Crime

Miami’s ABC affiliate reports: A South Florida pastor accused of sexually battering a 15-year-old girl in his church became a wanted man Monday after skipping out on scheduled court hearings. He’s believed to be on the run. Monte Chitty, the 62-year-old pastor of First Baptist Marathon, had been released on a $75,000 bond soon after his March arrest. Prosecutors say …

From the Justice Department: United States Attorney Henry Leventis for the Middle District of Tennessee and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced that a federal judge returned a guilty verdict yesterday for defendants Eva Edl, Eva Zastrow, James Zastrow, and Paul Place on criminal charges arising out of their blockade of a reproductive …

Law & Crime reports: The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday arrested 25-year-old Brad Markey-Perez after he allegedly shot his pal by mistake, authorities said. Deputies found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound to the jaw. Markey-Perez told deputies he and the victim like to have “drills” where they “practice with each other the importance of being vigilant of …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: Officials have identified a man accused of trying to breach the gate at the FBI’s Atlanta headquarters Monday as 48-year-old Ervin Lee Bolling of South Carolina. Publicly available records show that Bolling lives in Easley, South Carolina, a town just outside Greenville. He works as an insurance broker at Bankers Life, where he has been employed …

CBS News reports: A Florida man has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for threatening to kill a U.S. Supreme Court justice, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. Neal Brij Sidhwaney, 43, pleaded guilty in December after he made a July telephone call from Florida to the Supreme Court and left an expletive-filled voice message twice threatening to kill an …

The Associated Press reports: The wife of an Iowa county supervisor was sentenced Monday to four months in jail after being convicted in a scheme to stuff the ballot box to support her husband’s unsuccessful campaign for a congressional seat. Kim Taylor also was ordered to serve four months’ home confinement following her release from prison and to pay $5,200, …

Atlanta News First reports: A person rammed into the front gate at the FBI Atlanta headquarters Monday afternoon. Officials say it happened just after noon off Flowers Road. He was taken into custody by the DeKalb County Police Department. The FBI said they could not provide any further details about what led this person to do this, but said there …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Yet another actor has been arrested on charges related to the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Nolan Freeman, who had parts on shows such as NCIS, The Rookie, and Shameless, allegedly crawled through a broken window into the U.S. Capitol as the 2020 election was being certified inside. The FBI Statement of Fact in …

CBS News reports: Police have arrested a man they say randomly punched a woman in the face in Chelsea. Halley Kate’s video about the attack went viral on TikTok, garnering tens of millions of views. Skiboky Stora, 40, was arrested Wednesday. Police say Stora randomly attacked Kate while she was walking on Seventh Avenue near 17th Street Monday. He faces …

The New York Times reports: Sam Bankman-Fried, the former cryptocurrency mogul who was convicted of fraud, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday, capping an extraordinary saga that upended the multi-trillion-dollar crypto industry and became a cautionary tale of greed and hubris. Mr. Bankman-Fried’s sentence was shorter than the 40 to 50 years that federal prosecutors had recommended, …

Reuters reports: The woman who admitted to stealing President Joe Biden’s daughter Ashley’s diary and helping sell it to conservative activists could face arrest as soon as Friday after skipping her sentencing, a federal judge said on Wednesday. Aimee Harris was supposed to be sentenced in Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon. Her lawyers had earlier told U.S. District Judge Laura Swain …

The Texas Tribune reports: Prosecutors on Tuesday agreed to drop the securities fraud charges facing Attorney General Ken Paxton if he performs 100 hours of community service and fulfills other conditions of a pretrial agreement, bringing an abrupt end to the nearly nine-year-old felony case that has loomed over the embattled Republican since his early days in office. The deal, …

The Associated Press reports: An Ohio man who acknowledged making death threats in voicemails left for then-Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs during the 2022 election season was sentenced Monday to 2 1/2 years in prison. Joshua Russell of Bucyrus, Ohio, had pleaded guilty in late August to a federal charge of making an interstate threat against Hobbs, a Democrat …

The Austin American-Statesman reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is nearing a resolution to nine-year-old securities fraud charges that have dogged his tenure as the state’s top attorney through a special agreement with prosecutors, the American-Statesman has learned. Under a draft agreement, prosecutors would dismiss felony charges against Paxton if he successfully completes the terms of the deal, according to …

Wisconsin Public Radio reports: A Milwaukee County jury found a former election official guilty of election fraud involving absentee ballots Wednesday afternoon. Kimberly Zapata, the former deputy director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, was also found guilty of misconduct in public office, a felony, after she admitted to using fake names to request military absentee ballots on her work laptop …

Los Angeles’s Fox affiliate reports: A Victorville pastor is behind bars for his alleged role in a murder-for-hire plot against his daughter’s boyfriend, according to the Riverside Police Department. The victim, who was not identified, told police he was driving in Riverside’s Orangecrest neighborhood the evening of Oct. 21, 2023 when another car pulled up next to his and shots …

“As many of you already know, I am facing the unwarranted targeting and persecution by the DOJ and FBI at the direction of the Biden Administration, like most J6ers. To say it’s a shock is the understatement of the century. Being handcuffed and shackled isn’t something I ever thought I would experience. “Yet, through it all I remain and will …

The Associated Press reports: An attorney facing criminal charges for illegally accessing Michigan voting machines after the 2020 election was arrested Monday after a hearing in a separate case in federal court in Washington, D.C. Stefanie Lambert was arrested by U.S. Marshals after a hearing over possible sanctions against her for disseminating confidential emails from Dominion Voting Systems, the target …

NBC News reports: A conservative influencer was arrested in California on Jan. 6 charges, including helping to steal a table from a Capitol conference room that the FBI says was used to assault officers just feet away at the lower west tunnel, where some of the most brutal attacks on law enforcement took place. Isabella Deluca, a fervent supporter of …

From an earlier Source New Mexico report: A federal judge convicted former Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin of trespass for his involvement in Jan. 6. Authorities had held him in jail for 20 days, and the judge did not send him back. A New Mexico judge ordered Griffin removed from the commission and barred him for life from serving in …