New York
NYPD sergeant sentenced to probation for beating cuffed men
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City police sergeant who pleaded guilty to beating two handcuffed men in separate incidents was sentenced to probation Wednesday.
Sgt. Phillip Wong, a transit bureau supervisor who was placed on modified duty after his arrest last July, pleaded guilty in a Manhattan court to charges of assault and attempted assault, both misdemeanors.
Prosecutors asked that Wong be jailed for 60 days, but Judge Curtis Farber sentenced him to two years of probation and ordered him to perform 70 hours of community service.
Wong must also attend anger management or counseling, said Farber, who reasoned that Wong had “snapped” under the pressure of the job. The judge said the punishment was just and that Wong faces other consequences for his behavior, including the prospect of losing his job and pension.
“In this case, Sergeant Wong violated not only his oath – but the law – during the violent arrests of two New Yorkers, on two separate occasions,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
A message seeking comment was left with Wong’s lawyer.
Wong was caught on body and security cameras punching a 48-year-old man in the face in a Harlem holding cell in October 2019 after the man kicked the cell door and spat at officers, prosecutors said. The man required stitches for a cut above his right eye, prosecutors said.
Six months later, prosecutors said, Wong slugged a 35-year-old man in the side of the face, knelt on his back and bounced several times after the man kicked Wong and taunted him with anti-Asian slurs during an arrest at a Manhattan subway station. The man was taken to a hospital, but doctors didn’t find any physical injuries, prosecutors said.
As Wong knelt on the man’s back, the man shouted “I can’t breathe.” Wong responded, “I don’t give a (expletive) if you can breathe or not,” and then punched the man in the side of the face, prosecutors said.
The confrontation, a month before George Floyd’s death from a Minneapolis police officer behaving in a similar fashion for more than eight minutes, was also captured on multiple body and security cameras.
Wong has been with the department more than 15 years.
After Wong’s arrest, his lawyer Andrew Quinn told WCBS-TV that the sergeant was reacting in the April 2020 incident to the man’s anti-Asian vitriol.
“People in this city feel it’s perfectly in their jurisdiction and right to simply call a cop whatever they want, and they are right, First Amendment protects free speech,” Quinn said. “But at some point somebody has got to start to realize that cops are not getting paid enough to have racial and ethnic slurs hurled in their faces every single time they step out of a police car.”
California
UFC champion charged with shooting at molestation suspect
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez was charged Wednesday with attempted murder and multiple gun assault charges after authorities said he fired at a pickup truck carrying a man accused of sexually abusing a 4-year-old family member.
Velasquez was arrested Monday after he chased a pickup carrying Harry Goularte through busy streets in three Silicon Valley cities, ramming the vehicle with his own pickup truck during an 11-mile (18-kilometer) high-speed chase, prosecutors said.
Velasquez fired a .40-caliber pistol at the vehicle several times, wounding Goularte’s stepfather, who was driving, in his arm and torso, prosecutors said.
Velasquez, 39, appeared in court Wednesday but his arraignment was postponed until Monday. He is being held without bail at Santa Clara County Main Jail.
Celebrity attorney Mark Geragos is representing Velasquez. Geragos did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment Wednesday.
About 100 people wearing T-shirts that read “Free Cain” showed up at the courthouse to show their support.
Last week, deputies were called to a San Marin daycare owned by Goularte’s mother regarding allegations of sexual assault involving a child, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Wednesday.
After interviewing the child and others, investigators determined that a sexual assault had taken place and Goularte, 43, was arrested soon after, the office said.
Prosecutors said Velasquez on Monday went to the Goularte family home, where the daycare is located, and followed the truck through Morgan Hill and into San Jose, where he wounded Goularte’s stepfather. Goularte’s mother was also in the vehicle.
Later Monday, Morgan Hill police officers located Velasquez driving his pickup truck in San Jose and arrested him, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement.
“The sad tragedy is that Mr. Velasquez chose to take the law into his own hands, endangering the public and everyone in the truck,” Rosen said. “This act of violence also causes more pain and suffering to his family.”
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said investigators believe there are other victims from the daycare and are working with potential witnesses and victims.
Goularte, 43, was arraigned on felony molestation charges in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Friday and a judge released him from custody without bail over the district attorney’s objections, Rosen said.
The Associated Press could not immediately determine whether anyone could speak on Goularte’s behalf.
He was released under the conditions that he stay in home detention in Morgan Hill, stay 100 yards away from any child under 14, and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.
Goularte was on his way to get the monitor when Velasquez attacked the family, Rosen said.
Velasquez transitioned to pro-wrestling after retiring from his MMA career in 2019. A former two-time UFC heavyweight champion, he earned title belts in 2010 and 2012.
Florida
Former postal worker convicted of stealing mail
OCALA, Fla. (AP) — A former Florida postal worker whose mail delivery route included the prominent retirement community of The Villages was convicted Wednesday of stealing mail for cash and gift cards.
Miranda Delee Farleigh, 25, of Ocklawaha, pleaded guilty in Ocala federal court to a count of possessing stolen mail, according to court records. She faces up to five years in prison. A sentencing date wasn’t immediately set.
According to court records, Farleigh worked as a contract employee of the U.S. Postal Service delivering mail for the Lady Lake Post Office. Farleigh’s route included mail delivery services to postal stations in The Villages, a large retirement community northwest of Orlando.
Farleigh’s supervisor discovered several tubs and bags of mail in Farleigh’s possession that had been unlawfully opened in November, prosecutors said. They added that when confronted, Farleigh admitted to law enforcement that she had been opening outgoing mail in Lake and Sumter counties for a month with the intent to steal money and gift cards to support her heroin addiction.
Officials said Farleigh rifled through approximately 4,000 pieces of mail.
Maryland
4 plead guilty in prison smuggling scheme
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A former prison guard, two inmates and a so-called “facilitator” are the latest defendants to plead guilty to a federal racketeering conspiracy at a Maryland prison, a federal prosecutor said.
A news release from the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office says the scheme involved inmates at Jessup Correctional Institution as well as outside facilitators paying bribes to correctional officers to smuggle narcotics, alcohol, tobacco and cell phones into the prison.
With guilty pleas on Tuesday and Wednesday, all 15 defendants charged have pleaded guilty, the news release said.
According to their plea agreements, the final four defendants conspired with other correctional officers, inmates, and outside facilitators to smuggle contraband into Jessup. The officers agreed to accept payments from facilitators and/or inmates as consideration for smuggling contraband, court documents said.
During the investigation, law enforcement intercepted phone calls and text messages in which the defendants discussed items to be smuggled into the prison as well as the payment of bribes.
The defendants each face a maximum of 20 years in prison for the racketeering conspiracy. Sentencing has been scheduled for June, July and August.
The other 11 defendants previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the racketeering conspiracy and nine have been sentenced.
Missouri
Man convicted of killing mother of his child
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A jury has convicted a St. Louis man of murder for fatally shooting the mother of his child outside a St. Louis clothing store in 2020.
Nolin Holder, 25, was found guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the July 2020 killing of 21-year-old Malasia Pruitt outside the Gen X clothing store, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Prosecutors had sought a first-degree murder conviction and had shown jurors surveillance video of Holder running out the front door of the store and shooting Pruitt in the chest at point-blank range. Assistant Circuit Attorney Alex Polta told jurors Holder shot Pruitt after she confronted him in the store about sleeping with other women.
Holder testified that the gun accidentally discharged as he fled, but also claimed self-defense, saying he was attempting to get away from Pruitt by running past her.
Holder was on probation at the time of the killing. Police found him hiding under a porch after the shooting. He faces 10 years to life in prison when he’s sentenced on May 2.
South Dakota
Man indicted in death of 2-year-old boy
LAKE ANDES, S. D. (AP) — A Wagner man has been indicted by a grand jury in Charles Mix County in last month’s death of a 2-year-old boy.
Thirty-one-year-old Leonard Sharp Fish, also known as Leonard Walking Eagle, was scheduled for a court appearance Tuesday, but it was canceled because of the indictment, according to Charles Mix County State’s Attorney Steven Cotton.
Sharp Fish is charged with committing the abuse of, or cruelty to a minor. The felony charge carries a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. He also faces two drug-related charges.
Authorities were called to the hospital in Wagner where Calarina Drapeaux had brought her 2-year-old son on Feb. 16, 2022. The child, listed in court documents as T.T., was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Investigators found extensive bruising on the child and an autopsy revealed old and new fractures, the Yankton Press and Dakotan reported.
According to court documents, Drapeaux told an investigator she lives at a home in Wagner with Sharp Fish and her four children, including the boy who died.
Sharp Fish stated he cooked for the children, took them to school and was providing for the family. He said the three older children fought or wrestled with the 2-year-old, officials said.
Sharp Fish is scheduled to be arraigned March 14 in First Circuit Court at the Charles Mix County Courthouse at Lake Andes.
His attorney, Keith Goehring, declined to comment on the case Wednesday.
