July 26, 2019 4:14 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) – Military officials have arrested 16 Marines following an investigation into human smuggling. The Marine Corps said the arrests at Camp Pendleton, California, were carried out during a battalion formation Thursday morning at the base, north of San Diego. It is about 55 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. The Marine Corps said in a news release that information gained after two Marines were arrested on human smuggling charges earlier this summer led to the arrests. Officials say the Marines are charged with various illegal activities ranging from human smuggling to drug-related offenses. Another eight are being questioned about their alleged involvement in drug offenses as part of a separate investigation. The military says none of the Marines were involved in helping to enforce border security.
July 26, 2019 4:13 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Los Angeles police say a gunman who killed two of his family members and an acquaintance has been linked to another killing. Police said Thursday they arrested 26-year-old Gerry Dean Zaragoza after he shot and killed a man on a bus in Van Nuys. Earlier in the day, police said Zaragoza killed the two members of his family and wounded a third person at an apartment complex in the Canoga Park area. Multiple media reports said Zaragoza fatally shot his father and brother and wounded his mother. Police would not immediately confirm that information. Police say Zaragoza also shot two people at a gas station in North Hollywood, killing a woman believed to be an acquaintance and critically wounding a man.
He also has been linked to an attempted robbery.
July 26, 2019 4:09 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania state official says a judge for years misclassified civil complaints about unpaid bills as theft. As a result, hundreds of people have undeserved criminal records. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale (pictured) said Thursday a review of the district judge office in Corry, Pennsylvania, found over 800 theft-of-services convictions for offenses that are not crimes under state law. They include failure to pay fines on overdue library books, bills for plumbing repairs and credit union fees. The auditor general says then-District Judge Brenda Williams Nichols misclassified cases from 2014 through 2017. She lost a bid for re-election in 2017. DePasquale is urging the court system to expunge the records at no cost to those involved. No phone listing could be found for Nichols, and a message left at a relative’s home seeking her comment was not returned.
July 26, 2019 4:07 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Model Janice Dickinson calls settling a defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby a “victory” that brings a “measure of justice” but says nothing can erase her assault by the now-imprisoned comedian. Dickinson spoke to reporters Thursday at the office of her attorney Lisa Bloom, who said the case was settled for an “epic” amount. She says the terms of the deal keep the exact figure confidential. Cosby insurer American International Group Inc. settled the case without his approval, as it has with at least eight other women who filed similar lawsuits. Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt says the comedian denies the assault and defamation allegations and has been robbed of a chance to prove it in court. Dickinson alleges that he drugged and raped her in 1982. Cosby was convicted and sent to prison for a 2004 sexual assault.
July 26, 2019 4:06 am
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) – A health insurance company analyst is admitting he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl after DNA evidence and new fingerprint technology helped solve the 1999 crime. Timothy D. Nelson Jr. pleaded guilty Thursday in the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, federal courthouse and agreed to a deal that will likely result in a 30-year sentence. The 50-year-old from Cumberland, Maryland, is admitting he abducted the girl in Cairnbrook, Pennsylvania, took her to West Virginia and assaulted her before releasing the child. His lawyer says Nelson feels contrition and remorse and plans to express that when he’s sentenced in late August. FBI agent Robert Jones says the child was able to help investigators recover a discarded paper bag and napkins that eventually linked Nelson to the crime.
July 26, 2019 3:38 am
MT. LEBANON, Pa. (WPXI) – A car crashed over a hillside and slammed into a shed Thursday morning in Mt. Lebanon. The car went over the hillside about 10 a.m. in the area of Maydell Street and Carnahan Road. It missed hitting the guide rail and trees, but traveled through a wooded area before crashing into the shed. A fence and retaining wall were also damaged by the car. Crews were called to remove the car, which required workers to cut down trees.
July 25, 2019 4:53 pm
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) – A health insurance company analyst is admitting he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl after DNA evidence and new fingerprint technology helped solve the 1999 crime. Timothy D. Nelson Jr. pleaded guilty Thursday in the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, federal courthouse and agreed to a deal that will likely result in a 30-year sentence. The 50-year-old from Cumberland, Maryland, is admitting he abducted the girl in Cairnbrook, Pennsylvania, took her to West Virginia and assaulted her before releasing the child. His lawyer says Nelson feels contrition and remorse and plans to express that when he’s sentenced in late August. FBI agent Robert Jones says the child was able to help investigators recover a discarded paper bag and napkins that eventually linked Nelson to the crime.
July 25, 2019 4:51 pm
SAN DIEGO (AP) – Military officials have arrested 16 Marines following an investigation into human smuggling. The Marine Corps said the arrests at Camp Pendleton, California, were carried out during a battalion formation Thursday morning at the base, north of San Diego. It is about 55 miles (90 kilometers) from the U.S.-Mexico border. The Marine Corps said in a news release that information gained after two Marines were arrested on human smuggling charges earlier this summer led to the arrests. Officials say the Marines are charged with various illegal activities ranging from human smuggling to drug-related offenses. Another eight are being questioned about their alleged involvement in drug offenses as part of a separate investigation. The military says none of the Marines were involved in helping to enforce border security.
July 25, 2019 4:14 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department says it will carry out executions of federal death row inmates for the first time since 2003. The department says five inmates will be executed, starting in December. In 2014, President Barack Obama directed the department to conduct a review of capital punishment and issues surrounding lethal injection drugs. That review resulted in what effectively was a freeze on executions. The department says the Bureau of Prisons has completed the review and the executions can continue.
July 25, 2019 3:59 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is blocking election security bills in Congress, despite former special counsel Robert Mueller’s warning that Russian interference is going on right now. That’s according to Democrats, who are being rebuffed in attempts to advance the bills. The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, is pledging to keep putting forward requests to vote on legislation, including a House-passed bill. It would authorize $775 million in grants over the next two years to help states secure their voting systems. Schumer says Mueller’s testimony “should be a wake-up call.” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has said federal officials are making strides at improving election security. Republicans are saying no new money is needed immediately. Mueller testified Wednesday that Russians were interfering “as we sit here.”
