Free Republic

Talk about some dirty diamonds. A descendant of the Cartier jewelry dynasty was sentenced to eight years in federal prison after confessing to running an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange that laundered more than $470 million in drug trafficking proceeds. Maximilien de Hoop Cartier, a resident of France who moonlights as a singer under the name “Max Cartier,” was sentenced in Manhattan federal court Tuesday after pleading guilty in October to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Cartier, 58, funneled the money through a web of US shell companies disguised as fake software and tech firms —...

A Wisconsin woman is behind bars after police say she stabbed her boyfriend to death during an argument over dinner. Mikayla Kloth, 27, appeared in a Waukesha County court on Monday, days after prosecutors said she fatally stabbed 25-year-old Lukas Rosch at her apartment in Lac La Belle, Wisconsin. She was charged with first-degree intentional homicide. According to a criminal complaint obtained by local ABC affiliate WISN, Kloth told Rosch that she wanted to go out to dinner on Friday night. Instead, he showed up at the apartment with chicken drumsticks and seasoning that he intended to cook at her...

An American soldier stationed at Fort Polk in Louisiana was arrested last week after he told users on the popular messaging platform Discord that he planned to conduct a mass shooting at a synagogue. Jakob Marcoulier, 22, was arrested on Thursday and charged with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce after the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received a tip in February that he had made threats toward synagogues, according to the US attorney’s office for the Western District of Louisiana. According to court documents, the FBI obtained audio from Discord in which Marcoulier allegedly said, “After this deployment if...

18-year-old Janek Szkaradek, and yes, on Saturday, he drove a lawnmower straight through the entrance of a Target store in Ocala, took a spin around the dollar bin area, and left. He damaged the door in the process. The day before, Szkaradek walked into a nearby Culver's with a leaf blower and apparently turned it on and used it, disturbing all of the guests who were simply trying to enjoy their burgers, curds, and custard. Janek's buddy, Luke Charske, was there to film both stunts for social media. Aaaaaand, they've both been arrested. Aaaaaand, they've both been arrested. From Click...

An animal rights activist who attempted to 'free' a crayfish by stealing it from a restaurant and throwing it into the sea has claimed she was the victim of a police 'witch-hunt' after being convicted of criminal damage.

A Virginia transgender substitute teacher was arrested for allegedly plotting a chilling “murder spree” at a local school — and bragging online about having a disturbing hit list. Hadyn Dollery, 19, was busted on school grounds Monday after posting threatening messages on Discord targeting John Champe High School in Stone Ridge, about 40 miles west of Washington, DC, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and multiple outlets. Police said a tip on the department’s Safe2Talk app exposed the suspect’s sinister online posts. The accused would-be attacker allegedly unleashed threats against family and friends on the messaging app, including disturbing...

SARASOTA, Fla. - Florida authorities say a woman is under arrest after she was asleep behind the wheel with her Tesla stopped in the middle of Interstate 75. According to state police, Kimberly Brown, 37, was found around 2 a.m. on I-75 on Friday, April 24, intoxicated at nearly twice the legal limit. Florida State Trooper Kenn Watson called the situation very dangerous, as Brown should not have been driving. “Unfortunately, she was intoxicated more than twice the legal limit and had made the assumption that the Tesla would get her home safely,” Watson said. Authorities said Brown was using...

A Florida mayor jailed nearly two years ago for a drunk-driving crash is reportedly back behind bars after allegedly flunking a drug test while on probation. Teresa Heitmann, the mayor of Naples, was arrested Monday night for violating her probation after testing positive for cannabinoids, the main compound found in marijuana, during a court-mandated drug test on March 26, according to police records obtained by Gulf Coast News and WINK. The 62-year-old – on probation for an August 2024 DUI bust – was hit with unlawful possession or use of cannabinoids. “We are aware of the situation involving Mayor Teresa...

A police sergeant thought her spine may have 'shattered' and feared being 'paralysed' after a Palestine Action activist hit her in the back with a sledgehammer, a court has heard. Sergeant Kate Evans was allegedly hit by an activist who broke into a defence firm's factory in 2024 while she tried to arrest another trespasser. Six activists entered the UK site of Israel-based defence firm Elbit Systems near Bristol on August 6, 2024, destroying property and clashing with security guards and police, it is alleged. Prosecutors said Samuel Corner hit Sergeant Evans while she was on her knees trying to...

A Pennsylvania man accused of stealing more than 100 sets of human remains from a historic cemetery appeared in court Friday, where he reportedly waived his right to an evidentiary hearing. Jonathan Gerlach, 34, appeared in Delaware County court wearing a lime green prison jumpsuit. Clean-shaven with his hair tied back in a bun, he looked noticeably different from his booking photo. He spoke little during the brief proceeding, according to FOX 29 Philadelphia. Gerlach is facing nearly 500 charges — including burglary, abuse of a corpse and desecration of monuments — tied to a disturbing investigation at Mount Moriah...

A Navy reservist from Virginia who was accused of murdering his wife after her body was found in their freezer was arrested in Hong Kong, ending a two-month international manhunt, authorities said Wednesday. David Varela, 38, is expected to be charged with first-degree murder after the "successful overseas apprehension," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. Varela was apprehended late Tuesday in the former British colony and taken Wednesday to San Francisco, where he appeared before Magistrate Judge Alex Tse on Thursday. Tse ordered federal marshals to take Varela to the federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia....

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The boyfriend of the 31-year-old woman shot dead by police officers during a kidnapping attempt at an Omaha Walmart talked with First Alert 6 on Wednesday about her prior struggles. Guzman’s boyfriend Carlos declined to give First Alert 6 a last name or show his face. He noticed something was off with her starting two weeks ago. He says she takes a shot every three months to treat her schizophrenia, and she was due to have another one this week.

A UK bride was covered in black paint just moments before she walked down the aisle in a shocking “revenge” attack by her spiteful new sister-in-law. Gemma Monk, a 35-year-old mom of two, was walking with her father to her big day in Maidstone, England, when she heard someone call her name — then saw them throw black paint at her, she told Kent Online. She grabbed her attacker’s hair, realizing it was her groom’s sister, Antonia Eastwood, 49, who’d been banned from the nuptials over a simmering feud stemming from the sister-in-law’s own wedding a year earlier. Remarkably, Monk...

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Omaha Police have identified the woman killed in an attempted kidnapping incident at Walmart on Tuesday morning. A release from OPD identified the woman killed in the shooting as 31-year-old Noemi Guzman. OPD confirmed that no officers were injured in the incident, which started around 9:15 a.m. Tuesday at Walmart near 72nd and Pine streets. According to OPD, officers immediately began to approach Guzman, who had the 3-year-old boy in the seat of the shopping cart. After multiple commands to drop the knife, Guzman began to cut the boy. The officers then both fired their patrol...

🚨 JUST NOW: JD Vance announces FBI Director Kash Patel is SURGING resources to prosecute the leftists FEDERALLY who assaulted TPUSA journalist Savanah Hernandez in Minnesota GOOD! "I spoke with @FBIDirectorKash Patel on the way down here and I said, I assume that we're doing something here. And he said, yes!" "We've had multiple agents on the ground. We've already talked to surveillance. We're going to use the video to try to go after the people who assaulted her and then try to defund their networks that fund those radicals who are going around assaulting people." "That's what we should...

Newly released footage shows the moment a gunman fired shots inside Pauls Valley High School, before being stopped by the school’s principal. The footage from April 7, 2026, shows suspect Victor Hawkins walking into the school and pointing his gun at two students. An affidavit outlines that Hawkins walked into the school, pointed his gun and yelled for everyone to “get on the ground.” Two students are seen on footage running away from Hawkins as he enters the school’s lobby. Principal Kirk Moore is then seen rushing towards the gunman and tackling him. While stopping the gunman, Moore was shot...

Jason Thomas Nichols, a 30-year-old California man, is facing four felony charges after Ring camera footage of his erratic home invasion attempt went massively viral this earlier this week. He has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury, first-degree burglary, terrorizing, and vandalism for the Tuesday, April 7 incident. Earlier this week, video of Jason Thomas Nichols attacking the front door of a neighbor and demanding to know where his daughter was blew up on social media. In the viral Ring camera footage, Nichols — wearing a black trench coat, a Demon Slayer anime shirt,...

A Florida 16-year-old is being charged as an adult in the sexual abuse and murder of his stepsister on a Carnival cruise ship last year, authorities said Monday. The teen, T.H., of Titusville, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse in the killing of Anna Kepner, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said. Kepner, 18, was found dead, asphyxiated, on Nov. 7 under the bed in a cabin the siblings shared on the Carnival Horizon cruise ship while on vacation with Kepner’s family, records showed.

A Democrat running for Florida governor allegedly attacked two elderly people, believed to be his parents, during a domestic dispute on Friday — and bizarrely accused the victims of being “on fentanyl” and trying to kill him during his whirlwind arrest. Kevin Cichowski, 46, allegedly beat one victim with a cane and chucked a cellphone at the other inside a riverside home in Palm County, Florida on Friday, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. Police did not confirm Cichowski’s relation to the victims, but described the altercation as domestic in nature. The gubernatorial candidate also made repeated nonsensical accusations...

A video showing a Fairfield homeowner fighting off a home invader may cause “concern” as it circulates on social media, police said Saturday. The video depicts a resident of the 1700 block of Burbank Court using a shovel to battle the intruder on Tuesday before police arrived. Police praised “the actions of the homeowner, who worked to protect his family while officers were responding to the scene.” A man later identified as 30-year-old Jason Nichols attempted to break into the residence occupied by a woman and child by kicking the front door, police said. When that failed, he gained entry...