Five indicted by the Feds in $11M health care fraud scheme
May 16th, 20230 DETROIT – An Oakland County doctor and a certified social worker are among five people facing federal charges in connection with an $11 million health care fraud scheme through a Farmington Hills psychotherapy agency, officials said. Two of the five charged, Mohamed Kazkaz, 54, of Farmington Hills and Ziad Khalel, 52, of Rochester...
Minneapolis authorities investigating two mosque fires on consecutive days
May 1st, 20230 Emergency crews responded to fires at two mosques in south Minneapolis over two consecutive days and authorities are asking for help identifying a man believed to be involved in one of the fires. According to the Minneapolis Fire Department, the first fire happened Sunday evening at the Masjid Omar Islamic Center inside the 24 Somali...
U.S. citizen gets 20 years for joining ISIS
April 8th, 20230 MIAMI — A U.S. citizen who moved his family to Syria to join the ISIS terrorist group has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. Emraan Ali, 55, a U.S. citizen born in Trinidad and Tobago, was sentenced Tuesday in Miami federal court, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in November to conspiring to provide material...
Suspect in operation to kidnap Governor Whitmer pleads guilty
March 23rd, 20230 LANSING – Brian Higgins, 54, of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support for terrorism, a five-year felony, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on Wednesday, March 15. Higgins was among several men charged as a result of a joint operation by state and federal...
U.S. rights groups call on the Biden administration to ban Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country
March 10th, 20230 Several advocacy and rights groups throughout the United States are calling for the U.S. government to issue an entry ban on Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, after Smotrich called for Huwwara to be “wiped out” earlier this week. Through multiple statements, several groups, including rabbinical groups and...
Michigan Democrats introduce gun violence prevention bills
February 28th, 20230 LANSING — On Wednesday, Michigan House Democrats joined their Senate colleagues in introducing legislation to encourage gun safety and help prevent acts of violence like the shooting that took place last week at Michigan State University. “Gun violence has touched the lives of countless Americans. I personally have family members...
Oak Lawn, IL police officer facing criminal charges after punching Arab American teen during arrest
February 24th, 20231 OAK LAWN, IL — A police officer is facing criminal charges following a video that surfaced showing him and several other police officers punching a 17-year-old boy while trying to arrest him. The arrest took place last summer. According to reports, officer Patrick O'Donnell was indicted by a grand jury in Cook County on Tuesday. He...
Here are the top scams of 2022, totaling $8.8 billion in losses
February 24th, 20230 What are scammers up to these days? Every day, people just like you tell the FTC what they’ve spotted, and maybe even lost money to. Then, every year, the FTC rolls up all those millions of reports about fraud, scams and bad business practices to tell the story: what ARE scammers up to these days? The 2022 headline is this: scammers...
Arab American teen charged with stabbing his father to death at convenience store in Indiana, then going to school
February 24th, 20230 FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Ahmed Al-Malahi, 16, was arrested in Indiana and charged for the Feb. 7 murder of his father, Tawfika Al-Malahi. The Al-Malachi family moved recently from Dearborn to Indiana to open a store in Fort Wayne. The Coroner’s Office in Allen County, Indiana confirmed that Fort Wayne Police found Tawfika...
Remembering the Michigan State University shooting victims
February 17th, 20230 Photos: Phi Delta Theta MSU Fraternity Facebook; Clawson Public Schools Instagram; The Detroit News The Michigan State University students who were shot and killed on Feb. 13 have been identified. The three victims are Alexandria Verner, Brian Fraser and Arielle Anderson. Loved ones of the victims spoke highly of their lives as...
Michigan State shooter identified and died of self-inflicted gunshot wound
February 17th, 20230 LANSING — The Michigan State University shooter has been identified by state officials as 43-year-old Anthony McRae, who killed three people and wounded five at the university. According to reports, he was charged with various gun related crimes back in 2019 and had a history of mental health issues. Authorities reported that McRae...
23 Michigan residents, including Arab Americans, charged in $61.5 million Medicare scheme
February 10th, 20230 Twenty-three Michigan residents were accused of illegal fraudulent schemes that involved defrauding Medicare of more than $61.5 million by billing Medicare for unnecessary medical services that were never administered and by paying kickbacks and bribes, according to official reports. “As alleged, the defendants and their...
Up to $50,000 reward being offered for information after a mail carrier was robbed at gunpoint in Dearborn
February 10th, 20230 DEARBORN — A United States Postal Service letter carrier was robbed at gunpoint on Tuesday in Dearborn. The suspect is now wanted. The armed robber approached and robbed the mail carrier near the intersection of Pardee Avenue and Penn Street around 11:30 a.m. The man escaped east on Penn Street in a gray dodge charger after the...
Dearborn man arrested for Santa Monica stabbing death of his friend
February 4th, 20230 DEARBORN – On November 2, at approximately 2:43 p.m., Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) officers were dispatched to the Lot 1 North Parking Lot at 1550 Pacific Coast Highway to check the status of a male inside a vehicle that appeared to be deceased. When officers arrived on scene, they confirmed the subject to be...
Feds investigate former Republican House Speaker Rick Johnson for alleged bribery in marijuana licensing
February 4th, 20230 LANSING – The FBI and a federal grand jury have been investigating former Republican Michigan House Speaker Rick Johnson for more than two years for suspicion of taking bribes in return for awarding medical marijuana licenses, reports The Detroit News. According to three sources familiar with the matter, who chose to remain......
New York woman charged with financing terrorist groups in Syria through cryptocurrency
February 4th, 20230 A New York City woman has been charged with using cryptocurrency to provide financial support to terrorist groups in Syria, a rare prosecution involving virtual currency to fund terrorism. The 11-count indictment charged Victoria Jacobs, 43, who was known as Bakhrom Talipov, with providing support for an act of terrorism, money...
Dearborn man convicted of aiding ISIS in Syria
February 3rd, 20230 DETROIT — A Dearborn man who was captured on a Syrian battlefield in 2018 has been convicted on charges of providing support to ISIS and attending one of the group's training camps, prosecutors said. A federal jury convicted Ibraheem Izzy Musaibli, 32, on Monday of charges of providing and attempting to provide material support to...
Michigan doctor sentenced to 16.5 years in prison for his part in a fraudulent health care scheme
February 3rd, 20230 A Michigan doctor, Francisco Patino, M.D., was sentenced to 16.5 years in prison for his role in a fraudulent health care scheme. This scheme generated more than $250 million in false and counterfeit claims that were submitted to Medicare, Medicaid and other health insurance programs, as well exploited patients suffering from addiction...California is a killing field: 19 dead in 3 mass shootings within 44 hours
Forty-four hours in America. Three mass shootings. Nineteen lives wiped out. All in California. The victims in suburban Monterey Park included people between the ages of 57 and 76, ringing in the Lunar New Year Saturday night, Jan. 21, at a dance studio in the heart of the city’s Asian American community. Then it happened......
Chokr faces up to 10 years in prison for lying on forms to buy three guns, remains in custody
January 27th, 20231 On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted Hassan Yehia Chokr on federal charges in connection with an anti-Semitic attack last month at a synagogue in Oakland County as new details emerged in court about his activity at a gun shop the day of the incident. Chokr, 35, who is accused of intimidating children and parents at Temple Beth El in...
Dearborn Heights lawyer allegedly scams 81-year-old woman out of her Canton home
January 27th, 20230 Juliette Long, an 81-year-old widow, was looking to sell her home of 28 years as it was facing foreclosure. A pair of real estate agents listed her home in Canton for sale and got an offer for it after two months on the market. This offer would leave Long with a large amount of money from her home's equity and would allow her to move......
Dearborn woman convicted in fraudulent $65 million pharmaceutical coupon scheme
January 20th, 20230 DEARBORN — On Friday, January 13, a Dearborn woman was convicted by a federal jury on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to her participation in a multi-year scheme to obtain more than $65 million from numerous pharmaceutical co-pay assistance programs, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison. Joining...
Detroit man charged with shooting at undercover Dearborn police officer
January 6th, 20230 DETROIT – Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has charged Eshaun Phillip Blanding, 23, of Detroit, in connection with the carjacking of a Dearborn man’s car. On January 2, Dearborn undercover police officers were investigating a car that was stolen out of Dearborn. When the officers located the stolen car, it is alleged that......
