A Lancaster County judge sentenced Zachary Scheich last week after he pleaded no contest in July to first-degree sexual assault, attempted first-degree sexual assault, generation of child pornography — age 19 or over — and child enticement with electronic communication, according to a sentencing order and plea agreement.

Scheich’s sentence runs a maximum of 120 years in prison, according to the order. He won’t be eligible for parole for 40 years, according to NBC affiliate KOLN of Lincoln.

During his sentencing hearing, Lancaster County Deputy County Attorney Amber Scholte said Scheich “targeted, groomed and lured” students via social media while pretending to be their peer or boyfriend, the station reported.

The public defender’s office that represented Scheich did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.

Scheich identified himself as “Zak Hess,” 17, and attended two high schools in Lincoln — Northwest High School and Southeast High School — for 54 days in the 2022-23 school year, officials previously said.

He was admitted to the schools using fake documents, including a birth certificate, immunization records, a transcript and medical records, the officials said.

A spokesperson for the district where Scheich attended high school also did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Authorities began investigating Scheich in June 2023 after a concerned parent contacted the school district. Police announced his arrest in July.

Charging documents show the crimes he pleaded guilty to mostly occurred in 2022 and 2023. Several victims were under the age of 16, the documents show. Another was 13 or older.

One of the sexual assault charges was from 2019 and involved two people whose ages are not included in the documents.

In September, authorities accused a 23-year-old woman of criminal impersonation after she allegedly posed as Scheich’s mother and helped him get enrolled in the schools, according to KOLN. She pleaded not guilty and the case is ongoing.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

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The Rite Aid store on Long Beach Boulevard in Compton is one of the stores that began to lock up almost every single item under lock and key.

From paper plates, to candy, Ziploc bags and soda, products that are under $10 were all locked in the store shelves.

“It’s better that way, I guess,” Gary Hildreth, a Compton resident, said, while acknowledging shopping takes longer because of the locked shelves. “It takes a little bit over 10 minutes for them to help me. They have to let you in to get it.”

Another shopper, who declined to be identified, said it was a good idea to keep products locked in.

“Hopefully I don’t see too much crazy things anymore with this,” the shopper said.

A Rite Aid store in South Los Angeles also appears to be implementing a similar policy as a TikTok video showed the locked shelves inside the shop.

An employee at Rite Aid said the secured shelves started going up in July. 

Business owners and workers are also hoping the new “smash-and-grab” that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last week would lead to harsher penalties for large-scale theft offenses.

AB 1960, which aims to crack down on retail and property crimes, requires prosecutors to start imposing harsher sentences again for those who damage or destroy property valued at more than $50,000 while committing a felony. A similar law expired in 2018. The new law will sunset by 2030.

“California already has some of the strictest retail and property crime laws in the nation — and we have made them even stronger with our recent legislation,” Newsom said in a statement. “We can be tough on crime while also being smart on crime — we don’t need to go back to broken policies of the last century.”

Crime and Courts Aug 16

New laws signed to combat smash-and-grabs, shoplifting across California. This is how they will work

Montebello Jun 19

LA County Sheriff's Department cracks down on retail theft in Montebello

The decision to bring back tough penalties comes as Democratic leaders continue to work to prove that they are tough enough on crime while trying to convince voters to reject a ballot measure that would bring even harsher sentences for repeat offenders of shoplifting and drug charges.

While shoplifting has been a growing problem, large-scale, smash-and-grab thefts, in which groups of individuals brazenly rush into stores and take goods in plain sight, have become a crisis in California and elsewhere in recent years. Such crimes, often captured on video and posted on social media, have brought particular attention to the problem of retail theft in the state.

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Brian Jeffrey Raymond, with a graying beard and orange prison jumpsuit, sat dejectedly as he heard his punishment for one of the most egregious misconduct cases in the CIA’s history. It was chronicled in his own library of more than 500 images that showed him in some cases straddling and groping his nude, unconscious victims.

“It’s safe to say he’s a sexual predator,” U.S. Senior Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said in imposing the full sentence prosecutors had requested. “You are going to have a period of time to think about this.”

Prosecutors say the 48-year-old Raymond’s assaults date to 2006 and tracked his career in Mexico, Peru and other countries, all following a similar pattern:

He would lure women he met on Tinder and other dating apps to his government-leased apartment and drug them while serving wine and snacks. Once they were unconscious, he spent hours posing their naked bodies before photographing and assaulting them. He opened their eyelids at times and stuck his fingers in their mouths.

One by one, about a dozen of Raymond’s victims who were identified only by numbers in court recounted how the longtime spy upended their lives. Some said they only learned what happened after the FBI showed them the photos of being assaulted while unconscious.

“My body looks like a corpse on his bed,” one victim said of the photos. “Now I have these nightmares of seeing myself dead.”

One described suffering a nervous breakdown. Another spoke of a recurring trance that caused her to run red lights while driving. Many told how their confidence and trust in others had been shattered forever.

“I hope he is haunted by the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life,” said one of the women, who like others stared Raymond down as they walked away from the podium.

Reading from a statement, Raymond told the judge that he has spent countless hours contemplating his “downward spiral.”

“It betrayed everything I stand for and I know no apology will ever be enough,” he said. “There are no words to describe how sorry I am. That’s not who I am and yet it’s who I became.”

Raymond’s sentencing comes amid a reckoning on sexual misconduct at the CIA. The Associated Press reported last week that another veteran CIA officer faces state charges in Virginia for allegedly reaching up a co-worker’s skirt and forcibly kissing her during a drunken party in the office.

Still another former CIA employee — an officer trainee — is scheduled to face a jury trial next month on charges he assaulted a woman with a scarf in a stairwell at the agency’s Langley, Virginia, headquarters. That case emboldened some two dozen women to come forward to authorities and Congress with accounts of their own of sexual assaults, unwanted touching and what they contend are the CIA’s efforts to silence them.

And yet the full extent of sexual misconduct at the CIA remains a classified secret in the name of national security, including a recent 648-page internal watchdog report that found systemic shortcomings in the agency’s handling of such complaints.

“The classified nature of the activities allowed the agency to hide a lot of things,” said Liza Mundy, author of “Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA.” The male-dominated agency, she said, has long been a refuge for egregious sexual misconduct. “For decades, men at the top had free rein.”

CIA has publicly condemned Raymond’s crimes and implemented sweeping reforms intended to keep women safe, streamline claims and more quickly discipline offenders.

But a veil of secrecy still surrounds the Raymond case nearly four years after his arrest. Even after Raymond pleaded guilty late last year, prosecutors have tiptoed around the exact nature of his work and declined to disclose a complete list of the countries where he assaulted women.

Still, they offered an unbridled account of Raymond’s conduct, describing him as a “serial offender” whose assaults increased over time and become “almost frenetic” during his final CIA posting in Mexico City, where he was discovered in 2020 after a naked woman screamed for help from his apartment balcony.

U.S. officials scoured Raymond’s electronic devices and began identifying the victims he had listed by name and physical characteristics, all of whom described experiencing some form of memory loss during their time with him.

One victim said Raymond seemed like a “perfect gentleman” when they met in Mexico in 2020, recalling only that they kissed. Unbeknownst to the woman, after she blacked out, he took 35 videos and close-up photos of her breasts and genitals.

“The defendant’s manipulation often resulted in women blaming themselves for losing consciousness, feeling ashamed, and apologizing to the defendant,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing. “He was more than willing to gaslight the women, often suggesting that the women drank too much and that, despite their instincts to the contrary, nothing had happened.”

Raymond, a San Diego native and former White House intern who is fluent in Spanish and Mandarin, ultimately pleaded guilty to four of 25 federal counts including sexual abuse, coercion and transportation of obscene material. As part of his sentence, the judge ordered him to pay $10,000 to each of his 28 victims.

Raymond’s attorneys had sought leniency, contending his “quasi-military” work at the CIA in the years following 9/11 became a breeding ground for the emotional callousness and “objectification of other people” that enabled his years of preying upon women.

“While he was working tirelessly at his government job, he ignored his own need for help, and over time he began to isolate himself, detach himself from human feelings and become emotionally numb,” defense attorney Howard Katzoff wrote in a court filing.

“He was an invaluable government worker, but it took its toll on him and sent him down a dark path.”

___

Goodman reported from Miami. Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org.

Court documents indicate that 43-year-old Levar Fountain entered the pleas to third-degree murder charges in York County Court earlier this month, avoiding a trial that was to have begun this week. First-degree murder counts that would have carried a mandatory life without parole term were dismissed. Fountain is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 8.

Authorities said Fountain told them he was off his schizophrenia medication at the time that John Fountain, 74, and Mary Fountain, 65, were killed in December 2019 in the York home the three shared. The sword authorities believe was used in the killings was found in his bedroom, authorities said.

Officials said he moved the bodies to the basement, put a note on the front door saying the couple had moved back to Florida and went to his room for three days. They say he also killed dogs owned by the victims, telling authorities they were “known as ‘God’ but spelled backwards, which made them lower class dragons and they had to be killed.”

The York Dispatch reported that several relatives told the newspaper that they didn’t believe their mentally ill relative was the culprit. His sister Caren Fountain said he told her a few days before his plea that he didn’t remember committing the crime and “would never” have hurt the victims.

Defense attorney Clasina Houtman declined comment but pointed out that her office had filed paperwork to use an insanity defense if the case had gone to trial, but it was her client’s decision not to go to trial.

Under a no-contest plea, a defendant does not acknowledge having committed the crime but agrees that prosecutors have enough evidence to secure a conviction. Attorneys agreed during the legal proceedings that Fountain doesn’t remember the deaths due to his mental condition at the time.

A Lancaster County judge sentenced Zachary Scheich last week after he pleaded no contest in July to first-degree sexual assault, attempted first-degree sexual assault, generation of child pornography — age 19 or over — and child enticement with electronic communication, according to a sentencing order and plea agreement.

Scheich’s sentence runs a maximum of 120 years in prison, according to the order. He won’t be eligible for parole for 40 years, according to NBC affiliate KOLN of Lincoln.

During his sentencing hearing, Lancaster County Deputy County Attorney Amber Scholte said Scheich “targeted, groomed and lured” students via social media while pretending to be their peer or boyfriend, the station reported.

The public defender’s office that represented Scheich did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.

Scheich identified himself as “Zak Hess,” 17, and attended two high schools in Lincoln — Northwest High School and Southeast High School — for 54 days in the 2022-23 school year, officials previously said.

He was admitted to the schools using fake documents, including a birth certificate, immunization records, a transcript and medical records, the officials said.

A spokesperson for the district where Scheich attended high school also did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Authorities began investigating Scheich in June 2023 after a concerned parent contacted the school district. Police announced his arrest in July.

Charging documents show the crimes he pleaded guilty to mostly occurred in 2022 and 2023. Several victims were under the age of 16, the documents show. Another was 13 or older.

One of the sexual assault charges was from 2019 and involved two people whose ages are not included in the documents.

In September, authorities accused a 23-year-old woman of criminal impersonation after she allegedly posed as Scheich’s mother and helped him get enrolled in the schools, according to KOLN. She pleaded not guilty and the case is ongoing.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:

• Body found amid Kentucky manhunt near site of highway mass shooting
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Participating in a court hearing through a Spanish-language interpreter, Zambada gave yes-or-no answers to a magistrate’s standard questions about whether he understood various documents and procedures. Asked how he was feeling, Zambada said, “Fine, fine.”

His lawyers entered the not-guilty plea on his behalf.

Outside court, Zambada attorney Frank Perez said his client wasn’t contemplating making a deal with the government, and the attorney expects the case to go to trial.

“It’s a complex case,” he said.

Sought by U.S. law enforcement for more than two decades, Zambada has been in U.S. custody since July 25, when he landed in a private plane at an airport outside El Paso, Texas, in the company of another fugitive cartel leader, Joaquín Guzmán López, according to federal authorities.

Zambada later said in a letter that he was kidnapped in Mexico and brought to the U.S. by Guzmán López, a son of imprisoned Sinaloa co-founder Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Mexico Jul 27

A look at ‘El Mayo' Zambada, the kingpin of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel who is now in US custody

Texas Jul 25

US arrests 2 leaders of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel: ‘El Mayo' Zambada and son of ‘El Chapo'

Zambada’s lawyer did not elaborate on those claims Friday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James Cho ordered Zambada detained until trial. His lawyers did not ask for bail, and U.S. prosecutors asked the judge to detain him.

“He was one of the most, if not the most, powerful narcotics kingpins in the world,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Francisco Navarro said. “He co-founded the Sinaloa cartel and sat atop the narcotics trafficking world for decades.”

Zambada, 76, used a wheelchair at a court appearance in Texas last month, and U.S. marshals steadied him Friday as he walked into a federal courtroom in Brooklyn. He appeared to accept some help getting out of a chair after the brief hearing, then walked out slowly but unaided.

Perez said after court Friday that Zambada was healthy and “in good spirits.”

Sketch artists were in the small courtroom, but other journalists could observe only through closed-circuit video because of a shortage of seats.

In court and in a letter earlier to the judge, prosecutors said Zambada presided over a vast and violent operation, with an arsenal of military-grade weapons, a private security force that was almost like an army, and a corps of “sicarios,” or hitmen, who carried out assassinations, kidnappings and torture.

His bloody tenure included ordering the murder, just months ago, of his own nephew, prosecutors said.

“A United States jail cell is the only thing that will prevent the defendant from committing further crimes,” Navarro said.

Zambada also pleaded not guilty to the charges at an earlier court appearance in Texas. His next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 31.

According to authorities, Zambada and “El Chapo” Guzmán built the Sinaloa cartel from a regional syndicate into a huge manufacturer and smuggler of cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs to U.S. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has described defeating the cartel as one of the agency’s top operational priorities.

Zambada has been seen as the group’s strategist and dealmaker and a less flamboyant figure than Guzmán. Zambada had never been behind bars until his July arrest.

His “day of reckoning in a U.S. courtroom has arrived, and justice will follow,” Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Breon Peace declared in a statement Friday.

Zambada’s arrest has touched off fighting in Mexico between rival factions in the Sinaloa cartel. Gunfights have killed several people. Schools in businesses in Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, have closed amid the fighting. The battles are believed to be between factions loyal to Zambada and those led by other sons of “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was convicted of drug and conspiracy charges and sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. in 2019.

It remains unclear why Guzmán López surrendered to U.S. authorities and brought Zambada with him. Guzmán López is awaiting trial on a separate drug trafficking indictment in Chicago, where he has pleaded not guilty.

Associated Press video journalist David R. Martin contributed to this report.

The man accused of being drunk when his car struck and killed NHL star Johnny Gaudreau and brother Matthew as they biked near their South Jersey hometown the night before their sister’s wedding will remain jailed awaiting trial as it was revealed he had a blood alcohol level above the legal limit and a history of road rage.

The decision to continue Sean Higgins’ detention in Salem County Jail was made during a Friday, Sept. 13, Zoom detention hearing in front of Superior Court judge Michael Silvanio.

“I believe the state has convinced this court by clear and convincing evidence that there is no amount of monetary bail, or non monetary conditions, or combination thereof, that I could put in place that would ensure the statutory goals,” Silvanio said. “For those reasons I am going to grant the state’s motion to detain Mr. Higgins pending the further outcome of this case.”

The case is being closely followed far beyond South Jersey. Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.

“This is a highly-publicized case, it’s an emotionally-charged case and one in which everybody has lost and is losing,” Higgins’ attorney Matthew Portella said Friday.

Higgins could be seen on screen Friday morning with facial hair and wearing a green shirt. At the start of the hearing, Silvanio made the South Jersey resident aware of his rights and made sure that Higgins was aware of his rights. “Yes your honor,” Higgins replied to the judge’s instructions.

Prosecutor, defense team lay out what happened on night of deadly crash, argue over detainment

The Gaudreau brothers grew up in the Philadelphia suburb of Carneys Point, New Jersey, where they spent their childhoods on the ice. They played at Gloucester Catholic High School, with Team Comcast and with the Philadelphia Little Flyers. Johnny went on to an All-Star career in the NHL.

Johnny, 31, and brother, Matt, 29, were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding that was scheduled for Friday, Aug. 30, in nearby Philadelphia, according to family.

The Gaudreaus were cycling on a road in Oldmans Township on Thursday, Aug. 29, when a man driving an SUV in the same direction attempted to pass two other vehicles and struck them from behind at about 8 p.m., according to New Jersey State Police. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said the striking driver, 43-year-old Higgins, was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle.

Another driver had slowed down and pulled into the opposing lane of traffic to safely pass the Gaudreau brothers, First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County said Friday. The driver behind that driver followed suit — bother moving slightly above the 50 mph posted speed limit.

It is alleged that Higgins came speeding up behind the two other drivers and decides to overtake both cars. Higgins said he saw the driver moving to left lane as that driver trying to block him, Flynn said. Higgins then reacted by accelerating past one of the other driver on the right hand side, striking the Gaudreau brothers.

Higgins later claimed to have not seen the bikes.

Higgins told a responding officer he had five or six beers prior to the crash and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint obtained by The Associated Press.

Higgins told state police that he was also drinking in the car while driving, Flynn said Friday.

Higgins’ attorneys pointed out that a Sept. 5 report on Higgins’ blood alcohol at the time of the Aug. 29, 2024, wreck was .087% — just above the legal limit.

Higgins’ attorney said the BAC showed that Higgins was right around the intoxicated driving legal limit and that shouldn’t be a mitigating circumstance in keeping him jailed.

However, the state argued that Higgins had made statements about ending his life and was known to drink and drive angrily.

“The whodunit and what happened is pretty well documented in the record,” the prosecuting attorney said.

The judge noted the facts of the case while making his ruling after the prosecuting attorney and lawyers representing Higgins argued over if Higgins should remain jailed ahead of trial.

To be detained, the state had to display probable cause and prove that any bail offered wouldn’t be sufficient enough for Higgins to appear in court for his trial.

“This is a serious crime,” argued the prosecuting attorney, saying that Higgins’ “impatience, anger and recklessness” led to the Gaudreau brothers’ deaths.

Higgins is a married father to two daughters, ages 8 and 10, and a law-abiding citizen before the crash, his defense argued.

“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” Portella said. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”

Higgins’ attorney noted he has no previous record and shared letters on his behalf. Portella added that Higgins was low risk to not show up for court. His team also offered a breath monitoring machine on Higgins’ car should he be released.

The prosecution painted another picture of Higgins.

Driving drunk and upset is not out of character for Higgins, prosecutors alleged.

Flynn argued that the locking device would not stop what he called “the fundamental issue” of Higgins’s “angry and aggressive driving,” exacerbated that day by alcohol.

Higgins wife told investigators that he had been working from home and that had a negative effect on him that led drinking at his house. The prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with a family member.

He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said.

“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to Flynn.

“There simply is no condition that the court can place on Mr. Higgins that is going to control — not only the aggressive driving, but unfortunately the drinking during the driving — getting on the road and having this happen again,” Flynn said while arguing Higgins should remain jailed.

NHL Sep 9

Johnny Gaudreau's widow reveals she is pregnant with 3rd child at funeral for NHL star, brother

In arguing for Higgins to remain behind bars, the state also argued that he could hurt himself if he is freed from behind bars as he could face up to 20 years behind bars.

“Clear intent to self-harm over the regret of what happened,” the prosecuting attorney said.

“They’re concerned that Mr. Higgins is going to put himself beyond the reach of the court… committing suicide,” Portella said.

Higgins’ attorney acknowledged that at the scene Higgins was upset and that he did say his life was over. However, he was no longer on suicide watch as of Friday’s hearing.

He was “freaking out” and a recent knee surgery that caused a limp contributed to Higgins “not to be able to do the field sobriety test properly,” Portella said.

Higgins will remain jailed ahead of his next court date on Oct. 15, for an in-person hearing.

Higgins has seven days to appeal the decision.

Higgins had previous driving violations

NBC10 obtained the New Jersey driver history for Higgins. Our investigators found that Higgins had previously been stopped by police for unsafe driving and other violations.

Through an open records request to New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission, we were able to see that Higgins was involved in two car crashes: One in 2016 and the other in 2021.

He was also cited between 2003 and 2014 for improper operation in a highway with marked lines, improper display of plates, speeding and unsafe operation of a motor vehicle.

The state of New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission had Higgins listed “in good standing” at the time of last week’s fatal crash.

We also found two violations in North Carolina that included driving while intoxicated in 2005 and a speeding ticket in 2021. Both were dismissed.

According to court records, the DWI was dismissed because the officer did not show up for the court date.

Higgins was an Army veteran who worked at an alcohol treatment center

He is a graduate of Drexel and Rutgers universities and a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq, his attorneys said. Higgins worked in finance for an addiction treatment company.

Higgins was an employee at Gaudenzia, a nonprofit drug and alcohol treatment center, at the time of the crash. He was at first placed on leave by the organization before being fired last week.

“Our thoughts and condolences remain with all those impacted by the tragedy that resulted in the loss of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau,” a statement from the Norristown-based company said. “Sean Higgins is no longer an employee of Gaudenzia.”

Higgins’ service time in Iraq — which left him honored with a Bronze Star — left his mentally scared, his attorney said.

Gaudreau family, hockey community, remember brothers, share message

The funeral for the Gaudreau brothers took place Monday at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Media, Pennsylvania.

Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. John was 31 and Matthew 29.

“Everything was always John and Matty,” said Meredith, John’s wife, who revealed she was pregnant with the couple’s third child. “I know John would not have been able to live a day without his brother.”

“I urge everyone to not drink and drive,” said Madeline Gaudreau, Matthew’s pregnant wife. “Find a ride. Please don’t put another family through this torture.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

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Authorities are shedding light on the gruesome death of Miss Switzerland finalist Kristina Joksimovic.

The 38-year-old was found dead in her Swiss home this February, with her husband, 41, arrested on accusations of her murder, according to BBC.

In a recently released autopsy report, investigators said Joksimovic was strangled before her body was dismembered in the laundry room with a jigsaw power tool, knife and garden shears, per local news outlet BZ Basel.

Her remains were then “pureed” with a hand blender, the report said, before being dissolved in a chemical solution.

A federal court ruling stated that Joksimovic’s husband — whose name has not been disclosed — confessed to investigators in March that he had killed the model, according to BZ Basel. The admission allegedly came after a forensic report contradicted his previous claim that he acted in self-defense and dismembered Joksimovic’s body “in a panic,” per the outlet.

In the ruling, prosecutors said that the suspect displayed a “noticeably high level of criminal energy, lack of empathy and cold-bloodedness” following the pageant queen’s death.

The public prosecutor’s office also alleged that Joksimovic’s husband had a history of violence, per BZ Basel.

The federal court denied a request from Joksimovic’s husband to be released from custody.

Joksimovic won the title of Miss Northwest Switzerland in 2007. She entered the nationwide competition that same year, losing the crown to Amanda Ammann.

The model tied the knot with her husband in 2017, according to Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten. They shared two daughters.

Joksimovic’s death has rattled family and friends, including former Miss Switzerland Christa Rigozzi.

“I’m really shocked,” she told the publication in February. “I’m thinking of her two daughters. She was such a beautiful and kind-hearted woman.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.

The settlement stems from a civil complaint brought by the District Attorney’s offices of San Diego, Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Sonoma counties.

Prosecutors allege Home Depot customers were charged more than the posted prices on items due to what’s known as “scanner violations.” This is when the prices listed for items on shelves are different from prices seen when the items are scanned at the register.

Home Depot entered into the settlement without admitting any liability or wrongdoing.

As part of the agreement, the company will pay $1,700,000 in civil penalties, plus $277,251 to cover the prosecutors’ investigatory costs and fund other consumer protection enforcement efforts. Home Depot will also implement new price accuracy procedures that eliminate price increases on weekend days and establish audits and training on state pricing accuracy requirements.

Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 71, made a deal in May with federal prosecutors, who agreed to recommend the 10-year term in exchange for his guilty plea to a count of conspiracy to gather or deliver national defense information to a foreign government. The deal also requires him to submit to polygraph tests, whenever requested by the U.S. government, for the rest of his life.

A U.S. judge approved the deal Wednesday and handed down the agreed-upon sentence, according to court records.

“I hope God and America will forgive me for what I have done,” Ma, who has been in custody since his 2020 arrest, wrote in a letter to Chief U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu ahead of his sentencing.

Without the deal, Ma faced up to life in prison. He would have been allowed to withdraw from the agreement if Watson rejected the 10-year sentence.

Ma was born in Hong Kong, moved to Honolulu in 1968 and became a U.S. citizen in 1975. He joined the CIA in 1982, was assigned overseas the following year, and resigned in 1989. He held a top secret security clearance, according to court documents.

Ma lived and worked in Shanghai, China, before returning to Hawaii in 2001, and at the behest of Chinese intelligence officers, he agreed to arrange an introduction between officers of the Shanghai State Security Bureau and his older brother — who had also served as a CIA case officer.

During a three-day meeting in a Hong Kong hotel room that year, Ma’s brother — identified in the plea agreement as “Co-conspirator #1” — provided the intelligence officers a “large volume of classified and sensitive information,” according to the document. They were paid $50,000; prosecutors said they had an hourlong video from the meeting that showed Ma counting the money.

Two years later, Ma applied for a job as a contract linguist in the FBI’s Honolulu field office. By then, the Americans knew he was collaborating with Chinese intelligence officers, and they hired him in 2004 so they could keep an eye on his espionage activities.

Over the following six years, he regularly copied, photographed and stole classified documents, prosecutors said. He often took them on trips to China, returning with thousands of dollars in cash and expensive gifts, including a new set of golf clubs, prosecutors said.

At one point in 2006, his handlers at the Shanghai State Security Bureau asked Ma to get his brother to help identify four people in photographs, and the brother did identify two of them.

During a sting operation, Ma accepted thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for past espionage activities, and he told an undercover FBI agent posing as a Chinese intelligence officer that he wanted to see the “motherland” succeed, prosecutors have said.

“Let it be a message to anyone else thinking of doing the same,” FBI Honolulu Special Agent-in-Charge Steven Merrill said in a statement after Ma was sentenced. “No matter how long it takes, or how much time passes, you will be brought to justice.”

The brother was never prosecuted. He suffered from debilitating symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and has since died, court documents say.

“Because of my brother, I could not bring myself to report this crime,” Ma said in his letter to the judge. “He was like a father figure to me. In a way, I am also glad that he left this world, as that made me free to admit what I did.”

The plea agreement also called for Ma to cooperate with the U.S. government by providing more details about his case and submitting to polygraph tests for the rest of his life.

Prosecutors said that since pleading guilty, Ma has already taken part in five “lengthy, and sometimes grueling, sessions over the course of four weeks, some spanning as long as six hours, wherein he provided valuable information and endeavored to answer the government’s inquiries to the best of his ability.”

Through Operation Online Guardian, suspects were arrested for various child sexual exploitation charges, including continuous sexual abuse of a child, lew acts with a child and contact or attempted contact with a minor for sex. 

The operation involving the Los Angeles Police Department and more than 100 agencies in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties was conducted from Aug. 12 through Aug. 23 as part of the Los Angeles Regional Internet Crimes Against Children (LA ICAC) task force led by the LAPD.

“Together we continue to stand strong in the face of predators who seek to sexually exploit children working tirelessly to create a safer environment for all,” Alan Hamilton, the LAPD Chief of Detectives, said in a news conference Monday.

The task force reminded parents of internet safety and the importance of keeping an open dialogue with their children.

“Parents and caregivers can help protect their children by educating themselves and their children on the dangers of the internet by monitoring your children’s internet usage,” LAPD Capt. Jay Mastick said. “By reporting potential child sexual abuse activity – you’re giving a potential victim a voice.”

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 Hamilton said the operation was executed in two phases:

• The first phase included proactive undercover investigations on a variety of Social Media platforms.
• The second phase included the service of multiple residential search warrants throughout the five counties, in addition to arrest warrants, which focused on child predators.

The LA ICAC Task Force included personnel from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, the LAPD’s Gang and Narcotics Division, and various LAPD Vice Units.

Arrests were made for offenses that included:

•  Sodomy of a child under 10 years of age
• Continuous sexual abuse of a child
• Continuous sexual abuse of a child
• Lewd acts with a child
• Meeting a minor for lewd purposes/sex
• Contact/attempt contact with minor for sex
• Sending obscene matter to a child for sex
• Penetration with a foreign object by force or fear
• Sodomy
• Possession of child sexual abuse material
• Distribution of child sexual abuse material
• Child annoying
• Failure to register as a convicted sex offender
• Violation of conditions of parole
• Violation of conditions of probation

Hamilton said specific arrest figures for individual counties were not immediately available. 

Although Operation Online Guardian has concluded, Hamilton vowed that the LA ICAC Task Force would remain vigilant and continue their mission to protect children.

More information is available at www.Missingkids.org/NetSmartz for educational internet safety tips and activities. 

The community may report potential child sexual abuse activity and have the harmful matter removed via the service “Take it Down” that is hosted on the websitewww.takeitdown.ncmec.org.

City News Service contributed to this report.

Gerardo Contreras, 49, was initially charged with murder for the attack on Aug. 28, 2021, which police and prosecutors said was captured by a security camera on a building nearby, leaving little doubt about what happened.

The LA County District Attorney’s Office agreed last month to drop the murder charge in exchange for Contreras’ no contest pleas to voluntary manslaughter and the use of a flammable or caustic substance in an assault. A no contest plea has the same legal effect as a guilty plea in criminal court.

Elizabeth was 54 years old, and her family requested she not be more specifically identified because several young relatives did not know the circumstances of her death.

LA Superior Court Judge Gregory A. Dohi addressed the family members who attended Monday’s hearing in Van Nuys.

“I did the preliminary hearing. I saw the video,” Dohi said of the recording of the crime. “I hope that you have some degree of closure, if it’s at all possible.”

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Dohi imposed a sentence of 11 years for the manslaughter charge and one additional year for the use of a flammable substance. Contreras was not given credit for the two years he spent in jail prior to the no contest plea.

Contreras’ defense lawyer, Jason Rubel from the Alternate Public Defender, did not immediately return a call for comment on the resolution of the case and the sentence.

According to police, Contreras and Elizabeth, who were both considered homeless, were arguing while driving north of Vineland Avenue near the Burbank Airport on the afternoon of the attack, and at some point he poured the liquid on her.

Their car stopped in the center left turn lane, and the fire started while the two were standing near the trunk of the car.

Elizabeth fell into traffic lanes before running across the road and collapsing on a lawn in front of a shopping center.

Drivers stopped and tried to help her.

She died several days later on Sep. 1 as the result of thermal burns, according to the LA County Medical Examiner.

Her death was among the 91 deaths in 2021 in which people experiencing homelessness were murdered, according to LAPD data.

Those deaths represented nearly 23% of the city’s murders that year, which officials said was a staggering number, considering those described as homeless represented less than 1% of the overall population.

The percentage of murders of people considered homeless rose to around 24% in 2022 before dropping to around 17% in 2023, the data shows.

The LAPD has not shared complete data on murders or other crimes in 2024 as it changes its record keeping systems to produce more detailed statistical reports compatible with the FBI’s new crime data standards.

Jury deliberations will begin soon in the trial of a man accused of fatally stabbing a UCLA graduate student inside a Hancock Park furniture store in 2022.

Shawn Laval Smith is charged with murdering Brianna Kupfer after he allegedly stabbed her 46 times at the Croft House furniture store on La Brea Avenue near Beverly Boulevard.

During closing arguments Monday, the prosecution reiterated Smith’s hatred of women drove him to murder while the defense attorney claimed there was no premeditation. 

“This man hates women,” prosecutor Habib Balian said Monday, describing how Smith visited women in several stores in Hancock Park before targeting Kupfer because she was alone. “It’s easier probably to sleep at night to think something is wrong with him rather than face the truth that this man was on a crusade to hunt, to destroy and to kill for the mere fact that she was female.”

Balian also argued that Smith pretended to be a customer when he entered the furniture store, which showed premeditation. 

“That’s how good he was at hiding his true intentions in plain sight,” the prosecutor claimed. “Even Brianna  – as smart. intelligent and kind she was – had no idea of the exact terror he was about to reign upon her.”

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The defense attorney for Smith implied race was a factor in this case by putting up Kupfer and Smith’s photos side by side, attempting to explain the media attention for the case.  

“The thing we can’t talk about, the thing we consciously notice, is why it’s attracted so many people,” Robert Haberer, Smith’s attorney, said.

The judge sustained the prosecution’s objective twice to the racial bias argument. 

Smith’s attorney also claimed the killing was not premeditated. 

While Smith had recorded himself saying he wanted to kill women a month before Kupfer’s death, his statements about women should not be considered motive, Haberer argued. 

If convicted, Smith faces life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

The defendants, identified as Dallas Erin Humber and Matthew Robert Allison, face 15 federal counts in the Eastern District of California, including charges that accuse them of soliciting hate crimes and the murder of federal officials, distributing bomb-making instructions and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

Humber, 34, of Elk Grove, California, and Allison, 37, of Boise, Idaho were arrested Friday. Humber pleaded not guilty in a Sacramento courtroom Monday to the charges. Her attorney Noa Oren declined to comment on the case Monday afternoon after the arraignment.

It was not immediately clear if Allison had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

The indictment accuses the two of leading Terrorgram, a network of channels and group chats on Telegram, and of soliciting followers to attack perceived enemies of white people, including government buildings and energy facilities and “high-value” targets such as politicians.

“Today’s action makes clear that the department will hold perpetrators accountable, including those who hide behind computer screens, in seeking to carry out bias-motivated violence,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, the Justice Department’s top civil rights official, said at a news conference.

Their exhortations to commit violence included statements such as “Take Action Now” and “Do your part,” and users who carried out acts to further white supremacism were told they could become known as “Saints,” prosecutors said.

Justice Department officials say the pair used the app to transmit bomb-making instructions and to distribute a list of potential targets for assassination — including a federal judge, a senator and a former U.S. attorney — and to celebrate acts or plots from active Terrorgram users.

Those include the stabbing last month of five people outside a mosque in Turkey and the July arrest of an 18-year-old accused of planning to attack an electrical substation to advance white supremacist views. In the Turkey attack, for instance, prosecutors say the culprit on the morning of the stabbing posted in a group chat: “Come see how much humans I can cleanse.”

A 24-minute documentary that the two had produced, “White Terror,” documented and praised some 105 acts of white supremacist violence between 1968 and 2021, according to the indictment.

“The risk and danger they present is extremely serious,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the Justice Department’s top national security official. He added: “Their reach is as far as the internet because of the platform they’ve created.”

Telegram is a messaging app that allows for one-on-one conversations, group chats and large channels that let people broadcast messages to subscribers. Though broadly used as a messaging tool around the world, Telegram has also drawn scrutiny, including a finding from French investigators that the app has been used by Islamic extremists and drug traffickers.

Telegram’s founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, was detained by French authorities last month on charges of allowing the platform’s use for criminal activity. Durov responded to the charges with a post last week saying he shouldn’t have been targeted personally and by promising to step up efforts to fight criminality on the app.

He wrote that while Telegram is not “some sort of anarchic paradise,” surging numbers of users have “caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”

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A Lancaster County judge sentenced Zachary Scheich last week after he pleaded no contest in July to first-degree sexual assault, attempted first-degree sexual assault, generation of child pornography — age 19 or over — and child enticement with electronic communication, according to a sentencing order and plea agreement.

Scheich’s sentence runs a maximum of 120 years in prison, according to the order. He won’t be eligible for parole for 40 years, according to NBC affiliate KOLN of Lincoln.

During his sentencing hearing, Lancaster County Deputy County Attorney Amber Scholte said Scheich “targeted, groomed and lured” students via social media while pretending to be their peer or boyfriend, the station reported.

The public defender’s office that represented Scheich did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.

Scheich identified himself as “Zak Hess,” 17, and attended two high schools in Lincoln — Northwest High School and Southeast High School — for 54 days in the 2022-23 school year, officials previously said.

He was admitted to the schools using fake documents, including a birth certificate, immunization records, a transcript and medical records, the officials said.

A spokesperson for the district where Scheich attended high school also did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Authorities began investigating Scheich in June 2023 after a concerned parent contacted the school district. Police announced his arrest in July.

Charging documents show the crimes he pleaded guilty to mostly occurred in 2022 and 2023. Several victims were under the age of 16, the documents show. Another was 13 or older.

One of the sexual assault charges was from 2019 and involved two people whose ages are not included in the documents.

In September, authorities accused a 23-year-old woman of criminal impersonation after she allegedly posed as Scheich’s mother and helped him get enrolled in the schools, according to KOLN. She pleaded not guilty and the case is ongoing.

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Officers with the Beaverton Police Department responded to 32-year-old Melissa Jubane’s home at 1050 SW 160th Avenue in Beaverton Wednesday to conduct a wellness check after she didn’t report for her morning shift at St. Vincent Hospital, the department said Thursday in a Facebook post.

Police searched Jubane’s apartment but did not find her, calling her absence and lack of communication “unusual and alarming.”

“Efforts by officers and family members to contact Melissa throughout the day were unsuccessful, as her phone appeared to be turned off,” police said. “Additionally, searches of Melissa’s bank and credit card records yielded no new information regarding her location.”

Following the investigation, one of Jubane’s neighbors, 27-year-old Bryce Johnathan Schubert, was arrested and charged with her murder, police said in an update Saturday.

Schubert was charged with murder in the second degree and is being held at the jail in Washington County, Oregon, according to online records. It’s not clear if he has an attorney at this time.

Jubane’s body was also recovered. Police have not shared any details regarding how Schubert was allegedly involved in Jubane’s murder, where her remains were found, or who found them.

“This is an active investigation,” police said. “While we acknowledge the significant community interest and concern, we must withhold further details to preserve the integrity of the investigation.”

The Beaverton Police Department is asking anyone with information on Jubane’s death to contact them at 503-526-2280.

“We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the community members who have assisted with the search for Melissa. Our deepest condolences go out to Melissa’s family, friends and co-workers,” police said.

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Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, a Pakistani national living in Canada, was taken into custody on Sept. 4 and “charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO), the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS),” federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Khan wanted to plan the attack around Oct. 7, 2024, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on a music festival in Israel that killed at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

“The defendant is alleged to have planned a terrorist attack in New York City around October 7th of this year with the stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement.

According to the criminal complaint, Khan told undercover law enforcement officers he was planning to target a Jewish center in Brooklyn saying “‘New York is perfect to target Jews because it has the ‘largest Jewish population In America.'”

Khan attempted to cross the U.S.-Canada border where he planned to use automatic and semi-automatic weapons to carry out a “mass shooting,” prosecutors said. The complaint alleges Khan looked for rental properties close to his proposed target in Brooklyn and was planning to pay a human smuggler to help him get into the United States.

Khan was arrested 12 miles from the border with the United States.

During one communication to the undercover officers, Khan said “if we succeed with our plan this would be the largest Attack on US soil since 9/11,” the complaint alleges.

A senior official told NBC New York that Khan had been under 24/7 surveillance and that he did not have any means of carrying out the attack on his own.

If convicted, Khan faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The FBI is continuing its investigation into Khan’s alleged actions. It’s unclear if Khan has a lawyer, the Associated Press reported.

In 2013, Jackson Jr. pleaded guilty to conspiring with his then-wife, Sandi Jackson, to illegally use $750,000 in campaign funds for personal purposes. He was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and served about half of that term behind bars before being released to a halfway house in March 2015 to finish the sentence.

“We worked with him on a regular basis. His concern and care for his constituents’ needs were always present,” the mayors of South Chicago suburbs wrote. “Like you, we also make decisions that affect people in their everyday life. Oftentimes we must reflect upon ‘never judging a man based on his worst day.’ We believe that Congressman Jackson has better days ahead.”

The push for a pardon comes the day after Biden’s son, Hunter, pleaded guilty to federal tax charges. Earlier this year, the younger Biden was convicted on three counts related to his illegal purchase of a handgun. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday that the president remains committed to his promise not to pardon his son.

The White House declined to comment on the mayors’ request that Biden pardon Jackson Jr.

This is not the first time elected officials have appealed to Biden on Jackson Jr.’s behalf. Several members of Congress — including Jackson Jr.’s successor, Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill. — have encouraged the president in recent years to use his pardon power to help the former lawmaker. So has Jackson Jr.’s father.

The 82-year-old Reverend Jesse Jackson, who is battling Parkinson’s Disease, appeared on stage in a wheelchair at the Democratic convention Aug. 19. Surrounded by fellow civil rights leaders, he received a long standing ovation.

Biden issued blanket pardons for certain marijuana offenses in 2022 and 2023, moves that together affected thousands of people who were convicted on drug-related charges. Outside of that, he has been sparing in his use of the constitutional power to grant pardons.

The Justice Department lists 25 people who were pardoned by Biden since he took office in January 2021. Donald Trump pardoned more than 140 people, including former members of Congress, political allies and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law. Presidents often issue bursts of pardons in their final days in office, and most of Trump’s were granted between his November 2020 defeat and his departure from the White House a little more than two months later.

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Chad Richards made an initial appearance Friday via video in Walworth County Court.

Kara Welsh, 21, suffered multiple gunshot wounds following an altercation Aug. 30, according to a criminal complaint.

She was found in a pool of blood after Richards called 911. He told investigators the two were arguing when he said Welsh grabbed his gun from a nightstand. Richards said he wrestled the gun away and shot Welsh because he “feared for his life,” the complaint continued.

Police found a handgun and shell casings on the apartment floor. Richards later was arrested. He told investigators that Welsh was his girlfriend.

The Associated Press left a message Friday afternoon seeking comment from Richards’ attorney, Gibson Hatch.

Richards was being held on a $1 million bond. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 28.

Richards, of Loves Park, Illinois, was listed on the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater 2021-22 wrestling team roster.

Welsh, who was from Plainfield, Illinois, was majoring in management in the school’s College of Business and Economics. She was a member of the Warhawk gymnastics team and last year took the individual national title on vault at the NCAA Division III championships.

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater campus is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Milwaukee.

A child was found with cocaine and meth in their system at a motel in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, police said.

The police department said they were notified of a Department of Children and Families (DCF) investigation at Bradley Inn on Ella Grasso Turnpike Thursday.

Authorities said they removed a child from a motel room and later discovered that there were drugs in the child’s system, including cocaine and methamphetamine.

Windsor Locks police obtained a search warrant for the motel room and found what appeared to be narcotics and fentanyl inside.

“Suspected narcotics and fentanyl were found in the room – all of which have to be tested as fentanyl is deadly and potentially fatal, this best handled in a controlled laboratory,” the police department said on Facebook.

A building inspector responded to the scene and said the room was in deplorable condition, according to police.

It’s unclear if any arrests have been made in connection to this incident.

Three people were arrested on drug charges after authorities conducted an undercover operation at Bradley Inn on Thursday.

In a separate incident on Aug. 31, police arrested a man and woman for allegedly robbing a person with a machete.

The police department said they also made numerous arrests at the motel about a year ago.

“Unfortunately, this location has persisted in maintaining a high level of criminal activity and calls for service to the WLPD,” the police department said in a statement.

The investigation remains ongoing.

A Lancaster County judge sentenced Zachary Scheich last week after he pleaded no contest in July to first-degree sexual assault, attempted first-degree sexual assault, generation of child pornography — age 19 or over — and child enticement with electronic communication, according to a sentencing order and plea agreement.

Scheich’s sentence runs a maximum of 120 years in prison, according to the order. He won’t be eligible for parole for 40 years, according to NBC affiliate KOLN of Lincoln.

During his sentencing hearing, Lancaster County Deputy County Attorney Amber Scholte said Scheich “targeted, groomed and lured” students via social media while pretending to be their peer or boyfriend, the station reported.

The public defender’s office that represented Scheich did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.

Scheich identified himself as “Zak Hess,” 17, and attended two high schools in Lincoln — Northwest High School and Southeast High School — for 54 days in the 2022-23 school year, officials previously said.

He was admitted to the schools using fake documents, including a birth certificate, immunization records, a transcript and medical records, the officials said.

A spokesperson for the district where Scheich attended high school also did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Authorities began investigating Scheich in June 2023 after a concerned parent contacted the school district. Police announced his arrest in July.

Charging documents show the crimes he pleaded guilty to mostly occurred in 2022 and 2023. Several victims were under the age of 16, the documents show. Another was 13 or older.

One of the sexual assault charges was from 2019 and involved two people whose ages are not included in the documents.

In September, authorities accused a 23-year-old woman of criminal impersonation after she allegedly posed as Scheich’s mother and helped him get enrolled in the schools, according to KOLN. She pleaded not guilty and the case is ongoing.

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• Body found amid Kentucky manhunt near site of highway mass shooting
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A Lancaster County judge sentenced Zachary Scheich last week after he pleaded no contest in July to first-degree sexual assault, attempted first-degree sexual assault, generation of child pornography — age 19 or over — and child enticement with electronic communication, according to a sentencing order and plea agreement.

Scheich’s sentence runs a maximum of 120 years in prison, according to the order. He won’t be eligible for parole for 40 years, according to NBC affiliate KOLN of Lincoln.

During his sentencing hearing, Lancaster County Deputy County Attorney Amber Scholte said Scheich “targeted, groomed and lured” students via social media while pretending to be their peer or boyfriend, the station reported.

The public defender’s office that represented Scheich did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.

Scheich identified himself as “Zak Hess,” 17, and attended two high schools in Lincoln — Northwest High School and Southeast High School — for 54 days in the 2022-23 school year, officials previously said.

He was admitted to the schools using fake documents, including a birth certificate, immunization records, a transcript and medical records, the officials said.

A spokesperson for the district where Scheich attended high school also did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Authorities began investigating Scheich in June 2023 after a concerned parent contacted the school district. Police announced his arrest in July.

Charging documents show the crimes he pleaded guilty to mostly occurred in 2022 and 2023. Several victims were under the age of 16, the documents show. Another was 13 or older.

One of the sexual assault charges was from 2019 and involved two people whose ages are not included in the documents.

In September, authorities accused a 23-year-old woman of criminal impersonation after she allegedly posed as Scheich’s mother and helped him get enrolled in the schools, according to KOLN. She pleaded not guilty and the case is ongoing.

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Speaking in a calm and clear voice, Gisèle Pélicot detailed to the court in the southern French city of Avignon the horror of discovering that her former spouse systematically filmed the suspected rapes by dozens of men — storing thousands of images that police investigators later found.

“It’s unbearable,” she testified. “I have so much to say that I don’t always know where to start.”

Dominique Pélicot, now 71, and 50 other men are standing trial on charges of rape and face up to 20 years in prison. The trial started on Monday and is expected to run until December. Thursday marked the first time that Gisèle Pélicot had testified.

The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify victims of sexual crimes. But Gisèle Pélicot’s lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, said she accepted that her name be published in the same way that she insisted that the trial be held in public.

She told the court that she hopes her testimony might help spare other women from similar ordeals. She said she pushed for the trial in open court in solidarity with other women who go unrecognized as victims of sexual crimes.

She and her husband of 50 years were living in their family home in a small town in Provence with their three children before her world was torn apart in late 2020.

“I thought we were a close couple,” she told the court.

But a security agent caught her husband taking photos of women’s crotches in a supermarket, leading investigators to search Dominique Pélicot’s phone and computer. They found thousands of photographs and videos of men appearing to rape Gisèle in their home while she appears to be unconscious.

Shocked, she left her husband after police showed her some of the images.

“For me, everything collapses,” she testified. “These are scenes of barbarity, of rape.”

She left with two suitcases, “all that was left for me of 50 years of life together.” Since then, she said, “I no longer have an identity. … I don’t know if I’ll ever rebuild myself.

Police investigators found communications Dominique Pélicot allegedly sent on a messaging website commonly used by criminals, in which he invited men to sexually abuse his wife. The website has been shut down.

Crude details of the alleged abuses, which investigators said began in 2011, and of the elaborate system Pélicot put into place over 10 years have emerged during the trial.

Men invited to the couple’s home had to follow certain rules — they could not talk loudly, had to remove their clothes in the kitchen, could not wear perfume nor smell of tobacco, French media reported.

They sometimes had to wait up to an hour and a half on a nearby parking lot for the drug to take full effect and render Gisèle Pélicot unconscious.

“I was sacrificed on the altar of vice,” she testified. “They regarded me like a rag doll, like a garbage bag.”

Because Dominique Pélicot videotaped the alleged rapes, police were able to track down — over a period of two years — a majority of the 72 suspects they were seeking.

Besides Pélicot, 50 other men, aged 22 to 70, are standing trial. Several defendants are denying some of the accusations against them, alleging they were manipulated by Pélicot.

Over the next few months, the defendants will appear in small groups before a panel of five judges, with Pélicot scheduled to speak next week. Psychologists, psychiatrists and computer experts will also testify.

An indictment filed Wednesday alleges a media company linked to six conservative influencers — including well-known personalities Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson — was secretly funded by Russian state media employees to churn out English-language videos that were “often consistent” with the Kremlin’s “interest in amplifying U.S. domestic divisions in order to weaken U.S. opposition” to Russian interests, like its war in Ukraine.

In addition to marking the third straight presidential election in which U.S. authorities have unveiled politically charged details about Russia’s attempted interference in U.S. politics, an indictment indicates how Moscow may be attempting to capitalize on the skyrocketing popularity of right-wing podcasters, livestreamers and other content creators who have found successful careers on social media in the years since Trump was in office.

The U.S. Justice Department doesn’t allege any wrongdoing by the influencers, some of whom it says were given false information about the source of the company’s funding. Instead, it accuses two employees of RT, a Russian state media company, of funneling nearly $10 million to a Tennessee-based content creation company for Russia-friendly content.

After the indictments were announced, both Pool and Johnson issued statements on social media, which Rubin retweeted, saying they were victims of the alleged crimes and had done nothing wrong.

“We still do not know what is true as these are only allegations,” Pool said. “Putin is a scumbag.”

In his post, Johnson wrote that he had been asked a year ago to provide content to a “media startup.” He said his lawyers negotiated a “standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated.”

Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. They are at large, and it was not immediately clear if they had lawyers.

U.S. officials have previously warned of Russia’s use of unwitting Americans to further influence operations in the 2024 election, but Wednesday’s indictment is the most detailed description of those efforts to date. Intelligence officials have said Moscow has a preference for Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations to help Trump in the 2020 election, while his 2016 campaign benefited from hacking by Russian intelligence officers and a covert social media effort, according to U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials.

With the decline of traditional media like newspapers and limits on direct advertising on social media platforms, influencers are increasingly playing a key role in politics and shaping public opinion. Both the Republican and Democratic parties invited scores of influencers to their respective national conventions this summer. But with little to no disclosure requirements about who is funding influencers’ work, the public is largely in the dark about who is powering the messaging online.

Though the indictment does not name the Tennessee-based company, the details match up exactly with Tenet Media, an online media company that boasts of hosting “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues.” Tenet’s website lists six influencers who provide content, including Pool, Johnson, Rubin, Lauren Southern, Tayler Hansen and Matt Christiansen.

Tenet Media’s six main influencers have more than 7 million subscribers on YouTube and more than 7 million followers on X.

Fueled by public outrage and online fandom, the influencers who make up the bench of talent at Tenet Media have amassed millions of loyal followers who agree with their staunch conservatism and brazen willingness to voice controversial opinions. Their channels also have created communities for conservative Americans who have lost trust in mainstream media sources through Trump’s 2020 loss and the COVID-19 pandemic. Several of them have faced criticism for spreading political misinformation.

The indictment shows that some of the influencers were paid handsomely for their work. One unidentified influencer’s contract included a $400,000 monthly fee, a $100,000 signing bonus and an additional performance bonus.

Tenet Media’s shows in recent months have featured high-profile conservative guests, including Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake. The nearly 2,000 videos posted by the company have gotten more than 16 million views on YouTube alone, prosecutors said.

Pool, a journalist-turned-YouTuber who first gained public attention for livestreaming the Occupy Wall Street protests, hosted Trump on his podcast earlier this year.

Johnson is an outspoken Trump supporter and internet personality who was fired from BuzzFeed after the company found evidence he’d plagiarized other works.

Rubin was previously part of the liberal news commentary show “The Young Turks” but has since identified as a libertarian. He boasts the largest YouTube following of Tenet’s influencer roster and hosts a show called “The Rubin Report.”

Tenet Media President Liam Donovan is the husband of Lauren Chen, a Canadian influencer who has appeared as a guest in several Tenet Media videos. Chen is affiliated with the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA and has hosted shows for the right-wing network Blaze Media. RT’s website also lists her as a contributor of several opinion articles from 2021 and 2022.

___

Suderman reported from Richmond, Virginia. AP reporter Garance Burke contributed from San Francisco and researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York.

___

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Judge Michael S. Sharrit granted a motion to dismiss and wrote in his order Tuesday that the case does not meet “exceptional” criteria required for the women to have anonymity. The women used pseudonyms “Jane Doe I” and “Jane Doe II” in the lawsuit.

“Fairness requires Plaintiffs be prepared to stand behind their charges publicly in the same way Defendant McManus must openly refute them,” Sharrit wrote.

The women have 10 days to file an amended complaint using their legal names, which their attorney said they would do.

“Most defendants in sexual assault cases file these types of motions thinking that the victims won’t proceed if they have to publicly reveal their names,” attorney Tony Buzbee said in a statement. “We anticipated this ruling. To be clear, these women have no intention of running and hiding and will comply with the court’s order in a timely fashion. We look forward to continuing to pursue this important case.”

McManus’ attorney, Brett Gallaway, called the allegations “baseless.”

“We look forward to him returning to the NFL playing field as soon as possible,” Gallaway said.

The Washington Commanders released McManus days after the lawsuit was filed in May.

The women were working as flight attendants on Jacksonville’s charter flight to London last September and accused McManus of trying to kiss one of them and grinding and rubbing up against both of them while they were trying to work. They are seeking in excess of $1 million in damages.

The suit claimed the trip “quickly turned into a party” as McManus and other players disregarded the flight attendants’ personal space, air travel safety and federal law. The women said McManus passed out $100 bills to encouraged them and other flight attendants to drink and dance inappropriately.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

A New York grand jury has been convened to weigh whether to bring new charges against the disgraced former movie mogul, a source with knowledge of the proceedings told NBC News, adding that a decision could be announced as early as Friday.

Weinstein’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, said Wednesday in a statement: “We will be prepared for whatever comes our way, they are going to do whatever they can to make sure Harvey doesn’t see the light of day.”

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment in an email to NBC News.

Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction was overturned in April by the New York Court of Appeals, which said in a 4-3 decision that Weinstein’s trial judge should not have allowed certain witnesses to testify because their allegations were not part of the charges filed against him.

The DA announced in July that it was going to retry Weinstein on the original charges from the 2020 trial but that it planned to interview other alleged victims.

A few weeks later, Judge Curtis Farber set a trial date for Nov. 12, and a source with knowledge of the case said any potential new charges likely would be folded into one trial.

Weinstein, who was originally sentenced to 23 years in prison for forcibly performing oral sex on a former TV and film production assistant in 2006 and rape in the third degree for an attack on another woman in 2013, is serving time at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York for a 2022 conviction in a separate rape case in Los Angeles.

Weinstein’s legal team is appealing that conviction and its sentence of 16 years in prison.

In all, more than 80 women have accused the Oscar-winning producer of sexual assault or harassment. The allegations, first reported by The New York Times and The New Yorker, set off the #MeToo movement, in which powerful Hollywood men were called out for alleged abuses of power.

Weinstein has maintained that any sexual encounters were consensual.

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Defense attorneys for Dr. Salvador Plasencia and Jasveen Sangha signed a joint stipulation with federal prosecutors filed Tuesday that proposes to postpone jury trials until March 4, 2025.

Both had initially been set to face trial in October.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles announced charges against Plasencia, Sangha and three others August 15, accusing all 5 of playing a role in providing ketamine in the months and weeks leading up to Perry’s death last October from an accidental ketamine overdose.

Plascenia was indicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of altering and falsifying documents or records related to the federal investigation.

Sangha faces one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine, and five counts of distribution of ketamine.

Both have pleaded not guilty.

The request to delay the trial cited the voluminous amount of evidence that could be introduced at trial, including, “materials relating to the execution of federal search warrants, additional laboratory analysis of drugs, victim information, interview reports and recordings, expert reports, cellphone extractions and related reports, among other materials.”

Sangha was originally indicted in April then faced additional charges when a superseding indictment was unsealed in August that also named Plasencia.

Three others have agreed to plead guilty to related charges, including Perry’s long time live-in personal assistant Kenneth Iwamasa, Perry’s friend Erik Fleming, and Dr. Mark Chavez, a physician in San Diego accused of supplying ketamine to Dr. Plasencia.

Chavez made an initial appearance in court last week and is expected to enter a guilty plea in the coming weeks.

Perry was 54 when he was found unresponsive in the swimming pool at his home in the Pacific Palisades area and was pronounced dead by paramedics.

The LA County Medical Examiner concluded Perry’s death on Oct. 28, 2023 was the result of the acute effects of the drug ketamine and listed contributing factors of drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, a drug used to treat opioid use disorder.

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Detectives responded to the scene, and crime tape was seen up along a stretch of the road as evidence was collected. A foot or a shoe appeared to be hanging out of the luggage.

“I came over and I got out of the car and I approached it and I said ‘Oh my God it stinks here,’ and the flies. And I said, we need to call the police,” said Chris Smocer, whose daughter first noticed the black suitcase with a foul odor during a morning walk.

The person has not yet been identified. Police have not shared how they believe the victim was killed. The county medical examiner will determine a cause of death.

Further information was not immediately available. An investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information regarding the body is asked to contact Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives at (631) 852-6392 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.

Joe Cornelius Sr., 82, and Keisha Miles, 31, were found dead Sunday morning after officers were dispatched to the former official’s home in Minden, a city of nearly 12,000 east of Shreveport, the city’s police chief said.

Police Chief Jared McIver identified the boy as a relative of Cornelius’ but declined to provide additional details and said authorities have not determined a possible motive.

“Our city is in shock,” McIver said. “How does [someone this young] commit something so malicious?”

The boy is being held on two counts of first-degree murder, McIver said. He said it was unclear whether the child has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

The bodies of Cornelius and Miles were found with multiple gunshot wounds, said McIver, who said that two handguns were used and that their magazines were emptied.

A 6-year-old child who was at the home at the time of the shooting was not injured, McIver said.

The older boy initially provided a different account of the deaths but by Sunday afternoon had confessed to the shooting, McIver said. 

His grandmother was with him at the time of the confession, McIver said.

Cornelius was a well-known community activist, City Council member and deputy ward marshal for the Webster Parish Sheriff’s Office, NBC affiliate KTAL of Shreveport reported.

In 2013, while on the City Council, Cornelius was appointed interim mayor after the mayor died in office, the station reported.

In a statement Sunday, Minden Mayor Nick Cox said he was grateful for Cornelius’ friendship and “the many ways he supported me and others in our city.”

“Joe Cornelius’s years of service to Minden were marked by his commitment and dedication to the betterment of our community,” Cox said, adding: “Let us come together as a community to honor Joe’s memory and support one another through this time of grief.”

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Criminal justice experts say the two cases appear to involve investigative missteps that highlight the need to scrap the Massachusetts model of investigating high-profile crimes.

“Understatement of the century but Massachusetts has a serious problem with murder investigations involving police suspects, witnesses, and leads,” criminal justice journalist Susan Zalkind posted on X on Wednesday. “Poor Sandra Birchmore. Beyond depraved.”

Federal prosecutors allege former detective Matthew Farwell groomed Birchmore, 23, and began sexually abusing her as a teen, when he worked with the Stoughton Police Explorers Academy, a youth program she was in. He was arrested Wednesday, with prosecutors alleging he killed Birchmore, who had told him she was pregnant with his child, and attempted to stage the scene as a suicide so that the sexual abuse allegations would stay hidden. 

Farwell has pleaded not guilty. 

Birchmore was killed in Canton, the same Norfolk County town where Boston police officer John O’Keefe, 46, was found dead on Jan. 29, 2022. His girlfriend, Read, was tried in his death. A jury failed to reach a verdict after her legal team argued that Read had been framed by other law enforcement officers attempting to cover up O’Keefe’s death. She will be retried next year on the charges. 

Federal investigators have been involved in both cases, but officials have not announced any links between the two. However, at the heart of both: allegations of botched investigations and law enforcement misconduct. 

‘Incompetence or corruption?’

“Given these two cases, I would say it’s not just in Norfolk County, but certainly throughout Massachusetts. The question that arises is, is it incompetence or corruption, or both?” said Tom Nolan, a former Boston police lieutenant and criminal justice professor. 

In Massachusetts, detectives with the state police are assigned to district attorneys’ offices, which can lead to the bungling of cases, Nolan said. 

An alternative, he said, is the model used in other states, including Florida and Georgia, where there is an independent investigative agency to oversee the cases, rather than relying on an agency that enforces laws on highways. 

“We saw on full display for several weeks during the Karen Read trial, the bumbling incompetence of the Massachusetts State Police, who were assigned to the Norfolk DA’s Office. Her defense counsel just basically eviscerated the State Police troopers who were testifying as witnesses and experts, — ‘expert witnesses.’ Their credibility was completely undermined,” Nolan said.

State police did not respond to requests for comment.

Hours after a mistrial was declared in Read’s trial, the top official at Massachusetts State Police said the lead detective in the case had been relieved of duty after allegations of “serious misconduct” were raised in court.

After the agency launched an internal affairs investigation into the allegations, the detective was suspended without pay last month.

Zalkind, who wrote “Waltham Murders: One Woman’s Pursuit to Expose the Truth Behind a Murder and a National Tragedy,” which focuses on a Massachusetts triple-slaying and the Boston Marathon bombing, told NBC News that without an independent investigative agency and proper checks and balances, prosecutors and police can get too cozy and politics can come into play.  

“When you imbue that culture to the good old boys’ club, to homicide cases, there are serious issues,” she said. “Our homicide investigations are politicized. The DAs in the state, all except for one are Democrats. Our AGs are Democrats. … Our government is Democrat. So there is a lack of incentive to do a vigorous follow-up.”

No matter what the legal outcomes in the Read and Birchmore cases, public trust has been compromised, said Zalkind. 

A staged suicide

In announcing the charge Wednesday more than three years after Birchmore’s death, acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy called the arrest of Farwell, a police officer who swore to protect the public, “disheartening.”

Farwell is charged federally with one count of killing a witness or victim.

“Giving voice to the voiceless, ensuring that no one is above the law, protecting the vulnerable people of Massachusetts, that’s the highest calling of people in law enforcement,” Levy said. “Mr. Farwell violated those principles, and now he faces very grave consequences.”

Farwell’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

State police initially handled the investigation into Birchmore’s death. Nolan said it’s “strikingly unusual” that the case was taken over by federal authorities because homicides are usually prosecuted as state crimes.

Federal authorities did not elaborate on why they took the case, except to say investigators had received new evidence that made the indictment and arrest possible.

David Traub, a spokesperson for the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, said the office has long been working with other law enforcement to secure an arrest.

“This office has been collaborating with both the Massachusetts attorney general and the FBI for months on investigations into the Birchmore matter. Two of our detectives were present at the command post … while federal authorities were attempting to take Matthew Farwell into custody,” Traub said.

“Much of the information that they [federal authorities] built on originated with our investigation, including the collection of thousands of text messages, and then going through those text messages to see what criminal conduct might be substantiated from their contents,” he said.

Prosecutors allege that Farwell killed Birchmore on Feb. 1, 2021, in her apartment, when he could no longer control her and as word began to get out that he had been having sex with her for years. Authorities initially ruled Birchmore’s death a suicide.

Prosecutors contend that after Farwell strangled Birchmore, he repositioned her body and staged her apartment to look as if she had died by suicide.

The medical examiner determined Birchmore’s death was a result of “asphyxia by hanging” and she was eight to 10 weeks pregnant when she died, according to an affidavit in support of the motion to detain Farwell.

The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which made that finding, did not respond to a request for comment Friday. A spokesperson for the agency told WFXT-TV of Boston that the office was aware of Farwell’s indictment and had cooperated with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

An expert retained by federal prosecutors, Dr. William Smock, concluded the death was a homicide, arguing that some of Birchmore’s injuries are more common in cases of strangulation than hangings, like abrasions on Birchmore’s nose, the affidavit said.

Farwell’s arrest came nearly two years after Stoughton’s police chief announced that Farwell and two other former officers at the agency had inappropriate relationships with Birchmore. That conclusion came from a lengthy internal affairs investigation prompted by Birchmore’s death, said Chief Donna McNamara, who called the former officers’ behavior “deeply disturbing.”

The chief said all three men resigned before they could be interviewed. The department recommended that their certifications as police officers be permanently revoked so they cannot serve in law enforcement anywhere in the country, McNamara said.

Lawyers for the other former officer did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the status of their decertifications.

Questions in Read investigation 

After a nine-week murder trial that captured national attention, a judge declared a mistrial for Read on July 1. 

Prosecutors have said the relationship between Read and O’Keefe was deteriorating when she plowed into him with her SUV. She was charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence, and leaving the scene of a collision causing death.

She has maintained her innocence and is set to face another trial early next year. An attorney for Read did not respond to a request for comment Friday. 

The Norfolk District Attorney’s spokesperson said prosecutors are preparing for Read’s upcoming trial, and that the only appropriate forum for determining her innocence or guilt is a courtroom. 

No federal charges have been filed in the case. 

During the original trial, Read’s lawyers said she watched her boyfriend enter the Canton, Massachusetts, home of a now-retired Boston police sergeant for a party after a night out with other current and former law enforcement officers. Hours later, the defense team said at trial, she discovered O’Keefe had never come home and raced back to the house, where she found his body.

Read’s lawyers have alleged that O’Keefe was most likely beaten inside the home and left outside in the snow.

The defense has blamed authorities for failing to carry out a “real” investigation and instead focusing on Read. 

They have alleged the lead investigator in the case, Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, was one of the chief reasons the investigation was biased. They say he manipulated evidence and made derogatory comments about Read.

Proctor has denied the allegations and said his comments were unprofessional and regrettable but they didn’t compromise the case.

Proctor has not responded to requests for comment. 

Tim Stelloh contributed.

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:

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Judge Sam Ohta said he carefully evaluated a variety of issues raised by the defense, held more than a year of pretrial hearings and considered higher court opinions on matters related to police uses of force before reaching the conclusion that the grand jury indictment brought against Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez was lawful and valid.

“For the foregoing reasons, the motions are denied,” Ohta said, after reading his 36-page decision into the court record.

Ohta invited the defense attorneys to appeal the decision, and attorneys for both indicated they planned to appeal immediately.

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Mitchell’s mother Sherlyn was in court to hear the decision, along with a number of supporters and members of Black Lives Matter, who’ve spotlighted the case as an example of injustice for years.

“The fact that in this case, it was clear that they did so many things wrong leading up to it, which was ultimately what led to them killing Christopher Deandre Mitchell, it’s incredibly important that we have cases like this that move forward,” Sheila Bates, an organizer with Black Lives Matter, said outside court following Friday’s hearing.

Concannon and former officer Chavez were indicted by a grand jury in March 2023.

The case was presented by LA County District Attorney’s Office special prosecutor Lawrence Middleton, who was hired by DA George Gascón to re-examine several police shooting cases that former DA Jackie Lacey had ruled lawful, including Mitchell’s death.

The officers shot Mitchell, who was seated in the driver’s seat of a suspected stolen car, had what appeared to be a gun on the floor of the car between his legs. The gun was an air rifle.

“Christopher was the best part of me. He was my everything,” his mother, Sherlyn Haynes, told the I-Team in 2019 when she said she hoped the officers would face criminal charges.

The DA’s office under Lacey concluded in 2019 that the shooting was lawful and wrote in a case-closing memo “although the weapon was later determined to be an air rifle, the officers’ belief that the weapon was a firearm was reasonable under the circumstances.”

Mitchell’s shooting was one of four cases specifically listed by Gascón for potential re-examination while he was campaigning for office, and Gascón wrote in a campaign statement that he was troubled by the fact neither officer reported seeing a weapon before the shooting began, and one officer switched off his flashlight before firing into the car.

“These facts raise multiple questions as to the objective reasonableness of their perceptions of an imminent threat and their corresponding decision to use deadly force,” he wrote.

Middleton, a defense attorney and former federal prosecutor known for convicting the LAPD officers responsible for the Rodney King beating, said he was unable to comment on the judge’s decision or the significance of the ruling.

The Mitchell case is the only prosecution Middleton has initiated since he was appointed as a special prosecutor by Gascón in 2021.

In their motions to dismiss the defense lawyers focused, in part, on Middleton’s introduction of the concept of “officer created jeopardy” in his presentation of evidence to the grand jury, or the idea that the officers’ pre-shooting conduct could weigh on the lawfulness of the use of deadly force.

The grand jury was presented with information that the officers rushed to confront Mitchell, rather than requesting assistance, failed to activate red and blue lights or spotlights, switched off a flashlight just before shooting, and that neither officer called out that they’d seen a gun before firing, according to the judge’s decision.

Concannon and Chavez argued that was improper, because the change in California law governing the use of lethal force that allowed the consideration of events prior to the shooting itself, didn’t go into effect until 2020, more than a year after Mitchell was killed.

Middleton referenced officer created jeopardy 4 times in his presentation to the grand jury, and called an expert witness to testify about it, according to Ohta’s ruling, which found the discussion of ‘OCJ’ did not invalidate the grand jury’s decision to indict.

The next pretrial hearing was set for October 3.

Chavez, 54, of San Diego is the third of five defendants in the case to sign a plea deal with prosecutors. He made an initial appearance in Los Angeles federal court Friday but did not enter a plea.

At the hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jean Rosenbluth ordered him released on $50,000 bond. She also ordered Chavez, a physician who earlier this week at a separate administrative hearing agreed to surrender his California medical license, not to practice medicine.

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The federal judge overseeing the case will schedule a change-of-plea hearing in the near future, at which time Chavez is expected to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine.

Charges against the five defendants, including a live-in assistant, two doctors and a woman known as the “Ketamine Queen,” were announced Aug. 15 by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles. U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said the suspects are part of a “broad underground criminal network” that supplied ketamine to Perry and others, and “took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves.”

The defendants charged in connection with Perry’s death are:

• Jasveen Sangha, 41, a.k.a. the “Ketamine Queen,” of North Hollywood
• Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 42, a.k.a. “Dr. P,” of Santa Monica
• Erik Fleming, 54, of Hawthorne, who pleaded guilty Aug. 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death, admitting that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry, prosecutors said
• Kenneth Iwamasa, 59, of Toluca Lake, Perry’s live-in assistant, who pleaded guilty to a felony count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death, and is scheduled for sentencing on Nov. 6. Prosecutors say he conspired with Sangha, Fleming and Plasencia to illegally obtain ketamine and distribute it to Perry
• Chavez, who admitted in his plea agreement to selling ketamine to Plasencia, including ketamine that he had diverted from his former ketamine clinic. Prosecutors said Chavez also obtained additional ketamine to transfer to Plasencia by lying to a wholesale ketamine distributor and by submitting a phony prescription in the name of a former patient without that patient’s knowledge or consent.

Sangha and Plasencia are charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. Sangha also is charged with one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine, and five counts of distribution of ketamine.

The indictment alleges that Sangha’s distribution of ketamine caused Perry’s death. Plasencia is charged with seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of altering and falsifying documents or records related to the federal investigation.

Plasencia and Sangha both pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Sangha was ordered to remain jailed without bond. Plasencia’s bond was set at $100,000, and he was expected to be released. Both were given preliminary trial dates in October, although the case is unlikely to move to trial that quickly. Plasencia was set for trial Oct. 8, and Sangha Oct. 15.

A status conference in the case against Sangha and Plasencia is scheduled for Sept. 4 before U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett in downtown Los Angeles.

“These defendants cared more about profiting off of Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being,” Estrada said. “Drug dealers selling dangerous substances are gambling with other people’s lives over greed.”

Local and federal authorities confirmed in May that they were investigating how Perry obtained the prescription drug ketamine, which contributed to his Oct. 28 death at age 54.

The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner determined the cause of death was “the acute effects of ketamine.”

“Contributing factors in Mr. Perry’s death include drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of buprenorphine, used to treat opioid use disorder. The manner of death is accident,” the medical examiner’s office said in a statement.

Ketamine is approved by the DEA for use as an anesthetic. A nasal spray version is used to treat depression in a clinical setting, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said.

According to the court papers, in late September, Plasencia learned that Perry, a successful actor whose history of drug addiction was well documented, was interested in obtaining ketamine. The use of ketamine requires a health care professional to monitor a patient who had been given the drug.

After learning of Perry’s interest in ketamine, Plasencia contacted Chavez — who previously operated a ketamine clinic — to obtain ketamine to sell to Perry, prosecutors allege.

In text messages to Chavez, Plasencia allegedly discussed how much to charge Perry for the ketamine, stating, “I wonder how much this moron will pay.”

Prosecutors said Perry was paying $2,000 per vial of ketamine, while his dealers were paying $12 for each vial.

Perry’s 2022 best-selling memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” discusses his years-long struggle with addiction. The “Friends” star, who played the character Chandler Bing in the series, says he went through detox dozens of times.

Last fall, Perry fell back into addiction, “and the defendants took advantage to profit for themselves,” Estrada said during a news conference in downtown Los Angeles when the charges were announced.

When doctors refused to increase his ketamine dosage, Perry turned to unscrupulous doctors, according to Milgram.

“Instead of do no harm, they did harm so that they could make more money,” she added.

Prosecutors contend that last September and October, Plasencia distributed ketamine to Perry and Iwamasa without a legitimate medical purpose on at least seven occasions. He taught Iwamasa how to inject Perry with ketamine, selling the drug to Iwamasa to administer to the actor, including once inside a car parked in a Long Beach parking lot, prosecutors allege.

Plasencia knew Iwamasa had never received medical training and knew little, if anything, about administering or treating patients with controlled substances, court papers allege.

Beginning in mid-October, Iwamasa also allegedly began obtaining ketamine for Perry from Fleming and Sangha. After discussing prices with Iwamasa, Fleming coordinated drug sales with Sangha, and brought cash from Iwamasa to Sangha’s stash house in North Hollywood to buy vials of ketamine. Sangha has distributed ketamine and other illegal drugs from her stash house in North Hollywood since at least 2019, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Sangha was aware of the danger of ketamine: In August 2019, Sangha allegedly sold the anesthetic to victim Cody McLaury in the hours before his death. The indictment alleges that Sangha nonetheless continued to sell ketamine from her house.

After Perry’s death was reported in the news, Sangha texted Fleming, “Delete all our messages,” court papers show.

After the actor’s death, federal agents and detectives with the LAPD executed search warrants at Sangha’s home, where they found evidence of drug trafficking, including about 79 vials of ketamine, roughly 3.1 pounds of orange pills containing methamphetamine, psilocybin mushrooms, cocaine, and prescription drugs that appeared to be fraudulently obtained, according to prosecutors.

If convicted of all charges, Sangha would face a sentence between 10 years and life imprisonment. Plasencia would face up to 10 years in federal prison for each ketamine-related count and up to 20 years in federal prison for each records falsification count, prosecutors said.

Iwamasa and Fleming will face up to 15 years and 25 years, respectively, when they are sentenced in their federal cases.

At sentencing, Chavez will face up to 10 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Dominic Choi said his department “is committed to investigating all cases like this,” regardless of a victim’s fame or economic status.

Following news of the arrests, Perry’s stepfather — “Dateline” correspondent Keith Morrison — issued a statement on behalf of the family saying, “We were and still are heartbroken by Matthew’s death, but it has helped to know law enforcement has taken his case very seriously. We look forward to justice taking its course.”

A Lancaster County judge sentenced Zachary Scheich last week after he pleaded no contest in July to first-degree sexual assault, attempted first-degree sexual assault, generation of child pornography — age 19 or over — and child enticement with electronic communication, according to a sentencing order and plea agreement.

Scheich’s sentence runs a maximum of 120 years in prison, according to the order. He won’t be eligible for parole for 40 years, according to NBC affiliate KOLN of Lincoln.

During his sentencing hearing, Lancaster County Deputy County Attorney Amber Scholte said Scheich “targeted, groomed and lured” students via social media while pretending to be their peer or boyfriend, the station reported.

The public defender’s office that represented Scheich did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.

Scheich identified himself as “Zak Hess,” 17, and attended two high schools in Lincoln — Northwest High School and Southeast High School — for 54 days in the 2022-23 school year, officials previously said.

He was admitted to the schools using fake documents, including a birth certificate, immunization records, a transcript and medical records, the officials said.

A spokesperson for the district where Scheich attended high school also did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Authorities began investigating Scheich in June 2023 after a concerned parent contacted the school district. Police announced his arrest in July.

Charging documents show the crimes he pleaded guilty to mostly occurred in 2022 and 2023. Several victims were under the age of 16, the documents show. Another was 13 or older.

One of the sexual assault charges was from 2019 and involved two people whose ages are not included in the documents.

In September, authorities accused a 23-year-old woman of criminal impersonation after she allegedly posed as Scheich’s mother and helped him get enrolled in the schools, according to KOLN. She pleaded not guilty and the case is ongoing.

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Joseph Beecher, 51, faces seven years to life in prison after he was convicted Wednesday in Cheyenne on kidnapping, carjacking and firearm charges. The trial lasted two days and the jury deliberated for an hour and a half.

The kidnapped woman, a housekeeper at the western Colorado ranch, was rescued unharmed on the morning after the kidnapping. Authorities found her and Beecher in a motel room in Cheyenne, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) northeast of the Bloomberg property.

The kidnapping happened in February 2022, after Beecher was dismissed as a hotel handyman in Craig, Colorado. He worked there in exchange for housing and was told to leave, according to court documents.

Beecher went looking for Bloomberg and his family, and rammed his pickup truck through the gate of the former New York City mayor’s ranch about 70 miles (113 kilometers) from Craig, according to court documents.

Bloomberg had bought the ranch in 2020 for $44.8 million. The Bloomberg family was not present at the time of the kidnapping.

The woman, who was abducted at gunpoint, didn’t know Beecher. His motivation for seeking Bloomberg was unclear. But Beecher was “intent on killing Bloomberg,” prosecutors said in a statement Thursday.

The woman, who was not named in federal court documents, was identified as the ranch’s supervising housekeeper. She told investigators she was in an upstairs bedroom when she heard a man ask who she was. She turned and saw Beecher pointing a black “machine gun” at her, she said.

Beecher at the time was a suspect in a burglary earlier in the day in which he stole two rifles, including an AR-15 and ammunition, from his employer’s living quarters at the hotel, according to officials.

He left his truck at Bloomberg’s ranch and ordered the woman to drive them in her husband’s pickup truck to the Denver area and then to Cheyenne, where they stopped and he told her to get a room at the motel, according to court documents.

Investigators traced the woman’s iPad to the motel where they saw the pickup truck and examined surveillance video.

Motel staff told police which room they were in and a SWAT team raided it, freeing the woman and arresting Beecher.

Aram Brunson, 21, of Newton, is also charged with making false statements to federal officials at Logan International Airport after his bags set off alarms for explosives, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Boston.

Prosecutors said Brunson’s bomb-making activities were linked to his desire to take militant action against Azerbaijanis and others who pose a threat to ethnic Armenians living in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Investigators believe Brunson is currently living in Yerevan, Armenia, and attending the American University there. The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a query about whether Brunson has a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

Brunson came to the attention of law enforcement officials in Chicago in January 2023, after allegedly causing an explosion in his room.

Investigators said Brunson was building a large black powder device when he accidentally set it off, burning his room and causing the evacuation of the dormitory. They said Brunson told police he was trying to mimic a prank he saw on the internet.

Brunson also made videos of himself teaching others how to make explosive devices and rig doors and desks with grenades, according to investigators. Brunson’s internet searches suggested he planned to take action against foreign diplomatic facilities in the United States, they said.

As Brunson was leaving Boston to travel to Armenia in August, 2023, his bags set off explosive alarms for an unusual and highly volatile explosive, according to court documents, and Brunson told Customs and Border Protection officials he had no idea how traces of the material wound up on his bags.

During a subsequent search of his Newton home, a recipe for making the explosive was found and a bomb dog detected the substance at three locations in the bedroom, according to investigators.

“While radical political views may be offensive, they are constitutionally protected. However, experimenting with extremely dangerous explosives in support of those views and then engaging in false statements about your conduct is crossing the line,” Acting United States Attorney Joshua Levy said.

Efforts have been made to encourage Brunson to return to the United States to meet with agents, but he has declined through a representative, according to the criminal complaint.

Each of the charges provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.

“Right here, right here,” McCreery says in video from the event, as he points into the crowd and the band stops playing. “That’s a lady you just hit sir. Absolutely not. Who just hit the lady?”

The singer from North Carolina — who gained fame as a teenager appearing on the television show American Idol — called for police and security and asked if the woman was OK.

Concerts Aug 28

Singer Scotty McCreery stops show after seeing man hit woman in the crowd

People could be heard booing and chanting as officials responded during the Saturday concert in Pueblo, Colorado.

McCreery, 30, urged the crowd to let authorities know who was responsible. He said that hitting a woman was the “definition of a coward” and told the alleged assailant to “get the heck out of here” before the show resumed.

The woman was evaluated on-site by paramedics and declined to be taken by ambulance to a hospital, said Olga Robak with the Colorado Agriculture Department.

Potential criminal charges were referred to prosecutors but the man was not arrested, Robak said. The Pueblo County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to questions about the case.

Brianna Kupfer, who was a 24-year-old at the time of her death, was stabbed nearly a dozen times on Jan. 13, 2022 during her shift inside the Croft House furniture store on La Brea Avenue near Beverly Boulevard.

The suspected killer, Shawn Laval Smith, is charged with murdering the UCLA graduate student in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack with nothing taken from the store.

In an opening statement, prosecution argued Smith was on “a hunt to kill a vulnerable woman who was alone and secluded,” saying the suspect had recorded his thoughts on a recorder, expressing his desire to “kill women.”

“Just 18 days before he found and slaughtered Brianna, the defendant recorded himself talking about the most vile, disgusting and grotesque thoughts about women,” Los Angeles County prosecutor Habib Balian said.

Smith listened to the prosecution’s opening statement while wearing a face mask and a striped shirt as his attorney, Robert Haberer, reserved his opening statement until the beginning of the defense’s portion of the case.

Hancock Park Dec 5, 2022

Indictment is Unsealed in Murder of UCLA Grad Student at Hancock Park Furniture Store

Hancock Park Jan 21, 2022

Murder Charge Filed in Killing of UCLA Grad Student at Hancock Park Furniture Store

Smith, who has been behind bars since the alleged murder, had wanted to represent himself in the trial, but Superior Court Judge Mildred Escobedo revoked Smith’s right to act as his own attorney following a contentious hearing in June 2023 in which he directed profanities at the judge during his first appearance before her and abruptly rose from his seat in the downtown Los Angeles.

Smith was allegedly seen on surveillance video walking away from the store through a rear alley. He was also spotted shopping at other stores before and after the killing, police said.

The 34-year-old was arrested in Pasadena at a bus stop at Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Boulevard a few days after Kupfer’s death. A tipster had alerted police after recognizing him from the surveillance video the LAPD had put out in hopes of catching the suspect.

Detectives believe Smith had been homeless at the time of the killing, going from one city to another, including Pasadena, Covina and West Hollywood. 

Todd Kupfer, the slain woman’’s father, had said his daughter had “strength and character and care and love.”

“We’re still in just shock and disbelief and we try to think she’s going to walk around the corner any moment.”

City News Service contributed to this report.

A Lancaster County judge sentenced Zachary Scheich last week after he pleaded no contest in July to first-degree sexual assault, attempted first-degree sexual assault, generation of child pornography — age 19 or over — and child enticement with electronic communication, according to a sentencing order and plea agreement.

Scheich’s sentence runs a maximum of 120 years in prison, according to the order. He won’t be eligible for parole for 40 years, according to NBC affiliate KOLN of Lincoln.

During his sentencing hearing, Lancaster County Deputy County Attorney Amber Scholte said Scheich “targeted, groomed and lured” students via social media while pretending to be their peer or boyfriend, the station reported.

The public defender’s office that represented Scheich did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.

Scheich identified himself as “Zak Hess,” 17, and attended two high schools in Lincoln — Northwest High School and Southeast High School — for 54 days in the 2022-23 school year, officials previously said.

He was admitted to the schools using fake documents, including a birth certificate, immunization records, a transcript and medical records, the officials said.

A spokesperson for the district where Scheich attended high school also did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Authorities began investigating Scheich in June 2023 after a concerned parent contacted the school district. Police announced his arrest in July.

Charging documents show the crimes he pleaded guilty to mostly occurred in 2022 and 2023. Several victims were under the age of 16, the documents show. Another was 13 or older.

One of the sexual assault charges was from 2019 and involved two people whose ages are not included in the documents.

In September, authorities accused a 23-year-old woman of criminal impersonation after she allegedly posed as Scheich’s mother and helped him get enrolled in the schools, according to KOLN. She pleaded not guilty and the case is ongoing.

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In a review brought on by the FBI’s failures to promptly investigate Nassar, the inspector general’s report raises concerns about other cases falling through the cracks as overworked agents handling suspected crimes against children juggle dozens of investigations at a time.

“This report makes clear that the FBI is simply not doing its job when it comes to protecting our children from the monsters among us who stalk them,” said John Manly, a lawyer who represents victims of Nassar. “Despite years of promises and numerous congressional hearings it’s now clear that the Larry Nassar scandal could happen again today.”

In one case, the FBI did not take appropriate investigative action for more than a year after it received an allegation of abuse by a registered sex offender, according to the report. The person was accused of abusing at least one other person over 15 months while the FBI failed to appropriately act, the review found.

In a review of more than 300 cases in 2021 and 2023, the inspector general flagged 42 cases for the FBI that required “immediate attention” because there was no evidence of recent investigative activity or other concerns, according to the report.

The inspector general found no evidence that the FBI followed mandatory reporting requirements to local law enforcement about 50 percent of the time. When the FBI did report an allegation to law enforcement or social service agencies, it followed FBI policy to report it within 24 hours in only 43 percent of the cases, according to the report.

A senior FBI official acknowledged that the bureau has made mistakes in investigating crimes against children but said the “vast majority of work” has been handled appropriately. The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the FBI, said the bureau has put in place policies and processes to continue to improve because “this is a no-fail mission.”

“Ensuring the safety and security of children is not just a priority for the FBI; it is a solemn duty that we are committed to fulfilling with the highest standards. The FBI’s efforts combating crimes against children are among the most critical and demanding undertakings we do,” the FBI said in a statement.

Most of the incidents that the inspector general flagged to the bureau “reflected the failure to properly document completed investigative steps or involved investigations where no additional action was necessary,” an FBI official said in a letter to the inspector general.

Even while acknowledging errors, the FBI official cited the “overwhelming” burden on agents tasked with investigating crimes against children given the conduct involved, an influx in tips flooding in to law enforcement, increased use of encrypted technology to conceal the offenses and budget cuts.

The report cited one agent who was juggling about 60 open investigations involving suspected crimes against children and human trafficking allegations. That agent said the “biggest cause of child sexual abuse cases ‘falling through the cracks’ is high agent workloads,” according to the report.

A inspector general inquiry into the FBI’s handling of sexual abuse allegations against Nassar found that the FBI’s failure to promptly investigate the allegations against him allowed the doctor to continue to prey on victims for months before his 2016 arrest.

The report released in 2021 faulted the FBI for failing to treat Nassar’s case with the “utmost seriousness and urgency,” and then making numerous errors and violating policies when it did finally swing into action. Nassar pleaded guilty in 2017 to sexually assaulting gymnasts and other athletes with his hands under the guise of medical treatment for hip and leg injuries.

The FBI has described the actions of the officials involved in the Nassar investigation as “inexcusable and a discredit” to the organization. In April, the Justice Department announced a $138.7 million settlement with more than 100 people who accused the FBI of grossly mishandling the allegations against Nassar.

Thomasz Szabo, 26, of Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia, targeted roughly 100 people with “swatting” calls to instigate an aggressive response by police officers at the victims’ homes, a federal indictment alleges.

A U.S. Secret Service agent’s affidavit doesn’t name the former U.S. president or any other officials identified as victims of the hoax calls.

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The two defendants are not explicitly charged in the indictment with threatening a former president, but one of the alleged victims is identified as a “former elected official from the executive branch” who was swatted on Jan. 9. 2024. Radovanovic falsely reported a killing and threatened to set off an explosion at that person’s home, the indictment says.

Szabo told Radovanovic that they should pick targets from both the Republican and Democratic parties because “we are not on any side,” the indictment says.

“While some of these calls targeted private citizens chosen seemingly at random, most of the calls targeted public officials, family members of public officials, and other prominent individuals,” the agent wrote.

The calls also included threats to carry out mass shootings at New York City synagogues and to set off explosives at the U.S. Capitol and a university, the indictment said. A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., handed up the indictment last Thursday.

Online court records in Washington didn’t say if Szabo or Radovanovic have been arrested or if they are represented by attorneys. A court filing accompanying their indictment said investigators believed they were in separate foreign countries last week. A spokesperson for Graves’ office declined to elaborate.

Secret Service agents questioned Szabo in Romania in January. He told them that he has been involved in both swatting and bomb threats since late 2020, the affidavit says.

Agents questioned Radovanovic in Serbia in February. He recited the elements of a “script” that he used during his swatting calls, according to the affidavit. It says Radovanovic claimed to be acting at the direction of a juvenile who provided him with victims’ addresses.

Szabo and Radovanovic are both charged with conspiracy and more than two dozen counts of making threats. The plot spanned more than three years, from December 2020 through January 2024, according to prosecutors.

“Swatting is not a victimless prank — it endangers real people, wastes precious police resources, and inflicts significant emotional trauma,” Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement.

Szabo organized and moderated chat groups to coordinate swatting attacks against 40 private citizens and 61 officials, including cabinet-level members of the federal government’s executive branch, the head of a federal law enforcement agency, a federal judge, current and former governors and other state officials, the indictment said.

In January 2021, three days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Szabo called a crisis intervention hotline and threatened to detonate explosives at the Capitol and kill the president-elect, according to the indictment.

In December 2023 and January 2024, Radovanovic allegedly called government agencies to falsely report killings and imminent suicides or kidnappings at the homes of U.S. senators, House members and elected state officials, according to the indictment. One of the calls led to a car crash involving injuries, the indictment alleges.

The FBI reported a surge in swatting calls in late 2023 and early 2024, with some of the targets linked to court cases against former President Donald Trump. A fake emergency call reported a shooting at the home of U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s election subversion case in Washington. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith also was the subject of a fake emergency call on Christmas Day of 2023.

Georgia state Sen. John Albers, a Republican whose home was swatted in the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, said he expects the U.S. to seek extradition of both men to stand trial.

“This will be a very strong signal to other people, whether they are at home or abroad, that we will find you and we will hunt you down,” Albers told The Associated Press.

Georgia state Sen. Clint Dixon, a Republican whose Buford home was targeted by swatting calls on Christmas and Dec. 26 of last year, said he felt “a sense of relief” and his wife was “elated” after the Secret Service told him the suspects had been identified. Dixon has said that both times, a police tactical team, fire trucks and an ambulance responded.

“What happened to me and my family was very scary for my wife and my children,” Dixon said. “It could have been a very dangerous situation.”

Associated Press writer Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Dashcam video shows how a Florida Highway Patrol chase on the Dolphin Expressway in Miami ended in a crash and the arrest of a man who allegedly tried to dump a backpack of drugs while he was being pursued. 

It happened on Sunday at around 6:31 p.m., when an FHP trooper was driving on State Road 836 eastbound when he saw a white Chevy Trax weaving through traffic at a high rate of speed, at times recorded at 91 mph, according to an arrest report.

The trooper pulled the driver over, and identified him as Shawn Anthony Guerra-Chung, 28.

An arrest report for Guerra-Chung alleges that the trooper saw him shuffling “an unknown item on the rear right floorboard,” which later appeared to be a green backpack. When the trooper approached, he could also smell burnt marijuana and saw the driver with a blunt in his left ear that appeared to be smoked. 

Guerra-Chung said he was moving fast because he was in a hurry, and said that he did not have his medical marijuana card on him, according to FHP. He also reportedly denied having any other drugs in the vehicle. 

Then, the trooper asked him to step out so he could search the car, and Guerra-Chung allegedly refused. 

“The subject continued to state he did not consent to a search and needed a supervisor,” an arrest report details. That’s when Guerra-Chung allegedly took off. 

Dashcam shows the trooper run back to his car and pursue the driver for about a minute, until the suspect starts to slow and approach the left shoulder. That’s when footage shows the trooper performing a PIT maneuver and bringing the car to a stop.

The trooper yells for Guerra-Chung to put his hands up, and he arrests him.

But when the trooper took inventory of the vehicle, he said he noticed that the green backpack was missing. Other officers then located the backpack on the right shoulder west of where the chase came to an end.

Inside they found:

• A pink tube with two clear ziplock bags with a white powdery substance
• A small amount of marijuana in a clear plastic bag
• Bagged marijuana in a blue bag
• A pink ziplock bag with a clear ziplock bag containing a white powdery substance
• Two white bottles with alprazolam
• A pill bottle with its original label ripped off with three square pills inside suspected to be alprazolam
• A total of 959 pills of alprazolam
• 24 grams of prepackage weight of suspected marijuana
• 28 grams of prepackaged weight of suspected cocaine

Guerra-Chang was charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a controlled substance, fleeing and resisting an officer, and unlawful use of a communications device.

“He advised he fled because he was scared and denied any ownership of the backpack,” an arrest report states.

The suspect was taken to Jackson West for clearance and then to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Robert Telles hung his head, shaking it slightly from side to side as the guilty verdict was read. Jurors deliberated for nearly 12 hours over three days after hearing eight days of evidence in his trial, which began Aug 12.

Las Vegas Sep 13, 2022

Official Jailed in Killing of Las Vegas Reporter Had 2020 Arrest

Las Vegas Sep 9, 2022

Slain Las Vegas Reporter Jeff German Spent Career Chasing Corruption

Telles, 47, has been jailed without bail since his arrest several days after Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German was found stabbed to death in a side yard of his home over Labor Day weekend 2022.

During a break from the proceedings, defense attorney Robert Draskovich declined to characterize his client’s emotional reaction to the verdict. He said Telles intends to appeal.

Jurors then heard testimony from German’s and Telles’ family members and began deliberating whether Telles will be sentenced to life in prison without parole, life with parole eligibility at 20 years, or 20 to 50 years in prison.

A sentencing enhancement that Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt can add on a date yet to be set could have Telles serve a minimum of 21 to 53 years.

Draskovich asked the 12-member jury for “an element of mercy … an element of hope.”

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said outside the courtroom that he was surprised by the length of time the jury deliberated before the verdict but was confident jurors carefully considered evidence.

“The jury … hit a home run by getting the right verdict,” Wolfson said.

Wolfson, an elected Democrat, said German “had a stellar reputation in this community” and called it “a crying shame, literally and figuratively that he’s no longer with us.”

Wolfson also dismissed as “ludicrous” Telles’ claims that a broad conspiracy of people — including Wolfson — framed him for blame for German’s killing in retaliation for his effort to root out corruption he saw in his office.

“I am not the kind of person who would stab someone. I didn’t kill Mr. German,” Telles had told the jury last week from the witness stand. “And that’s my testimony.”

Telles’ wife, ex-wife and mother were called as penalty phase character witnesses.

Tears welled in Telles’ eyes as his wife, Mary Ann “Mae” Ismael, described him as a “great” provider during their 14 years of marriage for their “blended” family of her son, his daughter and their daughter.

“I would love to have the chance for the kids to have their father back” after prison, Ismael said.

Telles’ ex-wife, Tonia Burton, noted the oldest child, a daughter she and Telles had together, is 16.

His mother, Rosalinda Anaya, said, “I accept the verdict” and told the jury, “I ask if you could please give my son a chance at parole.”

In their first public comments since the killing, German’s brother, Jay German, and two sisters, Jill Zwerg and Julie Smith, described him as a loving brother and uncle to their children.

“He was the older brother that we all leaned on,” Jay German said. He called the murder “devastating.”

Zwerg said her oldest brother — a dedicated reporter and author who moved to Las Vegas from Milwaukee and loved his job — used to tell her why he rejected offers by other newspapers to move to other cities.

“’This is Las Vegas, Sin City,’” she said he told her. “’This is where I need to be.’”

German, 69, spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.

Prosecutor Christopher Hamner told jurors during closing arguments Monday that finding Telles guilty would be like “connecting the dots” based on overwhelming evidence they heard — including DNA that matched Telles found beneath German’s fingernails.

Hamner maintained that German fought to the death with his attacker and that Telles blamed German for destroying his career, ruining his reputation and threatening his marriage.

Telles, an attorney who practiced civil law before he was elected in 2018, lost his primary for a second elected term after German’s stories appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in May and June 2022. They described turmoil and bullying at the Clark County Public Administrator/Guardian office and a romantic relationship between Telles and an employee.

Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly presented a timeline and videos showing Telles’ maroon SUV leaving the neighborhood near his home a little after 9 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2022, and driving on streets near German’s home a short time later.

The SUV driver is seen wearing a bright orange outfit similar to one worn by a person captured on camera walking to German’s home and slipping into a side yard where German was attacked just after 11:15 a.m.

A little more than 2 minutes later, the figure in orange emerged and walked down a sidewalk. German did not reappear.

Evidence showed Telles’ wife sent him a text message about 10:30 a.m. asking, “Where are you?” Prosecutors said Telles left his cellphone at home so he couldn’t be tracked. Telles told the jury he took a walk and then went to a gym in the afternoon.

Katherine Jacobsen, U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, issued a statement within minutes of the verdict being read. It mourned German’s death and said the verdict “sends an important message that the killing of journalists will not be tolerated.”

“It is vital that the murder of journalists should be taken seriously and perpetrators held accountable,” Jacobsen said.

German was the only journalist killed in the U.S. in 2022, according to the New York-based committee. The nonprofit has records of 17 media workers killed in the U.S. since 1992.

Associated Press videographer Ty O’Neil contributed to this report.

“The effects of crime tourism are being felt very acutely here in Southern California,” said U.S. Attorney E. Martin Estrada. “This group not just facilitated crime tourism, but in many cases, actively directed it.”

An indictment made public Wednesday morning accused the group of taking part in a variety of illegal enterprises as far back as 2018 and continuing through 2024, and included allegations of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, wire fraud, and money laundering.

Estrada said the leaders and other participants operated a rental car business in the San Fernando Valley called, “Driver Power Rentals,” which, in reality, was a front for running teams of tourist thieves from South America, primarily Chile, who were dispatched to specific areas and businesses to carry out the thefts.

The two leaders, identified by Estrada as Juan Carlos Thola and Ana Maria Arriagada, could each face more than 200 years in prison if they’re convicted.

“Thola has been running, in essence, the Hertz rental car business for thieves,” said Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko, who said his office had filed charges against more than 130 suspected tourist burglars since 2018.

“Today, however, thanks to our federal partners, a behind-the-scenes mastermind who promoted and provided foreign nationals to commit those crimes, has been arrested and charged,” he said.

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According to the indictment Thola and Arriagada would rent luxury cars to thieves for around $500 per week, and required would-be burglars to obtain false identity documents.

Stolen merchandise was shipped to the ringleaders at a FedEx store in Sherman Oaks, where the organizers allegedly retrieved the packages and ‘fenced’ the goods, with a percentage of the proceeds paid back to the thieves, the indictment said.

The leaders also told the thieves to use stolen credit and debit cards as quickly as possible, “to max out the stolen credit and debit cards by purchasing electronics, gift cards, designer purses, other high-end luxury goods, or other items before the stolen cards could be frozen or cancelled.”

These types of tourist burglary rings are suspected in a series of recent home burglaries in the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles, other law enforcement officials have said, based on specific tactics used by the thieves and other evidence.

Earlier this year the LAPD announced it was forming a South American Theft Group task force to focus on these groups and the methods they use to resell stolen goods.

Local law enforcement agencies have complained for years that the easy availability of tourist visas in certain countries in Central and South America was being abused by organized criminal groups, and urged federal lawmakers to restrict visits or require criminal background checks before issuing the visas.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, who’s agency participated in the federal task force that conducted the investigation that led to these charges, said the application for an “ESTA” tourist visa cost only $22 and could be completed online.

Crime data published by the LAPD shows there’s been a steady increase in residential burglaries in LA in recent years, although the number of break-ins is still lower than the residential burglary rates in the mid-2010s.

Williams, 55, is scheduled to be executed on Sept. 24 for the 1998 stabbing death of Lisha Gayle in the St. Louis suburb of University City. St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bruce Hilton on Wednesday will preside over an evidentiary hearing challenging Williams’ guilt. But the key piece of evidence to support Williams is DNA testing that is no longer viable.

A 2021 Missouri law allows prosecutors to file a motion seeking to vacate a conviction they believe was unjust. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed such a request in January after reviewing DNA testing that wasn’t available when Williams was convicted in 2001. Those tests indicated that Williams’ DNA was not on the murder weapon. A hearing was scheduled for Aug. 21.

Instead of a hearing, lawyers met behind closed doors for hours before Matthew Jacober, a special prosecutor for Bell’s office, announced that the DNA evidence was contaminated, making it impossible to show that someone else may have been the killer.

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New testing released last week determined that DNA from Edward Magee, an investigator for the prosecutor’s office when Williams was tried, was on the knife. Testing also couldn’t exclude the original prosecutor who handled the case, Keith Larner.

“Additional investigating and testing demonstrated that the evidence was not handled properly at the time of (Williams’) conviction,” Jacober told the judge. “As a result, DNA was likely removed and added between 1998 and 2001.”

That prompted lawyers for Williams and the prosecutor’s office to reach a compromise: Williams would enter a new, no-contest plea to first-degree murder in exchange for a new sentence of life in prison without parole. Hilton signed off on the agreement. So did Gayle’s family.

Lawyers for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office did not.

At Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s urging, the Missouri Supreme Court blocked the agreement and ordered Hilton to proceed with the evidentiary hearing.

The execution, now less than four weeks away, is still on. Hilton is expected to rule by mid-September.

Williams has been close to execution before. In August 2017, just hours before his scheduled lethal injection, then-Gov. Eric Greitens, a Republican, granted a stay after testing showed that DNA on the knife matched an unknown person.

That evidence prompted Bell to reexamine the case. A rising star in Missouri Democratic politics, Bell defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Cori Bush in a primary this month and is heavily favored in the November general election.

Three other men — Christopher Dunn last month, Lamar Johnson and Kevin Strickland — have been freed after decades in prison after prosecutors successfully challenged their convictions under the 2021 law.

Prosecutors at Williams’ trial said he broke into Gayle’s home on Aug. 11, 1998, heard water running in the shower, and found a large butcher knife. When Gayle came downstairs, she was stabbed 43 times. Her purse and her husband’s laptop were stolen. Gayle was a social worker who previously worked as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Authorities said Williams stole a jacket to conceal blood on his shirt. Williams’ girlfriend asked him why he would wear a jacket on a hot day. The girlfriend said she later saw the laptop in the car and that Williams sold it a day or two later.

Prosecutors also cited testimony from Henry Cole, who shared a cell with Williams in 1999 while Williams was jailed on unrelated charges. Cole told prosecutors Williams confessed to the killing and offered details about it.

Williams’ attorneys responded that the girlfriend and Cole were both convicted felons out for a $10,000 reward.

Deario Wilkerson, 20, was uninjured and taken into custody without incident on charges of first-degree murder and reckless endangerment-deadly weapon in connection with an April 2 killing of Troy Cunningham northeast of downtown Memphis, the U.S. Marshal’s Service said in a news release.

An agency task force had tracked Wilkerson to the home and surrounded it when he tried to hide in the attic, according to the release.

Wilkerson was one of three suspects identified in Cunningham’s killing, which the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office said occurred after the suspects stole Cunningham’s gun and fired it at him.

Cunningham was shot in the back of his head as he tried to flee the area, the prosecutor’s office said in a news release.

The other two suspects were previously arrested and charged in the shooting, the prosecutor’s office said. An arrest warrant was issued for Wilkerson in May.

It wasn’t clear Tuesday if Wilkerson has a lawyer to speak on his behalf. Court records did not list one. 

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From 2013 through July 2016, Austal USA conspired to mislead shareholders and investors about the company’s financial condition, the department said. The company pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud and one count of obstruction of a federal audit.

Austal USA “engaged in a years-long scheme to illegally inflate its profits on ships the company was building for the U.S. Navy, reporting false financial results to investors, lenders, and its auditors,” Nicole M. Argentieri, principal deputy assistant attorney general and head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement.

Austal USA LLC is a subsidiary of Australia-based Austal Limited and builds littoral combat ships for the Navy that are designed to operate in shallow coastal waters.

The Justice Department said Austal artificially lowered cost estimates, despite rising shipbuilding costs, to meet its revenue budget and projections. That had the impact of falsely overstating Austal USA’s profitability on the ships and Austal Limited’s earnings reported in its public financial statements.

Court documents show the company agreed to settle complaints by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 25.

The Justice Department said the appropriate criminal penalty would be $73 million, but that was reduced because of Austal USA’s inability to pay. In addition to the $24 million criminal fine, the company is also on the hook for $24 million in restitution for shareholder losses.

Austal USA has also agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years and implement a compliance and ethics program.

Three former Austal USA executives were indicted last year on accounting fraud charges. They are awaiting trial.

An email to a media representative for Austal Limited was not immediately returned Tuesday evening.

The Atlanta-born rapper, whose real name is Dominique Jones, was taken into custody on the Las Vegas Strip just before dawn Monday, according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Details about what led to the arrest weren’t immediately released.

His attorneys, Drew Findling and David Chesnoff, said in joint a statement that they were “actively investigating” why the 29-year-old rapper had been arrested in the first place despite having a valid permit in Georgia to carry a concealed weapon.

Lil Baby has not been formally charged with the crime, which is a felony in Nevada, and was released from custody after posting bond, court records show. He is due in court in Las Vegas on Oct. 1.

The Grammy Award-winning rapper topped charts with his 2020 sophomore album “My Turn,” and reached the No. 3 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his hit “The Bigger Picture,” which evokes the killing of George Floyd and other police abuse.

Other hits include “Yes Indeed,” featuring Drake, and “Drip Too Hard.” He also won best male hip-hop artist in 2021 at the BET Awards and was named 2020’s artist of the year at the Apple Music Awards.

Smith County District Court records show that Patrick Mahomes Sr., 54, pleaded guilty in Tyler to the driving while intoxicated charge. The records do not provide details of the plea, but local media reported that a five-year suspended sentence was agreed upon.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 23.

Mahomes’ attorney and the county district attorney did not immediately return phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

In February, the elder Mahomes was arrested on a felony DWI charge in Tyler, about 90 miles southeast of Dallas, a little more than a week before his son led the Chiefs to a second straight Super Bowl championship with a win over San Francisco.

The charge was the third DWI charge against Mahomes Sr., and court records show he also was ticketed in July for driving with an invalid license.

Patrick Mahomes Sr. is a former Major League Baseball pitcher, playing for six teams during an 11-year major league career that ended in 2003, according to Baseball Reference.

Guilty verdicts were delivered Tuesday morning in the Los Angeles federal criminal trial of former Southern California attorney Tom Girardi, who was accused of running a 10-year Ponzi scheme and embezzling tens of millions of dollars of settlement funds from clients.

Girardi, who has represented plaintiffs in a number of high-profile cases, allegedly took at least $15 million in settlement funds from four of his clients. The Seal Beach resident was found guilty on four counts of wire fraud.

The jury began deliberations Monday before leaving for the day on the 12th day of trial.

Crime and Courts Jan 3

Ex-celebrity lawyer Tom Girardi found competent to stand trial for alleged $15 million client thefts

Crime and Courts Feb 1, 2023

Lawyer Tom Girardi, Husband of ‘Real Housewives' Star, Indicted on Client Theft

Girardi allegedly spent the settlement money on private jets, golf club memberships, jewelry and the career of his now-estranged wife, “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Jayne.

“Tom Girardi built celebrity status and lured in victims by falsely portraying himself as a ‘Champion of Justice,’” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “In reality, he was a Robin-Hood-in-reverse, stealing from the needy to support of a lavish, Hollywood lifestyle. Today’s verdict shows that the game is up – we can all now see this defendant for what he was and the victims he callously betrayed.” 

Girardi, 85, suffers from dementia but was deemed able to assist in his own defense.

Prosecutors allege the fraud scheme lasted from 2010 to 2020 and involved many more ex-clients than the four involved in the current case.

“He wanted the outside world to believe he was fighting for people who couldn’t help themselves,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Moghaddas told the jury Monday in closing arguments.

Moghadds said clients expecting settlement funds waited as “days turned into months and months turned into years.”

Charles Snyder, a deputy federal public defender who is representing the defendant, told the jury that as his client’s cognitive impairment worsened over the years. Employees of the defendant’s now-closed Girardi Keese law firm were stealing funds “hand over fist,” he said.

“Girardi was not paying close attention,” Snyder said.

On Thursday, Girardi was the final witness called by his lawyers to testify.

“Every client got every penny that every client was supposed to get,” he claimed.

The defendant blamed his firm’s former chief accountant, Chris Kamon, for the missing money. Kamon, 50, is scheduled to stand trial separately in January on wire fraud charges, accused of pocketing about $50 million from Girardi Keese accounts.

Once known as a defender of the powerless in class-action lawsuits against corporations, Girardi’s high-profile cases include Bryan Stow’s civil suit against Major League Baseball. Stow was the San Francisco Giants fan who sustained severe injuries during an attack in a Dodger Stadium parking lot.

Girardi also represented plaintiffs in the toxic groundwater case against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. that was dramatized in the Oscar-winning 2000 Julia Roberts movie “Erin Brockovich.”

Jayne filed for divorce from Girardi in 2020 after a 21-year marriage. Following the split, the couple listed their Pasadena home for sale at a price of $13 million. Jayne has not been charged in the case against her husband.

Teak Ty Brockbank, 45, of Cortez, was arrested Friday and made an initial appearance in court on Monday in Durango on a charge of transmitting interstate threats. A conviction carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.

He remains in custody pending a detention hearing on Wednesday, a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

“We allege that the defendant made detailed death threats against election officials, judges, and law enforcement officers,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. Their names were redacted from court records.

In 2021 and 2022, online accounts on the Rumble and Gab forums that investigators said belonged to Brockbank posted the threats including to shoot or hang various officials.

In August 2022, an account believed to belong to Brockbank posted on Rumble: “So those of us that have the stomach for what has to be done should prepare our minds for what we all Are going to do!!!!!! It is time.”

Investigators also received a warrant to search his phone and found threatening text messages, court records said.

Brockbank did not immediately reply to a text message or an email from The Associated Press on Monday seeking comment. There was no attorney listed for him in court records who might speak on his behalf.

The case is brought as part of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which began in June 2021 to address threats against election workers and make sure they are able to do their jobs free from intimidation.