Minneapolis, MN

Victim in downtown Minneapolis hit-and-run says police haven’t contacted him about crash

Published

2 hours ago

August 28, 2024

Victim in downtown Minneapolis hit-and-run says police haven’t contacted him about crash

MINNEAPOLIS — The victim of a violent hit-and-run crash last month is out of the hospital and says he hasn’t watched the security footage of what happened.

“It was just green light, and yeah, that’s literally all I remember,” said Carl Vargas.

Vargas was tossed through the air like a rag doll in downtown Minneapolis when another vehicle blew through a red light and T-boned him.

“Everyone who’s seen the video and come to see me and talk about it, they are just like, eyes wide, ‘You are a lucky man,’” he said.

After the crash, the video shows two people getting out of the car and into another car that had been trailing behind. They drove off.

Vargas still can’t walk. Much of his daily life is a struggle.

“My ankle was completely destroyed,” Vargas said. “I had several head injuries like a skull fracture and a ruptured eardrum.”

Adding insult to the injuries, someone on the street stole Vargas’s phone and wallet while he was lying unconscious.

“Everything was lining up: school, got the job, got the bike, got the new place and then — life isn’t meant to be perfect,” he said.

Vargas says the crash has changed his perspective on life and he’s very grateful he wasn’t hurt worse.

He’s also not too concerned about catching the people who hit him and stole his wallet.

“Why am I even worried about it or thinking about it because who knows where they are?” Vargas said. “Who knows what they are? Who knows what I would even get if they were caught?”

Still, he says Minneapolis police haven’t talked to him once, and it was his family who canvassed the area to secure the surveillance videos.

WCCO asked the Minneapolis Police Department for an update on the case Tuesday and didn’t hear back.

Vargas says he plans to get back on the bike, and his focus is his health and school, which he returned to this week.

“That’s what everybody points out, ‘The people who did this, they have stuff coming to them,’ and I’d rather just know I was doing good, I’m still doing good,” he said. “That good has to come around eventually.”

Vargas says he hopes to be walking again in mid-October.

David Schuman

David joined the WCCO team in April 2020, previously working at CBS 58 in Milwaukee. Prior to that, he worked in Las Vegas. While there, David covered several stories in the national spotlight, including the October 1 mass shooting and political visits from President Barack Obama and candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

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Minneapolis, MN

Men Get Prison In $300M Magazine Fraud Scheme

Published

10 hours ago

August 27, 2024

Press Room

Men Get Prison In 0M Magazine Fraud Scheme

MINNEAPOLIS – Two men were sentenced to prison for their separate roles in a $300 million nationwide telemarketing fraud scheme that targeted elderly and vulnerable victims, U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced Tuesday.

Anthony Eugene Moulder and Abdou-Rahmane Diallo were sentenced Monday to 120 months and 90 months in prison, respectively.

Moulder pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud on Jan. 13, 2023.

Diallo pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud on March 4, 2024.

Anthony Eugene Moulder

According to federal prosecutors, Moulder, 63, of Fort Myers ran Florida-based companies involved in fraudulent magazine sales, including Gulf Coast Readers Inc., ARCO Media Inc., KMK Magazines Inc., and Leisure Time Resources Inc.

From 2008 through 2020, Moulder purchased lists of current magazine subscribers, many of whom were elderly and vulnerable, authorities said.

Moulder’s sales teams used the list and employed deceptive sales scripts to “induce victims into making large or repeat payments” to Moulder’s companies for unwanted magazine subscriptions, prosecutors said.

Moulder and his companies defrauded thousands of victims across the U.S. out of approximately $86,589,272, according to investigators.

Abdou-Rahmane Diallo

Meanwhile, Diallo, 36, of Montreal, Quebec, was a co-owner and operator of Readers Services, a Canadian-based company that carried out a telemarking fraud scheme, authorities said.

From 2011 through 2020, Diallo targeted people previously been victimized by fraudulent magazine companies and were being billed by one or more fraudulent magazine companies on an ongoing basis, according to investigators.

Diallo pretended to be from the “magazine cancellation department” and offered to pay off the victims’ “outstanding balance” and cancel their existing magazine subscriptions in exchange for a large, lump-sum payment, according to prosecutors.

In reality, the victims did not owe Diallo or his company any money, and Diallo had no power or ability to cancel the victims’ existing magazine subscriptions or any outstanding balances, according to authorities.

Diallo and other participants in his scheme defrauded more than 20,000 victims out of approximately $30 million, investigators said.

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Minneapolis, MN

The self-proclaimed ‘Founding Mother of Minneapolis Advertising’ dishes blunt truths to industry

Published

19 hours ago

August 27, 2024

Press Room

The self-proclaimed ‘Founding Mother of Minneapolis Advertising’ dishes blunt truths to industry

She also will help some nonprofits, and she continue as co-founder of MyWonderfulLife.com, a free site where users can plan their own funerals so “loved ones don’t have to.”

“I still want to stay in the game,” Kruskopf said of the consultancy. “It’s in my blood. I’m not ready to sit in a Barcalounger.”

She also is helping clients transition to SixSpeed. Between the two merged entities, clients include 3M, Minnesota Public Radio, Cargill, Twin Cities Orthopedics, Polaris, Red Bull, Titleist and Target.

“I was just looking at where I was in life,” Kruskopf said of her decision to sell. “It was the right opportunity at the right time.”

The way the acquisition unfolded reflects the nature of the advertising community here, said Kruskopf, who had been speaking with industry counterparts about her next chapter. Discussions leading to the acquisition began after she met SixSpeed’s Kevin Reilly at a one of the regular gatherings of Twin Cities agency CEOs.

“The one thing about Minneapolis that is so different is that Minneapolis is a very collaborative town,” Kruskopf said. “Everybody wants the future of Minneapolis advertising and marketing to keep rising.”

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