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Judicial System

Police & Fire
Sex Abuse Of Capital Region Child Lands Creep Max Sentence, DA Says Sex Abuse Of Capital Region Child Lands Creep Max Sentence, DA Says
Sex Abuse Of Capital Region Child Lands Creep Max Sentence, DA Says A New York man convicted of sexually assaulting a child received the maximum possible prison sentence on Tuesday, May 26. Brian Hopkins, 45, got 32 years to life behind bars, the Saratoga County District Attorney’s office announced. “This defendant is a pedophile who deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison for the horrific abuse he inflicted on a child,” District Attorney Brett Eby said. Hopkins, of Thurman, was first arrested back in June 2024, after New York State Police said he had sexually assaulted a child in Saratoga County. The investigation began following a tip on Jan. 30…

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by Joe Wilkinson
Police & Fire
Double Trouble: NY Man Arrested Twice In One Day Lands Lengthy Prison Term For Armed Robbery Double Trouble: NY Man Arrested Twice In One Day Lands Lengthy Prison Term For Armed Robbery
Double Trouble: NY Man Arrested Twice In One Day Lands Lengthy Prison Term For Armed Robbery A New York man who was arrested twice on the same day and took on trial without a lawyer landed a hefty prison sentence, authorities announced Monday, April 6. Brian Briggs, a 33-year-old Albany man, was handed a 24-year prison term on Monday, the Albany County District Attorney’s office said. Briggs robbed a maintenance worker at gunpoint in an Albany public housing building in May 2025, authorities said. It was his second robbery conviction, following a previous incident in July 2013. An eventful May 12, 2025, for Briggs began around 2:15 a.m. when cops responded to a trespassing report …

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by Joe Wilkinson
News
‘Call Me Daddy' Creepy Church Leader, Soccer Coach Raped Girl Before Kidnapping Her To Mexico ‘Call Me Daddy' Creepy Church Leader, Soccer Coach Raped Girl Before Kidnapping Her To Mexico
‘Call Me Daddy' Creepy Church Leader, Soccer Coach Raped Girl Before Kidnapping Her To Mexico Kevin Esterly — the Pennsylvania man who ran off to Mexico with a teenage girl in 2018 — has now been convicted of repeatedly raping the same victim when she was a child, prosecutors announced on Wednesday, March 5. The disturbing allegations first emerged when the victim came forward to police in February 2025, saying Esterly had sexually abused her for years, beginning when she was a child. A jury convicted Esterly, now 53, of rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and endangering the welfare of children following a trial that began with jury selection on …

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by Jillian Pikora
News
Ex-NY Fire Commish Who Forged Court Transcript To Regain Synagogue Status Jailed Ex-NY Fire Commish Who Forged Court Transcript To Regain Synagogue Status Jailed
Ex-NY Fire Commish Who Forged Court Transcript To Regain Synagogue Status Jailed A former Long Island fire commissioner at the center of a years-long controversy involving forged court records and false legal claims is now behind bars. Judah Karkowsky was taken into custody at the Nassau County jail Thursday, Jan. 29, after losing his appeal in New York’s Second Judicial Department, according to the nonprofit Za’Akah, which supports survivors of sexual violence in the Orthodox Jewish communit. Karkowsky was sentenced to one year in jail following a jury conviction for using a forged court transcript to falsely suggest a judge had dismissed prior charges against him on t…

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by Michael Mashburn
News
'You're Stabbing Me?' Man Begged For Help As Ex's New Beau Murdered Him At NY Yacht Club: DA 'You're Stabbing Me?' Man Begged For Help As Ex's New Beau Murdered Him At NY Yacht Club: DA
'You're Stabbing Me?' Man Begged For Help As Ex's New Beau Murdered Him At NY Yacht Club: DA A North Carolina couple has been indicted in the brutal stabbing death of a man found in the parking lot of the Stony Brook Yacht Club earlier this month. Victor Panebianco, 32, and Kacy Corso, 33, both of King, North Carolina, were indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury for second-degree murder in the death of 52-year-old Christopher Millwater. Officers were called to the waterfront lot on Shore Road around 3:45 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 10, after a fisherman reported finding an unconscious man on the ground, according to Suffolk County Police. They found Millwater suffering from two stab wo…

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by Michael Mashburn
News
AI Brings Hudson Valley Man Back To Life For Impact Statement In Road Rage Sentencing: Report AI Brings Hudson Valley Man Back To Life For Impact Statement In Road Rage Sentencing: Report
AI Brings Hudson Valley Man Back To Life For Impact Statement In Road Rage Sentencing: Report Even though a New York native was fatally shot in a 2021 road rage incident in Arizona, that did not stop him from reading an impact statement during his killer's sentencing with the help of artificial intelligence. Dutchess County native Christopher Pelkey, who was born in Poughkeepsie, was killed at the age of 37 by Gabriel Paul Horcasitas in a confrontation in Chandler, Arizona in November 2021, according to a report by ABC15 Arizona.  Years later, during Horcasitas's sentencing proceedings for the killing on Thursday, May 1, Pelkey did the previously impossible—…

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by Ben Crnic
News
Judge Blocks Return Of Man Wrongfully Deported To El Salvador By Trump Administration Judge Blocks Return Of Man Wrongfully Deported To El Salvador By Trump Administration
Judge Blocks Return Of Man Wrongfully Deported To El Salvador By Trump Administration A federal judge has overruled a lower court’s order requiring the Trump administration to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Maryland by midnight Monday. The temporary order was issued hours before Abrego Garcia was scheduled to be returned home after the former MS-13-affiliated man was mistakenly shipped to a notorious El Salvadoran detention center. Top officials admitted the deportation was a mistake, but they’ve dragged their feet in reuniting him with his wife and family in Maryland. Abrego Garcia had previously been granted withholding of removal by an immigration judge back in 2019…

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by Zak Failla