A Modesto man was sentenced Monday to 26 years and eight months in prison for his role in a methamphetamine distribution ring reaching to Juneau, Alaska. Listen to this article: U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced the sentence for 32-year-old Joseph Vasquez Jr. in a news release Monday afternoon. According to court...
Fresnans Plead Guilty to Pointing Laser at CHP Aircraft
Remember the two Fresnans who were arrested for pointing a laser beam at a California Highway Patrol airplane? They entered guilty pleas in federal court this week and are scheduled for sentencing Jan. 30. According to their plea agreements, on July 22, 2018, Carlos Villa-Lozano and Paulina Silva Aguilar used...
Guilty Plea for Fresnan Who Bought Machine Gun Parts
Eric Vang, 36, of Fresno, faces up to 10 years in prison following his guilty plea Monday in federal court. According to court documents, a Chinese distributor mailed a package to Vang that contained parts to convert a Glock handgun into a fully automatic machine gun. Following a search of...
Public to Get Access to Nuremberg Trials Digital Recordings
PARIS — Audio recordings from the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders will be made available to the public for the first time in digital form after nearly two years of work conducted in secret. The Memorial of the Shoah in Paris will officially accept the recordings at a ceremony Thursday...
California Woman Pleads Guilty in ‘Birth Tourism’ Scheme
SANTA ANA — A woman who ran a Southern California "birth tourism" business that charged Chinese clients to help them give birth in the United States has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit immigration fraud. Dongyuan Li of Irvine also pleaded guilty to federal visa fraud Tuesday. Prosecutors say Li,...
Mexican Man Who Supports Trump Convicted of Voter Fraud
SACRAMENTO — A Northern California jury found a Mexican national who assumed an American's identity to vote in five federal elections guilty of voter fraud and identity theft. A jury on Friday found Gustavo Araujo Lerma guilty of aggravated identity theft, making a false statement on a passport application and...
Australian Court Upholds Sex Abuse Verdict of Cardinal Pell
MELBOURNE, Australia — An Australian appeals court Wednesday upheld convictions against Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic to be found guilty of sexually abusing children, in a decision cheered by scores of abuse survivors and victims' advocates demonstrating outside the court. A unanimous jury in December found Pope Francis'...
California Parents of 13 Plead Guilty to Torture, Abuse
RIVERSIDE — A California couple who shackled some of their 13 children to beds and starved them pleaded guilty Friday to torture and other abuse in a case dubbed a "house of horrors." David and Louise Turpin pleaded guilty Friday in Riverside County Superior Court to 14 counts that included...
In Plea Deal, Russian Woman Admits to Being a Secret Agent
WASHINGTON — A Russian gun-rights activist admitted Thursday that she was a secret agent for the Kremlin who tried to infiltrate conservative U.S. political groups as Donald Trump rose to power. Maria Butina, 30, agreed to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge as part of a deal with federal prosecutors....
Manafort Pleads Guilty and Will Cooperate With Mueller
WASHINGTON — Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort agreed Friday to cooperate with the special counsel's Russia investigation as he pleaded guilty to federal charges and avoided a second trial that could have exposed him to even greater punishment. The deal gives special counsel Robert Mueller a key cooperator who...