• Guest please check The Index before starting a thread.

Melanie Mills

XThe NavigatorX

Re: An odd e-Bay ad

I can see the headline.

"PA Book Sells For $10,000"
 

writingal

She's out!

This just in on Publishers Lunch:

Banff Bandit Books
We've heard via author and editor Gordon Kirkland that the notorious Elisabeth von Hullessem, aka Melanie Mills and a handful of other alleged aliases, brokered a plea bargain in answering criminal charges in Canada connected to her Banff Writers Conference. Facing seven counts of fraud, two counts of false pretences, and once count of theft, Kirkland reports that she plead guilty and was sentenced only to time served--that being the less than a month she was in custody awaiting her hearing. Apparently, he says, American authorities that were said to be seeking extradition did not present their paperwork in time to claim her before she was released, though a Canadian officer told Kirkland he thought they could still track her down if an extradition request is formalized. (Due to the time difference, I couldn't confirm this with the Mounties this morning.)

Only just last weekend, Toronto's Globe and Mail ran a long feature on von Hullessem's adventures, asserting that the "alleged crimes in Banff are tame compared to the matricide Lisa Hackney is alleged to have attempted in Madison County, Ark., where she is wanted on charges of battery in the first-degree, aggravated assault, theft and failure to attend court." Police there say that von Hullessem/Hackney had applied to be executor of her mother's will (mom is the Countess Greta von Meerscheidt Hullessem), but plans went awry when her mother appeared at the airport and asked for a ride home. "When they got to the house, a furious Hackney tried to run her mother over with the car, police say. She pinned her up against a cement table, crushing her pelvis, alleges Capt. Robert Boyd of the Madison County Sheriff's Department, the first officer on the scene."

But it gets even better. In 2002, Hackney authored SINS, a mystery novel written under the pen name L.R. Thomas. The book was pitched as, "What would you do when your mother, who leads you to believe she has died, shows up months later and tries to kill you?"

At least you can know what she looks like; this booking photo, run by the Globe and Mail, depicts the woman known as Lisa Hackney, after being apprehend in Arkansas in 1999 on charges that included first-degree battery.
Globe and Mail piece
 

FM St George

Re: The Continuing Saga...read the latest...

you know this is going to be an ABC Movie Of The Week project soon...

:rollin

wonder if PA will release their books to the lawyers when they come around asking questions...

:tongue
 

DaveKuzminski

It ain't over yet

You can always hope that Canada will deport her as an undesirable.
 

RottenLuckWillie

Re: check out the new ebay auction

:blackeye This is simply out of control.
rlw
 

FM St George

Re: The Continuing Saga...read the latest...

sure it is... but no one's going to pay for that auction and she'll eventually get caught and convicted - the word's out and now she's running for her life, so to speak...

sad thing is that she's got no morality to speak of - and that's almost a greater sin than her ripping everyone off, imo.
 

reph

She's OUT?!

"no morality to speak of": Right. That's how sociopaths are.

Why on earth did they let her out, knowing that she'd jumped bond once before?
 

RottenLuckWillie

Re: She's OUT?!

I think an attorney brokered a deal for time served. No mention so far of restitution. I think she's not only out, but free, since no extradition papers are forthcoming. 'How to screw people and get away with it' seems to be the working title here.
rlw
 

betjam

I could cry

I was so excited. I can't believe she got away. All we can do is hope they get her. She told me there was incest in her family and her mom shot her dad because they said he died from gunshot to the head, but he was shot twice. How do you shoot yourself twice in the head??? She hated her mother for shooting her dad and not her dad for the incest. I think she was very ill if there was any truth to it. But its hard to feel sad she was so rotten to everyone. she would act nice at first and then turn rude and belittling.
 

RottenLuckWillie

Extradite!

Sounds like the folk in Arkansas might be going after her. I may have to go back for the trial. 'Spose Melanie would rent me a room?:tongue
rlw
 

betjam

I saw this

Boynton writer's hopes dashed when literary agent arrested

By Scott Travis
Education Writer
Posted November 30 2003

Stanley Weinstock spent five years trying to become the next great mystery writer -- a dream shattered when he learned his literary agent was arrested and charged with fraud.

Weinstock, a retired social work consultant who lives in Boynton Beach, had sent his manuscript and $1,000 to a North Myrtle Beach, S.C., agent who identified herself as Melanie Mills. But authorities think Weinstock, 73, and nine other budding writers were victims of a scheme.

"Much of my retirement years, all my hopes and aspirations, were sort of down the drain in the scam that Melanie Mills pulled," Weinstock said Saturday.

Authorities think Melanie Mills is a pseudonym for Elisabeth Von Hullessem, who may have faked her own death to evade fraud charges. North Myrtle Beach investigators told the Myrtle Beach Sun News that Von Hullessem, 49, is wanted in North Myrtle Beach, two counties in Arkansas and Stone County, Mo., on charges including fraud and attempted murder of her mother.

North Myrtle Beach Police Department Detective Carl Farmer told The Associated Press that Hullessem served 27 days in a jail in Banff, Canada, after a conviction for setting up a bogus literary conference in October. She was arrested on seven counts of fraud, two counts of false pretenses and theft.

She was scheduled to be released Nov. 25 on time served, he said.

But Farmer said she must be extradited from Canada to face charges in South Carolina, and the charges aren't serious enough to go through the expense.

"There's not a lot we can do. Our hands are tied. Hopefully, she will come back to the United States," Farmer said.

She also faces attempted murder charges in Arkansas, where police say she tried to run her mother over in a car.

Weinstock said he first made contact with Von Hullessem in April 2002. He had sent query letters to about 100 literary agents, whose names he had found on the Internet.

Von Hullessem, identifying herself as Melanie Mills, was one of only two that expressed interest in his novel. The two spent the next year exchanging e-mails and phone calls.

She told him the book needed revisions and offered to edit them for a fee. He paid her $1,004.

A woman who identified herself as Mills' assistant sent him an e-mail in May 2003 saying that Mills was out of the country, but the manuscript had been sent to St. Martin's Press.

Then, earlier this year, that same person sent an e-mail saying Mills had died in a car accident in Germany.

Weinstock started chatting with other writers on the Internet who had worked with her and became suspicious. He checked with German authorities and the Myrtle Beach newspaper and found no evidence that anyone with that name had died. St. Martin's Press had never heard of the book, Weinstock said.

He learned from a Canadian newspaper that she had been arrested. Weinstock said he was surprised he fell victim to what he thinks is a scheme.

"She seemed very legitimate and very professional for the most part," he said.

Information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.

Scott Travis can be reached at [email protected] or 561-243-6637.
 

noelschutz

A Note to Melanie

While her ad was on eBay, I punched the button for asking questions from the seller and wrote a short note to Melanie. Wonder if she got it before the ad was yanked? Glad I downloaded the ad to put in my scrapbook! Peculiar that she added biographical information about her ex-boyfriend and even a picture of the two of them. Since I didn 't know if she would get the note, the message was brief and tongue in cheek.
 

writingal

Also a real estate scam

I heard Melanie was also into real estate swindles in North Myrtle Beach. Someone told me she stole info from other Web sites about vacation property, then "rented" them to unsuspecting vacationers. Of course the people had to send her a deposit.:money Sometimes 20 families would show up expecting to stay in the same place during the same week!
 

betjam

Can you believe this

I can't imagine planning a vacation and finding out it was all a scam. There is no end to her cheating. She cheated peoples dreams and vacations. If the stories are true even tried to kill people.
 

RottenLuckWillie

mills

And they turned her loose on the world to do it some more.:blackeye
 

betjam

Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope you all realize your dreams. :heart Please don't give up because then she wins. Also, I hope that Melanie gets caught in the New Year. I keep checking, so far nothing.
 

RottenLuckWillie

Re: Christmas

I agree Bet. I imagine Melanie is still reading this board, and believe it or not, Merry Christmas to her, too. I feel a bit like Bob Cratchet in saying that, but perhaps there is hope for her, yet.
Here's to a GOOD New Year to all of us!
rlw
 

betjam

In the news

I went to Yahoo search and put in Melanie Mills in Ark.
and pulled up
Book agent turns out to be work of fiction.
and clicked on it for a detailed account of her escapades.
She is pretty sick if it is all true. I used to still wish people well no matter what and thought most people had good in them no matter what. But I lost that feeling and no longer think this, sometimes I think people are just bad and like it. I think Melanie was damaged years ago (probably the incest). She was more angry at mom, than dad, for the incest. The trauma made her mean or maybe she was just born mean and became ill. I think some groups of kids go through incest and become strong and help others.
Some like it and become mean and hurt others (cycling). I think our Melanie falls in that category.
I see trauma in incest families where some kids work on getting better and become counselors or other helping professions. Whereas, others are just mean and when you add mental illness from the abuse you then have one mean person, capble of much harm. I come from a family who has suffered from these things and I work with youth.
So I wish you Rotten Luck Willie better luck and you and the other ezboard member on this thread a wonderful holiday and to be published. Also, my goal for the New Year is to save my understanding and compassion for those out there trying even the slightest bit, to be better...I wish Melanie would get help and but doubt it.
Love your sweetness Willie I think you are a terrific guy:D
Bet
 

RottenLuckWillie

Re: In the news

Aaaah, shucks ma'am, 'twern't nuthin. :nerd

I agree, about saving your strength for the doers of things good. In the day job, the boss is an arrogant twit, with terminal short-man's disease. I do my best to go along and spend much of my tiem feeling somewhat sullied by him. I waste my time only because I must pay the bills and eat, (no more beef!). I would rather be more constructive about him, but, Virginia, he just ain't Santa Claus.

My resolution will be to leave him at work and write like hell at home.

Happy New Year to all!
willie