Crime

The Providence Journal reports: Calling his crimes egregious and an enormous violation of the trust to the parishioners he once served, a federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a former Roman Catholic priest to serve six years in prison. “I’m strongly inclined to give you more than that,” U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith said in sentencing Rev. James Ward …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide whether a defendant arrested in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol can be charged with obstructing an official proceeding in a dispute with potential implications for one of Republican former President Donald Trump’s four criminal cases. The justices took up an appeal by a Jan. …

NBC News reports: The FBI has arrested an “internet pornography personality” who went by the name “GodHypnotic,” accusing him of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. Paul Caloia was arrested last week, according to court records, and faces four misdemeanor charges. An FBI affidavit features images of the man identified as Caloia climbing in through a broken window. An FBI …

The New York Daily News reports: Ex-Rep. George Santos got a reprieve Tuesday when a judge turned back a prosecution push to move up his trial on charges of fraud and campaign finance law violations. Prosecutors had hoped to have the trial as soon as April or May — but Judge Joanna Seybert backed Santos’ lawyers, who said they needed …

From the Justice Department: A federal jury today convicted a Lame Deer pastor of sexually abusing three children while they were staying at his home, on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said. After a six-day trial that began on Dec. 4, the jury found Dean Alan Smith, 67, guilty of aggravated sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact …

CBS News reports: The Diocese of Sacramento will seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after more than 250 lawsuits claiming sexual abuse by clergy and other staff, Bishop Jaime Soto said on Saturday. “There are many victim-survivors awaiting compensation for the reprehensible sins committed against them,” Soto said in a statement to his parishioners. “It is the sickening sin of sexual …

CNBC reports: A New Hampshire man was arrested on a charge of threatening to kill Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and his supporters at a campaign event in the state, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday. The man, Tyler Anderson, last week allegedly responded to a Ramaswamy campaign text message about a meet-and-greet breakfast in Portsmouth on Monday with …

The New York Daily News reports: According to authorities who uncovered the scheme during their “Operation Bad Elf” crackdown, a shocking number of gift cards were found to have been tampered with. Police say thieves have been stealing gift cards, replacing the barcodes with their own, and putting them back on the shelves. “When the consumer goes to check out, …

The New York Times reports: A national lobbying group has retracted its startling estimate that “organized retail crime” was responsible for nearly half the $94.5 billion in store merchandise that disappeared in 2021, a figure that helped amplify claims that the United States was experiencing a nationwide wave of shoplifting. The group, the National Retail Federation, edited that claim last …

The New York Times reports: Bystanders stopped a 26-year-old woman from setting fire to the home where Martin Luther King Jr. was born after she poured gasoline on it, the authorities said. Two visitors from Utah interrupted the woman as she was pouring gasoline on the porch and on the door of the home, Darin Schierbaum, the Atlanta police chief, …

The Associated Press reports: The 42-year-old son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer was charged Thursday with manslaughter and fleeing an officer after a police pursuit ended in a crash that killed a North Dakota sheriff’s deputy who had just laid a tire deflation device on the road and was taking cover behind his squad car, according to court documents. Ian …

The Huffington Post reports: A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee faces wire fraud and illegal monetary transaction charges after allegedly stealing more than $22 million from the football franchise over the span of a few years. According to documents filed this week in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Amit Patel used his position overseeing the NFL …

Southern Illinois Now reports: A 39-year-old Centralia minister has been charged in Marion County Court with four counts of child pornography. Ian Maphet of Edgewood Lane was taken into custody by Centralia Police at the Calumet Street Christian Church on Wednesday where he is Worship Minister. In a Facebook post, the church says after hearing the evidence from Illinois State …

Via press release from GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer: Earlier this evening, our 42-year-old son Ian was involved in a police chase which resulted in an accident that killed an officer. Ian suffers from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations. Kris [Cramer’s wife] was with Ian when he insisted on going to his brother Ike. Ike died …

Kansas City’s ABC affiliate reports: An Independence pastor is facing child molestation charges. Court documents state that multiple people under the age of 18 accused Virgil Marsh of sexually assaulting them between 2011 and 2018. Marsh, 71, is now in the Jackson County jail. He was charged with two counts of first-degree of child molestation and first-degree statutory sodomy. A …

Pittsburgh’s ABC affiliate reports: A Butler County pastor is in jail Wednesday evening after engaging in what state police are calling inappropriate sexual contact with two minors. Herman Clarence Rushing, Jr., 67, of Portersville Borough, is facing charges of corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children and indecent assault. Rushing is in the Butler County Prison as of Wednesday …

Click Orlando reports: A resident from The Villages was found guilty of charges related to voter fraud in the 2020 election on Monday. Robert Rivernider Jr., 58, is accused of signing his father’s name to a vote-by-mail ballot. According to Sumter County Elections Supervisor Bill Keen, Rivernider’s father died on Oct. 19, 2020. He had a ballot dated and signed …

Fort Wayne’s ABC affiliate reports: A 25-year-old man is facing charges after court documents say he had inappropriate contact with a minor while he was serving as a pastor at a Markle church. Court records show Zachary Luke Petree was charged with child seduction while having a professional relationship with the child, dissemination of matter harmful to minors, and sexual …

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: Just over a year after former New Jersey governor and presidential candidate Chris Christie’s niece, Shannon Epstein, was kicked off a flight at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and accused of drunkenly biting, kicking and spitting on deputies who tried to arrest her, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney Office formally filed charges against her …

The CBC reports: A Roman Catholic priest on P.E.I. has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual exploitation of a teenage boy in the 1990s. Maurice Joseph Praught, 70, entered the plea in a Charlottetown courtroom Tuesday morning. He was arrested in 2022 following a joint investigation by Summerside police and the …