In Delray Beach, Florida, the unmistakable figure of Dustin Lampros enters a grocery store, his eyes set on a quarry that isn’t found on any shelf. He is hunting for something much more sinister—a suspected child predator.

Since 2022, this mixed martial arts fighter has waged a personal crusade to shine a light on those who pose a threat to children. His efforts have garnered him a distinct identity on social media as 561 Predator Catcher—a tribute to his roots in the local area code.

Widely known as “Scrappy” amongst his peers and in the heat of the MMA cage, Lampros first earned this name as a fourth-grader bravely defending himself against two larger bullies on the football field. The nickname fittingly underscores his fearless disposition.

The inception of his mission traces back to a conversation with a friend working in cybersecurity. He was alerted to the lurking dangers online, prompting him to take action against those who exploit vulnerable minors.

Lampros had just recommitted to his faith, he told News Media. He’d started praying to know God’s will for his life.

He was stunned when his friend demonstrated the problem.

It took minutes to create a fake profile for a 13-year-old girl, “Amy,” on a platform known for facilitating connections.

It took seconds for men to make contact. “We had multiple grown adults reaching out trying to talk to who they thought was a 13-year-old,” Lampros said, fuming at the memory.

That sparked painful memories.

“Two people close to me in my life were victims,” he said, including a close childhood friend. “He was raped by our principal from sixth to eighth grade.”

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Lampros felt a calling on his life.

“Instantly, I knew that I was meant to do something.

“I could help.”

Bait and switch

Now, the 32-year-old professional fighter coordinates with people across the country who work as decoys posing as children. They converse online. They exchange photos.

Once an in-person meeting is arranged, and plans for sexual activity are discussed, Lampros prepares to pounce.

At the agreed-upon time, he waits outside the meet-up location. And when he spots the person who’s been communicating with the child, he places a 911 call to police.

Then, he strolls inside. Coolly and confidently, he walks up and addresses his “target” by name.

Immediately, Lampros pummels them with questions about why they’re there, who they’d planned to meet, and what they’d planned to do. He films the interactions on Meta glasses.

“I’ve gotten really good at getting these guys to just kind of … admit everything to me,” he said. Twice, his targets were women. One was a law enforcement officer. Several have been teachers.

When their answers to his questions don’t match the conversations decoys shared with him in screenshots, he brandishes his phone.

“I have all the messages right here,” Lampros reveals.

When police arrive, he turns over the messages and his video of the “catch,” as he calls it, as evidence.

He credits his MMA training and his faith for his ability to stay calm.

“Inside I’m fuming, I’m boiling,” he said.

“The goal is to get these guys arrested, charged, and convicted, and I know that if I put my hands on them, or if I act out, I know that that can affect the case. So, therefore, I keep myself calm, and keep myself composed.”

Fighting to protect children

Lampros trains at the MMA Science Academy in Sunrise, Florida. The other fighters and coaches celebrate his successes, said the gym owner, Roger Krahl.

By sparring with him and helping him hone his skills, they feel they play a role in his mission, he said.

But they’re mystified by how Lampros refrains from flexing his fighting skills when interacting with alleged child predators.

“We tell him all the time,” Krahl said. “But he’s got the perfect personality for it. He stays very calm and keeps his cool, which is obviously a big thing in the cage.

“When you get in there and fight, you’ve got to be calm under pressure. You’ve got to be able to think.”

Lampros has completed about 100 catches since 2022. About 10 have resulted in convictions, he said. Others still simmer in the legal pipeline.

“The cases take years,” he said.

Meanwhile, his technique has evolved, even softened, he admitted.

He used to order catches to do pushups while waiting for police. Now, he coaxes alleged predators to discuss details on video that can be turned over to police.

“He’s very comfortable,” Krahl said, adding that he doesn’t worry about the 5-foot-7 fighter’s safety.

“Obviously, he can protect himself. He’s a high-level professional athlete.

“Even though he’s a smaller guy—a bantamweight, 135 pounds—I wouldn’t worry about him versus anybody. Just a trained professional athlete versus an untrained person is not even fair.”

Lampros and his decoy helpers don’t coordinate with law enforcement. He reveals the details when he calls police.

“I tell them exactly what’s going on, that there’s a grown adult coming there to meet what they believe is a 13- or 14-year-old to engage in sexual activity.”

When officers don’t arrive quickly, Lampros stalls.

Twice the situation spiraled dangerously, he said. Once, a man he was questioning pulled a gun from his car. Lampros and his helper fled. Another man wielded a boxcutter during their interaction.

‘God’s will’

Lampros isn’t deterred. If he’s ever badly injured or killed during a “catch,” he’ll know he was doing God’s will, he said.

“It took years for police departments and state attorneys to actually look at us as legit and to make these cases stick,” Lampros said.

Now, about every month, a years-old case yields a conviction, he said.

Some lawyers in Florida advertise that they can help defend accused child predators who interacted with Lampros. They accuse him of being a vigilante. They subpoena him for depositions. Some insist he’s “just in it for the clicks,” he said.

But no matter the cost, Lampros said he’s in this fight for the long term.

He won’t stop working to expose child predators, he said. And when his MMA fighting career is over, he hopes to travel the country, educating parents about how to protect children from online dangers.

Before starting 561 Predator Catcher, Lampros said he was where any young, professional fighter would want to be.

He’d moved from Illinois to South Florida, a hub for the sport. He had a 7-0 record in cage fights, with five knockouts.

His sole focus: becoming a fighter for the UFC. The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the world’s largest professional MMA organization.

But, “I felt very empty,” he said. “My whole identity had been behind being an MMA fighter, being ‘Scrappy’ the fighter. I knew that having UFC as my idol wasn’t gonna fulfill me. That’s when I realized there’s got to be something more for me.”

He started praying, he said, “asking for His will to be done in my life.”

It was then that he was introduced to the idea of catching child predators. “When you start focusing on God’s plan, the doors kind of open up.”

“Once I figured that out, and I started living for Him instead of living for Scrappy the Fighter, my life has evolved so much more into such a blessing.”

He still hopes to be selected as a fighter in the UFC. But, he said, a fight against evil is far more important. “Knowing that God’s on my side, whatever happens, I believe it’s God’s will.”

Interpol has named and revealed the image of a woman suspected to be an assassin, accused of targeting a Ukrainian tycoon with a bomb in Monaco.

The international police organization identified the suspect as 39-year-old Anastasiia Berezovska from Ukraine, issuing a Red Notice on its website to facilitate her arrest.

On Friday, Interpol published two images of Berezovska, noting a distinctive tattoo—likely a snake—running from her shoulder to her elbow on her right arm. The notice also described her as having dark hair, being born in Ukraine, and being fluent in German.

Authorities in Monaco are seeking her detention for alleged attempted murder and other related charges.

Law enforcement agencies throughout Europe have been alerted to locate this ‘armed and dangerous’ woman.

Berezovska was last seen running away from the Mediterranean principality on Monday disguised in a bucket hat, after maiming 58-year-old oligarch Vadim Ermolaev, his mistress, Anna Nasobina, 46, and their young son.

A Red Notice by Interpol was issued on Thursday, along with an arrest warrant.

Stéphane Thibault, Monaco’s Prosecutor General, confirmed the suspect was currently registered as living in Germany.

A senior investigating source suggested the woman had ‘attempted to look like a man’ during the attack, but a witness identified her.

He said she was likely to be on the run with accomplices in Italy, but might have made her way as far as the Balkans.

Berezovska was filmed outside the ‘Sun’s Palace’ – a lavish apartment block owned by Ermolaev.

It was in the foyer, just before 9pm, that a dumped rucksack exploded after the woman triggered it using a mobile phone.

Nasobina had her legs amputated following the blast, while both her and Ermolaev suffered severe shrapnel wounds and burns.

‘The prime suspect was identified by a witness,’ said the investigating source.

Footage from nearby surveillance cameras showed her wearing a black bucket hat and fleeing on foot across the border to France, where there are no checkpoints.

She headed into the town of Beausoleil, and then made her way to Italy, investigators believe.

‘She is armed and dangerous, and thought to be in the company of accomplices,’ said the source. ‘She should be approached with extreme caution.’

Judicial authorities in both France and Monaco have opened a criminal enquiry for ‘attempted murder’, ‘the planting of an explosive device on a public road with criminal intent’ and ‘criminal conspiracy.’

Cameras first picked up the suspect in the area on Monday morning, before she returned to place the bomb, according to the same security sources.

She is thought to have been ‘around 12 meters away’ when she triggered the device, said one.

The wounded boy, thought to be aged 13, has made a rapid recovery and is currently providing evidence to police and prosecutors.

‘He is telling them exactly what he saw, although clearly his memory is very blurred,’ said a security source.

‘It appears that his mother took the full force of the blast, while he suffered relatively minor burns and shrapnel injuries.’

Nasobina has been described in the past as Ermolaev’s common-law wife.

She is a Ukrainian national who comes from Ermolaev’s home city of Dnipro, having spent a lot of time in England.

Nasobina is listed as a director of Wycombe Square Investments LLP in London, but was frequently in Monaco, particularly during the summer.

In turn, Ermolaev’s wife, Anna Ermolaev, uses a high-security family villa in St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, the nearby French Riviera resort town, which is the second most expensive residential location in the world, after Monaco.

The suspect was likely using a so-called burner phone – one that can be bought relatively cheaply, without providing any kind of identification.

Such phones are frequently used by lawbreakers, and then disposed of once a crime has been committed.

Police and French Army helicopters with searchlights and numerous drones have all been seen in the search zone over the days and nights since the attack.

While there are theories that Ukraine’s SBU security service may have been behind the bombing, ‘a settling of scores’ by gangsters is currently the favoured line of investigation.

The blast signalled the first attack of its kind ever to take place on the so-called Rock tax haven, which is less than two miles square and considered neutral territory.

Ermolaev had made multiple enemies over the years, and one of the reasons he moved to Monaco was because of the security it was meant to provide.

Seyar Kurshutov, a Ukrainian businessman from Crimea, who now spends a lot of time in Monaco said his friend was ‘obsessed with security’.

Kurshutov told Le Monde: ‘Vadim was living on a razor’s edge.’

Some of Ermolaev’s most powerful enemies were made through a racket involving fake call centres.

In late 2025, Artur Ermolaev, 35- Vadim Ermolaev’s eldest son – was arrested in Cyprus for his role in the estimated £100m scheme.

Extradited to Estonia, where approximately 500 clients lost around £5million each, he was sentenced to five years in prison, with four months to be served behind bars.

‘He now lives in Israel,’ said Seyar Kurshutov.

Igor Komarov – a 28-year-old businessman involved in the call centres racket – was kidnapped, tortured, killed, and dismembered while on holiday in Bali, Indonesia, in March 2026.

Another security source said: ‘The killers have never been found. This gives an idea of the kind of enemies Ermolaev is up against.’

Equipped with a weed whacker and a vision inspired by national pride, a resident of Alabama has turned his front yard into possibly the most patriotic landscape in the country.

Ahead of this year’s Fourth of July celebrations, Ron Burkett embarked on a project that matches the significance of the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary.

From a bird’s-eye view, thanks to drone footage, Burkett’s property in Trussville, Alabama, reveals an impressive mural of a bald eagle, its wings majestically spread across his front lawn. This creation honors the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.

Utilizing a creative combination of tools—drones, tennis balls, a long cord, and wooden planks for guidance—Burkett meticulously mowed the image into his lawn with a weed whacker, bringing his patriotic vision to life.

Commenting on his artistic endeavor, Burkett remarked, “It’s not political, it’s American. I wish we could focus on celebrating the fundamentals of American freedoms rather than getting sidetracked by political divisions.”

The idea for the eagle took flight after he traveled to New Orleans with his wife and friends to attend Sail250, a celebration of the nation’s maritime heritage.

Burkett returned home inspired, and the rest is history.

As impressive as the detailed eagle and “USA 250” display are, they aren’t the only attractions on Burkett’s property.

His driveway features an equally remarkable mural.

Here’s the latest on America’s 250th Anniversary:

Last Fourth of July, Burkett transformed his driveway into a patriotic canvas, using a power washer to create a striking portrait of the Statue of Liberty flanked by US Air Force fighter jets.

Nearly a year later, the artwork remains so sharp and detailed that it looks freshly sketched.

The impressive mural has become a neighborhood attraction in Trussville, but its days are numbered. Burkett has no plans to preserve the artwork.

Instead, he’ll let the grass grow and allow nature to reclaim the canvas until inspiration strikes again.

For Burkett, the mural is about being an American, and a proud one at that.

The uniquely American lawn display, created in honor of America’s 250th birthday, may not be fully recognizable from the street.

From above, where an eagle would soar, the precision and attention to detail becomes apparent, with each feather fitting perfectly within the plot of grass.

When asked what his favorite thing about being an American was, Burkett’s answer reflected the spirit behind his patriotic display.

“The freedoms that we have, and the right to participate in governing our country through voting,” Burkett said.

The FBI’s new Joint Mission Center has made headway by pinpointing suspects and exposing dubious funding channels linked to violent protests across state lines. This effort has also laid the groundwork for building criminal cases, as shared by FBI Co-Deputy Director Chris Raia in an interview with News Media.

Speaking in an exclusive session at FBI headquarters, Raia revealed that the multi-agency mission center has transitioned from merely gathering intelligence to probing the financial scaffolding that supports political violence, aiming to dismantle these networks efficiently.

“We’ve tracked funding from dubious sources,” Raia stated. “Identifying suspects is one step forward, but securing indictments or convictions remains a different challenge altogether.”

Raia’s remarks arrive amidst a crackdown by federal prosecutors, under the guidance of acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, focusing on nonprofits allegedly tied to violent protests and possible illegal funding activities.

As News Media exclusively disclosed on Monday, a grand jury probe led by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, targets American communist tech mogul Neville Roy Singham. Since 2017, he has reportedly funneled nearly $285 million into a web of nonprofits, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

A grand jury has issued subpoenas seeking financial records related to the Singham network, according to the sources. Raia didn’t speak specifically about the Singham case.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama is prosecuting the Southern Poverty Law Center for alleged bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering in a case in which prosecutors allege SPLC executives paid an informant who helped coordinate transportation, logistics and communications for the 2017 “Unite the Right” protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, that led to the death of a young woman, Heather Heyer.

But the comments from Raia provide the clearest public indication yet that the FBI’s Joint Mission Center, established earlier this year to coordinate the bureau’s response to domestic political violence, is producing tangible investigative results.

The center brings together counterterrorism, cyber, counterintelligence and financial investigators and specialists from the Treasury Department and IRS to trace funding streams, identify criminal actors and build prosecutable cases.

In late September, after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump issued his seventh National Security Presidential Memorandum, entitled “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Political Violence,” or “NSPM-7.” The FBI tasked its Joint Terrorism Task Forces, or JTTFs, to widen their lens to investigate far-left threats in the U.S.

Last year, Raia worked as assistant deputy in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, which successfully convicted a protester, Tarek Bazrouk, charged with hate crimes related to the violent assault of Jewish victims.

In early December, the Justice Department issued a memo, “Implementing National Security Presidential Memorandum-7: Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” directing law enforcement agencies to investigate “anti-fascist” actors with “extreme viewpoints on immigration, radical gender ideology, and anti-American sentiment.” The directive also called for the investigation and prosecution of tax crimes in which “extremist groups are suspected of defrauding the Internal Revenue Service.”

FBI Director Kash Patel named Raia to the position of co-deputy director of the FBI in January after the departure of Dan Bongino from the post.

By March, the Trump administration’s FBI budget included the creation of the Joint Mission Center. Agents assigned to the Joint Mission Center are working “hot and heavy,” he said, to separate allegedly illicit funding from legitimate financial activity supporting nonprofit organizations and advocacy groups.

“It does go through some very legitimate hoops, and it is commingled with very legitimate money as well,” Raia said. “So, splitting that out just takes time.”

Raia said the bureau has already identified at least a “portion of the actors” believed to be involved in financing or facilitating violent protest activity but declined to identify investigative targets because the cases remain active.

“We’re working every day to bring an indictable case to the Department of Justice,” Raia said.

Raia said the bureau created the Joint Mission Center because violent political unrest has evolved into what officials view as a “hybrid threat” requiring expertise that extends beyond traditional counterterrorism investigations.

“We brought all those folks together from different divisions at headquarters. And we brought them together to sit in the same space and really be a clearinghouse for these types of events that happen,” Raia said.

Singham and the organizations in his network didn’t return requests for comment. A spokesman for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.

As part of the investigation, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met earlier this year with Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon, who pledged to aid the FBI’s effort to trace how Singham allegedly routed money through a network of nonprofit organizations that investigators believe supported protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other causes, the sources said.

The Singham investigation illustrates the type of financial case the FBI’s Joint Mission Center was created to pursue: identifying and dismantling the funding networks that investigators believe enable recurring episodes of political violence across the country.

Raia cited violent anti-ICE demonstrations in Minneapolis and at Delaney Hall; an immigration detention center in Newark, N.J.; the attempted terror plot at UFC 250 in Washington, D.C.; and other incidents that federal authorities believe demonstrate recurring patterns of organized violence.

As News Media previously reported, activists associated with the Singham network have participated in anti-ICE demonstrations at Delaney Hall and protests in Minneapolis and Los Angeles.

“We’ve seen it, and we’re going to continue to see it: The violent protester that shows up in Portland will be a violent protester that shows up at Delaney Hall and vice versa,” Raia said. “This same cast of characters continues to show up, and they continue to invade and infiltrate the legitimate First Amendment protesters who are exercising their constitutionally given First Amendment right.

“We know these violent folks are coming in and seeding into there and creating chaos, creating violence, causing us to have to get involved. And we’re doing a good job getting in front of these folks and disrupting those folks.”

Raia said the FBI has disrupted numerous violent actors over the past 15 months, including during anti-ICE demonstrations in New York City, and that the bureau is increasingly shifting its focus beyond arrests at protest scenes to the financial infrastructure supporting those activities.

“We’re really looking at attacking the money. Who’s funding these folks? Because we know somebody is, at the end of this, funding these folks,” Raia said.

Ren McEachern, the former acting unit chief of the FBI’s International Corruption Unit, said following financial trails is often the fastest way to expose the organizations, individuals and motivations behind coordinated political violence.

“When you see what appear to be disorganized or fragmented protest groups appearing and reappearing, well organized, in different areas of the country, you have to determine the funding sources to understand the organization,” McEachern said. “Often, if you follow the money, it tells a different story of organized collection and distribution of funds.”