INSIDE:
UNCLAIMED PROPERTY LIST
Maryland’s annual booklet listing names and addresses of those who have accounts with unclaimed funds will be distributed this week. If you get The Gazette at home and did not get the publication this week or last, email circulation@gazette.net after May 2.
The Gazette GAITHERSBURG | MONTGOMERY VILLAGE
DAILY UPDATES ONLINE www.gazette.net
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
25 cents
IF YOU GO
Couple sues bank over kids’ missing college money
n Cole Bros. “Circus of the Stars”
n
HUMAN CANNONBALL
stars Reaches for
n
Police said checks worth more than $80,000 were stolen from mailbox
n When: 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. April 25; 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. April 26-27
Dale Thomsen flies 90 feet across the stage going 65 miles per hour
BY
n Where: Montgomery County Fairgrounds, 16 Chestnut St., Gaithersburg
STAFF WRITER
In a lawsuit, a Montgomery Village couple accuses SunTrust Bank and Education Systems Federal Credit Union of not preventing thieves from using a bogus bank account to swipe more than $80,000 meant for their daughters’ college funds. According to Montgomery County Circuit Court records, a couple on Darlington Drive in Montgomery Village, filed a civil lawsuit April 8 tied to an alleged theft in August 2013. The couple asked not to be identified by name in this story.
n Tickets: $16 and up; Free for children under 13
BY JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
n For information: 800-796-5672, gotothecircus.com
Shortly before high school graduation, Dale Thomsen’s parents gave him a send-off in his senior yearbook by submitting a photo of him holding a toy star and writing “reach for the stars.” Nearly ten years later, he’s doing just that. Thomsen, 28, is currently starring in the Cole Bros. “Circus of the Stars” show, performing the human cannonball act, among others. In keeping with the theme, the top of the tent’s interior has been designed to look like the night sky. “When I’m looking through the barrel, toward the light at the end of the tunnel, the only thing I can see are these stars,” Thomsen said. “My job is literally to reach for them as soon as I shoot out.” Calling himself an
TIFFANY ARNOLD
PHOTO FROM COLE BROS. CIRCUS
Dale Thomsen performs the human cannonball act for the Cole Bros. Circus of the Stars tour, which is coming to the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg on April 25-27.
The couple banks with the credit union and had meant to deposit $83,202 into an account tied to the state-run College Savings Plans of Maryland, court filings said. The money was supposed to fund their twins’ college education. Their daughters are in kindergarten. “I watch them reading books and doing math,” the mother said. “Someone decided rather than going out and earning a living, they decided to go out and steal money from two 6-year-old girls.” The couple placed two unendorsed checks made out to “Maryland Prepaid College Fund” in the mail. Montgomery County police alleged in a news release Friday
See SUES, Page A-13
Former county employee violated Twitter regulations
See STARS, Page A-13
n
‘I wasn’t proselytizing on the MCFRS feed’ BY
TIFFANY ARNOLD STAFF WRITER
A former Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service spokesman violated the county policy by tweeting Bible verses and continuing to use his Twitter account in a way that appeared to be on the county’s behalf after he left the county in January.
As a result, former Assistant Chief Scott Graham has been asked to change his Twitter name, @MCFirePIO, so that people won’t think he’s acting in an official county capacity, according to county government spokesman Patrick Lacefield. “The things he was tweeting were in violation of the county’s social media policy,” Lacefield said. When Graham was serving as a public information officer
See POLICY, Page A-13
String of abandoned homes causes concern Complaints to county included dead rats, trash and holes in the roofs n
BY JENN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
When Alberto Trigo moved into his wife’s Montgomery Village townhome over a decade ago, the block was full of occupied, wellkept homes. Now, he says, the street is plagued with several abandoned residences that
have severely deteriorated. Trigo said he believes up to four properties on Coltfield Court, which is across the street from Watkins Mill Elementary, have been abandoned by their owners and left in disrepair. Chipped exterior paint, trash in the yards and other issues have him concerned that his own property value is sinking and that the neighborhood is losing its appeal to prospective buyers. “I cannot sell my house,”
he said. “Whoever is going to come to try to buy the house will see the neighbors. What kind of explanation am I going to give them?” To have the problems remediated, Trigo contacted the Montgomery Village Foundation offices, where he was told that the county is responsible for housing code and enforcement in the Village, which is unincorporated land, and not the Foundation. Trigo said he finds it ironic that the foundation re-
quires residents to adhere to strict architectural standards when making changes to the exterior of the homes — such as changing the house’s paint color or landscaping — but that the organization will not take any action when there are more serious violations at hand. “I think [the foundation] needs to put more pressure on owners to take care of their properties,” he said.
See ABANDONED, Page A-13
NEWS
SPORTS
Gaithersburg High School students deliver meals to help the homeless.
County athletes work to earn qualifying spots at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia.
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GREG DOHLER/THE GAZETTE
A house that appears to be abandoned on Coltfield Court in Montgomery Village on Friday.
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