Colorado
Man convicted of kidnapping a housekeeper on Bloomberg’s ranch
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Federal jurors found a Colorado man guilty of kidnapping a woman on a ranch owned by Michael Bloomberg during what prosecutors described as his attempt to kill the media mogul.
Joseph Beecher, 51, faces seven years to life in prison after he was convicted Wednesday in Cheyenne on kidnapping, carjacking and firearm charges. The trial lasted two days and the jury deliberated for an hour and a half.
The kidnapped woman, a housekeeper at the western Colorado ranch, was rescued unharmed on the morning after the kidnapping. Authorities found her and Beecher in a motel room in Cheyenne, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) northeast of the Bloomberg property.
The kidnapping happened in February 2022, after Beecher was dismissed as a hotel handyman in Craig, Colorado. He worked there in exchange for housing and was told to leave, according to court documents.
Beecher went looking for Bloomberg and his family, and rammed his pickup truck through the gate of the former New York City mayor’s ranch about 70 miles (113 kilometers) from Craig, according to court documents.
Bloomberg had bought the ranch in 2020 for $44.8 million. The Bloomberg family was not present at the time of the kidnapping.
The woman, who was abducted at gunpoint, didn’t know Beecher. His motivation for seeking Bloomberg was unclear. But Beecher was “intent on killing Bloomberg,” prosecutors said in a statement Thursday.
The woman, who was not named in federal court documents, was identified as the ranch’s supervising housekeeper. She told investigators she was in an upstairs bedroom when she heard a man ask who she was. She turned and saw Beecher pointing a black “machine gun” at her, she said.
Beecher at the time was a suspect in a burglary earlier in the day in which he stole two rifles, including an AR-15 and ammunition, from his employer’s living quarters at the hotel, according to officials.
He left his truck at Bloomberg’s ranch and ordered the woman to drive them in her husband’s pickup truck to the Denver area and then to Cheyenne, where they stopped and he told her to get a room at the motel, according to court documents.
Investigators traced the woman’s iPad to the motel where they saw the pickup truck and examined surveillance video.
Motel staff told police which room they were in and a SWAT team raided it, freeing the woman and arresting Beecher.
Texas
State Fair of Texas sued by state’s AG over new rule banning guns on premises
DALLAS (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to block a ban on firearms at the State Fair of Texas, one of the state’s biggest annual celebrations.
Fair organizers earlier this month announced a ban on guns after a shooting last year on the 277-acre (112-hectare) fairgrounds in the heart of Dallas. The move drew swift criticism from Republican state lawmakers, who have proudly expanded gun rights in recent years. Paxton, a Republican, threatened to sue if the ban was not repealed.
Paxton said Texas allows gun owners to carry firearms in places owned or leased by government entities unless otherwise prohibited by law. Fair Park is owned by the City of Dallas, which contracts with the State Fair of Texas for the management of the annual fair.
Paxton called the ban an illegal restriction on gun owners’ rights. Texas allows people to carry a handgun without a license, background check or training.
“Neither the City of Dallas nor the State Fair of Texas can infringe on Texans’ right to self-defense,” Paxton said.
In a statement, the city government of Dallas said it is “aware of the lawsuit filed by the State of Texas and disagrees with the allegations against the City and interim city manager. The City was not involved in the State Fair of Texas’ announcement of its enhanced weapons policy. The State Fair of Texas is a private event operated and controlled by a private, non-profit entity and not the City.”
State fair officials did not immediately respond to email requests for comment.
The fair, which reopens in September and lasts for nearly a month, dates back to 1886. In addition to a maze of midway games, car shows and the Texas Star Ferris Wheel — one of the tallest in the U.S. — the fairgrounds are also home to the annual college football rivalry between the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma.
Texas
Judge shields second border aid group from deeper questioning in investigation
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge on Thursday shielded another migrant aid group from deeper questioning as part of a growing Republican-led investigation into organizations that help immigrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled the aid group Team Brownsville was not required to take part in depositions related to the investigation. The ruling continues a string of court defeats for Texas officials who have put migrant aid groups under increasing scrutiny. The investigations were launched after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022, without citing evidence, wrote a letter suggesting some groups may be acting unlawfully or helping migrants enter the U.S. illegally.
Gamble’s decision does not prevent the state from continuing an investigation into Team Brownsville, which state officials have accused of inappropriately using federal grant money. During a hearing in Austin, attorneys for Team Brownsville denied these accusations and accused Texas officials of trying to intimidate aid groups.
A judge rejected a similar motion for a deposition from Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in July, and a separate judge denied the state’s efforts to close a migrant shelter in El Paso.
Spokespersons for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office is leading the investigations, did not immediately respond to requests for comment after the hearing.
No criminal charges have been filed against any of the groups, and attorneys for Paxton’s office told Gamble they had no interest in pursuing a criminal investigation against Team Brownsville, which provides food and shelter to asylum seekers entering the U.S.
New Mexico
Afghan refugee accused in case that shocked Muslim community reaches plea agreement
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An Afghan refugee who was convicted earlier this year of first-degree murder in one of three fatal shootings that shook Albuquerque’s Muslim community has reached a plea agreement that could resolve criminal charges stemming from the other two killings.
Muhammad Syed’s attorneys confirmed Thursday that the agreement will be considered by a state district judge during a hearing Tuesday. Details of the agreement have not been made public.
Syed already faces life in prison for killing 41-year-old Aftab Hussein in July 2022. He was set to stand trial in the second case beginning Tuesday, but those proceedings were canceled amid the discussion about changing his plea.
The three ambush-style killings happened over the course of several days, leaving authorities scrambling to determine if race or religion might have been behind the crimes. It was not long before the investigation shifted away from possible hate crimes to what prosecutors described to jurors during the first trial as the “willful and very deliberate” actions of another member of the Muslim community.
Prosecutors described Syed as having a violent history. His public defenders had argued that previous allegations of domestic violence never resulted in convictions.
The first trial uncovered little about motive, leaving victims’ families hoping that the subsequent trials might shed more light on why the men were targeted.
The other victims included Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, a 27-year-old urban planner who was gunned down Aug. 1, 2022, while taking his evening walk, and Naeem Hussain, who was shot four days later as he sat in his vehicle outside a refugee resettlement agency on the city’s south side.
With the conviction in the case of Aftab Hussein, Syed must serve at least 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. His sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.
Massachusetts
Man charged after allegedly triggering explosion in dorm
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man has been charged with engaging in a scheme to cover up efforts to develop bomb-making skills after triggering an explosion last year in his dorm at the University of Chicago, federal investigators said Thursday.
Aram Brunson, 21, of Newton, is also charged with making false statements to federal officials at Logan International Airport after his bags set off alarms for explosives, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Boston.
Prosecutors said Brunson’s bomb-making activities were linked to his desire to take militant action against Azerbaijanis and others who pose a threat to ethnic Armenians living in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Investigators believe Brunson is currently living in Yerevan, Armenia, and attending the American University there. The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a query about whether Brunson has a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
Brunson came to the attention of law enforcement officials in Chicago in January 2023, after allegedly causing an explosion in his room.
Investigators said Brunson was building a large black powder device when he accidentally set it off, burning his room and causing the evacuation of the dormitory. They said Brunson told police he was trying to mimic a prank he saw on the internet.
Brunson also made videos of himself teaching others how to make explosive devices and rig doors and desks with grenades, according to investigators. Brunson’s internet searches suggested he planned to take action against foreign diplomatic facilities in the United States, they said.
As Brunson was leaving Boston to travel to Armenia in August, 2023, his bags set off explosive alarms for an unusual and highly volatile explosive, according to court documents, and Brunson told Customs and Border Protection officials he had no idea how traces of the material wound up on his bags.
During a subsequent search of his Newton home, a recipe for making the explosive was found and a bomb dog detected the substance at three locations in the bedroom, according to investigators.
“While radical political views may be offensive, they are constitutionally protected. However, experimenting with extremely dangerous explosives in support of those views and then engaging in false statements about your conduct is crossing the line,” Acting United States Attorney Joshua Levy said.
Efforts have been made to encourage Brunson to return to the United States to meet with agents, but he has declined through a representative, according to the criminal complaint.
Each of the charges provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
Man convicted of kidnapping a housekeeper on Bloomberg’s ranch
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Federal jurors found a Colorado man guilty of kidnapping a woman on a ranch owned by Michael Bloomberg during what prosecutors described as his attempt to kill the media mogul.
Joseph Beecher, 51, faces seven years to life in prison after he was convicted Wednesday in Cheyenne on kidnapping, carjacking and firearm charges. The trial lasted two days and the jury deliberated for an hour and a half.
The kidnapped woman, a housekeeper at the western Colorado ranch, was rescued unharmed on the morning after the kidnapping. Authorities found her and Beecher in a motel room in Cheyenne, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) northeast of the Bloomberg property.
The kidnapping happened in February 2022, after Beecher was dismissed as a hotel handyman in Craig, Colorado. He worked there in exchange for housing and was told to leave, according to court documents.
Beecher went looking for Bloomberg and his family, and rammed his pickup truck through the gate of the former New York City mayor’s ranch about 70 miles (113 kilometers) from Craig, according to court documents.
Bloomberg had bought the ranch in 2020 for $44.8 million. The Bloomberg family was not present at the time of the kidnapping.
The woman, who was abducted at gunpoint, didn’t know Beecher. His motivation for seeking Bloomberg was unclear. But Beecher was “intent on killing Bloomberg,” prosecutors said in a statement Thursday.
The woman, who was not named in federal court documents, was identified as the ranch’s supervising housekeeper. She told investigators she was in an upstairs bedroom when she heard a man ask who she was. She turned and saw Beecher pointing a black “machine gun” at her, she said.
Beecher at the time was a suspect in a burglary earlier in the day in which he stole two rifles, including an AR-15 and ammunition, from his employer’s living quarters at the hotel, according to officials.
He left his truck at Bloomberg’s ranch and ordered the woman to drive them in her husband’s pickup truck to the Denver area and then to Cheyenne, where they stopped and he told her to get a room at the motel, according to court documents.
Investigators traced the woman’s iPad to the motel where they saw the pickup truck and examined surveillance video.
Motel staff told police which room they were in and a SWAT team raided it, freeing the woman and arresting Beecher.
Texas
State Fair of Texas sued by state’s AG over new rule banning guns on premises
DALLAS (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to block a ban on firearms at the State Fair of Texas, one of the state’s biggest annual celebrations.
Fair organizers earlier this month announced a ban on guns after a shooting last year on the 277-acre (112-hectare) fairgrounds in the heart of Dallas. The move drew swift criticism from Republican state lawmakers, who have proudly expanded gun rights in recent years. Paxton, a Republican, threatened to sue if the ban was not repealed.
Paxton said Texas allows gun owners to carry firearms in places owned or leased by government entities unless otherwise prohibited by law. Fair Park is owned by the City of Dallas, which contracts with the State Fair of Texas for the management of the annual fair.
Paxton called the ban an illegal restriction on gun owners’ rights. Texas allows people to carry a handgun without a license, background check or training.
“Neither the City of Dallas nor the State Fair of Texas can infringe on Texans’ right to self-defense,” Paxton said.
In a statement, the city government of Dallas said it is “aware of the lawsuit filed by the State of Texas and disagrees with the allegations against the City and interim city manager. The City was not involved in the State Fair of Texas’ announcement of its enhanced weapons policy. The State Fair of Texas is a private event operated and controlled by a private, non-profit entity and not the City.”
State fair officials did not immediately respond to email requests for comment.
The fair, which reopens in September and lasts for nearly a month, dates back to 1886. In addition to a maze of midway games, car shows and the Texas Star Ferris Wheel — one of the tallest in the U.S. — the fairgrounds are also home to the annual college football rivalry between the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma.
Texas
Judge shields second border aid group from deeper questioning in investigation
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge on Thursday shielded another migrant aid group from deeper questioning as part of a growing Republican-led investigation into organizations that help immigrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble ruled the aid group Team Brownsville was not required to take part in depositions related to the investigation. The ruling continues a string of court defeats for Texas officials who have put migrant aid groups under increasing scrutiny. The investigations were launched after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022, without citing evidence, wrote a letter suggesting some groups may be acting unlawfully or helping migrants enter the U.S. illegally.
Gamble’s decision does not prevent the state from continuing an investigation into Team Brownsville, which state officials have accused of inappropriately using federal grant money. During a hearing in Austin, attorneys for Team Brownsville denied these accusations and accused Texas officials of trying to intimidate aid groups.
A judge rejected a similar motion for a deposition from Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in July, and a separate judge denied the state’s efforts to close a migrant shelter in El Paso.
Spokespersons for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office is leading the investigations, did not immediately respond to requests for comment after the hearing.
No criminal charges have been filed against any of the groups, and attorneys for Paxton’s office told Gamble they had no interest in pursuing a criminal investigation against Team Brownsville, which provides food and shelter to asylum seekers entering the U.S.
New Mexico
Afghan refugee accused in case that shocked Muslim community reaches plea agreement
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An Afghan refugee who was convicted earlier this year of first-degree murder in one of three fatal shootings that shook Albuquerque’s Muslim community has reached a plea agreement that could resolve criminal charges stemming from the other two killings.
Muhammad Syed’s attorneys confirmed Thursday that the agreement will be considered by a state district judge during a hearing Tuesday. Details of the agreement have not been made public.
Syed already faces life in prison for killing 41-year-old Aftab Hussein in July 2022. He was set to stand trial in the second case beginning Tuesday, but those proceedings were canceled amid the discussion about changing his plea.
The three ambush-style killings happened over the course of several days, leaving authorities scrambling to determine if race or religion might have been behind the crimes. It was not long before the investigation shifted away from possible hate crimes to what prosecutors described to jurors during the first trial as the “willful and very deliberate” actions of another member of the Muslim community.
Prosecutors described Syed as having a violent history. His public defenders had argued that previous allegations of domestic violence never resulted in convictions.
The first trial uncovered little about motive, leaving victims’ families hoping that the subsequent trials might shed more light on why the men were targeted.
The other victims included Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, a 27-year-old urban planner who was gunned down Aug. 1, 2022, while taking his evening walk, and Naeem Hussain, who was shot four days later as he sat in his vehicle outside a refugee resettlement agency on the city’s south side.
With the conviction in the case of Aftab Hussein, Syed must serve at least 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. His sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.
Massachusetts
Man charged after allegedly triggering explosion in dorm
BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man has been charged with engaging in a scheme to cover up efforts to develop bomb-making skills after triggering an explosion last year in his dorm at the University of Chicago, federal investigators said Thursday.
Aram Brunson, 21, of Newton, is also charged with making false statements to federal officials at Logan International Airport after his bags set off alarms for explosives, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Boston.
Prosecutors said Brunson’s bomb-making activities were linked to his desire to take militant action against Azerbaijanis and others who pose a threat to ethnic Armenians living in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Investigators believe Brunson is currently living in Yerevan, Armenia, and attending the American University there. The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a query about whether Brunson has a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
Brunson came to the attention of law enforcement officials in Chicago in January 2023, after allegedly causing an explosion in his room.
Investigators said Brunson was building a large black powder device when he accidentally set it off, burning his room and causing the evacuation of the dormitory. They said Brunson told police he was trying to mimic a prank he saw on the internet.
Brunson also made videos of himself teaching others how to make explosive devices and rig doors and desks with grenades, according to investigators. Brunson’s internet searches suggested he planned to take action against foreign diplomatic facilities in the United States, they said.
As Brunson was leaving Boston to travel to Armenia in August, 2023, his bags set off explosive alarms for an unusual and highly volatile explosive, according to court documents, and Brunson told Customs and Border Protection officials he had no idea how traces of the material wound up on his bags.
During a subsequent search of his Newton home, a recipe for making the explosive was found and a bomb dog detected the substance at three locations in the bedroom, according to investigators.
“While radical political views may be offensive, they are constitutionally protected. However, experimenting with extremely dangerous explosives in support of those views and then engaging in false statements about your conduct is crossing the line,” Acting United States Attorney Joshua Levy said.
Efforts have been made to encourage Brunson to return to the United States to meet with agents, but he has declined through a representative, according to the criminal complaint.
Each of the charges provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
