Crime

Wausau’s ABC affiliate reports: A 52-year-old former Plover youth pastor was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday after previously pleading guilty to two counts of repeated acts of sexual assault. Jordan Huffman, 52, of Antigo will also have 20 years of extended supervision after serving his sentence. The charges stem from an assault in 2017 and lasted until …

Memphis’s NBC affiliate reports: A former Mid-South church leader and Christian school administrator who was indicted for sex crimes against a minor has been sentenced to six years in prison. John Brownlow faced eight charges related to the alleged grooming of a private school student during the pandemic. An Action News 5 Investigation revealed Brownlow was charged with persuading the …

Minnesota Public Radio reports: A former youth pastor at a Duluth church was jailed Tuesday and charged with sexually abusing five teenage girls. St. Louis County prosecutors said that Jackson M. Gatlin, 35, assaulted the teens between 2007 and 2010 while he worked at Vineyard Church. Gatlin is the son of former pastors Michael and Brenda Gatlin. The couple resigned …

Tulsa’s ABC affiliate reports: Tulsa Police arrested a man who worked as a pastor at a church and is accused of inappropriately touching a girl over a period of three years. The victim said Matthew Martinez was an associate pastor at New Heights Baptist Church and Academy near 21st and Memorial. She said Martinez first touched her hand and foot …

ABC News reports: Democratic Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar was carjacked at gunpoint Monday night near his residence in the Navy Yard area of Washington, D.C. just blocks from the Capitol. An alert sent to congressional members stated three to four men held guns to his head and took his car and phone, sources told ABC News. Cuellar’s chief of staff, …

NBC News reports: A Jan. 6 defendant caught on camera using a bullhorn to urge fellow pro-Trump rioters to steal law enforcement officers’ guns took a secret plea deal and was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison earlier this year, the Justice Department and his legal team acknowledged for the first time in a filing unsealed on Monday. Samuel Lazar, …

Kalamazoo’s CBS affiliate reports: A former Michigan priest arrested by authorities who posed as a 15-year-old boy on the dating app Grindr has been convicted. Aaron Nowicki, 49, was convicted of child sexually abusive activity on Thursday, according to a news release from Chippewa County Prosecutor Robert L. Stratton. Nowicki resigned from priestly ministry in Jan. 2019 after it was …

ABC News reports: A 34-year-old New Jersey man is in jail on terrorism charges after authorities alleged he deliberately drove his SUV into a home and a police station while blaring the Guns N’ Roses’ song “Welcome to the Jungle” from his stereo. John G. Hargreaves was immediately taken into custody when his Toyota SUV came crashing through the lobby …

From the Justice Department: A Texas man pleaded guilty today to a felony offense related to his conduct during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. 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. Adam Lejay …

First, from a 2018 New York Times report: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos signaled on Thursday that she intends to take a hard look at whether the Obama administration’s campus rape policies deprived accused students of their rights, saying that “a system without due process ultimately serves no one in the end.” “We need to do this right, we need to …

The Hill reports: A judge Friday denied attempts by three “fake electors” charged in Georgia alongside former President Trump to move their charges to federal court, finding they were not federal officials. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones’s rulings round out the remaining defendants who attempted to move their cases. Jones had already rejected attempts by two other defendants in the …

Long Island’s Newsday reports: A Brentwood pastor was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Thursday and in charged in federal court with the sexual exploitation of a minor after he allegedly admitted coercing a teenage boy into taking and sending graphic photographs he then shared with others, court records show. Jose Saez Jr., the 28-year-old pastor of Iglesia Cristiana …

WKHY radio reports: An Iredell County pastor has been sentenced to four years in prison after entering a guilty plea on child pornography charges. 66-year-old Tony Ernest Bunton of Statesville, pleaded guilty Monday (September 25) in Iredell County Superior Court to two counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. By pleading guilty, Bunton admitted that he distributed, transported, exhibited, …

Santa Fe’s Fox affiliate reports: A Las Cruces man is pleading guilty to a federal charge of making threats through interstate communications. The plea agreement brought before U.S. Magistrate Judge Damian L. Martinez of U.S. District Court in New Mexico has to do with a telephone call Michel David Fox admits making last May to the Houston office of a …

Jacksonville’s NBC affiliate reports: Early last month, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said it was made aware of allegations of misconduct by a church youth group leader, Gregory Norton. Norton, 58, was accused of sexually molesting a teen that he met through functions at Oak Hill Church: Church of the Nazarene, according to JSO. The incident reportedly happened years earlier at …

Axios reports: Target announced Tuesday that it is shuttering nine stores on Oct. 21 because “theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests.” Organized retail crime accounted for $112.1 billion in losses in 2022, a National Retail Federation report released Tuesday found. Organized retail crime — where gangs of thieves swarm stores for products …

From the Justice Department: A California man was sentenced in the District of Columbia today on two felony charges and one misdemeanor related to his actions 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 …

Des Moines’ CBS affiliate reports: A former Cambridge pastor accused of drugging and sexually abusing a child appeared at the Story County Courthouse Monday morning for a plea hearing and sentencing. Prosecutors say Mark Benson, 69, gave a young girl medicine to make her sleep, then sexually assaulted her several times between 2009 and 2012, when she was between 10 …

Charlotte’s ABC affiliate reports: A former church youth leader in South Carolina who was arrested last year for multiple sex crimes against children has been arrested again after another victim spoke out to investigators. William Pinckney Carpenter III was arrested on Monday for criminal sexual conduct with a minor. Last year, Carpenter was arrested for multiple counts of assault with …

The Messenger reports: A planned “Drag Story Hour” at a Brooklyn library was forced to move on Saturday morning after bomb threat were called into 911. Police officers, the bomb squad, a K-9 unit and emergency medical services responded to the threat phoned in by a male caller against the Cortelyou branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. The library was …