FBI's Top Ten News Stories For the Week Ending December 14, 2007
For the Week Ending December 14, 2007

1. New Addition to the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives

Jason Derek Brown, a fugitive from Phoenix wanted for the murder and robbery of an armored car guard, has been added to the FBI's List of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Full Story

2. Washington Field Office: Former Congressional Chief of Staff Pleads Guilty

Russell James Caso, Jr., a former chief of staff to a member of the U. S. House of Representatives, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud.

3. San Francisco: Talk Radio Personality Indicted on Child Pornography Charges

AM radio station talk show personality Bernard V. Ward was indicted on charges of distributing and receiving child pornography through the use of a computer.

4. New York: Guilty Plea in Phantom Gold Mine Investment Scheme

James and Rita Russo and their adult children, Elizabeth Russo, Rudolpho Russo, and Thomas Russo, pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud through a phony gold mine investment scheme and various Internet wholesaler schemes over a 15-year period.

5. New Orleans: Chief of Police Indicted on Firearms Charges

Claude Williams, the chief of police of Boyce, Louisiana, was indicted on federal charges of possession of illegal firearms and on state charges of malfeasance in office.

6. Newark: School Board President Pleads Guilty

James a Pressley, president of the Pleasantville Board of Education, pled guilty to attempted extortion and to accepting bribes in return for his official assistance.

7. Miami: Four Foreign Nationals Arrested and Charged with Being Illegal Agents of Foreign Government

Three Venezuelans and one Uruguayan were arrested and charged with acting illegally as agents of the Bolivian Republic of Venezuela.

8. Charlotte: Former Sheriff and Deputies Charged with Conspiracy to Commit Extortion

Robert Lee Medford, former sheriff of Buncombe County; and sheriff's deputies John Harrison, Ronnie Eugene Davis, and Guy Kenneth Penland have been charged with conspiring to unlawfully enrich themselves by extorting money from persons involved in the illegal video poker machine business.

9. San Diego: Hoax Bomber Arrested by Joint Terrorism Task Force

The Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Timothy Bryon Kalka in connection with the University of California San Diego hoax bomb incident.

10. Boston: Blue Cross Agrees to Pay $20 Million

Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island agreed to pay $20 million to settle matters in the government's ongoing public corruption investigation and also agreed to a series of ethical reforms.