Texas
Man gets life in prison without parole for killing cop
DALLAS (AP) — A man was sentenced automatically to life in prison without parole after a jury convicted him of capital murder Wednesday in the 2021 shooting death of a Dallas-area police officer.
A Dallas County jury deliberated a little over an hour before finding Jaime Jaramillo, 38, guilty in the shooting death last Dec. 3 of Officer Richard Houston outside a Mesquite supermarket.
An arrest warrant affidavit said that Houston, 46, was answering a domestic disturbance report when he arrived at the supermarket parking lot to find Jaramillo, his wife, their daughter and another woman involved in an altercation.
The affidavit says that the daughter told police that she and her mother believed Jaramillo was cheating on his wife with another woman. The affidavit says that when Houston went to talk to Jaramillo, the man pulled out a gun and shot Houston before shooting himself.
Jaramillo recovered from his wound to face trial in the shooting, for which prosecutors were not seeking the death penalty. Defense attorneys tried to show that Jaramillo did not realize that Houston was a police officer, which would render the murder a non-capital crime and eligible for parole. Police video showed that Houston was in uniform and arrived in a marked patrol car.
New York
Accusers call suicide of convicted neurologist ‘selfish act’
NEW YORK (AP) — Six women who testified against a neurologist they accused of sexually assaulting them while they were his patients returned to court on Wednesday to speak out against him, this time under unusual circumstances they described as a cruel twist of fate.
Authorities say Dr. Ricardo Cruciani killed himself behind bars shortly after his conviction and before the accusers could give victim impact statements at a sentencing that was likely to result in a lengthy prison term. A judge invited the women on Wednesday to give their statements anyway at a New York City hearing where they called Cruciani a predator and a coward.
“I’m really struggling with the fact that Cruciani will never go to prison. … or ever be punished,” said one woman who wanted her name withheld. “He took away my chance to face him as a convicted felon.”
The doctor, she added, “turned me into a drug addict and sexually assaulted me for years.”
Cruciani, 68, was convicted in July of multiple criminal counts, including predatory sexual assault, rape and attempted rape. He had denied abusing patients while working for several leading pain-management providers during his career.
Prosecutors won a conviction by presenting evidence that Cruciani groomed vulnerable patients by overprescribing pain killers, sometimes to treat serious injuries from car wrecks and other accidents. His accusers testified the sexual abuse often occurred behind closed doors during appointments in 2013 at a Manhattan medical center, where the doctor would expose himself and demand sex.
Cruciani was found unresponsive last August in a shower area at the Eric M. Taylor Center, a jail at New York’s notorious Rikers Island complex. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.
Accuser Hillary Tullin told reporters outside court on Wednesday that she felt the death had robbed her of a chance to tell the doctor off face to face.
“I wouldn’t have minced words,” Tullin said. “I would have unloaded about the 12 years of abuse I suffered at this hands.”
Another victim, Terrie Phoenix, called Cruciani’s suicide “a selfish act” that destroyed her faith in the medical profession.
“I do not trust myself to stay clear of predators,” Phoenix said. “This case proves they can be everywhere.”
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are survivors of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Tullin and Phoenix have done.
The accusers also pleaded with the judge to reject a defense request to throw out the doctor’s conviction based on a legal provision known as “abatement by death.”
Defense attorney Fred Sosinsky made brief arguments supporting the request without responding to the victim statements. Sosinsky had argued at trial that the testimony of the women was unreliable and that they were even willing to lie to back up their accounts.
The judge said she would rule later on whether to preserve the conviction.
Before his death, Cruciani also was scheduled to go on trial next January on federal charges involving accusations that he abused multiple patients over 15 years at his offices in New York City, Philadelphia and Hopewell, New Jersey.
Texas
Man gets life plus 300 years in prison for making child pornography
EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A Texas Panhandle man was sentenced Wednesday to life plus 300 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child and 10 counts of producing child pornography, including filming himself sexually assaulting children, officials said.
Johnny George Gonzalez, 35, admitted to filming himself sexually abusing at least six children, ranging in age from 4 to 10 years old, beginning in 2014. He then shared the material on the internet, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas.
Gonzalez also admitted to secretly making sexually suggestive videos of children at stores across El Paso.
U.S. District Judge Frank Montalvo sentenced Gonzalez to life imprisonment and added 300 years to the sentence, to be served consecutively with the life sentence.
Canadian authorities detected his activities late last summer and alerted the FBI, which executed a search warrant at Gonzalez’s home in El Paso. Agents said they found more than 65 electronic devices, including laptop computers, desktop computers, computer hard drives, cellphones, thumb drives and tablets.
At least 13 different series of child sexual abuse material Gonzalez produced, as well as about 1 million images and videos of child pornography and erotica, have been found so far on the devices, prosecutors said.
“For eight years, Gonzalez documented his depraved sexual abuse through photographs and videos, which he then shared with pedophiles around the world,” said U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff. “The heinous nature of his conduct will digitally live forever and continue to victimize these children. While this sentence will not repair their pain and damage, it will ensure he will never again have the opportunity to prey upon children.”
Gonzalez has remained in federal custody since September 2021 and entered his guilty pleas on May 25.
The sentencing came almost a week after a Dallas-area man was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison after admitting to filming himself raping a 7-year-old girl. Mark Allen Miller, 35, of Rowlett, was arrested on Jan. 12 after the girl’s father, with whom Miller was staying, said he walked in on Miller raping the girl, who was 9 years old at the time. Miller admitted to police that he had been molesting the girl for years, prosecutors said.
Texas
Ex-deputy gets life for killing ex-wife, stepdaughter, man
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A former Texas sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for killing his ex-wife, teenage stepdaughter and the stepdaughter’s boyfriend.
Former Travis County sheriff’s deputy Stephen Broderick, 42, was automatically sentenced after pleading guilty to capital murder Tuesday in Austin in the 2021 deaths of ex-wife Amanda Broderick, 35; stepdaughter Alyssa Broderick, 17; and Willie Simmons III, 18. Broderick rammed his vehicle into his ex-wife’s house and shot dead all three people inside.
Prosecutors set aside a possible death penalty in exchange for the guilty plea.
The ex-deputy killed the three during a custody visit with his son, whom he didn’t shoot. Stephen Broderick was free on bond at the time of the shooting after being charged the year before with the sexual assault of a child and losing his job as a result.
Stephen Broderick was ordered to wear a GPS tracking device, but state District Judge Karen Sage ordered the removal of the device five months after his release, the Austin American-Statesman reported. Prosecutors dropped the sexual assault charge as part of Broderick’s plea deal. Amanda and Alyssa Broderick’s family said the dismissal denied justice to Alyssa, who was the victim of the sexual assault.
But prosecutors said they doubted they could obtain a conviction on the charge because the victim was dead.
Sage, who passed the sentence on Broderick, expressed sympathy with their anger.
“I wish I could bring you justice,” Sage said. “But the truth is, the loss you’re suffering, there’s nothing I can do to make that loss go away. It’s the best we can do in the system we have, and it’s never enough. My heart goes out to you. Three beautiful, wonderful people — I see their lives shine on through all of you. I hope that at some point you can find some peace.”
Minnesota
Man sentenced to 43 years in large sextortion case
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A St. Paul man was sentenced Wednesday to 43 years in prison for running an online pornography scheme that victimized more than 1,000 girls across the United States.
Yue Vang, 31, created fake female profiles online to entice girls to create sexually explicit video images and send them to him, according to prosecutors. Vang knew they were all under 16 because their ages were posted in profiles or they told him.
“Vang is a predator who targeted innocent and impressionable young girls, exploiting their innocence for pictures and videos. He robbed them of their childhood and forever altered their lives and the lives of their families,” said Minneapolis FBI agent Michael Paul.
In one case, authorities said Vang contacted a 15-year-old girl and threatened to distribute sexually explicit pictures of her to her classmates and parents to “ruin her life” unless she complied with demands to send additional nude pictures and videos.
Authorities said about 1,100 girls have been identified as victims,, although law enforcement is working to confirm the identities of many others, said U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, who labeled it a “vicious sextortion scheme.”
Vang pleaded guilty in June to two counts of child pornography, one count of possession of child pornography and one count of interstate communications with intent to extort.
Maine
Plea deal reached for National Guard soldier accused of rape
ANGOR, Maine (AP) — A Maine National Guard soldier accused of raping a fellow soldier during a drill weekend reached a plea deal in which he was convicted of aggravated assault.
David Cyr is serving 90 days in jail after pleading no contest in exchange for prosecutors dropping two counts of gross sexual assault last month.
The plea deal means Cyr doesn’t have to register as a sexual offender, the Bangor Daily News reported. Cyr maintains his innocence, his attorney said.
The charges came as the Maine National Guard is taking steps including partnering with the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault to improve its handling of sexual assault and harassment within its ranks.
This spring, Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed a law that requires the attorney general to review the law enforcement response to sexual assault and harassment allegations, mandates an annual report to the Maine Legislature, and provides post-discharge travel funds for personnel to attend legal proceedings.
The charges levied against Cyr last year stemmed from an incident two years earlier in which he was accused of assaulting a woman while the two were out for drinks following a day of training in Washington County.
After Cyr was charged, the guard stripped him of his rank and banned him from drills. He was discharged in March.
