Free Republic

An associate of Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz and a key figure into the federal probe against him pleaded guilty Monday to multiple crimes, including sex trafficking of a 17-year-old, according to news reports. The associate, Joel Greenberg, a former Florida tax collector, pleaded guilty to six federal counts in a case that sparked a federal investigation into Gaetz. The congressman has denied any wrongdoing.

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2010 – A Sudanese man pleaded guilty in a military commission today to conspiracy and providing material support to al-Qaida in the five years leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the United States. Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, 50, pleaded guilty at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to two charges for his support to al-Qaida and for conspiring to commit terrorism from August 1996 until his capture in December 2001. The conviction marks the first case prosecuted under the Obama administration and the Military Commissions Act of 2009, which the president signed in October....

DULUTH, Minn. – A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his motorized La-Z-Boy chair while drunk. A criminal complaint says 62-year-old Dennis LeRoy Anderson told police he left a bar in the northern Minnesota town of Proctor on his chair after drinking eight or nine beers. Prosecutors say Anderson's blood alcohol content was 0.29, more than three times the legal limit, when he crashed into a parked vehicle in August 2008. He was not seriously injured.

Palmer, Alaska (AP) -- The mother of the man former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol had planned on marrying has reached a plea deal in her drug case. Sherry Johnston pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of possession with intent to deliver the painkiller OxyContin. Five other felony counts were dropped. Johnston was placed in pink handcuffs and taken to a correctional facility where she'll be held until her Nov. 20 sentencing.

BANGOR, Maine – A British woman has pleaded guilty in Maine to assault after being accused of downing prescription drugs, wine and lavatory soap, then scuffling with flight attendants. Galina Rusanova pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts in U.S. District Court in Bangor. The Bangor Daily News says she was sentenced to the 21 days she had already spent in jail. A charge of interference with a flight crew was dropped. Prosecutors say the 54-year-old woman punched and kicked attendants on a United Airlines flight April 29. They say she tried to bite one while snapping "like a dog."

WASHINGTON – AARP's former events director has pleaded guilty in a scam involving a sham company he created to get $250,000 in contracts from the advocacy group. Bruce Sanders of Washington admitted he entered AARP into three consulting and production contracts with the fake company, naming as president of the company a man with whom Sanders was romantically involved. AARP paid the company $135,000. .. Sanders acknowledged he withdrew money from the company's account for himself and paid thousands of dollars to the boyfriend.

SAN DIEGO – A former adviser to Lt. Gov. John Garamendi and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Navy under President Clinton pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to possession of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Retired U.S. Navy Capt. Wade Rowland Sanders, 67, an attorney, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Thomas J. Whelan, U.S. Attorney Karen P. Hewitt said in a written statement released Monday night. According to court records, Sanders admitted that on or about May 2, he possessed a computer and computer media that he knew contained more than 600 images of...

FEDERAL COURT – A 57-year-old woman who is one of three people charged in the spring bombings of the federal courthouse and a FedEx building in San Diego pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday. Ella Louise Sanders admitted to one charge of possession and use of a destructive device to commit a crime of violence. The charge carries a minimum sentence of 30 years in prison. Sanders joined co-defendant Eric Robinson, who pleaded guilty to the same charge in September. His plea was formally accepted by Judge Margaret McKeown at the same hearing where Sanders pleaded guilty. A third defendant,...

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A man on his way to anger management class became angry and struck a woman, authorities said. Justin John Boudin, 27, pleaded guilty Friday to fifth-degree assault in Ramsey County District Court and can expect to face a sentence for time served in jail, at least 120 days, and probation when he is sentenced May 5, the county attorney's office said. According to a criminal complaint, Boudin was waiting at a bus stop on Aug. 29 when he accosted a 59-year-old woman and others. “Why don't you show me some respect?” he allegedly yelled at the...

A third man charged in a plot to attack Southern California military sites and other targets pleaded guilty Monday to a terrorism conspiracy charge. Gregory Vernon Patterson, 23, entered his plea in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana to one count of conspiring to levy war against the U.S. government through terrorism. He also pleaded guilty to conspiring to use a firearm during that offense. Patterson could face up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced on April 14, prosecutors said. Two other men - Kevin James, 31, and Levar Haley Washington, 28 - pleaded guilty in the...

SAN DIEGO A radical environmentalist pleaded guilty Friday to distributing information on firebombs while giving a speech. The plea by Rodney Coronado, 41, came after his trial on the charge ended in September with a hung jury. His lawyers argued his innocence under the First Amendment. As part of the plea agreement, Coronado won't be prosecuted in other incidents, according to Gerald Singleton, his lawyer. "He really wants to give them a minimal pound of flesh and move on," Singleton said. Coronado is scheduled to be sentenced March 27. He could face up to 20 years in prison under post-Sept....

DETROIT (Reuters) - A Detroit-area man on Thursday pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges after a failed 1998 attempt to deliver global positioning systems and night-vision goggles to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Fawzi Assi, 47, pleaded guilty in federal court in Detroit to attempting to provide support to a terrorist organization under U.S. law, federal prosecutors said. The guilty plea marked the latest twist one of the first prosecutions under a 1996 U.S. law that made it illegal to provide money or other aid to terrorists groups as defined by the U.S. government. The U.S. State Department designated Hezbollah a terrorist group...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Texas oilman David Chalmers and two companies he owns pleaded guilty on Friday to paying millions of dollars in secret kickbacks to Iraq in connection with the United Nations oil-for-food program. Chalmers, 53, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, just weeks before he was due to go on trial with Texas oil tycoon Oscar Wyatt. Earlier on Friday, Ludmil Dionissiev, a Bulgarian oil trader based in Houston, pleaded guilty to smuggling. Prosecutors said Dionissiev, 61, worked with Chalmers to buy Iraqi oil for Chalmers' companies -- Bayoil...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The last of five lawmakers indicted in an undercover public corruption probe dubbed Tennessee Waltz pleaded guilty Monday to bribery. Former state Sen. Kathryn Bowers, 64, a Memphis Democrat, pleaded guilty to one federal count accusing her of splitting $11,500 with an accomplice who served as a go-between with FBI agents posing as dishonest businessmen. She had insisted for two years that she was innocent. "I needed to go on and admit that I'd made some mistakes so that I can go on and try to move on with my life," Bowers said outside court. In exchange...

Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters will avoid jail time after a criminal defense lawyer pleaded guilty Wednesday to leaking them secret grand jury documents from the BALCO steroids investigation. Troy Ellerman admitted allowing reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada to view transcripts of the grand jury testimony of baseball stars Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and sprinter Tim Montgomery, according to court documents. The Chronicle published stories in 2004 that reported Giambi and Montgomery admitted taking steroids while Bonds and Sheffield testified that they didn't knowingly take performance enhancing drugs. A federal judge ordered the reporters jailed after they...

A businessman pleaded guilty Tuesday to aiding and abetting charges linked to the wiretapping case against one-time private eye to the stars Anthony Pellicano. Daniel Nicherie, 46, was the seventh defendant to plead guilty in connection with sweeping allegations of a conspiracy involving wiretapping and digging up dirt on people, including celebrities such as Sylvester Stallone. Nicherie admitted in federal court that he authorized Pellicano to intercept the telephone conversations of a man he was in a business dispute with. Prosecutors alleged that Nicherie listened to the intercepted conversations and translated those talks at Pellicano's office. Under a deal with...

HOUSTON - A Houston man pleaded guilty after he and a Pakistani living illegally in the United States were charged with conspiring to join the Taliban and fight against U.S. forces, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Kobie Diallo Williams, 33, and Adnan Babar Mirza, 29, underwent training in guns and reconnaissance in the Houston area in preparation for joining up with the Taliban, prosecutors said. The two men were charged with conspiracy. Mirza, a Pakistani who overstayed a student visa, also was charged with violating federal gun laws. Williams, a U.S. citizen and a student also known as Abdul Kabir, surrendered...

CAMP PENDLETON ---- A Navy corpsman pleaded guilty this morning to two charges for his role in the killing of a 52-year-old civilian in the Iraqi village of Hamdania last spring. Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson Bacos pleaded guilty to conspiracy and kidnapping during a court-martial conducted in a base courtroom before Marine Col. Steven Folsom. Charges of premeditated murder and related offenses were dropped in exchange for the guilty pleas. Bacos is the first of the eight troops from 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment's Kilo Company to plead guilty to an offense arising out of the April 26 slaying...

SAN DIEGO A former border inspector pleaded guilty Monday to guiding hundreds of illegal immigrants through his checkpoint booth in exchange for cash payments from a smuggling ring. Michael Anthony Gilliland, a 44-year-old former Marine and agent with U.S. Customs and Border Protection for 16 years, admitted in federal district court to letting illegal immigrants through the Otay Mesa crossing in San Diego in exchange for bribes. He will face up to 35 years in prison when he's sentenced Jan. 12. Gilliland appeared in court wearing jeans and a blue shirt. Before the hearing he held hands with his wife,...

A former border inspector pleaded guilty Thursday to accepting cash bribes and luxury cars in exchange for allowing smugglers to sneak hundreds of illegal immigrants from Mexico into the U.S. through a busy San Diego crossing. Richard Elizalda, 55, a 10-year veteran border inspector for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, admitted to one count of accepting bribes as a public official and two counts of bringing illegal aliens into the country for financial gain stemming from a 15-count indictment in January. He faces up to 35 years in prison and $820,000 in fines. Elizalda sent text messages directing drivers to...