Frezja Matisse Baker in a photo released by police. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’
(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — Missing North Carolina mother Frezja Matisse Baker was pronounced dead by police after she was found in a vehicle on Thursday, officials said. Authorities are investigating her death.
Baker was found unresponsive in her vehicle at around 9:35 a.m. before being pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Her cause of death has not yet been determined, police noted.
Baker was last seen just before 10 p.m. last Thursday, Dec. 4, driving her gray blue 2004 Honda Accord, authorities said.
Baker’s family members expressed concern for her well-being earlier this week and had been seeking information on her whereabouts, according to police.
“I just want my baby home, I just want her home, I just want her home, in good health and good, that’s all,” Baker’s mother, who requested anonymity, told WSOC.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call 704-432-8477 (TIPS) and speak directly to a Homicide Unit detective — Detective Buhr is the lead detective assigned to this case. The public can also leave information anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600 or Charlotte Crime Stoppers.
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court on August 13, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A judge in New York has set a tentative date of March 3 for Harvey Weinstein’s re-trial on a charge of raping Jessica Mann.
A defense lawyer said Thursday that Weinstein would consider pleading guilty to the charge — third-degree rape — however, Weinstein made a statement in court insisting that he has never attacked anyone.
If Weinstein ultimately stands trial again, it would be the third time he goes on trial in Manhattan. His initial conviction was overturned on appeal. His second trial ended in a conviction on the Mimi Haley count, an acquittal on the Kaja Sokola count and a mistrial on the Mann count.
Earlier on Thursday, Judge Curtis Faber rejected Weinstein’s bid for a new trial in Haley’s case, ruling juror complaints about decorum in the deliberation room were adequately addressed.
The defense had argued two jurors subsequently claimed they were pressured to convict, but Farber said Thursday, “The Court’s response to the jurors’ complaints appropriately balanced the competing interests of investigating the allegations while avoiding any unnecessary taint of the deliberating jury.”
Weinstein, 73, remains in custody at Rikers Island in New York City after nearly six years of confinement. A representative for the disgraced Hollywood producer said he is “medically fragile and in legal limbo.”
A photo illustration of a physical gold Bitcoin collectible on December 3,2025, in London, England. (Photo by Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)
(MAINE) — One of the country’s top cryptocurrency kiosk vendors has agreed to pay the state of Maine nearly $2 million as part of a settlement to compensate victims of fraud, the state announced on Monday.
Bitcoin Depot, which operates more than 25,000 bitcoin ATMs across the country, will pay the state $1.9 million, which represents money “taken by third-party scammers who defrauded Maine consumers through their kiosks.”
Victims of fraud perpetrated using Bitcoin Depot kiosks may apply for compensation from the state. As part of the settlement, Bitcoin Depot admits to no wrongdoing or violation of state or federal laws.
Bitcoin ATMs, which allow users to insert cash and send it to a digital wallet anywhere in the world in only a few minutes, have emerged as scammers’ top go-to method for separating Americans from their cash, according to experts.
In a typical scam, fraudsters will convince their victims that they must make a payment or safeguard their cash by inserting it in a bitcoin ATM. Once the transaction is executed, experts say, the money can be nearly impossible to recover — making it an attractive method for prospective scammers.
In 2025, Americans lost more than $333 million to bitcoin ATM scams, the FBI recently told ABC News, representing a dramatic uptick from prior years.
Maine has taken some of the nation’s most aggressive steps in limiting the proliferation of scams using bitcoin ATMs, including establishing daily deposit limits and capping transaction fees.
A spokesperson for Bitcoin Depot, which currently faces a separate lawsuit in Iowa, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
A sign is displayed outside of the Mary E. Switzerland Memorial Building which houses the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on June 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
(MINNEAPOLIS) — An official with the Department of Health and Human Services says the agency has “frozen all child care payments” to the state of Minnesota after allegations of fraudulent day care centers there.
In addition, HHS is tightening requirements for payments from the Administration for Children and Families to all states, requiring a justification and a receipt or photo evidence, Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill said in a post on social media Tuesday.
The move comes after an unverified online video from conservative influencer Nick Shirley alleging fraud in child care in Somali communities in Minneapolis. Minnesota officials had disputed the allegations.
In the post, O’Neill wrote the agency was taking steps to address “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country” and said HHS was demanding Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz conduct a “comprehensive audit” of day care centers identified in the viral video.
In a post on social media, Walz responded to the move by HHS, writing: “This is Trump’s long game. We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue – but this has been his plan all along. He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans.”
Earlier this week, Minnesota officials had also pushed back on the claims made in the video that went viral last week.
Conservative influencer Nick Shirley posted a 40-minute-long video alleging fraud in childcare in Somali communities in Minneapolis. In the video, Shirley allegedly visited daycares that he said have taken public funds, but there were no children when he visited.
ABC News has not independently verified any of his claims. Unrelated allegations of fraud have been under investigation by state officials dating back to the time of the Biden administration.
According to Minneapolis-St. Paul ABC News affiliate KSTP, Tikki Brown, the commissioner of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, raised concerns about the video, including whether videos were taken during times when the businesses were scheduled to be open.
“While we have questions about some of the methods that were used in the video, we do take the concerns that the video raises about fraud very seriously,” Brown said on Monday.
“Each of the facilities mentioned in the video has been visited at least once in the last six months as part of our typical licensing process, and in fact, our staff are out in the community today to visit each of these sites again so that we can look into the concerns that were raised in the video,” she added.
Brown noted that children were present during the unannounced visits by the state at all the visits.
The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on the video or the allegations of fraud.
After the video Shirley posted to social media went viral, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in an X post that her department was conducting a “massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.” Similarly, FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency had already surged resources into Minnesota and that he believed alleged fraud already uncovered on federal food aid during COVID was “just the tip of a very large iceberg.”
“To date, the FBI dismantled a $250 million fraud scheme that stole federal food aid meant for vulnerable children during COVID,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a Sunday evening X post. “The investigation exposed sham vendors, shell companies, and large-scale money laundering tied to the Feeding Our Future network.”
The COVID fraud scheme was uncovered during the Biden administration, but charges have been brought as late as this year.
At a cabinet meeting earlier this month, President Donald Trump criticized the U.S. Somali community, citing allegations of fraud in Minnesota.
One of the most senior career prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota commented on massive amounts of alleged fraud in the state at a press conference earlier this month.
“The magnitude of fraud in Minnesota cannot be overstated. It’s staggering amounts of money that’s been lost,” prosecutor Joe Thompson said on Dec. 18.
