Oregon
Man who kidnapped woman sentenced to 10 years in prison
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man who kidnapped a Washington woman with whom he had previously been in a relationship has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and three years of supervised release.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office — District of Oregon said James Cooley, 61, of Rainier, was sentenced Monday after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to kidnapping.
According to court documents, on May 18, 2020, Cooley traveled without invitation from his home to the woman’s home in Ilwaco, Washington, approached her, tied her hands with zip ties and dragged her to his vehicle at knifepoint.
He then shoved her into the backseat and drove to Rainier while threatening to kill her, documents said.
When Cooley arrived back in Rainier, his sister saw her at his residence and fearing he would kill the woman, called the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, documents said.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested him.
In June 2020, Cooley was charged with a criminal complaint of kidnapping, and in February, Cooley waived indictment and pleaded guilty.
Washington
Man sentenced to probation for involvement in Capitol riot
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — A Port Orchard, Washington, man has been sentenced to three years of probation, including 30 days of intermittent confinement, for his involvement in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.
John Cameron was also fined $1,000 and must pay $500 in restitution, KING-TV reported Monday.
Cameron initially faced four charges but in an agreement with federal prosecutors pleaded guilty in May to one count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
On Jan. 8, 2021, the FBI received a tip that Cameron had been at the Capitol riot. The person provided a link to Cameron’s Facebook account, which included posts documenting his trip to Washington D.C. for the “Stop the Steal” rally, according to probable cause documents.
Cameron posted a picture on his Facebook page that morning showing himself dressed in clothes including a “Make America Great Again” cap, according to court documents. Video showed a man matching Cameron’s description entering the Capitol at around 2:20 p.m. on Jan. 6 and exiting around 2:42 p.m.
Cameron posted a video of himself on a D.C. Metro train after leaving the Capitol describing the events of the day. “Was it pretty?” Cameron said. “No. Did it make a statement? Yes.”
Roughly 850 people have been charged with federal crimes for their conduct on Jan. 6. More than 350 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor offenses, and over 230 have been sentenced so far.
Idaho
4 Patriot Front members plead not guilty to planning riot
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Four more members of the white nationalist hate group Patriot Front pleaded not guilty Monday in Coeur d’Alene to misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to riot.
The men are among the 31 Patriot Front members accused of planning to violently disrupt a Pride celebration on June 11 in Coeur d’Alene City Park, the Coeur d’Alene Press reported.
Those who appeared before Judge Mayli Walsh via Zoom are Devin W. Center of Fayetteville, Ark., James J. Johnson of Concrete, Wash. and Lawrence A. Norman of Prospect, Ore.
Spencer T. Simpson, 20, of Ellensburg, Wash., appeared in person. He is the only Patriot Front member so far to appear physically in a Kootenai County courtroom. Simpson’s father told The Seattle Times in June that he didn’t know his son was part of Patriot Front until he read about the mass arrest.
Founded after the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in 2017, Patriot Front’s manifesto reportedly calls for the formation of a white ethnostate in the United States.
Simpson allegedly told his father that he intends to remain with Patriot Front “no matter what.”
Police arrested the group June 11, after a tipster reported seeing a “little army” with metal shields and other gear piling into the back of a U-Haul truck. Documents found with the group reportedly outlined a plan to form a column outside City Park and proceed inward, “until barriers to approach are met.”
Once “an appropriate amount of confrontational dynamic had been established,” the column would disengage and head down Sherman Avenue.
Rioting is generally a misdemeanor in Idaho. Conspiracy to riot is punishable by up to one year in jail, as well as by a $5,000 fine and up to two years of probation.
Washington
Canadian trucker sentenced for smuggling $2.5 million of meth
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — A Canadian trucker was sentenced to four years in prison for smuggling more than $2.5 million of methamphetamine from the U.S. into Canada through a Whatcom County border crossing.
Sarbjit Chahal of Surrey, British Columbia, was arrested in 2018 at the Pacific Highway Border Crossing in Blaine after a Canada Border Services Agency screening of his Canada-bound semi truck uncovered 33 kilograms of methamphetamine hidden in the driver’s cabin, B.C. Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday in a news release.
The Bellingham Herald reported that Health Canada confirmed that the seizure was 100% pure methamphetamine, according to the release. Chahal was formerly charged with importing a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.
At his 2021 trial, Chahal twice took the stand in his own defense and claimed that he committed the crimes after receiving death threats from an individual that asked him to act as a drug courier, according to the release.
The jury convicted Chahal on both counts. He was sentenced in New Westminster Supreme Court to four years for importing controlled substances and 30 months for possession, according to the release. The two sentences will be served concurrently.
“We are committed to ensuring Canada’s continued security and prosperity, and the success of this joint operation demonstrates the effectiveness of the CBSA-RCMP Joint Border Strategy of detecting, preventing, denying and disrupting criminal exploitation of Canada’s borders,” Superintendent Bert Ferreira, officer in charge of the B.C. RCMP Federal Serious & Organized Crime Border Integrity Program, said in the release.
Wisconsin
Court: Mask order didn’t violate shop’s free speech rights
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Dane County health officials didn’t violate free speech protections when they cited a Middleton cafe for advertising itself as a “mask-free zone” during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Helbachs Cafe posted a sign in July 2020 saying the shop was a “mask-free zone” in defiance of a county mask mandate. The county cited the cafe three times for failing to comply with the mandate and the shop eventually lost its lease.
Helbachs responded with a lawsuit alleging the county retaliated against the cafe for exercising free speech rights. A three-judge panel from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that to prove the county retaliated over the sign the cafe had to show a pattern of such retaliation against other businesses. The cafe failed to produce any evidence suggesting that, the judges found.
The cafe’s attorney, listed in online court records as Brent Eisberner, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Wisconsin
Court: State can’t tax tribal lands that change hands
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state can’t impose property taxes on tribal lands that have changed hands without congressional approval, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
The decision from a three-judge panel from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals marks another chapter in a lawsuit four Chippewa tribes from northern Wisconsin filed in 2018.
The Lac Courte Oreilles, the Lac du Flambeau, the Red Cliff and the Bad River sued after the state imposed property taxes on land within their reservations. Such land is immune from state property taxes under an 1854 treaty, but the state argued that the land is eligible because tribal members sold it to non-American Indians before the land was were sold back to tribal members.
The three-judge panel affirmed that the land isn’t taxable without congressional approval, saying only Congress can diminish tribes’ sovereignty and the treaty is best read to promise tax immunity even for reacquired lands.
Connecticut
Judge rejects ex-mayor’s request for release from prison
A federal judge has rejected the latest attempt by a former Connecticut mayor to have his sentence on child-sex charges shortened.
Former Waterbury Mayor Philip Giordano, who has served 19 years of a 37-year sentence after being convicted of sexually abusing 9- and 11-year-old girls, had requested compassionate release, citing in part the threat to his health from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Giordano, 59, who also said he suffers from chronic spinal pain, was convicted in 2003 of repeatedly abusing the daughter and niece of a drug-addicted prostitute girlfriend, including several times in his city hall office.
He was charged after FBI agents overheard assaults taking place while conducting surveillance for a separate corruption investigation.
In his request for early release, Giordano argued his health issues — combined with his cooperation in that federal corruption probe, his volunteer work in prison, and the harshness of his sentence — should lead to a new sentence of time served.
U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill, in an Aug. 12 decision, disagreed, noting that Giordano “does not expressly address the conduct at issue in the underlying crimes in his litany of filings,” and has never accepted full responsibility for his conduct.
“Though I do not discount the impact of a lengthy term of incarceration on Giordano or his loved ones, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, his failure to acknowledge the harm his actions caused does not jibe with his claim that he would pose no danger to the public were his sentence to be reduced to time-served,” Underhill wrote.
Underhill also took issue with Giordano’s portrayal of his charity work in prison as a teacher and in helping inmates with legal questions. The judge noted that the former lawyer had been disciplined for taking money for prisoners in exchange for legal work.
Giordano is currently serving his time in a federal prison in Mississippi.
