List of All Articles with Tag 'crime'

A Nebraska mother pleaded guilty on Friday to giving her 17-year-old daughter medications to perform an abortion in 2022 and helping the teen burn and bury the fetus in a field. Jessica Burgess, 42, of Norfolk, was charged with breaking what was then the state’s ban on abortions after 20 weeks of gestation, as well as accused of falsely reporting and tampering with human skeletal remains, according to the Associated Press. Previous charges of concealing a death and performing an abortion without a medical license were missed as part of the plea deal. Burgess’s daughter, Celeste, now 18, has been charged as an adult and pleaded guilty in May to removing, concealing, or abandoning a dead body. The abortion took place before the Supreme Court overturn Roe v Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion in the summer of 2022. Police began investigating the case in late April of that year, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. The woman later told police Celeste had given birth to a stillborn baby in the shower, and that they put the body in a bag in their van then bured it with the help of a 22-year-old on a property the man’s parents owned, according to the paper. Celeste was 23 weeks or nearly six months pregnant at the time, according to medical records obtained by police, well past the state’s then 20-week abortion ban. Prosecutors obtained Facebook messages between the family members as part of their case. “(Celeste Burgess) talks about how she can’t wait to get the ‘thing’ out of her body and reaffirms with (Jessica Burgess) that they will burn the evidence afterwards,” a police detective wrote in court documents, describing the content of the messages. In May of 2023, Nebraska joined the many Republican-controlled states restricting abortion after Roe, and outlawed the procedure after 12 weeks. This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.

Deputies in North Carolina have arrested a Florida man on suspicion of child abduction after finding a missing 16-year-old girl in his car during a routine traffic stop. Alejandro Hernandez Vazquez, 40, was pulled over for a traffic violation on the I-95 in Nash County at about midnight on 4 July, authorities say. Deputies became suspicious and asked to search his white 2016 Audi Q5, and learned that a teenage passenger had been reported missing hours earlier by the Coral Springs Police Department in Florida. According to Nash County Sheriff’s Office, Mr Vazquez was not known to the girl’s family and did not have permission to cross state lines. Deputies also found cannibas vape pens and drug paraphernalia in the car, they said. Mr Vazquez, from Miami, was booked into the Nash County Detention Center on charges of child abduction, felony possession of synthetic cannabinoid, possession of marijuana paraphernalia and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was initially jailed without bond. At a court appearance on Friday 7 July, his bond was set at $505,000. The missing girl was transported to the Wake County Juvenile Detention Center before being picked by family. “The 16-year-old willfully went with him is what we’re seeing at first glance of this investigation,” Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone told ABC11. “It was not like she was bound in the car and things of that nature, but you know, it’s a young 16-year-old and a grown man, and he’s manipulated her and carried her across this country. This is a true case of child trafficking,” he added. Read More Murder suspect arrested in multi-state manhunt is now on the run again after escape from Pennsylvania jail Missing two-year-old Wynter Smith found dead in Michigan days after Amber alert issued Disgraced former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar almost killed after being stabbed in prison

The sole suspect in the Tylenol poisoning murders that claimed seven lives and led to changes to how over-the-counter prescription drugs were manufactured and sold has died. James Lewis, 76, was found unresponsive at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Sunday, and pronounced dead soon after, authorities said. His death has frustrated law enforcement who had continued to pursue Lewis over the indiscriminate 1982 killing spree in the Chicago area that left six adults and a 12-year-old girl dead. Lewis was convicted of attempting to extort manufacturer Johnson & Johnson after sending a letter claiming responsibility for the deaths and demanding $1m to stop. He was questioned as recently as September over the poisonings, in which a suspect laced bottles of Tylenol with potassium cyanide. But no-one has ever been charged over the deaths, which led to widespread panic and sweeping changes to the way prescription drugs were bought and sold. Read More Utah mom accused of poisoning husband before writing grief book is sued for $13m by his family Thousands of unauthorized vapes are pouring into the US despite the FDA crackdown on fruity flavors Drugmaker lobbying group sues over plan to negotiate Medicare drug prices

By Daniel Trotta California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday announced he would give up trying to deny parole

The attacker may still face the death penalty if convicted for murder charges in state court.

The white gunman who shot and killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas in a racist attack on Hispanic customers has been sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences for the 2019 massacre. More follows...

A Princeton doctoral student has been kidnapped in Iraq while doing field work in the country, according to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday. “Elizabeth Tsurkov is still alive and we hold Iraq responsible for her safety and well-being,” Mr Netanyahu wrote in a statement. Ms Tsurkov is an Israeli-Russian dual citizen, the Israeli prime minister wrote. She is also a fellow at the Washington DC-based think tank, New Lines Institute, and is a contributor to New Lines magazine. They wrote they hadn’t heard from her since 19 March, when she said she wanted to leave the Middle East and return to Princeton to write her dissertation. They added that just over a week after hearing from her, they “learned from our sources that a pro-Iranian militia had kidnapped her in Baghdad.” The writers underscored that Ms Tsurkov’s work “poses no threat to anyone.” The magazine also wrote that Ms Tsurkov “is an outspoken critic of all three of the major likely players involved in negotiating her release: Israel, Iran and Russia.” The group said that they reached out to US and foreign officials and will continue to do so. They urged the United States to get involved in her release, because despite the fact she is not a US citizen, she “is very much a part of America,” they wrote. “She works with a Washington think tank, writes for an American magazine and studies at Princeton University. She deserves America’s every effort to bring her to safety,” New Lines magazine writers said. Ms Tsurkov’s family also confirmed details of her disappearance in a statement. “She was kidnapped in the middle of Baghdad, and we see the Iraqi government as directly responsible for her safety,” the family’s statement said. “We ask for her immediate release from this unlawful detention.” Read More Missing two-year-old’s grandmother shares ‘mental torture’ after alleged kidnapper arrested Kremlin open to talks over potential prisoner swap involving detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich Death of student, 20, outside club ‘senseless and avoidable’, court told

A California man pleaded guilty last week to hiding his mother’s death from the federal authorities for over 30 years, collecting more than $800,000 in benefits under her name. Donald Felix Zampach, 65, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering and one count of Social Security fraud, according to the Justice Department. “This crime is believed to be the longest-running and largest fraud of its kind in this district,” US Attorney Randy Grossman said in a statement. “This defendant didn’t just passively collect checks mailed to his deceased mother. This was an elaborate fraud spanning more than three decades that required aggressive action and deceit to maintain the ruse.” All told, beginning in 1990, the Poway man collected $830,238. He could face up to 25 years in prison, though US sentencing guidelines suggest it will more likely be a sentence of 30 to 37 months. “He is overwhelmed with regret,” Knut Johnson, Zampach’s lawyer, told The New York Times. As part of his plea deal, Zampach will forfeit the benefit, pay restitution to various lenders, and turn over the home he took possession of in his mother’s name. The benefits scheme was an elaborate one, according to the DoJ. When Zampach’s mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, she left the US and returned to her native Japan, where she died in 1990 at age 61. Her son notified the US embassy in Tokyo of the death, but admitted to leaving blank a box for her Social Security number to avoid the government being aware of her passing, and he repeated this omission on forms for burial permits. Zampach kept up this ruse until September 2022, collecting his mother’s Social Security checks and payments from the Defense Finance Accounting Service, which pays survivors of military veterans. An audit of those over age 90 who hadn’t used their Medicare benefits helped reveal the California man’s scheme. This sort of fraud has happened in the past. In 2018, a Mexican man pleaded guilty to defrauding the government for even longer, spending 37 years collecting nearly $361,000 in government benefits after assuming the identity of a US citizen, according to The San Diego Union Tribune. In 2015, Dutch police learned that a man kept his dead mother’s body hidden for over two years and continued collecting her pension and social assistance payments. He was later caught and forced to repay 40,000 euros, according to 1 Limburg. Read More Real Housewives star Phaedra Parks reveals why she gave her son $150,000 for his 13th birthday Mastercard helping banks predict scams before money leaves customers’ accounts Vermont will pay $16.5M to settle lawsuits by foreign investors in fraudulent ski developments

Nine people, including two children, have been injured in a “targeted” drive-by shooting in Washington DC while the nation’s capital was celebrating the July 4 holiday. The DC Metropolitan Police Department said that residents were still enjoying Independence Day festivities when gunfire broke out at around 1am ET on Meade Street in the northeast area of the city. Assistant Chief Leslie Parsons told ABC News that a dark SUV was driving through the area when it suddenly “stopped and it fired shots in the direction of some of our residents that were outside, just celebrating the fourth of July”. Nine people were wounded in the shooting, all suffering non-life-threatening injuries. Among the victims were two children aged just nine and 17. The shooting is believed to have been a targeted attack.

At least 17 people have been shot – three of them fatally – across four shootings in Fort Worth, Texas, on the eve of July 4. Two of the victims were identified Tuesday as Cynthia Santos, 22, and Paul Willis, 18, who were killed hours after the ComoFest event ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. The shootings in the area took place at a range of locations, including ComoFeset, a residential home, an AMC movie theatre, and in a car. Following a wave of shootings this week, Joe Biden renewed his calls to reinstate the assault weapons ban. In a Wednesday statement, he called on Republicans in Congress to “come to the table on meaningful, common sense reform”. Read More America’s mass shooting crisis, in numbers: More than halfway through 2023, US on pace for record-setting year Three people killed and eight wounded in mass shooting at July 4 fireworks event in Fort Worth Philadelphia shooting: At least five dead as heavily armed gunman opens fire at random on streets Biden renews call for assault weapons ban after ‘tragic and senseless’ spate of July 4 shootings

The five people killed in a mass shooting in the Kingsessing neighbourhood of Philadelphia have been identified. Philadephia police issued a statement on Tuesday naming the victims as follows: Lashyd Merritt, 20; Dymir Stanton, 29; Ralph Moralis, 59; Daujan Brown, 15; and Joseph Wamah Jr, 31. Two children – aged two and 13 – were also injured in the shooting but are in stable condition. Police have not released their names yet. The shooting unfolded at around 8.30pm Monday when police said the 40-year-old suspect, dressed in a bullet-proof vest and armed with an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun, left his home and began shooting at victims. On Wednesday, following a rash of shootings in recent days, President Biden called on Republican lawmakers in Congress to “come to the table on meaningful, commonsense reform”. Read More Five adults dead and two children wounded: What we know about mass shooting in Philadelphia Philadelphia shooting: At least five dead as heavily armed gunman opens fire at random on streets Biden renews call for assault weapons ban after ‘tragic and senseless’ spate of July 4 shootings America’s mass shooting crisis, in numbers: More than halfway through 2023, US on pace for record-setting year

Some families of those killed in the 2018 massacre at a Parkland, Florida, high school will get a chance to visit the site where their loved ones lost their lives beginning Wednesday, the Broward County state attorney's office said.