly 1.8 million students.
  
Schools receive 34 percent of the revenue, with 51 percent going to county government.
  
The money comes from taxes levied on the three operating casinos in the state, in Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo.

The fourth casino, in Cincinnati, will open in March.

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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna

Exotic Dancer Dies After Fall
CLEVELAND (AP) -- A 22-year-old exotic dancer has died one week after she was injured in a fall from a second-floor balcony while performing at a club in Cleveland.
  
MetroHealth Medical Center confirmed the death of Lauren Block of Richmond Heights on Wednesday.
  
The hospital relayed a family statement expressing appreciation for the community's support and prayers and efforts to save her life.
  
A witness told police the woman was dancing for him early on Jan. 2 when she tried to perform a move or jump and fell over the rail head first at Christie's Cabaret near downtown Cleveland.
  
Calls to the club went unanswered Wednesday morning.

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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna

$2.5 Million Mortgage Fraud Scheme
COLUMBUS -- A federal grand jury here has indicted Richard Nobles, 39, of Granville, Ohio with one count each of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering.
 
Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and Darryl Williams, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office announced the indictment today.
 
According to the indictment, Richard Nobles owned and operated a real estate business called Home Team Solutions, Ltd. (“Home Team”), and he owned and controlled a real estate business called Zircon Funding, Ltd (“Zircon”).  In addition, Nobles had control over a business in the name of an individual called Noble Presence Farm, LLC.
 
It has been alleged that between January 2006 and February 2008 Nobles conspired with others to defraud lending institutions in order to fraudulently obtain loans for property investors in the amount of approximately $2,526,955. 
 
Nobles, through his various companies, purchased approximately nine properties in the Columbus, Ohio area.  Many of these homes were in the Columbus area, located south of German Village.  Nobles enlisted the services of various mortgage brokers in the Columbus area to assist in selling the homes.  The homes were allegedly "flipped" within months of Nobles purchasing the properties.
 
Allegedly, Nobles assured the mortgage brokers that he would provide the necessary down payments for the new buyers ("the investors"), since most of the investors did not have the funds to pay the required down payments.  The mortgage brokers promised the investors that they would receive incentive payments after closing and that the homes they were buying would generate substantial rental income.
 
It has been alleged that the mortgage brokers completed fraudulent Uniform Residential Loan Application Forms 1003 ("loan applications") for each of the investors in order to qualify them for the mortgage loans.
 
Nobles allegedly paid the purchasers’ down payments with cashier’s checks drawn from accounts in the name of his respective businesses.  The Indictment alleges that Nobles concealed from the investors’ lenders that he was the source of the down payments.  Ultimately Nobles was reimbursed with the excess loan proceeds generated by the purchase of the property.  Nobles understood that the HUD 1 Settlement Statement for each property sale were false because they failed to disclose the true source of the down payments.
 
Nobles allegedly established a sale prices on the homes that was over inflated in order to generate the funds necessary to provide the investors’ down payments and to generate a substantial profit for himself.  Nobles had associates in the mortgage appraisal industry that assisted him in obtaining the highest possible prices for his properties.
 
Nobles used the profits to pay his associates and the mortgage brokers alleged kickbacks ranging in amounts from approximately $4,000 to approximately $100,000.
 
Conspiracy to commit mortgage fraud and bank fraud are punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.  Conspiracy to commit money laundering is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  Money laundering is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or not more than twice the amount of criminally derived property involved in the transaction.
 
“Mortgage fraud is every bit as corrosive to American society as street crime,” said Darryl Williams, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office.  “This type of fraud has far-reaching economic consequences and severely thwarts recovery from the foreclosure crisis, leaving communities with inflated home values and financial institutions with noncollectable loans.”
 
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura Fulton and was investigated by special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation.

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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna

Serious Shooting at Wedgewood Apartments
COLUMBUS -- Homicide detectives are on the scene of a shooting at the Wedgewood Apartments near 870 Wedgewood Drive.

Police say a suspect got out of a sulver car with tinted windows and shot at another person who was outside just before 1 p.m.

Medics transported the victim in serious condition to Mt. Carmel West Hospital.

The suspect was seen getting back in the car and driving off. 

Anyone with information about this latest shooting is asked to call Columbus police at 645-4545.

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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna

Supreme Court: Judges Cannot Delay Appeals in Death Row Cases
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court says federal judges cannot indefinitely delay a death row inmate's federal appeals to see if the convict can become mentally competent enough to help his lawyer.
  
The high court unanimously ruled Tuesday against Arizona death row inmate Ernest Gonzales and Ohio death row inmate Sean Carter.
  
Inmates appealing state death sentences to federal court have a right to a lawyer.

But the courts never said whether the inmates have to be mentally competent enough to help their lawyers with their federal appeals.
Gonzales and Carter wanted the high court to say that federal judges have discretion to hold up proceedings indefinitely until the inmates are ready.
  
Justice Clarence Thomas says "at some point, the state must be allowed to defend its judgment of conviction."

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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna

Supreme Court Hears DNA Testimony
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The Ohio Supreme Court plans to hear arguments in the case of a condemned inmate whose attorneys argue DNA testing could help exonerate him.
  
At issue is the case of death row prisoner Tyrone Noling, convicted in 1996 of fatally shooting an elderly Portage County couple at their home.
  
The Supreme Court plans Tuesday to hear arguments from both sides.
  
Lawyers for the Ohio Innocence Project want to test a cigarette butt found at the scene against DNA profiles of offenders in a national database, including a convicted killer who was executed.
  
The state says previous tests have excluded Noling as the smoker of the butt and says new testing would prove nothing.
  
A lower court judge has twice denied the request.

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Web Producer: Kellie Hanna