Crime

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 …

The Washington Post reports: The Justice Department announced Wednesday the indictments of two Russian spies and two criminal hackers in connection with the heist of 500 million Yahoo user accounts in 2014, marking the first U.S. criminal cyber charges ever against Russian government officials. The indictments target two members of the Russian intelligence agency FSB, and two hackers hired by …

The Washington Post reports: After three decades of public life, Richard “Scott” Silverthorne was known simply as the mayor around Fairfax City. But online, a prosecutor said Monday, he used a sexually suggestive screen name that would lead to his stunning downfall. Using the online moniker, Silverthorne, 50, arranged an orgy with an undercover police officer in exchange for methamphetamine …

Courthouse News Service reports: A Florida judge on Friday rejected the “Stand Your Ground” defense of a retired police officer who must now stand trial for the fatal shooting of fellow moviegoer who angered him by texting before the main feature began. In a decision filed Friday morning, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Susan Barthle questioned the veracity of Curtis Reeves’ testimony. …

Tulsa’s CBS affiliate reports: Monday, the Equality Center in downtown Tulsa was the victim of two separate cases of vandalism. Executive Toby Jenkins said someone in a truck drove by and fired shots at the front doors in the morning, then, Monday afternoon, someone lashed out at the people inside the center. Jenkins said this is the first time they’ve …

Last year GOP now-former Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva, who held official town hall meetings at an anti-gay megachurch and who ceremoniously gave the key to the city to God (who did not attend), was arrested on multiple charges including secretly recording a male teenager playing a game of strip poker in his bedroom at a summer camp. Silva beat those …

ABC News reports: A man accused of making at least eight threats against Jewish Community Centers was arrested by the FBI in St. Louis, Missouri, this morning. The suspect, 31-year-old Juan Thompson, is accused of what federal prosecutors called a “campaign to harass and intimidate.” He’s charged in New York with cyberstalking a woman by communicating threats to JCCs in …

The Indy Channel reports: Before walking into Downtown Olly’s bar Sunday night, Indiana State Police say Brandon Savage called them, saying he was “getting ready to go into a gay bar and shoot everyone. It’s going to be like Orlando.” According to a probable cause affidavit, Savage told police he was armed with a Glock, a Derringer and a machete. …