Crime

Washington DC’s NBC affiliate reports: A former Maryland official was arrested last week and accused of sexual solicitation of a minor in Anne Arundel County, authorities said. The suspect, 65-year-old Luis Esteban Borunda, served as Maryland Deputy Secretary of State for eight years under Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration. Investigators said Borunda began chatting online with a special agent with the …

Huntsville’s NBC affiliate reports: House District 10 Representative David Cole (R-Huntsville) has resigned and signed a plea agreement following his arrest for voting fraud. According to Gov. Kay Ivey’s office, the District 10 seat will remain vacant until a future special election can be scheduled. That date is unknown at this time. Cole was charged with fraud-voting at multiple or …

The New York Post reports: A one-time aide to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was arrested this month for allegedly paying for a photo of a 6-year-old girl being sexually abused. Kevin Tomafsky, 41, was nabbed Aug. 15 after a grand jury indicted him in July on multiple child sexual abuse charges. Tomafsky had been under investigation since October …

The Syracuse Post-Standard reports: A priest in the Syracuse Catholic Diocese has been charged with forcibly touching a minor over several years, deputies said. Rev. Nathan Brooks, 36, of LaFayette, is accused of touching the minor between 2019 and 2021 in the town of Homer and in the city of Cortland. Brooks is an administrator at the Church of the …

Gainesville’s ABC affiliate reports: With a sentencing hearing scheduled Sept. 11, federal prosecutors said in a court filing Thursday that former state Rep. Joe Harding, R-Ocala, should be sent to prison for fraudulently applying for business loans during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Joseph Harding is a businessman and former member of the Florida House of Representatives,” the filing said. “As he …

Posted to the Family Research Council’s website: Pro-lifers are fighting to stay out of jail after being convicted of federal crimes by a Washington, D.C. jury. Five pro-life activists with the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) organization were convicted Tuesday of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and were immediately jailed. Lauren Handy, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, …

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: More than three years after filing for bankruptcy protection amid mounting claims of child sex abuse by local clergy, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is preparing to sell off seven properties — including the shuttered Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, the St. Jude Community Center and the Catholic Bookstore Uptown — as a way to …

From the Justice Department: A Texas man pleaded guilty today in the Northern District of Georgia to posting a message online threatening several Georgia public officials following the 2020 election. According to court documents, around Jan. 5, 2021, Chad Christopher Stark, 55, of Leander, posted a message to Craigslist entitled, “Georgia Patriots it’s time to kill [Official A] the Chinese …

From the 1: On August 31, 2023, Cory J. Herthel (age: 40) of Green Bay, Wisconsin, pled guilty to attempted sexual exploitation of a minor, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2251(a). Herthel will receive a federal prison sentence of at least 15 years when he is sentenced on December 4, 2023. He will also be required …

NPR reports: Theodore McCarrick was once a cardinal – one of the highest-ranking positions in the Roman Catholic Church. He was also the archbishop of Washington, D.C. And he’s the only current or former U.S. cardinal to ever face sex abuse charges. But now a judge in Massachusetts has dismissed a criminal case against McCarrick stemming from the alleged molestation …

Mobile’s NBC affiliate reports: Allan Kyle Jones, 48, was booked into he Baldwin County Corrections Center on Tuesday on 4 charges of possession of Child Pornography. Jones is listed as the Pastor of Lifeway Community Church in Loxley on the churches website, having come to the church in 2015. Jail records indicate that Jones posted $60,000 in bond, $15,000 on …

The New York Daily News reports: A Colorado man accused of tearing down LGBTQ rainbow flags by NYC’s historic Stonewall Inn during a Pride month hate crime was arrested Monday on charges police said were part of a pattern of attacks in the area. Cops charged Patrick Murphy, 25, of Denver, with committing criminal mischief as a hate crime for …

The Huntington Herald-Dispatch reports: Years after being starved, beaten and subjected to various forms of torture as children, former students of the now-defunct Miracle Meadows School in Salem will receive a total of $100 million in civil lawsuit settlements. The amount includes settlements from two consolidated cases brought by dozens of former students and their families. A 2017 filing against …

Atlanta News First reports: A Central Georgia man is accused of trying to sell a teenage girl on the dark web. Kelly Garrett Ivey was indicted in Jasper County on August 14th. According to the arrest warrants, the alleged crimes happened in June, and Ivey was arrested. He was denied bond on July 11th, with the judge noting in the …

Washington DC’s CBS affiliate reports: A jury convicted five anti-abortion activists Tuesday of conspiring to blockade a D.C. clinic in 2020 in violation of federal law. Jurors deliberated for a day and a half before returning their verdict, finding activists Lauren Handy, Heather Idoni, William Goodman, John Hinshaw and Herb Geraghty of two felony counts each of conspiracy against rights …

Penn Live reports: A Pennsylvania man is in custody after police said he pointed a shotgun at two women and a police officer and attempted to enter a predominantly African-American church in Ambridge, Beaver County, Sunday morning. Authorities reported to the intersection of Duss Avenue and Fourth Street shortly after 9 a.m. for a report of a man walking around …

The New York Post reports: Former Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill, who claims he fired the shots that killed Osama bin Laden, beat up a security guard and called him the N-word during an alcohol-fueled incident that resulted in his arrest after he passed out at a hotel bar in Texas last week, police sources said. The onetime hero hurled the …

NBC News reports: The white gunman who killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, over the weekend wore a Rhodesian army patch on his tactical vest, law enforcement sources say, a reference that has been used before during white supremacist attacks. The patch — representing Rhodesia, a former white minority-ruled territory in southern Africa in …

New York City’s CW affiliate reports: Police are searching for a man accused of attacking a woman after he made an anti-LGBTQ remark toward her in Hudson River Park, according to the NYPD. Police said the victim was jogging in the park on Aug. 21 at 8:30 a.m. when the suspect approached her and made the remark. The man allegedly …

The Times Of San Diego reports: A 27-year-old church choir leader was in custody Monday on suspicion of sexual assault of a minor that took place in 2021, police reported. Rafael Valentin Magana was arrested Thursday in National City by San Diego Police on a felony warrant charging him with oral copulation and other lewd and lascivious acts with a …