New York
Police officer in Yonkers charged with assaulting man during arrest
YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) — A supervising police officer in Yonkers, New York, was arrested and charged on Monday with assaulting a suspect following a high-speed chase three months ago, prosecutors said.
Detective Sgt. Hector Cartagena, 55, pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree assault during his arraignment in Westchester County Court in White Plains. He was released until his next court date on July 31.
Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah’s office said that on March 14, Cartagena kicked a suspect being placed into custody four times and punched him 10 times in the face, fracturing the man’s orbital bone.
The suspect, who prosecutors did not name, had stolen a vehicle and led police on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash in Yonkers. He faces charges including grand larceny, assault and reckless endangerment.
Chad Seigel, a lawyer for Cartagena, said the officer’s actions were “justified and in line with established police procedure” following an incident in which multiple people were injured and lives were placed in danger.
“Rather than bringing this unwarranted prosecution, the city and county should have stood behind this highly decorated officer who has served the community without blemish for 25 years,” he said in an emailed statement. “We have every confidence that after all of the facts are brought to light in a courtroom, he’ll be fully vindicated.”
Rocah’s office said Yonkers police and their internal affairs division investigated the incident at the scene and determined Cartagena “utilized force in a manner not consistent with department policies” and immediately referred the matter to prosecutors.
The Yonkers Police Department, which shared body camera footage from the incident on its Facebook page Monday, said Cartagena has been suspended without pay.
The department added that the 24-year veteran of the police force, who was assigned to the crime scene unit, acted alone, and that all other officers on the scene followed the agency’s policies and procedures.
Yonkers Police Commissioner Christopher Sapienza said in a statement that he’s “outraged” by Cartagena’s actions.
“His actions serve to negate the great work exhibited by the other officers involved to safely apprehend the suspect at the scene,” he said in a statement. “His actions further harm our relationship with the community, which we have worked so hard to build.”
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano called the actions “indefensible,” saying they are the “very definition of disrespect for the badge.”
“This unfortunate incident should not be a reflection of the men and women who serve and protect this City with integrity every day,” he said in a statement. “This type of behavior will never be tolerated.”
California
Convicted killer of Kristin Smart ordered to pay $350,000 in restitution
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) — A California judge ruled Monday that a man convicted of killing 19-year-old college student Kristin Smart in 1996 must pay just over $350,000 to her family for costs they incurred after her death.
Monterey County Superior Court Judge Jennifer O’Keefe ordered Paul Flores to make the payments after a hearing last Wednesday, during which the family told the court how much they paid for travel, a private investigator, billboards seeking information, lost wages and a celebration of life gathering.
“It’s demeaning to Kristin’s memory to measure our loss in finances,” her mother Denise Smart told The Tribune of San Luis Obispo after Wednesday’s hearing. “Our loss is Kristin.”
The family had sought about $361,000 in restitution. O’Keefe told the family that they could seek additional restitution if they wish to submit other expenses.
California courts require those convicted of crimes to compensate victims for the expenses that were caused, regardless of a defendant’s ability to pay. The state corrections department collects 50% of prison wages and money deposited in convict’s trust account to pay restitution.
Smart went missing from California Polytechnic State University in May 1996. Prosecutors alleged she was killed during an attempted rape and that the last person she was seen with was Flores, a fellow student. Kristin Smart was declared legally dead in 2002.
A podcast called “Your Own Backyard” helped investigators crack the case by bringing forward additional witnesses. Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, were arrested in 2021.
Prosecutors alleged Kristin Smart’s remains were buried on Ruben Flores’ property and later moved. He was acquitted of accessory charges.
Paul Flores was convicted in October 2022 and sentenced in March 2023 to 25 years to life. He has been physically attacked in prison twice since August 2023.
Denise Smart said last week that the family offered to forgo restitution if Flores would tell them where Kristin’s body was. Flores’ attorney, Harold Mesick, said the defense did not know where her remains are. Flores maintains his innocence, Mesick said.
Denise Smart said Monday that the offer remains open.
Vermont
Man sentenced to 25 years in prison for kidnapping woman and son outside of a mall
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after he was convicted of kidnapping a woman and her 4-year-old son by forcing them into her car outside a New Hampshire mall and bringing them to Vermont while he was searching for his estranged wife.
Everett Simpson, 46, was convicted by a jury in federal court last year on two counts of kidnapping and two counts of interstate car theft. He had acted as his own attorney during the trial and at his sentencing Monday. An email seeking comment from his stand-by public defender was sent Tuesday.
The sentencing “closes a dark period in two victims’ lives and hopefully allows their healing process to continue and provides a sense of security to them and others,” U.S. Attorney for Vermont Nikolas Kerest said in a statement.
Simpson admitted before the jury that he left a Vermont drug treatment center shortly after he was dropped off there on the night of Jan. 4, 2019, for court-ordered substance abuse treatment from another case.
He stole a van parked in a nearby driveway and drove it to Manchester, New Hampshire, where it was abandoned the next day. Simpson acknowledged driving back to White River Junction, Vermont, with the alleged victim and her son in her car. But he said the woman had agreed to do so and that she had opportunities to leave had she wanted.
“I am guilty of a lot of things, but not kidnapping,” Simpson said in court last year.
The woman and her child were taken to a Vermont motel. Simpson then took the victim’s car to Pennsylvania, where he was eventually arrested.
Court documents say the victim was sexually assaulted while in the motel, but the federal charges did not include sexual assault. Simpson is, however, facing separate state sexual assault charges.
Simpson said he fled the treatment center because he was trying to find his estranged wife, who he believed was having a relationship with another man.
In 2020, the woman received $400,000 in the settlement of a lawsuit accusing the state of Vermont of not doing enough to find Simpson after he left the treatment center. The woman also said she had received a sizable settlement from the treatment center, but the exact amount is unclear.
Victim impact statements were filed under seal in the federal case because they include personal information about, and statements from or about, victims of a violent crime, prosecutors said. Sentencing memorandums from both sides also were sealed.
South Dakota
Two more players from baseball team plead guilty in rape case
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Three of six South Dakota players from a baseball team made up of high school-aged players who were charged as adults last summer with rape have pleaded guilty to a lesser felony charge.
Two former members of the American Legion team from Mitchell pleaded guilty Monday to being an accessory to a felony, KELO-TV reported. Another player reached the same plea deal earlier this month. All three could face up to five years in prison when they’re sentenced in August.
Three other players who were charged as adults last August still face the original counts of second-degree rape and aiding and abetting second-degree rape. The have a status hearing July 1.
Meanwhile, another three players were charged in juvenile court.
According to prosecutors, the victims were 16 when they were sexually assaulted during a tournament in Rapid City last June.
The American Legion sponsors summer baseball leagues for high school-aged players throughout the U.S.
New York
Indian national pleads not guilty in plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader
NEW YORK (AP) — An Indian national extradited to the United States pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges arising from an alleged failed plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York.
Nikhil Gupta, 52, was extradited to the U.S. on Friday from the Czech Republic following his arrest in Prague a year ago.
He made an initial appearance on Monday in Manhattan federal court, where his attorney, Jeff Chabrowe, entered the not guilty plea on his behalf. The lawyer told a U.S. magistrate judge that his client might seek bail at a future court date. Gupta is scheduled to appear before a district judge on June 28.
In November, U.S. prosecutors announced that a plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York City, had been thwarted in June of last year after a sting operation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Pannun advocates for the creation of a sovereign Sikh state and is considered a terrorist by the Indian government.
According to an indictment, Gupta was recruited in May by an unidentified Indian government employee to orchestrate the assassination. Gupta has denied any involvement.
The indictment said Gupta contacted a criminal associate to help find a hit man to carry out the killing, but that person happened to be a DEA informant. The informant then introduced Gupta to a purported hit man, who was actually a DEA agent, it said.
In a statement that he read outside the courtroom, Chabrowe called the case a “complex matter for both our countries.”
He added: “It is extremely important that we refrain from rushing to conclusions so early in the process. Background and details will develop that may cast government allegations into an entirely new light. We will pursue his defense vigorously and ensure he receives full due process regardless of outside pressures.”
Gupta’s Czech attorney, Petr Slepicka, previously told The Associated Press that he believed that the charges arose from “a political case.”
The charges were the second major recent accusation of complicity of Indian government officials in attempts to kill Sikh separatist figures living in North America.
In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were credible allegations that the Indian government had links to the assassination in that country of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India rejected the accusation as absurd.
Police officer in Yonkers charged with assaulting man during arrest
YONKERS, N.Y. (AP) — A supervising police officer in Yonkers, New York, was arrested and charged on Monday with assaulting a suspect following a high-speed chase three months ago, prosecutors said.
Detective Sgt. Hector Cartagena, 55, pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree assault during his arraignment in Westchester County Court in White Plains. He was released until his next court date on July 31.
Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah’s office said that on March 14, Cartagena kicked a suspect being placed into custody four times and punched him 10 times in the face, fracturing the man’s orbital bone.
The suspect, who prosecutors did not name, had stolen a vehicle and led police on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash in Yonkers. He faces charges including grand larceny, assault and reckless endangerment.
Chad Seigel, a lawyer for Cartagena, said the officer’s actions were “justified and in line with established police procedure” following an incident in which multiple people were injured and lives were placed in danger.
“Rather than bringing this unwarranted prosecution, the city and county should have stood behind this highly decorated officer who has served the community without blemish for 25 years,” he said in an emailed statement. “We have every confidence that after all of the facts are brought to light in a courtroom, he’ll be fully vindicated.”
Rocah’s office said Yonkers police and their internal affairs division investigated the incident at the scene and determined Cartagena “utilized force in a manner not consistent with department policies” and immediately referred the matter to prosecutors.
The Yonkers Police Department, which shared body camera footage from the incident on its Facebook page Monday, said Cartagena has been suspended without pay.
The department added that the 24-year veteran of the police force, who was assigned to the crime scene unit, acted alone, and that all other officers on the scene followed the agency’s policies and procedures.
Yonkers Police Commissioner Christopher Sapienza said in a statement that he’s “outraged” by Cartagena’s actions.
“His actions serve to negate the great work exhibited by the other officers involved to safely apprehend the suspect at the scene,” he said in a statement. “His actions further harm our relationship with the community, which we have worked so hard to build.”
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano called the actions “indefensible,” saying they are the “very definition of disrespect for the badge.”
“This unfortunate incident should not be a reflection of the men and women who serve and protect this City with integrity every day,” he said in a statement. “This type of behavior will never be tolerated.”
California
Convicted killer of Kristin Smart ordered to pay $350,000 in restitution
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) — A California judge ruled Monday that a man convicted of killing 19-year-old college student Kristin Smart in 1996 must pay just over $350,000 to her family for costs they incurred after her death.
Monterey County Superior Court Judge Jennifer O’Keefe ordered Paul Flores to make the payments after a hearing last Wednesday, during which the family told the court how much they paid for travel, a private investigator, billboards seeking information, lost wages and a celebration of life gathering.
“It’s demeaning to Kristin’s memory to measure our loss in finances,” her mother Denise Smart told The Tribune of San Luis Obispo after Wednesday’s hearing. “Our loss is Kristin.”
The family had sought about $361,000 in restitution. O’Keefe told the family that they could seek additional restitution if they wish to submit other expenses.
California courts require those convicted of crimes to compensate victims for the expenses that were caused, regardless of a defendant’s ability to pay. The state corrections department collects 50% of prison wages and money deposited in convict’s trust account to pay restitution.
Smart went missing from California Polytechnic State University in May 1996. Prosecutors alleged she was killed during an attempted rape and that the last person she was seen with was Flores, a fellow student. Kristin Smart was declared legally dead in 2002.
A podcast called “Your Own Backyard” helped investigators crack the case by bringing forward additional witnesses. Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, were arrested in 2021.
Prosecutors alleged Kristin Smart’s remains were buried on Ruben Flores’ property and later moved. He was acquitted of accessory charges.
Paul Flores was convicted in October 2022 and sentenced in March 2023 to 25 years to life. He has been physically attacked in prison twice since August 2023.
Denise Smart said last week that the family offered to forgo restitution if Flores would tell them where Kristin’s body was. Flores’ attorney, Harold Mesick, said the defense did not know where her remains are. Flores maintains his innocence, Mesick said.
Denise Smart said Monday that the offer remains open.
Vermont
Man sentenced to 25 years in prison for kidnapping woman and son outside of a mall
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after he was convicted of kidnapping a woman and her 4-year-old son by forcing them into her car outside a New Hampshire mall and bringing them to Vermont while he was searching for his estranged wife.
Everett Simpson, 46, was convicted by a jury in federal court last year on two counts of kidnapping and two counts of interstate car theft. He had acted as his own attorney during the trial and at his sentencing Monday. An email seeking comment from his stand-by public defender was sent Tuesday.
The sentencing “closes a dark period in two victims’ lives and hopefully allows their healing process to continue and provides a sense of security to them and others,” U.S. Attorney for Vermont Nikolas Kerest said in a statement.
Simpson admitted before the jury that he left a Vermont drug treatment center shortly after he was dropped off there on the night of Jan. 4, 2019, for court-ordered substance abuse treatment from another case.
He stole a van parked in a nearby driveway and drove it to Manchester, New Hampshire, where it was abandoned the next day. Simpson acknowledged driving back to White River Junction, Vermont, with the alleged victim and her son in her car. But he said the woman had agreed to do so and that she had opportunities to leave had she wanted.
“I am guilty of a lot of things, but not kidnapping,” Simpson said in court last year.
The woman and her child were taken to a Vermont motel. Simpson then took the victim’s car to Pennsylvania, where he was eventually arrested.
Court documents say the victim was sexually assaulted while in the motel, but the federal charges did not include sexual assault. Simpson is, however, facing separate state sexual assault charges.
Simpson said he fled the treatment center because he was trying to find his estranged wife, who he believed was having a relationship with another man.
In 2020, the woman received $400,000 in the settlement of a lawsuit accusing the state of Vermont of not doing enough to find Simpson after he left the treatment center. The woman also said she had received a sizable settlement from the treatment center, but the exact amount is unclear.
Victim impact statements were filed under seal in the federal case because they include personal information about, and statements from or about, victims of a violent crime, prosecutors said. Sentencing memorandums from both sides also were sealed.
South Dakota
Two more players from baseball team plead guilty in rape case
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Three of six South Dakota players from a baseball team made up of high school-aged players who were charged as adults last summer with rape have pleaded guilty to a lesser felony charge.
Two former members of the American Legion team from Mitchell pleaded guilty Monday to being an accessory to a felony, KELO-TV reported. Another player reached the same plea deal earlier this month. All three could face up to five years in prison when they’re sentenced in August.
Three other players who were charged as adults last August still face the original counts of second-degree rape and aiding and abetting second-degree rape. The have a status hearing July 1.
Meanwhile, another three players were charged in juvenile court.
According to prosecutors, the victims were 16 when they were sexually assaulted during a tournament in Rapid City last June.
The American Legion sponsors summer baseball leagues for high school-aged players throughout the U.S.
New York
Indian national pleads not guilty in plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader
NEW YORK (AP) — An Indian national extradited to the United States pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges arising from an alleged failed plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist leader in New York.
Nikhil Gupta, 52, was extradited to the U.S. on Friday from the Czech Republic following his arrest in Prague a year ago.
He made an initial appearance on Monday in Manhattan federal court, where his attorney, Jeff Chabrowe, entered the not guilty plea on his behalf. The lawyer told a U.S. magistrate judge that his client might seek bail at a future court date. Gupta is scheduled to appear before a district judge on June 28.
In November, U.S. prosecutors announced that a plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York City, had been thwarted in June of last year after a sting operation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Pannun advocates for the creation of a sovereign Sikh state and is considered a terrorist by the Indian government.
According to an indictment, Gupta was recruited in May by an unidentified Indian government employee to orchestrate the assassination. Gupta has denied any involvement.
The indictment said Gupta contacted a criminal associate to help find a hit man to carry out the killing, but that person happened to be a DEA informant. The informant then introduced Gupta to a purported hit man, who was actually a DEA agent, it said.
In a statement that he read outside the courtroom, Chabrowe called the case a “complex matter for both our countries.”
He added: “It is extremely important that we refrain from rushing to conclusions so early in the process. Background and details will develop that may cast government allegations into an entirely new light. We will pursue his defense vigorously and ensure he receives full due process regardless of outside pressures.”
Gupta’s Czech attorney, Petr Slepicka, previously told The Associated Press that he believed that the charges arose from “a political case.”
The charges were the second major recent accusation of complicity of Indian government officials in attempts to kill Sikh separatist figures living in North America.
In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were credible allegations that the Indian government had links to the assassination in that country of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India rejected the accusation as absurd.
