Crime

Quincy’s NBC affiliate reports: A Quincy man who was a youth leader at Hope Lutheran Church in Quincy was sentenced Friday to 12 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Court records show that 22-year-old Isaiah Mikkelson was sentenced to 6 years each for two counts of criminal sexual abuse of a victim between 13 and 18 years old. Mikkelson …

Toledo’s CBS affiliate reports: A former northwest Ohio priest was sentenced Friday, just over three years after he was initially arrested on charges of sex trafficking minors and adults, charges on which he was ultimately found guilty. Michael Zacharias appeared in federal court Friday afternoon, where a judge sentenced him to life in prison on two counts and 20 years …

Washington DC’s CBS radio affiliate reports: A Maryland law that did away with time limits for legal action by survivors of childhood sexual abuse is being challenged by the Archdiocese of Washington. The Maryland Child Victims Act passed in the state’s General Assembly and went into effect Oct. 1. The bill was a yearslong effort by advocates for survivors who …

Waco’s ABC affiliate reports: A pastor from Mission was sentenced Thursday to 12 years behind bars after pleading guilty to charges of aggravated sexual assault and practicing medicine without a license, court records show. As part of his sentencing, Melquisedec Chan will serve 10 years probation and pay a $5,000 fine for practicing medicine without a license. Chan was arrested …

Bridge Michigan reports: A private investigator retained by Stefanie Lambert and Matt DePerno [photo] later cooperated with authorities and testified before a grand jury that indicted the pair for their role in an alleged voting machine tampering scheme, according to new court records. Recent disclosures in the high-profile case also reveal a secret informant shared additional information with Special Prosecutor …

The Hill reports: Tech scholars and scam victims told lawmakers artificial intelligence (AI) is driving more sophisticated scams during a Senate hearing Thursday morning. Witness Gary Schildhorn testified about his experience being scammed. The scammer used AI to mimic his son’s voice. The scammer, posing as an attorney, told Schildhorn his son had been driving while drunk, caused a car …

Courthouse News reports: A man who assaulted a congresswoman in her apartment building in February was sentenced to 27 months in prison on Thursday. Kendrid Hamlin, a 27-year-old homeless man who suffers from schizophrenia, followed Representative Angie Craig, a Democrat from Minnesota, into an elevator, where first he said he needed to get into her apartment, then punched her in …

Goldsboro’s CBS affiliate reports: A teacher at a Christian school in Sanford has been charged with sex offenses involving a student, Sanford police said Thursday. On Nov. 8, police received a report of misconduct by a teacher at Lee Christian School at 3220 Keller Andrews Road. Further Investigation into the allegations led police investigators to bring charges against 57-year-old Daniel …

Law & Crime reports: A former Republican clerk in Mesa County, Colorado, indicted in 2022 for official misconduct connected to her ill-fated attempt to prove that Dominion Voting Systems and its electronic voting machines stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit in federal court against state officials and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, claiming she’s being …

The Washington Examiner reports: Fulton County prosecutors asked a judge Wednesday to jail Harrison Floyd, a co-defendant in Donald Trump’s 2020 election subversion case in Georgia, over alleged attempts to intimidate witnesses, according to a court filing. “The Defendant’s actions demonstrate that he poses a significant threat of intimidating witnesses and otherwise obstructing the administration of justice in the future, …

CBS News reports: Amazon.com is warning that scammers are just as eager as consumers to take advantage of holiday shopping deals, with bad actors trying to gain access to customers’ Prime accounts through scam emails, calls and texts. The online retailer said it has seen a surge in criminal activity involving the ecommerce platform as shoppers use Amazon to make …

Click On Detroit reports: A man serving as a youth leader at a Macomb County church has been charged with criminal sexual conduct due to alleged sexual contact with a minor who attends his church. Clinton Township man Luis Mendoza, 29, was arraigned Wednesday, Nov. 15 on multiple counts of criminal sex conduct, the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office reports. Mendoza, …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: In an unexpected move, the defense in the federal trial of David DePape called DePape to the stand Tuesday morning, and he became emotional as he discussed his conspiracy-theory-driven motives for attacking Paul Pelosi. “When Bush was in office, I thought 9/11 was an inside job,” he said. DePape burst into tears just minutes into …

The Mississippi Press reports: Samuel Lamar Taylor, 52, has been sentenced to life without parole after he was convicted by a Rankin County jury on September 20, 2023, of one count of sexual battery and one count of gratification of lust. Taylor served as a music teacher for over 25 years at schools across Mississippi, retiring from Richland Upper Elementary …

The Chicago Tribune reports: An Orland Park pastor charged with conspiring with others in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia says he is not planning to take a plea deal, but his attorney said that going through a trial would likely be very expensive. The Rev. Stephen Cliffgard Lee, pastor at Living Word Lutheran Church …

The Hill reports: About 1.3 million people were affected by a data breach in Maine earlier this year, the state revealed Thursday. The breach was part of a massive cyberattack in May that exploited a vulnerability in the widely used MOVEit file-transfer system. Maine said the affected data included names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, driver’s license or state …

The Washington Post reports: A key element of both the assault and attempted kidnapping charges is that the alleged crimes were in retaliation for Nancy Pelosi’s work in the House. Opening statements made clear that the defense strategy will be to try to undercut that part of the prosecution’s case by showing that it was instead Daviud DePape’s belief in …

Michigan Live reports: Convicted of assaulting young boys as a Little League coach in North Carolina, Jonathan S. Russell relocated to Saginaw Township. He’s now facing charges in two Michigan counties for allegedly assaulting numerous children by exploiting his position in a local church. In February, Michigan State Police troopers began investigating allegations Jonathan S. Russell had been abusing children …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Former Utah therapist Scott Owen was arrested Wednesday in connection with accusations that he sexually abused patients during sessions. Owen, 63, was booked into the Utah County jail on suspicion of six counts of object rape and four counts of forcible sodomy. A Utah County judge has ordered that Owen remain in jail without the …

Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate reports: An Arizona judge has dismissed a high-profile child sexual abuse lawsuit against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ruling that church officials who knew that a church member was sexually abusing his daughter had no duty to report the abuse to police or social service agencies because the information was received during …