Crime

Newsweek reports: Russian authorities have pledged to investigate reported mass disappearances and deaths of gay locals in the region of Chechnya, after the regional government dismissed allegations made in Novaya Gazeta on Saturday, saying “you cannot detain… what simply does not exist.” According to the Russian investigative newspaper, authorities in the conservative and predominantly Muslim Chechen Republic have detained over …

The New York Times reports: First, two television reporters vanished. Then a waiter went missing. Over the past week, men ranging in age from 16 to 50 have disappeared from the streets of Chechnya. On Saturday, a leading Russian opposition newspaper confirmed a story already circulating among human rights activists: The Chechen authorities were arresting and killing gay men. While …

The New York Times reports: Bridget Anne Kelly, a former top aide to Gov. Chris Christie, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Wednesday for her role in closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge as a form of political retribution against a mayor who refused to endorse Mr. Christie for re-election in 2013. Earlier on Wednesday, Bill …

CBS News reports: Bill Baroni, an ex-aide to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, has been sentenced to two years in prison over 2013 George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal. Baroni and Bridget Kelly were convicted last November on counts including wire fraud, conspiracy and misusing the bridge for improper purposes. Baroni is being sentenced first Wednesday followed by Kelly in the …

The Associated Press reports: An Indiana man who told police he was headed to a gay pride event in California and was found with a loaded assault rifle and chemicals mixed and ready to explode in his car has pleaded not guilty to weapons charges. James Wesley Howell, of Charlestown, Indiana, was also charged Tuesday with possessing a destructive device. …

The New York Daily News reports: The Baltimore man who selected a black man at random and stabbed him to death in Midtown has been charged with murder as an act of terrorism. James Harris Jackson, 28, faces life without parole if convicted of the charges filed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office Monday. Jackson allegedly stabbed bottle-collector Timothy Caughman, …

Court documents made public at Friday’s arraignment of former Oklahoma GOP state Sen. Ralph “Family Values” Shortey appear to reveal that he agreed to ejaculate in the “boy pussy” of the teenage prostitute he is alleged to have hired. Oklahoma City’s NBC affiliate reports: Ralph Shortey, a Republican from Oklahoma City who represented the state’s 44th senate district, was charged …

The Jerusalem Post reports: A 19-year-old dual American Israeli living in Ashkelon has been arrested, suspected of being behind most of a series of bomb and other threats to Jewish communities in the US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand that date back around six months, The Jerusalem Post has learned. As of Thursday, with a gag order on the probe …

And another shoe drops in the case that will hopefully also ensnare Mat Staver and the Liberty Counsel. The Associated Press reports: A Virginia businessman convicted of international parental kidnapping and conspiracy for his role in a same-sex couple’s child custody fight was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison. Philip Zodhiates, Waynesboro, drove Lisa Miller and 7-year-old Isabella Miller-Jenkins …

The Denver Channel reports: The former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party is charged with forgery and voter fraud for allegedly forging his wife’s mail-in ballot from last year’s election, according to court records and sources. Steven Curtis was the chairman of the state party from 1997 to 1999. He was charged Feb. 1 with one count of forgery of …

Tulsa World reports: The Oklahoma Senate does not need a conviction to expel Sen. Ralph Shortey, who is facing child prostitution charges, experts said. But in the end, it might not matter. An attorney for Shortey told The Oklahoman late Monday that the senator will step down. He has hired Oklahoma City attorney Ed Blau, a former prosecutor, as his …

We’ve been following this case here on JMG for many years. From the Southern Poverty Law Center: Janet Jenkins has been fighting for years for the return of her daughter, Isabella, and to bring those responsible for Isabella’s kidnapping to justice. In 2002, Jenkins and Lisa Miller, her then-partner, had Isabella. But Miller later renounced her lesbianism and moved to …

ABC News reports: There, indeed, was an FBI wiretap involving Russians at Trump Tower. But it was not placed at the behest of Barack Obama and the target was not the Trump campaign of 2016. For two years ending in 2013, the FBI had a court-approved warrant to eavesdrop on a sophisticated Russian organized crime money laundering network that operated …

The Dallas Morning News reports: The FBI arrested a man accused of sending Dallas reporter Kurt Eichenwald a tweet that triggered an epileptic seizure. The name of the suspect has not yet been released, but FBI spokeswoman Lauren Hagee confirmed that an arrest in the case was made Friday morning. Eichenwald tweeted that the man who “assaulted” him faces federal …

Via press release: Congressman Alan Lowenthal (CA-47) today called the attack on the Pride flag outside his Capitol Hill office “a shocking demonstration of hate” and yet another example of a wave of intolerance that has spiked across the nation over the past several months. Yesterday, a visitor to the Cannon House Office Building entered the Congressman’s office and angrily …

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and leaders of both state parties last night called for the resignation of Sen. Ralph Shortey. If his resignation doesn’t come immediately, the Senate will likely act to expel him early next week. Meanwhile there’s this: Shortey, 35, has been in office long enough that he will get his state retirement. There is a law that …

Houston’s NBC affiliate reports: Steve Stockman, who served two stints in the U.S. House of Representatives, spent part of Friday in federal court. Stockman, a Tea Party favorite who courted controversy thorough two congressional terms, was brought into court Thursday shackled and handcuffed. He is accused of conspiring to violate federal election laws during his last term in office. It’s …

Oklahoma City’s ABC affiliate reports: An Edmond police officer has been charged with a misdemeanor and placed on paid administrative leave after being accused of being drunk and nude while at Arcadia Lake in July. Police were called to investigate after receiving reports that a man, identified as Colter Morey, got drunk July 23 while on a boat with friends, …

The Oklahoman reports: Suspended state Sen. Ralph Shortey turned himself in Thursday after being charged with three felonies involving child prostitution accusations. Shortey, 35, was charged in Cleveland County District Court after a police investigation into his stay at a Moore hotel with a 17-year-old boy. Shortey is charged with engaging in child prostitution, engaging in prostitution within 1,000 feet …

Oklahoma City’s ABC affiliate reports: Moore police have recommended three prostitution-related charges against State Sen. Ralph Shortey. The charges include: soliciting prostitution of a minor, prostitution within 1,000 feet of a church and transporting for the purpose of prostitution. Police say the investigation started after a man was found in a motel room with an underage boy. Employees at the …