Crime

Courthouse News reports: A Texas woman charged with mailing a homemade bomb in 2016 to then-President Barack Obama, implicated when FBI agents matched a hair that was found on the package’s address label to her cat, pleaded guilty today. Julia Ann Poff, 47, of Brookshire, Texas, also admitted she mailed bombs to Texas Governor Greg Abbott and then-acting Social Security …

Roll Call reports: A federal judge in California is allowing evidence of Rep. Duncan Hunter’s alleged extramarital affairs to be used in a criminal trial against the Republican congressman, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The ruling on Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California relates to a case in which Hunter is alleged to have illegally …

The Associated Press reports: Paul Manafort’s lawyer says he intends to seek the dismissal of state mortgage fraud charges, citing New York’s strong double jeopardy protections. Manafort is the former chairman of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. He pleaded not guilty Thursday at a Manhattan arraignment. Defense lawyer Todd Blanche said it’s his view that “the laws of New York …

Roll Call reports: Facing a mounting legal case against him, Rep. Duncan Hunter has sought to scuttle the charges by alleging a political conspiracy. In a motion to dismiss the case filed Monday, attorneys for the California Republican argue that he was indicted, not because of evidence that he illegally used campaign funds for personal use and falsified campaign reports, …

Reuters reports: A member of an armed group known for stopping migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has been arrested after authorities charged him with impersonating a U.S. Border Patrol agent, according to court documents. Jim Benvie, spokesman for the Guardian Patriots, who have been camped at the border near Sunland Park, New Mexico, was arrested on Friday in Oklahoma after …

The Raleigh News & Observer reports: A Durham man has been charged with 56 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor after a joint investigation by the Durham County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Phillip Stephen Stallings, 40, was arrested Wednesday on 28 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and 28 counts of third-degree sexual …

The New York Times reports: Since as early as the 1960s, defense lawyers have introduced the idea that people accused of violent crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people had acted in a state of temporary insanity caused and justified by their victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The legal strategy, known as the “gay panic” or “transgender panic” …

Penn Live reports: A Chambersburg-area pastor was jailed last week, accused of possessing sexually explicit images of bondage scenarios involving children that also had his face superimposed into them. The Office of the Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force did the investigation into Stephen L. Dunn, 68, and filed charges on Thursday, according to court documents. During a …

The Colorado Gazette reports: Kanda Calef, a former Republican candidate, political activist and a hard-line gun rights supporter, faces a felony menacing charge after allegedly brandishing a pistol at a U.S. marshal in Interstate 25’s Gap construction zone. Calef, now free on $2,500 bail, is due in Douglas County’s 18th Judicial District on Wednesday, where she is expected to enter …

The Dallas Morning News reports: A man in a mask, combat gear and glasses was shot and killed Monday morning after he opened fire outside the Earle Cabell federal courthouse in downtown Dallas. No one else was injured. FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew DeSarno identified the shooter as Brian Isaack Clyde, 22 at a news conference on a street …

The Associated Press reports: A Southern Baptist pastor who supported legislation in Texas that would have criminalized abortions has been arrested on charges of child sex abuse, accused of repeatedly molesting a teenage relative over the course of two years. Stephen Bratton is accused of subjecting the relative to inappropriate touching that escalated to “sexual intercourse multiple times a day …

NBC News reports: A Fort Myers man was arrested Friday for posting statements and videos inciting violence against minority groups on social media. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement received a tip that the man, who was using an alias, was posting to sites like Bitchute and Gab. The posts showed his “hatred toward several minority groups, threatened violence against …

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: Margaret Hunter, the wife of longtime East County Congressman Duncan Hunter who was co-indicted with her husband last summer, has agreed to change her plea of not guilty and is scheduled to appear in federal court Thursday morning. The announcement was posted on the U.S. District Court docket late Wednesday morning without any supplemental documentation. …

From a new survey by Pew Research: More than 15 years after U.S. bishops pledged “zero tolerance” for sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, reports of previously unpublicized misconduct continue to receive wide media coverage. A Pennsylvania grand jury last year uncovered decades of sexual abuse and coverup by Catholic leaders, and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick – formerly the archbishop …

NBC News St. Louis reports: A man has been charged with a hate crime and threatening to kill LGBTQ residents in Soulard. On May 24, police received several 911 calls about property damage in the 1300 block of Sidney Street. While investigating what happened, police obtained surveillance video that showed a man committing the crimes. That man was later identified …

The Washington Blade reports: A gun scare in Dupont Circle Saturday night that brought D.C.’s annual Capital Pride Parade to an abrupt end and sent hundreds of parade spectators fleeing in panic appears to have been caused by a man who told police he pointed a BB gun at another individual who was assaulting his female “significant other,” according to …

NBC News reports: In the final months of his life, James “Whitey” Bulger wrote letters from prison offering his thoughts on a range of subjects. His faltering health. His longtime girlfriend. His wish for a peaceful death. But there was another topic that the notorious Boston crime boss returned to again and again: President Donald Trump. In several handwritten letters …

Via press release from London’s Metropolitan Police: Detectives investigating a homophobic attack and robbery of two women in Camden have made a fifth arrest. A 16-year-old boy was arrested this morning, Saturday, 8 June on suspicion of robbery and aggravated GBH and is currently in custody. Four males aged between 15-18 have been arrested yesterday, Friday, 7 June on suspicion …

The Guardian reports: A homophobic assault on two women on a bus that left them needing hospital treatment has been labelled a “disgusting, misogynistic attack” by the London mayor, Sadiq Khan. The attack happened in the early hours of 30 May when Melania Geymonat, 28, boarded a bus with her girlfriend, Chris. The couple said they were attacked after refusing …

Newsweek reports: A woman has spoken out about a terrifying ordeal in which she and her girlfriend were attacked by a gang of men on a London bus after they refused to kiss for their entertainment. Uruguay national Melania Geymonat, 28, posted a photo showing the aftermath of the assault in which she and her American girlfriend Chris are covered …