Articles Posted in Articles of Interest

On April 30 an undercover operation was executed to prevent what is commonly referred to as domestic terrorism. Four men have been convicted of the crime associated with the above operation.

Authorities say Douglas Wright was the suspected ringleader of the attempted attack. Wright and co-conspirators admitted their plan to remotely detonate improvised devices containing C-4 explosives on the Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge. Authorities say defendants had considered various targets and ultimately chose to target the bridge connecting Brecksville and Sagamore Hills in Ohio, which is located near Cleveland.

The defendants pleaded guilty in September to charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and use of an explosive device to destroy property used in interstate commerce.

Authorities continue the search for two youths suspected of beating and robbing a 17-year-old boy on a Broward County Transit bus in September. The incident occurred at a bus stop on the 1500 block of W. Sunrise Blvd.

Investigators have released a surveillance video in which three suspects, one in a white shirt, one in a red, and one in a black shirt, were moving through the crowd of people on the bus. When the bus stopped, the suspects got off via the rear door but then the one in the suspect in the red shirt jumps back on and punches the victim then dragged him off the bus.

The three suspects take turns punching and kicking he victim. The video showed that the victim attempted to run away but was caught by the suspect in the black shirt and thrown to the ground for more beatings and kicking, the video showed. Authorities say the suspects robbed from the victim his cellphone, digital music player and earphones and then ran away.

A 64-year-old man was killed Sunday in a shootout at a Detroit police station. He first tried to shoot an officer behind bulletproof glass before officers exchanged gunfire with him.

The shooter entered the building that houses the Southfield Police Department around 2:20 p.m. with a handgun and pointed it at an officer sitting behind bullet-proof glass.

Refusing requests to put down the gun, the man started firing at the desk officer. The first officer to respond was shot in the shoulder during the incident.

Marco Antonio Delgado, 46, a former trustee at Carnegie Mellon University and Texas lawyer, faces charges of laundering more than $600 million for a Mexican drug cartel.

Delgado was arrested on November 2 at a restaurant in El Paso and was indicted in federal court in El Paso Thursday and asked Judge Norbert Garney to schedule a bond hearing for Wednesday.

Delgado pleaded not guilty to the charges which accuse him of conspiring to launder drug profits from July 2007 through December 2008 for a cartel based in Guadalajara, Mexico. If convicted, Delgado faces a maximum 20 year prison sentence.

Matthew Bent, the teenager accused of ordering Denver Jarvis to pour a container of isopropyl alcohol on Michael Brewer, who was subsequently lit on fire and left with second and third degree burns over two-thirds of his body.

Bent was not convicted of the attempted murder charge, however, he was found guilty of aggravated battery in the October 2009 incident.

After Bent’s conviction, one of the jurors later claimed that she wanted to acquit Bent of all charges but felt pressured by the others to reach a compromise verdict. Additionally, she accused other jurors of discussing aspects of the case before the trial was over and included race in their deliberations.

George Zimmerman, the 28 year-old charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of Martin on February 26 in Sanford, Florida seeks to admit evidence of the victim Trayvon Martin’s school records.

Despite the efforts of the deceased Trayvon Martin’s family to keep school and social media records private, a Florida judge, Circuit Judge Debra has ruled that the records can be provided to Gearge Zimmerman’s defense attorneys. The decisions came just hours after Martin’s father made a plea to the court not to disclose his son’s records.

This judge’s decision may prompt the schools that Trayvon Martin attended, to provide all documents in relation to his grades, attendance, and disciplinary actions. However, the medical records must be given to the prosecutors subject to her review as to admissibility.

A 23-year-old Texas mother, Elizabeth Escalona, super glued her 2-year-old daughter’s hands to a wall and beat her because her daughter was having difficulties potty training. The child urinated on herself during the ordeal, during which she was hit in head and kicked in the groin, among other forms of abuse.

She pleaded guilty in July to a charge of first-degree injury to a child, a crime punishable by anywhere between probation and life in prison. A Dallas County felony records department district clerk has stated that Escalona was sentenced Friday morning to 99 years in prison. Escalona will be eligible to ask for parole in 30 years. An appeal is likely to follow this sentence.

During defendant’s sentencing hearing, her mother testified that she found the girl and took her to a hospital. Once Jocelyn was there, medical authorities noticed severe bruises to her face and head, as well as a severe brain injury and she was temporarily in a coma.

Jerry Sandusky is likely to spend the rest of his lie in jail as he was recently sentenced to at least 30 years in prison after being convicted of sexual abuse. Sandusky had faced a maximum sentence of 400 years for dozens of charges related to his sexual abuse charges, however, his maximum sentence will remain at 60 years and he will not be eligible for parole for 30 years.

On June 22, Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of child sex abuse, from corruption of minors to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, in which his accusers testified to during a trial that lasted less than two weeks.

During the trial, which garnered national attention and cast a shadow on Penn State’sPenn State’s heralded football program, the 23-year-old Victim No. 4 testified that he was only 13 when Sandusky sexually abused him in a university shower.

Three New Jersey high school teachers were arrested Thursday on charges of having sexual relations with their students, along with thee principal and vice-principal for failing to report the illegal and inappropirate relationships to the proper authorities. Camden County authorities announced the charges Thursday.

The teachers were arrested after a two-month investigation that began when a student informed a substitute teacher in April about inappropriate relationships between male teachers and female students. The substitute teacher then notified Principal who then failed proper authorities. The Assistant Principal allegedly helped the girl write her statement to make it sound less serious.

The prosecutor’s office said the three men engaged in sexual activity with three female students on numerous occasions from November 2011 to June 2012.

Authorities in Gainesville have continued to engage in a diligent search for missing University of Florida student Christian Aguilar. Aguilar’s father, maintaining hope, asked the FBI to assist in the case and volunteers to distribute fliers on campus in an effort to find his son. The FBI has agreed to join the city police and other law enforcement agencies in continuing the search.

Aguilar was last seen Sept. 20, at a Best Buy store with 18-year-old Pedro Bravo. Bravo is the prime suspect in the disappearance of the Aguilar and is being held at the Alachua County Jail on first-degree murder charges.

Bravo admitted to brutally beating up Aguilar and leaving him bloody and bravely breathing in the parking lot. Police later found blood in multiple spots in his SUV and Aguilar’s backpack hidden in the closet of his apartment. He has refused to help police in the search for Aguilar.