EXTORTION, BABY Vegas police probe alleged plot against GOP lawmaker

Las Vegas police are investigating accusations that a Republican state lawmaker was pressed to switch allegiances in a key vote, in a mysterious attempted extortion case that has allegations flying on all sides.  

In a statement, police said Nevada Assemblyman Chris Edwards is the “alleged victim” who was approached in December about changing his official vote for Assembly speaker. 

The Nevada Assembly voted unanimously on Monday, the first day of the session, to elect Republican John Hambrick as speaker. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Edwards also backed Hambrick during a preliminary vote in December — but allegedly was pressured to switch. 

Police have not identified who may have tried to extort Edwards but confirmed that investigators from their intelligence section executed a search warrant at a Las Vegas home last week. The property searched is the home of Rob Lauer, a Las Vegas businessman who previously applied for an assembly seat when it was vacated but was not picked.

In a phone interview with Fox News, Lauer confirmed he met with Edwards. Lauer, though, said he met with Edwards because he wanted the assemblyman to take the role of chairman on an independent veterans committee he was organizing.  

Lauer claims Edwards was not interested in the position or the committee and instead asked for donations to pay some of his remaining campaign debt.

“I told him three times that I will not give you a commitment for a figure,” Lauer said. “That’s illegal.”

Edwards denies Lauer’s allegations. The assemblyman told Fox News that police have asked him not to discuss details of the investigation, but insisted that Lauer is not telling the truth.

“I heard that he was trying to revise a lot of things that happened,” Edwards said. “If he is not consistent with what transpired it will not go well for him.”

Lauer said investigators confiscated his cell phone and computer during the search of his home, because they’re looking for a recording of the alleged conversation between him and Edwards.

Lauer denies he made a recording. “The police came looking for the tape,” Lauer said. “There is no tape, I have no tape.”

Edwards said there is an ongoing investigation in which “multiple people are involved.” He wouldn’t describe the circumstances but said the potential case is much bigger than the alleged incident involving him and Lauer.

“I would hope that other folks would start cooperating, because we have a session that’s important to the voters of the state of Nevada,” Edwards said.

Lauer also alleges that Edwards alerted the police in an effort to hinder a movement to recall his recent election. A “Recall Edwards PAC” was recently filed with the secretary of state by Citizens Outreach, a conservative organization.

Edwards addressed the issue in a statement on Facebook. “Since the November election we have seen a lot of political hype about recalls and ‘holding people accountable’ it is nice to see that many of those people will soon be held accountable for their hypocritical actions,” Edwards wrote.

Lauer said he now plans to file a defamation suit against Edwards.

“It seriously attacks my character to say I recorded him,” Lauer said. “I don’t record people. I don’t rat people out. People have a conversation with me — it’s private.”

Edwards said he couldn’t address the tape but assured “the truth will come out at the appropriate time and it will disprove Lauer’s account.”

Lauer has a small history of run-ins with the law. Most recently, in 2010, he was cited with assault against a woman in a bar. The case went to court but the charges were ultimately dropped.

“I have a history of being accused of stuff that is not true and I’ve proven myself,” Lauer said.

No arrests have been made in the current case. Police are conducting more interviews.

Matt Finn is a part of the Junior Reporter program at Fox News. Get more information on the program here and follow them on Twitter: @FNCJrReporters

View the original article here

EXTORTION, BABY Vegas police probe alleged plot against GOP lawmaker

Alabama pol threatens to out lawmakers" alleged affairs over gay marriage criticism

Alabama’s only openly gay lawmaker says if her colleagues don’t stop calling same-sex marriage immoral, she’ll publicly out her heterosexual colleagues she claims are having extramarital affairs.

State Rep. Patricia Todd said she was furious and disappointed by comments made after a federal judge struck down the state’s gay-marriage ban last week. 

“I’m sick of the hypocrisy,” the Birmingham Democrat said on Facebook. “If you start disparaging my community, and I know that you are not exactly the family values person that you put yourself out to be, well, then, beware.”

Todd has not identified by name anyone she is considering accusing.

U.S. District Judge Callie V. S. Granade’s order, issued Friday, potentially makes Alabama the 37th state where gay marriage is legal. She put the order on hold for 14 days to let the state appeal. The state wants the ruling to remain on hold until the Supreme Court takes up the issue later this year.

Republican House Speaker Mike Hubbard called Granade’s ruling outrageous and said Alabama would defend “the Christian conservative values that make Alabama a special place to live.” Todd said that was one of many statements that upset her, although she hasn’t accused Hubbard.

Hubbard said he considered Todd a friend and was sorry he upset her, but they have a “fundamental disagreement on allowing same-sex marriages in Alabama.” Hubbard later took down his statement from social media because, his spokeswoman said, she was constantly removing profane responses from people on both sides of the debate.

Todd was elected in 2006 to the Alabama House of Representatives, a body that passed the gay-marriage bans and where a legislator in 2004 proposed banning any textbooks and public school library books that suggested homosexuality was acceptable. Todd said she has been treated cordially through the years, but became fed up with the recent comments.

“It’s again making Alabama look stupid, but we can’t help ourselves,” Todd said.

Todd has yet to follow through on her threat, and has acknowledged that to do so risked slander.

“It was an attempt to say, ‘Hold your tongue and speak about the issues and not the emotional response you are trying to incite in people. And how dare you say that we are not family,’” Todd said.

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore on Tuesday urged state probate judges not to give marriage licenses to gay couples if the district judge’s stay expires.

In a letter Tuesday to Gov. Robert Bentley, Moore denounced Granade’s decisions as judicial tyranny and said he was dismayed that some probate judges indicated they would give licenses to gay couples if the stay is lifted.

He said the rulings were nonbinding on Alabama courts and said he would advise probate judges that giving marriage licenses to same-sex couples would violate “the laws and Constitution of Alabama.”

Lifting the ban could lead to “marriages between multiple groups of people, whether they be men or women, or marriages within a family – incest,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of things that could occur because of this.”

Moore was removed as chief justice in 2003 when he ignored a court order to remove a Ten Commandment monument from the state judicial building. He was re-elected in 2012.

Richard Cohen, the head of the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, called Moore’s letter “outrageous.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

View the original article here

Alabama pol threatens to out lawmakers" alleged affairs over gay marriage criticism

New ISIS video appears to show child killing alleged Russian spies

A horrifying new video released online on Tuesday appears to show ISIS using a young boy to execute a pair of captives the terror group claims are Russian spies.

The slickly-produced video shows two men being interrogated in Russian about their alleged attempt to infiltrate ISIS. One captive, and alleged Kazakh national, states he was ordered to spy on an ISIS leader , while the other confesses to having been sent to assassinate a senior ISIS commander. The video later skips to an outdoor scene where the alleged spies are kneeling in a field before a burly man and a young boy of 10 or less armed with a pistol. 

“Allah has gifted the Islamic State’s security agency with the apprehension of these two spies,” the adult states. “By Allah’s grace, they are now in the custody of the lion cubs of the Caliphate.”

At that point the young boy steps forward and appears to calmly shoot the two men repeatedly in the head.

ISIS has been known to employ child soldiers, which it calls the “lion cubs of the Caliphate.” The video ends with a scene from a previous ISIS propaganda video released in November, showing a training camp for “the next generation” of jihadis. The same boy appears in that video, speaking of his ambitions to grow up to “kill infidels” and identifying himself as “Abdullah” from Kazakhstan.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately return a request for comment about the video. An official with Russia’s Federal Security Service declined to comment when asked about the video by Russia media outlet RIA Novosti. The news agency said the Russian embassy in Damascus also had no comment.

A recent study by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) revealed the growing use of children by ISIS both in its propaganda and in military roles, but this is the first such graphic use of a young child in a public execution.

View the original article here

New ISIS video appears to show child killing alleged Russian spies

Bail extended for alleged goat thieves

Tuesday, January 06, 2015 | 7:12 PM    

ST CATHERINE, Jamaica — Four men charged with unlawful possession of a goat they were reportedly caught transporting in a motorcar, had their bails extended when they appeared in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Bernard Townsend, Chavaughn Panton, Oshane Forbes and Junior Graham all pleaded not guilty to the charge.

It is alleged that a motor car in which the quartet were travelling was stopped in St Catherine and the goat taken from it.

Prior to their bail being extended, Panton told the court that he is the owner of the goat.

“Where you get the goat?” Resident Magistrate Horace Mitchell asked.

“Christiana,” Panton responded.

The investigating officer told the court that when he went to Christiana he saw an open field with several other goats.

“Where is the goat?” Mitchell asked; a query that sent the court into laughter.

The four are to return to court April 7 when the investigation of the matter is expected to be completed.

Racquel Porter

Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserver

Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

View the original article here

Bail extended for alleged goat thieves

Mexico arrests alleged head of Juarez cartel

MEXICO CITY (AP) –  The alleged leader of the Juarez drug cartel, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, has been arrested in the northern city of Torreon, two Mexican officials said Thursday.

Carrillo Fuentes, 51, heads the cartel founded by his late brother, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, and Mexico had offered a reward of 30 million pesos ($2.2 million) for his arrest.

It was the second capture of a major drug lord in as many weeks. Mexican authorities nabbed Hector Beltran Leyva as he ate fish tacos in a seafood restaurant in central Mexico on Oct. 1.

The two officials who revealed the information about Carrillo Fuentes’ arrest insisted on speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Carrillo Fuentes, better known as “The Viceroy” or “The General,” took over control of the Juarez drug cartel after his brother Amado, nicknamed “The Lord of the Skies,” died in 1997 in a botched cosmetic surgery. Amado got his nickname by flying planeloads of drugs into the United States.

Vicente carried on trafficking on a more modest scale, but in a much more violent era for the cartel. Based in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Carrillo Fuentes led the gang in a battle for control of the area’s trafficking routes with interlopers from the Sinaloa cartel, engaging in a multi-year war that cost at least 8,000 lives. The area is estimated to be the route of passage for as much as 70 percent of the cocaine entering the United States.

Carrillo Fuentes, who like many top drug lords was from Sinaloa state, had a $5 million reward on his head from U.S. authorities, and a similar bounty of about $2 million was offered by Mexican prosecutors for information leading to his capture.

Immediately after his brother’s death, there were doubts among cartel members about Carrillo Fuentes’ ability to lead, according to a profile provided to The Associated Press by the Mexican Attorney General’s Office.

“He was not believed to possess the leadership and decision-making skills,” according to the document, noting this created internal tensions in the group.

In the end, he was able to consolidate what the profile called “an iron grip” on the cartel, while leading it in new directions. As demand for cocaine declined in the United States, the gang took to selling more of it in Mexico.

“He overcame the initial perceptions about his personality,” the document said.

Carrillo Fuentes was also known for establishing a series of shifting alliances that seldom worked out for long.

He initially allied his cartel with the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexico’s most powerful drug gang. But that alliance fell apart following the 2004 killing of another brother, Rodolfo Carrillo Fuentes, in Sinaloa. That killing was reportedly ordered by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the top Sinaloa drug lord. In revenge, Carrillo Fuentes allegedly ordered the killing of Guzman’s brother in a prison a few months later.

From that point on, the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels became locked in Mexico’s bloodiest turf battle.

That in turn led Carrillo Fuentes to establish another alliance of convenience with Sinaloa’s rivals, the Beltran Leyva cartel, and the Zetas, the most ruthless Mexican gang.

Carrillo Fuentes was allegedly protected by an “extremely violent” group of former soldiers, and the Juarez cartel pioneered the use of targeted car-bomb attacks on police.

Follow us on twitter.com/foxnewslatino
Like us at facebook.com/foxnewslatino

View the original article here

Mexico arrests alleged head of Juarez cartel

Three alleged scammers arrested

Bjorn Burke, Staff Reporter

Three Jamaicans residing in the United States, accused of scamming the elderly via telephone, were Thursday arrested and charged separately for their involvement in the fraudulent scheme.

Charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, with an enhanced penalty for targeting the elderly is 24-year old Shanice Ethridge, of Broward County, Florida, United States address.

Mikhail Gorbachev George Williams, 25, also of a Broward County, Florida address, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and running an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Charged with mail fraud is Fabian Winston Parkinson, 33, of Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Elderly victims

According to www.miami.cbslocal.com, an investigation launched by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the US Postal Inspection Service and the Martin County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) lead them to the three accused.

The three would reportedly call elderly victims, informing them that they had won a lottery or sweepstakes. It is believed that the trio would tell the victims that in order to claim their winnings, they first had to pay taxes, duties or fees.

“These arrests show that HSI is committed to stopping individuals who prey on our senior citizens,” Special Agent in Charge of HSI Miami, Alysa Erichs said in a statement. “We will continue to work with our international partners and other law enforcement agencies to put an end to these criminal organisations.”

View the original article here

Three alleged scammers arrested

Alleged fake cop gets sick in court

Bjorn Burke, Staff Reporter

An ailing man in custody, who is alleged to have presented himself as a police officer and collected a sum of money from another while making promises to clear all his outstanding traffic tickets, was whisked away to be given medical attention when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Charged with obtaining money by means of false pretence is Beresford Lewis.

Reports are that Lewis, presenting himself as a sergeant of police, entered into an arrangement with the male complainant, for him to have all his traffic tickets cleared off without going through the prescribed method. The complainant reportedly paid over a sum of $25,000 to Lewis for same.

It is believed that after a period of time had passed and the agreement was not met, the complainant became suspicious later making a report to the police. Lewis was subsequently arrested and charged.

In court, a sickly Lewis was assisted by a police officer while hobbling into the docks, and was not able to even stand to answer to the charge.

As a result, the lawyer representing Lewis, who attempted to make a bail application on behalf of his client, was unsuccessful in doing so.

Instead, Resident Magistrate Simone Wolfe-Reece ordered that the accused man, who was in custody, receive immediate medical attention. The matter was stood down until later in the day.

View the original article here

Alleged fake cop gets sick in court

Alleged robber gets court date

A mention date was set in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday, in a matter in which a man is alleged to have stolen a number of items from a third-year medical student at the University Hospital of the West Indies.

Charged with simple larceny and malicious destruction of property is Kevin Thompson.

It is alleged that on the day of the incident, the accused stole a stethoscope, tuning fork, patella hammer, tape measure, hard drive and a Nokia cell phone, among a few other items valued at $10,000.

The police, acting on information that cars were being broken into at the hospital, intercepted a Lexus motor vehicle allegedly driven by the accused after a chase had ensued. A second man escaped from the vehicle.

The items were found and Thompson was subsequently charged. The matter has been set for mention on October 14.

View the original article here

Alleged robber gets court date

Alleged robber remanded

Rasbert Turner, Star Writer

A man who was held in a stolen car in St Elizabeth was ordered remanded when he appeared in court yesterday.

O’Brian Parchment, 27-year-old air condition technician of St Elizabeth was denied bail when he appeared in the Spanish Town Magistrate’s Court.

The defence attorney told the court her client is a trained professional.

She said that after Parchment repaired the car’s air condition, he was test driving it when he was held.

Resident Magistrate Anmarie Nembhard told the lawyer that the accused from all indications, played a role in crime.

Allegations are that in March this year a 2001 Honda motor car was stolen in Portmore, St Catherine.

On August 27, police personnel from Santa Cruz police in St Elizabeth were in search of a car that was involved in a robbery.

The accused seen driving a car fitting the description.

It was stopped and the police observed that the key ignition was damaged and other irregularities.

Parchment was held and further investigations conducted which revealed that was stolen in St Catherine.

He is to reappear in court on October 7 when the matter will again be mentioned.

View the original article here

Alleged robber remanded

Two alleged cable thieves freed

Rasbert Turner, Star Writer

Two of the three men charged with the theft of LIME cables valued at more than $770,000 were freed when they appeared in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Freed are Rory Sewell, 30-year-old of Moneague, St Ann, and Lehu Gordon, businessman of Linstead, St Catherine.

When the case was mentioned, Ricardo Sewell told the court that he alone was responsible for the theft of the cables.

The other two accused were ordered released while Ricardo Sewell was ordered remanded until October 17 for sentencing.

Allegations are that on September 3, about 4 a.m., police personnel were on patrol in Sligoville, St Catherine.

A Honda Fit motor car driven by Ricardo Sewell with his son Rory was signalled to stop.

Cables found

It was searched and cables were discovered in the trunk of the vehicle.

Investigation revealed that it was the property of LIME.

Rory and Ricardo were subsequently charged with simple larceny while Lehu Gordon was charged with conspiracy.

The police said that Gordon was the person who rented the vehicle.

Attorney-at-law Shantez Stewart represented the freed men.

View the original article here

Two alleged cable thieves freed

Officers rescue alleged fondler from mob

Deon P Green, Star Writer

The police in St Thomas had to move swiftly earlier this week to rescue a man who is on a sexual assault charge, accused of fondling a young man’s private parts.

Reports reaching The WEEKEND Star and the police are that residents in the Phanpret area of St Thomas have been threatening to attack and beat the 40-year-old man for the alleged assault.

granted bail

He was arrested and charged by the Yallahs police on June 30, for allegedly sexually assaulting a young man in the community. He was granted bail in the sum of $8,000 and booked to appear in court on July 25.

The charge comes against allegations that the man offered a young man accommodation at his home for a night after the young man failed to find a family member he was visiting.

They young man was allegedly awoken by the man fondling his private parts. An investigation by the police led to the charge being laid against the accused.

View the original article here

Officers rescue alleged fondler from mob

Alleged gay men attack male shopper

Bjorn Burke, Staff Reporter

Business came to a halt at a popular Corporate Area shopping establishment on Wednesday, after men, who are alleged to be homosexuals, reportedly attacked a male shopper following disparaging remarks directed at the group.

Reports from the Half-Way Tree police are that on June 2, at approximately 1:15 p.m., police personnel were called to the scene. Upon arrival, officers who caught the tail end of the fracas cautioned the rowdy quartet to leave the establishment immediately.

One of the men from the boisterous group was said to have had an altercation with a male shopper who passed critical remarks. As a result, the alleged homosexual reportedly hurried to an aisle of the supermarket, grabbing a knife off shelf, unsheathing it, later approaching the man wielding threats.

THE WEEKEND STAR understands that the group of men had been carrying on in unbecoming manner prior to the incident.

“Mi see dem. Female slippers, women’s handbag, and one of dem was exposing him bottom area. They were picking up things like ladies stuff, like Stayfree and dem sort of something deh,” said one man, as he recounted the incident. “This particular guy it seem to upset him. Him pass some remarks and dem hear, so dem decide fi attack him.”

The debacle sent several horrified shoppers scampering.

Police told THE WEEKEND STAR that no charges have been laid against the men since they cooperated and left the enterprise, returning the knife used to threaten the male shopper.

View the original article here

Alleged gay men attack male shopper

Alleged St Elizabeth "cow thief" remanded

Latest News

Friday, July 26, 2013 | 2:42 PM

ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — One of four men who were taken into custody in relation to the larceny of cattle in Malvern, St. Elizabeth on July 17, was remanded when he appeared before the Black River Resident Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, July 23.He is 24-year-old Donwayne Wright of Ridge Pen district, Watchwell, St Elizabeth. Wright and three other men were arrested when a group of police officers intercepted a truck in which they were travelling. The cattle were discovered in the back of the truck. Further investigations revealed that the five animals were stolen from a farmer in the area. Wright was then charged on July 23 with Larceny of Cattle. He is to reappear before the Black River Resident Magistrate’s Court on August 14, 2013.The other three men who were taken into custody by the Malvern Police were questioned and released.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

View the original article here

Alleged St Elizabeth "cow thief" remanded

Alleged St Elizabeth "cow thief" remanded

News

Friday, July 26, 2013 | 2:42 PM

ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — One of four men who were taken into custody in relation to the larceny of cattle in Malvern, St. Elizabeth on July 17, was remanded when he appeared before the Black River Resident Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, July 23.He is 24-year-old Donwayne Wright of Ridge Pen district, Watchwell, St Elizabeth. Wright and three other men were arrested when a group of police officers intercepted a truck in which they were travelling. The cattle were discovered in the back of the truck. Further investigations revealed that the five animals were stolen from a farmer in the area. Wright was then charged on July 23 with Larceny of Cattle. He is to reappear before the Black River Resident Magistrate’s Court on August 14, 2013.The other three men who were taken into custody by the Malvern Police were questioned and released.

View the original article here

Alleged St Elizabeth "cow thief" remanded