Louisiana
Ex-Catholic priest sentenced for drugging and molesting men
METAIRIE, La. (AP) — A former Catholic priest in Louisiana has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to drugging and molesting 17 men he met in a popular tourist area in New Orleans, a prosecutor said.
WVUE-TV reported that Stephen Sauer, 61, targeted people in the city’s French Quarter who appeared drunk, lost or in need of help, according to Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul D. Connick Jr.
The crimes occurred from 2019 to 2021, and many of the victims were visiting from out of state, Connick said.
The investigation began in 2021 after Sauer sent a computer to an electronics repair company in New York. A technician found hundreds of images suggesting sexual assaults had occurred. New York law enforcement officials determined the images were taken in Metairie and notified the Jefferson Parish sheriff.
The prosecutor said Sauer put narcotics in men’s drinks at bars or gave them sleep-inducing drugs after they passed out from drinking. He then drove the victims to his home in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, where he photographed or videotaped the unconscious men and molested some of them.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office found during its investigation that Sauer shared the images with others through a website or by email.
Sauer was sentenced Friday after he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of sexual battery, nine counts of third-degree rape, 17 counts of video voyeurism and 16 misdemeanor charges of possessing drugs without prescriptions and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Judge Shayna Beevers Morvant gave Sauer the 25-year sentence, ordered him to register as a sex offender and banned him from contacting 12 of the victims.
Detectives identified many victims because Sauer took photographs of their driver’s licenses or other forms of identification, Connick said.
California
Utility pays $22 million to settle federal claims over 2016 wildfire
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California Edison and two other companies have paid $22 million to settle U.S. government claims that they caused a 2016 wildfire that burned thousands of acres of national forest, it was announced Friday.
The money covers damage from the Rey Fire as well as the costs of fighting the blaze, which was sparked by a fallen Edison power line, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
“This settlement will compensate the public for the expense of fighting the Rey Fire and restoring these federal lands that are enjoyed by all Americans,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph T. McNally said in a statement.
The companies agreed to pay without admitting wrongdoing or fault, according to the DOJ.
The Aug. 18, 2016, fire north of Santa Barbara burned more than 50 square miles (129 square kilometers) of land, much of it in Los Padres National Forest.
The government said the fire began when a tree fell onto Edison power lines and communications lines owned by Frontier Communications. The government sued the two companies along with Utility Tree Service, a tree-trimming company that contracted with Edison, alleging that they knew of the danger and failed to maintain equipment or to take action to prevent it.
The parties later agreed to dismiss the suit and entered into a settlement, which was approved by the DOJ in May, with all of the money being received by this week, according to the department.
California utilities have been blamed for starting some of the state’s largest and deadliest wildfires in recent years through neglect of power lines and other equipment. That has prompted huge fines and settlement payments and even criminal charges.
In May, a judge dismissed all charges against Pacific Gas & Electric in connection to a 2020 fatal wildfire sparked by its equipment that destroyed hundreds of homes and killed four people, including an 8-year-old.
The utility also reached a $50 million settlement agreement with the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office.
Last year, former PG&E executives and directors agreed to pay $117 million to settle a lawsuit over devastating 2017 and 2018 wildfires sparked by the utility’s equipment.
Wisconsin
School district can’t restrict bathrooms for transgender student, judge says
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked a Wisconsin school district from requiring transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match the sex they were assigned at birth while a lawsuit plays out against the school.
U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman said Thursday that the Mukwonago Area School District must allow a transgender student to use facilities that align with their gender identity, temporarily blocking a policy approved last month by the school board, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
The order comes in a lawsuit brought anonymously by an 11-year-old transgender student and her mother. The judge ruled that the school’s policy was causing emotional and mental harm to the student, who was described as a boy at birth but has identified as a girl since she was three years old.
According to court documents, school officials have monitored which bathrooms the student uses and forced her to go to boys’ bathrooms or gender-neutral bathrooms at Mukwonago High School, where she is enrolled in summer school classes.
Adelman ruled that the student’s case was likely to succeed at trial, citing a similar case in Kenosha in 2017, in which a judge held that a school could not block a transgender student from using bathrooms that matched their gender identity.
The Village of Mukwonago is located in conservative Waukesha County, a Milwaukee suburb that has been key to Republican victories in the state. Across the country, Republican lawmakers have passed measures in recent years to restrict which bathrooms transgender students can use in public schools and universities.
New York
Monitor urges contempt proceedings begin against NYC over jail conditions
NEW YORK (AP) — Contempt proceedings should be initiated against New York City over its failure to meet court-ordered reforms meant to stabilize the troubled Rikers Island jail complex, a federal monitor recommended on Monday.
The court-appointed monitor made the recommendation in a filing in Manhattan federal court, where a judge is currently considering a federal takeover of the city-run jail system.
The report was issued just days after another monitor found the jail complex forced detainees to live in damp, fetid quarters infested with mold, vermin and other “generally unsanitary” conditions.
According to the latest report, the city has failed to address key problems at the complex, including the risk of violence to those in custody, despite eight years of monitoring since a consent judgment went into effect and following the first year of an “Action Plan” that was supposed to speed improvements.
“Many of the initiatives required by the Action Plan remain incomplete or have not been addressed, and worse, there has been a disturbing level of regression in a number of essential practices,” the report said. “Compounding the concerns about the overall lack of progress is what appears to be the Department’s inability or unwillingness to identify (and therefore address) the objective evidence regarding the pervasive dysfunction and harm that continues to occur daily in the jails.”
The monitor said the pace of reform has stagnated rather than accelerated in key areas, providing no meaningful relief for detainees or staff from violence and the unnecessary or excessive use of force.
The report comes as Mayor Eric Adams continues to argue that his administration should remain in control of the jail complex, citing the pandemic as a reason that Rikers Island has suffered in the past few years.
The possibility of a federal takeover, an extraordinary step, follows a monitor’s report that uncovered a pattern of disturbing incidents — including detainee deaths and gruesome injuries — that correction officials failed to report.
Tennessee
Coach charged with child rape after restaurant workers find photos on phone
FRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee soccer coach is accused of drugging and raping at least 10 boys after photos and videos of the children were discovered on his cell phone, police said.
Police were contacted by a local restaurant on June 22 after staff found a cell phone left behind by a customer. Workers looked through it to try to determine the owner and found “unconscionable videos and pictures of children,” according to a news release Sunday from the Franklin Police Department.
Camilo Hurtado Campos was arrested the following day and charged with rape of a child and sexual exploitation of a minor. Detectives have since found hundreds of videos and pictures on the phone; they say Campos recorded himself raping unconscious boys between approximately 9 and 17 years old.
Police have identified two of the victims and are working to identify the others. Because the children in the videos were unconscious, they might not realize they are victims, police said.
Campos lived in the Franklin area for 20 years and would often approach children playing at school playgrounds to recruit them for his soccer team, gaining their trust and then inviting them to his home, police said.
Campos was being held Monday at the Williamson County Criminal Justice Center on a $525,000 bond. Additional charges are likely, police said. The jail had no record of an attorney for Campos and no one answered at two phone numbers listed for him in online directories.
Georgia
Man arrested for shooting prosecutor’s investigator
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Police arrested a man Monday suspected of shooting and injuring an investigator with a metro Atlanta prosecutor’s office while both were driving.
The investigator with the Gwinnett County district attorney’s office was not on duty when he was shot in the leg around 6 p.m. Friday by another driver, police said. The motive was not immediately known and the investigator’s injuries were not considered to be life threatening.
Over the weekend, detectives determined that the suspected shooter was driving a 2019 Jeep Cherokee and identified him as Tyler Dewayne Moore, 27, Sgt. Michele Pihera, a county police spokesperson, said in an email. When officers went to his house in Auburn late Sunday, Moore was not home, but the officers impounded his vehicle.
Early Monday, officers were sent to the county jail, where Moore was waiting at the main entrance, Pihera said. He was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of certain crimes, and second-degree criminal damage to property.
Moore was booked into the Gwinnett County jail, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether he had a lawyer who could comment.
Police said Friday that they didn’t know whether the shooting resulted from “road rage” or whether the investigator was targeted.
There were no markings on the investigator’s vehicle to indicate that he was with the district attorney’s office, Pihera said.
Gwinnett County, just northeast of Atlanta, is Georgia’s second-most populous county, with more than 950,000 people.
