Tag: rhode island

OUTRAGE: Convicted Child Molester Democrat Who Served Only 15 Months for Sexually Abusing 13-Year-Old Girl Is Running for Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island

A Democrat convicted child molester who sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl and later violated a no-contact order with the same child is now running for mayor of Providence, Rhode Island.

The horrific criminal history of Michael English, 54, was revealed just days after he announced his 2026 mayoral campaign.

According to reporting from The Providence Journal, English committed multiple sexual acts with the underage girl in 1997 when he was 26 years old.

The Providence Journal reports:

English – who is 54 years old – briefly mentioned in a letter announcing his campaign that he had previously been incarcerated:

“I made immature decisions that led to my arrest and a period of incarceration coupled with I dropped out of Hope High School in 1990 and, simply put, I failed to live up to my potential.”

The immature decisions seemingly refer to the then-26-year-old English’s relationship with a 13-year-old girl.

The Democrat pleaded no contest in 1998 to first-degree child molestation, sexual assault, second-degree child molestation, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Despite prosecutors pushing for serious prison time, he was sentenced to 20 years, with all but 18 months suspended, and he served only 15 months thanks to good-behavior credits.

“Although the Attorney General’s Office recommended a 40-year sentence, with seven years to serve, Superior Court Judge Ronald Gagnon issued English a 20-year sentence, with 18 and ½ years suspended, also ordering English to register as a sex offender,” the Providence Journal reports. “A suspended sentence reduces prison time if the convicted individual fulfills certain requirements. In this case, the judge suspended more than 90% of English’s sentence.”

In 2009, the same victim reported that English drove to her home and tried to contact her again. He was convicted of violating the no-contact order and served another 19 months behind bars. He claimed that he just happened to be living across the street from her.

Shockingly, English is not on Rhode Island’s public sex offender registry because his conviction predated stricter laws, and a court ruled he only had to register locally for 10 years.

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Rhode Island’s US Senators Defend Vote To Ban Hemp Despite Concerns It Will Kill A Growing State Industry

Mike Simpson is one of Rhode Island’s biggest cheerleaders for hemp cultivation and the plant’s derivative products—remedies, he believes, that may help where pharmaceutical medicines cannot.

It’s that very reason Simpson helped co-found Rhode Island’s only outdoor hemp farm, where he says many of the business’ products ship all across the country.

But Lovewell Farms may cease operations now that Congress has approved reopening the federal government under legislation that would effectively ban hemp products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC. Now that it has been signed by President Donald Trump, the ban will go into effect in a year.

“This might be the final straw,” Simpson said in an interview Wednesday. “I may have to shut my whole company down.”

Simpson doesn’t sell intoxicating products, but said crops grown at his Hopkinton farm can contain up to 1 milligram of THC in it, as is allowed under existing Rhode Island hemp regulations.

“I have 700 to 800 pounds of flower that I grew this year that under that law would not be legal,” he said.

Simpson said he would grow crops with lower concentrations, but as a USDA-certified organic farm, there aren’t that many seed suppliers he can buy from.

“We’re really at the whim of what those folks are providing,” he said.

The provision in the shutdown-ending appropriations bill was championed by GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in order to close a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp but inadvertently paved the way for the proliferation of hemp-derived THC products like infused drinks—products which states have since scrambled to either regulate or ban.

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School District Stymies Transparency By Demanding Six Figures to Provide Anti-Kirk Teacher’s Curriculum

Benjamin Fillo, a teacher at Barrington High School in Rhode Island, came under fire for disturbing comments he made following the political assassination of conservative leader and icon Charlie Kirk.

The school district is now making it difficult for parents to access Fillo’s curriculum through a FOIA request by demanding a six-figure fee to provide the information.

Just the News reports:

Rhode Island’s Barrington Public Schools demanded six figures just to turn over one social studies teacher’s curriculum in response to Access to Public Records Act requests to discern whether Benjamin Fillo’s classroom lessons reflected the viewpoints in his once-public TikTok video that said the “piece of garbage” Kirk got what he deserved.

The district separately estimated that producing Fillo’s roughly 2,200 work emails going back to 2016 that include the word “Trump,” the other APRA request, would cost about $1,100.

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In correspondence shared with Just the News, the district blamed the now-$116,000 estimate on the scope of what Solas requested, Fillo’s curriculum for his full 15 years, and offered $5,500 if Solas would narrow her request to the past five years. To justify its estimate for Fillo’s emails, it cited an opinion by a recurring Solas foe, state Attorney General Peter Neronha.

During Fillo’s unhinged remarks in a video shared on social media, he called Kirk a “piece of garbage” and stated, “I have about as much sympathy for Charlie Kirk right now as I do for all those farmers across the country who want socialist handouts from the government right now.”

“This is a man who hated the LGBTQ community, who hated women’s rights, who hated democracy.”

“Who thought that he was a big man cause he went to college campuses, debated young college students and thought he proved how tough he was with his words that he studied ahead of time.”

“What a piece of garbage. This is what happens,” he said before smugly adding, “Bye, Charlie!”

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Students from Rhode Island High School Attend School Board Meeting to Demand Teacher Who Went on Vile Rant Against Charlie Kirk Be Fired-” I do not feel comfortable or safe with our teachers supporting violence.

A group of outraged high school students from Rhode Island attended a school board meeting to demand action against a teacher after a vile rant that included calling Charlie Kirk a “piece of garbage.”

Benjamin Fillo, a teacher at Barrington High School, made the comments following the political assassination of Kirk while speaking to students in Utah.

During Fillo’s unhinged remarks in a video shared on social media he stated, “I have about as much sympathy for Charlie Kirk right now as I do for all those farmers across the country who want socialist handouts from the government right now.”

“This is a man who hated the LGBTQ community, who hated women’s rights, who hated democracy.”

“Who thought that he was a big man cause he went to college campuses, debated young college students and thought he proved how tough he was with his words that he studied ahead of time.”

“What a piece of garbage. This is what happens,” he said before smugly adding, “Bye, Charlie!”

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Rhode Island AG Aide Caught on Bodycam Threatening Cops During Arrest

Video recorded last Thursday night shows Rhode Island Special Assistant Attorney General Devon Flanagan being taken into custody by Newport police after an incident outside a restaurant.

Police arrested Flanagan for alleged trespassing following a call about an “unwanted party” at the Clarke Cooke House on Bannister’s Wharf, according to News Channel 9.

The footage shows officers engaging with Flanagan and another woman before escorting Flanagan into a police cruiser.

In the video, Flanagan is heard saying, “you’re going to regret this,” while resisting being placed in the vehicle.

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ICE Arrests Guatemalan Illegal Alien Released by RI Cops After Charged with Sex Crimes Against Children

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a Guatemalan Illegal Alien in Rhode Island one day after local police released him. The illegal alien “got away” was charged with paying to have sex with a minor and released on bond despite his status.

ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents arrested Josue Santiago Perez Gomez, 29, one day after a Rhode Island judge released the Guatemalan national on bond. Officials say Perez Gomez, who entered the U.S. illegally at an unknown time and place, was released on bond after being charged with patronizing a minor for commercial sex, indecent solicitation of a child, and procurement of sexual conduct for a fee. Agents re-arrested the alleged child predator on July 12.

This week, Fox News reporter Bill Melugin published a statement from ICE Boston Field Office Director Patricia Hyde regarding the incident. The director wrote:

Josue Santiago Perez-Gomez stands accused of some disgusting and disturbing crimes and represents a clear threat to the children of our Rhode Island communities. Releasing an alleged child sex offender the very day of his arrest begs the question, what is the point of arresting him at all? Luckily, the brave men and women of ICE were able to remove this criminal alien pedophile from our streets where local authorities allowed him to potentially reoffend.

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ICE Arrests MS-13 Member and Fentanyl Dealer in Providence, RI – Local Officials Worried That Police May Have Assisted

This week, ICE arrested a man in Providence, Rhode Island who is a member of the MS-13 gang and a known dealer of fentanyl. Sounds like a pretty solid arrest, right?

In an absolutely bizarre turn of events, the Democrat leaders of the city are deeply concerned that local police may have assisted ICE. They’re even suggesting that this will be investigated.

This is absolute madness.

WPRI News in RI reported:

Mayor Brett Smiley characterized the incident as “complex,” but said that the incident remains under review.

“I’m interested in making sure that our community knows that Providence police are there to protect them, that they will not cooperate or sere as immigration agents, and that preliminarily, we believe that policy was followed in that instance, although it certainly was jarring video that I saw,” Smiley said at an unrelated news conference on Tuesday. “But upon closer review and understanding the full context of the circumstance, it feels like… it seems like at the initial outset, that Providence police acted in accordance with our existing policy.”

Miller said she appreciated that there is a review underway, but added that she wanted PERA to examine the incident because they are a third-party in the situation.

See below:

An MS-13 fentanyl trafficker was just arrested in Providence, Rhode Island.

The mayor and city council president are pledging to investigate…

Not the MS-13 problem, but to ensure police didn’t assist ICE in arresting him.

Totally insane. pic.twitter.com/rOT664NaRb

— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) July 16, 2025

A Democrat lawmaker in the state also criticized ICE for the arrest, calling them the gestapo.

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Rhode Island Democrats Ban Sale, Manufacture of ‘Assault Weapons’

Rhode Island’s Democrat-run legislature passed a bill Friday banning the instate sale and manufacture of “assault weapons.”

The measure now heads to Gov. Dan McKee’s (D) desk.

The Associated Press reported that state Rep. Rebecca Kislak (D) contended for the ban, suggesting it is “an incremental move that brings Rhode Island in line with neighboring states.”

The ban “only applies to the sale and manufacturing of assault weapons and not possession.”

Gov. McKee reacted to Friday’s passage of the ban with an X post, saying: I’m proud that Rhode Island took an important step forward in protecting our communities from gun violence. I included an assault weapons ban in my budget for this very reason — and as a result, tonight we saw progress.

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Rhode Island Bills To Restrict Hemp THC Drinks Ignore Science And Current Regulations

As co-founder of Rhode Island’s only U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic hemp farm, and the largest outdoor cannabis farm in the state, I’ve spent the last eight years helping build the hemp industry from the ground up.

At Lovewell Farms, we’ve operated under one of the strictest regulatory frameworks in the country, subject to licensing, batch testing, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) limits, secure packaging requirements and product traceability. Yet two recently proposed bills, H6056 and H6270, would cut licensed hemp farms like ours out of the very market we helped establish.

These bills, introduced by Democratic Reps. Jacquelyn Baginski of Cranston and Scott Slater of Providence, aim to regulate the sale of hemp-derived beverages containing delta-9 THC, the compound most commonly associated with cannabis intoxication.

Slater’s bill would specifically eliminate the sale of such beverages and drink mix powders in Rhode Island, unless these products are specifically included in the state’s cannabis laws. The bills misrepresent both the science behind these products and the legal infrastructure already in place.

During a recent House hearing, Rep. Baginski stated, “I was surprised to learn that hemp-based THC products are also available in the marketplace and largely sold unregulated…at any establishment with a retail sales permit. That could be a convenience store, a hair salon, a gas station, anywhere.”

Respectfully, this is inaccurate. In Rhode Island, consumable hemp products must be produced by licensed handlers and tested by certified labs. They are subject to strict limits on THC content, comprehensive labeling standards, and age restrictions. If some products are being sold outside these rules, that’s a failure of enforcement, not evidence of an unregulated system.

Rep. Slater’s testimony in support of his bill, which would effectively ban all hemp-derived THC beverages unless sold through a dispensary, also included misleading claims. He asserted that “the hemp-derived THC products are now being sold outside the regulated cannabis system with minimal oversight, including limited testing, weak labeling, no seed-to-sale tracking as well as avoidance of cannabis taxes.”

This characterization erases the work of licensed hemp producers who follow every requirement the state imposes, many of whom, like us, already distribute specific products through dispensaries and operate with full compliance under existing cannabis laws.

Slater went on to say that allowing hemp beverages undermines Rhode Island’s cannabis cultivators, whom he described as his constituents. “I really find it unfair that as soon as this market has started that we’re trying to undermine them…and allowing folks that found kind of a loophole with this synthetically altered hemp in drinks…without going through the same framework that everyone else has.”

But our farm has always followed the framework. There is no loophole for us, just increasing restrictions on products we’ve made legally, safely and transparently for years.

Both bills ignore a crucial scientific fact: Not all hemp products are intoxicating.

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SHOCKING DISCOVERY: Human Remains Found Just a ‘Stone’s Throw’ from Taylor Swift’s Lavish Beachside Mansion

Human remains were discovered just a ‘stone’s throw’ from pop megastar Taylor Swift’s sprawling oceanfront compound, according to the New York Post.

At approximately 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Westerly Police responded to a call about possible human remains in the elite Watch Hill neighborhood—a gated oceanside enclave known for its multimillion-dollar mansions, celebrity residents, and ironclad privacy.

“Upon arrival, officers located what appeared to be a human leg bone,” Westerly Police Chief Paul Gingerella told The Post.

The grim find was recovered and transferred to the Rhode Island Medical Examiner’s Office for further analysis. So far, the identity of the remains is unknown.

More from The Post:

“It was probably a couple football fields away from Taylor Swift’s house and the Ocean House,” Taylor Day, a local resident who was driving by just as authorities descended on the scene, told NBC10.

“I would definitely disagree with that,” Day said. “I think finding a leg is very suspicious.”

“I saw three police cars—one undercover—two looked like Westerly town police officers, and there was a medical examiner pulling in behind me,” Day added as she described the scene.

“It kind of alarmed me, and it was just something very out of the ordinary for Westerly.”

Swift wrote “Last Great American Dynasty” about the history of her 11,000-square-foot mansion, nicknamed “Holiday House” — and about local residents grumbling over her purchase of the $17.75 million property.

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