California
UFC star charged in shooting sues man over alleged molesting
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Cain Velasquez, the former UFC heavyweight champion accused of trying to kill the man he claims molested his 4-year-old son, is suing the man and his family who own a day care where the alleged molestation occurred.
Velasquez was arrested in San Jose, California, last February after he shot at a pickup truck carrying the man through busy streets in three Silicon Valley cities, ramming the vehicle with his own truck during a high-speed chase, prosecutors said.
A judge in March denied bail to Velasquez, who faces attempted murder and multiple gun assault charges. His attorney, Mark Geragos, has said he plans on vindicating Velasquez in court.
Velasquez claims in a civil lawsuit that Harry Goularte sexually molested Velasquez’s son while the boy was attending a day care run at a home by Goularte’s mother, Patricia Goularte, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
The Times said the lawsuit was filed on behalf of a minor. Harry Goularte was living at the home and working for the day care during the time of the alleged molestation, according to the court filing.
Stephen Defilippis, an attorney for Goularte, didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to a call seeking comment on the lawsuit.
The child care business and its owners “fostered and maintained an environment” where the children could be molested, sexually abused and harassed, Velasquez said in the court filing. The lawsuit accuses Goularte and his family of negligence and sexual battery.
Goularte, 43, was charged with lewd and lascivious acts with a minor by the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office. He has pleaded not guilty and trial is scheduled for September.
Velasquez, 39, is due back in court in August, the Times said.
Velasquez transitioned to pro-wrestling after retiring from his MMA career in 2019. A former two-time UFC heavyweight champion, he earned title belts in 2010 and 2012.
West Virginia
Ex-police department employee pleads guilty to perjury
WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — A former police department employee in West Virginia has pleaded guilty to lying to a federal grand jury about a program that allowed people to pay with cash and gift cards to avoid criminal sanctions, a prosecutor’s office said.
Carolyn Taylor, 40, of St. Marys, pleaded guilty to perjury on Wednesday, U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld’s office said.
The case involved the government-sanctioned “Slow Down for the Holidays” program, which allowed people charged with DUI and other offenses to avoid prosecution by giving cash, gift cards or other items of value, Ihlenfeld’s office said in a news release.
Taylor was a clerk of the St. Marys police department and helped collect donations. She was asked about her role when she testified this year. She told grand jurors she didn’t know of anyone personally benefiting from the program and that proceeds went to charity. But investigators found she used at least one of the gift cards for herself, the news release said.
California
4 ex-Navy officers convicted in ‘Fat Leonard’ bribery trial
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Four of five former U.S. naval officers were convicted Wednesday of conspiracy, bribery and fraud as part of the “Fat Leonard” corruption scandal.
The five were the last of 34 defendants to stand trial on charges they were bought off by the Malaysian defense contractor Leonard Francis, who prosecutors said plied them with prostitutes, Cuban cigars and free hotel stays, among other things.
A federal jury convicted former Capts. David Newland, James Dolan and David Lausman and former Cmdr. Mario Herrera of conspiracy to commit bribery, receiving bribes, and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, the U.S. attorney’s office announced.
The jury deadlocked and reached no verdict on charges against a fifth defendant, former Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless.
The case has centered around Francis, who admitted in 2015 to offering $500,000 in bribes to Navy officers. In exchange, the officers passed him classified information and even went so far as redirecting military vessels to ports that were lucrative for his Singapore-based ship servicing company.
Prosecutors say Francis and his company overcharged the U.S. military by more than $35 million for its services.
Francis, who is scheduled to be sentenced in July, has been cooperating with the U.S. Department of Justice since his arrest in 2013.
Massachusetts
6 months’ home confinement for ex-USC coach in college scam
BOSTON (AP) — A former University of Southern California soccer coach who took bribes in exchange for helping unqualified kids into the school was sentenced Wednesday to six months in home confinement after cooperating with authorities investigating the college admissions scandal.
Prosecutors had not been seeking home confinement or prison time for Ali Khosroshahin, citing his quick acceptance of responsibility and his help in prosecuting others in the massive case.
But U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston decided that prosecutors’ recommendation of time served wasn’t enough, noting that Khosroshahin dragged his assistant coach into the corrupt scheme, among other things.
Khosroshahin, who was the head women’s soccer coach from 2007 to 2013, appeared to fight back tears as he apologized to USC, his former athletes, his family and the deserving students who missed out on an admissions spot because of his “lies and greed.”
“I want to thank the government for bringing this whole thing to light because if they hadn’t, innocent hardworking students may still be shut out of schools simply because they don’t have the money that others have, and people like me might still be facilitating this,” Khosroshahin said.
Khosroshahin is the fifth athletic coach to be sentenced in the Operation Varsity Blues probe that revealed a scheme to get wealthy kids into top universities through rigged test scores and bogus athletic credentials.
The longest sentence so far for the coaches who accepted bribes — eight months in prison — went to Jorge Salcedo, a former men’s soccer coach at the University of California, Los Angeles.
That could change Friday, when ex-Georgetown University tennis coach Gordon Ernst is scheduled to be sentenced for pocketing more than $3 million in bribes. Prosecutors are asking for four years in prison; Ernst’s attorneys say he deserves about a year.
Khosroshahin pleaded guilty in 2019 to helping the bribery scheme’s mastermind — admissions consultant Rick Singer — conduct “side door” deals to get students admitted as recruits even though they weren’t Division I-caliber athletes.
Prosecutors said in court documents that he initially “expressed reticence” at the idea when approached by Singer, but ultimately decided to join the scheme and pull in his assistant coach, Laura Janke.
The two of them “recruited” one or two of Singer’s clients to the USC women’s soccer team each year, prosecutors said. The bribes were made as payments to the USC soccer program or their private soccer club. Janke was sentenced Tuesday to time served.
“You led someone in a way that really turned their life upside down,” Talwani told Khosroshahin.
Khosroshahin testified at the trial of former Jovan Vavic, the former USC men’s and women’s water polo coach who was convicted by jurors in April.
Khosroshahin’s lawyer, Jessica Hedges, told the judge that as soon as he was arrested in March 2019 alongside dozens of other coaches and parents, he tried to make things right. About a month after his arrest, he was already in Boston telling prosecutors everything he had done and even led them to things they didn’t know yet.
Of the 57 people charged in connection with the Varsity Blues investigation, 54 were convicted. One person was acquitted by jurors, another was pardoned by former President Donald Trump, and the third received a deferred prosecution agreement that will result in a dismissal of the case as long as he abides by certain conditions.
Maryland
Former Hogan aide faces additional federal charge
BALTIMORE (AP) — Federal prosecutors have filed an additional charge against a former aide to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan for allegedly falsifying records.
A superseding indictment was announced against Roy McGrath by the U.S. attorney’s office on Tuesday in a case that alleges he collected excessive expenses and arranged for an unprecedented $233,647 severance payment.
The Baltimore Sun reports that the new federal wire fraud charge against McGrath relates to a memo that outlined the severance payment and included Hogan’s approval but that federal officials say McGrath fabricated.
The U.S. attorney’s office says the false memorandum contained a blue check mark that was characteristically used by the governor in the ‘approved’ box, which created the illusion that the governor had seen and approved the memorandum.
McGrath has pleaded not guilty. Joseph Murtha, his attorney, says McGrath “firmly stands by the fact that Governor Hogan formally approved of his compensation from Maryland Environmental Service, and sadly, turned his back on Mr. McGrath to avoid the political fallout of his decision.”
McGrath spent 11 weeks as Hogan’s chief of staff in 2020. He had served as director of MES — a position appointed by Hogan — starting in late 2016.
Texas
Man gets life in prison in fatal shooting of officer
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A man was sentenced to life in prison in the 2018 fatal shooting of an undercover Fort Worth, Texas, police officer, prosecutors said.
A jury on Wednesday gave Timothy Huff, 36, a life sentence without possibility of parole in the death of Garrett Hull, an officer who was promoted to corporal after his death. The Tarrant County jury found Huff guilty of capital murder Monday.
Huff didn’t shoot Hull, but he was one of three men officers were pursuing after a robbery at a bar when Hull was killed, prosecutors said. The group had been robbing bars and police had staked out the area that night, prosecutors said.
After robbing customers, Huff, Dacion Steptoe and Samuel Mayfield ran in different directions when they saw the officers, prosecutors said.
Steptoe fatally shot Hull and another officer killed Steptoe.
Huff and Mayfield were both charged with capital murder. Mayfield’s trial date hasn’t been set.
Huff took the witness stand during his punishment phase, telling jurors he wasn’t aware Hull had been shot that night and he “didn’t intend for it to happen.”
Prosecutor Tim Rodgers told jurors that the violence had escalated in the group’s robberies and that Huff was “dangerous, dangerous, dangerous.”
