Crime

Gainesville’s ABC affiliate reports: Following a trial process, in which 37-year-old Neely Raye Pesognellie Petrie-Blanchard represented herself in her murder trial of 50-year-old Christopher Hallett, jurors deliberated on Friday, April 19, 2024, for roughly 30 minutes before finding Petrie-Blanchard guilty of Murder in the First-Degree with a Firearm. Witnesses revealed that Petrie-Blanchard stated something to the effect of “You’re hurting …

Florida Politics reports: Lake Alfred City Commissioner Charles Lake has been arrested on charges of possessing child pornography. An arrest affidavit shows Polk County Sheriff’s deputies served a warrant at Lake’s home. Lake, documents show, confessed to police that he was in possession of child pornography, including many images kept on a “Patriot” USB drive. The Lake Alfred Republican now …

The Carteret County News-Times reports: Jerry Allan Box, a local minister at the Russell Creek Original Free Will Baptist Church in Beaufort, turned himself in to the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office on April 12 after being charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor Cruelty to Animals for killing a cat. Officials have video evidence in addition to Box initially lying to …

The Washington Post reports: A court appearance Monday solved one part of the mystery surrounding a Virginia man whose alleged talk of explosives landed him in a federal investigation: Russell Vane IV is alive. Vane, 42, who uses the nickname “Duke,” had gone silent early this month after an anti-government militia he belonged to publicly disavowed him over concerns about …

Michigan Live reports: Former Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield is facing 13 felony charges for financial crimes after Attorney General Dana Nessel said Chatfield and his associates used hundreds of thousands of dollars he fundraised for extravagant personal purchases. “Our investigation has uncovered evidence that Lee Chatfield used various different schemes to embezzle, steal and convert both private and public …

CBS News reports: Los Gatos man who starred in a real estate reality show was sentenced to jail and ordered to pay back nearly $10 million to his victims after being convicted of real estate fraud, prosecutors said Tuesday. According to Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s office, 58-year-old Charles “Todd” Hill received a four-year sentence. Hill starred in …

Los Angeles’s ABC affiliate reports: According to the Los Angeles Police Department, a caller who identified himself as “Henry” called the National Suicide Hotline on March 28 and made several statements about bombing the TransLatin@ Coalition on Juneteenth. Police said he also talked about setting their building on fire with gasoline and made a statement about attacking the Pride Parade …

Courthouse News reports: A federal court in Louisiana rules that four prison guards may face sanctions and punitive damages because they “lost” video scans that supposedly justified fruitlessly searching an inmate suspected of inserting contraband in his rectum for four days. The scans they produced were not of the inmate, which the court could tell because there are major differences …

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports: O.J. Simpson’s longtime lawyer and executor of his estate said Friday that he will fight to prevent the payout of a $33.5 million judgment awarded to the families of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Attorney Malcolm LaVergne, who had represented Simpson since 2009, told the Review-Journal in a phone interview …

The Daily Mail reports: OJ Simpson died owing his murder victim’s family more than $100 million – and they say they’re still going after the money. Simpson, who died in Nevada on Wednesday age 76, was found liable in civil court for $33.5 million for the murders of Ron Goldman and Nicole Simpson in 1997. An attorney for Ron’s father …

NBC News reports: Kyle Benjamin Douglas Calvert, 26, of Irondale, was charged with malicious use of an explosive and possession of an unregistered destructive device, the Justice Department said. The explosion outside Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office occurred around 3:42 a.m. on Feb. 24. No injuries or major damage were reported. “That device had the characteristics of an IED, and …

Gothamist reports: Mayor Eric Adams, who called package theft a “New York nightmare,” pledged to end it on Wednesday by opening parcel storage lockers at seven locations throughout the city. “We want to send a message to the porch pirates that your days are over of sailing away with our packages,” the mayor said, noting that 90,000 packages are reported …

The Guardian reports: Opening statements are expected Wednesday in the trial of an Idaho man charged with killing his wife and his then girlfriend’s two youngest children in an unusual case rooted in extremist religious beliefs. Chad Daybell, 55, is facing charges of first-degree murder, insurance fraud, and conspiracy to commit murder and grand theft in connection with the deaths …

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports: A Republican candidate for state House of Representatives in Northern Kentucky was arrested and booked for strangulation Monday night. According to Kenton County Jail records, Brian Ormes was arrested by a Fort Wright police officer and booked into Kenton County Jail at 11:02 p.m. Monday on three charges — first-degree strangulation, menacing and fourth-degree assault with …

Politico reports: When John Nassif surged into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, he was among the hundreds chanting “Whose house? Our house!” But that’s not exactly true, a federal appeals court countered Tuesday, rejecting Nassif’s challenge to his conviction for “demonstrating” inside the Capitol and ruling that the building itself — as opposed to the spacious parkland outside — …

USA Today reports: During the last three years, the Justice Department’s COVID-19 Enforcement Task Force has charged more than 3,500 people with federal crimes, recovered more than $1.4 billion in stolen pandemic funds and reached more than 400 civil settlements and judgments, officials said Tuesday. White House officials and lawmakers used the announcement as a springboard to propose legislation to …

Reuters reports: The mother and father of a Michigan teen who shot and killed four classmates were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison on Tuesday after a jury convicted them of manslaughter in a rare case of parents being held responsible in a school shooting. Jennifer and James Crumbley, Ethan Crumbley’s parents, were sentenced immediately after several …

Via press release from the Florida Highway Patrol: Today, Florida Highway Patrol Troopers responded to a report of an active shooter in Holmes County. The suspect was reportedly a female who had recently checked out of a local hotel and told the staff she was going on a shooting spree, directed by “God” in relation to the solar eclipse. The …

USA Today reports: Jennifer and James Crumbley, the first parents of a mass school shooter in the U.S. to be convicted of involuntary manslaughter for the shooting, are set to be sentenced on Tuesday. Prosecutors asked that each parent be given 10 to 15 years in prison after separate juries found them each guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter …

From the Justice Department: Michael Soghomonian, 35, previously of Northridge, California was arrested on April 7, 2024, pursuant to a federal criminal complaint charging him with using fire to damage the building at One Church Street in Burlington, Vermont – a building used in interstate commerce and as a place of activity affecting interstate commerce. According to court records, Soghomonian …