The top story this week is that country music star Jelly Roll has been recommended for a pardon by a Tennessee parole board. NBC has the story, as well as ABC and the AP. The singer, whose legal name is Jason B. Deford, 40, was convicted in 2008 of robbery and drug possession. He was released in 2016 and struggled to succeed as a musician before earning four Grammy Award nominations in February. Davidson County, TN, Sheriff Daron Hall asked Governor Bill Lee to pardon Jelly Roll last year, and the parole board’s vote on Tuesday was part of that mission. The matter is now pending before the governor. Read on for more criminal law news.
Secretary, Secure Thyself. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse was stolen on Easter Sunday at a restaurant in Washington D.C., as reported by CNN, WP and NYT. An unknown white male wearing a medical mask stole her handbag while the secretary and her family were having dinner at the Capital Burger restaurant. The bag contained her driver’s license, keys, passport, DHS access badge, and about $3,000 in cash. An investigation is being conducted by the Secret Service, which is part of DHS and is tasked with protecting the secretary. Noem, the ex-governor of South Dakota, oversees a department that is responsible for the nation’s security.
Partners in Crime. On Monday, Nadine Menendez, the wife of former U.S. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, was convicted by a federal jury of bribery, among other charges, according to ABC, CBS, and the AP. The conviction follows the conviction of her husband for similar crimes last year, making him the first sitting member of Congress to be convicted of acting as a foreign agent. Prosecutors argued that the two were “partners in crime” and that together they accepted cash, gold bars, and a Mercedes-Benz in exchange for political favors. Nadine will be sentenced in June, the same month her husband is due to report to prison for an 11-year sentence.
Pants on Fire. Former U.S. Representative George Santos of New York was sentenced Friday to more than seven years in federal prison, following his guilty plea to wire fraud and identity theft. CNBC, ABC, and NYT have the story. Santos was expelled from Congress in December 2023 after it was revealed that he had lied about his life and career, a House Ethics Committee report found he had stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars of donors’ money, and he was indicted by federal prosecutors. In December 2024, Santos began a podcast entitled “Pants on Fire.” U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert handed down the maximum possible sentence, which prosecutors had sought in the case.
Municipal Hijinks. Councilman John Alite, a former mobster with the Gambino crime family who now sits on the town council for Englishtown, NJ, was heckled during a town hall meeting according to this story from USA Today. Alite pled guilty in 2008 to RICO violations and was sentenced to ten years in prison; he was released in 2012. Across the way, in Ludlow, Kentucky, council member Abigail Miller will keep her seat after she allegedly licked the hand of Scott Smith, who was interviewing for the position of city administrator last October. According to the N&O, four out of five city council members voted to remove Miller after a hearing on Smith’s complaint, which alleged sexual harassment and battery, but a unanimous vote was required for removal. And in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, prosecutors have filed charges against six men in connection with the forcible removal of a woman from a town hall meeting in February. The AP reports that the men, private security officers, are facing charges of battery, false imprisonment, and violations of security agent duties. Five of the men are associated with the private security firm Lear Asset Management, which had its license revoked by the city after the town hall meeting.
Fahrenheit 4/25. Under a bill vetoed by the governor of North Dakota this week librarians could have faced criminal prosecution for exposing minors to books, as reported by the NYT, AP, and North Dakota Monitor. The proposed legislation would have required most libraries in the state to keep materials deemed sexually explicit in areas difficult for minors to access. In his veto message, Governor Kelly Armstrong explained that the determination of which books to make available to children should be a parental, not a governmental, decision. “I don’t pretend to know what the next literary masterpiece is going to be,” he said, “[b]ut I know that I want it available in a library.” The bill had passed with a narrow majority, making it unlikely the legislature could override the veto.
A Crime of Opportunity. A man’s attempt to carry away an ATM with a stolen excavator in Defuniak Springs, FL, was thwarted when he was observed from the police station next door. The story appears in the N&O and Miami Herald. The incident occurred after sunset on April 16 at the Regions Bank next to the Defuniak Springs government complex. Approached by police, the suspect fled, but he was later identified based on surveillance footage and agreed to talk to police. Police said the 43-year-old man admitted to stealing the excavator and attempting to steal the ATM; he said he would rather rob a bank than work for his brother. The man was arrested and charged with grand theft of construction equipment, criminal mischief, and burglary of a structure with property damage.