DETROIT, Mich - An illegal immigrant from Chile faces multiple criminal charges for her alleged involvement in home invasions targeting high-end homes in Oakland County.
Novi Police arrested Vania Herrera Valdes, 21, for home invasion and resisting arrest following a police chase last Monday that stemmed from a reported home invasion on Equestrian Trail, WJBK reports.
The arrest followed at least eight burglaries at high end homes in the area over the prior week. Authorities believe the crimes involve highly trained crews of transnational gang members working together.
“Without the community’s help, I don’t think we would’ve caught these guys,” Novi Police commander Jason Meier told the news site. “She initially gave us false information, but we were able to get assistance from our partners in immigration and customs who positively identified her as a Chilean national who was in the country illegally.” Click here to read more.
When Zach Schoffstall, a former supervisory senior resident agent in the FBI’s Salt Lake City Division, heard his bosses wanted to focus more on “domestic terrorism” and “hate crimes,” he tried to work with them. He brought the U.S. Attorney in Idaho two hate crime cases.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) declined to prosecute both. Instead, Schoffstall told the Daily Caller, the Attorney for the District of Idaho, Josh Hurwit, said he was more interested in appeasing the Biden administration by hosting seminars to talk about hate crimes. Later on, when the FBI pushed Schoffstall to execute a search warrant against a “domestic extremist” group protesting LGBTQ activists, he refused. It eventually cost him his career.
“I had been told I brought embarrassment to the bureau because of all the pressure that DOJ placed on the bureau to get that warrant,” Schoffstall told the Caller.
In June of 2022, 31 Patriot Front members were arrested and charged with conspiracy to riot after they were found carrying poles and shields in a U-Haul at a Coeur d’Alene “Pride in the Park” event. Schoffstall said the group is known to protest BLM, LGBTQ, and anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) events. Click here to read more.
A new report released by the House Judiciary Committee, in partnership with the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, reveals extensive violations and abuse of the law by the federal government.
According to congressional investigators, the FBI abused the Bank Secrecy Act in order to work with banks to target opponents of the Biden administration and Trump supporters.
"The information obtained during the Committee and Select Subcommittee’s investigation, and detailed in this report, is concerning. Documents show that federal law enforcement increasingly works hand-in-glove with financial institutions, obtaining virtually unchecked access to private financial data and testing out new methods and new technology to continue the financial surveillance of American citizens," the report states.
"Documents obtained by the Committee and Select Subcommittee demonstrate that federal law enforcement increasingly relies on financial institutions for highly sensitive information about Americans without legal process. Federal law enforcement has effectively deputized financial institutions to advance its investigations and to gain access to the information that financial institutions possess. As financial institutions’ capacity to track and gather data on Americans continues to increase, federal law enforcement will continue to be incentivized to rely on banks for easy access to sensitive information about Americans’ private lives," the report continues. Click here to read more.
CLERMONT, FLA - -The 72-year-old retiree who used his 9mm handgun to shoot a Walmart delivery drone hovering near his Florida home has struck a plea deal that could result in the eventual dismissal of felony and misdemeanor counts, court records show.
Dennis Winn will enter a pretrial intervention program offered by prosecutors that, upon successful completion, will result in the dropping of criminal charges. The PTI program, which is similar to probation, can last a year and is offered to defendants with no significant criminal history.
Winn was charged in a criminal information with discharging a firearm in public, a misdemeanor, and criminal mischief, a third degree felony since damage to the drone’s payload system exceeded $1000.
During a November 27 court conference, Winn was also ordered to immediately pay $5000 in restitution to DroneUp Delivery, the Virginia firm (and Walmart partner) that owned the drone struck by the single bullet fired from Winn’s Sig Sauer pistol.
Winn, a former New Jersey fire captain, was arrested in late-June at his home in Clermont, an Orlando suburb, after DroneUp employees told cops that their drone was fired upon while it flew over a residential area. A two-man DroneUp team was in the neighborhood conducting “mock deliveries...to attract business and interest” in the new Walmart program. Click here to read more.
WASHINTON D.C. - The Food and Drug Administration is proposing front-of-package warning labels that detail the calories, fat, sugar and salt content of processed food and drink products.
Sen. Bernie Sanders chaired a Senate committee where FDA officials testified on a proposal to mandate warning labels on foods and beverages linked to diabetes and obesity.
FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf and Deputy Commissioner Jim Jones of the FDA Human Foods Program testified at the hearing.
The meeting, led by Sanders, was titled "What Is the FDA Doing to Reduce the Diabetes and Obesity Epidemics in America and Take on the Greed of the Food and Beverage Industry?" and addressed the rising concerns over diet-related illnesses and explored whether stronger labeling requirements could influence consumer behavior.
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," Sanders said, suggesting strong warning labels and banning fast food advertising directed at children.
According to the American Diabetes Association, the total cost of diabetes in the U.S. was nearly $413 billion last year, increasing 27% over the past six years. Coca-Cola spent $327 million on advertising in the United States and earned more than $9.5 billion in profits.
Diabetes-by-the-numbers shows that 1.2 million Americans are diagnosed each year, and 97.6 million American adults are living with pre-diabetes.
Califf said the FDA is trying to do its part within its authorities and budget but that "successful change in the trajectory of our health depends on reaching societal consensus that we will do this together."
Califf said there's not much of a research budget as they aren't a research industry and rely on other entities. He continued to push for funding during the hearing and said the food industry has research that they have no access to that could help them better understand the situation. Still, he reiterated that it's in everyone's best interest for the U.S. food supply to be a source of wellness. Click here to read more.
