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Ohio police chief arrested in Florida after grand jury hands down 70-count child sex indictment

An Ohio police chief is facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life behind bars after being slapped with a 70-count indictment for alleged sex crimes involving a child.

Bethel Police Chief Chad Essert, 44, was taken into custody without incident Tuesday night in Seminole, Florida, by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. 

A Clermont County grand jury indicted the Blanchester, Ohio, resident on 56 counts of sexual battery and 14 counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor — all third-degree felonies.

If convicted of all charges, Essert faces a maximum penalty of 280 years in prison.

The allegations stem from offenses that authorities claim occurred between 2005 and 2010, while Essert was an instructor at the “Young Marines” and a teacher at Scarlet Oaks Career

Officials said the alleged victim was a student of Essert’s and that the crimes took place across multiple locations in Clermont and Hamilton counties.

“It takes tremendous courage for a victim to come forward, especially when the accused wears a badge and holds a position of authority,” Clermont County Sheriff Chris Stratton said following the indictment.

“Today’s indictment demonstrates that no one is above the law. Every victim deserves to be heard, and every allegation will be thoroughly investigated and pursued in accordance with the law.”

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Canadian Mother Sues OpenAI, Alleging Chatbot Encouraged Daughter’s Suicide

A Canadian mother is suing OpenAI after its popular ChatGPT chatbot allegedly encouraged her daughter to continue engaging with the app after she revealed suicidal thoughts.

Instead of terminating these discussions or flagging her account for safety concerns, ChatGPT allegedly escalated the exchanges in the days before the woman ultimately took her life, according to a press release.

The Social Media Victims Law Center, Tech Justice Law, and the firm Susman Godfrey filed a lawsuit in San Francisco County Superior Court against OpenAI on June 11 on behalf of Kristie Carrier.

Her daughter, Alice Carrier, 24, committed suicide on July 2, 2025. After reviewing her daughter’s devices, Kristie Carrier said she had found extensive conversations with ChatGPT in which her daughter expressed thoughts of self-harm in the months before her death.

In the exchanges, her daughter allegedly told the chatbot that she was feeling isolated and discussed possible suicide methods. The lawsuit accuses ChatGPT of escalating these conversations in the days before the woman’s suicide, rather than terminating the exchange or flagging her account “for human intervention,” the press release states.

These exchanges allegedly encouraged Alice Carrier to continue engaging with ChatGPT, causing “her further isolation from her human support system and ultimately, suicide,” according to a press release.

“If a person came up to me, and they were clearly in distress and sharing their thoughts of suicide, I would be expected to help them, not encourage them to fixate on their depressive thoughts or isolate themselves,” Kristie Carrier said in the press release.

“The same should be true of OpenAI. Instead, OpenAI has chosen to put out a product that was unsafe, and that they knew was unsafe but they did so without any concern for the consequences of their choices. Sam Altman can continue to go about his life normally, but my life is missing a child. This is unacceptable,” she added.

OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

This is not the first time, nor the second time, a parent has sued OpenAI, accusing its chatbot of encouraging their child to commit suicide.

Last year, the Social Media Victims Law Center and the Tech Justice Law Project filed seven lawsuits against the AI giant, claiming ChatGPT had isolated multiple users from their support systems, and in some cases, coached the victims into taking their own lives.

Matthew Raine testified to Congress in September 2025 after suing OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman.

Raine alleged that his son, Adam, took his own life after ChatGPT mentioned suicide more than 1,200 times to the 16-year-old. He accused ChatGPT of offering specific methods to his son on how to die by suicide, and continuing to validate and encourage the boy’s feelings.

“As parents, you cannot imagine what it’s like to read a conversation with a chatbot that groomed your child to take his own life,” Raine told lawmakers at the time.

Justin Nelson, a partner at Susman Godfrey, said on June 11 that OpenAI’s “deliberate design decisions” led to Alice Carrier’s suicide.

“Instead of providing help, OpenAI encouraged suicidal behavior. This lawsuit is about accountability for OpenAI’s actions,” he said in the press release.

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Ontario Court grants TDF Amish client leave to appeal Quarantine Act convictions

The Democracy Fund (TDF) is pleased with the Ontario Court of Justice’s decision granting leave to appeal in a Quarantine Act ticket case.

The client, a member of the Amish community from southern Ontario, allegedly failed to complete the ArriveCan app or PCR testing when crossing the border. He received a $6,500 ticket but never received notice of a trial date or conviction. When the ticket went unpaid, the municipality sent it to collections, complicating his ability to get loans for the farming equipment he uses to farm his land and feed his family. TDF sought to have the ticket reopened, but the court refused – an outcome inconsistent with TDF’s other Amish ticket reopening cases.

TDF’s legal defence of the Amish challenges convictions totalling over $300,000 dollars issued under the Quarantine Act for alleged non-compliance with ArriveCAN app and PCR testing requirements during Canada’s COVID-19 border measures.

The Amish have a religious prohibition on any modern technology, including smartphones, computers, and software applications. This makes interacting with the modern world difficult. TDF’s Amish clients were convicted in absentia; they received no meaningful notice of the tickets or court dates.

TDF Director of Litigation Adam Blake-Gallipeau, who has represented multiple Amish families throughout these proceedings, stated:

“We are cautiously optimistic that once the Ontario Court of Justice reviews this decision, it will reverse the lower court’s ruling. Canadian courts should understand the Amish community’s traditional way of life within the broader context of religious freedom. The Amish live simply according to their Biblical principles, provide for their families through subsistence farming, and lack the means to pay the massive fines that threaten the existence of their communities. We intend to impress upon the Court the serious issues at stake, including inadequate notice and the inconsistent treatment of nearly identical reopening applications. We’re hopeful that these convictions will be overturned on appeal.”

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Pay up: Woman fighting to keep home after $600,000 website mistake

A Honolulu woman, 83, recently suffered injuries in a serious car crash, then returned home to find waiting for her a $600,000 city fine, accrued while she was recovering, at $10,000 a day, for a website mistake.

The city’s response was to tell her to hire a lawyer.

The plight of Sandra May, who has lived in her home for 56 years, raising her son there, has been described by Fox News.

The issue is that while she relies on rental income from an attached apartment for some of her income, she is not located in an area where short-term rentals are allowed.

And a rental website mistakenly listed that apartment as available for short-term rentals. It did not, however, allow anyone to actually book a short-term stay.

She’s now had to hire a lawyer after she finished her hospitalization, found the notice of the $600,000 fine, and tried without success to reason with city officials.

The complaint explains that the city issued its notice of violation but May was unable to access it during her hospitalization.

It ballooned before she got home.

“It feels to me like they’re just trying to take my house, put me on the street with the rest of the homeless people,” May told Fox News Digital. “It’s very depressing, very upsetting.”

The city has not been idle, after issuing the fine. Officials put a lien on her house and blocked her access to basic services, such as renewing her driver’s license or car registration.

“All the stress, the stomach problems, every day wondering if I’m gonna have a house… I was gonna live here for the rest of the days I have,” May told Fox. “This is actually — I call this my little piece of paradise on earth. … The thought of losing it is — I can’t imagine.”

Her legal advisers already have raised the city’s apparent violation of the Eighth Amendment, which blocks unreasonable government fines.

Loren Seehase, of the Pacific Legal Foundation, explained, “The Constitution prohibits excessive fines. Governments cannot simply impose fines that are so ruinous that they would financially devastate someone over a simple error. And that’s what we’re fighting for.”

In fact, the lawyer pointed out, it’s apparently an industry for Honolulu, which has issued more than $90 million in fines for related advertising “violations.”

Seehase described the city’s response: “Rather than having some sympathy and understanding that she was out of and in the hospital. They said, Well, we’re going to still fine her $590,000.”

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Thai police arrest two Israeli citizens on suspicion of business and real estate crimes

Thai authorities arrested two Israeli citizens on suspicion of business and real estate crimes as part of a wider crackdown on foreigners circumventing the country’s laws.

On Tuesday, police in Thailand arrested an Israeli citizen at Koh Samui airport on suspicion of being involved in the purchase of land through Thai frontmen, in an attempt to circumvent the restrictions on foreigners purchasing real estate.

The Thai government is increasing enforcement of these laws following complaints from its citizens that foreigners are stealing their livelihoods in the city’s tourist areas.

According to local media, Surat Thani immigration police, in collaboration with Koh Phangan Police Station, arrested Eden Elisa, a 30 year old Israeli citizen who was one of the owners of “Elisa Paradise” in Thailand. He is suspected of having, along with others, provided false information to the land registry in order to gain control of a plot of land through the company allegedly established by Thai citizens.

Elisa reportedly left the country before authorities carried out a search warrant and was arrested at the airport upon re-entering Thailand.

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Angry Locals JAILED For Longer Than The Migrant Who Sexually Assaulted A 14-Year-Old Girl

A local dad and youth football coach has been jailed for two years and nine months after clashing with police during protests outside an Essex hotel housing asylum seekers. Meanwhile, the Ethiopian migrant whose sexual assaults on a 14-year-old girl and a woman triggered those protests received just 12 months.

This is the face of inverted justice in Britain today. Native citizens who object to the consequences of unchecked migration face harsher punishment than the foreign offenders whose presence sparked their anger. 

At the same time, official government guidance labels the belief that Western culture faces a threat from mass migration as a form of extremism that can trigger deradicalisation referrals. 

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an Ethiopian national who arrived in the UK on a small boat, was housed at The Bell Hotel in Epping. In July 2025 he approached a 14-year-old girl on a bench, tried to kiss her, made sexually explicit comments and later assaulted her again. He also sexually assaulted a woman who had offered to help him with a CV.

He was found guilty of five offences and jailed for 12 months in September 2025, handed a five-year sexual harm prevention order and placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years. Court reports described him as “manipulative” with a “poor regard for women.” His crimes and presence at the hotel ignited sustained local protests last Summer and beyond.

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Firearms drive majority of veteran suicides, federal data shows

Veterans in the United States die by suicide at higher rates than the general population, and firearms are involved in most of those deaths, according to a new analysis of federal data.

The report, released by Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention advocacy group, analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and found that on average, approximately 18 veterans die by suicide each day, and about 13 of those deaths involve firearms.

By 2023, firearms were used in about three-quarters of veteran suicides, up from about two-thirds in 2001, according to the analysis. Although veterans make up a relatively small share of the U.S. population, they account for nearly one in five firearm suicide deaths nationwide.

The analysis found that the veteran firearm suicide rate increased by about 67% between 2001 and 2023, compared with a 35% increase among nonveteran adults.

The report points to differences in firearm ownership as one factor that may contribute to the disparity. About half of veterans report owning firearms, compared with roughly 20% of nonveteran adults, according to the report.

Some research suggests that access to firearms is associated with increased suicide risk. Studies cited in the report found that gun ownership is linked to roughly a threefold increase in suicide risk and that about 90% of suicide attempts involving a firearm are fatal.

“It could not be more clear that easy access to firearms is the primary cause of veterans’ high suicide mortality rates,” Chris Marvin, veteran lead at Everytown for Gun Safety and a combat-wounded military veteran, said in an email.

The analysis found that veterans ages 18 to 34 now have the highest suicide rate among veterans, a shift from earlier years when the highest rates were among middle-aged and older veterans.

Although men account for most veteran suicide deaths, firearm suicide rates among female veterans have increased more rapidly in recent years, according to the report. Women make up about 11% of the veteran population.

Other contributors to suicide risk among veterans include mental health conditions, substance use, chronic pain, financial strain and challenges related to the transition from military to civilian life.

Access to mental health care, housing stability and employment may also contribute to the risk, according to the report.

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Pete Buttigieg Throws Support Behind Democrats’ Extreme Court-Packing Gambit

It’s a day that ends in “y,” which means yet another high-ranking Democrat is backing his party’s extreme proposal to pack the Supreme Court with left-wing ideologues.

Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg threw his support behind the radical power-grab while speaking at a Rainbow PUSH Coalition event on Thursday. In his remarks to attendees, the prospective 2028 Democrat presidential contender accused SCOTUS of acting in a “rogue” fashion and “eviscerat[ing] the Voting Rights Act” by upholding the Constitution.

The comments are seemingly in response to the high court’s recent Louisiana v. Callais decision, which deemed Louisiana’s drawing of a second majority-black congressional district to be an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.” The ruling more notably kneecapped states’ ability to engage in race-based redistricting — a strategy favored by Democrats to draw districts in their party’s favor.

After his unhinged screed about Callais, Buttigieg was asked by the event moderator for his thoughts on “some really progressive ideas” about how to handle “that rogue Supreme Court.” He more specifically pressed Buttigieg on the proposal to “increas[e] the number of justices” as a way of getting rulings that Democrats favor.

Without hesitation, the former Transportation secretary appeared to fully endorse the plan.

“Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that there have to be nine Supreme Court justices,” Buttigieg said to applause from the audience. “That one doesn’t even take a constitutional amendment. It just takes a readiness to set up a court that fits this country.”

The potential 2028 contender went on to echo disingenuous arguments by fellow Democrats that packing the court with four new justices would allow it to have one justice per federal circuit court, which the justices are tasked with overseeing. He further argued that implementing such a plan would create a “process that makes it less partisan.”

“We cannot have partisan warfare every time there’s an opening on the court,” Buttigieg said, while ignoring his party’s reputation for engaging in such damaging antics. “So, I think term limits would help, but I don’t think they go far enough.”

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Elderly Transgender Serial Killer Harvey Marcelin Sentenced to Life Without Parole for Third Brutal Murder and Dismemberment, ‘He Would Kill Again’ 

An 88-year-old New York man who identifies as a woman and has now been convicted of killing three women over six decades was sentenced this week to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Harvey Marcelin, who has also gone by Marceline Harvey, was handed the maximum sentence on Wednesday for the 2022 murder and dismemberment of 68-year-old Susan Leyden.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun sentenced Marcelin after concluding he would “kill again” if ever released.

The sentencing was for Marcelin’s May conviction on charges of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, and concealment of a human corpse.

A Brooklyn jury deliberated for less than one hour before finding him guilty.

Prosecutors said Marcelin killed Leyden in his East New York apartment on February 27, 2022.

The gender-bending lunatic used a reciprocating saw to dismember her body.

Leyden’s headless torso was later found in a plastic bag inside a shopping cart.

Additional body parts, including her head, were recovered from his apartment along with bloody sheets, a hammer, and a saw.

Surveillance video captured Marcelin purchasing the saw and cleaning supplies at a Home Depot.

Marcelin was also recorded at a 99 Cent store riding his electric wheelchair while sitting on one of Leyden’s severed legs as he disposed of evidence.

Marcelin and Leyden had previously lived in the same Bronx homeless shelter.

This was Marcelin’s third conviction for murdering a woman.

In 1963, he was convicted of first-degree murder for shooting his girlfriend, Jacqueline Bonds, in Manhattan. He was paroled in 1984.

Over two decades later, in 1985, Marcelin stabbed another girlfriend, Ana-Laura Sierra, to death. Her body was found in a garbage bag.

Marcelin pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was paroled again in 2019 after promising to stay out of trouble.

Despite serving more than 50 years in prison across two prior terms, Marcelin killed Leyden while still under parole supervision.

At sentencing, Justice Danny Chun stated he had “no hope for rehabilitation” and feared Marcelin would kill again if freed.

“The cold fact is that every time you were released, you killed someone else, which leads this court to believe that, regardless of your age, if you are ever paroled again, I have no doubt that you would kill again,” Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun said, according to a report from the New York Daily News.

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