Crime

Oregon antifa activist sentenced to nearly six years for cracking man’s skull

An Oregon antifa activist was sentenced Friday to nearly six years in prison for using an expandable baton to crack the skull of another man at a June melee pitting right-wing activists against protesters from the left-wing anarchist group. Gage Halupowski, 24, of Oregon City received 70 months after pleading guilty to second-degree assault in connection with the June 29 attack on Adam Kelly in Portland. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said that as Mr. Kelly moved away from the crowd, “law enforcement witnessed a person, later identified as Halupowski, run up behind Mr. Kelly and strike him on the top of the head with an expandable metal baton.” “This was a powerful strike to the head,” said the Saturday press release. Mr. Kelly, who was shown on video being kicked, sprayed and struck by masked black-clad activists, said on Facebook that he suffered a concussion and needed 25 staples to close gashes on his head. At least eight people, including conservative journalist Andy Ngo, were injured as hundreds of protesters, including those affiliated with Rose City Antifa, descended on downtown Portland to counter a rally by a few dozen right-wing activists. Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Melissa Marrero said the “sound of the blow was sickening and caused people who heard it to gasp.” “The intentionality of Mr. Halupowski was extremely egregious and the injuries to Mr. Kelly could have been much worse,” she said in a statement. Defense attorney Edward Kroll said his client “did a very terrible thing and made a horrible choice,” but argued the sentence was excessive, which he attributed to Oregon’s mandatory-minimum law, Measure 11. “My take on the case is, yes, prison time was almost certainly warranted in this case,” Mr. Kroll told The Washington Times. “But I also think that sending a 24-year-old with no history away for at least 4-1/2 to five years, if not more — I think that’s too harsh in this particular circumstance.” He said Halupowski was sentenced to “70 months soft,” which means he will be eligible for earned time off for good behavior and the possibility for transitional leave. Prosecutors considered a first-degree assault charge, which would have carried a sentence of up to 90 months, although it would have been more difficult to prove, he said. “He’s a kid who made a really, really dumb decision, and he got caught up in the political back-and-forth,” Mr. Kroll said. “And that’s no excuse for what he did, certainly. This was a conscious choice that he made, and he’s paying the price for it.” No arrests have been made in the attack on Mr. Ngo, who was hospitalized for a brain hemorrhage after activists struck him and hurled “milkshakes” at him as he walked away.

And that’s “milkshakes” in quotation marks because they weren’t milkshakes at all.  We understand they were really liquid concrete, which was VERY heavy and caused severe injury to Mr. Ngo.  We’re glad to see at least one of these Antifa losers get caught, charged, and found guilty for a crime.  Antifa is a brazen domestic terrorist organization, and needs to be treated as such.  Even President Trump has considered labeling the organization a domestic terrorist organization.  Gage is a punk and a loser, and frankly got off easy.  Glad he’s behind bars for several years, and we wish Mr. Kelly a speedy recovery.

Maryland MS-13 members, illegal immigrants plead guilty to 2 grisly murders

Four MS-13 members—in the U.S. illegally—have pleaded guilty in Maryland to participating in the murders of a 21-year-old woman and a 17-year-old teenager two years ago. Police said the woman, Jennifer Rivera-Lopez, was lured to her death in June 2017 in an Anne Arundel County park where her killers, armed with knives and machetes, chopped her head off and buried her in a secret grave, the Capital Gazette reported Monday. Ronald Mendez-Sosa, 21, Brenda Argueta, 20, Ervin Arrue-Figueroa, 20, and Francisco Ramirez-Pena, 24, all of Maryland, copped to the murder last week in federal court, the paper reported. Mendez-Sosa also pleaded guilty to participating in the murder of Neri Giovani Bonilla-Palacios, the 17-year-old, who turned up dead in the woods in Annapolis in October 2017. He had been murdered two months earlier, investigators said. Court papers said he had been decapitated with a machete and his body had “at least 108 sharp and blunt force injury wounds,” the paper reported. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged detainers against all four after cops arrested them in October 2017. Court papers alleged that MS-13 targeted Rivera-Lopez and Bonilla-Palacios due to their association with a rival gang, the Gazette added. According to the court papers, Argueta reached out to Rivera-Lopez on social media and arranged for the two to meet, the paper reported. The court papers alleged that after using a ruse to get Rivera-Lopez into the car, Argueta used another ruse to get the car to stop “at which point several other [MS-13] members forced [Rivera-Lopez] into another vehicle and took [Rivera-Lopez] to the site of the murder,” the paper reported. The court papers for Mendez-Sosa said he did not help kill Rivera-Lopez but aided in the murder by transporting others to and from the scene, the paper reported.

And just think…  Only a couple years ago, Democrat politicians and the dominantly liberal mainstream media (especially MSNBC and CNN) were attacking President Trump for calling these MS-13 maggots “animals.”  These are not “people” as those Dems claimed.  They are vermin, and a cancer in our communities that needs to be eradicated.  What adds insult to injury is the fact that they are illegal aliens, and shouldn’t have even been in America in the first place!  Please consider this today’s painful reminder that we need to BUILD THE WALL NOW!!!!…and put U.S. Army National Guard troops physically ON the border with Mexico, where they should remain until that wall/fence is finally built above, and under ground (to prevent tunneling)…however long it takes.  At the same time, we need to be deporting illegal aliens by the hundreds of thousands (and yes, you read that correctly), paying particular attention to known gang members, convicted criminal aliens, and those already determined by an immigration court to be deported…regardless of age, gender, or family status.  And that’s just for starters, folks.  To do anything less is NOT in our country’s national security, or economic, interests.  Period.  We have over 20 MILLION illegal aliens in this country (NOT 11 Million; the same figure liberals have been using for over 2 decades..as if that number hasn’t gone up in the last 20 years), and our schools, hospitals, courts, and jails are overwhelmed by that staggering statistic.  Anyway..  If you want to see a photo of Jennifer, the poor young woman who was beheaded, or the MS-13 “animals” who plead guilty to it, click on the text above.  Awful..

Black Virginia 6th grader who claimed white classmates cut off dreadlocks made story up, family says

A Virginia sixth grader who claimed three of her white male classmates held her down and cut off her dreadlocks is now saying she made up the entire story. Amari Allen, an African-American 12-year-old who attends Immanuel Christian School in Springfield — a private school where second lady Karen Pence teaches art — reported the alleged incident last week. She told several media outlets that three boys at school pinned her down and cut off her hair, and local police opened an investigation. “They said my hair was nappy and I was ugly,” she told WRC-TV. “They put their hands over my mouth. They put my hands behind my back. And they started cutting my hair and saying it was ugly.” The girl’s grandmother said she was doing Amari’s hair one day when she realized portions of her dreadlocks were missing, which is when the girl told the story. “It was like she just died. That’s how painful it was for me,” the girl’s grandmother, said after the girl made the allegations. Her grandfather said his “heart just broke” and that he “was just paralyzed.” But on Monday, her family released a statement saying the accusations made by the 12-year-old girl had been fabricated. “To those young boys and their parents, we sincerely apologize for the pain and anxiety these allegations have caused,” said a statement from the girl’s grandparents obtained by The Washington Post. “To the administrators and families of Immanuel Christian School, we are sorry for the damage this incident has done to trust within the school family and the undue scorn it has brought to the school. To the broader community, who rallied in such passionate support for our daughter, we apologize for betraying your trust.” The family added they “understand there will be consequences and we’re prepared to take responsibility for them. We know that it will take time to heal, and we hope and pray that the boys, their families, the school and the broader community will be able to forgive us in time.” The school generated a statement that said, “We can now confirm that the student who accused three of her classmates of assault has acknowledged that the allegations were false.” “We’re grateful to the Fairfax County Police Department for their diligent work to investigate these allegations,” wrote Stephen E. Danish, the head of the school. “While we are relieved to hear the truth and bring the events of the past few days to a close, we also feel tremendous pain for the victims and the hurt on both sides of this conflict. We recognize that we now enter what will be a long season of healing.” The 12-year-old, WRC reported, is a straight-A student and violin player who has attended the private Christian school since kindergarten.

At the very least, this girl should be expelled, and tried in juvenile court for criminal and civil crimes.  And then she should be remanded for some juvenile time, and community service.  This is beyond disgusting, and there should be NO tolerance for what she did; no excuse making..which we’re sure the dominantly liberal mainstream media will be quick to do.  That said…  Kudos to her grandparents for taking ownership.  Certainly, if they are her legal guardians, there will be some hell they’ll have to pay as well.  But, this little black racist brat needs to be made an example of, so others thinking about pulling such a stunt would think twice.  Awful..

19 MS-13 gang members indicted in ‘medieval-style’ California slayings were in country illegally, officials say

Nearly all of the members and associates of an MS-13 gang charged in the “medieval-style” slayings of seven people in California were in the country illegally, officials said. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles charged 22 people linked to a subset of the vicious gang that’s known as the Fulton clique, members of which are suspected in nearly 200 crimes in several states over 9 years, according to a federal indictment released Tuesday. “We have now taken off the streets nearly two dozen people associated with the most violent arm of MS-13 in Los Angeles,” U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said. Of the 22 defendants, 19 had entered the country illegally in the past three or four years, according to Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles. Federal prosecutors allege the suspects operated in the San Fernando Valley, an area that recently absorbed an influx of young immigrants from Central America. “Under the influence of these young gangsters, younger associates who wanted to become members of MS-13 were ‘required to kill an MS-13 rival or someone perceived to be adverse to MS-13 to be initiated into MS-13,’ according to the indictment,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Tuesday. “In Los Angeles, a clique added new members through an initiation ritual known as ‘jumping in,’ during which several existing MS-13 members beat up a prospective MS-13 member for 13 seconds while the shot caller counted aloud for 13 seconds,” the indictment read. “Beginning in 2017 in Los Angeles, MS-13 members who identified with ‘503’ had been required” to murder a rival or other enemy of the group. Authorities said “503” represents the sub-group of MS-13 and is the telephone country code for El Salvador. The brutality involved in some of the alleged killings was also disclosed in graphic detail by authorities. Four of the killings took place in Angeles National Forest. The slayings were carried out using machetes, bats and knives, according to the indictment. In one case a member of a rival gang who had been believed to have defaced MS-13 graffiti was targeted and had his heart cut out of his chest, authorities said. On March 6, 2017, the victim, identified as “J.S.,” was driven to Angeles National Forest, where six MS-13 gang members attacked him with a machete, killing him, the indictment claimed. “The victim was dismembered and his body parts were thrown into a canyon after one of the defendants allegedly cut the heart out of the victim’s body,” a news release from Hanna’s office said. “Taking violent offenders off the street should send a message to MS-13 members and their associates that medieval-style violence and senseless murder will not be tolerated in Los Angeles,” said Paul Delacourt, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office. Hanna released photos showing MS-13 members displaying a machete, gang signs and guns in various poses. Sixteen of the 22 people indicted are charged in connection with six slayings, which officials said were so “heinous, cruel or depraved” that the defendants are eligible for the death penalty. Prosecutors have not said whether they intend to seek capital punishment, however. All 22 of the alleged MS-13 members and associates are in custody. Eighteen had been apprehended during the last year on a range of federal and state charges, authorities said. Three were arrested in recent days in the Los Angeles area by a task force that included FBI agents, Los Angeles police officers and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies. Another alleged MS-13 affiliate was arrested over the weekend in Oklahoma. Authorities also filed two more cases under seal against juvenile defendants in federal court. “The collaborative law enforcement effort solved several murder cases and dealt a severe blow to members of the gang who engaged in acts of brutality not seen in the region for over 20 years,” Hanna said.

So, to recap..  19 of these 22 animals were here illegally; illegal aliens.  Keep that in mind the next time you hear some bleeding heart Dem say how cruel it is for us to be securing the border and deporting criminal aliens.

Five Charged in Texas Human Trafficking, Sex Slavery Scheme

Houston police arrested five people in connection to an alleged human trafficking and sex slavery operation. Police rescued 18 victims who officials say were held for ransom and forced to work or perform sexual acts. At least one of the suspects is a twice-deported criminal alien. On June 5, Houston Police Department investigators received information about a migrant being held in a Houston stash house, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told reporters on June 28. The information led to the arrest of five individuals and the rescue of 18 — including two women and 16 men. Acevedo told reporters that investigators traveled to an area where they believed the trafficking victims were being held. During a traffic stop, officers rescued a juvenile victim and detained several suspects, the chief said. The traffic stop spurred a further joint investigation with the Houston Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations special agents. The investigation led law enforcement officials to a location in northwest Houston, Acevedo explained, where an undercover money exchange led to the arrest of another suspect and the recovery of an additional kidnap victim. This arrest led to the uncovering of a stash house “where other victims were being held against their will,” the Houston police chief stated. “We were able to rescue 16 additional victims from deplorable conditions.” Acevedo said that women were being held captive and were sexually assaulted for 25 days. The chief told reporters the 16 men were being held with “little to no clothing” and were forced to work and perform sexual acts. The investigation led to the arrest of five subjects. Their charges include engaging in organized crime, sexual assault, and aggravated kidnapping, he stated. In total, police arrested five suspects.

For more, click on the text above.

Cash or cigarettes?: Nine face vote-fraud charges, bribing homeless for signatures

Authorities in Los Angeles have indicted nine people on felony voter-fraud charges, accusing the defendants of using homeless people to forge signatures on voter-registration and petition forms. According to NBC News, the indictment involves 14 felony counts related to electioneering in the 2016 and 2018 political cycles, though none of the nine defendants has been charged on all of them. The charges in the indictment include, according to NBC, “circulating an initiative with forged or fictitious names, signing fictitious names, registering fictitious persons, and making payment for signatures.” The suspects are accused of bribing homeless people on Los Angeles‘ Skid Row with cash or cigarettes in exchange for the signatures, transactions that were observed by beat police and then by undercover officers. Seven suspects pleaded not guilty Friday in Los Angeles; the other two persons charges have not appeared in court yet, NBC reported. The charges could result in up to four years imprisonment.

Authorities seize thousands of weapons and explosives in international weapons trafficking bust

Authorities in Florida and Argentina arrested more than two dozen suspects and seized 5,300 firearms and explosives in a crackdown on an elaborate global weapons trafficking ring, officials said Friday. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initiated “Operation Patagonia Express” after investigators discovered the shipping of weapons and weapon parts from South Florida to Brazil and Argentina. Once in South America, the components were assembled and sold to criminal groups, authorities said. The seizure included the equivalent of 52 AR-15 rifles, 30,000 rounds of caliber ammunition for various weapons, 189 long arms, 156 handguns, five vehicles, a hand grenade, a motor round and $110,000 in cash. Twenty-five people were arrested. “South Florida does seem to be a hub and now we have the largest Argentine firearms seizure in their history so South Florida does seem to be a hub for weapons trafficking into South America,” Anthony Salisbury, special agent in charge of ICE’S Homeland Security Investigation in Miami, said in a news conference. Authorities in Argentina said the weapons seizure is the largest in the country’s history. Among those taken into custody were former Broward County residents John James Peterson, 60, and Brunella Zuppone, 67, for allegedly exporting AR-15 components without a required license from the State Department, officials said in a news release. Both are charged with conspiracy to violate and attempted violations of the Arms Export Control Act and International Traffic in Arms Regulations.