In the news
■ Steven Robert Sablan of Cleburne, Texas, was indicted on charges of kidnapping and transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity after a 13-year-old girl was rescued in Long Beach, Calif., when passersby saw her hold up a “help me” sign in a parked car.
■ Deanna Meyer, mother of an 18-year-old accused of trying to become an Islamic State fighter, testified “I bet my life he would never do that” without the influence of radicals and FBI informants, but she failed to persuade a judge to let her autistic son stay with her while he’s prosecuted.
■ Mario Stewart, a police sergeant in Mount Vernon, N.Y., was indicted on civil rights charges, accused of firing a Taser seven times in two minutes on a handcuffed man in mental crisis who was being taken for treatment involuntarily.
■ Mark Gelhardt, a former U.S. Army officer who headed Georgia’s State Defense Force, stepped down shortly after appearing in a high-energy music video featuring two rappers parading around a mansion and singing raunchy lyrics laced with racial epithets.
■ Emanuele Palma, an official at automaker FCA US, formerly the Chrysler Group, awaits sentencing after pleading guilty in a scheme to circumvent pollution standards by withholding emissions data on 100,000 vehicles.
■ John Formella, attorney general of New Hampshire, said DNA analysis and forensic genealogy finally solved the killing of a 23-year-old woman four decades ago, but the “bittersweet” news is that the man responsible died of an overdose in 2005.
■ Stan Grot, town clerk in Shelby Township, Mich., said “I intend to abide by it” after being prohibited from administering elections when he became one of 16 people charged with acting as fake electors in 2020.
■ Eliyahu “Eli” Weinstein of Lakewood, N.J., who got his sentence commuted after twice being convicted of defrauding investors, was hit with new charges, this time accused of falsely promising access to deals involving medical supplies, baby formula and first-aid kits for wartime Ukraine.
■ Traci Soderstrom, a new district judge in Lincoln County, Okla., faces scrutiny after courtroom security video showed her scrolling through social media and texting for minutes at a time during jury selection, opening statements and testimony in a murder trial.