Monday, June 10, 2024

An Idaho couple was accused of kidnapping neighbor’s son. Here is their plea deal

#1:An Idaho couple was accused of kidnapping neighbor’s son. Here is their plea deal

Initially accused of abducting their neighbor’s son, an Idaho couple have been placed on unsupervised probation after they struck a deal because prosecutors were concerned that a jury wouldn’t convict on kidnapping charges.

Alisha and Matthew Rettkowski, of Middleton, were each charged with a single count of felony second-degree kidnapping in September after the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office alleged that they “coordinated a plan” to abduct a teenage boy from his biological mother in Arizona, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The boy’s stepmother told authorities that she thought Matthew Rettkowski had taken the teen. This was because the boy had temporarily stayed with the Middleton couple — who lived across the street from the teen’s biological father and stepmother — when issues arose in the home, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by the Wilder Police Department.

After learning that the Rettkowskis were giving the teen drugs and alcohol, they didn’t allow him to stay there, the affidavit said.

“Following that choice, things became volatile between the families because the Rettkowskis were unhappy (the boy) could no longer live with them,” the stepmother told police, according to the affidavit. The boy’s father then sent him to live with his mother in Arizona.

The prosecution agreed to the plea deal over concerns of jury nullification, because the boy was about two months away from turning 16 when the incident occurred, according to the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office. At that age, prosecutors would’ve charged the Rettkowskis with harboring a runaway — a much lesser charge that is punishable by up to a year in jail, compared to a maximum of 25 years in prison for kidnapping.

“The victim willingly went with the defendants and asked them to come to get him,” a prosecutor said in court. “That’s why the state is agreeing to the (plea deal).”

Both pleaded guilty in April to the lesser charge of custodial interference and were placed on unsupervised probation for two years by 3rd District Magistrate Judge Ryan Dowell, court records showed. Neither will face any additional jail time — unless they violate probation — as Dowell gave them credit for time served and suspended the remainder of a 90-day sentence.

“I mean, obviously if this happens again, it’s not going to be the same situation,” Dowell said in court. “If there’s an attempt to do this again, it’s not going to be custodial interference.”
Father said the Rettkowskis ‘brainwashed’ his son

Dowell also quashed a no-contact order in the case, despite concerns raised by the boy’s father in court that if the order was lifted, his son’s life could be in jeopardy. The teen’s guardian — currently his grandmother — can limit any communication between the boy and the Rettkowskis, Dowell said.

The father said his son is temporarily living with the grandmother, who doesn’t want guardianship of the teen and would be OK with the Rettkowskis taking custody of him. He added that the Rettkowskis had been in contact with his son despite the no-contact order.

“I know if the contact order is lifted the Rettkowskis will try again to take guardianship of my son and he will be back at their residence,” the man said in court.

Court records showed the boy’s mother filed a petition for guardianship in September, and that case is ongoing.

Alisha Rettkowski’s attorney, John Charles DeFranco, said the boy lived with the Rettkowskis for 16 months before they were charged with kidnapping. The teen’s father said the Rettkowskis “brainwashed” his son, allowing him to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana — “almost costing (him) his life.”

“When (my son) disappeared from his mother’s in Arizona, it was mine and hers worst nightmare,” the father said. “We did not know if my son was going to be alive or dead or if we’d see him again.”

The Rettkowskis also made “false claims” to the state Department of Health and Welfare about the teen’s treatment, the father said, and he indicated that both he and his former wife were cleared of any wrongdoing. This was echoed by the prosecution, which said that Health and Welfare wasn’t able to corroborate any allegations of abuse by the parents.

In September, Matthew Rettkowski admitted to police during an interview that he had picked up the teen in Phoenix and brought him back to Idaho, according to the affidavit. He said he knew that he had no “legal standing” to do so but felt he had a “moral obligation.”

“The original act was motivated out of love,” DeFranco said in court. “After this experience, I don’t think they would ever do anything that would jeopardize their standing and what they’ve achieved in their personal lives with their career, their family and their home.”
 

READ MORE - An Idaho couple was accused of kidnapping neighbor’s son. Here is their plea deal

Saturday, June 8, 2024

Ex-Staffers Detail Nancy Mace’s Poisonous Behavior Behind Closed Doors

#1:Ex-Staffers Detail Nancy Mace’s Poisonous Behavior Behind Closed Doors 

Former staffers of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) have hit back at her accusations that they sabotaged her office by hacking her phone and spying on her medical records, saying she would have replaced them all with AI if she could.

They told The Daily Beast that Mace has misconstrued a series of events, and that staffers regularly kept track of her calendars in ways that are entirely normal for congressional offices that move at a rapid pace on a daily basis.

“The hacking and stalking charges are ridiculous on their face to most anyone who has worked in a congressional office but especially wild coming from Mace,” one former employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Daily Beast. “It’s true that she set up all those calendars herself and entered all the medical information herself.”

Nancy Mace Accuses Ex-Staffers of ‘Sabotaging’ Her Office

One former staffer recounted to the Daily Mail that instances where Mace would give staffers access to her calendars, then revoke it so they couldn’t do their jobs.

“I’m not at all surprised she’s blaming others for her troubles,” another former staffer, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Daily Beast. “She has always found it impossible to take responsibility for her own mistakes or accept the consequences of her toxic behavior.”

The accusations against her staff come as Mace has been shedding staffers due to what former employees described to The Daily Beast as toxic behavior. She lost nine staffers from her Washington, D.C. office in as many months. Her former chief of staff Dan Hanlon has even filed to run against her in South Carolina. But instead of fessing up to what staffers say is narcissistic, bizarre behavior, Mace has opted to turn on them.

In addition to accusing them of hacking her phone, she has also accused employees of spying on her children’s calendars, deleting files as part of a coverup, throwing her devices in water to break them, and mismanaging $1 million.

“We’re finding thousands of dollars in bills they didn’t pay,” she said in an interview with the Daily Mail. “That money could have also gone toward salaries, bonuses.”

One former staffer took issue with her claim that staffers mismanaged her money.

“Her saying that millions were mismanaged and could have gone to salaries is especially galling,” they told The Daily Beast. “She wanted everyone around her to be paid the bare minimum and frequently fought [us] on raises and bonuses. Only able to give some raises when the House mandated them/raised the minimum strategy and even then she fought it.”

Staffers described Mace as hostile to her employees, and even interested in getting rid of them.

“If she could replace her entire staff with AI and solely send out mailers with her face on them, she would,” one former staffer told The Daily Beast.

A Major Sign of Trouble in Nancy Mace’s Office: Total Staff Turnover

An internal Mace strategy memo The Daily Beast previously obtained revealed just how fixated she is on herself and gaining public attention.

The former employee indicated they thought the congresswoman might need help addressing possible mental health issues that could be contributing to her poisonous behavior and apparent paranoia.

One former staffer told the Daily Mail that her accusations reveal she is unwell and that they hope she gets the help she needs.

“This seems to be stemming from paranoia and trust issues,” the former staffer said. “She’s clearly unwell and I hope she gets help.”

READ MORE - Ex-Staffers Detail Nancy Mace’s Poisonous Behavior Behind Closed Doors

Thursday, June 6, 2024

Woman found living in Michigan grocery store sign, complete with computer and Keurig, for months

#1:Woman found living in Michigan grocery store sign, complete with computer and Keurig, for months

 

 A woman was found living in the rooftop sign of a Family Fare grocery store in Michigan and had been there for about a year, police said.

Police in Midland were notified about the woman living in the small space that hosts the supermarket’s sign on April 23 after contractors working on the roof found her there.

The woman had flooring, a computer, a desk, a printer, a Keurig and a pantry of food in the space, which was 10 to 15 feet long, five feet wide and approximately 8 feet tall at its highest point, according to the Midland Police Department.

"We made contact with her and she was advised she was not allowed to live there," said Brennon Warren, a spokesperson for the Midland Police Department. "She was formally trespassed from the store and was provided with information on services within our area, however, she did not wish for any of those."

The woman, who police are not identifying, left without incident. Police found that she'd been living in the space for approximately one year, but it's not clear how she was getting up onto the roof.

She was not formally charged for living in the space, police said.

This article was originally published on

READ MORE - Woman found living in Michigan grocery store sign, complete with computer and Keurig, for months

Tuesday, June 4, 2024

Montana man, 68, begs for moratorium on property taxes after bill reaches $8K just ‘to live in our own house’

#1:Montana man, 68, begs for moratorium on property taxes after bill reaches $8K just ‘to live in our own house

 

A senior from Montana has delivered a viral speech about the sorry state of property taxes in the Treasure State.

“I’m on Social Security, I’m 68-years-old and working just to pay my taxes,” says Kurt, in a clip shared on TikTok by Ryan Busse, who is running to be the next governor of Montana.
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Kurt claims that over the last couple of years, his annual property taxes have soared from $895 to almost $8,000 — an increase of around 790% — which he says is like paying almost “$700 a month rent to the state to live in our own house.” The state has an Elderly Homeowner/Renter Tax Credit, and the maximum credit is $1,150.

“There needs to be a moratorium on what we have to pay,” he says, adding that he’s had to continue working into what should be his retirement golden years to cover his mounting property costs. “I’m stubborn enough [that] I don’t want to dig into my bank account to pay them.”

Kurt is one of thousands of Montana homeowners suffering sticker shock over recent property tax hikes. He says: “We just can’t take this anymore. This was a great place and it still is, but the people that made it great can’t afford to live here anymore.”

Here’s what’s going on in the Treasure State.
Soaring property values

There are many reasons why property taxes may increase over time. First and foremost, property tax is typically based on a percentage of a home’s assessed value — so if your value goes up, it’s likely that your tax bill will too.

In Kurt’s case, he claims to have bought his property in 1995. In the 29 years since then, the family home (he does not share where in Montana the property is located) has undoubtedly increased in value.

According to FRED Economic Data’s house price index for Billings, MT (the state’s most populous city), the average house price at the end of 1995 was around $103,860 and by the end of 2023 it had soared around 272% to more than $387,000.

Read more: Jeff Bezos and Oprah Winfrey invest in this asset to keep their wealth safe — you may want to do the same in 2024

Looking at the data since 1985, the steepest jump in value in Billings and elsewhere in the state occurred between 2021 and 2023 — during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was a surge of migration to the state and housing demand quickly outpaced supply. This corresponds with Kurt’s complaint that his property taxes have soared “over the last couple of years,” which likely occurred because his property value increased.

READ MORE - Montana man, 68, begs for moratorium on property taxes after bill reaches $8K just ‘to live in our own house’

Sunday, June 2, 2024

Tuna Crabs, Neither Tuna Nor Crabs, Are Swarming Near San Diego

#1:Tuna Crabs, Neither Tuna Nor Crabs, Are Swarming Near San Diego

 

 SAN DIEGO — When Anna Sagatov, an underwater cinematographer, goes on her usual night dives off La Jolla Shores in San Diego, she’s used to spotting the “occasional octopus, nudibranch and horn shark.” But what she witnessed on a late April plunge was shocking: a seafloor turned red by what she described as an “overlapping carpet of crabs.” Swirling and shifting in the current, the creatures stretched “as far as my dive lights could illuminate,” she said.

The swarming red crustaceans she and other observers have been spotting on San Diego’s coast are called tuna crabs, but they are actually squat lobsters. And the shallows around Southern California are not their usual home.

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The animals typically live on the high seas, around Baja California in Mexico. But this is their second appearance in six years in the area. Some experts say they may have been pushed to San Diego’s near-shore canyons by nutrient-dense currents set off by El Nino, when warmer oceans release additional heat into the atmosphere, creating variable currents and air pressure fluctuations over the equatorial Pacific.

The event could signal shifts in the region’s climate. At the same time, the aggregation of tuna crabs offers scientists and divers like Sagatov a close-up of a sea creature that usually turns up inside a tuna’s stomach.

Some of the observations took twisted turns, like when she began to notice what she called “mass cannibalism” among the red crawlers. While tuna crabs are equipped to eat plankton, they are also opportunistic predators in the benthic stage of their life cycle, which can cause them to feed on their own species.

Tuna crabs are also known as red crabs, lobster krill and langostilla. They are more closely related to hermit crabs than to “true” crabs, even though they have evolved similar features. Their common name derives from their role as a favored food source for large species like tuna during the time in their life cycle when they live in the open ocean.

In the final phase of their life cycle, the crabs descend from the open ocean and live just above the continental crust as bottom-dwellers. In this stage, they will take vertical journeys through the water column in search of plankton, making them susceptible to winds, tides and currents, which may have pushed many of the animals to the north.

On the floor of Scripps Canyon, these crabs form writhing piles, thousands of individuals thick. For local predators, this is a welcome bounty. While many bottom-dwelling tuna crabs are consumed, hundreds of thousands of individuals remain uneaten when the novelty of this new food source wanes.

This aggregation and the one that preceded it in 2018 are mysteries to science, said Megan Cimino, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz. When tuna crabs last appeared, her team found that their movement in California was “related to unusually strong ocean currents originating from Baja,” sometimes but not always coinciding with El Nino.

She said the new event “signals something different is happening in the ocean.”

While the link between tuna crab aggregations and El Nino isn’t exactly clear cut, “when we think about climate change, the first thing to come to mind might be warming temperatures, but climate change can result in more variable ocean conditions” as well, Cimino said. She called tuna crabs an “indicator species” able to suggest evidence of large-scale changes in ocean currents and composition that may have positive and negative effects on animals in the area’s waters.

Because of cold water in Scripps Canyon, these crabs won’t last long after settling in San Diego. This mass dying creates stranding events in which tuna crabs wash onto the beaches in droves, turning the sand and the surrounding waters red. Alternately, the same currents that brought the swarm to San Diego could kick them back out to sea.

The end of this invasion could help scientists to one day create a forecasting system for future tuna crab aggregations. It can’t yet be said exactly how long the tuna crabs will stay, or when they’ll return to California’s shores. But in a warming ocean, it may be sooner than anyone expects.

READ MORE - Tuna Crabs, Neither Tuna Nor Crabs, Are Swarming Near San Diego

Friday, May 31, 2024

State trooper who arrested LGBTQ+ leaders in Philadelphia no longer works for state police

#1:State trooper who arrested LGBTQ+ leaders in Philadelphia no longer works for state police

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The state trooper who arrested two LGBTQ+ leaders after a contentious traffic stop in Philadelphia is no longer employed by the Pennsylvania state police, officials said Friday.

Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Adam Reed said the trooper, who has not been named, no longer works for the agency, though it's unclear whether he was fired and when he left the job.

“I can say as of today, he’s no longer employed. I can’t offer any additional information, as we don’t comment on personnel matters," Reed said.

In March, Celena Morrison and husband Darius McLean were arrested after a traffic stop on an elevated stretch of highway in the city, part of which was captured on video. Morrison heads the city’s Office of LGBT Affairs and McLean runs an LGBTQ+ community center in the city.

The arrests led Mayor Cherelle Parker to weigh in, calling the exchange between the trooper, who appears to be white, and the Black couple “very concerning.”

The Pennsylvania State Troopers Association criticized the state police for not standing behind the trooper.

“This decision is reprehensible,” Union President Stephen Polishan said in an statement. “This young trooper, on the job for only six months, deserved better from our department.”

Lawyer Kevin Mincey, who represents the couple, declined to comment. He is preparing to file a suit against the state police and the trooper on their behalf.

The couple were detained for about 12 hours after the 9 a.m. March 2 traffic stop in which they were driving separately to take a car for repairs when a trooper pulled Morrison over after maneuvering himself between their two vehicles, according to their lawyer.

Morrison took a video on her cellphone of the trooper handcuffing McLean after he stopped his car behind the trooper. In the video, McLean is lying in the rain on the shoulder of the highway. The trooper knocked the cellphone from her hand, ending the recording, Morrison's lawyer's have said.

The couple's lawyers have also questioned the reason for the stop, saying the trooper would not have had time to run the registration before he wedged between them and pulled Morrison over. The trooper, on the video, said he stopped her for tailgating and failing to have her lights on.

“I don’t know why he’s doing this,” McLean cries to his wife as she recorded him being handcuffed.

“It’s ’cause I’m Black,” McLean says.

“It’s not ’cause you’re Black,” replies the trooper, who leaves McLean handcuffed on the highway shoulder and then moves to arrest Morrison.
 

READ MORE - State trooper who arrested LGBTQ+ leaders in Philadelphia no longer works for state police

Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Let her go! Let her go!' Fontana officer shoots armed man who put his partner in a headlock

#1:Let her go! Let her go!' Fontana officer shoots armed man who put his partner in a headlock 

The traffic stop started off calmly.

Two Fontana police officers pulled over a black sport utility vehicle in Yucaipa, and a male officer asked the driver about what appeared to be a missing front license plate. They chatted about camping in the snow — the vehicle had overland camping gear affixed to it — and the officer chuckled when the man said he had previously been arrested for having illegal fireworks.

The officer asked the driver, whom authorities identified as Alan Metka, 56, to step out of his vehicle. His partner, a female officer, would pat him down to make sure he did not have any weapons on him.

The female officer searched him, remarking on their obvious height difference, as the male officer returned to his police car to run Metka's information.

Read more: Pasadena police consider body cameras that activate when officers draw handguns

Seconds later, a shout rang out: "He's got a gun!"

"Let her go! Let her go!" the male officer yelled as he ran toward his partner, who was being held in a headlock.

The Feb. 9 encounter was captured on body-worn camera footage the Fontana Police Department released on Thursday.

During the struggle at Yucaipa Boulevard and 14th Street, the male officer shot Metka, striking him near the jaw, Fontana Police Chief Michael Dorsey said in a recorded statement released with the video footage. A loaded semiautomatic pistol was taken from Metka's pants pocket, he said.

The video footage shows the male officer telling Metka his front license plate was missing, which Metka denied, and that his window tint appeared too dark.

Read more: LAPD to use AI to analyze body cam videos for officers' language use

When the officer asked Metka if he had been arrested, he said that, about two years prior, he was arrested for "explosives in public."

"That's an interesting one," the officer said, chuckling.

Metka said the arrest was for possessing fireworks and that he spent 11 months behind bars.

The officer asked if he was carrying any weapons. He said no.

As the female officer patted him down, she asked: "What's this right here?"

"My gun," he said.

Then, the video shows, he grabbed her and put her in a headlock.

The male officer's gunshot cannot be heard in the video. But in footage from the female officer's camera, he groans in pain and blood can be seen on the road.

Read more: Officers fatally shoot man armed with saw in Fontana Home Depot, police say

Dorsey said his officers were gang investigators who were in Yucaipa to assist the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, which provides law enforcement service for the city.

Metka is being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon upon a police officer, resisting an executive officer and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to San Bernardino County jail records.

The incident is being investigated by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and District Attorney's office, Dorsey said. The Fontana Police Department, he said, "is also conducting a parallel administrative investigation, and we are cooperating fully with the investigating agencies."

Dorsey said that Metka has an "extensive criminal history," with prior arrests for assault with a deadly weapon, carjacking, robbery, possession of an explosive devise and illegal firearms possession.

Metka was also arrested in 2021 at a gas station in Fontana, where he was allegedly found with several illegal firearms and pipebombs, according to the Rialto Police Department.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

READ MORE - Let her go! Let her go!' Fontana officer shoots armed man who put his partner in a headlock

Monday, May 27, 2024

Family fears Atlanta teen could have been trafficked after vanishing in rideshare

#1:Family fears Atlanta teen could have been trafficked after vanishing in rideshare

An Atlanta family is desperate to find a 16-year-old who they fear could be a trafficking victim.

Mekiya Smith hasn’t been seen since she got into a red Lyft after leaving Coretta Scott King Academy on Friday afternoon.

Police are investigating Smith’s disappearance and say her phone, which is no longer charged, pinged on Rainbow Drive in Decatur, which is more than 17 miles from her school.

The family told Channel 2 Action News that she does not have a history of running away and are afraid she could have been trafficked.

They shared an image from a doorbell camera that shows Smith wearing what she was last seen in: khaki pants, a white sweatshirt with pink writing, pink Nike shoes and a pink handbag.
 

READ MORE - Family fears Atlanta teen could have been trafficked after vanishing in rideshare

Saturday, May 25, 2024

Possibility teen's 101-pound catfish catch will lead to rule changes, new record category

#1:Possibility teen's 101-pound catfish catch will lead to rule changes, new record category 

If what follows sounds like a broken record, tune in to the background noise.

Widely trumpeted is that Jaylynn Parker’s 101.11-pound blue catfish, caught under a float attached to a bank line last month in the Ohio River, has been accepted as a state record under longstanding rules devised by the sanctioning Outdoor Writers of Ohio.

But insiders are quietly discussing the possibility of revising the rules. In other words, a decent chance still exists that the record book will be reconfigured when the sanctioning writers group meets in August.

Ohio's biggest blue catfish: Complaints, objections swept aside as 15-year-old girl claims record for 101-pound catfish

The addition of a category for fish caught on bank, trot and float lines is being considered, meaning Parker’s legally caught catfish could end up as a record separate from fish caught with rod and reel.

No guarantees, just talk at this stage.

The current all-tackle record category lists 42 species, all of them taken with rod and reel until Parker’s blue cat. The addition of another classification would leave Chris Rolph’s 96-pound blue taken from the Ohio River in 2009 as tops in the rod-and-reel group.

READ MORE - Possibility teen's 101-pound catfish catch will lead to rule changes, new record category

Thursday, May 23, 2024

Lehi High School teacher hospitalized after ‘tragic accident’ during class

#1:Lehi High School teacher hospitalized after ‘tragic accident’ during class

LEHI, Utah (ABC4) — A Lehi High School teacher was taken to the hospital after what school district officials are calling a very unfortunate accident during a class Friday morning, according to Lehi City.

Just before 11:40 a.m. on May 10, a teacher at Lehi High School was injured in a “tragic, very unfortunate accident” during a class, according to a press release from Lehi City.

‘Our home, falling apart’: Large, mysterious cracks in Eagle Mountain home causing concern

Lehi Police and Lehi Fire responded to the accident, and the male teacher was taken to the hospital for treatment. No students were injured in the event, officials said.

“The area was secured and there are no additional risks to students or others who may be visiting the school,” the release states.

According to the city, parents of all Lehi High students have been made aware of the incident, as well as the support services and crisis counseling available.

“We extend our deepest concern to the teacher involved and their family during this difficult time,” officials said. “We are grateful that no students were injured in the accident and we appreciate the swift and professional response from Lehi Fire and Police.”

“We are also grateful to our outstanding school administrators, who always lead their faculty, staff, students, and families with sensitivity and compassion,” the release from Lehi City states.
 

READ MORE - Lehi High School teacher hospitalized after ‘tragic accident’ during class

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Sean 'Diddy' Combs asks judge to dismiss 'false' claim that he, others raped 17-year-old girl


#1:Sean 'Diddy' Combs asks judge to dismiss 'false' claim that he, others raped 17-year-old girl

Sean “Diddy” Combs on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that he and two co-defendants raped a 17-year-old girl in a New York recording studio in 2003, saying it was a “false and hideous claim" that was filed too late under the law.

The legal move is the latest piece of pushback from the 54-year-old hip-hop mogul and his legal team after he was subjected to several similar lawsuits and a subsequent criminal sex-trafficking investigation.

“Mr. Combs and his companies categorically deny Plaintiff’s decades-old tale against them, which has caused incalculable damage to their reputations and business standing before any evidence has been presented,” says the filing, which also names Combs-owned corporations as defendants. “Plaintiff cannot allege what day or time of year the alleged incident occurred, but miraculously remembers other salacious details, despite her alleged incapacitated condition.”

The lawsuit was filed in December and amended in March by the woman who now lives in Canada whose name wasn’t disclosed in the court filing. She said she was in 11th grade at a high school in a Detroit suburb in 2003, when Harve Pierre, then the president of Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment record label, flew her to New York on a private jet and took her to a recording studio, where she was given drugs and alcohol until she was incapable of consenting to sex. Then, the lawsuit said, Pierre, Combs and a man she didn't know took turns raping her.

The lawsuit included photographs of the woman sitting on Combs’ lap that she said were taken on the night in question.

The defense filing asks that the case be “dismissed now, with prejudice” — meaning it cannot be refiled — “to protect the Combs Defendants from further reputational injury and before more party and judicial resources are squandered.”

One of the plaintiff’s attorneys, Michael J. Willemin, said in a statement in response to the filing: “At this point, no one should take anything ‘diddy’ or his lawyers say seriously. Today’s motion is just a desperate attempt by Combs to avoid accountability for Ms. Doe’s allegations of gang rape and sexual assault. It won’t work.”

At this early stage in the lawsuit, the arguments are procedural rather than on the facts of the case.

Some of the lawsuits filed against Combs involve decades-old allegations and are among the more than 3,700 legal claims filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily suspended certain legal deadlines to give sexual assault victims a last opportunity to sue over abuse that happened years or even decades ago.

The new deadlines established by that law expired, but the suit Combs filed the motion against Friday was brought under a different law, New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law. That city law also allows accusers to file civil complaints involving sexual assault claims after the statute of limitations has run out.

But Combs’ motion argues that suit was filed too late, because the city law is preempted by the state law, whose provisions mean the lawsuit needed to be filed by August of 2021 to be timely.

"New York state law trumps New York City law, without exception,' the filing says.

The amended version of the lawsuit filed in March sought to address some of these issues, but Combs’ attorneys argue that it didn’t go far enough.

The judge has ruled the woman will need to reveal her name if the lawsuit moves forward after this challenge.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused, unless they come forward publicly, as some of Combs' accusers have done.

Friday's defense filing also criticizes the suit for including “a bolded, legally irrelevant ‘trigger warning’ calculated to focus attention on its salacious and depraved allegations.”

The public airing of allegations against Combs began with a November lawsuit by the singer Cassie, his former protege and girlfriend, containing allegations of beatings, rape and other abuse between 2005 and 2018. The complaint, filed by the same attorneys who brought the suit being challenged Friday, was settled the day after it was filed. Combs denied the allegations through his lawyer before the settlement.

More lawsuits against Combs were filed in the following months. Then on March 25, Homeland Security Investigations served search warrants on his homes in Los Angeles and Miami in a sex-trafficking investigation. His lawyer called it “a gross use of military-level force." The investigation is continuing. Combs has not been charged.

Last month, Combs filed a motion to dismiss a suit filed by Joi Dickerson, who said she was a 19-year-old college student when Combs drugged her and sexually assaulted her.
 

READ MORE - Sean 'Diddy' Combs asks judge to dismiss 'false' claim that he, others raped 17-year-old girl

Sunday, May 19, 2024

Gold bars, basement carpeting and more. Here’s what prosecutors say bought off a US senator

#1:Gold bars, basement carpeting and more. Here’s what prosecutors say bought off a US senator

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey faces his second, distinct bribery and corruption trial in seven years starting Monday.

This new case is a complicated affair involving multiple gold bars, envelopes of cash, a Mercedes and a lot more that, prosecutors say, the powerful former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and his new wife (they got married during the alleged bribery scheme) obtained in exchange for helping a halal meat monopoly, granting favors for people from Egypt and Qatar and trying to influence a New Jersey prosecution.

Menendez, who has until June to announce if he’s running for reelection, has pleaded not guilty and denied all of the charges. He told CNN’s Manu Raju on Capitol Hill last week, “I am looking forward to proving my innocence.”

Also pleading not guilty and denying wrongdoing are his wife Nadine, who is also a named as a defendant, and two businessmen, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, who have ties to Egypt and Qatar, respectively. Another man, New Jersey businessman Jose Uribe, on the other hand, has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Here’s what prosecutors say the senator and his wife got:
Gold bars

Prosecutors say Hana and Daibes gave Menendez and his wife gold bars, which were seized by the FBI from the Menendez residence. After returning from a trip to Egypt and getting a ride home from the airport from Daibes’ driver, prosecutors say Menendez searched online for the price of a gold bar.

Envelopes full of cash

The indictment includes photos of piles of cash next to envelopes spread across jackets on which the senator’s name is embroidered. There are piles of $20 bills and $50 bills in one photo and $100 bills in another photo.

They also found cash in closets, a safe and Nadine Menendez’s safety deposit box. Some of the envelopes, according to prosecutors, bore fingerprints or DNA belonging to Daibes or his driver.

Total cash discovered: More than $480,000 in the home and more than $70,000 in the safety deposit box.

Later court filings that added charges in the case are more specific, describing bags full of cash being found on top of hangers in the senator’s basement and stuffed into boots in the closet.
Convertible Mercedes

The 2019 vehicle, which prosecutors value at more than $60,000, was parked in the driveway at the Menendez home when it was raided.

The indictment describes Nadine Menendez obtaining $15,000 in cash from Uribe in a parking lot the day before she picked the vehicle up and put $15,000 as a down payment. Uribe is alleged to have then hid his monthly financing payments for the vehicle.
 

READ MORE - Gold bars, basement carpeting and more. Here’s what prosecutors say bought off a US senator

Friday, May 17, 2024

Kentucky deputy jailer arrested, accused of sexually abusing an inmate

#1:Kentucky deputy jailer arrested, accused of sexually abusing an inmate

 

 A deputy jailer at the Powell County Detention Center was arrested after an investigation revealed an alleged inappropriate relationship with an inmate, Jailer Teddy Lacy confirmed.

Christine Spencer was arrested on Saturday by the Stanton Police Department, court records show. Spencer worked as a corrections officer since fall 2023, Lacy, who oversees the detention center, told the Herald-Leader.

The Powell County Detention Center received information about Spencer being involved in a relationship with an inmate, and launched an internal investigation, according to its post on Facebook.

During the investigation, “sufficient evidence” showed Spencer was involved in the relationship and she was charged and transported to the Clark County Detention Center.

Spencer was charged with second-degree sexual abuse. She posted bond and was released, according to Lacy.

Lacy said in a statement the public should not worry about placing their trust in the detention center. He said he would place the cuffs on an employee himself.

“The trust our community places in the staff here at the detention center is a bond I take very seriously,” he told the Herald-Leader. “So in the rare instance when that trust has been broken, it’s important to be transparent and take measures for our accountability.

“We want to ensure that the public knows we won’t let impropriety stand with serving the community.”

READ MORE - Kentucky deputy jailer arrested, accused of sexually abusing an inmate

Wednesday, May 15, 2024

NYC subway slasher apprehended after alleged assault on 11-year-old girl

#1:NYC subway slasher apprehended after alleged assault on 11-year-old girl

 

  

 A lunatic reportedly armed with a box cutter is accused of slashing an 11-year-old girl in the head in a violent spree near a New York City subway station.

The NYPD arrested Shaquan Cummings, 30, on Friday afternoon and charged him with assault, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Cummings is accused of attacking the girl moments after he allegedly punched another 43-year-old woman, according to an NYPD spokesperson.

The incident happened at around 2:18 p.m. Friday just outside the 116th Street 6 subway station, the New York Post reported.

A man with a "box cutter" slashed the girl in the back of the head and cut her ear as she walked down the street holding her mom's hand, the report said.

The girl's mother, Gorzata Sladek, told the Post the attack was "traumatizing."

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"Terrible. It’s terrible to see a little girl with her head cut, sliced in half and it’s just terrible," she said.

According to NYPD, the young victim was taken to NYC Health and Hospital/Harlem in stable condition. Sladek told the Post her daughter underwent surgery and required multiple stitches to close up the gash.

"She’s not doing well emotionally. She doesn’t want to go back to school. She doesn’t want to go outside anymore," Sladek said.

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Video shows the 11-year-old victim on a stretcher being loaded into an EMS vehicle shortly after the assault. Her clothes are stained with blood as she's lifted into the ambulance.

NYPD said the suspect, later identified as Cummings, fled after the assault. He was apprehended about a block away near where he allegedly punched the older woman in the face before attacking the girl.

The 43-year-old victim refused medical treatment, police said.

Video posted on social media shows cops surrounding the suspect as an angry crowd of witnesses closes in to confront the man.

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READ MORE - NYC subway slasher apprehended after alleged assault on 11-year-old girl