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California dad gets 212 years after drowning his sons for insurance money:
'A greedy and brutal killer'
After the deaths, he collected more than $260,000, bought real estate in Egypt
Published: March 12, 2021 15:30
Washington Post
After buying expensive policies on his two severely autistic sons, Ali F. Elmezayen spent months calling the insurers to learn exactly when he could claim the millions in payouts without any investigations from the companies.
Less than two weeks after that deadline passed in 2015, Elmezayen sped his Honda Civic off a pier at the Port of Los Angeles and escaped out the driver's side window as his ex-wife and two sons were trapped inside the sinking car. His ex-wife, Rabab Diab, survived, but both of his sons - Abdelkarim, 8, and Elhassan, 13 - drowned before rescuers could reach them.
Elmezayen told police the crash was a tragic accident, and local authorities declined to prosecute him, but federal officials took up the case and eventually charged him with plotting the deaths in a scheme for the insurance payouts.
Elmezayen, 45, was found guilty of wire fraud and other charges in 2019 and on Thursday, a federal judge sentenced him to 212 years - the maximum term possible. Although he wasn't charged with murder, as prosecutors said they lacked the evidence to win a conviction, the judge excoriated him at the sentencing as a ruthless killer who spent years planning out his sons' deaths for profit.
"He is the ultimate phony and a skillful liar. . .and is nothing more than a greedy and brutal killer," U.S. District Judge John F. Walter said, according to a release from prosecutors. "The only regret that the defendant has is that he got caught."
The ruling brought an end to a twisting saga that shattered Elmezayen's family and left his other son, who was away at a camp when his brothers drowned, disavowing his father in court on Thursday.
"I hope you know I don't want anything to do with you anymore," Elhussein Elmezayen, 20, said as his father silently glared in court, the Los Angeles Times reported. "Don't call me. Don't write me."
Elmezayen and Diab had met as students in Egypt and then overstayed a six-month visa after coming to the U.S. in 2000, eventually having three sons. They filed for divorce in 2009, the Times reported, but continued living in the same house while they set up sham marriages to get immigration status. Diab testified that Elmezayen was abusive, beating her and threatening to kill her.
He also struggled financially, filing for bankruptcy in 2010. Yet despite reporting less than $30,000 in income, he soon began buying expensive insurance policies on his sons that cost upward of $6,000 per year, prosecutors said.
On April 9, 2015 - just 12 days after a deadline passed meaning the insurers wouldn't investigate a claim on his sons' policies - his Civic rocketed off the fisherman's pier as witnesses watched in horror, The Washington Post reported.
Diab screamed "Stop! Stop!" But the car hit the water and quickly began sinking. Elmezayen easily escaped out the driver's side window, which he'd left rolled down, and then swam to a pier without trying to help his family, witnesses said.
Diab, who couldn't swim, was saved when a fisherman threw her a life preserver. "My kids! My kids!" she screamed.
Rescuers reached the boys within 10 minutes, but it was too late.
Elmezayen, meanwhile, told police he didn't know how he had driven off the pier, suggesting medication may have caused him to pass out or even that he had an "evil inside of me that pushed me to go," The Post reported.
That may be the most honest thing he said.
After investigating, L.A. prosecutors declined to charge him, in part because salt water had corroded the car's brakes, making it impossible to disprove claims that the brakes had failed.
But federal prosecutors quickly picked up the case and built charges around Elmezayen's insurance claims. After the deaths, he collected more than $260,000 and spent the money on real estate in Egypt and a boat, prosecutors said. He was charged in November 2018 with mail fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
A nine-day trial in October 2019 ended with Elmezayen convicted on multiple counts of each charge. At Thursday's sentencing, the judge also ordered Elmezayen to pay $261,000 in restitution to the insurers. Elmezayen's attorney, Cuauhtemoc Ortega, declined to comment to local media about the sentence.
At the sentencing, prosecutors highlighted the methodical planning that went into the plot.
"Mr. Elmezayen conceived a coldblooded plan to murder his autistic sons and their mother, then cash in on insurance policies," Acting United States Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison said in a release. "We continue to grieve for those two helpless boys who deserved better from their father, who will never again walk among us as a free man."
Woman arrested for creating NAKED ‘deepfake’ videos
of daughter’s cheerleading rivals
14 Mar, 2021 17:18
A Pennsylvania mother has been charged with multiple counts of cyber harassment after she was caught making and distributing deepfake videos and photos of her daughter’s cheerleading rivals.
The deepfake photos and video, digitally manipulated media which superimposes one person’s face on the body of another, depicted the teenage girls naked, drinking and smoking.
Raffaela Spone, 50, reportedly sent the fake content to the rival girls' coaches in a bid to have them kicked off the cheerleading team, the Victory Vipers. She also reportedly sent anonymous messages to at least three of her daughter's teammates urging them to kill themselves.
She was arrested on March 4 and has since been charged with three counts of cyber harassment of a child and three counts of harassment.
According to Hilltown Township Police Department, Spone was released pending a preliminary hearing on March 30. Her daughter appears to have been unaware, according to court records.
I'm sure she's very proud of her mother now!!!
The girls received the horrific messages from an anonymous number which police tracked to a website which sells numbers for use by telemarketers. The number itself led them to an IP address at Spone's home. Detectives then discovered evidence on Spone's smartphone that she was behind the deepfakes.
According to one of the girls' father, the group had a falling out and they were encouraged to stop socializing with Spone's daughter amid concerns over her behavior.
“I don’t know what would push her to this point,” father George Ratel said. “As a dad I was pretty upset about it. It’s an image put out there of my daughter that is simply not true.”
For its part, the Victory Vipers has said it has a “very strict anti-bullying policy,” adding that “all athletes involved are no longer a part of our program.”
Montgomery Co. jury trial scheduled Monday for alleged
sex abuse of 2-year-old
The Roanoke Times 3 hrs ago
CHRISTIANSBURG — A long-delayed jury trial for a Christiansburg man accused of sexually abusing and making child pornography of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son is scheduled to begin Monday.
Actually, the two-day trial is only the first of what could be two trials for McKenzie Kyle Hellman. The 27-year-old also faces charges of second-degree murder, involving the same boy, and child abuse. These counts have been separated from the sex charges and are to be considered at a separate, future proceeding. A date has not yet been scheduled for the murder and child abuse charges to be heard.
When Hellman’s case begins Monday in Montgomery County Circuit Court, it will be the first jury trial in the New River Valley since the coronavirus pandemic began last year. Jury trials were halted by orders of the Virginia Supreme Court, which decided that the crowding of jurors and others posed too much of a chance of spreading COVID-19.
East Linda, Ca. man sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison on
five child molestation charges
BY VINCENT MOLESKI
MARCH 14, 2021 12:39 PM
An East Linda man was sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison on March 8 for sexually assaulting children, according to the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office.
In a news release, the District Attorney’s office said that Shawn Michael Jones, 26, was given a sentence of 14 years and 8 months prison time for molesting five children in the Yuba County area.
Jones was arrested in October, and at the time, CBS 13 reported that officials were still searching for other unidentified victims. Investigators still say there may be others who suffered sexual abuse who have yet to be identified.
In February, Jones pleaded no contest to five counts of lewd conduct with a minor under 14, one of which was by force, and one of which was a with minor at least 10 years younger than Jones, according to Yuba County court records. Other charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal.
Jones will be forced to register as a sex offender and must serve at least 85% of his sentence before being released on parole.
“Parents often ask what they can do to prevent their children from becoming victims of child molestation,” the District Attorney’s office wrote in a prepared statement. “Unfortunately, child molesters are typically trusted individuals, family members or friends. Child molesters are master manipulators who will try to isolate your child through secrets, gifts, and fear.”
The Yuba County Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information regarding other potential victims to call 530-749-7777.
Central Oregon man accused of child sex abuse
By Associated Press
Published: March 14, 2021, 12:29pm
BEND, Ore. — A Redmond man is suspected of sexually abusing two children over an 11-year period.
Shane Darrell Kimball, 53, was arraigned Friday on 35 criminal counts related to the alleged sexual abuse from April 2006 to July 2017, The Bulletin reported.
He’s being held without bail at the Deschutes County jail. It wasn’t immediately known if he has a lawyer.
Kimball is charged with nine counts of first-degree sodomy, eight counts of first-degree rape, 13 counts of first-degree sexual abuse, four of second-degree sodomy and one of strangulation.
He has a plea hearing set for April 2.
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