Month: October 2022

Federal authorities have expanded the investigation into a series of killings that have shaken the city of Stockton California. Police linked two more shootings to those of five killed between July 8 and Sept. 27, saying they may be “interconnected.” A combination of video surveillance or ballistics led authorities to conclude that those slayings and the two additional shootings, including one in Oakland, are connected. Stockton police spokesperson Joe Silva said: “Last night was the new link that expanded to Oakland Our officers are going back to more old cases we have, and they’re also, obviously, reaching out to other regional law enforcement agencies to see if they’ve had any type of similar cases.”

The San Joaquin County medical examiner’s office identified the five victims of the July through September shootings as: 35-year-old Paul Alexander Yaw of Stockton, who died July 8; 43-year-old Salvador Debudey Jr., 43 of Stockton, who died Aug. 11; 21-year-old Jonathan Hernandez Rodriguez of Stockton, who died Aug. 30; 52-year-old Juan Cruz of Stockton, who died Sept. 21; and 54-year-old Lawrence Lopez Sr. of Stockton, who died Sept. 27.

The two new cases are comprised of a Latino man, who was fatally shot just before 4:20 a.m. on April 10, 2021, in Oakland. Days later, a 46-year-old Black woman was shot at 3:20 a.m. on April 16 in the area of Park and Union streets in Stockton. The woman in the Stockton shooting survived her injuries; her name was not released.

Stockton is a city of about 322,000 residents, which saw 39 homicides in 2021 and 43 so far this year. In all seven shootings, it appears to be the victims were alone and ambushed in darkness. Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden said that a $95,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest in the series of killings, all of which happened in areas with few security cameras. An unidentified person recorded on grainy security video could be a suspect or a witness, police said, and other people may be involved in the attacks.

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Elon Musk is offering to go through with his original $44 billion bid to purchase the social media platform Twitter. The Tesla CEO made the offer in a letter to Twitter, which the company disclosed in a securities filing Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

A letter from Musk’s lawyer dated said Musk would close the merger signed in April provided that the Delaware Chancery Court “enter an immediate stay” of Twitter’s lawsuit against him and adjourn the trial scheduled to begin in two weeks.  Twitter said in a statement it intends to close the transaction at $54.20 per share after receiving the letter from Musk. By completing the deal, Musk would have to go through with the purchase at the original price. The contract Musk signed also has a $1 billion breakup fee.

Musk has been trying to back out of the deal for several months after signing on to buy Twitter back in April. Musk claimed that Twitter under-counted the number of fake accounts on its platform, and Twitter sued when Musk announced the deal was off.   Shareholders had already approved the sale, and legal experts say Musk faced a huge challenge to defend against Twitter’s lawsuit, which was filed in July.

News of the renewed offer caused trading of Twitter stock to be halted for much of Tuesday.
Shares of Twitter closed up more than 22% on the New York Stock Exchange with Twitter stock prices jumping to a $52 a share, yup $9.46, but fell back slightly in after-hours trading. More than 47 million shares changed hands.

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On Monday, the Biden administration announced that $300 million dollars — taken partially from the new bipartisan gun violence law — will be used to help students access mental healthcare.The U.S. Department of Education will allocate competitive grants of $280 million to help with mental health staffing as schools  across the country.

The Department of Health and Human Services will also allocate funds for emergency departments.  According to a report from the National Center for Educational Statistics, mental health professionals are among the five most understaffed jobs at U.S. public schools.

The funding will come from annual appropriations, as well as from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The new law aims to help curb gun violence, specifically mass shootings. The law introduces more stringent background checks on people purchasing firearms, including access to juvenile records and information related to mental health. The law also allocates funding to encourage more mental health professionals to work at schools.

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According to the Department of Justice, three U.S. postal workers in New York and New Jersey have been arrested for allegedly stealing credit cards from the mail in a conspiracy to buy luxury items to sell online. The DOJ announced the arrests of three postal workers, and a fourth person, in connection with a 4-year, $1.3 million fraud and identity theft scheme. U.S. postal workers Nathanael Foucault, Johnathan Persaud, Fabiola Mompoint and civilian Devon Richards — in addition to five other people who have not been arrested — face charges that include Conspiracy to Commit Access Device Fraud, Access Device Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft charges. Each face lengthy prison sentences if convicted.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement: “As alleged, the defendants engaged in a years-long scheme to manipulate credit card companies and major retailers across New York and New Jersey by stealing credit cards and using those cards to purchase, and subsequently sell, luxury goods. The defendants took advantage of the public trust we place in U.S. Postal Service employees for their own financial gain.”

U.S. Postal Inspection Service Inspector-in-Charge Daniel Brubaker said in a statement:  “These nine defendants, three of which are postal employees, sought to enrich themselves by stealing mail directly from hundreds of postal customers  They further compounded their crimes by committing identity theft against those customers to facilitate their elaborate scheme to defraud several national financial institutions.”

The DOJ said the defendants stole credit cards from the mail and activated the cards using stolen personally identifiable information. Other members of the conspiracy used the stolen cards to purchase luxury goods from high-end retailers, such as Chanel, Fendi, Hermes and Dior, and sold them on the website LuxurySnob.com. which calls itself an “online consignment and personal shopping company” specializing in pre-owned luxury items,” but actually sells many items purchased using stolen credit cards.

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