PIPE BOMBS SUSPECT HELD WITHOUT BAIL
NEW YORK» The man accused of sending pipe bombs to prominent critics of President Donald Trump was ordered held without bail after his first court appearance in New York on Tuesday.
Cesar Sayoc, who was transferred from federal custody in Florida, hugged his lawyer after a hearing in which Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Kim called him “a serious risk of danger to the public and a flight risk.”
Sayoc has been accused of sending improvised explosive devices to numerous Democrats, Trump critics and media outlets in a scare that heightened tensions before the crucial midterm elections Tuesday. None of the devices exploded, and no one was injured in the pipe bomb scare.
Man sentenced to 354 years in prison in highway shootings. FRESNO,
CALIF.» A man who randomly shot at motorists in two central California counties over a two-month span was sentenced to 354 years to life in prison.
Jorge Gracia was sentenced Monday by a Fresno judge.
A jury last month found Gracia guilty of shooting randomly at cars along California 145 in Fresno and Madera counties on six separate occasions.
He was arrested on Jan. 8 after he drove alongside an armed, off-duty California Department of Corrections officer and pointed a handgun at him through the window of his pickup.
Officials: Police bust Peruvian baby trafficking ring.
LIMA, PERU» Authorities say a former head of the national police force is under arrest, accused of involvement in a baby trafficking ring.
Prosecutors say that Gen. Raul Becerra is among 15 people suspected of selling babies and children taken from poor women.
Authorities say that a gynecologist and a pediatrician also were detained in raids early Tuesday in the industrial city of Arequipa, 560 miles south of Lima.
Police Gen. Walter Ortiz says the suspected ring leader is Cintia Tello, the partner of the former police force director.
Investigators say they raided 18 homes and rescued a 5-month-old baby.
Council advances measure banning toy firearms. SIOUX CITY, IOWA»
Officials are considering banning people from carrying some types of “toy” firearms, which police say are becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from actual guns. The City Council tentatively approved an ordinance Monday that would ban pellet and BB guns. The proposal wouldn’t ban Nerf or squirt guns or guns that shoot suction-cup darts.
The city attorney’s office said two more readings and votes are required before the ordinance could be adopted.
Sioux City Police Capt. Mark Kirkpatrick said officers have had multiple encounters with replica weapons and faced the question of whether to use deadly force. People carrying toy firearms tend to be teenagers or young adults seeking personal protection or street credibility, he said.
While no one in the city has died from a police encounter while carrying a toy firearm, there are more than 50 such deaths nationwide each year, according to the police department.