By Allan Lengel

Brenna Marie Reilly had quite a fantasy. Now comes the reality.

Reilly, 29, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., to impersonating an FBI agent, a fantasy she played out to the fullest. She even hired an assistant.

The reality is that she faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison when sentenced Aug. 6.

Authorities alleged that Reilly told neighbors in Arlington County, a Washington suburb, starting in August 2009, that she was a director of the FBI’s Forensic Division and an assistant director of the FBI., according to an affidavit from FBI agent Kari Alexa Parker.

In November, she offered two people a job as her assistant and asked them to fill out government applications, the affidavit said. One declined the job. The other accepted. The job was to begin Dec. 15.

The person who accepted quit his managerial position at the National Trade Productions so he could start with the FBI, the affidavit said.

Chicago cop Victor Brown found himself on the wrong side of the law Monday when he was arrested by the FBI and internal affairs.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Brown, 36, faces charges of lying to FBI agents about taking cash from another cop in exchange for a promise that he could influence the  Chicago Police Board in a discipline matter. The other cop was wired and was working for FBI.

The Tribune reported that Brown allegedly  took a total of $4,500 in payments in 2008 and 2009. Brown promised he could take care of things for $10,000.

At one point, during a meeting, the cop working with the FBI showed up with no money, the Trib reported. Brown wasn’t happy.

“I’m going to tell (the Police Board) you showed up and you said you ain’t got nothing today, and they gonna do whatever they do,” Brown was quoted as saying, according to the paper. “You made promises you don’t keep,” he added later.

During one conversation, the undercover officer asked Brown for a receipt for a payment, according to the complaint, the paper reported.

“Who in the (expletive) is gonna give you a (expletive) receipt for some (expletive) they doin’ they ain’t supposed to?” Brown allegedly said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Mason released  Brown on his own recognizance. However, he cannot carry his gun.

To read more click here.

By Allan Lengel

Things seldom get out of hand in federal court. Sometimes a defense attorney or prosecutor asks a witness an objectionable question that stirs a round of passionate arguments. Sometimes a judge loudly scolds. or even screams at an attorney.

But Monday,  the Detroit News  reported that jurors in the Highwaymen Motorcycle Club racketeering trial in downtown Detroit  “got a shock this morning when a woman in the audience stood up and accused a government witness of murdering her son.”

The woman pointed to the witnesses on the stand, Daniel Sanchez, a former vice-president of the Detroit Highwaymen Motorcycle Gang, and shouted “He murdered my son,” according to the News.

The woman was referring to an unsolved 1999 killing, the News reported.

U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds excused jurors and the woman explained that she had heard from a defendant in the case, who is not on trial, that the man she says murdered her son was to be testifying.

The jury was subsequently called back in the courtroom and told to ignore the outburst, the News reported. It was unclear what if anything was done to the woman.

OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

• Kagan’s Role Against Military Recruitment Studied (AP)
• 9 Hutaree Militia Members to Stay Behind Bars For Now (AP)
• NY Car Bomb Suspect Still No Show in Court (AP)
• Investigators Puzzled by NY Bomber’s Incompetence (Christian Science Monitor)
• NY Bomber Was Not Valedictorian of   Bomb School (TPM)
• Prosecutors Cite Confidential Informant in iPhone Probe (WIRED)

jfk airport

Could it be that not every airline was given  emergency notification that NY car bomber Faisal Shahzad had been put on the no fly list?

Newsweek’s DeClassified blog says YES.

It reports that the FBI asked Homeland Security officials to limit the notification to a select number of airlines out of concern that a blanket notification might lead to media leaks, which had already caused problems for the probe.

Shahzad was able to board an Emirates airline plane to Dubai at JFK Airport, but was pulled off before it could take off after a federal Customs and Border Protection agents noticed the name on the no fly list.

To read more click here.