By Steve Neavling

A Maryland man pleaded guilty to shooting a ghost gun at authorities at a Secret Service facility. 

Jeremiah Peter Watson, 24, pleaded guilty to assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon, the Justice Department said in a news release.

According to prosecutors, Watson blocked the driveway of a Secret Service facility with his car in February 2021. When security officers ordered him to move, he became combative. An officer, believing that Watson was armed, sprayed him with pepper spray, causing him to drive away. 

Soon after, Watson returned and began shooting at security officers from the driver-side window. He then sped off. 

Police located him through his license plate, and found a privately made handgun without a serial number at his home. 

As part of a plea agreement, Watson will be sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, if a federal judge approves.  

By Steve Neavling

U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry was convicted by a federal jury Thursday of concealing information and making false statements to federal authorities about an illegal $30,000 contribution to his campaign from a Nigerian billionaire. 

The 61-year-old Nebraska Republican has served in Congress since 2005. 

He will be sentenced on June 28. Each of the three felony charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison. 

“After learning of illegal contributions to his campaign, the congressman repeatedly chose to conceal the violations of federal law to protect his job, his reputation and his close associates,” U.S. Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison said in a statement. “The lies in this case threatened the integrity of the American electoral system and were designed to prevent investigators from learning the true source of campaign funds.”

Prosecutors said Fortenberry lied to investigators on two occasions when asked about the illegal donation during a Los Angeles fundraiser in 2016. It’s a crime to accept donations from foreign nationals for a federal campaign. He also failed to file an amended repot with the Federal Election Commission. 

“Today’s conviction highlights the FBI’s commitment to holding elected officials accountable,” Kristi Johnson, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said. “The verdict emphasizes the importance of being truthful to law enforcement and demonstrates the government’s dedication to keeping the nation’s interests free from foreign influence through illegal campaign contributions.”

The Justice Department’s Timothy Shea to serve as DC’s top U.S. attorney.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Attorney General William Barr on Thursday named one of his closest advisers, Timothy Shea, to serve as the District of Columbia’s interim U.S. attorney.

Shea, 59, who is currently Barr’s counselor at the Justice Department, will oversee 300 prosecutors at the nation’s largest U.S. attorney’s office, which handles federal and local cases, The Washington Post reports.

Shea will replace Jessie K. Liu, who steps down Friday after President Trump nominated her to become the Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes.

In a statement, Barr said Shea was “a fair prosecutor, skillful litigator, and excellent manager is second-to-none, and his commitment to fighting violent crime and the drug epidemic will greatly benefit the city of Washington.”

Shea’s service at the Justice Department ranges from working as a line prosecutor to serving as associate deputy attorney general.

Abdirizak Jaji Raghe Wehelie.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

Updated: 9:40 a.m. Monday — A former FBI translator was sentenced to probation Friday after he admitted doctoring transcripts when his own voice came up on intercepts of phone calls placed by a terrorism suspect, the Associated Press reports. He was also fined $1,000.

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A former FBI translator is expected to be sentenced in federal court today after he pleaded guilty to making false statements in a case involving a terrorism suspect.

Abdirizak Jaji Raghe Wehelie, 68, of Burke, Virginia, was arrested in May on charges of lying to investigators about having contact with a man accused of joining a militant Somali group tied to terrorism.

In November, Wehelie pleaded guilty to making false statements, saying he doctored transcripts to hide the fact that he received a phone call from the man, who had been under surveillance.

The Justice Department said Wehelie had a personal relationship with the suspect, who had left a voicemail on Wehelie’s phone. When Wehelie translated the call, he changed his name to “unidentified male.”

The terrorism suspect’s phone was under court-ordered surveillance.

According to federal prosecutors, Wehelie later disclosed that he had been friends with the suspect for years.

Wehelie faces up to 25 years in prison, but sentencing guidelines call for zero to six months in jail.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

As many as 10 officers with the Jersey City Police Department are under investigation by the FBI for an alleged private security scheme.

Those police officers may be charged with corruption as early as next year, sources told New York 4. 

The scheme involves off-duty officers taking security jobs from private companies, which are required to hire the help through the city and pay extra administrative fees. Investigators allege the officers demanded cash without going through the city.

One former officer, Juan Romaniello, pleaded guilty in federal court last month for participating in the scheme and taking more than $200,000 in improper payments and never paying tax on the money.

The FBI declined to comment on the investigation, but expressed the importance of fighting public corruption.

“Per official policy, the FBI cannot confirm or deny the existence or non-existence of an investigation,” FBI spokesman Michael Whitaker said. “However, combating public corruption is the FBI’s top criminal investigative priority and we encourage the public to call the FBI with any information.”

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A federal lawsuit accuses FBI agents of using excessive force during a drug raid at a New Mexican trailer where three children were sleeping, the Albuquerque Journal reports.

According to the suit, FBI agents blew open the front door with a stun grenade, causing shrapnel to strike a 10-year-old boy in the head and shoulder. A 12-year-old girl was forced to walk outside on glass, cutting her feet. All three children, including the 9-year-old, were emotionally traumatized, the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Las Cruces alleges.

The May 2013 raid was part of a pre-dawn bust of 22 suspected drug and gun dealers.

The FBI declined to comment on pending litigation.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A probation officer in Massachusetts who is accused of mistreating a woman on probation pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to lying to an FBI agent, the Boston Globe reports. 

Lawrence Plumer, 46, reached an agreement with prosecutors that could mean he dodges jail and is instead sentenced to a year of probation.

Plumer is accused of showing pornography to a woman serving probation, among other allegations that have not been made public.

Prosecutors said the “mistreatment” involved the deprivation of the woman’s rights.

In addition to pleading guilty, Plumer agreed to resign from his job as probation officer in Suffolk Superior Court, the Boston Globe wrote.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A federal court in California criticized the DEA’s interpretation of a recent medical marijuana bill in a ruling that could compromise federal prosecutions of marijuana cases, the Washington Post reports. 

The court blasted the DEA’s interpretation of a bill that barred the federal government from using federal funds to “prevent such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”

But the DEA, in an interpretation of the bill that the court said “defies language and logic,” contended the amendment did not prevent actions against individuals and businesses.

Marijuana advocates said the ruling may finally end the federal crackdown on marijuana in states that prohibit its use for medicine.

“It’s great to see the judicial branch finally starting to hold the Justice Department accountable for its willful violation of Congress’s intent to end federal interference with state medical marijuana laws,” said Tom Angell of Marijuana Majority.