A heated legal battle concluded on Tuesday with the sentencing of a former US Marine reservist along with seven other individuals. The group received lengthy prison terms following a shooting incident that injured a police officer during a demonstration at a Texas immigration detention center last year.

Prosecutors have labeled the incident an act of terrorism, asserting that the individuals involved had affiliations with the leftist militant group Antifa.

However, defense attorneys for the accused have strongly refuted any connections to Antifa. The families of the defendants voiced their dismay and outrage at what they perceive to be excessively harsh sentences.

At the center of the case was Benjamin Song, the Marine reservist convicted of discharging a firearm during the July 4 protest outside the Prairieland Detention Center, located near Dallas. Song received a 100-year prison sentence, marking it as the maximum possible punishment.

The remaining seven defendants, who faced trial in Fort Worth, were handed sentences ranging from 30 to 70 years in prison, reflecting the serious nature of the charges.

“I am livid,” said Lydia Koza, whose wife, Autumn Hill, was sentenced to 50 years in prison. “The government wants to take her entire life away because she attended a protest. Nobody died.”

US District Judge Reed O’Connor, one of two judges overseeing the proceedings, said what happened wasn’t a protest but “an assault on democracy.” All but one of the eight defendants sentenced Tuesday were convicted on terrorism charges.

“The need to deter this type of conduct is high,” O’Connor said.

The case drew attention beyond Texas as critics warned it could have wide-reaching impact on protests and First Amendment free-speech rights.

The Justice Department called it the first sentencing of “defendants affiliated with” Antifa after President Donald Trump last fall signed an executive order designating it as a domestic terrorist organization.

Prosecutors link protesters to Antifa

Trump issued the order even though there is no domestic equivalent to the State Department’s list of foreign terror organizations.

Antifa is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for far-left militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

“The sentences handed down today make clear that Antifa terrorists who attack law enforcement and federal facilities will face swift and uncompromising justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

Prosecutors told jurors during the trial that the group’s actions — including bringing firearms, first aid kits and wearing body armor — were signals of nefarious intent.

Attorneys for the defendants have said there was no planned ambush and that protesters who brought firearms only did so for their own protection.

They argued the gathering was planned as a late-night demonstration with fireworks to show support for immigrants being held at Prairieland before gunshots broke out.

Prosecutors have said Song had yelled, “get to the rifles” and opened fire, striking a police officer who had just pulled up to the center.

Some defendants say they weren’t part of the planning

Phillip Hayes, Song’s attorney, rejected characterizations that the protesters were extremists and said his client will appeal the 100-year sentence.

“This is a bunch of kids and young adults who really have a really big heart and really wanted their voice to be heard,” Hayes said. “It was never intended that anybody get hurt. It was never intended that any shots would be fired.”

Prosecutor Frank Gatto urged the judge to impose stiff penalties.

“People with that kind of extremist beliefs need extra time in prison,” Gatto said. “They believe violence is justified.”

Defendants and their family members pleaded for leniency.

Autumn Hill said the gathering “seemed more like a party to me than anything else” and that she and others who participated “didn’t expect or want any violence or destruction of property to occur.”

Hill’s attorney, Cody Cofer, told the judge that there was no evidence she had a gun, nor that she believed in violence to achieve change. He said that after fireworks were set off, she was so conscientious that she made sure to pick up the trash left behind before leaving.

Chris Tolbert, defendant Savanna Batten’s attorney, has said that his client didn’t bring a firearm, spray paint or fireworks to the center, nor did she participate in the planning of the demonstration.

Hill and Batten both received 50-year sentences.

Another defendant, Daniel Sanchez Estrada, was not at Prairieland the night of the shooting or involved in the planning, his attorney Christopher Weinbel said.

Sanchez Estrada, who is married to another of the defendants, was convicted only on charges of concealing documents.

Weinbel said his client just moved a box of his own belongings of artwork, poetry, journals and zines after the shooting. Nothing in the box was illegal, Weinbel said.

Sanchez Estrada was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Other defendants previously pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists rather than take their case to trial.

Last week, federal prosecutors charged 15 people with impeding the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

They claimed the demonstrators were members of A who conspired against the federal government to block arrests and deportations by setting up blockades around government buildings and throwing chunks of ice at federal vehicles, among other actions.

On Tuesday, federal prosecutors charged ten individuals from Southern California for their roles in several healthcare fraud operations. One particularly notable case involved approximately $270 million in fake Medi-Cal claims, alongside another fraud attempt that allegedly swindled around $27 million from Medicare.

These charges form part of the Justice Department’s extensive “2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown.” Through this initiative, they have indicted a total of 455 defendants, confronting fraudulent activities that sum up to over $6.5 billion.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche hailed this operation as “the most significant collaboration between federal and state forces in the battle against healthcare fraud ever undertaken.”

“The days of fraudsters pilfering taxpayer money are over,” Blanche declared during a press event unveiling the operation. “If you intend to deceive or injure Americans, rest assured we will track you down, confiscate your assets, and prosecute you with full legal force.”

FBI ADDS 2 FUGITIVES TO ‘MOST WANTED FRAUDSTERS’ LIST AMID HISTORIC $6.5B HEALTHCARE TAKEDOWN: PATEL

In the Central District of California, federal prosecutors brought criminal charges against 10 defendants accused of defrauding government-funded healthcare programs or abusing their positions as medical professionals to illegally prescribe controlled substances.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said five individuals were arrested in the greater Los Angeles area for allegedly participating in a scheme that involved submitting nearly $270 million in fraudulent claims to Medi-Cal for expensive prescription drugs.

Among those charged was Christina Mareik, 61, also known as Christina Marie Sanchez Hernandez, of Whittier.

Prosecutors allege Mareik helped facilitate fraudulent prescriptions that generated nearly $270 million in claims to Medi-Cal, which ultimately paid out more than $178 million.

According to prosecutors, the claims involved expensive drugs containing low-cost generic ingredients that were either not medically necessary or were never provided to the purported recipients.

Authorities said Mareik also sent thousands of fraudulent prescriptions to a co-conspirator and caused the submission of fraudulent prescriptions under her own name.

Mareik was arrested June 17 and charged with healthcare fraud.

The charges also include a San Fernando Valley man accused of operating hospice care companies that fraudulently billed Medicare approximately $27 million, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors also charged Oren David Shachar, 59, of Van Nuys; Abraham Shin, 66, of Corona; and Jeannie Choi, 57, of Torrance.

The three defendants face a 16-count indictment alleging they conspired to defraud Medicare out of approximately $27 million.

The charges include conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, healthcare fraud, aggravated identity theft, monetary transactions involving criminally derived property exceeding $10,000, and violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute.

In recently unveiled phone calls, the woman who orchestrated one of the most heinous crimes in America is heard lamenting her conditions in prison. She shockingly trivializes the horrific murder of her expectant friend as simply “one horrible thing.”

Taylor Parker, currently 33, holds the grim title of being the youngest female under a death sentence in Texas. Her deadly plot culminated in the vicious killing of 21-year-old Reagan Simmons-Hancock, from whom she kidnapped an unborn child to maintain her fabricated pregnancy story.

In a frantic bid to uphold her deception, Parker visited Simmons-Hancock’s residence in New Boston on October 9, 2020. There, she stabbed the expectant mother over 100 times, crushed her skull with a hammer, and extracted the baby using a scalpel.

Parker subsequently fled with the newborn, who tragically did not survive. She abandoned Simmons-Hancock, leaving her to perish in the presence of her three-year-old daughter. Parker was apprehended while transporting the deceased infant to a hospital 50 miles away in Oklahoma.

Years after shocking the nation, this chilling narrative is once again in the limelight, thanks to its depiction in the Netflix documentary, Maternal Instinct.

Now, newly release phone records show how Parker regularly phoned her mother, Shona Prior, while behind bars in Bowie County Jail before her trial. 

And the disturbing calls revealed that the convicted killer seemingly had little remorse for her gruesome actions. 

On the phone to her mother, Parker described the murder as ‘one horrible thing,’ according to recordings from 2021 and 2022 obtained by the US Sun. 

At one point, her mother point blank asks if there was something psychologically wrong with her, according to the Sun. 

‘Mom, they would charge me with s***ing on a fly right now if they could, literally, that’s what it comes down to,’ Parker was heard responding. 

‘I mean, there’s another girl that’s here, and they literally just threw some bogus bulls*** on her just because they could, just because it makes them look better.

‘I mean, it’s like [you do] one horrible thing, they’ll do anything and whatever. I mean, that’s just what it comes down to. They don’t give a s***.’

Her mother fires back: ‘Well, Taylor, you know, I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t think you’re thinking about that like you should be thinking about that. 

‘I mean it’s not just you do one horrible thing and they try to throw the book at you.’

Prior then goes on to tell Parker she needed to ask her attorney when she would be able to give her a psychiatric evaluation ‘because something is not right there.’

Parker fell silent before telling her mother that she discovered she would be due for a bond reduction because she had been behind bars for 90 days, the Sun reported. 

In another call, Taylor asks about being able to wear makeup at court.  

‘Did you say anything to her about makeup? Because she doesn’t think that makeup is going to be an option for you,’ her mother said. 

Parker told Prior that someone on her legal team was ‘taking care of it.’

Her mom continues on to say: ‘So, the thing about it is if they try to discriminate you as a person, that will work in your favor in the long run because they’re not giving you a fair chance.’

‘You know, they’re wanting you to look like a homeless criminal,’ the mom added. 

‘They’re not wanting you to look like a human because that would be beneficial to you and detrimental to them.’

Parker agreed with her mother before going on to complain about the court proceedings, according to the Sun. 

Another call revealed Parker’s emotional response to discussing her two other children. She was upset that her ex-husband wouldn’t let her speak to her son. 

Prior had been the full-time guardian for Parker’s daughter, while Parker’s son was put in the care of her ex-husband. 

‘Mom, that really upsets me,’ Parker tearfully said, noting how she had to fight to be able to speak with her son on the phone. 

‘I’m sure it does,’ Prior bit back. ‘But you know what? I hate to say this, but if you’d have been thinking about the children that you had on earth, you might not be in the situation you’re in.’

‘But, I mean, that’s what’s done is done. And you have to go forward and deal with the consequences as best you can. You’re not the only one dealing with them. We’re all dealing with them.’

Parker was also heard whining that the lights in her cell were kept on 24 hours a day, an issue her mother, however, defended her on. 

‘I don’t understand. You have already been diagnosed with hemiplegic migraines, all right?’ the mom was heard saying. 

‘If those f***ing lights trigger a migraine episode, the damn jail is going to have more problems than they have right now with you.

‘I mean, they cannot facilitate you. And maybe, just maybe, you should hold your eyes open just as long as you can so it will trigger another episode. But I’m just saying it’s a matter of time before that comes back. And they can’t… they’re not equipped to facilitate an individual in that kind of condition, the condition that you used to be in.’

Parker goes on to say that she spoke to a psychiatrist who gave her a sleep aid, which was also to help her ‘night terrors’ and ‘depression.’

‘She said I probably talk to her every three weeks,’ Parker said. 

The phone calls were laid out in court by the prosecution, who said their contents proved Parker’s lack of remorse, troubling state of mind and manipulative behavior.

As time goes on, Parker appears to show some apology for her actions – but only after her mother stresses the difficulty of balancing court responsibilities and looking after Parker’s daughter. 

‘I’m sorry,’ Parker was heard saying through tears. 

‘I know you did not think about the consequences of your actions. I know that,’ Prior tells her daughter. 

In other calls Parker was heard complaining that she was strip-searched and her cell ‘ransacked’ over a Facebook rumor. 

‘That was a bogus lie just for them to tear up my stuff, and there should be repercussions for it,’ Parker told Prior. 

Parker’s legal team argued that the calls proved her attempts to maintain family ties in an attempt to evidence human emotion and motivations. 

However, the prosecution argued that a ‘normal person’ would be overcome with guilt or grief over murdering their friend and stealing their child. 

Parker’s phone calls, according to prosecutors, only evidenced self-pity, anger and superficial complaints about her life behind bars, the Sun reported. 

Since Parker was handed the death penalty, her horrific crimes have regained notoriety in the public eye after the true crime story was fashioned into a Netflix documentary, Maternal Instinct. 

Born in 1992, Parker was revealed to have experienced a troubled childhood marked by alleged sexual assault and struggles with obesity.

After dropping out of high school and becoming a mother at 17, she went on to have a second child in 2014 before undergoing a tubal ligation.

The following year, Parker underwent surgery and was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy and endometriosis after suffering from severe pelvic cramps.

While she was under anesthesia, her mother authorized a hysterectomy, leaving Parker unable to have more children.

Friends and family would later describe the procedure as a devastating blow that appeared to have a lasting impact on her, leading her to become obsessed with the idea of having another child.

Over the next several years, Parker’s personal life continued to unravel. She divorced her first husband in 2017 and married Hunter Parker the following year.

Despite her hysterectomy, she repeatedly sought friends willing to act as surrogates so she could have another child.

Her second marriage ended in divorce in April 2019, and just weeks later, Parker began dating Wade Griffin, a hog farmer she had met at a rodeo.

Just a few months into their relationship, Parker told Griffin she was pregnant – a claim which was impossible as her hysterectomy had left her unable to carry a child.

Yet she maintained the lie for months, using a silicone pregnancy belly and fake ultrasound images purchased online.

She staged maternity photographs, hosted a gender reveal party and carefully controlled her interactions with Griffin to prevent him from discovering the truth.

‘During that summer, our time together was very limited,’ Griffin recalled in the documentary. 

‘She never hardly ever wanted me to see her naked or anything because she said she was insecure because of her stretch marks. We never really did anything at all, pretty much.’

As the fake pregnancy progressed, suspicions began to spread throughout the small Texas community.

While she was revealed to have manipulated Griffin, turning him against her family and lying about her wealth, Parker sparked a friendship with Simmons-Hancock. 

The pair met when Parker was hired as Simmons-Hancock’s engagement party and wedding photographer. Over time, the two women grew close, with Simmons-Hancock believing they were both expecting baby girls. 

By September of 2020, Parker’s deception was nearing its breaking point. For months, she had convinced Griffin, his family and much of the local community that she was expecting a baby girl. 

Yet, the date she had repeatedly claimed as her due date was fast approaching, and there was no real pregnancy to conceal.

As the pressure mounted, Parker began searching online for pregnant women, focusing her attention on maternity consignment stores and pregnancy clinics in the area.

In the days leading up to the murder, prosecutors said Parker’s internet searches became even more disturbing.

Testimony revealed that she had watched videos explaining how to perform a C-section. 

Then, on the day of the killing, she viewed an instructional medical video demonstrating how to conduct a physical examination on a premature infant born at 35 weeks’ gestation – the exact gestational age of her victim’s baby.

An autopsy later revealed that Simmons-Hancock suffered 113 sharp force injuries, including 15 stab wounds and 98 incised wounds, as well as 39 blunt force injuries. 

Medical examiner Dr Melinda Flores testified that the cause of death was ‘homicide from traumatic extraction from the uterus with both sharp and blunt force injuries’.

A separate examination determined that her unborn child – Braxlynn Sage – also died as a result of the violent extraction from her mother’s womb.

The medical examiner found bruising on the baby’s scalp and umbilical cord, indicating that some of the blows delivered to Reagan’s abdomen had also struck Braxlynn.

Parker was pulled over in Texas after an officer noticed her driving erratically. She told the officer that she had given birth and the baby wasn’t breathing, and the officer called for an ambulance. 

But after arriving at the hospital and the baby was pronounced dead, Simmons-Hancock’s body was discovered in Texas. 

Hospital staff became suspicious when Parker refused to undergo a vaginal examination. Tests soon confirmed that she had not been pregnant and no longer had a uterus.

Nearly two hours of bodycam footage saw Oklahoma detectives arriving at the hospital and questioning Parker, who is in a hospital bed, about the stolen baby.

Initially, she denied the crime, claiming she was pregnant and the baby was hers. However, after a doctor performed a vaginal exam confirming the lie, she began to open up.

The interrogation footage showed Parker repeatedly changing her story, from claiming she gave birth on the roadside to alleging a physical fight with Simmons-Hancock.

Following her confession, Parker was arrested, initiating two years of legal proceedings that exposed gruesome details of her planned murder of her supposed friend. 

After weeks of harrowing evidence and emotional testimony, the jury finally delivered its verdict – Parker was found guilty of capital murder. 

A month later, on November 9, 2022, she was sentenced to death by the trial court upon the jury’s unanimous recommendation for capital punishment.

Several subsequent appeals in 2025 and 2026 were denied, including by the Supreme Court in May of this year.

Parker is now the youngest woman and one of only seven female convicts on death row in Texas.

HOUSTON — On Tuesday, the FBI revealed that they have placed a Texas woman on their Most Wanted Fraudster list. She is suspected of orchestrating a healthcare fraud scheme that amounts to nearly $100 million.

The FBI’s Houston office has identified Emylee Thai as the individual accused of perpetrating this vast financial deception, which involved fraudulent genetic testing and kickback activities.

Authorities indicated that charges were brought against Thai on July 11, 2022. These charges include conspiring to commit healthcare fraud, conspiring against the United States, and paying kickbacks linked to a federal healthcare program.

The indictment specifies that from 2019 onward, Thai, who owned a laboratory, allegedly collaborated with marketers. In exchange for a share of the reimbursements, these marketers referred DNA samples and signed doctors’ orders to her lab, according to the FBI’s findings.

Officials reported that the genetic tests frequently cost Medicare thousands of dollars per patient. However, these tests were deemed not medically necessary and were seldom utilized in the treatment of the patients involved.

Thai’s laboratory billed Medicare approximately $142 million for genetic testing around this time, FBI officials said, and was paid approximately $95 million on those claims.

Authorities said after her arrest, Thai was granted bail with several conditions, including wearing a location monitoring device. On Dec. 8, 2022, Thai’s location monitor was removed, officials said, with her last known location being Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. The next day, after several attempts to contact and locate Thai, officials said they issued a warrant for her arrest.

Investigators said that they determined that Thai was able to flee the United States through a private airplane and a fake identity. FBI Houston officials said that Thai is likely in Vietnam.

On July 5, 2023, Thai was separately charged with destruction and alteration of records in a federal investigation, officials said.

The FBI Houston office said that there is a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to Thai’s arrest, advising people to call 1-800-CALL-FBI with tips.

Cameron Boozer’s heartfelt journey into the NBA spotlight was shared with his older brother, whom he once played a crucial role in rescuing.

“This is my moment, but it’s truly our moment,” the 18-year-old expressed to ESPN’s Lisa Salter amidst the company of his family during the NBA Draft in Brooklyn, where the Memphis Grizzlies selected him third overall.

Standing at 6 feet 9 inches, the Duke forward is not only the son of Carlos, a former NBA star, but he is also the twin brother of Cayden, his partner on the high school and college courts. However, it was his elder sibling, Carmani, who became the focus of Salter’s conversation on that landmark night, rather than Cayden or Carlos.

Carlos once shared with The Associated Press in 2008, while playing for the Utah Jazz, the challenges faced when Carmani was born in 2006, diagnosed with sickle cell anemia, a hereditary blood disorder. Although individuals affected by this condition can often reach adulthood, they are burdened with a notably reduced lifespan.

In an effort to change Carmani’s fate, Carlos and his then-wife CeCe chose to utilize the birth of their twins in 2007 to supply the umbilical cord blood stem cells and bone marrow transplants necessary to save their eldest son’s life.

‘Being able to see everything he does, works hard, and shows up,’ Carmani said of Cameron on Tuesday night, ‘I couldn’t be more proud of someone, and to be able to call [him] my little brother is amazing.’

The family first revealed the story when Carlos was a budding NBA star in Utah, telling The Associated Press that they decided to create a donor for young Carmani by producing their own through in-vitro fertilization.

Two of the healthy embryos they created were implanted, resulting in the twins’ birth in July of 2007.

After Carmani had chemotherapy to attack his sickle-cell producing bone marrow, he was injected with stem cells from one twin’s umbilical cord to stimulate the growth of new bone marrow in the hope it would produce healthy blood cells.

‘I think it’s really just faith over fear,’ CeCe, who has since divorced Carlos, told ESPN on Tuesday. ‘So, you know, we battled that adversity as a family, and now we get to celebrate as a family, and be here to watch Cameron, and I just couldn’t be more proud.’

Carlos echoed his ex-wife’s sentiment.

‘First, I’m proud of him,’ the 44-year-old Carlos said. ‘Like the dedication, you heard Carmani talk about it, his sacrifice. He shows up every single day. I’m just happy for him, man.’

Carlos then shared a message directly to Cameron: ‘Take each moment, enjoy each moment. Obviously, be where your feet are. This is something you’ve been waiting for your entire life, and go enjoy it, man. Go enjoy it.’

Sickle cell is a devastating inherited disease of deformed red blood cells that can’t carry enough oxygen, common among people with ancestors from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

The abnormal red blood cells, which shaped like a sickle or crescent,  have difficulty moving through the blood stream. Complications can include intense pain, stroke, organ damage and death.

Bone-marrow transplants have been successful in curing the disease, but it is a risky procedure because the chemotherapy wipes out the immune system. In infants, the risks are even greater.

Cameron was the college player of the year in his one season at Duke after averaging 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.

Cayden is staying at Duke, where he is expected to crack the starting lineup in 2026-27.