Latest news with #federalprison
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
El Paso woman sentenced for hostage case in southern New Mexico
CHAPARRAL, N.M. (KRQE) – An El Paso woman will spend a decade in federal prison for holding hostages near the New Mexico-Texas state line. Valerie Perez, 22, pled guilty after the U.S. Attorney said she and another woman kept 10 undocumented people, including three children, in a Chaparral stash house last year against their will. New Mexico man convicted of raping woman in 2014 in Albuquerque Authorities say the victims were found in inhumane conditions, and their families were coerced into sending money for their release. The other suspect, Diana Perez, is awaiting trial in the case. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
5 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Man sentenced to federal prison for sexual assault in Marin Headlands
A man who has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend in the Marin Headlands last year has been sentenced to federal prison, prosecutors said. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced Wednesday that a judge sentenced 28-year-old Esbin Ramirez-Garcia to a 90-month prison term. Ramirez-Garcia is a Mexican national who most recently lived in Rohnert Park. Prosecutors said Ramirez-Garcia pled guilty in February to one count of aggravated sexual abuse while on federal land in connection with the incident, with took place on the night of Aug. 2, 2024. According to the plea agreement, Ramirez-Garcia was giving a ride to the victim from her workplace to her home when he asked her to get back together with him. After she refused and asked to be let out of his truck, Ramirez-Garcia grabbed her and continued driving. Ramirez-Garcia drove the victim to the Marin Headlands, which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. He then sexually assaulted the victim in a parking lot. In addition to prison time, Ramirez-Garcia was also sentenced to 10 years of supervised release and ordered to participate in a sex offense-specific treatment program. Following sentencing, Ramirez-Garcia was immediately remanded into custody.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Josh Duggar requests state-appointed lawyer as he can't afford one anymore
Pedophile Josh Duggar has requested the judge overseeing his case appoint a new lawyer to represent him in his latest attempt to overturn his conviction for possessing child sexual abuse materials. In a letter written to the judge on Tuesday and obtained by People, the convicted sex offender, 37, said he no longer has enough money to pay his own lawyer. He wrote: 'I am unable to afford counsel due to my current financial circumstances.' Duggar - whose bid for an appeal was considered by the Supreme Court last year - was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in federal prison in May 2022 after he was convicted of receiving and possessing child sexual abuse materials. In his letter, he said he was seeking to obtain a new attorney to help determine if there may have been any 'constitutional violations' in his case, which could be grounds for having his conviction vacated. He added that, 'if appropriate,' the attorney would 'prepare a motion to vacate, set aside, or correct my conviction and sentence'. Duggar claimed this his trial had 'involved complex constitutional and evidentiary issues, particularly relating to legal rulings and strategic decisions made during trial proceedings,' and he alleged there were 'errors in the admission of forensic evidence'. He went on to accuse prosecutors of not fully sharing evidence with his attorneys during his trial. He also wrote that the 'broad publicity of this case' and the 'intense scrutiny' it received could justify a 'full and fair post-conviction review'. Duggar claimed that 'new legal theories and strategies have emerged in public discourse' in the years since his conviction that could be beneficial to his defense. 'In light of these developments, the Defendant seeks to consult with counsel to fully evaluate the potential of these emerging strategies and how they may support a motion for relief,' he wrote, according to People. Duggar also wrote that he had 'worked diligently to focus on education, personal growth, my faith, and to maintain strong family ties' in his letter. His claim that he can no longer afford an attorney was particularly surprising due to the reported wealth of his parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar. Jim Bob is reportedly worth $3.5million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, and he has a significant real estate portfolio. Duggar's sister Jill alleged in her 2023 memoir the family's contract with TLC - which aired their reality series 19 Kids And Counting - paid Jim Bob's company $50,000 per half-hour episode and $65,000 per hour-long episode, according to In Touch. The payments increased to $58,000 and $73,000, respectively, once the show reached its fourth season. She claimed that, after factoring in his alleged per-episode payments, Jim Bob would have made around $8million just on 19 Kids And Counting over the course of its run. Jim Bob and Michelle have steadfastly defended their son for years, but that doesn't appear to extend to paying for his attorney. The series, which began as 17 Kids And Counting, began airing in 2008 and was canceled in 2019 due to Josh's arrest for possessing child sexual abuse materials. He previously filed an appeal in 2023, and after being rejected it went up to the Supreme Court, which also rejected it. The federal investigation into Duggar was originally opened after police in Little Rock, Arkansas, determined that child sexual abuse materials had been shared by a computer at his used-car dealership. Investigators testified in court that his computer had been used to download images of children being sexually abused, with some of the victims appearing to be toddlers. When investigators searched the dealership, Duggar allegedly said, 'What is this all about? Has somebody been downloading child pornography?' The statement, and his refusal to say whether he had looked at child sexual abuse materials online, were later used against him in court, but Duggar claimed in his appeal that the statement shouldn't have been introduced in court, as his attorney wasn't present when he spoke to investigators. But the appeals panel later determined that, although investigators had read Duggar his rights, they also made it clear that he wasn't in custody and was able to leave at any time. During his trial, Duggar's defense team had claimed that a hacker or disgruntled employee had hacked into his computer in an attempt to frame him. In 2015, his reality series 19 Kids And Counting was put on hold by TLC after allegations that he had molested four of his sister and a babysitter years earlier became public. A family friend shared the tip with law enforcement, but the statute of limitations had expired by that time. Duggar's parents later said he had admitted to molesting his sisters and apologized privately after the allegations resurfaced. Duggar publicly apologized months later for having cheated on his wife Anna, and he claimed he had been seeking treatment for an addiction to pornography.
New York Times
5 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Trump Commutes Federal Life Sentences of Larry Hoover, Chicago Gang Leader
President Trump on Wednesday commuted the federal sentences of Larry Hoover, 74, who was serving three life terms for running a notorious Chicago drug gang out of a supermax prison cell, according to the White House. The commutation is not expected to put Mr. Hoover back on the streets of Chicago — he has over 100 years left to serve on state murder charges in Illinois that presidential clemency does not erase. But it may lead to his transfer out of the supermax prison in Colorado where he is held. Mr. Hoover had already been locked away in Illinois since the mid-70s for the murder of a rival drug dealer when federal prosecutors dragged him back to court in 1997. They accused him of running a vast and highly organized gang, the Gangster Disciples, that had nearly 30,000 members in Chicago alone and raked in $100 million a year trafficking drugs across the country. Mr. Hoover, prosecutors said, was known as 'King Larry' or 'the Chairman' by thousands of youth who pledged undying allegiance to him. He was convicted of federal drug conspiracy charges and moved to a federal prison in Florence, Colo., the highest-security prison in the United States. According to The Chicago Sun-Times, Mr. Hoover had previously requested early release under the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform passed during Mr. Trump's first term that aimed to expand early release programs for those who committed nonviolent crimes and drug offenses. Mr. Hoover wrote to a federal judge in 2022 that he was 'no longer the Larry Hoover people sometimes talk about, or he who is written about in the papers, or the crime figure described by the government.' The judge denied the early release request. Mr. Hoover's case has been a cause célèbre for years. In 2018, when the rapper Ye — then known as Kanye West — visited the Oval Office, he brought one of Mr. Hoover's lawyers and told the president 'it's very important for me to get Hoover out.' Because a president can commute only federal sentences, Mr. Hoover will likely have to serve the remainder of his 150- to 200-year sentence for his state murder conviction in Illinois. The Gangster Disciples are still active in Chicago. The gang's members continue to be prosecuted by the federal government, accused of racketeering, drug trafficking and murder.
CBS News
5 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Trump commutes sentence of former Gangster Disciples leader Larry Hoover
President Trump has commuted the sentence of notorious former Chicago street gang leader Larry Hoover, who was serving multiple life sentences in federal prison. Hoover, 74, the co-founder of the Chicago gang Gangster Disciples, was already serving a 200-year sentence on state charges in Illinois for the 1973 murder of 19-year-old neighborhood drug dealer William "Pooky" Young, when he was convicted of federal charges in 1997, and sentenced to six life terms. Federal prosecutors had accused him of leading a criminal enterprise to continue overseeing the gang while in prison in Illinois. Hoover is currently serving six life sentences in a maximum security prison in Colorado, according to federal prison records. It's unclear how soon he will be released from federal custody, but he still faces the remainder of his 200-year sentence in Illinois, dating back to 1973 for Young's murder.
