Cleveland Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase, Luis Ortiz to stand trial next year amid sports betting scandal
Luis L. Ortiz #45 of the Cleveland Guardians pitches against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park on June 21, 2025, in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Scott Marshall/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Emmanuel Clase and his Cleveland Guardians teammate Luis Ortiz will stand trial May 4 on charges they allegedly rigged their pitches so sports bettors could profit.
Judge Kiyo Matsumoto scheduled the trial date on Tuesday during a brief status conference. The judge said the trial could last about two weeks.
At this point, federal prosecutors said they have not extended plea offers to the defendants, both of whom were present in Brooklyn federal court.
According to their indictments, the pitchers started conspiring with sports bettors in 2023 on specific pitches they would throw during MLB games. The bettors then used that information to place prop bets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the indictment said.
The bettors wagered on the speed and type of Clase’s pitches based on information they knew in advance by coordinating with Clase, sometimes even during MLB games, prosecutors said. Clase often threw these allegedly rigged pitches on the first pitch of an at-bat, investigators said. To ensure certain pitches were called as balls, Clase threw many of them in the dirt, well outside the strike zone, according to investigators.
In exchange, Clase received bribes and kickbacks, prosecutors said.
The indictment includes numerous examples of pitches Clase allegedly rigged. In total, by rigging pitches, Clase caused his co-conspirator bettors to win at least $400,000 in fraudulent wagers, according to investigators.
Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme this year, according to the indictment, and allegedly agreed in advance to throw balls instead of strikes on pitches in two games in exchange for bribes and kickbacks.
Both Clase and Ortiz have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24,2022 during the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 05, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — The criminal case will continue against former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales, who is accused of placing more than two dozen children in “imminent danger” by failing to respond to the 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting as it unfolded.
Harle said he may exclude the part of Tuesday’s testimony from former teacher Stephanie Hale, who testified for the prosecution that she saw the shooter, Salvador Ramos, on the south side of the school. In an interview days after the shooting, Hale told investigators that she had not seen the shooter — a change in her account that defense attorneys said was not disclosed to them.
Defense attorney Jason Goss argued that the change in testimony affected their strategy during jury selection.
“I don’t believe what was testified to in front of the jury resonated enough to significantly affect your trial strategy,” the judge said.
While defense attorneys argued that the teacher provided the only evidence that the shooter was on the south side of the school, prosecutors said that bullet casings would corroborate their argument.
The prosecution and defense agreed to resume the trial on Thursday, with Hale still on the stand.
Based on the agreement reached, the defense will play part of Hale’s original interview with state investigators in the days after the shooting, when she said she did not see the shooter nor believe she was being shot at.
Prosecutors will have the chance to question Hale again, and defense attorneys reserved the right to ask for the testimony to ultimately be excluded.
Outside court, Jesse Rizo, whose 9-year-old niece Jackie Cazares was killed in the shooting, expressed relief that the case will go forward, saying a mistrial would have been an “injustice.”
He said his confidence in District Attorney Christina Mitchell was shaken by the potential mistrial, but said he believes she learned from her mistake.
“I have confidence that she learned, I have confidence that she went back home last night … and she basically took the lessons, and she came back in today, she seemed a little more prepared, to me, to be honest, a little more assertive, a little more confident,” he said.
Defense attorney Nico LaHood said outside court he was happy with Wednesday’s outcome and trusts the jury.
“We really trust this process, so we believe this remedy the judge did was appropriate,” he said. “We preserved the error, and then we’ll proceed tomorrow.”
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the May 24, 2022, shooting at Robb. Investigations faulted the police response and suggested that a 77-minute delay in police mounting a counterassault could have contributed to the carnage that day.
Gonzales, who was one of nearly 400 law enforcement officers to respond to the scene, was charged with 29 counts of child endangerment for allegedly ignoring his training during the botched police response. Gonzales has pleaded not guilty and his legal team maintains he’s being scapegoated.
This case marks the second time in U.S. history that prosecutors have sought to hold a member of law enforcement criminally accountable for their response to a mass shooting.
Cars make their way to Hobby Airport in Houston on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images
(HOUSTON) — A man has been detained by police after allegedly exhibiting “unruly and unlawful behavior towards other customers” that caused a flight to return to Houston shortly after taking off, according to Delta Airlines and law enforcement.
The flight, departing from William P. Hobby Airport, was headed to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“The safety of our customers and crew is paramount, and Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior. We apologize to our customers for this experience and delay in their travels,” Delta said in a statement on Wednesday.
After taking off, it landed at the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston around 5:40 a.m. local time, according to the FAA. The flight was only in the air for about 15 minutes.
Earlier reports and air traffic controller audio alleged the man was attempting to breach the cockpit of a Delta Airlines flight but Delta said he “did not make contact with or attempt to access the flight deck,” in a statement to ABC News.
A call reporting that “apparently an individual tried to gain entry into a cockpit” was made at around 5:35 a.m., according to the Houston Police Department. Police officers were dispatched to Gate 32 at the airport, where multiple police cars surrounded the aircraft, according to KTRK.
On air traffic controller audio, one of the pilots can be heard telling controllers, “we had a passenger get up and try to access the cockpit,” and that “he assaulted another passenger,” who the pilot said they wanted to get checked out.
Video reviewed and verified by ABC News shows a passenger whose hands are bound being escorted off a Delta flight 2557 on Wednesday morning in Houston.
The FAA said the flight “returned safely” to Hobby “after the crew reported a passenger disturbance.” The FAA said it will investigate the incident.
There were 85 passengers and five crew on board the plane. The flight re-departed and arrived in Atlanta, about 90 minutes behind schedule, Delta said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ICE Police and Immigration & Deportation (Douglas Rissing/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Department of Homeland Security has now picked another state on which to focus its immigration enforcement action: Maine.
On Wednesday, DHS launched “Operation Catch of the Day” — an operation targeting criminal illegal migrants in the state, according to a DHS spokesperson.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
