Sen. Charles Grassley delivered this statement on the Senate floor on Thursday dealing with Operation Fast and Furious.

By Danny Fenster

A Baltimore County man was sentenced to eight years on Tuesday for threatening to kill an ATF  task force officer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore said. After prison, Allen Shepperd, 38, will be on supervised release for three years.

According to Shepperd’s plea agreement, the Baltimore County Police Department and ATF identified Shepperd as a primary suspect in the arson of a horse barn that had burned down in Monkton, Md. on Aug. 26, 2010.

On March 8, 2011, a Baltimore County detective and an ATF Task Force officer went to the Baltimore County Detention Center where Shepperd had been detained to serve a state indictment on Shepperd, charging him with arson, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Shepperd became very agitated and said he would shoot the ATF task force officer in the head, and when he got out of jail he would meet the officer at restaurant and neither of them would come out alive.

Shepperd held his hand up, imitating a pistol, and pointed it directly at the ATF officer.

Investigators also had recordings of Shepperd telling an  individual and his father in which he repeated the threats, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

By Danny Fenster

FBI agents returned to an elementary school in Brooklyn on Wednesday in an ongoing inquiry into a teacher’s aide who arrested this week on child molestation charges, reports the New York Times. Agents were searching for more victims, according to the Times.

Taleek Brooks, 40, was out on bail after a January arrest for possession of child pornography. He was arrested again on Monday and charged with producing child porn after agents found videos on his home computer of him engaging students in sexual acts in what appears to be Public School 243, or P.S. 243.

Parents and city education officials met at P.S. 243, in Crown Heights, on Wednesday; parents were sent home with a letter informing them of the aide’s arrest and a number for the FBI.

To read more click here.

Thomas Perez

The FBI announced on Wednesday the sentencing of three grown men for taunting African-American middle school students in Louisiana.

James Lee Wallis, Tony L. Johnson and Brial Wallis admitted to hanging a dead raccoon from a noose on a flagpole in front of Beekman Junior High School, in Beekman, Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, out of anger at the school’s new busing policy. They admitted to wanting to scare African-American students away from the school.

James Lee got eight months, Brian Wallis got five months and Johnson got six months, while all three received an additional year of supervised release, during which they must attend a “cultural diversity and sensitivity program,” says the FBI.

“Every child, regardless of race, is entitled to an education free from intimidation or discrimination,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in a statement. “Unfortunately, acts of hate such as this one are all too common in this country in 2012.”

By Danny Fenster

A New York man has pleaded guilty this week to stealing pieces of our nation’s history.

According to the FBI, Barry H. Landau, 63, of New York,  pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiracy and theft of historical documents from museums across New England, including original documents of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt and others. Landau also admitted to attempting to sell the documents for a profit.

From December 2010  to July 2011, Landau and co-conspirator Jason Savedoff stole the documents from a series of museums and historical societies across New England, targeting specific collections based on content and perceived dollar values, according to the plea agreement.

The two researched collections over the Internet, identifying specific documents and signatures of historic individuals to target for theft, says the FBI. Once located, Landau e-mailed Savedoff the titles and locations of collections which were eventually stolen.

At numerous museums the two posed as researchers, accessing collections of documents. Some of their methods of thievery included  concealing documents in sports coats and hidden pockets and  distracting curators.. The two kept records of the documents and their contents they had stolen, as well as where they had all come from. The two removed museum markings on documents and often stole card catalogues indexing of the stolen items to conceal the theft from the museums.

Suspicious curators at the Maryland Historical Society called the police on July 9, 2011, as Landau and Savedoff were viewing collections under the guise of authors researching a book. Police found 79 documents hidden in a computer bag in a museum locker that Savedoff had the key to. Sixty of those documents were found to have been stolen the Maryland Historical Society. One document with the signature of Abraham Lincoln was valued “well in excess of $100,000,” according to the FBI.

Police searched Landau’s New York City home on July 12, 2011, and again on August 2, 2011, finding more than 10,000 documents and cultural heritage objects, including “documents signed by George Washington, John Adams, Franklin Roosevelt, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon Bonaparte, Karl Marx, Sir Isaac Newton and others.”

Savedoff previously pleaded guilty. The two face a five year maximum for conspiracy charges and ten years for the theft.

By Danny Fenster

A council member in a southern California town may be off the council soon, after pleading guilty on Monday to felony conspiracy charges.

The charges stem from City of Commerce Councilman Robert Fierro’s attempt to interfere with an investigation into his campaign’s finances, reports the LA Times.

Fierro reimbursed certain campaign contributors with cash in his 2005 bid in an effort to hide the source of the funds, according to a statement from Fierro’s treasurer, who also pleaded guilty. Learning that the FBI was investigating the funding, Fierro urged contributors to lie to a grand jury, the treasurer’s statement also said.

Fierro, also a preschool teacher, said on Tuesday he will resign from the council.

To read more click here.

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• Judge Blocks DEA’s Ban on CVS Stores (Orlando Sentinel)
• Memo Offers New Account of ATF Agent’s NY Shooting (AP)
• FBI Investigating Possible Hate Crime (WXIA)
• 27 Arrested in Crack, Meth Bust in Bay Area (KCRA)
• FBI Agents Encourage Author to Document Lifetime of Criminal Experiences (PR News Channel)
• Rutgers-Newark Dorm Evacuated as FBI Investigates Report of Possible Explosives (the Star-Ledger)
• Secret Service Spares Romney from Repeat Glitter Bombing (SFist)