sting operations

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Former Red Sox Pitcher Arrested in Child Sex Sting

Sheriff says Austin Maddox thought he was meeting 14-year-old girl

(Newser) - Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Austin Maddox was one of 27 men arrested in a sting operation targeting sexual predators, Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters announced Monday. The sheriff said Maddox and other suspects were arrested in the "Valiant Knights" operation last month after arranging to meet people they thought...

Interpol's Animal Trafficking Crackdown Sees Big Results

Operation Thunder sees primates, big cats, ivory, rhino horns, and more confiscated in 133 countries

(Newser) - Interpol and the World Customs Organization said Tuesday they seized 53 primates, four big cats, and more than 1,300 birds, as well as some 660 pounds of ivory, thousands of turtle eggs, and rhino horns, leopard skins, and lion teeth and paws in their sweeping annual crackdown on wildlife...

A Drug Sting in Louisiana Went Terribly Wrong

Informant wore a microphone, but law enforcement wasn't monitoring in real time

(Newser) - A woman outfitted with a tiny microphone and hidden camera walked up to a dilapidated drug house on a chilly afternoon last year looking to buy meth from a dealer known on the streets as "Mississippi." But as the informant disappeared inside with the career criminal, her law...

Disney Workers Among 108 Arrested in 'Operation March Sadness 2'

Florida sting operation targeted prostitution, human trafficking

(Newser) - A sheriff's office in Florida says 108 people were arrested, including a retired judge and several Disney employees, during a sting operation to combat human trafficking, prostitution, and child sexual abuse. Most of those busted in "Operation March Sadness 2" were arrested for seeking a prostitute or "...

Doctor Accused of Fraud Has Bigger Problems Now

FBI says Anatoly Braylovsky tried to hire a hitman to take out a witness

(Newser) - Connecticut doctor Anatoly Braylovsky got burned in a sting operation last year and was charged with making bogus opioid prescriptions. This year, the FBI says he got burned in yet another sting and is charged with trying to hire a hitman to help him beat the first charges. As the...

He Used a Snapchat Filter to Get This Pic, Launched a Sting

A California cop was arrested as a result of Ethan's actions

(Newser) - Snapchat's gender-swapping filter has been used to make a viral Evanescence video , alter famous works of art , and reveal Glenn Close's unexpected male celebrity look-alike since it launched in May. Now, a use that's a little more impactful: NBC Bay Area reports a local college student used...

Post Exposes New Moore 'Accuser' as Part of Sting

The Washington paper believes the woman was working with James O'Keefe's Project Veritas

(Newser) - Two weeks after the Washington Post published a bombshell story about Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore attempting to initiate sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl when he was 32, the paper appears to have been the near-victim of an undercover sting operation by a right-wing organization. The Post reports...

A Man Sent Sexual Messages to a Teen. Her Dad Took Action

'[He] walked into the wrong backyard,' Oklahoma father says

(Newser) - A father in Oklahoma decided to take matters into his own hands after an app let him know that his teen daughter was swapping sexually charged messages with a 33-year-old man. Per KOCO , the unidentified Del City dad had installed the FamilyTime app, which helps parents keep tabs on their...

University of Northern NJ Is Fake—and a Gov't Trap

Homeland Security busts 21 in visa fraud sting

(Newser) - The University of Northern New Jersey looked like any other school: It had a website, a Facebook page, and a crest. Unlike other colleges, however, it was staffed entirely by Homeland Security agents. The Department of Justice announced this week it had indicted 21 people for visa fraud in a...

Police Catch Own Deputy in Prostitution Sting

Emmanuel Augustine suspended immediately

(Newser) - Well this must have been awkward: The Harris County, Texas, Constable's Office sent a deputy out undercover as a prostitute yesterday morning, and sure enough she was soon propositioned—by a deputy from the same precinct. Emmanuel Augustine, 29, was off duty at the time, but ABC 13 reports...

ATF Agents Lured Mentally Disabled as Bait
ATF Agents Lured
Mentally Disabled as Bait
investigation
Dec 8, 2013 3:30 PM CST

ATF Agents Lured Mentally Disabled as Bait

Sting operations generated crime to arrest criminals: report

(Newser) - Is the ATF out of control? In its sting operations, the agency has used mentally disabled teenagers as bait, opened drug- and gun-buying operations near schools and churches, and opened fake pawn shops that apparently spurred thefts and burglaries—including gun thefts from police cars. A lengthy Milwaukee Journal Sentinel...

ATF Lost $127M in Cigs in Unapproved Stings


 ATF Lost $127M in Cigs 
 in Unapproved Stings 
REPORT SAYS
Sep 26, 2013 7:40 AM CDT

ATF Lost $127M in Cigs in Unapproved Stings

Due to 'serious lack of oversight,' says Justice Department report

(Newser) - Apparently firearms aren't all that go missing over at the ATF: a Justice Department report says feds lost track of some 2.1 million packs of cigarettes, worth $127 million, from at least 20 undercover and unapproved stings between 2005 and 2011, the Washington Post reports. The $162 million...

ATF's Favorite New Tool: Iffy Drug Stings
ATF's Favorite New Tool:
Iffy Drug Stings
investigation
Jun 28, 2013 8:03 AM CDT

ATF's Favorite New Tool: Iffy Drug Stings

'USA Today' finds that questionable strategy has locked up more than 1K in decade

(Newser) - The good news from a crime-fighting perspective is that the ATF has locked up more than 1,000 criminals—often with sentences spanning more than a decade—who were caught trying to rob drug houses over the past decade. The questionable news? Those drug houses didn't actually exist. All...

FBI Snags 24 Suspected Credit Card Hackers

Feds lured them onto fake website in sting

(Newser) - Federal agents have been watching websites where hackers illegally distribute credit card data—and their work has paid off. Today, they arrested 11 people in the US and 13 overseas, reports Reuters . Under the two-year sting, agents set up a fake online forum of their own where people could trade...

Con Artist Launched Google Sting for Feds

Set up fake websites illegally selling medications; firm allegedly helped

(Newser) - Last year, a federal sting against Google resulted in a record settlement—and at the heart of the operation was a convicted con man. Working with federal agents—and still wearing leg irons—David Whitaker set up a fake online pharmacy claiming to sell illegal drugs, and Google helped him...

FBI Considered Sting Against ... Newt?

Washington Post story is a 'hit job,' writes conservative blogger

(Newser) - Most unusual political story of the day: The Washington Post , following up on a story at the DC Bureau blog , reports that the FBI considered a sting operation against Newt Gingrich while he was House speaker but ultimately decided against it because the evidence was too flimsy. It's a...

Bungled ATF Sting Lost Track of More Than 1K Firearms

House hearing on Operation Fast and Furious held today

(Newser) - Operation Fast and Furious, the bungled ATF gun-trafficking probe , was even more bungled than originally thought: Federal agents lost track of more than 1,000 firearms purchased by suspected gun smugglers during the Arizona investigation. The information comes from a new congressional report ahead of a House hearing today examining...

Was Agent Killed With Cartel Guns Supplied by US?

Feds refusing to provide answers on bungled weapons sting

(Newser) - The family of a US immigration agent who was shot dead by Mexican drug cartel gangsters is demanding to know if the guns that killed him came from the bungled federal "Fast and Furious" sting operation that put hundreds of weapons into the hands of smugglers, reports the Los ...

US Busts 7 Would-Be Drug Runners for Taliban

Men also tried to sell weapons, face extradition to US

(Newser) - The US is slapping seven men with charges of trying to peddle weapons and drugs to the Taliban, Reuters reports. In a global sting, agents posing as Taliban operatives arrested five men in Liberia and and two in Romania after the men went through on what they believed were legitimate...

Oregon Terror Suspect Sought 'Jihad' for Years

Mohamed Osman Mohamud: 'Since I was 15 I thought about all this'

(Newser) - FBI agents used another sting operation to foil a terror plot in Portland yesterday, as they did in Virginia recently. Steve Duin of the Oregonian is "incredibly thankful" to the FBI that all ended well, but adds this caveat: "It's still unclear how close Mohamed Osman Mohamud would...

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