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UNITED KINGDOM: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor Investigated Over Potential Sex Crimes
The Epstein files cracked the palace door open. Now police are asking who else is inside.
Police are investigating Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over potential sex crimes as part of a widening inquiry sparked by the release of Jeffrey Epstein files. Detectives are reportedly seeking to speak with a woman who claims she was taken to Andrew’s Windsor home “for sexual purposes,” while also appealing for other potential Epstein survivors to come forward.
Andrew, who strongly denies wrongdoing, was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of misconduct in public office after police raided his Norfolk home before dawn on his 66th birthday. The original focus was reportedly whether he passed sensitive government and commercial information to Epstein while serving as a UK trade envoy.
But investigators are now making clear this is not simply a paperwork or corruption probe. Misconduct in public office can cover a wider range of alleged conduct, including sex offences, fraud, corruption and perverting the course of justice. Police say they will follow the evidence wherever it leads.
The inquiry could run for months, especially as officers wait for unredacted Epstein files from the United States. For Andrew, the problem is no longer just public disgrace. It is the possibility that the Epstein scandal has finally moved from royal embarrassment into criminal jeopardy.
Hot Take
The palace spent years treating Epstein like a stain on the carpet. Turns out the floorboards underneath may be rotten too.
NEW YORK: Luigi Mangione Plea Deal Looks Possible but Dangerous
A deal could end one case while helping prosecutors sharpen the knife in another.
Legal experts say Luigi Mangione could technically cut a plea deal in the Manhattan murder case over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, but the problem is the federal case waiting across town. Any guilty plea in state court would likely require Mangione to admit under oath that he planned and carried out the shooting.
That admission would not stay sealed inside Manhattan. Federal prosecutors could use it in their own case, where Mangione also faces serious charges and the possibility of life in prison. A plea meant to reduce uncertainty in one courtroom could become ammunition in another.
The defense may also believe a Manhattan jury gives Mangione a better chance than a broader federal pool, especially given the public anger around health insurance and the strange sympathy his case has generated. That makes a quick deal unlikely. Sometimes the safest move is letting twelve strangers decide.
Hot Take
A plea deal is a confession wearing a suit. Sign the wrong one, and it follows you into the next room with blood on its cuffs.
CALIFORNIA: Father Gets Three Years After Incest Plea Months After Daughter’s Suicide
A young woman went looking for a fresh start. The house became the crime scene.
Stephen Chavez has been sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to incest and furnishing alcohol to a minor in connection with the abuse of his 18-year-old biological daughter, Makayla Settles. Prosecutors said Settles had moved from North Carolina to California hoping to build a new life with her father.
Instead, authorities said Chavez bought alcohol after a family gathering and then had sex with her at his Moorpark home. Settles later returned to North Carolina, struggled with depression and died by suicide months later. Her family says the attack shattered her future and left damage no sentence could measure.
The punishment has triggered outrage because Settles was legally an adult, limiting the charges prosecutors could bring. Her mother said Chavez promised California would be a dream, complete with college plans and support. What followed, she said, destroyed her daughter in one night.
Hot Take
Three years is what the court could give. Grief gets the life sentence, and nobody ever files an appeal for that.
CALIFORNIA: Influencer Accused of Plotting to Kill Ex Jack Avery
A custody war allegedly crossed the line into murder for hire.
Influencer Gabbie Gonzalez has been arrested in an alleged murder for hire plot targeting her ex-boyfriend, singer Jack Avery. Investigators claim the scheme grew out of a long-running custody dispute over their young daughter and involved Gonzalez, her father Francisco Gonzalez and an alleged co-conspirator.
Court documents allege witnesses heard repeated comments about wanting Avery dead, while investigators traced payments they say were tied to the plot. Authorities claim Francisco sent money that was later moved into cryptocurrency and that coded messages were exchanged through encrypted apps.
The case reportedly escalated when Francisco allegedly spoke with an undercover federal agent posing as a hitman. Gabbie has not entered a plea and was ordered to stay away from Avery and their child. What began as family court bitterness is now being treated as a criminal conspiracy.
Hot Take
Custody fights are ugly enough in daylight. Add money, code words and a fake hitman, and the whole thing starts smelling like a bad decision made in a locked garage.
ARKANSAS: Joseph Duggar Seeks New Changes to Release Conditions
The former reality star is out on bond, but the walls are still closing in.
Joseph Duggar has filed another motion seeking changes to his pretrial release conditions as he faces child molestation charges in Florida and separate child endangerment charges in Arkansas. His lawyers previously said the restrictions have prevented him from contacting his own children for two months.
The latest filing asks whether Duggar can access parcels of land near where the alleged victim was previously living, arguing that the victim and family no longer reside at that listed address. Duggar has pleaded not guilty despite investigators saying he admitted his “intentions were not pure” during a call involving the victim’s father and law enforcement.
Duggar is out after posting a $600,000 bond, while his wife Kendra also faces charges in Arkansas connected to the alleged condition of their children at home. No trial date has been set. For now, the case is all restrictions, motions and a family brand curdling in public.
Hot Take
Reality TV sells the family as a fortress. Court filings have a nasty habit of showing where the locks were broken.