
2nd Mass. man arrested in the theft of high-end vehicles in Exeter
A second person has been arrested in connection to the theft of high-end vehicles from Foss Motors in Exeter last year, according to local police.
Exeter police were notified on Tuesday that police in Brockton, Mass., arrested Nelshon Luis Pires, 19, of Brockton on an arrest warrant from Exeter. He was charged with a felony count of theft and is being held pending extradition back to New Hampshire, according to a news release.
The arrest comes months after another man, Alberto Marbert, 33, of Tewksbury, Mass., was also arrested on thefts from the local dealership in February.
The investigation started on May 31, 2024, after the dealership was hit for a second time.
Pires was charged in connection with the theft of a white 2024 Dodge Durango SRT 392 and a gray 2021 Dodge Durango SRT in February 2024. Each SUV was valued at $50,000.
Marbert was charged in connection with the theft of a white 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody and a red 2021 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, which were taken from the lot at Foss Motors on Feb. 17, 2024. The vehicles were valued at more than $76,000 and later recovered in Boston.
Chief Stephan Poulin applauded the department's Criminal Investigative Division and specifically Detective John Suglia's efforts in the investigation, which have led to the two arrests.
'His ability to parse out evidence and to work closely with outside agencies such as our State and Federal partners has been critical to success. We also recognize and appreciate all of the efforts of the Brockton Police Department with this recent arrest,' he said in a statement.
The case remains under investigation. Anyone with information can call the Exeter Police Department at 603-772-1212. Anonymous tips can also be made to Seacoast Crime Stoppers by calling 603-431-1199 or online at https://www.seacoastcrimestoppers.com/submit-a-tip.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Verge
3 hours ago
- The Verge
Anthropic's CEO wrote an op-ed against the proposed 10-year moratorium on AI regulation.
Dario Amodei, Anthropic's co-founder and CEO, writes in The New York Times that though he understands the motivations behind the proposal, 'a 10-year moratorium is far too blunt an instrument. A.I. is advancing too head-spinningly fast.' He's advocating for a federal transparency standard instead: 'Without a clear plan for a federal response, a moratorium would give us the worst of both worlds — no ability for states to act, and no national policy as a backstop.'

Associated Press
4 hours ago
- Associated Press
Elon Musk is gone, but DOGE's actions are hard to reverse. The US Institute of Peace is a case study
WASHINGTON (AP) — The staff was already jittery. The raiders from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency had disposed of the U.S. Institute of Peace board, its acting president and its longtime outside counsel. But until 9:30 p.m. on Friday, March 28, there was hope the damage might somehow be limited. Then termination notices started popping up in personal emails. That was only the start. After ending his sojourn in Washington, Musk left behind a wounded federal government. DOGE's playbook was consistent: Show up physically, take over the facility and information technology systems, fire the leadership and replace it with DOGE associates. Dismiss the staff. Move so quickly that the targets and the courts have little time to react, let alone reverse whatever damage has already occurred. Thousands of workers across the federal government saw the playbook in action over the last four months. But the Institute of Peace, a small, 300-employee organization, is unique: The blitz during its takeover has been, for the moment, reversed in court. The headquarters taken away in a weekend of lightning moves is back in the hands of its original board and acting president. The question they must answer now is a point that U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell made during one hearing: Even a win 'makes no promises' about how difficult or possible it will be to put the Institute of Peace back together. 'A bull in a China shop breaks a lot of things,' the judge said. Nearly three weeks since the judge delivered a win, the institute is slowly trying to reboot. But there are barriers, and winning might not mean full restoration. For other agencies and departments fighting their own DOGE battles, it is a cautionary tale. Targeting an agency aimed at fostering peace The Institute of Peace was created by Congress in the 1980s. President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law in 1985. Described as an independent, nonprofit think tank funded by Congress, its mission has been to work to promote peace and prevent and end conflicts while working outside normal channels such as the State Department. When DOGE came knocking, it was operating in 26 conflict zones, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mali and Burkina Faso. The institute was one of four organizations targeted by President Donald Trump's Feb. 19 Executive Order 14217. The order said it was being enacted to 'dramatically reduce the size of the federal government.' The institute's acting president, career diplomat and former Ambassador George Moose, and longtime outside counsel George Foote tried to explain to DOGE representatives that the institute was an independent nonprofit outside the executive branch. That attempt was for naught. At 4 p.m. on March 14, most of the institute's board was fired by email. The lone holdovers were ex officio — Cabinet members Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio and the National Defense University's president, Vice Adm. Peter Garvin. Within minutes of the emails, DOGE staff showed up and tried to get into the building but failed over the next several hours during a standoff. That, according to court documents, kicked off a weekend of pressure by the FBI on institute security personnel. DOGE returned the following Monday and got into the headquarters with help from the FBI and Washington police officers. Foote thought the local officers were there to expel the DOGE contingent but learned quickly they were not. He, security chief Colin O'Brien and others were escorted out by local authorities. 'They have sidearms and tasers and are saying you can't go anywhere but out that door,' Foote said. 'I had no choice. 'You guys have the guns, and I don't.'' The board filed a lawsuit the following day and asked for a temporary restraining order. Howell expressed dissatisfaction with DOGE's tactics but declined to restore the fired board members or bar DOGE staff from the headquarters. By then a DOGE associate, Kenneth Jackson, had been named as acting president of the organization by the ex officio board members. Employees held out hope that the organization would not be disassembled because Jackson was asking questions as if he might do an assessment of the organization's work, said Scott Worden, director of the Afghanistan and Central Asia programs. The staff knew what he'd done as the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Now Jackson was at the Institute of Peace, but they were hopeful 'we would have a process of explanation or review of our work,' Worden said. Then came March 28. The notices came alphabetically. By the time it was finished, shortly before midnight, almost all the institute's 300 employees had been let go. The actions reverberated The impact was 'profound and devastating on a few levels,' Worden said. First, employees at the institute are not government employees so they got no government benefits or civil service protections. Insurance also was gone — critical for employees fighting health problems. Partners abroad also suddenly lost their support and contacts. It left 'thousands of partners in a lurch,' he said. The lawyers representing board members in their lawsuit asked for a court hearing as soon as possible to head off rumors of more mayhem to come. But when they walked into courtroom 26A of the E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse at 10 a.m. on April 1, the headquarters and other assets were gone, too. It was, Howell said at the hearing, 'a done deal.' Over the weekend, as workers reeled, DOGE was making personnel changes of its own. Jackson had given way to DOGE representative Nick Cavanaugh, whose name was on the documents that allowed DOGE to take control of Institute of Peace assets and transfer the headquarters — built in part with private donations — to the General Services Administration. Howell was incredulous that it had been accomplished in two days. In court, the Trump administration's attorney, Brian Hudak, laid out the timeline, making clear that the newly named president of the institute had not only been authorized to transfer the property but also the request had gone through proper channels. For the second time, Howell refused to stop the actions. Throughout hearings, Howell struggled with how to describe the institute — whether it was part of the executive branch and under the Republican president's authority. That was central to the case. The government argued that it had to fall under one of the three branches of government and it clearly wasn't legislative or judicial. Lawyers defending the government also said that because presidents appointed the board, presidents also had the authority to fire them. The White House also maintained that despite decades of operation and an annual budget of around $50 million, the institute had failed to bring peace and was rightfully targeted. Howell's May 19 opinion concluded that the institute 'ultimately exercises no Executive branch power under the Constitution but operates, through research, educational teaching, and scholarship, in the sensitive area of global peace.' 'In creating this organization,' the judge said, 'Congress struck a careful balance between political accountability, on the one hand, and partisan independence and stability, on the other.' She added that even if the organization was part of the executive branch, the law that created it set specific steps for firing the board members and none of those had been followed. Because the board was fired illegally, all subsequent actions — including replacing Moose, firing the staff and transferring the headquarters — were 'null and void,' she said in her ruling. The government filed a notice of appeal and asked Howell to stay her order. She said no. The government has requested a stay with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. What it looks like now Two weeks later, about 10% of the people who would normally be inside the headquarters, about 25 people, are there, doing maintenance, getting systems running and trying to get to the institute's funding. Any physical damage comes more from inattentiveness than malice — food that spoiled, leaks that went unfixed, popup security barriers needing maintenance. Desks are empty but with paperwork and files strewn across them, left by the speed of the takeover. O'Brien, the security officer, praised the General Services Administration and security managers who tried to keep the building going. But getting systems fully functioning will entail lots of work. 'We're the first ones to get behind the looking glass,' O'Brien said. Foote said those returning continue to try to locate and access the institute's funding. That includes funds appropriated for this fiscal year by Congress and the part of the endowment moved during the takeover. He said transferring funds within the federal government is 'complicated.' The result: Workers are furloughed, and overseas offices will remain closed. Nicoletta Barbera, acting director for the U.S. Institute of Peace's West Africa and Central Africa programs, is one of the furloughed workers. 'We had USIP representatives based in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger that, overnight, were left with no support system from anyone here in HQ,' she said. The programs were focused on preventing terrorism by supporting women and young people, to 'identify signs of radicalization.' Barbera said a recent attack in Burkina Faso ended with 'hundreds of atrocities and deaths.' 'And I couldn't just stop but think, what if I could have continued our work there during this time?' she said. Moose has said the speed at which the organization gets back to work depends on numerous factors, including the appeals process. But, he said, there will likely be lasting damage — 'the traumatic effects this has had on the people who have been impacted by it.' 'And, obviously, that includes our own ... staff members,' Moose said, 'but it also extends to the people with whom we collaborate and work all around the world. That's going to be hard to repair.'
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump Orders Investigation Into Biden and His Aides
President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden are pictured in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. Credit - Melina Mara—AP President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into former President Joe Biden and his aides, accusing the latter of concealing Biden's 'serious cognitive decline' and abusing the power of Presidential signatures. In a memorandum issued on Wednesday night—addressed to the Attorney General, the Counsel for President—Trump said 'it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden's aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen,' describing it as one of the 'most dangerous' scandals in U.S. history. Biden referred to the claims as 'ridiculous and false' in a statement issued following Trump's announcement. Within his presidential memoranda, Trump claims that aides of the former President used his signature, which was 'deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.' He further alleges that the Department of Justice has found 'clear evidence' that Biden broke the law, but that he could not stand trial due to 'his incompetent mental state.' 'The White House issued over 1,200 Presidential documents, appointed 235 judges to the Federal bench, and issued more pardons and commutations than any administration in United States history,' Trump said in the memo. "Although the authority to take these executive actions, along with many others, is constitutionally committed to the President, there are serious doubts as to the decision making process and even the degree of Biden's awareness of these actions being taken in his name.' The investigation comes after Trump re-posted a baseless claim via Truth Social, sharing a post which said Biden had been "executed in 2020" and replaced by a robotic clone. Trump has also claimed that throughout Biden's presidency, advisers 'severely restricted his news conferences and media appearances, and they scripted his conversations with lawmakers, government officials, and donors, all to cover up his inability to discharge his duties.' Per the memorandum, the investigation will look for evidence of any activity conducted 'to purposefully shield the public from information regarding Biden's mental and physical health,' as well as evidence of any agreements amongst aides to 'require false, public statements elevating the President's capabilities.' The investigation has also asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to look at 'circumstances surrounding Biden's supposed execution of numerous executive actions during his final years in office.' This will look into what documents were signed using autopen and who authorized this use for clemency grants, Executive Orders, memoranda, and other policy decisions made by Biden. As part of Trump's investigation order, he accuses Biden aides of abusing the use of an autopen to sign official documents such as Executive Orders, and claims this was done to conceal Biden's 'incapacity.' In March, Trump made a claim on Truth Social that pardons issued by Biden for members of the house select committee who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots were 'void and vacant,' as an autopen was used to sign them. On Wednesday, before publishing his memorandum, Trump said via social media: 'With the exception of the rigged presidential election of 2020 the autopen is the biggest political scandal in American history.' Autopens have long been used by Presidents throughout U.S. history. It's thought they were first used by Thomas Jefferson after the device was patented in 1803. Whilst the autopen has evolved over the last 200 years, it has been used by other Presidents including Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson during their time in the Oval Office Trump himself has admitted to using an autopen. When asked by NBC in March if he has used the device, Trump replied: 'Only for very unimportant papers, and I don't call them unimportant… where people write in and they'd love to have a response. When the reporter attempted a further question, Trump replied: 'I don't want to speak to NBC anymore.' In 2005, at the request of former President George W. Bush, a memorandum opinion was published regarding whether the President may sign a bill by directing that his signature be affixed to it. The opinion found that 'if a White House aide were to sign his own name to a bill, that bill would not thereby become law. By contrast, the President's directive to an aide to affix the President's signature to a bill does not involve a delegation of authority.' In conclusion 'the President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law.' The former President has responded to Trump's claims of presidential power abuse and his declining cognitive state during his time in office. In a statement, Biden said: "Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false." He continued: 'This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations." Biden was seemingly referring to Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill,' which is currently under consideration by Senators after being passed in the House of Representatives last month. However, it's facing significant criticism, as Trump ally Elon Musk, who until recently served as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has called it 'outrageous, pork-filled' and a 'disgusting abomination.' The allegations put forward by Trump come a couple of weeks after Biden announced he has been diagnosed with an 'aggressive' form of prostate cancer. Trump initially sent his best wishes to Biden after the news, but he soon went on to make claims that the diagnosis had been concealed. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said: 'There are things going on that the public wasn't informed, and I think somebody is going to have to speak to his doctor.' Vice President J.D. Vance issued a similar response. While travelling on Air Force One, he said to reporters: 'Why didn't the American people have a better sense of his health picture? Why didn't the American people have more accurate information about what he was actually dealing with?' Concerns over Biden's cognitive fitness and age—by the end of his term, he was 82 years old—have long been a talking point. In February 2024, Biden's White House physician declared that he was "fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without without any exemptions or accommodations." However, concerns only grew as the presidential race kicked into gear, and Biden was heavily scrutinized after the first presidential debate with Trump in July 2024, which saw the Democratic leader stumble over his words and seemingly lose his trail of thought. He later admitted to having had "a bad night." After the debate, there was an increase in calls and pressure for him to drop out of the race, and Biden withdrew his candidacy in late July, before endorsing then-Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him. Contact us at letters@