Crime
‘Goon Squad’ officers who tortured Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker sentenced in state court
Rankin County District Judge Steve Ratcliff on Wednesday handed down the boys’s multi-year state sentences, which can run concurrently or concurrently with their federal sentences, and the boys will serve their sentences in federal penitentiaries.
BRANDON, Miss. (AP) – Six former Mississippi law enforcement officers who pleaded guilty to an extended list of state and federal charges for torturing two black men were already sentenced to federal prison Wednesday in state court.
Six white former law enforcement officers in Mississippi who attacked Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker in January 2023 have already been sentenced to federal prison from about 10 to 40 years. In March, U.S. District Judge Tom Lee called their actions “outrageous and despicable,” handing down sentences near the best federal guidelines for five of the six men.
Rankin County District Judge Steve Ratcliff on Wednesday gave the boys multi-year state sentences that were shorter than the federal prison time they already received but longer than what state prosecutors had beneficial. The time served on the state sentences will run concurrently or concurrently with the federal sentences, and the boys will serve their sentences in federal prisons.
The case sparked outrage from the nation’s top law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, who said the officers committed a “heinous attack on the citizens they were sworn to protect.” Local residents saw echoes of Mississippi history in the gruesome details of the episode racist atrocities by people in power.
The first defendant to be sentenced Wednesday was Brett McAlpin, the fourth-highest rating officer with the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office. McAlpin was previously sentenced by a federal judge to roughly 27 years in federal prison. On Wednesday, a state court sentenced him to fifteen years in prison on one count and five years on the opposite.
Before the sentencing, Malik Shabazz, an attorney representing Jenkins and Parker, said the state sentencing hearing can be a “test” for Ratliff and state prosecutors.
“State criminal sentences are important because Mississippi has historically lagged behind or ignored racist crimes and police brutality against Black people, and the Department of Justice has had to lead,” Shabazz said.
The defendants are five former Rankin County sheriff’s deputies – McAlpin, 53; Hunter Elward, 31; Christian Dedmon, 29; Jeffrey Middleton, 46; and Daniel Opdyke, 28, and former Richland City Police Officer Joshua Hartfield, 32, who was off-duty on the time of the assault.
All six former officers He pleaded guilty to the state charges brought against him obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct prosecution. Dedmon and Elward, who kicked in the door, also admitted breaking into the home.
There were accusations an Associated Press investigation in March it linked some officers to at the very least 4 violent encounters since 2019 that resulted in the deaths of two Black men.
The former law enforcement officers pleaded guilty to breaking right into a home with no warrant and torturing Jenkins and Parker in an hours-long attack that included beatings, repeated use of stun guns and assaults with a sex toy before one among the victims was shot in the mouth.
According to federal prosecutors, the phobia began on January 24, 2023, with a racist incitement to extrajudicial violence.
A white person called Rankin County Deputy Brett McAlpin and complained that two black men were with a white woman at a house in Braxton, Mississippi. McAlpin told Christian Dedmon, who texted a bunch of white deputies who were so willing to make use of excessive force that they called themselves “The Goon Squad.”
Once inside, they handcuffed Jenkins and his friend Parker, then poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup in their faces while taunting them with racial slurs. They forced them to strip naked and take a shower together to cover the mess. They taunted the victims with racist slurs and attacked them with sexual objects.
In a mock execution that went improper, Elward shot Jenkins in the mouth, splitting his tongue and breaking his jaw. The officers got here up with a cover-up and agreed to plant drugs on Jenkins and Parker. For months, false charges were brought against the boys.
According to prosecutors, McAlpin and Middleton, the oldest in the group, threatened to kill other officers in the event that they spoke out. According to his lawyer Jeff Reynolds, Opdyke was the primary to confess what they did. Opdyke showed investigators a WhatsApp text thread in which officers discussed their plan, Reynolds said.
The only defendant who didn’t face a federal prison term that exceeded the sentencing criteria was Hartfield, who didn’t work with others in the sheriff’s department and was not a member of the “Thug Squad.”
In federal court, deputies expressed remorse for his or her actions and apologized to Jenkins and Parker. Several of their attorneys said their clients were caught up in a culture of corruption encouraged by sheriff’s office leaders.
Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey didn’t release any details about his deputies’ actions when he announced they were fired last June. After they he pleaded guilty in August, Bailey said officers had gone rogue and promised changes. Jenkins and Parker called on him to resign and contributed $400 million civil lawsuit against the school.
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The post ‘Goon Squad’ Officers Who Tortured Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker Sentenced in State Court appeared first on TheGrio.
Crime
Founder of an AI Tech startup accused of fraud and combining numbers with investors
Joanna Smith-Griffin, 33, CEO of startup AllHere Education, Inc. dealing with AI education accused of defrauding investors.
The Southern District of New York prosecuted Smith-Griffin securities fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The grand jury indictment alleged that Smith-Griffin lied concerning the education platform’s funds and posed as a financial consultant to supply false information to investors. While acting as a financial consultant for AllHere Education, Smith-Griffin is accused of falsifying the corporate’s financial records mislead potential investors and inflate the worth of her company and its revenues.
AllHere Education is an AI-powered learning platform utilized in primary and secondary schools. Smith-Griffin has had little success integrating the K-12 platform into individual school districts in California and Georgia. However, the principal didn’t secure long-term contracts with school districts. She used these short-term partnerships to misrepresent to investors the reach and financial success of AllHere Education.
Smith-Griffin told potential AllHere investors that AllHere generated about $3.7 million in revenue in 2020, about $2.5 million in money and has major school district customers similar to New York City Department of Education (“NYC DOE”) and Atlanta Public Schools. In fact, AllHere generated roughly $11,000 in revenue in 2020, had roughly $494,000 in money, and had no contracts with many of the clients it represented, including the NYC DOE and Atlanta Public Schools.
Smith-Griffin continued to boost capital to support the startup, raising one other $10 million in funding. When the corporate collapsed financially, Smith-Griffin allegedly used the money injection to pay for an extravagant three-day wedding in Florida and a residence in North Carolina.
FBI Deputy Director James E. Dennehy commented on Smith-Griffin’s decision to prioritize her personal aspirations over the needs of an educational platform.
“Her alleged actions impacted the potential to improve the learning environment in core school districts by selfishly prioritizing personal expenses,” he said.
Smith-Griffin faces a compulsory two years in prison for the identity theft charge and a maximum of 20 years for every fraud charge. AllHere Education is currently in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Crime
Prosecutors say Sean “Diddy” Combs is trying to obstruct justice by heading to prison
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs was trying to reach potential witnesses and influence public opinion while in prison in a bid to influence potential jurors in an upcoming sex trafficking trial, prosecutors said in a court filing during which they urged a judge to deny his latest bail request.
The government charges were filed Friday evening in federal court in Manhattan, which opposed the music mogul’s latest offer of $50 million bail. A bail hearing is scheduled for next week.
Prosecutors wrote that a review of recorded phone calls Combs made while in prison shows that he asked relations to contact potential victims and witnesses and urged them to create a “narrative” to influence the jury pool. They say he also encouraged the use of promoting strategies to influence public opinion.
“The defendant has demonstrated time and time again – even while in custody – that he’ll flagrantly and repeatedly disregard the foundations so as to improperly influence the consequence of his case. In other words, the defendant has demonstrated that he can’t be trusted to abide by the terms and conditions,” prosecutors wrote in a press release containing redactions.
Prosecutors wrote that from his behavior it might be inferred that Combs wanted to blackmail victims and witnesses into remaining silent or providing testimony helpful to his defense.
Combs’ lawyers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Prosecutors said Combs, 55, began breaking the foundations almost immediately after being taken into custody Metropolitan Prison Center in Brooklyn after his September arrest.
He pleaded not guilty to the costs brought against him he abused and molested women for years with the assistance of a network of collaborators and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
Two judges found he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.
His lawyers recently filed a 3rd bail application after rejecting two previous attempts, including a $50 million bail offer.
In their motion, they cited modified circumstances, including latest evidence, that they believed justified Combs’ release so he could higher prepare for his May 5 trial.
However, prosecutors said defense lawyers created the most recent bail proposal based on evidence provided to them by prosecutors, and the brand new material was already known to defense lawyers after they submitted previous bail applications.
In their presentation to the judge, prosecutors said Combs’ behavior in prison shows he must remain locked up.
For example, they said, Combs asked relations to plan and execute a social media campaign around his birthday “with the intent of influencing a potential jury in this criminal proceeding.”
He encouraged his children to post a video on their social media accounts of them gathering to have a good time his birthday, he added.
He then monitored statistics on the jail, including audience engagement, and “explicitly discussed with the family how to ensure the film would have the desired impact on potential jury members in this case,” they said.
The government also alleged that Combs made clear in other conversations that he intended to anonymously publish information that he believed would help him defend against the costs.
“Defendant’s efforts to impede the fairness of these proceedings also include his persistent efforts to contact potential witnesses, including victims of violence, who could provide strong testimony against him,” prosecutors wrote.
Crime
Celebrity chef and former NFL player Tobias Dorzon is recovering from a shooting attack
Celebrity chef and former NFL player Tobias Dorzon is recovering after being shot during an alleged robbery.
The shooting occurred on the evening of Tuesday, November 5 in Hyattsville, Maryland, when multiple suspects attempted to rob a man and woman who had just returned from dinner, based on statement from the Hyattsville Police Department.
Police said the victims were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Although authorities didn’t initially discover the victims, local council member Wanika Fisher revealed that Dorzon was amongst those attacked.
“I am disheartened and saddened by the news that Prince George’s County restaurant owner Tobias Dorzon was one of two people shot during an attempted robbery Tuesday evening in my neighborhood,” Fisher began in a news release.
She added that Dorzon, a Riverdale native, owns two “amazing” restaurants in Hyattsville and is considered a “dear” friend of hers.
“Such a terrible act could not have happened to a better person,” Fisher continued within the statement. “I offer my sincere condolences to him and the other victim, as well as their families and friends, and wish them both a speedy recovery. This type of senseless violence has no place in our county and county.”
According to Fisher, Dorzon is an “extremely talented” chef who has represented Prince George’s County on the national stage and appeared on several Food Network shows. Most recently, the 39-year-old chef participated within the Food Network’s “Last Bite Hotel,” where he made it to the ultimate 4. He also hosts “Time Out with Tobias” on ESPN.
Off-screen, Dorzon currently owns and manages a company Huncho’s house and exclusive 1123 By Chef Tobias. This spring, he was named Maryland Chef of the Year, the primary honor for somebody from Prince George’s County. In 2021 helped James Harden open his restaurant Thirteen in Houston.
Before becoming a master chef, the Maryland native played within the NFL for each the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tennessee Titans. He also had a stint playing for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League.
Every week after the shooting, Dorzon updated followers Instagram on his progress.
“I’m still here, thank you all for your prayers. See you soon…. Huncho,” he wrote within the caption of a post that included a screenshot of a tweet during which he admitted that, all things considered, he should be “God’s favorite.”
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