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Crime Briefs: 3 Massachusetts men in federal court in separate child pornography cases

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:30:20 GMT

A 51-year-old Quincy man who lives in his parents’ basement has pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.Matthew Orman, 51, stored his child pornography in a folder labeled “hc” within a network drive named “The_Castle.” From this hard drive connected to his local area network, he was able to stream data, including the 401 video files across 114 gigabytes of data included in the filthy folder, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case.Three of the files within the folder are described in the document as representative, all of which depict young girls between the ages of 4 and 7 years old being coerced to perform sex acts on adult men. He watched these films on two custom-built PCs in his basement room, which the affidavit states was strewn with sex toys.Orman was charged in April and entered into a plea agreement on Wednesday that recommends prison time of five years to be followed by five years of supervised release. The judge can choose to sentence him to a maximum ...

Commanders’ Dan Snyder fined $60 million for sexually harassing employee, financial improprieties

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:30:20 GMT

Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder sexually harassed a team employee and oversaw team executives who deliberately withheld millions of dollars in revenue from other clubs, and he has agreed to pay a $60 million fine, the league announced Thursday.The NFL released a 23-page report detailing the findings of an independent investigation into Snyder’s conduct just minutes after its owners unanimously approved the sale of the Commanders to Josh Harris for a record $6.05 billion. The fine represents 1% of the sale price; Snyder bought the team, then known as the Redskins, for $800 million.The investigation was led by former Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White and conducted by her law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton. The league had pledged to make the findings of the probe public.Investigators concluded that Washington withheld $11 million in revenue that should have been shared with other teams, an amount the report suggests may have been far greater. WhiteR...

REVIEW: Barbie is more than Kenough

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:30:20 GMT

Whether you’re a Barbie girl in a Barbie world, whether you hate the standard the doll has set for femininity, or whether you’re a dude, this film is universal to all those experiences. It’s pretty rare we get a film as hugely cultural as this, one that becomes such a juggernaut before it comes out. We’ve all seen Ryan Gosling talk about his Kenergy, we’ve seen the numerous trailers for this film and the gorgeous sets and costumes. But to watch this film is a beautiful, powerful experience.Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in Barbie, courtesy of Warner Bros.It’s been hard to avoid Barbie, but in case you have this is a film about the doll many young girls have played with for decades. Barbie (played by Margot Robbie from Babylon) lives a perfect life in Barbieland. Everything is amazing until one day everything starts feeling off. Her feet become flat, she feels grumpy when waking up, and she finds herself contemplating her own mortality. Confused an...

Man wanted in sexual assault on walking trail near U of T Scarborough

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:30:20 GMT

Toronto police are searching for a man following a sexual assault that occurred on a walking trail near the University of Toronto’s Scarborough campus.Investigators said the victim was walking in the Valley Land Trail area in Scarborough between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on July 10.The male suspect allegedly attempted to engage in a conversation with the victim. The victim then tried to walk away from the suspect.Police said the male suspect sexually assaulted the victim. The suspect then fled the area in an unknown direction.It’s unclear if the sexual assault victim is a student at U of T in Scarborough.The man is described as white, around six-foot-four, 20-30 years old, unshaven, with light brown hair.He was last seen wearing a black t-shirt, khaki pants and sandals.Land Valley Trail, a 500-metre trail that connects to the Highland Creek Valley, opened to the public in August 2019.A school spokesperson told The Varsity at the time of its introduction to the public that the mo...

Police seized laptops, memoir from Vegas-area home of witness to Tupac Shakur’s 1996 killing

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:30:20 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A home that Las Vegas police raided this week in connection with the 1996 drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur is tied to one of the only surviving witnesses to the crime, a man long known to investigators whose nephew was seen as a suspect shortly after the rapper’s killing.Detectives sought items “concerning the murder of Tupac Shakur” from Duane “Keffe D” Davis, according to warrant documents obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. Davis, now 60, is a self-described “gangster” and the uncle of Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, one of Shakur’s known rivals. Anderson denied involvement in Shakur’s killing, and died two years later in a shooting in Compton, California.Police reported collecting multiple computers, a cellphone and hard drive, “documentary documents,” a Vibe magazine that featured Shakur, “purported marijuana,” several .40-caliber bullets, two “tubs containing photographs” and a copy of Davis’ 2019 tell-all memoir, ”Compton Street Legend.”The ...

Parched conditions push B.C.’s wildfire battle south, as rain brings relief in north

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:30:20 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s wildfire fight is set to move toward the province’s more populated southern areas amid hot and windy weather, while cooler temperatures and rain are expected to bring some relief in scorched northern regions.In the province’s southeast corner near Cranbrook, an unconfirmed number of homes have been lost to the out-of-control St. Mary’s River fire, B.C. government and Aq’am First Nation officials said Thursday.“We are certainly seeing a shift further south,” BC Wildfire Service spokesman Cliff Chapman said at a news conference. The rain forecast in the north will likely ease threats in the Fort Nelson area where crews have been battling the massive Donnie Creek fire, the largest fire in B.C. history, he said.“But with that, though, we’re also going to see continued hot, dry weather in the south, predominantly in the Cariboo and Kamloops fire centres and the Southeast fire centre,” said Chapman. ...

A timeline of the Paul Bernardo case and controversial prison transfer

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:30:20 GMT

The Correctional Service of Canada announced Thursday that a review found Paul Bernardo’s transfer to a medium-security prison from a maximum-security penitentiary was sound and followed proper policies and laws.Public backlash had erupted following its decision to move the convicted murderer and serial rapist, engulfing the Liberal government with questions about its handling of the matter and who knew what and when.Here is a timeline of events that led to Thursday’s announcement, including key dates from the Bernardo case and his recent controversial transfer.1991June 15 — Leslie Mahaffy, 14, disappears from outside her home in Burlington, Ont., in the early hours of the morning.June 29 — Mahaffy’s body parts are found encased in concrete blocks in Lake Gibson near St. Catharines, Ont. The same day, Paul Bernardo marries Karla Homolka.1992April 16 — Kristen French, 15, is abducted as she walks home from school in St. Catharines.April 30 — French’s body is found i...

US sending more warships, Marines to Gulf to counter Iran’s efforts to seize commercial ships

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:30:20 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is sending additional warships and thousands of Marines to the Middle East to increase security in the wake of Iranian attempts to seize commercial ships there.Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday approved the deployment of the USS Bataan amphibious readiness group and the 26th Marine Expeditional Unit to the Gulf region, according to U.S. officials. The readiness group consists of three ships, including the Bataan, an amphibious assault ship. An expeditional unit usually consists of about 2,500 Marines.In an announcement, U.S. Central Command said the deployment will provide “even greater flexibility and maritime capability in the region.” The announcement did not name the ships, but U.S. officials detailed the units involved in the deployment on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements.Along with the Bataan, the group includes two other warships, the USS Mesa Verde and the USS Carter Hall. The group left Norfolk, Virginia, earlier th...

Jury deliberations begin in double murder trial of rapper YNW Melly in South Florida

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:30:20 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Jurors in a South Florida courtroom began deliberating Thursday afternoon in the double murder trial of rapper YNW Melly, and the 24-year-old artist could face a possible death sentence if convicted of the fatal shooting of two childhood friends. Broward County prosecutors delivered their closing argument Thursday morning in the October 2018 shooting deaths. They reminded jurors that the fatal shots came from inside a Jeep where the victims had been shot, and by every account, from the seat where YNW Melly was sitting, the Sun Sentinel reported. Melly, whose legal name is Jamell Demons, had his breakout in 2017 and went on to work with Kanye West on “Mixed Personalities,” which was released in January 2019, a month before Demons was arrested on murder charges.Killed were Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr. Williams and Thomas were both part of the YNW collective, known respectively as YNW Sakchaser and YNW Juvy.According to prosecutors, Demons, W...

St. Charles police arrest 5 in human trafficking case in suburbs, Chicago

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:30:20 GMT

ST. CHARLES, Ill. — Five people have been charged in a months-long human trafficking investigation in several western suburbs.The charges were announced Thursday by the Kane County State's Attorney's Office and the St. Charles Police Department. Firefighters battle apartment fire in Elmwood Park Between Feb. 17 and Wednesday, the five people charged allegedly commercially sex trafficked seven people by causing or threatening harm to at least one person, according to a news release.It all started when officials said they found a brothel in St. Charles, which led them to a bigger enterprise that operated in Aurora, Chicago, Elgin, Hanover Park, unincorporated Palatine and South Elgin.On Wednesday, they said 10 women were taken into protective custody. All of them, officials said, are from South America and were flown to the United States for trafficking purposes.Hector Briseno, 54, of Chicago, Christian Hurtado, 27, of Elgin, Daniel Hurtado, 26, of South Elgin, Martha P. Hurtado-Her...