Georgia
23 indicted in alleged schemes to smuggle drugs and phones into prisons by drone
STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) — Federal prosecutors have indicted 23 people, most of them current and former inmates, in what authorities said Wednesday were schemes to smuggle drugs and cellphones into Georgia state prisons using drones.
Indictments in two similar cases were unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court after being handed down by a grand jury last month. The indictments allege inmates used contraband cellphones to coordinate drone deliveries with defendants outside the prisons.
Drones were used to drop marijuana. methamphetamine and contraband phones into the yards at Smith State Prison in Glennville, Telfair State Prison in McRae-Helena and others over a five-year period beginning in 2019, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Jill Steinberg’s office.
Each of the defendants faces federal drug charges, and all but six were imprisoned at some point during the smuggling incidents outlined in the indictments, federal prosecutors said.
The indictments described text and Facebook messages between defendants, including aerial images of prisons and photos of packages in vacuum-sealed bags.
One message sent by an inmate in August 2021, according to the indictments, said: “Friday gotta be after dark won’t be able to get it until kitchen help go out for breakfast.”
Another inmate’s message from January 2023 said: “We can do 2 on one battery and 2 on another battery. ... I just need to know when you taking off and when the pack drop.”
Authorities seized 10 drones and 21 firearms during the drone smuggling investigations, prosecutors said.
The two prisons named by federal prosecutors in the drone smuggling cases have been tarnished in recent years by inmate violence and corruption.
The warden at Telfair State Prison was stabbed by an inmate with a homemade weapon in March as staff conducted a shakedown for contraband. He wasn’t seriously injured, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
A state investigation into a contraband inside Smith State Prison resulted in the arrest and firing of its warden, Brian Adams, in February 2023. Since then, two staff members have been killed in inmates. A correctional officer died at a hospital last October after being assaulted at the prison, corrections officials said, and in June a kitchen worker was fatally shot by an inmate with a firearm who also killed himself.
Kansas
Mom sentenced to life in prison after her 2-year-old son fatally shot her 4-year-old daughter
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas mother whose 2-year-old son fatally shot his 4-year-old sister has been sentenced to life in prison.
Mariann Belair, 24, won’t be eligible for parole until she’s served 25 years under the sentence imposed Tuesday in Shawnee County District Court, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. Jurors found her guilty in May of aggravated child endangerment and first-degree murder in the commission of a felony.
Belair testified at her trial that she removed a loaded 9mm handgun from her diaper bag and placed it on the couch next to her in October while she was home with her 4-year-old daughter, Lawrencia Perez-Belair, and her 2-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter.
She said she had planned to go get food with her family and was making sure she had everything she needed in the bag. She said Lawrencia then “distracted” her by asking her to shoot a cellphone photo of them together.
Deputy District Attorney Lauren Amrein told jurors that the gun sat on the couch at least 12 minutes before Belair’s son, who was about to turn 3, picked it up and shot his sister. She said no reasonable person would have let the gun sit there so long with small children present.
Court records show Belair complained in a handwritten motion that her trial attorney discouraged her from taking a plea that would have resulted in her being sentenced to 10 years and three months in prison.
A new attorney assigned to the case has requested a new trial.
Washington
Shein sues Temu over copyright infringements
Online fast-fashion giant Shein has filed another lawsuit against competitor Temu, accusing the China-founded shopping platform of stealing its designs, copying its product images and engaging in other types of fraud.
The complaint filed in a Washington federal court this week alleges that Temu, which has grown in popularity in the U.S, has subsidized its low prices by encouraging sellers to offer counterfeited items, stolen designs and sub-standard products.
The allegations come as Shein itself is the target of lawsuits from brands and designers that have accused the company of stealing their designs and selling copycat items on its e-commerce site.
Asked for comment about the new lawsuit, a Temu spokesperson said in a prepared statement that Shein’s “audacity is unbelievable.”
“Shein, buried under its own mountain of IP lawsuits, has the nerve to fabricate accusations against others for the very misconduct they’re repeatedly sued for,” the spokesperson said.
The new lawsuit against Temu represents an escalation of the ongoing feud between the two companies, which have sued each other in U.S. courts before.
Temu, a platform owned by Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings, alleged in a previous lawsuit that Shein compelled clothing manufacturers to submit to unfair supply chain arrangements in order to prevent them from working with Temu.
Shein, which was founded in China but is now based in Singapore, accused Temu in court of engaging in deceptive business practices and misleading consumers by creating impostor accounts on social media that used Shein’s name but directed people to Temu’s platform.
The companies dropped those lawsuits in October. Temu sued Shein again in December, accusing its rival of employing “mafia-style intimidation” of suppliers to hamper its growth in the U.S.
Attorneys for Shein wrote in the new complaint that at least one Temu employee stole “valuable trade secrets” from Shein that identify best-selling products and internal pricing information.
They also claimed again that Temu falsely presented itself as Shein through impostor X accounts that directed customers to Temu’s site. They further alleged Temu has engaged in similar practices through sponsored Google ads.
23 indicted in alleged schemes to smuggle drugs and phones into prisons by drone
STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) — Federal prosecutors have indicted 23 people, most of them current and former inmates, in what authorities said Wednesday were schemes to smuggle drugs and cellphones into Georgia state prisons using drones.
Indictments in two similar cases were unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court after being handed down by a grand jury last month. The indictments allege inmates used contraband cellphones to coordinate drone deliveries with defendants outside the prisons.
Drones were used to drop marijuana. methamphetamine and contraband phones into the yards at Smith State Prison in Glennville, Telfair State Prison in McRae-Helena and others over a five-year period beginning in 2019, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Jill Steinberg’s office.
Each of the defendants faces federal drug charges, and all but six were imprisoned at some point during the smuggling incidents outlined in the indictments, federal prosecutors said.
The indictments described text and Facebook messages between defendants, including aerial images of prisons and photos of packages in vacuum-sealed bags.
One message sent by an inmate in August 2021, according to the indictments, said: “Friday gotta be after dark won’t be able to get it until kitchen help go out for breakfast.”
Another inmate’s message from January 2023 said: “We can do 2 on one battery and 2 on another battery. ... I just need to know when you taking off and when the pack drop.”
Authorities seized 10 drones and 21 firearms during the drone smuggling investigations, prosecutors said.
The two prisons named by federal prosecutors in the drone smuggling cases have been tarnished in recent years by inmate violence and corruption.
The warden at Telfair State Prison was stabbed by an inmate with a homemade weapon in March as staff conducted a shakedown for contraband. He wasn’t seriously injured, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
A state investigation into a contraband inside Smith State Prison resulted in the arrest and firing of its warden, Brian Adams, in February 2023. Since then, two staff members have been killed in inmates. A correctional officer died at a hospital last October after being assaulted at the prison, corrections officials said, and in June a kitchen worker was fatally shot by an inmate with a firearm who also killed himself.
Kansas
Mom sentenced to life in prison after her 2-year-old son fatally shot her 4-year-old daughter
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas mother whose 2-year-old son fatally shot his 4-year-old sister has been sentenced to life in prison.
Mariann Belair, 24, won’t be eligible for parole until she’s served 25 years under the sentence imposed Tuesday in Shawnee County District Court, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. Jurors found her guilty in May of aggravated child endangerment and first-degree murder in the commission of a felony.
Belair testified at her trial that she removed a loaded 9mm handgun from her diaper bag and placed it on the couch next to her in October while she was home with her 4-year-old daughter, Lawrencia Perez-Belair, and her 2-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter.
She said she had planned to go get food with her family and was making sure she had everything she needed in the bag. She said Lawrencia then “distracted” her by asking her to shoot a cellphone photo of them together.
Deputy District Attorney Lauren Amrein told jurors that the gun sat on the couch at least 12 minutes before Belair’s son, who was about to turn 3, picked it up and shot his sister. She said no reasonable person would have let the gun sit there so long with small children present.
Court records show Belair complained in a handwritten motion that her trial attorney discouraged her from taking a plea that would have resulted in her being sentenced to 10 years and three months in prison.
A new attorney assigned to the case has requested a new trial.
Washington
Shein sues Temu over copyright infringements
Online fast-fashion giant Shein has filed another lawsuit against competitor Temu, accusing the China-founded shopping platform of stealing its designs, copying its product images and engaging in other types of fraud.
The complaint filed in a Washington federal court this week alleges that Temu, which has grown in popularity in the U.S, has subsidized its low prices by encouraging sellers to offer counterfeited items, stolen designs and sub-standard products.
The allegations come as Shein itself is the target of lawsuits from brands and designers that have accused the company of stealing their designs and selling copycat items on its e-commerce site.
Asked for comment about the new lawsuit, a Temu spokesperson said in a prepared statement that Shein’s “audacity is unbelievable.”
“Shein, buried under its own mountain of IP lawsuits, has the nerve to fabricate accusations against others for the very misconduct they’re repeatedly sued for,” the spokesperson said.
The new lawsuit against Temu represents an escalation of the ongoing feud between the two companies, which have sued each other in U.S. courts before.
Temu, a platform owned by Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings, alleged in a previous lawsuit that Shein compelled clothing manufacturers to submit to unfair supply chain arrangements in order to prevent them from working with Temu.
Shein, which was founded in China but is now based in Singapore, accused Temu in court of engaging in deceptive business practices and misleading consumers by creating impostor accounts on social media that used Shein’s name but directed people to Temu’s platform.
The companies dropped those lawsuits in October. Temu sued Shein again in December, accusing its rival of employing “mafia-style intimidation” of suppliers to hamper its growth in the U.S.
Attorneys for Shein wrote in the new complaint that at least one Temu employee stole “valuable trade secrets” from Shein that identify best-selling products and internal pricing information.
They also claimed again that Temu falsely presented itself as Shein through impostor X accounts that directed customers to Temu’s site. They further alleged Temu has engaged in similar practices through sponsored Google ads.
