Florida
No contest plea for extorting official with explicit photos
MIAMI (AP) — A South Florida man pleaded no contest Wednesday to charges related to trying to get $5,000 from a state senator after threatening to release what he said were sexually explicit photos of her.
Jeremy Kamperveen, 20, of Plantation, entered an open plea in Broward County circuit court, according to court records. He was facing charges of extortion, unlawful use of a two-way device and cyberstalking. The open plea means he has no deal with prosecutors, and his attorney, Michael Heise, said Kamperveen faces up to 21 years in prison at a July 19 sentencing hearing.
Kamperveen was arrested in November. A Broward Sheriff’s Office arrest report didn’t identify the victim, but Florida Sen. Lauren Book, whose district includes part of Broward County, released a statement several weeks later saying the threatening messages had been sent to her.
“I became the victim of ongoing sexual harassment and extortion,” Book said in December. “I immediately notified law enforcement and began working closely with them to track those responsible for sending threatening and disturbing images and messages to my phone, including distorted, fake and stolen images created in an effort to intimidate, threaten, and extort me.”
Book is leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus and a longtime advocate for victims of child abuse and sexual abuse. She leads a group called Lauren’s Kids. Book did not immediately have a comment on Kamperveen’s plea, but her spokeswoman said Book and her husband will be providing victim impact statements at next month’s hearing.
According to the arrest report, Book contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Nov. 12, after someone sent Book several explicit photos and threatened to ruin her political career by releasing them to the public. An undercover agent took over communication with the unidentified person and eventually negotiated to pay the person $4,000 in cash, down from an initial $5,000 demand, in exchange for watching the person delete the photos. A meeting was set for Nov. 17 at a Sunrise Starbucks, where agents arrested the person and identified him as Kamperveen.
Kamperveen confessed to sending the messages and photos to Book, officials said. During a search of Kamperveen’s phone, agents reported finding the messages, as well as a folder containing photos and videos of Book. During the investigation, Book said she learned the images, including video of her and her husband, were being sold and traded online.
The state senator’s experience led to her sponsoring legislation this past spring that would make it a felony to buy, sell or trade stolen sexually explicit images from someone’s phone or other digital devices. It would also make disseminating altered or created sexually explicit images, known as deepfakes, a felony, and strengthen child pornography, revenge porn and bestiality laws. The bill passed unanimously in the Florida House and the Florida Senate, and it is awaiting the governor’s signature.
Idaho
Judge drops cannibalism charge in murder case
SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) — A judge has dropped a cannibalism charge against a northern Idaho man after finding that there wasn’t enough evidence to move forward to a trial, but said the man will still face a first-degree murder charge.
James David Russell, 40, was arrested Sept. 10, 2021, and charged with killing David Milton Flaget, 70, on the Russell family property in Bonner County, the Bonner County Daily Bee reported. Prosecutors later added the cannibalism charge, writing in court documents that Russell believed he could “cure his brain” by eating some of the victim.
During a preliminary hearing on Monday, 1st District Magistrate Judge Tera Harden said she didn’t find sufficient evidence to send Russell to district court on the cannibalism charge. However, Harden said the first-degree murder charge would move forward, and that there was evidence to support a charge of mayhem. Idaho law defines mayhem as depriving someone of part of their body or rendering part of the body useless.
Autopsy results showed Flaget died from blunt force trauma to his head. Bonner County Sheriff’s Office Detective Phillip Stella told the court that there was blood dripping out of the vehicle where Flaget’s body was found, and that his body had been mutilated with parts of his thigh and genital region removed.
One of Russell’s defense attorneys, Randy Michael Grossman, asked the detective if he was aware that Russell was under the care of a psychiatrist, prescribed medication and that he heard imaginary voices. Stella said he was unaware of Russell’s medical history.
Russell’s other defense attorney, Sean Walsh, did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment on Wednesday.
Russell is scheduled to be arraigned in district court on June 21.
Arizona
Man gets life in prison for killing ex-wife, friend
SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. (AP) — A southern Arizona man accused of killing his ex-wife and her male friend and then burning their bodies in a rented SUV last year has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Cochise County prosecutors said 58-year-old Gregory Carlson of Sunizona admitted in court Tuesday that he fatally shot Duong Nguyen and Robert Atwell in early September.
Carlson said he didn’t want his former wife to take their 3-year-old daughter back to Philadelphia after the child spent a week visiting him.
Carlson wrote in a statement read in court by his lawyer that he shot Nguyen and Atwell three times each, then drove the rental vehicle with the two victims inside to a spot on his parent’s large property in Sunizona.
“I was wrong and I am so sorry,” Carlson wrote in his statement.
Carlson was sentenced during the same court hearing, saying he wanted to “bring finality” to everyone involved in the matter including his parents.
The Sierra Vista Herald reported that the bodies of Nguyen and Atwell were never recovered except for a handful of bones found outside the charred SUV.
Carlson was charged with first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and abandonment or concealment of a dead body.
Illinois
Murder suspect dad: ‘If I can’t have them neither can you’
ROUND LAKE BEACH, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago man charged in the drowning deaths of his three young children left a note for his estranged wife saying, “If I can’t have them neither can you,” prosecutors said Wednesday.
The note was mentioned during a bond hearing for Jason E. Karels, 35, of Round Lake Beach, who faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths Monday of 5-year-old Bryant Karels, 3-year-old Cassidy Karels and 2-year-old Gideon Karels.
Officers sent to his home to check on the children’s welfare found the note, prosecutors said.
Jason Karels appeared before Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonjak and was ordered held on a $10 million bond. It was not immediately known if Karels had a lawyer to speak on his behalf.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office will seek to hold Karels without the possibility of cash bond, and that motion will be heard in court on July 13, prosecutor Jeff Fackham said.
Karels was arrested after leading police on a chase that ended in a crash Monday at an Interstate 80 bridge in Joliet, Round Lake Beach police Chief Gilbert Rivera said at a news conference Tuesday.
Karels was hospitalized after the crash but has since been released, prosecutors said.
Rivera said the parents shared custody of the children but did not live together. Rivera said he did not know their marital status.
After the crash in Joliet, Karels told first responders he was responsible for his children’s deaths and had attempted to kill himself before fleeing the home, Rivera said. Officers found the man’s blood in the house from his attempts to hurt himself, Rivera said.
California
Judge OKs Los Angeles’ lawsuit settlement on homelessness
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge this week gave final approval to a lawsuit settlement that commits the city of Los Angeles to sheltering or housing thousands of homeless residents within five years.
In approving the deal reached in April, U.S. District Judge David Carter wrote Tuesday that the agreement is “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”
The city’s settlement with the group LA Alliance for Human Rights commits Los Angeles to spending up to $3 billion to supply 16,000 beds or housing units for homeless people not suffering from mental illness.
The court will retain jurisdiction for a period of five years to create an “enforcement mechanism” for the pact, Carter said.
“While this agreement is not a solution to homelessness, it is a concrete step toward improving the lives of our neighbors who are currently suffering on the streets,” the judge wrote.
The lawsuit was brought in 2020 by the alliance, a coalition of business owners, residents, landlords, homeless people and others who alleged that inaction by city and county of Los Angeles created a dangerous environment.
The settlement draws a sharp distinction between the city’s responsibilities and those of Los Angeles County, which operates the local public health system. The county is also part of the lawsuit but has not settled. The alliance said in April that it would continue to pursue its lawsuit against the county.
The homeless population was once largely confined to downtown LA’s notorious Skid Row, but encampments have spread widely, including within sight of City Hall.
The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-3 in March to approve the settlement.
Under the agreement, the city would create shelter or housing for 60% of homeless people in the city who do not have a serious mental illness, substance abuse disorder or chronic physical illness.
The city’s actual housing commitment will be based on the 2022 point-in-time count of homeless people, the results of which are expected this summer. Last year’s count was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of January 2020, there were more than 66,400 homeless people in Los Angeles County, with 41,000 within LA city limits.
West Virginia
Court overturns murder conviction after juror replaced
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s Supreme Court has reversed the conviction of a man sentenced to life in prison for murder, saying that extraordinary precautions were not taken to ensure he received a fair trial after a juror was dismissed and replaced with another.
The court on Tuesday sent the case of Quenton Avery Sheffield back to Cabell County.
Sheffield was sentenced in 2020 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder in a shooting that killed a 20-year-old man and wounded the man’s girlfriend. During the trial, the woman testified that Sheffield came to her boyfriend’s apartment in September 2017 to purchase marijuana.
Sheffield appealed, saying that after deliberations began in circuit court, a juror who had talked to a witness was dismissed and replaced with an alternate who previously had been discharged from the case. The circuit court had denied Sheffield’s motion to declare a mistrial. The reconstituted jury then began deliberating and reached a verdict in less than an hour.
The Supreme Court wrote that there is a presumption of prejudice to a defendant’s right to a fair trial when a discharged alternate juror is recalled.
While the circuit court took significant steps after the juror was excused, “the totality of the circumstances does not indicate that extraordinary precautions were taken to ensure that the petitioner received a fair trial,” Justice John Hutchison wrote in the majority opinion.
