DAVENPORT, IA - On September 17, 2013, Charles Arthur Ruhl, Jr., age 59, of Davenport, Iowa, pled guilty pursuant to a plea agreement to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. Ruhl will appear for sentencing at the United States Courthouse in Davenport, Iowa, on a date to be determined. As part of the plea agreement, Ruhl and the government jointly recommended that Ruhl be sentenced to a term of imprisonment somewhere within the range of one day and twenty-four months.

From the end of 2008 through early 2012, Ruhl engaged in a scheme and artifice to defraud, by unlawfully withdrawing funds from several limited liability companies that he managed, including Lincoln Healthcare Building, LLC, Caxton on Bass St., LLC, Biaggi's West Des Moines, LLC, and Crow Valley Park Venture, LLC. In total Ruhl unlawfully withdrew approximately $1.3 million from these entities' accounts. Ruhl then spent the money on Ruhl & Ruhl Commercial expenses and personal expenses. Ruhl concealed his fraud by directing his chief financial officers to omit his withdrawals from financial statements provided to the investors or to enter false deposits on the statements to offset his withdrawals. These doctored statements showed large cash balances when in actuality the balances were depleted because of Ruhl's withdrawals. Ruhl directed Ruhl & Ruhl Commercial property managers to distribute the doctored financial statements to the investors/members of the involved LLCs. Ruhl and his staff created notes payable to document the withdrawals. Some of these notes were not created and/or signed until well after Ruhl had withdrawn the funds documented in the notes. None of the notes payable had been disclosed to the other members of the LLC's at the time they were created.

On January 15 and January 17, 2011, Ruhl directed an employee of Ruhl & Ruhl commercial to email financial statements to the investors/members of the Lincoln Healthcare LLC. Ruhl knew that the emails contained false financial statements for the Lincoln tax escrow account. The financial statements had been altered at Ruhl's direction to conceal his withdrawals of $75,000 from the account over the time period reflected in the statements. The statements also misrepresented and inflated the ending balance in the tax escrow account to conceal Ruhl's withdrawals. Ruhl directed the transmittal of the altered statements via interstate wire facilities in furtherance of his scheme to defraud and with the intent to defraud. Ruhl engaged in multiple financial transactions involving the proceeds of his wire fraud scheme. As part of the wire fraud scheme, on or about August 3, 2010, Ruhl directed Ruhl & Ruhl Commercial employees to issue a check drawn on the Lincoln Healthcare tax escrow account at Wells Fargo bank, made out to Ruhl personally for $47,000. Ruhl deposited the check or caused the deposit of the check into his personal account at U.S. Bank. Ruhl deposited the check or caused the deposit of the check with the intent to defraud and in furtherance of his wire fraud scheme to defraud the members/investors of Lincoln Healthcare LLC.

Ruhl's personal account balance was approximately $350 as of August 3, 2010, the date of the $47,000 deposit. Ruhl deposited the $47,000 check for the purpose of paying property taxes on a personal vacation home in Gogebic County, Michigan. On August 4, 2010, a check written by Ruhl to the Gogebic County treasurer was processed in the amount of $46,735.10.

The check would not have cleared if it were not for Ruhl's deposit of Lincoln funds into his account on August 3, 2010. Ruhl engaged in the payment of his Michigan property taxes via check knowing that the transaction involved the proceeds of a criminal offense, wire fraud.

Since the financial transaction involved property of a value greater than $10,000 derived from wire fraud, the financial transaction violated Section 1957 of Title 18 of the United States Code.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, and the case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

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MOLINE, IL - WQPT's annual Brew Ha Ha tasting event kicks off at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21 in LeClaire Park in Downtown Davenport.

"Each year we try to provide something new for our guests," said Bea Brasel, special project coordinator. "This year, we are introducing special limited tastes and a new vendor."

Times and location for the specialty tastings are:

2 p.m., Booth 14, Boulevard's Tank 7

3p.m., Booth 19, August Schell's Octoberfest

3:30 p.m., Booth 14, Boulevard's Harvest Dance White Wine Ale

Johnson Brothers of Iowa, who has been added to this year's vendor lineup, will showcase nine breweries and 25 beers.

Music for the four-hour event will be provided by Jim the Mule, with comedy from the Blacklist Improv Troupe. The traditional games will be back at this year's event, along with cheese-tasting with samples from Cabot Cheese Cooperative.

Advance tickets ($25) are available at  Old Chicago in Bettendorf or CO-OP in either Davenport or Moline. There is a $2 surcharge for purchases at CO-OP. Tickets the day of the event, if available, are $30 (WQPT caps attendance).

Funds from the event support local programming on WQPT, a media service of Western Illinois University located in Moline.

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Cedar Rapids - Today, RWDSU Local 110 announced the endorsement of Tyler Olson as their choice for the next governor of Iowa.

More than ever, people understand that our bodies just weren't designed to handle the amount of processed flour found in many of today's food.

Some people with vague, undiagnosed illnesses feel better after cutting out gluten, a protein in flour-based foods. Many Americans, including professional athletes and celebrities such as Zooey Deschanel and men's tennis leader Djovak Nokovic, say they look and perform better since dropping gluten from their diets.

"Unfortunately, a lot of people who commit to a gluten-free lifestyle believe they have to sacrifice their favorite desserts, because gluten-free treats are often loaded with sugar but low on flavor," says Kyra Bussanich, (www.kyrasbakeshop.com), author of a new, full-color recipe book, "Sweet Cravings: 50 Seductive Desserts for a Gluten-Free Lifestyle" (Ten Speed Press; Random House, Inc.)

Bussanich's gluten-free cupcakes twice bested their floury competition on "Cupcake Wars" (2011 and 2012) and were a runner-up for the show's Cupcake Champion. She shares her secrets in recipes such as Mexican Chocolate Baked Alaska, Persian Love Cakes with Cardamom Buttercream and Vanilla Chiffon Cake with Blackberry Coulis.

After suffering a life-threatening illness at 20, Bussanich recovered with the help of a new diet without gluten. She began testing gluten-free recipes while attending the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu patisserie program and later opened her popular business, Kyra's Bake Shop.

"My recipes are not good 'for being gluten-free;' they're just good, and that's why people who eat gluten visit my bakery and order gluten-free desserts," she says. "For me, being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease allowed me to turn lemons into gluten-free lemon meringue pie!"

She invites anyone who doubts that gluten-free can be delicious to try the following recipe:

Apple Crisp

6 large tart apples (Pippin or Granny Smith)
1/3 cup sugar, or 1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Generous pinch salt
3 tablespoons cold butter

Topping

1/2 cup sweet white rice flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 cup packed golden brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup gluten-free oats
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Peel, core and slice the apples into 1/4-inch slices. Put the apple slices into a large bowl and sprinkle the sugar over the top. Add the tapioca starch, cinnamon, five-spice, ginger and salt and toss together to evenly coat the apple slices. Pour into a 9 by 13-inch baking pan, dot the top with pieces of the butter and set aside. To make the topping, combine the flours, tapioca starch, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, five-spice and ginger in a mixing bowl. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix in the butter until it is uniformly incorporated into the flour mixture. Stir in the oats and pecans.

Crumble the oat topping evenly over the apples. Bake until the topping is golden brown and set and the apples are warm and bubbly, 55 to 60 minutes.
You can prepare everything ahead of time. Refrigerate the apple filling and keep the topping frozen until ready to assemble and bake. Don't refrigerate the unbaked topping overnight since the millet flour will interact with the butter and taste and smell cheesy when it's baked.

About Kyra Bussanich

Kyra Bussanich is a two-time winner of The Food Network's hit show, "Cupcake Wars." She graduated with honors from Le Cordon Bleu and opened her award-winning bakery, Kyra's Bake Shop, which features gourmet, gluten-free sweets. She has branched beyond desserts to other gluten-free goods in order to help those with celiac and other autoimmune diseases enjoy quality treats.