Alabama
Ex-police chief sues Mobile, saying his reputation was ruined by report on officer abuses
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A fired police chief in Alabama says a city report deliberately ruined his reputation with allegations of unlawful excessive force and discrimination by officers, and has filed a lawsuit this week against the mayor, a prosecutor and other officials for slander and libel.
There are currently multiple federal civil rights lawsuits against the police department in Mobile, Alabama, and a report by the city published in April said former chief Paul Prine’s “autocratic demeanor” influenced officer interactions with residents, especially in the Black community.
Prine called the report a “witch hunt” in retaliation for grievances he filed against the city’s director of public safety and chief of staff in 2023, according to his lawsuit filed Tuesday. Prine alleged “willful, false, malicious, defamatory and slanderous statements” were made against him by former federal prosecutor Kenyen Brown, who was brought in by city leaders to head the investigation.
Mayor Sandy Stimpson and numerous city administrators and council members are also named as defendants, with Prine saying the mayor and his chief of staff directed Brown to disparage him in the report.
Spokespeople for both the city and city council declined to comment on behalf of the city’s defendants.
Brown declined to comment on pending litigation, but said in an email, “We appreciate the opportunity to have conducted a thorough investigative report commissioned by the City of Mobile.”
The mayor launched the investigation into the Mobile Police Department after four high-profile police killings and two instances of alleged excessive force in 2023. In interviews with Mobile residents, investigators said citizens “generally expressed a palpable fear of encountering MPD officers for fear that they would be unjustly killed or abused in some way.”
On Monday, the mother of 16-year-old Randall Adjessom, who SWAT police shot and killed during a no-knock, predawn raid of his home, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and police department. The family of Jawan Dallas, who died after police tackled and tased him in July 2023, filed a $36 million wrongful death lawsuit in December 2023. Grand juries declined to indict any officers involved in the four deaths investigated in the report.
Prine was placed on administrative leave leading up to the report’s release, and was fired on April 30, a week after the report was published and following nearly three decades in law enforcement. In the weeks leading up to his termination, a city attorney offered to let Prine retire with benefits if he announced the end of his career with remarks approved by the mayor, the lawsuit alleged. Prine declined that offer.
Prine later told Fox10 that the investigation had been about “veiled threats and a power struggle” with “those that are in charge,” without elaborating.
Prine’s lawsuit says Brown misrepresented an interview with the then-police chief in order to make it seem like he did not have a clear sense of department disciplinary policy, citing a recording of their conversation. According to Prine’s complaint, the scope of the investigation went beyond the initial mandate of the six violent episodes involving police in order to question Prine’s leadership and intentionally damage his reputation.
Brown said his investigation found officers allegedly violated the constitution for things like beating a handcuffed suspect, detaining people without probable cause, or repeatedly trying to unlock people’s cell phones.
Nebraska
Man who lost his home over $588 debt in 2018 is getting it back
A Nebraska man is getting title to his home back, years after losing it over a $588 tax debt, one of his lawyers said Thursday.
Kevin Fair of Scottsbluff has been involved in a legal dispute since 2018, when he lost title to the home he had owned for nearly three decades for failing to pay $588 in overdue property taxes. Scotts Bluff County sold the lien to a private investor, as allowed by Nebraska law at the time.
When Fair couldn’t repay the money along with interest and fees, the title went to the investor, though Fair was allowed to stay in the home while the legal dispute played out.
The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled against Fair in 2022, but a year later, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the state court to reconsider. In August, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that Fair should retain title to the house.
Fair’s appellate law firm, Pacific Legal Foundation, said Fair and the investor have amicably resolved their dispute, ending the legal battle.
The case confirmed that home equity “is protected by the Constitution,” said Christina Martin, senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. As for Fair, the ruling “is protecting him from, in all likelihood, homelessness,” she said.
Fair and his wife, Terry, had already paid off the mortgage for their home in Scottsbluff, a town of 14,300 people in far western Nebraska, by the early 2010s. But in 2013, Terry was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and Kevin quit his job to care for her. The couple fell behind on their property taxes, owing $588.
The county placed a lien on the home and listed the delinquency in the newspaper. In 2015, the county sold the tax lien to the private investor, which paid the home’s taxes for three years.
When the investor called for the Fairs to pay the accrued $5,268 in taxes, interest and fees, they couldn’t. Scotts Bluff County turned the title and equity over to the investor in 2018.
Kevin Fair’s lawsuit contended that while the state should be allowed to collect its debt, it should not be allowed to seize the home or the equity in it above the debt amount — $54,000 in this case.
The court victory is bittersweet for Kevin Fair. His wife died in 2019, and he suffered a stroke last month. Martin said he’ll need a ramp built at the home to accommodate him. A GoFundMe account had raised nearly $10,000 by Thursday afternoon.
Nebraska changed its law in 2023 so that homeowners are no longer at risk of losing their equity over unpaid property taxes.
Florida
Pizza deliverer charged with stabbing pregnant woman at motel after tip dispute
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — A pizza deliverer in central Florida has been charged with pushing her way into a motel room with an accomplice and stabbing a pregnant woman after a dispute over a tip, authorities said.
Brianna Alvelo was charged with stabbing a woman in her motel room in Kissimmee, Florida, a short time after delivering a pizza to her on Sunday, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman gave Alvelo $50 on a $33.10 bill, expecting change back. When Alvelo started walking away, the woman asked for money back, and the pizza deliverer told her they didn’t make change as a policy, according to an arrest report.
The woman began searching for smaller denominations in two purses in her motel room and in her car, with Alvelo watching. She got a smaller dollar bill from her boyfriend, with whom she was staying at the hotel along with her 5-year-old daughter, and Alvelo’s tip ended up being $2, the report said.
Alvelo “rolled her eyes and walked away without saying anything,” the report said.
A short time later, the woman, her boyfriend and daughter were asleep when they heard a knock on the motel room door. The women opened the door and was confronted by a woman, who authorities said was Alvelo, and an armed man, both wearing face masks, who pushed their way into the room. The armed man ordered the boyfriend into the bathroom. Alvelo rummaged through their belongings in the motel room and then stabbed the women 14 times with a pocket knife as she shielded her daughter, the arrest report said.
The arrest report said that the woman had just found out she was a few weeks pregnant. She was taken to a hospital where she underwent surgery for a ruptured lung.
Alvelo is facing charges of attempted murder, home invasion with a firearm, kidnapping and aggravated assault with a weapon. An online court docket showed no attorney for her. Ahead of a first appearance hearing on Thursday, she said in court papers that she couldn’t afford an attorney and asked one to be appointed for her.
Authorities hadn’t publicly identified the male suspect as of Thursday.
Pennsylvania
Ex-Eagles player pleads guilty to federal fraud charges related to pandemic aid programs
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Former Philadelphia Eagles running back Wendell Smallwood Jr. has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges after he was accused of submitting fraudulent tax returns and applications for hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 pandemic aid programs.
The signed plea agreement was approved Friday by a federal judge in Delaware. Smallwood, of Mullica Hill, New Jersey, faces sentencing in May on the three fraud charges.
Smallwood’s lawyer, Mark Sheppard, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Smallwood appeared in court Friday “and forthrightly took full responsibility for his actions. He recognizes that this is but the first step to try to begin to make
amends to the government and to those closest to him. He will continue to do so.”
Smallwood, 30, was originally charged in October.
He filed false tax returns for himself and others in 2021 and 2022, drawing refunds for himself of about $110,000, prosecutors said.
He also used what prosecutors said were defunct or recently registered businesses and provided false information about the scale of their operations, such as start dates, revenue amounts, expenses and number of employees. Some were under his name, while others were under other people’s names.
In one scheme, Smallwood used false information when he applied to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program for loans for three businesses under his name. The U.S. Small Business Administration approved loans of just over $46,000, prosecutors said.
In a separate scheme, Smallwood submitted fraudulent applications in the names of at least 13 other people for the Paycheck Protection Program, prosecutors said. A bank disbursed loans of nearly $270,000, from which Smallwood received kickbacks in return for preparing and submitting the applications, prosecutors said.
The Eagles drafted Smallwood out of West Virginia University in 2016. The Delaware native played three seasons for the Eagles before spending time over three more seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the team now known as the Washington Commanders.
Ex-police chief sues Mobile, saying his reputation was ruined by report on officer abuses
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A fired police chief in Alabama says a city report deliberately ruined his reputation with allegations of unlawful excessive force and discrimination by officers, and has filed a lawsuit this week against the mayor, a prosecutor and other officials for slander and libel.
There are currently multiple federal civil rights lawsuits against the police department in Mobile, Alabama, and a report by the city published in April said former chief Paul Prine’s “autocratic demeanor” influenced officer interactions with residents, especially in the Black community.
Prine called the report a “witch hunt” in retaliation for grievances he filed against the city’s director of public safety and chief of staff in 2023, according to his lawsuit filed Tuesday. Prine alleged “willful, false, malicious, defamatory and slanderous statements” were made against him by former federal prosecutor Kenyen Brown, who was brought in by city leaders to head the investigation.
Mayor Sandy Stimpson and numerous city administrators and council members are also named as defendants, with Prine saying the mayor and his chief of staff directed Brown to disparage him in the report.
Spokespeople for both the city and city council declined to comment on behalf of the city’s defendants.
Brown declined to comment on pending litigation, but said in an email, “We appreciate the opportunity to have conducted a thorough investigative report commissioned by the City of Mobile.”
The mayor launched the investigation into the Mobile Police Department after four high-profile police killings and two instances of alleged excessive force in 2023. In interviews with Mobile residents, investigators said citizens “generally expressed a palpable fear of encountering MPD officers for fear that they would be unjustly killed or abused in some way.”
On Monday, the mother of 16-year-old Randall Adjessom, who SWAT police shot and killed during a no-knock, predawn raid of his home, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city and police department. The family of Jawan Dallas, who died after police tackled and tased him in July 2023, filed a $36 million wrongful death lawsuit in December 2023. Grand juries declined to indict any officers involved in the four deaths investigated in the report.
Prine was placed on administrative leave leading up to the report’s release, and was fired on April 30, a week after the report was published and following nearly three decades in law enforcement. In the weeks leading up to his termination, a city attorney offered to let Prine retire with benefits if he announced the end of his career with remarks approved by the mayor, the lawsuit alleged. Prine declined that offer.
Prine later told Fox10 that the investigation had been about “veiled threats and a power struggle” with “those that are in charge,” without elaborating.
Prine’s lawsuit says Brown misrepresented an interview with the then-police chief in order to make it seem like he did not have a clear sense of department disciplinary policy, citing a recording of their conversation. According to Prine’s complaint, the scope of the investigation went beyond the initial mandate of the six violent episodes involving police in order to question Prine’s leadership and intentionally damage his reputation.
Brown said his investigation found officers allegedly violated the constitution for things like beating a handcuffed suspect, detaining people without probable cause, or repeatedly trying to unlock people’s cell phones.
Nebraska
Man who lost his home over $588 debt in 2018 is getting it back
A Nebraska man is getting title to his home back, years after losing it over a $588 tax debt, one of his lawyers said Thursday.
Kevin Fair of Scottsbluff has been involved in a legal dispute since 2018, when he lost title to the home he had owned for nearly three decades for failing to pay $588 in overdue property taxes. Scotts Bluff County sold the lien to a private investor, as allowed by Nebraska law at the time.
When Fair couldn’t repay the money along with interest and fees, the title went to the investor, though Fair was allowed to stay in the home while the legal dispute played out.
The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled against Fair in 2022, but a year later, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the state court to reconsider. In August, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that Fair should retain title to the house.
Fair’s appellate law firm, Pacific Legal Foundation, said Fair and the investor have amicably resolved their dispute, ending the legal battle.
The case confirmed that home equity “is protected by the Constitution,” said Christina Martin, senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. As for Fair, the ruling “is protecting him from, in all likelihood, homelessness,” she said.
Fair and his wife, Terry, had already paid off the mortgage for their home in Scottsbluff, a town of 14,300 people in far western Nebraska, by the early 2010s. But in 2013, Terry was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and Kevin quit his job to care for her. The couple fell behind on their property taxes, owing $588.
The county placed a lien on the home and listed the delinquency in the newspaper. In 2015, the county sold the tax lien to the private investor, which paid the home’s taxes for three years.
When the investor called for the Fairs to pay the accrued $5,268 in taxes, interest and fees, they couldn’t. Scotts Bluff County turned the title and equity over to the investor in 2018.
Kevin Fair’s lawsuit contended that while the state should be allowed to collect its debt, it should not be allowed to seize the home or the equity in it above the debt amount — $54,000 in this case.
The court victory is bittersweet for Kevin Fair. His wife died in 2019, and he suffered a stroke last month. Martin said he’ll need a ramp built at the home to accommodate him. A GoFundMe account had raised nearly $10,000 by Thursday afternoon.
Nebraska changed its law in 2023 so that homeowners are no longer at risk of losing their equity over unpaid property taxes.
Florida
Pizza deliverer charged with stabbing pregnant woman at motel after tip dispute
KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) — A pizza deliverer in central Florida has been charged with pushing her way into a motel room with an accomplice and stabbing a pregnant woman after a dispute over a tip, authorities said.
Brianna Alvelo was charged with stabbing a woman in her motel room in Kissimmee, Florida, a short time after delivering a pizza to her on Sunday, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman gave Alvelo $50 on a $33.10 bill, expecting change back. When Alvelo started walking away, the woman asked for money back, and the pizza deliverer told her they didn’t make change as a policy, according to an arrest report.
The woman began searching for smaller denominations in two purses in her motel room and in her car, with Alvelo watching. She got a smaller dollar bill from her boyfriend, with whom she was staying at the hotel along with her 5-year-old daughter, and Alvelo’s tip ended up being $2, the report said.
Alvelo “rolled her eyes and walked away without saying anything,” the report said.
A short time later, the woman, her boyfriend and daughter were asleep when they heard a knock on the motel room door. The women opened the door and was confronted by a woman, who authorities said was Alvelo, and an armed man, both wearing face masks, who pushed their way into the room. The armed man ordered the boyfriend into the bathroom. Alvelo rummaged through their belongings in the motel room and then stabbed the women 14 times with a pocket knife as she shielded her daughter, the arrest report said.
The arrest report said that the woman had just found out she was a few weeks pregnant. She was taken to a hospital where she underwent surgery for a ruptured lung.
Alvelo is facing charges of attempted murder, home invasion with a firearm, kidnapping and aggravated assault with a weapon. An online court docket showed no attorney for her. Ahead of a first appearance hearing on Thursday, she said in court papers that she couldn’t afford an attorney and asked one to be appointed for her.
Authorities hadn’t publicly identified the male suspect as of Thursday.
Pennsylvania
Ex-Eagles player pleads guilty to federal fraud charges related to pandemic aid programs
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Former Philadelphia Eagles running back Wendell Smallwood Jr. has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges after he was accused of submitting fraudulent tax returns and applications for hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 pandemic aid programs.
The signed plea agreement was approved Friday by a federal judge in Delaware. Smallwood, of Mullica Hill, New Jersey, faces sentencing in May on the three fraud charges.
Smallwood’s lawyer, Mark Sheppard, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Smallwood appeared in court Friday “and forthrightly took full responsibility for his actions. He recognizes that this is but the first step to try to begin to make
amends to the government and to those closest to him. He will continue to do so.”
Smallwood, 30, was originally charged in October.
He filed false tax returns for himself and others in 2021 and 2022, drawing refunds for himself of about $110,000, prosecutors said.
He also used what prosecutors said were defunct or recently registered businesses and provided false information about the scale of their operations, such as start dates, revenue amounts, expenses and number of employees. Some were under his name, while others were under other people’s names.
In one scheme, Smallwood used false information when he applied to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program for loans for three businesses under his name. The U.S. Small Business Administration approved loans of just over $46,000, prosecutors said.
In a separate scheme, Smallwood submitted fraudulent applications in the names of at least 13 other people for the Paycheck Protection Program, prosecutors said. A bank disbursed loans of nearly $270,000, from which Smallwood received kickbacks in return for preparing and submitting the applications, prosecutors said.
The Eagles drafted Smallwood out of West Virginia University in 2016. The Delaware native played three seasons for the Eagles before spending time over three more seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the team now known as the Washington Commanders.
