Arizona
Sentencing set for 2 in ballot harvesting case
YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — Two women faced sentencing Thursday in southern Arizona for illegally collecting four early ballots during the 2020 primary election.
Authorities say Guillermina Fuentes and Alma Juarez participated in “ballot harvesting.” That’s a practice once used by both political parties to boost turnout but was made illegal by a 2016 state law that barred anyone but a family member or caregiver from returning early ballots for another person. It’s the only case filed so far by the state attorney general under the law, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld last year.
Authorities say Fuentes, a former San Luis mayor and current school board member, ran a sophisticated operation using her status in Democratic politics in the Arizona border city to persuade voters to let her gather and, in some cases, fill out their ballots. But the crime she admitted in court last month does not involve filling out ballots or any broader efforts.
Fuentes and Juarez each pleaded guilty to a charge of ballot abuse, acknowledging they collected early ballots for people who weren’t family members, didn’t live with them or weren’t receiving care from them.
Fuentes’ conviction is a felony punishable by as little as probation or as much as two years in prison. Juarez’s conviction is a misdemeanor, and under her plea agreement, if she has cooperated as promised she will be sentenced to probation and prosecutors will not seek jail time.
Three other felony charges, accusing Fuentes of filling out one voter’s ballot and forging signatures on some of the four ballots she illegally returned, were dismissed.
Republicans repeating unsupported claims that President Donald Trump would have been re-elected if not for widespread voting fraud have cited this case as part of a broader pattern in battleground states, but the evidence suggests it didn’t extend beyond small-town politics.
Attorney General’s Office investigation records obtained by the Associated Press through a public records request show that fewer than a dozen ballots could be linked to Fuentes, not enough to make a difference in all but the tightest local races.
The office of Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican seeking his party’s U.S. Senate nomination, provided the records after delays of more than 15 months.
Fuentes and Juarez were seen with several mail-in envelopes outside a cultural center in San Luis on the day of the 2020 primary election, according to reports from investigators. The ballots were taken inside and dropped in a ballot box.
Fuentes was recorded on video by a write-in candidate who called the Yuma County sheriff.
An investigation was launched that day, and about 50 ballots checked for fingerprints, which were inconclusive. The investigation was taken over by the attorney general’s office within days, with investigators collaborating with sheriff’s deputies to interview voters, Fuentes and others.
Ohio
Man sentenced in death of undercover detective, informant
CLEVELAND (AP) — A man pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for a botched robbery that ended with the fatal shooting of an undercover Cleveland detective and his informant.
Kevin Robinson, 19, pleaded guilty to two counts each of aggravated murder and robbery, according to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office. He must serve 28 years of his sentence before he becomes eligible for parole.
The pleas came the same day he was due to appear in court for a pretrial hearing.
Robinson was 17 when detective James Skernivitz, 53, and informant Scott Dingess, 50, were killed Sept. 3, 2020, while they were in an unmarked car preparing for a drug operation. A group of youths approached them and fired several shots into the vehicle, authorities said.
Skernivitz, a married father of three and a 22-year member of the Cleveland force, had been sworn in as a member of a federal violent crime task force the day before he was killed. Authorities have not said whether he was working, either for the task force or for the gang unit to which he was normally assigned, when he was shot.
Robinson and another defendant, David McDaniel, were accused of firing the shots into the vehicle. McDaniel, who was 19 at the time, is facing capital murder charges and could receive a death sentence if convicted. His next court date is scheduled for July 21.
Another youth charged in the case, who was 15 at the time of the robbery and did not fire any shots, pleaded guilty in August 2021 to two counts of aggravated murder. He is now serving a term in the state’s youth services facility.
Rhode Island
3 plead guilty to financial scam targeted at grandparents
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Three men have pleaded guilty to defrauding 14 Rhode Island seniors out of more than $350,000 by pretending to be their grandchildren.
U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha said Tuesday that the victims ranged in age from 79 to 94 and were all contacted by phone by someone claiming to be family members or attorneys.
The callers typically claimed a grandchild needed money for bail after being arrested during a motor vehicle accident. The victim was then instructed to hand off the cash to a courier sent to their home.
Bryan Valdez-Espinosa and Diego Alarcon, both 22 and from Union City, New Jersey, and Jason Hatcher, 40, of New York, admitted to participating in the scheme last June during a hearing in Providence federal court.
Prosecutors say the men defrauded the victims out of between $9,500 and $85,000 and were caught only after a family member intervened in one of the scams, leading to the arrests.
Hatcher pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft; Alarcon and Valdez-Espinosa pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
“Few things are more frightening than thinking a family member is in trouble,” Cunha said in a statement. “These defendants exploited that fear to steal from loving grandparents and line their own pockets.”
The three will be sentenced in October.
Texas
Ex-chief deputy pleads guilty to using excessive force
TYLER, Texas (AP) — A former East Texas chief deputy pleaded guilty Wednesday to violating a prisoner’s civil rights by using excessive force on him, according to court documents.
Steven Craig Shelton was the second-ranked official in the Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office when the Sept. 21 incident happened at the county jail.
During a plea hearing before a federal magistrate in Tyler, Shelton admitted that he struck a handcuffed and compliant suspect twice with his forearm. He said his action was born of frustration and was unjustified, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, Shelton faces up to almost four years in federal prison.
Sheriff Steve Hendrix resigned in April after indictments accused him and two deputies of lying about Shelton’s actions. Hendrix, whose attorneys contend is not guilty, still awaits trial.
Indiana
Man pleads guilty to killing mail carrier
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indianapolis man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for fatally shooting a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Tony Cushingberry, 23, entered the plea in the April 27, 2020, slaying of carrier Angela Summers, 45, in Indianapolis, prosecutors said.
Cushingberry was upset about the lack of mail delivery to his home because of an aggressive dog, court documents said. Cushingberry pursued Summers onto a neighbor’s porch, causing Summers to reach for her can of defensive spray, and spray Cushingberry. Cushingberry took out a handgun from his waistband and shot Summers in the chest, documents said. Summers collapsed on the porch and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
“Letter carrier Summers was a dedicated public servant simply doing her job when she was senselessly murdered,” U.S. Attorney Zachary Myers said.
“We hope that this case’s resolution will serve as a deterrent to those criminal actors who threaten the fundamental right of a safe work environment for our nation’s postal employees,” USPS Inspector-in-Charge Rodney Hopkins said in a news release.
Cushingberry faces a possible maximum sentence of life in federal prison when he is sentenced at an undetermined date.
Virginia
Mom pleads guilty in son’s death from methadone
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia mother has pleaded guilty to killing her 2-year-old son by providing him liquid methadone to make him sleep, leading to a fatal overdose, prosecutors said.
The prosecution’s summary of evidence as reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch shows that before her son received the liquid methadone, Sherrell M. Rivera, 32, conducted multiple Google searches about the liquid uses of the drug and its side effects, including a search of whether the addictive substance would “slow breathing.”
Rivera had a prescription for methadone to treat an opioid addiction. Chesterfield Deputy Commonwealth Attorney Ken Chitty said evidence indicated that Rivera mixed an undetermined amount of the drug into the child’s sippy cup, which also contained baby formula and chocolate syrup.
The boy, who was addicted from birth from his mother’s drug dependency, died Nov. 14, 2020 of methadone toxicity.
Chesterfield Circuit Judge David E. Johnson accepted the plea agreement that allowed Rivera to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter instead of felony murder, as she was originally charged, in addition to a count of felony child neglect. Johnson convicted her of both counts and set sentencing for Nov. 7.
North Carolina
Woman pleads guilty to healthcare fraud
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina woman who controlled two healthcare companies pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges resulting from a scheme in which she collected $17 million after the companies billed Medicare for medical equipment it never delivered, a prosecutor said.
Tanya Parrish Grant, 51, of Raleigh carried out her scheme through her companies, which provided back, shoulder, knee, and wrist braces and other equipment to Medicare beneficiaries, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Michael Easley.
The news release said Grant’s companies billed Medicare for more than $50 million between 2014 and 2021. Medicare paid her more than $17 million, which she used to buy homes in Raleigh and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a Porsche and several Land Rovers, among other things, prosecutors said.
Grant paid companies in India and Pakistan to provide lists of Medicare patient identities. Her companies then billed Medicare for equipment she claimed to have provided to patients, the news release said.
An investigation also showed that Grant’s companies sent bills for 422 people who were dead, and when she was audited, Grant forged physician orders to support the billings.
Grant faces up to 10 years in prison when she is sentenced later this year.
