Tag: prison

Posted on

2-Year Prison Sentence For White Supremacist Who Plotted To Bomb Gay Bar

Conor Climo (screen capture)
Regular readers may recall I reported on a 20-something white supremacist who had been “self-patrolling” my own Las Vegas neighborhood last year. He was arrested in August 2019 after telling an undercover FBI agent he planned to firebomb a Las Vegas gay bar or synagogue. The young man, Conor Climo, has now been sentenced to two years in prison. Now 24-years-old, he will receive credit for time served since his arrest and will then be bound to home confinement for six months with electronic monitoring. Federal prosecutors had originally requested a 30-month prison sentence. From Edge Media:

“I was truly wrong for all of this,” Climo said. “I even have come to really regret everything, everything that I was involved with.”

The judge gave Climo credit for the jail time he already has served since his August 2019 arrest and agreed to recommend that he serves his prison time in Louisiana, near grandparents whom he plans to live with after his release.

Defense attorney Paul Riddle said his client is grateful that FBI agents arrested him when they did because he knows that he was on a “very dark path.”

“But he’s not on that path anymore, and he’s the not same person that was arrested,” Riddle said.

The FBI said it began investigating Climo in April 2019 after learning of his encrypted internet chats with members of Feuerkrieg Division, an international offshoot of a U.S.-based neo-Nazi group called Atomwaffen Division. Climo told FBI agents that he joined Feuerkrieg Division but left because he “became bored with the group and their inaction,” according to a court filing.

Climo pleaded guilty to a firearm charge after discussing his bombing plans with an FBI agent and informant. In searching his home, authorities found multiple rifles and bomb components.

Posted on

Blogger Sentenced To Prison For Saying ‘Gay People’ Have Rights

(image via Google Maps)
For the “crime” of telling Twitter followers he believes LGBTQ people have rights and “should be able to practice them freely,” a Yemeni blogger has been sentenced by a Saudi court to 10 months in prison, a fine equal to $2,700 and eventual deportation. Human Rights Watch reports that Mohamad al-Bokari, left Yemen in June 2019 after receiving death threats. He’d been living in Saudi Arabia as an undocumented migrant when he was arrested on April 8. The 29-year-old was asked on Twitter for his views on same-sex relations and in a video, he answered, “Everyone has rights and should be able to practice them freely, including gay people.” A spokesman for Riyadh’s police department issued a statement saying the video contained “sexual references” that “violate public order and morals.” He was charged with violating public morality by promoting homosexuality online, and “imitating women.” Prior to his trial, al-Bokari was held in solitary confinement in a cell with no windows, air conditioning or proper ventilation. He was provided no legal counsel for his trial. After his sentencing, he was placed in a cell with other prisoners who harassed and verbally abused him saying he “deserves the death penalty.” Human Rights Watch says his health has declined since the trial as he suffers from a chronic heart condition. Tests were administered but he was discharged without learning the results. Doctors reportedly denied he has any heart condition and have refused him any medication. Bokari was sentenced on July 20 and has 30 days to appeal. While Saudi Arabia has no laws on the books regarding sexual orientation or gender identity, judges often reference uncodified Islamic law to punish people accused of having sexual relations outside marriage, including adultery, extramarital and homosexual sex, or other “immoral” acts. It has been ranked as one of the ‘most dangerous’ countries in the world for LGBTQ people. (source: Human Rights Watch)

Posted on

OnlyFans Performer Secretly Records, Uploads Sex Scene With Ex

Fabricio Da Silva Claudino (Instagram)
An OnlyFans performer has agreed to plead guilty to recording consensual sex with his ex-boyfriend and then uploading the four-minute clip to his account without consent. Fabricio Da Silva Claudino, a former flight attendant for Emirates, reportedly filmed the episode without the boyfriend’s knowledge last year in July at their home in Marrickville, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. ABC News in Australia reports that Claudino indicated he will plead guilty to 11 counts of recording and distributing without consent several explicit images and a video clip. “The victim is clearly unaware of this activity being recorded and can be depicted in the recording as face down throughout,” read the police report entered into evidence. “At one point the defendant positions the mobile phone towards a mirror where his face is depicted … at no stage, did the victim consent to the defendant taking this recording.” Prior to posting the video, Claudino shared photos with the Australian boyfriend on the beach in Brazil with the caption, “Video coming up soon – stay tuned.” The 31-year-old amateur porn performer also shared graphic images of the victim naked in promoting his OnlyFans account to his social media accounts. He reportedly had 30,000 Instagram followers and over 100,000 Twitter followers at the time.
Fabricio Da Silva Claudino (via Instagram)
According to ABC News, the men met in Brazil, fell in love, and continued their relationship in Sydney. But the romance came to an end within five months. Claudino chose to remain in Australia after the affair and supported himself by modeling for life art classes as well as uploading content to his OnlyFans account. The Australian boyfriend told ABC News in February he discovered the videos while Claudino was visiting a friend in Melbourne. Apparently, distinctive body tattoos made it evident it was him. “I felt sick to the stomach when I recognized my body and then my face,” said the ex-boyfriend. “I didn’t know what to think, I couldn’t believe it.” Australian Federal Police arrested Claudino at Sydney airport when he returned from Melbourne after being contacted by the ex calling the privacy breach ‘revenge porn.’ Additionally, Claudino pleaded guilty on Tuesday to 15 counts of obscene and indecent exposure between September 2019 and February 2020. He had filmed himself exposing his penis while standing on the balcony of his apartment in full view of a Sydney high school and public park. He’s been held in Silverwater prison for the last five months having previously pleaded not guilty to the revenge porn charges. Claudino is due to be sentenced in court next month. (source: ABC.net.au)

Posted on

Judge Rules No New Trial For Trump Confidante Roger Stone

Roger Stone (screen capture)
Donald Trump’s longtime friend and ally, Roger Stone, has failed in his quest for a new trial after he was found guilty on seven felony counts including obstructing the congressional inquiry, lying to investigators under oath and trying to block the testimony of a witness whose account would have exposed his lies. From the New York Times:

The federal judge overseeing the criminal case against Roger J. Stone Jr. refused on Thursday to grant him a new trial, rejecting the defense’s argument of juror misconduct that President Trump has also repeatedly trumpeted.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the United States District Court in Washington ordered Mr. Stone to surrender to the federal Bureau of Prisons as soon as he is notified to do so. She also released him and his lawyers from a gag order she imposed months ago.

The judge’s decision appears to end one of the most politically fraught federal criminal cases in recent years. In a last-ditch effort to keep their client out of prison, Mr. Stone’s lawyers had claimed that the jury forewoman had improperly concealed a bias against Mr. Stone, justifying a new trial.

The jury convicted Mr. Stone, 67, in November of seven felonies for an attempt to thwart a congressional inquiry that threatened his longtime friend Mr. Trump, and Judge Jackson sentenced him in February to 40 months in prison.

Additionally, CNN reports, “All 12 of Roger Stone’s jurors wrote in a series of powerful, anonymized statements this week that they feel harassed, afraid and do not want more information about them revealed to the public, especially after President Donald Trump and right-wing media criticized them for their conviction of the longtime Trump friend.” Donald Trump is certain to pardon Stone. Mark my words.

Posted on

Ellen Jokes Quarantining In Her $24 Million Mansion “Is Like Being In Jail”

Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres at home (screen capture)
Ellen DeGeneres began hosting her talkshow from her living room this week in an effort to lift the spirits of her television audience. She began by acknowledging all the folks who are still at work helping to keep the world running including “doctors, hospital staff, first responders, supermarket employees, truck drivers and everyone who keeps us going.” Ellen shared doing the at-home edition of her show is for not only her viewers stuck at home but also for her staff and crew: “I love them and miss them, and the best I can do for them is to keep the show on the air.” But things went a bit awry when she cracked a joke comparing her experience quarantining in her $24 million mansion with folks who are incarcerated. “This is like being in jail, is what it is,” said Ellen. “Mostly because I’ve been wearing the same clothes for ten days and everyone in here is gay.”

The moment the words escaped her lips you could almost sense she regretted the reference as she clapped her hands and dropped her face as she said, “Ah, the jokes that I have.” The Emmy Award-winner went on to say she wants to “spread light where there’s shade,” which is a good thing because a LOT of shade was thrown her way on Twitter after the joke fail.

Ellen has caught some flack in recent months for seeming to be out of touch with the average person after standing up for her comedy pal Kevin Hart during the Oscar hosting debacle, and then palling around with former President George W. Bush. As I was writing this article, the video on YouTube was removed, which is probably for the best. At the end of the day, I don’t think an unfunny joke makes Ellen a bad person. Every comedian has a clunker every now and then. But perhaps cracking wise about a pandemic that’s killed thousands and comparing home situations with prisoners who barely have basic necessities might be put on the ‘no joke’ kill list.

Posted on

Trump Ally Roger Stone Sentenced To 40 Months Prison Term

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Thursday sentenced Donald Trump’s longtime friend, Roger Stone, to a 40-month prison term for obstructing a congressional investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

From the Washington Post:

In a lengthy speech before imposing the penalty, Jackson seemed to take aim at Trump, saying that Stone “was not prosecuted for standing up for the president; he was prosecuted for covering up for the president.” She also appeared to call out Attorney General William P. Barr, whose intervention to reduce career prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation she called “unprecedented.” But she said the politics surrounding the case had not influenced her final decision.

Jackson made clear she thought Stone’s crimes were serious. She called his testimony “plainly false” and “a flat-out lie” and said his misdirection “shut out important avenues” for Congress to investigate. The judge said Stone knew “it could reflect badly on the president if someone learned” about his efforts to obtain damaging information from the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks about Clinton, who was then running against Trump for president.

Prosecutors said the longtime GOP operative lied during testimony to the House Intelligence Committee in September 2017 to conceal his central role in the Trump campaign’s efforts to learn about computer files hacked by Russia and made public by WikiLeaks. Stone also threatened a witness who was an associate of his in an attempt to prevent the man from cooperating with lawmakers.

In addition to the prison time, Judge Jackson ordered Stone to pay a $20,000 fine, do community service and submit to substance abuse testing.

Stone was convicted on all seven counts of lying to Congress and tampering with a witness by a jury last November. He is the sixth Trump associate convicted of crimes discovered by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation.

I continue to believe Trump will pardon Stone sometime in the near future.

Posted on

Pride Flag Burner Charged With Masturbating In Front Of Prison Guards

Adolfo Martinez (screen capture)

Adolfo Martinez (screen capture)
Adolfo Martinez (screen capture)
File this under “Making a bad thing worse.” Adolfo Martinez is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence after ripping down and burning a Pride flag flying at the Ames United Church of Christ in Ames, Iowa, last summer. But Martinez isn’t content to simply serve his time. The Ames Tribune reports an internal investigation reviewing jail footage found “multiple incidents where he made ‘inappropriate’ comments and performed sex acts in front of various female detention officers from Nov. 23, 2019, to Dec. 19. 2019.” Martinez allegedly told a female guard “you smell freaking good” on November 30. Video footage from later that day showed the 30-year-old standing in the middle of his cell “performing a sex act with his pants off.” That same night, Martinez allegedly repeated the ‘sex act’ before guards conducted a security check. During the security act, a female officer reports he sat on his bed and performed another ‘sex act’ while smiling at the guard. According to a criminal complaint filed against Martinez the guard communicated with him over the jail’s intercom system informing him “If the behavior continued, he could be charged, to which he responded, ‘Oh, I know.’”
Adolfo Martinez (mugshot via Story County)
The Tribune notes that indecent exposure is a serious misdemeanor in Iowa. If found guilty, a judge could choose to add another year to his already considerable sentence. Martinez admitted he committed the June flag burning crime during a television interview with local news station KCCI. “I’m guilty, I’m guilty as charged,” he proudly announced. “I’ll say it on camera as well. Live! Let it be known. I’m guilty as charged plain and simple. Knowingly, willingly, and intentionally did I do that. Yep. It’s my honor.” “It is a judgment and it is written to execute vengeance on the heathen and punishments upon the people… and it is my honor to do so,” he continued. “It’s a blessing from the Lord to be able to stand for his word firmly against all odds, plain and simple.” The TV interview was played at his trial as evidence. Martinez was found guilty of a hate crime, third-degree harassment, and reckless use of fire (arson) as a habitual offender. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison due to previous offenses. For intoning his religious beliefs in the KCCI interview, Martinez became something of a cause celebre for Christian activists. A Christian website, LifeSiteNews, launched a petition calling the sentence ‘excessive’ and urged the Iowa Court of Appeals to “step in and reduce this disproportionate sentence!” We’re curious if the good Christians at LifeSiteNews will continue their unbridled support after Martinez’s latest antics. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Martinez to appear in court on February 24. (source: Ames Tribune)

Posted on

Video Mistaken For ‘Gay Wedding’ Lands 10 Men In Jail

When a video clip of a birthday party in Mauritania was posted to social media and wrongly perceived to be a same-sex wedding, authorities rounded up ten men in the video and arrested them. “The prosecutor’s office sent the young homosexual delinquents to prison to await judgment for acts contrary to morality, committing acts forbidden by Allah and circulating a ceremony of debauchery,” a source told Agence France-Presse. Even though police later determined the event in the video was a birthday party, the men remain incarcerated with no trial date scheduled. Mauritania, located in northwest Africa, is governed by strict Islamic law known as Shariah. Article 308 of Mauritania’s criminal code prohibits same-sex behavior between Muslim adults calling such relations as “acts against nature.” In more than half of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, homosexuality is illegal and can be punishable by the death penalty although Amnesty International reports no executions have been carried out in more than a decade. AFP reports that although investigators established the party was “the birthday party of a homosexual,” the ten men were detained “to help investigations.” Brahim Bilal, the president of a human rights organization in Mauritania, said in a statement the arrests were “a serious attack on the individual and collective freedom of these young people who have the right to display their difference and intimate preferences.” Watch the video which began the ordeal below.

Posted on

Trump Supporter Sentenced To Prison For Stealing Mother’s Social Security Checks

Karyn Turk (image via Instagram)
Trump supporter, self-styled conservative pundit and pseudo-socialite Karyn (with a ‘K’) Turk was sentenced to one month in prison this week after pleading guilty to stealing her elderly mother’s Social Security benefits, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Prosecutors brought charges on the 47-year-old former Mrs. Florida after she pocketed benefit checks that should have gone to the nursing home that was providing care and support for her mother, who was suffering from dementia. The mother has since died. The nursing home, the mother’s court-appointed guardian and the guardian’s lawyers are suing Turk in separate cases in order to collect money they say she owes them as the representative of her mother’s estate. The total amount owed according to the three lawsuits is more than $320,000. The day Turk was sentenced to federal prison and five months of house arrest, the former beauty queen shared a snap on Instagram taken in front of Donald Trump’s beloved Mar-a-Lago.

Posted on

Iowa Man Gets 16 Years In Prison For Burning Pride Flag

Adolfo Martinez (screen capture)

Adolfo Martinez (mugshot via Story County)
Adolfo Martinez, of Ames, Iowa, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for ripping down a church’s pride flag and burning it outside of a strip club. A jury in Story County found Martinez guilty last month of a hate crime, third-degree harassment, reckless use of fire as a habitual offender. The Des Moines Register reports Iowa sentencing guidelines called for “a maximum of five years in prison for the hate crime and arson charge and a maximum of a year and month for the other two charges.” Martinez’s status as a habitual offender allowed for him to be sentenced to a longer prison term. According to Story County Attorney Jessica Reynolds, this case was the first incidence of a hate crime going before a jury in Story County. On June 11, Martinez was reportedly “making threats and acting out” at a gentlemen’s club named Dangerous Curves located at 111 Fifth Street. The police were called but Martinez had been ejected from the premises by the time they arrived. Martinez reportedly came back that night and told a bar employee he was going to burn the bar down. He added that he planned on burning a Pride flag hanging in front of the Ames United Church of Christ nearby. He returned with the flag in hand, poured lighter fluid on it and set the banner on fire in front of the nightclub according to the police report. He was arrested later that day. Ames Police Cmdr. Jason Tuttle told the Ames Tribune that the 30-year-old confessed to tearing the flag down and burning it while in custody.
Adolfo Martinez (screen capture)
Adolfo Martinez (screen capture)
In a stunning interview with local TV station KCCI, Martinez admitted he was guilty of the charges and acknowledged his actions stemmed from his hostility to the LGBTQ community. He added that it was “an honor and a blessing” to stand up for “the word of the Lord.” “I’m guilty, I’m guilty as charged,” he proudly announced. “I’ll say it on camera as well. Live! Let it be known. I’m guilty as charged plain and simple. Knowingly, willingly, and intentionally did I do that. Yep. It’s my honor.” “It is a judgment and it is written to execute vengeance on the heathen and punishments upon the people… and it is my honor to do so. That was an honor to do that. It’s a blessing from the Lord to be able to stand for his word firmly against all odds, plain and simple.” The TV interview was played at his trial as evidence. (source: Des Moines Register)