Minnesota
Man accused of falsely selling crops as organic
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota farmer is accused of making $46 million by passing off chemically treated corn and soybeans as organically grown.
James Clayton Wolf was charged July 7 in federal court with felony wire fraud. Prosecutors say Wolf falsely labeled crops grown on his rural Cottonwood County farm as organic and that he defrauded grain buyers and undermined the nation’s organic labeling system.
Organic crops are grown from non-GMO seeds and without chemicals or fertilizers. They generate higher prices at market than non-organic crops.
Organic crop certification is controlled by the federal National Organic Program, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The grand jury’s indictment says Wolf’s organic farming certification was revoked in 2020. However, according to the document, Wolf continued selling non-GMO grain falsely labeled as organic through an “associate,” the Star Tribune reported.
Wolf’s attorney is Paul Engh.
“Mr. Wolf is a 65-year-old career farmer, who has never been in trouble,” said Engh. “He’s led a good life and now seeks his vindication.”
Wolf is scheduled to appear before a magistrate on July 22.
Wire fraud is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison, according to federal sentencing guidelines. U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger’s office said the indictment is the result of collaboration between the FBI and the inspector general’s office for the USDA.
Oregon
Jury selection starts for Patriot Prayer founder trial over riot
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Far-right Patriot Prayer founder Joey Gibson’s trial starts this week on one count of felony riot in connection with a brawl outside a Portland, Oregon, bar in 2019.
Jury selection began Monday and is scheduled to continue through Thursday, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
Prosecutors allege Gibson instigated a street fight between Patriot Prayer and antifascists on May 1, 2019, at the now-closed bar Cider Riot. In an arrest warrant affidavit, Deputy District Attorney Brad Kalbaugh says video of the brawl shows Gibson and his two co-defendants, “taunting and physically threatening members of the Antifa group in an effort clearly designed to provoke a physical altercation.”
Three other brawl participants with the Patriot Prayer group, Chris Ponte, Ian Kramer and Matthew Cooper were indicted and pleaded guilty.
Kramer, who knocked a woman unconscious and fractured her vertebrae with a baton, pleaded guilty to riot, assault and unlawful use of a weapon. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison and five years of probation.
Ponte, who prosecutors said threw a rock and hurt a woman, pleaded guilty to a riot charge in a plea deal. He was sentenced to three years probation and 10 days in jail. Cooper pleaded guilty to riot and was sentenced to three years probation.
Gibson founded the Vancouver, Washington, based Patriot Prayer in 2016, and has held pro-Trump and other rallies repeatedly in Portland and other West Coast cities.
Cider Riot has since closed, but former owner Abram Goldman-Armstrong filed a civil lawsuit against Gibson and other Patriot Prayer members alleging Gibson used his platform to make the bar a target for far-right violence. That lawsuit is still open in the Oregon court of appeals.
Hawaii
3 ex-prison guards convicted of assaulting inmate, cover up
HONOLULU (AP) — Three former Hawaii prison guards were found guilty of civil rights violations for assaulting an inmate and trying to cover it up, the U.S. Department of Justice said Monday.
A U.S. judge ordered Jason Tagaloa, Craig Pinkney and Jonathan Taum into custody after a jury convicted them last week, the department said.
A fourth former correctional officer, Jordan DeMattos, previously pleaded guilty for his role in the 2015 assault and cover-up, and testified for the government at the three-week trial, federal prosecutors said.
The Hawaii Department of Public Safety fired the men in 2016.
“Justice has been served as those involved were held accountable, Public Safety Director Max Otani said in a statement. “The Department will not tolerate this type of behavior from any employee.”
The guards punched and kicked the inmate while he was lying face-down in a pool of his own blood in the recreation yard at Hawaii Community Correctional Center on the Big Island, prosecutors said.
They later wrote false reports omitting the beating, prosecutors said.
They face up to 10 years in prison for depriving the inmate’s rights, 20 years for the false report and five years for conspiracy.
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh man acquitted of manslaughter of friend in Hawaii
HONOLULU (AP) — A Pittsburgh man who was charged with manslaughter in the strangulation death of a college buddy he was vacationing with in Hawaii was found not guilty by a jury.
Jurors reached their verdict last week after a trial on the Big Island, where Benjamin Fleming was vacationing with two friends he knew since attending Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
They were staying at a vacation rental in Kailua-Kona last year when a night out drinking ended in a deadly fight.
Fleming was charged with manslaughter after an autopsy showed that Abhishek Gupta of Pittsburgh was strangled. Authorities said an argument between the men turned physical.
“I emphasized throughout the trial that Mr. Gupta’s death was undoubtedly a tragedy, but it was not a crime. Thankfully, the jury agreed, and we appreciate their service,” Fleming’s attorney, Thomas Otake, said in an email Monday. “While Ben and I are surely relieved, we remain mindful of the loss experienced by the Gupta family.”
Prosecutors didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment on Thursday’s verdict.
Washington
Man accused of threatening to kill Rep. Pramila Jayapal
SEATTLE (AP) — A Seattle man was arrested on suspicion of threatening to kill U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, prosecutors said.
According to King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Casey McNerthney, a judge on Monday ordered the 48-year-old man to remain jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail, but denied prosecutors’ request for an anti-harassment order protecting Jayapal, The Seattle Times reported.
In 2016, Jayapal became the first Indian American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a Democrat who heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus. A spokesperson for Jayapal didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Seattle Times requesting comment Monday.
Seattle police arrested the man outside Jayapal’s house at 11:25 p.m. Saturday after she called 911 and reported an unknown person or people were in a vehicle using obscene language, a probable cause statement said. She told a dispatcher her husband thought someone may have fired a pellet gun, the statement says.
Officers arrested a man who was standing in the middle of the street with his hands in the air and a .40-caliber handgun holstered on his waist, the probable cause statement says.
A neighbor told police she heard the man yell something to the effect of, “Go back to India, I’m going to kill you,” the statement says. The neighbor also said the man drove by Jayapal’s residence at least three times, yelling profanities, according to the statement.
The man told officers that he knew who lives in the house and that he wanted to pitch a tent on their property, the statement says.
Prosecutors said they expect to file criminal charges Wednesday.
Arizona
Man who dated teacher to be sentenced in her murder
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A man who killed an Arizona elementary school teacher after she bailed him out of jail is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Charlie Malzahn, 32, pleaded guilty in June to first-degree murder, abandonment of a body and other charges in the death of Cathryn Gorospe. His sentencing hearing was scheduled Tuesday in Coconino County Superior Court in Flagstaff.
Prosecutors agreed to drop capital punishment as a sentencing option for Malzahn in exchange for his pleas.
Gorospe, 44, went missing in October 2017 after posting bond for Malzahn, who was jailed in Coconino County and had at least three prior felony convictions for crimes that spanned the state. She put up her house as collateral and had hoped to help Malzahn curb drug addictions and straighten out his life.
Instead, he stabbed her multiple times near Williams where the two met. He was the stepson of a police chief and working at a restaurant, and Gorospe was working a summer job as a tour guide in the town that’s about an hour from the Grand Canyon.
Malzahn later was seen driving Gorospe’s blood-stained SUV in Phoenix and was arrested after fleeing from law enforcement. He gave authorities details and directions that narrowed the search for Gorospe’s body.
Gorospe’s remains were found on private property in Mayer, about 85 miles (137 kilometers) south of Williams. Along with multiple stab wounds, she had broken ribs and defensive wounds. The remains were identified using dental records.
Gorospe and Malzahn had dated for about a month, according to records. She taught schoolchildren in the Phoenix area, and her family has said she was a special person who loved children and animals and always saw the best in everyone.
Malzahn has spent the last few years jailed in Maricopa County on separate charges and at the state psychiatric hospital to ensure he was competent to proceed with the murder case in Coconino County.
South Carolina
Ex-sheriff sentenced to nearly 4 years for corruption, fraud
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A former Chester County sheriff convicted of abuse power and other charges was sentenced Monday to nearly 4 years in prison.
WSOC-TV reports that in April 2021, Alex Underwood was also convicted of stealing money from government programs, unlawfully arresting a man, and of wire fraud.
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents began investigating Underwood after he jailed a man for three days for no reason after the man recorded the aftermath of a police chase and wreck that happened near his home. Underwood created a false police report that said the man stepped out of his yard into the public roadway and cursed at police, according to indictments.
FBI agents would later find Underwood skimmed overtime meant for his deputies, used taxpayer money to fly first-class to a Las Vegas conference with his wife and then tried to cover up that she went and had on-duty deputies work to build a party barn at his home, even pulling officers away from drug stakeouts, prosecutors said.
A judge sentenced Underwood to 46 months in federal prison.
Two of Underwood’s deputies were also convicted. Former Chester Chief Deputy Robert Andrew Sprouse was sentenced to 24 months in prison on federal corruption charges. Former Deputy Johnny Neal received 46 months.
