Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Fugitive Eco-Terrorist Nabbed In Cuba After 12 Years On the Run

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Fugitive Joseph Mahmoud Dibee was last seen in the U.S. in 2005.

PORTLAND, Oregon  — One of the last remaining fugitive members of a dangerous eco-terrorist group behind a string of arson fires that caused millions of dollars in damage has been caught after more than a decade on the lam, the FBI said.

Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, 50, was apprehended after investigators got a tip he was traveling through Central America on his way to Russia with a planned stop in Cuba, according to court documents.

With the help of Cuban authorities, Dibee was arrested there before boarding a plane bound for Moscow and was then sent back to the United States to face justice.

Dibee was a member of “The Family,” a notorious band of environmental radicals who set more than 40 arson fires at development sites in the Western United States between1995 and 2001. The fires caused more than $45 million in damages, with a 1998 arson attack on a ski resort in Vail, Colorado its most brazen act. That blaze caused $26 million in damages.

A fire set by The Family at a Vail, Colorado ski resort in 1998

Dibee fled the U.S. in December 2005. The following year, he was indicted along with 11 co-conspirators and has been on the run since.

“The crimes they committed were serious and dangerous,” said Special Agent Tim Suttles, who has been working on the investigation since 2004. “Just because time passes doesn’t mean the FBI forgets. We are very gratified to have Dibee in custody.”

Dibee’s capture leaves one fugitive from the group still at large. Josephine Sunshine Overaker, a U.S. citizen believed to be either 43 or 46 years old, fled to Europe in late 2001 and hasn’t been seen since.

“She’s the last one,” Suttles said, explaining that Overaker faces 19 felony counts in Oregon, Colorado, and Washington State. “We will continue to pursue her and to run down every lead that comes to us. We’re not going to give up just because time has passed.”

Thieves Steal Priceless Swedish Crown Jewels in Daring Daytime Heist

By HardBoiledNews Staff

A smashed display case was all that stood between the thieves and these priceless crown jewels

 

STRANGNAS, Sweden — Brazen thieves carrying out a daring daytime raid at a medieval Swedish cathedral, made off with priceless crown jewels and then made their escape by boat through a nearby series of lakes.

Two men sauntered into the Strangnas Cathedral about 40 miles east of Stockholm around  noon on Tuesday and smashed open a display case in front of stunned visitors.

They grabbed a gold crown and an orb dating to 1611 that were made for King Karl IX’s funeral, and a jewel-encrusted crown dating to 1625 that was used in Queen Kristina’s funeral. Breaking the glass on the display triggered an alarm, but the men quickly ran out of the cathedral

Outside, the men hopped aboard two bicycles and pedaled to a nearby lake where they vanished aboard a speedboat or on jet skis into the dizzying patchwork of lakes that surround the city, police said.

Police sent out a helicopter and boat to hunt for the thieves but were unable to locate suspects.

While the stolen artifacts are of great historic and cultural value, police said the stolen pieces would be “impossible to sell” because of their notoriety, according to the Swedish newspaper, Aftonbladet.

“It’s too difficult to assign a value to these things. They are so unique and historically significant,” said police spokesman, Thomas Agnevik.

The stolen artifacts are funeral regalia, which are placed inside or on top of a coffin to symbolize a deceased royal’s identity and social ranking.

While some funeral regalia are kept in the cathedrals of Strangnas, Uppsala and Vasteras, most of Sweden’s crown jewels are kept in vaults under the Royal Castle in Stockholm.

In 2013, 16th-century copies of King Johan III’s crown, orb and scepter were stolen from the cathedral in the central Swedish city of Vasteras, 60 miles west of Stockholm, during a nighttime burglary. They were eventually found and returned to the cathedral. No one was arrested.

 

Japan Doomsday Cult Leader Executed for Subway Nerve Gas Attack

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Cult leader Shoko Asahara said his group had been preparing for a apocalyptic war with the Japanese government

TOKYO — The leader of a Japanese doomsday cult and six of his top disciples have been put to death for a spate of killings including the 1995 sarin gas attack on the the Tokyo subway that killed 13 people and sickened thousands.

Shoko Asahara, leader of the murderous Aum Shinrikyo cult, was the first to be hanged, followed by the other six, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.  Asahara was 63 years old.

In all, 12 of Asahara’s followers had been sentenced to death for crimes that killed 27 people.

The most shocking attack came in 1995, when Asahara’s followers punctured plastic bags to release deadly sarin gas into packed train car. In all, 13 people were killed and 6,000 sickened.

Founded in 1984, the cult became popular among young people, including some graduates of top universities, who became Asahara’s top lieutenants.

The group amassed a large arsenal of chemical, biological ahead of what they believed would be an apocalyptic showdown with the government.

At its peak, the cult claimed 10,000 members in Japan and 30,000 in Russia. It has since disbanded, though nearly 2,000 followers have migrated over to three splinter groups, whihc are closely monitored by authorities.

Authorities said they are taking precautionary measures in case of any retaliation by his followers.

 

Radical Professor at Kent State University Charged With Lying to FBI in ISIS Probe

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Kent State University history professor Julio Pino has been under investigation about alleged ties to ISIS

CLEVELAND — A radical professor at Kent State University has been charged with lying to the FBI during a probe into his possible connections to the Islamic State.

Julio Pino, 58, who has taught history at the Ohio university since 1992, is charged with falsely telling investigators he didn’t know a man he messaged with online and egged on as he discussed killing people, including a judge involved in his custody case.

“I’m playing the game backwards.  and winning! . . . I will kill 100s of people if they take my rights as a father away!” the man, identified in court papers only as J.E. said.

“Devour them, [J.E.],” Pino replied.

In January 2016, the man was charged with threatening a judge. Around that time, the FBI launched a probe into Pino, questioning his students about whether he attempted to recruit any of them to join ISIS. At the time, Pino called the allegations preposterous.

A Muslim convert, Pino has long been a lightning rod for controversy. In 2002, he wrote a newspaper column, eulogizing a suicide bomber in Jerusalem. Nearly a decade later, he shouted “Death to Israel” at a lecture by a former Israeli diplomat.

There have been calls to revoke his tenure, but the school always refused on first amendment grounds. The school has suspended him following the filing of charges on Monday. His attorney told Cleveland.com, that his client is planning to retire.

Sailors Use Boiling Water, Oil to Repulse Pirate Attack

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Sailors in the Philippines got old school in their efforts to drive off pirates attacking their ship

SIBAGO ISLAND, Philippines — They got medieval on their asses.

The crew of a cargo ship drove off a gang of pirates trying to board their vessel by pouring a mixture of boiling oil and water on them as they came up alongside, authorities said.

The attackers, armed with high-powered weapons, motored towards the MV Kudos 1 aboard three small boats just off Sibago Island in the southern Philippines on Friday, according to the Philippine Coast Guard.

As the smaller vessels pulled alongside the ocean-going cargo ship and tried to board, the quick-thinking dumped a scalding hot mixture of oil and water on the approaching pirates, Captain Chris Paul Maligmat told authorities.

The pirates then opened fire on the ship before aborting the attempted hijacking and getting away before the authorities arrived. One of the 27 crew members aboard the Kudos was injured by flying glass, the coast guard said.

Officials believe the attackers are members of the Islamic militant group, Abu Sayyaf, who are active in the region and have attempted similar hijackings of cargo ships in the past.

The Kudos was carrying a cargo of steel bars on its way to Manila.

‘I Blew Half His Face Off’ — Loudmouth Killer Boasts to Undercover Cop

By HardBoiledNews Staff

KANSAS CITY — It’s the kind of thing you probably don’t want to be blabbing about all over town.

A Kansas City drug dealer landed himself in major trouble when he admitted the details of a grisly slaying he committed a few days earlier to an undercover cop he was selling drugs to, prosecutors allege.

Orval Johnson, 24, was meeting with the officer for the fourth time to sell him cocaine in March and made the eye-popping confession when the cop noticed a gun hanging out of Johnson’s pants and asked what was going on.

“They tried to rob me out there the other day and shit,” Johnson allegedly said, according to an affidavit filed in federal court. “I had to kill that bastard, blew half his fucking face off.”

“He tried rob me and kill me and my bitch, I blew half his fuckin face off,” Johnson allegedly continued. He then told the cop that he had his girlfriend “play the rape thing,” meaning she’d shot the man in self defense because he tried to rape her.

A review of recent killings in the area quickly turned up the shooting death four days earlier of 30-year-old Ricky Boswell in which a woman told cops she shot him because he had tried to rape her. Turns out the woman was Johnson’s girlfriend.

After being taken in for questioning, Johnson admitted that he had met with Boswell to sell him cocaine, but that Boswell pulled out a gun to rob him. The two men scuffled, and Johnson said he told his girlfriend to give him his gun. She shot Boswell and when he then tried to attack her, Johnson admitted he shot him several times, killing him. He then wiped his DNA off the gun and concocted the rape story with his girlfriend to cover his tracks.

Johnson has been charged with distribution and possession with intent to distribute drugs, possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking crime and being a drug user in possession of a firearm. He has not been charged with Boswell’s killing.

 

At the time of his death, Boswell had only been out of jail for three months after serving four years in a murder case.

 

Top Prosecutor Charged in Cover Up of Police Chief’s Dildo Beating

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Thomas Spota has been Suffolk County district attorney since 2002

CENTRAL ISLIP, New York — A county district attorney and his top deputy have been charged with trying to cover up the role of a disgraced police chief in the beating of a handcuffed junkie who had stolen the former top cop’s sex toys from a car.

Thomas Spota and assistant Christopher McPartland stood on the other side of the courtroom in Long Island Wednesday to face charges for trying to keep former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke out of jail for beating the suspect inside a police precinct in 2012.

Christopher Loeb’s crime had been breaking into Burke’s police-issued SUV and swiping a bag containing sex toys, a porn video, a gun belt, cigars and a humidor.

As Loeb was chained to a ring on the jailhouse floor, Burke threatened to give him a “hot shot” or a lethal dose of heroin and then beat him so severely that an officer told him, “Boss, leave it alone.”

Loeb admitted stealing the bag, but later said his confession had been coerced by the beating. The charge led the FBI to open a probe, which prompted Spota, 76, and McPartland, 51, to allegedly pressure witnesses not to cooperate.

Late last year, Burke was sentenced to 46 months in prison for the brutal beating and for conspiring to cover it up.

For three years the cover-up worked, but in 2015, the FBI managed to get a handful of officers to testify about what had really happened and Burke’s defense unraveled.

Spota was elected in 2002 after running a campaign in which he promised to clean up corruption in the county. He announced earlier this year that he would not run for reelection in November.

Both Spota and McPartland face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

 

Psychic Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud in Bilking Elderly Woman Out of $3.5 Million

By HardBoiledNews Staff

BOSTON —  Surely she should have seen the tax man coming.

A predatory psychic who bilked an elderly Martha’s Vineyard woman out of $3.5 million in order to rid her of demons, has pleaded guilty to tax evasion.

Sally Ann Johnson, 41, swooped into the victim’s life in 2007 and convinced to pay top dollar for repeated spiritual cleansing ceremonies, exorcisms and healing services over the next seven years. At times, Johnson even lived with the victim.

Federal prosecutors say Johnson, who also went by the names Angela Johnson, Angelia Johnson, and Sally Reed operated various psychic businesses in Florida, Illinois, New York and Massachusetts.

The businesses, Flatiron Psychic, Psychic Match, Inc., and Psychic Spiritual Salon, Inc., all offered “psychic readings,” “spiritual cleansing & strengthening,” and “meditation & healing.”

But what ultimately landed Johnson in the dock was the lengths she went to in order to obscure the payments the victim made to her so that the IRS wouldn’t pick up on it.

Prosecutors say Johnson used an alias and directed that payments be sent to at least three different bank accounts connected to her, including an account in another person’s name. Johnson would then withdrew large amounts in cash.

She also ran up huge credit card bills on accounts in the victim’s name and had her pay the bill in lieu of paying directly for her services.

Prosecutors say the whole subterfuge was designed to conceal Johnson’s income from the IRS and that, in fact, she never paid a dime in tax on the $3.5 million.

Johnson pleaded guilty to interfering with the administration of the Internal Revenue laws and had agreed to pay $3,567,3000 back to the victim as well as pay back taxes. Sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 17, 2018.

 

Ex-NFL Player Convicted in $10 Million Ponzi Scheme

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Merrill Robertson had been a standout player at UVA

RICHMOND, Virginia — A former standout linebacker at the University of Virginia who had a brief stint in the NFL has been convicted of running a Ponzi scheme through which he bilked dozens of people he met through his playing days out of $10 million.

Federal prosecutors had alleged that Merrill Robertson Jr., 36, and his co-conspirator, Sherman Carl Vaughn, ran a bogus investment company called Cavalier Union Investments, but instead of investing the cash they raised , they used it to line their pockets or pay out earlier investors.

The pair operated the scam from 2009 until 2016, during which Robertson utilized relationships he had made in college and the NFL as well as his high school days at Fork Union Military Academy to find targets.

Robertson was a starting linebacker for the UVM Cavaliers, and spent time in training camp for the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings in 2003 and 2004.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said that among Robertson’s victims included coaches, alumni, donors and employees of the schools he had attended.

In all, the men bilked around 50 people out of $10 million which they partly used to cover their own living expenses, including mortgage and car payments, school tuitions, spa visits, restaurant and department store bills, and vacations.

While Robertson and Vaughn represented themselves as skilled investors, Vaughn had, in fact, filed for personal bankruptcy four times, including twice during the scam.

Vaughn pleaded guilty last year and is awaiting sentencing in September. Robertson was convicted of mail fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering and faces a maximum prison term of 330 years when sentenced on Dec. 6.

Robertson’s lawyer argued at trial that Vaughn was the mastermind behind the scam and had duped Robertson as well, saying he was a victim as well.

Lawyer in Biggest Social Security Scam in History May Have Fled to Mexico

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Eric Conn’s ads dotted the Kentucky landscape

LEXINGTON, Kentucky — A disability lawyer who went on the lam after being convicted of stealing over half a billion dollars in the biggest Social Security scam in history has been sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay back $170 million.

Authorities say Eric Conn, who was held under home detention in Kentucky after his conviction in March, in snipped off his electronic monitoring anklet on June 2 and went on the run.

The FBI says it has tracked Conn to New Mexico where he has been spotted buying gas and shopping at Walmart.  They say Conn fled using a truck owned by a friend who had registered it to a dummy corporation in Montana.

The truck has been recovered in New Mexico near the Mexico border, although officials say they have no evidence Conn had fled into Mexico.

“The negative impact of Conn’s presence in our community will be felt for generations,” said FBI agent Amy Hess. “His flight from prosecution has diminished any legitimacy and integrity he once held as an attorney and officer of the court.”

The FBI has tracked Eric Conn as far as New Mexico where he was spotted shopping in Walmart

Conn, 56, was a well known figure in Kentucky with ads appearing on TV nonstop and ambulance chasing billboards dotting the landscape. He earned millions by representing thousands of clients pressing for disability claims from Social Security. But it was all a fraud, prosecutors said. In all, they say he defrauded the government out of $550 million.

Con was also seen shopping in a New Mexico Walmart

Conn admitted he had routinely presented false evidence of disabilities, paid unscrupulous doctors to rubber stamp forms and even bribed a Social Security judge who approved thousands of claims for Conn’s clients in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A second judge has admitted retaliating against a whistleblower who tried to blow the lid off Conn’s sleazy dealings with the judge. Both judges are awaiting sentencing.

At his sentencing, Judge Danny Reeves gave Conn the maximum jail term allowed by law, but acknowledged that 12 years didn’t fit the crime.

“It did hurt the entire system and the reverberations are still occurring,” Reeves said, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.