Ex-gymnastics coach sentenced to jail in Nassar-related case
A former Michigan State University head gymnastics coach was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail for lying to police during an investigation into former Olympic and university doctor Larry Nassar.
Kathie Klages, 65, was found guilty in February of a felony and a misdemeanor for denying she knew of Nassar’s abuse before 2016 when survivors started to come forward publicly. She also was sentenced to 18 months of probation.
Klages testified at trial, and in a tearful statement Tuesday, that she did not remember being told about the abuse. She said she had been seeing a therapist to try to remember the conversations, and she apologized to victims if they occurred.
Two women testified in November 2018 that they told Klages in 1997 that Nassar had sexually abused them and spoke Tuesday in court ahead of the sentencing. One of the women, Larissa Boyce, testified that Klages held up a piece of paper in front of the then-teenager and warned that if she filed a report there could be serious consequences.
Nassar was sentenced in 2018 to 40 to 175 years in prison for decades of molestation of young women and girls under the guise of medical treatment.
US Embassy in Moscow: No info on Paul Whelan’s whereabouts
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said Tuesday it had no information on the whereabouts of an American convicted in June of espionage, despite reports that he is being transferred to a prison colony in central Russia.
Paul Whelan’s brother David said Tuesday on Twitter that he “appears to now be in Mordovia, on his way to prison camp IK-17.” The republic of Mordovia, about 210 miles east of Moscow, is home to several prison camps.
The Interfax news agency cited David Whelan as saying he received the information from the British Embassy. Paul Whelan holds U.S., British, Irish and Canadian citizenship.
Whelan, a former corporate security executive from Michigan, was arrested in Moscow in December 2018; he was convicted in June and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Whelan’s lawyer has said his client was handed a flash drive that had classified information on it that he didn’t know about.
Tampa teenager accused in Twitter hack pleads not guilty
A Florida teen identified as the mastermind of a scheme that gained control of Twitter accounts of prominent politicians, celebrities and technology moguls pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to multiple counts of fraud.
Graham Ivan Clark, 17, is accused of using the hijacked Twitter accounts to scam people around the world out of more than $100,000 in Bitcoin.
He is charged with 17 counts of communications fraud, 11 counts of fraudulent use of personal information, and one count each of organized fraud of more than $5,000 and accessing computers or electronic devices without authority. The brief hearing in Tampa took place via the video conferencing service Zoom.
Two other men were also charged in the case. Mason Sheppard, 19, of Bognor Regis, U.K., and Nima Fazeli, 22, of Orlando were charged separately last week in California federal court.
Vehicle malfunction sparked Southern California wildfire
A wildfire in mountains east of Los Angeles that has forced thousands of people from their homes was sparked by a malfunctioning diesel engine in a vehicle, fire officials said Monday.
The vehicle spewed burning matter from its exhaust, igniting several fires Friday on Oak Glen Road in Cherry Valley, and authorities were asking anyone who may have seen such a vehicle at the time to contact investigators, according to a statement from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The blaze in Riverside County, among several wildfires across California, had consumed nearly 42 square miles of dry brush and chaparral since it broke out Friday evening, fire officials said.