Crime

The Daily Beast reports: “At Agapé, we lovingly, patiently, and biblically teach your child the importance of submission to authority and the joys of being an obedient law-abiding citizen,” a soft-spoken voiceover actor says while images of smiling teenagers flash across the screen. “Mom and Dad, we want to support you in your effort to rescue your son from himself.” …

The New Arab reports: Nigerian police have rescued dozens of people, including many children, from a church basement where they had been told to wait for what they believed would be second coming of Christ, police said. Police raided the Whole Bible Believers Church in southwestern Ondo State on Friday after a tip from a local mother who said that …

NBC News reports: The Edwardses were Christian missionaries from Canada who lived in Turkey for many years and moved to Florida in 2019. On paper they ran a faith-based charity with a high-minded mission: to “communicate Christian love in doctrine and service to the poor.” But by the fall of 2020, the family of four — dad Evan; mom Mary …

Axios reports: The FBI has offered a $100,000 reward in its search for Ruja Ignatova, the so-called “Cryptoqueen” who allegedly helped defraud investors out of $4 billion with a cryptocurrency scam. Ignatova was added to the FBI’s list of the 10 most-wanted fugitives this week. The FBI is asking for any information about the alleged fraudster, who disappeared in 2017. …

San Francisco’s NBC News affiliate reports: Dozens of Northern California Catholic priests and church employees – some still working, others retired or deceased – are being publicly accused for the first time of sexually abusing children in their care. The allegations suggest startling new depths to the decades-long scandal that continues to rock the church and its followers. Those new …

The New York Daily News reports: Disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly, who for decades preyed on his fans through psychological and sexual abuse, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison. The 55-year-old multiplatinum-selling artist, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, had faced up to a life sentence. He was convicted last September of nine racketeering counts for a …

The Associated Press reports: The FBI has opened a widening investigation into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans going back decades, a rare federal foray into such cases looking specifically at whether priests took children across state lines to molest them, officials and others familiar with the inquiry told The Associated Press. More than a dozen …

NBC News reports: Former Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation, a $25,000 fine and community service for lying to federal authorities about an illegal campaign contribution, on the same day that voters in his district were deciding on his replacement in a special election. Fortenberry, 60, sat quietly as a federal …

The New York Post reports: Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 in prison Tuesday for her role in helping powerful pedophile Jeffrey Epstein abuse young girls, capping off a dramatic fall from grace for the British socialite turned-convicted sex-trafficker. Maxwell’s sentencing marked the end of the federal criminal proceedings against her in the Southern District of New York, where she …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: A Kissimmee pastor was arrested Monday after he was suspected of exposing his genitals and masturbating at a Starbucks, according to Osceola County Sheriff’s Office. Enginio Dali Muniz-Colon, 39, was arrested and taken to Osceola County Jail, where he faces a charge of exposure of sexual organs, OCSO said. Muniz-Colon is a pastor and teaches online …

Fort Lauderdale’s ABC News affiliate reports: Police in Fort Lauderdale arrested a man they say threatened a security guard with a gun. The incident happened outside a bar in Wilton Manors. According to police, 45-year-old Kenneth Justesen was taken into custody Friday night outside the Gym Sportsbar. Justesen is facing several charges including use of a firearm under the influence …

Dallas’s CBS News affiliate reports: Matt McIlravy formally resigned from his position of Pilot Point mayor this morning after being indicted earlier this week for online solicitation of a child. MacIlravy, a married father of two boys, was arrested on Tuesday, June 21, 2022 in an undercover operation conducted by Dallas police. He is accused of arranging to meet up …

The Albany Times-Union reports: Two brothers who grew up in Warren County in a devout Catholic family allege that Gary Mercure, a former priest in their childhood parish who was later convicted of raping young boys in Massachusetts, had sexually abused them on multiple occasions over a period of years and that ex-Albany Bishop Howard J. Hubbard took part in …

The Savannah Morning News reports: The FBI on Thursday raided three churches associated with the House of Prayer Christian Church in Georgia and Texas.  The House of Prayer is owned by the foreign nonprofit company House of Prayer Christian Churches of America Inc., which registered with the Georgia Secretary of State in 2004. Its churches, which are primarily located near …

The Hollywood Reporter reports: Jurors at a civil trial found Tuesday that Bill Cosby sexually abused a 16-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1975. The Los Angeles County jury delivered the verdict in favor of Judy Huth, who is now 64, and awarded her $500,000. Jurors found that Cosby intentionally caused harmful sexual contact with Huth, that he reasonably …

The Associated Press reports: South Dakota senators on Tuesday begin hearing evidence for the impeachment of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, whose account of a fatal 2020 traffic accident led criminal investigators, some lawmakers and the victim’s family to question his truthfulness. Ravnsborg, a Republican who only recently announced he wouldn’t seek a second term, faces two charges in the state’s …

Vice News reports: Supermarket workers at stores in the Czech Republic were shocked to find a record haul of cocaine hidden among crates of bananas from Central America. Police said in total staff found 840kg of cocaine wrapped in green packages stuffed in banana crates sent to supermarkets in the towns of Jicin and Rychnov nad Kneznou in the north …

The Associated Press reports: The first lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland since Maine took away a limitation on claims of child sexual abuse were filed on Thursday. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills signed a law last year that allowed victims to bring civil lawsuits about older abuse cases. Abuse survivors previously could not bring lawsuits if they experienced …

CBS News reports: Judge Craig Karlan, who had promised one juror when she agreed to serve that she could leave after Friday for a prior commitment, decided over the objections of Cosby’s attorneys to accept and read the verdict on the questions the jury had answered. But he had to change course when deputies required him to clear the courtroom …

The New York Daily News reports: A Florida woman has been busted for pepper-spraying four young Asian women during a caught-on-camera clash in Manhattan, police said Saturday. Cops in Chelsea took Madeline Barker, 47, into custody Friday after they recognized her as the woman in the bias-fueled June 11 attack, a police spokeswoman said. Barker, of Merritt Island, Fla., was …