Montana
Bureau of Indian Affairs officer pleads guilty to sexually abusing teen on reservation
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A former federal law enforcement officer pleaded guilty Thursday to sexual abuse after prosecutors said he raped an intoxicated 14-year-old girl on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation and tried to cover it up.
Prosecutors said defendant Murrell Deela, who was then an officer with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, encountered the girl at a gas station on the reservation in southern Montana in August 2024.
When the girl tried to run, Deela performed a “takedown maneuver” on her, put her in the back of his patrol car and drove to an unlit park where he sexually assaulted her, according to court documents.
Deela later took the girl to her grandmother’s house. The girl reported the assault the next day, the documents said.
After Deela was asked by investigators to download video footage from his patrol car from the night of the assault, he reported that his patrol car had burned in a fire, the documents said.
Investigators determined the fire had been intentionally lit, and Deela’s fingerprints were the only ones found on the vehicle, the documents said.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs conducts law enforcement on Native American reservations across the U.S.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Justin Gerken said in a statement that the outcome of the case reflected the victim’s courage in coming forward. Gerken described Durrell’s actions as “a betrayal of everything law enforcement stands for.”
The sexual abuse charge carries a maximum punishment of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. He also pleaded guilty to lying to investigators, which carries a maximum of eight years in prison.
However, Deela could serve a shorter sentence under a plea deal with prosecutors.
A sentencing date before U.S. District Judge Bill Mercer was not immediately scheduled.
The Associated Press left a telephone message with Deela’s attorneys seeking comment.
Maryland
Former Turnstile guitarist accused of hitting an ex-bandmate’s dad with his car
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — A former guitarist for Grammy-winning Baltimore hardcore band Turnstile has been charged with attempted murder after authorities say he chased down and struck a former bandmate’s father with his car, badly injuring him.
Montgomery County police officers responding to a Sunday report about a pedestrian being struck in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Silver Spring found William Yates, the 79-year-old father of lead singer Brendan Yates, injured in a front yard, according to charging documents.
Yates’ family said guitarist Brady Ebert, a neighbor who parted ways with the band several years ago, had struck him with a car, police wrote. Yates’ daughter, Erin Gerber, told authorities that she and her husband were getting their kids out of their car when Ebert drove up honking at them and yelling obscenities, then drove into her father.
In video footage obtained from a neighbor, Ebert could be seen driving a gold Buick LeSabre and swerving toward William Yates but missing him, according to the charging documents. Yates then threw a rock at Ebert’s vehicle and Gerber dragged her 3-year-old son onto the lawn to avoid being hit. Ebert then turned sharply into Yates’ driveway and struck him as he was trying to run away, investigators wrote. Ebert finally drove across the lawn and left.
Yates told a detective that as he was injured on the ground, Ebert returned and yelled that he “deserved it” before driving off again, according to charging documents.
Yates said Ebert used to be in a band with his son and had been causing problems for his family since being kicked out. He said Ebert had been taunting them for long time, but that his behavior had been escalating.
Ebert, 33, was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault, court records show.
During a bond hearing Thursday in which he appeared via video, Ebert called William Yates a “maniac” who threw a rock at him asked the judge to watch the surveillance footage, saying it would “contradict” the authorities’ narrative of what happened, The Baltimore Banner reported.
But prosecutor Dominic Plantamura said the footage shows it was a “clearly targeted attack” and that Yates is lucky he wasn’t injured more seriously.
Ebert’s lawyer, John Costello, acknowledged Ebert’s contentious history with his former bandmate, but said, “That does not, in this instance, warrant extra detention.”
Costello’s office declined to comment to The Associated Press.
The judge ordered Ebert held without bond.
According to Plantamura, William Yates was injured so badly that a bone stuck out of one leg.
In a statement, Turnstile said it cut ties with Ebert in 2022, “in response to a consistent pattern of harmful behavior.” It said a boundary had to be set after he began threatening violence. While Ebert’s “baseless tirades” continued in public since then, the band said it didn’t address them to protect his privacy. Threats escalated in recent months and then there was a physical attack on Brendan Yates’ father this week, the band wrote.
“We are grateful that Mr. Yates survived, has successfully undergone surgery, and we’re hoping for the best possible outcome in his recovery,” the band said. “We have no language left for Brady.”
Turnstile were underground stalwarts until their 2021 album “Glow On” launched them into mainstream consciousness. They cemented their status this year by winning Grammys for Best Rock Album and Best Metal Performance.
New Jersey
State troopers rescue bear cub found in a ditch
UNION TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — State police troopers came to the rescue of a bear cub found in a ditch along the side of a major interstate highway in northern New Jersey.
Troopers from the Perryville station responded shortly before 1:40 p.m. Wednesday to milepost 12.2 on I-78 eastbound in Union Township. The animal was by itself, officials said.
The bear was soon safely secured and taken back to the state police barracks, where it was later turned over to staffers with the state’s Environmental Protection Department, who were caring for the animal.
It’s not clear how the cub ended up in the ditch or how long it had been there before it was spotted. Details on the bear’s condition were not available Friday.
Bureau of Indian Affairs officer pleads guilty to sexually abusing teen on reservation
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A former federal law enforcement officer pleaded guilty Thursday to sexual abuse after prosecutors said he raped an intoxicated 14-year-old girl on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation and tried to cover it up.
Prosecutors said defendant Murrell Deela, who was then an officer with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, encountered the girl at a gas station on the reservation in southern Montana in August 2024.
When the girl tried to run, Deela performed a “takedown maneuver” on her, put her in the back of his patrol car and drove to an unlit park where he sexually assaulted her, according to court documents.
Deela later took the girl to her grandmother’s house. The girl reported the assault the next day, the documents said.
After Deela was asked by investigators to download video footage from his patrol car from the night of the assault, he reported that his patrol car had burned in a fire, the documents said.
Investigators determined the fire had been intentionally lit, and Deela’s fingerprints were the only ones found on the vehicle, the documents said.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs conducts law enforcement on Native American reservations across the U.S.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Justin Gerken said in a statement that the outcome of the case reflected the victim’s courage in coming forward. Gerken described Durrell’s actions as “a betrayal of everything law enforcement stands for.”
The sexual abuse charge carries a maximum punishment of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. He also pleaded guilty to lying to investigators, which carries a maximum of eight years in prison.
However, Deela could serve a shorter sentence under a plea deal with prosecutors.
A sentencing date before U.S. District Judge Bill Mercer was not immediately scheduled.
The Associated Press left a telephone message with Deela’s attorneys seeking comment.
Maryland
Former Turnstile guitarist accused of hitting an ex-bandmate’s dad with his car
SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — A former guitarist for Grammy-winning Baltimore hardcore band Turnstile has been charged with attempted murder after authorities say he chased down and struck a former bandmate’s father with his car, badly injuring him.
Montgomery County police officers responding to a Sunday report about a pedestrian being struck in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Silver Spring found William Yates, the 79-year-old father of lead singer Brendan Yates, injured in a front yard, according to charging documents.
Yates’ family said guitarist Brady Ebert, a neighbor who parted ways with the band several years ago, had struck him with a car, police wrote. Yates’ daughter, Erin Gerber, told authorities that she and her husband were getting their kids out of their car when Ebert drove up honking at them and yelling obscenities, then drove into her father.
In video footage obtained from a neighbor, Ebert could be seen driving a gold Buick LeSabre and swerving toward William Yates but missing him, according to the charging documents. Yates then threw a rock at Ebert’s vehicle and Gerber dragged her 3-year-old son onto the lawn to avoid being hit. Ebert then turned sharply into Yates’ driveway and struck him as he was trying to run away, investigators wrote. Ebert finally drove across the lawn and left.
Yates told a detective that as he was injured on the ground, Ebert returned and yelled that he “deserved it” before driving off again, according to charging documents.
Yates said Ebert used to be in a band with his son and had been causing problems for his family since being kicked out. He said Ebert had been taunting them for long time, but that his behavior had been escalating.
Ebert, 33, was arrested Tuesday and charged with attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault, court records show.
During a bond hearing Thursday in which he appeared via video, Ebert called William Yates a “maniac” who threw a rock at him asked the judge to watch the surveillance footage, saying it would “contradict” the authorities’ narrative of what happened, The Baltimore Banner reported.
But prosecutor Dominic Plantamura said the footage shows it was a “clearly targeted attack” and that Yates is lucky he wasn’t injured more seriously.
Ebert’s lawyer, John Costello, acknowledged Ebert’s contentious history with his former bandmate, but said, “That does not, in this instance, warrant extra detention.”
Costello’s office declined to comment to The Associated Press.
The judge ordered Ebert held without bond.
According to Plantamura, William Yates was injured so badly that a bone stuck out of one leg.
In a statement, Turnstile said it cut ties with Ebert in 2022, “in response to a consistent pattern of harmful behavior.” It said a boundary had to be set after he began threatening violence. While Ebert’s “baseless tirades” continued in public since then, the band said it didn’t address them to protect his privacy. Threats escalated in recent months and then there was a physical attack on Brendan Yates’ father this week, the band wrote.
“We are grateful that Mr. Yates survived, has successfully undergone surgery, and we’re hoping for the best possible outcome in his recovery,” the band said. “We have no language left for Brady.”
Turnstile were underground stalwarts until their 2021 album “Glow On” launched them into mainstream consciousness. They cemented their status this year by winning Grammys for Best Rock Album and Best Metal Performance.
New Jersey
State troopers rescue bear cub found in a ditch
UNION TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — State police troopers came to the rescue of a bear cub found in a ditch along the side of a major interstate highway in northern New Jersey.
Troopers from the Perryville station responded shortly before 1:40 p.m. Wednesday to milepost 12.2 on I-78 eastbound in Union Township. The animal was by itself, officials said.
The bear was soon safely secured and taken back to the state police barracks, where it was later turned over to staffers with the state’s Environmental Protection Department, who were caring for the animal.
It’s not clear how the cub ended up in the ditch or how long it had been there before it was spotted. Details on the bear’s condition were not available Friday.
