Hawaii

Hawaii’s Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke has been indicted on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit bribery and falsifying campaign reports.

A grand jury returned the indictment after a state investigation into allegations that Luke accepted campaign contributions from a lobbyist in exchange for helping advance a COVID-19 testing contract while she served as chair of the state House Finance Committee.

Also charged in the case are:

• Former State Representative Ryan Yamane
• Ford Fuchigami, an official with the Hawaii Department of Transportation
• Leo Asunción, a former official with the state’s public utilities commission
• Lobbyist Tobi Solidum

Prosecutors say the scheme involved efforts to secure favorable treatment for a COVID-related contract in return for financial support. Luke faces multiple counts related to the alleged bribery and the handling of campaign committee documents.

Minnesota

Minnesota Judge Nancy Brasel just sentenced Somali Feed Our Future fraudster Zamzam Jama who stole $5.6 million for her role in the massive Feeding Our Future fraud scheme to only six months in prison.

Jama pleaded guilty to money laundering connected to the case, which involved the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars from a federally funded child nutrition program. Prosecutors had sought a longer term, but the judge imposed the six-month sentence along with restitution.

The ruling came shortly after Brasel sentenced another defendant in the same scandal, Abdul Abubakar Ali, to one year and one day in prison.

The Feeding Our Future case remains one of the largest COVID-era fraud prosecutions in the country, with dozens of defendants charged in connection with the diversion of child nutrition funds.

This came just a day after she gave another Somali fraudster a one-year sentence.

Chicago Train Killer

A man who brutally beat a stranger nearly to death on a Chicago CTA Pink Line train will serve no additional prison time.

45-year-old Jesus Ramirez pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and was sentenced to two years in prison. However, he received credit for more than a year spent on electronic monitoring while the case was pending. Under Illinois law, most sentences are also automatically reduced by 50% for good conduct.

As a result, Ramirez will not serve any further time behind bars for the attack.

The victim was left with a traumatic brain injury, broken ribs, a fractured skull, and other serious injuries. He spent months in the hospital recovering from the unprovoked beating on public transit.

Fathers

This father blocked this person from entering the girls’ bathroom.

“My daughter is in there. You can’t enter.”

Murder charges have been dismissed against Arkansas father Aaron Spencer after he confronted a sex predator found with his missing daughter.

A judge has thrown out the second-degree murder charges against Aaron Spencer, the Arkansas dad and U.S. Army veteran who shot 67-year-old Michael Fosler — a registered sex offender facing 43 felony charges (including rape) involving Spencer’s teenage daughter.

Spencer discovered Fosler (out on bond) in a vehicle with his missing daughter and acted to protect her. The case was dismissed due to law enforcement’s mishandling of key dashcam evidence.

This father protected his child when the system failed. He’s now free and continuing his strong run for Lonoke County Sheriff.

IN GOD WE TRUST

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