Crime

Memphis’s CBS affiliate reports: A Mississippi educator was arrested and charged Thursday with two counts of molestation – touching a child for lustful purposes, two counts of sexual battery and one count of unnatural intercourse. Daniel Paul Harris, 44, of Olive Branch was given a bond of $950,000 on the charges, according to DeSoto County Jail records. Harris and his …

The Charlotte Observer reports: A former North Carolina police officer now faces additional sex and alcohol charges involving minors in York County, after officials from a Fort Mill church called deputies last month to report the allegations, according to law enforcement and court documents. Erickson Douglas Lee, 25, of Charlotte, was charged with four sex crimes Tuesday by York County …

Charlotte’s ABC affiliate reports: Records show a Cornelius police officer arrested for child sex-related crimes is accused of committing them while acting as a church youth leader. According to his arrest warrant out of York County, the allegations against Erickson Douglas Lee were for incidents reported between December 2020 and July 2022. The crimes all appear to have happened at …

New York City’s ABC affiliate reports: The woman arrested for allegedly setting fire to a gay pride flag outside a Manhattan restaurant, an incident caught on camera, was found mentally unfit for trial. Angelina Cando, who is charged with hate crimes, appeared briefly in court Tuesday. Her case was adjourned to May 9 for the Manhattan district attorney’s office to …

Fox Business reports: A United Airlines passenger from Texas was restrained by other passengers after he allegedly assaulted a flight attendant and attempted to jump out of the emergency exit before the plane took off from San Francisco International Airport to Houston International Airport. According to a dramatic video posted by Naya Jimenez, the passenger, later identified as 47-year-old Cody …

CTV News reports: In December 2022, an elementary Catholic teacher was charged with making, possessing and distributing child pornography. At the time, police said the accused used various personas like “Dan Forest” to lure children online. Investigators also said that in February 2022, the accused met with a 14-year-old girl in Brampton and allegedly sexually assaulted her. The suspect, identified …

Houston’s ABC affiliate reports: The man accused of shooting and killing five of his neighbors, including a 3rd grader, in a San Jacinto County home is now in custody, according to officials. The arrest came shortly after officials announced an increased reward for information that led to Francisco Oropesa’s arrest. San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers said the 38-year-old was …

NBC News reports: A man suspected of using an AR-15 rifle to kill five neighbors execution-style continued to elude an army of law enforcement hunting for him outside Houston over the weekend. Authorities said Sunday afternoon that Francisco Oropesa, 38, appeared to have slipped past a 2-mile dragnet of more than 150 law enforcement officers in Cleveland, Texas, about 45 …

The Iowa Messenger reports: It took a Webster County jury just under two and a half hours late Friday afternoon to convict a former Christian missionary of sexual abuse. Jordan Dee Andrew Webb, 30, of Fort Dodge, was found guilty of one count of second-degree sexual abuse with persons under the age of 12, a Class B felony; incest, a …

Lafayette’s CBS affiliate reports: Former teacher Jacob De La Paz, who left his employ at St. Thomas More High School abruptly on Wednesday under a cloud of suspicion, has been arrested in Youngsville. Authorities have confirmed to KLFY that De La Paz, 33, was arrested at approximately 6 p.m. Thursday by agents from the Department of Homeland Security, assisted by …

The Bakersfield Californian reports: A 68-year-old Maricopa pastor has been charged with committing lewd and lascivious acts upon a child after a girl alleged the religious leader kissed and touched her inappropriately. The girl — who said she was either 12 or 13 at the time — said Maricopa Community Church pastor Stephen McCurtis was giving her a driving lesson …

Reuters reports: Children account for most of the 109 bodies so far recovered in mass graves linked to a cult in Kenya, the interior minister said on Friday, the latest details in a case that has shocked the country and prompted calls for tighter regulation of religious fringe groups. Followers of the Good News International Church near the coastal town …

The Stars & Stripes reports: The Air Force has suspended two commanding officers linked with Jack Teixeira, a member of the same military unit who is accused of posting a trove of classified government documents online. The commander of the 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron and a detachment commander — who oversees administrative support — were suspended “pending further investigation into …

Law & Crime reports: The school district that employs the teacher who was shot by her 6-year-old first grade student says that the teacher’s lawsuit against the district should be dismissed because she was injured in the course of her job — and therefore it’s a matter of workers’ compensation. In other words, the school district appears to be arguing, …

Courthouse News reports: Two participants in a Texas “Trump Train” that surrounded a Biden campaign tour bus in a “madcap game of highway ‘chicken’” announced settlements Thursday in a lawsuit brought by bus riders who say the incident traumatized them. A convoy of at least 40 Trump Train members – American flags and “Trump 2020 – Keep America Great” flags …

The Christian Post reports: Christopher Burns, a former youth pastor at Perimeter Church in Georgia turned financial advisor, is now on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for allegedly defrauding dozens of investors of millions of dollars, which he splurged on a lavish lifestyle and an obsession with Disney World. Burns, who was last seen by his ex-wife and children on …

The New York Times reports: Jack Teixeira, the Air National Guardsman accused of posting classified documents online, repeatedly tried to obstruct federal investigators and has a “troubling” history of making racist and violent remarks, Justice Department lawyers said in a court filing late Wednesday. In an 18-page memo, DOJ lawyers argued that Airman Teixeira needed to be detained indefinitely because …

Semafor reports: Two former associates of ex-White House advisor Steve Bannon will be going to prison for defrauding donors in a campaign that purported to build Trump’s southern border wall.  Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage, 41, was sentenced to more than four years in prison, and Andrew Badolato, 58, to three years. Both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire …

The St. Louis Riverfront Times reports: A Lincoln County man who admitted to hiding cameras in bathrooms at a St. Charles children’s amusement center and a Catholic church in Troy, Missouri, was sentenced to 19 years in prison yesterday. Jeffery Eisenbath, 33, placed the cameras in the Adrenaline Zone, an indoor facility off First Capitol Drive with laser tag and …

The Detroit News reports: A former Michigan priest accused of abusing a child in the 1980s has pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted criminal sexual conduct, state officials announced Tuesday. Vincent DeLorenzo, 84, formerly of Flint, was among the first five priests whom Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged in 2019 as part of an ongoing clergy sexual abuse investigation. His …