New Jersey
Ex-NFLer Irving Fryar pleads not guilty to fraud
MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (AP) — Former NFL player Irving Fryar and his mother have pleaded not guilty in a New Jersey court to charges that they conspired to steal more than $690,000 through a mortgage scam.
State prosecutors allege Allene McGhee submitted false information to obtain five loans on her home within a six-day period. The two were indicted on counts of conspiracy and theft by deception.
Fryar lives in Springfield, N.J., and is pastor of a church he founded. His mother lives in Willingboro. The former wide receiver played for four NFL teams between 1984 and 2000, including the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles.
At a hearing Tuesday in Mount Holly, a lawyer for McGhee said his client and her son were victims of a scam, not perpetrators.
New Jersey
Feds: Man sold deadly toxin to undercover cop
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A Florida man faces federal charges after allegedly selling a deadly toxin to an undercover agent.
Jesse William Korff of LaBelle was arrested over the weekend in Florida. He’s charged with smuggling and possessing a toxin — in this case, abrin — for use as a weapon. Abrin is a natural poison found in the seeds of a plant and is similar to ricin.
Prosecutors say the 19-year-old Korff negotiated over the Internet with the undercover agent in New Jersey.
Korff allegedly received $1,500 over the Internet from the agent and left the toxin hidden in two candles at a rest stop near Fort Myers, Fla. Korff was arrested after the candles were found to contain abrin.
He is scheduled to appear before a magistrate in Florida on Tuesday and later be transferred to New Jersey.
New York
Suspect in triple NYC homicide arrested in Texas
NEW YORK (AP) — Police say the father of two young girls found stabbed to death along with their mother in their New York City home has been arrested in Texas.
The NYPD says 28-year-old Miguel Mejia-Ramos was captured early Tuesday morning at a vehicle roadblock in Schulenburg, Texas, located between Houston and San Antonio.
Police say Mejia-Ramos is considered a suspect in the stabbings. They say he was arrested by U.S. Marshals and local police on a New York warrant. Charges are pending.
It wasn’t immediately known if he had a lawyer.
The bodies of 1-year-old Yaslin Mejia and 2-year-old Daniela Mejia and their mother, 21-year-old Deisy Garcia, were discovered in a bedroom of their Queens apartment by other household members on Sunday night. They had been stabbed multiple times in their chests.
Maryland
911 recordings released in Md. exorcism deaths
GERMANTOWN, Md. (AP) — Montgomery County Police have released 911 calls related to the deaths of two children in Maryland, deaths police attributed to two women who believed they were performing an exorcism.
The release of the recordings Monday comes two days after police charged Monifa Sanford and Zakieya Latrice Avery with killing two of Avery’s children, ages 1 and 2. The women are also facing attempted-murder charges for injuring the children’s siblings, ages 5 and 8.
Police had said previously that they were called Thursday to the Germantown home where the women lived after a 911 caller reported a child unattended in a vehicle. By the time the police arrived, the child was no longer in the car and no one answered the door at a nearby home. Police returned Friday when a neighbor called 911 after noticing a car with the door open and a knife that appeared to have blood on it. That’s when the children were found dead inside a nearby home. Police said they suffered multiple stab wounds.
In a 911 phone call from Thursday about 10:15 p.m., a male caller reports a baby being left unattended in a blue Toyota Corolla. While the man is talking to the operator, he reports that two women have come out for the child and are “attacking” the caller and walking after him. He can be heard telling someone, “You need to back up off me, ma’am” and “A baby in the car for an hour is my business.” He later tells the 911 operator that one of the women is talking to herself.
In a 911 call from 9:30 a.m. Friday a female caller reports seeing a blue Toyota with a door open and a knife with blood on it.
Avery, 28, told investigators that she thought an exorcism of her children was necessary to remove the presence of the devil and evil spirits, said Capt. Marcus Jones, director of the police department’s major crimes division. Sanford, 21, made similar statements during questioning, police said.
Illinois
Judge: No need for disclosure on expanded spying
CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge in a Chicago terrorism case says the government doesn’t have to disclose whether it employed the kind of phone and Internet surveillance revealed in leaks by ex-government contractor Edward Snowden.
The pretrial ruling dealt only with Adel Daoud’s case. He denies seeking to detonate a bomb outside a Chicago bar in 2012.
Defense lawyers wanted the judge to order the government to say whether it used enhanced surveillance to flag Daoud for investigation. They argued that would have violated his rights.
But Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman said in a docket entry late Friday that Daoud’s attorneys “failed to provide any basis” for an order.
Prosecutors say they won’t use evidence derived directly from enhanced surveillance at trial, so aren’t obliged to disclose if they ever used it.
Colorado
Lawsuit filed over snowboarding mishap at resort
ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — A pilot for the German airline Lufthansa has filed a lawsuit in federal court blaming a Colorado man for causing a snowboarding accident at Snowmass Ski Area last year.
According to the Aspen Times, the lawsuit says Richard Price was snowboarding on March 5 when he crashed into Lothar Krachen, causing serious injuries.
The lawsuit says Krachen has not received medical clearance to return to work and his injuries are serious. The lawsuit seeks damages in an amount to be determined at a jury trial, as well as reimbursement for legal costs.
Attorneys for both men did not return phone calls seeking comment.
