THE UNITED STATES’ secretive Special Operations Command is looking for
companies to help create deepfake internet users so convincing that neither
humans nor computers will be able to detect they are fake, according to a
procurement document reviewed by The Intercept.

The plan, mentioned in a new 76-page wish list by the Department of
Defense’s Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, outlines advanced
technologies desired for country’s most elite, clandestine military
efforts. “Special Operations Forces (SOF) are interested in technologies
that can generate convincing online personas for use on social media
platforms, social networking sites, and other online content,” the entry
reads.

The document specifies that JSOC wants the ability to create online user
profiles that “appear to be a unique individual that is recognizable as
human but does not exist in the real world,” with each featuring “multiple
expressions” and “Government Identification quality photos.”

In addition to still images of faked people, the document notes that “the
solution should include facial & background imagery, facial & background
video, and audio layers,” and JSOC hopes to be able to generate “selfie
video” from these fabricated humans. These videos will feature more than
fake people: Each deepfake selfie will come with a matching faked
background, “to create a virtual environment undetectable by social media
algorithms.”

The Pentagon has already been caught using phony social media users to
further its interests in recent years. In 2022, Meta and Twitter removed a
propaganda network using faked accounts operated by U.S. Central Command,
including some with profile pictures generated with methods similar to
those outlined by JSOC. A 2024 Reuters investigation revealed a Special
Operations Command campaign using fake social media users aimed at
undermining foreign confidence in China’s Covid vaccine.

Last year, Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, expressed interest in
using video “deepfakes,” a general term for synthesized audiovisual data
meant to be indistinguishable from a genuine recording, for “influence
operations, digital deception, communication disruption, and disinformation
campaigns.” Such imagery is generated using a variety of machine learning
techniques, generally using software that has been “trained” to recognize
and recreate human features by analyzing a massive database of faces and
bodies. This year’s SOCOM wish list specifies an interest in software
similar to StyleGAN, a tool released by Nvidia in 2019 that powered the
globally popular website “This Person Does Not Exist.” Within a year of
StyleGAN’s launch, Facebook said it had taken down a network of accounts
that used the technology to create false profile pictures. Since then,
academic and private sector researchers have been engaged in a race between
new ways to create undetectable deepfakes, and new ways to detect them.
Many government services now require so-called liveness detection to thwart
deepfaked identity photos, asking human applicants to upload a selfie video
to demonstrate they are a real person — an obstacle that SOCOM may be
interested in thwarting.

The listing notes that special operations troops “will use this capability
to gather information from public online forums,” with no further
explanation of how these artificial internet users will be used.

This more detailed procurement listing shows that the United States pursues
the exact same technologies and techniques it condemns in the hands of
geopolitical foes. National security officials have long described the
state-backed use of deepfakes as an urgent threat — that is, if they are
being done by another country.

Last September, a joint statement by the NSA, FBI, and CISA warned
“synthetic media, such as deepfakes, present a growing challenge for all
users of modern technology and communications.” It described the global
proliferation of deepfake technology as a “top risk” for 2023. In a
background briefing to reporters this year, U.S. intelligence officials
cautioned that the ability of foreign adversaries to disseminate
“AI-generated content” without being detected — exactly the capability the
Pentagon now seeks — represents a “malign influence accelerant” from the
likes of Russia, China, and Iran. Earlier this year, the Pentagon’s Defense
Innovation Unit sought private sector help in combating deepfakes with an
air of alarm: “This technology is increasingly common and credible, posing
a significant threat to the Department of Defense, especially as U.S.
adversaries use deepfakes for deception, fraud, disinformation, and other
malicious activities.” An April paper by the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies
Institute was similarly concerned: “Experts expect the malicious use of AI,
including the creation of deepfake videos to sow disinformation to polarize
societies and deepen grievances, to grow over the next decade.”

The offensive use of this technology by the U.S. would, naturally, spur its
proliferation and normalize it as a tool for all governments. “What’s
notable about this technology is that it is purely of a deceptive nature,”
said Heidy Khlaaf, chief AI scientist at the AI Now Institute. “There are
no legitimate use cases besides deception, and it is concerning to see the
U.S. military lean into a use of a technology they have themselves warned
against. This will only embolden other militaries or adversaries to do the
same, leading to a society where it is increasingly difficult to ascertain
truth from fiction and muddling the geopolitical sphere.”

Both Russia and China have been caught using deepfaked video and user
avatars in their online propaganda efforts, prompting the State Department
to announce an international “Framework to Counter Foreign State
Information Manipulation” in January. “Foreign information manipulation and
interference is a national security threat to the United States as well as
to its allies and partners,” a State Department press release said.
“Authoritarian governments use information manipulation to shred the fabric
of free and democratic societies.”

SOCOM’s interest in deepfakes is part of a fundamental tension within the
U.S. government, said Daniel Byman, a professor of security studies at
Georgetown University and a member of the State Department’s International
Security Advisory Board. “Much of the U.S. government has a strong interest
in the public believing that the government consistently puts out truthful
(to the best of knowledge) information and is not deliberately deceiving
people,” he explained, while other branches are tasked with deception. “So
there is a legitimate concern that the U.S. will be seen as hypocritical,”
Byman added. “I’m also concerned about the impact on domestic trust in
government — will segments of the U.S. people, in general, become more
suspicious of information from the government?”

<https://theintercept.com/2024/10/17/pentagon-ai-deepfake-internet-users/>

D. Ray wrote:
> THE UNITED STATES’ secretive Special Operations Command is looking for
> companies to help create deepfake internet users so convincing that neither
> humans nor computers will be able to detect they are fake, according to a
> procurement document reviewed by The Intercept.
>
> The plan, mentioned in a new 76-page wish list by the Department of
> Defense’s Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, outlines advanced
> technologies desired for country’s most elite, clandestine military
> efforts. “Special Operations Forces (SOF) are interested in technologies
> that can generate convincing online personas for use on social media
> platforms, social networking sites, and other online content,” the entry
> reads.
>
> The document specifies that JSOC wants the ability to create online user
> profiles that “appear to be a unique individual that is recognizable as
> human but does not exist in the real world,” with each featuring “multiple
> expressions” and “Government Identification quality photos.”
>
> In addition to still images of faked people, the document notes that “the
> solution should include facial & background imagery, facial & background
> video, and audio layers,” and JSOC hopes to be able to generate “selfie
> video” from these fabricated humans. These videos will feature more than
> fake people: Each deepfake selfie will come with a matching faked
> background, “to create a virtual environment undetectable by social media
> algorithms.”
>
> The Pentagon has already been caught using phony social media users to
> further its interests in recent years. In 2022, Meta and Twitter removed a
> propaganda network using faked accounts operated by U.S. Central Command,
> including some with profile pictures generated with methods similar to
> those outlined by JSOC. A 2024 Reuters investigation revealed a Special
> Operations Command campaign using fake social media users aimed at
> undermining foreign confidence in China’s Covid vaccine.
>
> Last year, Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, expressed interest in
> using video “deepfakes,” a general term for synthesized audiovisual data
> meant to be indistinguishable from a genuine recording, for “influence
> operations, digital deception, communication disruption, and disinformation
> campaigns.” Such imagery is generated using a variety of machine learning
> techniques, generally using software that has been “trained” to recognize
> and recreate human features by analyzing a massive database of faces and
> bodies. This year’s SOCOM wish list specifies an interest in software
> similar to StyleGAN, a tool released by Nvidia in 2019 that powered the
> globally popular website “This Person Does Not Exist.” Within a year of
> StyleGAN’s launch, Facebook said it had taken down a network of accounts
> that used the technology to create false profile pictures. Since then,
> academic and private sector researchers have been engaged in a race between
> new ways to create undetectable deepfakes, and new ways to detect them.
> Many government services now require so-called liveness detection to thwart
> deepfaked identity photos, asking human applicants to upload a selfie video
> to demonstrate they are a real person — an obstacle that SOCOM may be
> interested in thwarting.
>
> The listing notes that special operations troops “will use this capability
> to gather information from public online forums,” with no further
> explanation of how these artificial internet users will be used.
>
> This more detailed procurement listing shows that the United States pursues
> the exact same technologies and techniques it condemns in the hands of
> geopolitical foes. National security officials have long described the
> state-backed use of deepfakes as an urgent threat — that is, if they are
> being done by another country.
>
> Last September, a joint statement by the NSA, FBI, and CISA warned
> “synthetic media, such as deepfakes, present a growing challenge for all
> users of modern technology and communications.” It described the global
> proliferation of deepfake technology as a “top risk” for 2023. In a
> background briefing to reporters this year, U.S. intelligence officials
> cautioned that the ability of foreign adversaries to disseminate
> “AI-generated content” without being detected — exactly the capability the
> Pentagon now seeks — represents a “malign influence accelerant” from the
> likes of Russia, China, and Iran. Earlier this year, the Pentagon’s Defense
> Innovation Unit sought private sector help in combating deepfakes with an
> air of alarm: “This technology is increasingly common and credible, posing
> a significant threat to the Department of Defense, especially as U.S.
> adversaries use deepfakes for deception, fraud, disinformation, and other
> malicious activities.” An April paper by the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies
> Institute was similarly concerned: “Experts expect the malicious use of AI,
> including the creation of deepfake videos to sow disinformation to polarize
> societies and deepen grievances, to grow over the next decade.”
>
> The offensive use of this technology by the U.S. would, naturally, spur its
> proliferation and normalize it as a tool for all governments. “What’s
> notable about this technology is that it is purely of a deceptive nature,”
> said Heidy Khlaaf, chief AI scientist at the AI Now Institute. “There are
> no legitimate use cases besides deception, and it is concerning to see the
> U.S. military lean into a use of a technology they have themselves warned
> against. This will only embolden other militaries or adversaries to do the
> same, leading to a society where it is increasingly difficult to ascertain
> truth from fiction and muddling the geopolitical sphere.”
>
> Both Russia and China have been caught using deepfaked video and user
> avatars in their online propaganda efforts, prompting the State Department
> to announce an international “Framework to Counter Foreign State
> Information Manipulation” in January. “Foreign information manipulation and
> interference is a national security threat to the United States as well as
> to its allies and partners,” a State Department press release said.
> “Authoritarian governments use information manipulation to shred the fabric
> of free and democratic societies.”
>
> SOCOM’s interest in deepfakes is part of a fundamental tension within the
> U.S. government, said Daniel Byman, a professor of security studies at
> Georgetown University and a member of the State Department’s International
> Security Advisory Board. “Much of the U.S. government has a strong interest
> in the public believing that the government consistently puts out truthful
> (to the best of knowledge) information and is not deliberately deceiving
> people,” he explained, while other branches are tasked with deception. “So
> there is a legitimate concern that the U.S. will be seen as hypocritical,”
> Byman added. “I’m also concerned about the impact on domestic trust in
> government — will segments of the U.S. people, in general, become more
> suspicious of information from the government?”
>
> <https://theintercept.com/2024/10/17/pentagon-ai-deepfake-internet-users/>
>

TY for sharing the full article on this.

Now we know for sure why Jonathan D Ball/Rudey remains active here.

--
⛨ 🥐🥖🗼🤪

On 10/18/24 5:18 PM, Pierre Delecto Romney wrote:
> D. Ray wrote:
>> THE UNITED STATES’ secretive Special Operations Command is looking for
>> companies to help create deepfake internet users so convincing that
>> neither
>> humans nor computers will be able to detect they are fake, according to a
>> procurement document reviewed by The Intercept.
>>
>> The plan, mentioned in a new 76-page wish list by the Department of
>> Defense’s Joint Special Operations Command, or JSOC, outlines advanced
>> technologies desired for country’s most elite, clandestine military
>> efforts. “Special Operations Forces (SOF) are interested in technologies
>> that can generate convincing online personas for use on social media
>> platforms, social networking sites, and other online content,” the entry
>> reads.
>>
>>
>> <https://theintercept.com/2024/10/17/pentagon-ai-deepfake-internet-users/>

Using 'fake people' is nothing new. You can employ
them for various propaganda, financial, military
and intel purposes. This just sounds like the latest
upgrade.

Chat and friends CAN fake a human quite well now.
Pairing that with a video avatar should not be an
issue these days either. The tech is there, the
desire is there.

Fortunately, a convincing android BODY to go with
the persona ... that's a long way off. Fritz Lang
envisioned it back in the 1920s, but the actual
tech required to pull it off ... 50+ years yet fer
sure.

> Fortunately, a convincing android BODY to go with
> the persona ... that's a long way off. Fritz Lang
> envisioned it back in the 1920s, but the actual
> tech required to pull it off ... 50+ years yet fer
> sure.
>

I am a DeepFake Inter net user and I suck Putin's cock.

Three people have been killed and eight others injured after a shooting at a trail ride following a homecoming football game.

The shooting happened just after midnight on Saturday in Holmes County, Mississippi, according to WJTV.

Local Sheriff Willie March told the outlet that several people had been on a trail ride after Holmes County Consolidated School's homecoming.

An argument reportedly erupted between some young men who had been part of the ride before the shooting happened.

The three victims have since been identified as 25-year-old Martel Gibson, of Durant, 19-year-old Shundra Chestnut, of Kosciusko, and 19-year-old John Jenkins, also of Durant.

March said that some of the injured victims had to be airlifted to a hospital, while others were transported by ambulances.

He told The Clarion Ledger: 'The football team had won the homecoming game and people wanted to go out and celebrate the win, but others didn’t have that same intention.'

March added that there was anywhere from 200 to 300 people celebrating when gunfire erupted.

The sheriff added: 'It was chaos, to tell you the truth. The shooting just started and people started running.'

Tributes have since been paid to Chestnut on social media, with locals describing it as heartbreaking.

Sharing images of her, one person said: 'I don’t wanna believe it I don’t even wanna think about it but I literally cannot focus at all I just keep thinking about you.

'I’m sorry I wasn’t there to push you out the way, I’m sorry you not here no more I don’t wish this pain on anybody at all. My heart hurting so bad.'

Another said: 'I know you will always be with me spiritually, you left something special on a lot of other souls as well!! Forever living, Forever 19.'

One person posted: 'Praying for everyone involved & all of the families. Lord give them strength & understanding.'

Another added: 'Woke up with a heavy heart! Prayers for Holmes County. May God give you peace that surpasses all understanding.'

Holmes County Central High School had been playing Gentry High at S.V. Marshall High School in Lexington.

Authorities are still searching for the suspects in connection with incident. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is helping with the case.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13978183/mississippi-trail-ride-shooting-homecoming-football-game.html

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Twin Cities man is accused of raping a teenage girl whom he found online while pretending to be a high school student and coercing the girl to meet him by threatening to distribute compromising photos to her classmates.

Muhammed Abdulamer, 26, of Andover, is charged with one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, court documents filed last week in Anoka County show. If convicted of the charges, he faces decades in prison.

According to a criminal complaint, the 15-year-old victim told investigators that she met Abdulamer last fall on Snapchat, where he pretended to be a 16-year-old student at her school who went by the nickname "Moe." The two exchanged messages and eventually traded intimate photos.

After the victim sent Moe images of herself in her underwear, he asked to meet her in person. When the victim declined to meet up, Moe threatened to distribute the compromising images to the victim's classmates.

Not wanting her classmates to see the images, she agreed to meet Moe at a park in Ramsey on Sept. 21. She told investigators that when she saw Abdulamer she immediately realized he was not a teenager.

She said that Abdulamer told her she'd have to have sex with him if she wanted him to delete the images, the complaint states. She said Abdulamer drove her to an empty park nearby and raped her, covering her mouth as she cried.

Later, after stopping at a gas station and dropping the victim off near her home, Abdulamer texted the victim, asking if she liked what had happened, the complaint states. When the victim told him no, he said that she'd have to have sex with him again the next day if she wanted the compromising photos deleted.

The victim told police she met with Abdulamer again on Sept. 22, when he raped her a second time.

After the second assault, Abdulamer texted the victim, suggesting that they should date, the complaint states. She said no and blocked him from her phone. She told police that at that point she didn't care if the images were posted.

The victim eventually told her parents what had happened, and investigators found footage from the gas station showing the victim in a car with Abdulamer. While executing a search warrant, police also found a semen stain inside his car.

In an interview with investigators, Abdulamer admitted to using the nickname "Moe" on Snapchat but denied talking with girls online or having sex with anyone in his car.

Abdulamer was arrested last week. He remains in the Anoka County Jail.

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/charges-man-raped-teen-after-threatening-to-share-compromising-photos-of-her/

(Faribault, MN) – An Owatonna man is facing criminal sex charges, accused of years of rape, molestation, and abuse of a boy with whom authorities say he had a significant relationship.

Jason Lamar Forest, 37, was charged Thursday in Steele County Court with first-degree criminal sexual conduct for the alleged abuse.

https://www.1035kysm.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Forest-Jason.png
Jason Forest mugshot

(Faribault, MN) – An Owatonna man is facing criminal sex charges, accused of years of rape, molestation, and abuse of a boy with whom authorities say he had a significant relationship.

Jason Lamar Forest, 37, was charged Thursday in Steele County Court with first-degree criminal sexual conduct for the alleged abuse.

According to the complaint, a teen boy reported to Owatonna Police that he’d suffered years of emotional, physical, and sexual assaults at the hands of Forest. The teen reported that Forest began assaulting him when they lived in Amboy, where Forest would call him into the basement and force him to remove his clothing or physically assault him. The boy told police Forest would touch his private areas under his clothing, yell at him, and threaten to kill him. The boy said the acts had happened “thousands of times” over the course of four years.

According to the complaint, Forest’s behavior escalated in the two years after they’d moved to Owatonna. The boy told investigators Forest had raped him on multiple occasions and forced him to perform oral sex. Forest also allegedly videotaped himself orally molesting the teen on two recent occasions, according to the complaint.

Court documents say Forest locked the boy in his bedroom approximately 10 times and threatened to kill him if he told anyone of the molestations.

Forest denied the accusations in a police interview last week.
https://www.1035kysm.com/charges-steele-county-man-repeatedly-raped-and-abused-boy-for-years/

About a year and a half after he and two teens forcibly kidnapped a woman outside her Uptown apartment and gang-raped her, Deonte Lawson is headed to prison and never getting out again.

The 24-year-old Minneapolis resident was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

According to a release from the Hennepin County attorney's office, the sentence is the result of a grand jury indictment that allows for a life sentence "for particularly heinous sex crimes or a pattern of sex crimes."

It's a fitting description for what happened to the victim the night of Oct. 15, 2017.

Charging documents say she was getting something out of the trunk of her car outside her apartment when three young men approached and forced her to get into the vehicle at gunpoint.

They drove to a White Castle for food — using her credit card to pay for it — while she was in the backseat, and then took her to a "secluded, wooded area," where she was forced to perform sex acts on the trio.

She was also held by two of them while the other raped her. Afterwards, they took her to a remote, rural area in Washington County, where she managed to convince them to stop for gas — and used this moment to escape.

You can read more about her harrowing ordeal right here.

The sentencing
At Thursday's sentencing, a victim advocate read the woman's impact statement, and it did not mince words about Lawson and the things he did that night.

She said that the defendant had taken away her "drive and outgoing personality" and replaced it with anxiety, post-traumatic stress syndrome and other physical and emotional scars."

“I am smarter, braver and stronger than Mr. Lawson ever counted on,” she wrote in the statement.

"I am a survivor. And I know I am not his first victim, but I am going to make damn sure I am his last. Mr. Lawson is nothing more than a monster. I looked him in the eyes during my testimony and I saw the cold, evil, lifelessness I remember seeing in Oct. 2017.”

Lawson's two accomplices, who were 16 and 17 at the time, have also been convicted in the case and are both expected to receive 12-year prison sentences.

All three were convicted with the help of DNA evidence.

https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-news/leader-in-kidnapping-gang-rape-of-uptown-woman-gets-life-sentence

A Farmington man with a history of mental illness has admitted to trying to have sex with a 14-year-old girl.

Isaac Brooks, 32, is being held at Dakota County Jail on three charges of attempted criminal sexual conduct for attacking the girl late Monday afternoon. Brooks has a significant relationship with the girl.

According to the complaint filed by the Dakota County attorney's office, Brooks approached the girl in his home. He allegedly carried the girl to a bedroom and attempted to remove her pants. She was able to get away and ran to another part of the house. He again grabbed her and took her to another bedroom, where he took his shirt off. The girl was able to fight him off. She then ran outside to a friend's house and contacted police.

Farmington police apprehended Brooks. While in police custody, the complaint reads, "Brooks admitted that he was trying to have sex with the 14 year old child."

Brooks was committed to Regions Hospital for mental illness in 2009, and again in 2010. He was discharged last July.

He is being held on one count of attempted criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, and two counts of attempted criminal sexual conduct in the second degree.

https://www.republicaneagle.com/news/public_safety/farmington-man-charged-with-attempted-sexual-assault-of-a-teen/article_e483e062-e117-5f9d-9175-2aa456207a16.html

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/swnewsmedia.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/0c/50cf1115-5263-5d06-abf6-3b1c6bd2e26a/59fb785397833.image.png?resize=200%2C235
Donte Zemaitis-Thomas

A 2016 Prior Lake High School graduate has been accused of a rape at a Mankato party.

Donte Zemaitis-Thomas, 19, is charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct and false imprisonment, both felonies in Blue Earth County Court, according to a criminal complaint. A warrant for his arrest was issued Oct. 23 and he was eventually arrested by Mankato police and booked into Blue Earth County Jail Nov. 1.

Zemaitis-Thomas has a hearing on Feb. 21 at 9:45 a.m. in Blue Earth County Court.

According to the complaint:

On Oct. 19, a Mankato Department of Public Safety officer was dispatched to the Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato to investigate a possible sexual assault. The victim told the officer she'd been forced to have sex with someone.

A witness told the officer that she went into the bathroom and found the victim "hysterical" on the floor.

The victim told the witness a male from the party she knew only as "Donte" had allegedly raped her. The witness also saw a ripped condom wrapper on the floor. Another witness was friends with a man who knew Zemaitis-Thomas and said he had dropped Zemaitis-Thomas off at a residence hall at Minnesota State University in Mankato.

The victim told police she went to the bathroom and as she went to leave, Zemaitis-Thomas allegedly pushed her into the bathroom and raped her. She told police she told him "no" multiple times and tried to get away. At one point, the victim pushed him away and said Zemaitis-Thomas "got mad."

The victim told police that Zemaitis-Thomas ordered her to stay in the bathroom and then left.

Mankato police then called Minnesota State University in Mankato, but Zemaitis-Thomas was not listed as a student. His driver license had a Prior Lake address, so the police then called the Prior Lake Police Department. The department had an updated address for Zemaitis-Thomas in Rochester.

The Prior Lake Police Department confirmed that Zemaitis-Thomas has a past address in Prior Lake. Prior Lake High School confirmed Zemaitis-Thomas graduated from the school in 2016.

Zemaitis-Thomas was arrested last year in Arizona for burglary, according to Pinal County court records.

Zemaitis-Thomas faces 25 years in prison and/or $50,000 in a maximum sentence for the two counts of criminal sexual misconduct and three years and/or $5,000 maximum sentence for the false imprisonment charge.

https://www.swnewsmedia.com/prior_lake_american/news/hearing-set-for-prior-lake-high-school-grad-charged-with-rape/article_267771fc-4354-5ed9-84a3-a9e3530f29db.html

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/republicanherald.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/b0/cb0d2102-1199-5bd1-a799-c3f343658b7f/660476d5e98dc.image.jpg?resize=359%2C500
Muhammed

POTTSVILLE — A Mahanoy City man was sentenced to up to 10 years in state prison for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl.

Nadir Khalil Muhammed, 30, was sentenced June 27 by Schuylkill County Judge Charles M. Miller after the defendant pleaded guilty to three felony counts of statutory sexual assault.

On the first two charges, Muhammed was sentenced to a combined four to 10 years in a state correctional facility, with credit for time served since March 25.

Muhammed was jailed in county prison after he told borough police he had sexual encounters with a 15-year-old girl, who he said was a family friend.

Under a plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed all remaining charges for the defendant: one felony count of corruption of minors and three misdemeanor counts each of indecent assault and indecent exposure.

The victim told police she had invited Muhammed over to her home in the borough around 11 p.m. March 24. She admitted to having intercourse with him but said they stopped when someone in the house confronted them, police said. She said she and Muhammed had sex on two prior occasions over the past two months.

Police said that someone in the house at the time had recorded a video of the incident and asked the defendant why he is having sex with the girl when he is 30 years old.

Police said a resident reported the encounter; when interviewed, Muhammed told police he and the girl had sex three times, including once at his home.

https://www.republicanherald.com/news/cops-and-courts/mahanoy-city-man-sentenced-to-4-to-10-years-for-raping-girl/article_19b758d8-eb3d-53f7-b857-7b81f0325021.html

https://www.wmata.com/about/news/images/SS-Attempt-Rape-Tiwan-SWEET-Photo-7-21-22_1.jpg
Tiwan D. Sweet

Metro Transit Police today announced the arrest of 38-year-old Tiwan D. Sweet of Washington, DC in connection with an overnight assault at the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center in Silver Spring. Sweet is charged with Attempted First Degree Rape.

The attack occurred shortly after 3 a.m. as the female victim waited at the transit center. Based upon evidence obtained by MTPD, Sweet, who is unknown to the victim, is accused of trying to force himself on the victim and physically assaulting her. The victim yelled for help and shortly after Montgomery County Police responded and intervened in the attack. The suspect was detained and arrested upon arrival of MTPD.

“This is a heinous crime against an innocent victim and the community is now safer with this arrest,” said MTPD Chief Michael Anzallo. “We appreciate the assistance of Montgomery County Police who arrived quickly on scene and stopped the suspect.”

MTPD works closely with local jurisdictions to keep our customers and the community safe in and around Metro facilities. In April, MTPD announced a series of new safety initiatives to target enforcement efforts, increase visibility on buses, trains and stations, and foster a collaborative relationship with neighborhood groups and providers of essential services.

Customers are encouraged to contact MTPD if they witness or are the victim of a crime. Call 202-962-2121 or Text MyMTPD (696873) and someone will respond immediately. You may also go to wmata.com/harassment to report incidents of harassment regardless of whether you believe it’s a crime.

https://www.wmata.com/about/news/Arrest-Silver-Spring-Attempted-Rape.cfm

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/swnewsmedia.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/5/0c/50cf1115-5263-5d06-abf6-3b1c6bd2e26a/59fb785397833.image.png?resize=200%2C235
Donte Zemaitis-Thomas

A 2016 Prior Lake High School graduate will not face a jury trial regarding an alleged rape at a Mankato party after a plea deal in the case was reached in Blue Earth County District Court earlier this month.

Donte Zemaitis-Thomas, 20, had been charged with three felonies — two counts of criminal sexual conduct and one count of false imprisonment in connection to the alleged rape. He had pleaded not guilty in February to those charges and a jury trial was scheduled to begin on July 17.

As part of a plea deal entered July 10, Zemaitis-Thomas pleaded guilty to fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct for nonconsensual sexual contact, a gross misdemeanor. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 1.

According to the criminal complaint:

A Mankato Department of Public Safety officer was dispatched to the Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato on Oct. 19 to investigate a possible sexual assault. At that time, the victim told the officer she’d been forced to have sex with someone at a party.

A witness told police she had found the victim in the bathroom of the house, “hysterical” on the floor. The victim told the witness that a man from the party, who she only knew as “Donte,” had raped her. The witness also saw a ripped condom wrapper on the floor.

The victim told police she went to the bathroom and as she went to leave, the man allegedly pushed her into the bathroom and raped her. She told police she told him “no” multiple times and attempted to escape.

The victim told police that the man ordered her to stay in the bathroom and then left.

Police identified Zemaitis-Thomas as a suspect and a warrant for his arrest was issued on Oct. 23. He was arrested and booked into Blue Earth County Jail on Nov. 1.

Zemaitis-Thomas faces up to one year in jail for the gross misdemeanor charge, though the state will argue for up to 60 days as part of the plea deal, according to the Blue Earth County Attorney’s Office.

https://www.swnewsmedia.com/prior_lake_american/news/felony-charges-dismissed-against-prior-lake-high-school-grad-charged-with-alleged-rape/article_3927cde7-7ad9-53a2-97bb-77ecf13028ee.html

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Prosecutors charged Qureshawn Grant, 27, with first-degree kidnapping, second-degree statutory rape, third-degree assault, and armed criminal action. (Photo from the Boone County Jail)

A man was charged with statutory rape and kidnapping, accused of abducting a girl at gunpoint in Columbia.

According to court documents, Columbia Police spoke with the underage victim at University Hospital early on May 21.

Officers said she told them that she was in a vehicle with a friend when Qureshawn Grant, 27, approached the vehicle and abducted her at gunpoint.

She said Grant forced her into his vehicle, a red Ford Fusion, drove to a cul-de-sac, and sexually assaulted her while pointing a gun at her head.

The victim said he also put the gun in her mouth during the attack.

The document said after the assault Grant got into a crash with another vehicle near College Avenue and Ashland Road which the University of Missouri Police responded to.

The victim said she was able to get away and then she walked to nearby University Hospital.

Officers said they collected the victim’s clothing for evidence and noted scratches on her neck.

She told officers she met Grant on Instagram about eight months before and that Grant was upset she chose to go out with friends instead of with him the night before.

Prosecutors charged Grant with first-degree kidnapping, second-degree statutory rape, third-degree assault, and armed criminal action.

He was taken to the Boone County Jail and held without bond.

https://krcgtv.com/news/local/man-charged-after-abducting-raping-underage-woman-at-gunpoint-qureshawn-grant-columbia-police-university-hospital

WILLMAR — A Willmar man charged in a 2021 sexual assault is free on bond and is next scheduled to appear Oct. 8 in Kandiyohi County District Court.

Charges were filed in August 2023 against Mohamed Abullahi Mohamed, 25, for allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in 2021. He was 22 years old at the time of the alleged assault, according to the filed criminal complaint.

Mohamed is charged with three felony counts of criminal sexual conduct, all alleging sexual penetration. One count in the first degree alleges fear of bodily harm. The two others are third-degree criminal sexual conduct, one of them alleging force or coercion.

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Mohamed Abdulahi Mohamed Contributed / Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office

He was arrested on a warrant July 30 and appeared the next day.

Unconditional bail was set at $200,000 and bail with conditions at $100,000. He posted a $100,000 bond on Aug. 1. Conditions for Mohamed include turning over his passport within 24 hours after his release, having no contact with the alleged victim, and being barred from having unsupervised contact with minors under 18.

According to the criminal complaint, a Willmar police officer was dispatched to CentraCare — Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar during the evening of Sept. 9, 2021, on a report of sexual assault.

The officer met with a nurse who disclosed what a 14-year-old female patient had told her. The nurse also indicated she had completed a sexual assault evidence collection kit.

Accompanied by a sexual assault advocate and a guardian, the female patient told the officer that she and another girl were at a gas station on South First Street in Willmar. When she came back outside from buying a beverage, the other girl was talking to a man.

According to the complaint, the girl recalled she did not want a ride from the male, as he seemed suspicious, but the two girls ended up getting a ride from him.

The girl told the officer about the driver making phone calls and driving around several areas in Willmar, eventually picking up another man identified as Mohamed.

She said she was sitting in the backseat of the vehicle while the other girl was sitting in the front passenger seat. Mohamed sat next to her in the backseat.

They later parked, and the other girl got out.

She said another vehicle then pulled in behind them, the driver turned off the vehicle and got in the backseat with her and Mohamed. Two other males from the vehicle behind them got into their vehicle.

According to the complaint, one male entered the passenger side of the vehicle and held her arms as another male entered the driver side and tried to hold her legs. The girl told the officer that at one point Mohamed asked her if she wanted to have sex and she replied no.

As they were exiting the car, the girl said Mohamed allegedly told everyone to hold up before he got close to her and pulled down her pants.

The girl said she screamed and the two males who had entered the car fled. She said Mohamed sexually assaulted her for approximately five to 10 minutes, and the driver then sexually assaulted her for approximately the same amount of time.

According to the complaint, Mohamed and the girl's friend returned to the car, and the girl said the four of them drove to Marshall as if nothing had happened.

The girl was able to identify Mohamed for the officer using social media, and officers used surveillance video at the gas station to identify a car linked to Mohamed, according to the complaint.

When Mohamed was interviewed by law enforcement at his residence in Willmar in November of 2021, he said he did not know the two girls but had let them use his phone to find a ride and later gave them a ride to Marshall himself after he picked up a male friend, according to the complaint.

Mohamed denied asking either girl for sex and said he had not been given anything in exchange for the ride.

In June of 2022, according to the complaint, DNA analysis provided by the state crime lab confirmed a match between a known sample from Mohamed and DNA on a swab collected from the 14-year-old girl.

https://www.wctrib.com/news/local/willmar-minnesota-man-charged-in-alleged-sexual-assault-reported-in-2021

https://www.clarionledger.com/gcdn/-mm-/4344c3ef69ec11a1e9dc7076f08877a0113ad3b5/c=0-48-1105-672/local/-/media/2015/03/30/JacksonMS/JacksonMS/635633135274794346-New-Hope-players.jpg?width=660&height=373&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp
From left: Javonte Ellis, Brenton Spann and Tyler Staples

What began as a conversation on Facebook, authorities say, led to three New Hope High School football players being arrested and charged with statutory rape involving two teenage girls.

Javonte Ellis, 17, and Brenton Spann, 18, both of Columbus, were arrested Thursday and charged with one count of statutory rape. Tyler Staples, 18, also of Columbus, was charged with two counts of statutory rape. The three are each being charged as adults.

According to Mississippi law, statutory rape is committed when "any person 18 years or older has sexual intercourse with a child age 15 years or younger who is not the person's spouse" and "any person who has sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 14 years or younger who is not the person's spouse." The code also states, "Neither the victim's lack of chastity nor the victim's consent is a defense to a charge of statutory rape."

Detective Tony Cooper with the Lowndes County Sheriff's Department said the charges stem from alleged sexual contact with two girls, ages 14 and 15. The age of consent in Mississippi is 16. Cooper said it is unclear how many times the alleged incidents occurred or where they took place. The five knew each other through mutual ties at New Hope High School where at least one of the girls was a student, Cooper said.

Ellis and Spann each received a $10,000 bond. Staples received a $20,000 bond. All three bonded out of the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center Friday, according to jail records.

Cooper said the investigation is ongoing.

Contact Sarah Fowler at sfowler@gannett.com. Follow @FowlerSarah on Twitter.

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2015/03/30/high-school-football-players-charged-stautory-rape/70670776/

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Donte Zemaitis-Thomas

A 2016 Prior Lake High School graduate will face a jury trial on July 17 after he pleaded not guilty in Blue Earth County District Court Feb. 21 to an alleged rape at a Mankato party.

Donte Zemaitis-Thomas, 19, is charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct and false imprisonment, both felonies in Blue Earth County Court, according to a criminal complaint.

A warrant for his arrest was issued Oct. 23 and he was arrested by Mankato police and booked into Blue Earth County Jail on Nov. 1.

According to the criminal complaint:

On Oct. 19, a Mankato Department of Public Safety officer was dispatched to the Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato to investigate a possible sexual assault. The victim told the officer she'd been forced to have sex with someone.
A witness told the officer that she went into the bathroom and found the victim "hysterical" on the floor.
The victim told the witness a male from the party she knew only as "Donte" had allegedly raped her. The witness also saw a ripped condom wrapper on the floor. Another witness was friends with a man who knew Zemaitis-Thomas and said he had dropped Zemaitis-Thomas off at a residence hall at Minnesota State University in Mankato.
The victim told police she went to the bathroom and as she went to leave, Zemaitis-Thomas allegedly pushed her into the bathroom and raped her. She told police she told him "no" multiple times and tried to get away. At one point, the victim pushed him away and said Zemaitis-Thomas "got mad."
The victim told police that Zemaitis-Thomas ordered her to stay in the bathroom and then left.
Mankato police then called Minnesota State University in Mankato, but Zemaitis-Thomas was not listed as a student. His driver license had a Prior Lake address, so the police then called the Prior Lake Police Department. The department had an updated address for Zemaitis-Thomas in Rochester.
Zemaitis-Thomas was arrested last year in Arizona for burglary, according to Pinal County court records.

Zemaitis-Thomas faces up to 25 years in prison and $50,000 in fines for a maximum sentence for the two counts of criminal sexual misconduct and three years and $5,000 maximum sentence for the false imprisonment charge.

The pre-trial will be June 18. The jury trial is set for four days.

https://www.swnewsmedia.com/prior_lake_american/news/prior-lake-grad-pleads-not-guilty-to-alleged-rape-at-mankato-party/article_efb56d54-188a-5aae-ae78-3d86f8e4792f.html

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/republicaneagle.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/8/7a/87a506c9-4d27-5f28-9a62-eb1234cd91f4/608c8cfa57d32.image.jpg?resize=540%2C405
Caesar J. Moore

A New Richmond man is facing felony charges of sexual assault and intimidation of a victim stemming from an alleged May 6 incident at the Riverfront Inn in New Richmond.

According to the criminal complaint, the female victim was raped by Caesar J. Moore, her daughter’s boyfriend, at the hotel at about 9:15 a.m.

The woman, who is a long-term resident at the hotel, was scheduled to have surgery on her arm later in the day, and she text messaged her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend to request their assistance afterward at her residence, according to the complaint.

Moore then entered the woman’s hotel room through the patio, violently forced himself on her and engaged in nonconsensual sexual intercourse, according to the complaint. Afterward, he washed himself in the bathroom sink and threatened to kill the woman’s daughter if she reported the incident to authorities. He then exited through the patio door.

Moore was later taken into custody without incident at a residence in the 600 block of West Eighth Street in New Richmond where he lives with the woman’s daughter. Because of the alleged death threat to the woman’s daughter and the knowledge that Moore owned firearms, police set up a perimeter around the home and advised Moore to give himself up.

The woman’s daughter was taken to Westfields Hospital for a possible exam of visible bruises and the allegation that Moore battered her, but she refused to cooperate with officers.

St. Croix County Circuit Court Judge Scott Needham set a cash bond at $10,000 at Moore’s initial court appearance on Wednesday, May 7.

Moore was scheduled to appear in court again on Tuesday, May 13 for a preliminary hearing.

https://www.republicaneagle.com/news/public_safety/local-man-charged-in-hotel-rape/article_07455325-2f70-5479-b528-bbecaa7b2d70.html

https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/WHCY6NZ2VJITWJAP3H5ISJG5IM.jpg?&w=712
Johnson (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

A 29-year-old predatory offender dragged a woman from her Minneapolis front porch nearly a quarter-mile to a church parking lot and raped her, according to charges in the latest of several violent allegations against the man dating back to his mid-teens.

Tyree Terrell Johnson, of Crystal, was charged Friday in Hennepin County District Court with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the assault on June 24 that sent her to the hospital with facial injuries. Johnson was arrested Thursday and has a court appearance scheduled for Monday afternoon.

At the time of the alleged rape, Johnson was under intensive court-supervised release and registered with the state as a predatory offender following his conviction in Hennepin County adult court for a rape when he was 15 years old. He was sentenced to a nearly 16-year term, a length above state guidelines and served more than 10 years in prison.

In December 2018, Johnson was charged with murder in the shooting that October of 54-year-old Darren P. Watkins in a north Minneapolis alley. However, Johnson was acquitted in July 2019 of second-degree murder and two related misdemeanor counts.

In December 2019, Johnson was accused of domestic assault by strangulation. He was charged with a felony and two misdemeanor counts. He was acquitted in April of the felony but found guilty of misdemeanor domestic assault.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482

https://www.startribune.com/charge-predatory-offender-grabs-minneapolis-woman-off-porch-rapes-her-outside-church/571834451