Crime

CNN reports: A former Republican New Mexico House of Representatives candidate – who, police say, claimed election fraud after his defeat – was arrested by an Albuquerque SWAT team Monday in connection with a string of recent shootings at the homes of local Democratic elected leaders, city police said. Solomon Peña, who lost his 2022 run for state House District …

The Guardian reports: A Metropolitan police officer has been revealed as a serial rapist who committed more than 71 serious sexual offences, despite the force being told of repeated allegations over two decades that he was a threat to women. PC David Carrick, an armed officer in the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command, admitted on Monday to 49 counts – …

Reuters reports: Italian police on Monday arrested Matteo Messina Denaro, the country’s most wanted mafia boss who had been on the run since 1993, swooping on a private hospital in the Sicilian capital Palermo where he was undergoing treatment. Prosecutors say Messina Denaro, 60, is a boss of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra mafia. He had been sentenced in absentia to a …

Little Rock’s NBC affiliate reports: The son of former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson’s has been arrested in Northwest Arkansas, according to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office. William Asa Hutchinson III, 47, was taken into custody on Friday by the Benton County Sheriff’s office for multiple charges. Hutchinson faces charges of simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms along with refusal to …

The Mid Hudson News reports: A lawsuit filed in Dutchess County Supreme Court under the New York State Adult Survivor’s Act (ASA) accuses the Hyde Park Baptist Church of intentional and negligent acts that resulted in the plaintiff, Shielagh Clark, being a victim of sexual abuse carried out by the church’s former pastor, Jonathan Alan Weaver. Clark alleges that in …

The Roys Report reports: Five women in California have filed a lawsuit alleging that the International Churches of Christ perpetrated a “systemic scheme of abuse” that included the sexual abuse of children as young as three years old and financial abuse of its members. The plaintiffs filed a RICO lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of …

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports: A former Catholic priest was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison after admitting to possessing thousands of pieces of child pornography and putting them into PowerPoints that he edited over the course of more than a decade. Father James Beighlie, 72, was a Vincentian priest who most recently served as an associate pastor at …

The Des Moines Register reports: Federal prosecutors say a Woodbury County woman committed widespread voter fraud to support her husband in two 2020 electoral races. The U.S. Department of Justice announced charges Thursday against Kim Phuong Taylor, 49, of Sioux City. According to a DOJ press release, Phuong Taylor faces more than 50 felony charges, including 26 counts of providing …

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports: A former teacher at the Apostolic Christian Academy in Maryville has been arrested on a felony charge that he sexually abused a 14-year-old girl, Knox News has learned. Joseph “Kade” Abbott was arrested in North Carolina and taken to the Blount County jail on Monday. Knox News received no response to a list of questions …

Jacksonville’s NBC affiliate reports: A Jacksonville pastor who was arrested in April on multiple sex crimes chargers has pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted sexual battery of a minor. Rafael Cuevas will serve 20 years in Florida state prison and have to serve 10 years of probation after his release. This was part of a negotiated plea deal, meaning the …

The New York Times reports: A former upstate New York election official pleaded guilty on Wednesday to federal identity theft charges arising from his fraudulent use of voters’ personal information to apply for a dozen absentee ballots in 2021. In entering his plea in U.S. District Court in Albany, the former official, Jason Schofield, admitted to requesting the bogus ballots …

The Baptist Press reports: A pastor from McLeansboro, Ill., was arrested Jan. 5 on two counts of grooming minors for sexual purposes. Garrett Biggerstaff was charged after a four-month investigation that included the seizure of his electronic devices and collection of evidence at his home. Biggerstaff was taken into custody and booked at the Jefferson County Jail. His bond was …

The Guardian reports: Cardinal George Pell has died in Vatican City, aged 81. Cardinal Pell, the former Catholic archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney, died on Tuesday evening, reportedly following complications from hip surgery. He was the Vatican’s top finance minister before he left in 2017 to stand trial in Australia for child abuse offences. Cardinal Pell was, in 2018, convicted …

The West Chester Patch reports: A former teacher at West Chester Christian School was sentenced by Chester County Judge Patrick Carmody to 20 to 40 years in state prison for sexually assaulting a first-grader in 2007 to 2008. Randy Boston, 65, of Shickshinny, was convicted by a jury in August of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, unlawful contact …

Charleston’s CBS affiliate reports: A South Carolina priest who served in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston has been charged with federal sex crimes stemming from allegations that he abused an 11-year-old child. Jaime Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias, known in the church as “Father Gonzalez,” was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in Miami. A recently unsealed indictment shows Gonzalez-Farias, 68, was …

The Associated Press reports: A New Jersey woman who pleaded guilty to helping her boyfriend spread a feel-good story about a homeless veteran that garnered more than $400,000 in online donations has been sentenced to three years in prison on state theft charges. Katelyn McClure, 32, wasn’t present in the Mount Holly courtroom Friday because she is serving a one-year …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Adult film legend Ron Jeremy has “severe dementia” and will be declared unfit to stand trial on multiple rape allegations later this month.. Jeremy – real name Ronald Hyatt – was first charged in June 2020 with raping four women he met in bars and clubs. The case against Jeremy quickly escalated as dozens of …

Des Moines’ CBS affiliate reports: A former Iowa church pastor is accused of drugging and sexually abusing a child more than a decade ago. Criminal complaints say 68-year-old Mark Benson abused the girl several times at his home in Cambridge from 2009 to 2012. The victim was between the ages of 10 and 13 at the time. She told police …

The Times Of San Diego reports: The former pastor of an Imperial County-based church and his wife were sentenced in San Diego federal court Friday following their guilty pleas to benefits fraud charges, in a case that originally stemmed from allegations that the church’s leaders forced homeless people to surrender their welfare benefits and panhandle to benefit the organization. Victor …

CBS News reports: A 6-year-old student shot a teacher during an altercation at a Virginia elementary school on Friday, police said. No students were injured in the incident at Richneck Elementary School, Newport News police said in a statement. “This was not an accidental shooting,” Police Chief Steve Drew told reporters during an evening press conference. The boy was taken …