Man Admits Operating Scam That Defrauded CT Victim Of Nearly $1.2 Million
A 35-year-old man has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge stemming from a lottery scam that defrauded an elderly Connecticut victim of nearly $1.2 million.
Stieve Fernandez, age 35, of Argentine and Jamacia, made the plea on Wednesday, Feb. 3, in Bridgeport, said U.S. Attorney John H. Durham, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
According to court documents and statements made in court, between approximately 2015 to 2018, Fernandez and others, including Minique Morris and Horace Crooks, defrauded an elderly Mystic resident in a lottery scam.
As part of their scheme, Ferna…
Wolcott Activist, March To End Revenge Porn Founder Receives International Recognition
A Wolcott activist who organized a movement against revenge porn, the practice of posting images and videos of a sexual nature without the subject's knowledge on the internet, has been awarded $10,000 toward their non-profit through L'Oreal Paris's Women of Worth initiative.
Leah Juliett, who uses singular "they" pronouns, founded March Against Revenge Porn in August of 2016 after they found themselves victimized by the practice in high school. They have since been featured on CNN, BBC, BuzzFeed, MTV, Teen Vogue, Sky News, Daily Mail, CTV, New Day Show and TED.
"This year has giv…
'American Ninja Warrior' Champ Charged With Having Sex With Underage Teen In NJ, CT
Last year’s $1 million winner of TV’s “American Ninja Warrior” competition lured an underage girl to New Jersey and Connecticut for sex, said federal authorities who arrested him.
The girl’s mother confronted Andrew Drechsel, 31, after discovering he’d had sex with her daughter at his “Ninja Gym” in Hamden, CT as a 15th birthday present, authorities said.
Drechsel, who was 26 at the time, didn’t deny the abuse but, rather, claimed that he didn’t know her daughter’s age, they said.
He reached out and met the girl again for several sexual encounters in New Jersey, at least one of which was i…