National Roundup

New Jersey
City teams with Amazon to thwart box thefts
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — Jersey City is teaming up with Amazon to try and thwart the thefts of packages during the Christmas season.

Police Chief Michael Kelly tells The Associated Press his department reached out to the retailer and received small surveillance cameras as well as dummy boxes.

They’ve been placed outside houses in areas of the city where multiple thefts have occurred.

Kelly says the dummy boxes are equipped with GPS devices and can be tracked. Police also will be able to use the surveillance photos to identify suspects.

Kelly said the plan has been reviewed and approved by a municipal prosecutor. He said the city is hoping to expand the program with help from Amazon.

New Jersey
Police give $3 to person who found it 14 years ago
MONMOUTH BEACH, N.J. (AP) — Police in New Jersey have given $3 to the person who found it 14 years ago.

Paige Woodie was 12 years old when she and a friend discovered the cash and turned it into a Monmouth Beach police officer in 2004.

Sgt. Jeff Godwin tells the Asbury Park Press people who turn in found money are able to claim it within a reasonable amount of time if no one comes forward. The cash turned up during an audit and police “thought it had been long enough.”

Woodie says officers came to her home and asked if she could remember what she did in 2004. She couldn’t think of anything bad. That’s when the officers turned over the $3 in an evidence bag.

She says half belongs to her friend.

Missouri
Man acquitted of fraud in Joplin tornado cleanup
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A businessman has been acquitted of defrauding the federal government out of $3 million in disaster recovery money after a massive tornado ripped through Joplin in 2011.

The Joplin Globe reports that Raul Gonzales was found not guilty Friday. Prosecutors say his company, Intelligent Investments Inc., was recruited by an out-of-state company to bid on a tornado-cleanup contract that was to go to a small business owned by a veteran with a service disability. Under the contract, at least half the workers were to live in two southern Missouri counties.

But the indictment says the out-of-state company and its subcontractors did most of the work, with no local resources or contractors.

The defense argued that Gonzales relied more heavily on subcontractors after the government wanted the work done faster.

California
Drug-trafficking ring run by prison boss busted
VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a year-long investigation of drugs sold by gang members taking orders from a prison boss resulted in 14 arrests — and more are likely.

The Ventura County Star reported Monday that search warrants were served at 10 locations last week, including at an Imperial County prison. Officers seized heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine, along with handguns, ammunition and a large stash of cash.

The newspaper says investigators found the drug trafficking operation was allegedly being directed by an inmate at Calipatria State Prison. Officials allege the 34-year-old inmate was organizing shipments of meth, cocaine and heroin into Ventura County from behind bars. Gang members then allegedly sold the drugs, in smaller quantities, to street-level dealers.

The investigation is continuing and additional arrests are expected.

Maryland
Man sentenced to prison for scamming elderly
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man has been sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison for scamming dozens of elderly people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by convincing them that they needed to pay taxes or fees to collect lottery or sweepstakes prizes.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis on Monday sentenced 23-year-old Onijah Crighton of Chillum to 57 months in prison and ordered him to pay nearly $400,000 in restitution.

United States Attorney Robert Hur’s office says one of the victims of Crighton’s “advance fee scheme” was an elderly Virginia man with Parkinson’s disease. A court filing says the man sent 44 payments totaling approximately $112,000 to Crighton and a co-conspirator after they falsely told him that he was the winner of a $2.5 million sweepstakes prize.

Illinois
Man who sexually exploited ­children gets 140-year sentence
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A 78-year-old central Illinois man who pleaded guilty to charges of sexually exploiting three children will spend the rest of his life in federal prison.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Springfield says in a news release that U.S. District Judge Sara Darrow this week ordered Toetim Cizmar to serve consecutive sentences totaling 140 years in prison.

Cizmar, of the Ford County community of Cabery, pleaded guilty last year to four counts of sexual exploitation of a child, involving three children between the ages of three and six years old.

The release says that say Cizmar engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the children after gaining the trust of the children and their parents by presenting himself as a “man of faith who dedicated his life to being an educator.”

Massachusetts
Court rules a secret ­recordings ban unconstitutional
BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that a Massachusetts law banning secret audio recordings of police or government officials is unconstitutional.

MassLive.com reports Chief United State District Judge Patti Saris ruled Monday secret audio recordings of officials performing their duties in public is protected by the First Amendment.

The judge made the ruling on two cases, one involving residents who frequently record police and another brought by the conservative activist group Project Veritas.

Court records show neither defendant had conducted secret recordings of police, but they feared recording openly would “endanger their safety” and “provoke hostility.”

The court said the Boston Police Department previously instructed officers to make arrests under the law.

Saris says an injunction will be issued against Boston Police and the Suffolk District Attorney.