Chris Christie

By Editorial Board
Asbury Park Press

Jury selection will begin Thursday in the trial of two former senior staff members of Gov. Chris Christie’s administration: Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff.

Both were indicted in May 2015 on charges of fraud, conspiracy and civil rights violations for their alleged role in the politically motivated George Washington Bridge lane-closure scheme three years ago this month.

But Baroni and Kelly won’t be the only ones on trial. So, too, will be Gov. Chris Christie, whose insistence that he had nothing to do with ordering the lane closures and knew nothing about them until long after the lane closings occurred, likely will either be confirmed or revealed as a lie during the course of the testimony.

Adding even more interest to one of New Jersey’s most highly anticipated trials in years will be the presence of Kelly’s high-powered defense attorney, Michael Critchley, whose exploits were detailed in Tuesday’s Press (“Feds may have hard case to prove in Bridgegate trial.”)

Among the defendants he has cleared were Michael “Mad Dog” Taccetta and 19 other reputed members of the Lucchese crime family, and a Newark police officer who was found, gun in hand, standing in his former bedroom by the naked body of his ex-wife’s lover.

Lee Robert Moore

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A Secret Service officer is facing charges of trying to solicit sex from who he thought was a 14-year-old girl, police said.

Lee Robert Moore, 38, was fired after the accusations surfaced.

The Sun Sentinel reports that Moore is accused of sexting underage girls while on duty at the White House.

Moore was indicted on three federal charges for allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover agent who was posing as a 14-year-old girl.

Moore, who was a uniformed Secret Service officer at the White House, has been in jail since he was arrested in November.

Moore “sought to use mobile technology to sexually exploit multiple minor, teenage girls from one of the most secure places on the planet. He did so while in the presence of other highly trained law enforcement officers and just yards from the President of the United States, his family, and senior administration officials he was then protecting. … The brazen and self-absorbed nature of his conduct is simply breathtaking,” federal prosecutors wrote.

It’s unclear whether Moore will be charged with additional crimes for allegedly sexting other underage girls.

Huntsville, Alabama

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Jorge Garcia, who recently retired as an assistant director over Directorate of Intelligence with the FBI, will join a nonprofit that is focused on economic development in Huntsville, Alabama.

Al.com reports that Garcia will be the organization’s executive director.

Garcia also served as the the director of the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center in Quantico, Va.

“Mr. Garcia has proven to be an outstanding member of the GEOHuntsville board of directors, and we look forward to his leadership as executive director,” Mayor Tommy Battle said.

Paul Ciancia

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A 26-year-old man who used a semi-automatic rifle to kill a TSA officer and wound three others at Los Angeles International Airport because he was angry about security checks pleaded guilty to murder and 10 other charges on Tuesday.

Paul Ciancia pleaded as part of a deal with prosecutors that will keep him off death row. Instead, he will face mandatory life in prison, the Los Angeles Times reports. 

Federal authorities said Ciancia shot TSA Officer Gerardo Hernandez 12 times at a passenger ID checkpoint in November 2013. Three other TSA officers were injured.

Ciancia was captured on security cameras as he stalked his victims.

A note from Ciancia said he was angry with airport security checks.

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