14-year-old arrested on terrorism charges after allegedly discussing plans to shoot up church in Florida
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister speaks at a press conference on Feb. 4, 2026. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
(WIMAUMA, Fla.) — A 14-year-old is in custody after allegedly discussing plans to carry out a shooting at a church in Wimauma, Florida, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister announced Wednesday.
The teen suspect allegedly “engaged in an online chat room that’s designed or designated for violent extremists,” Chronister said.
The sheriff said that the suspect is also allegedly linked to a Neo-Nazi Satanic group.
The sheriff’s office served a search warrant at the teen’s residence, where they allegedly found multiple firearms, ammunition, and electronic devices containing child sexual abuse material.
Sheriff Chronister said the firearms recovered included one from his father’s nightstand “that he easily could have had access to.”
“Think about the potential of the violence that could have occurred,” Chronister added.
The suspect was arrested at his home on Jan. 31. Just days earlier, the Joint Terrorism Task Force received information from the Internet Predator Unit that they were investigating a computer at the same residence, Chronister said.
In addition to terrorism charges, the suspect is charged with fourteen counts of solicitation or possession of child pornography.
Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein are seen in one of the images released by the US Department of State. (The US Justice Department / Handout /Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted co-conspirator of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is again asking a federal judge in New York to vacate her sex trafficking conviction and release her from prison.
Maxwell submitted her new request, which she wrote herself, to federal prosecutors in New York, who said they received “a FedEx envelope — marked with a ‘ship date’ of April 16, 2026 — that contained a USB drive with the defendant’s amended motion and exhibits,” according to a letter to the district court that was posted online early Monday morning.
Prosecutors did not disclose details of Maxwell’s argument, which has not yet been filed on the public docket, but said it “seems to have some overlap” with her original motion to dismiss that district and appellate courts rejected in 2024. The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently declined to hear her appeal.
Having exhausted all of her direct appeals, Maxwell filed a habeas petition this past December in which she contended that “substantial new evidence has emerged” regarding her case. Maxwell’s submission this week comes after the district court judge, in February, allowed Maxwell to submit an amendment to that petition following the Justice Department’s release of the Epstein files.
Maxwell previously argued, unsuccessfully, that her conviction and her 20-year sentence should be tossed because she did not receive a fair trial and was covered by the non-prosecution agreement that Epstein’s attorneys had negotiated for him as part of the wealthy financier’s 2028 plea deal.
She also argued her conviction was based on vague allegations of “grooming” victims that did not amount to a crime.
Maxwell is currently serving her sentence for aiding and participating in Epstein’s trafficking of underage girls, which involved a scheme to recruit young women and girls for massages of Epstein that turned sexual. Federal prosecutors in New York said Maxwell helped Epstein recruit, groom and ultimately abuse girls as young as 14.
In an interview with then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month, Ghislaine Maxwell said nothing during the interview that would be harmful to President Donald Trump, telling Blanche that Trump had never done anything in her presence that would have caused concern, according to sources familiar with what Maxwell said.
Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019.
The booking photo for Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson. (Jefferson Parish Jail)
(NEW ORLEANS) — A Louisiana sheriff has been indicted on over two dozen felony counts following a brazen jailbreak last year that saw 10 inmates escape from a New Orleans detention center, officials announced Wednesday.
A special grand jury indicted Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson on 30 felony counts, according to the Louisiana Attorney General’s office.
Bianka Brown, the chief financial officer for the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, was also indicted on 20 felony counts, the office said.
“While Sheriff Hutson did not personally open the doors of the jail for the escapees, her refusal to comply with basic legal requirements and to take even minimal precautions in the discharge of her duties directly contributed to and enabled the escape,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement.
Hutson was indicted on 14 counts of malfeasance in office and four counts of conspiracy to commit malfeasance in office. Additional counts included filing or maintaining false public records and obstruction of justice. A judge set her bond at $300,000.
Brown was indicted on similar charges and her bond was set at $200,000.
Both were booked into the Jefferson Parish Jail last night for security reasons and have since bonded out.
During a status hearing Thursday morning, they surrendered their passports and were told not to leave Louisiana.
Their attorneys declined to comment to ABC News New Orleans affiliate WGNO.
Murrill requested that Orleans Parish convene the special grand jury following the May 16, 2025, jailbreak, her office said.
Authorities said the 10 inmates escaped from the Orleans Justice Center in the early morning hours after climbing through a hole behind a toilet. Their disappearance was not noticed for several hours and touched off a massive manhunt.
Three of the 10 inmates who escaped were apprehended in New Orleans within the first 24 hours of the jailbreak. Others were captured in the following days, including in Baton Rouge and Texas.
The ninth inmate, Antoine Massey, was located in New Orleans in late June 2025 after the sheriff’s office said it received a tip. Louisiana authorities were investigating a video circulating online earlier that month that appeared to show Massey pleading to rappers and President Donald Trump to help him while he was still on the run.
The tenth and final inmate, Derrick Groves, was apprehended following a “brief stand-off” in Atlanta in October 2025, police said.
Over a dozen people were arrested on suspicion of helping the escapees, including another inmate in the jail and a jail maintenance worker who is accused of shutting off water to the toilet, allowing escapees to remove it.
“Nearly a year ago, I made a commitment to the people of New Orleans and the people of our state that those responsible for the Orleans Parish Prison break would be held accountable,” Murrill said in a statement. “Since that day, through the hard work of my office, along with the Louisiana State Police and our many federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, every escapee is behind bars, and others who facilitated and enabled the escape are currently being prosecuted.”
Hutson ran for reelection last year but drew just 17% of the vote. In a final speech to her staff on Tuesday, she said that over the past four years, the sheriff’s office has become a “stronger, more accountable and definitely more modern organization.”
She acknowledged the jailbreak while talking with reporters, saying, “It’s completely overshadowed the hard work.”
“It’s not going to define me,” she added. “That whole story hasn’t been told yet, but I hope it is told.”
Orleans Parish Sheriff-elect Michelle Woodfork will be sworn in on Monday. Murrill said she will continue to work with Woodfork “on how to improve operations, secure the facility, and build in basic financial oversight that complies with state law.”
Brianna Arango is seen in an undated photo released by the Southern Methodist University Police Department. Southern Methodist University Police Department
(DALLAS) — A missing Texas college student has been found safe, police said Friday.
Brianna Arango, 21, a student at Southern Methodist University, was reported missing on Thursday, according to police.
A family member contacted SMU Police at approximately 3:30 p.m. Thursday to report that Arango did not meet with them as planned earlier that afternoon, campus police said. She had a class at 1 p.m. that she also did not attend, police said.
She was last seen that day on the Dallas campus around 12:30 p.m. near Harold Simmons Hall, according to the Southern Methodist University Police Department.
SMU Police said in an advisory on Thursday that they were working to locate her and were “treating this as a matter of concern” while asking for the campus community’s help in locating her.
Campus police updated Friday that they had located Arangao and she is safe.
The incident remains under investigation, police said.
“We know this situation was concerning for many in our community, and we are grateful for your attention and assistance,” SMU Police said. “This remains an active investigation, and law enforcement is limited in the details that can be shared at this time.”
