Pennsylvania
15 former NCAA players among those charged in scheme to rig basketball games
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Federal prosecutors charged 20 people on Thursday, including 15 former college basketball players, in what they called a betting scheme to rig NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association games.
Of the defendants, 15 played basketball for Division 1 NCAA schools as recently as the 2024-25 season.
The other five defendants were described by authorities as fixers.
They include two men who prosecutors say worked in the training and development of basketball players. Another was a trainer and former coach, one was a former NCAA player and two were described as gamblers, influencers and sports handicappers.
The charges, filed in federal court in Philadelphia, include wire fraud.
In the 70-page indictment, authorities say the fixers recruited the college basketball players with “bribe payments” usually ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game.
The indictment follows a series of NCAA investigations that led to at least 10 players receiving lifetime bans this year for bets that sometimes involved their own teams and their own performances. And the NCAA has said that at least 30 players have been investigated over gambling allegations.
More than 30 people were also charged in last year’s sprawling federal takedown of illegal gambling operations linked to professional basketball.
Concerns about gambling and college sports have grown since 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on the practice, leading some states to legalize it to varying degrees. The NCAA does not allow athletes or staff to bet on college games, but it briefly allowed student-athletes to bet on professional sports last year before rescinding that decision in November.
More broadly, one betting scandal after another has rocked the sports world, where gambling revenue topped $11 billion for the first three-quarters of last year, according to the American Gaming Association. That’s up more than 13% from the prior year, the group said.
Michigan
Marquette man sentenced 25-50 years on six counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct
Ward Glass, 69, of Marquette, was sentenced Jan. 13 by the Honorable Brittany A. Bulleit in the 12th Circuit Court in Houghton County to 25 to 50 years’ incarceration for sexually assaulting a minor multiple times between 1993 and 1996.
The victim resided in the same Houghton County home. Glass was convicted by a Houghton County jury of six counts of First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct in October.
The victim filed a complaint with the Michigan State Police in 2024 after encountering Ward after nearly three decades. Ward was charged by the Department of Attorney General in September 2024.
Alaska
Woman appeals felony voter fraud charges
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A state appeals court is being asked to dismiss felony voter misconduct charges against an Alaska resident born in American Samoa, one of numerous cases that have drawn attention to the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory.
In arguments Thursday, attorneys for Tupe Smith plan to ask the Alaska Court of Appeals in Anchorage to reverse a lower court’s decision that let stand the indictment brought against her. Her supporters say she made an innocent mistake that does not merit charges, but the state contends Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship.
Prosecutors also have brought charges against 10 other people from American Samoa in the small Alaska community of Whittier, including Smith’s husband and her mother-in-law. American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil and instead are considered U.S. nationals. Paths to citizenship exist, such as naturalization, though that process can be expensive and cumbersome.
American Samoans can serve in the military, obtain U.S. passports and vote in elections in American Samoa, but they cannot hold public office in the U.S. or participate in most U.S. elections.
Smith was arrested after winning election to a regional school board in 2023. She said she relied on erroneous information from local election officials when she identified herself as a U.S. citizen on voter registration forms.
In a court filing in 2024, one of her previous attorneys said that when Smith answered questions from the Alaska state trooper who arrested her, she said she was aware that she could not vote in presidential elections but was “unaware of any other restrictions on her ability to vote.”
Smith said she marks herself as a U.S. national on paperwork. But when there was no such option on voter registration forms, she was told by city representatives that it was appropriate to mark U.S. citizen, according to the filing.
Smith “exercised what she believed was her right to vote in a local election. She did so without any intent to mislead or deceive anyone,” her current attorneys said in a filing in September. “Her belief that U.S. nationals may vote in local elections, which was supported by advice from City of Whittier election officials, was simply mistaken.”
The state has said Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship. Prosecutors pointed to the language on the voter application forms she filled out in 2020 and 2022, which explicitly said that if the applicant was not at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, “do not complete this form, as you are not eligible to vote.”
The counts Smith was indicted on “did not have anything to do with her belief in her ability to vote in certain elections; rather they concerned the straightforward question of whether or not Smith intentionally and falsely swore she was a United States citizen,” Kayla Doyle, an assistant attorney general, said in court filings last year.
One of Smith’s attorneys, Neil Weare, co-founder of the Washington-based Right to Democracy Project, said by email that if the appeals court lets stand the indictment, Alaska will be “the only state to our knowledge with such a low bar for felony voter fraud.”
Michigan
Wyandotte man pleads guilty for embezzling more than $166K from former employer
On Jan. 13, Jason Garza, 45, of Wyandotte, pled guilty to ten felony charges for embezzling more than $166,000 from his employer, Montway Auto Transport, in the 3rd Circuit Court in Wayne County, announced Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
Garza, who was charged in June of 2025 and bound over to stand trial in September, is now convicted of: One count of Embezzlement More Than $100,000, a 20-year felony; One count of Embezzlement More Than $50,000 but Less Than $100,000, a 15-year felony; one count of Embezzlement More Than $1,000 but Less Than $20,000, a 5-year felony; three corresponding counts of Using a Computer to Commit a Crime; and four counts of Failure to File Income Taxes, a 5-year felony.
In 2021 and 2022, while Garza was employed by Montway Auto Transport, located in Canton Township, he offered customers unauthorized discounts if they paid Garza directly through peer-to-peer mobile payment apps. Garza kept the payments for personal use and failed to remit any funds to Montway. As a condition of this plea agreement, the People will seek a 24-month minimum term of incarceration and Garza has agreed to pay full restitution to the Michigan Department of Treasury, Montway LLC, and Travelers Insurance, amounting to more than $500,000.
The case was referred to the Department of Attorney General by the FBI. Garza will next appear before Judge Tracy Green of the 3rd Circuit Court for sentencing on March 13.
Michigan
Detroit man arraigned on multiple felony charges related to alleged shooting at house party
Duan Giovanni Bradley, 23, of Detroit has been arraigned on charges stemming from the alleged shooting of three individuals at a house party in Sterling Heights on Saturday, January 10, 2026, according to Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido.
According to investigators, Bradley became involved in an altercation with another guest inside the residence. The dispute continued outside, where Bradley allegedly walked to the end of the driveway and opened fire toward the home, striking three people. A guest, who was armed, returned fire in self-defense, striking Bradley. None of the injuries sustained by the parties involved were life-threatening.
On Monday, January 12, 2026, Bradley was arraigned on multiple felony charges before Magistrate Jean M. Cloud in the 41A District Court in Sterling Heights, MI.
Bradley is charged with the following: Three counts: Assault with Intent to Murder, a felony punishable by life or any term of years; three counts: Felony Firearm, a 2-year felony consecutive to main charges; and one count: Weapons – Carrying Concealed, a 5-year felony.
These are the maximum charges available under the law based upon the evidence presented to date.
Magistrate Cloud set Bradley’s bond at $1 million cash/surety, no 10%. If he posts bond, he must wear a steel cuff tether. He was ordered to have no contact with the victims, possess no firearms or dangerous weapons and have no contact with the residence where the alleged shooting occurred.
Bradley is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on Monday, Jan. 26 at 1 p.m., and a preliminary exam on Monday, Feb. 2 at 8:30 a.m. before Judge Kimberley Anne Wiegand at the 41A District Court in Sterling Heights.
Michigan
Detroit woman sentenced for making false bomb threat
Crystal Royster, 42, of Detroit was sentenced after pleading guilty to a charge of reporting a false bomb threat toward Lake Shore High School, according to Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido.
On Thursday, January 8, 2026, Royster was sentenced by Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Michael E. Servitto on a charge of False Report or Threat of a Bomb, a 4-year felony after pleading guilty on November 13, 2025.
Judge Servitto sentenced Royster to probation for 18-months with the first 14 days in the Macomb County Jail with credit for 3 days served. In addition to standard probation conditions, she can have no contact with the victims, she must notify the school before she has contact with school grounds and must take a Class A impulse control class.
On March 12, 2025, Royster made two false reports of a bomb at Lake Shore High School in St. Clair Shores. She made the calls after her daughter was not allowed to participate in the school play. The daughter could not participate per school policy for being sick and going home earlier that day. Over 700 people were evacuated from the building. St. Clair Shores Police and other jurisdictions cleared the school and no explosives were located.
15 former NCAA players among those charged in scheme to rig basketball games
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Federal prosecutors charged 20 people on Thursday, including 15 former college basketball players, in what they called a betting scheme to rig NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association games.
Of the defendants, 15 played basketball for Division 1 NCAA schools as recently as the 2024-25 season.
The other five defendants were described by authorities as fixers.
They include two men who prosecutors say worked in the training and development of basketball players. Another was a trainer and former coach, one was a former NCAA player and two were described as gamblers, influencers and sports handicappers.
The charges, filed in federal court in Philadelphia, include wire fraud.
In the 70-page indictment, authorities say the fixers recruited the college basketball players with “bribe payments” usually ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game.
The indictment follows a series of NCAA investigations that led to at least 10 players receiving lifetime bans this year for bets that sometimes involved their own teams and their own performances. And the NCAA has said that at least 30 players have been investigated over gambling allegations.
More than 30 people were also charged in last year’s sprawling federal takedown of illegal gambling operations linked to professional basketball.
Concerns about gambling and college sports have grown since 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on the practice, leading some states to legalize it to varying degrees. The NCAA does not allow athletes or staff to bet on college games, but it briefly allowed student-athletes to bet on professional sports last year before rescinding that decision in November.
More broadly, one betting scandal after another has rocked the sports world, where gambling revenue topped $11 billion for the first three-quarters of last year, according to the American Gaming Association. That’s up more than 13% from the prior year, the group said.
Michigan
Marquette man sentenced 25-50 years on six counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct
Ward Glass, 69, of Marquette, was sentenced Jan. 13 by the Honorable Brittany A. Bulleit in the 12th Circuit Court in Houghton County to 25 to 50 years’ incarceration for sexually assaulting a minor multiple times between 1993 and 1996.
The victim resided in the same Houghton County home. Glass was convicted by a Houghton County jury of six counts of First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct in October.
The victim filed a complaint with the Michigan State Police in 2024 after encountering Ward after nearly three decades. Ward was charged by the Department of Attorney General in September 2024.
Alaska
Woman appeals felony voter fraud charges
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A state appeals court is being asked to dismiss felony voter misconduct charges against an Alaska resident born in American Samoa, one of numerous cases that have drawn attention to the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory.
In arguments Thursday, attorneys for Tupe Smith plan to ask the Alaska Court of Appeals in Anchorage to reverse a lower court’s decision that let stand the indictment brought against her. Her supporters say she made an innocent mistake that does not merit charges, but the state contends Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship.
Prosecutors also have brought charges against 10 other people from American Samoa in the small Alaska community of Whittier, including Smith’s husband and her mother-in-law. American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil and instead are considered U.S. nationals. Paths to citizenship exist, such as naturalization, though that process can be expensive and cumbersome.
American Samoans can serve in the military, obtain U.S. passports and vote in elections in American Samoa, but they cannot hold public office in the U.S. or participate in most U.S. elections.
Smith was arrested after winning election to a regional school board in 2023. She said she relied on erroneous information from local election officials when she identified herself as a U.S. citizen on voter registration forms.
In a court filing in 2024, one of her previous attorneys said that when Smith answered questions from the Alaska state trooper who arrested her, she said she was aware that she could not vote in presidential elections but was “unaware of any other restrictions on her ability to vote.”
Smith said she marks herself as a U.S. national on paperwork. But when there was no such option on voter registration forms, she was told by city representatives that it was appropriate to mark U.S. citizen, according to the filing.
Smith “exercised what she believed was her right to vote in a local election. She did so without any intent to mislead or deceive anyone,” her current attorneys said in a filing in September. “Her belief that U.S. nationals may vote in local elections, which was supported by advice from City of Whittier election officials, was simply mistaken.”
The state has said Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship. Prosecutors pointed to the language on the voter application forms she filled out in 2020 and 2022, which explicitly said that if the applicant was not at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, “do not complete this form, as you are not eligible to vote.”
The counts Smith was indicted on “did not have anything to do with her belief in her ability to vote in certain elections; rather they concerned the straightforward question of whether or not Smith intentionally and falsely swore she was a United States citizen,” Kayla Doyle, an assistant attorney general, said in court filings last year.
One of Smith’s attorneys, Neil Weare, co-founder of the Washington-based Right to Democracy Project, said by email that if the appeals court lets stand the indictment, Alaska will be “the only state to our knowledge with such a low bar for felony voter fraud.”
Michigan
Wyandotte man pleads guilty for embezzling more than $166K from former employer
On Jan. 13, Jason Garza, 45, of Wyandotte, pled guilty to ten felony charges for embezzling more than $166,000 from his employer, Montway Auto Transport, in the 3rd Circuit Court in Wayne County, announced Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
Garza, who was charged in June of 2025 and bound over to stand trial in September, is now convicted of: One count of Embezzlement More Than $100,000, a 20-year felony; One count of Embezzlement More Than $50,000 but Less Than $100,000, a 15-year felony; one count of Embezzlement More Than $1,000 but Less Than $20,000, a 5-year felony; three corresponding counts of Using a Computer to Commit a Crime; and four counts of Failure to File Income Taxes, a 5-year felony.
In 2021 and 2022, while Garza was employed by Montway Auto Transport, located in Canton Township, he offered customers unauthorized discounts if they paid Garza directly through peer-to-peer mobile payment apps. Garza kept the payments for personal use and failed to remit any funds to Montway. As a condition of this plea agreement, the People will seek a 24-month minimum term of incarceration and Garza has agreed to pay full restitution to the Michigan Department of Treasury, Montway LLC, and Travelers Insurance, amounting to more than $500,000.
The case was referred to the Department of Attorney General by the FBI. Garza will next appear before Judge Tracy Green of the 3rd Circuit Court for sentencing on March 13.
Michigan
Detroit man arraigned on multiple felony charges related to alleged shooting at house party
Duan Giovanni Bradley, 23, of Detroit has been arraigned on charges stemming from the alleged shooting of three individuals at a house party in Sterling Heights on Saturday, January 10, 2026, according to Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido.
According to investigators, Bradley became involved in an altercation with another guest inside the residence. The dispute continued outside, where Bradley allegedly walked to the end of the driveway and opened fire toward the home, striking three people. A guest, who was armed, returned fire in self-defense, striking Bradley. None of the injuries sustained by the parties involved were life-threatening.
On Monday, January 12, 2026, Bradley was arraigned on multiple felony charges before Magistrate Jean M. Cloud in the 41A District Court in Sterling Heights, MI.
Bradley is charged with the following: Three counts: Assault with Intent to Murder, a felony punishable by life or any term of years; three counts: Felony Firearm, a 2-year felony consecutive to main charges; and one count: Weapons – Carrying Concealed, a 5-year felony.
These are the maximum charges available under the law based upon the evidence presented to date.
Magistrate Cloud set Bradley’s bond at $1 million cash/surety, no 10%. If he posts bond, he must wear a steel cuff tether. He was ordered to have no contact with the victims, possess no firearms or dangerous weapons and have no contact with the residence where the alleged shooting occurred.
Bradley is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on Monday, Jan. 26 at 1 p.m., and a preliminary exam on Monday, Feb. 2 at 8:30 a.m. before Judge Kimberley Anne Wiegand at the 41A District Court in Sterling Heights.
Michigan
Detroit woman sentenced for making false bomb threat
Crystal Royster, 42, of Detroit was sentenced after pleading guilty to a charge of reporting a false bomb threat toward Lake Shore High School, according to Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido.
On Thursday, January 8, 2026, Royster was sentenced by Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Michael E. Servitto on a charge of False Report or Threat of a Bomb, a 4-year felony after pleading guilty on November 13, 2025.
Judge Servitto sentenced Royster to probation for 18-months with the first 14 days in the Macomb County Jail with credit for 3 days served. In addition to standard probation conditions, she can have no contact with the victims, she must notify the school before she has contact with school grounds and must take a Class A impulse control class.
On March 12, 2025, Royster made two false reports of a bomb at Lake Shore High School in St. Clair Shores. She made the calls after her daughter was not allowed to participate in the school play. The daughter could not participate per school policy for being sick and going home earlier that day. Over 700 people were evacuated from the building. St. Clair Shores Police and other jurisdictions cleared the school and no explosives were located.
