Maryland
DC man gets 10 years in casino kidnapping
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A federal judge in Maryland has sentenced a Washington, D.C., man to more than 10 years in prison for kidnapping a person from a hotel and casino, a U.S. Attorney said.
Christopher Allen Young, 26, was sentenced on Wednesday to 126 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit kidnapping, U.S. Attorney for Maryland Erek L. Barron said in a news release.
According to Young’s guilty plea, he and four others worked together in the February 2021 kidnapping. Two of the conspirators took the victim to southeast Washington, D.C. The victim’s wallet, cellphone, watch and other personal items were stolen.
Young and the co-conspirators then demanded the code to the safe in the victim’s hotel room, and when the victim refused to reveal it, he was struck in the head with a gun, authorities said. He then revealed the code and was forced out of the car.
The victim was later assaulted for the PIN number for his ATM card and for information about what was in his hotel room.
Law enforcement found the victim near an apartment building with multiple injuries, including apparent cuts on his mouth and eye and a broken nose, prosecutors said.
Mississippi
19-year-old, 3 other teens face capital murder charge
WEST POINT, Miss. (AP) — A 19-year-old man and three teenagers each face a capital murder charge in the mid-March death of a Mississippi man, authorities said.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday arrested Emerson Houston, two 17-year-old boys and a 15-year-old boy, all from West Point, in the March 11 death of Mikel Craven, 41. Investigators said Craven was found in a ditch with gunshot wounds.
Investigators said the suspects allegedly intended to rob Craven. Robbery is the underlying felony that allowed the state to charge them with capital murder. Sheriff’s investigators, in conjunction with the district attorney’s office, continue to investigate the case.
Judge Thomas Hampton denied bond for three of the suspects, who are being held in the Clay County Detention Center, news outlets reported. Sheriff Eddie Scott said the youngest suspect was the only one given a conditional bond, set at $75,000 and includes the wearing of an ankle monitor.
It was unknown if any of them have an attorney who could speak on their behalf.
While all three are charged as adults with capital murder, only Houston could face the death penalty if convicted. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court banned capital punishment for crimes committed by those under 18.
The four defendants are to appear in court again May 19 for a preliminary hearing.
Scott said the investigation is ongoing and anyone with any information is asked to contact the Clay County Sheriff’s Office or Crime Stoppers.
California
Woman gets 25-to-life for dropping infant to his death
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A woman who dropped her 7-month-old son to his death from a Southern California hospital parking structure was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years to life in prison.
Sonia Hermosillo, 42, of La Habra, told a judge that she was sorry for killing Noe Medina Jr. in 2011 and wanted to be reunited with her family, the Orange County Register reported.
“I’m asking for an opportunity to be with my daughters,” she said through a Spanish interpreter. “Please, your honor, I know that what I did was wrong, but I regret doing that from the bottom of my heart.”
On Aug. 22, 2011, Hermosillo drove the child to Children’s Hospital of Orange County, where he had been undergoing treatments for several medical problems, although he didn’t have an appointment that day, prosecutors said.
Hermosillo removed a helmet that the boy was wearing for one condition and dropped him from the fourth story of the hospital parking structure, prosecutors said.
She then went into the hospital, validated her parking and drove away, authorities said.
The boy died two days later.
According to trial testimony, Hermosillo had struggled with mental health issues after the birth of the boy, who had various issues including flat-head syndrome and a congenitally twisted neck.
In an interview with police, Hermosillo described having “hate, resentment and anger” toward the infant “because he’s sick,” prosecutors said.
Hermosillo was convicted of murder last year and found legally sane at the time of the killing.
Hermosillo’s husband and two daughters supported her during sentencing. One daughter said her mother was “not an evil person” but needed help after the boy was born, the Register reported.
“There is no winner here,” Orange County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Menninger told the family. “This just became a tragedy and I’m so sorry for what you went through.”
Virginia
Woman pleads guilty to failing to pay $2.7M in payroll taxes
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — A Virginia woman has pleaded guilty to failing to pay the Internal Revenue Service $2.7 million in payroll taxes that she deducted from her employees’ paychecks, a federal prosecutor said.
Court documents show that from at least 2011 to 2019, Wendy Brockenbrough, 53, of Virginia Beach failed to pay over to the IRS payroll taxes from three companies she owned, said U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber in a news release. She also had to file an Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return form, but didn’t do it for any of the businesses.
Also, court records indicate that Brockenbrough issued her employees weekly paystubs and annual Form W-2s showing the appropriate payroll taxes were being withheld from her employees’ paychecks. While she withheld the taxes, Brockenbrough failed to pay the IRS.
Instead, Brockenbrough purchased two boats worth nearly $1 million and a Jeep Wrangler for approximately $41,000, records said. She tried to hide her actions by lying to her accountants and saying she had made the payments. To support her claims, she forged IRS records and Quickbook entries showing the taxes had been paid.
Brockenbrough is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 8. She faces up to 15 years in prison.
Illinois
Man who abducted, sexually assaulted woman gets 101 years
WHEATON, Ill. (AP) — A Kentucky man who was convicted of abducting, sexually assaulting and robbing a college student in suburban Chicago will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a judge sentenced him to 101 years in prison.
Justin Dalcollo, 37, was sentenced Tuesday, five months after he was found guilty by a DuPage County jury of abduction, criminal sexual assault, aggravated battery, armed robbery and unlawful use of a weapon.
Under state law, Dalcollo, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, who formerly lived in DuPage County, must serve 85 % of his sentence, or a little more than 85 years in prison.
According to authorities, the 21-year-old woman was leaving a suburban Chicago shopping center on March 22, 2019, when Dalcollo used a gun to force his way into her car and ordered her drive to an ATM to withdraw money from her bank account.
He then forced her to drive to various locations before he ordered her to pull into the Grand Victoria Casino parking deck in Elgin, where he raped her.
The woman then drove herself to a hospital, where she reported the attack to police. Dalcollo, who has sexual assault convictions in Ohio, was arrested the next day in Chicago.
Minnesota
Suit challenging state’s abortion restrictions delayed
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A lawsuit challenging Minnesota’s restrictions on abortions that was set to go to trial next month has been delayed indefinitely, under an order from the Minnesota Court of Appeals.
The appeals court said late Tuesday that the lawsuit, filed by Gender Justice and other groups that support abortion rights, can’t proceed while the state’s appeal over which parties have legal standing to participate is pending. It’s not clear how long that appeal will take.
The trial was due to begin June 27 in Ramsey County District Court before Judge Thomas Gilligan, who had expected it to take three weeks.
If the U.S. Supreme Court follows through on a leaked draft opinion to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, abortion will still be legal in Minnesota. A 1995 state Supreme Court ruling known as Doe v. Gomez established a right to abortion under the Minnesota Constitution.
But Gender Justice and its allies are challenging a list of restrictions that Minnesota has enacted over the years, including a 24-hour waiting period, a requirement that minors notify both parents before getting an abortion, and a requirement that only doctors can perform abortions. The lawsuit relies in part on precedents set in Doe v. Gomez.
“We know our case will ultimately move forward to the merits,” said Jess Braverman, legal director for Gender Justice. “The question now is when. We are weighing all available legal options at this time.”
Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is fighting the lawsuit, told reporters Wednesday that he strongly supports abortion rights. But he said his office has the legal obligation to defend all state statutes, and that changing the laws should be up to the Legislature.
“I want to be real clear: there’s not one of these impediments to abortion that I would have voted for as a legislator, said Ellison, a former state representative and congressman. “I would have voted against all of them. I think they’re all bad policy.”
California
Woman who faked cancer for donations gets 5 years in prison
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A woman who pretended to have cancer and raised more than $100,000 in donations was sentenced by a Northern California federal court to five years in prison, prosecutors said.
Amanda Christine Riley raised $105,513 from at least 349 people after claiming on social media and her blog that she was fighting Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California said in a statement Tuesday.
Riley pleaded guilty last year to one count of wire fraud for taking donations from people over a seven-year period to help her pay for cancer treatments she never needed nor received, they said.
Beginning in 2012, Riley, who was then living in San Jose, began posting about needing to pay for medical care. To maintain her deception, she shaved her head to make it appear as if she were receiving chemotherapy, falsified medical records, and forged physicians’ letters and medical certifications, prosecutors said.
She deposited the donations into her personal bank accounts and used the funds to pay her living expenses, authorities said.
In 2019, an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and the San Jose Police Department uncovered the fraud. She was arrested the following year.
The judge also ordered Riley to pay restitution to those who donated in the amount of $105,513 and a three-year period of supervision following her release from prison.
