“Make Me Wanna Holler, Throw Up Both My Hands” — Marvin Gaye, Inner City Blues, 1971

If Marvin Gaye were still alive, the latest news out of Detroit would make him wanna holler. Really holler.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office on Wednesday unsealed an indictment charging two former officials in Detroit Public Schools’ risk management department and two vendors with “converting more than $3 million” of school funds to themselves, family and friends. Some of the money was spent on  lavish parties and jewelry.

The news comes at a time the beleaguered school district faces roughly a $300 million deficit and the city in general is struggling to maintain everyday services.

The eight-count indictment alleges bribery, fraud, extortion and money laundering and names Stephen Hill, 58, of Detroit, former executive director of the risk management office and Christina Polk-Osumah, 59, former risk management finance manager along with Sherry Washington, 53, and her sister, Gwendolyn Washington, 66, both of Detroit, who are partners in Associates for Learning, a vendor hired to administer a health awareness program for the district.

By Allan Lengel

WASHINGTON — Craig Allen Corey II was doing a lot more than soldiering when he was based at Fort Meade, Md.

Federal authorities say the Army soldier was running a prostitution and drug trafficking ring from his apartment in Millersville, Md., a small town outside Baltimore, and advertising the hookers, at least one of whom was as young as 16, on Craigslist.

U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz in Baltimore Wednesday sentenced Corey to 17 1/2 years in prison. Corey, who was discharged from the Army in September, pleaded guilty on April 1 to a host of federal sex and drug trafficking charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

To read full story.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Detroit U.S. Attorney Assures Passenger Underwear Bomber Faces Most Serious Charges (Detroit Free Press)
• Detroit Judge Questions Weight of Evidence Against Hutaree Militia Members (Detroit News)
• Ex-CIA Spy Was Tasered During Arrest in Va. (Spy Talk)
• Obama Nominates Kansas U.S. Attorney (Main Justice)
• Fed Jurors Start Day 3 in Palin Email Case (AP)
• Teen to Be Sentenced in Border Patrol Agent’s Death (AP)
• Tough Arizona Law Faces New Road Blocks (AP)
• Fed Prosecutors Move to Drop Whale Sushi Charges (AP)
• Calif. Boy’s Death Attributed to Choking Game (AP)
• Police Say Texan Decapitated Wife With Chain Saw (AP)
• Army Plans to Seek Death Penalty in Ft. Hood Case (AP)
• Five People in Georgia Busted for Having Dangerous Explosives (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• U.S. Subpoenas New York Times’ Reporter James Risen for CIA Book (NY Times)
• SF Administrator Guilty of Hijacking City’s Computer System (WIRED)
• Father Testifies that Hutaree Militia Suspect Visited Militia Activist Mark Koernke (Detroit News)

Scott Bloch/govt. photo

WASHINGTON — The ex-head of the  U.S. Office of Special Counsel, who was appointed by President Bush, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Washington to criminal contempt of Congress “for willfully and unlawfully withholding pertinent information from a House committee investigating his decision to have several government computers wiped” of emails, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Sentencing for Scott J. Bloch is set for July 20. He faces up to one year in jail and a $100,000 fine. The federal sentencing guidelines call for a sentence of 0 to six months in jail.

Bloch, who is  also the former head of  the Justice Department’s Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives,  headed up the Office of Special Counsel from 2004 and 2008, which protects federal employees “with an emphasis on protecting federal whistleblowers”, according to a government description.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged that Bloch withheld information from the  U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform which had been investigating “whether and why Bloch: directed the deletion of e-mails or files on any of Bloch’s OSC-issued computers in December of 2006 by using the computer repair service Geeks On Call; directed that the computer repair service delete e-mails or files contained on the computers of two of his OSC aides; and directed that any such deletion of computer files be done by use of a “seven-level wipe” process.”

In May 2008, FBI agents raided his offices.

Read press release

Janet Napolitano

The Lone Star state’s air space is about to get a little more activity.

Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, testified at a Senate hearing Tuesday that an unarmed reconnaissance drone plane will fly over Texas to bolster security at a time when the drug violence along the border has reached new heights to help, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

She said Texas is the last Southwest border state to receive a drone because its “airspace is more crowded”, the Express-News reported. She said an exact date when it will begin flying has not be established.

“The FAA now has to go in and carve out, as I understand it, space for the Predator,” she said, according to the paper.

To read more click here.

Tom Ridge/gov photo

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is the latest to weigh in on Arizona’s new immigration law, saying he’s uncomfortable with it.

Ridge told the Associated Press that he’s concerned that the law allows police to question people without probable cause.

But he criticized both Democrats and Republicans for failing to come up with a national policy and said the U.S. should pressure Mexico to help control immigration, the AP reported.

Ridge said he favors Congress legalizing the status of the 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. But he said they should not get citizenship.

By Allan Lengel

A couple who admitted spying for Cuba have met with federal investigators 50 to 60 times to divulge their secret work, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday, according to the Miami Herald.

Walter Kendall Myers, a former State Department worker with top secret clearance — and his wife Gwendolyn Myers, pleaded guilty last November to sending secrets to Cuba over a span of three decades.

Under the plea agreement, the husband agreed to a life sentence, but his wife is likely to get off much lighter, and could possibly get up to 7 1/2 years, the Herald reported.

The two appeared at a hearing in U.S. District Court in D.C. on Tuesday, the Herald reported.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Michael Harvey told the judge the “debriefings” of the couple is expected to take about six months, the Herald reported. Both appeared in good spirits, clad in dark blue jail jumpsuits, the paper reported.

To read more click here.

By Allan Lengel

A Pakistani born man raised in New York, who became the first person to ever be extradited from the United Kingdom on terrorism charges, pleaded guilty Tuesday in New York to providing material support to al Qaeda.

Syed Hashmi aka “Fahad” admitted providing air fare to help someone deliver protective gear like raincoats and sleeping bags to South Waziristan, Pakistan, authorities said.

The equipment was to be used by al Qaeda members fighting U.S. trooops in Afghanistan, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Hashmi, 30, was arrested on June 6, 2006, at Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom, before he was to board a flight to Pakistan, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He has been in custody for nearly four years.

Sentencing is set for June 7. He has agreed to serve 15 years in prison.