Louisiana
Man who admitted killing bald eagle gets 30 days for feather
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A 20-year-old Louisiana man has been sentenced to 30 days in prison and a year on supervised release for possessing a bald eagle feather, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Daniel Glenn Smith of Homer was sentenced Tuesday in Shreveport for violating a law that says only federally recognized Native American tribes may possess any part of a bald or golden eagle, U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown said in a news release.
This is the same law that former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo unknowingly broke when he picked up an eagle feather from a lake and unwittingly confessed to when he told about the incident in 2018.
However, Smith did more. A statement signed when he pleaded guilty in October 2021 says he admitted killing an eagle, taking one feather from it and keeping the feather in his car.
“The American bald eagle is a symbol of our American freedom. ... This defendant did not take this symbol seriously, nor the laws that prohibit anyone from killing or possessing even a feather of a bald eagle,” Brown said.
Magistrate Judge Mark Hornsby could have sentenced Smith to a year in prison and imposed a $5,000 fine, according to the plea agreement. The maximum fine for a first offense is $100,000, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries began its investigation after learning that Smith had been photographed with a dead bald eagle, Brown’s news release said. A search of Smith’s vehicle turned up the feather.
Smith had previously been placed on probation and ordered not to possess a firearm for one year, as a result of hunting violations involving other wildlife, Brown said.
In 2017, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act was among laws invoked when authorities broke up what a federal prosecutor in South Dakota called “a chop shop for eagles.” That investigation brought 31 indictments; 17 people and two pawn shops were sentenced in 2018.
Texas
FBI: Synagogue hostage-taker sought ‘machine gun’
DALLAS (AP) — The man who took hostages at a Texas synagogue sought to buy drugs and a “machine gun” before the standoff last month that ended with the hostages escaping and the gunman’s death, an FBI agent said in court Wednesday.
The testimony came during a detention hearing for the Dallas man accused of selling Malik Faisal Akram the handgun he used in his attack on Congregation Beth Israel in the suburb of Colleyville. A federal magistrate ordered the alleged seller, Henry “Michael” Williams, detained ahead of his trial on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Williams, 32, was arrested less than two weeks after the standoff ended with an FBI tactical team rushing into the synagogue and fatally shooting Akram just as the hostages made their escape. Authorities said Williams confessed to selling Akram, a 44-year-old British national, the previously stolen pistol.
During the detention hearing, FBI agent Taylor Page testified that Williams said Akram initially reached out to him seeking to buy methamphetamines and “a machine gun or a weapon that contains a large number of bullets.” Akram explained that he wanted the gun for intimidation to help settle a debt, according to Page.
Page also said that Akram fired his gun at some point during the standoff but did not provide details. Multiple gunshots could be heard in the area around the synagogue soon after the FBI breached the building.
In court, prosecutors highlighted Williams’ past felony convictions and Page said Williams brokered 10 to 15 other gun sales. Williams’ defense lawyer argued that he could not have known what Akram actually planned to do with the gun and said her client was being blamed for another person’s actions.
Magistrate Judge Rebecca Rutherford ordered Williams be held as a potential danger to the community.
North Carolina
Grand jury indicts 8 for voter fraud
WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — Eight people have been indicted by a grand jury for voter fraud in a North Carolina county following an investigation by the state Board of Elections, a prosecutor said.
District Attorney Jon David’s office said investigators with the elections board presented numerous cases of individuals swearing falsely in a primary or general election to a Brunswick County grand jury last week, the StarNews of Wilmington reported. There have been two arrests as of Tuesday evening, according to David’s office.
The district attorney said in a news release on Tuesday that the defendants are all illegal immigrants or convicted felons whose voting rights have not been restored.
The Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to work to serve arrest orders for those indicted, officials said.
Illinois
Man admits he incited 2020 Chicago riots with online posts
CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago man who posted online to urge others to join massive crowds that were looting downtown businesses in the summer of 2020 has pleaded guilty to inciting and participating in a riot.
James Massey’s guilty plea in federal court on Tuesday came just under a year after he was arrested. He faces a maximum prison sentence of five years in prison, but the Chicago Sun-Times reported that he will likely be sentenced to two years when he returns to court May 10.
The 23-year-old Massey was arrested after an investigation revealed that he posted a series of sometimes profane messages and videos on Facebook on Aug. 9, 2020, in which he urged people to take part in the widespread violence that erupted in the city that day and the next.
Massey told others that the looting would start at 12 a.m. and that they should “Bring YA TOOLS SKI MASKS AND GLOVES.”
Prosecutors say Massey said in a video posted later: “I ain’t missing out. I am ready to steal.”
After sending other messages, such as “WE LIE TOGETHER WE DIE TOGETHER,” prosecutors said in the complaint that Massey is seen on surveillance video walking to a store with a tire iron in his hand while another person smashed the store window. They alleged he entered a store, grabbed some coats then took part in vandalizing a convenience store and a cellphone store.
During the rioting, vandals smashed windows of dozens of businesses and made off with clothing, cash machines and anything else they could carry. Two people were shot and more than a dozen police officers were injured in the rioting that ended with more than 100 arrests.
