Category Archives: US crime

Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler sued for 1970s sexual battery and assault of minor

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Suit alleges ‘various acts of criminal sexual conduct’ were committed against teenager by singer over three-year period

A woman who says she had a sexual relationship with Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler when she was 16 is suing him in California, under a state law that has temporarily extended the statute of limitations for adults to take legal action on sexual abuse they suffered as children.

Julia Holcomb Misley, who has spoken out publicly for years about Tyler’s treatment of her as a teenager, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles on Tuesday alleging sexual battery, sexual assault and intentional infliction of distress during a three-year period in the 1970s.

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Man arrested and charged with murder over Idaho student murders

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Suspect, 28, reportedly apprehended in Monroe county in relation to stabbing deaths of four young people at University of Idaho

A criminology graduate student has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the killings of four University of Idaho students who were found stabbed to death in their beds more than a month ago, police said on Friday.

Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested early on Friday morning by the Pennsylvania state police at a home in Chestnuthill Township, authorities said. The Latah county prosecutor, Bill Thompson, said investigators believe Kohberger broke into the students’ home “with the intent to commit murder”.

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Louisiana store worker charged in water dousing attack during US cold snap

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Clerk allegedly drenched unhoused woman sitting in parking lot of store where Alton Sterling was killed by police in 2016

A worker at a convenience store in Louisiana’s capital has lost her job and is facing criminal charges after she dumped water on an unhoused woman who was outside the shop during the Christmas weekend’s freezing weather.

The dismissed employee – identified by authorities as 33-year-old Kasey Weber – purportedly posted video of the 26 December encounter on social media herself before police arrested her in a case containing one of the most extreme examples of alleged mistreatment against a neighbor at a time when community leaders called on Americans to band together to survive the dangerous Arctic weather that gripped much of the US recently.

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US Virgin Islands suing JPMorgan Chase over Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking

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Documents accuse bank of ‘turning a blind eye’ to illegal activities committed by their client

The US Virgin Islands is suing the bank JPMorgan Chase, accusing it of helping Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of women and girls, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in New York.

The documents submitted by the US Virgin Islands’ (USVI) attorney general accuse JPMorgan of “turning a blind eye” to illegal activities committed by Epstein – a client of the bank – on his private island, Little St James, which is part of the Caribbean US territory.

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Suspected Stockton serial killer charged with four additional deaths

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Wesley Brownlee, arrested in October while allegedly ‘out hunting’ for another victim, now faces seven charges for slayings

A man suspected in northern California serial killings has been charged in four additional slayings this week, bringing the total to seven deaths since April 2021, authorities said.

The shootings terrorized the Central Valley city of Stockton earlier this year as police searched for a man clad in black who appeared to be “on a mission” as he hunted victims for ambush-style shootings. He was also tied to violence in Alameda county.

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Suspect arrested over fatal knife attacks in New York

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Roland Codrington, 35, accused of murdering two men three days apart in apparently random encounters

A suspect was named on Monday in two seemingly isolated and random outdoor murders in New York City at the height of the holiday season.

Roland Codrington, 35, is accused of murdering two men who were slashed to death in night-time killings three days apart.

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Professor sues TikTok accuser for linking her to Idaho students’ murders

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Rebecca Scofield said a TikTok user spread baseless and false claims linking her to the November slayings of four students

A University of Idaho professor has filed a defamation lawsuit against a self-proclaimed psychic on TikTok after the tarot card reader accused her of killing four of the school’s students, whose murders shocked the US last month.

The federal lawsuit filed by the university’s history department chair Rebecca Scofield on Wednesday alleges that TikTok user Ashley Guillard spread baseless claims which falsely linked the professor to the 13 November slayings of Xana Kernodle, 20; Ethan Chapin, 20; Maddie Mogen, 21; and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, in Moscow, Idaho.

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Two dead at Jehovah’s Witnesses center in Colorado

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Police say the shooting involved a married couple – an unidentified man fatally shot a woman before killing himself

Police in Thornton, Colorado, say they found two adults dead after investigating a suspected murder-suicide at a Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall on Christmas morning.

Officers in the suburb north of Denver tweeted at 10.30am Sunday that they were investigating a homicide at the gathering place but that “there [was] no active threat”.

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Donald Trump: how will prosecutors pursue the House panel’s charges?

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The justice department may find it difficult to obtain a conviction for each charge referred by the January 6 committee

The House January 6 select committee outlined criminal referrals against Donald Trump for charges that experts believe the justice department could definitely pursue should it move forward with prosecuting the former US president over his efforts to stop the congressional certification of the 2020 election.

The panel voted at its final public session on Monday to recommend prosecution for Trump for four possible crimes: obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to make a false statement and incitement of insurrection.

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Harvey Weinstein found guilty of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles trial

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The downfall of the former movie magnate played out over a six-week trial that included testimony from Jennifer Siebel Newsom

A Los Angeles jury has found Harvey Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault, five years after dozens of women spoke out against the Hollywood producer and galvanized the #MeToo movement.

After more than nine days of deliberation, the jury convicted Weinstein of three counts of rape and sexual assault against one woman, a European model and actor who testified anonymously as “Jane Doe 1”, while remaining divided on three other charges of rape and sexual assault by two other accusers, including Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California’s governor. Weinstein was also acquitted of a sexual battery allegation made by a fourth woman.

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Brooklyn pastor who was robbed on live stream in July charged with fraud

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Lamor Miller-Whitehead, the ‘bling-bling bishop’ with hip-hop connections, is accused of swindling his own parishioners

The Brooklyn pastor who made headlines when he was robbed of an estimated $1m in jewelry during a church service being broadcast online in July was arrested on federal fraud charges on Monday after he allegedly swindled parishioners.

US prosecutors in Manhattan charged that Lamor Miller-Whitehead, 44, solicited money from victims – including $90,000 from a retired parishioner – using threats or false promises of enriching them, but then pocketed the money for himself and sometimes spent it on luxury goods.

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Highland Park shooting suspect’s father faces charges for sponsoring son’s gun license

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Robert Crimo Jr was charged with seven felony counts of reckless conduct for helping his son obtain a license in December 2019

The father of the 19-year-old accused of killing seven people at a July 4 parade near Chicago has been charged with seven felony counts of reckless conduct, as a result of sponsoring his son’s application for a gun license in 2019.

The charges against Robert Crimo Jr were announced on Friday, and the Lake county state’s attorney, Eric Rinehart, said he surrendered to police and will have a bond hearing Saturday.

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Florida pastor and son arrested in alleged $8m Covid relief fraud scheme

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Christian missionaries who ran a faith-based organization allegedly used federal funds to buy a multi-million-dollar home

A Florida pastor and his son have been arrested for allegedly fraudulently obtaining more than $8m in federal Covid relief funds.

Evan and Joshua Edwards of Orlando were arrested on Wednesday, alleged to have used such funds for luxury expenses including a multi-million-dollar house near Walt Disney World.

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Sam Bankman-Fried: FTX founder charged with defrauding investors

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SEC says investigation into other alleged misconduct by former CEO of crypto exchange is ongoing

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former chief executive of the crypto exchange FTX, has been charged with fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the US and violate the campaign finance laws.

The eight criminal charges filed by the US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York on Tuesday follow civil charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission charging the 30-year-old former billionaire with defrauding investors in the company.

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Georgia man accused of killing wife’s divorce lawyer and setting office on fire

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Investigators booked Allen Tayeh on counts of malice murder and arson after body of attorney Doug Lewis was found inside building

A Georgia divorce attorney was recently shot to death – and his office was set on fire – by a client’s estranged husband in an extreme example of how contentious US family court cases can get, according to authorities.

Police in the community of Lawrenceville allege that Allen Tayeh went to the office of a lawyer representing a woman in the process of divorcing him and shot the attorney, Doug Lewis, there on 7 December.

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Sexual assault scandal sparks calls for review of US police department

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Activists urge a federal investigation of the Kansas City police department after a detective allegedly preyed on Black women

It is a scandal that has shocked many beyond the borders of Kansas City, where a senior white policeman allegedly carried out a reign of terror in which he brutally abused and sexually assaulted vulnerable Black women.

An appalling set of allegations against former Kansas City, Kansas police department detective Roger Golubski has lifted the lid on a scheme where he is alleged to have protected local drug dealers in the midwestern city, who then allowed him to rape women forced to work as prostitutes.

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Man who shot Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stole bulldogs sentenced to 21 years

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In a deal, James Howard Jackson pleaded guilty to one count of attempted murder after he was accidentally released from custody

The man who shot Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stole her French bulldogs in Los Angeles last year has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for the high profile robbery that saw the star offer a $500,000 reward for the return of her pets.

James Howard Jackson, one of three men and two accomplices who participated in the violent robbery of dog walker Ryan Fischer, pleaded no contest to one count of attempted murder, the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office said on Monday.

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US ‘Torso Killer’, convicted of 11 homicides, admits to five more killings

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Richard Cottingham sentenced to 25 years to life for killing Diane Cusick in February 1968

A serial killer known as the “Torso Killer” already convicted of 11 homicides admitted on Monday that he also killed five women on Long Island in the late 60s and early 70s.

Richard Cottingham was sentenced on Monday to 25 years to life for the killing of 23-year-old Diane Cusick, who was killed in February 1968 after buying shoes at the Green Acres Mall in Nassau county.

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Ex-warden who allegedly ran California prison ‘rape club’ goes on trial

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Ray J Garcia is charged with abusing at least three female prisoners from 2019 to 2021 in prison areas out of view of cameras

First, the prison’s male warden would flatter the incarcerated women under his charge who attracted him, shower them with compliments and promise them early releases or transfers to lower-security facilities, according to authorities.

Eventually, he would allegedly take them to places in his lockup that he knew weren’t watched by surveillance cameras, force sex on them and take nude photos of them.

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Idaho student killings: father of victim feels ‘defeated’ over lack of arrests

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‘I have to hope this is all part of their plan,’ says Steve Goncalves, whose daughter, Kaylee, was one of four victims stabbed to death

The lack of any arrests in the killings of four University of Idaho students and relatively infrequent updates from police have left the father of one of the victims feeling “a little defeated”.

In an interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Steve Goncalves also said his family had held off burying his daughter, Kaylee Goncalves, who was stabbed to death with three schoolmates in an off-campus home in a crime that horrified the nation, because they fear the unidentified killer or killers might show up as false mourners.

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