Crime

The Daily Beast reports: When Trump-loving youth group Turning Point USA hosted a four-day extravaganza last month featuring right-wing media’s leading lights, it did so with cash from two groups the feds say bilked millions from elderly Republicans and anti-communist émigrés from China. The event’s sole “Diamond Sponsor”—reflecting the highest level of support—was Fisher Capital, a precious metals dealer that …

The Denver Post reports: Speaking to online followers Aug. 22, 2022, Rev. Eli Regalado had a divine message. “It was last October that the Lord brought this cryptocurrency to me. He said, ‘Take this to my people for a wealth transfer.’ It has been confirmed a hundred times since,” the pastor said, according to a lawsuit filed in Denver this …

Politico reports: Prosecutors say Peter Navarro — a former trade adviser to Donald Trump — should go to jail for six months and pay a $200,000 fine for defying a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 select committee. “The Defendant chose allegiance to former President Donald Trump over the rule of law,” argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi in a …

Al Jazeera reports: A Kenyan court has charged cult leader Paul Mackenzie with “terrorism”-related crimes over the deaths of 429 of his followers. The self-proclaimed pastor was charged along with 94 others on Thursday over the deaths of followers whose bodies have been exhumed from the Shakahola forest near the Indian Ocean. The charges, announced during an appearance before a …

The Associated Press reports: The shooter who killed five people and endangered the lives of over 40 others at a LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs appeared in federal court to face federal hate crimes Tuesday. Anderson Lee Aldrich, 23, pleaded not guilty to the federal charges Tuesday. Last year Aldrich was moved to the Wyoming State Penitentiary due to safety …

The CBC reports: A Quebec man who posted conspiracy theories online that forest fires were being deliberately set by the government has pleaded guilty to starting a series of fires himself that forced hundreds of people from their homes. Brian Paré, 38, pleaded guilty Monday to 13 counts of arson and one count of arson with disregard for human life …

The New York Times reports: Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were both charged last fall in a broad federal corruption case in which they were accused of accepting cash and gold bribes. Now their marriage itself is the centerpiece of a new legal argument. Both Mr. and Ms. Menendez are seeking to split their …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Celeste Borys, one of the women suing Tim Ballard, flew to California with her lawyer last week to file criminal complaints alleging the founder of Operation Underground Railroad sexually assaulted her in four jurisdictions, according to her attorney. Borys, who was Ballard’s executive assistant from March 2023 until last fall, previously filed a criminal complaint …

Ars Technica reports: An actor who was hired to pretend to be the highly qualified CEO of a shady, collapsed cryptocurrency hedge fund called HyperVerse has apologized after a YouTuber unmasked his real identity last week. An Englishman currently living in Thailand, Stephen Harrison confirmed that HyperVerse hired him to pose as CEO Steven Reece Lewis. Harrison told The Guardian …

From the Justice Department: William Chrestman, 51, of Olathe, Kansas, was sentenced to 55 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Kelly. Chrestman pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding and threatening a federal officer, both felonies, on Oct. 16, 2023. According to court …

New Haven’s Fox affiliate reports: Former Derby Alderman and mayoral candidate Gino DiGiovanni Jr. has entered a guilty plea for his involvement in the January 6 insurrection. DiGiovanni pleaded guilty Friday to one count of Entering and Remaining in a Restricted Building or Grounds. The crime carries a maximum sentence of one year of imprisonment and a fine of $100,000. …

The Associated Press reports: Federal prosecutors said Friday that they will seek the death penalty against a white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket. Payton Gendron, 20, is already serving a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole after he pleaded guilty to state charges of murder and hate-motivated domestic terrorism in the …

Grand Rapids’ ABC affiliate reports: Luke Isaac Terpstra, a 30-year-old in Grant, was arraigned on Jan. 4 for building homemade explosive devices, then trying to get rid of them, according to Grant Police. Court documents show that the Kent County Sheriff’s Office received a tip on Jan. 2 from Terpstra’s mother that explosives had possibly been thrown away in the …

The Daily Beast reports: Donald Trump Jr. and ex-White House trade adviser Peter Navarro appear on a list of potential defendants in a court filing Wednesday related to the sprawling bankruptcy case of a right-wing Chinese businessman accused of bilking anti-communist dissidents. The court-appointed trustee overseeing the estate of Guo Wengui—also known as Ho Wan Kwok, Miles Guo, and Miles …

The Associated Press reports: A Montana fire chief who lost a previous job over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate has been charged with spraying a chemical irritant on police officers during the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Prosecutors say that Frank Dahlquist sprayed “an orange-colored chemical agent” directly into the face of one officer and later sprayed …

Miami’s ABC affiliate reports: Former Miami-Dade School Board Vice Chair Lubby Navarro was arrested Thursday morning. State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Thursday afternoon that Navarro, 49, made more than $100,000 in unauthorized purchases on her district credit cards for personal items. Navarro was booked on charges of organized fraud of $50,000 or more, organized fraud of $20,000 or less. …

The Washington Post reports: The effort to try Theodore McCarrick on charges of criminal sex assault ended Wednesday in a Wisconsin courtroom when the former archbishop of Washington was deemed incompetent because of dementia. McCarrick, 93, had been charged with sexual assault in the fourth degree, a misdemeanor, in connection with accusations of fondling an 18-year-old family friend at a …

Memphis’s NBC affiliate reports: Collierville School Board Member Keri Blair resigned Tuesday, citing “personal, family reasons,” according to the school board. This comes after she was arrested and charged Friday, January 5, on seven counts of property theft from the Collierville Target, according to the Collierville Police Department. Blair is currently free on a $7,500 bond. According to Collierville police, …

The Messenger reports: In a six-page order, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said Harrison Floyd’s argument that he could not be prosecuted by the Fulton County District Attorney’s office “lacks legal merit” and denied his request for a permanent end to the case against him. McAfee’s order responds to an October court filing by Floyd, in which his …

NBC News reports: A man targeted by right-wing conspiracy theories about the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced on Tuesday to a year of probation but no jail time for joining the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of fellow Donald Trump supporters. Ray Epps, who was driven into hiding by death threats, pleaded guilty in September to a misdemeanor …