Showing posts with label Allegedly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Allegedly. Show all posts
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Montana Prosecutor Allegedly Told Mother of 5-Year-Old Sexual-Assault Victim That "Boys Will Be Boys"
On Friday, the Department of Justice sent a letter to the Missoula County Attorney’s Office in Montana, alleging that it has found “substantial evidence” that prosecutors there systematically discriminate against female sexual-assault victims. According to the DOJ, the office considers sexual-assault cases involving adult women a low priority, often treats these victims with disrespect—quoting religious passages to one woman who reported assault, in a way that made her feel judged—and declines to prosecute some cases in which it has confessions or eyewitnesses, including a case in which Missoula police obtained incriminating statements from a man who admitted to having sexual intercourse with a mentally ill woman, who had asked him to stop.
“We uncovered evidence of a disturbing pattern of deficiencies in the handling of these cases by the County Attorney’s Office, a pattern that not only denies victims meaningful access to justice, but places the safety of all women in Missoula at risk,” wrote Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division, in a statement on Friday.
In a statement emailed to Mother Jones on Saturday, Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg wrote, “I think that everything the DOJ is saying about our office is false. These people are as unethical as any I have ever seen. They obviously have a political agenda they want to push and the truth does not matter to them.” Van Valkenburg also told The Missoulian, “There was no effort whatsoever by the DOJ to in any way inform me before they made this thing public.” (A Justice Department spokeswoman told Mother Jones on Saturday that it has reached out to the Missoula County Attorney’s Office ”more than a half-dozen times over the past 21 months in an attempt to reach an amicable resolution.” She added, ”We remain confident in the integrity of our findings.”)
Attorney General Eric Holder launched its federal investigation into how Missoula authorities handle sexual-assault cases in the spring of 2012. Last year, following the investigation, the Justice Department recommended that the University of Montana and the Missoula Police Department beef up resources to combat rape, and entered into agreements with both offices. In December 2013, the DOJ recommended that the Missoula County Attorney’s Office enter a similar agreement. But since the Justice Department never issued a findings report for the prosecutor’s office—like it did with the university and the police—Van Valkenburg said there wasn’t sufficient evidence of wrongdoing to justify the demands. He also claimed that DOJ was overstepping its legal authority. This month, he declared that he was taking legal action against the DOJ, rather than make changes required by the settlement. Now, the Justice Department has released those findings, noting that the prosecutor’s office failed to provide documents, information, or access to staff during the investigation.
According to the Justice Department’s letter, in one instance, a deputy county attorney in Missoula allegedly quoted religious passages to a woman who’d reported sexual assault “in a way that the victim interpreted to mean that the Deputy County Attorney was judging her negatively for have made the report.” In another case, the Justice Department spoke to a woman whose daughter was sexually assaulted, at the age of five, by an adolescent boy, who was sentenced to two years of community service for the crime. A prosecutor handling the case allegedly told the mother that “boys will be boys.” Another sexual-assault victim discussing prosecution options was allegedly told by a deputy county attorney, “All you want is revenge.”
The Justice Department reported that some women claimed they declined to pursue prosecution because of negative reports they’d heard about the prosecutor’s office. A young woman who was gang-raped as a student at the University of Montana allegedly told the DOJ that her friend decided not to report her own rape to the police or prosecutors after hearing about her experience dealing with the prosecutor’s office. In another case, a clinical psychologist who had counseled numerous sexual-assault survivors in Missoula allegedly told the Justice Department that after she, herself, was sexually assaulted, she was reluctant to have her case prosecuted, given the “horrendous” stories she’d heard.
The Justice Department also determined that, after a review of police files, “in some cases…Missoula Police officers had developed substantial evidence to support prosecution, but [the office] without documented explanation, declined to charge the case.” According to the DOJ, in one case, police obtained a confession from a man who admitted to raping a woman while she was unconscious, and recommended that he be charged with rape and car theft. The prosecutor’s office allegedly declined to bring charges, citing “insufficient evidence.” In another case, a man admitted to having sex with a mentally ill woman, and said that at some point she asked him to stop and said that he was hurting her—but he wasn’t sure when he’d stopped. The police also recommended rape charges in that case, and the prosecutor declined to bring charges, according to the Justice Department. The DOJ determined that the prosecutor’s office declined to prosecute “nearly every case” involving nonstranger assaults on adult women who had a mental or physical disability, or who were intoxicated by drugs or alcohol.
The Justice Department noted that the prosecutor’s office has made some recent improvements to the office, including requiring deputy county attorneys to attend sexual-assault prosecution training sessions. But the DOJ said that the office still needs to make the “commonsense” improvements it recommended in December. Van Valkenburg told The Missoulian over the weekend that he plans to proceed with his lawsuit and “DOJ should respond to our lawsuit, rather than try to poison the well with this stuff.”​ He also told Mother Jones the following in January: “The Missoula Police Department and our office have done a very good job of handling sexual-assault allegations regardless of what national and local news accounts may indicate.”
You can view the full DOJ letter here:
MoJo Blogs and Articles | Mother Jones
Montana Prosecutor Allegedly Told Mother of 5-Year-Old Sexual-Assault Victim That "Boys Will Be Boys"
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Man Arrested for Allegedly Threatening George W. Bush
Benjamin Smith allegedly yelled “Bush will get his,” after he was arrested Friday in midtown Manhattan, where he was found in his car with a rifle, machete, gasoline and two boxes of ammonization, according to the complaint.
Law enforcement officials were alerted by Smith’s mother on Thursday after she found what she said was a disturbing note at their shared home in Pittsburgh, N.Y.
Read more at ABC News
Man Arrested for Allegedly Threatening George W. Bush
Man Arrested for Allegedly Threatening George W. Bush
Benjamin Smith allegedly yelled “Bush will get his,” after he was arrested Friday in midtown Manhattan, where he was found in his car with a rifle, machete, gasoline and two boxes of ammonization, according to the complaint.
Law enforcement officials were alerted by Smith’s mother on Thursday after she found what she said was a disturbing note at their shared home in Pittsburgh, N.Y.
Read more at ABC News
Man Arrested for Allegedly Threatening George W. Bush
Monday, January 13, 2014
Hillary Clinton Allegedly Kept A “Hit List” During 2008 Campaign
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Hillary Clinton Allegedly Kept A “Hit List” During 2008 Campaign
Monday, December 30, 2013
Drug court judge allegedly drunk during proceedings; goes to rehab instead of jail
Judge Gisele Pollack
(Source: ABC)
BROWARD COUNTY, FL — A Florida judge presiding over misdemeanor drug cases reportedly showed up to work intoxicated and had to be removed from court. In a palpable irony, even a person who has dedicated her career toward meddling in other people’s lives and using the force of government against them is herself incapable of keeping herself sober at work. The judge faces no legal consequences and instead of being carted off to jail like so many of the recreational drug users she has dealt with, she will voluntarily put herself in rehab.
Judge Gisele Pollack, who founded Boward County’s misdemeanor drug court in 2005, was seen verbally assaulting her judicial assistant and yelling for her car keys to be returned before another judge intervened, according to an unidentified source.
The tirade followed Pollack’s abrupt dismissal of the day’s session after only serving an hour and a half on the bench, during which time she began slurring her words while addressing defendants.
“She’s not afraid to lock somebody up if they’re repeatedly thumbing their nose at authority.”
One can only speculate how many cases Pollack, an admitted alcoholic, may have presided over while under the influence. She says she will address what she calls “health issues” during an intensive two week outpatient program before returning to the bench.
Not everyone in the legal community feels that’s quite an adequate remedy.
“Could you imagine doing a night in jail because a judge couldn’t understand or appreciate your argument?” said attorney Steven Schaet. “If she’s adversely affected someone’s life, she shouldn’t be on the bench.”
There are thus far no indications Pollack will face official disciplinary action. She has, however, checked herself into rehab.
Pollack’s court provides misdemeanor drug offenders opportunities to have their charges dismissed and their records wiped clean if they complete six months of rehabilitative treatment. Offenders who relapse face tougher consequences.
“She’s not afraid to lock somebody up if they’re repeatedly thumbing their nose at authority,” said defense attorney Bill Gelin.
In view of the vague penalties high-profile offenders are handed relative to the punishments routinely meted out to the commonfolk, it’s clear American society operates with orders of jurisprudence. U.S. Senator Donne Trotter, for instance, received one year of court supervision after he was caught trying to smuggle a handgun onto a plane at O’Hare airport late last year, and Keith Tabron, a former “Detective of the Year” for the Washington D.C. police department, was given a five year suspended sentence and probation for furtively videotaping his stepdaughter in the shower; a felony that under Maryland law demands sex offender registration. Prosecutors granted Tabron immunity from this provision, ostensibly because he had no prior criminal history.
Addiction is a tragic and destructive problem, as Judge Pollack surely must be aware. But it is not one that the government is capable of fairly or competently dealing with. In the spirit of justice, one would hope when she returns to the bench, she comes back with a new outlook on the oppressive War on Drugs… and that she comes back in a lucid state when holding people’s fates in her hands.
Drug court judge allegedly drunk during proceedings; goes to rehab instead of jail
Drug court judge allegedly drunk during proceedings; goes to rehab instead of jail
Drug court judge allegedly drunk during proceedings; goes to rehab instead of jail
http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-89EKCgBk8MZdE.gif
Judge Gisele Pollack
(Source: ABC)
BROWARD COUNTY, FL — A Florida judge presiding over misdemeanor drug cases reportedly showed up to work intoxicated and had to be removed from court. In a palpable irony, even a person who has dedicated her career toward meddling in other people’s lives and using the force of government against them is herself incapable of keeping herself sober at work. The judge faces no legal consequences and instead of being carted off to jail like so many of the recreational drug users she has dealt with, she will voluntarily put herself in rehab.
Judge Gisele Pollack, who founded Boward County’s misdemeanor drug court in 2005, was seen verbally assaulting her judicial assistant and yelling for her car keys to be returned before another judge intervened, according to an unidentified source.
The tirade followed Pollack’s abrupt dismissal of the day’s session after only serving an hour and a half on the bench, during which time she began slurring her words while addressing defendants.
“She’s not afraid to lock somebody up if they’re repeatedly thumbing their nose at authority.”
One can only speculate how many cases Pollack, an admitted alcoholic, may have presided over while under the influence. She says she will address what she calls “health issues” during an intensive two week outpatient program before returning to the bench.
Not everyone in the legal community feels that’s quite an adequate remedy.
“Could you imagine doing a night in jail because a judge couldn’t understand or appreciate your argument?” said attorney Steven Schaet. “If she’s adversely affected someone’s life, she shouldn’t be on the bench.”
There are thus far no indications Pollack will face official disciplinary action. She has, however, checked herself into rehab.
Pollack’s court provides misdemeanor drug offenders opportunities to have their charges dismissed and their records wiped clean if they complete six months of rehabilitative treatment. Offenders who relapse face tougher consequences.
“She’s not afraid to lock somebody up if they’re repeatedly thumbing their nose at authority,” said defense attorney Bill Gelin.
In view of the vague penalties high-profile offenders are handed relative to the punishments routinely meted out to the commonfolk, it’s clear American society operates with orders of jurisprudence. U.S. Senator Donne Trotter, for instance, received one year of court supervision after he was caught trying to smuggle a handgun onto a plane at O’Hare airport late last year, and Keith Tabron, a former “Detective of the Year” for the Washington D.C. police department, was given a five year suspended sentence and probation for furtively videotaping his stepdaughter in the shower; a felony that under Maryland law demands sex offender registration. Prosecutors granted Tabron immunity from this provision, ostensibly because he had no prior criminal history.
Addiction is a tragic and destructive problem, as Judge Pollack surely must be aware. But it is not one that the government is capable of fairly or competently dealing with. In the spirit of justice, one would hope when she returns to the bench, she comes back with a new outlook on the oppressive War on Drugs… and that she comes back in a lucid state when holding people’s fates in her hands.
Read more about Drug court judge allegedly drunk during proceedings; goes to rehab instead of jail and other interesting subjects concerning The Edge at TheDailyNewsReport.com
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Fired Sen. Alexander Aide Allegedly Had Hundreds Of Child Porn Videos
The former top aide to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) who was arrested Wednesday had hundreds of videos depicting child pornography on a hard drive, according to new court documents.
In a criminal complaint filed on Thursday in federal court in Washington, D.C., a U.S. Postal Inspector described how authorities investigating a website that offered DVDs featuring nude young boys identified Ryan Loskarn, Alexander’s former chief of staff, as a customer back in 2010. In October of this year, the document states, investigators identified Loskarn’s residential IP address on the Gnutella peer-to-peer file-sharing network offering files for download with names that suggested child pornography.
Agents downloaded identical videos from the Gnutella network, and found one that depicted a man performing sexual acts with a prepubescent girl.
On Wednesday, law enforcement agents descended on Loskarn’s Washington, D.C. residence and executed a search warrant. They retrieved a portable hard drive — which they believe Loskarn had placed on a snowy ledge outside one of the home’s windows when they arrived. On the hard drive, authorities found “hundreds of videos depicting underage boys engaged in sexually explicit conduct,” among other videos containing child pornography.
Loskarn was expected to appear in court Thursday to face charges of possession and distribution of child pornography. Alexander announced on Wednesday that he had fired Loskarn, and replaced him with a new chief of staff.
Read the complaint (warning: the document contains explicit descriptions of child pornography):
Fired Sen. Alexander Aide Allegedly Had Hundreds Of Child Porn Videos
Monday, October 28, 2013
British Man Arrested For Allegedly Hacking U.S. Government Systems
Lauri Love, a 28-year-old British man, allegedly managed to hack into the computer systems of multiple U.S. government agencies, including the NASA and the Missile Defense Agency, according to a statement released Monday by the office of New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.
The statement said Love was arrested by authorities on Friday in England after he was charged in U.S. federal court with one count of “accessing a U.S. department or agency computer without authorization and one count of conspiring to do the same.”
An indictment unsealed in Newark federal court said Love, who was also allegedly known as “nsh,” “route,” and “peace,” worked with multiple co-conspirators in online chatrooms to compromise the systems and steal personally identifiable information of thousands of government employees and contractors. If convicted, the U.S. attorney’s office said Love faces as many as five years in prison and a $ 250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, on each of the two counts with which he is charged.”
British Man Arrested For Allegedly Hacking U.S. Government Systems
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Man Allegedly Sold Raccoons to Chicago Eateries
KNOX, Ind. – Indiana conversation officers said a Chicago man sold raccoons, deer and various other wildlife to markets and restaurants in Chicago’s Chinatown district for use in meals. 47-year-old Alexander Moy was arrested Monday in northwestern Indiana about 80 miles from Chicago and charged with illegally selling wildlife.
Lt. Tom Torsell of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said Moy’s arrest is the culmination of a two-year investigation during which he bought wildlife, including turtles and fish, from undercover officers, although it was not clear whether those animals were ever served to people.
The investigation was initiated after conversation officers received complaints of Moy purchasing whitetail deer from members of the public. Officials said that over the course of several months, they documented numerous wildlife sales, most of which involved venison and turtles.
After a search of Moy’s Starke County property, known as Kankakee Valley Fish Farm, conservation officers seized an array of equipment and animal species.
The charge of illegally selling wildlife carries penalties of up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $ 10,000.
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Man Allegedly Sold Raccoons to Chicago Eateries
Friday, June 21, 2013
UK Spy Agency Allegedly Taps Into Transatlantic Cables To Collect Data, Pays Companies For Cost Of Cooperation
According to the latest set of documents from Edward Snowden that were released by the Guardian today, the Britsh spy agency GCHQ has been tapping into 46 transatlantic fiber-optic cables that carry data between Europe and North America to collect and store email messages, Facebook posts and other information for at least the last 18 months, though the program, code-named “Tempora,” has supposedly been built up over the last five years.
Given what we’ve heard about the NSA and its close relationship to Britain’s GCHQ, this may not come as a total surprise and as the Guardian reports, GCHQ is sharing its information with the NSA.
“It’s not just a U.S. problem. The U.K. has a huge dog in this fight,” Snowden told the Guardian. “They [GCHQ] are worse than the U.S.”
According to this report, about 300 GCHQ and 250 NSA analysts were working on analyzing this data by last May and an unnamed U.K. official argues that they get to work with even more information than the NSA because the program actually “produces larger amounts of metadata than NSA.” By last year, the program was handling 600 million “telephone events” each day and was processing data from 46 of the 200 fibre-optic cables it tapped into.
As with all of these program, the legality of the operation is in doubt, though the 2000 Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa), the report says, requires the GCHQ to obtain a warrant for the tapping of “defined targets.”
The report also alleges that a number of companies have been “paid for the cost of their co-operation,” but unlike the NSA PRISM leaks, the names of these companies remain under wraps and the companies themselves are forbidden to reveal the existence of this program. They were, however, “obliged” to participate in the program, though it’s obviously not clear if they put up a fight or not.
Sadly, the Guardian did not post the actual documents, so for the time being, we have to take the reporter’s word as to the extend of the program.
UK Spy Agency Allegedly Taps Into Transatlantic Cables To Collect Data, Pays Companies For Cost Of Cooperation
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