phone Archives - Home Safety Tech Pros

Hardin Man Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Using a Phone to Promote Prostitution with a Minor

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 14:05:51 +0000

William Serges Joseph of Hardin, who promoted prostitution with a minor, has been sentenced to 36 months in prison.

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Alito says his phone call with Trump concerned former clerk

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 19:18:31 +0000

U.S. Supreme Court

Alito says his phone call with Trump concerned former clerk

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 9, 2025, 9:09 am CST

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said he spoke with President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday to provide a job reference for one of his former law clerks. (Photo by J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press)

Updated: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said he spoke with President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday to provide a job reference for one of his former law clerks.

Alito said in a statement the ex-clerk, William Levi, had asked him to take the phone call, according to ABC News, which broke the story.

Stories followed in publications that include the New York Times, Reuters, CNN and Fox News.

Levi formerly work as chief of staff to then-U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr during Trump’s first presidency. He is now being considered for a government position in the new administration.

A day after the phone call, lawyers for Trump asked the Supreme Court to stay his Friday sentencing for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors said the payment violated a New York law barring use of unlawful means to promote a candidacy—in this case, Trump’s presidential bid in 2016.

Alito said Wednesday, however, that the case was not discussed.

“We did not discuss the emergency application he filed today, and indeed, I was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed,” Alito said in the statement. “We also did not discuss any other matter that is pending or might in the future come before the Supreme Court or any past Supreme Court decisions involving the president-elect.”

On Thursday evening, the Supreme Court denied Trump’s emergency application in a 5-4 vote. Alito, who did not recuse himself, voted with Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh in favor of granting Trump’s request to delay his Friday sentencing. They did not indicate their reasoning in the unsigned order.

Updated on Jan. 9 at 9:05 p.m. to note Justice Samuel Alito’s vote on Donald Trump’s emergency application.

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Federal judge will no longer tolerate lawyers’ barbed briefs and ‘expletive-laden phone calls’

homesafetytechpros — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 13:57:01 +0000

Trials & Litigation

Federal judge will no longer tolerate lawyers’ barbed briefs and ‘expletive-laden phone calls’

By Debra Cassens Weiss

December 12, 2024, 9:00 am CST

A federal judge in Seattle is fed up with “hyperbole and bluster” in a lawsuit alleging that State Farm failed to pay full policy benefits to homeowners after a house fire. (Photo from Shutterstock)

A federal judge in Seattle is fed up with “hyperbole and bluster” in a lawsuit alleging that State Farm failed to pay full policy benefits to homeowners after a house fire.

Lawyers “traded barbs in their briefs and during oral argument” about lack of professionalism and motives, offering competing accounts about who is to blame for a breakdown in communications, said U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead of the Western District of Washington in a Dec. 4. order. Whitehead was appointed by President Joe Biden.

Law360 has the story.

No matter which story is to be believed, the lawyers’ actions fell short of the required collegiality standard, Whitehead said.

“Expletive-laden phone calls, hang-ups, backing out of prior agreements without explanation, and misleading emails purporting to ‘memorialize’ phone calls demean the integrity of the legal process and show disrespect to all concerned, including the court in having to resolve petty disputes,” Whitehead said in his order.

“Let it be clear: The court will not tolerate such conduct moving forward.”

Whitehead scolded the lawyers before ruling on the plaintiffs’ requests for financial information from State Farm. The plaintiffs hope to learn whether the insurer incentivized claim handlers to place their personal financial gain over the interests of policyholders.

“Setting aside the parties’ hyperbole and bluster,” the communications submitted into evidence show that the parties are at an impasse, Whitehead said. The judge allowed discovery on the incentives program but narrowed the documents that should be produced.

Law360 listed the lawyers for the plaintiffs as Heather N. Derenski of Cedar View Law and Karl E. Malling. The lawyer for State Farm is James D. Hicks of Sinars Slowikowski Tomaska.

None of the lawyers immediately responded to ABA Journal emails seeking comment. Nor did they respond to messages left in voicemails or with law firm personnel.

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Inmate uses code words to put out hit using jail phone: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 11:29:22 +0000

Jebea Johnson (Flagler County Jail).

A Florida man already behind bars is facing even more jail time after he allegedly tried to put out a hit on a fellow gang member.

Jebea Johnson, 22, has been in the Flagler County Jail since June on burglary and attempted robbery with a deadly firearm charges. About a month ago, deputies became aware of a series of phone calls between Johnson and his family members in which he tried to get one of them to post a message on social media that would put a hit on a man who wanted to leave the gang, the agency said in a press release.

More on Law&Crime: Casino cafe manager offers employee raise to murder romantic rival after girlfriend dumped him for ex-husband

According to deputies, Johnson and the victim had been serving time together in the jail. Johnson had tried to recruit the man into the Kutt Throat Committee prison and street gang, per police, but the victim decided to leave the gang. Apparently upset, Johnson allegedly had a family member post a message on social media with “coded gang language” that would signal members on the outside to murder the victim.

Detectives interviewed family members who confirmed there was a message posted on Johnson’s behalf, but they were unaware it had an alternative meaning. Law enforcement scuttled the alleged plot before anyone could carry it out.

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Trump allegedly mocked Sidney Powell during a phone call

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 04:15:38 +0000

Left: Donald Trump speaks at the annual Road to Majority conference in Washington, DC, in June 2024 (Allison Bailey/NurPhoto via AP). Right: FILE – Sidney Powell, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, leaves the federal court in Washington, June 24, 2021 (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File).

Special counsel Jack Smith’s arguments against Donald Trump’s claims of presidential immunity in the Jan. 6 case were published, to a large degree, on the public docket by the court overseeing the matter in a “voluminous” and “oversized” opening brief on Wednesday.

The filing contains a litany of new, never-before-revealed information about the behavior of the 45th president – and those in his orbit – in the days, weeks, and months following his 2020 election loss.

While the government alleges Trump and several co-conspirators spread “knowingly false claims of election fraud,” there were apparently some claims about the integrity of the election so outlandish that even Trump himself privately expressed doubts.

In one instance, those rebuffed-by-Trump claims were made during a press conference by pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell, according to the brief. Later, when speaking with others about the allegations Powell released into the public sphere, Trump ridiculed them.

On Nov. 19, 2020, Powell, Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and others presented a “Legal Challenges Update” during a flag-draped press conference in Washington, D.C., outlining several purported “paths to victory.” Those paths were premised on various kinds of litigation aimed at overturning the results in several swing states where President Joe Biden narrowly, but decisively, defeated Trump.

Giuliani was first at the dais – where he largely spread false claims about election-rigging efforts in Philadelphia and Wisconsin.

Then it was Powell’s turn.

“What we are really dealing with here and uncovering more by the day is the massive influence of communist money through Venezuela, Cuba, and likely China, and the interference with our elections here in the United States,” she said. “The Dominion voting systems, the Smartmatic technology software, and the software that goes into other computerized voting systems here, as well, not just Dominion, were created in Venezuela at the direction of Hugo Chavez to make sure he never lost an election after one constitutional referendum came out the way he did not want it to come out.”

Later that same night, Trump watched then-Fox News personality Tucker Carlson criticize Powell, who likened her legal arguments to an unleashed Kraken, for her unwillingness to back up those claims, the brief alleges. After her widely-pilloried comments about the late Venezuelan president’s alleged connection to voting machine manufacturers, Carlson’s team invited her to appear on the show.

“We would have given her the whole hour,” the then-host said. “We would have given her the entire week, actually, and listened quietly the whole time at rapt attention. But she never sent us any evidence, despite a lot of polite requests. When we kept pressing, she got angry and told us to stop contacting her. When we checked with others around the Trump campaign, people in positions of authority, they also told us Powell had never given them any evidence to prove anything she claimed at the press conference.”

Later on, Trump and another person were discussing Powell’s performance during the press conference – and Carlson’s understanding of how Powell’s allegations fared.

“He acknowledged to [redacted] that [Powell] had appeared ‘unhinged’ in the press conference,” the brief reads.

The insults continued.

“On November 20, the day after the press conference, the defendant made a similar comment to [redacted] and [redacted] two White House staffers who also volunteered for his Campaign,” the brief goes on. “In casual conversation after another meeting had ended, the defendant told [the first staffer] and [the second staffer] that [Carlson] had ‘eviscerated’ or ‘destroyed’ [Powell].”

After that, Trump got onto a phone call with Powell directly, according to the brief. During the call, Trump mentioned the Fox News segment and gave Powell a chance to explain herself – putting the conversation on speakerphone so both staffers could listen along.

“While [Powell] responded, the defendant placed the call on mute and to [the first staffer] and [the second staffer] mocked and laughed at [Powell], called her claims ‘crazy,’ and made a reference to the science fiction series Star Trek when describing her allegations,” the brief says.

But it was not just Trump and Carlson who made their issues with Powell’s unsupported theories known.

Smith alleges that during “the same time period,” yet another trusted person “told” Trump that Powell’s “claims were unreliable and should not be included in lawsuits,” In response, Trump allegedly “agreed that he had not seen anything to substantiate [Powell’s] allegations.”

On Nov. 22, 2020, Giuliani issued a statement distancing the Trump campaign from Powell – insisting she was “practicing law on her own.”

Still, Powell managed to obtain the Trump imprimatur.

“Nonetheless, the defendant continued to support and publicize [Powell’s] knowingly false claims,” the brief goes on.

In the days that followed, Trump personally sent two tweets promoting Powell’s failed lawsuit alleging electoral fraud in Georgia.

And that, Smith says, is of a piece with the fundamental artifice of the alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.

“The throughline of these efforts was deceit,” Smith’s brief reads.

And those efforts – derided by Smith as “lies” – were known to be lies by Trump and his co-conspirators, the brief alleges.

“At its core, the defendant’s scheme was a private criminal effort,” Smith’s brief goes on. “In his capacity as a candidate, the defendant used deceit to target every stage of the electoral process.”

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Mom on phone for 20 minutes while baby drowned: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 23:46:04 +0000

Olivia Miller appearing for her arraignment (WZZM: YouTube screenshot)

A 23-year-old mother in Michigan is facing multiple felony charges in the death of her infant son, who drowned after she allegedly left him alone in the bathtub for at least 20 minutes while she was on her cellphone.

Olivia Miller was taken into custody on Thursday and charged with one count of homicide — involuntary manslaughter and one count of second-degree child abuse in the death of 8-month-old Asher Johnson, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

Miller at about 3:38 p.m. on Nov. 22, 2023, called 911 and told the emergency dispatcher that her son had just drowned in the bathtub of her home located in the 4600 block of 16 Mile Road Northwest, Grand Rapids NBC affiliate WOOD reported. Upon arriving at the scene seven minutes later, first responders located the infant lying face up on the floor and began performing lifesaving procedures. The boy was then transported to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

In a subsequent interview with detectives, Miller reportedly said that she had placed her son in the bathtub that was filled a few inches with the water flowing, then went one room over to change the laundry. She claimed she returned after about five minutes to find her son floating faceup in the water with his mouth and nose beneath the surface. She then said she tried to resuscitate Asher until authorities arrived.

However, over time, Miller’s claims about what took place that day allegedly changed.

“Throughout the investigation, Olivia (Miller) gave varying stories of what occurred surrounding Asher’s death,” deputies wrote in a probable cause affidavit obtained by MLive.

According to the report, investigators obtained data from Miller’s cellphone that appeared to undercut what she had been telling police. The data reportedly said Miller began using her phone in various capacities at 3:17 p.m. and that she used the device continuously — taking only a single break that lasted 18 seconds — until she called 911 21 minutes later.

About four minutes before calling 911, Miller reportedly sent her dad a text message that read “Just trying to talk while I have time while Asher’s taking a nap.” Miller then reportedly called Asher’s paternal grandmother two times and told her the body had drowned before she called 911.

An autopsy conducted by the county’s chief medical examiner determined that Asher’s cause of death was drowning. The medical examiner also estimated that the infant had been lying on his back on the floor for a minimum of 20 minutes before authorities arrived at Miller’s home.

Miller is currently being held at the Kent County Jail. She appeared for her arraignment on Friday where she pleaded not guilty to all charges, Grand Rapids, Michigan, ABC affiliate WZZM reported.

Miller’s attorney, Frank Stanley, told WZZM that it was important to point out there was “no indication of intentionality” regarding Miller’s actions.

“This is a tragic situation,” he said. “She has suffered tremendously emotionally from the death of her child — she loves that child.”

Footage from the hearing provided by the station showed that Miller was clearly emotional and crying throughout the proceeding.

Miller set up a GoFundMe account following Asher’s death which had earned about $4,500 as of Friday.

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Man shot half-brother mad over lost phone on Christmas: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 01:50:46 +0000

Kendall Yarborough shot and killed his half-brother, James Watson, on Dec. 25, 2023, prosecutors said. (Mug shot: DuPage County State’s Attorney)

Illinois authorities have accused a Florida visitor of fatally shooting his half-brother while the victim was upset over a lost phone.

Kendall Yarborough, 28, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in DuPage County.

According to a news release, authorities responded at approximately 3:06 p.m. on Monday regarding a call of a person shot at a home in unincorporated Naperville on the 25W0-100 block of Wood Court.

They found James Javonne Watson in the home, suffering a gunshot wound in the abdomen. Medical staff pronounced him dead at a hospital.

“Family members stated that Watson was intoxicated and was upset that he could not find his cell phone,” authorities wrote. “His behavior had been described as increasingly obnoxious. Watson slammed a card table against the floor. After the table was slammed, the witnesses reported hearing a second noise which was later determined to be a single gunshot.”

“I think he shot me,” Watson said, according to court documents.

A relative told investigators about seeing Yarborough holding the gun seconds after she heard the shot.

“Yarborough was standing upstairs and shot down towards Watson who was downstairs,” documents stated.

Family called 911 and provided aid to the dying man.

Law enforcement claimed to find a 9 mm Sig Sauer P-365X handgun and a spent 9 mm bullet casing.

Authorities said they took Yarborough into custody at the home without incident.

“On Christmas day, James Watson lost his life after his half-brother, Kendall Yarborough allegedly shot him in the abdomen while James was looking for his cell phone,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin said in a statement. “This senseless act of violence will not go unpunished. To James’ family and friends, I offer my sincere condolences and wish them strength as they mourn the loss of a family member and come to terms with another family member accused of his murder. I thank DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick and his office for their work on this sad case. I also thank Assistant State’s Attorneys Robert Willis, Helen Kapas and Michael Paup, for their work in securing charges against Mr. Yarborough.”

“It is horrible that a tragedy occurred on Christmas,” DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick said. “It goes to show that domestic violence can occur in any home and that’s why we take domestic related incidents seriously at the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office. Thank you for all the hard work from first responders and State’s Attorney Bob Berlin’s office for handling this serious crime during their Christmas holiday.”

Yarborough, a resident of the Florida city of Palm Harbor, appeared in court for his first appearance on Tuesday morning, but the court granted his motion to continue the pretrial detention hearing until Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

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