Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, a prominent Donald Trump supporter who has been a firebrand for the anti-immigration movement, is expected to be charged for willfully defying federal court orders.

The Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section said Tuesday it intends to take the Maricopa County sheriff to trial on criminal charges, the Washington Post reports. 

Arpaio is accused of failing to stop targeting undocumented immigrants without a legal basis.

Arpaio’s attorney, Mel McDonald, said the sheriff “vehemently denies that he was ever knowingly and willfully contemptuous of any court order” and plans to fight the case.

U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow ruled in August that the sheriff was defying the court’s order, and the sheriff’s office “continued to stop and detain persons based on factors including their race, and frequently arrested and delivered such persons to [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] when there were no state charges to bring against them.”

“Sheriff Arpaio did so based on the notoriety he received for, and the campaign donations he received because of, his immigration enforcement activity,” Snow wrote.

Hillary Clinton, via Wikipedia.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta, blamed Russia on attacking his personal email account and suggested Donald Trump’s campaign may have been involved.

Podesta’s private email account was hacked, and the FBI is investigating, the Clinton aide said, the Washington Post reports. 

“I’ve been involved in politics for nearly five decades, and this definitely is the first campaign that I’ve been involved with in which I’ve had to tangle with Russian intelligence agencies, who seem to be doing everything they can on behalf of our opponent,” Podesta told reporters.

Pedestal said the FBI told him on Sunday that his email hack is part of a wider investigation into potential Russian cyberattacks.

“Russian interference in this election and apparently on behalf of [Donald] Trump is, I think, of the utmost concern to all Americans, whether you’re a Democrat or independent or Republican,” Podesta said.

East Hartford, Conn.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI is investigating whether the Jordanian pilot who crashed a small plane into a utility pole in East Hartford did it intentionally.

One person was killed and another seriously injured in the crashed, CBS News reports.

The pilot, Feras M. Freitekh, entered the U.S. on a temporary student visa in 2012 for flight school.

The instructor told investigators that he believed the Cesna was intentionally crashed.

The crash occurred at 4 p.m., and the Piper PA 34 twin-engine plane burst into flames.

A passenger in the plane was killed, and the pilot was rushed to the hospital with serious burns.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Can a Border Patrol agent be sued for shooting and killing a Mexican teenager?

The Supreme Court decided Tuesday it will take up the case of a Border Patrol agent who shot and killed a Mexican teenager who was playing with friends, the Los Angeles Times reports. 

The victim of the 2010 shooting was an unarmed 15-year-old named Sergio Hernandez.

The central question: Does the 4th Amendment extend beyond the U.S. border patrolled by Border Patrol agents?

Lawyers for the parents of the teenager argue that the 4th Amendment’s ban on unreasonable seizures and the unjustified use of deadly force extends beyond the border where agents patrol.

Hernandez “was killed in a culvert the U.S. officials patrol and effectively control,” the lawyers wrote in their appeal to the high court.

Sarah Furay, dubbed the “Adorable Drug Kingpin.”

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A DEA agent’s daughter, whose smiling mugshot went viral, has been indicted 11 months after she was arrested on drug charges.

Sarah Elizabeth Furay, 20, was indicted on four charges related to drug dealing, the Houston Chronicle reports. 

She’s charged with possession with intent to deliver cocaine, methamphetamine and lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD. Furay also was charged with possession of marijuana.

Some of the media dubbed Furay as an “adorable drug kingpin” after she was arrested in November 2015.

The DEA confirmed in December that her father, Bill Furay, worked for the agency for more than 20 years and was then a supervisory special agent in the Houston division.

A trial date has not yet been scheduled.

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