Florida
Detective sentenced to 24 years in prison for sexually exploiting a teenage girl
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A former Florida detective accused of severely beating a Black man has been sentenced to nearly 25 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting a teenage girl.
A federal judge in Jacksonville sentenced Josue Garriga, 35, of St. Augustine on Monday, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in July to enticing a child to engage in sexual activity.
“This individual violated his position of trust in the community and sought to take advantage of a child for his own satisfaction,” Assistant Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigation in Jacksonville Tim Hemker said in a statement Friday.
Garriga is one of three Jacksonville officers being sued in federal court for beating Le’Keian Woods last year after he ran from a traffic stop. The lawsuit alleges they used excessive force that resulted in permanent injuries to Woods’ head, an eye and a kidney. Sheriff T.K. Waters, who is also Black, has defended the beating as justified.
According to prosecutors, Garriga was a detective with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office gang unit in 2023 when he met a 17-year-old girl at church. He used his department-issued cellphone to contact the girl and then used his personal cellphone to communicate with her using an encrypted app set to automatically delete messages after 24 hours. Garriga requested nude photos from the girl and sent her nude photos of himself, investigators said.
On at least two occasions, Garriga used his work vehicle to visit the girl’s neighborhood to meet up with her and engage in illegal sexual contact, authorities said. On another occasion, Garriga enticed the girl to his work vehicle and physically prevented her from leaving until she performed a sex act on him.
The relationship ended this past March, when the victim’s mother found messages between the girl and Garriga on the girl’s phone. The mother reported the relationship, and Garriga was arrested. His prison sentence is for 24 years and four months.
Texas
State Supreme Court overturns ruling that state Attorney General testify in lawsuit
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday overturned a lower court ruling that state Attorney General Ken Paxton testify in a whistleblower lawsuit at the heart of impeachment charges brought against him in 2023.
The court on Friday said Paxton’s office does not dispute any issue in the lawsuit by four former Paxton employees and agreed to any judgment in the case.
“In a major win for the State of Texas, the state Supreme Court has sided with Attorney General Paxton against former OAG employees whose effort to prolong costly, politically-motivated litigation against the agency has wasted public resources for years,” a statement from Paxton’s office said.
An attorney for one of the plaintiffs declined immediate comment, and a second attorney did not immediately return a phone call for comment.
The former employees allege they were improperly fired or forced out for bringing to the FBI allegations that Paxton was misusing his office to protect a friend and campaign donor, who in turn, they said, was helping the attorney general to conceal an extramarital affair.
The Supreme Court ruling noted that the Texas governor and Legislature have expressed a desire to hear testimony from the witnesses prior to agreeing to appropriate funds to settle the lawsuit.
The court said forcing Paxton, First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster, Chief of Staff Lesley French Henneke and senior advisor Michelle Smith to testify earlier could improperly be used for legislative purposes in deciding any appropriation.
Under the preliminary deal, Paxton agreed to apologize to the former employees for calling them “rogue” employees, settle the case for $3.3 million and ask the state to pay for it, prompting the state House to reject the request and begin its own investigation, leading to the vote to impeach him.
Paxton was ultimately acquitted after a Senate trial.
The Supreme Court termed its ruling conditional upon the lower trial court complying with the decision, while saying it is “confident the trial court will comply” with the order.
Washington
Supreme Court won’t hear challenge to graphic cigarette warning labels
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t hear a challenge to a federal requirement that cigarette packages and advertising include graphic images demonstrating the effects of smoking.
The high court declined to hear the case in a brief written order handed down Monday.
Tobacco company R.J. Reynolds appealed to the high court after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the warnings do not violate the First Amendment.
They include pictures of smoke-damaged lungs, feet blackened by diminished blood flow and a picture of a woman with a large growth on her neck and the caption “WARNING: Smoking causes head and neck cancer.”
The company argued the final image, for example, was misleading because a patient would likely go to the doctor before a growth reached that size.
The Food and Drug Administration countered that all the pictures reflect undisputed risks of smoking.
Nearly 120 countries around the world have adopted larger, graphic warning labels. Studies from those countries suggest the image-based labels are more effective than text warnings at publicizing smoking risks and encouraging smokers to quit. The U.S. has not updated its labels since 1984.
It’s not clear when new labels might appear. Some legal claims remain and the FDA has said it doesn’t plan to enforce any new requirements until at least December 2025.
Colorado
Funeral home owners who let nearly 190 bodies decay plead guilty to corpse abuse
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The owners of a Colorado funeral home who let nearly 190 bodies decay in a room-temperature building and gave grieving families fake ashes pleaded guilty on Friday to corpse abuse.
Jon and Carie Hallford, who own the Return to Nature Funeral Home, began storing bodies in a decrepit building near Colorado Springs as far back as 2019 and gave families dry concrete in place of cremated remains, according to the charges. The grim discovery last year upended families’ grieving processes.
Plea deals reached between the defendants and prosecutors call for Jon Hallford to receive a 20-year prison sentence and Carie Hallford to receive 15 to 20 years in prison.
Over the years, the Hallfords spent extravagantly, prosecutors say. They used customers’ money and nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds to buy laser body sculpting, fancy cars, trips to Las Vegas and Florida, $31,000 in cryptocurrency and other luxury items, according to court records.
Last month, the Hallfords pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in an agreement in which they acknowledged defrauding customers and the federal government. Under the agreement, prosecutors could request sentences of up to 15 years in prison for the couple.
Even as the couple lived large, prosecutors said the bodies at their funeral home were decomposing.
“The bodies were laying on the ground, stacked on shelves, left on gurneys, stacked on top of each other or just piled in rooms,” prosecutor Rachael Powell said. She said the family members of the bodies that were discovered “have been intensely and forever outraged.”
The Hallfords each pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse for the bodies found decaying and two instances where the wrong bodies were buried.
They also agreed to pay restitution, with the amount yet to be determined. Additional charges of theft, forgery and money laundering would be dismissed under the agreements.
Crystina Page’s son, David, died in 2019 and his body languished in the funeral home’s building until last year.
“He laid in the corner of an inoperable fridge, dumped out of his body bag with rats and maggots eating his face for four years,” Page said outside the courtroom after the hearing. “Now every moment that I think of my son, I’m having to think of Jon and Carie, and that’s not going away.”
Sentencing was set for April 18.
Six people with objections to the plea agreements had asked prior to Friday’s hearing to address the court. They considered the length of the sentences under the plea deal insufficient given the Hallfords’ conduct, prosecutors said.
Judge Eric Bentley said they would get a chance to speak prior to the sentencings. If the judge rejects the plea agreement, the Hallfords would be able to withdraw their guilty pleas and go to trial.
Carie Hallford told the judge that while she didn’t visit the building as much as Jon: “I knew how bad it was and chose to do nothing about it.”
At the close of Friday’s hearing, Bentley revoked a bond that had allowed Carie Hallford to remain free while the case was pending. She was handcuffed in the courtroom while family members of the deceased applauded.
Jon Hallford already was in custody, and was in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffed for the hearing.
Last month, the Hallfords pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in an agreement in which they acknowledged defrauding customers and the federal government.
Jon Hallford is represented by the public defenders office, which does not comment on cases. Carie Hallford’s attorney, Michael Stuzynski, declined to comment.
Over four years, customers of Return to Nature spread what they thought were their loves ones’ ashes in meaningful locations, sometimes a plane’s flight away. Others carried their urns on cross-country road trips or held them tight at home.
The bodies, which prosecutors say were improperly stored, were discovered last year when neighbors reported a stench coming from a building in the small town of Penrose, southwest of Colorado Springs.
Authorities found bodies too decayed for visual identification. The building was so toxic that responders had to wear hazmat gear and could remain inside only for brief periods.
The discovery of the bodies at Return to Nature prompted state legislators to strengthen what had been among the laxest funeral home regulations in the country. Unlike most states, Colorado didn’t require routine inspections of funeral homes or credentials for the businesses’ operators.
This year, lawmakers brought Colorado’s regulations up to par with most other states, largely with support from the funeral home industry.
Detective sentenced to 24 years in prison for sexually exploiting a teenage girl
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A former Florida detective accused of severely beating a Black man has been sentenced to nearly 25 years in federal prison for sexually exploiting a teenage girl.
A federal judge in Jacksonville sentenced Josue Garriga, 35, of St. Augustine on Monday, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in July to enticing a child to engage in sexual activity.
“This individual violated his position of trust in the community and sought to take advantage of a child for his own satisfaction,” Assistant Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigation in Jacksonville Tim Hemker said in a statement Friday.
Garriga is one of three Jacksonville officers being sued in federal court for beating Le’Keian Woods last year after he ran from a traffic stop. The lawsuit alleges they used excessive force that resulted in permanent injuries to Woods’ head, an eye and a kidney. Sheriff T.K. Waters, who is also Black, has defended the beating as justified.
According to prosecutors, Garriga was a detective with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office gang unit in 2023 when he met a 17-year-old girl at church. He used his department-issued cellphone to contact the girl and then used his personal cellphone to communicate with her using an encrypted app set to automatically delete messages after 24 hours. Garriga requested nude photos from the girl and sent her nude photos of himself, investigators said.
On at least two occasions, Garriga used his work vehicle to visit the girl’s neighborhood to meet up with her and engage in illegal sexual contact, authorities said. On another occasion, Garriga enticed the girl to his work vehicle and physically prevented her from leaving until she performed a sex act on him.
The relationship ended this past March, when the victim’s mother found messages between the girl and Garriga on the girl’s phone. The mother reported the relationship, and Garriga was arrested. His prison sentence is for 24 years and four months.
Texas
State Supreme Court overturns ruling that state Attorney General testify in lawsuit
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday overturned a lower court ruling that state Attorney General Ken Paxton testify in a whistleblower lawsuit at the heart of impeachment charges brought against him in 2023.
The court on Friday said Paxton’s office does not dispute any issue in the lawsuit by four former Paxton employees and agreed to any judgment in the case.
“In a major win for the State of Texas, the state Supreme Court has sided with Attorney General Paxton against former OAG employees whose effort to prolong costly, politically-motivated litigation against the agency has wasted public resources for years,” a statement from Paxton’s office said.
An attorney for one of the plaintiffs declined immediate comment, and a second attorney did not immediately return a phone call for comment.
The former employees allege they were improperly fired or forced out for bringing to the FBI allegations that Paxton was misusing his office to protect a friend and campaign donor, who in turn, they said, was helping the attorney general to conceal an extramarital affair.
The Supreme Court ruling noted that the Texas governor and Legislature have expressed a desire to hear testimony from the witnesses prior to agreeing to appropriate funds to settle the lawsuit.
The court said forcing Paxton, First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster, Chief of Staff Lesley French Henneke and senior advisor Michelle Smith to testify earlier could improperly be used for legislative purposes in deciding any appropriation.
Under the preliminary deal, Paxton agreed to apologize to the former employees for calling them “rogue” employees, settle the case for $3.3 million and ask the state to pay for it, prompting the state House to reject the request and begin its own investigation, leading to the vote to impeach him.
Paxton was ultimately acquitted after a Senate trial.
The Supreme Court termed its ruling conditional upon the lower trial court complying with the decision, while saying it is “confident the trial court will comply” with the order.
Washington
Supreme Court won’t hear challenge to graphic cigarette warning labels
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t hear a challenge to a federal requirement that cigarette packages and advertising include graphic images demonstrating the effects of smoking.
The high court declined to hear the case in a brief written order handed down Monday.
Tobacco company R.J. Reynolds appealed to the high court after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the warnings do not violate the First Amendment.
They include pictures of smoke-damaged lungs, feet blackened by diminished blood flow and a picture of a woman with a large growth on her neck and the caption “WARNING: Smoking causes head and neck cancer.”
The company argued the final image, for example, was misleading because a patient would likely go to the doctor before a growth reached that size.
The Food and Drug Administration countered that all the pictures reflect undisputed risks of smoking.
Nearly 120 countries around the world have adopted larger, graphic warning labels. Studies from those countries suggest the image-based labels are more effective than text warnings at publicizing smoking risks and encouraging smokers to quit. The U.S. has not updated its labels since 1984.
It’s not clear when new labels might appear. Some legal claims remain and the FDA has said it doesn’t plan to enforce any new requirements until at least December 2025.
Colorado
Funeral home owners who let nearly 190 bodies decay plead guilty to corpse abuse
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The owners of a Colorado funeral home who let nearly 190 bodies decay in a room-temperature building and gave grieving families fake ashes pleaded guilty on Friday to corpse abuse.
Jon and Carie Hallford, who own the Return to Nature Funeral Home, began storing bodies in a decrepit building near Colorado Springs as far back as 2019 and gave families dry concrete in place of cremated remains, according to the charges. The grim discovery last year upended families’ grieving processes.
Plea deals reached between the defendants and prosecutors call for Jon Hallford to receive a 20-year prison sentence and Carie Hallford to receive 15 to 20 years in prison.
Over the years, the Hallfords spent extravagantly, prosecutors say. They used customers’ money and nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds to buy laser body sculpting, fancy cars, trips to Las Vegas and Florida, $31,000 in cryptocurrency and other luxury items, according to court records.
Last month, the Hallfords pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in an agreement in which they acknowledged defrauding customers and the federal government. Under the agreement, prosecutors could request sentences of up to 15 years in prison for the couple.
Even as the couple lived large, prosecutors said the bodies at their funeral home were decomposing.
“The bodies were laying on the ground, stacked on shelves, left on gurneys, stacked on top of each other or just piled in rooms,” prosecutor Rachael Powell said. She said the family members of the bodies that were discovered “have been intensely and forever outraged.”
The Hallfords each pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse for the bodies found decaying and two instances where the wrong bodies were buried.
They also agreed to pay restitution, with the amount yet to be determined. Additional charges of theft, forgery and money laundering would be dismissed under the agreements.
Crystina Page’s son, David, died in 2019 and his body languished in the funeral home’s building until last year.
“He laid in the corner of an inoperable fridge, dumped out of his body bag with rats and maggots eating his face for four years,” Page said outside the courtroom after the hearing. “Now every moment that I think of my son, I’m having to think of Jon and Carie, and that’s not going away.”
Sentencing was set for April 18.
Six people with objections to the plea agreements had asked prior to Friday’s hearing to address the court. They considered the length of the sentences under the plea deal insufficient given the Hallfords’ conduct, prosecutors said.
Judge Eric Bentley said they would get a chance to speak prior to the sentencings. If the judge rejects the plea agreement, the Hallfords would be able to withdraw their guilty pleas and go to trial.
Carie Hallford told the judge that while she didn’t visit the building as much as Jon: “I knew how bad it was and chose to do nothing about it.”
At the close of Friday’s hearing, Bentley revoked a bond that had allowed Carie Hallford to remain free while the case was pending. She was handcuffed in the courtroom while family members of the deceased applauded.
Jon Hallford already was in custody, and was in an orange jumpsuit and handcuffed for the hearing.
Last month, the Hallfords pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in an agreement in which they acknowledged defrauding customers and the federal government.
Jon Hallford is represented by the public defenders office, which does not comment on cases. Carie Hallford’s attorney, Michael Stuzynski, declined to comment.
Over four years, customers of Return to Nature spread what they thought were their loves ones’ ashes in meaningful locations, sometimes a plane’s flight away. Others carried their urns on cross-country road trips or held them tight at home.
The bodies, which prosecutors say were improperly stored, were discovered last year when neighbors reported a stench coming from a building in the small town of Penrose, southwest of Colorado Springs.
Authorities found bodies too decayed for visual identification. The building was so toxic that responders had to wear hazmat gear and could remain inside only for brief periods.
The discovery of the bodies at Return to Nature prompted state legislators to strengthen what had been among the laxest funeral home regulations in the country. Unlike most states, Colorado didn’t require routine inspections of funeral homes or credentials for the businesses’ operators.
This year, lawmakers brought Colorado’s regulations up to par with most other states, largely with support from the funeral home industry.
