House GOP Subpoenas Infamous DC Police Report, But Legacy Media Obtains It First

Luis Cornelio
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House GOP Subpoenas Infamous DC Police Report, But Legacy Media Obtains It First

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) As House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., attempted to obtain an internal 554-page report from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, a left-leaning newspaper appeared to get its hands on it first.

That newspaper is The Washington Post, which said it reviewed the report in a Friday piece outlining findings that several D.C. police officials manipulated crime classifications, including thefts, robberies and assaults, to make crime appear lower.

The report reflects allegations that have been under scrutiny since 2025. It was compiled after a months-long internal investigation by the MPD, alongside parallel scrutiny by the House Oversight Committee, and finalized in April 2026.

In one instance, D.C. police commander LaShay Makal emailed a sergeant to scrutinize the “enormous amount” of reported thefts in March 2024.

The report also describes widespread irregularities in crime reporting practices. At least 700 reports may have been improperly altered, according to investigators. Thirteen officials are now facing potential termination, including Makal.

The Post did not specify how it obtained the report. Meanwhile, Comer slammed the apparent fact that the newshad seen the it before it was delivered to the House Oversight Committee.

“This 554-page report needs to be delivered to the House Oversight Committee immediately,” he wrote on X. “There is no excuse.”

The House Oversight Committee launched its investigation in 2025 after whistleblower disclosures accused MPD Chief Pamela A. Smith of potentially manipulating crime data on a widespread basis.

Smith announced her sudden resignation on Dec. 8, 2025.

Days later, the committee released a staff report accusing Smith of pressuring, and at times directing, commanders to alter crime statistics to create the appearance of declining crime.

“Committee Democrats and D.C. leaders should be ashamed for running cover for corrupt MPD officials and labeling this Committee’s investigation as a ‘political stunt,’” Comer said in a statement.

“Our work is not done. I expect to receive MPD’s internal report and all related documents to ensure crime data is reported accurately and that anyone responsible for manipulation is held accountable,” he added.

Person Dies After Being Hit by Frontier Airlines Plane that was Taking Off at Denver Airport

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Person Dies After Being Hit by Frontier Airlines Plane that was Taking Off at Denver Airport

(Headline USA) A person who jumped a fence and was on a runway at Denver International Airport was struck and killed by a Frontier Airlines plane during takeoff, airport authorities said. The collision sparked an engine fire and forced passengers to evacuate.

The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday,” according to a post on the airport’s official X account.

A spokesperson for the airport said the person, who jumped a perimeter fence, has died. They said the unidentified person was hit two minutes after entering the airport. The person is not believed to be an airport employee.

“We’re stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”

The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on board and that an “individual was walking across the runway.”

The air traffic controller responds that they are “rolling the trucks now” before the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”

Frontier Airlines said in a statement that flight 4345 was the one involved in the collision and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the collision.

The airline said the plane was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members.

“We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities,” the airline said.

Passengers were evacuated via slides and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. The airport spokesperson said 12 passengers suffered minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals.

One passenger, Jacob Athens, posted video showing people sliding down with their backpacks. He also posted photos of what looked like a damaged engine.

“As we were lifting off the engine of the plane exploded. There was so much smoke we couldn’t even see 1 ft in front of us,” Athens said on his Facebook page, adding that passengers had to wait for over a hour on the runway and “still no transport or help with the cold.”

Other video shows passengers calmly walking down the aisle of the plane and using the slide to evacuate. They were told to step away from the plane.

Denver Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place, was closed amid an investigation. It reopened Saturday around 11 a.m.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that the person “breached airport security at Denver Int’l Airport, deliberately scaled a perimeter fence, and ran out onto a runway.”

He added: “No one should EVER trespass on an airport.”

The incident came a day after a Delta Air Lines employee was killed while on the job at the Orlando International Airport. In a statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night without providing details of the incident or the name of the employee.

“We are focused on extending our full support to family and taking care of our Orlando team during this difficult time,” the airline said. “We are working with local authorities as a full investigation gets underway to determine what occurred.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

 

Another U.S.-Canada Border Bust: Gun Smuggling Operation

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Another U.S.-Canada Border Bust: Gun Smuggling Operation

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) A gun smuggling operation run by Canadian, Pakistani and Jordanian citizens has been thwarted at the U.S.-Canada border, authorities said.

While illegal border crosser crime has dropped considerably at the U.S.-Canada border from the Biden administration era, border crime is still ongoing, including human, drug and weapons smuggling and trafficking.

On Friday, three men were magistrated before a federal judge in White Plains, New York, and detained after their arrest for an alleged gun running scheme. The scheme involved trafficking 89 firearms, including at least 17 stolen firearms, and attempting to smuggle them to Canada through or near an Indian reservation.

Canadian national Malik Bromfield, Pakistani national Faizan Ali, and Kamal Salman, who claims to have citizenship in Canada, Jordan and the U.S., were arrested on Thursday after a traffic stop in Liberty, New York, in Sullivan County.

They were each charged with smuggling, unlicensed dealing in firearms, transporting stolen firearms in interstate commerce and unlawful possession of firearms, according to the complaint. Bromfield was also charged with “unlawful possession of a firearm by an alien.” If convicted, they each face decades in prison.

“As alleged, Malik Bromfield, Faizan Ali, and Kamal Salman were caught transporting more than 80 guns, including short-barreled rifles and stolen firearms, to smuggle them out of the country,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said. “It is critically important to New Yorkers and Americans to keep illegal weapons out of the hands of criminal actors.  The trafficking of dangerous weapons will be relentlessly pursued by this Office.”

On or about May 7, New York State Police pulled over Bromfield, driving a vehicle with a North Carolina license plate, after he was allegedly swerving in out of lanes near State Route 90. The troopers asked the men to exit the vehicle and after receiving inconsistent and evasive responses to questioning troopers discovered an array of alleged criminal activity.

Bromfield claimed he was traveling from New York City to Syracuse to visit Salman’s family members, according to the complaint. Salman and Ali said they were traveling from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Law enforcement later learned that they had left Jupiter, Florida, the day before they were arrested.

The stop led to the troopers finding an Afghan national’s ID card, suspected narcotics, a weapons cache and $3,000 in cash, and an alleged plan to traffic weapons into Canada for profit, according to the criminal complaint.

After Ali consented to a roadside search of his person, a trooper found an “expired Pakistani National Driving Permit issued to an Afghan national in another name concealed in ALI’s buttocks,” according to the complaint.

Salman and Bromfield declined searches resulting in a canine sweeping the exterior of the vehicle. The canine alerted troopers to the potential presence of narcotics.

After the canine search resulted in probable cause, the troopers initiated a preliminary search of the vehicle and found an unusually heavy suitcase. Inside was the weapons cache.

Additional firearms were found on the floor of the back seat, according to the complaint.

They also found a GPS navigation app on Bromfield’s phone’s home screen with an address in or near Hammond, New York, located across the St. Lawrence River from Ontario, Canada.

The location is a hotspot for illegal border crosser crime through the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory. The territory, which straddles the international border along the St. Lawrence River, has been a target of human, drug and weapons smuggling, as well as other crimes, The Center Square reported. Understaffed with limited resources, First Nation chiefs have had difficulty combatting smuggling and trafficking crime.

Upon further investigation, Ali has at least four outstanding arrest warrants in Canada, including one related to a fatal automobile collision and another connected to alleged methamphetamine trafficking, according to the charges.

The complaint includes details about the seized firearms, including those reported stolen in Pasadena, Texas, and Fort Lauderdale and North Miami Beach in Florida.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives New York Field Office, and FBI-New York Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force, are involved in an ongoing investigation.

The bust comes as ongoing border security efforts continue at the northern border after the president declared a national emergency at the northern border last February, The Center Square.

Haitian Illegal Faces Death Penalty over Caught-On-Tape Murder: Prosecutors

Luis Cornelio
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Haitian Illegal Faces Death Penalty over Caught-On-Tape Murder: Prosecutors

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) “Extremely brutal and incredibly violent.” 

That was how Florida State Attorney Amira Fox described surveillance footage showing an illegal alien from Haiti allegedly murdering a store clerk in a case now eligible for the death penalty. 

The suspect, Rolbert Joachin, was indicted Thursday by a grand jury on a first-degree murder charge after prosecutors said he viciously assaulted Nilufa Easmin, a 51-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant, with a hammer until she died. 

As previously reported by Headline USA, the attack occurred April 2 at a gas station where Easmin worked. 

Security video showed Joachin approaching Easmin while she stood outside the store, striking her with a hammer and forcing her to the ground. He repeatedly hit her in the face as she as she lay bleeding. 

Each blow caused Easmin’s arms to jolt in the harrowing footage. 

“This crime was so violent, so extreme, so unwarranted. It is something that once seen, is never to be forgotten,” Florida State Attorney Amira Fox said in a statement announcing the Lee County grand jury indictment. 

“I want to thank the Lee County Grand Jury who watched and reviewed the gruesome evidence in this case and gave their full attention. I know it was not easy. This defendant entered the United States illegally and brutally ended the life of a mother simply at her job, working to provide for her family,” she added. 

According to the indictment, Joachin caused the victim’s death “by inflicting blunt force injuries upon her using a weapon, to wit: a hammer or blunt instrument, contrary to Florida Statute, and during the commission of said offense was an unauthorized alien.” 

Fox said Joachin will be “punished to the fullest extent of the law,” and that prosecutors will seek the death penalty. 

Video of the incident drew condemnation from authorities, lawmakers and President Donald Trump, who described footage of Easmin’s “brutal slaying” as one of the “most vicious things you will ever see.” 

Earlier in the statement, Trump said, “An Illegal Alien Criminal from Haiti, who was released into our Country by the WORST President in History, Crooked Joe Biden, and the Radical Democrats in Congress, just beat an innocent woman to death with a hammer at a gas station in Florida.” 

Joachin entered the U.S. illegally in August 2022 but was released shortly afterward under the Biden administration. A federal judge later issued a final order of removal against him, but he was nonetheless granted Temporary Protected Status. 

That TPS protection expired in 2024. However, Joachin reportedly remained in the United States unlawfully, according to the New York Post. 

More Than 200 Children Rescued, 350 Child Sex Offenders Arrested in One Month

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More Than 200 Children Rescued, 350 Child Sex Offenders Arrested in One Month

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) More than 200 children were rescued and more than 350 child sex offenders arrested in one month in the latest Department of Justice targeted enforcement operation to find child sex abuse victims and arrest child sex predators.

The operations are nationwide and involve staff from all 56 FBI field offices and U.S. Attorney’s offices.

In Operation Iron Pursuit, which occurred during the month of April, key enforcement actions were led by the Buffalo FBI Field Office and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.

“This operation puts every child predator on notice: we are coming for you,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “The sexual exploitation of minors is an abomination with no place in our society. We will hunt down these offenders, hold them fully accountable under the law, and deliver justice for victims.”

The DOJ highlighted examples of two alleged male offenders charged in the Western District of New York. One, CJ A. Wolf, of Lewiston, was charged with enticement of a minor after he began communicating with an undercover law enforcement officer via text message thinking he was speaking to a 13-year-old girl who was advertised online. Wolf traveled to a retail parking lot and interacted with the undercover officer who was coordinating the staged sexual interaction where he confirmed he had $200 for “a half hour.” according to the charges. After further conversation, he was arrested.

Kenneth Tootle, of Rochester, was arrested and charged with production of child pornography, enticement of a minor, and receipt of child pornography. According to the criminal complaint, Rochester Police responded to a mother claiming she found disturbing messages between her 7-year-old daughter and Tootle on her daughter’s cell phone. They included sexual photos and videos constituting child pornography, according to the criminal complaint. He was arrested after an investigation was conducted and a search warrant was executed.

Both men face a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.

Operation Iron Pursuit was the latest of several targeted enforcement operations led by the FBI. Last December, Operation Relentless Justice led to the rescue of 205 children and arrests of 293 offenders.

Key arrests included an airman in Dallas, Texas, who was charged with his wife on charges of producing child sex abuse material (CSAM); a police officer in Raleigh, North Carolina, distributing CSAM to an undercover officer; five leaders of Greggy’s Cult; and a Virginia man who persuaded a 14-year-old to produce CSAM. “The victim attempted suicide after he allegedly told her to kill herself,” the DOJ said.

Last August, Operation Enduring Justice led to the rescue of 133 children and the arrests of 234 offenders.

Last May, Operation Restore Justice led to the rescue of 115 children and the arrests of 205 child sex abuse offenders.

Key arrests included a state trooper and Army Reservist in Minneapolis for allegedly producing CSAM while in uniform and a former Metropolitan Police Department officer for allegedly trafficking minor victims in Washington, D.C.

“Every single day this FBI is working 24/7 to break networks of child abusers all across this country,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. He said last year, the FBI and law enforcement partners identified and rescued more than 6,300 missing children.

“Let this be a message to criminal actors who seek to target America’s children: you will be pursued, and you will be brought to justice,” he said.

The DOJ urges the public to report suspected exploitation of children by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

US Bombs Iran’s Qeshm Port and Bandar Abbas

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US Bombs Iran’s Qeshm Port and Bandar Abbas

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The US bombed Iranian ports on Thursday, an attack that will likely plunge the region back into full-scale war.

Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin first reported that the US was behind strikes on a port in Iran’s Qeshm island in the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, and a naval target in Minab, where the US bombed an elementary school on February 28, an attack that killed 120 children.

Iran’s military then released a statement saying that the US violated the ceasefire by attacking two commercial ships and bombing Iranian ports.

“The aggressive, terrorist, and bandit American army violated the ceasefire by targeting an Iranian oil tanker ship moving from Iranian coastal waters in the Jask region towards the Strait of Hormuz, as well as another ship entering the Strait of Hormuz, opposite the port of Fujairah in the UAE,” said a spokesman for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.

“At the same time, they carried out aerial attacks on civilian areas in cooperation with some regional countries on the coasts of Bandar Khamir, Sirik, and Qeshm Island,” the statement added.

Iran said that its forces responded to the US attacks in the region by targeting US warships, and US Central Command released a statement that said three US Navy destroyers came under attack while transiting the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM said that in response, it hit “Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking US forces, including missile and drone launch sites; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance nodes.”

CENTCOM framed the strikes as launched in “self-defense,” and the US official speaking to Griffin said that the US bombing Iran doesn’t mean the ceasefire is over. The Trump administration has attempted to frame its recent military operations, which include a blockade of Iranian ports, as “defensive” even though it’s all part of the war of aggression that the US and Israel launched against Iran on February 28.

The Iranian military said that its attacks on the US warships caused “significant damage,” but President Donald Trump insisted in a post on Truth Social that the destroyers did not get hit.

“Three World Class American Destroyers just transited, very successfully, out of the Strait of Hormuz, under fire. There was no damage done to the three Destroyers, but great damage done to the Iranian attackers. They were completely destroyed along with numerous small boats, which are being used to take the place of their fully decapitated Navy,” the president wrote.

“These boats went to the bottom of the Sea, quickly and efficiently. Missiles were shot at our Destroyers, and were easily knocked down. Likewise, drones came, and were incinerated while in the air. They dropped ever so beautifully down to the Ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave!” he added.

The president called the Iranians “lunatics” and threatened Iran with heavier attacks if it doesn’t agree to US demands for a deal. “[W]e’ll knock them out a lot harder, and a lot more violently, in the future, if they don’t get their Deal signed, FAST!” he said.

Trump also told ABC reporter Rachel Scott that the US bombing of Iranian ports was a “love tap” and that the “ceasefire is going. It’s in effect.”

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.  

Tornadoes Cut Across Mississippi as Severe Storms Damage 500 Homes

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Tornadoes Cut Across Mississippi as Severe Storms Damage 500 Homes

(Headline USA) Powerful storms that spawned at least three tornadoes tore through several Mississippi counties, damaging around 500 homes, uprooting trees and injuring at least 17 people, authorities said Thursday.

There were no reports of deaths after the tornadoes cut across the state’s southwest late Wednesday evening, said Scott Simmons, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

He said 12 of those hurt were transported from a hard-hit trailer park in the small community of Bogue Chitto, about an hour’s drive south of the state capital in rural Lincoln County.

Most of the two dozen homes at Gene’s Mobile Home Supply were flattened into heaps of splintered boards and twisted metal. People picked through the debris Thursday morning under cloudy skies as a chain saw buzzed in the background.

Krystal Miller and six others — including babies as young as 4 weeks old — grabbed a Bible and sheltered in their home’s hallway when the tornado sent the building cartwheeling through the air.

“We just flipped, and it threw us all out,” she said. “It scattered everybody out. … I can’t find the Bible.”

She said her young son was in the hospital for monitoring and another child was injured in the face.

“The trailer is in pieces but we made it out,” Miller said. “I’m feeling grateful.”

One intact trailer lay flipped on its roof near the tree line. Several cars, some with hazard lights blinking, appeared to have been picked up by the storm.

“We know there were at least three tornadoes,” said Daniel Lamb, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service office in Jackson.

“The same storm produced at least two tornadoes from Franklin, Lincoln into Lawrence counties, and then there was another one from Lamar possibly into Forest County.”

He said there may have been more. “Those are just the ones that we are able to confirm by radar before even having gone down there.”

“Pray for Mississippi,” Gov. Tate Reeves posted online, saying the state Emergency Management Agency was coordinating response efforts.

Many roads were still blocked in Lincoln County and teams from the agency were assessing the damage.

“We ask that you please refrain from sightseeing as crews are working,” the department posted early Thursday.

The governor said a volunteer rescue group was providing a 50-person shelter pod, a high-powered generator and 10 pallets of supplies to the county, which reported at least 200 damaged homes.

Lamar County to the southeast reported about 275 homes damaged, according to the state emergency management agency. Another 10 to 12 homes were damaged in Lawrence County.

More storms were expected Thursday with the possibility of tornadoes across parts of Alabama, Georgia and Florida, the weather service said. Strong storms also were possible for parts of the Carolinas and Texas.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Pro-Palestinian Protester Pleads Guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter in Death of Jewish Man

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Pro-Palestinian Protester Pleads Guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter in Death of Jewish Man

(Headline USA) A former Southern California college professor has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and battery in the death of a Jewish counterprotester during demonstrations in 2023 over the Israel-Hamas war.

Loay Abdelfattah Alnaji, 53, was accused of striking Paul Kessler with a megaphone in November 2023 during a confrontation at an event that started as a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Thousand Oaks, a suburb northwest of Los Angeles.

Kessler was among a group of pro-Israel demonstrators who showed up at the event that was advertised as a peaceful gathering, officials said. After being struck, Kessler fell backward and struck his head on the pavement. He died the next day at a hospital. He was 69.

Involuntary manslaughter is the unintentional killing of another person.

Alnaji, a former professor of computer science at Moorpark College, at the time stayed at the scene and told deputies he had called 911.

He also admitted to a special allegation that he personally inflicted great bodily injury and to aggravating factors that he used a weapon and that the victim was particularly vulnerable, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.

Alnaji’s lawyer, Ron Bamieh, said he and his client have both received multiple death threats and Alnaji feared coverage of the trial could endanger his family further. Alnaji has been out after posting $50,000 bail.

The court has told Alnaji to expect to spend time in jail and then be put on probation, Bamieh said. He would likely serve about six months with good behavior, he added. The maximum sentence for the charges is up to four years in prison.

Bamieh said the brief time in jail followed by probation has been the norm for cases in which the defendant was not the aggressor in a fight that led to death.

Prosecutors have objected to that.

“Alnaji should be sentenced to prison for his violent behavior, and our office strongly objects to any lesser sentence,” District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said in a statement. “While no amount of punishment will ever fully account for the Kessler family loss, a prison commitment underscores the severity of this crime and will deter others from committing similar acts of violence.”

Alnaji is scheduled to be sentenced on June 25.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

French Prosecutors Seek Charges Against Elon Musk and X Over Child Sexual Abuse Images

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French Prosecutors Seek Charges Against Elon Musk and X Over Child Sexual Abuse Images

(Headline USA) French prosecutors are seeking charges against Elon Musk and his social platform X for child sexual abuse images on the platform, deepfakes, disinformation and complicity in denying crimes against humanity by the platform’s artificial intelligence system, Grok.

The Paris public prosecutor’s office said Wednesday it has opened an investigation into X on charges including complicity in possessing and distributing child sexual abuse images, unlawfully collecting personal data and without ensuring data security, as well as disseminating non-consensual images or other content and denial of crimes against humanity Grok.

X and its parent company SpaceX did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday.

The investigation comes less than three weeks after Musk and Linda Yaccarino — the former CEO of X — were summoned for “voluntary interviews” to discuss the allegations. They did not show up, but French authorities said this wouldn’t hinder the investigation.

Musk was summoned after a search took place in February at the French premises of X as part of an investigation opened in January 2025 by the cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office. Musk and Yaccarino have been invited in their capacities as managers of X at the time of the events investigated. Yaccarino was CEO from May 2023 until July 2025.

French authorities opened their investigation after reports from a French lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms on X likely distorted the functioning of an automated data processing system. It expanded after the AI system, Grok, generated posts that allegedly denied the Holocaust, a crime in France, and spread sexually explicit deepfakes.

It’s looking into alleged “complicity” in possessing and spreading sexual abuse images of minors, sexually explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity and manipulation of an automated data processing system as part of an organized group, among other charges.

Grok, which was built by xAI and is available through X, sparked global outrage this year after it pumped out a torrent of sexualized nonconsensual deepfake images in response to requests from X users.

Grok also wrote in a widely shared post in French that gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were designed for “disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus” rather than for mass murder — language long associated with Holocaust denial.

In later posts on X, the chatbot reversed itself and acknowledged that its earlier reply was wrong, saying it had been deleted, and pointed to historical evidence that Zyklon B was used to kill more than 1 million people in Auschwitz gas chambers.

In March, the Paris prosecutor’s office alerted the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, suggesting “that the controversy surrounding sexually explicit deepfakes generated by Grok may have been deliberately orchestrated to artificially boost the value of the companies X and xAI — potentially constituting criminal offenses,” prosecutors said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

4 People Convicted of Conspiracy in US Trial Tied to 2021 Assassination of Haiti’s President

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4 People Convicted of Conspiracy in US Trial Tied to 2021 Assassination of Haiti’s President

(Headline USA) A Florida jury on Friday convicted four men of conspiracy in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, whose death led to extraordinary turmoil in the Caribbean nation.

South Florida served as a central location for planning and financing the plot to oust Moïse and replace him with someone of the conspirators’ choosing, U.S. prosecutors alleged.

Arcangel Pretel Ortiz, Antonio Intriago, Walter Veintemilla and James Solages were found guilty of conspiring to kill or kidnap Haiti’s elected leader and providing material support for the plot. They were also convicted of violating the U.S. Neutrality Act and could face possible life sentences.

“These defendants pursued power, influence, and profit through violence,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones said in a statement. “They supported a conspiracy that crossed borders, destabilized a friendly nation, and ended with the murder of a sitting president. The jury has spoken, and the rule of law has answered.”

Prosecutors argued that the men had their own leader in mind and had hoped to enrich themselves with a new government.

Moïse was killed on July 7, 2021, when about two dozen foreign mercenaries, mostly from Colombia, attacked his home near Port-au-Prince. Moïse’s wife, Martine, was wounded during the attack and flown to the U.S. for treatment. In Haiti, meanwhile, gang leaders have grown increasingly violent and empowered.

Martine Moïse was the first witness at trial, which began in March in Miami’s federal court, describing through a Creole interpreter how she awoke to the sounds of gunfire after midnight. She told jurors that she turned to her husband in bed next to her to ask what was going on.

“Honey, we are dead,” Jovenel Moïse replied, according to his wife’s testimony.

Ortiz and Intriago were principals of Counter Terrorist Unit Federal Academy and Counter Terrorist Unit Security, collectively known as CTU, and Veintemilla was a principal of Worldwide Capital Lending Group. Both companies were based in South Florida.

Christian Sanon is a dual Haitian-American citizen whom investigators say was initially favored by the conspirators to replace Moïse. Solages was a CTU representative in Haiti who coordinated with Sanon and others, officials said. Sanon will face trial at a later date.

Defense attorneys argued at trial that the investigation into the assassination was a mess and that the four were manipulated into taking blame for an internal coup. They said the men believed they had a legitimate warrant signed by a Haitian judge and that they were liberating Haiti from Moïse, who had overstayed his term as president.

At least five others have pleaded guilty in the conspiracy and are serving life sentences.

Separately, 20 people, including 17 Colombian soldiers, face charges in Haiti. Gang violence, death threats and a crumbling judicial system have stalled an ongoing investigation.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

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