Tag: crime

Ex-Police Chief Serving Time for Rape and Murder Escapes Arkansas Prison Wearing Homemade Police Uniform

Former Gateway, Arkansas police chief Grant Hardin escaped from prison Saturday while serving a 50 and 30-year sentences for rape and first degree murder. According to authorities, Hardin wore a homemade police uniform to escape, wheeling supplies though the yard to fool guards.

Excerpt from the New York Post:

A disgraced ex-Arkansas police chief who was serving 80 years in prison for rape and a shotgun-to-the-head execution escaped from a high-security prison disguised as a cop.

Grant Hardin, 56, the former police chief of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, was seen on security cameras walking out of the North Central Unit prison, in Calico Rock, dressed in what appears to be a homemade law enforcement uniform on Sunday afternoon.

Hardin, who is considered extremely dangerous, used the outfit to sneak through the controlled gate while inconspicuously pushing a cart full of utility materials, according to the Stone County Sheriff’s Office.

…In 2017, Hardin pleaded guilty to the murder of James Appleton, 59, a Gateway water department employee who was shot in the head at point-blank range with a shotgun while on the phone with his brother-in-law, who was at the time the mayor.

…While incarcerated, Hardin’s DNA was tested and linked to a 1997 rape case that saw an elementary school teacher sexually assaulted at gunpoint inside a school bathroom while a community church service occured down the hall.

Hardin pleaded guilty to rape and kidnapping in 2018, with a judge sentencing him to an additional 50 years in jail.

Statement and updates by the Arkansas Department of Corrections, “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – CALICO ROCK – On Sunday, May 25, at approximately 3:40 p.m., inmate Grant Hardin, ADC #168541, escaped from the North Central Unit. Anyone with information about inmate Hardin’s whereabouts should contact local law enforcement immediately.”

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Trump Grants Full Pardon for Former Virginia Sheriff

President Donald Trump on Monday said he has pardoned Scott Jenkins, the former sheriff of Virginia’s Culpeper County, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison following a federal bribery conviction.

Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform, calling Jenkins a victim of “an overzealous Biden Department of Justice” who “doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail.”

A federal jury in December 2024 found Jenkins guilty on all 12 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and bribery in connection with his 2023 reelection campaign. Prosecutors said he accepted at least $72,000 in cash bribes in exchange for badges through the county’s auxiliary sheriff’s deputy program.

According to court documents, several individuals, including three co-defendants and two undercover FBI agents, were promised official Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office badges and identification, despite not being trained, vetted, or performing any law enforcement duties.Jenkins maintained his innocence, while his three co-defendants pleaded guilty. His defense argued that the payments were legitimate campaign contributions and that it was within his authority as a sheriff to designate auxiliary deputy sheriffs.

In March, Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison and had filed an appeal.

Trump came to Jenkins’s defense on Monday, accusing the judge who presided over the case of being politically motivated and excluding exculpatory evidence in favor of the sheriff during the trial.

The judges allegedly “allow into evidence what they feel like, not what is mandated under the Constitution and Rules of Evidence,” the president wrote.

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Texas doctor who falsely diagnosed healthy patients to fund lavish lifestyle in $118M scheme is sentenced to 10 years in prison

A Texas doctor who falsely diagnosed his healthy patients to fund his lavish lifestyle with private jets and luxury sports cars as part of a $118 million health care scheme was sentenced to a decade behind bars.

Rheumatologist Jorge Zamora-Quezada defrauded patients and insurance companies by purposefully diagnosing people with rheumatoid arthritis despite them not having the life-long and incurable condition.

Zamora-Quezada, 68, masterminded the scheme out of his Mission, Texas office with the help of staffers who were abused and threatened by his status, the Department of Justice said.

The disgraced health care provider led patients to believe they were suffering from chronic illnesses and they would pay unnecessary and costly treatments and testing that included a variety of injections, infusions, x-rays, MRIs, and other procedures

The regimens included the administration of toxic medications that had potentially harmful and even deadly side effects.

Zamora-Quezada also falsified medical records of his patients to secure insurance funds from providers by falsifying medical.

He defrauded $28 million from Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Other doctors in the Rio Grande Valley testified against Zamora-Quezada during the 25-day trial, revealing the surprising findings when they treated hundreds of patients, believing they had RA.

“For most (patients) it was obvious that they did not have rheumatoid arthritis,” one rheumatologist testified.

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Teens’ Google Search History Helped Detectives Solve Horrific Denver Arson Murder Case

A reverse keyword search warrant served to Google helped Denver police identify three teens responsible for an arson attack that killed five members of a family in 2020.

Wired reports that in August 2020, a horrific arson attack in Denver, Colorado, claimed the lives of five members of a Senegalese family, including two children. The case initially left investigators stumped, with little evidence pointing to the perpetrators. However, a breakthrough came when Denver Police Department (DPD) detectives Neil Baker and Ernest Sandoval decided to serve a reverse keyword search warrant to Google, requesting information on users who had searched for the address of the victims’ home in the days leading up to the fire.

The warrant, which was met with initial resistance from Google due to privacy concerns, ultimately revealed that three local teenagers—Kevin Bui, Gavin Seymour, and Dillon Siebert—had repeatedly searched for the address on Google in the two weeks prior to the arson. This information, combined with cell phone location data placing the teens near the scene of the crime, provided the key evidence needed to arrest and charge them.

The case highlights the growing use of reverse keyword search warrants by law enforcement. These warrants allow police to request information on all individuals who searched for specific keywords or phrases, potentially exposing innocent people to unwarranted scrutiny.

In this instance, the teens’ defense argued that the warrant violated their Fourth Amendment rights by conducting a broad “digital dragnet” without individualized probable cause. However, the judge ruled in favor of law enforcement, likening the search to looking for a needle in a haystack.

The Colorado Supreme Court later upheld the constitutionality of the warrant in a landmark ruling, potentially paving the way for wider use of this investigative technique. However, the court also acknowledged the lack of individualized probable cause, deeming the warrant “constitutionally defective” despite allowing the evidence to stand.

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DoJ Boosts Awards for Whistleblowers in White-Collar Migration Crimes

The Department of Justice is expanding a whistleblower program to reward corporate insiders who expose hidden white-collar migration crimes.

“Today, we have added the following priority areas for tips: procurement and federal program fraud; trade, tariff, and customs fraud; violations of federal immigration law,” said a department official, Matthew Galeotti, chief of the department’s Criminal Division. 

The news created concern among companies that sideline American graduates in favor of hiring cheap, and subordinate foreign white-collar workers, often via the mixed-skill H-1B, J-1, H4EAD, B-1/B-2, CPT, and OPT programs. Those programs are heavily used by clannish Indian managers and their subordinate workers, with the strong backing of India’s government. 

“New DOJ Whistleblower Policy Bad News For Employers Of Immigrants And H-1B Visa Holders,” wrote Stuart Anderson, a pro-migration consultant. He added:

The policy would allow the DOJ to expand efforts to prosecute employers of immigrants and H-1B visa holders. A Department of Justice memo issued in February 2025 directed federal prosecutors to prioritize immigration-related cases. The new whistleblower policy confirms that the Trump administration’s top issue remains immigration enforcement.

But the news was applauded by Americans who see blatant and continuous discrimination against American graduates, usually by the Indian-born hiring managers and recruiters who now dominate many hiring and recruitment offices across the nation.

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Trans-identified male charged in fatal stabbing of wife in New Hampshire

New Hampshire woman Margaret Jasmin was stabbed to death on May 18 and her partner, Reya Jasmin, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder. Jasmin is a male who identifies as transgender who was found at the scene by police and was also injured.

A child was also at Plaistow, NH home, and was uninjured and has been removed. The child is believed to be 9 years old and the son of the Margaret and Reya Jasmin. Reya Jasmin, formerly David Mark Jasmin, began the gender change process in 2017, starting hormones in 2018. Margaret also started to transition after her husband did.

Documents from the New Hampshire Department of Justice refer to Reya Jasmin as a woman, saying “an arrest warrant was issued for Reya Jasmin charging her with one count of Second-Degree Murder.” Reya Jasmin has been accused of having recklessly caused the death of wife Margaret.

Many news outlets, from NBC Boston, Hoodline, WGME 13, News 7, Derry News, and others called Reya Jasmin a woman, despite the murder being an instance of a male partner allegedly killing his wife. The Maine Wire noted that the original press release from the NH DOJ correctly identified Reya Jasmin as a man before adjusting their language to reflect Jasmin’s preferred pronouns and gender identity. The Maine Wire reported that the murder was an “apparent murder-suicide attempt.”

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Crypto investor allegedly tortured captive Italian businessman with a chainsaw for weeks in luxe NYC pad in sadistic scheme to gain password: sources

A cryptocurrency investor from Kentucky is suspected of torturing an Italian businessman with a chainsaw in a sadistic, weeks-long extortion attempt to gain the password for his accounts at a ritzy Manhattan apartment – before the captive made a daring escape, police sources said.

John Woeltz, 37, was arrested after the bloodied and bruised businessman – a 28 year-old man – broke out of the SoHo house of horrors Friday morning, ran to a police officer and said he’d been held prisoner for more than two weeks, the sources said.

Cops rushed to the luxurious Prince Street pad – which Woeltz was allegedly renting for roughly $30,000 to $40,000 a month – and discovered multiple Polaroid photos showing the businessman being tied up with electrical wire and tortured, including one of him bound to a chair with a gun pointed at his head, according to the sources.

Since being taken captive, the businessman had been bound with an electric cord, Tased while his feet were put in water, pistol-whipped, forced to take cocaine and threatened to have his limbs cut off with an electric chainsaw, the sources said.

The nightmare erupted from a dispute over cryptocurrency, in which the suspect allegedly tried to extort millions of dollars from the man by unleashing a litany of horrific tortures, according to sources.

The man was rushed to Bellevue Hospital for treatment, while cops arrested Woeltz, who was expected to face an assault charge, the sources said.

Woeltz was charged Friday night with two counts of second-degree assault, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree, first degree unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon.

A second person — 24-year-old Beatrice Folchi of Manhattan — was also arrested and charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree unlawful imprisonment.

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Armenian Crime Rings Charged With Attempted Murder, $83 Million Amazon Cargo Theft

Federal authorities on Tuesday arrested 13 alleged members of rival Armenian crime organizations locked in an apparent power struggle in Los Angeles County.

The charges include attempted murder, kidnapping, illegal firearm possession, bank and wire fraud, and cargo theft totaling more than $80 million, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.

Among the defendants are Ara Artuni, 41, of Los Angeles, who is charged with attempted murder in aid of racketeering, and Robert Amiryan, 46, of Hollywood, who is charged with kidnapping.

Authorities say both men were leaders of rival Armenian organized crime syndicates, referred to as “avtoritet,” which is Russian for “authority,” and that they have been engaged in a violent feud to maintain control of the San Fernando Valley since 2022.

Artuni is charged with ordering the attempted murder of Amiryan during the summer of 2023. In retaliation, Amiryan allegedly conspired with members of his own criminal organization to kidnap and torture one of Artuni’s associates in June 2023.

In addition to attempted murder, authorities say Artuni and his criminal enterprise committed bank fraud, wire fraud and cargo theft.

Artuni and his organization allegedly targeted e-commerce giant Amazon by enrolling as carriers for the online retailer. Artuni and his men would contract trucking routes with Amazon, and while transporting the goods, diverge from the route and steal all or part of the shipments. 

The Artuni enterprise allegedly stole more than $83 million from Amazon, according to estimates provided by the company. 

“This transnational criminal organization operated with the structure and brutality of an international cartel, inflicting significant harm on public safety and causing substantial damage to legitimate commerce and supply chains,” Dwayne Angebrandts, Homeland Security Investigation’s Los Angeles acting deputy special agent in charge, said in a statement. 

Artuni’s organization also reportedly ran a “credit card bust-out” scheme in which it charged credit cards to a fake business and then “drained the business account” before credit card companies could collect the disputed funds.

Several other arrests were made in the Los Angeles area and two more in Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood, Florida. Authorities continue to look for one defendant.

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Rep. Randy Fine: Pro-Palestine Movement Are ‘Demons’ Who ‘Must Be Put Down by Any Means Necessary’

Newly elected Florida Rep Randy Fine rushed to blame “Muslim terror” for the shooting of two Israeli embassy aides in DC on Wednesday night and declared that the pro-Palestine movement are “demons” who “must be put down by any means necessary.”

“Muslim terror has come to our Nation’s Capital tonight,” Rep. Fine said on X. “Two Jews were assassinated by a gunman sporting a terror rag and yelling ‘Free Palestine.'”

“It is high time for us to acknowledge there is nothing peaceful about this movement and that these demons must be put down by any means necessary,” Fine, who is Jewish, demanded.

The suspect within hours of the shooting was swiftly identified as 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez, an Hispanic left-wing activist from Chicago. There are no indications he’s a Muslim.

The aides were named as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim. The two were reportedly a couple. A former teacher of Lischinsky’s said he was “a Christian who served in the IDF, and dedicated his life to Israel and Zionism.”

Ken Klippenstein published Rodriguez’s alleged manifesto in which he characterized his planned action as an “armed demonstration” against the genocide in Gaza. The manifesto had nothing in it about Islam and contained no indications that religion was a motivating factor.

Rep. Fine, despite now being a member of Congress, couldn’t even wait a few hours for the facts to come in before calling for the mass slaughter of his political enemies.

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Father Of DC Shooting Suspect Was Democrats’ Honored Guest At Trump Congressional Address

The father of the suspected gunman in the murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday, was the honored guest of a far-left lawmaker at President Trump’s joint address to Congress back in March, the New York Post reported.

Eric Rodriguez is an anti-Trump SEIU member who also spoke at a Democrat press conference ahead of Trump’s address.

His son, accused killer Elias Rodriguez, 30, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after allegedly gunning down Yaron Lischinsky, 28, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, who were about to become engaged.

“Eric Rodriguez was our guest during the President’s Joint Speech to Congress, but we don’t know his family,” a spokesperson for Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.) told the Post Thursday night.

García in March had described Rodriguez as “an outspoken advocate against attacks on veterans’ services and the rights of unionized federal employees.”

His mention of “attacks on veteran services” appeared to be a reference to the Department of Government Efficiency’s work eliminating of waste fraud and abuse from the system.

“Eric represents the very best of our community — someone who has served his country, continues to serve his fellow veterans and fights every day to protect the dignity of working people,” the congressman said in a statement on March 3. “His presence at the Joint Address is a powerful statement: we will not sit back while veterans and workers are treated as political pawns.”

According to the Post, Rodriguez also appeared in a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) video that same day, speaking as an Iraq War vet and an employee with the Veterans Affairs Department.

The SEIU, one of the largest labor unions in North America, donates millions of dollars to left-wing Democrat politicians who promote government expansion and higher taxes.

“I’ve been with the VA for three years, and the reason why I’m in Washington, DC, is because I’m concerned about what Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE are doing to the VA system,” he said in the SEIU video. 

Rodriguez was also a featured speaker at an emotional Democrat press conference on March 4.

Flanked by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and other Democrat lawmakers, Rodriguez appeared on the verge of tears as he decried the DOGE cuts.

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