Matthew Bent and Denver Jarvis, both 15, and Jesus Mendez, 16, along with two others, are accused of pouring rubbing alcohol over Brewer and setting him alight in an apartment complex in Deerfield Beach, Florida on Oct. 12.

According to investigators quoted on CNN.com, the day before Brewer was set on fire, Bent approached him to collect the $40 he allegedly owed Bent for a video game. Brewer had no money so Bent took his father’s bicycle as collateral. Brewer called the police and Bent was later arrested.

The next day, Bent and four other boys confronted Brewer and called him a “snitch”. They then set him on fire.

After being set on fire, Brewer made the conscious decision to jump into a nearby swimming pool, but not until 65 per cent of his body had already suffered severe burns.

Witnesses of the incident say Mendez set Brewer on fire with a lighter after Bent instigated the attack. Mendez admitted to setting Brewer on fire and acknowledged that it was a “bad decision” in an official statement.

Brewer was recently taken out of intensive care at the University of Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital Burn Center, but still faces many months of recovery there. Doctors say his face and hands were largely spared, though they say he will need multiple skin grafts and surgeries, CNN reports. Up until last week Brewer was breathing through a ventilator.

Bent, Jarvis and Mendez are all being charged as adults. Two other teens involved are being charged as juveniles and their names cannot be released by law.

Bent’s lawyer has publicly denounced the fact that his client is being charged as an adult.

The three boys will return to court on Jan. 17, 2010. If convicted they could face up to 30 years in prison.

Terral Ainooson, 25, was arrested along with roommate, Ryan Oshima, 23, on November 11, when police found more than a dozen plastic bags of marijuana, and seized cash, a grinder and a scale after searching their Sudan Street apartment.

Each was charged with drug possession with intent to distribute.

Ainooson, elected student body president in fall 2008, is a senior International Management major, according to the school’s student senate Web site. He has a criminal record. Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office, said records show Ainooson had faced similar charges at least once before. The records did not indicate other details about the charges except to say they were not brought in Suffolk County, Wark said.

Oshima is a former UMass Boston student, a school spokesman said. The school’s official athletics Web site says he’s from La Jolla, Calif. and played baseball at Umass for three years.

In the raid, police knocked on the apartment door, but when no one responded officers forced their way in. They found the suspects in a bedroom, detained them and read them their Miranda rights, according to a police report. After officers showed them a search warrant, the pair volunteered the locations of the drugs, some of which were hidden in a Cheerios cereal box, and paraphernalia. The report also indicates that Ainooson and Oshima had been under investigation by the drug unit prior to the raid.

Oshima faces up to two years in jail or a fine or both. Ainooson, as a repeat offender, faces at least one year in prison or a fine or up to $10,000, or both.

Police told the television station that, of youths arrested, 55 were charged with alcohol possession after the blew above .02 percent blood-alcohol content. Others were released to their parents.

The party’s hosts, three Colby-Sawyer students, identified by the television station as Lindsey Randlett, 21, Margaux O’Connell, 21, and Kayla Flynn, 20, were charged with hosting an underage drinking party.

The three live in a house that’s owned by the college and is located 200 yards away from a police station.

Colby-Sawyer College President Thomas C. Galligan Jr. said it was not immediately known what action the college would take. He said, in an e-mail to the news station: “We are aware of the incident last night but have not had a chance to review everything that happened and have not made any decision yet about what processes the college might undertake. Our primary concern is with our students’ education, well-being and safety. We are grateful no one was hospitalized or otherwise injured and will strive. As we understand more, to use these events as an opportunity for community discussion and education. It is normally not our policy to pursue College Community Council processes with events which occur off campus; however, we have not yet determined whether what we will do in this matter. I also do not believe that the lease specifically mentions under age drinking but in my experience it is not common in residential leases to expressly mention many types of illegal conduct. That failure to expressly include does not mean the conduct is condoned.”

Muhammad and his teenage accomplice shot people, leaving a trail of 10 dead, as they purchased gasoline, went shopping, and mowed their lawns.

The AP said Muhammad gave no final statement before his lethal injection at a symbolic 9:11 p.m. at the Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt, Va.

According to George F. Noonan, Emerson College’s police chief and director of public safety, the victim was leaving the movie theater when she was approached by a man in his 30s or 40s, who made her sit on a park bench near a bus stop and then touched her “in an inappropriate and impermissible manner,” Noonan said.

The student escaped without physical injury and immediately went to campus police. The suspect is described as white, with a birthmark on the right side of his bald head. He was wearing a gray suit at the time. Campus and Boston police are investigating.

Prosecutors said Woodward, a former English teacher at Foxborough High School, had viewed and downloaded images of young girls, under the age of 12, having sex and engaged in sexual acts with adult men, and that he had been viewing such images for several years. The FBI found thousands of images of child pornography on his computers at home.

Some of the young girls were known to the government and provided victim impact statements which were read aloud at Woodward’s sentencing hearing. At the hearing, prosecutors also said that Woodward, while in prison awaiting sentencing, wrote stories and hand-drew pictures of young girls being raped, tortured and mutilated and passed them around to other inmates.

Clark was taken into custody Tuesday, but released after he volunteered a DNA sample.

According to The New Haven Register, police have now obtained a DNA match that implicates Clark in the strangling death of the student, who was supposed to get married last Sunday.

Clark is holed up in a motel in Cromwell, Conn., and police have told the Register that he could be arrested at any time and charged in Le’s death.

ABC News has reported that Clark text messaged Le on the day of her disappearance. ABC News also said that Clark had wounds on his back, his chest and arms after Le’s death.

Acting US Attorney Michael K. Loucks and Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Boston Field Division announced September 15 that Francis G. Janosko, 43 pleaded guilty to one count of intentional damage to a protected computer in Federal District Court in Boston.

During 2006 and 2007 While an Inmate at Plymouth, Janosko hacked a computer provided to inmates for legal research. The computer had restrictions disallowing use of email or Internet and various other functionality. Janosko was also able to gain access to a file containing names, addresses and social security of around 1,000 current and former employees of Plymouth County Correctional Facility. Janosko also attempted, albeit unsuccessfully to access a vital prison management software.

Janosko had been released from Plymouth County Correctional for some time but has been incarcerated since his apprehension in November 2008. The FBI and the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office investigated this case. Assistant US Attorney Scott L. Garland of Michael K. Loucks’s Computer Crime Unit is prosecuting the case.

Judge O’Toole set the sentencing date for December 15. Under the terms set forth in a plea bargain Janosko faces 18 months in prison.

Raymond Clark, 24, of Middletown, Conn. was taken into custody by police Tuesday. Officers searched his home also.

But DNA appears to have cleared Clark from wrongdoing.

The question remains, now, who murdered the tiny, helpless grad student who was supposed to have gotten married last Sunday?

According to the New Haven Register, Jared Rohrig, 25, is charged with first-degree sexual assault and criminal impersonation in the case.

“Jared Rohrig’s decision to resign from his position as probationary officer was in his best interest as well as the best interests of the town of Orange, Police Chief Robert Gagne said in a statement released to the Register Tuesday morning.

The alleged assault happened July 18. Police said Jared pretended to be his brother Joseph, but the woman he is accused of assaulting realized she was being duped when she saw a cowboy on Jared’s buttocks. Joseph doesn’t have such a tattoo.

But the whole story takes a sour and violent turn when the victim tries to leave and is allegedly stopped and then assaulted by Jared.

The two brothers live at home with their parents. Their mom, Joanne is on the board of education in Milford, Conn. She said she would not be running for re-election, in order to spend some more time with her family.

Police have now switched from a missing person investigation to a homicide case, said New Haven Assistant Police Chief Peter Reichard, in a press conference Sunday night.

“Detectives and investigators have a large amount of physical evidence on the scene that we’re going through to determine if it’s linked to this case or not,” Reichard said.

Bloody clothing was found above ceiling tiles in the same Yale building on Saturday, according to reports.

Le, 24, was last seen at the 10 Amistad St. building this past Tuesday. Her family has been notified about the finding of a body, Reichard said.

“Our hearts go out to Annie Le’s family, fiancé and friends, who must suffer the additional ordeal of waiting for the body to be identified,” said Yale President Richard Levin, in a statement to the Yale community. “I have met again with her family and conveyed to them the deeply felt support of the Yale community.”

WTNH-TV New Haven reported that bloody clothing has been found above ceiling tiles in a Yale University building where missing graduate student Annie Le was last seen.

The sources told WTNH News Channel 8 reporter Erin Cox the area where the items were found is now considered a crime scene, but New Haven police officials would only say that “no body has been found.”

Le has not been seen since sometime on Tuesday.

The grad student was supposed to get married on Sunday, but the family has canceled the ceremony.

The local newspaper, The New Haven Register, reported that police are about to brief reporters on the situation.

Anyone with information pertaining to Le’s disappearance is asked to call the FBI tip line at 877-503-1950.

Ramirez was arrested on July 2, 2008 during a high-profile hostage rescue mission. At the time of his capture Ramirez was holding 15 hostages including anti-corruption activist and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who had been held captive for more than six years. Three Americans were also being held by FARC.

While in command of the hostages Ramirez tried to barter their release for the liberation of FARC terrorists held in the U.S. and Columbia, as well as other political and safety demands. None were accepted, and eventually, thanks to Operation Jaque, Ramirez was arrested and the hostages freed.

His extradition to Washington comes after an indictment filed by the United States against 50 of the highest-ranking FARC members. The file, released by the DEA, accuses Ramirez of leading the 1^st Front of FARC and as such, being responsible for all criminal acts it carried out.

The acts include manufacturing and distributing thousands of tons of cocaine with the knowledge that they would enter the U.S. drug market, as well as plotting with other FARC members to kidnap and kill U.S. citizens to discourage the United States from fumigating and disturbing FARC’s cocaine plants and distribution efforts.

Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin reiterated the United States’ commitment to fighting narco-terrorism. “We are committed, together with Colombian authorities and United States law enforcement agencies, to attacking FARC’s criminal leadership. The extradition of Aguilar Ramirez, alleged to be a high-level FARC commander, is another milestone in this office’s fight against narco-terrorism worldwide,” he said, the DEA reports.

Ramirez, 50, is also charged with four counts of hostage taking for the kidnapping of Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, Keith Stensell and Tom Janis after their plane crashed in FARC-occupied jungle territory in early 2003.

Janis was executed while the rest were held captive with Betancourt and 11 others until their release in the summer of 2008.

Ramirez will be tried in Washington D.C. federal court scheduled to begin on Jan. 5, 2010. The DEA reports that Special Assistant Attorneys from the Southern District of New York will be prosecuting the case in D.C.

The State Department is also offering $75 million in rewards for any information that leads to the capture of high-ranking FARC members.

The investigation alleges that, beginning in 2002 through 2006, Adams, a subcontractor to McCourt Construction Co., engaged in a scheme to overbill the Central Artery/Tunnel Project by falsely categorizing apprentice workers as journeymen on work performed.

The company faces a fine of up to $500,000.

According to the FBI, McCourt and two of its managers have previously been convicted in federal court regarding the same overbilling scheme. Three employees of Massachusetts Electric Construction Company, another McCourt subcontractor on the Big Dig, were also convicted in the same type of scam.

A Wesleyan University student was shot and killed at the school’s bookstore Wednesday, according to WTNH-TV New Haven.

Police were still seeking a suspect, but WTNH reported that a gun was found.

The shooting occurred at 1 p.m. at the Red and Black Cafe inside the Wesleyan bookstore, Broad Street Books.

The student’s name has not bee released.

Wednesday was the scheduled day for Wesleyan’s annual Spring Fling concert, a tradition dating back to 1975. Spring Fling, along with all other school events, were canceled after the shooting.

Authorities say Joseph Jimenez, 24, killed Scott Riley, 25, after they argued over the beer pong game Friday at a party in a suburb 15 miles outside Philadelphia.

The men took the argument outside, where authorities say Riley mocked Jimenez and taunted him into shooting him. Jimenez allegedly responded by pulling a .40-caliber and shooting Riley in the neck.

Let’s take a minute to discuss the ground rules of beer pong folks:

Number 1: A bounce counts as two cups. If you are an idiot and knock over your own cups defending the bounce, those cups are lost.

Second: Bitches blow. Nuff said.

3: No overthrow rule. That’s dumb.

Four: Re-rack at six, four, three, and two.

Fifth: If you and your partner sink the same cup at the same time, game over.

Now play nice, kids.

It was pot, marijuana, Mary Jane, grass, weed and a whole lot of it that tied up half the emergency services in the city Thursday afternoon.

Mailroom workers at One Financial Center found a “white powdery substance” on a package around noontime and called 911. Fire fighters quarantined the four exposed workers and ran through decontamination protocols to clear them, said Steve MacDonald, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department.

Fire officials eventually called out a Level 3 Hazardous Materials Incident, requiring anyone entering the building to don specialized Hazmat suits for safety.

Tests determined that the white powder was in fact laundry detergent.

But when they took a closer look at the package, fire fighters found a briefcase beneath the detergent. So they called in the Boston Police Bomb Squad to investigate. They x-rayed the briefcase and determined it was not bomb.

Then U.S. Postal Police were called in to take custody of the package and another suspicious package with the same address and handwriting.

Postal Police found 45 pounds of marijuana in the two packages. The detergent may have been an attempt to mask the marijuana, but it drew far more attention to it than anyone could have imagined.

No one was injured, sickened, or given the munchies as a result of the powder, briefcase or pot.

On Friday around 9:30 p.m. a woman told police she was walking near Prince Street in Boston’s “Little Italy” when a man attacked her with a knife. She fended him off and was able to escape with minor scrapes.

Before that, on April 4, a woman was walking near North Bennet Court when she was pushed suddenly pushed by what authorities believe is the same man, described as 5′10″ with an olive complexion and dark hair speaking with an accent.

Here are some tips from the Boston Police Department for ensuring personal safety:

• Always be aware of your surroundings, especially at night. When parking, walking or returning to your car, remain in well-lit and populated areas.
• Wear sneakers or shoes that allow for added mobility.
• Be watchful and aware. Keep your head up. Make quick eye contact with those around you and be observant of passing vehicles. Don’t become distracted by talking on a cell phone or listening to an iPod/similar device.
• Avoid walking alone late at night. Walk with friends and people you know.
• Keep a whistle within reach. If you feel threatened, use the whistle to signal residents that you need assistance. Yelling “Fire!” “Help!” and/or “Rape!” are ways of drawing attention and alerting people that you need help.
• Hold your car keys in your hand to use as a weapon against an attacker.
• Carry a cell phone.
• Call ahead to your destination to alert them that you’re on your way. Make sure they expect you at a certain time, so that in the event you fail to show up, they’ll know enough to begin looking for you.
• Walk with confidence. Be assertive. Don’t let anyone violate your space. Trust your instincts. Know this: anyone at anytime can be a victim of crime. Don’t assume, “IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN TO ME.”
• If an unarmed attacker confronts you, believe in your ability to scare, distract, or even incapacitate the attacker enough to escape.
• If you think that someone is following you, switch direction or cross the street. Walk toward an open store, restaurant or residence.

If you have any information on these attacks, call the Boston Police at 617-343-4400 or text TIP to 27463 to send an anonymous tip to the CrimeStoppers tip line.

Daniel Winsky, 53, of Salem, was found guilty and sentenced to 18-months probation and a one-year loss of license after being found guilty of operating under the influence.

Winsky was technically “operating” the Anthony’s Driving School car he was in because those cars are specially fitted with a brake on the passenger side for instructors to take control and stop cars during driving lessons with new drivers.

Authorities said that on December 26, 2007, Winsky went into a Cumberland Farms on Central Street in Ipswich to buy a soda, and the clerk and a customer detected a strong odor of alcohol. When the customer observed Winsky step into the car with a sign that read “Anthony’s Auto School,” she called police. The car was pulled over a very short time later on High Street in Ipswich. Winsky was not arrested at the scene, but was later cited.

The driving instructor will also have to pay $2,000 in fines and attend state-mandated classes of his own.

“The evidence clearly indicates that the actions of Milton Police that day spared the life of this young girl from the brother who had already succeeded in killing two of his sisters,” Keating said. “These actions were not only necessary and justified, but heroic and demonstrative of a high level of professionalism, integrity and bravery.”

Keating’s office reviewed evidence from the state and local police and the state Chief Medical Examiner’s office. Investigators also interviewed 9-year-old Saraphina Revelus, who survived the attack.

The following is an excerpt from the Massachusetts State Police investigation:

“From the initial 911 call made to Milton Police, until … [the] reports, ‘shots fired suspect down,’ a total time of approximately five minutes and fifty-two seconds had elapsed. In that span of time, Milton Police responded to the scene, gained entrance into the apartment, faced the above described situation, found the suspect in the bedroom, forced the bedroom door open and made several attempts, by shouting commands for him to give himself up, that can be clearly heard on the 911 tape, which he did not comply with. It was only when he lunged in a threatening manner towards the screaming nine-year-old child, cowering in a bedroom corner that officers were forced to use deadly force. It is reasonable to infer that had the Police Officers not acted in that manner, using deadly force, [the nine-year-old], who had already been stabbed approximately ten times and bleeding profusely, would have suffered additional grievous bodily injury or death at the hands of the suspect, Kerby Revelus.”

According to the ATF, a Feb. 7 fire at 22 Sigourney Street has been ruled an arson. Investigators are reviewing surveillance video obtained from that incident. They are trying to piece together clues that could indicate that fire is related to a Jan. 6 fire on South Street and a Jan. 28 fire on School Street. All three fires were ruled arsons and have “investigative similarities.’

Anyone with information about any of the arson incidents or the identity of the suspect is asked to contact the Arson Hotline at 617 343-3324. Anonymous tips can be placed at 1 800-494-TIPS or text the word “TIP” to CRIME (27463).

The 57-year-old Wellesley woman allegedly tried to run down a state police officer who was giving her a ticket for idling in a bus lane at Logan International Airport in Boston.

According to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, on March 29, Greer struck the trooper with her Mercedes SUV and then drove toward him again, ultimately driving off has the trooper tried to arrest her.

The trooper told Greer she could not park in the designated bus space, giving her the option of circling the terminal or waiting in a parking lot, but he said Greer ignored him and rolled up her window. The cop then stood in front of her car to write her a ticket and she allegedly sped toward him, hitting the trooper with her passenger side window with enough force to fold the window toward the car.

He then tried to arrest Greer, running toward her car as she stopped for oncoming traffic, but he says that she sped toward him again, causing him to jump backward. The probably dazed trooper then tried to reach into her car to get her to stop, but she sped away, dragging the cop with her.

Other State Police units later stopped Greer on the Massachusetts Turnpike near the Columbus Avenue overpass, the D.A.’s office said. They first noticed that her passenger’s side mirror was folded toward the car, but Greer denied having been at the airport that day. But the trooper she allegedly struck soon came the scene and identified her. She was arrested.

“[Greer] drove away with the door open, dragging the trooper …. I had about sixty people on my bus. They were terrified by what they saw. My legs are still shaking,” a bus driver who witnessed the incident told police.

Greer was charged with assault and battery on a police officer, assault with a dangerous weapon, and failure to stop for police. She was released on her own recognizance and will be back in East Boston District Court on May 13.

Authorities say Chambers, 52, is a homeless drug addict who frequently stayed at a friend’s studio apartment in Chinatown. On Feb. 10, 2008, they say Chambers and another friend, Edward “Red” Quiles got into a heated argument after Quiles accused Chambers of stealing his stash of heroin.

“Drugs are part of the case,” said assistant district attorney Ian Polumbaum. “Drugs explain why these two men joined together, then collided, ending in a homicide.”

Polumbaum’s case lays out a timeline where Chambers and Quiles spent a night buying and using heroin before passing out early the next morning. Later, the friend who had rented the apartment, woke up to hear the other two men fighting and “engaged in a physical scuffle.”

“Find my [expletive]. Where’s my [expletive],” Quiles allegedly yelled at Chambers. “Mr. Quiles was accusing Mr. Chambers of stealing drugs from him,” Polumbaum said.

Chambers allegedly replied, “I don’t have your stuff.”

Then the tenant left the apartment and Chambers later called 911 to summon police.

During the fight, prosecutors say Chambers pulled a knife and stabbed Quiles. Chambers fled the apartment, but he and his blood-covered hands were quickly discovered by police, responding to his own 911 call.

Quiles bled out and died. Now Chambers is claiming self defense, but prosecutors don’t buy it. It will be up to a jury to decide what’s true in this sad case of drug-fueled death.

“Try to reconcile the evidence with the defendant’s own version of what happened,” Polumbaum told jurors. “Pay close attention to his claim that he did this killing in self defense.”

They say he had been drinking.

Joseph Houston, 29, faces two counts of assault and battery and a count of open and gross lewdness after the Jan. 18 incidnet.

According to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office, Houston was arrested by MBTA Transit Police at North Station, adjacent to the Garden after Houston was ejected from the concert and refused to leave. During the incident, Houston allegedly flashed his police department badge and referred to one of the security guards trying to escort him out of the concert as “Obama.”

James “Jim” Burke, 41, of Chelsea, was released on $10,000 bond and will be back in court March 26 for a hearing.

“It’s a perversion of the legal system and a gross abuse of power,” Assistant US Attorney Brian T. Kelly, head of the US attorney’s public corruption unit, told Globe reporter Shelley Murphy.

According to the charges, the accused prostitute was in court in December trying to get her prostitution charges dismissed when she saw Burke and told her lawyer that Burke approached her when she was in court in similar charges in 2005. She said she gave Burke oral sex in the courtroom in exchange for his help getting the case thrown out.

She, and her lawyer, went to the FBI.

Given the many recent advances in forensic technology, it was only natural that a second look be taken at the case and recovered evidence,” the FBI Chicago office said in a statement Thursday.

The FBI says the review was prompted by the recent anniversary of the killings and a bevy of new tips that have come in. No new physical evidence has emerged, and no charges have been filed.

James W. Lewis, of Cambridge, served 12 years in federal prison for trying to extort $1 million from Tylenol, but was never charged in the killings.

Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, Serdar Tatar and brothers Dritan, Shain and Eljvir Duka (all from Pennsylvania) were convicted on “Count One of the seven-count Superseding Indictment that charged them with conspiracy to murder members of the U.S. military,” the DOJ reports.  

The defendants were however acquitted on count two, which alleged they attempted to murder.

The five now face up to life in prison for the conspiracy charge alone.

Each defendant was charged and convicted with different crimes under the seven-count Superseding Indictment, according to the DOJ release:

“Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, 23, of Cherry Hill: conspiracy to murder members of the members of the U.S. military, and the attempted possession of AK-47 semi-automatic assault weapons to be used in the attack.

“Dritan Duka, 30 of Cherry Hill: conspiracy to murder members of the U.S. military; possession of machine guns; possession and attempted possession of machine guns in furtherance of a crime of violence; and two counts of possession of firearms by an illegal alien.

“Shain Duka, 27, of Cherry Hill: conspiracy to murder members of the U.S. military; possession of machine guns; possession and attempted possession of machine guns in furtherance of a crime of violence; and two counts of possession of firearms by an illegal alien.

“Eljvir Duka, 25, of Cherry Hill: conspiracy to murder members of the U.S. military, and possession of firearms by illegal aliens. The jury acquitted on one count of possession and attempted possession of machine guns in furtherance of a crime of violence.

“Serdar Tatar, 25, of Philadelphia: conspiracy to murder members of the U.S. military.” 

Brothers Dritan and Shain Duka were arrested on May 7, 2007 in Cherry Hill, Pennsylvania when they met an unnamed government witness with the intent of purchasing three automatic and four semi-automatic rifles to be used in an attack against U.S. soldiers.

The other three defendants were arrested at various locations around the same time.

“These men planned, trained and ceaselessly talked unambiguously about their intention to ambush and kill U.S. soldiers,” Marra said. “The word should go out to any other would-be terrorists of the homegrown variety that the United States will find you, infiltrate your group, prosecute you and send you to a federal prison for a very long time.”

During the trial, the jury found that one of the defendants had conducted surveillance of Fort Dix and Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, the U.S. Coast Guard in Philadelphia and Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.  

A co-conspirator obtained a detailed map of Fort Dix, where they allegedly planned to use assault rifles to kill as many soldiers as possible.

The jury also viewed tapes of the men performing arms training in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. The videos show the men watching tapes of American soldiers being killed, and of known Islamic radicalists urging jihad against America, the DOJ reports.

Marra credits the Special Agents of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division and the FBI South Jersey Joint Terrorism Task Force for their aid in the investigation. He also thanks military services at Fort Dix, Fort Monmouth, Dover Air Force Base and the U.S. Coast Guard in Philadelphia, as well as police departments in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Sherry Johnston was taken into custody Thursday after troopers searched her home on a warrant.  

The 42-year-old mother was subsequently charged, and then later released on $5,000 bail from a Palmer, Alaska prison.  The name of the drug found has not been released by authorities.

Her 18-year-old son, Levi Johnston, is the boyfriend of Bristol Palin, the daughter of Alaska governor and former Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin.  During the campaign, the world learned that her daughter was pregnant with Johnston’s child.

Personally, I feel bad for Levi.  The guy’s had a bad year.

A month before that, 4,000 Polk County, Fla. residents were powerless when thieves ripped copper wire right off an electrical transformer, costing $500,000 to replace.

These cases and others, according to authorities, combine to form a very real threat to national security and American infrastructure.

“More and more since 9/11, we’re using intelligence to get our arms around emerging threats at the national level-not just when it comes to terrorism, but also in the criminal arena,” the FBI said in a statement recently. A recent FBI criminal intelligence report outlines the situation. It concluded that:

• “The demand for copper from developing nations such as China and India is creating a robust international copper trade,” and as the global supply of copper continues to tighten, “the market for illicit copper will likely increase.” From 2001 until 2008, the price of the metal has increased by more than 500 percent.
• The thieves-many of whom are drug addicts or gang members-may act individually or as part of organized groups and are interested in the quick cash they get from selling copper to scrap metal dealers.
• Their targets include electrical substations, railroads, security and emergency services, and other sensitive sites. Already, copper thefts have been responsible for shutting down railway systems and even 9-1-1 emergency systems.

“On the surface, it could be a relatively small theft,” said one FBI agent who specializes in major theft crimes and who commissioned the report after getting wind of the problem, “but the public safety impact could be significant.”

While the thieves may just be looking for a quick score and not mean to compromise national infrastructure, that’s just what’s happening, and the Feds are looking to find them and wrap thee thieves up heavy federal charges that include jail time.

The government has set up task forces between local, state an federal law enforcement agencies to combat the copper problem, which is particularly heavy in Nevada, where one thief now faces 20 years in prison.

“We are in the process of notifying the agent’s family and will provide more details later today,” the FBI said in a statement.

The FBI specifically points out that early media reports that this incident was associated with a home invasion are actually false.

Authorities allege that Gerald J. Sadkowski, 30, of Watertown, and Brian M. Faulkner, 37, of Lynn, sold the pain killer illegally both on postal property and while out on their routes as postal employees.

The federal complaint says this took place between July and October.

If convicted on these charges, they face up to 20 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and a $1 million fine.

Janosko allegedly found a way to manipulate research computers so that he and other inmates could access files that contained the names, birth dates, phone numbers and Social Security numbers of more than 1,000 current and former prison employees, the DOJ reports.

The prison allows its inmate to use secured computers to research legal documents.  The computers are restricted, so that Internet, e-mail, networking and other applications are inaccessible.

Janosko, if convicted, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for the computer crime, and a mandatory two years if convicted of identity theft.

The investigation was carried out by the Boston division of the FBI and the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department.

It’s a dirty reality, one that the FBI in conjunction with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) plans to stop.  Slowly, but surely.

Last week, the three organizations along with local police conducted Operation Cross Country II, a three-day nationwide operation targeting juvenile prostitution.   The operation was conducted as part of Innocence Lost, an initiative created by the FBI, the DOJ and NCMEC in 2003 to address criminal organizations involved in the child sex trade.

Various stings were set up across the country. Agents contacted call girls over the internet and arranged to meet them in a designated hotel room armed with a plethora of surveillance equipment. In the adjoining room, FBI agents monitored the cameras, waiting for money to exchange hands.  Once the deal was made, the officers barged in and arrested the “escort.”

The stings resulted in the arrests of 518 prostitutes and 73 pimps.  Forty-nine children between the ages of 13 and 17 were recovered from forced sex trade, according to an FBI release.

“Sex trafficking of children remains one of the most violent and unconscionable crimes committed in this country. There are few law enforcement missions more important than protecting our nation’s children,” said FBI Deputy Director John S. Pistole at a press conference.

Girls as young 12-years-old were taken into custody.

Some stings didn’t manage to rescue any children, however FBI authorities say that every prostitute arrested could lead to a larger ring and the discovery of juveniles in the underground sex trade.

Operation Cross Country I was conducted last June, resulting in the arrests of 389 people.  Twenty-one children were recovered.

So far, the Innocence Lost initiative has resulted in 265 indictments and 365 convictions on state and federal charges.  Thirty-six criminal rings have been broken up.

The FBI has made a large dent in the child sex trade; 577 child victims have been recovered in the program’s five year history, according to the FBI release.

Innocence Lost bears much resemblance to Dateline NBC’s “To Catch a Predator,” an investigative initiative that targets men and women who chat with children on the internet and arrange meetings with the intention of engaging in sexual activity.

The program came under heavy fire after Texas District Attorney Louis Conradt Jr. committed suicide when a SWAT team tried to arrest him while NBC taped.

Amato pleaded guilty to three counts of income tax evasion and one count of health care fraud this June.

Amato did not fully report his income over a four-year period; he failed to report a bank account he opened which held a sum of more than $840,000.  Amato also submitted false and exaggerated patient reports so he could collect additional funds from insurance companies, according to the Portland Press Herald.

Last Wednesday, in addition to his two-year sentence the defendant was ordered to pay a fine of $10,000.  Judge D. Brock Hornby of Portland’s U.S. District Court also ordered Amato to compensate the affected insurance companies in the sum of $100,000, reports the Portland Press Herald.

Amato has already paid the Internal Revenue Service more than $700,000 in back taxes and interest.

The Associated Press reports that Rodriguez, 62, was sentenced to five years in prison and credited for the four he has already served since he was arrested in 2004.

Prosecutors say Rodriguez, a Yankees fan, was watching a playoff game on television in Boston. The Red Sox won 6-4 and the group started teasing the New York fan. He then pulled out a gun and shot three of them, killing one.

The outburst was apparently alcohol-fueled, and Rodriguez says he has no memory of the incident.

Seven-year-old Julian King was discovered with a gunshot wound to his head inside a white Chevrolet Suburban on the city’s West Side, CBS2 Chicago is reporting.

The white Chevrolet Suburban was taken away by investigators, and a medical examiner identified the body inside as King this afternoon.

Over the weekend, Hudson offered a $100,000 reward for the safe return of her nephew.

“Please keep praying for our family and that we get Julian King back home safely,” Hudson said in a posting on her MySpace page Sunday. “If anyone has any information about his whereabouts please contact the authorities immediately.”

Hudson also posted two pictures of her nephew wearing the brown-and-orange striped polo shirt he was wearing when he was last seen, CNN reported.

William Balfour, Hudson’s sister’s estranged husband and father of King, was arrested Friday as the main suspect in the deaths. Balfour’s mother claims Balfour is innocent of his son’s death, CNN reported.

An Amber Alert was issued Friday naming Balfour as a suspect in the double homicide. He has not been charged yet, law enforcement sources told the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.

A family member found the bodies at the Donerson’s home Friday afternoon. Donerson was found shot in the living room while Jason Hudson was found in the bedroom, police said.

Authorities described the shooting as domestic violence and said at least one of the victims suffered defensive wounds, Yahoo! News reported.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office has said autopsies for Donerson and Jason Hudson were pending as of Saturday.

Records from the Illinois Department of Corrections show Balfour, 27, is on parole and spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle, Yahoo! News reported. Public records show one of Balfour’s addresses as the home where Donerson and Jason Hudson were shot.

Jennifer Hudson won an Academy Award for best supporting actress in 2007 for her role in “Dreamgirls,” and her self-titled debut album is a top seller. She was featured in this year’s “Sex and the City” movie and is also starring in “The Secret Life of Bees,” which is in theaters now.

In an interview last year with Vogue, Hudson credited her mother with encouraging her to audition for “American Idol,” which launched her career.

According to documents recently released by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, for at least nine years Khan has been internationally trafficking opium, heroin and morphine from headquarters based in Kandahar and Helmand, Afghanistan.  The trafficking ring is known as the “Khan Organization.”

The report states the Khan Organization planned on selling morphine base, which can be used to create heroin, in amounts as large as 40 tons to worldwide drug markets. Forty tons of morphine base would be able to satisfy the heroin needs of the U.S. for more than two years.

The organization also supposedly operated its own labs, producing refined heroin and selling it in quantities of 220 pounds or more.

According to DEA reports, Khan has been closely linked with the Taliban. The group draws much of its funding from drug organizations like Khan’s. In return for this funding, the Taliban provides protection over drug routes, labs and poppy fields.

Khan has supported the Taliban’s efforts to forcibly remove the U.S. and its allies from Afghanistan by backing their policy and funding their organization.  The terrorist group has repeatedly attacked U.S. forces and civilians in Afghanistan.

In January, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing of a hotel in which an American was killed.

“His arrest disrupts a significant line of credit to the Taliban and will shake the foundation of his drug network that has moved massive quantities of heroin to worldwide drug markets,” said Michele M. Leonhart, acting DEA administrator.

If convicted, the 54-year-old faces a minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life.  A conference will be held Tuesday before a judge.

Khan is one of the first to be prosecuted under the federal narco-terrorism statute drafted in 2006.

William Balfour, Hudson’s sister’s estranged husband, was arrested Friday as the main suspect in the deaths, but seven-year-old Julian King has not been seen since the bodies of Darnell Donerson, 57, and Jason Hudson, 29, were found Friday afternoon.

An Amber Alert was issued Friday naming Balfour as a suspect in the double homicide. He has not been charged yet, law enforcement sources told the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times.

A family member found the bodies at the Donerson’s home Friday afternoon. Donerson was found shot in the living room while Jason Hudson was found in the bedroom, police said.

Authorities described the shooting as domestic violence and said at least one of the victims suffered defensive wounds, Yahoo! News reported.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office has said autopsies for Donerson and Jason Hudson were pending.

Records from the Illinois Department of Corrections show Balfour, 27, is on parole and spent nearly seven years in prison for attempted murder, vehicular hijacking and possessing a stolen vehicle, Yahoo! News reported. Public records show one of Balfour’s addresses as the home where Donerson and Jason Hudson were shot.

Jennifer Hudson won an Academy Award for best supporting actress in 2007 for her role in “Dreamgirls,” and her self-titled debut album is a top seller. She was featured in this year’s “Sex and the City” movie and is also starring in “The Secret Life of Bees,” which is in theaters now.

In an interview last year with Vogue, Hudson credited her mother with encouraging her to audition for “American Idol,” which launched her career.

WIlliam Patrick Jordan, 37, faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after an investigation revealed he was allegedly selling 50 to 70 hydrocodone pills twice a week for over a year at the restaurant, according to a statement from the Drug Enforcement Administration.

According to the charge, a confidential, undercover federal informant sold Jordan 40 hydrocodone tablets for $120, purportedly for resale. DEA agents swooped in and arrested Jordan, who was released on bond pending a hearing October 29. He faces charges of knowingly, unlawfully, and intentionally possessing hydrocodone with the intent to distribute.