NORTH PLATTE, Neb.- In hard economic times everyone’s trying to make a buck, some more honest than others.

The North Platte Police Department sent out a release today after multiple complaints, warning the community about a local scam that has a new twist. This scam claims to pay the owner of a car to have their vehicle wrapped in big name advertisements.

Victims are solicited over the internet in various classified ads.   Once enrolled the scammer sends them a fraudulent check for large amounts of money, and they have them wire a portion to the fake vehicle wrapping company.

Currently there are no car wrapping companies actively looking for drivers and one should never pay to get on a car wrap advertiser list.

Regardless of the method, whether it be the sale of real estate, livestock, a “single woman in need”, etc., the object of any check cashing scam is to find an inexperienced or vulnerable person to cash fraudulent cashier’s or business checks and send legitimate money to the criminal.

Today: A chance of sprinkles before 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 77. South southeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 50. South southeast wind 5 to 9 mph.

Saturday: A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 80. Light and variable wind becoming north 13 to 18 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph.

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska inmate who failed to return to a corrections facility while searching for a job in Lincoln is in custody in Scottsbluff.

ALLIANCE, Neb. (AP) — A hearing is postponed for a woman suspected of helping to hide the body of a Denver man in western Nebraska.

Joshua Bullock is believed to have died at the hands of a gunman who was killed in a standoff with police in Alliance in June.

Rose Siefke was to appear in Box Butte County District Court on Thursday. The hearing was delayed after Siefke’s attorney challenged evidence and charges in the case. The issue will be taken up Sept. 26.

Siefke is charged with being an accessory. Investigators believe she helped Andres Gonzalez hide Bullock’s body. Bullock’s pickup was found near Chadron in December. Human remains believed to be Bullock’s were found in June.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Health officials have reported Lincoln County’s first confirmed human case of West Nile virus in two years.

The West Central District Health Department says a Lincoln County woman in her 50s was recently hospitalized.

State officials say it’s the 12th confirmed human case reported in Nebraska this year. No deaths have been reported.

The virus is transmitted by mosquitoes that have been feeding on infected birds.

Health officials say residents should limit their time outdoors during dawn or dusk, wear long-sleeved shirts and pants if they are outside and use insect repellent.

Violence is never the answer, unless you want to answer to the police.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb.- On Wednesday August 15^th around 10PM officers from the North Platte Police Department responded to a residence on S Poplar St due to a disturbance.

The 40-year-old victim told officers that her domestic partner IE the suspect 26-year-old Mario Gallegos-Garcia had assaulted her. When a juvenile jumped in to intervene Gallegos-Garcia assaulted them as well.

After investigation of the incident there was probable cause to arrest Gallegos-Garcia for 3rd Degree Domestic  Assault, and for 3rd Degree Assault on the juvenile.

Mario was transported to Lincoln County Detention Center, where he was jailed on the said charges.

NORTH PLATTE Neb.- A North Platte man has been named to the board of directors of the Nebraska Broadcasters Associaton.  He’s Jerome Gilg, the general manager of Radio Stations KELN, KOOQ, and KNPQ.  Gilg was chosen at the group’s annual convention, Wednesday, in Lincoln.

The Nebraska Broadcasters Association is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious institutions, having been formed in 1934, with the purposes of advancing the best interests of the free, local, over-the-air, full service radio and television broadcast industry in the State of Nebraska, and in that regard: to optimize the business and regulatory environment in which the broadcast industry operates on a state level, on a regional level, and on a federal level; to advance the state of the art of broadcasting; to increase respect for and the credibility of broadcasting; to help each broadcast station to better serve the public interest; and to otherwise engage in activities and other undertakings, including but not limited to Noncommercial Sustaining Announcement Programs (NCSA), which serve those purposes.

Gilg has been a part of the broadcasting profession for ­­­­­­­­­­18 years.  Prior to taking his current post at Eagle Communications in North Platte, he put in 20 years as the first executive director of the North Platte Catholic Schools Endowment-Trust.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb.- A Convicted sex offender who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count, failed to register as a sex offender, and now is charged with first degree sexual assault of a child has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The 69-year-old Donald Warfield of North Platte was convicted of sexually assaulting a 11-year-old in 2002.

According to police, Warfield began touching the 15-year-old who is now working with investigators. The 15-year-old says the inappropriate touching began when she was 7-years-old continuing for three or four years.

Warfield was arrested earlier this year for not registering as a sex offender, later pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count spending 30 days in jail.