St Louis Social Security Ssi

Two men arrested for 20 dowtown car breakins

ST. LOUIS • Two men responsible for 20 car break-ins near Union Station in downtown were arrested in south St. Louis Saturday night, police said. 

Calvin M. Willis, 25, of the 5400 block of Claxton Avenue, has been charged with second degree assault, first degree tampering and resisting arrest. His bail has been set at $75,000.

Michael O. Paynes, 23, of the 4500 block of McMillan Avenue, has been charged with second degree tampering and resisting arrest. He is not being required to post bail; he will be released on a promise to appear in court.

Both men have prior felony convictions. Paynes was on parole following 2005 convictions for assault on a law enforcement officer, two counts of armed criminal action and tampering with a motor vehicle.

"Due to the number of vehicles involved, investigators are still preparing the case regarding the 20 break-ins and have not yet presented it to prosecutors," St. Louis Police said.

Police said they recovered a stolen vehicle the two men were traveling in on Saturday and found several stolen items, including social security cards.

The break-ins occurred on Wednesday in a parking lot west of Union Station behind Maggie O'Brien's Restaurant & Irish Pub. That same night police spotted a stolen vehicle shortly after the thefts were reported.

Officers tried to pull over the vehicle, and when it refused to stop,  they initially pursued it. Eventually they gave up on the chase because of safety concerns, police said.

Officers spotted the vehicle again Saturday near the intersection of South Broadway and Bates, only this time they used spiked strips to blow out the tires.

Three people jumped out of the car and fled. Officers caught two of them. Both men fought officers, police said. Paynes was shocked with a taser.

Willis tried to grab an officer's gun, but was brought under control. Police took him to a hospital for treatment, but he was "deemed fit for confinement."

Police searched the vehicle and found the items stolen from the break-ins.

St Louis Social Security Disability Attorney In News For Local ...

I recently had an article posted about one of my clients.There was no medical proof of her disability when she came into my office.Contrary to the point  made in the article is the fact that a Judge cannot find that someone is disabled because it is “evident” just from their appearance.A judge must have medical proof and must require us to produce it in order to comply with the Social Security Disability Act. The Judge ultimately did find in favor of my client after we were able to develope medical evidence to support the claim.     Jeff Swaney PART I

She has lived with her mother her entire life. She never married. After graduating from Lutheran South High School, she worked at a gas station and then in nursing homes. Then she got a job in the warehouse at Famous-Barr, which, of course, became Macy’s. She lost that job in 2008. She told me she just couldn’t keep up anymore.

By that time, Lisa [her niece] had noticed [Marcella's] condition deteriorating. Her gait was becoming increasingly unsteady. Her speech was slurred. She has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. …

Lisa suggested she apply for Social Security disability. “You just can’t work any more,” she said.

Marcella applied for disability. She was turned down. She had a hearing on that denial in March of this year.

Attorney Jeffrey Swaney was at the Social Security office representing another client when Marcella’s case was called.

“I was sitting in the waiting room when they called her. I knew it was an appeal, and I remember thinking, ‘How could this woman have been denied?’ You could see she was profoundly disabled,” he said.

Later that afternoon, Swaney got a phone call from Lisa. She had seen his ad in the Yellow Pages about Social Security disability claims.

“She said her aunt had just had an appeal and had been denied and she started describing it, and I said, ‘I was sitting right behind you.’”

So Swaney took the case. He said the problem was a lack of medical documentation.

Incidentally, by this time, Marcella had suffered a series of strokes. She had difficulty speaking. She had to use a cane to walk.

A hearing was scheduled for August.

By then, Marcella was in the nursing home. A doctor from the nursing home wrote that she would never be able to return to the second-story condominium. Lisa and Marcella felt confident that Marcella would finally be approved for disability.

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