The ordinance banning Occupy Sacramento protesters in the park across the street from City Hall during late night and early morning appears, at this early stage of a legal challenge, to be constitutional, a federal district judge decided Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. said the ordinance does not appear to contravene First Amendment guarantees of free speech and assembly, contrary to arguments by attorneys for the protesters.
The month-old protest is part of a nationwide movement targeting “corporate greed” and other issues.
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WASHINGTON – Two Pittsburgh residents were sentenced to prison this week on racketeering charges relating to their involvement with the Brighton Place/Northview Heights Crips, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton of the Western District of Pennsylvania.
James Pendleton, 30, aka “Jim Bob,” was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Gustave Diamond to 112 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Pendleton pleaded guilty on June 30, 2011, to one count of conspiracy to engage in a racketeering enterprise.
Devon Shealey, 25, was sentenced on Oct. 25, 2011, b
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Ventura County sheriff’s deputies arrested a 36-year-old Moorpark man Thursday on suspicion of stealing a pickup on the morning of Oct. 14.
Authorities said the truck was stolen along the 11000 block of Elwin Lane sometime during the previous night or early morning. The pickup’s owner said he saw his truck parked on the street near Magnolia and Charles streets on Monday.
Raymond Hinojosa was arrested at 9:45 a.m. Thursday along the 200 block of Charles Street, police said.
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Bail is no longer required for a Washington Union High School teacher who was arrested a month ago on suspicion of having sex with a student, a judge ruled Thursday in Fresno County Superior Court.
Judge Gary Hoff made the decision after learning that Nadia Christine Diaz, 26, or her lawyer, Richard Berman, came to court twice without charges being filed.
Even though she has not been charged, Diaz is still required to show up in court to see whether charges have been filed because she was released on bail.
Prosecutors aren’t saying whether charges will be filed.
Thursday’s ruling means Diaz is free, and her $55,000 bail will be returned to the bail bondsman that posted it.
WASHINGTON – Two Miami-area residents pleaded guilty late yesterday in U.S. District Court in Miami for their participation in a $25 million home health Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the FBI.
Maritza Vidal, 44, and Richard Diaz, 26, each pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Vidal and Diaz admitted that they participated in a fraud scheme to bill the Medicare program for expensive physical therapy and home health care services that were prescribed by doctors but were medically unnecessary and never provided.
According to court documents, ABC Home Health Inc. and F
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