Tag: crime

Karoline Leavitt says Minnesota Somali fraud scandal will leave people ‘in handcuffs’

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned Wednesday that “people will be in handcuffs” as fallout grows from expansive fraud allegations under Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s watch.

“President Trump is not going to let Governor Walz off the hook,” Leavitt told “Fox & Friends,” echoing arguments that responsibility lies with the governor as the alleged fraud occurred under his administration.

Leavitt said the Trump administration has surged federal resources into Minnesota, with multiple agencies conducting investigations tied to the alleged fraud.

Among them, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is conducting door-to-door operations at alleged fraud sites, a key federal effort ICE Director Todd Lyons discussed Tuesday on the Fox News Channel.

“This is a top priority for the administration,” Leavitt reiterated.

“The Department of Justice, as we speak, is continuing to execute search warrants and subpoenas… The Department of Homeland Security is conducting door-to-door investigations on the ground at potential fraud sites, and they’re also conducting continued deportations of illegal aliens in Minnesota’s communities.”

“We’re also not afraid to use denaturalization,” she continued.

“That’s a tool at the president and the Secretary of State’s disposal, and it’s one this administration has previously used before.”

The Health and Human Services, Agriculture and Labor Departments are also involved, with one cutting off childcare funding to Minnesota until the investigation is fully explored, another digging into the unemployment insurance program and the third writing a letter demanding Walz hand over the name of every SNAP recipient in the state.

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Defund the Police Group Bailed Out Domestic Abuser Who Immediately Murdered Mother of His Children

A defund-the-police organization bailed out a repeat domestic abuser who went on to strangle and slash his ex-girlfriend to death in front of their children.

Mohamed Adan, 36, had a documented history of violent assaults against Racheal Abraham, 36, the mother of two of his kids.

Adan was sentenced last week for the murder, and the prosecutor did not hold back in placing blame for Abraham’s death on the leftist activists who helped free him.

Despite clear warnings and multiple arrests, the Portland Freedom Fund, a now-defunct group dedicated to abolishing police and highlighting racial disparities in the bail system, paid $2,000 to secure his release.

Within days, Adan violated a no-contact order, attacked Abraham in her Portland apartment, and killed her by strangling her and slashing her face and arms.

In May 2022, Adan, high on methamphetamine and cocaine, strangled and punched Abraham in the head.

He was arrested again in June of that year, for another strangulation incident where he threatened, “I should kill you!”

Judge Benjamin Bushong released him on GPS monitoring, which Adan promptly removed.

On August 11, he was rearrested for beating Abraham with prayer beads.

Nine days later, on August 20, the Portland Freedom Fund stepped in, posting bail despite Abraham’s pleas to the court that “statistics show that strangulation cases lead to homicide. I don’t want to be a victim.”

Adan disabled another GPS tracker, hunted her down, and committed the murder while three of her children were home.

On Tuesday, Adan pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 25 years.

Senior prosecutor Melissa Marrero didn’t mince words at the sentencing, saying, “The Portland Freedom Fund, thinking it knew better than law enforcement professionals, decided to bail him out. It cost her her life.”

The New York Post reports, “The Portland Freedom Fund, which aimed to ‘bring attention to the racial disparity in the cash bail system,’ shut down in September 2022.”

This Portland tragedy is far from an isolated incident.

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An Antifa-Linked Portland Bail Fund Freed This Somali — Five Days Later, He Killed a Mother of Three

A judge on Dec. 30 handed down a life sentence to a Somali-American man who brutally murdered a woman who had a protective order against him after an Antifa-linked bail fund paid for his release.

Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Jenna Plank sentenced Mohamed Osman Adan, 36, to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years for the 2022 strangulation and stabbing murder of Racheal Angel Abraham. She was the mother of three children, including two who Adan fathered. The murder occurred when the children were in her home.

The Portland Freedom Fund, infamous for bailing out violent BLM-Antifa rioters in 2020, posted bail for Adan shortly before the fatal attack. The group advocates for the abolishment of law enforcement and prisons.

Adan pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and also to several other felony counts, including felony strangulation constituting domestic violence, contempt of court, felon in possession of a firearm, driving under the influence and attempting to elude police.

Despite being repeatedly arrested on domestic violence accusations, Adan was granted bail and released from custody days before the 2022 murder. After Judge Jerry Hodson set bail at $20,000, the Portland Freedom Fund covered Adan’s bond.

Five days after his release, Adan cut off his GPS monitor on Aug. 27, 2022 and returned to Abraham’s apartment, where he stabbed and strangled her to death.

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Prominent Texas Businessman and Appointee of Governor Abbott Shot Dead in Border Town

A prominent Texas businessman and appointee of Governor Greg Abbott was fatally shot in McAllen, Texas, over the weekend.

Eddy Betancourt, 61, was found unresponsive with a gunshot wound after a person called 911 to report a man was shot and not breathing.

Betancourt’s death is being investigated as a homicide.

60-year-old Reynaldo Mata-Rios was charged with murder. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

A motive for the murder is unclear.

Fox News reported:

A prominent businessman and appointee of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was shot and killed at a business in McAllen, a border city in the Rio Grande Valley, over the weekend, authorities said.

McAllen police identified the victim as Eddy Betancourt, 61, of Mission, Texas.

Officers responded Saturday afternoon to the 800 block of North Ware Road after a 911 call reported a man on the floor who was possibly shot and not breathing. Betancourt was found unresponsive, with no pulse, and appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound, police said.

His death is being investigated as a homicide, police said.

Police on Sunday identified Reynaldo Mata-Rios, 60, as a suspect in the shooting.

A warrant charging Mata-Rios with murder, a first-degree felony, was issued by the McAllen Municipal Court.

Authorities said Mata-Rios indicated he intended to surrender but had not done so as of Sunday afternoon. Mata-Rios is 6 feet tall and weighs approximately 195 pounds, according to police. He has brown hair and brown eyes.

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Luxury cars and private villas: See how Minnesota fraudsters spent millions intended for hungry kids

Luxury cars, private villas and overseas wire transfers: CBS News obtained dozens of files and photos that reveal how Minnesota fraudsters blew through hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars as part of one of the biggest COVID-era fraud schemes.

The files document a spending spree in which defendants, many of Somali descent, took taxpayer money meant to feed hungry children and used it to buy cars, property and jewelry. Videos show them popping champagne at an opulent Maldives resort. In a text message, one defendant boasts: “You are gonna be the richest 25 year old InshaAllah [God willing].”

The documents feature exhibits from a recent federal trial, many of which are being made public by CBS News for the first time. The exhibits include:

  • A confirmation email for a stay in an overwater villa with a private pool at Radisson Blu Resort Maldives
  • Lakefront property in Minnesota
  • Receipts showing wire transfers to China and East Africa
  • First class tickets to Istanbul and Amsterdam
  • A 2021 Porsche Macan
  • Stacks of cash, texted between defendants

At the sentencing of a defendant who used taxpayer funds for cars and the Maldives vacation, 24-year-old Abdimajid Mohamed Nur, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel admonished him, saying: “Where others saw a crisis and rushed to help, you saw money and rushed to steal.” He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $48 million in restitution for his role in the fraud scheme.

Nur is one of dozens who siphoned hundreds of millions in stolen taxpayer funds — with questions still swirling about where all the money went. The crime has drawn renewed attention in recent weeks: House Republicans last week launched a probe into Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s handling of the cases, and the Treasury Department said it will investigate whether money made its way to al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab, which is based in Somalia. 

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HORROR: Career Criminal with Over 50 Prior Arrests Brutally Murders Man with Machete in Connecticut

A career criminal with at least 50 prior arrests and 40 convictions murdered a man with a machete in Waterbury, Connecticut, on Saturday evening.

Kendren Barnes was charged with murder after ‘stabbing’ victim Ricardo Maldonado, 57.

According to reports, police were called to an apartment complex in Waterbury on Saturday evening and found the two men suffering from stab wounds.

Barnes and Maldonado were transported to a local hospital. Moldanado died from his injuries.

Barnes is being held on a $2.5 million bond.

The News-Times reported:

Police have identified the victim of a fatal stabbing on Grove Street over the weekend as a city resident.

Ricardo Maldonado, 57, of Waterbury died at the hospital after an incident on Grove Street Saturday, police Lt. Joseph Morais said in a news release Tuesday.

Morais said officers were called to an apartment building on the 100 block of the road at 7:17 p.m. Saturday for reports of a physical altercation involving a weapon inside. He said arriving officers located two male victims, later identified as Maldonado and 47-year-old Kendren Barnes, who had sustained wounds inflicted by edged weapons.

Both were transported to area hospitals, Morais said, where Maldonado later died from his injuries.

Barnes has an extensive criminal history. Police described him as a man who is “frequently arrested.”

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Who is Bill Stevenson? Ex-husband of Jill Biden whose second wife died after ‘domestic dispute’ at Delaware home

Jill Biden‘s ex-husband has been thrust back into the spotlight after his wife was found dead in her home after an alleged domestic dispute, just years after he released a memoir about his and the former first lady’s union. 

Bill Stevenson’s 64-year-old wife, Linda, was found unresponsive in her Delaware home on Sunday, TMZ reported, after police were called to the property. 

Bill, 77, married Jill in 1970 when she was just an 18-year-old student and he was just a few years older.

At the time, Jill, now 74, believed their union would last a lifetime, but the pair split after five years of marriage in 1975. 

That same year, she met the would-be president, Joe Biden, and two years later, the two would marry when she was 26 and he was 34. 

In her 2019 memoir, When the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself, Jill admitted she first thought she and Bill were ‘destined for each other.’

‘Looking back, it may seem like a mistake of youth,’ she scathingly wrote about the man she indirectly referred to as ‘charming and entrepreneurial’ in the book. 

Bill, who owned an ale house, told the Daily Mail a different story in 2020. He claimed the would-be political powerhouse couple’s love story was born from an affair that shattered his marriage to Jill.

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Heiress sparks new turn in Somali fraud scandal by speculating link to MURDER of Minnesota Democrat lawmaker

A Minnesota state senator has slammed actress and socialite Sara Foster after she linked the murder of Democrat lawmaker Melissa Hortman to the erupting Somali fraud probe. 

Hortman and her husband Mark were fatally shot in their Brooklyn Park home by suspect Vance Luther Boelter earlier this year.

Boelter allegedly planned to target 45 liberal lawmakers and abortion providers, according to police.

But Foster, the 44-year-old daughter of Canadian record producer David Foster, took to X on Saturday to suggest Hortman’s death is linked to investigations into alleged fraud in the Somali community in Minnesota.

Scrutiny over the state’s spending intensified this week after a viral video emerged showing an apparently empty daycare in Hennepin County which has allegedly received $4 million in taxpayers’ money. 

‘So are we just planning on pretending like her murder isn’t connected to the multi billion fraud scandal just uncovered? Mmmmkay,’ Foster wrote.

Foster wrote the comment alongside a video showing Hortman weeping after she had cast the lone Democratic vote in favor of repealing eligibility for undocumented adults to access MinnesotaCare just days before she was killed. 

Foster’s remarks were panned by Republican State Senator Julia Coleman, who shut down the ‘conspiracy theory’, stating ‘the fraud had nothing to do with the assassinations’.

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Woke Oregon city hires MURDERER who executed teenage girl to its police review board

A convicted murderer who gunned down a 19-year-old girl has sparked community outrage after being voted back onto the city’s police review board. 

Kyle Hedquist, 47, was jailed for life without parole for murdering Nikki Thrasher in 1994. 

The Oregon native led Thrasher down a remote road and shot her in the back of the head to prevent her from telling people about a burglary spree he had embarked on. 

Hedquist was released in 2022, with former governor Kate Brown arguing that he was 17 at the time of the crime, which means ‘he shouldn’t be locked up for life.’

Now, the Salem City Council has reappointed Hedquist in a five-to-four vote on December 8, despite his 27-year sentence for the execution-style killing.

The Board reviews police conduct complaints and makes policy recommendations to the enforcement.

The 47-year-old was also appointed to the Citizens Advisory Traffic Commission and the Civil Service Commission, an advisory board that oversees traffic and fair employment issues, according to KATU2.

Board members also train with police and participate in ride-alongs to understand how officers operate. 

Backlash has erupted in the blue-state city, with rising concerns voiced by the Salem Police Employee’s Union and other council members. 

‘To think that we’re providing education on kind of how we do what we do to someone with that criminal history, it just doesn’t seem too smart,’ the association’s president Scotty Nowning told KATU2.

Nowning emphasized that the concerns stem from fixing the city’s oversight structure and are not necessarily about Hedquist. 

‘If you move him off there, if you don’t change your guardrails or what the requirements are to be on there, you could just put someone else on there with you know equal criminal history or worse,’ he told the outlet.

Salem Professional Fire Fighters Local 314 even created a website to slam the decision. 

‘As police and fire professionals in the Salem community, we are asking Salem residents to stand with us,’ the site read in part.

‘Tell [the council] to reconsider this decision and fix the mess that they created.’

Other committee members opposed Hedquist’s reappointment, but Councilor Mai Vang approved it.

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Black Privilege: Canadian Judge Reduces Sex Offender’s Sentence Over Race

A former university football player who choked a woman until she was almost unconscious and forced another one to give him a blowjob was given a reduced sentence by a Canadian judge of just two years in prison because he’s black and was ‘feeling intense pressure’ at the time of the attacks.

“It should be noted that but, for the contents of the Impact of Race and Culture Assessment (IRCA), the pre-sentence report and all the mitigating factors surrounding Omogbolahan (Teddy) Jegede, this sentence would have been much higher,” Justice Frank Hoskins said in his Nova Scotia Supreme Court decision last Wednesday, the National Post reports. 

The author of an Impact of Race and Culture Assessment, a report funded under a new initiative from the Trudeau Liberals, wrote that Jegede was feeling intense pressure around the time of the assaults and did not have culturally appropriate support to turn to.

Of note, IRCAs are relatively new in Canadian law – and have become popular thanks to an initiative which began under the Justin Trudeau liberals. 

The attacks happened in 2022 and 2023 at residences at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S. – with one woman testifying that Jegede choked her, and the other testifying that she was forced to perform oral sex. Both women said they were physically dominated by Jegede, who is much larger than they are. 

In addition to his two-year jail sentence, Hoskins added three years of probation – which can be reduced if Jegede makes significant progress in counseling. 

The Crown had requested a sentence of up to 36 months, while Jegede’s defense asked the judge to reduce his sentence to community service. 

“In my view, this is a case where the need for denunciation is so pressing the incarceration is the only civil way in which to express society’s condemnation of Mr. Jegede’s conduct,” said Hoskins, noting that Jegede came from a strong, church-going family with strict parents that had stable careers. The now-convicted sex offender told the court that he grew up feeling loved by his family. 

He then began a degree in kinetics at St.FX, however those studies were interrupted by his sex crimes and subsequent charges. 

Jegede was born in Lagos, Nigeria and immigrated to Canada in 2010. His mother said that the transition to Canada was a significant adjustment for the family, and their youngest son “experienced bullying in elementary school due to his accent and racial identity as a black child.”

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