Crime

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 …

The CBC reports: A retired priest has been charged with indecent assault in connection with a decade-long RCMP investigation into a Manitoba residential school. Retired Father Arthur Masse, 92, was charged in connection with the sexual assault on a 10-year-old girl, who was a student at the Fort Alexander residential school, northeast of Winnipeg. The alleged assault occurred between 1968 …

CNN reports: Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti pleaded guilty Thursday to embezzling millions of dollars from four of his clients, taking another step closer toward resolving a flurry of federal charges against him. Judge James Selna set Avenatti’s sentencing for September 19. Avenatti faces a statutory maximum of 83 years in prison, although his sentence would likely fall below the maximum. …

Greensboro’s Fox affiliate reports: A former assistant principal at Union Grove Christian School and pastor has been sentenced to five consecutive 10-12 month sentences in relation to multiple felony counts of sexual activity with a student. On July 11, 2019, Jason Keller was arrested for a series of sex crimes that he committed nearly a decade earlier from 2008 to …

Courthouse News reports: Apple will have to face claims the company profited off of criminal enterprise schemes featuring stolen gift cards after a federal judge declined to dismiss claims the company benefited monetarily from sophisticated schemes that employ fake apps to swindle consumers. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila dismissed some of the claims from a class of plaintiffs that said …

Penn Live reports: A Lancaster County youth pastor was convicted of sexually assaulting two teens after a jury trial last week. Shane Ernest Richardson, 55, was found guilty of aggravated indecent assault of a person younger than 16, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with minors and indecent assault of a person younger than 16. Lancaster Crimewatch reports: In January of …

From the Justice Department: Yesterday, a federal judge in Miami ordered that a Hialeah resident who allegedly submitted more than $4 million in fraudulent health care claims to Medicare be detained pending trial, after the defendant was arrested on board a jet ski headed south from Key West toward Cuba. According to allegations in the criminal complaint, from February through …