Kansas
14-year-old arrested for fatal shooting of 2 Wichita teens
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 14-year-old has been arrested in the shooting deaths of two other Wichita teens, and police are looking for more suspects.
Police said on X, formerly Twitter, that the two victims — 14-year-old Emoni Shears and 19-year-old Jhiquez Roberts — were shot late Friday night. They later died of their injuries at a hospital.
The investigation led police to the unnamed 14-year-old suspect, who has been arrested on two counts of felony murder and one count of being a juvenile in possession of a firearm. Formal charges had not yet been filed as of Sunday morning.
Police said it appears the suspect and victims all knew each other and were meeting in the area where the shooting happened.
The motive for the shooting is under investigation. Police said they may arrest additional suspects.
Louisiana
New Orleans thief steals 7 king cakes from bakery in a very Mardi Gras way
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With their purple, gold and green colors and toy babies hidden inside, king cakes are staples of Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, but apparently they’re also valuable enough to steal — at least this time of year during the Carnival season.
A thief stole seven king cakes — about as many as he could carry — during a break-in last week at a New Orleans bakery. The thief also took cash and a case of vodka from Bittersweet Confections last Wednesday, according to New Orleans Police Department.
“Our king cakes are just that good,” the bakery wrote on social media. “But please come and purchase one during our regular store hours.”
While it’s a secular celebration, Carnival in New Orleans — and around the world — is strongly linked to Christian and Roman Catholic traditions. The season begins on Jan. 6, the 12th day after Christmas, and continues until Mardi Gras, known as Fat Tuesday, which is the final day of feasting, drinking and revelry before Ash Wednesday and the fasting associated with Lent.
King cakes are among the foods most associated with Carnival in New Orleans. The rings of pastry are adorned with purple, green and gold sugar or icing, and they often have a tiny plastic baby hidden inside as a prize.
One wisecracker responded to the bakery’s social media post with a tongue-in-cheek false-admission that he was the thief.
“It was me. ...I’m holding all 7 babies hostage until I get a lifetime supply of King Cakes from you every year,” the man posted.
Washington
Man charged in 20-plus calls of false threats in U.S., Canada pleads guilty
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A Washington state man who made over 20 “swatting” calls around the country and in Canada, prompting emergency responses to his fake bombing, shooting and other threatening reports, pleaded guilty on Thursday to four crimes.
Ashton Garcia, 21, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to two counts of extortion and two counts of threats and hoaxes regarding explosives, U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said in a news release. He was initially charged with 10 felony counts.
Federal prosecutors say Garcia used voice-over-internet technology to conceal his identity during the calls in 2022 and 2023. He also urged others to listen as he broadcast them on the social media platform Discord.
Garcia in several cases collected personal information about his victims and threatened to send emergency responses to their homes unless they turned over money, credit card information or sexually explicit images.
Law enforcement responded and entered some of the homes with guns drawn and detained people inside, prosecutors said.
He also called in fake bomb scares for the Fox News station in Cleveland, Ohio, and for a flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles. In another instance, he threatened to bomb an airport in Los Angeles unless he received $200,000 in Bitcoin.
Such hoaxes can prove deadly. In 2017, a police officer in Wichita, Kansas, shot and killed a man while responding to a hoax emergency call.
The indictment does not indicate how investigators identified Garcia as a suspect. Prosecutors recommend that Garcia, of Bremerton, serve four years in prison as part of his plea agreement. His sentencing is scheduled for April.
Garcia placed the calls to agencies in Washington, California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada, prosecutors said.
Garcia remains jailed at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, Washington.
New Jersey
Former public official gets probation after plea to misusing township workers
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — A former northern New Jersey official has been sentenced to probation almost a dozen years after he acknowledged having used township workers for personal chores and political campaign work.
James Wiley, 78, former superintendent of the North Bergen Department of Public Works, was sentenced last week to two years of probation as part of a new plea deal with prosecutors reached last year on charges of unlawful taking, the Jersey Journal reported.
Wiley had recently retired when he initially pleaded guilty in September 2012 in Hudson County to using municipal workers for household chores, personal projects and political campaigning while billing the township for their pay.
Prosecutors said he routinely called on employees to clean
and repair his home, including installing a hot tub and putting up Christmas lights — often on Saturdays when they were paid overtime. Prosecutors said Wiley falsified their paperwork to make it look like township work. He also acknowledged using workers for on-the-clock political campaign work.
Wiley’s sentencing had been postponed dozens of times as he cooperated with a state investigation that led to six more convictions, a major factor in the probation sentence. His original plea deal called for a 5- to 10-year prison sentence for second-degree conspiracy.
Wiley apologized to township residents, saying, “I dearly regret letting them down, because some of the best people in the world come from there.”
An attorney for the township argued that Wiley should serve prison time as have others who took orders from the superintendent, saying that after “breeding corruption” he was getting the benefit of “cooperating against those people he directed.” Wiley’s attorney said the township was looking to further punish Wiley for turning on his former colleagues.
California
Former LA council member sentenced to 13 years for pay-to-play scandal
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Los Angeles City Council member was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison for a pay-to-play bribery scandal involving real estate development projects.
José Huizar, 55, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter, who also ordered him to pay $443,905 in restitution to the city and $38,792 to the IRS.
Prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum that Huizar chose “to place his own lust for money and power above the rights and interests of the people he was elected to serve.”
Huizar pleaded guilty a year ago to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion.
Prosecutors said that from 2013 to 2017, Huizar masterminded a $1.5 million scheme tied to the approval of downtown high-rise developments while he chaired the city’s powerful Planning and Land Use Management Committee.
Huizar was accused of giving favorable treatment in exchange for cash, casino gambling chips, luxury stays in Las Vegas, expensive meals, prostitution services, flights, concert and sports tickets, political contributions and funds to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit.
Multiple other individuals and companies were charged alongside Huizar or in related cases. Three have been sentenced, and five are awaiting sentencing. One has a pending retrial, and another is a fugitive.
Huizar must surrender to federal authorities by April 30.
His scheme was among a string of scandals that rocked the 15-member council in recent years.
California
Judge orders photos of legal documents destroyed after LA police raid
A judge has ordered the Los Angeles Police Department to get rid of photographs of legal documents that officers allegedly took during an unannounced raid on the home of an attorney representing a prominent Black Lives Matter activist.
The attorney, Dermot Givens, said roughly a dozen Los Angeles police officers descended on his townhouse on Tuesday, ordering him to stand outside as they executed a warrant.
When he went back inside, Givens said he saw an officer photographing documents left on his kitchen table related to a lawsuit filed against the department on behalf of Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter.
Abdullah has alleged officers violated her civil rights in 2020 by forcing her out of her home at gunpoint after receiving a hoax call about a hostage situation there.
The papers photographed by police contained “portions of Mr. Given’s case file, and potentially attorney work product” related to Abdullah’s case, according to an application in Los Angeles County Superior Court requesting that police destroy or return the materials and provide a copy of the warrant used to justify the search.
On Friday, Judge Rupert Byrdsong granted that request. Givens said he had not received confirmation from the LAPD or any information about the warrant as of Saturday.
A police spokesperson said the department was conducting an internal investigation and declined to provide further details about the search. “This is an open criminal investigation as well as an internal affairs investigation,” the spokesperson, Capt. Kelly Muniz, said by phone.
According to Givens, police said they were responding to a GPS tracker located near his home as part of their search for a young man named Tyler. After surrounding the townhouse with guns drawn, officers in tactical gear “ransacked” his house, he said, emptying drawers, opening his safe, and rifling through his briefcase.
Givens said he had lived in the house for more than two decades and did not know anyone who matched the name and description of the person police claimed to be looking for. The raid was first reported Friday night by the Los Angeles Times.
The attorney alleged that it was latest instance of harassment from the LAPD for his work on behalf of clients who are suing the department. He said police “know exactly who I am and where I live” and they’re lying if the say otherwise.
Givens is currently representing Abdullah in her lawsuit against the LAPD for their response to a “swatting incident” at her home in 2020, which involved officers surrounding her house and ordering her and her children to come outside through a loudspeaker.
She has alleged that police used the prank call, which was carried out by teenagers, as pretext to “terrorize” her for her role in organizing protests following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020.
Los Angeles police have not commented on officers’ actions at Abdullah’s home, citing the pending litigation.
14-year-old arrested for fatal shooting of 2 Wichita teens
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 14-year-old has been arrested in the shooting deaths of two other Wichita teens, and police are looking for more suspects.
Police said on X, formerly Twitter, that the two victims — 14-year-old Emoni Shears and 19-year-old Jhiquez Roberts — were shot late Friday night. They later died of their injuries at a hospital.
The investigation led police to the unnamed 14-year-old suspect, who has been arrested on two counts of felony murder and one count of being a juvenile in possession of a firearm. Formal charges had not yet been filed as of Sunday morning.
Police said it appears the suspect and victims all knew each other and were meeting in the area where the shooting happened.
The motive for the shooting is under investigation. Police said they may arrest additional suspects.
Louisiana
New Orleans thief steals 7 king cakes from bakery in a very Mardi Gras way
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With their purple, gold and green colors and toy babies hidden inside, king cakes are staples of Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, but apparently they’re also valuable enough to steal — at least this time of year during the Carnival season.
A thief stole seven king cakes — about as many as he could carry — during a break-in last week at a New Orleans bakery. The thief also took cash and a case of vodka from Bittersweet Confections last Wednesday, according to New Orleans Police Department.
“Our king cakes are just that good,” the bakery wrote on social media. “But please come and purchase one during our regular store hours.”
While it’s a secular celebration, Carnival in New Orleans — and around the world — is strongly linked to Christian and Roman Catholic traditions. The season begins on Jan. 6, the 12th day after Christmas, and continues until Mardi Gras, known as Fat Tuesday, which is the final day of feasting, drinking and revelry before Ash Wednesday and the fasting associated with Lent.
King cakes are among the foods most associated with Carnival in New Orleans. The rings of pastry are adorned with purple, green and gold sugar or icing, and they often have a tiny plastic baby hidden inside as a prize.
One wisecracker responded to the bakery’s social media post with a tongue-in-cheek false-admission that he was the thief.
“It was me. ...I’m holding all 7 babies hostage until I get a lifetime supply of King Cakes from you every year,” the man posted.
Washington
Man charged in 20-plus calls of false threats in U.S., Canada pleads guilty
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A Washington state man who made over 20 “swatting” calls around the country and in Canada, prompting emergency responses to his fake bombing, shooting and other threatening reports, pleaded guilty on Thursday to four crimes.
Ashton Garcia, 21, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to two counts of extortion and two counts of threats and hoaxes regarding explosives, U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said in a news release. He was initially charged with 10 felony counts.
Federal prosecutors say Garcia used voice-over-internet technology to conceal his identity during the calls in 2022 and 2023. He also urged others to listen as he broadcast them on the social media platform Discord.
Garcia in several cases collected personal information about his victims and threatened to send emergency responses to their homes unless they turned over money, credit card information or sexually explicit images.
Law enforcement responded and entered some of the homes with guns drawn and detained people inside, prosecutors said.
He also called in fake bomb scares for the Fox News station in Cleveland, Ohio, and for a flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles. In another instance, he threatened to bomb an airport in Los Angeles unless he received $200,000 in Bitcoin.
Such hoaxes can prove deadly. In 2017, a police officer in Wichita, Kansas, shot and killed a man while responding to a hoax emergency call.
The indictment does not indicate how investigators identified Garcia as a suspect. Prosecutors recommend that Garcia, of Bremerton, serve four years in prison as part of his plea agreement. His sentencing is scheduled for April.
Garcia placed the calls to agencies in Washington, California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Edmonton, in Alberta, Canada, prosecutors said.
Garcia remains jailed at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, Washington.
New Jersey
Former public official gets probation after plea to misusing township workers
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — A former northern New Jersey official has been sentenced to probation almost a dozen years after he acknowledged having used township workers for personal chores and political campaign work.
James Wiley, 78, former superintendent of the North Bergen Department of Public Works, was sentenced last week to two years of probation as part of a new plea deal with prosecutors reached last year on charges of unlawful taking, the Jersey Journal reported.
Wiley had recently retired when he initially pleaded guilty in September 2012 in Hudson County to using municipal workers for household chores, personal projects and political campaigning while billing the township for their pay.
Prosecutors said he routinely called on employees to clean
and repair his home, including installing a hot tub and putting up Christmas lights — often on Saturdays when they were paid overtime. Prosecutors said Wiley falsified their paperwork to make it look like township work. He also acknowledged using workers for on-the-clock political campaign work.
Wiley’s sentencing had been postponed dozens of times as he cooperated with a state investigation that led to six more convictions, a major factor in the probation sentence. His original plea deal called for a 5- to 10-year prison sentence for second-degree conspiracy.
Wiley apologized to township residents, saying, “I dearly regret letting them down, because some of the best people in the world come from there.”
An attorney for the township argued that Wiley should serve prison time as have others who took orders from the superintendent, saying that after “breeding corruption” he was getting the benefit of “cooperating against those people he directed.” Wiley’s attorney said the township was looking to further punish Wiley for turning on his former colleagues.
California
Former LA council member sentenced to 13 years for pay-to-play scandal
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Los Angeles City Council member was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison for a pay-to-play bribery scandal involving real estate development projects.
José Huizar, 55, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter, who also ordered him to pay $443,905 in restitution to the city and $38,792 to the IRS.
Prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum that Huizar chose “to place his own lust for money and power above the rights and interests of the people he was elected to serve.”
Huizar pleaded guilty a year ago to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion.
Prosecutors said that from 2013 to 2017, Huizar masterminded a $1.5 million scheme tied to the approval of downtown high-rise developments while he chaired the city’s powerful Planning and Land Use Management Committee.
Huizar was accused of giving favorable treatment in exchange for cash, casino gambling chips, luxury stays in Las Vegas, expensive meals, prostitution services, flights, concert and sports tickets, political contributions and funds to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit.
Multiple other individuals and companies were charged alongside Huizar or in related cases. Three have been sentenced, and five are awaiting sentencing. One has a pending retrial, and another is a fugitive.
Huizar must surrender to federal authorities by April 30.
His scheme was among a string of scandals that rocked the 15-member council in recent years.
California
Judge orders photos of legal documents destroyed after LA police raid
A judge has ordered the Los Angeles Police Department to get rid of photographs of legal documents that officers allegedly took during an unannounced raid on the home of an attorney representing a prominent Black Lives Matter activist.
The attorney, Dermot Givens, said roughly a dozen Los Angeles police officers descended on his townhouse on Tuesday, ordering him to stand outside as they executed a warrant.
When he went back inside, Givens said he saw an officer photographing documents left on his kitchen table related to a lawsuit filed against the department on behalf of Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter.
Abdullah has alleged officers violated her civil rights in 2020 by forcing her out of her home at gunpoint after receiving a hoax call about a hostage situation there.
The papers photographed by police contained “portions of Mr. Given’s case file, and potentially attorney work product” related to Abdullah’s case, according to an application in Los Angeles County Superior Court requesting that police destroy or return the materials and provide a copy of the warrant used to justify the search.
On Friday, Judge Rupert Byrdsong granted that request. Givens said he had not received confirmation from the LAPD or any information about the warrant as of Saturday.
A police spokesperson said the department was conducting an internal investigation and declined to provide further details about the search. “This is an open criminal investigation as well as an internal affairs investigation,” the spokesperson, Capt. Kelly Muniz, said by phone.
According to Givens, police said they were responding to a GPS tracker located near his home as part of their search for a young man named Tyler. After surrounding the townhouse with guns drawn, officers in tactical gear “ransacked” his house, he said, emptying drawers, opening his safe, and rifling through his briefcase.
Givens said he had lived in the house for more than two decades and did not know anyone who matched the name and description of the person police claimed to be looking for. The raid was first reported Friday night by the Los Angeles Times.
The attorney alleged that it was latest instance of harassment from the LAPD for his work on behalf of clients who are suing the department. He said police “know exactly who I am and where I live” and they’re lying if the say otherwise.
Givens is currently representing Abdullah in her lawsuit against the LAPD for their response to a “swatting incident” at her home in 2020, which involved officers surrounding her house and ordering her and her children to come outside through a loudspeaker.
She has alleged that police used the prank call, which was carried out by teenagers, as pretext to “terrorize” her for her role in organizing protests following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020.
Los Angeles police have not commented on officers’ actions at Abdullah’s home, citing the pending litigation.
