Crime & Law

Fugitives Tracked Down in Mexico Using Spotify and Netflix Accounts
Important note to aspiring fugitives: cancel your Spotify account before you make like a tree. Brittany Nunn and Peter Barr learned the hard way when authorities tracked the couple down in Mexico earlier this month with the help of information from Spotify and Netflix. According to The Coloradoan, the pair fled their home in Wellington, …

Analyst: Charleston suspect steeped in supremacist sites
A new analysis of writings posted to a neo-Nazi website suggest that Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old held in last week’s killings in Charleston, S.C., was steeped in the online white supremacist movement for months, if not longer. Roof allegedly shot and killed nine African Americans during Bible study Wednesday at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal …

Most of the World’s Most Dangerous Cities are in Latin America: Report
Latin America is in bad shape when it comes to the world’s most murderous cities. According to a recent report, Latin American cities claim 43 of 50 top spots for the highest homicide rates in 2014. The world’s most dangerous cities were chosen based on the number of murders per capita, but the high number …

Colorado Latino Forum Says Officers Handcuffed Teen Jessica Hernandez’s Body After Shooting
Concerned about the way early information is being disseminated about the death of their daughter, the parents of slain Denver teen Jessica Hernandez are demanding that federal officials conduct a totally separate probe in the shooting. The FreeThoughtProject.com project reports Jessica Hernandez was shot as many as 18 times on the morning of Jan. 26 …

Ethics probe: Assistant Miami city attorney, judicial candidate steered jobs to fiance’s firm
An assistant Miami city attorney and current judicial candidate steered city jobs to her fiancé’s law firm through a third party and failed to disclose her ties, according to a newly closed ethics investigation. In 2012 and 2013, Veronica Adriana Diaz hired the Horvat Law Firm to conduct complicated real estate and title work for …

Wanted by Ecuador, 2 Brothers Make Mark in U.S. Campaigns
MIAMI — The donations kept pouring in: hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to President Obama and more than a dozen members of Congress, carefully routed through the families of two wealthy brothers in Florida. They had good reason to be generous. The two men, Roberto and William Isaias, are fugitives from Ecuador, …

DEA arrests three in a Miami-Dade drug case with international ties
At least three people have been arrested in southwest Miami-Dade County as part of a federal investigation into possible Miami links to a transnational drug-trafficking organization. According to a criminal complaint obtained by el Nuevo Herald on Monday, the suspects were picked up Feb. 20 at a residence near the junction of Southwest Eighth Street …

Mexico’s ‘Shorty’ Guzman faces new organised crime charges
Courts have ordered Mexican drug baron Joaquin Guzman – known as El Chapo, or Shorty – to remain in prison awaiting trial on new organised crime charges. Mexico’s ‘Shorty’ Guzman faces new organised crime charges Following his arrest, marines took Guzman to a navy base in the capital, Mexico City. Man and myth: ‘Shorty’ Guzman …

NYPD Embroiled In Controversy Following Untranslated Crime Report; Why?
Tragedy struck one family in Queens, N.Y. earlier this year and the NYPD could have done more to prevent the murders. In Jan. 18, Deisy Garcia was fatally stabbed by her husband, who then went on to murder their two daughters as well. Yet, she had made others aware of her fears and the danger …

Venezuela Opposition Struggles To Expand Appeal
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — It’s hard to find toilet paper or flour in Venezuela these days and the country has some of the highest inflation and murder rates in the world. Clashes between protesters and security forces loyal to the president have left 16 dead, and a telegenic opposition leader has been thrown in jail. …

Former South Florida cops sentenced to prison for gun dealing, tax evasion
A husband-and-wife pair of South Florida cops was sentenced to prison Thursday for illegally dealing in stolen guns and filing false tax returns U.S. Judge Donald Middlebrooks sentenced ex-Golden Beach Officer Tammy Valdes to 3 1/2 years of federal prison. Her husband, former Hialeah Officer Rafael Valdes, got five years prison. A federal jury convicted …

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton to keep First Deputy Commissioner Rafael Pineiro on the job
Pineiro, a 44-year veteran and the city’s top-ranking Latino cop, will even see his role expanded, despite having lobbied hard for Bratton’s job before Mayor de Blasio filled the post The city’s highest-ranking Latino cop gets to keep his day job. First Deputy Police Commissioner Rafael Pineiro, who pushed hard last year to become the …

Former Miss Venezuela and actress Monica Spear killed in Venezuela
Another death for the Latin world but this time it was a robbery killing Monday night in Venezuela of former Miss Venezuela queen and well-known actress in the United States Monica Spear. Another death for the Latin world but this time it was a robbery killing Monday night in Venezuela of former Miss Venezuela queen …

Latin Kings Leader Sentenced To 23 Years In Prison
HAMMOND, Ind. (STMW) – U.S. District Judge Rudy Lozano admitted the task before him Thursday was difficult. He was sentencing Latin Kings leader Alexander Vargas, who had ordered two murders and been involved in drug trafficking, while taking into account his cooperation with the government, which aided in the conviction and guilty pleas of several other …