National Roundup

Massachusetts
Chipotle fined $1.3 million over thousands of child labor violations
BOSTON (AP) — Chipotle was hit with a $1.3 million fine over more than 13,000 child labor violations at its Massachusetts restaurants, the state’s attorney general announced Monday.

Attorney General Maura Healey ordered the largest child labor penalty ever issued by the state against the Mexican restaurant chain after finding an estimated 13,253 child labor violations in its more than 50 locations.

“Chipotle is a major national restaurant chain that employs thousands of young people across the country and it has a duty to ensure minors are safe working in its restaurants,” Healey said in a statement. “We hope these citations send a message to other fast food chains and restaurants that they cannot violate our child labor laws and put young people at risk.”

The fine detailed that Chipotle had employees under the age of 18 working past midnight and for more than 48 hours a week. Teenagers told investigators their hours of work were so long that it was preventing them from keeping up with their schoolwork. The company also regularly hired minors without work permits.

The settlement total is closer to $2 million, including penalties for earned sick time violations in which managers granted employees paid time off only for certain illnesses. The violations also include failure to keep accurate records and pay timely wages. Lastly, the company was ordered a voluntary $500,000 payout to a state youth worker fund dedicated to education, enforcement and training.

California
Man pleads guilty to killings of four homeless men
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A man with a criminal record and history of mental illness pleaded guilty on Monday to four counts of murder in a string of deadly attacks on sleeping homeless men in San Diego, two of whom were set on fire.

Jon David Guerrero, 42, agreed to be sentenced May 1 to four consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole and an additional 143 years to life in prison, the Union-Tribune reported.

Guerrero also pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted murder, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of arson for setting fire to two of four victims who died. The charges involved 12 men and one woman who were targeted over six months in 2016, the newspaper said.

Court records show Guerrero is diagnosed with schizophrenia and has a history of arrests and mental competency hearings, including one judge’s order that sent him to a state hospital for treatment.

The only clue to a motive for the assaults came from Guerrero’s first victim, who survived a knifing and asked his attacker, “Why did you do this to me?”

“Because you’re a bum,” Guerrero replied, according to the victim’s statements cited by the Union-Tribune.

One assault victim who survived, Michael Papadelis, attended the Monday hearing and afterward said, “I think he did the right thing,” by pleading guilty.

“I’ve been homeless. I know there are a lot of mentally ill on the streets. I don’t hate Jon,” Papadelis, 58, told the newspaper.

In 2018, Guerrero was declared mentally competent — meaning he could understand the charges filed against him and assist in his defense — and the criminal case against him went forward.

North Carolina
$20K raised to help man who survived 1952 lynching attempt
APEX, N.C. (AP) —  A North Carolina  man who survived an attempted lynching in 1952 has been helped by hundreds of people to move to a new home Tuesday so a highway can be expanded.

Lynn Council, 87, plans to move into a new house in Apex after living in his current home for more than 60 years, news outlets reported.

Council was accused decades ago of a robbery he didn’t commit. Two deputies hanged him from a tree to try to get him to confess. When he didn’t, the deputies took him down.

Council later settled into a home just outside of Apex. About 20 years ago, he took out a $20,000 federal home repair loan. One condition of the loan was that the full amount must be paid if he moved out or died.

The state recently bought Council’s home so the Department of Transportation can expand the NC-540 highway. That meant he needed to pay back the $20,000 loan.

Garrett Raczek learned about Council’s story and launched an online fundraiser to help pay off the debt. By early Tuesday morning, the fundraiser had exceeded $21,000.

“I sure thank the Lord for the gifts. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, Lord,” Council said at a news conference Monday.

As for the attempted lynching, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office and Apex police apologized last year. A bench in Council’s honor was also placed outside the police department.


Washington
Man who shipped gun parts to Swedish Nazis gets 7-plus years
SEATTLE (AP) — A Washington state man convicted of gun crimes that included shipping firearm parts to neo-Nazis in Sweden was sentenced Monday to more than seven years in prison.

Hany Veletanlic, a 36-year-old Bosnian citizen who was living in Tulalip, Washington, was convicted after a trial in February of felonies related to illegal gun possession and trafficking: violating the Arms Export Control Act; illegally possessing two unregistered silencers; and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Federal prosecutors said he acknowledged making as many as 20 shipments of gun parts overseas to two groups in Sweden, as well as smuggling gun parts to people in France, Russia and Brazil.

Veletanlic labeled the items on customs forms as bicycle parts, and he used fake names and return addresses.

The investigation began in early 2017, when Swedish police seized a part of a Glock firearm from a home in Fagersta, Sweden, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle said. The serial number had been filed off, but Glock Inc. was able to trace the firearm using a code imprinted on the part to a gun that had been sold to Veletanlic.

Swedish law enforcement agents testified during Veletanlic’s trial that some of his customers there were involved in a neo-Nazi group, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Prosecutors also noted that Veletanlic had lied repeatedly to investigators about his actions, including about whether he had really destroyed the two unregistered silencers he possessed, and that he appeared to have been involved in a plot from prison to have a government witness shot.

“Such disregard for the rule of law cannot be tolerated,” U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran said in a news release.