Crime

Megachurch Pastor Charged With Felony Assault Of Woman In CA Road Rage Incident After Fender Bender

The Chicago Sun-Times reports: The former pastor of a Rolling Meadows church has been charged with felony battery and assault in California. James Macdonald, who was fired from Harvest Bible Chapel in 2019, was arrested March 22 in Coronado, California, after he allegedly attacked a 59-year-old woman. He was trying to parallel park his truck about 10:15 a.m. in the …

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Pentagon Leaker Appears To Be Far-Right MAGA Type

The Washington Post reports: The man behind a massive leak of U.S. government secrets that has exposed spying on allies, revealed the grim prospects for Ukraine’s war with Russia and ignited diplomatic fires for the White House is a young, charismatic gun enthusiast who shared highly classified documents with a group of far-flung acquaintances searching for companionship amid the isolation …

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White Powder Again Sent To Office Of Manhattan DA

ABC News reports: The New York City Police Department responded to a new threatening letter sent to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Wednesday, according to police sources. The sources told ABC News the letter contained a white powder and was discovered just after 3 p.m. in the basement mailroom at 80 Centre Street. The DA’s office later said the …

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SD Republican Gets 10 Years On Felony Incest Charges

The Argus Leader reports: Joel Koskan, who ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in 2022 and days before the election was arrested on charges relating to child abuse, pleaded guilty to two counts of felony incest Tuesday morning. He was sentenced in a Hughes County court room to 10 years in the South Dakota State Penitentiary. Koskan, 44, originally faced felony …

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Mormon Leader Charged With Sexting Underage Girl

The Cache Valley Daily reports: A former local leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is facing criminal charges for allegedly sexting with a teenage girl in his congregation. Cortney Ted Andrew, a 38-year-old Trenton man is facing four counts of enticing a minor by internet or text, a second-degree felony. Cache County Sheriff’s Lt. Doyle Peck …

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DC Rioter Who Arrived On Bus Paid For By Charlie Kirk Gets Sentenced To Over Four Years For Assaulting Cop

NBC News reports: A retired firefighter who went to a “cult deprogramming” expert to figure out how he came to believe Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 presidential election was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison on Tuesday for chucking a fire extinguisher at police officers as they protected the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Robert Sanford, …

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Whole Foods Closes Flagship SF Store Over Thefts

SF Gate reports: After a short stint in downtown San Francisco, the Whole Foods at 1185 Market St. is closing this week. The Whole Foods at Trinity Place is set to close on April 11, a Whole Foods Market spokesperson confirmed with SFGATE. “To ensure the safety of our Team Members, we have made the difficult decision to close the …

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FBI: Don’t Use Free Public Stations To Charge Devices

CNBC reports: The FBI has warned consumers against using free public charging stations, saying crooks have managed to hijack public chargers that can infect devices with malware, or software that can give hackers access to your phone, tablet or computer. The Federal Communications Commission has also warned about “juice jacking,” as the malware loading scheme is known, since 2021. Consumer …

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Grand Jury Indicts Mother Of Child Who Shot Teacher

NBC News reports: The mother of a 6-year-old boy who seriously wounded his teacher with a gun in January will face charges in the shooting, a local prosecutor in Virginia said Monday. A grand jury indicted Deja Taylor on charges of felony child neglect and a misdemeanor count of recklessly leaving a loaded firearm so as to endanger a child, …

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Vows Pardon For Uber Driver Just Convicted Of Killing Black Lives Matter Protester

The Texas Tribune reports: A Travis County jury found Army Sgt. Daniel Perry, 33, guilty of murder on Friday, almost three years after he shot and killed Austin protester Garrett Foster. In 2021 Perry was indicted for murder, aggravated assault and deadly conduct charges for shooting Foster during a July 2020 protest in downtown Austin. The indictment came one year …

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Texas Nazi Pleads Guilty To Torching Austin Synagogue

From the Justice Department: A Texas man pleaded guilty today to a hate crime and arson in connection with a fire he set at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 31, 2021. According to court documents and admissions made during the plea hearing, three days before the arson, on Oct. 28, 2021, Franklin Sechriest of San …

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Nevada Pastor And Wife Indicted On Child Sex Charges

Las Vegas’s CBS affiliate reports: A North Las Vegas pastor and his wife have been indicted by the Clark County Grand Jury accused of sexual assault and child abuse on or between 2012, and 2014, the Clark County District Attorney’s Office announced on Monday. Bobby Cornealius Smith, a pastor at New Beginnings Church in Las Vegas, was accused of sexually …

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Georgia Pastor Gets 25 Years On Child Sex Charges

Savannah’s ABC affiliate reports: A former Savannah pastor will serve 25 years in prison and life on probation for child molestation and statutory rape. Alfonza McClendon Sr. was convicted of molesting two children between 2013 and 2017. The molestation happened while McClendon was pastor of the First Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church. He will have to register as a sex offender …

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GOP Maryland Sheriff Indicted Over Machine Guns

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 …

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MI GOP Ex-House Speaker Confesses: I Took Bribes

The Detroit Free Press reports: Former GOP state House Speaker Rick Johnson, two lobbyists and a medical marijuana business owner were charged Thursday in a bribery scheme, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan announced at a press conference in Lansing. Johnson, 70, was the chairman of the state’s medical marijuana licensing board, which approved or denied applications …

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Archbishop: Very Sorry About All Those Child Rapists

Via press release from the Archbishop of Baltimore: Today’s report from the Maryland Attorney General is first and foremost a sad and painful reminder of the tremendous harm caused to innocent children and young people by some ministers of the Church. The detailed accounts of abuse are shocking and soul searing. It is difficult for most to imagine that such …

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Maryland AG Names 158 Catholic Clergy Child Abusers

Baltimore’s CBS affiliate reports: The Maryland Attorney General (AG) released a redacted report on child sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore Wednesday afternoon, detailing abuse within the church based on documents dating back to the 1940s. “The incontrovertible history uncovered by this investigation is one of pervasive and persistent abuse by priests and other Archdiocese personnel. It is also …

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GOP Indianapolis Mayor Candidate Charged With Theft

The Indianapolis Star reports: A Plainfield police officer was dispatched to a theft in progress at Bassett Services, a heating and cooling company in Plainfield. According to the probable cause affidavit, the property owner, Gregory Bassett, had called the police because he saw a man loading items from his property in a red truck. A Plainfield police officer said he …

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Catholic Site Fires Writer After DOJ Arrests Him For Anti-LGBTQ Death Threats To Human Rights Campaign

The Washington Post reports: A Maryland man has been charged by federal authorities with making threats of violence to a D.C.-based LGBTQ organization in a voice mail left on March 28, a day after the mass killing at a school in Nashville. Since the shooting, which left six people dead, conservative commentators and Republican politicians have exploited reports over the …

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California Youth Pastor Arrested On Child Sex Charges

The Modesto Bee reports: A Modesto man who has served in a leadership role over student ministries at his church has been charged with molesting a family member. Michael Sasser, 40, was charged last month with forcible sexual penetration, continual sexual abuse of a child and lewd and lascivious acts with a child. According to the criminal complaint, the first …

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