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Alabama Governor’s Staff Attorney Arrested for Child Solicitation

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A staff attorney for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey was arrested for child solicitation.

Chase Tristian Espy was charged with child solicitation by computer/electronic solicitation of a child, a Class B felony, and immediately fired from Ivey’s staff, reported AL.com.

“The allegations against Mr. Espy are serious, tragic and shocking,” the governor’s office said in a statement. “While he was employed by our office for only a few months, Mr. Espy has been terminated. As this is an ongoing investigation, no further information is available at this time.”

The 36-year-old Birmingham attorney served as deputy general counsel in the Republican governor’s office.

Espy was arrested as part of a sting by Homewood police, but no other details were released about his arrest or alleged crimes.

The Vestavia Hills resident was booked into jail Wednesday night, released just before 2 a.m. on $30,000 and relieved of his government duties later Thursday morning.

 

 

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CRIME

Josh Duggar Dealt Another Blow as Judge Refuses to Suppress Video Evidence in His Child Porn Case

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Josh Duggar was dealt yet another blow on Monday, after a judge refused his attorneys’ request to suppress video evidence in his bombshell child pornography case.

Duggar, once a darling of the religious right, an executive for an anti-LGBTQ hate group, and a “19 Kids and Counting” reality TV star, was arrested by U.S. Marshals and charged with two counts of receiving and possessing child pornography. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was involved in the investigation.

“In Mr. Duggar’s case, he has not shown that federal agents acted with reckless disregard for proper procedure,” U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks said Monday in denying attorneys’ requests, as the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports. “And he certainly has not shown that the agents acted in bad faith. Moreover, Mr. Duggar cannot show he was prejudiced by any delay; the devices remained in law enforcement’s safe keeping throughout this time period, and the probable cause warranting the initial seizure of the devices remained viable through the date of indictment.”

In 2015 news broke that Duggar had molested four of his sisters and a babysitter when he was a teenager, according to his parents.

Just three weeks ago the judge refused nearly all of Duggar’s attorneys’ requests, including dismissal of all charges.

His attorneys have tried to get photographs that include the 33-year old Arkansas native’s hands and feet suppressed, and even tried to have the case dismissed because the head of the Department of Homeland Security at the time of the investigation under then-President Donald Trump was, according to a federal judge, “unlawfully” appointed.

Trial is scheduled to begin November 30.

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‘Did Greenberg Have Information on Gaetz Trying to Buy Himself a Pardon?’ Asks Former Trump University Prosecutor

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An attorney who prosecuted the case against Trump University is weighing in on news that the Dept. of Justice just successfully delayed the sentencing date of Matt Gaetz’s “wingman,” Joel Greenberg by four months, saying it points to something “HUGE.”

“Update on Matt Gaetz — his buddy Joel Greenberg has had so much dirt that prosecutors have opened up entire new wings of their case,” says former New York State prosecutor Tristan Snell, “The investigation into financial crimes now includes help from Secret Service agents. There’s something HUGE here.”

On Monday federal prosecutors convinced the judge that Greenberg’s sentencing date should move from November 18 to some time in March.

“Did Greenberg have information on Matt Gaetz trying to buy himself a pardon from Donald Trump? Is that why the Secret Service is now involved in the investigation?” Snell tweeted.

Calling it a “bombshell,” in April The Daily Beast reported it had “obtained a confession letter that Joel Greenberg wrote after asking Roger Stone to help him obtain a pardon.”

That letter, The Beast revealed, was written by Greenberg “in the final months of the Trump presidency” and “claims that he and close associate Rep. Matt Gaetz paid for sex with multiple women—as well as a girl who was 17 at the time.”

“On more than one occasion, this individual was involved in sexual activities with several of the other girls, the congressman from Florida’s 1st Congressional District and myself,” Greenberg wrote in reference to the 17-year-old.

Snell does not refer specifically to that letter, but adds: “Greenberg appears to have given the feds information about crimes totally beyond the scope of the original indictment of Greenberg — so the entire matter has snowballed.”

“And if they haven’t indicted Gaetz yet, it may be because the new material also implicates Gaetz.”

CNN reported that on Monday “Roger Handberg, an assistant US attorney, said that Greenberg has made allegations to investigators that ‘take us to some places we did not anticipate.'”

Handberg called the need for a second delay “unusual” but added the department was in an “unusual situation given the number of different investigations and lines of investigation we are pursuing.”

 

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Matt Gaetz’s ‘Wingman’ Joel Greenberg Granted an Extra 4 Months to Cooperate With Federal Prosecutors

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Joel Greenberg, the former Florida Republican tax collector and longtime friend and “wingman” of U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has been granted an additional four months to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Greenberg was scheduled to be sentenced on November 18, but as Politico reports that has now been pushed to March.

Greenberg in May pleaded guilty to six federal charges, including the sex trafficking of a minor, the same crime Congressman Gaetz reportedly is being investigated for, although he has not charged. Gaetz maintains he is innocent.

“Federal prosecutors are examining whether Gaetz and Greenberg paid underage girls and escorts or offered them gifts in exchange for sex,” the AP reported when Greenberg pleaded guilty in May. “Investigators have also been looking at whether Gaetz and his associates tried to secure government jobs for some of the women, the people said. They are also scrutinizing Gaetz’s connections to the medical marijuana sector, including whether his associates sought to influence legislation Gaetz sponsored.”

Monday night Politico reported prosecutors that day told a judge that “Mr. Greenberg was a prolific criminal,” and he “was not alone.”

“This is an unusual situation in the number of different investigations and lines of investigation we are pursuing,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg added, saying they wanted the extra time “because of the need to follow up on some of these leads.”

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