Man who scammed California Jewish community out of $7m gets seven years

Sassi Mizrahi sentenced to federal prison after he and his brother targeted over 40 people in San Fernando Valley in Ponzi scheme

A southern California man has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison after he and his younger brother scammed more than 40 people out of $7m in investments. Their fraud targeted victims from the San Fernando Valley’s orthodox Jewish Israeli community.

From 2012 to 2019, Sassi and his brother and co-defendant Motty Mizrahi ran an investment and money management firm called MBIG Company that boasted risk-free investments and an annual return rate of 30% to double the original investment, according to court records. To add legitimacy to MBIG, Motty Mizrahi also passed himself off as a licensed broker, certified accountant and veteran trader.

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Derek Chauvin expected to survive stabbing attack in prison, officials say

Minneapolis police chief provided updates about attack on former officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd

The former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd and was stabbed in prison by a fellow inmate Friday is expected to survive the attack, officials have told media outlets.

Updates about Derek Chauvin, the wounded convicted killer and ex-cop, were provided to various media outlets – including the Associated Press and the news station KSTP – by the Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, as well as a spokesperson for Minnesota state attorney general Keith Ellison’s office on Saturday.

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Tiffany Haddish arrested for driving under the influence in Los Angeles

Police said the entertainer was slumped over the steering wheel of a car stopped in the road at 5.45am on Friday

Tiffany Haddish was jailed early on Friday in Los Angeles on suspicion of driving under the influence, authorities said, marking the second time in less than two years that the actor and comedian has been arrested on such allegations.

Police in Beverly Hills said they found Haddish, 43, while responding to a call to check on a motorist who was stopped in the road at about 5.45am. Officers found Haddish appearing to be slumped over the steering wheel of that car, whose engine was still running.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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California jogger ‘filmed himself killing homeless man’ who blocked sidewalk

Orange county prosecutors say Craig Sumner Elliott, 68, shot Antonio Garcia Avalos, 40, three times

A California jogger allegedly filmed himself killing a homeless man who was blocking the sidewalk, according to prosecutors announcing charges against him.

Craig Sumner Elliott, 68, was jogging with his two dogs and pushing a cart on 28 September when he came across Antonio Garcia Avalos, 40, who was sleeping in the middle of the sidewalk, prosecutors in Orange county, California, said.

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Former state department official who made Islamophobic comments to vendor arrested for hate crime

Food cart worker saw an outpouring of support from customers after news of the verbal attacks went public

The street vendor in Manhattan who was racially harangued about the Gaza conflict woke to huge lines of well-wishing customers on Wednesday as the the former state department official who was filmed berating him was arrested and charged with racial harassment and stalking as a hate crime.

Mohammed Hussein, 24, was back to work at the Q Halal Cart grill on Wednesday on the corner of Second Avenue and East 83rd Street, with lines of customers queuing for food in a sign of support.

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January 6 rioter found guilty after judge calls defence argument ‘gobbledegook’

Taylor James Johnatakis was found guilty of seven charges for his role in 2021 attack to stop Biden from being certified as president

A January 6 rioter who represented himself using “sovereign citizen” arguments – which a judge called “bullshit” and “gobbledegook” – was found guilty on Tuesday.

Taylor James Johnatakis, 39 and from Kingston, Washington, will be sentenced later.

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Suspected car thief caught in portable toilet after bystanders push it over

Golfers spot suspect being pursued by Wisconsin police hide in portable toilet and push it over to incapacitate him

A suspected car thief was caught in a portable toilet after bystanders saw the man hide in it and then pushed it over with him still inside.

Police in Wisconsin had been pursuing a stolen car when it crashed into two other vehicles and four suspects fled on foot. But one of the suspects hid in a portable toilet, though unknowingly he had been spotted by a group of golfers on a nearby course.

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California male nanny gets 707 years in prison for sexually assaulting 16 boys

Matthew Antonio Zakrzewski was arrested in 2019 and charged with 34 felonies, including lewd and lascivious acts with a minor

A male nanny who advertised himself as a “manny” and worked for families across southern California before being convicted of sexually assaulting 16 young boys in his care has been handed a prison sentence of more than 700 years.

Matthew Antonio Zakrzewski, who was also convicted of showing child sexual abuse material to a boy, received his punishment at a sentencing hearing Friday, California prosecutors said in a statement.

In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Five-year-old who fatally stabbed twin brother won’t face charges in California

State policy presumes children younger than 14 are incapable of committing crimes unless ‘they knew its wrongfulness’ at the time

A five-year-old California boy who fatally stabbed his twin brother last week won’t be charged with a crime, according to authorities.

The case illustrates how many US states have policies setting a minimum age for prosecution, taking into account knowledge of wrongfulness and criminal intent. In California, children who are younger than 14 are presumed to be incapable of committing crimes unless “at the time of … the act charged against them, they knew its wrongfulness”, according to the state’s penal code.

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Investigators identify ‘person of interest’ in LA freeway arson

California state officials seek public’s help in identifying person shown in two photos posted to social media

Investigators on Saturday identified a “person of interest” in the Los Angeles arson fire last week that closed a central freeway for days, snarling traffic as repair crews continue to work around the clock to fix it.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire, and the state fire marshal released two photos in a “crime alert notification” posted to social media and said it was seeking the public’s help to identify the person.

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Ohio priest who sex-trafficked boys he met in preschool given life sentence

Michael Zacharias’s victims said the priest waited until they began abusing drugs before he sexually trafficked them

A Roman Catholic priest received a life sentence on Friday for his convictions on five counts related to sex-trafficking charges in the molestation of three boys whom prosecutors say he met at an Ohio preschool and coerced to continue sexual activity as adults.

Michael Zacharias, 56, received concurrent, maximum life sentences for counts of sex trafficking a minor and sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud or coercion. He received concurrent 20-year sentences for two counts of sex trafficking of an adult by force, fraud or coercion, and one of similarly trafficking a minor.

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Gunman in fatal New Hampshire hospital shooting identified

State attorney general said that John Madore, 33, killed security officer Bradley Haas in the entrance to the psychiatric hospital

Authorities say the gunman who was killed after shooting to death a security guard at a New Hampshire psychiatric hospital has been identified.

New Hampshire’s attorney general, John Formella, said on Saturday that 33-year-old John Madore entered the New Hampshire hospital on Friday afternoon and killed Bradley Haas, a state department of safety security officer who was working at the front lobby entrance of the facility.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and singer Cassie settle abuse lawsuit one day after filing

Settlement to their ‘mutual satisfaction’ announced in a statement released on Friday evening without details being disclosed

Sean “Diddy” Combs and singer Cassie said on Friday that they have settled a lawsuit containing allegations of beatings and abuse by the music producer.

Combs, a hip-hop icon and the founder of Bad Boy Records, was accused of rape and abuse in a major lawsuit filed by Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, that alleges he used his powerful network to keep her trapped in a violent relationship with him.

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Ex-owners of sex work site Backpage convicted of prostitution scheme

Michael Lacey, Scott Spear and John Brunst, all men in their 70s, created complicated system to try to outwit US government

Three former owners of the website Backpage, a site mainly known as a place where sex workers advertise their services, have been convicted for federal crimes including promoting prostitution and money laundering, the US Department of Justice announced on Friday.

The recently convicted trio, Michael Lacey, 75, Scott Spear, 72, and John “Jed” Brunst, 71, came to own Backpage in 2010. Since then, the government says, they encouraged sex work ads by creating a system for “johns”, or customers, to leave reviews about the sex workers they had engaged with. Website workers and an automated system filtered out words that made it obvious that sex was being offered in exchange for money.

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New Hampshire police yet to identify suspect in fatal hospital shooting

Shooter killed security guard, who has been identified, and was shot dead by a state police officer on security duty

An armed individual walked into the lobby of a state psychiatric hospital in New Hampshire on Friday and shot dead a former police chief working as a security guard before a state police officer on duty at the facility shot and killed the suspect, officials said.

New Hampshire state police initially had reported “multiple victims” from the shooting, but no one else, including the trooper who confronted the suspect, was injured in the gun violence, which erupted at about 3.30pm ET at the New Hampshire state hospital in Concord, the state capital, according to Mark Hall, the state police colonel.

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David DePape found guilty in hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband

Rightwing conspiracy theorist convicted of attempted kidnapping and assault in 2022 attack on Paul Pelosi

David DePape, the rightwing conspiracy theorist who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband in their San Francisco home, has been convicted of attempted kidnapping and assault.

The federal jury’s decision on Thursday comes after a dramatic trial in which Paul Pelosi testified about the “traumatic” hammer attack he suffered on 28 October 2022, days before the midterm elections. DePape also took the stand in his defense, saying he had planned to interrogate the former House speaker and post footage of her online.

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Trump’s Georgia election trial could stretch into 2025, says prosecutor

In interview, Fani Willis said trial against the ex-president and 19 defendants would probably extend past election day

The trial in the Georgia racketeering case against Donald Trump and 14 other defendants relating to an alleged conspiracy to subvert the 2020 election could stretch into early 2025, the Fulton county prosecutor, Fani Willis, has said.

In an interview at a global women’s summit held on Tuesday by the Washington Post, Willis said that though she expected the case be on appeal “for years”, the trial itself would probably take “many months”. She envisioned it ending in “the winter or the very early part of 2025”.

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Pelosi attacker planned to wear unicorn costume and post interrogation online

David DePape, accused of attacking Nancy Pelosi’s husband in a home invasion last year, testified for an hour on Tuesday

David DePape, the man accused of attacking the husband of Nancy Pelosi with a hammer last year, told a federal jury how his fringe political beliefs brought him to the Pelosis’ home to interrogate the former house speaker.

In emotional testimony that lasted for more than an hour, DePape offered detailed insight into his motivations that evening in October, which he described as part of a bigger plan to end corruption in the United States.

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‘Traumatic’: Paul Pelosi testifies on being attacked by man with hammer

Nancy Pelosi’s husband recounts publicly for the first time details of David DePape’s reported assault in their San Francisco home

Paul Pelosi has recounted publicly for the first time details of the harrowing night he was attacked by a hammer-wielding man in the San Francisco home he shares with his wife and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Testifying in the trial of David DePape, the man accused of attacking him last year, Paul Pelosi recalled his alarm at seeing a man standing in his bedroom.

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How couple’s arrest revealed terrible secret of Colorado funeral home

The arrest of Carrie and Jon Hallford in Oklahoma follows shocking news to the loved ones of about 190 dead people

Over the years, the families of about 190 dead people whose remains were entrusted to a Colorado funeral home run by Carrie and Jon Hallford were led to believe that their loved ones’ remains had been cremated or buried.

They even received what were supposed to be ashes of their late family members, comforting keepsakes meant to help the grieving honor and remember their dead.

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