Tag Archives: crimes

From the Justice Department: A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Charles Austin Jenkins, age 66, of Thurmont, Maryland, and Robert Justin Krop, age 36, of Frederick, Maryland, with conspiracy and false statements in order to acquire machine guns. Krop is also charged with illegal possession of machine guns. As detailed in the indictment, Charles Jenkins has been …

Des Moines’ CBS affiliate reports: A former Iowa church pastor is accused of drugging and sexually abusing a child more than a decade ago. Criminal complaints say 68-year-old Mark Benson abused the girl several times at his home in Cambridge from 2009 to 2012. The victim was between the ages of 10 and 13 at the time. She told police …

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: The director of the Feeding Our Future nonprofit and 46 other people have been charged in what federal prosecutors say was a “massive scheme” to defraud the government of more than $250 million meant to feed needy children during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a news conference in Minneapolis on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger described it …

From the Justice Department: A Georgia woman was sentenced today to 41 months in prison for her scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $7.9 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. According to court documents, Hunter VanPelt, aka Ellen Corkrum, 49, of Roswell, …

The Kansas City Star reports: Kansas state Rep. Mark Samsel was arrested on charges of misdemeanor battery on Thursday after getting into a physical altercation with a student while substitute teaching in Wellsville. On Wednesday, Samsel, R-Wellsville, was substitute teaching at the Wellsville school district’s secondary school. Throughout the day, high school students began recording videos of the lawmaker talking …

Houston’s ABC News affiliate reports: While a takedown to the floor wasn’t necessary, police body camera video of a maskless woman being arrested for the second time in six days showed her in the middle of a recitation of her “rights” inside an Office Depot store in Texas City. However, much like her previous arrest at a Bank of America …

USA Today reports: North Dakota investigators were skeptical that South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg didn’t know he fatally struck a pedestrian on the night of Sept. 12, 2020. According to video footage from two separate interviews between investigators and Ravnsborg, made public Tuesday by the South Dakota Department of Public Safety, authorities found the reading glasses of Joe Boever …

Cincinnati’s ABC News affiliate reports: Federal officials said they found around 44 pounds of cocaine-coated corn flakes, seized in Cincinnati from incoming freight from Peru. U.S. Customs agents said they intercepted the smuggled narcotics, with an estimated street value of $2,922,400. K-9 Bisco picked up the scene, federal officials said, alerting agents to a large shipment of cereal heading to …

Myrtle Beach’s NBC News affiliate reports: Surfside Beach police identified the man who is accused of pointing a gun at another customer during a mask dispute inside a Piggly Wiggly. Brian Good, 36, of Maiden, was arrested and charged with pointing and presenting a firearm, third-degree assault and battery and unlawful carry of a pistol Witnesses told officers that man …

Patch reports: Two men accused of orchestrating a robocall to suppress the vote in Detroit and other cities with significant minority populations have been bound over to circuit court on felony election law charges, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday. Jack Burkman, 54, and Jacob Wohl, 22, are scheduled to appear in Wayne County Circuit Court on Nov. 12. …

Politico reports: Federal prosecutors in Michigan have charged a man with making a death threat against one of the attorneys for a whistleblower who initiated the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, according to newly unsealed court records. The man, Brittan J. Atkinson, allegedly emailed the attorney in November, calling him a “traitor” who “must die a miserable death.” The …

The Associated Press reports: San Angelo’s former longtime police chief has been indicted on bribery and fraud counts accusing him of taking $134,000 in bribes to help a radio communications vendor obtain $11 million in city contracts. Timothy Ray Vasquez made an initial court appearance in federal court in San Angelo. He had served as police chief from 2004 until …

CNBC reports: A judge on Wednesday dismissed New York state criminal charges filed against Paul Manafort, the fallen Republican lobbyist who served for several months as President Donald Trump’s campaign chief in 2016. Judge Maxwell Wiley said during a hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court that New York’s double-jeopardy law barred the state indictment against Manafort. The Washington Post reports: Manafort, …

Politico reports: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is showing no signs of stepping down from office despite his guilty plea Tuesday on a felony campaign finance charge in federal court. When asked Wednesday about whether and when he intended to resign, Hunter blew off the question. “Good talk,” Hunter told a POLITICO reporter. Former Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), who pleaded guilty …

Politico reports: New Jersey could soon bar a legal defense tactic in murder cases known as “gay panic,“ under a bill the state Assembly approved on Monday without opposition or debate. The defense has been used to attempt to downgrade charges against defendants who argued that they killed because they were provoked by the disclosure of the victim’s gender identity …

The Associated Press reports: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s indictment has sharpened the battle lines in Israel’s deadlocked political system and could test the loyalty of his right-wing allies, Israeli commentators said Friday. The serious corruption charges announced Thursday have dashed already slim hopes for a unity government after September elections, paving the way for an unprecedented repeat vote in March, …

Law & Crime reports: A lengthy exposé by Quartz shows how Chase Metals used “fear and Facebook,” allegedly to scam the elderly out of their retirement funds. And all of that fear was transformed into financial security paranoia–keyed toward a certain ideological faction of late-aged Americans. Screenshots of Facebook ads show that Fox News viewers were specifically targeted. “Is Your …

The Daily Beast reports: A Pentagon cybersecurity contractor has been charged with threatening to kill a member of Congress over the introduction of a bill that would require public schools to vaccinate children, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Maryland. Darryl Albert Varnum of Westminster, Maryland called the congressperson—identified only as “congressperson …

The Arizona Daily Star reports: Saying the president can’t erase facts, a federal judge on Thursday rejected a bid by former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to have all record of his criminal conviction wiped out. Susan Bolton said she already dismissed the criminal contempt case against Arpaio following the decision by President Trump to issue a pardon. That saved …

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports: A man who drove his car into a group of protesters in St. Louis on Wednesday night has been charged with a felony. Mark Colao, 59, was charged Thursday with a felony count of resisting arrest by fleeing and two misdemeanor charges of leaving the scene of an accident and operating a vehicle in a …