Court Digest

Alabama
Former lawmaker pleads guilty to voter fraud
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A former Alabama lawmaker on Tuesday pleaded guilty to a voter fraud charge that he rented a closet-size space in a home to fraudulently run for office in a district where he did not live.

Former state Rep. David Cole, a Republican from Huntsville, pleaded to a charge of voting in an unauthorized location.

A judge sentenced Cole to serve 60 days at the Madison County Jail. The remainder of a three-year sentence was suspended, and he will be placed on probation for that time, according to the terms of the plea agreement with prosecutors.

Circuit Judge D. Alan Mann ordered Cole to report to jail by Oct. 17 and pay $52,885 in restitution. Cole resigned from the Alabama House of Representatives in August after agreeing to plead guilty.

Cole, who was elected in 2022, signed a lease in 2021 to pay $5 per month for a 5-by-5-foot (1.5-by-1.5-meter) space in a home in order to run for office in House District 10, according to the plea agreement.

Cole had some mail sent there but never “stepped past the entry foyer” on the two times he visited the location he claimed as his residence, it said.

Alabama law requires candidates to live in a legislative district for one year before they run for office.

Cole signed the lease for the space two days after a redistricting plan was enacted that placed the home where he had lived since 2014 in another House district. He provided an altered version of the lease — which specified he was renting a house and not a smaller space — when media questions arose about his residency, prosecutors wrote in the plea agreement.

Cole signed another lease in 2022 for an apartment in District 10, but he continued to claim a property tax break from the county by saying he resided at his house, according to the plea agreement.

Cole is a physician and military veteran.

“Dr. Cole admits and takes full responsibility for the mistakes he made in the political process. He entered the process to serve his community. (He) has lived a life of service including serving for 22 years in the Army with tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt,” Bill Espy, a lawyer representing Cole, said in an August statement.

Accusations that Cole did not actually live in the district had been ongoing since his campaign.

Another Republican asked the Alabama Republican Party to investigate claims that Cole did not live in the district, and Elijah Boyd, the Libertarian candidate in the district, had filed an election challenge in civil court arguing that Cole did not live in District 10 and was ineligible.

Cole is the third Alabama lawmaker to face criminal charges this year and the second to resign.

Rep. Fred Plump Jr., a Democrat from Fairfield, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He resigned in May.

And sate Rep. John Rogers, also a Democrat, was indicted last month on charges of trying to obstruct a federal investigation into the possible misuse of state grant money.

New York
Drug dealer in crew blamed for actor’s fatal OD sentenced to 5 years in prison
NEW YORK (AP) — A member of a New York City drug-dealing crew blamed for the fentanyl-laced heroin death of actor Michael K. Williams was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison.

Luis Cruz was the third of four defendants to be sentenced in connection with the drugs linked to the death of Williams, who overdosed in his Brooklyn penthouse apartment in September 2021. He died four hours after authorities said he bought the heroin from another member of the crew.

A federal judge in Manhattan imposed the prison time on Cruz, who pleaded guilty in April to a reduced charge of narcotics conspiracy.

Cruz’s lawyer, Deborah Colson, said in an email that Cruz “accepted responsibility and provided a genuine, heartfelt apology.” She declined further comment.

In a letter to the judge, Cruz, who had been an electrician, said he was addicted to drugs and was selling them to support his habit and pay his bills.

“It was a terrible mistake in judgment,” he wrote.

Federal prosecutors, however, said Cruz and the drug crew kept selling the fentanyl-laced heroin even after Williams’ death. A search of Cruz’s apartment found more than 500 small bags of the deadly heroin and drug paraphernalia, authorities said.

Williams, who was 54, was known for portraying Omar Little, the rogue robber of drug dealers, in HBO’s “The Wire,” which ran from 2002 to 2008. In addition to his work on the critically acclaimed drama, Williams also starred in films and other TV series such as “Boardwalk Empire.”

The drug crew member who sold the drugs to Williams, Irvin Cartagena, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in August. Another crew member got more than two years in prison, and the fourth person awaits sentencing.

California
Sailor pleads guilty to providing sensitive military data to China
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A U.S. Navy sailor charged with providing sensitive military information to China pleaded guilty in Los Angeles on Tuesday to conspiring with a foreign intelligence officer and receiving a bribe, federal prosecutors said.

Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, originally pleaded not guilty when he was charged Aug. 4. The Justice Department alleges that Zhao, based at Naval Base Ventura County, north of Los Angeles, conspired to collect nearly $15,000 in bribes from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for information, photos and videos of involving Navy exercises, operations and facilities.

The information included plans for a large-scale U.S. military exercise in the Indo-Pacific region, which detailed the location and timing of naval force movements, prosecutors said. The Chinese officer told Zhao the information was needed for maritime economic research to inform investment decisions, according to the indictment.

Zhao, who also went by the name Thomas Zhao and held a U.S. security clearance, “admitted he engaged in a corrupt scheme to collect and transmit sensitive U.S. military information to the intelligence officer in violation of his official duties,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release Tuesday.

Zhao, of Monterey Park, California, faces a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. He has been in custody since his arrest on Aug. 3.

Zhao was charged on the same day as another California-based Navy sailor who is accused of similar crimes. But they are separate cases, and federal officials haven’t said if the two were courted or paid by the same Chinese intelligence officer as part of a larger scheme.

Jinchao Wei, a 22-year-old assigned to the San Diego-based USS Essex, is charged with providing detailed information on the weapons systems and aircraft aboard the Essex and other amphibious assault ships that act as small aircraft carriers. He pleaded not guilty in federal court in San Diego.

Last week, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer was charged in Seattle with attempting to provide classified defense information to the Chinese security services during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sgt. Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 29, was arrested Oct. 6 at San Francisco International Airport as he arrived from Hong Kong, where he had been living since March 2020, the Justice Department said.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging him with retention and attempted delivery of national defense information. U.S. District Court records in Seattle did not yet list an attorney representing Schmidt on the charges, and neither the U.S. attorney’s office nor the federal public defender’s office had information about whether he had a lawyer.

An FBI declaration filed in the case quoted Schmidt as telling his sister in an email that he left the U.S. because he disagreed with unspecified aspects of American policy.

California
College basketball recruit ordered to stand trial on 6 felony gun charges
EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) — A Superior Court judge on Tuesday ordered star Memphis recruit Mikey Williams to stand trial on six felony gun charges, which puts his immediate basketball future in doubt.

Judge Sherry M. Thompson-Taylor scheduled Williams’ arraignment for Oct. 24. She denied the prosecution’s request to increase Williams’ bail to $500,000. Williams has been free on a $50,000 bond since his arrest on April 13.

Williams is enrolled in online classes at Memphis and remains on the roster but does not have access to team facilities or activities, and his status with the program will be determined when the court case is resolved, the school said late last month.

Williams, who finished his prep career at San Ysidro High School, faces five charges of assault with a weapon and one count of firing into an occupied vehicle. He could get up to 28 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

He is accused in a March 27 shooting at his $1.2 million home in unincorporated Jamul in eastern San Diego County. An argument just before midnight ended with gunshots being fired at a car that was leaving the house with five passengers inside it, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release. Bullets hit the car, but nobody inside was injured, authorities said.

Deputy district attorney George Modlin said he may add more charges after testimony during Tuesday’s preliminary hearing showed there were six people in the car and after witnesses said Williams threatened them.

Williams, wearing a black suit, black mock turtleneck and white sneakers, sat with his attorney, Troy P. Owens, during the hearing.

Owens and Williams declined to comment as they left the courthouse Tuesday. Owens has entered pleas of not guilty on Williams’ behalf.

Thompson-Taylor said that while no witnesses saw Williams fire a gun, there is probable cause to move the case forward based on testimony that witnesses saw him with a gun and heard him threaten to kill them.

Sheriff’s Detective Bradley Farr said the gun described by the witnesses was not found when a search warrant was served at Williams’ home on April 13, but that a handgun and other weapons were found.

Following a morning recess, Modlin told Thompson-Taylor he had received reports from someone in the courtroom that members of the public gallery were making hand gestures and facial expressions that could have been attempts at intimidating a witness. He asked her to clear the courtroom if they continued, and she warned the public she would not tolerate such actions.

Williams was one of the name, image and likeness era’s earliest stars, securing a multiyear deal with shoe and athletic apparel maker Puma for an undisclosed amount in 2021. He had millions of followers across his social media platforms before apparently deactivating them. On3.com once estimated his NIL valuation at $3.6 million, but Williams’ name no longer appears in the rankings.