A Florida man has been charged with robbery after he asked a bank teller to withdraw one cent.
Michael Fleming, 41, was arrested on June 29 after he entered a Chase Bank and filled out a withdrawal slip for one cent, according to <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24793410-mp-fleming-affidavit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">his arrest report</a>. When Fleming handed the slip to the bank teller, he was told his request could not be fulfilled.
Fleming allegedly then responded: “So you want me to say the other word?” It is assumed this &#8220;other word,&#8221; he was referring to was &#8220;robbery.&#8221;
The bank teller realized what was going on and became afraid that Fleming could become violent and notified law enforcement. Sheriff’s deputies received a call just before 2 p.m. about an “in-progress robbery.” Fleming was still in the building when law enforcement arrived and was taken into custody without incident.
During a recorded interview, Fleming allegedly told authorities that he had first gone to a Citizens First Bank to make the withdrawal, but it was closed so he drove to the Chase Bank branch.
Fleming told law enforcement, “Most of the time, the way tellers are trained, if someone comes in to rob you, you give them the money and let them go.” He also allegedly told police that he expected the teller to give him the penny and said he would then sit in a chair and wait for law enforcement. He said that even though he didn’t receive anything from the teller, he still waited in the lobby for authorities, saying his goal was to be arrested.
Fleming received no money from the bank, and doesn’t even have an account with Chase, the arrest affidavit said.
Even though Fleming only asked for a penny and received nothing, he has still been charged with felony bank robbery without a weapon. The relevant Florida statute defines &#8220;robbery&#8221; as &#8220;the taking of money or other property which may be the subject of larceny from the person or custody of another, with intent to either permanently or temporarily deprive the person or the owner of the money or other property, when in the course of the taking there is the use of force, violence, assault, or putting in fear.&#8221;
If, in committing a robbery, the suspect didn&#8217;t use a weapon, then they are charged with a second-degree felony.
Fleming was taken to the Sumter County Detention Center, where he was booked and processed. He has no previous convictions for robbery.
Since his arrest, Fleming has qualified as indigent and was granted a court-appointed attorney, Law &amp; Crime <a href="https://lawandcrime.com/crime/you-want-me-to-say-the-other-word-florida-man-arrested-after-allegedly-trying-to-withdraw-1-cent-from-bank/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, and his bond has been set at $5,000.
It is unclear at this time why Fleming wanted to be arrested, or how he knew how tellers are trained if he didn’t have previous convictions for robbery.

Michael Fleming Mugshot

Florida Man Shows It’s Much Easier To Get Charged With Felony Bank Robbery Than Actually Robbing A Bank

Man Charged With Robbery After Requesting Bank Teller Withdraw One Cent

Crime

Florida

Robbery

U.S.

&#8220;General Hospital&#8221; actor Johnny Wactor was shot and killed early Saturday morning during what appeared to be an attempted robbery of his parked car. He was 37 years old.
According to a <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2024/05/26/general-hospital-actor-johnny-wactor-dead-shot-killed-robbery-attempt-car-catalytic-converter/?adid=social-tw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> published Sunday by TMZ, the actor&#8217;s mother Scarlett told the outlet he had been out with one of his coworkers in downtown Los Angeles when they saw several people who appeared to be doing something to Wactor&#8217;s car. The outlet noted that police had also reported — without mentioning any names — an incident in the vicinity around that same time that involved three suspects who were allegedly after a catalytic converter.
Wactor, according to his mother, did not try to stop the alleged thieves — but they still shot at him as they fled the scene. TMZ reported that paramedics reached the scene around 3 a.m. local time, but that Wactor was pronounced dead upon his arrival at the hospital.
The actor, who appeared in more than 200 episodes of the daytime drama, also appeared on &#8220;NCIS,&#8221; &#8220;Criminal Minds,&#8221; and got his start on Lifetime&#8217;s &#8220;Army Wives.&#8221; He leaves behind his mother and two younger brothers: Lance, and Grant.
Fans and friends took to X to share tributes to the young actor, praising him both for his talent and for his humility and kindness.
&#8220;When the tears slow down, I am literally sick to my stomach at this news. Johnny was one of those rare young men in this business who was kind, unassuming, humble, and always thought about other people,&#8221; Jon Windstorm posted. &#8220;A talented young guy who just wanted to share that talent with the world. I wish I had enough love to fill the hole that his loved ones must feel right now, but I know that’s impossible. Johnny will be missed on this plane. For a long time to come. R.I.P.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JohnnyWactor?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JohnnyWactor</a> When the tears slow down, I am literally sick to my stomach at this news. Johnny was one of those rare young men in this business who was kind, unassuming, humble, and always thought about other people. A talented young guy who just wanted to share that talent with… <a href="https://t.co/IQVqvhe3nn">pic.twitter.com/IQVqvhe3nn</a>
— Jon Lindstrom (@thejonlindstrom) <a href="https://twitter.com/thejonlindstrom/status/1794865503380591047?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;One of my good college friends was shot and killed in LA during a catalytic converter theft. We’re at a point in our society where criminals think it’s okay to murder someone over maybe a few hundred dollars,&#8221; Bubba Atkinson added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
One of my good college friends was shot and killed in LA during a catalytic converter theft.
We’re at a point in our society where criminals think it’s okay to murder someone over maybe a few hundred dollars. <a href="https://t.co/gzWWQHeIfG">https://t.co/gzWWQHeIfG</a>
— bubba atkinson (@BubbaAtkinson) <a href="https://twitter.com/BubbaAtkinson/status/1794858066409922857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Honestly, words can&#8217;t begin 2 express the sadness with which 2 convey my feelings towards losing another #GH Alum. The senselessness of this lose is beyond description. Johnny was such a good guy. Really horrible. RIP #JohnnyWactor &amp; much love &amp; comfort to those who loved him,&#8221; William DeVry posted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Honestly, words can&#8217;t begin 2 express the sadness with which 2 convey my feelings towards losing another <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GH?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GH</a> Alum. The senselessness of this lose is beyond description. Johnny was such a good guy. Really horrible. RIP <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JohnnyWactor?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JohnnyWactor</a> &amp; much love &amp; comfort to those who loved him.
— William deVry (@WilliamdeVry1) <a href="https://twitter.com/WilliamdeVry1/status/1794874139108638729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Another talented, kind and generous @generalhospital colleague gone too soon. Deepest condolences to the family, friends, colleagues and fans of @WactorTractor #JohnnyWactor #GH,&#8221; Kathleen Gati added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Another talented, kind and generous <a href="https://twitter.com/GeneralHospital?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@generalhospital</a> colleague gone too soon. Deepest condolences to the family, friends, colleagues and fans of <a href="https://twitter.com/WactorTractor?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WactorTractor</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JohnnyWactor?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JohnnyWactor</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GH?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GH</a> 💔 <a href="https://t.co/vVgJ9f2WFI">https://t.co/vVgJ9f2WFI</a>
— Kathleen Gati (@gatitweets) <a href="https://twitter.com/gatitweets/status/1794857778160550026?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Celebrity Sightings In Philadelphia – October 29, 2023

37-Year-Old Soap Star Shot And Killed During Attempted Robbery In LA

California

Los Angeles

Shooting

Violent Crime

Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/adam-schiff" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Adam Schiff</a> (D-CA) was robbed in San Francisco on Thursday before attending a dinner with wealthy backers of his Senate campaign, which caused him to show up to the event without a suit, <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/car-burglars-snatch-rep-adam-schiff-s-luggage-19424026.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Chronicle reported that car thieves stole Schiff’s luggage, including his clothes, before he was set to speak at a dinner attended by lawyer Joe Cotchett, who is supporting Schiff’s Senate run against Republican candidate Steve Garvey. The race will determine who will occupy the seat occupied by Dianne Feinstein before she died. 
“Yes, they took my bags,” Schiff told the Chronicle when asked about the theft of his bag from a vehicle in a downtown San Francisco parking garage. “But I’m here to thank Joe.”
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The Democratic congressman and U.S. Senate candidate got a rude introduction to San Francisco’s vexing reputation for car burglaries Thursday when thieves swiped his bags from his car while it sat in a downtown parking garage. <a href="https://t.co/UCzY5ajWsG">https://t.co/UCzY5ajWsG</a>
&mdash; San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) <a href="https://twitter.com/sfchronicle/status/1783706058927509830?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Cotchett, a top Democratic <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/search?order=desc&amp;q=joseph+cotchett&amp;sort=N&amp;type=donors">donor,</a> praised Schiff after the dinner, saying he would “change” the Senate. 
“Adam really showed himself tonight,” Cotchett said. “He’ll be a great senator — he’s going to change the Senate tremendously.”
The dinner took place at the Ristorante Rocca, an Italian restaurant in Burlingame, a city near San Francisco. 
“I guess it’s ‘Welcome to San Francisco,’” Cotchett’s press agent Lee Houskeeper told the Chronicle. Houskeeper added that Schiff could maybe go out shopping for new suits with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. 
“Maybe he can go out with Willie Brown to choose a new suit from one of the many fine clothing establishments in San Francisco,” he added.  “Willie knows them all.”
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The robbery comes as San Francisco has been riddled with crime in recent years after it moved to defund the police in the wake of the death of George Floyd. In July 2020, Mayor London Breed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sf-democrat-mayor-london-breed-after-backing-defunding-police-reverses-need-aggressive-policing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicated</a> that the city would be moving $100 million from the San Francisco Police Department to social justice programs. Breed later backtracked on her support for defunding the police, saying in December 2021 that the city needed to be tougher on crime. 
“It’s time that the reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it to come to an end,” Breed said. “And it comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement, more aggressive with the changes in our policies, and less tolerant of all the bulls**t that has destroyed our city, we are going to turn this around.”

Adam Schiff greets supporters on Election Night

Adam Schiff Robbed In San Francisco Before Dinner With Senate Campaign Supporters

Adam Schiff

London Breed

San Francisco

As crime runs rampant in the Bay Area, an Oakland, California, jewelry store that has been in business for 40 years was <a href="https://abc7news.com/exclusive-armed-suspects-clear-out-phuong-jewelry-in-oakland-chinatown/14649607/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">robbed</a> of 85-90% of its inventory when eight thieves brandishing weapons and accompanied by two getaway cars hit the store Wednesday afternoon.
The Trinh family, which owns Phuong Jewelry in Oakland&#8217;s Chinatown Wednesday, had let their business insurance lapse because premiums had risen. Video showed the eight thieves shattering every case as they ravaged the store.
Diane Trinh, 69, hid and yelled for help as no security guard was on duty; her 76-year-old husband burst in with a firearm, prompting the thieves to flee.
&#8220;If he hadn&#8217;t done that they would have kept going,” the Trinhs&#8217; son Tony, the executive director of the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council, said. “We&#8217;ve been robbed a few times before but not at this level of brazen magnitude. Eight individuals and two getaway cars and guns drawn. I thought, did my mother get shot? Did my father get shot? Did any of our staff of community members?”
“My mom was devastated and my dad was broken,” Tony said. “It&#8217;s rough, my mom is the leader of the pack — when she suffers I suffer the same thing from her.”
Yet Tony steadfastly believes the neighborhood can improve. “I&#8217;ve seen tremendous progress even though it doesn&#8217;t feel like that. In terms of cleaning and safety, there are a lot more out there ambassadors &#8211; we have walking officers &#8211; during the pandemic we didn&#8217;t,” he said. “We can&#8217;t let our fear overcome! The only way to reduce crime is to have more traffic, events, people to get more resources. A strong Oakland Chinatown is strong for every community in Oakland.”
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
8 armed suspects ransacked the legacy Oakland Chinatown business Phuong Jewelry yesterday at around 12:30. 
The family tells me, in less than one minute 85-90% of their inventory was taken. 
Watch as owner Diane runs to the back &amp; gets her year old husband. He storms out with a… <a href="https://t.co/pvsiiUeoiz">pic.twitter.com/pvsiiUeoiz</a>
&mdash; Dion Lim (@DionLimTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/DionLimTV/status/1778654769827258489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
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The Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council initiated a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-phuong-jewelry-rebuild?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet-tip&amp;utm_content=share_ai_integrated&amp;utm_medium=copy_link&amp;utm_source=customer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoFundMe site</a> to help the Trinh family.
Violent crime and other felonies <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/06/business/oakland-crime-business/index.html#:~:text=Robberies%20grew%2038%25%20last%20year,a%20San%20Francisco%20Chronicle%20analysis." target="_blank" rel="noopener">rose</a> in Oakland last year; robberies increased 38%; burglaries increased 23%. “15,000 cars were reported stolen last year — the highest number in the city in at least 15 years,” the San Francisco Chronicle <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/oakland-police-car-break-ins-19362026.php">reported</a>. In San Francisco, robberies and motor vehicle theft <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/crime-2023-trends-san-francisco-18585737.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increased</a> in 2023.

Elegant jewelry set. Jewellery set with gemstones. Jewelry accessories collage. Product still life concept. Ring, necklace and earrings.

8 Armed Robbers Smash Family-Owned Oakland Jewelry Store, Loot 90% Of Inventory, Owners Say

Oakland

The owner of a construction and electrical company blasted the Democrats he said he voted for after a group of at least 10 thieves broke into his business early Wednesday morning. 
During an interview on Fox 11 Los Angeles, Ryan Baggaley — the owner of Delta Construction and Electric Co. — called out L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and President Joe Biden for failing to protect business owners like himself from an increasing amount of break-ins. 
“This whole strip has been broken into, our neighbors have been broken into four times, these guys just got broken into two months ago,” Baggaley said, pointing across the street. “What are we supposed to do? We’re a small construction company.” 
Following the burglary, the L.A. business owner slammed the Democrats he voted for as his neighborhood is victimized by more robberies. 
“I voted for Karen Bass. I voted for Biden. I voted for Gavin Newsom. I’m sick of it,” Baggaley said. “At some point you have to give me a reason to vote for you again.”
“We just do our jobs, make a living, help our employees make a good living, and move on, but it’s really freaking difficult to survive,” Baggaley added. 
WATCH: 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Another brazen break-in caught on camera. Another L.A. business owner fed up:
“I voted for Karen Bass. I voted for Biden. I voted for Gavin Newsom. I’m sick of it. At some point you have to give me a reason to vote for you again.”<a href="https://twitter.com/FOXLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FOXLA</a> <a href="https://t.co/EKGtDE5rb6">pic.twitter.com/EKGtDE5rb6</a>
&mdash; MarlaTellez (@MarlaTellez) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarlaTellez/status/1732674896172630213?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Surveillance footage from cameras used by Baggaley’s business captured between 10 and 15 thieves smashing through his gate with a car before breaking into the Delta Construction and Electric Co. building and taking anything they could get their hands on. Baggaley told Fox 11 that the Kia Soul used by the thieves to break through his company’s gate was stolen from an LAPD impound yard and police recognized it from a chalk mark on the vehicle’s window.
Among the items stolen by the thieves were music equipment Baggaley and his brother, who used to be a part of a band, stored in the building. Baggaley estimated that the burglars stole and damaged thousands of dollars worth of equipment and tools. 
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The business owner said that he was notified of the break-in by his Ring system and he rushed to his business, telling his wife to call the police. But officers didn’t respond to the burglary for two hours, according to Baggaley.
“They’re saying, ‘We don’t have anyone in the area,’” he <a href="https://ktla.com/news/la-co-business-owner-frustrated-at-repeated-break-ins/">told</a> KTLA 5. “We’re like, ‘Now it’s been 15 minutes, then it’s 20 minutes and they’re still not here.&#8217; It just kept going and they didn’t respond for two hours.”
In August, Los Angeles launched a task force committed to combatting retail theft and robberies carried out by large groups of thieves. At the time, Bass said the recent spree of organized theft in L.A. was “unacceptable.” 
“These are not victimless crimes,” said Bass, adding, that the task force will “aggressively investigate” these incidents and hold the perpetrators “fully accountable.”

Gavin Newsom/Karen Bass

L.A. Business Owner Victimized By Gang Of Thieves Goes Off On Dems He Voted For: ‘I’m Sick Of It’

L.A. Business Owner Victimized By Gang Of Thieves Goes Off On Dems He Voted For: 'I’m Sick Of It'

Gavin Newsom

Joe Biden

Karen Bass

At least four gold bars that federal investigators recovered during their search of Sen. Bob Menendez&#8217;s (D-NJ) home are directly linked to one of the men accused of bribing Menendez.
In 2013, businessman Fred Daibes filed a police report stating that he was the victim of an armed robbery and that the assailants took $500,000 in cash from him and nearly two dozen gold bars.
Police later caught the suspects and Daibes&#8217; property was returned to him, including the gold bars. According to Daibes, who had to sign a document certifying that the property was his, the gold bars all had unique serial numbers that would never be duplicated onto another gold bar.
&#8220;Each gold bar has its own serial number,&#8221; he told investigators at the time. &#8220;They’re all stamped … you’ll never see two stamped the same way.&#8221;
Four of the gold bars that investigators recovered from Menendez&#8217;s home have the same serial numbers as four of the 22 gold bars that were stolen and later returned to Daibes.
Daibes was charged in the federal indictment for allegedly conspiring to bribe Menendez and conspiring to commit fraud.
The <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23989441/us_v_menendez_et_al_indictment.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indictment says</a> that Menendez and his wife had a corrupt relationship with New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes, who allegedly gave the senator bribes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to the DOJ, the bribes were intended to protect the businessmen and to benefit Egypt.
NBC legal analyst Danny Cevallas said, &#8220;All of this spells bad news for Senator Menendez because the chain of custody – it appears – is going to be really easy to prove up.&#8221;
Sen. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/john-fetterman" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Fetterman</a> (D-PA) called for Menendez to be expelled from the Senate last week after the U.S. House of Representatives expelled now-former Rep. George Santos (R-NY).
“Senator Menendez, he needs to go,” Fetterman said. “And if you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate? And, you know, Santos is kind of, lies were almost, you know, funny. And like, you know, he, you know, landed on the moon and that kind of stuff.”
“Whereas, you know, I think, you know, Menendez, I think is really a senator for Egypt. You know, not New Jersey. So I really think he needs to go,” Fetterman said. “He has the right for his day in court and all that, but he doesn’t have the right to have those kinds of votes and things that — that’s not a right. And I think we need to make that kind of decision to send him out.”

Bob Menendez

Gold Bars Recovered In Menendez Bribery Case Linked To 2013 Robbery: Report

Bribery

George Santos

John Fetterman

Senate

A news crew from the Czech Republic was reportedly robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco on Sunday as the team reported on the Asia-Pacific Economic Partnership (APEC) summit taking place in the city. 
Bohumil Vostal, a Czech TV journalist, was filming at San Francisco’s popular City Lights bookstore when masked criminals approached him and his team with guns pointed at them, The San Francisco Chronicle <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/apec-news-crew-czech-robbery-city-lights-18488613.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The armed assailants allegedly stole $18,000 worth of equipment that included the news crew’s entire footage from the day. 
“They were heading at my camera man, aiming a gun at his stomach, and one at my head,” Vostal said. 
“I’m one of those many people who used to read Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road,’ and I was so much looking forward to visit your city,” he added. 
The San Francisco Police Department confirmed that it is investigating an armed robbery that targeted a production team just before 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, according to <a href="https://www.ktvu.com/news/foreign-tv-crew-robbed-while-covering-apec-summit-in-san-francisco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KTVU</a>. Officers said three armed men got out of a vehicle that stopped on the street and approached a production crew, demanding their equipment. After robbing the production team, the assailants got back in the vehicle and fled the scene, the officers added. 
San Francisco Mayor London Breed&#8217;s office said the mayor met with the Czech news crew on Monday and assured them that the city would replace their stolen equipment, the Chronicle reported. Breed&#8217;s spokesman, Jeff Cretan, added that authorities are cracking down on crimes such as robberies that have plagued the city under Democrats&#8217; leadership.
Hundreds of foreign journalists have flocked to the Bay Area to cover the Asia-Pacific Economic Partnership summit as diplomats gather to discuss the future of the economy and trade in the region. Before the summit, San Francisco <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-francisco-clears-homeless-camps-ahead-of-international-summit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cleared</a> areas that had been occupied by homeless encampments and public drug markets, and city workers power-washed sidewalks and mass transit stations. 
Some sections of the sidewalk were blocked off with barricades as the city prepared for the arrival of Chinese communist leader Xi Jinping. California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom admitted last week that the city clean-up was because world leaders were coming to town. 
“I know folks are saying, ‘Oh, they’re just cleaning up this place because all those fancy leaders are coming to town,&#8217;” Newsom said. “That’s true because it’s true — but it’s also true for months and months and months before APEC, we’ve been having conversations.”
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President Joe Biden and Xi are set to meet at the APEC summit to discuss strengthening communication and managing competition, the White House <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-chinas-xi-will-discuss-communication-competition-apec-summit-2023-11-13/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Monday. Biden will also meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López with the ongoing border crisis on the agenda for their discussion. 
“President Biden and President López Obrador will also discuss how we can continue to work together as partners to manage migration at our shared border and mobilize a hemispheric-wide response to this challenge,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/11/13/statement-from-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-on-the-bilateral-meeting-between-president-joe-biden-and-president-andres-manuel-lopez-obrador-of-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.

APEC Leaders’ Meeting 2023 – Previews

Foreign News Crew Robbed At Gunpoint While Covering APEC Summit In San Francisco

Journalism

Police

The idea of jury nullification has been around since this country had juries. The idea is pretty simple: juries can vote to acquit defendants, even when the government proves its case beyond a reasonable doubt. If you serve on a jury, and you listen to all the evidence, then you can still vote &#8220;not guilty.&#8221; And you can walk right out of the courthouse, and tell everyone that the guy did it, but you didn&#8217;t care. Maybe you didn&#8217;t like the law. Maybe you didn&#8217;t like the prosecutor. Whatever it is, it&#8217;s your right to vote to acquit. The defendant will walk. The judge and the government can&#8217;t do anything about it.
In the history of this country, jury nullification has been especially prominent in periods of open race hatred. During the 19th century, juries often refused to convict people who were accused of helping escaped slaves, in violation of the Fugitive Slave Act. Later, in the civil rights era, some all-white juries would acquit people who clearly committed acts of violence against blacks. So there are clearly good uses of jury nullification, and bad instances of it, as you&#8217;d expect. But on balance, this is a feature, not a bug, of our judicial system. That&#8217;s the conventional wisdom.
What&#8217;s not conventional wisdom — because no one is talking about it, even on the Right — is that jury nullification is making a major comeback right now. And this is not the jury nullification that Supreme Court justices like John Jay endorsed back in the day. I&#8217;m talking about a return of the civil rights era of jury nullification, where juries — egged on by prosecutors, in some cases — refuse to punish racist criminals who are obviously guilty. Only this time, the criminals are not white, they&#8217;re black. This is widespread at the moment in this country. It is impossible to deny. We have fully imported South African-style juries, where race and caste matters more than the facts of the case.
I&#8217;m going to start with one of the most egregious recent examples of jury nullification I&#8217;m talking about. This is a case involving the brutal killing of a 17-year-old white high school student in Akron, Ohio, named Ethan Liming. Last summer, Ethan Liming and his friends decided to do some stupid TikTok challenge, where they took a toy gel gun and fired it at random people. 
Here&#8217;s the police chief in Akron explaining what the gun looks like and what it does:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Akron police provide update on Ethan Liming&#039;s death" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_mNMvUJDNsk?start=434&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So Ethan Liming and his friends, armed with this toy water gun, drove around and then they came across several young black men, ages 19 to 21, who were playing basketball in a parking lot near LeBron James&#8217; &#8220;I Promise&#8221; school. And Liming&#8217;s friends made the very dumb decision to shoot at these black men with the toy gun. Evidence at trial, which includes surveillance footage, shows that the black men initially ran away, thinking they were under attack. But then, they turned back and charged at the car Liming was in. There was testimony that Liming fired some water pellets at the men who were now running at him. The key point here is that this was not a split-second thing where the black men attacked in self-defense, thinking the gun was real. They pursued Liming to get back at him for his prank.
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What happened next is that Ethan Liming died a horrible death. When police arrived, they found blood coming from Liming&#8217;s mouth, ears, and nose. He hadn&#8217;t simply been punched in the face and given a black eye, although that&#8217;s true as well. He had been stomped. He had a broken collarbone. He had multiple blunt-force injuries all over his body. The coroner noted that there was a shoe print on his chest. Think about the amount of force that&#8217;s required to leave a shoe print on someone like that. Think about the savagery involved in this. At trial, the defense argued that Ethan Liming&#8217;s killers were in fear for their lives. They weren&#8217;t mad they had been pranked. Instead, they were deathly afraid of the water gun, so they went to town.
Is that plausible? Initially, prosecutors didn&#8217;t think so. That&#8217;s why they brought murder charges against the men responsible for this killing, which seems obviously appropriate given that the facts of the case simply don’t support a self-defense claim. Again, they pursued him, assaulted him, and stomped on him while he was on the ground. It was three against one, and after killing him they stole his car. Even if we were to accept the outlandish idea that they ran after this guy still thinking that he was a crazed shooter with a real gun, by the time they were stomping him to death on the ground it would have been exceedingly clear to everyone involved that he was not a threat. Also, keep in mind that at least one of the three assailants had been hit in the face with the water pellet. That couldn’t have felt very good, but it does mean that they obviously knew that it was a toy gun. Their lives were not in danger. They stomped him to death and stole his car because they were angry. This was murder, obviously. But the murder charges didn&#8217;t last long. Watch:
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A couple of things about this. First of all, if the prosecutors had wanted the grand jury to indict on murder charges, they could&#8217;ve done that. That&#8217;s not really in dispute. Especially after the Trump prosecutions, where the grand jury wanted to indict everyone who&#8217;s ever talked to Trump, everyone knows how grand juries work in this country. There&#8217;s no defense counsel present. Prosecutors can basically say whatever they want to grand juries. And they can indict anyone for any crime. 
So why didn&#8217;t prosecutors want murder charges here? Why did they effectively downgrade to a much less serious offense — involuntary manslaughter? Liming&#8217;s father spoke to local media about the prosecutors&#8217; decision. He says that at least one prosecutor said that his son got what he deserved, in the form of &#8220;hood justice.&#8221; Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Witnesses to beating death of Ethan Liming testify in high-profile trial" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/syW7KI7eqjM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
You can believe what Liming&#8217;s father says, or you can choose not to believe it. Whatever the case, it&#8217;s objectively true that &#8220;involuntary manslaughter&#8221; is an absurdly lenient charge when you pummel someone on the ground after he fired a water gun at you. Involuntary manslaughter makes sense when you&#8217;re speeding and you hit someone in a crosswalk. When you&#8217;re standing over someone with a child&#8217;s toy, causing blood to come out of every orifice of his body, you&#8217;re probably committing a voluntary act called murder. At the very least, you&#8217;d think it would be up to a jury to decide that question.
But prosecutors in Akron didn&#8217;t see it that way. So the murder charge was off the table. And just by doing that — just by removing the prospect of murder from the case — prosecutors sent a very clear signal to jurors. That signal is that this was all an accident, at worst. No one really intended anyone to die. And just to reiterate that point, the prosecutors offered jurors another option. They could also convict the thugs of &#8220;assault.&#8221; 
And lo and behold, that&#8217;s exactly what happened. This week Ethan Liming&#8217;s killers got off with a conviction for assault. They were acquitted of involuntary manslaughter. It&#8217;s as if they just got into a nasty bar fight. They&#8217;ll almost certainly be out of jail within two years, if not sooner. This is jury nullification, encouraged by prosecutors. There&#8217;s no other term you can use to describe this. And it&#8217;s not just happening in Akron.
Consider that just a few weeks ago, a jury found that a member of a black nationalist militia named Othal Wallace had committed manslaughter, instead of murder, after he shot a police officer to death on camera. Wallace shot this officer, named Jason Raynor, in the head. This was an unprovoked murder. Raynor was responding to a call of suspicious activity in an apartment complex, and Wallace killed him. Again, there&#8217;s no doubt about it. The murder was caught on body camera. Othal Wallace is not simply a member of a black nationalist group. After executing Jason Raynor, Wallace boasted on Instagram about putting &#8220;pigs&#8221; in their place. He fled to Georgia, where his black nationalist group — called NFAC, for the &#8220;Not F—ing Around Coalition&#8221; — helped him hide. Wallace also cut his dreadlocks to hide his appearance. This all came out in trial. Watch:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NFAC (Not F&#39;ing around coalition) member Othal Wallace testified in his own defense today <a href="https://t.co/6Whma3OAxC">https://t.co/6Whma3OAxC</a>
Probably didn&#39;t help him much &amp; could definitely hurt him in a death penalty phase. Prosecution grilled him over social media posts about &#39;crackers&#39; &amp; &#39;killing pigs&#39; <a href="https://t.co/STkA85Pbf8">https://t.co/STkA85Pbf8</a> <a href="https://t.co/8trjMQ2FaM">pic.twitter.com/8trjMQ2FaM</a>
&mdash; AntifaWatch (@AntifaWatch2) <a href="https://twitter.com/AntifaWatch2/status/1702388085273796821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 14, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
After that testimony — after shooting a police officer in the face, and killing him — Othal Wallace was convicted of manslaughter. Not murder, which carries a possible death sentence, but manslaughter. The local sheriff said he has, &#8220;never been more disgusted by a verdict&#8221; in his entire career. You can see why.
Again, this is not simply jury nullification. This is race-based jury nullification that prosecutors are encouraging. In some cases, they&#8217;re not even leaving it to juries. They&#8217;re offering murderers really attractive plea deals, to short-circuit the whole trial process altogether. Remember the 41-year-old guy in North Dakota named Shannon Brandt? He confessed to killing Cayler Ellingson, who was a teenager. Why? Brandt was drunk, and he assumed that when Ellingson was on the phone with his mom, that he was really communicating with some MAGA Republican militia. So Brandt ran Ellingson over with his Ford Explorer and fled the scene. That&#8217;s murder, but Shannon Brandt wasn&#8217;t charged with murder. He was hit with manslaughter charges instead. Prosecutors offered him those charges as part of a plea deal, which of course he accepted.
There are many more examples like this. There&#8217;s the case of James McGee, who used a metal pipe to bludgeon a 62-year-old cab driver named Arif Mohammed Qasim to death back in 2019. He literally beat his brains out. San Francisco&#8217;s DA at the time let McGee plead to involuntary manslaughter, in the name of equity. 
The same thing happened to the killer of Seth Smith, a Berkeley student who was shot in the back of the head at point-blank range by a lifelong criminal named Tony Walker. The moment homicide detectives reached out to Walker, he explained how frustrated he was that they cared about Smith&#8217;s death: “A white kid gets killed and the damn whole world stops… F—- that white motherf——-,&#8221; he said.
How did prosecutors respond? They offered Tony Walker a plea of manslaughter. That&#8217;s despite the fact that a probation officer determined that, &#8220;The defendant has demonstrated that he is a danger to the community and needs to be separated for the community’s protection … the defendant has established an entrenched pattern of criminal conduct that probation, prison and parole have been unable to eradicate.” Nevertheless, Tony Walker was not brought up on hate crimes charges, or thrown in prison for life, as he would be if he were white. This was not a repeat of the Ahmaud Arbery case with the races reversed. Instead, prosecutors let Tony Walker take a manslaughter plea. And for good measure, lawmakers in Berkeley later prevented police from running most parolee searches, like the one that led cops to apprehend Walker in the first place.
We could go on and on listing examples, but there’s one more very recent one we need to fit in here. A man named Calvin Ushery brutally assaulted, pistol-whipped, and robbed a jewelry store owner. The whole thing was caught on camera, plain as day. But guess what happened at trial? Watch:
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&nbsp;
The jury couldn’t reach a verdict. Ushery is on video walking into a jewelry store, grabbing the store owner, pistol-whipping him, stomping on his head, and beating him with a hammer before walking off with $100 thousand worth of stolen merchandise, He was charged with assault and robbery — because you can see him on camera assaulting and robbing. But the jury was deadlocked. We all know why it was deadlocked. There were members of that jury who didn’t want to convict a black man, no matter how obviously guilty he was. 
This is what&#8217;s been happening in courtrooms all over the country, without any fanfare whatsoever. The Left has targeted conservatives, whether they&#8217;re politicians or pro-lifers or random people posting memes that offend Hillary Clinton. Everyone knows that. But at the same time, all over the country, the primary voting blocs of the Democratic Party are committing the most heinous crimes imaginable — including murder — only for prosecutors and juries to let them off the hook. They&#8217;re doing it deliberately. And in the process, they have established a true two-tiered justice system. A hierarchy where the severity of a crime is judged based on the demographics of those involved. And the lives of victims are ranked based on their race and their politics. Sadly for the family of Ethan Liming, he falls at the bottom of that totem pole, which means that there will be no justice for him. Because we are no longer a country that believes in justice.
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Matt Walsh 2

Courts Across The Country Are Letting Murderers Off The Hook In The Name Of Racial Equity

Blacks

Courts

Matt Walsh

Murder

Readers Pass

The Democrat mayor of Eagle Pass, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/texas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Texas</a>, said that his constituents have faced robberies and home invasions as illegal immigrants continue to flood over the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/southern-border" target="_blank" rel="noopener">southern border</a>. 
Mayor Rolando Salinas <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/09/21/eagle-pass-mayor-warns-of-migrant-chaos-engulfing-city/?utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the New York Post on Thursday that he expected his city of 28,500 to absorb between 4,000-9,000 illegal immigrants in the next several days, a number which would be on top of the thousands who have already crossed into and through the city. According to the Post, roughly 11,500 illegal immigrants have already crossed into Eagle Pass over the last 10 days. 
He said that he had “never seen people cross like this” before and that there needed to be consequences for illegally coming into the U.S. 
“If they’re going to come, they must enter through the port of entry. I know people are desperate, but this is a nation of laws,” he said. “Our cops are overwhelmed. Our firefighters are responding to calls for care for migrants. We don’t have the resources to handle this.”
In recent days, videos from the border show streams of foreign nationals crossing into the U.S., with many coming in through Eagle Pass, where the Biden administration has <a href="https://twitter.com/gregabbott_tx/status/1704614936218149361?s=46&amp;t=XGiUuNPiSLBSXsXhdarMAQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">been accused</a> of cutting down razor wire put up by Texas to deter crossings.
Valeria Wheeler, executive director of the Mission Border Hope Center in Eagle Pass, said that the influx of illegal immigrants had brought a lot of single men and an increase in violence. 
“Mostly, we are seeing single men. From Sunday to Wednesday, we had six incidents of violence in the shelter – shoving, shouting, hitting our staff. These people rode a train to get here,” she told the Post. “They are deeply in survival mode. They’re here now, and they still haven’t come off of that. They’re very defensive. We’ve never had violence before.”
City officials hope a new law allowing troopers to arrest people for trespassing on city property will help and Salinas has already <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-officials-cut-razor-wire-on-southern-border-opening-the-floodgates-to-illegal-immigrants" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared a state of emergency</a> over the crisis. 
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Biden <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2023/09/20/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-takes-new-actions-increase-border#:~:text=Temporary%20Protection%20for%20those%20Already%20in%20the%20US.&amp;text=TPS%20provides%20temporary%20protection%20from,authorization%20for%20eligible%20Venezuelan%20nationals." target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> Wednesday that an additional 800 National Guard troops would be sent to the southern border to help with “logistics and other functions at the border” as Customs and Border Protection struggle to deal with the influx.
Illegal crossings at the southern border have remained high throughout the Biden administration and have again <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-border-numbers-near-all-time-high" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approached record numbers</a>. Much of the Biden administration’s approach has involved processing and releasing large numbers of illegal immigrants into the U.S. with distant court dates.

Crossings At Southern Border Increase As Title

Texas Mayor Warns Of Robberies, Home Invasions As City Flooded With Illegal Immigrants

Home invasion

Illegal Immigration

Politics

Southern Border

Texas

Yet another smash-and-grab robbery in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/los-angeles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Los Angeles</a> area on Tuesday saw a band of thieves make off with half a million dollars in jewelry, the store&#8217;s owner said.
Samuel Babikian, owner of Jewels on Lake in Pasadena just north of Los Angeles, was <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/pasadena-smash-and-grab-jewelry-store" target="_blank" rel="noopener">left distraught</a> after he said a group of robbers came into his store and pepper sprayed him before absconding with about $500,000 worth of merchandise.
Pasadena police responded to a call about the incident around 1:45 p.m. on Tuesday. Police said they were told four men in ski masks robbed the jewelry store. The attackers fled in a white vehicle, police <a href="https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2023/08/29/masked-robbers-pepper-spray-pasadena-jewelry-store-owner-and-employee-during-500000-heist/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
So far, police have not announced any arrests in connection with the robbery, and the investigation is ongoing.
The store owner said the pepper spray briefly blinded him and gave him breathing issues, so he was unable to give a detailed description of the attackers.
Babikian said he has owned the jewelry store for more than 40 years.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t even know what I would do tomorrow morning,&#8221; an emotional Babikian <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/pasadena-smash-and-grab-jewelry-store" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Fox 11.
The Los Angeles area has been battling a string of organized retail thefts characterized by large groups of robbers ransacking stores together.
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Late last month, police <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/california-jewelry-store-smash-grab-robbers-snatched-900000-merchandise" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> another group of masked thieves stole $900,000 worth of merchandise from a jewelry store in Irvine just south of Los Angeles and Glendale.
Earlier this month, a mob of up to 50 people in hoodies and masks <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/08/14/1193726286/smash-and-grab-mob-criminals-nordstrom-los-angeles-california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stole</a> up to $300,000 in luxury merchandise from a Nordstrom in Los Angeles. The thieves also attacked security guards with bear mace.
Three weeks ago, another group of 30 to 40 thieves robbed a Yves Saint Laurent store in southern California in broad daylight, absconding with an estimated $300,000 worth of merchandise, police said. The brazen smash-and-grab robbery was caught on video just before 5 p.m. The store is located at the Americana at Brand mall in Glendale, just north of Los Angeles.
<a href="https://ktla.com/news/local-news/video-shows-wild-scene-at-americana-as-thieves-ransack-yves-saint-laurent-store/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Footage</a> from the Yves Saint Laurent incident shows over a dozen people mostly dressed in dark clothes, hoods, and masks dashing into the store and running out again, their arms full of the expensive merchandise.
In response to the string of robberies, Los Angeles launched a new task force focused on combatting organized retail theft.
Last week, the new task force <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/los-angeles-crime-task-force-arrests-11-linked-to-smash-and-grab-robberies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> 11 people in connection with the recent smash-and-grab robberies, included some who were allegedly involved in the Nordstrom and Yves Saint Laurent store robberies.
Detectives on the new task force are investigating at least nine cases involving organized retail crimes.
In Los Angeles, most types of violent crime are down except theft, which is up 15% to over 20,000 thefts compared to this time last year, <a href="https://lapdonlinestrgeacc.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/lapdonlinemedia/cityprof.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to police data.
Since the fall of 2021, Los Angeles County, which includes Pasadena where the jewelry store robbery occurred, has seen at least 170 organized retail thefts, including the smash-and-grab trend, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/los-angeles-moves-crack-down-retail-theft-epidemic-task-force" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.
Other West Coast cities have seen a spike in retail theft this year as well, including San Francisco and Seattle.

TOPSHOT-US-ATTACKS-NEW YORK-NEW JERSEY

Another California Smash-And-Grab Sees Thieves Make Off With Half A Million Dollars In Jewelry

A television news crew reporting on a string of robberies in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/chicago" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chicago</a> became the criminals&#8217; next target Monday morning.
A Univision Chicago reporter and photographer were robbed at gunpoint by three men in ski masks around 5 a.m. Monday in the city&#8217;s West Town neighborhood, the Chicago Tribune <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-chicago-tv-news-crew-robbed-20230828-nm6dm6kzabcwbmprlfyyd77cz4-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The Spanish language network said the thieves mostly took personal items along with a camera.
“We don’t want to make the story about us, because there were other robberies that occurred within that same period,” said Luis Godinez, the vice president of news at Univision Chicago.
The thieves approached them after driving up in a gray sedan and black SUV and demanded money from the journalists before going through their SUV and taking the camera, a backpack, and two bags of equipment, according to Raza Siddiqui, president of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians Local 41, the Chicago Sun-Times <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2023/8/28/23850057/chicago-tv-news-crew-robbed-at-gunpoint-while-reporting-on-armed-robberies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The suspects then fled in the vehicles after stealing the items. Police identified the victims as a 28-year-old man and a 42-year-old man.
The journalists were working on a story about a string of robberies that have affected the West Town neighborhood, but the footage they captured Monday morning never aired since it was taken on a camera that was stolen, Godinez said. No one was injured during the robbery and police have so far not placed anyone in custody for the crime.
“They’re OK,” Godinez said of his employees, adding, “we’re working on it together as a team.”
Earlier this month, another Chicago journalist was assaulted and robbed in the West Town neighborhood while preparing to report on an afternoon update for WLS-TV. That assault and robbery prompted union president Siddiqui to warn people about the threats reporters and photographers face on the streets.
“Our news photographers and reporters provide a very important public service in keeping our community informed,” Siddiqui said, according to the Tribune. “We are committed to making sure that their safety comes first. We have talked to the photographer who was robbed today and he is thankfully safe and in good spirits.”
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Chicago saw a spike in crime shortly after electing its new mayor Brandon Johnson in May. Vehicle thefts jumped 153%, aggravated battery was up 17%, and burglary rose 12% in June, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/crime-spikes-38-in-chicago-during-brandon-johnsons-first-month-in-office" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to The Washington Examiner. Johnson is focusing his energy on fighting the rise in vehicle theft by suing car companies Kia and Hyundai, alleging that their vehicles lack the appropriate anti-theft measures, Fox 32 <a href="https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/brandon-johnson-kia-lawsuit-car-thefts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
&#8220;The impact of car theft on Chicago residents can be deeply destabilizing, particularly for low- to middle-income workers who have fewer options for getting to work and taking care of their families,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;The failure of Kia and Hyundai to install basic auto-theft prevention technology in these models is sheer negligence, and as a result, a citywide and nationwide crime spree around automobile theft has been unfolding right before our eyes.&#8221;

Chicago Police

Chicago News Crew Robbed At Gunpoint While Reporting On Robberies

Chicago

On August 28, 2003, 46-year-old pizza delivery man Brian Wells walked into a PNC bank in Erie, Pennsylvania, with a massive metal collar around his neck, covered by a T-shirt. He gave the teller a multi-page rambling note demanding $250,000 in cash.
While Wells was waiting for the money, he grabbed a lollipop from a bowl on the teller’s desk and leaned on a cane, which was later determined to be a working gun disguised as a cane. The bank didn’t have $250,000 lying around, so Wells was only able to walk out with a bag stuffed with less than $9,000. Witnesses would later say he walked out of the bank swinging the cane and didn’t seem fearful or nervous at all.
Outside, Wells attempted to follow directions that would allow him to remove the collar around his neck, which he had told bank employees was wired to a bomb. Wells was barely out of the bank a few minutes before police surrounded him and placed him in handcuffs.
<div id="attachment_610009" style="width: 422px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-610009" class="size-large wp-image-610009" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/070216_pizza_vmed_4p-412x576.webp" alt="In this photo released Sept. 17, 2005, by the FBI, Brian Wells, 46, of Erie, Pa., carries a plastic bag of cash after robbing the PNC Bank in Summit Towne Centre in Erie on Aug. 28, 2003. Wells is shown sucking on a lollipop inside the bank, wearing a collar bomb and carrying a cane-shaped firearm.AP" width="412" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/070216_pizza_vmed_4p-412x576.webp 412w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/070216_pizza_vmed_4p-215x300.webp 215w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/070216_pizza_vmed_4p-768x1073.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/070216_pizza_vmed_4p-1100x1536.webp 1100w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/070216_pizza_vmed_4p.webp 1240w" sizes="(max-width: 412px) 100vw, 412px" />Credit: CCTV. AP.</div>
While sitting cross-legged on pavement, Wells told the police officers that he had a bomb around his neck that would explode.
&#8220;Why isn&#8217;t anybody trying to get this thing off me?&#8221; he asked them.
Soon, a beeping could be heard from the collar, and Wells became more desperate for help. Not long after, the bomb exploded, killing Wells instantly.
The images of that day have not been forgotten, and while we know who was behind the bank heist plot, one question remains to this day: Why was no one ever held responsible for Wells’ death?
The answer surely comes from the law enforcement’s determination that Wells was a co-conspirator in the plot and, subsequently, his own death. But that raises a similar question: Why, after all that we now know, is Wells still considered a co-conspirator?
His family certainly insists that he could not have been part of the plot. His sister, Jean Heid, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/08/05/pizza.bomb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> CNN in 2011 that her brother was “innocent 100 percent.”
&#8220;They screwed up big time,&#8221; Heid said, referring to the officers present went Wells died. &#8220;They let an innocent man, my brother, die while in their custody and they didn&#8217;t even lift a finger to help him.”
&#8220;This case is going to be looked at for years to come, and they don&#8217;t want it known that they screwed up,&#8221; she added. &#8220;Brian never would have done this.&#8221;
The evidence that Wells was involved in the plot has always been shaky. The main person who claimed Wells was in on the whole thing was Kenneth Barnes, a convicted crack dealer who was convicted for playing a role in the bank heist. Barnes had every reason to lie about Wells. If Wells was involved, then Barnes and the other co-conspirators couldn’t be charged with his murder, which could have landed them on death row. Barnes was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the bomb plot, but his sentence was reduced to 20 years after he testified against another co-conspirator.
An FBI agent, in a court affidavit, said another witness corroborated Barnes’ story. There was also a witness who claimed he saw Wells driving away from a home where the bomb plot was concocted on the day before the bank robbery. There is no evidence to suggest Wells was there collaborating with his killers – for all the witness knew, Wells was simply delivering a pizza to the people who planned to use him for their plot.
And the FBI maintained that even if Wells was involved, his role was limited to some of the early planning stages, and that he was never willing to wear the bomb collar that caused his death.
&#8220;We have reason to believe that at some point that he was coerced, that it was placed on his neck by another individual,&#8221; U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna19718261">told</a> NBC News in 2007.
One reason authorities came to believe Wells was involved was his demeanor inside the bank. He was reportedly calm and did things that someone forced to rob a bank against their will would not have done. But perhaps that was Wells’ nerves showing, just not in the way one would expect.
Wells’ connection to the co-conspirators was through a prostitute he frequented named Jessica Hoopsick, who knew Kenneth Barnes. In the 2018 Netflix documentary “Evil Genius,” Hoopsick admitted to setting Wells up for the crime, even though she described him as a friend. She said that Barnes promised her drugs and money for the name of a person he and his co-conspirators could use to rob the bank. Hoopsick insisted Wells knew nothing about the robbery plans and wasn’t in on the planning.
It doesn’t appear any follow-ups have been conducted since Hoopsick’s bombshell revelation.
Another blow to the idea that Wells was involved comes from the random nature of the call that led him to the radio tower where the collar was placed on his neck. His boss at the pizza restaurant where he worked answered the phone but couldn’t understand the person on the other line. His boss then handed the phone to Wells, who took down the order. Maybe Wells was hovering, waiting for a call at that moment, or maybe it was a complete coincidence that he happened to be the one nearby to take the order. Had another employee taken the call, or another delivery driver gotten the assignment, would they have been the one in the collar?
While authorities are reportedly unconvinced that Wells was an innocent victim, there is no doubt that Kenneth Barnes, Floyd Stockton, William Rothstein, and Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong were involved.
How their involvement was discovered, however, was a story all its own.
Police had no leads as to who was behind the bomb plot, and were struggling to solve the case, until September 20, 2003 – nearly a month after Wells’ death. Rothstein, a handy-man and part-time shop teacher who always wanted everyone to know he was the smartest man in the room, called 911 on that day to report a dead body in the freezer in his garage.
The body turned out to be that of James Roden, Diehl-Armstrong’s boyfriend, whom she had killed before asking Rothstein to dispose of the body. Rothstein explained to police that he humored Diehl-Armstrong about disposing of the body so that he could report her to police.
Diehl-Armstrong, a former valedictorian who was bipolar and a shadow of her former self, was charged with killing her boyfriend Rosen. Diehl-Armstrong had previously gone on trial for killing another boyfriend in 1984, but she claimed self-defense and was acquitted. Following that death, several other men associated with Diehl-Armstrong died under mysterious circumstances.
<div id="attachment_610017" style="width: 234px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-610017" class="wp-image-610017 size-medium" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/GettyImages-1012208666-224x300.jpg" alt="Subject of the &quot;Evil Genius&quot; documentary Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong mugshot. (Photo courtesy Erie Police/Getty Images)" width="224" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/GettyImages-1012208666-224x300.jpg 224w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/GettyImages-1012208666-430x576.jpg 430w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/GettyImages-1012208666.jpg 764w" sizes="(max-width: 224px) 100vw, 224px" />Photo courtesy Erie Police/Getty Images</div>
Diehl-Armstrong pleaded guilty, but mentally ill, to killing Rosen and was originally sent to Mayview State Hospital, but later transferred to a state prison.
Rothstein, meanwhile, died of cancer at the age of 60. A previous suicide note he had written stated that his would-be suicide had nothing to do with the Wells case, a curious inclusion. On his death bed, he refused to discuss the Wells case with investigators.
During this time, investigators linked Rothstein and Diehl-Armstrong to the payphone that was used to call the pizza restaurant where Wells worked to order the pizza that kicked off the bank heist.
Police eventually spoke to Floyd Stockton, who was Rothstein’s roommate at the time Wells was murdered and who was a fugitive on a rape charge involving a disabled teenager. Stockton told police that Rothstein and Diehl-Armstrong were involved in the bomb plot. Rothstein reportedly needed $250,000 to satisfy family members looking to sell the family home in which he lived. Diehl-Armstrong wanted the money to pay Kenneth Barnes to kill her father, who was giving away her inheritance. 
It is believed Rothstein built the bomb and obtained some parts for it from Diehl-Armstrong, but he died before he could be charged.
Diehl-Armstrong at times gave information about the Wells case but denied her own involvement. It was never clear when she was lying and when she was telling the truth. She was charged with the bomb plot in 2007, convicted to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2011, and died in prison on April 4, 2017, at the age of 68.
Barnes also died in prison, on June 20, 2019, at the age of 65. He had been Diehl-Armstrong’s “fishing buddy” prior to their involvement in Wells’ death.
Stockton was granted immunity for cooperating with law enforcement and died on August 10, 2022, at the age of 75.
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