Teen who showed sex tape to friends will register as sex offender
A judge in Ohio has ordered a teen who admitted to secretly filming himself having sex with a 14-year-old girl and sharing the footage with classmates to register as a sex offender for the next 25 years.
Jeremiah Horton, 18, was indicted by a grand jury in December after the girl’s mother went to police with the video. Police said the senior football player sent it to fellow students at North College Hill High School in Cincinnati, from which he was later expelled, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.
In addition to registering as a Tier 2 sex offender, Horton was sentenced by a judge to spend six months at River City Correctional Center, a rehab facility for nonviolent felony offenders. Horton had faced up to three years in prison, WKRC reports.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate, but you did something you shouldn’t have done, obviously,” Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Patrick Dinkelacker told the teen. “And there’s a price to pay.”
The judge also warned Horton not to violate his parole upon release from custody, saying he would certainly spend significant time behind bars if that occurred.
“We’re not playing anymore,” Dinkelacker told the teen.
Horton, who was one of four teens prosecuted in connection with the video, pleaded guilty in April to a felony child pornography charge. As part of his sex offender designation, Horton will be required to register his address with authorities every six months for the next 25 years, the Enquirer reports.
Prosecutors said Horton shared the video with classmates in September. Three students then shared the explicit footage, including one 14-year-old boy who sent it as a group text messages to eight other people, according to court documents obtained by the newspaper.
Those three teens who were prosecuted in juvenile court have since been placed on probation.
Horton, for his part, apologized to the victim and her family in court Thursday, WKRC reports.
“I’m not proud of what I did,” Horton said, adding that he was also sorry for the humiliation he caused his father, who has raised him alone as a single parent.
Horton’s attorney, meanwhile, said his client’s actions were a “youthful indiscretion” gone awry.
“I doubt very seriously you’ll ever see this young man in the criminal justice system,” attorney Carl Lewis told Dinkelacker.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/24/teen-who-showed-sex-tape-to-friends-will-register-as-sex-offender/
Photo Credit: nypost.com/North College Hill Police
Samsung deepfake AI could fabricate a video of you from a single profile pic
Article via CNET
Imagine someone creating a deepfake video of you simply by stealing your Facebook profile pic. The bad guys don’t have their hands on that tech yet, but Samsung has figured out how to make it happen.
Software for creating deepfakes — fabricated clips that make people appear to do or say things they never did — usually requires big data sets of images in order to create a realistic forgery. Now Samsung has developed a new artificial intelligence system that can generate a fake clip by feeding it as little as one photo.
The technology, of course, can be used for fun, like bringing a classic portrait to life. The Mona Lisa, which exists solely as a single still image, is animated in three different clips to demonstrate the new technology. A Samsung artificial intelligence lab in Russia developed the technology, which was detailed in a paper earlier this week.
Here’s the downside: These kinds of techniques and their rapid development also create risks of misinformation, election tampering and fraud, according to Hany Farid, a Dartmouth researcher who specializes in media forensics to root out deepfakes.
When even a crudely doctored video of US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi can go viral on social media, deepfakes raise worries that their sophistication would make mass deception easier, since deepfakes are harder to debunk.
“Following the trend of the past year, this and related techniques require less and less data and are generating more and more sophisticated and compelling content,” Farid said. Even though Samsung’s process can create visual glitches, “these results are another step in the evolution of techniques … leading to the creation of multimedia content that will eventually be indistinguishable from the real thing.”
Like Photoshop for video on steroids, deepfake software produces forgeries by using machine learning to convincingly fabricate a moving, speaking human. Though computer manipulation of video has existed for decades, deepfake systems have made doctored clips not only easier to create but also harder to detect. Think of them as photo-realistic digital puppets.
Lots of deepfakes, like the one animating the Mona Lisa, are harmless fun. The technology has made possible an entire genre of memes, including one in which Nicolas Cage‘s face is placed into movies and TV shows he wasn’t in. But deepfake technology can also be insidious, such as when it’s used to graft an unsuspecting person’s face into explicit adult movies, a technique sometimes used in revenge porn.
In its paper, Samsung’s AI lab dubbed its creations “realistic neural talking heads.” The term “talking heads” refers to the genre of video the system can create; it’s similar to those video boxes of pundits you see on TV news. The word “neural” is a nod to neural networks, a type of machine learning that mimics the human brain.
The researchers saw their breakthrough being used in a host of applications, including video games, film and TV. “Such ability has practical applications for telepresence, including videoconferencing and multi-player games, as well as special effects industry,” they wrote.
The paper was accompanied by a video showing off the team’s creations, which also happened to be scored with a disconcertingly chill-vibes soundtrack.
Usually, a synthesized talking head requires you to train an artificial intelligence system on a large data set of images of a single person. Because so many photos of an individual were needed, deepfake targets have usually been public figures, such as celebrities and politicians.
The Samsung system uses a trick that seems inspired by Alexander Graham Bell’s famous quote about preparation being the key to success. The system starts with a lengthy “meta-learning stage” in which it watches lots of videos to learn how human faces move. It then applies what it’s learned to a single still or a small handful of pics to produce a reasonably realistic video clip.
Unlike a true deepfake video, the results from a single or small number of images end up fudging fine details. For example, a fake of Marilyn Monroe in the Samsung lab’s demo video missed the icon’s famous mole. It also means the synthesized videos tend to retain some semblance of whoever played the role of the digital puppet, according to Siwei Lyu, a computer science professor at the University at Albany in New York who specializes in media forensics and machine learning. That’s why each of the moving Mona Lisa faces looks like a slightly different person.
Generally, a deepfake system aims at eliminating those visual hiccups. That requires meaningful amounts of training data for both the input video and the target person.
The few-shot or one-shot aspect of this approach is useful, Lyu said, because it means a large network can be trained on a large number of videos, which is the part that takes a long time. This kind of system can then quickly adapt to a new target person using only a few images without extensive retraining, he said. “This saves time in concept and makes the model generalizable.”
The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence means that any time a researcher shares a breakthrough in deepfake creation, bad actors can begin scraping together their own jury-rigged tools to mimic it. Samsung’s techniques are likely to find their way into more people’s hands before long.
The glitches in the fake videos made with Samsung’s new approach may be clear and obvious. But they’ll be cold comfort to anybody who ends up in a deepfake generated from that one smiling photo posted to Facebook.
Former U.S. Marine is charged with spying in Russia
(DailYMail) Paul Whelan is charged with spying in Russia after he was arrested in Moscow on December 28 amid allegations he procured a memory stick with a secret list of Russian agents. The Dual US-UK national insists he was not spying and was in Moscow for a wedding. He appeared in court today and said there was ‘nothing legitimate’ about arrest before accusing investigators of making threats to his life and being abusive. Whelan also asked to send a message to Donald Trump but was told to stay silent. The US embassy said it was extremely concerned.
High school reprints yearbooks after students seen flashing alleged racist signs
A Chicago high school will reprint its 2018-19 yearbooks at a cost of $53,794 after 18 photographs show students making a hand gesture associated with white nationalism, according to reports.
Students of “various races, ethnicities, genders and grades” were seen flashing the upside-down “OK,” schools chief Joylynn Pruitt-Adams told parents, students and staff in an email Monday about the Oak Park and River Forest HS, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“The photos in question, as well as other club/team photos in which students are striking poses and making gestures, will be replaced with straight-forward group shots,” Pruitt-Adams wrote about the 1,750 copies of “Tabula.”
“While putting stickers over the photos would be a cheaper solution, it would draw attention to particular groups of students and place a cloud of suspicion over all the students in those photos, regardless of whether they used the sign or not,” she said.
The hand gesture has at times been used in the popular “circle game,” in which pranksters holds the circle below their waists to make others look at it, but it has more recently become associated with the white supremacist movement.
Members of the online group 4chan first began using the symbol as a means of tricking others into thinking they were seeing “white power” symbols everywhere.
Groups like the Anti-Defamation League have said the gesture has come to signify an authentic hate symbol.
Among those to publicly flash the controversial sign was the self-described racist accused of killing 51 Muslim worshipers at mosques in New Zealand.
“My understanding is [yearbook staff] followed protocol,” Pruitt-Adams said. “Things in this country change so rapidly. I don’t want anyone to think we are accusing our students of anything. For us, it was the impact of what the publication could have on the student body.”
School board member Matt Baron voted against reprinting the yearbooks.
“One of my biggest concerns: that if we toss out these 1,750 Tabulas, rather than come to the thoughtful conclusion that they should still be distributed, we are playing right into the hands of all the haters whose evil is at the root of this corrosive and divisive angst — and worse — that we are experiencing,” he said on Facebook.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Father sentenced to 438 years for the rape, sodomy, sexual assault of his own 2 children
(WALA/Meredith) — A Georgia father was sentenced to 438 years in an Alabama penitentiary for his part in raping, sodomizing and sexually abusing two of his own children a dozen years ago.
The sentencing for Michael William Lesher, 53, of Carollton, Ga. was announced Wednesday.
The victims reported the crimes in 2007 after a school resource officer reported an injury to one of the victim’s necks.
According to Tuscaloosa News, prosecutors were unable to get far with the case until the victims were in their 20s and willing to testify. There is no statute of limitations for sex crimes against children.
Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson said he is pleased with the sentence, noting that the conviction and sentence give some closure to the victims, who were believed by some in law enforcement to be too young to testify when the incidents were first reported.
Despite the case being delayed for years before he entered office, Anderson said, “seeking justice for these victims became the goal of the Morgan County District Attorney’s office. They have waited far too long for their day in court, and I am glad that we were finally able to give them the opportunity to tell about the abuse that they suffered at the hands of their father.”
A Morgan County jury convicted Lesher on March 29 following a four-day trial in Circuit Court. The jury returned guilty verdicts on two counts of Rape in the First Degree, two counts of Sodomy in the First Degree and two counts of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree as well as one count of Incest.
Judge Stephen F. Brown handed down Lesher’s sentence Tuesday afternoon in Decatur. Chief Assistant District Attorney Paul Matthews and Assistant District Attorney Courtney Schellack prosecuted the case for the state.
“In my 37 years as a prosecutor, this is singularly the most disturbing case of child sexual assault that I have ever tried,” Matthews said.
Lisa Lesher, 40, who prosecutors say was an accomplice to her husband’s crimes, remains in custody pending trial.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/Morgan County Sheriff’s Office
Jury acquits man accused of killing, dismembering 2-year-old dumped in Chicago lagoon
CHICAGO — A Cook County jury acquitted an Illinois man accused of killing a 2-year-old boy, dismembering his body and dumping his remains in Chicago’s Garfield Park Lagoon.
Kamel Harris, 44, was found not guilty on Thursday in the gruesome 2015 death of 2-year-old Kyrian Knox.
In August of 2015, Kyrian’s mother had given the boy to Harris, the father of a friend, for a couple of weeks while she and a friend tried to find jobs in Iowa in hopes of moving there, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Harris took the stand in his own defense Wednesday and said he gave Kyrian to three people after speaking by phone to a woman he believed to be the boy’s mother.
The toddler’s body was found weeks later in the lagoon after someone saw a foot floating in the water.
Harris’ attorney repeatedly said that there was no forensic evidence tying his client to the crime.
The boy’s mother, Lanisha Knox, wailed in the courtroom after hearing the jury’s verdict, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. After leaving the building, Knox reportedly said, “That was some bulls***. I can’t believe this.”
“This is an innocent man,” Assistant Public Defender Kulmeet Galhotra told the paper. “The guy who did this is still out there.”
Harris is expected to be released from custody soon.
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
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Man Detained After Strangling Girlfriend, 2 Young Children in Riverside Before Threatening to Kill Them, Put Child in Dryer
A man was taken into custody more than 14 years after his then-girlfriend reported that he battered and strangled her and her two children in Riverside and threatened to kill them and put one of the children in a dryer, the Riverside Police Department said Wednesday.
The suspect, Leopoldo Martinez Garcia, severely battered and strangled the 24-year-old woman unconscious, and also battered and strangled her 1 and 4-year-old children in August 2004 at a home in the 2700 block of Iris Street in the Eastside neighborhood of Riverside, police said.
Garcia refused to allow her to leave or call for help for her and the children, according to authorities.
He held up shotgun and threatened to kill her and one of the kids, and put the other in the dryer, police said.
The mother and her children escaped the next day and called police, but officers couldn’t find Garcia and he was believed to have changed his identity and fled the country, Riverside Police said.
The Riverside Police Department’s METRO Team was called to assist with the case in 2017. The task force assists the U.S. Marshall Service with finding and arresting criminals who flee the country.
About a year later, authorities narrowed down Garcia’s location to the Mexican state of Michoacán and the investigation continued until the task force and Mexican authorities found two possible locations for the suspect within the state, police said.
Garcia was found and detained in Michoacán last week by Mexican authorities on May 16 and then transferred into U.S. custody, according to Riverside Police.
The U.S. Marshals Service is holding Garcia in Texas where he awaits extradition to Riverside County.
He faces three counts of attempted murder and several other felony offenses, according to authorities.
No further details were immediately available.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Woman, 102, Being Evicted From Ladera Heights Home So Landlord’s Daughter Can Move In
A 102-year-old woman is being evicted from her longtime residence in Ladera Heights so the landlord’s daughter can move in instead, according to an eviction notice the woman received.
Thelma Smith was given notice on March 8 that she must vacate the single-family home where she has resided for nearly 30 years.
Her landlords said they were ending Smith’s month-to-month lease because their daughter is graduating from law school.
“The dwelling is needed as her principal place of residence,” the notice said.
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They gave the centenarian three months to get out.
Under Los Angeles’ Rent Stabilization Ordinance, a landlord can legally evict a tenant to accommodate a relative’s housing needs. But the law indicates the person forced to leave first would be the tenant who has moved into a unit of comparable housing most recently. In greater L.A. County, where a temporary rent-stabilization policy for unincorporated areas went into effect in December, the law is weaker.
“They use this law to target long-term, low-paying tenants,” said Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival.
Pauline Cooper, a longtime neighbor of Smith’s, said that in the past year, at least one person has moved out of her friend’s small complex, which consists of three brown Craftsman-style homes with rock landscaping. Cooper didn’t know whether the once-empty space was occupied now, though.
“She’s been there a thousand years and is paying very low rent,” said Cooper, who has lived in the quiet neighborhood in the unincorporated area between Culver City and Baldwin Hills since 1999.
As part of the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, relocation assistance is available for evicted tenants in L.A. who are 62 or older, are handicapped or disabled. But elsewhere in Los Angeles County, there’s no such help.
Smith, who did not wish to be interviewed, is relying on friends and faraway family to find a new place to stay, Cooper said. She has offered Smith — a widow she describes as “spry” — a bedroom in her own home, but Smith currently doesn’t want to go anywhere.
“I’m trying to get her settled,” Cooper said.
Los Angeles won its rent stabilization ordinance in 1978, and L.A. County received one in 1979. Four years later, the county’s law expired. If a permanent ordinance does pass, regulations could be added.
“It’s pretty outrageous and heartless to be evicting this woman,” Gross said. “It just shows a perfect example of how tenants without strong rent-controlled protections are vulnerable to displacement and injustices.”
Smith, a former executive secretary for the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation, a nonprofit that has served underprivileged youths, recently celebrated her birthday in the home where she’s spent three decades.
The celebration may be her last there. She has until June 30 to vacate the property, her landlords say.
via: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-woman-evicted-20190523-story.htm
Photo Credit: latimes.com/(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
FL High school football star shot dead by friend over video game dispute
A Florida football player was shot dead by a longtime friend this week during a spat over a video game, according to a new report.
Joshua Ancrum, 17, was killed inside his pal’s Miami Gardens home Tuesday afternoon when the gaming dispute between the teens got heated, WPLG Local 10 reported. He was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead.
“What mother wants to bury their son?” the boy’s distraught mom, Lisa Alvarez, told the station. “It’s supposed to be the other way around.”
Jatwan Phillips, 16, was arrested in connection with the slaying, according to the report. He appeared in court Wednesday and has been charged with aggravated manslaughter, though it’s unclear if he will be charged as an adult.
It was not immediately known which game sparked the fatal squabble.
A judge ordered Phillips to remain in jail on Wednesday, according to the report.
Ancrum’s teammates in the South Florida Express 7on7 Football Team considered him a brother.
“He might have grown up in a bad neighborhood and he had a lot of bad influences and stuff like that, but when he came with us, it was, kind of, you try to lead him in the right direction,” teammate Derek Wingo told the station.
The young athlete had received a football scholarship to Florida International University.
“We are saddened at the news of Joshua’s passing,” the school’s head coach, Butch Davis, said in a statement obtained by the station. “We at FIU will be praying for his family, friends and teammates in these trying times.”
Ancrum had always dreamed of going even further with his football career, but his dreams have been shattered, his mother told the outlet.
“Stop the violence,” she insisted.
The teen’s teammates launched a GoFundMe page to help raise money for his funeral expenses. It had reached $4,372 of its $10,000 goal by late Thursday morning.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/23/high-school-football-star-shot-dead-by-friend-over-video-game-dispute/
Photo Credit: nypost.com