Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this May 1st, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff here.
We want to welcome into the studio, our good friends on the Wood County Sheriff's Department.
We have a share of Sean Becker with us.
Good to see you, sir.
Always a pleasure to be here, James.
Appreciate the time.
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Sean has been a while since you and I got to hang out.
Yeah, I apologize for that.
It had been busy the last couple months, so I appreciate you bringing Quint Nellison.
He had the opportunity to come and spend some time with you and then Ted and Teddy.
Yeah.
It was nice to see them get the opportunity coming again and just talk about, you know,
their careers.
It's a pretty problem moment, I know Ted Sr. is, but for me, being part of the team and
just to see that happen is it's pretty cool.
I always enjoy talking with you and one of the things that I've enjoyed about that over
the years is getting to understand our departments more and some of the people in them putting
a face to these departments and stuff.
It's not only, I think, created more of a bridge and more empathy in our community, but
it's just interesting too.
And I think that it's always good to have that knowledge and stuff.
So it's been a great time to be able to bring those guests on, but it's also good to
have you in studio, especially, sir, if you don't mind, I'd like to start off with the scam
and the news of that.
That seems to hit a little close to home for you guys.
You ain't quit and call me, sir.
I don't know why I do that.
I know.
I know.
I don't know why I do that.
It's uncomfortable for both of us.
It's like that old thing.
It's not.
It's not.
It's a respect thing.
It's okay.
It's growing up being a knucklehead and seeing that badge.
I think that's part of it, man.
Okay.
We'll go with that.
Yeah.
The scammers are out there that will try anything and everything and it's sad, you know,
really is because obviously it's working in some circumstances where what was happening
out.
As I mentioned, Quint Nellis was here last month.
Somebody's using his name and going there and saying, I'm Quint Nellis trying to solicit
money.
It's sad and unfortunate thing is where you're seeing that elderly population get victimized.
You know, well, way too often.
We had a situation.
We put our Facebook page where we got a thank you letter from an elderly person up in
the north end of our county that had got Bitcoin scammed again.
And our approach is pretty aggressive on how we're going to handle those.
Not all law enforcement agencies do what we do, but once that person gets victimized
and they put that amount of cash, which is thousands of dollars, like 20 some thousand
dollars into that machine.
And our district attorney, our court council, all agree that that cash is still evidence
and still in that machine so we can get it.
And I know we talked about it before that the approach that we took is like if you don't
open the machine up for us, we're going to destroy it and recover that money.
And because I believe that our victim is here and we're counting all that because most
of the time what's happening is that money's gone.
It is gone.
And the cryptocurrency is growing so fast.
I don't think the laws have caught up to it yet.
But with that situation in particular, it was nice that we got another successful resolution
where that elderly couple got their money back, which was probably their life savings.
$20,000, a lot of money for any of us here in the room and we were able to recover that
for them.
And she sent us a thank you letter and that means a lot, not just because she got the
money back, but she put her letter, I learned a hard lesson that people are calling me
and telling me to go to these ATMs that do the cryptocurrency.
And normally that money is gone, but we still have that chance right now to get it back.
And since we destroyed one of the ATMs, the words got out and if we serve a warrant to
that company, they're opening up for us.
So we're getting that cooperation and that is appreciated.
But we're going to continue to take that approach in those situations to help people get
their money back because normally so many people get scanned by thousands, upon thousands
of dollars and once it leaves the country, the odds of getting it back are very, very
slim.
And again, it's very sad to see our elderly population getting scanned more and more of my dad,
who's 83 years old now on Florida, he says he gets phone calls periodically and he still
has his wits about him and he'll play along with him.
And like, hey, your daughter is in jail right now and we need you to bail her out and she's
well, okay, I have a daughter, you don't play along with that.
But the sad reality is that it's unfortunately working and it's a reminder for people to,
we're not going to solicit people for money.
If we have, you're going to know about an event like if it's a fundraiser for a K9 unit,
you're going to hear from us directly, all right, and we'll talk about a fundraiser
coming up in June that we're going to put on an anchor bay, but you're going to know
about that.
And then the other thing too is call back, call in, you say, hey, I just got this and that's
how we found out about what happened with Quinn that somebody was using his name as
Flissa Money and then we just get the reminder of the people that we don't do that.
I had somebody first above and beyond on you and the department to get that money back
to do what you could to try to make that happen, let alone accomplishing it.
That's way above and beyond, I'm greatly appreciate that.
It's also noteworthy because I've heard a lot of reporting on this, this story broke a
couple of days ago.
So by now it's been talked about quite a bit by most of the masses and local news outlets.
And I've heard a number of outlets called this bold, bold to do this out of the wood,
having the department involved in this scam and stuff and using the department and all
this.
And we got to go back to what words mean.
That's not bold, there's no braveness involved in that or anything like that.
It actually speaks to the criminal mind quite a bit of where there can be so much intelligence
and thought and at the same time such boneheaded dumbness of things, it speaks to that more
than anything else.
Along with the fact, of course, that they're desperate these scammers, their options are
getting limited more and more.
It doesn't mean that they're still not as powerful as they've been.
They're always finding and looking cranny to go into.
But if they're using a sheriff's department as a front that tells you a lot right there,
they're getting desperate and more and more so, which means we've got them cornered,
which means we've got this more and more where we want it to be a society.
There's still work to be done.
Please do not take your eye off the ball and any of these calls you get.
No manager, no organization is ever going to have a problem with what I'd like to talk
to the boss.
Exactly.
Nobody's ever going to have a problem with that.
That's your golden ticket right there, that question.
Hanging up, not answering the phone, some of these things.
Yeah, hanging up, I recommend, okay, because I've gotten some phone calls like this where
people are upset where I got a phone call saying, such as in jail, and they need bound
money.
Obviously, people are falling for it because unfortunately, that does happen.
Those phone calls do happen on normal, the collect calls that come in, but sometimes they're
not.
Unfortunately, people bite on that, but what I always say is, hang up the phone, call that,
whatever the law enforcement agency it is, and then try to confirm that information, just
don't go through saying, hey, I'm going to afford you this money right now.
Unfortunately, like I said, it does happen where those are legit phone calls, but the scammers
are scammers.
They're looking for any opportunity where they can get money from somebody and they don't
care.
It doesn't matter to them how much they get.
If a person does receive a questionable call or what turns out to be a scammer, what
is the first thing they should do again?
Call us.
Yeah, call us.
What I would do is call local law enforcement wherever it's happened, and then if it's
something that is personal, they'd figure out a granddaughter or a grandson's name or
a son's name and they know that they'd traveled, maybe they stalked you on Facebook and
grab some information to personalize it, still I would take the information in and then
call that place back wherever they're reporting that they might be in custody and to verify
that.
I was speaking with Sheriff Sean Becker and one of the get into, we have right around
the corner.
Mother's Day coming.
Yeah.
One of the touch on that a little bit.
Yeah.
We had a really, really nice thing come up last week where a local prisoner community
that wants to remain anonymous had an idea when he was going to his church that he had
read a book that somebody had lived by a prison and was just thriving by the prison.
Like a normal everyday thing and at a thought of like, you know what, Mother's Day is coming.
I wonder if the inmates get the opportunity to send out cards to their mom and they wrote
about it and part of a chapter of this book and he was touched by that and then he gave
me a call and we do have some protocol about what can and cannot come into the jail and
initially we're like, I don't know if we do that, that wasn't to me.
So he brought his question to me and like, well, absolutely.
Why wouldn't we?
And then discussing with our staff, I know we do Christmas cards.
So I'm like, well, why wouldn't we do Mother's Day cards, especially so many in the community
wants to bring them with the stamps and then give inmates the opportunity to send a Mother's
Day card.
It's a huge day and so we're going through that.
It was nice.
What a genuine thing for somebody doing the community and he said, you know, next
year he had discussed it with some other people in the church that he goes to and they
want to bring more.
He's paying attention to what's going on here with their jail and we'll have more people
in our jail and so they want to take care of everybody that is in custody, but the opportunity
to send their mom a card and it's like, that's touching for me because with my mom passed
a long time ago and I would give any opportunity to send her a card, you know, I would and I
felt that that was very touching that somebody that thought of, you know, people that made
mistakes, you know, but they still have a mom and probably do, you know, and why not
reach out and just send a card, you know, love whatever or, hey, I'm thinking of you,
mom on a day, I'm sorry, I'm where I'm at, but I'll do better, you know, what kind of
a gift could that be?
And like I said, I'm jealous because I would give anything, you know, to do something
like that for my mom who's been gone for almost 27 years, you know, but it's a very special
day for me because it's a hard day in one sense with my mom, but then I think of, you
know, my wife Julian and Raisin, you know, two of our, you know, two our girls and how successful
Caitlin and Jordan are, Caitlin, just got a certificate for her counseling degree or something
she's got.
Yeah, so continuing to help kids down in Madison, but you know, those moments didn't happen
if you didn't have a good family structure and especially a very supportive mom.
So happy Mother's Day, Julia, proud of you, love you, and it's my mother-in-law, Mary,
you know, and then to all the mothers, you know, that's your day, you deserve it and everybody
behave, okay?
Yeah, yeah, and your best behavior, everyone, call your mother.
It's noteworthy speaking of moms, especially one of the things I learned from mine.
It was that we all mess up, you know, we all make mistakes and if you own that mistake,
you have accountability for that mistake, society will look at you.
Society will give you a second chance.
That's also the point of jail.
I think that now never on you or your team, of course, but I think to us as a community
sometimes, not just a specific community, I mean across the country, across the world,
sometimes we lose sight of that.
The jail is not about, it's about accountability, it's not about punishment, it's about
rehabbing, it's about, you know, learning from your mistakes, thinking them over, having
a accountability for them and going on.
To that point, when, for a lot of prisoners, when they are actually putting in that hard
work of trying to see why do I do this, how can I be a better human being?
How can I not end up back here, some of those things?
You go through your past, you go through your history, some of it is also reaching out
to people that you've wrong, some of it is reaching out to people that have done right
by you.
So the Mother's Day card idea really goes in line with that to me, at least, do you feel
that way too?
It seems like it goes perfectly in line with that.
That's a great idea.
Yeah, I know it was, and you know, inspired from his church, and I love to bring up his
name, but he just, I know, I know, I know it's about to say, because I think a lot of
people would know him, but on honor, you know, his request, it was something that we
can build upon, you know, looking at, and we've talked about it numerous times about
the jail and, you know, and walking through the new jail, and, you know, the opportunities
they're going to be in there.
We've been doing a lot of community tours with a local leadership, had some folks from
the library come in and just showing them the programming rooms, right now, the current
jail has one that is always being used, and every floor has got them, and just, you know,
the stuff that they're going to have the opportunity to come and do, and whether it's
in our class, you know, they have stuff that they can bring in for inmates if they want
to do in our class.
You know, just the opportunities that the library can bring down for the programming that
we want to get, you know, to continue to expand, I think, are exciting in a way, especially
seeing the community involvement.
That's one thing I didn't expect when I started this position, this position is the community
support for people that do make mistakes locally, and it really is, is open my eyes that,
you know, that, even though they're people that, like you said, you know, they'll make
a mistake, they're going to have to deal with it, they're going to have to deal with
the consequences, whether it's time in the facility, or pain, or both, or counseling,
or all of it, you know, that's part of it, but just the people that want to help, you
know, from the faith-based community and beyond that, is just, it's a pretty neat to see,
you know, people want to be part of helping people out.
Michelle, shout out to all the moms out there, we appreciate every single one of you.
Got some, a great, a fun event coming up, a bench press of me too, that you guys are
doing.
Yeah, with the new facility on the Sheriff's Department side, we're going to have an
exercise room, and we've talked a lot about wellness and the mental health side of things
for our staff, for our correction staff, and law enforcement staff, you know, the deputies
and everything, and I thought it was very important that we had something set aside for an
exercise room.
Now, that stuff isn't cheap, you know, we budgeted for some things, but I want to make
sure we get some decent equipment for the staff to utilize, so we're kicking around,
what kind of fundraising can we do?
We did have somebody win, we had that calendar raffle that just concluded for our, our
Wood County rescue, so thank you to everybody that donated to the, our purchasing calendar
and our rescue unit, they're awesome, they're volunteers that volunteer and about to help
people out and, you know, respond to emergency 24-7 a day, so that money will go towards
a new rescue truck, but anyway, you know, getting to this, sorry, kind of side of things.
No, no, that was kind of cool to hear though, that's interesting.
We had somebody win, one of the raffle items, and then they donated to the Sheriff's Department,
so we're doing an internal raffle to raise money for, you know, exercise equipment.
So the other idea was okay, we wanted to do an event or something, because everybody's
so supportive of us, what could we do to raise some money, have a good time and, you know,
get some money for, for our, in our weight room?
And I used to have power lift quite a bit, and there had been a lot of bench press competitions
throughout the state, you know, probably, you know, five to ten years ago, they're really
popular even before that, and I'm like, hmm, so I'm talking to the owners at Anchor Bay
about, you know, you guys have a really good setup for bands.
What do you think if we had a bench press meet outside, hopefully the weather is going to
be good, and they bet, like, we'll have the stage utilized, we'll have a bench up there,
we'll have our judges up there, so each lift can come up and love three lifts and compete
in, of different weight classes, age groups, there'll be a police and fire division, and
yeah, so that's going to be June 22nd, out at Anchor Bay, we'll start probably getting
out there around 10, 30, left team will start around 11 o'clock, and hopefully we get
a lot of competitors, we're looking out for sponsors, so that's going to be the next
thing that I'm going to be working on, so if we can, you know, get a good chunk of sponsors,
we'll raise some money for the fitness room.
Like I said, our wellness is so important, and I think mine is really important to obviously
put so the body and working them together and being fit on both ends of it, only makes
you a better person to support the community, and I wish the exercise room was bigger because
I'm just envisioning so many things, but it's a space, we'll be able to get stuff in
there and it'll be a great opportunity for the staff to, you know, before a shift or
after a shift workout, and yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
It, nobody works out this way, it'd be pretty silly if you worked out just the right side
of your body, you know, it'd be kind of weird, it's just one side, it's really, you know,
you're great with arm wrestling and everything on the right side, the left side, no way,
you know, nobody does that, it's interesting that it's the same thing with our mind and
our body, both need the other, and if one's hurting, the other one isn't doing as well,
so taking care of your mental health, as much as your physical health are so key to
this, and it's a great part of what you're, you're, you and the team are doing over
there, I was something like this and thinking of something like that to be a part of the
jail, and a great promotion idea, man, like that's my job is trying to come up with good
promotion ideas, I wish I had a thought of that, that's a great idea.
Well, it's based on some experience going back in the day, and then like I said, kicking
around with our staff, and then, like I said, the owners at Anchor Bay, we're all in,
and I thought that was really cool, that they'd be willing to do that, and I don't think
I've ever been at an outdoor event, so I'll have to have some contingency plans on
weather, but I think, I think a goal really, really well, and we're already game people
signing up, so if we can get around 50 lifters and, you know, five to 10 sponsors, I think
we'll do really well.
Always like to shout out Anchor Bay, great people, always putting back into this community,
always be a part of events, hosting events, really do appreciate that, they do that.
Yep, the order is, and Macalps are great people.
We'll give the information again before we wrap up today, but if people, you know, want
to be a part of this, we have businesses out there listening, they want to sponsor
or something like that.
How can they reach out to you?
Yeah, we have an event created on our Facebook page, so you can reach out that way, or just
give the sheriff's department a call directly, give me a call, 421-8705 is my track line,
I can, you know, email you the entry form with some information, and, yeah.
Imagine there might be some requirements, some details to that, so certainly want to
reach out and find out those details, and anybody, any business out there that wants to
be a part of an event, we always encourage people to be a part of these kinds of events.
There's not much that you're going to get better bang for your buck than putting your
business attached to a great nonprofit organization, and don't forget that this is something
that, you know, our departments are like that.
So this is just in the same key of that, so if you can be a part of this event, encourage
you to do so.
Yeah, absolutely.
Or just come on watch.
Yes, yes.
You can spread the word about it.
We'll be doing that on our morning shows, we'll be encouraging people to make sure you
guys get a good crowd.
Awesome.
We are speaking with Sheriff Sean Becker from the wood kind of Sheriff's department, and
have our friends from Wisconsin, rabbit's community, immediate in as well.
We're going to take a quick time out, we'll come back and talk some more on Midday magazine
here at 975 FM 1320 AMWF HR, we are locally grown radio.
