North Carolina
Man dubbed ‘AK Guru’ charged with making and selling hundreds of machine guns
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man whose alias is “AK Guru” has been charged with making and selling hundreds of machine guns built from existing and deconstructed weapons, federal authorities said.
Earl Carter Jr., 72, is being held by federal authorities on charges of conspiracy to manufacture and deal in firearms without a license, possession of a machine gun and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to court documents.
Online court records do not show if Carter has entered a plea on the charges. A lawyer listed in court records did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment about the charges.
An FBI affidavit that cited a confidential informant said Carter, whose alias is “AK Guru,” makes machine guns “by either modifying legal firearms to make them into a machine gun or by piecing together parts from deconstructed machine guns to construct functioning machine guns.”
Carter has also taught others how to make machine guns for him to sell, according to the affidavit filed Oct. 18. The informant told the FBI that Carter brings an “astronomical” number of machine guns through his workshop and that Carter has “connections around the world who are able to smuggle firearms from Europe into the United States,” the affidavit said.
“Carter has sold over 1,000 fully automatic AK-47s to different groups in the area and that individuals from the ‘mountains’ have purchased multiple fully automatic AK-47s a week from Carter,” the affidavit said.
The informant told the FBI that he saw Carter possessing machine guns in his workshop in the small town of Hamlet, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) east of Charlotte. According to the informant, those guns included fully automatic AK-47 style rifles, a Browning M2 .50 caliber belt-fed machine gun, a PPS-43 submachine gun, a Lanchester submachine gun, and others, the affidavit said. The informant said Carter asked him to make machine guns for Carter to sell.
Agents who searched Carter’s home, workshop and other buildings seized multiple AK-style guns and other firearms with components appearing to make the weapons capable of functioning as a machine gun, the affidavit said.
Carter told agents that he knew that he was a felon and was not allowed to have guns, the affidavit said. He has a felony conviction for discharging a weapon into occupied property in February 1994.
Carter will be held in federal custody pending trial, a judge ordered. A trial date has not been set.
Louisiana
Mother pleads not guilty in death of infant left in hot car
JENNINGS, La. (AP) — A Louisiana woman whose 10-month-old daughter died after she was left inside a vehicle in August has pleaded not guilty to negligent homicide.
Bill Riley, an attorney for Hannah Faith Cormier, 32, of Jennings, entered the plea Monday in state court and asked for a jury trial, the American Press reported
Cormier was initially arrested on charges of second-degree murder and cruelty to a juvenile, but a grand jury earlier this month indicted her on the lesser charge to which she entered the plea. She remains out of jail on a $10,000 bond, pending a pre-trial conference set for March 31, 2025. That conference will determine whether the case will go to trial or be resolved with a plea, officials said.
Cormier is accused of leaving her daughter unattended inside the hot vehicles for several hours outside a fast food restaurant while she worked. Temperatures on that day were in the mid-to-upper 90s with triple-digit heat indices. The baby’s body temperature was 109 degrees (42 Celsius) when she was taken to the hospital, according to police.
Cormier told police she did not realize the baby was still in the back seat until she went to leave work and found her unconscious. Cormier took the baby to an area hospital where she was stabilized and later transported to another hospital in critical condition. She later died from what police said was a heat stroke.
New York
Second gambler admits trying to cash in on scheme involving ex-NBA player Jontay Porter
NEW YORK (AP) — A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty Wednesday in a sports betting scheme that ended Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter’s NBA career.
With Mahmud Mollah ‘s plea Wednesday, three people — including Porter — have now publicly admitted their roles in the scandal. It worked like this: The player withdrew early from games so that tipped-off gamblers could win wagers that he would score fewer points than sportsbooks expected.
Porter, Mollah and Long Phi Pham have pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. Two other men also have been charged and haven’t entered any pleas.
Mollah, of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, is set to be sentenced May 2 in a federal court in Brooklyn. He could face anything from a no-jail punishment to 20 years in prison.
His attorney, Andrew Levin, declined to comment Wednesday.
Porter played only briefly and scored no points in games on Jan. 26 and March 20 before pulling himself out of play, saying he was injured or ill.
According to a court complaint, Mollah used his knowledge of Porter’s March 20 plans to place bets that would have netted over $1 million to be split among the conspirators, including a 24% share to the player. But a betting company got suspicious and stopped Mollah from collecting most of the money.
The NBA ultimately investigated and banned Porter for life. He later told a court that he participated in the scam “to get out from under large gambling debts.”
Porter is awaiting sentencing Dec. 18.
Man dubbed ‘AK Guru’ charged with making and selling hundreds of machine guns
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man whose alias is “AK Guru” has been charged with making and selling hundreds of machine guns built from existing and deconstructed weapons, federal authorities said.
Earl Carter Jr., 72, is being held by federal authorities on charges of conspiracy to manufacture and deal in firearms without a license, possession of a machine gun and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to court documents.
Online court records do not show if Carter has entered a plea on the charges. A lawyer listed in court records did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment about the charges.
An FBI affidavit that cited a confidential informant said Carter, whose alias is “AK Guru,” makes machine guns “by either modifying legal firearms to make them into a machine gun or by piecing together parts from deconstructed machine guns to construct functioning machine guns.”
Carter has also taught others how to make machine guns for him to sell, according to the affidavit filed Oct. 18. The informant told the FBI that Carter brings an “astronomical” number of machine guns through his workshop and that Carter has “connections around the world who are able to smuggle firearms from Europe into the United States,” the affidavit said.
“Carter has sold over 1,000 fully automatic AK-47s to different groups in the area and that individuals from the ‘mountains’ have purchased multiple fully automatic AK-47s a week from Carter,” the affidavit said.
The informant told the FBI that he saw Carter possessing machine guns in his workshop in the small town of Hamlet, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) east of Charlotte. According to the informant, those guns included fully automatic AK-47 style rifles, a Browning M2 .50 caliber belt-fed machine gun, a PPS-43 submachine gun, a Lanchester submachine gun, and others, the affidavit said. The informant said Carter asked him to make machine guns for Carter to sell.
Agents who searched Carter’s home, workshop and other buildings seized multiple AK-style guns and other firearms with components appearing to make the weapons capable of functioning as a machine gun, the affidavit said.
Carter told agents that he knew that he was a felon and was not allowed to have guns, the affidavit said. He has a felony conviction for discharging a weapon into occupied property in February 1994.
Carter will be held in federal custody pending trial, a judge ordered. A trial date has not been set.
Louisiana
Mother pleads not guilty in death of infant left in hot car
JENNINGS, La. (AP) — A Louisiana woman whose 10-month-old daughter died after she was left inside a vehicle in August has pleaded not guilty to negligent homicide.
Bill Riley, an attorney for Hannah Faith Cormier, 32, of Jennings, entered the plea Monday in state court and asked for a jury trial, the American Press reported
Cormier was initially arrested on charges of second-degree murder and cruelty to a juvenile, but a grand jury earlier this month indicted her on the lesser charge to which she entered the plea. She remains out of jail on a $10,000 bond, pending a pre-trial conference set for March 31, 2025. That conference will determine whether the case will go to trial or be resolved with a plea, officials said.
Cormier is accused of leaving her daughter unattended inside the hot vehicles for several hours outside a fast food restaurant while she worked. Temperatures on that day were in the mid-to-upper 90s with triple-digit heat indices. The baby’s body temperature was 109 degrees (42 Celsius) when she was taken to the hospital, according to police.
Cormier told police she did not realize the baby was still in the back seat until she went to leave work and found her unconscious. Cormier took the baby to an area hospital where she was stabilized and later transported to another hospital in critical condition. She later died from what police said was a heat stroke.
New York
Second gambler admits trying to cash in on scheme involving ex-NBA player Jontay Porter
NEW YORK (AP) — A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty Wednesday in a sports betting scheme that ended Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter’s NBA career.
With Mahmud Mollah ‘s plea Wednesday, three people — including Porter — have now publicly admitted their roles in the scandal. It worked like this: The player withdrew early from games so that tipped-off gamblers could win wagers that he would score fewer points than sportsbooks expected.
Porter, Mollah and Long Phi Pham have pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. Two other men also have been charged and haven’t entered any pleas.
Mollah, of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, is set to be sentenced May 2 in a federal court in Brooklyn. He could face anything from a no-jail punishment to 20 years in prison.
His attorney, Andrew Levin, declined to comment Wednesday.
Porter played only briefly and scored no points in games on Jan. 26 and March 20 before pulling himself out of play, saying he was injured or ill.
According to a court complaint, Mollah used his knowledge of Porter’s March 20 plans to place bets that would have netted over $1 million to be split among the conspirators, including a 24% share to the player. But a betting company got suspicious and stopped Mollah from collecting most of the money.
The NBA ultimately investigated and banned Porter for life. He later told a court that he participated in the scam “to get out from under large gambling debts.”
Porter is awaiting sentencing Dec. 18.
