Free Republic

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A 23-year-old Memphis man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for hitting an 11-year-old girl with his vehicle, then raping her. But the girl's family is not at all satisfied with the sentence.

Fare-beating has long been a problem for the MTA, but transit officials say it has grown worse, and is one reason fares have to go up in March. They say fare-beating increased after the Manhattan District Attorney last year stopped prosecuting most cases, a response to concerns that black and Latino violators were being disproportionally singled out. The NYPD also has eased enforcement, issuing civil summonses to the majority of turnstile jumpers instead of arresting them, focusing instead on more serious crimes. NYPD numbers show more than 10,000 fewer arrests for fare-beating since January, compared to the same period last...

The wife of a DEA employee died two days after being shot in an apparently random drive-by shooting while she and her family were driving home to Illinois from Wisconsin Dells. Authorities believe the suspect had killed someone else just hours earlier in Milwaukee. Tracy Czaczkowski, 44, was heading home with her husband and children on a Wisconsin highway Sunday when she was shot in the neck by 20-year-old Zachary Hays, who was driving a Chevrolet Blazer. The gunman fired three shots as the Czaczkowski family passed by, hitting Tracy Czaczkowski once. The Czaczkowskis had just spent time in Wisconsin...

A Columbus man has been indicted on charges of stabbing and killing his former girlfriend and her daughters at their home last January. Wendell Callahan is accused of killing Erveena Hammonds and her ten- and seven-year-old daughters. Callahan was seriously injured in a confrontation with Hammonds' current boyfriend, Curtis Miller, at her north Columbus apartmentAccording to The Blaze "Callahan would have been still serving a nearly 13-year federal prison sentence at the time of the murders if he had not been released early due to a change in sentencing guidelines. As Judicial Watch noted, the change occurred as part of...

I have no affiliation with the author-I just thought this was cute-anyone know the name of the piece of music?Little Girl & Musician

The 3-year-old was watching “SpongeBob SquarePants” when two thugs broke into their house and robbed them at gunpoint. When the case went to trial the two black assailants were found guilty. As part of the sentencing, Jordan and Tommy Gray wrote in a victim impact statement that their daughter is still in “constant fear” of black men.” Tommy Gray implored prison time for the attackers. Since the crime, Tommy Gray said the attack has left deep psychological wounds on their young daughter. Whenever we are running errands, if we come across a black male, she holds me tight and begs...

PHOENIX—On Sept. 10, 2014, Joel Leon Thomas, Jr., 24, of El Mirage, Ariz., was sentenced by Judge David G. Campbell to 49.5 years in federal prison for masterminding three bank robberies in Peoria, Surprise, and Sun City from January—February 2012. In March 2014, a federal jury found Thomas guilty of three counts of conspiracy to commit bank robbery, two counts of aid and abet armed bank robbery, one count of aid and abet bank robbery, and two counts of using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. The evidence at trial showed that Thomas, a bank teller at...

Alleged serial killer, now 74, is convicted of murdering 3 women in South L.A. in late 1980s A 74-year-old man described by prosecutors as a serial killer who preyed on victims down on their luck was convicted Tuesday of murdering three women in South Los Angeles in the late 1980s. The defendant, Samuel Little, leaned back in his wheelchair and smiled as the verdicts were read in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. The case went to trial after cold-case homicide detectives made a breakthrough in 2012 to match Little to the 1987 and 1989 deaths through DNA evidence left at...

ROANOKE, VA—A Tampa, Fla. man previously convicted of a scheme to profit from fraudulent United States Treasury checks was sentenced in absentia yesterday in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke. Osama “Sam” Mustafa, 51, of Tampa, Fla., was previously convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States for the purpose of impairing the lawful functions of the Internal Revenue Service, to receive fraudulent Treasury Checks, to commit wire fraud and to structure currency transaction, one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money...

WASHINGTON—A Crozet, Virginia man who previously pleaded guilty to child pornography charges was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville for distribution and possession of child pornography. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy for the Western District of Virginia and Special Agent in Charge Adam S. Lee of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office made the announcement. Michael G. Morris, who used the screen name “funshooter2006,” age 50, of Crozet, Virginia was indicted in 2013 and pleaded guilty on April 21, 2014...

They killed him for his wallet and his wife’s purse. Lance Cpl. Jonathan Price, a 26-year-old Marine, and wife Megan Price were the targets of a senselessly brutal robbery outside a Kentucky bar, Lexington police now believe. The young couple was leaving Austin City Saloon on June 21 after celebrating Megan’s birthday when they were attacked by two gunmen, who shot her in the leg and Price in the back, authorities told reporters. “I don’t think I could ever have had a better son,” Price’s distraught mother, Debbie Price, told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “He was such a blessing.” Detectives originally...

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Vahid Hosseini, 62, of Reston, Virginia, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for exporting various high-tech unlicensed goods to Iran, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and for laundering money wired to him from multiple overseas accounts. Hosseini agreed to forfeit $50,000 as part of his guilty plea in this case. Hosseini pleaded guilty on March 6, 2014. According to court documents, from at least as early as January 2008 to July 2013, Hosseini operated a business known as Sabern Instruments from his residence in Reston....

The owner and operator of a Houston-area ambulance company was sentenced today to serve 97 months in prison for her role in a $2.4 million Medicare fraud scheme. Gwendolyn Climmons-Johnson, 54, was convicted by a federal jury in Houston, Texas, on October 30, 2013, of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and four counts of health care fraud. In addition to the prison sentence, Climmons-Johnson was also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $972,132 in restitution. According to evidence presented at trial, Climmons-Johnson was the owner and operator of Urgent Response...

A black man shouted 'I'm going to punch the first white man I see!' before bashing Jeffrey Babbitt, 62, who fell backward and hit his head on the ground. 'The prognosis is not good and it does appear that the victim will likely die,' Manhattan Assistant District Attorney John Temple said.

If you’re graduating from college this year, count yourself lucky. Just 56 percent of college students complete four-year degrees within six years, according to a 2011 Harvard Graduate School of Education study. Among the 18 developed countries in the OECD, the U.S. was dead last for the percentage of students who completed college once they started it ― even behind Slovakia. College dropouts tend to be male, and give reasons such as cost, not feeling prepared, and not being able to juggle family, school and jobs, according to the Harvard study. An American Institutes for Research report last year estimated...

Raynard Versatile Crowe, 31, formerly of Hazel Park, was sentenced yesterday to 535 months in federal prison, following his conviction on March 21, 2013, by a jury in Detroit on charges of bank robbery, pharmacy robbery, using a firearm during a crime of violence, felon in possession of a firearm, and conspiracy, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley, III of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The sentence was handed down by United States District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow. The evidence presented at trial established that...

On March 29, 2013, special agents in the Milwaukee Division of the FBI arrested Hua Jun Zhao, age 42. Zhao is charged via a criminal complaint for knowingly engaging in economic espionage benefiting a foreign government, foreign instrumentality, or foreign agent, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1831 (a) (1)(2)(3). Zhao is alleged to have used his employment and position at the Medical College of Wisconsin to illegally acquire patented cancer research material and to have taken steps to provide that material to Zhejiang University in China. The public is reminded individuals placed under arrest are presumed...

BIRMINGHAM—A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted a Cullman used car dealer for violating federal protections for active duty military service members by refusing to reduce the loan interest rate and repossessing the vehicle he sold to a man who was later deployed overseas with the Alabama National Guard, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard D. Schwein, Jr. A two-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges Carl Ralph Nuss, 75, with violating the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. The act restricts or limits civil actions in the areas of financial management, including rental agreements,...

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced that Hector Rodriguez, a former Customs and Border Protection officer, and Gerardo Rodriguez pled guilty today in front of Magistrate Judge David Bartick to conspiracy to bring in aliens for financial gain and to receive bribes, bringing in aliens for financial gain, and bribery. According to court records, defendant Hector Rodriguez agreed that from around 2010 until his arrest on July 13, 2012, he received bribes from co-defendants Gerardo Rodriguez and Maria Guerrero, in the form of cash money, use of luxury vehicles, and use of an apartment, in return for failing to...

WASHINGTON—Kwame R. Brown, the former chairman of the council of the District of Columbia, was sentenced today to a day in confinement and six months of home detention on a federal charge of bank fraud. He also was ordered to perform 480 hours of community service. In a second proceeding later in the day, he was sentenced to probation on a separate criminal charge involving a violation of the District of Columbia’s campaign finance laws. The sentences were announced by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen, Jr.; James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and...