Crime

Law & Crimes reports: A week after a judge deemed Kellye SoRelle mentally competent to stand trial, the former Oath Keepers attorney and onetime girlfriend to convicted seditionist and Oath Keepers leader Elmer Stewart Rhodes has pleaded guilty to conspiring to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election. According to an unopposed motion requesting that the U.S. Marshals Service to …

Pittsburgh’s ABC affiliate reports: A Western Pennsylvania man is accused of murdering and dismembering a transgender teenager. DaShawn Watkins, 29, is facing murder charges in connection with the death of 14-year-old Pauly Likens. On June 25, the Sharon Police Department received a report that Likens had been missing since June 22, a news release from the Mercer County Coroner states. …

Youngstown’s NBC affiliate reports: Police in Boardman are trying to identify the man who urinated on sandwiches displayed at a local department store. According to a police report, a customer reported seeing a man urinating on a deli counter full of sandwiches Wednesday night. The report says 65 sandwiches worth more than $500 had to be thrown out and the …

NBC News reports: A veteran comedian with roles on “Mr. Show,” “Arrested Development,” “Bob’s Burgers” and “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” has pleaded guilty in connection with his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Jay Johnston, wearing a gray suit, pleaded guilty to a felony offense of obstructing officers during a civil disorder. “Guilty,” …

NBC News reports: Employment scams surged last year, as criminals leveraged artificial intelligence to steal money and personal information from unsuspecting job seekers, experts said. Consumer reports of job scams jumped 118% in 2023 from the prior year, according to a recent report by the Identity Theft Resource Center. Thieves generally pose as recruiters and post fake job listings to …

Michigan Live reports: It would no longer be legal to argue that someone’s sexual orientation justified assaulting them under a proposed law headed to the governor’s desk. If signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a person charged with a violent crime couldn’t seek to reduce or evade criminal liability on claims that they lost control and reacted violently because …

Nashville’s ABC affiliate reports: Mere days after it was painted and installed, Nashville’s first rainbow crosswalk was defaced by an unidentified driver. Hundreds of volunteers joined together Saturday, June 29 to paint the crosswalk at the intersection of 14th Street and Woodland in East Nashville. The crosswalk is meant to be a celebration of Nashville’s LGBTQ+ community. It’s placed outside …

The Associated Press reports: A court in Romania’s capital ruled Friday that social media influencer Andrew Tate can leave the country but must remain within the European Union as he awaits trial on charges of human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. The Bucharest Tribunal’s decision to allow Tate, 37, to leave the country was …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: A hacker group claims it has breached the Florida Department of Health and gained access to a large amount of potentially sensitive data on Floridians. The RansomHub ransomware group said in a post on the dark web that it will release 100 gigabytes of department data unless the state pays an undisclosed amount of money. …

ABC News reports: Samuel Woodward, a California man accused of murdering his former classmate in 2018, has been found guilty in the hate crime case. Blaze Bernstein — a 19-year-old gay, Jewish student at the University of Pennsylvania — went missing while visiting his family in Newport Beach during winter break in January 2018. His body was found following a …

The Christian Post reports: Zachary King, a pastor with “significant experience serving in youth ministry” at multiple megachurches, including LexCity Church in Lexington, Kentucky, from which he recently resigned as executive pastor, has been charged with the rape and sexual abuse of a minor. A press release from the office of Attorney General of Kentucky, Russell Coleman, said King, 47, …

From the Justice Department: An Arkansas man was arrested today for allegedly assaulting law enforcement and other charges related to his conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. His alleged actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: St. Petersburg police have arrested a man who they say vandalized an LGBTQ+ street mural by doing burnouts on it. Christian Maier, 18, of St. Petersburg was arrested Monday on charges of felony criminal mischief and racing or stunt driving on a public street, the police department said in a news release. The Progressive Pride …

The Associated Press reports: Florida prosecutors knew the late millionaire and financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually assaulted teenage girls two years before they cut a plea deal that has long been criticized as too lenient and a missed opportunity to imprison him a decade earlier, according to transcripts released Monday. The investigations uncovered Epstein’s close ties to former President Bill Clinton …

Indianapolis’s Fox affiliate reports: Victoria Spartz, the Republican U.S. Representative from Indiana’s fifth district currently running for reelection, has been charged after reportedly bringing a gun into a DC airport. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority confirmed to FOX59/CBS4 on Monday afternoon that Spartz was charged last Friday, June 28, with a weapons violation at Dulles International Airport. According to TSA, officers …

From the Justice Department: A North Carolina man was sentenced to prison today on six felonies related to his violent conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election. …

From the Justice Department: Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and James Smith, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the arrest of JUSTIN HEATH SMITH, an adult film actor who uses the stage name “Austin Wolf.” SMITH is charged …

NBC News reports: A Missouri woman is charged with multiple felonies for allegedly spiking her husband’s Mountain Dew with Roundup weed killer and insecticide repeatedly to be “mean” to him, authorities said. Michelle Y. Peters, 47, of Lebanon, is accused of secretly putting Roundup in her husband’s 2-liter bottles of Mountain Dew he stored in a garage refrigerator during May …

Sarasota’s ABC affiliate reports: The senior pastor of Palm View Baptist Church, Jonathan Edward Elwing, was arrested on June 21 for possession of child pornography. The 18 felony counts against Elwing stem from explicit photos of minors that detectives found on his phone. On June 20, detectives received information that Elwing used cryptocurrency to make an online purchase of child …

ABC News reports: A teenager accused of making a hit list and planning a mass killing at a high school near Cincinnati pleaded guilty Thursday to reduced charges of inducing panic. Prosecutors dropped a charge against the 14-year-old, leveled in February, of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder. He will be sentenced in July. Hamilton County Prosecutor Melissa Powers said the …