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Tag: drug crimes

  • Ex-priest sentenced to 25 years for drugging and molesting men he met in New Orleans tourist area

    Ex-priest sentenced to 25 years for drugging and molesting men he met in New Orleans tourist area

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    A former Catholic priest in Louisiana has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to drugging and molesting 17 men he met in a popular tourist area in New Orleans

    METAIRIE, La. — A former Catholic priest in Louisiana has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to drugging and molesting 17 men he met in a popular tourist area in New Orleans, a prosecutor said.

    WVUE-TV reported that Stephen Sauer, 61, targeted people in the city’s French Quarter who appeared drunk, lost or in need of help, according to Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul D. Connick Jr.

    The crimes occurred from 2019 to 2021, and many of the victims were visiting from out of state, Connick said.

    The investigation began in 2021 after Sauer sent a computer to an electronics repair company in New York. A technician found hundreds of images suggesting sexual assaults had occurred. New York law enforcement officials determined the images were taken in Metairie and notified the Jefferson Parish sheriff.

    The prosecutor said Sauer put narcotics in men’s drinks at bars or gave them sleep-inducing drugs after they passed out from drinking. He then drove the victims to his home in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, where he photographed or videotaped the unconscious men and molested some of them.

    The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office found during its investigation that Sauer shared the images with others through a website or by email.

    Sauer was sentenced Friday after he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of sexual battery, nine counts of third-degree rape, 17 counts of video voyeurism and 16 misdemeanor charges of possessing drugs without prescriptions and possession of drug paraphernalia.

    Judge Shayna Beevers Morvant gave Sauer the 25-year sentence, ordered him to register as a sex offender and banned him from contacting 12 of the victims.

    Detectives identified many victims because Sauer took photographs of their driver’s licenses or other forms of identification, Connick said.

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  • Mexican military to take over airports as president takes aim at corruption, mismanagement

    Mexican military to take over airports as president takes aim at corruption, mismanagement

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    MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s armed forces are taking control of the capital’s main airport, and the government plans to give the military control of nearly a dozen more across the country as the president takes aim at corruption and mismanagement.

    President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been setting the armed forces to a wide range of nontraditional tasks since he was elected in 2018, creating concerns about the separation of the military from civilian life.

    A new airport was built by the army outside Mexico City a year ago at a cost of $4.1 billion. It is run by the military but little used. López Obrador says the old airport, the country’s busiest, will be run by the navy.

    The navy took charge of security at Mexico City International Airport, or Benito Juárez, more than a year ago. It will soon have control of everything else, from customs and immigration to handling luggage and cleaning bathrooms, with the imminent publication of a presidential order to make that official.

    The list of problems at Mexico City Airport has long included major drug shipments and illegal migration. Infrastructure was in disrepair, and a number of close calls were reported on the runways in recent years as the airport increasingly had trouble handling flights.

    The airport also had a reputation for stolen luggage, mismanaged airline schedules, business without contracts and corruption.

    Meanwhile, López Obrador has gone to the armed forces for help throughout his term, giving them some immigration duties and control of ports and customs. They are also building major infrastructure projects such as a tourist train through the Yucatan Peninsula and a new airport in the same area. They even run plant nurseries and tourist trips to a former penal colony.

    The airport, which is used by some 4 million travelers each month, will be “a company within a naval military entity,” Rear Adm. Carlos Velázquez Tiscareño, the airport’s 73-year-old director, said in a recent interview. But, he said, “this is not going to look like a military department.”

    Unlike the capital’s other airport, Felipe Angeles, where National Guard troops take passenger tickets at the gate, at Benito Juarez the only uniformed military are the 1,500 marines deployed since February 2022 for security. The rest of the airport personnel will be civilians but “with clearer rules … that govern with more order and discipline,” Velázquez Tiscareño said.

    The navy will form a company called Casiopea to run the airport and six others that have “deficiencies” and are “in the hands of organized crime,” Velázquez Tiscareño said. Among them will be Matamoros, across the border from Texas, and Playa del Carmen on the Gulf of Mexico.

    López Obrador has already said that he plans to have a dozen airports in the hands of the army or navy by the end of his administration in 2024. And by the end of this year, the military is scheduled to begin operating its own commercial airline.

    The Mexico City takeover runs contrary to international aviation recommendations that clearly distinguish between military and civilian, said Rogelio Rodríguez Garduño, an aviation law expert at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. But the legal consequences of the move remain unclear.

    Earlier this year, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that the transfer of the National Guard from civilian to military control was unconstitutional. López Obrador left the guard under a civilian department but with a military operational chief.

    While navy operational control could help some security issues, experts don’t believe it will resolve other problems. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration downgraded Mexico’s aviation safety rating in 2021, preventing Mexican airlines from expanding flights to the U.S.

    FAA safety ratings of other countries are designed to measure those countries’ oversight of their airlines but do not mean that the airlines are unsafe.

    In Mexico, corruption got to the point years ago that coded messages were sent using airport internal communications to hold up baggage inspections so drug shipments could pass untouched, according to testimony during the U.S. trial of former Public Security Secretary Genaro Luna. He was convicted of drug trafficking in February.

    Mexico City has the country’s most important airport, and the navy is the branch of Mexican security forces in which the U.S. authorities have the most confidence, but the U.S. has not commented on the increasing power of the Mexican military.

    “There are various airports in the country that have had big problems for many years, and they had to be fixed,” said Velázquez Tiscareño, himself a retired pilot.

    In the past year, the navy’s security oversight has shut down some illegal business inside the airport, improved inspections and reduced stolen luggage, Velázquez Tiscareño said. Some airport workers confirm that, but note too that complaints about flight delays continue.

    “The navy has put things under greater control, but now we need to see how they’re going to work,” said José Beltrán, 72, who picks up trash at the airport.

    “It’s more peaceful,” said Luis Martinez, who’s been working at the airport for 25 years, helping passengers who need wheelchairs. But, he said, “people have the same complaints: flight delays and problems with luggage.”

    Rodríguez Garduño said Mexican aviation needs more money, more training and inspection regimes, among other measure, to raise its competitiveness on the global stage.

    He said he was not sure if the military could help solve all those problems.

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  • Mexican military to take over airports as president takes aim at corruption, mismanagement

    Mexican military to take over airports as president takes aim at corruption, mismanagement

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    MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s armed forces are taking control of the capital’s main airport, and the government plans to give the military control of nearly a dozen more across the country as the president takes aim at corruption and mismanagement.

    President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been setting the armed forces to a wide range of nontraditional tasks since he was elected in 2018, creating concerns about the separation of the military from civilian life.

    A new airport was built by the army outside Mexico City a year ago at a cost of $4.1 billion. It is run by the military but little used. López Obrador says the old airport, the country’s busiest, will be run by the navy.

    The navy took charge of security at Mexico City International Airport, or Benito Juárez, more than a year ago. It will soon have control of everything else, from customs and immigration to handling luggage and cleaning bathrooms, with the imminent publication of a presidential order to make that official.

    The list of problems at Mexico City Airport has long included major drug shipments and illegal migration. Infrastructure was in disrepair, and a number of close calls were reported on the runways in recent years as the airport increasingly had trouble handling flights.

    The airport also had a reputation for stolen luggage, mismanaged airline schedules, business without contracts and corruption.

    Meanwhile, López Obrador has gone to the armed forces for help throughout his term, giving them some immigration duties and control of ports and customs. They are also building major infrastructure projects such as a tourist train through the Yucatan Peninsula and a new airport in the same area. They even run plant nurseries and tourist trips to a former penal colony.

    The airport, which is used by some 4 million travelers each month, will be “a company within a naval military entity,” Rear Adm. Carlos Velázquez Tiscareño, the airport’s 73-year-old director, said in a recent interview. But, he said, “this is not going to look like a military department.”

    Unlike the capital’s other airport, Felipe Angeles, where National Guard troops take passenger tickets at the gate, at Benito Juarez the only uniformed military are the 1,500 marines deployed since February 2022 for security. The rest of the airport personnel will be civilians but “with clearer rules … that govern with more order and discipline,” Velázquez Tiscareño said.

    The navy will form a company called Casiopea to run the airport and six others that have “deficiencies” and are “in the hands of organized crime,” Velázquez Tiscareño said. Among them will be Matamoros, across the border from Texas, and Playa del Carmen on the Gulf of Mexico.

    López Obrador has already said that he plans to have a dozen airports in the hands of the army or navy by the end of his administration in 2024. And by the end of this year, the military is scheduled to begin operating its own commercial airline.

    The Mexico City takeover runs contrary to international aviation recommendations that clearly distinguish between military and civilian, said Rogelio Rodríguez Garduño, an aviation law expert at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. But the legal consequences of the move remain unclear.

    Earlier this year, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that the transfer of the National Guard from civilian to military control was unconstitutional. López Obrador left the guard under a civilian department but with a military operational chief.

    While navy operational control could help some security issues, experts don’t believe it will resolve other problems. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration downgraded Mexico’s aviation safety rating in 2021, preventing Mexican airlines from expanding flights to the U.S.

    FAA safety ratings of other countries are designed to measure those countries’ oversight of their airlines but do not mean that the airlines are unsafe.

    In Mexico, corruption got to the point years ago that coded messages were sent using airport internal communications to hold up baggage inspections so drug shipments could pass untouched, according to testimony during the U.S. trial of former Public Security Secretary Genaro Luna. He was convicted of drug trafficking in February.

    Mexico City has the country’s most important airport, and the navy is the branch of Mexican security forces in which the U.S. authorities have the most confidence, but the U.S. has not commented on the increasing power of the Mexican military.

    “There are various airports in the country that have had big problems for many years, and they had to be fixed,” said Velázquez Tiscareño, himself a retired pilot.

    In the past year, the navy’s security oversight has shut down some illegal business inside the airport, improved inspections and reduced stolen luggage, Velázquez Tiscareño said. Some airport workers confirm that, but note too that complaints about flight delays continue.

    “The navy has put things under greater control, but now we need to see how they’re going to work,” said José Beltrán, 72, who picks up trash at the airport.

    “It’s more peaceful,” said Luis Martinez, who’s been working at the airport for 25 years, helping passengers who need wheelchairs. But, he said, “people have the same complaints: flight delays and problems with luggage.”

    Rodríguez Garduño said Mexican aviation needs more money, more training and inspection regimes, among other measure, to raise its competitiveness on the global stage.

    He said he was not sure if the military could help solve all those problems.

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  • Jersey Shore towns say state’s marijuana law handcuffs police and emboldens rowdy teens

    Jersey Shore towns say state’s marijuana law handcuffs police and emboldens rowdy teens

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    OCEAN CITY, N.J. (AP) — It’s summer on the Jersey Shore. For many young people, that means one thing: Party time!

    But officials and residents of several beachside towns say New Jersey’s criminal justice reforms in recent years — such as decriminalizing marijuana use — are having an unintended effect, emboldening large groups of teenagers to run amok on beaches and boardwalks, knowing there’s little chance they’ll get in trouble for it.

    Now, some lawmakers are trying to walk back parts of those laws, which also involve alcohol use and possession. The laws were designed to keep more juveniles out of the court system, and imposed a number of restrictions on police officers’ interactions with them.

    A company planning a wind farm off the coast of New Jersey says it wants government financial incentives like the tax break lawmakers are giving a Danish developer.

    FILE - United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby testifies before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, Dec. 15, 2021, in Washington. Kirby is apologizing for jumping on a private plane this week while thousands of his airline's customers were stranded because their flights got canceled. He said Friday, June 30, 2023, that taking a private jet was the wrong decision. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool via AP, File)

    The CEO of United Airlines is apologizing for jumping on a private plane this week while thousands of his airline’s customers were stranded because their flights got canceled.

    A game of internet gambling is under way in this Nov. 19, 2013 photo in the early days of online gambling in the state. On June 30, 2023, the New Jersey Legislature passed a bill extending internet gambling in the state for another 5 years, through 2028. The bill went to Gov. Phil Murphy for action. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

    A bill to extend internet gambling in New Jersey for another five years is in the hands of Gov. Phil Murphy following its approval by the state Legislature.

    The sun sets behind land-based wind turbines in Atlantic City N.J. on Feb. 10, 2022. The U.S. Government Accountability Office on Thursday, June 15, 2023, agreed to look into the potential impacts of offshore wind energy development on the U.S. East Coast, fulfilling a long time demand from opponents of such projects. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

    A bill to let Danish offshore wind energy developer Orsted keep tax credits that it otherwise would have to return to New Jersey ratepayers was approved by the slimmest of margins in the state Legislature Friday afternoon.

    “You don’t want to see a kid with a record that will last the rest of his life, but you can’t let them believe they can do anything they want,” said Mayor Anthony Vaz of Seaside Heights. “That’s unacceptable.”

    During Memorial Day weekend, police and media outlets reported episodes of underage drinking, drug use, fights and assaults in Ocean City and Seaside Heights — home to the infamous MTV series “Jersey Shore” in which a bunch of summer renters generally raised hell in town.

    Although teens have been drinking and smoking marijuana at the Jersey Shore for generations, long before the state altered its laws, some elected officials and residents say the situation has drastically worsened in the last two years.

    Over Memorial Day, teens were hanging from a motel balcony in Seaside Heights and climbing onto the roof of another motel. In Ocean City, eight teens drank themselves unconscious on the boardwalk and had to be hospitalized. Restroom attendants were assaulted and spit on by youths. Several teens were carrying knives and one had a replica gun that police say looked just like the real thing.

    “Enough is enough,” Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian wrote in a message to residents on the city’s website. “It’s become clear over the past two summers that these crowds will only grow larger and unrulier unless something changes.”

    Holly Kisby, an Ocean City resident who has worked on the boardwalk for over 30 years, said teens were drinking, smoking marijuana, setting off fireworks into the crowd, fighting, destroying property and stealing from stores, among other things.

    “You’re getting well more than 300 kids, if I had to guess, 700-plus a few nights, all acting wild,” she said. “Like a bad house party without the house. This is by far the worst it’s ever been.”

    Ocean City Police Chief Jay Prettyman said most of the troublemakers were drinking underage, but added that New Jersey’s recently adopted cannabis law says that someone under the age of 21 cannot consent to a police search for marijuana or alcohol.

    Previously, teens caught with those things could be arrested. Now, they get a warning, or get taken to police headquarters for a parent or guardian to pick them up except in the most serious situations.

    Word spread fast among teens, who know they don’t have to give officers their names as long as they don’t walk away from the officer during questioning. The kids even know that officers themselves could face charges if they violate the rights of teens in these circumstances.

    The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office did not respond to requests for comment. The American Civil Liberties Union supported the changes, saying teens should be offered alternatives to criminal prosecution where possible.

    Above the Seaside Heights boardwalk Thursday, a small plane towed a banner asking, “Do you know the signs of alcohol poisoning?” Sitting on a bench with friends, 22-year-old Santiago Caceres said police should not be able to search people for illicit substances.

    “People of color are way more likely to be searched than white people,” he said. “People are in jail because of this.”

    “A lot of underage people make a dumb mistake and they get a criminal record,” ruining the rest of their life, added his friend Angel Aguero, 23. Both had come down to the beach from West New York, a town in New Jersey just across from Manhattan.

    Nick DiMattina, a 15-year-old from Beachwood, New Jersey, said police should be allowed to conduct searches of underage people like himself. He learned of the change in the law on TikTok.

    “If kids are allowed to do it and don’t get searched, then they’re going to do it,” said DiMattina, who said he does not drink or use cannabis.

    Several lawmakers from both parties have introduced bills reinstating fines for underage possession of alcohol and marijuana, and allowing police officers to search teens observed to be in possession of the items.

    Prettyman, the Ocean City police chief, said officers throughout the state are hesitant to engage teens regarding alcohol or marijuana for fear of being charged themselves with a third-degree crime of depriving the teens of their rights. He said bills removing that provision, and reinstating penalties for underage possession and consumption of alcohol and pot, will help undo some of the excesses of the current law.

    Sen. Michael Testa, a Republican, was shocked by the “lawlessness” on the Jersey Shore over Memorial Day weekend. He’s sponsoring a package of bills including one that would remove the threat of charges against police officers acting in good faith, and another allowing towns to designate alcohol and marijuana-free zones.

    New Jersey is not alone in reforming its laws to try to keep more juveniles out of the criminal justice system. Several Maryland law enforcement officers say that state’s juvenile reforms have made it harder to question and investigate teens suspected of committing crimes, although the state’s Department of Juvenile Services says the laws are having a positive effect.

    Seaside Heights’ mayor said he heard kids as young as 13 mouthing off to police officers, with impunity.

    “A few of them actually said, ‘You can’t do anything to me,’” Vaz said. “I heard it with my own ears.”

    The town is considering raising the minimum age to rent a motel room from 18 to 21 if disturbances continue.

    In the aftermath of its own unruly weekend, Ocean City acted quickly to regain control of its beach and boardwalk, closing access to the beach at 8 p.m. and banning backpacks on the boardwalk after that hour; adopting an earlier curfew, and closing public restrooms at 10 p.m. Seaside Heights adopted similar measures, including one that allows officials to shut down the beach and boardwalk if things get out of hand, and other shore towns have enacted curfews and alcohol bans.

    ___

    Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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  • Assailants attack police station in Mexico as search continues for 16 abducted police employees

    Assailants attack police station in Mexico as search continues for 16 abducted police employees

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    TAPACHULA, Mexico — Assailants tossed at least one explosive device at a police station in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas, police said Wednesday, as a massive search continued for 16 police employees abducted at gunpoint on a local highway.

    The attacks highlight a new turf battle between cartels for influence over police in the state, which borders Guatemala, and control of its drug and immigrant trafficking.

    President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed the kidnappings were part of a battle between two gangs, saying “nowadays that is the most common thing … that the groups clash.”

    López Obrador said the men worked at a local prison, apparently as guards or administrative staff, though they are formally employed by the state police.

    Police had originally said 14 men were abducted — and that 17 female employees were released — from a bus Tuesday. But on Wednesday police upped the number to 16.

    The spread of cartel conflict to Chiapas would mark an escalation. The state has long experienced land, ethnic, political and religious conflicts, but had largely been spared from the drug cartel violence hitting other parts of the country.

    The president has taken a sort of paternalistic, non-confrontational attitude toward the cartels, and on Wednesday said “they had better release them (the abducted police employees). If not, I’m going to tell on them to their fathers and grandfathers.”

    Also Wednesday, police in the city of Tapachula, near the border, said two patrol vehicles were damaged in the explosion outside a police station late Tuesday. There was no immediate information on who tossed the explosive, which appeared to have been homemade.

    More than 1,000 state and federal law enforcement officers conducted a land and air search for the missing police employees, who were forced from the bus by gunmen earlier Tuesday.

    A video of the abducted police employees was posted on social media Wednesday. In it, one of the victims said the abductors were demanding the resignation of at least three state police officials, including the second-in-command of the force. One of the cartels operating in Chiapas has accused the police officials of favoring a rival gang.

    The men in the video did not appear to be bound or show any obvious signs of mistreatment.

    The police employees were traveling to the capital of Chiapas when they were intercepted by several trucks with gunmen.

    The women in the vehicle were released, while the men were taken away.

    The abduction occurred on the highway between Ocozocoautla and Tuxtla Gutierrez, the state capital. Two men found near the scene were detained by police for questionins.

    Violence in the Mexican border region with Guatemala has escalated in recent months amid a territorial dispute between the Sinaloa Cartel, which has dominated the area, and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

    On June 19, a confrontation between the military and presumed organized crime members left a National Guard officer and a civilian dead in Ocozocoautla, near where Tuesday’s kidnapping occurred.

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  • New York cracks down on unlicensed pot shops, but closing them might take time

    New York cracks down on unlicensed pot shops, but closing them might take time

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    NEW YORK — Fed up with hundreds of bootleg pot shops, New York launched new inspections this month aimed at getting rid of the unlicensed stores that are troubling the state’s fledgling legal marijuana market. “You will be caught,” the governor vowed.

    But anyone who expects to see the stores shape up or shut down might need patience.

    Two weeks after the enforcement push debuted with authorities issuing violation notices and confiscating contraband weed at 11 Manhattan storefronts, only two appeared to have closed when an Associated Press reporter visited, and two others were no longer selling marijuana products.

    At the rest, it was business as usual.

    In some shops, customers came and went right past the “ILLICIT CANNABIS SEIZED” notices inspectors had posted in the windows. Other retailers apparently took down the signs, ignoring their stated warnings of additional penalties for doing so. A couple of stores advertised marijuana products on sidewalk signs. And another was thick with pot smoke from customers enjoying their purchases in its “lounge.”

    For all its new initiative, the state won’t immediately shutter the illegal shops, which have been operating with relative impunity throughout New York City.

    Inspections are just a first step toward hefty fines and, potentially, closure and even criminal prosecution. Still, regulators hope this will be a turning point in weeding out illegal sellers and giving authorized ones more room to flourish.

    “To the citizens that want us to go out and padlock on day one: We do have to afford a due process system,” explains state Office of Cannabis Management enforcement director Daniel Haughney. “As you see the process actually play out, step by step, it will get to a point where you’re not going to see these illicit shops out there any longer.”

    A manager at one of the first 11 shops that were cited declined to discuss it. Managers and owners of those that hadn’t shut down didn’t respond to requests for comment.

    Since New York legalized recreational marijuana use in March 2021, it has struggled to enforce the new regulations on sales.

    The state limited the amount of pot someone can have for personal use and allowed for criminal charges, including felonies, for illegally possessing and selling larger amounts. But officials have stressed that they don’t want to “recriminalize” the drug after striving to make up for decades of prosecutions.

    New York set aside its first dispensary licenses for people who had pot convictions or relatives who did, planned to find and outfit storefronts for them to lease, and more. But those complexities helped slow the rollout. Just 15 approved retailers have opened in a state of nearly 20 million people, compared to the 25 dispensaries that opened in the first three months of legal sales in neighboring Vermont, which has only about 650,000 residents.

    Unlicensed sellers rushed to fill the vacuum in New York. That has happened in some other states, but scale and density have made the problem especially visible in New York City, where shops have appeared every couple of blocks in some neighborhoods.

    Their proliferation is irking lawmakers and licensees alike.

    “The most frustrating part is that there’s just not a clear understanding within the public about the difference between a licensed dispensary and an unlicensed dispensary,” since the latter are operating so openly, said Arana Hankin-Biggers, president of a licensed Manhattan dispensary called Union Square Travel Agency.

    She emphasizes that buying legal means that products have been tested at state-approved labs and follow labeling and other rules. She notes that half her dispensary’s proceeds go to a nonprofit partner that helps formerly incarcerated people. Yet those selling points vie with the sheer abundance of unauthorized options nearby.

    Price comparisons between the licensed and unlicensed sellers are difficult because of the range of products and stores; also, licensed sellers collect state taxes that illicit shops likely do not. Hankin-Biggers said Union Square Travel Agency’s prices are competitive, and sometimes lower.

    The state cannabis office started trying to oust unauthorized marijuana stores last year by sending warning letters. But at the time, it didn’t have the clear authority that it now has for inspections, fines and other consequences.

    Meanwhile, some local officials took action. New York City has towed trucks suspected of selling weed, sued shops, and, with the state’s help, inspected over 600 smoke shops since November on suspicion of illegal sales of pot or other items. Those inspections have led to more than 1,000 violation notices, 100 arrests, $15 million in fines and millions of dollars’ worth of seizures, Mayor Eric Adams’ office said.

    “New York City is doing everything in its power” to tackle the problem, mayoral spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said in a statement that commended the state’s new efforts. Meanwhile, the city could levy new fines against illegal weed shops’ landlords under a measure the City Council passed last week, and that Adams appears likely to support.

    The state’s new powers come from legislation that Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, signed into the state budget in May. It allows for inspections, seizures, fines that can reach $20,000 a day plus possible tax penalties, and, in some cases, closing shops and going after landlords.

    After an inspection and seizure, retailers are entitled to an administrative hearing to determine whether they’ll be fined. In order to lock the doors, the state would have to go to court and demonstrate that “the public health, safety, or welfare immediately requires” such a step.

    Arrests, while possible, are “not the focus point,” as the state hopes that fines and seizures will persuade illegal sellers to stop, Haughney said.

    Hankin-Biggers said she’s already seen an impact. The first inspections included several unauthorized shops near her licensed dispensary, and some then pivoted to other products or apparently closed.

    “I’m super-hopeful,” she said. “It’s going to take some time, but I think we’re starting to finally make progress.”

    ___

    For more AP coverage of recreational marijuana: https://apnews.com/hub/recreational-marijuana

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  • Rapper Kodak Black faces arrest after warrant says he missed a drug test

    Rapper Kodak Black faces arrest after warrant says he missed a drug test

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    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Rapper Kodak Black is facing another arrest in South Florida after a warrant claims he missed a drug test that was a condition of bail in a drug case.

    According to a warrant issued last week by the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Kodak Black, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, didn’t show up for a June 9 drug test. Kapri was arrested last July on charges of trafficking in oxycodone and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. He was freed on a $75,000 bond, and regular drug testing was a condition of his release.

    The 26-year-old performer has a court appearance scheduled for Monday.

    Kapri was ordered to drug rehab for 30 days earlier this year after missing a drug test in February and then testing positive for fentanyl several days later, according to court records.

    The singer’s lawyer suggested during a hearing that a star-struck drug lab technician may have mixed up the sample or paperwork. The tech who took the sample admitted that was possible. But when the judge suggested the singer have his hair tested, the defense declined. A hair test could detect drug use back 90 days compared to the few days urine and blood tests typically capture.

    In January 2021, then-President Donald Trump commuted a three-year federal prison sentence the rapper had for falsifying documents used to buy weapons. Kapri had served about half his sentence.

    As Kodak Black, Kapri has sold more than 30 million singles, with massive hits such as “Super Gremlin,” which reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 last year.

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  • Man exhibiting mental crisis charged in unprovoked shooting of pregnant woman in Seattle

    Man exhibiting mental crisis charged in unprovoked shooting of pregnant woman in Seattle

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    SEATTLE (AP) — A man who police say was exhibiting signs of a mental health crisis after he shot and killed a pregnant restaurant owner in her car in downtown Seattle this week was charged Friday with first-degree murder in her death, and prosecutors said they are seeing whether they can also charge him for the death of the baby girl the woman was carrying.

    Cordell M. Goosby, 30, was arrested Tuesday soon after witnesses said he ran up to a car occupied by Eina Kwon, 34, and her husband, Sung Kwon, 37, the owners of a sushi restaurant near the city’s famed Pike Place Market, and started firing a stolen gun into the vehicle without provocation.

    Eina Kwon, who was eight months pregnant, was killed. Sung Kwon suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and the fetus died soon after emergency delivery. The King County Prosecutor’s Office said Friday that state law allows murder charges to be brought if the victim was “born alive”; it is reviewing medical records to determine whether a murder charge is warranted for the baby’s death.

    The prosecutor’s office sought that Goosby be held on $10 million bail. It was not immediately clear if Goosby had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

    Goosby is also charged with attempted murder in the attack on Sung Kwon.

    “The defendant’s actions left a family and community shattered,” senior deputy prosecutor Aubony G. Burns wrote in charging papers. “Victim S. Kwon and his family lost not just a wife, a mother, and a daughter when the defendant killed E. Kwon, but they lost an innocent baby girl.”

    The couple was stopped at an intersection on their way to work at their restaurant, Aburiya Bento House, when Goosby ran up to them and started shooting, authorities said. He emptied the 9 mm handgun into the car and took off, throwing the gun down. When officers found him nearby, he put his hands up and said, “I did it, I did it,” police said.

    In an interview following his arrest, police reported, Goosby told detectives that he had a history of mental health care and that he was being harassed by strangers who were spreading rumors about his sexuality and saying that he had done something to his caseworker.

    “He did appear to Detectives to be in some form of crisis whether genuine or knowingly performed,” police wrote in a probable cause statement.

    Goosby had no criminal history in Washington state, police said, but according to charging papers, he said he was wanted out of Indiana for a 2020 domestic battery case and has felony convictions from Illinois for drug possession and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Prosecutors said they were trying to confirm that information before adding a charge of unlawful possession of a weapon.

    The gun had been reported stolen to the Lakewood Police Department, south of Seattle, authorities said.

    It was not clear how long Goosby had been living in Washington, but he had a driver’s license from Washington state. Police said his last known address was an apartment building near downtown Seattle.

    His arraignment is set for next Thursday, when the court will formally inform his attorneys he has been charged. But as is routine, Goosby is not expected to appear in court, according to Casey McNerthney, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office. Goosby waived his appearance at an initial hearing earlier this week.

    Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said Thursday that he had spoken with Sung Kwon.

    “Eina was a leader in our community and business owner, running Aburiya Bento House with her family,” Harrell said. “What was supposed to be a joyful time for the Kwon family has turned into an unimaginable nightmare caused by senseless gun violence.”

    The shooting has led to an outpouring of grief for the Kwons, who also have a toddler.

    A crowdfunding campaign to support the family and bring relatives from Korea to the funeral has raised more than $160,000.

    Mourners have placed flowers and other remembrances at their now-shuttered restaurant, including Eunji Seo, the consulate general for the Republic of Korea in Seattle.

    The Kwons opened Aburiya, which serves traditional and fusion sushi, in 2018. The restaurant is popular with tourists and downtown workers seeking lunch deals.

    Michael Bufano, part owner of Mack Gallery, an art gallery next to the restaurant, said Eina Kwon would greet him with a smile in the mornings and bring him lunch if he was too busy — “the kind of people everybody wants to have as part of your community and as friends.”

    For random violence to strike two people who seemed to have everything going for them was tough to stomach — especially as the neighborhood seemed to feel safer recently, with the city taking steps to address mental health issues and drug addiction, he said.

    “I think we’re on the right track and that’s why this hit so hard, I think,” Bufano said.

    Eina Sung’s death marked the 29th homicide investigated by Seattle police so far this year, according to The Seattle Times. Seattle police investigated 55 killings last year, up from 41 the year before that.

    ___

    Associated Press videographer Manuel Valdes contributed.

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  • Man exhibiting mental crisis charged in unprovoked shooting of pregnant woman in Seattle

    Man exhibiting mental crisis charged in unprovoked shooting of pregnant woman in Seattle

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    SEATTLE — A man who police say was exhibiting signs of a mental health crisis after he shot and killed a pregnant restaurant owner in her car in downtown Seattle this week was charged Friday with first-degree murder in her death, and prosecutors said they are seeing whether they can also charge him for the death of the baby girl the woman was carrying.

    Cordell M. Goosby, 30, was arrested Tuesday soon after witnesses said he ran up to a car occupied by Eina Kwon, 34, and her husband, Sung Kwon, 37, the owners of a sushi restaurant near the city’s famed Pike Place Market, and started firing a stolen gun into the vehicle without provocation.

    Eina Kwon, who was eight months pregnant, was killed. Sung Kwon suffered multiple gunshot wounds, and the fetus died soon after emergency delivery. The King County Prosecutor’s Office said Friday that state law allows murder charges to be brought if the victim was “born alive”; it is reviewing medical records to determine whether a murder charge is warranted for the baby’s death.

    The prosecutor’s office sought that Goosby be held on $10 million bail. It was not immediately clear if Goosby had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

    Goosby is also charged with attempted murder in the attack on Sung Kwon.

    “The defendant’s actions left a family and community shattered,” senior deputy prosecutor Aubony G. Burns wrote in charging papers. “Victim S. Kwon and his family lost not just a wife, a mother, and a daughter when the defendant killed E. Kwon, but they lost an innocent baby girl.”

    The couple was stopped at an intersection on their way to work at their restaurant, Aburiya Bento House, when Goosby ran up to them and started shooting, authorities said. He emptied the 9 mm handgun into the car and took off, throwing the gun down. When officers found him nearby, he put his hands up and said, “I did it, I did it,” police said.

    In an interview following his arrest, police reported, Goosby told detectives that he had a history of mental health care and that he was being harassed by strangers who were spreading rumors about his sexuality and saying that he had done something to his caseworker.

    “He did appear to Detectives to be in some form of crisis whether genuine or knowingly performed,” police wrote in a probable cause statement.

    Goosby had no criminal history in Washington state, police said, but according to charging papers, he said he was wanted out of Indiana for a 2020 domestic battery case and has felony convictions from Illinois for drug possession and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. Prosecutors said they were trying to confirm that information before adding a charge of unlawful possession of a weapon.

    The gun had been reported stolen to the Lakewood Police Department, south of Seattle, authorities said.

    It was not clear how long Goosby had been living in Washington, but he had a driver’s license from Washington state. Police said his last known address was an apartment building near downtown Seattle.

    His arraignment is set for next Thursday, when the court will formally inform his attorneys he has been charged. But as is routine, Goosby is not expected to appear in court, according to Casey McNerthney, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office. Goosby waived his appearance at an initial hearing earlier this week.

    Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said Thursday that he had spoken with Sung Kwon.

    “Eina was a leader in our community and business owner, running Aburiya Bento House with her family,” Harrell said. “What was supposed to be a joyful time for the Kwon family has turned into an unimaginable nightmare caused by senseless gun violence.”

    The shooting has led to an outpouring of grief for the Kwons, who also have a toddler.

    A crowdfunding campaign to support the family and bring relatives from Korea to the funeral has raised more than $160,000.

    Mourners have placed flowers and other remembrances at their now-shuttered restaurant, including Eunji Seo, the consulate general for the Republic of Korea in Seattle.

    The Kwons opened Aburiya, which serves traditional and fusion sushi, in 2018. The restaurant is popular with tourists and downtown workers seeking lunch deals.

    Michael Bufano, part owner of Mack Gallery, an art gallery next to the restaurant, said Eina Kwon would greet him with a smile in the mornings and bring him lunch if he was too busy — “the kind of people everybody wants to have as part of your community and as friends.”

    For random violence to strike two people who seemed to have everything going for them was tough to stomach — especially as the neighborhood seemed to feel safer recently, with the city taking steps to address mental health issues and drug addiction, he said.

    “I think we’re on the right track and that’s why this hit so hard, I think,” Bufano said.

    Eina Sung’s death marked the 29th homicide investigated by Seattle police so far this year, according to The Seattle Times. Seattle police investigated 55 killings last year, up from 41 the year before that.

    ___

    Associated Press videographer Manuel Valdes contributed.

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  • Colorado gay nightclub shooter expected to strike plea deal: ‘I have to take responsibility’

    Colorado gay nightclub shooter expected to strike plea deal: ‘I have to take responsibility’

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    COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The suspect in a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs gay nightclub is expected to strike a plea deal to state murder and hate charges that would ensure at least a life sentence for the attack that killed five people and wounded 17, several survivors told The Associated Press.

    Word of a possible legal resolution of last year’s Club Q massacre follows a series of jailhouse phone calls from the suspect to the AP expressing remorse and the intention to face the consequences at the next scheduled court hearing this month.

    “I have to take responsibility for what happened,” 23-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich said in their first public comments about the case.

    Federal and state authorities and defense attorneys declined to comment on a possible plea deal. But Colorado law requires victims to be notified of such deals, and several people who lost loved ones or were wounded in the attack told the AP that state prosecutors have given them advance word that Aldrich will plead guilty to charges that would ensure the maximum state sentence of life behind bars.

    Prosecutors also recently asked survivors to prepare for the June 26 hearing by writing victim-impact statements and steeling themselves emotionally for the possible release of the Club Q surveillance video of the attack.

    “Someone’s gone that can never be brought back through the justice system,” said Wyatt Kent, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday in Club Q when Aldrich opened fire, gunning down Kent’s partner, Daniel Aston, who was working behind the bar. “We are all still missing a lot, a partner, a son, a daughter, a best friend.”

    Jonathan Pullen, the suspect’s step-grandfather who plans to watch the upcoming hearing on a livestream, said Aldrich “has to realize what happened on that terrible night. It’s truly beginning to dawn on him.”

    Aldrich faces more than 300 state counts, including murder and hate crimes. And the U.S. Justice Department is considering filing federal hate crime charges, according to a senior law enforcement official familiar with the matter who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing case. It’s unclear whether the anticipated resolution to the state prosecution will also resolve the ongoing FBI investigation.

    Some survivors who listened to the suspect’s recorded comments to the AP lambasted them as a calculated attempt to avoid the federal death penalty, noting they stopped short of discussing a motive, put much of the blame on drugs and characterized the crime in passive, generalities such as “I just can’t believe what happened” and “I wish I could turn back time.” Such language, they said, belied by the maps, diagrams, online rants and other evidence that showed months of plotting and premeditation.

    “No one has sympathy for him,” said Michael Anderson, who was bartending at Club Q when the shooting broke out and ducked as several patrons were gunned down around him. “This community has to live with what happened, with collective trauma, with PTSD, trying to grieve the loss of our friends, to move past emotional wounds and move past what we heard, saw and smelled.”

    Terror erupted just before midnight on Nov. 19 when the suspect walked into Club Q, a longtime sanctuary for the LGBTQ community in this mostly conservative city of 480,000, and fired an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle indiscriminately. Disbelief gave way to screaming and confusion as the music continued to play. Partygoers dove across a bloody dance floor for cover. Friends frantically tried to protect each other and plugged wounds with napkins.

    The killing only stopped after a Navy petty officer grabbed the barrel of the suspect’s rifle, burning his hand because it was so hot. An Army veteran joined in to help subdue and beat Aldrich until police arrived, finding the shooter had emptied one high-capacity magazine and was armed with several more.

    Aldrich, who since their arrest has identified as nonbinary and uses the pronouns they and them, allegedly visited Club Q at least six times in the years before the attack. District Attorney Michael Allen told a judge that the suspect’s mother made Aldrich go to the club “against his will and sort of forced that culture on him.”

    Allen also has said the suspect administered a website that posted a “neo-Nazi white supremacist” shooting training video. Online gaming friends said Aldrich expressed hatred for the police, LGBTQ people and minorities and used anti-Black and anti-gay slurs. And a police detective testified that Aldrich sent an online message with a photo of a rifle scope trained on a gay pride parade.

    Defense attorneys in previous hearings have not disputed Aldrich’s role in the shooting but have pushed back against allegations it was motivated by hate, arguing the suspect was drugged up on cocaine and medication the night of the shooting.

    “I don’t know if this is common knowledge but I was on a very large plethora of drugs,” Aldrich told the AP. “I had been up for days. I was abusing steroids. … I’ve finally been able to get off that crap I was on.”

    Aldrich didn’t answer directly when asked whether the attack was motivated by hate, saying only that’s “completely off base.”

    Even a former friend of Aldrich found their remarks to be disingenuous. “I’m really glad he’s trying to take accountability but it’s like the ‘why’ is being shoved under the rug,” said Xavier Kraus, who lived across the hall from Aldrich at a Colorado Springs apartment complex.

    The AP sent Aldrich a handwritten letter several months ago asking them to discuss a 2021 kidnapping arrest following a standoff with a SWAT team, a prosecution that had been dismissed and sealed despite video evidence of Aldrich’s crimes. In that case, just months before the Club Q shooting, they threatened to become “the next mass killer” and stockpiled guns, ammo, body armor and a homemade bomb. The incident was livestreamed on Facebook and prompted the evacuation of 10 nearby homes as authorities discovered a tub with more than 100 pounds of explosive materials.

    The alleged shooter, who lived with their grandparents at the time and was upset about their plans to move to Florida, threatened to kill the couple and “go out in a blaze,” authorities said. “You guys die today and I’m taking you with me,” they quoted the suspect as saying. “I’m loaded and ready.”

    The charges were dismissed even after relatives wrote a judge warning that Aldrich was “certain” to commit murder if freed. District Attorney Allen, facing heavy criticism, later attributed the dismissal of the case to Aldrich’s family members refusing to cooperate and repeatedly dodging out-of-state subpoenas.

    In response to AP’s letter, Aldrich first phoned a reporter in March and asked to be paid for an interview, a request that was declined. They called back late last month, days after prosecutors wrote in a court filing that there was “near-unanimous sentiment” among the victims for “the most expedient determination of case-related issues.”

    In a series of six calls, each limited by an automated jail phone system to 15 minutes, the suspect said: “Nothing’s ever going to bring back their loved ones. People are going to have to live with injury that can’t be repaired.”

    Asked why it happened, they said, “I don’t know. That’s why I think it’s so hard to comprehend that it did happen. … I’m either going to get the death penalty federally or I will go to prison for life, that’s a given.”

    While the AP normally would not provide a platform to someone alleged to have committed such a crime, editors judged that the suspect’s stated intent to accept responsibility and expression of remorse were newsworthy and should be reported.

    Former Club Q bartender Anderson was among survivors who told prosecutors they wanted a fast resolution of the criminal case.

    “My fear is that if this takes years, that prevents the processing and moving on and finding peace beyond this case,” he said. “I would love this wrapped up as quickly as possible under the guarantee that justice is served.”

    ___

    AP Writer Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report. Contact AP’s global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org.

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  • Denver police suspect a drug deal led to shooting that wounded 10, including 1 suspect, during Nuggets’ NBA celebration

    Denver police suspect a drug deal led to shooting that wounded 10, including 1 suspect, during Nuggets’ NBA celebration

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    Denver police suspect a drug deal led to shooting that wounded 10, including 1 suspect, during Nuggets’ NBA celebration

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  • Mayor of Mexican border city of Tijuana to live at army base after receiving threats

    Mayor of Mexican border city of Tijuana to live at army base after receiving threats

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    The mayor of the Mexican border city of Tijuana says she has decided to live at an army base for her own safety, after she received threats

    FILE – Mexican National Guards patrol among the lanes of cars entering the San Ysidro Port of Entry in Tijuana, Mexico, May 11, 2023. Montserrat Caballero, the mayor of the Mexican border city of Tijuana, said on June 12, 2023 she has decided to go live at an army base for her own safety, after she received threats. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

    The Associated Press

    MEXICO CITY — The mayor of the Mexican border city of Tijuana said she has decided to go live at an army base for her own safety, after she received threats.

    Mayor Montserrat Caballero announced the decision after confirming that police had found seven dead bodies stuffed in a pickup truck on Monday.

    “I have received threats, so I am going to live at the base,” Caballero said. Local media reported the army base is on the southern edge of Tijuana, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the city hall.

    Caballero did not say who the threats had come from. But it is well known that several drug cartels are waging turf battles in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, California.

    Killings in Tijuana have risen by about 9% in the last 12 months, according to the federal public safety department. Tijuana has more homicides that any other city in Mexico, with 1,818 killings in the 12-month period ending in May.

    Caballero has acknowledged the cartels’ strong presence in the past. In 2022, after gangs carjacked and burned at least 15 vehicles throughout the city, Caballero made a direct public appeal to stop targeting civilians.

    “Today we are saying to the organized crime groups that are committing these crimes, that Tijuana is going to remain open and take care of its citizens,” Caballero said in a video in 2022, adding “we also ask them to settle their debts with those who didn’t pay what they owe, not with families and hard-working citizens.”

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  • Bail hearing set for Utah woman accused of killing husband then writing grief book for kids

    Bail hearing set for Utah woman accused of killing husband then writing grief book for kids

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    PARK CITY, Utah — A Utah woman who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death, and was later accused of fatally poisoning him, is scheduled to appear in court Monday to determine whether she should remain detained or have an opportunity to post bail.

    Kouri Richins, 33, is charged with murder and drug possession.

    Prosecutors say in court documents that she slipped five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into a Moscow mule cocktail she made for her husband, Eric Richins, amid marital disputes and fights over a multimillion-dollar mansion she ultimately purchased as an investment.

    The mother of three self-published an illustrated book about an angelic father watching over his sons.

    The case became a true-crime fixation when charges were filed last month, prompting people to pore over the children’s book and scrutinize remarks she made while promoting it as a tool to help children grieve the loss of a loved one.

    Prosecutors have painted a picture of a conniving woman who tried to kill her husband weeks earlier by lacing a Valentine’s Day sandwich with hydrocodone and repeatedly denied her involvement on the day of his death in March 2022, even telling police, “My husband is active. He doesn’t just die in his sleep. This is insane.”

    In a motion calling for her release filed on Friday, Kouri Richins’ attorneys argued the evidence against her is circumstantial because police never seized fentanyl from the family home. They also called into question the credibility of the key witnesses expected to support the prosecutors’ request to keep her in custody.

    The attorneys said prosecutors “simply accepted” the narrative from Eric Richins’ family that his wife had poisoned him “and worked backward in an effort to support it” by spending about 14 months investigating and finding no evidence to support their theory.

    The case also has shined a spotlight on Kamas, Utah, an agricultural town on the backside of Utah’s Wasatch Mountains near Park City, one of the American West’s preeminent destinations for skiing, hiking and outdoor recreation. The couple and their three sons lived in a new development in the town of Francis, roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Salt Lake City.

    If the case goes to trial, it could hinge largely on an unidentified informant who prosecutors say sold Richins the drugs that medical examiners later found in her husband’s system.

    Charging documents and warrants detail interviews in which the informant said she sold Richins hydrocodone and fentanyl in the weeks and months before her husband’s death. Prosecutors say the drug purchase timeline corresponds with Eric Richins’ death and their allegation that his wife laced the sandwich weeks prior.

    After her husband survived the first alleged poisoning, Kouri Richins asked for stronger drugs, “some of the Michael Jackson stuff,” the dealer told investigators, according to prosecutors. When the pop star died of cardiac arrest in 2009, medical examiners found prescription drugs and powerful anesthetics in his system, not fentanyl.

    Charging documents suggest the case likely will revolve around financial and marital disputes as possible motives. The couple had argued over whether to purchase an unfinished, 20,000-square-foot (1,860-square-meter) mansion nearby and discussed divorce prior to his death, court filings allege.

    Prosecutors also say Kouri Richins made major changes to the family’s estate plans before her husband’s death, taking out life insurance policies on him with benefits totaling nearly $2 million.

    They also allege Richins took out and spent a $250,000 home equity line of credit, withdrew $100,000 from her husband’s bank accounts, spent more than $30,000 on his credit cards and stole about $134,000 meant for taxes for his businesses.

    Some of the allegations correspond to civil court filings submitted in different cases after Eric Richins’ death in which his blood relatives and widowed wife filed competing claims over how to split a masonry business with his former partner and whether Kouri Richins can benefit from a trust set aside for his next of kin.

    Greg Skordas, an attorney and victims’ advocate working with Eric Richins’ relatives, said Richins’ three children are staying with a relative while their mother awaits trial. Katie Richins-Benson, who is Eric Richins’ sister and the trustee to his estate, has filed for guardianship.

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  • Autopsy finds North Carolina man died of ‘sudden cardiac arrest’ during police confrontation

    Autopsy finds North Carolina man died of ‘sudden cardiac arrest’ during police confrontation

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    RALEIGH, N.C. — A man who died after police officers in North Carolina’s capital city repeatedly used stun guns on him died from “sudden cardiac arrest” related to cocaine intoxication and the police confrontation, according to the state’s autopsy report released Wednesday.

    The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner also labeled the Jan. 17 death of 32-year-old Darryl Tyree Williams a homicide.

    The autopsy report listed the cause of Williams’ death “as sudden cardiac arrest in the setting of cocaine intoxication, physical exertion, conducted energy weapon use, and physical restraint.” A toxicology analysis in part detected cocaine and a chemical that’s contained in marijuana in his blood, the report said.

    The Raleigh Police Department said its officers were trying to arrest Williams around 2 a.m. for possession of a controlled substance.

    Several officers were placed on administrative leave, and the State Bureau of Investigation conducted a probe into what happened. The SBI has submitted its case file to Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, who will determine whether criminal charges are appropriate, SBI spokesperson Angie Grube said.

    Williams’ family has called on officials to fire officers and charge them in his death. In a news release, attorneys for the family said that the autopsy confirms that “Darryl’s death was a direct result of excessive and unreasonable police force.”

    “We will work tirelessly to ensure that those responsible for this senseless loss of life are held accountable” and that there are “meaningful changes” implemented to prevent similar future deaths, the release said.

    Raleigh Police Lt. Jason Borneo said late Wednesday the autopsy report will be reviewed by Freeman, and officers involved in the matter are on leave. He declined additional comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

    Police have said they were trying to arrest Williams after they found a folded dollar bill with white powder in his pocket.

    Police said two officers stunned Williams with a Taser a total of three times as they tried to take him into custody. The autopsy found injuries on his back consistent with stun gun use.

    Williams, a Black man, can be heard in body and dashboard camera videos released by police in February protesting that he didn’t do anything and warning that he had a heart problem. Medical records showed he had a history of an unspecified irregular heartbeat, Wednesday’s report said.

    Obesity and “hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease” also contributed to his death, the report said, adding that Williams also had a “known medical history of obesity and substance (tobacco, marijuana, and cocaine) abuse.”

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  • Missouri prosecutor Wesley Bell vies for GOP Sen. Hawley’s seat

    Missouri prosecutor Wesley Bell vies for GOP Sen. Hawley’s seat

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    JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A Black Missouri prosecutor who stepped into leadership in the aftermath of protests over the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown is running for Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley’s seat, the Democrat announced Wednesday.

    In his campaign announcement, 48-year-old St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell criticized Hawley as divisive while touting his own work in Ferguson, where protests over Brown’s death helped spark the national Black Lives Matter movement.

    Bell, who now lives in Clayton, lived two blocks from the Ferguson Police Department in 2014.

    As an angry crowd began to surround officers barricaded in the police parking lot the day after unarmed, Black 18-year-old Brown’s shooting, Bell and a small group of other Black leaders got in the middle and urged calm.

    Bell at the time worked as a municipal judge and attorney, and his father was a police officer. He has said he understood both sides.

    “Ferguson was a turning point for me,” Bell told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “ When the city, the region, the country seemed like it was ready to explode, I helped calm tensions between police and protesters.”

    Like fellow Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Lucas Kunce, who launched his campaign to unseat Hawley on the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots this year, Bell used his announcement to highlight a now-famous photo of Hawley raising a closed fist in solidarity that day, as well as video of the senator running through the halls during the attack.

    The photo drew strong criticism from some, but it now appears on coffee mugs that the senator sells.

    “We need leaders who try to help — unlike Josh Hawley, who’s in a rush to be famous and pretending to be tough while showing the world how weak he really is,” Bell said in a video announcement.

    Kunce on Wednesday announced that the Missouri AFL-CIO has endorsed him, adding to a long list of union endorsements for the Marine veteran. Campaign spokesman Connor Lounsbury said in a statement that the endorsement “marks an important moment in the campaign as the state’s election-winning labor movement unites behind Kunce.”

    He declined direct comment on Bell’s entrance into the race.

    “We expect whoever emerges from the messy (Democratic) primary to be the darling of the woke left and raise tens of millions of dollars to try and buy this seat from Missourians,” Hawley’s campaign said in a statement, adding the primary will be about “ending girls sports and being soft on crime.”

    Voters elected Bell to the Ferguson City Council in 2015, despite some pushback for his service as a municipal judge in nearby Velda City. The St. Louis County town, like Ferguson, came under scrutiny after Brown’s death for bringing in a high percentage of revenue from fines and court costs.

    In 2018, Bell unseated seven-term incumbent St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch in a stunning upset.

    Critics had accused McCulloch, who is white, of skewing the investigation into Brown’s death in favor of the white officer who fatally shot him. A St. Louis County grand jury declined to indict the officer, Darren Wilson, who later resigned. The U.S. Department of Justice also declined to charge him.

    Civil rights leaders and Brown’s parents had hoped that Bell, the county’s first Black prosecutor, would see things differently.

    But Bell in 2020 said another five-month re-investigation by his office did not find enough evidence to charge Wilson. He called on Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature to revise laws that offer protection against prosecution for police officers that regular citizens aren’t afforded.

    During his time as prosecutor, Bell has implemented sweeping changes that have reduced the jail population, ended prosecution of low-level marijuana crimes and sought to help offenders rehabilitate themselves. He also established an independent unit to investigate officer-involved shootings.

    If elected, Bell would be among the first, if not the only, person of color elected to statewide office in Missouri, although Democrats face slim odds in the now Republican-dominated state.

    Earlier this year, Republican state Treasurer Vivek Malek became the first person of color to hold office, after he was appointed by Republican Gov. Mike Parson. Malek, who was born in India, is also running for election in 2024.

    Missouri, a swing state a generation ago, has moved decidedly to the right over the past decade. Every statewide elected official in Missouri is now a Republican.

    Bell said he’s been written off before. No one expected him to defeat McCulloch.

    “Not only did we win but we won big,” Bell said. “I’m not afraid of a tough fight.”

    —-

    AP reporter Jim Salter in O’Fallon, Missouri, contributed to this report.

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  • 8 young workers at drug cartel call center killed, bodies placed in bags

    8 young workers at drug cartel call center killed, bodies placed in bags

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    MEXICO CITY — As many as eight young workers were confirmed dead Tuesday in Mexico after they apparently tried to quit jobs at a call center operated by a violent drug cartel that targeted Americans in a real estate scam.

    U.S. and Mexican officials confirmed the brutal story that unfolded late last month when relatives of the youths reported them missing after they did not return from work in an office near the western city of Guadalajara. Suspicions rose last week when heaps of hacked-up body parts were found in plastic bags.

    Forensic examiners in the western state of Jalisco said in a statement Monday that tests had confirmed the bodies belonged to the missing call center workers.

    A total of six men and two women were reported missing between May 20 and May 22, but the forensic examiners did not mention the number of confirmed identities. There had been doubts about whether one of the youths was among the bodies found.

    While the families believed their children worked at a normal call center, the office was in fact run by the Jalisco New Generation cartel, Mexico’s most violent gang. The cartel has branched out beyond its traditional business of drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping.

    Officials confirmed the cartel now operates call centers that scam money from Americans and Canadians through fake offers to buy their timeshares.

    Jalisco officials did not offer a motive in the killings of the workers, all but two of whom were under 30. But a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue said it appeared the youths were killed by the Jalisco cartel after they tried to quit their jobs.

    “Best guess is these kids had decided they wanted out of the business,” the U.S. official said, adding the cartel was “sending a message to other defectors.”

    “It appears this has happened before,” the official added.

    The Jalisco cartel, known by its initials as the CJNG, is famous for its ruthless treatment of supposed traitors, informants or turncoats. For those who have worked for the cartel, knowingly or unknowingly, it appears to be an unwritten rule that the only way out of the gang is death or prison.

    An activist group for families of the disappeared, “Por Amor a Ellxs” — roughly, “For Love of Them” — said there are around 15,000 missing people in Jalisco, out of a total of about 112,000 nationwide.

    Call centers are a major source of employment in Mexico for young people or migrants who may have learned English in the United States, but who have returned to Mexico.

    The timeshare fraud came to light in April, when the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against members or associates of the Jalisco New Generation cartel who apparently ran a similar operation in the Pacific coast resort of Puerto Vallarta, also located in Jalisco state, the gang’s home turf.

    Brian E. Nelson, the U.S. under secretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement in April that the “CJNG’s deep involvement in timeshare fraud in the Puerto Vallarta area and elsewhere, which often targets elderly U.S. citizens and can defraud victims of their life savings, is an important revenue stream supporting the group’s overall criminal enterprise.”

    The scammers contacted people seeking to sell timeshares in Puerto Vallarta properties.

    In a 2023 alert, the FBI said sellers were contacted via email by scammers who said they had a buyer lined up, but the seller needed to pay taxes or other fees before the deal could go through. Apparently, once the money was paid, the deals evaporated.

    The FBI report said that in 2022, the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center “received over 600 complaints with losses of approximately $39.6 million from victims contacted by scammers regarding timeshares owned in Mexico.”

    Ryan Donner, a broker at Ryan Donner & Associates, a real estate firm in Puerto Vallarta, said his firm had been asked for assistance by two people over the last two years who were apparently targeted by the scam.

    “It’s infrequent, but yes, we have had it happen,” said Donner, who was able to steer both people away from the scam before they paid any money.

    Donner described the fraud as very sophisticated.

    He said the scammers sent prospective sellers fake contracts and official-looking documents from the Mexican tax authority apparently saying taxes were due on the prospective sale.

    “They have contracts, they have documents that appear to be official documents, it would be very easy to fall into the trap of paying them,” Donner said.

    “If a company contacts someone to say that they have a buyer for a property and all they need is money, that is a huge red flag for it being some sort of scam,” Donner said. “That’s not how companies usually work.”

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  • Indonesia, Australia affirm defense ties amid China concerns

    Indonesia, Australia affirm defense ties amid China concerns

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    JAKARTA, Indonesia — Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles met his Indonesian counterpart on Monday to deepen security ties amid China’s increasingly assertive activity in the Indo-Pacific region.

    Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said he and Marles discussed ways to facilitate cooperation between their militaries.

    “Cooperation between Indonesia and Australia can make an important contribution to regional peace and stability,” Subianto said, adding that the two governments agreed to further strengthen their security ties, including joint military training in Australia and the education of Indonesian cadets at Australian academies.

    Military exchanges between the two neighbors have previously included counterterrorism and border protection.

    Marles declined to make any comment to the media after meeting with Subianto. He vowed in a statement released by the Australian Embassy in Jakarta ahead of the talks to deepen defense engagement with Australia’s closest major neighbor.

    “I look forward to progressing our comprehensive strategic partnership during my visit to Jakarta,” Marles said in the statement.

    Although Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation of more than 270 million people, is often presented as one of Australia’s most important neighbors and strategic allies, the relationship has undergone various ups and downs.

    Recent disagreements include allegations of wiretapping by the Australian Signals Directorate in 2013 to monitor the private phone calls of then Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and other senior officials; Indonesia’s use of capital punishment on Australian drug smugglers; and cases of people smuggling.

    In 2017, Indonesia temporarily suspended military cooperation with Australia, including joint training, education, exchanges of officers and visits, over an alleged insult against the Indonesian state ideology “Pancasila” and the Indonesian military at an Australian military base.

    In September 2021, Indonesia filed a diplomatic protest against Australia for being slow to provide information about its activities in the AUKUS trilateral pact involving the United States and the United Kingdom, including plans for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

    Last year, Australia, along with Japan and Singapore, joined for the first time the annual Indonesia-U.S. joint combat exercise called Super Garuda Shield, making it the largest since the drills began in 2009.

    The expanded drills are seen by China as a threat. Chinese state media have accused the U.S. of building an Indo-Pacific alliance similar to NATO to limit China’s growing military and diplomatic influence in the region.

    Marles arrived in Jakarta on Monday after attending the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, where he described Australia’s communications about its nuclear-powered submarine program as a model of “military transparency,” and said that China needed to offer a “strategic explanation” of its military expansion.

    Marles, who is also Australia’s deputy prime minister, is to visit Vanuatu after Indonesia.

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  • 3 Israeli soldiers, Egyptian officer killed in gunbattle at the border

    3 Israeli soldiers, Egyptian officer killed in gunbattle at the border

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    JERUSALEM (AP) — A gunbattle along Israel’s southern border with Egypt left three Israeli soldiers and an Egyptian officer dead Saturday, officials said. It was a rare instance of deadly violence along the frontier.

    Israel said the Egyptian border guard crossed into Israel and killed the three soldiers before he was fatally shot by troops. Egypt said he had been chasing drug smugglers when he entered Israel.

    Israel and Egypt have been at peace for over 40 years and have strong security cooperation. Fighting between the sides is extremely rare.

    Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli army spokesperson, said the fighting began overnight when soldiers thwarted a drug-smuggling attempt across the border.

    He said several hours later, two soldiers in a guard post were shot and killed. Their bodies were found after the shooting, when they did not respond to radio communications.

    The army said the Egyptian border guard was killed in a second exchange of fire in which a third Israeli soldier was killed.

    The Egyptian military said an Egyptian border guard crossed the border security barrier and exchanged fire with Israeli forces while he was chasing drug traffickers. It said in a statement that the Egyptian border guard was killed along with three Israeli troops.

    Hecht said an investigation was being conducted in full cooperation with the Egyptian army. He said troops were searching for other possible assailants.

    Egypt’s Defense Minister Gen. Mohamed Zaki spoke by phone with his Israeli counterpart to discuss the shooting on the border, and “the mutual coordination to take measures to prevent such incidents in the future,” the Egyptian military said in a statement. The Egyptian minister also offered condolences for the dead Israeli troops, it said.

    It was the first deadly exchange of fire along the Israel-Egypt border in over a decade.

    The Israeli army said one of the killed soldiers was a woman.

    Criminals sometimes smuggle drugs across the border, while Islamic militant groups are also active in Egypt’s restive north Sinai.

    Israel and Egypt signed a peace agreement in 1979 and maintain close security ties. Fighting along their shared border is rare.

    The exchange of fire reportedly took place around the Nitzana border crossing between Israel and Egypt. The crossing is located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the point where Israel’s border with Egypt and the Gaza Strip converge. It’s used to import goods from Egypt destined for Israel or the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

    Israel built a fence along the porous border a decade ago to halt the entry of African migrants and Islamic militants who are active in Egypt’s Sinai desert.

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  • Gov. Walz signs historic bill legalizing marijuana in Minnesota | National – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Gov. Walz signs historic bill legalizing marijuana in Minnesota | National – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota became the 23rd state in the country to legalize recreational marijuana for adults after Gov. Tim Walz signed the measure into law on Tuesday.

    Starting Aug. 1, marijuana use and possession will be decriminalized and home-growing of cannabis plants will become legal for people 21 and older. The state will also begin expunging marijuana convictions from Minnesotans’ records in August. But the start of retail sales is likely at least a year away.


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  • Police: 3 killed in shootout involving outlaw biker gangs at New Mexico motorcycle rally

    Police: 3 killed in shootout involving outlaw biker gangs at New Mexico motorcycle rally

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    RED RIVER, N.M. — Three men killed in a weekend shootout at a New Mexico motorcycle rally were members of rival outlaw biker gangs, and the violence stemmed from a previous altercation between them in Albuquerque, authorities said Sunday.

    New Mexico State Police said three other bikers are facing charges and two of them were among the five wounded in Saturday’s shooting involving the Bandidos and the Waterdogs in the mountain resort town of Red River.

    Those killed were identified as 26-year-old Anthony Silva of Los Lunas, 46-year-old Damian Breaux of Socorro and 46-year-old Randy Sanchez of Albuquerque. Two were declared dead at the scene and the third at a hospital, New Mexico State Police Chief Tim Johnson said in identifying them.

    Johnson said 30-year-old Jacob Castillo of Rio Rancho will be charged with an open count of murder when he’s released from a hospital while 39-year-old Matthew Charles Jackson of Austin, Texas, is facing a charge of unlawful carrying of a firearm inside a liquor establishment.

    State Police said 41-year-old Christopher Garcia, also of Texas, has been arrested on suspicion of cocaine possession after being treated at a hospital.

    Three other men belonging to motorycle gangs were injured in the shootout, but their names haven’t been released yet, authorities said.

    “It’s very tragic,” Red River Mayor Linda Calhoun said. ““It’s the first time we’ve ever had anything like this.”

    The town’s calendar touted the 41st annual Red River Memorial Motorcycle Rally, saying “Get ready for the rumble as 28,000 bikers from all different backgrounds line Main Street for one crazy party.”

    Most of Main Street closed to the public on Sunday as part of the State Police’s investigation and law enforcement requested businesses in the area remain closed.

    “The shooters have all been apprehended,” Calhoun said. “There is no threat to the community.”

    The wounded were transported to hospitals in Denver, Albuquerque and nearby Taos.

    “Our law enforcement was incredible. The first State Police officer was there within 30 seconds,” Calhoun said.

    Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina was in Red River on Saturday afternoon, eating dinner and posting online photos of himself and his smiling wife.

    Another of his posted pictures showed motorcycles lining the town’s main drag as bikers and others socialized.

    Thirty minutes after posting the two photos, Medina said the shootout occurred.

    “What a helpless feeling not having a badge, gun or radio as State Police officers and others enter the restaurant and slowly everything closes down and you don’t even know if you can get to your car or if it’s in the scene,” Medina wrote in Twitter. “This wave of gun violence impacts all of New Mexico large or small.”

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