CALIFORNIA
4 plead guilty in fake kidnappings
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Four people have pleaded guilty to running a scheme that collected ransoms from 128 families across the United States by falsely claiming their loved ones had been kidnapped.
Ruth Raygoza of Chula Vista, California, Maria Contreras of Los Angeles and Adrian and Jonathan Rocha of Tijuana, Mexico, entered pleas Tuesday in federal court in San Diego. They were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money.
They targeted mainly Spanish-speaking non-U.S. citizens.
Authorities say co-conspirators of the four would call families, falsely claim to be holding captives and demand thousands of dollars for their release.
The money was wired to Southern California and sent on to Mexico.
Authorities say the ring collected nearly $200,000.
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CONNECTICUT
Inmate tried to buy influence in prison says suit
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A former driver for an imprisoned hedge-fund founder says he was asked to help funnel money from his former boss to other inmates at a federal prison in Massachusetts.
The allegations are contained in a lawsuit filed June 20 by the driver, Peter Malaszuk, against Raj Rajaratnam in U.S. District Court.
Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group, is serving an 11-year sentence for insider trading at a minimum-security facility in Ayer, Massachusetts.
Malaszuk alleges Rajaratnam gave him names and contact information for the family members of inmates who were to receive money. He says the cash was meant to secure special treatment in prison for Rajaratnam.
Terence Lynam, Rajaratnam’s attorney, says the allegations are false and part of an effort to extort money.
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NEW YORK
Descendant of prominent family accused of thefts
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A member of a prominent western New York family is charged with stealing heirlooms, including guns, and selling them to buy heroin.
Police in East Aurora say 22-year-old Megan Hubbard-Riley and her boyfriend took 13 handguns and other valuables from her mother, Mary Hubbard’s, house over six months.
Officers say one of the guns was used in a shooting in Buffalo last week.
Mary Hubbard is a granddaughter of Elbert Hubbard, who at the end of the 19th Century founded the Roycroft artisan community as a cradle of the arts and crafts movement in East Aurora.
Hubbard-Riley and John Lawandus are charged with grand larceny.
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CALIFORNIA
Court to consider Barry Bonds’ felony conviction
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court will reconsider Barry Bonds’ felony conviction for obstruction of justice.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a limited en banc panel of 11 judges will review a 2011 jury verdict finding Major League Baseball’s career home run leader guilty of giving evasive testimony to a grand jury investigating elite athletes’ use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Arguments have been scheduled for the week of Sept. 15 in San Francisco.
“Mr. Bonds’ challenge to his conviction is alive and well,” Dennis Riordan, one of his lawyers, wrote in an email to The Associated Press.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit last year upheld the April 2011 conviction, which stemmed from a rambling answer Bonds gave in response to a question about whether he received injections from anyone other than his doctor.
A majority of the active judges on the 9th Circuit voted to have the en banc panel hear the appeal and set aside the decision of Senior Circuit Judges Mary M. Schroeder and Michael Daly Hawkins and Circuit Judge Mary H. Murguia.
Riordan has argued that Bonds’ answer was, in fact, true: He felt the pressure of being a child of a celebrity.
Bonds already has served his sentence of 30 days’ house arrest and paid a $4,100 fine. He also was sentenced to two years of probation and 250 hours of community service in youth-related activities.
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MASSACHUSETTS
Prosecutors oppose moving bombing trial
BOSTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors are opposing a defense request to move the November trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to Washington, D.C., saying they believe he can get a fair trial in Boston.
Prosecutors said in court filing Tuesday that defense lawyers have failed to show any extraordinary prejudicial local news coverage, and that a preliminary defense survey of bias in the population is unreliable and irrelevant.
“The Court should reject Tsarnaev’s contention that pretrial prejudice will prevent him from obtaining a fair trial in the Eastern Division of Massachusetts - a large and diverse area with a population of over five million,” prosecutors said.
Prosecutors say Tsarnaev and his brother planted two bombs that exploded near the finish line of the 2013 marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 260 others. His brother died following a shootout with police several days later.
Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to 30 federal charges.
His lawyers said in a motion last month that their survey of potential jurors in Boston, Springfield, New York City and Washington found Boston residents were the “most prejudiced” on a number of critical measures.
Prosecutors said the actual jury pool will be drawn from a population 10 times larger than Boston’s, and it’s not relevant to compare it with other cities.
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ARIZONA
Man accused of cruelty to rats
BLACK CANYON CITY, Ariz. (AP) — A man is accused of animal cruelty after hundreds of domesticated rats have been found dead or dying in a north-central Arizona travel trailer.
Yavapai County Sheriff’s officials say 28-year-old Jeffrey Wendorff was arrested Monday on suspicion of cruel mistreatment of animals and neglect/abandonment of animals.
County Health Services officials say they got a call about numerous rats around a trailer in Black Canyon City.
Sheriff’s deputies and county animal control officers say there were between 300 to 500 rats in pens at the front and back of the trailer and the odor was overwhelming.
Inside the trailer, authorities found several aquariums with newborn and adult rats.
Wendorff told authorities he had stopped caring for the rats recently, but had been in a business partnership to breed and sell rats.
