Secret Service Agent Jailed For 6 Years For Theft of $800,000 Bitcoins, And Blaming Another For His Crime

Silk Road (pictured) was an underground website where people bought drugs and other illicit goods using Bitcoin digital currency.


[From article]
A former Secret Service agent has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison for his part in the theft of electronic currency during the high-profile investigation into the online drug bazaar Silk Road.
Shaun Bridges' attorneys had sought a three-year prison term, but U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg said Bridges' behavior was a 'shocking and reprehensible abandonment of his public duty'.
'This to me is an extremely serious crime consisting of the betrayal of public trust by a federal law enforcement agent,' Seeborg said before issuing the 71-month prison sentence.
'And from everything I see, it was motivated entirely by greed.'
Bridges, who prosecutors said had previously spent time protecting the president's family, pleaded guilty in August to money laundering and obstruction charges and acknowledged stealing $820,000 worth of Bitcoin after getting access to Silk Road, the multimillion-dollar marketplace for illegal drugs and other contraband.
Bridges was part of a task force investigating Silk Road.
Prosecutors said in court Monday that Bridges then tried to pin the theft on a witness who was cooperating with the investigation, prompting Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht to take out hits on the witness' life.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3351209/Ex-Secret-Service-agent-spent-time-protecting-Obama-family-gets-nearly-six-years-prison-stealing-860-000-worth-bitcoin-Silk-Road-investigation.html

Ex-Secret Service agent who spent time protecting the Obama family gets nearly six years in prison for stealing $860,000 worth of Bitcoin during Silk Road investigation
Shaun Bridges, a special agent with the Secret Service, pleaded guilty to money laundering after stealing $820,000 worth of electronic currency
Bridges was investigating the online drug bazaar Silk Road when he gained access to the website and stole the currency from creator Ross Ulbricht
He then tried to pin the theft on a cooperating witness
Ulbricht tried to take out hits on the witness
Prosecutors said Ulbricht had spent time protecting the president's family
Defense attorneys had wanted a three-year prison term
The judge said Bridges had betrayed the public's trust out of greed
By Associated Press Reporter and Dailymail.com Reporter
Published: 10:35 EST, 8 December 2015 | Updated: 11:05 EST, 8 December 2015

Picture Suggests Two Men Escaped From Alcatraz, Lived In Brazil

This picture supposedly shows Clarence (left) and John Anglin (right), two bank robbers who escaped from Alcatraz in 1962, standing on a farm they allegedly owned in Brazil in 1975. If alive today, John would be 85 years old and Clarence would be 84.

[From article]
Two brothers successfully escaped from Alcatraz in 1962 and did not drown as the FBI said they did, their nephews claim in a History Channel documentary.
They gave filmmakers a photograph that they claim proves John and Clarence Anglin were living on a farm in Brazil in 1975 - and could still be alive today.
It was the most dramatic piece of evidence presented in the film, which put forward the theory that the prisoners 'body-surfed' behind a ferry leaving Alcatraz after digging out of their cells with spoons and then were picked up by a criminal associate and taken to freedom.
Ken, 54 and David Widner, 48, handed over a picture to investigators showing two men in sunglasses standing alongside a road - and a forensic expert strongly believes it is the escape
[. . .]
The brothers and another escapee Frank Morris used papier-mache masks to trick guards into thinking they were asleep in their beds.
They clambered through the vents, broke onto the roof of the jail and made a makeshift raft out of raincoats, which they inflated using an accordion-like concertina.
But the Widners' new evidence has captured the interest of the U.S. Marshal Service, which is still looking into the case after 53 years.
They believe the explanation as to how they made it to land is plausible and that the photo is genuine.




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3270269/The-picture-proves-two-inmates-DID-escape-Alcatraz-Notorious-escapees-didn-t-drown-body-surfed-passenger-ferry-freedom-started-farm-Brazil-claims-family.html

Is this the photo that 'proves' two inmates DID escape Alcatraz? Notorious escapees didn't drown, they body-surfed behind a ferry to freedom and started a farm in Brazil, claim their relatives
Ken and David Widner insist John and Clarence Anglin made it out alive
The bank robbers escaped in 1962, but were presumed to have drowned
However a picture of the pair claims they were still alive as late as 1975
A forensic expert said it is 'highly likely' the Anglin brothers are pictured
Fred Brizzi, who grew up with the pair, claims to have met them in Brazil
Art Roderick, a man who was once in charge of the case, says the new evidence is a 'gamechanger'
The fate of third escapee Frank Morris is not known
By WILLS ROBINSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 23:20 EST, 12 October 2015 | UPDATED: 04:30 EST, 13 October 2015

Will Secret Service Go To Jail With Hillary Clinton?

If Hillary Clinton goes to prison for revealing classified documents, will her secret service detail go with her? I sent a text to Howie Carr on Tuesday seeking his opinion. He said, "We are breaking new ground here. Perhaps the detail will get to go home at night."

Cambridge Weakly Editors Want More Clemency

Editors state, "the U.S. government is waking up to the realization that it cannot jail its way out of a drug problem." (EDITORIAL: "Facing up to the failed War on Drugs," May 10, 2014, CAMBRIDGE Chronicle) Yes, but government policy makers still believe it can jail its way out of it's troubled persons problem, by jailing any and all persons they do not like or do not understand. Some believe that persons they do not trust should be jailed too. These are the people that they say are "crazy." If drug dealers and users will no longer be jailed someone has to fill the empty cells. Ready and waiting are the crazy people. Do the editors suggest disbanding prison guard unions? Who will fund the luxurious lifestyles of union leaders? And then there are the prison guards themselves, who will be unemployed. No way, Jose. Bring on the crazies to keep the cells filled. Best of all Due Process is unnecessary to incarcerate crazy people. 

The editorial notes "Congress, locked in dysfunction, hasn't [. . .] done anything else toward meaningful drug reform." Is it dysfunction that prevents them from acting? Or is it opposition to legalizing recreational drugs? Are there no downsides to legalizing marijuana? Perhaps US Congressmen are not "cool." Maybe they have different (elderly) ideas than the editors and the lawless Obama-Holder team. If the majority of the population wants to legalize murder for offensive speech should Congress make it legal?

The editors celebrate clemency and encourage the lawless Obama-Holder leadership to increase its use. They say, "More than half of Americans favor legalizing marijuana. And the issue is increasingly a bipartisan affair." Oh? More than half of Americans oppose Obamacare and want it repealed. Do the editors support repealing that too?

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20140510/NEWS/140519940

EDITORIAL: Facing up to the failed War on Drugs
Posted May. 10, 2014 @ 12:17 pm
CAMBRIDGE Chroncile

Sen. Harry Reid Supporter Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison

US Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/10/01/reid_supporter_whittemore_gets_2_years_in_campaign_cash_case_120171.html

Reid Supporter Whittemore Gets 2 Years in Campaign Cash Case
By Scott Sonner
October 1, 2013

Suspect Mistakenly Released 4 Years Early Killed CO Director Of Prisons

Worrying: Officials said that Evan Spencer Ebel, pictured, was released from jail in January four years early

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2302759/Gangster-killed-Colorado-prisons-chief-released-jail-years-EARLY-clerical-error.html

Gangster who killed Colorado prisons chief released from jail four years EARLY after clerical error
Evan Spencer Ebel was released from prison in January
But his previous felony conviction had been inaccurately recorded
He was killed following shootout in Texas on March 21
Gun Ebel used killed prisons chief Tom Clements two days earlier
Police believe Ebel also involved in death of pizza delivery man Nathan Leon
By ANTHONY BOND
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 05:44 EST, 2 April 2013 | UPDATED: 06:32 EST, 2 April 2013



* * *
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2297253/White-supremacist-Evan-Ebel-gunned-Colorado-prison-chief-shot-dead-police.html

White supremacist who 'gunned down Colorado prison chief on his doorstep and possibly killed a pizza deliveryman' DIES after being shot by police
Evan Ebel is a known member of '211 Crew,' a Colorado prison gang responsible for at least one hate-crime murder of an African immigrant
Ebel's black Cadillac matches the description of  a car seen fleeing the home of Colorado prisons director Tom Clements after he was shot dead
Detectives also investigating connection to the murder of a pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon, 27, in Denver on Sunday
Ebel shot and wounded a sheriff's deputy who pulled him over in north Texas this morning
Spent shell casings found at the scene of the Texas shootout appear to match those at Clements' home
Ebel had violated probation and shot himself twice in 2004
By MICHAEL ZENNIE
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 17:57 EST, 21 March 2013 | UPDATED: 14:13 EST, 22 March 2013



* * *
[From article]
Steven Swensen, a former U.S. marshal who runs a company that provides security advice for court personnel, said one problem is that if someone really wants to harm a person, they usually don't send a warning.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130321/DA55NFUG1.html

Texas shootout might be tied to Colo. slaying
AP
Mar 21, 5:13 PM (ET)
By P. SOLOMON BANDA and NICHOLAS RICCARDI

* * *

[From article]
Clements' murder comes a week after he denied a request filed by convicted sex offender Homaidan al-Turki to serve out the remainder of a Colorado life prison sentence in Saudi Arabia.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2296328/Colorado-corrections-chief-shot-dead-answered-door-bell--gunman-loose.html

Was Colorado corrections chief executed by a hit man? Police probe link to Middle Eastern prisoner whose transfer to Saudi Arabia was denied a week before the slaying
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER and SNEJANA FARBEROV
PUBLISHED: 08:08 EST, 20 March 2013 | UPDATED: 17:02 EST, 20 March 2013

* * *

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2013/03/20/colorado-department-of-corrections-director-murdered/

Police Describe Vehicle Of Interest After Murder Of Corrections Chief
Suspect At Large After Shooting
March 20, 2013 4:10 PM
CBS News Denver CO

80 Years for Counterfeit Cash

http://bostonherald.com/news/national/southwest/view.bg?articleid=1382564&srvc=news&position=recent

Texas man gets 80 years for using fake cash to buy hot dogs
By Associated Press
Boston Herald
Sunday, November 20, 2011

Private Prison Abuses Exposed

Corrections Director fails to recognize that prison guards universally tend to abuse their power over prisoners. Psychological experiments by Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University
http://news.stanford.edu/pr/97/970108prisonexp.html
prove humans abuse their power over others. This prison boss is in denial (or perhaps just ignorant of what he should be aware).

[From article]
Idaho Department of Correction Director Brent Reinke said "The Board of Correction acknowledges that when you put a group of people who have a history of criminal behavior together in one place, it is likely you will have problems. But that doesn't mean we should tolerate them," Reinke wrote.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20101130/D9JQDB7G3.html

AP Enterprise: Guards shown watching inmate attack
Nov 30, 5:44 AM (ET)
By REBECCA BOONE

Muslim Population Grows in US


"Christian Science Monitor reporter Michael Farrell notes that Muslim prison conversions occur at the rate of 35,000 a year."

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/fort_hood_terror_third_wave_U2yYSxQxizDTW8VONmZc9I

Fort Hood: terror's 'third wave'
By GORDON CUCULLU
New York Post
Last Updated: 3:25 AM, November 23, 2009
Posted: 2:09 AM, November 23, 2009