Tag: washington

Attempted Forced Abortion in Washington Leads to Three Arrests

Three people in Bellingham, Washington, have been arrested in connection to the alleged secret drugging of a pregnant woman in an attempt to kill her baby in an abortion.

The Bellingham Police Department opened an investigation on October 20 after a woman reported that her former fiancé, 32-year-old Jean Brando Zintz, drugged her with abortion pills while she was sleeping to try to end her pregnancy, the Bellingham Herald reported.

Zintz was upset when he found out in March that the woman was pregnant, the report states, citing court records. His mother offered her $10,000 to have her baby aborted, and Zintz encouraged the woman to accept the offer, but she declined, per the report.

The woman began experiencing major medical complications early in the pregnancy, including prolonged bleeding and dangerously low blood pressure, court records show.

The woman told police she was so “out of it” at some points that she was unable to walk. She also told police she woke up several times with a white, chalky substance in her mouth.

In early October, Zintz’s brother, 30-year-old Michael Moises Montano, contacted the pregnant woman over Facebook Messenger and told her that Zintz “poisoned [her] baby” and drugged her by replacing her prenatal vitamins with abortion pills, court records allege. Montano alleged that Zintz would give her benzodiazepine, which can have a sedative effect, and then put the abortion pill under her tongue.

Montano told the woman his brother ultimately failed at causing an abortion because he only gave her the first of two pills needed to cause a medication abortion, according to the report.

In a medication abortion, mifepristone blocks the action of progesterone, which the mother’s body produces to nourish the pregnancy. When progesterone is blocked, the lining of the mother’s uterus deteriorates, and blood and nourishment are cut off to the developing baby, who then dies inside the mother’s womb. The drug misoprostol (also called Cytotec) then causes contractions and bleeding to expel the baby from the mother’s uterus.

Montano alleged that his girlfriend, 30-year-old Ciara Miller, obtained the abortion pills and was paid by Zintz.

“Just know the truth,” Montano wrote, according to court records. “He tried killing your baby, and in the end your (sic) lucky because he failed and was planning something else entirely once and for all to get rid of you ‘the problem’ before it was to (sic) late and destroyed his life for good.”

Police arrested Montano on Friday. He is facing charges for complicity to attempted first-degree manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault.

Police arrested Miller on Sunday afternoon, and she is facing charges for two counts of second-degree assault.

Police searched Zintz’s apartment on October 29, where they found drug-cutting agents, labeled containers for choline supplements with multiple pills, packaged and labeled misoprostol tablets, sleep aids, and drug paraphernalia, according to the report. They also found lab equipment, including a magnetic mixer and laboratory glassware.

Law enforcement, including the U.S. Marshals Service, arrested Zintz in Mesa, Arizona, on Sunday. He is awaiting extradition to Whatcom County, according to the report.

He is facing charges for first-degree manslaughter and two counts of second-degree assault. He is also facing charges for a protection order violation assault because there are two active domestic violence no-contact orders between him and the pregnant woman.

“The pregnant woman stopped communicating with Zintz in July, and her health has since improved,” according to the report.

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Washington State Voters Back Initiative to Block Trans Athletes from Girls’ Sports

Voters in Washington State are backing Initiative 638, a measure that would ban males who identify as female from playing on girls’ sports teams.

Initiative 638, also called the Sex Verification Requirements for Female School Sports Initiative, would prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students and would require girls to submit documents from their doctor stating that they were born female.

While votes are still being counted in Washington, as of Wednesday, the “yes” vote on the initiative led with 57 percent to the “no” vote of 43 percent, and it seems most likely that once counting is done, the “yes” votes will prevail.

“To every female athlete who wondered whether her voice mattered: tonight, Washington heard you,” said Brian Heywood, founder of Let’s Go Washington, the political organization backing the measure, according to the Washington State Standard. “Five years from now, I hope girl athletes don’t know this fight took place, because that will mean that boys know their place is not in girls’ sports.”

“This is a victory for girls like Frances, Ahnaleigh, Sadie, Bayley, Charlie, Sierra, and countless others who have been told time and again by the majority party that their voices and opportunities don’t matter. The opposition was working overtime to tell these girls that their experiences were made up and didn’t matter. Tonight, those girls see that well over a million Washingtonians stand with them and care that their sports are safe and fair. Voters have your backs,” Heywood added.

If the measure passes, it would require School boards, or other school governing entities, to create rules for what sex verification would look like. It would rely on “one or more” of the following: “the student’s reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.”

Successful campaigns joined the effort in Washington State for similar bans on trans athletes in girls’ sports that passed in Nebraska and Arizona.

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DOJ suspects 400 people illegally registered to vote in Wash. state

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that it suspects more than 400 people of being illegally registered to vote in Washington state.

On Monday, the department said it called for two U.S. Attorney’s Offices to segregate ballots cast by individuals in this group so that their citizenship status can be verified.

The DOJ provided the state a list of these individuals, most of whom are lawful permanent residents or “green card” holders. This means they have legal immigration status in the United States, but they are not U.S. citizens and are therefore not permitted to vote in federal elections.

“We have heard from green card holders who were registered against their knowledge via the Washington Motor Voter program. Then they receive a ballot in the mail and assume they are legally registered – that simply is not the case,” the DOJ’s press statement read.

The Justice Department warned noncitizens who discover they’re registered to vote to report the issue to the Secretary of State’s Office. Defendants who knowingly lie about their immigration status on voter registration applications can face criminal charges and may face repercussions when later attempting to become naturalized U.S. citizens.

“For years Washington State has had a mantra: our elections are ‘free, fair, and devoid of fraud.’ But our investigation shows not all of that is true – people who are non-citizens are registered to vote and are voting in our state,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. “We have identified over 400 non-citizens who are registered to vote and have voted in multiple elections.  This is only the tip of the iceberg. We will continue to investigate and identify those who are committing crimes by voting illegally.”

Floyd told Fox News that investigators used U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to compile the list of voters. He added that while some individuals voted only once or three times in past elections, others voted as many as 27 times.

“Free and fair elections should be the concern of every United States citizen. Our purpose in sharing this data with the Secretary of State is to protect the sanctity of each citizen’s vote,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Serrano for the Eastern District of Washington stated. “Our goal in sharing this information with the State of Washington is to ensure that a Washington citizens’ votes are protected in this and future elections.”

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs pushed back against the findings, however, claiming “several glaring deficiencies.”

“This list includes United States citizens and is not reliable. Without individualized proof of ineligibility, it would be both irresponsible and illegal for election officials to decline to process a registered voter’s ballot,” he said.

The Washington state probe comes after the DOJ sent California a list of suspected noncitizens registered to vote earlier this year, asking state officials to separate any ballots they receive from the people on the list for further review.

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ICE Arrests Kenyan Illegal Alien Working at Washington’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families

ICE’s Seattle office arrested Stanley Robert Kungu Muthee, a Kenyan national who overstayed a tourist visa, during a traffic stop on Monday while he was wearing a jacket from his job at the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

Bill Melugin reported that ICE confirmed Muthee entered the United States on February 6, 2019, on a B-2 tourist visa, never left, and remained in the country illegally.

During the arrest, he admitted he worked for the agency and was carrying a DCYF identification card.

ICE quoted Melugin’s scoop on X and stated that American taxpayer dollars should never pay the salaries of illegal aliens or be responsible for the safety and well-being of American children.

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‘Tip of the Iceberg’: Feds Allege 405 Migrants Voted 1,500 Times

Federal prosecutors said Monday that investigators have identified 405 people they believe are not U.S. citizens who voted in Washington state elections, casting more than 1,500 ballots over multiple elections.

Neil Floyd, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, said federal officials sent the names to state election officials and asked them to set aside any ballots from those voters until their eligibility can be checked.

Floyd said investigators were confident in their findings but believe the number of noncitizens who have voted in Washington could be much higher:

Through our investigation, we have confirmed with high confidence that non-citizens are voting in the state of Washington in federal and state elections. Thus far, we have identified over 400 non-citizens who have voted in Washington, and many of them have voted multiple times. That means we have identified over 1,500 ballots illegally cast. This is not the full number of non-citizens who have been voting in Washington. This is only the tip of the iceberg. With a small sample that we have collected so far, I’m confident that we are looking at thousands of non-citizens who have been voting in Washington.

Floyd did not provide a statewide count to support his estimate that thousands of noncitizens had voted. The 1,500 ballots he cited were allegedly cast over several decades, according to a report on the investigation.

The request comes ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.

Floyd said Department of Homeland Security investigators compared publicly available Washington voter lists with federal records to identify registered voters they believe were not citizens. They then checked whether those individuals had cast ballots.

He said investigators had to conduct several checks to make sure the records referred to the same person, making the work time-consuming.

Washington has declined to provide the federal government with its full voter registration database, including personal identifying information. Floyd said:

Washington has refused to share the complete list of registered voters with identifying information. We are having to do this essentially one person at a time. If we had access to the full database maintained by Washington, this could be done much more efficiently. We could simply compare Washington’s information to ours and it would yield immediate results.

Floyd said his office would pursue criminal cases against people who vote illegally and those who knowingly help them do so.

Last week, Breitbart News reported that Los Angeles County officials told a court they could not independently verify voters’ citizenship beyond what voters stated on their registration forms.

The Justice Department sued California to stop the state from counting mailed ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters whom federal officials identified as likely noncitizens until their citizenship could be verified. California officials challenged the evidence behind the list.

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WA School District That Forced Kids to Hide Bibles in “Concealed Envelopes” Must Now Apologize, Undergo Religious Liberty Training, and Fork Over $275K

A school district in Washington state is being forced to apologize, fork over $275,000, and attend religious liberty training after forcing students to hide Bibles in concealed envelopes.

School officials in the Everett School District were accused of trying to make it difficult for children to participate in a release-time program on Christianity. The elementary students were forced to hide Bibles in “concealed envelopes,” and parents were forced to repeatedly submit permission slips.

LifeWise Academy provides optional, privately funded Bible education to public school students during school hours. Classes take place off school property and require parental permission.

Following complaints, First Liberty Institute and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of a LifeWise parent and staff member after the district imposed restrictions that singled out the program.

According to the lawsuit, the restrictions included excluding LifeWise from community events and flyer displays, requiring burdensome weekly parental reauthorization, and requiring students to keep materials received at LifeWise, including Bibles, sealed in envelopes in their backpacks.

Additionally, a school board member was openly hostile about the program and “publicly declared animus toward LifeWise Academy” while grossly mischaracterizing the program during  a school board meeting.

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Washington to Charge Residents $126 Just to Shop for a Gun

Beginning May 1, 2027, Washington state residents will have to pay $126 to acquire a state-issued permit-to-purchase that allows them to buy a gun.

Radio host Jason Rantz noted that the permit-to-purchase will be issued by the Washington State Patrol (WSP).

Ammoland received confirmation from WSP that the overall fee will be $126. That fee consists of “$90 for the permit and $36 for the fingerprint background check.”

Rantz pointed out that there are other costs involved, too. Namely, the cost for training and ammunition for a “state-certified safety course” that permit-to-purchase applicants must pass in order to receive their permit.

He said, “Course fees, ammunition, range time and travel all come out of the buyer’s pocket on top of the $126.”

Mike Bloomberg-affiliated Everytown for Gun Safety ranks Washington the No. 9 state in the Union for gun control stringency.

Washington has universal background checks for handgun purchases, a ten-day waiting period on gun sales, a concealed carry permit requirement, a red flag law, gun storage laws, an “assault weapons” ban, a “high-capacity” magazine ban, a bump stock ban, a registry of all handgun sales, “ghost gun” regulations, a ban on K-12 teachers being armed for classroom defense, and so much more.

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Wash.: High school cross-country girls walk off track meet, protesting biological male runner

Nearly half of the girls on the Camas High School cross-country team in Camas, Washington, walked off the starting line during a recent meet to protest the inclusion of a biological male runner on their team.

Footage of roughly 13 athletes linking arms and leaving the course quickly went viral, reigniting debate over transgender participation in girls’ sports.

The protest centered on teammate Logan Mihailoff, who notably began the season in the boys’ junior varsity division — placing 76th place at the Ultimook Invitational on September 5th — before transitioning to compete in the girls’ division midseason.

Mihailoff switched from competing in the boys’ division to the girls’ division midseason between September 5th and September 26th.

Competing under Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rules, which permit participation based on gender identity, Mihailoff then placed second out of 195 female runners at the Nike Portland XC Invitational on September 26th, won a dual meet against Union High School on September 29th, and placed second in the subsequent October 8th meet.

Critics have highlighted that allowing biological male athletes to compete displaces female runners who have trained rigorously for team roster spots and standings, while school officials simply argue they are just complying with established state interscholastic policies.

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FBI Arrests Washington “Trans Woman” Accused of Helping Plot the Canadian School Shooting — Sent Cash, Tactical Advice, and Watched the Livestream as Children Were Shot

The FBI arrested a 30-year-old Bellingham, Washington resident on Tuesday and charged him with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country for allegedly coaching, funding, and agreeing to broadcast the February 10 slaughter at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in British Columbia, the attack that left 8 people dead, including 5 children.

James Cody Bryant was taken into custody in Bellingham and appeared in federal court in Seattle.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

According to the Department of Justice announcement and the accompanying 41-page FBI criminal complaint, Bryant allegedly maintained extensive communications with 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar during the six months before the February 10 massacre.

Both Bryant and Van Rootselaar were born male and identified as transgender women, according to police and federal officials.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in February that Van Rootselaar was “born a biological male” who began identifying as female about six years earlier.

On Tuesday, U.S. officials said they understood Bryant was also born male and identified as female.

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Washington State Democrat Candidate Has a Meltdown in Patrol Car After DUI Arrest

Democrat candidate Krista Perez — who who is running for a state House seat in Washington — was seen on police video having a meltdown in a patrol car after being arrested for a DUI.

In the body camera footage, Perez — who won the Democrat primary in Washington state’s 29th Legislative District, Position 1 — admitted to drinking wine, declined field sobriety tests, and begged to go home before she was seen praying and sobbing in the back of a police vehicle.

“Did you get into an accident here?” an officer asked Perez in the video, to which the Democrat candidate replied, “I did not.”

In the footage, the 40-year-old woman is seen standing outside her vehicle, where an airbag had deployed at the front wheel.

“What happened, then?” the officer inquired, to which Perez responded, “I don’t know. I’ve never been in an accident before.”

After being asked for her insurance, Perez told law enforcement, “I literally just changed my insurance just, like, within the last two weeks,” and was unable to tell the officer the name of the insurance company.

Perez then told police that she was driving from “a friend’s business” on Tacoma Avenue South when the car accident occurred.

“Did you have anything to drink tonight?” the officer asked, to which the Democrat candidate replied, “I just had some wine while I was there.”

After being asked how much wine she had, Perez responded, “I had a glass of wine. One glass of wine.”

The officer then asked how big the glass was, to which she answered, “I’m confused about what our questions are right now,” before adding, “I think you might need to contact the business.”

“On a scale from zero to ten, zero being sober, ten being unable to function, where would you rate yourself tonight?” the police officer inquired, to which Perez replied, “I would like to go home.”

After being asked to rate herself on the scale from zero to ten again, the Democrat candidate finally responded, saying, “Four.”

The officer then asked Perez to participate in field sobriety tests, informing her multiple times that she can decline the tests if she prefers.

“It’s totally voluntary,” he said. “You can say no if you’d like.”

Perez told the officer she wanted to “go home” first, and repeatedly stated that she was “confused.”

“You’re not going to go home first. I’m going to tell you that right now, okay? So, your options between the test, yes or no, that’s going to be determined tonight, right now, not when you go home. So, would you like to take these tests or no?” the officer asked.

After declining the roadside sobriety tests again, the officer instructed Perez to turn around and put her hands behind her back.

“Oh no, wait. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. One second,” she reacted.

The officer then handcuffed Perez while she repeatedly stated, “I don’t know what any of this means.”

“It means you’re under arrest for DUI,” the officer replied.

The Democrat candidate then informed law enforcement that she doesn’t know what “DUI” means, before continuing to repeat, “I don’t know what any of this means.” Perez went on to ask God to help her in Spanish.

Later, inside the squad car, Perez told the officer, “I think what I assume tonight is that you did not experience domestic violence in your life.”

“What makes you think that?” the officer asked, to which Perez responded, “I choose gratitude in my life.”

The officer then asked, “Is there anything else you want to share?” to which the Democrat candidate bizarrely replied, “Anything that you are requesting to be shared right now would be under duress.”

The video footage goes on to show Perez crying in police car and repeatedly asking, “Can you please help me?”

Upon reaching the station, the sobbing Democrat candidate told authorities, “I don’t know to get out” of the vehicle.

The Tacoma Police Department said Perez struck a parked car and set off a chain reaction that damaged five vehicles shortly after midnight on August 11, according to The Jason Rantz Show on Seattle Red.

The Democrat candidate was booked into Pierce County Corrections on the morning of August 11 on a DUI charge.

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