August 18, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Jodi Jacobson/iStockBy KARMA ALLEN, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A New York attorney who dubbed himself the “Lottery Lawyer” was charged in a million-dollar scheme involving three other men, including an accused mafia member who allegedly helped him cipher funds to support their own lavish lifestyles, prosecutors said.

Jason “Jay” Kurland, once considered the “go-to” lawyer for jackpot winners, was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an alleged $107 million scheme to defraud unassuming clients, including the winners of multibillion-dollar jackpots, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.

The victims were not identified by name, but prosecutors said they included the winners of a $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot, a $245 million Powerball jackpot and a $150 million Powerball jackpot.

“Lottery winners can’t believe their luck when they win millions of dollars, and the men we arrested this morning allegedly used that euphoric feeling to their advantage,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney said in a statement.

The alleged victims each paid Kurland and his firm hundreds of thousands of dollars for investment advice, according to the statement.

After gaining their trust with primarily traditional investments, Kurland steered his clients to invest in various entities and business deals controlled and directed by three co-defendants, one of whom is a reputed Gambino family mobster, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.

“The FBI New York discovered how these victims were persuaded to put large chunks of their cash into investments that benefited the defendants,” Sweeney said. “Rather than try their luck at the lottery, these men resorted to defrauding the victims to get rich — but their gamble didn’t pay off.”

Francis Smookler, Frangesco Russo and former securities broker Chirstopher Chierchio received kickbacks, which Kurland allegedly failed to disclose to his clients, according to prosecutors.

Attorneys for the defendants did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.

Federal prosecutors said millions of dollars were stolen to support the defendants’ lavish lifestyles, which consisted of private jets, expensive vacations and luxury vehicles, including two yachts. The funds that the defendants actually invested in various entities and deals were, in large part, eventually lost.

The defendants are charged with wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering and money laundering conspiracy.

Russo and Smookler allegedly scammed some lottery winners into investing with Gregory Altieri, a jewelry merchant, to whom they extended a $250,000 “street loan,” prosecutors said.

Conversations recorded during the federal probe revealed that Russo and Smookler expected to be repaid over $400,000 for the $250,000 loan. Recordings also uncovered threats that Russo and Smookler allegedly made to Altieri in their attempt to collect the debt.

During one conversation, Smookler allegedly told Altieri that if he did not fully repay the loan, “it’s just going to be unbelievable.” On another call, Russo allegedly told Altieri, “They’re gonna pop your head off in front of your f—— kids. This guy has no clue what he’s getting into.”

Russo and Smookler also threatened to harm Altieri’s family if he failed to repay the loan. “[W]e are gonna find your wife today. That’s happening,” Smookler told him, according to prosecutors.

Russo even told Altieri that the people coming for him were “going to make you watch as they rip your son’s teeth out of his mouth, watch, they’re going to do worse things to your wife,” prosecutors said.

“Defendant Kurland allegedly violated the law and his oath as a lawyer when he allowed co-conspirators to pillage his clients’ bank accounts for their own enrichment,” acting United States Attorney Seth DuCharme said in a statement. “In addition, Russo and Smookler allegedly threatened to torture an individual’s wife and children. The defendants callously thought they could line their pockets with lottery winnings without consequence, but today their luck ran out.”

As of Tuesday, federal officials said they had executed warrants to seize 13 bank accounts associated with the scheme, and placed liens on three properties in an effort to recover the funds stolen from lottery winners.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

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August 18, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Nassau County Police DepartmentBy AARON KATERSKY and MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A New York man allegedly threatened to start a shooting while making a social distancing complaint about a Jewish day camp, officials said.

Nicola Pelle, 58, of Inwood, Long Island, was charged with making terroristic threats after allegedly saying he was going to shoot people at the Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island’s children’s camp, the Nassau County Police Department said Tuesday.

According to police, Pelle reported a COVID-19 social distancing violation at the yeshiva’s camp on Monday. He allegedly complained that “approximately 500 students were wearing no masks,” police said. While officers were en route to the camp, Pelle called again, officials said, this time allegedly threatening to “get a gun and shoot” if the police didn’t get there.

“If I gotta go out there with a friggin’ machine gun and shoot all these people, I will,” Pelle allegedly said on the call, Nassau County Police Department Commissioner Patrick Ryder said at a press briefing Tuesday.

Pelle made both complaints to the county health department, ABC New York station WABC reported.

During the police investigation, Pelle identified himself as the caller, officials said. Nassau County police arrested Pelle, who lives next door to the yeshiva, on Monday.

Following the arrest, police seized 14 weapons as evidence, including five handguns, rifles, shotguns and two assault weapons, officials said.

“Our officers did an outstanding job by questioning the subject, getting him to admit that he did make that complaint and did make the threat to shoot the school up, and then going in and recovering the weapons,” Ryder said.

All the weapons were legal, save for a Bushmaster .223 rifle, which is illegal under the New York State Safety Act because it has a pistol grip and a detachable clip, Ryder said.

Pelle has a valid Nassau County Pistol Permit, police said.

Pelle was arraigned on Tuesday and charged with making a terroristic threat and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a firearm — all felonies. He is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday. Court records did not list an attorney for Pelle.

Ryder said at the briefing Tuesday that the department takes threats to camps and schools seriously.

“Last year alone, there were 570 incidents here in Nassau County,” he said, adding that 76 students were arrested.

The yeshiva’s principal, Rabbi Tzvi Krigsman Menahel, told WABC he was “very thankful” for the police response.

“They’ve been extremely informative, transparent, and we are very thankful to them, and we feel secure and we’re confident in the safety of our children and staff,” he told the station.

Officers responding to the incident on Monday found about 30 children with their parents at the camp, police said.

Confrontations over masks and social distancing have erupted during the coronavirus pandemic.

Following news of the arrest on Tuesday, neighbors defended Pelle as a decent man.

“He didn’t mean it,” one told WABC.

After posting bail, Pelle was taken from his home by ambulance, WABC reported. His condition was not known at the time.

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August 18, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Santa Fe Fire DepartmentBy IVAN PEREIRA, ABC News

(SANTA FE, N.M.) — A man and his two children rescued a hiker who was stranded in a New Mexico forest for 14 days, according to authorities.

John Utsey was on a hike with his kids in the Santa Fe National Forest Saturday when they encountered the unidentified hiker, officials with the Santa Fe Fire Department said in a statement.

Utsey told Albuquerque ABC affiliate KRQE that he was calling out to his daughter who was leading the hike when he heard screaming from a man who was off the trail.

“He was lying beside a creek. His legs didn’t — he couldn’t stand, he couldn’t move, he was delirious. So he wasn’t making much sense,” Utsey told the station. “I was like, ‘This guy really needs help.'”

Utsey and his children offered the man food and water, and then hiked three miles to call 911, he said. Utsey said he gave firefighters the GPS coordinates of where they found the missing man.

But firefighters could not initially locate the missing hiker and called off the search after eight hours, Captain Nathan Garcia of the Santa Fe Fire Department told KRQE.

Utsey, however, said he was determined to re-locate and rescue the lost hiker.

“So, at 9 o’clock Sunday morning I get in and put my hiking boots back on and hike back, and he was exactly where I left him,” he said.

Utsey said he called 911 again and this time led rescuers to the hiker’s spot. First responders built a fire to raise the man’s temperature and provided him with food and water, according to the fire department.

“The man suffered from chronic back pain and again injured his back while hiking and could not stand or walk,” the fire department said in its statement. “His gear was stolen, at which point he got lost and disoriented.”

Garcia said the hiker, who is in his 50s, relied on his filtered water bottle for sustenance during his two-week ordeal.

“He would wiggle his way to the stream, he would drink water from the stream, and then wiggle his way away from the stream at nightfall because of the colder temperatures that the stream brought,” he told KRQE.

The hiker is recovering at a Santa Fe hospital, fire department officials said.

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August 18, 2020 • No Comments • National News

KC McGinnis/For The Washington Post via Getty ImagesBy Eric Noll and Haley Yamada, ABC News

(CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa) — A group of volunteers is banding together to help Iowa residents after last week’s derecho storm-ravaged communities.

The rare storm caused nearly 13,300 Iowa residents to lose power and destroyed nearly a third of the state’s cropland. In the aftermath, residents across Cedar Rapids were left with spoiled food, no cellphone service and no air conditioning in the sweltering summer heat.

Pamela Smith and her children sheltered at home for the duration of the storm, which lasted several hours with winds up to 100 miles per hour. A week later and still without power, volunteers have been helping to provide the family with meals.

“I’m thankful for it because if it wasn’t for them, I don’t know how I’d feed my kids,” Smith told ABC News affiliate KCRG.

Stacey Walker, the county supervisor for Linn County, where Cedar Rapid is located, said the community is filled with people trying to help those affected by the storm.

“I’m here in our emergency operations center that is filled with women … who are working around the clock to keep our community safe and to help put it back together after this devastating meteorological event that happened to us last week,” Walker told ABC News.

Emily Holly, a disaster responder with the American Red Cross, told ABC News that the organization is trying to spread hope in Iowa amid the destruction.

“We are providing smiles through our masks and hot meals, and just trying to lift people’s spirits as much as possible,” said Holly.

The team at the nonprofit Operation BBQ Relief has been on the ground in Iowa since the weekend and has so far served more than 25,000 meals to families in need.

“We’re here on the ground of Cedar Rapids, Iowa doing the thing we do best and that’s serving the one hot meal that matters,” Dwane Daniel, director of disaster coordination, told ABC News

And no helper is too young, either. Eleven-year-old Christopher has been helping to clean up his neighborhood after telling his mother, Starlet Smith, that he wanted to volunteer.

“I wanted to borrow a rake and a bucket so that he didn’t have to carry the bags … and people just started chiming in,” said Starlet Smith.

She said that people had heard of Christopher volunteering and some chipped in to buy him supplies, such as a new wheelbarrow.

Brian Paris, a member of the community, bought Christopher a hot lunch, a hat for the sun and a broom, according to ABC News affiliate KCRG.

“I guess I would ask everybody to reach into your pantries and your basements and your storage tubs,” said Paris. “Pull out anything anybody can use.”

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