Hunt for man wanted on a Canada-wide warrant who is known to frequent Toronto
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The Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement Squad - also known as ROPE - is looking for 40-year-old Jeffery Bluecloud.
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CTV News
28 minutes ago
- CTV News
Jurors see clips of ‘freak-off' sex marathons central to Sean ‘Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking charges
Sean Combs arrives at the Pre-Grammy Gala And Salute To Industry Icons at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 25, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Invision/AP, File) NEW YORK — The jury at Sean 'Diddy' Combs ' sex trafficking trial got a glimpse Monday at some of the 'freak-off' sex marathons at the heart of the case, with prosecutors showing excerpts of explicit videos that the hip-hop mogul recorded during the drug-fueled sessions. Prosecutors played portions of three sex videos recovered from a Combs-linked account on a cellphone that his former longtime girlfriend Cassie provided to authorities, giving jurors a close-up view of the encounters they've heard about repeatedly since testimony began May 12. One video was from Oct. 14, 2012, the same day prosecutors say Combs had a 'freak-off' in New York City with Cassie and sex worker Sharay Hayes, known as 'The Punisher.' Before playing the clip, prosecutors showed jurors an invoice for an Oct. 14, 2012, stay at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Manhattan that was booked under Combs' alias, Frank Black. A note on the invoice said the guest requested to have the room at 3 a.m. Prosecutors also showed jurors text messages in which Cassie, the R&B singer whose real name is Casandra Ventura, arranged the Oct. 14 meetup with Hayes. In one message, she wrote: 'Can we actually do 3 a.m. at the Trump hotel, Columbus Circle?' Hayes replied: 'Great. I'll text when I'm on my way,' and told her his fee for the encounter was $200 cash. Jurors were also shown excerpts of videos taken on Oct. 20, 2012, and Dec. 4, 2014. Collectively, the clips shown to jurors were several minutes long and although at least one juror winced at a video, their reactions mostly were muted. Defence lawyers have said the videos prove Combs was engaging in consensual sex rather than crimes. Because of their graphic nature, the excerpts were available for viewing only for jurors, the prosecution and defense teams and Combs, all of whom wore headphones to hear the audio portion. Reporters and members of the public were not allowed to see or hear the videos. The videos were the most notable part of an otherwise dry day in court as prosecutors wind down their case with so-called summary witnesses -- government agents who are reading aloud heaps of text messages, travel records and other document-based evidence. After six weeks of witnesses and evidence, prosecutors said they plan to rest on Wednesday. After that, Combs' lawyers said they'll start calling witnesses. Earlier in the trial, a forensic video expert retained by the prosecution to enhance the videos identified them by date. During that testimony, a prosecutor described the videos as 'sex videos.' Until Monday, jurors had only seen still images taken from the 'freak-off' videos. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges after his September arrest at a New York hotel. He was denied bail multiple times and has remained incarcerated at a federal lockup in Brooklyn ever since. Other text messages jurors heard Monday included Combs' ex-girlfriend, identified by the pseudonym 'Jane,' complaining to him about sex marathons and to his chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, about his threats to release explicit videos of her. Jane laid into Combs after Cassie sued him in 2023 for alleged sexual and physical abuse. He promptly settled. Jane, who dated Combs from 2021 until his arrest last year, told Combs she felt he exploited her with their 'dark and humiliating lifestyle.' A month later, Jane texted Khorram that Combs 'just threatened me about my sex tapes' and said he'd send them to her child's father. Jane told Khorram she needed her help because Combs was having one of his 'evil-ass psychotic bipolar' episodes. Before the jury entered the courtroom Monday, Judge Arun Subramanian dismissed a juror after concluding there were 'clear inconsistencies' in his answers last week and during jury selection about whether he resided in New York or with a girlfriend in New Jersey. 'Taking these all together, the record raised serious concerns as to the juror's candor and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the jury,' he said. Subramanian had first announced late Friday that he was dismissing the juror, but he left open the possibility that he would question the juror a final time after defense lawyers protested, saying that dismissing the Black juror and replacing him with a white man might spoil an otherwise diverse jury. The judge said he had decided not to question him further because it could lead to 'another set of shifting answers. In other words, there's nothing that the juror can say at this point that would put the genie back in the bottle and restore his credibility.' By Michael R. Sisak And Larry Neumeister
CTV News
40 minutes ago
- CTV News
‘We thought he was gone when we found him': Father left for hours on the floor of mobility van
An elderly man was hospitalized after allegedly being left alone in a transit van for seven hours. By all accounts, 81-year-old, Donald McKeen, had a great visit at his daughter's house last Wednesday. The visits were routine, they've been happening for the nearly two years since McKeen has been staying at the Magnolia Continuing Care Community home. This one was no different, he was dropped off by a mobility van at 1:00 p.m. with a scheduled return to the senior's residence booked for 3:00 p.m. 'The driver came and picked him up at 2:55 and at 10:30 that night we got a call from the Magnolia that said that he had gone with a family member and hadn't returned,' says McKeen's daughter, Kristen Giles. But Giles' father had left hours ago, they knew something was wrong. Giles and her husband, Andrew, drove to the Magnolia Continuing Care Community about 20 minutes away. The couple used a flashlight to look in the darkened windows of the van. That's when Giles saw her father's empty wheelchair. 'Andrew smashed the window out of the van and we found a dad on the floor,' she said. 'We thought he was gone when we found him.' 'I found him and he was really, really weak and all he said was he left me here, he left me here.' McKeen was rushed to hospital. The heat inside the locked vehicle combined with being stuck in a cramped space took a toll. Donald McKeen Donald McKeen in the hospital after being left on the floor of a mobility van for hours. (Source: Kristen Giles) 'When he tried to get out, he had fallen on the floor so one shoulder and his face were on the floor of the bus and one shoulder was pinned behind his back and there's a knuckle on the floor that the seat is attached to, and he had laid on that for so long it actually punctured his side.' According to Giles and the RCMP, McKeen was the only passenger in the van. Giles isn't sure how her father was left behind or wasn't reported missing for several hours. She says her father has been at the home for close to two years. 'He would've missed evening pills, he would've missed supper, his bedtime tucked in. It was 10:38 when they called, I believe,' Giles said. A statement from Nova Scotia's Department of Health and Wellness to CTV News said: 'We were made aware of this very upsetting and serious incident. We did not arrange the transportation service, we understand it was booked independently and took place separate from the long-term care facility.' East Hants RCMP confirm an incident took place and are investigating. Requests for an interview with the Magnolia Continuing Care Community were denied with the Director of Care saying they had no comment at this time. As for Giles, she isn't sure where her father will stay once released from hospital. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Trial opens for lawsuit against pardoned Capitol riot defendant over police officer's suicide
The U.S Capitol is seen on Monday, June 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) WASHINGTON — Nine days after he helped defend the U.S. Capitol from a mob of Trump supporters, Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith shot and killed himself while driving to work. Over four years later, Smith's widow is trying to prove to a jury that one of the thousands of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is responsible for her husband's suicide. The trial for Erin Smith's wrongful death lawsuit against David Walls-Kaufman started nearly six months after U.S. President Donald Trump torpedoed the largest investigation in FBI history. Trump pardoned, commuted prison sentences or ordered the dismissal of cases for all of the nearly 1,600 people charged in the attack. But his sweeping act of clemency didn't erase Smith's lawsuit against Walls-Kaufman, a 69-year-old chiropractor who pleaded guilty to Capitol riot-related misdemeanor in January 2023. A federal jury in Washington, D.C., began hearing testimony Monday for a civil trial expected to last roughly one week. Erin Smith, the trial's first witness, recalled packing a lunch for her husband and kissing him as he headed off to work on Jan. 15, 2021, for the first time after the riot. 'I told him I loved him, said I would see him when he got home,' she testified. Within hours, police officers knocked on her door and informed her that her husband was dead. She was stunned to learn that he shot himself with his service revolver in his own car. 'It was the most traumatic words I've ever heard,' she recalled. 'You just don't know what to do.' Smith's lawsuit claims Walls-Kaufman scuffled with her 35-year-old husband and struck him with his own police baton inside the Capitol, causing psychological and physical trauma that led to his suicide. Smith had no history of mental health problems before the Jan. 6 riot, but his mood and behavior changed after suffering a concussion, according to his wife and parents. Walls-Kaufman, who lived near the Capitol, denies assaulting Smith. He says any injuries that the officer suffered on Jan. 6 occurred later in the day, when another rioter threw a pole that struck Smith around his head. Walls-Kaufman's attorney, Hughie Hunt, urged jurors to 'separate emotion' and concentrate on the facts of the case. 'This is tragic, but that doesn't place anything at the foot of my client,' Hunt said during the trial's opening statements. Smith's body camera captured video of his scuffle. Richard Link, one of his wife's lawyers, said a frame-by-frame review of the video will show a baton strike move Smith's helmeted head back and forth from the blow. Link said Erin Smith is seeking 'some modicum of justice' for herself and her husband. 'Time stood still' for her after his death, Link added. 'My client is still living with the events of that,' he told jurors. The police department medically evaluated Smith and cleared him to return to full duty before he killed himself. Hunt said there is no evidence that his client intentionally struck Smith. 'The claim rests entirely on ambiguous video footage subject to interpretation and lacks corroborating eyewitness testimony,' Hunt wrote. Erin Smith's attorneys argue that Walls-Kaufman's pardon doesn't nullify the admissions that he made in pleading guilty to a criminal charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. Two years ago, a judge sentenced Walls-Kaufman to 60 days behind bars. The outcome of his criminal case upset Smith's relatives, who questioned why the Justice Department didn't bring felony assault charges against Walls-Kaufman. In 2022, The District of Columbia Police and Firefighters' Retirement and Relief Board determined that Smith was injured during the line-of-duty injury was the 'sole and direct cause of his death,' according to the lawsuit. Erin Smith testified that he was still in pain and was nervous about returning to work on the day that he killed himself. 'He was fearful that something else was going to happen in the city, especially with the inauguration (of President Joe Biden ) coming up,' she said. 'As his wife, I just tried to be as supportive as I could.' On the witness stand, Smith wore the same shoes that she had on at their wedding in 2019. 'To remember the happy times,' she said through tears. 'And to have a piece of him here with me.' Erin Smith also sued another former Jan. 6 defendant, Taylor Taranto, whose Capitol riot charges were dismissed after Trump's Jan. 20 proclamation. She claims Taranto helped Kaufman escape from police. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes temporarily suspended Smith's claims against Taranto, who was jailed for nearly two years before he was convicted of gun and hoax bomb threat charges in May. The presidential pardon didn't cover those charges. More than 100 law-enforcement officers were injured during the riot. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick collapsed and died a day after after engaging with the rioters. A medical examiner later determined he suffered a stroke and died of natural causes. Howard Liebengood, a Capitol police officer who responded to the riot, also died by suicide after the attack. Michael Kunzelman, The Associated Press
