National Roundup

Texas
Suspected neo-Nazi gets prison for gun crime
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — A suspected neo-Nazi has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a gun charge in West Texas.

Aiden Bruce-Umbaugh, 23, could have received up to 10 years in prison at his Tuesday sentencing in Lubbock, Texas, for firearms possession by an unlawful user of a controlled substance.

Federal prosecutors said the charge resulted from a November traffic stop in Post, Texas. Officers found three assault-style rifles, a pistol, assorted ammunition, a small canister of marijuana and a vial of THC oil in the 23-year-old’s car.

Prosecutors said Bruce-Umbaugh declared himself a Nazi affiliated with the AtomWaffen Division, a neo-Nazi hate group, during monitored jailhouse telephone conversations.

Videos entered in evidence show members of the AtomWaffen Division at self-described “hate camps” practicing hand-to-hand combat, shooting firearms, employing hateful rhetoric against Jews and calling for “race war now!”

Rhode Island
High court rules for towns in land use dispute
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The Rhode Island Supreme Court has overturned a lower court decision and ruled that the state is required to follow the same rules as private developers and get the same local planning permits for building projects.

The decision issued Wednesday stemmed from local opposition to a plan by the state Department of Environmental Management to build a $7.2 million Natural Resources Center at the 14,000-acre Arcadia Management Area in Richmond and Exeter.

Both towns sued the state to halt the project, saying they had not been notified, the project did not fit with either town’s comprehensive plan and that the state never sought permits.

Department of Environmental Management Director Janet Coit said in a statement Wednesday the agency is reviewing the decision.

Richmond Town Council President Richard Nassaney and Exeter Town Council President Cal Ellis both told The Sun of Westerly they welcomed the decision.

The Supreme Court’s decision instructs the Superior Court to send the case to the State Planning Council for a hearing on whether the project complies with the comprehensive plans that existed when each town filed suit.

Utah
Judge orders end to sale of silver as virus cure
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal judge ordered a Utah man to stop selling silver products marketed as cures for the coronavirus.

U.S. District Judge David Barlow issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday against 60-year-old Gordon Pedersen and his companies, My Doctor Suggests LLC and GP Silver LLC, The Deseret News reported.

U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber filed a civil complaint against Pedersen Monday saying he fraudulently markets silver products as a cure for COVID-19.

“The defendants have made a wide variety of false and misleading claims touting silver products as a preventative for COVID-19,” a statement from Huber’s office said.

The misrepresentations include claims that “having silver in the bloodstream will ‘usher’ any coronavirus out of the body and that ‘it has been proven that alkaline structured silver will destroy all forms of viruses, (and) it will protect people from the coronavirus,’” the statement said.

Pedersen and his companies have promoted silver products as a treatment for various diseases including arthritis, diabetes, influenza, and pneumonia since about 2014, the civil complaint said.

Prosecutors said in court documents that prices on the My Doctor Suggests website go up to $299.95 for a gallon (3.79 liters) of the silver solution, a mix of water, extract from silver wire and sodium bicarbonate, commonly known as baking soda.

Court documents did not list an attorney for Pederson and he did not immediately return an email message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

New Jerey
Judge once accused of hindering police opposes discipline
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A state judge once charged with helping her then-boyfriend evade police told New Jersey’s Supreme Court on Thursday that she was under extreme emotional distress at the time and shouldn’t face discipline.

Carlia Brady appeared before the court Thursday in a video conference. Brady, who sat in Middlesex County, was charged with misconduct and hindering a police search in 2013. Those charges later were dropped, but last fall a state panel on judicial conduct recommended that she be removed from the bench.

The Supreme Court said last month it wouldn’t remove Brady, but wanted to hear more testimony before deciding on discipline.

At Thursday’s hearing, a representative from the state panel argued that removal was still warranted because Brady gave Woodbridge Township police “intentionally vague” information about the whereabouts of Kenneth Prontnicki.

Brady argued that she left specific information in voicemails to police that were later altered or destroyed.

“I have never changed that story and I never will change that story,” she said.

Brady added that she was under strain because of the relationship unraveling at the same time she believed she was pregnant with Prontnicki’s child.

Some justices questioned why police didn’t play her voicemails to a judge who later issued a warrant for her arrest.

Pennsylvania
Ex-Philadelphia DA leaves prison early in corruption case
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former top prosecutor in Philadelphia has been released from federal prison three years into his five-year sentence.

A lawyer for 53-year-old Seth Williams says the former district attorney had about two years cut from his sentence after completing a substance abuse program and other classes aimed at reducing recidivism.

Lawyer Thomas Burke says the move to community confinement for a few months was not related to the release of inmates due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Burke won’t say where Williams is staying but says he is reconnecting with family members and looking for work. Williams has been disbarred after pleading guilty to a bribery count midway through his 2017 corruption trial. The judge said he sold his office to “parasites.”

Federal investigators say he took cash and gifts, misused campaign funds and took money meant for his mother’s nursing home care. Williams served as district attorney from January 2010 through his June 2017 plea.