OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna has promoted Assistant Attorney General Lana Weinmann to Criminal Litigation Unit Section Chief and Chief Criminal Prosecutor of the Attorney General’s Office.

As the Attorney General’s Chief Criminal Prosecutor, Weinmann and her staff are responsible for assisting the state’s 39 county prosecutors in criminal matters, including cases involving conflict-of-interest, capital punishment, DNA and complex forensics, ecology cases and tax fraud matters.

SEATAC – Attorney General Rob McKenna convened the first of two statewide Latino Consumer Education Conferences today in SeaTac, bringing together expert consumer advocates and a diverse group of participants with a shared goal of helping protect Washington’s Latino consumers from fraud.

The group identified a number of pressing issues facing Latino consumers in Washington and offered suggestions for improved outreach and fraud prevention.

OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna will visit Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane on Wednesday as part of the on-going schedule of school visits in his “Operation: Allied Against Meth" campaign.

OLYMPIA – As homeowners begin the daunting task of repairing damage caused by the recent record flood waters, their initial impulse may be to dial the first contractor in the phonebook, then hand over whatever amount of money that contractor requests. But a quick fix may end up costing homeowners much more than the job is worth – especially if the repairs aren’t done properly and they have to pay even more to hire another contractor.

Attorney General Rob McKenna today urged homeowners to give serious thought to the contractors they hire to help with home repairs.

OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced a settlement with Clear Bay Fisheries, Inc., resolving allegations that the Canadian seafood supplier and its officers conspired with a convicted poacher to steal more than 65 tons of geoduck from South Puget Sound.

McKenna Reminds Seniors to Make Informed Estate Planning Decisions

SEATTLE – Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced an agreement with Understanding Seniors Financial and its owners. The agreement ends an investigation into whether the company unlawfully provided legal advice to senior citizens and made misleading statements in order to sell estate planning products.

OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced that The Weinstein Company is the first motion picture company to add anti-smoking public service announcements (PSAs) to DVDs in which smoking is depicted.

SEATTLE – Attorney General Rob McKenna today warned Washington residents to be aware of a new identity theft scam in which a caller claims to be your pharmacist and asks for a list of your medications and a credit card number. He also cautioned consumers about a recent proliferation of foreign lottery and counterfeit check scams.

Seniors in Wenatchee, as well as Southern California and Chicago, have recently reported receiving cold calls along these lines. In the Wenatchee cases, the caller(s) had a foreign accent and the recipients were unable to trace the calls by dialing *69.