secret service photo

The fallout from the Secret Service-prostitute scandal continued Friday.

The Washington Post reported that three more agents linked to the prostitution scandal have been forced out, bringing the total to six.

The Post also reported that the Secret Service announced that another person in the Secret Service has been implicated, raising the total to 12.

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fbi photo archive

The disappearance of 6-year- old New York boy Etan Patz 33 years ago has never been resolved nor forgotten.

The New York Times reports 40 police and FBI investigators swarmed a SoHo art storage space on Thursday morning, ready to disassemble the 13 by 62 foot space brick by brick in search of the boy’s remains. The flurry follows release of a search warrant in response to the reaction of a cadaver-sniffing dog in the long-observed storage space.

“Obviously we’re hopeful that we’ll find evidence in the disappearance of Etan Patz,” F.B.I. spokesman Tim Flannelly told the NY Times. “But the take-away of this is that we’re committed to these types of investigations, as is the N.Y.P.D. And we’re trying to bring closure to the investigation and the family, and we’re not going to be frustrated by time.”

At the time of Patz’s disappearance in 1979 there was a world-wide hunt, and he was one of the first missing children to be displayed on milk cartons.

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exRep. Jefferson at sentencing in 2009 /Sketch by Art Lien/NBC News

Prison is calling for ex-Congressman William Jefferson, the New Orleans politician who gained national fame after the FBI found $90,000 stuffed in his freezer in 2005.

Bruce Alpert, the star reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, reports that the fed judge in the case on Friday ordered Jefferson, 65, to report to prison by May 4 to begin serving his 13-year sentence for his public corruption convictions.  The judge revoked his $50,000 bail.

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis of Alexandria, Va., sentenced Jefferson in November 2009, but he remained free pending his appeal. The 13-year sentence is the toughest ever handed down to a member of Congress.

A three-judge panel for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month rejected Jefferson’s bid for a new trial.

The Times-Picayune reported that Jefferson’s attorneys plan to take the case to the Supreme Court.

The Picayune reported that Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lytle, speaking in Ellis’ courtroom Friday morning, said Jefferson wasn’t likely to prevail in future appeals.

Shoshanna Utchenik

In general, the entrepreneurial spirit should be lauded. Unfortunately, in this case, it was purely criminal.

According to an FBI press release, 15 defendants allegedly registered 80 fake business names in Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota, then used these to file for unemployment insurance benefits to the tune of $8.7 Million. Defendants reportedly received unemployment debit cards for themselves, friends and family members, using false social security numbers and the sham businesses. A federal grand jury indicted the 15 defendants Tuesday in Illinois on 60 counts that include a range of tax, fraud and identity theft charges.

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Shoshanna Utchenik

It’s unclear what would make a Georgia man strut around a convenience store pretending to be an undercover agent, but his days of make-believe appear to be over — at least for now.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Charles Roger Gamble was indicted by a grand jury in Clarke County, Georgia this week for allegedly impersonating an FBI agent.

Gamble supposedly told a store clerk he was an undercover agent while displaying badges and carrying one to two guns in holsters on multiple occasions, according to AJC. The clerk became suspicious and the owner contacted police after Gamble offered his real name, a fishy move for an undercover agent.

The cop on the scene ran Gamble’s name and came up with a 2005 domestic violence conviction, which would prohibit him from carrying weapons.

The clerk found Gamble’s badges believable, but on closer inspection they read “national concealed permit.” The badges can be purchased online.

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Sikh-Americans, with their unique attire, have sometimes been mistaken in America as being part of some extremist groups and have been subject to hate crimes, according to the Indo-Asian News Service.

Consequently, as many as 92 US lawmakers have urged the FBI to collect data on hate crimes against Sikh-Americans, the news service reported.

“The more information our law enforcement agencies have on violence against Sikh-Americans, the more they can do to help prevent these crimes and bring those who commit them to justice,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to FBI, the news service reported.

“The Department of Justice and FBI have carried out important outreach efforts in coalition with the Sikh community, but these efforts must also be paired with data collection to ensure we are doing everything possible to crack down on hate crimes against the Sikh community.”

Sarah Palin/ official photo

The Secret Service scandal has not been without its politics including from ex-vp candidate Sarah Palin.

The Washington Post reported that David Chaney, one of two supervisors ousted this week in the Secret Service prostitution scandal in Colombia, posted a Facebook photo of Palin in Janaury 2009 that said; “I was really checking her out, if you know what i (sic) mean?.” Chaney helped protect her in the 2008 presidential campaign.

On Thursday, on Fox news, Palin said the joke is on Chaney.

“Well, check this out, buddy — you’re fired!” Palin said, according to the Associated Press.

Then Palin weighed in.

“It’s like, who’s minding the store around here?” Palin told Fox. “The president, for one, he better be wary, there, of when Secret Service is accompanying his family on vacation. They may be checking out the first lady instead of guarding her.”

The White House on Thursday expressed support for Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan.

See Cartoons on Scandal (Washington Post)