All posts tagged: guilty

Tunnel-digging gang pleads guilty after UK police force foils jewellery heist | UK | News

Tunnel-digging gang pleads guilty after UK police force foils jewellery heist | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Thieves who were caught by UK police officers trying to tunnel their way into a jewellery shop have pleaded guilty, after an investigation linked the organised crime group to a series of burglaries worth more than £700,000. Metropolitan Police officers swooped after receiving reports of a suspected burglary on Mitcham Road in Tooting, south London, at 3.12am on July 17. Body-worn footage captured emergency response officers arriving at the scene within minutes, where Laurentiu-Daniel Nitisoara, 38, was arrested in a nearby alleyway. Officers then searched the surrounding area and tracked down a second suspect, Ioan Asafeti, 39, who was found hiding on a rooftop and arrested. Police subsequently searched a massage parlour the pair had broken into and discovered they had been attempting to tunnel through a wall into the neighbouring jewellery shop. Bags containing tools and equipment being used to dig the hole were also discovered inside. A third member of the group, Sergiu Plastin, 42, of Portadown, Craigavon, was arrested later that day. Flying Squad detectives tracked down Plastin using mobile phone data …

Illegal Immigrant Killer Found Not Guilty By Insanity, Flees US During Hospital Leave

Illegal Immigrant Killer Found Not Guilty By Insanity, Flees US During Hospital Leave

Published by Jenni Sidey

An illegal immigrant found not guilty by reason of insanity in a 2019 killing managed to flee the United States on a one-way flight to his native Tajikistan while on an approved 48-hour pass from a state mental health facility. Now a Soros-backed prosecutor is under fire for his pattern of pursuing insanity pleas for violent offenders who are illegal immigrants. Steve Descano, commonwealth’s attorney for Fairfax County, Va., speaks at an event at the Center for American Progress about Virginia’s newly elected progressive prosecutors. (Getty Images) In 2022, a court committed Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda after finding him not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2019 killing of his landlord, Mohammad Hemmatian, in Vienna, Virginia. Officers who reached the scene found him covered in Hemmatian’s blood. He told them, “I am guilty.” Investigators believed Islam-inspired attitudes drove the violence. Toshpulodzoda left the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute (NVMHI) in Falls Church on July 6 under an unaccompanied 48-hour pass, a privilege allowed under Virginia law for certain committed patients. Instead of returning, boarded a Turkish …

As Luigi Mangione Entered His Guilty Plea, Brian Thompson’s Family Looked On

As Luigi Mangione Entered His Guilty Plea, Brian Thompson’s Family Looked On

Published by Sam Flores

“After years of enduring severe pain from a broken back,” he said, “I learned UnitedHealth would be holding an investor conference in New York City.” “I then researched the event online,” Mangione said. “I observed the annual conference of America’s largest healthcare organization with the stated mission to make the healthcare system better for everyone.” In an email to the company aimed at gathering logistical details, he posed as an investor with more than $50 billion in capital, and he said he received a response within an hour—notably quicker than he was used to hearing from an insurer. For the first time in public view, Mangione then uttered his victim’s name: “I traveled to New York and emailed UnitedHealthcare with the intent to kill Brian Thompson.” Nearly two years after his shooting of Thompson, Mangione’s court appearances attract a steady drumbeat of press and supporters. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images For all the attention lavished on Mangione’s face and name, Thompson has emerged as a far more anonymous figure, often described in press coverage simply as …

What’s Next for Luigi Mangione After His Guilty Plea Over CEO Killing?

What’s Next for Luigi Mangione After His Guilty Plea Over CEO Killing?

Published by Sam Flores

NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Luigi Mangione pleaded ⁠guilty ⁠on Friday to federal charges over ⁠the killing of health insurance executive Brian Thompson, paving the way for him ​to try to avoid a related state trial but leaving him vulnerable to a potential life sentence.  Here is a ‌summary of what’s next for the ‌28-year-old Ivy League graduate, whose brazen crime was condemned by public officials but became emblematic of Americans’ frustration ⁠with health ⁠insurance industry practices:  BID TO DISMISS STATE CASE Mangione is currently scheduled to face trial ​on state murder and weapons charges starting on September 8, but that is now in doubt.  He has pleaded not guilty to those charges. Mangione’s defense lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the state charges immediately after his guilty plea ​in federal court, arguing New York state’s double jeopardy law shields him from being prosecuted twice ⁠in separate ⁠jurisdictions over the same underlying ⁠conduct.  Prosecutors with Manhattan ​District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said they were prepared to litigate Mangione’s motion. It was not ​clear when …

Luigi Mangione pleads guilty in federal case for UnitedHealthcare CEO killing

Luigi Mangione pleads guilty in federal case for UnitedHealthcare CEO killing

Published by Sam Flores

Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty Friday in New York federal court to stalking UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson before fatally shooting him on a midtown Manhattan street in December 2024. Mangione’s lawyers immediately afterward filed a motion in New York state court saying that charges of murder and multiple firearms counts against the Ivy League graduate in that court for Thompson’s slaying should be tossed out under the state’s double jeopardy law because of his federal plea. Mangione, 28, faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 18. But federal sentencing guidelines suggest a sentence in the range of 24 to 30 years in prison. Thompson’s company, a division of UnitedHealth Group, is the largest health insurer in the United States. Thompson, 50, was gunned down on Dec. 4, 2024, on the sidewalk outside the Hilton Hotel. Mangione said Friday in Manhattan U.S. District Court that “after years of enduring severe pain from a broken back, navigating the obstacles of the health insurance system and witnessing similar experiences of countless …

Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to killing health insurance CEO Brian Thompson

Luigi Mangione pleads guilty to killing health insurance CEO Brian Thompson

Published by Sam Flores

Nearly two years ago, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed in New York City. A massive manhunt followed, resulting in the arrest of Luigi Mangione, who quickly became a sort of folk hero for people fed up with the state of healthcare in the U.S., even if they may not support the use of violence in fixing or protesting the system. On Friday, Mangione pleaded guilty to federal stalking charges in Thompson’s death. “I shot Mr. Thompson and he died,” he told the court. “I knew what I was doing was illegal.”  Mangione also explained his motive: his back injury and experience with the U.S. healthcare system as a patient drove him to kill Thompson, although he was not specifically a customer of UnitedHealthcare. However, the company has a large reputation for denying claims to customers, especially compared to other insurers. Start your day with essential news from Salon.Sign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s on Dec. 9, 2024, and police said they …

What Mangione federal guilty plea means for state trial : NPR

What Mangione federal guilty plea means for state trial : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Luigi Mangione appears for a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Tuesday. On Friday in federal court, Mangione pleaded guilty on federal stalking charges. Steven Hirsch/Pool New York Post hide caption toggle caption Steven Hirsch/Pool New York Post Luigi Mangione, the 28-year-old accused of killing a health care executive on a Manhattan street, pleaded guilty to stalking charges in federal court Friday. Mangione faced those charges in connection with the December 2024 shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. “I shot Mr. Thompson in Manhattan and he died,” Mangione said in court Friday. “I knew what I was doing.” Thompson’s family was in the courtroom sitting in the front row watching as Mangione entered his plea. Mangione voiced no remorse and repeatedly referenced his concerns with the U.S. health care system. Mangione, who arrived in court wearing what appeared to be tan-colored prison fatigues rather than the business suit he’s worn to previous hearings, said he stalked Mr. Thompson, posing as an investor to gain information about the conference where Thompson …

Luigi Mangione expected to plead guilty in federal case: Report

Luigi Mangione expected to plead guilty in federal case: Report

Published by Sam Flores

Luigi Mangione during a pretrial hearing at New York State Supreme Court in New York, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. David Dee Delgado | Bloomberg | Getty Images Luigi Mangione is expected to plead guilty Friday in his federal criminal case, where he is charged with stalking in connection with his alleged killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a midtown Manhattan street in 2024, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing sources. Mangione is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Friday for a pretrial conference with Judge Margaret Garnett, which was requested in a court filing on Tuesday by both prosecutors and defense lawyers. He is separately charged in New York state court with murdering Thompson and other counts. If Mangione does plead guilty in the federal case, his attorneys are expected to argue that he cannot be prosecuted for murder in the state case because of New York’s double jeopardy law, The Times noted in its report Thursday. A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to …

Luigi Mangione expected to plead guilty in New York federal case

Luigi Mangione expected to plead guilty in New York federal case

Published by Sam Flores

Luigi Mangione is expected to plead guilty Friday to federal charges in connection with the 2024 killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, according to sources familiar with the matter. The expected plea change comes less than a month before Mangione, 28, is scheduled to go to trial in a state murder case in connection with the fatal shooting of Thompson, 50, a father of two. Luigi Mangione was meeting with his lawyers Thursday morning at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn in advance of Friday’s federal court hearing in Manhattan, according to a source familiar with the matter. Lawyers for Mangione declined to comment. The Justice Department and a court spokesperson also declined to comment. It is unclear if Mangione will plead guilty to one or both of the two stalking-related charges in his federal case. While details of Mangione’s plea are not immediately clear, he could reverse his decision at any time, even during the hearing. Sources familiar with Friday’s planned federal court hearing stressed that plea negotiations are ongoing …

Army gynecologist pleads not guilty to secretly recording patients

Army gynecologist pleads not guilty to secretly recording patients

Published by Sam Flores

An Army gynecologist charged with secretly video recording patients during exams pleaded not guilty Wednesday. Dr. Blaine McGraw is charged with indecent visual recording, as well as conduct unbecoming of an officer, willful disobedience of a superior officer and making a false statement. The Army Office of Special Trial Counsel previously alleged that there were 44 victims throughout 2025. McGraw’s patients included hundreds of service members and their spouses. McGraw appeared before Col. Jorge Rivera, a military judge, at the Lawrence Williams Judicial Center at Fort Hood, Texas, on Wednesday, according to NBC affiliate KCEN of Temple. According to information presented in court Wednesday, McGraw now faces nine charges and 273 specifications involving 93 alleged victims, the station reported. The Army has said the alleged conduct occurred from 2021 to 2026. The specifications include 12 of sexual assault, 79 of attempted sexual assault, 66 of indecent recording and 91 of assault consummated by a battery, KCEN reported. He was charged in December after the Army Criminal Investigation Division opened an inquiry in October following a …