Hawaii man arrested for trapping elderly woman in her car for days: Police
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(HONOLULU) — A Hawaii man was arrested for allegedly trapping an elderly woman in her car for several days and later forcing her to withdraw money from her bank account, according to the Honolulu Police Department.
On March 30, officials received reports of a kidnapping incident occurring in the Kailua and Kaneohe area, police said.
The suspect, a 22-year-old male, was arrested on Thursday for allegedly restraining a 78-year-old woman from leaving her vehicle for about three or four days, police said in a statement.
The woman was then brought to a bank by the suspect and “instructed to withdraw money from her account,” police said.
She was able to inform the employees at the bank, “who in turn contacted the police and informed the police of the situation,” officials said.
The suspect was “positively identified and arrested for kidnapping and robbery,” police said.
On Saturday, the suspect was charged with first-degree robbery, with a bail set to $30,000, police said.
The name of the suspect was not released by police.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday directed the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security to prepare the naval base at Guantanamo Bay to hold up to 30,000 immigrants awaiting deportation from the U.S.
ABC News’ Phil Lipof on Wednesday spoke with Karen Greenberg, director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University School of Law, to discuss the plan for the military base in Cuba.
ABC NEWS: The director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law School, Karen Greenberg. Karen, thanks for being with us. We are talking about an American military base on foreign soil. What does that mean for immigrants’ access to due process?
KAREN GREENBERG: OK, so first, it’s not really foreign soil in the United States’ terms — it’s an outpost of the United States. And that’s always been one of the confusing things about Guantanamo.
What it is is a place where, repeatedly, the United States has sought to place individuals without the kinds of protections by law that they have in the United States on the homeland, as we’ve seen with the detention of war on terror detainees. And also, you know, we can talk about the migration center as well, but it is not correct to call it on foreign soil. It is on a U.S. base located in Guantanamo Bay.
ABC NEWS: All right, so you’ve been to that facility where they’d be held at Guantanamo Bay. What challenges will the administration face in trying to implement the plan?
GREENBERG: So one big challenge that they’re going to face is basically the numbers he was throwing around. He threw out 30,000 — I don’t know that they have the capacity for that, but I have never heard that before. At the height that I knew about it, in the old days and the ’90s, I think they held 21,000 at the most.
They’ve held refugees repeatedly. In current context, President Biden talked about using it for migrants as well, but never, and we’re using it now for some intercepted asylum seekers and migrants. But that kind of capacity, that kind of number, hasn’t been thrown around before.
So I’m assuming that will mean they will need to build up some kind of facility, not just for the numbers they’re talking about in terms of migrants, but also for the guards, the health facilities, etc., etc., that we’ll need there.
And just to make a point there, they had to build Guantanamo detention facility, also, you know, for the war on terror detainees. And they did that very rapidly. They did it within 100 days, and built, you know, state-of-the-art maximum security prisons and housing for those who would need to attend to them. So it can be done quickly.
ABC NEWS: As you point out, the base has been used to hold much smaller numbers of immigrants for years. What could some of their experiences tell us about Guantanamo?
GREENBERG: Well, the reports are not good. And I want to say that it’s not just the past reports that are not good. It’s also, there was a report released in September by the International Refugee Assistance Project, which sort of detailed the conditions that migrants are held in currently at Guantanamo, which included unsanitary conditions, mistreatment, not to mention this sort of fuzzy legal status.
So I don’t think that’s projected well in the past, there’s also been in these prior times, in the ’70s and the ’90s also, you know, allegations of, and documents of mistreatment and unsanitary conditions, etc.
ABC NEWS: Certainly a lot to work out moving forward. Karen Greenberg, thank you.
A woman was charged for allegedly holding her “severely emaciated” stepson in captivity for over 20 years, since he was 11 years old, and forcing him to endure “prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment,” police said. Facebook / Waterbury Police Department
(WATERBURY, Conn.) — A woman was charged for allegedly holding her “severely emaciated” stepson in captivity for over 20 years, since he was 11 years old, and forcing him to endure “prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment,” police said.
The discovery of the now 32-year-old man happened on Feb. 17, when Waterbury Police Department officers in Connecticut, along with personnel from the Waterbury Fire Department, responded to a report of an active fire at a residence on Blake Street at approximately 8:42 p.m.
The fire was quickly extinguished by authorities and two occupants were found inside the home at the time. The first person was identified as 56-year-old Kimberly Sullivan, the owner of the property who called authorities for help, and the second person was identified as a 32-year-old man who was later determined to be Sullivan’s stepson.
Sullivan was evacuated to safety following the fire but the male occupant, who had suffered smoke inhalation and exposure to the fire, had to be assisted from the home by Waterbury Fire Department personnel and was placed in the care of emergency medical services.
However, the case immediately took a turn when police began to speak with the man.
“While receiving medical care, the male victim disclosed to first responders that he had intentionally set the fire in his upstairs room, stating, ‘I wanted my freedom,’” officials said in their statement regarding the case. “He further alleged that he had been held captive by Sullivan since he was approximately 11 years old.”
“Following these alarming statements, the Waterbury Police Department Major Crimes Unit, in collaboration with the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office, launched an extensive investigation,” authorities continued. “Detectives determined that the victim had been held in captivity for over 20 years, enduring prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment.”
The 32-year-old was also found in a “severely emaciated condition and had not received medical or dental care” during his time in captivity inside the home over the past two decades, according to police.
“Investigators further discovered that he had been provided with only minimal amounts of food and water which led to his extremely malnourished condition,” police continued.
As a result of the investigation, Sullivan was identified as a suspect, and an arrest warrant was issued on Tuesday.
Sullivan was located by police on Wednesday and taken into police custody by the Waterbury Police Department on charges of assault in the first degree, kidnapping in the second degree, unlawful restraint in the first degree, cruelty to persons and reckless endangerment in the first degree, police said.
“The suffering this victim endured for over 20 years is both heartbreaking and unimaginable,” said Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo. “This case required relentless investigative effort, and I commend the dedication of our officers and the Waterbury State’s Attorney’s Office. Their unwavering commitment ensured that justice is served, and the perpetrator is held fully accountable for these horrific crimes.”
Sullivan was subsequently arraigned in court and her bond was set at $300,000. She is now expected to be placed in the custody of the Connecticut Department of Corrections while she awaits trial.
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(NEW YORK) — At least 98 people were arrested Thursday at a protest in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan that called for the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil — the pro-Palestinian activist and green card holder arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week.
Protesters are facing charges of trespass and resisting arrest, according to the New York Police Department.
Hundreds of Jewish protesters wearing “Not in Our Name” t-shirts staged a sit-in in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan. Protesters entered the lobby in two groups, including many who entered the public lobby area in civilian clothes hiding their protest gear underneath, according to police.
The NYPD said it is familiar with this protest group and its tactics. As in other Trump Tower incidents, police were only called to the public lobby area once Trump’s security deemed it necessary
The protesters carried banners in support of Khalil, who was a leader of protests against the war in Gaza at Columbia University, that said “Jews say Free Mahmoud & Free Palestine” and “Fight Nazis Not Students.”
“As Jews of conscience, we know our history and we know where this leads. This is what fascists do as they cement control. This moment requires all people of conscience to take bold action to resist state violence and repression. Free Mahmoud now,” Jane Hirschmann, a Jewish New Yorker whose grandfather and uncle were abducted by the Nazis during Hitler’s rise to power, said in a statement.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations also announced it is filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of Khalil and other students against Columbia University and the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce over the committee’s request to disclose thousands of student records.
Khalil, who has not been charged with a crime, is currently being held in Louisiana after being detained in New York earlier this week.
His wife, who is 8 months pregnant, said the couple have been preparing for the arrival of their baby.
“Mahmoud has been ripped away from me for no reason at all. I am pleading with the world to continue to speak up against his unjust and horrific detention by the Trump administration,” she said in a statement to ABC News on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump’s administration has alleged that Khalil — who was a leader of the pro-Palestinian encampment protests on Columbia’s campus — was a supporter of Hamas. Baher Azmy, one of Khalil’s lawyers, called his client’s alleged alignment with Hamas “false and preposterous.”
“Setting aside the false and preposterous premise that advocating on behalf of Palestinian human rights and to plead with public officials to stop an ongoing genocide constitutes alignment with Hamas, his speech is absolutely protected by the Constitution, and it should be chilling to everyone that the United States government could punish or try to deport someone because they disapprove of the speech they’re engaged in,” Azmy told ABC News on Monday.
The administration has not provided any evidence showing Khalil’s alleged support for the militant group.
