Jerry Seper

DNA not a match for latest tip to ID skyjacker in 1971

FBI officials in Washington state, who last week were investigating a "promising lead" in the nearly 40-year-old case of skyjacker D.B. Cooper who escaped with a $200,000 ransom after parachuting out of a commercial airliner over the Pacific Northwest, said a new DNA test does not match a new suspect in the case.

August 8, 2011

Eminent domain used to push out blacks, suit says

The Justice Department has brought a lawsuit against Joliet, Ill., accusing the city of seeking to "limit or reduce" its number of black residents by seizing a federally subsidized housing development through eminent domain.

August 7, 2011

$1 million Romney donor steps forward

Just hours after two Washington-based campaign-finance watchdogs requested an investigation of a company they suspected had been created to funnel $1 million to a Super PAC supporting presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the anonymous donor identified himself as a Romney associate.

August 7, 2011

Watchdogs want FEC, Justice probe of Romney fund-raising

The Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department have been asked by two Washington, D.C. watchdog groups to investigate possible violations of campaign finance law by a company they suspect was created to funnel $1 million to a Super PAC operated by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign staffers.

August 5, 2011

Jury convicts five police officers in post-Katrina shootings

A federal jury on Friday convicted five officers from the New Orleans Police Department on 25 counts in connection with the federal prosecution of a police-involved shooting on the Danziger Bridge in the days after Hurricane Katrina and an extensive cover-up of those shootings.

August 5, 2011

U.S. sues Joliet, Ill., in low-income housing battle

The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the city of Joliet, Ill., alleging it violated the law in the taking through eminent domain a federally-subsidized affordable housing development that will displace more than 750 low-income residents, more than 95 percent of whom are black, the department said Friday.

August 5, 2011

Secret club rewarded lurid child sex abuse

Some of the children featured in the images and videos were just infants. Others, all of them 12 or younger, were crying, the victims of intentional and obvious pain. It was just what the online members of "Dreamboard" wanted, in fact required as part of the initiation fee.

August 3, 2011

Alabama defends its immigration law

Alabama officials Tuesday criticized a Justice Department lawsuit challenging the state's tough new immigration law, arguing that the federal government's failure to enforce its own immigration statutes had forced the states to do so.

August 2, 2011

Suspect arrested in slayings of U.S. Consulate employees

Mexican authorities have arrested a former federal police officer accused of ordering 1,500 killings during a campaign of terrorism along the U.S.-Mexico border and masterminding the attack last year that killed a U.S. Consulate employee, her husband and the husband of another Consulate worker in Ciudad Juarez.

July 31, 2011

Dow to pay $2.5 million for leaks at Michigan plant

The Dow Chemical Company will pay $2.5 million to settle violations of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conversation and Recovery Act at its chemical manufacturing and research complex in Midland, Mich., the Justice Department said Friday.

July 29, 2011

Bill targets public corruption

Bipartisan legislation giving prosecutors new tools to identify, investigate and prosecute criminal conduct by public officials - including an extension of the statute of limitations and an increase in maximum penalties - was approved Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

July 28, 2011

Agents could lose thousands in salary

Officials at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have proposed a new salary plan for Border Patrol agents that could cost them an average of $7,000 a year in lost pay and spark what some say would be an exodus of veteran agents to higher-paying agencies.

July 24, 2011

675,000 stolen credit card numbers gets hacker 10 years in prison

A Georgia man was sentenced Friday in federal court in Virginia to 10 years in prison for trafficking in counterfeit credit cards and aggravated identity theft, accused of stealing 675,000 credit card numbers leading to $36 million in losses.

July 22, 2011

DEA: 1,900 Mexican cartel members nabbed in drugs, money probe

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, following a 20-month nationwide investigation, said Thursday it has arrested more than 1,900 members of a Mexican drug cartel as part of an operation known as "Project Delirium."

July 21, 2011

House to question ATF officials on guns to Mexico

Several top ATF officials will testify Tuesday before a House committee investigating the controversial "Fast and Furious" weapons program and likely will be asked whether they were ordered not to tell Mexican authorities that guns recovered at crime scenes in that country had been illegally purchased in the U.S.

July 20, 2011

Citizen help sought in stopping ‘slavery’

A public awareness campaign designed to educate citizens and encourage vigilance to combat human trafficking within local communities will begin Monday, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) asking the public to join the fight against "this form of modern-day slavery."

July 20, 2011

FBI arrest points to Pakistan influence-peddling scheme

A Virginia man was arrested Tuesday by FBI agents in a suspected influence-peddling scheme to funnel millions of dollars from the Pakistani government, including its military intelligence service, to U.S. elected officials to help drive India out of the disputed Kashmir territory in South Asia.

July 19, 2011

Lawmakers want answers about ATF gun operation

Two Republican lawmakers investigating a controversial Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives weapons operation known as "Fast and Furious" have asked the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration to explain what role their agents played in the investigation.

July 18, 2011

Dozens arrested, charged in Calif. gang sweep

More than 500 federal agents and state and local law enforcement authorities swept through an Orange County, Calif., neighborhood Friday that had been the territory of the Mexican Mafia in what one official called a "critical blow" to the gang's prison-based leadership and those members and associates they control throughout the region.

July 15, 2011

Florida firm tied to foreign bribery

A Florida company, its president and director, the president of a second firm and two former Haitian government officials were named Wednesday in an indictment that accuses them of having roles in a foreign bribery, wire fraud and money laundering scheme.

July 13, 2011