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Tag: court document

  • ‘They’re next’: ABC10 shooting suspect faces new federal charges; ominous note found in car

    Federal prosecutors have added new charges against the man accused of shooting into the lobby of ABC10 Sacramento and said a note was found in his car that used the phrase “they’re next” in referring to Trump administration officials.Anibal Hernandez Santana, a 64-year-old California lawyer and retired lobbyist, has now been charged with possession of a firearm within a school zone and discharge of a firearm within a school zone, in addition to interference with a radio communication station, according to an amended criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. (Video above: Suspect’s lawyer speaks out.)The complaint sheds new light on why investigators believe Hernandez Santana is responsible for Friday’s shooting at ABC10 and reveals that a note referencing members of the Trump administration was found in his car after his initial release on bail on Saturday. | RELATED | Read the amended criminal complaint hereAccording to the court documents, Sacramento police who executed the search warrant found a handwritten note that read, “For hiding Epstein & ignoring red flags. Do not support Patel, Bongino, & AG Pam Bondie. They’re next. – C.K. from above.”The court documents outline a timeline of the shooting and investigation that followed. Before opening fire on the ABC10 station Friday at 1:34 p.m., he allegedly fired a single round in the air two minutes earlier while standing on the sidewalk in front of 2555 3rd Street. The court documents describe the area as located adjacent to the rear parking lot and about 300 feet to the southwest corner of ABC10. That location was within a school zone, according to prosecutors. He then drove to the front of ABC10 at 400 Broadway and fired three shots into the building’s lobby, prosecutors said. The criminal complaint says that video surveillance showed the suspect wearing a “gray t-shirt, dark colored pants, gray and white shoes, and a dark colored satchel worn around his torso.”The complaint alleges that the shooting interfered with ABC10’s radio communications because employees sheltered in place and the shooting led to the cancellation of a planned news conference. A witness at the shooting scene showed officers a spent 9mm casing and another witness provided a description of the suspect’s vehicle. Crime scene investigators found a spent projectile from a doorway in the building’s lobby. After DMV records linked the suspect’s Nissan vehicle to a residence on Carlson Drive in River Park, Hernandez-Santana was taken into custody as he exited his apartment. (See neighbors speak out about that initial arrest in the video below.)Detectives who executed a search warrant in his apartment “located a dark colored satchel that appeared consistent with the satchel that was worn by the suspect as previously observed on video surveillance,” the court documents said. Inside the satchel, they found a Sub Compact 9mm handgun with the same caliber as the bullet and casing found at the shooting scene. The handgun was inside a holster with an empty magazine, according to the court documents. Hernandez Santana’s hands also tested presumptive positive for gunshot residue, according to the complaint. The court documents say detectives also found a whiteboard planner on Santana Hernandez’s refrigerator with a handwritten note under “Friday” that said, “Do the Next Scary Thing.” He was booked based on that information, according to the complaint. The court documents go on to say that after Hernandez-Santana was released on bail Saturday at 1:50 p.m., law enforcement executed a search warrant on his vehicle. That’s where they found the note that referenced FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi. Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho said he believes “C.K. from above” in the note was a reference to the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Hernandez Santana was arrested later that evening.The first two federal charges related to firearms in a school zone face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The interference with a radio communications station charge carries a maximum of one year imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000. In addition to the federal charges, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said it will be filing charges related to discharging a firearm into an inhabited building and assault with a semi-automatic firearm, along with personal use of a firearm allegation.If convicted of those charges, he would face a maximum sentence of 17 years in state prison.Ho, the Sacramento County district attorney, said his office will be requesting no bail. He is due to appear on those charges Monday at 3 p.m., an hour after his federal court appearance. Defense attorney Mark Reichel confirmed to KCRA 3 that he is representing Hernandez Santana in both cases and said Sunday that his client was arrested by the FBI after he took a break from conferring with the attorney and going outside his apartment. KCRA 3 spoke to Reichel on Sunday, before the FBI released new details in the case and outlined the investigation. At the time, Reichel questioned the motives behind the federal arrest and what he described as a minor charge related to radio communications interference. He said he believed investigators were scrutinizing his client’s social media activity, which was critical of the Trump administration.”If you look at his social media, they’re going to say, ‘Boy, it sure shows that he’s liberal and left wing.’ So you think they’re going to overlook something like that? I don’t think so,” he said.KCRA 3 has reviewed what appears to be Hernandez Santana’s public social media account on X, which includes many posts critical of President Donald Trump and members of his administration, and some that referenced Kirk’s killing.In the past week, the account posted or replied to posts 18 times on political themes.According to Reichel, Hernandez Santana is an Army veteran who went on to become a lawyer and successful lobbyist and legislative advocate in Sacramento before retiring a year ago. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    Federal prosecutors have added new charges against the man accused of shooting into the lobby of ABC10 Sacramento and said a note was found in his car that used the phrase “they’re next” in referring to Trump administration officials.

    Anibal Hernandez Santana, a 64-year-old California lawyer and retired lobbyist, has now been charged with possession of a firearm within a school zone and discharge of a firearm within a school zone, in addition to interference with a radio communication station, according to an amended criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

    (Video above: Suspect’s lawyer speaks out.)

    The complaint sheds new light on why investigators believe Hernandez Santana is responsible for Friday’s shooting at ABC10 and reveals that a note referencing members of the Trump administration was found in his car after his initial release on bail on Saturday.

    | RELATED | Read the amended criminal complaint here

    According to the court documents, Sacramento police who executed the search warrant found a handwritten note that read, “For hiding Epstein & ignoring red flags. Do not support Patel, Bongino, & AG Pam Bondie. They’re next. – C.K. from above.”

    The court documents outline a timeline of the shooting and investigation that followed. Before opening fire on the ABC10 station Friday at 1:34 p.m., he allegedly fired a single round in the air two minutes earlier while standing on the sidewalk in front of 2555 3rd Street. The court documents describe the area as located adjacent to the rear parking lot and about 300 feet to the southwest corner of ABC10. That location was within a school zone, according to prosecutors.

    He then drove to the front of ABC10 at 400 Broadway and fired three shots into the building’s lobby, prosecutors said.

    The criminal complaint says that video surveillance showed the suspect wearing a “gray t-shirt, dark colored pants, gray and white shoes, and a dark colored satchel worn around his torso.”

    The complaint alleges that the shooting interfered with ABC10’s radio communications because employees sheltered in place and the shooting led to the cancellation of a planned news conference.

    A witness at the shooting scene showed officers a spent 9mm casing and another witness provided a description of the suspect’s vehicle. Crime scene investigators found a spent projectile from a doorway in the building’s lobby.

    After DMV records linked the suspect’s Nissan vehicle to a residence on Carlson Drive in River Park, Hernandez-Santana was taken into custody as he exited his apartment.

    (See neighbors speak out about that initial arrest in the video below.)

    Detectives who executed a search warrant in his apartment “located a dark colored satchel that appeared consistent with the satchel that was worn by the suspect as previously observed on video surveillance,” the court documents said.

    Inside the satchel, they found a Sub Compact 9mm handgun with the same caliber as the bullet and casing found at the shooting scene.

    The handgun was inside a holster with an empty magazine, according to the court documents.

    Hernandez Santana’s hands also tested presumptive positive for gunshot residue, according to the complaint.

    The court documents say detectives also found a whiteboard planner on Santana Hernandez’s refrigerator with a handwritten note under “Friday” that said, “Do the Next Scary Thing.”

    He was booked based on that information, according to the complaint.

    The court documents go on to say that after Hernandez-Santana was released on bail Saturday at 1:50 p.m., law enforcement executed a search warrant on his vehicle.

    That’s where they found the note that referenced FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

    Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho said he believes “C.K. from above” in the note was a reference to the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

    Hernandez Santana was arrested later that evening.

    The first two federal charges related to firearms in a school zone face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The interference with a radio communications station charge carries a maximum of one year imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000.

    In addition to the federal charges, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said it will be filing charges related to discharging a firearm into an inhabited building and assault with a semi-automatic firearm, along with personal use of a firearm allegation.

    If convicted of those charges, he would face a maximum sentence of 17 years in state prison.

    Ho, the Sacramento County district attorney, said his office will be requesting no bail.

    He is due to appear on those charges Monday at 3 p.m., an hour after his federal court appearance.

    Defense attorney Mark Reichel confirmed to KCRA 3 that he is representing Hernandez Santana in both cases and said Sunday that his client was arrested by the FBI after he took a break from conferring with the attorney and going outside his apartment.

    KCRA 3 spoke to Reichel on Sunday, before the FBI released new details in the case and outlined the investigation. At the time, Reichel questioned the motives behind the federal arrest and what he described as a minor charge related to radio communications interference.

    He said he believed investigators were scrutinizing his client’s social media activity, which was critical of the Trump administration.

    “If you look at his social media, they’re going to say, ‘Boy, it sure shows that he’s liberal and left wing.’ So you think they’re going to overlook something like that? I don’t think so,” he said.

    KCRA 3 has reviewed what appears to be Hernandez Santana’s public social media account on X, which includes many posts critical of President Donald Trump and members of his administration, and some that referenced Kirk’s killing.

    In the past week, the account posted or replied to posts 18 times on political themes.

    According to Reichel, Hernandez Santana is an Army veteran who went on to become a lawyer and successful lobbyist and legislative advocate in Sacramento before retiring a year ago.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Judge halts expulsion of 5th grader over rap lyrics, squirt gun emoji until trial

    Judge halts expulsion of 5th grader over rap lyrics, squirt gun emoji until trial

    A judge has ruled that an elite Mulholland Drive private school must reverse the expulsion of a 5th grade student over emails sent to a peer containing rap lyrics and the squirt gun emoji until the case can be heard at trial.

    On Oct. 17, the parents of the expelled student filed a lawsuit against the Curtis School and Head of School Meera Ratnesar, alleging that the expulsion was “arbitrary and capricious” and that the school provided no evidence of a policy being violated or of the classmate feeling threatened.

    This week Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen I. Goorvitch approved an order filed by the parent’s attorneys to temporarily halt the boy’s expulsion, according to court papers filed Thursday. The attorneys argued that expulsion is a harmful disruption to the student’s education and socialization, according to court documents.

    The judge’s order took effect immediately and the student was free to return to school on Friday, according to court documents. However, the decision can be reconsidered if evidence emerges that the student poses a danger to students or faculty, and the school remains at liberty to impose alternative disciplinary measures, according to court documents.

    The Curtis School is a prestigious elementary school with an annual tuition of $38,000 where many celebrities, such as Victoria and David Beckham, have sent their children.

    School representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the order. In a statement shared last week, the school said it was disappointed by the litigation and committed to ensuring a safe and secure campus for all, but it declined to comment on individual students.

    The student was expelled by Ratnesar on Oct. 1 over two email exchanges with a classmate.

    On Sept. 5, the boy and a classmate sent emails back and forth containing lyrics from the YNW Melly song “Murder on My Mind,” which references guns and violence, according to court documents. Then on Sept. 25, the students engaged in another email exchange during their math class in which the boy sent messages on his school-issued laptop saying, “Shut up” and “I hate you” and included several green squirt gun emojis, and then said, “You dead yet,” to which the classmate responded, “No y.”

    The parents allege that the boys are friends and hung out together immediately following the email exchanges, according to court documents. They also say that their son is a straight-A student who has faced no prior disciplinary action during his three years at the school, according to court documents.

    No disciplinary action was taken against the classmate, who, according to email records, instigated the Sept. 5 exchange of rap lyrics.

    “We are deeply disappointed by your decision to base expulsion on emails between two classmates who both showed a willingness to talk about guns based on a song’s lyrics,” the parents wrote in an Oct. 2 email to Ratnesar, urging her to reconsider the expulsion.

    Ratnesar acknowledged in an Oct. 1 email that the classmate started the email exchange but said their son’s “contribution of lyric lines in addition to continuing to communicate threatening emojis and language 20 days after the lyric exchange, is a serious infraction that we cannot ignore.”

    The parents’ attorneys allege that Ratnesar has a reputation for “unequal and arbitrary treatment of students” and point to, as evidence, several reviews left by former families at the school that discuss alleged favoritism and discriminatory treatment by the head of school.

    Clara Harter

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  • Doctor who helped supply Matthew Perry with ketamine pleads guilty

    Doctor who helped supply Matthew Perry with ketamine pleads guilty

    One of two doctors charged with supplying ketamine to Matthew Perry pleaded guilty Wednesday to illegally distributing the surgical anesthetic.

    Dr. Mark Chavez is among three defendants who signed a plea deal and are facing lesser charges in Perry’s death, which federal prosecutors chalked up to a conspiracy by multiple individuals to provide the actor with the drug.

    The two other defendants who have entered into plea agreements are Perry’s live-in personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, and alleged drug dealer Erik Fleming.

    Two other defendants are not cooperating with prosecutors and face far more serious conspiracy charges.

    Jasveen Sangha, aka the “Ketamine Queen,” presented herself as “a celebrity drug dealer with high quality goods,” according to court documents. She’s accused of supplying Perry’s assistant with ketamine. Dr. Salvador Plasencia, referred to as “Dr. P,” allegedly injected the actor with the drug at his Pacific Palisades home. Both have pleaded not guilty and are set to be tried in March.

    During a brief appearance in federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Chavez was asked how he pleaded and replied, “Guilty, your honor.” He is due back for sentencing in April and could face up to 10 years in federal prison. As part of his plea, Chavez agreed to surrender his medical license. He is free on $50,000 bond.

    Perry, 54, was found dead in the hot tub of his Pacific Palisades home on Oct. 28. He died from “acute effects of ketamine,” according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office. His death triggered a multiple-agency federal investigation.

    Prosecutors last month revealed charges against what U.S. Atty Martin Estrada dubbed a “broad underground criminal network” that supplied the actor.

    In late September, about a month before Perry’s death, prosecutors allege, Plasencia learned the actor was interested in obtaining ketamine, a legal medication commonly used as an anesthetic, according to charging documents in the case.

    Perry had taken the drug through his regular physician in an off-label treatment for depression. But abusers of the drug use it recreationally, drawn to its dissociative effects.

    After learning of Perry’s interest, Plasencia contacted Chavez, who previously operated a ketamine clinic, to obtain the drug to sell to the actor, authorities said. In text messages to Chavez, Plasencia discussed how much to charge Perry for the ketamine, stating, “I wonder how much this moron will pay” and “Let’s find out,” according to court records. The doctors charged Perry $2,000 for a dose that cost Chavez $12, prosecutors allege.

    Chavez, as part of the plea agreement, admitted to diverting ketamine from his San Diego clinic to sell to Plasencia. Chavez admitted he lied to a drug distributor and submitted a prescription under the name of a former patient without their consent.

    Chavez transferred 22 vials of ketamine and nine ketamine lozenges, which were fraudulently obtained, to Plasencia for sale to Perry. Chavez “was fully aware that selling vials of ketamine to a patient for self-administration was illegal,” according to the plea agreement.

    Plasencia, although forbidden by the Drug Enforcement Administration from prescribing controlled substances, continues to practice medicine but must inform patients about the ongoing criminal case.

    Plasencia is facing one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, seven counts of distribution of ketamine and two counts of altering and falsifying documents or records related to the federal investigation. If convicted, he faces 10 years for each ketamine-related charge and 20 years for each falsification charge.

    Richard Winton

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  • O.C. man took money meant for COVID gloves to buy boats and cars. Now, he’s been sentenced for fraud

    O.C. man took money meant for COVID gloves to buy boats and cars. Now, he’s been sentenced for fraud

    An Orange County man was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison Friday after admitting he duped three companies out of $3 million for protective gloves that were promised but never delivered during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In addition to the 87-month sentence, Christopher John Badsey, 63, of Lake Forest was ordered to pay $1.94 million in restitution after pleading guilty to four counts of wire fraud.

    In June and July 2020 — when personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves and hand sanitizer were in short supply — Badsey claimed his Irvine-based company, First Defense International Security Services Corp., could provide millions of boxes of nitrile gloves, according to court documents.

    Badsey entered into contracts to sell gloves to three other companies, court documents say, and required each to deposit around $1 million before they could inspect the promised goods.

    The companies wired a total of $3.2 million to accounts Badsey, his company or an unnamed co-schemer controlled, according to court documents.

    However, prosecutors say Badsey didn’t have the gloves, and concocted elaborate excuses whenever his clients inquired about delivery. His false stories included “absurd claims that government agents were blocking access to his warehouse,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

    Meanwhile, he used the deposit money to bankroll expensive purchases, authorities say, including a yacht, a pontoon boat, two Mercedes-Benz automobiles, two Ford pickup trucks, a recreation vehicle, a tractor, three ATVs and fishing equipment.

    He has forfeited all titles from items purchased with the pilfered funds, along with $58,923 in cash.

    Court documents show that Badsey — who previously pleaded guilty to three gun misdemeanors, including gross negligent discharge of a firearm, in November 2016 — had initially argued for a much leaner sentence: one year and one day, a three-year term of supervised release and a special assessment of $400.

    Andrew J. Campa

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  • ‘I had fun’: Alleged scammer takes credit for Graceland foreclosure upheaval

    ‘I had fun’: Alleged scammer takes credit for Graceland foreclosure upheaval

    A self-proclaimed identity thief based in Nigeria claimed responsibility over the puzzling, and now court-blocked, auction of Elvis Presley’s historic Graceland mansion.

    The thief sent an email to the New York Times claiming to be part of a criminal network that targets the dead and elderly, particularly those from Florida and California, the outlet reported Tuesday.

    The statement, which was sent in reply to questions about the case, came from an email address listed in court documents related to Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC. Riley Keough, Presley’s granddaughter and owner of Graceland, sued the company earlier this month to stop a foreclosure sale of the Memphis property.

    “We figure out how to steal,” the thief wrote to the New York Times on Friday. “That’s what we do.”

    Naussany Investments presented a deed of trust to the estate in September via the Los Angeles County Superior Court, claiming that the late Lisa Marie Presley, Keough’s mother, borrowed $3.8 million from the company and offered Graceland as collateral. Keough fiercely disputed the claims, calling the documents “fraudulent” and “forgeries” in her lawsuit.

    The alleged thief accepted defeat.

    “I had fun figuring this one out and it didn’t succeed very well,” the statement continued.

    Referencing Keough’s legal victories in the case, the message, as reportedly written, continued: “Yo client dont have nothing to worries, win fir her. She beat me at my own game.”

    The New York Times reported that the thief wrote their message in Luganda, a Bantu language of Uganda. The email, the outlet said, was faxed from a North American toll-free number that also appeared in court documents.

    A Tennessee judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the sale at a hearing last Wednesday, in which no representatives from Naussany Investments appeared. Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins said he would proceed with Keough’s fraud lawsuit, which asked the court to declare the deed of trust illegitimate.

    Tennessee’s Shelby County Register of Deeds said last Tuesday that it did not have any filings relating to a Graceland deed, according to broadcast outlet WREG Memphis. The deed also included the signature of Florida notary Kimberly L. Philbrick, who submitted an affidavit stating she had never met Lisa Marie Presley or notarized a document signed by the singer.

    Hours after the Wednesday ruling, a person purporting to be a Naussany Investments representative submitted a statement that said the company intended to drop its claims on Graceland, according to the Associated Press. However, the legal filings have yet to appear.

    Elvis Presley Enterprises, which manages the Presley estate, told The Times in a statement at the time that it agreed with the court’s ruling to block the sale.

    “As the court has now made clear, there was no validity to the claims,” the statement read. “There will be no foreclosure. Graceland will continue to operate as it has for the past 42 years, ensuring that Elvis fans from around the world can continue to have a best in class experience when visiting his iconic home.”

    Angie Orellana Hernandez

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  • Riverside woman who bombarded Jewish family with ‘hate-filled’ phone calls sentenced to prison

    Riverside woman who bombarded Jewish family with ‘hate-filled’ phone calls sentenced to prison

    A Riverside woman who bombarded the former executive director of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue with phone calls and threatening voicemails — the first coming just months after the deadliest antisemitic attack on U.S. soil — has been sentenced to almost three years in prison, according to court documents.

    Melanie Harris, 59, hurled antisemitic slurs, vowed violence, including beheadings, and used “vile and inflammatory language,” according to a Miami-based FBI agent.

    Harris, who pleaded guilty in March, was sentenced by a Miami judge to 32 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for intentionally transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce. The Federal Bureau of Prisons will determine where Harris will serve her sentence.

    A call and email to the attorney representing Harris were not returned.

    Markenzy Lapointe, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said Harris’ ”antisemitic threats terrorized a Jewish family.”

    “Her hate-filled telephone calls and voicemails were abhorrent,” Lapointe said in a statement. “No one should live in fear of threats, harassment and hate-fueled violence.”

    The calls began in February 2019, according to court documents — just months after Robert Bowers shot and killed 11 worshipers at the Pittsburgh synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. Bowers, who has since been convicted and sentenced to death, espoused white supremacist views and ranted about his hatred of Jews online prior to the shooting.

    Harris cloaked her identity using the *67 feature, which blocks caller identification, and left voicemails laden “with antisemitic and harassing language,” according to court documents.

    She initially placed three calls in a span of three minutes, first to Tree of Life and then twice calling a person identified in court documents as Victim No. 1, the former executive director of Tree of Life who was then living in the Pittsburgh area.

    Between February 2019 and March 2022, Harris called Victim No. 1 an additional 53 times, according to court records. An analysis presented in court demonstrated that Harris attempted 190 calls between October 2022 and February 2023, including 129 in November. Many of those calls, however, were unanswered or immediately hung up on, according to court documents.

    All calls to Victim No. 1 were made from Harris’ Riverside home, authorities said.

    Harris left 15 voicemails for Victim No. 1 on Oct. 3, 2022, including four threatening and antisemitic messages. In one, court documents say, Harris twice threatened to decapitate Victim No. 1’s stepchild, whom she referred to using an antisemitic slur, according to court documents.

    That same day, Harris made three additional calls to Victim No. 1, all advocating similar violence against him and his family, according to court documents.

    On Nov. 22, Harris threatened in another voicemail to stab Victim No. 1, according to court documents. There was an additional call and threat on Dec. 6.

    In voicemails left at Tree of Life, she gloated about the shooting of Jewish grandmas, using a slur, according to court documents. Harris also lobbed antisemitic slurs at the adult child and stepchild of Victim No. 1 and his wife, court documents say.

    Neither the victims nor Harris knew each other, court documents and prosecutors said. Harris was not believed to have any ties to Tree of Life.

    Victim No. 1 and his wife eventually left Pennsylvania and moved to Broward County, Fla. Victim No. 1, however, did not change his cell number, wishing to keep ties with the Pittsburgh community, according to court documents.

    Authorities say Harris also made references to Anne Frank’s death at the hands of the Nazis, and Jews being sent back to Auschwitz. In one call played in court, Harris repeatedly screamed, “Sieg Heil, [Jew] killers,” using a slur, before hanging up, according to court documents.

    She was arrested on March 4, 2023.

    “The nature of her threats of violence towards the victims and their faith were clearly meant to evoke a climate of fear and intimidation,” Jeffrey B. Veltri, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami field office, said in a statement. “Such conduct cannot be tolerated.”

    Andrew J. Campa

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  • Uncle who bludgeoned two nephews to death found guilty of murder

    Uncle who bludgeoned two nephews to death found guilty of murder

    A San Gabriel Valley man was found guilty of murder by an Alhambra court Wednesday of bludgeoning his two nephews to death during an overnight rampage that began when he attacked and hospitalized his wife in 2016.

    Deyun Shi, 52, was convicted on two counts of murder with a special circumstance for using a deadly weapon in the deaths of 15-year-old Anthony Lin and 16-year-old William Lin. He also was found guilty of one felony count of injuring his then-spouse, Yujin “Amy” Lin.

    But in a bizarre twist, relatives allege that Shi’s wife may have been instigating her husband to act out violently for her own financial benefit.

    Meanwhile, Shi and his legal team were back in court Thursday trying to establish an insanity defense.

    A call to Shi’s defense team was not immediately returned.

    The facts and timeline of the events that took place on Jan. 21, 2016, and into the early hours of the following morning were not in dispute.

    Shi had learned that Lin was filing for divorce that afternoon, according to court documents.

    The wealthy importer and businessman left a Pasadena courthouse where terms of a restraining order made by his mother-in-law against him were being discussed. A short time later, he initiated wire transfers totaling slightly less than $450,000 to people in his Chinese hometown.

    Later that night, Shi assaulted his wife at the family home in La Cañada Flintridge.

    Shi hit her with a metal wood-splitting tool while she sat next to their 8-year-old son, fracturing her nose and slashing her face.

    Shi’s teenage son eventually wrested the weapon out of his father’s hand shortly before midnight.

    As Shi left the home, Lin called her brother, David W. Lin, and sister-in-law Vicki Huang, according to court documents. David Lin and Huang met Lin at the hospital and left their two sons home alone.

    Shi then drove to the Arcadia home of his brother- and sister-in-law. There, he savagely beat a sleeping Anthony Lin to death with a 2-foot-long pair of bolt cutters, prosecutors alleged. William Lin, 16, was awake and tried to fend off Shi before he was beaten to death with a lead pipe, allege prosecutors.

    “Detectives found the bloody bolt cutters wrapped in a towel in [Shi’s] car, with DNA from both Anthony and William on it,” Deputy Dist. Atty. MacKenzie Teymouri said in court last month. “He got a parking ticket while he was inside killing the children.”

    Shi’s lawyers have contended that their client was suffering from a schizoaffective disorder and post traumatic stress brought on by the divorce paperwork.

    “This is not about whether our client committed those acts — he did,” defense attorney Vicki Podberesky told jurors Feb. 29. “This case is about mental health.”

    After the slayings, Shi put together a travel bag that included six foreign currencies and IDs from three countries. He caught a Cathay Pacific Airways flight to Hong Kong and paid for a seat upgrade with cash.

    He was arrested by Hong Kong police and extradited back to California only after prosecutors assured Chinese officials that they would not seek the death penalty.

    “Mr. Shi was acting under an active mental illness,” Podberesky said in court. “He did not have the requisite state of mind to have committed the murders as charged in this case.”

    The prosecution spent a good portion of the case documenting Shi’s violent and angry outbursts against his wife that escalated in 2015, according to court testimony from his now former wife.

    In December 2015, Shi nearly strangled Lin to death in early December, according to testimony. That month, he also attempted to suffocate her with a pillow before she fought back.

    On Dec. 30, Shi and David Lin fought when Shi drove to the house of Lin’s mother and forcibly tried to grab his wife and take her home.

    David Lin called 911, but later declined to press charges.

    David Lin, however, encouraged his sister and mother to file a restraining order against Shi, according to court documents.

    Phone records presented in court showed that Shi made several internet searches regarding California divorce law, Chinese extradition policies and the circumstance in which killers received light jail sentences.

    The prosecution believes Shi murdered David Lin’s and Huang’s sons out of revenge.

    In a twist, the couple filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Shi and Yujin Lin.

    David Lin and Huang said in court documents that they believed Yujin Lin didn’t want to split her family’s assets with Shi upon divorce.

    They allege in the lawsuit that Yujin Lin concocted a plan to so enrage her husband that he would act violently and eventually be incarcerated. With her husband in prison, the lawsuit claims, Yujin Lin could control the marital properties in the United States and China.

    The end result of the plan, the lawsuit alleges, was the death of the two sons.

    The wrongful death trial was placed on hold for the criminal case to be completed and is expected to resume April 22.

    Andrew J. Campa

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  • LAX’s Russian mystery man convicted for hopping flight without passport, ticket

    LAX’s Russian mystery man convicted for hopping flight without passport, ticket

    A Russian man who slipped past Danish airport security to board a flight to Los Angeles International Airport without a passport, visa or ticket was found guilty of being a stowaway, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.

    After a three-day trial, 46-year-old Sergey Vladimirovich Ochigava was found guilty of one count of being a stowaway on an aircraft.

    He faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 5.

    Authorities say Ochigava slipped aboard a flight to Los Angeles on Nov. 4 after passing through a Copenhagen Airport boarding gate undetected.

    He had been able to get into the airport terminal without a boarding pass a day earlier after tailgating an unsuspecting passenger through a security turnstile, prosecutors said.

    During the more than 12-hour flight aboard Scandinavian Airlines Flight 931, Ochigava constantly shifted seats, spoke to several passengers, asked for two in-flight meals and tried to snack on a cabin crew member’s chocolate bar, according to court documents filed by federal prosecutors.

    Upon arrival at LAX, Customs and Border Protection officers stopped Ochigava at an immigration checkpoint, and were unable to find him on the manifest of that flight or any other incoming international flights, court documents said.

    Ochigava was unable to produce a passport, visa or other travel documents that would allow him entrance into the country, according to the Department of Justice. When questioned, authorities say, he provided false and misleading information about his journey to the United States, including claiming he had left his passport on the plane.

    Russian and Israeli identification cards were found in his possession when police searched his bag, according to court documents.

    Additional details as to the motivation behind Ochigava’s journey were not immediately available.

    Anthony De Leon

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  • Street vendor activists kept in jail on charges tied to protests

    Street vendor activists kept in jail on charges tied to protests

    A Superior Court judge on Thursday denied bail again for a group of activists dubbed the “Justice 8” who have been in jail for two weeks facing charges stemming from protests in San Bernardino County and elsewhere.

    Prosecutors allege Edin Alex Enamorado and other street vendor advocates have carried out intimidation tactics, showing up at workplaces and homes of people targeted in his social media campaigns, which are intended to publicly shame customers who attack vendors or those who make racist comments.

    Enamorado, 36, and seven other activists were arrested Dec. 14 amid what authorities described as a months-long assault investigation after a Sept. 3 protest in L.A. County and another in Victorville on Sept. 24. The investigation grew to involve police from other cities in the Inland Empire, including Upland, Fontana and Pomona, who contended that the suspects were involved in other “violent acts during protests” in those cities.

    On his Instagram accounts, which have hundreds of thousands of followers, Enamorado has shared videos of street vendors being harassed, elected officials making racist comments and police making violent arrests.

    But San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said after their arrest that the group members had manipulated videos to make themselves look like crusaders. And in doing so, Dicus said, they harassed the subjects of their videos to gain attention, views and financial profit.

    “This group is not about substance for the human condition,” Dicus said during a news conference earlier this month, “but rather clickbait for cash.”

    Charges against the group include false imprisonment, kidnapping, assault, vandalism and unlawful use of tear gas , according to court documents.

    In addition to Enamorado, those arrested were his partner, Wendy Lujan, 40, of Upland; David Chavez, 28, of Riverside; Stephanie Amesquita, 33, of San Bernardino; Gullit Eder Acevedo, 30, of San Bernardino; Edwin Pena, 26, of Los Angeles; Fernando Lopez, 44, of Los Angeles; and Vanessa Carrasco, 40, of Ontario. All have been charged with carrying out violent attacks against three victims, according to court documents.

    Luhan was not in court Thursday; she is scheduled to appear next week.

    Prosecutors have repeatedly sought to keep the individuals behind bars, saying they pose a danger to the public. Last week, a judge ordered the group held without bail. At a hearing Thursday, the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office made the same argument.

    Judge Melissa Rodriguez granted bail to only one defendant: Acevedo. The schoolteacher was ordered to have no contact with anyone else involved the case, including any alleged victims. Acevedo will be required to wear an ankle monitor and stay off social media.

    “No contact means no contact,” Rodriguez said.

    The rest of the defendants were held without bail after being found to be a danger to the community as well to as the victims in the case. Prosecutors referenced one image of a piñata with a victim’s face superimposed on the object. Another victim fears that protesters will show up at their home and has gone into hiding, according to prosecutors. A new hearing was scheduled for Jan. 3.

    Enamorado’s attorney, Nicholas Rosenberg, said outside the courthouse Thursday he did not agree with the judge’s assessment of his client, calling Enamorado an important member of the community.

    “Look, the fight is not over,” Rosenberg said.

    Carasco’s attorney, Damon Alimouri, called the court’s no-bail decision “outrageous” and unconstitutional.

    Enamorado started out as a political organizer but is known for his activism around street vendors. In June, he posted a TikTok video that since has been removed showing the mess created after a pair of food carts were overturned outside a concert at SoFi Stadium.

    Enamorado told The Times he did not witness the incident but the vendors told him a stadium worker instructed them to step back off the street and then lost his temper when they ignored his directives. The worker, who SoFi Stadium officials said was employed by a third-party vendor, was later fired.

    In September, Enamorado organized a large protest on the steps of the Santa Barbara Police Department after a viral video showing a racist exchange between a white woman and a Latino man roiled the city.

    He and the others in the group face 17 charges in San Bernardino County — the majority of which are felonies — from two September incidents. On Sept. 3, prosecutors say several members chased a security guard into a supermarket and pepper-sprayed him while he was on the ground. They then beat the guard, authorities said. On Sept. 24, Enamorado and the others organized a protest after a viral video showed a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy slamming a girl to the ground during a brawl at a high school football game.

    Attorneys representing Enamorado and the other defendants say they were protesting police violence and the harassment of a street vendor at the time.

    Times staff writer Jeremy Childs contributed to this report.

    Nathan Solis

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  • Ex-MLB player charged in father-in-law’s killing also committed child abuse, prosecutors say

    Ex-MLB player charged in father-in-law’s killing also committed child abuse, prosecutors say

    A retired Major League Baseball player accused of killing his father-in-law and attempting to kill his mother-in-law also was charged with child abuse of two infants, according to court documents.

    Danny Serafini, 49, was arraigned this week on a murder charge in the killing of Robert Spohr, his wife’s father, and attempted murder in the shooting of Wendy Wood, his wife’s mother. In a criminal complaint, prosecutors also alleged that Serafini committed “cruelty to child by abuse, neglect, or endangering health,” citing his treatment of a 3-year-old and an 8-month-old.

    The complaint did not say whether the children were Serafini’s and did not spell out the specific actions related to the alleged abuse.

    Serafini was arrested last week — along with a woman, Samantha Scott, 33 — in connection with the June 5, 2021, shootings of Spohr and Wood. Deputies at the time responded to a 911 call from a residence in Homewood, a neighborhood in North Lake Tahoe. They found Spohr dead from a single gunshot wound. Wood had also been shot but was still alive.

    Wood died by suicide a year after the attack.

    Serafini and Scott were both arrested in Nevada, and Serafini was quickly extradited to California.

    The criminal complaint said that Serafini or an accomplice used a .22-caliber gun to carry out the shootings, which were committed during the course of a burglary.

    Serafini pleaded not guilty to all charges and was ordered held without bail. He’s due back in court on Nov. 27.

    Noah Goldberg

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  • Father suspected of killing two of his four children had violent history, court records show

    Father suspected of killing two of his four children had violent history, court records show

    The father arrested on suspicion of killing two of his four young children has a criminal history along with a string of domestic violence cases and had lost custody of his children last year, court documents reveal.

    Prospero Serna was detained by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Sunday for allegedly killing two of his four biological children, who were discovered by authorities after their mother made a frantic 911 call directing deputies to an apartment in Lancaster, according to the department.

    All four children were found in a bedroom with lacerations, and two died after being taken to a hospital. The other two were in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries. Their names and ages were not immediately released.

    On Monday, the Sheriff’s Department announced it had enough evidence to charge Serna with killing the two children. His booking was delayed by the fact that Serna was not cooperating with deputies, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

    Court documents show he had a troubled history with the law since at least 2006, when a restraining order was filed against him in San Bernardino County, according to court records.

    That same year he was charged with contempt of court and disobeying a court order, though it is not clear if that was related to the previous harassment case. He was eventually convicted in 2009 of a lower charge of failure to appear after he posted a written promise to appear.

    In Los Angeles, a woman filed for a restraining order in a domestic violence prevention case involving minor children in 2007. There were no documents immediately available in that case, and it was not clear whether the restraining order was granted.

    Serna was charged in 2014 in San Bernardino with battery on a spouse, though the charges were dismissed three years later in the interest of justice, according to court records.

    In 2016, Serna was again hit with a temporary restraining order that said he could not harass, attack or strike another woman who was the mother of his children.

    Then in 2021, another temporary restraining order was issued against Serna in a San Bernardino County case involving a man. That order was dismissed a few weeks later.

    Serna lost custody of four of his children to their mother in July 2022, according to court documents reviewed by The Times. “Mother is awarded sole legal and sole physical custody of all minors,” a judge wrote in the July 13, 2022, order.

    Based on those records, the children would now range in age from 3 to 7. Two are 3-year-old twins.

    In the Los Angeles County Superior Court order, the judge decided Serna could have “unmonitored visits” with his four children at his own mother’s home, as well as monitored visits outside that home.

    The judge specified that Serna’s visits would not occur at the home of the children’s mother. The order did not cite any conduct by Serna for the limited access to his children.

    Other criminal cases found in court records include a conviction for causing a fire to a structure or forest.

    Serna was active on social media until a few days before his arrest.

    He was posting regularly on Facebook about the Israel-Hamas war in October, calling for an end to the violence in the Middle East.

    “Ceasefire or the world will be uninhabitable for everyone,” Serna said in an Oct. 16 post on what appeared to be his Facebook account.

    He had previously posted about his own history with mental health authorities.

    “Do u guys remember that time I told u guys I was tortured and injected with different drugs at a mental facility (Arrowhead regional) well I wasnt lying. So don’t judge the way I think. How would u think if u were injected by an unknown poison?”

    Noah Goldberg

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