• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
26 °f
Platte
37 ° Fri
39 ° Sat
33 ° Sun
34 ° Mon
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
No Result
View All Result
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
No Result
View All Result

Parkville woman guilty of tax evasion

Landmark Staff by Landmark Staff
May 1, 2011
in Parkville
4
SHARES
96
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email

A Platte County jury on Tuesday found a Parkville woman guilty of tax evasion for falsely claiming her children as dependents after her former husband was murdered.

Letti Strait, 50, was convicted of attempting to evade state income tax and filing false tax returns. Strait has been described as a person of interest in the murder of her former husband, Charles Cammisano, in September 2007.

RelatedNews

5th Street at Parkville to be closed

Judge: Parkville must be more specific in ‘discovery’

Hearing set Aug. 7 in Sunshine lawsuit

The jury’s verdict came in shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday. Strait served as her own attorney in the trial, which was heard in the courtroom of Judge Abe Shafer.

Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd said, “The investigation into the murder of Charles Cammisano is ongoing. But this defendant had her children taken away the night his body was found. She did not have custody of her children a single day following her former husband’s murder, yet she used those children to attempt to evade taxes by claiming the children were her dependents. It is difficult to imagine a more disturbing case of tax evasion.”

Prosecutors proved at trial that Strait claimed her four children as dependents on her 2008 state tax returns. However, the children had been placed in the custody of the Missouri Children’s Division on September 4, 2007 and have not lived with or had any overnight visitations with Strait since then.

Strait was found guilty of attempting to evade state income tax and filing a false state income tax return. She faces up to 10 years in prison. She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 16.

Strait has previously been convicted in federal court of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in a case prosecuted by the Organized Crime Strike Force of the United States Attorney’s Office.

Strait’s former husband, Charles Cammisano, was found dead, lying in a pool of blood in his Riverside home on Sept. 1, 2007. Cammisano had been shot several times.

Police named Strait and a man as “persons of interest” in Cammisano’s death. Strait was later taken into custody after a standoff with police but was released.

No charges have been filed related to Cammisano’s death, but Zahnd said the case remains under active investigation.

Riverside Police Chief Greg Mills asked anyone who knows anything about Cammisano’s murder to call the Riverside Police Department at (816) 741-1501 or the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS. A reward is available for anyone whose tip leads to an arrest. TIPS callers may remain anonymous.

Zahnd said, “This crime came to light during a meeting we had with the family of the murder victim. As the meeting was ending, the victim’s sister, who had custody of his daughters, mentioned the trouble she was having with claiming them as dependents on her taxes. We decided to use criminal tax laws to prosecute the defendant for tax evasion.”

Zahnd admitted that state prosecution for income tax evasion is rare.

“When we hear about people being prosecuted for tax evasion, it is usually in a federal trial or in a history book discussing how Al Capone was convicted of the crime,” Zahnd said.

The case was investigated by Special Agent Michael Fryer of the Missouri Department of Revenue, with the assistance of the Riverside Police Department and the Platte County Sheriff’s Department.

It was prosecuted by assistant prosecutor Joe Vanover.

Tags: eric zahndparkvilleplatte cityplatte countypolicePublic Safetyriversidetaxes
Landmark Staff

Landmark Staff

Related Posts

The Conspiracy Caucus

The Conspiracy Caucus

by Ivan Foley
January 22, 2021
0

It's sunny and expected to be 55 degrees today, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. I'm ok with that. I'm old enough to remember when we had big winter snowstorms. And I hope I didn't just jinx us. I think it's fair...

Karen

Dicks and Karens

by Landmark Digital Staff
January 22, 2021
0

EDITOR: Recently I had a "Karen" moment I'm not particularly proud about. Today, as I was reading Guy Speckman's article "Sedition and Snow Fleas," in the Jan. 13, 2021 edition of the Landmark, this excerpt made me laugh out loud....

Badges

Badges, Patrick and law

by Guy Speckman
January 22, 2021
0

Welcome to January 20th. You can now wear your Christmas gifts, without people knowing they were Christmas gifts. Enjoy. No one has asked me, but I'd leave all that fence and stuff up for Kamala's inauguration. How long will she...

45 Years Ago–January 23, 1976

by Ivan Foley
January 22, 2021
0

Mr. and Mrs. Daryl Grame of Platte City announce the birth of their daughter, Stacy Dee, on Jan. 15, 1976. She weighed seven pounds 11 ounces. The grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Charles Grame, Platte City, and Mr. and Mrs....

Next Post

Details known about accident that killed county worker

Popular News

  • Jakob Scroggins

    Things ‘just make sense’ for North Platte senior

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • Want the vaccine? Complete this survey

    13 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • Six candidates for two Park Hill positions

    10 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • Dicks and Karens

    10 shares
    Share 4 Tweet 3
  • Kevin Kietzman announces his plan

    251 shares
    Share 100 Tweet 63
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Call us at 816-858-0363

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Subscribe Online
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved