Crime

The Wichita Eagle reports: A Wichita man has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to kidnap and kill Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple over frustrations with the city’s mask ordinance, the mayor and police said Friday afternoon. Meredith Dowty, 59, was booked into Sedgwick County Jail at 6:05 p.m., Friday, booking reports show. Police confirmed he is the suspect and said …

Fort Myers’ NBC News affiliate reports: A Florida man was arrested and charged with assault and battery after shoving hotel staff and calling them vulgar names. Justin Mills, 24, of Auburndale, is facing one count of battery and two counts of assault after walking into a Courtyard Marriot in Naples around 6 a.m. Wednesday without a mask, according to the …

ABC News reports: For the first time, a clergy sex abuse trial opened Wednesday in the Vatican’s criminal tribunal, with one priest accused of molesting an altar boy in the Vatican’s youth seminary and another priest accused of covering it up. The case concerns the closed world of the St. Pius X youth seminary, a palazzo inside the Vatican walls …

The Mitchell Republic reports: A grand jury has indicted a Mitchell man on charges of obstructing a law enforcement officer for his actions during a Mitchell School District Board of Education meeting last month. Reed Bender, 39, faces a Class 1 misdemeanor for “using or threatening to use violence, force or physical interference or obstacle, intentionally obstruct, impair or hinder …

Roll Call reports: Former Rep. Chris Collins began serving his 26-month prison term Tuesday at FPC Pensacola, a minimum security federal prison camp in Florida. Collins’ arrival at the camp comes after four delays and just under nine months since he was sentenced in January for conspiring to commit securities fraud and making false statements to the FBI. The former …

The Associated Press reports: A St. Louis couple celebrated in some circles and vilified in others for waving guns at protesters marching on their private street pleaded not guilty to two felony charges at a brief hearing Wednesday. Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who are both attorneys in their early 60s, were indicted by a St. Louis grand jury last week …

The New York Times reports: Amy Cooper, the white woman who called the police on a Black bird-watcher in Central Park, made a second, previously unreported call to 911 in which she falsely claimed that the man “tried to assault her,” a prosecutor said on Wednesday. Ms. Cooper, who appeared in court remotely to answer misdemeanor charges that she had …

Pittsburgh City Paper reports: Yesterday, the Baldwin home of Sean Troesch was raided by special agents from the United States Postal Service, who confiscated eight large garbage bags of suspected undelivered mail, according to KDKA. KDKA also reported that the post office said this latest haul didn’t contain any discarded mail-in ballots, but neighbors told the station trash bags “have …

The Detroit Free Press reports: Two alleged right wing provocateurs accused of orchestrating a racist and inaccurate robocall campaign to dissuade people from voting surrendered to Michigan authorities Thursday morning, the Michigan attorney general announced in a news release. Jacob Wohl, a 22-year-old Los Angeles resident, and Jack Burkman, a 54-year-old resident of Arlington, Virginia, were arraigned Thursday in the …

Buzzfeed News reports: Two former Oklahoma County jail guards and their supervisor were charged Monday with cruelty to prisoner offenses for allegedly forcing inmates to stand for hours while listening to the children’s song “Baby Shark.” In November and December last year, Christian Miles and Greg Butler Jr., both 21, forced four inmates to stand alone in rooms handcuffed to …

St. Louis’s CBS News affiliate reports: A grand jury indicted Mark and Patricia McCloskey Tuesday on charges of exhibiting guns at protesters in a June incident in their neighborhood. Additionally, the grand jury added a charge of tampering with evidence for both members of the couple. The McCloskeys were in court Tuesday, but the case was pushed back a week …

The Associated Press reports: A Roman Catholic diocese in New York City’s suburbs has become the largest in the U.S. to declare bankruptcy to protect itself from a wave of lawsuits filed over past sexual abuse by clergy members. The Diocese of Rockville Centre filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday. It is the eighth largest diocese or archdiocese …

The New York Daily News reports: A Bronx man is accused of hacking to death with a machete a man he met on a dating hook up app — and his roommate walked in on the bloody aftermath, police sources said Monday. Juan Alonso, 50, was charged Monday with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon. Cops are still …

The Associated Press reports: A grand jury on Monday indicted a Texas sheriff on charges accusing him of destroying or concealing video in an investigation into the death in custody of a Black man, Javier Ambler, that was filmed by a police reality TV series “Live PD.” Williamson County records show Sheriff Robert Chody is facing the third-degree felony charge …

Myrtle Beach’s NBC News affiliate reports: A question about a mask inside a Surfside Beach Piggly Wiggly escalated to an assault involving a gun, according to a police report. Surfside Beach police released surveillance pictures on Wednesday of a man who they are looking for connected to an assault. Police spoke to the victim who said that he noticed the …

The Corbin Times-Tribune reports: On Friday, a Laurel County grand jury returned an indictment against the 89th District’s State Rep. Robert S. Goforth on strangulation and assault charges stemming from an incident in late April. Goforth of East Bernstadt was indicted on one count of first-degree strangulation and one count of assault in the fourth degree. He was originally charged …

The Omaha World-Herald reports: The surreal and sordid ordeal involving a white Omaha bar owner and a young Black Omaha man ended Sunday with a staggering development. Jake Gardner — awaiting arrest after a grand jury in Omaha indicted him last week — shot himself outside a medical clinic in suburban Portland, Oregon, two law enforcement officials told The World-Herald. …

CNN reports: A woman suspected of sending a letter containing the poison ricin to President Donald Trump was arrested as she tried to enter the US from Canada at a border crossing in New York state, a US law enforcement official said. The woman was carrying a gun and arrested by US authorities, according to the law enforcement official. US …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis is giving his blessing to a new Vatican think tank that is seeking to prevent the Mafia and organized crime groups from exploiting the image of the Virgin Mary for their own illicit ends. The Vatican’s Pontifical Marian Academy launched the think tank Friday at a conference titled “Liberating Mary from the Mafia.” It …

NBC News reports: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday pardoned a United States Marine convicted of killing a transgender woman in the country nearly six years ago, sparking condemnation from activists who described the move as a “mockery of justice.” Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton was jailed in 2015 for killing Jennifer Laude near a former U.S. navy base. A …