Court Digest

Minnesota
Judge: No release for GOP donor accused of sex trafficking
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered a prominent Minnesota GOP donor charged with multiple counts of sex trafficking to stay in jail as he prepares his defense, following accusations he threatened law enforcement and prosecutors.

Anton Lazzaro allegedly told Minneapolis police officer Brandon Brugger after his arrest that he knew where Brugger lived and said federal prosecutor Laura Provinzino was “going to regret this.” Brugger also testified that Lazzaro tried but failed to find personal information about an FBI agent, whom Lazzaro called a “ghost.”

“There is no legitimate reason — none — for Lazzaro to be collecting home addresses and other personal information about the law enforcement officers involved in his case,” U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote. The judge added that remarks about Brugger and Provinzino were clearly meant to threaten and intimidate them, the Star Tribune reported.

Lazzaro, 30, was charged in August  with five counts of sex trafficking of minors, one count of attempted sex trafficking of a minor, one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors and three counts of obstruction. His attorney has said he is being falsely accused and did not commit the crimes.

New Jersey
Man gets 17 months for bribing postal workers
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey man was sentenced to 17 months in prison for bribing postal workers to steal packages.

Jabre Beauvoir, 23, had pleaded guilty in June to one count of bribery. U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty imposed the sentence Tuesday and also ordered Beauvoir to pay restitution of about $24,000.

The U.S. attorney’s office alleged that in the summer of 2019 Beauvoir bribed U.S. Postal Service employees in Elizabeth to steal mail containing checkbooks and credit cards, usually paying them $100 per package.

Prosecutors alleged that Beauvoir and others then used the checks and credit cards to fraudulently obtain money. Two Elizabeth postal workers have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

A message seeking comment was left Tuesday with the federal public defender’s office in Newark, which represented Beauvoir.

Washington
Firefighter pleads guilty for role in Capitol riot
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Florida firefighter who was photographed inside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot by loyalists of former President Donald Trump pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge on Tuesday.

Andrew Williams changed his plea in Washington federal court, according to court documents. He faces up to six months in prison at a Jan. 27 hearing.

A plea agreement requires Williams to cooperate with law enforcement in its investigation of the attempted insurrection. He must also pay $500 in restitution. Prosecutors said the riot caused nearly $1.5 million in damage to the U.S. Capitol.

A mob objecting to the election victory of Democratic President Joe Biden broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6 as members of Congress met to certify the results. Most of the participants had just come from a nearby rally where Trump accused Democrats of stealing the election. At least five deaths have been connected to the attack, including the death of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who was among a badly outnumbered force trying to fight off the intruders.

Williams has been a firefighter with the Sanford Fire Department since 2016. He was placed on administrative leave from the fire agency shortly after the riot. Fire department spokesperson Bianca Gillett said Tuesday that Williams will remain on unpaid leave pending a final sentencing hearing, and an administrative investigation will become active after that. Sanford is located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside Orlando.

North Carolina
Man gets 26 years for sexually assaulting a child
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man has been sentenced to 26 years in prison after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting his partner’s daughter more than three years ago, according to a district attorney.

The news release from the Durham County District Attorney’s office on Tuesday said Francisco Alvarado, 37, was found guilty by a jury on Oct. 28, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. Alvarado had faced felony charges of taking indecent liberties with a child and statutory rape of a child by an adult.

Prosecutors said Alvarado raped his partner’s daughter in September 2018, when she was 9 years old. Alvarado was living with the victim and her mother, but fled to Ohio after the assault, authorities said.

Alvarado was arrested by U.S. marshals about a week later, the news release said. The district attorney’s office said it relied on DNA evidence, the victim’s injuries and surveillance footage of Alvarado buying the child candy at a grocery store around the time of the assault during the trial.

Alvarado, who will be placed on the sex offender registry, has been ordered to never contact the victim, the news release said.

Missouri
Woman who drowned son, tried to kill second child sentenced
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A woman who drowned her 8-year-old son in a bathtub and tried to suffocate a second child before jumping off a bridge in Kansas City was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison.

Aushena Warren, 34, of Kansas City pleaded guilty in August to second-degree murder and first-degree assault.

Investigators said Warren drowned her 8-year-old son on June 17, 2017, and tried to smother her 6-year-old son. The children’s father was at work at the time and came home after receiving a FaceTime call from the 6-year-old, prosecutors said.

Warren jumped from the Kit Bond bridge later that day but was rescued by Kansas City fire personnel who were conducting rescue training near the bridge,’

Warren left a note apologizing and blaming her actions on the family’s financial situation, which she feared would force she and her husband to give the children to family or “the system.”

Warren’s attorney argued for probation, saying that she had mental health issues.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd urged the court to impose a life sentence.

Warren was sentenced to life for the 8-year-old’s death and 15 years in prison for assault of the 6-year-old child.

Texas
2 postal contractors accused of stealing $4M worth of mail
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Two postal contractors accused of stealing more than 8,000 pieces of mail worth more than $4 million have been charged in West Texas with possession of stolen mail, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

A federal grand jury in Lubbock indicted Joe Roy Rivas III, 22, and Jessica Lynn Solomon, 35, on Oct. 13 after federal agents seized the mail found in the contractors’ possession, according to a statement issued by federal prosecutors.

The mail seizure was the largest in the history of the 100-county Northern District of Texas, the statement said.

The two defendants are former employees of a company that processes for the U.S. Postal Service containers of mail sent on and received from flights operating at Lubbock International Airport, according to the indictment.

The indictment accused Rivas and Solomon of sifting for items containing cash, gift cards, checks and money orders while employed as contractors. They stole that mail and stashed it in 55-gallon trash bags at their residences, the indictment alleged.

Among the checks they stole were a $25,728 check made payable to a telecom co-op, a $15,000 check to a consulting group and a $241,1863 check to a facilities management and food services company, prosecutors alleged.
It’s unclear from the indictment when the alleged theft started and how long it took place.

Rivas remained in Lubbock County Jail on Tuesday, but Solomon was free on bond. The two are each charged with one count of conspiracy to possess stolen mail and eight counts of possession of stolen mail. If convicted on all counts, they would face up to 45 years in prison.

Messages to their defense attorneys seeking comment on their behalf were not immediately returned.

Minnesota
Jury: Ex-officer confiscated drugs for himself
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A federal jury on Tuesday convicted a former Minneapolis police officer for confiscating drugs during three separate investigations, which he then kept for his own use.

Ty Jindra, 29, was found guilty of stealing Tramadol, methamphetamine and oxycodone. In two cases he filed false reports and in one case he failed to mention that he had discovered pills, prosecutors said.

Jindra was also found guilty of two civil rights violations, once for stopping a driver at a service station for a tag violation and once for pulling over three juveniles in a vehicle that slowly rolled through a stop sign. Both times he was accused of conducting illegal searches.

Jindra, and his attorney, Aaron Morrison, bowed their heads as U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank read the verdict. Morrison also shook his head, the Star Tribune reported. Neither would comment afterward, nor did federal prosecutors who referred questions to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

In his closing arguments Friday, defense attorney Peter Wold argued that Jindra had thrown away the drugs that he seized, which he said was not an uncommon practice of Minneapolis police. Prosecutors said the defense provided no evidence of that.

Jindra was found not guilty on six other counts.

South Carolina
4 men get decades in prison for attack on store chain owner
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Four men have pleaded guilty to attacking the owner of a South Carolina convenience store chain and his wife as part of a long-planned robbery.

Warren Willis was beaten and kidnapped as he left his W.E. Willis store in Landrum in September 2018 and the kidnappers went to his home, tied up his wife and shot her twice in the stomach before ransacking the house, Solicitor Walt Wilkins told media outlets.

Both of them survived the attack, but family members said they have long term physical and psychological problems.

The men pleaded guilty Monday during jury selection for their trials.

Jack Corris Foreman III was sentenced to 60 years in prison because he was the mastermind of the attack, Wilkins said. The other three defendants got between 45 years and 60 years in prison. They all pleaded guilty to attempted murder, armed robbery, kidnapping and other charges.

Missouri
Man sentenced to life in killing over missing cell phone
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Springfield man has been sentenced to life in prison in a fatal shooting that prosecutors said began over a missing cell phone.

Keeton Waring, 33, was sentenced last week for second-degree murder in the Feb. 21, 2019, death of Jamie Carroll at a Springfield home, the Greene County prosecutor’s office announced Monday.

Court records said Waring accused several people in a house of stealing his cell phone. He left and returned to the home with a shotgun, which he pointed at another man, prosecutors said.

Investigators said Carroll stepped into the front of the gun and was pushing the barrel away and pushing Waring into a bedroom, when Waring shot Carroll, KYTV reported.

In addition to the life sentence, Waring was sentenced to 10 years for the unlawful possession of a firearm and seven years for unlawful use of a weapon.

Massachusetts
Man accused of throwing fatal punch guilty of manslaughter
DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts man who prosecutors say threw a punch during a fight outside an American Legion that led to the death of another man post nearly three years ago was convicted Tuesday of involuntary manslaughter.

The Norfolk Superior Court jury deliberated for more than a day after a weeklong trial before finding Matthew Potter guilty in the death in January 2019 of Chris McCallum, The Patriot Ledger reported.

Potter, 38, of Weymouth, also acquitted of two counts of sexual assault and assault, was sentenced by a judge to up to four years in state prison.

McCallum, 44, a father of three from Bridgewater, died from a traumatic brain injury a day after the brawl following a concert at the Nickerson American Legion post in Quincy’s Squantum neighborhood.

Potter punched McCallum, causing him to fall and strike his head on the ground, authorities said. He was taken off life support the next day.

The state medical examiner said McCallum suffered blunt force trauma and ruled the death a homicide.

Potter’s lawyer, however, said his client was the victim of an assault and McCallum and his brother were the aggressors.