California
Mom, boyfriend get life sentences in 10-year-old boy’s death
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The mother of a 10-year-old boy and her boyfriend were each sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for torturing and murdering the child, who was beaten, brutalized and starved in Southern California.
Heather Barron, 33, and Kareem Leiva, 37, were convicted of first-degree murder involving torture last month in a nonjury trial. They also were found guilty of abusing two other children in their Lancaster home.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta sentenced them both to life without the possibility of parole, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. The sentencing followed emotional statements from the boy’s relatives and friends, ABC7 reported.
The judge called Anthony Avalos a “helpless child” dependent on his mother for his basic needs. “Instead Anthony was tortured and killed,” Ohta said.
Neither Barron nor Leiva spoke during Tuesday’s hearing, according to the TV station.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies went to Anthony’s home in response to a 911 call from Barron on June 20, 2018. They were told that he had been injured in a fall.
Anthony died in a hospital the next day. Doctors said he was severely malnourished and dehydrated.
Prosecutors alleged that the boy was intentionally killed by torture. They said that for years he was routinely beaten and whipped with a belt along with the other children, repeatedly dropped on his head, smashed into the floor or furniture, burned with cigarettes and denied water and food at times or force-fed.
Prosecutors said Leiva sprayed hot sauce in the children’s faces; forced them to fight one another, with the loser being punished by him; and made the youngsters kneel for lengthy periods on concrete floors, nails or uncooked rice or squat until they fell over.
Barron’s defense attorney argued that she was herself abused by Leiva and couldn’t stop him from hurting the children.
Last year, Los Angeles County agreed to pay $32 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the boy’s father and three siblings over his death. A home counseling contractor also was sued and previously reached a $3 million deal with the boy’s family.
The lawsuit alleged that the county Department of Children and Family Services disregarded 13 reports of abuse allegations involving Anthony from relatives, teachers, counselors and even law enforcement.
The agency never tried to remove the boy from the home.
In the wake of the settlement, the department said it had taken “significant steps to mitigate the risk of harm to children” and was committed to continuing reform.
Wisconsin
Judge tosses felony charge against former parole chairperson
RACINE, Wis. (AP) — A judge on Tuesday dropped a felony charge against the former chairperson of the Wisconsin Parole Commission.
Racine County Circuit Judge Eugene Gasiorkiewicz dismissed the case against John Tate II on Tuesday, the Racine Journal Times reported.
Prosecutors charged Tate on April 18 with using his public position as a Racine alderman for his private benefit, online court records indicate.
According to a criminal complaint, Tate unlawfully negotiated the terms of his employment for Racine’s new violence interruption coordinator position after approving the creation of the job as Common Council president. He then applied for the position, and city officials offered it to him.
Tate initially announced that he would resign as an alderman to begin his role as the coordinator in mid-November. However, he didn’t resign until his term finished April 17 after he said he had been advised that state law prohibits sitting local elected officials from taking positions that were created during their term of office.
His attorneys, Patrick Cafferty and Jillian Scheidegger, filed a motion to dismiss the case Monday. They argued that while Tate was a public employee who privately negotiated a contract, his only action as a public employee was to vote to accept grant funds that would allow the role to be created.
The judge dismissed the case without prejudice, which means prosecutors could charge Tate again if any additional information comes to light.
Last year, Gov. Tony Evers asked for Tate’s resignation as parole commission chairman, following Tate’s decision to parole Douglas Balsewicz, who was convicted of stabbing his wife to death, in the presence of the couple’s two young children.
New Hampshire
Self-described satanist sentenced in virtual currency scheme
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The founder of a satanic church who lost a run for sheriff in 2020 as a Republican was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 18 months in prison Tuesday for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
Aria DiMezzo, of Keene, a 35-year-old self-described satanist, was also ordered to pay a fine of $5,000 and to forfeit more than $14,000 along with 1.93 bitcoins, currently worth about $55,000.
Between June 2020 and January 2021, DiMezzo charged a fee to exchange mostly U.S. dollars for bitcoin or other virtual currency, recruiting customers on websites, according to investigators. They said customers sent her money through bank accounts in her name and in the name of an organization she created, the Reformed Satanic Church.
DiMezzo sold more than $3 million worth of virtual currency, did not register her operation as a money transmitting business and failed to comply with required regulations, according to prosecutors.
For example, according to investigators, DiMezzo never filed currency transaction reports for exchanges of over $10,000 or suspicious activity reports for transactions over $2,000 that may have involved funds derived from illegal activity.
Prosecutors also said she worked with a man named Ian Freeman to sell virtual currency to customers that he recruited, paying Freeman a percentage of the profits.
A federal jury found Freeman guilty of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, tax evasion and laundering over $10 million in proceeds of romance scams and other internet frauds.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 17.
California
DA charges police detective with perjury, bribery
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A San Francisco Bay Area prosecutor announced Tuesday that her office had filed perjury and bribery charges against a longtime Oakland homicide detective.
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Y. Price filed two felony counts against Phong Tran, saying that he lied under oath during a murder trial in 2016 and at a preliminary hearing in 2014. He was also charged with felony bribery and attempted bribery of a witness.
Price said in a statement that her office will need to review at least 125 homicide cases in which Tran investigated. “Lying and manipulating a witness are serious violations of the public trust,” she said.
Price was elected to office in November on a progressive platform of holding police officers to account and seeking rehabilitation for criminal suspects over incarceration.
The charges drew a blistering response from the Oakland Police Officers Association, which said Tran had been cleared of wrongdoing in previous investigations by the police and former district attorney.
Tran’s attorney, Andrew M. Ganz, said in a separate statement that the “DA treats murderers like heroes,” but treats “real heroes” like criminals.
The prosecutor’s office said in the statement that Tran lied about his relationship with a key witness that resulted in two men being convicted in the 2011 murder of Charles Butler. Tran had denied under oath knowing the witness, but the prosecutor’s office says he had provided the witness with cash and asked the witness to testify against the two defendants.
The convictions were vacated last year.
Texas
Man involved in online romance scams gets 3 years
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Texas man was sentenced on Tuesday to more than three years in prison for his role in an online romance scam in which the identities and images of real U.S. military generals were used to cheat victims from across the nation out of a total of $1.5 million, federal prosecutors said.
In addition to three years and a month behind bars, Fola Alabi, 52, of Richmond, Texas, was also sentenced in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island to three years of probation, ordered to pay full restitution and forfeit his home valued at $560,000, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.
The victims were often women in their 70s and 80s and either widowed or divorced, according to court documents.
In one case, a widow from Rhode Island was contacted by a member of the conspiracy claiming to be a “General Miller,” who convinced the woman to hand over $60,000 to help pay for the shipment of his personal belongings to the U.S., prosecutors said.
A check from the victim was made payable to a company created by Alabi and mailed to Alabi’s home, authorities said.
The victim almost sent another check to the fake general, but her bank and local police intervened.
Other victims sent money, usually in the form of bank checks or cash, to addresses and companies that were controlled by Alabi, prosecutors said. The money was deposited in bank accounts he also controlled and then quickly withdrawn or transferred.
The funds were often wired overseas to China and India and some were used to pay Alabi’s mortgage, prosecutors said.
Other victims were based in Tennessee, North Carolina, California, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Arizona, Texas, Idaho and South Dakota, authorities said.
Alabi pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy and money laundering.
Two real generals in victim impact statements told the court that they continue to be victimized by online romance scams, authorities said.
Last month, a Massachusetts man was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for helping to steal millions of dollars from hundreds of people in online romance scams.
California
LA man charged with practicing medicine without license
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles man has been accused of falsely claiming to be a doctor and practicing medicine on thousands of people, offering treatment for serious medical conditions including cancer, prosecutors said.
Stephan Gevorkian faces five felony counts of practicing medicine without a certification, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Monday. Available records did not list an attorney who could speak on the 44-year-old’s behalf.
Gevorkian owns and operates Pathways Medical in the North Hollywood neighborhood. The clinic conducts blood tests and offers treatment for conditions including cancer and viral infections, prosecutors said.
His arrest came after an undercover investigator received a consultation last November during which Gevorkian failed to accurately address abnormal levels of a hormone that could indicate a serious medical condition, the DA’s statement said.
“Practicing medicine without a license is not only a criminal activity in California, it can cause irreparable harm to the health of unsuspecting people, some with serious illnesses, who believe they are under the care of a licensed physician,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.
Gevorkian was ordered to appear in court for a preliminary hearing May 24.
