Wisconsin
Court upholds police officer’s firing for posting racist memes
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a former Milwaukee police officer was properly fired for posting racist memes related to the arrest of an NBA player that triggered a public outcry.
Officer Erik Andrade was involved in the 2018 arrest of Sterling Brown, who then played for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Brown alleged that police used excessive force and targeted him because he is Black when they confronted him for parking illegally in a handicapped-accessible spot. He was talking with officers while waiting for his citation when the situation escalated. Officers took him down and used a stun gun because he didn’t immediately follow orders to remove his hands from his pockets.
Andrade was not involved with the arrest of Brown, but did transport him after his arrest.
Brown filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, police department and several officers who were involved in his arrest, including Andrade.
In the lawsuit, Brown referenced a series of racist memes posted on Facebook by Andrade. In one post hours after the arrest, Andrade wrote: “Nice meeting Sterling Brown of the Milwaukee Bucks at work this morning! Lol#FearTheDeer.”
The lawsuit alleges Andrade also shared a disparaging meme of NBA star Kevin Durant about three months later.
Andrade was fired in 2018 after being suspended for violating the department’s code of conduct related to his social media posts, not for his conduct during the Brown arrest.
Milwaukee’s police chief at the time, Alfonso Morales, said in Andrade’s disciplinary hearing that he was fired because the Facebook posts would be used to impeach his credibility in future criminal proceedings and that he therefore would be unable to testify.
Andrade deleted his Facebook account the day the lawsuit was filed. He sued the Milwaukee Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, which reviewed and upheld the chief’s decision to fire him. Andrade argued that his due process rights had been violated.
A Milwaukee County circuit court and a state appeals court both upheld his firing, leading to Andrade’s appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
In a 5-2 decision on Tuesday, the high court said the police chief properly explained the evidence that supported firing Andrade and gave him a chance to respond.
The court also determined that the police chief followed the law when he listed the policies that Andrade violated and referenced the Facebook posts that formed the basis for the violations when he submitted a complaint to the Milwaukee Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.
The dissenting justices said they did not condone Andrade’s behavior, but they believed his due process rights had been violated.
Brown’s attorney, Mark Thomsen, said the ruling reaffirms the police chief’s power to fire someone for violating the code of conduct.
Under a 2021 settlement, the city paid Brown $750,000 and apologized. The Milwaukee Police Department also said that it “recognizes that the incident escalated in an unnecessary manner and despite Mr. Brown’s calm behavior.”
Brown’s first three years in the NBA were with the Bucks, from 2017 until 2020. He also played for the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers before joining Alba Berlin of the German Basketball Bundesliga and the EuroLeague in 2023.
Washington
FBI: Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans
WASHINGTON (AP) — Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year, according to an FBI report released Tuesday that shows a rise in losses through increasingly sophisticated criminal tactics to trick the vulnerable into giving up their life savings.
Losses from scams reported by Americans over the age of 60 last year were up 11% over the year before, according to the FBI’s report. Investigators are warning of a rise in brazen schemes to drain bank accounts that involve sending couriers in person to collect cash or gold from victims.
“It can be a devastating impact to older Americans who lack the ability to go out and make money,” said Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “People lose all their money. Some people become destitute.”
The FBI received more than 100,000 complaints by victims of scams over the age of 60 last year, with nearly 6,000 people losing more than $100,000. It follows a sharp rise in reported losses by older Americans in the two years after the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, when people were stuck at home and easier for scammers to reach over the phone.
Barnacle said investigators are seeing organized, transnational criminal enterprises targeting older Americans through a variety of schemes, like romance scams and investment frauds.
The most commonly reported fraud among older adults last year was tech support scams, in which criminals pose over the phone as technical or customer service representatives. In one such scam authorities say is rising in popularity, criminals impersonate technology, banking and government officials to convince victims that foreign hackers have infiltrated their bank accounts and instruct them that to protect their money they should move it to a new account — one secretly controlled by the scammers.
Federal investigators saw an uptick between May and December of scammers using live couriers to take money from victims duped into believing their accounts had been compromised, according to the FBI. In those cases, scammers tell victims that their bank accounts have been hacked and that they need to liquidate their assets into cash or buy gold or other precious metals to protect their funds. Then the fraudsters arrange for a courier to pick it up in person.
“A lot of the fraud schemes are asking victims to send money via a wire transfer, or a cryptocurrency transfer. When the victim is reluctant to do that, they’re given an alternative,” Barnacle said. “And so the bad guy will use courier services.”
Earlier this month, an 81-year-old Ohio man fatally shot an Uber driver he thought was trying to rob him after receiving scam phone calls, according to authorities.
The man had been receiving calls from someone pretending to be an officer from the local court who demanded money. The Uber driver had been told to retrieve a package from the man’s home, a request authorities say was possibly made by the same scam caller or an accomplice.
The staggering losses to older Americans are likely an undercount. Only about half of the more than 880,000 complaints reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center last year included information on the age of the victim.
Court upholds police officer’s firing for posting racist memes
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a former Milwaukee police officer was properly fired for posting racist memes related to the arrest of an NBA player that triggered a public outcry.
Officer Erik Andrade was involved in the 2018 arrest of Sterling Brown, who then played for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Brown alleged that police used excessive force and targeted him because he is Black when they confronted him for parking illegally in a handicapped-accessible spot. He was talking with officers while waiting for his citation when the situation escalated. Officers took him down and used a stun gun because he didn’t immediately follow orders to remove his hands from his pockets.
Andrade was not involved with the arrest of Brown, but did transport him after his arrest.
Brown filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city, police department and several officers who were involved in his arrest, including Andrade.
In the lawsuit, Brown referenced a series of racist memes posted on Facebook by Andrade. In one post hours after the arrest, Andrade wrote: “Nice meeting Sterling Brown of the Milwaukee Bucks at work this morning! Lol#FearTheDeer.”
The lawsuit alleges Andrade also shared a disparaging meme of NBA star Kevin Durant about three months later.
Andrade was fired in 2018 after being suspended for violating the department’s code of conduct related to his social media posts, not for his conduct during the Brown arrest.
Milwaukee’s police chief at the time, Alfonso Morales, said in Andrade’s disciplinary hearing that he was fired because the Facebook posts would be used to impeach his credibility in future criminal proceedings and that he therefore would be unable to testify.
Andrade deleted his Facebook account the day the lawsuit was filed. He sued the Milwaukee Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, which reviewed and upheld the chief’s decision to fire him. Andrade argued that his due process rights had been violated.
A Milwaukee County circuit court and a state appeals court both upheld his firing, leading to Andrade’s appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
In a 5-2 decision on Tuesday, the high court said the police chief properly explained the evidence that supported firing Andrade and gave him a chance to respond.
The court also determined that the police chief followed the law when he listed the policies that Andrade violated and referenced the Facebook posts that formed the basis for the violations when he submitted a complaint to the Milwaukee Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.
The dissenting justices said they did not condone Andrade’s behavior, but they believed his due process rights had been violated.
Brown’s attorney, Mark Thomsen, said the ruling reaffirms the police chief’s power to fire someone for violating the code of conduct.
Under a 2021 settlement, the city paid Brown $750,000 and apologized. The Milwaukee Police Department also said that it “recognizes that the incident escalated in an unnecessary manner and despite Mr. Brown’s calm behavior.”
Brown’s first three years in the NBA were with the Bucks, from 2017 until 2020. He also played for the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers before joining Alba Berlin of the German Basketball Bundesliga and the EuroLeague in 2023.
Washington
FBI: Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans
WASHINGTON (AP) — Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year, according to an FBI report released Tuesday that shows a rise in losses through increasingly sophisticated criminal tactics to trick the vulnerable into giving up their life savings.
Losses from scams reported by Americans over the age of 60 last year were up 11% over the year before, according to the FBI’s report. Investigators are warning of a rise in brazen schemes to drain bank accounts that involve sending couriers in person to collect cash or gold from victims.
“It can be a devastating impact to older Americans who lack the ability to go out and make money,” said Deputy Assistant Director James Barnacle of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “People lose all their money. Some people become destitute.”
The FBI received more than 100,000 complaints by victims of scams over the age of 60 last year, with nearly 6,000 people losing more than $100,000. It follows a sharp rise in reported losses by older Americans in the two years after the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, when people were stuck at home and easier for scammers to reach over the phone.
Barnacle said investigators are seeing organized, transnational criminal enterprises targeting older Americans through a variety of schemes, like romance scams and investment frauds.
The most commonly reported fraud among older adults last year was tech support scams, in which criminals pose over the phone as technical or customer service representatives. In one such scam authorities say is rising in popularity, criminals impersonate technology, banking and government officials to convince victims that foreign hackers have infiltrated their bank accounts and instruct them that to protect their money they should move it to a new account — one secretly controlled by the scammers.
Federal investigators saw an uptick between May and December of scammers using live couriers to take money from victims duped into believing their accounts had been compromised, according to the FBI. In those cases, scammers tell victims that their bank accounts have been hacked and that they need to liquidate their assets into cash or buy gold or other precious metals to protect their funds. Then the fraudsters arrange for a courier to pick it up in person.
“A lot of the fraud schemes are asking victims to send money via a wire transfer, or a cryptocurrency transfer. When the victim is reluctant to do that, they’re given an alternative,” Barnacle said. “And so the bad guy will use courier services.”
Earlier this month, an 81-year-old Ohio man fatally shot an Uber driver he thought was trying to rob him after receiving scam phone calls, according to authorities.
The man had been receiving calls from someone pretending to be an officer from the local court who demanded money. The Uber driver had been told to retrieve a package from the man’s home, a request authorities say was possibly made by the same scam caller or an accomplice.
The staggering losses to older Americans are likely an undercount. Only about half of the more than 880,000 complaints reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center last year included information on the age of the victim.
