Minnesota men sentenced in Somali terror case

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Two men who left Minnesota to join the terrorist group al-Shabab in Somalia were sentenced to three years in federal prison Tuesday, getting reduced sentences for their cooperation with the government's investigation into what has been called one of the largest efforts to recruit U.S. fighters into a foreign terror group.

Abdifatah Yusuf Isse and Salah Osman Ahmed both traveled to Somalia in 2007 and spent about a week in an al-Shabab training camp. They found a way to leave the camp once they learned what al-Shabab was all about.

They each pleaded guilty in 2009 to one count of providing material support to a terrorist group. They each faced a maximum of 15 years in prison. But prosecutors asked for sentences of around six to seven years because both cooperated with the investigation into recruiting and financing for al-Shabab.

U.S. District Judge Michael Davis gave the two men three years apiece, and they're expected to get credit for time served.

Later Tuesday, Davis handed down a 12-year sentence to Omer Abdi Mohamed, who allegedly served as a recruiter for al-Shabab in the U.S. He pleaded guilty in 2011 on the eve of going to trial on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. He also faced a maximum of 15 years in prison but prosecutors asked for less time because of his cooperation.

Unlike several other defendants in the case, Mohamed was not accused of traveling to Somalia to fight for al-Shabab, though he admitted to helping some Minnesota men get plane tickets to Somalia. During last year's trial of another defendant, witnesses said Mohamed used his knowledge of the Quran to convince young men that they had a duty to fight.

His attorney denied that he played any role in recruiting. But after that trial, Mohamed was re-arrested when the court learned he was working at a school. At the time, Davis called him "a danger to the community."

One other man convicted in the case was to be sentenced Tuesday as well, and three more people face sentencing later this week in this case and a case on terror financing.

Davis handed down two sentences in the long-running case on Monday. A man who authorities say played a key role in funneling young men from Minnesota to al-Shabab got 20 years in prison, while a foot soldier for al-Shabab, who participated in an ambush on Ethiopian troops, got 10 years.

"I'm going to take a chance on you," Davis told Isse when granting him a lesser sentence.

He pointed to Isse's decision to leave the al-Shabab training camp: "You devised a scheme to get away. That told me a lot about you. ... If you had been involved in the ambush, you'd be doing a lot of time."

Davis did not explain the 12-year sentence he handed down to Mohamed, who asked him for mercy and said he never would want to harm the U.S.

"I made a terrible, a wrong," Mohamed told the judge. "I regret it."

The courtroom was packed with dozens of his supporters, while others had to wait downstairs. Defense attorney Peter Wold told the judge about 200 Somali community members had written letters to the court on his behalf, calling him respectful, kind and helpful.

"I have a very strong community that knows my heart," Mohamed said.

Authorities say that more than 20 young men left Minnesota to join al-Shabab starting in 2007, when small groups of local Somalis began holding secret meetings to talk about returning to their homeland to wage jihad against Ethiopians. The Ethiopian army was brought into Somalia in 2006 by its weak U.N.-backed government, but the troops were viewed by many Somalis as invaders.

Davis, who has overseen these cases for years, said he still struggles to understand what would make young men from good families, who came to Minnesota as refugees, choose to return to violence.

"We have to figure out what's going on and try to make sure this never happens again," he said.

___

Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://twitter.com/amyforliti.

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Another man sentenced in Minn. Somali terror case

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man has been sentenced to three years in prison after he admitted helping raise money so others could travel from Minnesota to Somalia to join a terror group.

Ahmed Hussein Mahamud was the last of four men sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Minneapolis.

Mahamud pleaded guilty in 2012 to conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He lived in Eden Prairie until 2011, when he moved to Ohio.

Mahamud admitted that from 2008 through February 2011, he and others conspired to provide money and people to al-Shabab, knowing the group was a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Authorities say that more than 20 young men left Minnesota to join al-Shabab starting in 2007.

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Another Minn. man sentenced in Somali terror case

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man has been sentenced to three years in prison after he admitted helping raise money so others could travel from Minnesota to Somalia to join a terror group.

Ahmed Hussein Mahamud was the last of four men sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Minneapolis.

Mahamud pleaded guilty in 2012 to conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He lived in Eden Prairie until 2011, when he moved to Ohio.

Mahamud admitted that from 2008 through February 2011, he and others conspired to provide money and people to al-Shabab, knowing the group was a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Authorities say that more than 20 young men left Minnesota to join al-Shabab starting in 2007.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Two men who left Minnesota to join the terrorist group al-Shabab in Somalia were sentenced to three years in federal prison Tuesday, getting reduced sentences for their cooperation with the government's investigation into what has been called one of the largest efforts to recruit U.S. fighters into a foreign terror group.

Abdifatah Yusuf Isse and Salah Osman Ahmed both traveled to Somalia in 2007 and spent about a week in an al-Shabab training camp. They found a way to leave the camp once they learned what al-Shabab was all about.

They each pleaded guilty in 2009 to one count of providing material support to a terrorist group. They each faced a maximum of 15 years in prison. But prosecutors asked for sentences of around six to seven years because both cooperated with the investigation into recruiting and financing for al-Shabab.

U.S. District Judge Michael Davis gave the two men three years apiece, and they're expected to get credit for time served.

Later Tuesday, Davis handed down a 12-year sentence to Omer Abdi Mohamed, who allegedly served as a recruiter for al-Shabab in the U.S. He pleaded guilty in 2011 on the eve of going to trial on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. He also faced a maximum of 15 years in prison but prosecutors asked for less time because of his cooperation.

Unlike several other defendants in the case, Mohamed was not accused of traveling to Somalia to fight for al-Shabab, though he admitted to helping some Minnesota men get plane tickets to Somalia. During last year's trial of another defendant, witnesses said Mohamed used his knowledge of the Quran to convince young men that they had a duty to fight.

His attorney denied that he played any role in recruiting. But after that trial, Mohamed was re-arrested when the court learned he was working at a school. At the time, Davis called him "a danger to the community."

One other man convicted in the case was to be sentenced Tuesday as well, and three more people face sentencing later this week in this case and a case on terror financing.

Davis handed down two sentences in the long-running case on Monday. A man who authorities say played a key role in funneling young men from Minnesota to al-Shabab got 20 years in prison, while a foot soldier for al-Shabab, who participated in an ambush on Ethiopian troops, got 10 years.

"I'm going to take a chance on you," Davis told Isse when granting him a lesser sentence.

He pointed to Isse's decision to leave the al-Shabab training camp: "You devised a scheme to get away. That told me a lot about you. ... If you had been involved in the ambush, you'd be doing a lot of time."

Davis did not explain the 12-year sentence he handed down to Mohamed, who asked him for mercy and said he never would want to harm the U.S.

"I made a terrible, a wrong," Mohamed told the judge. "I regret it."

The courtroom was packed with dozens of his supporters, while others had to wait downstairs. Defense attorney Peter Wold told the judge about 200 Somali community members had written letters to the court on his behalf, calling him respectful, kind and helpful.

"I have a very strong community that knows my heart," Mohamed said.

Authorities say that more than 20 young men left Minnesota to join al-Shabab starting in 2007, when small groups of local Somalis began holding secret meetings to talk about returning to their homeland to wage jihad against Ethiopians. The Ethiopian army was brought into Somalia in 2006 by its weak U.N.-backed government, but the troops were viewed by many Somalis as invaders.

Davis, who has overseen these cases for years, said he still struggles to understand what would make young men from good families, who came to Minnesota as refugees, choose to return to violence.

"We have to figure out what's going on and try to make sure this never happens again," he said.

___

Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://twitter.com/amyforliti.

View the original article here

Man sentenced to death in Texas courthouse killing

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — After disrupting his capital murder trial several times with profanity-filled outbursts, a Texas man erupted in one final chaotic fit when a jury sentenced him to death on Tuesday for killing a bystander while trying to shoot his daughter outside a courthouse.

Bartholomew Granger's courtroom rants against his daughter, prosecutors and the judge had intensified since he was convicted last week of capital murder in the death of 79-year-old Minnie Ray Sebolt, who was walking outside the courthouse in Beaumont when she was shot in March 2012.

Granger, 42, showed no remorse as he admitted opening fire on his daughter and running her over with his truck because she had testified against him in a sexual assault case, but he insisted he didn't kill Sebolt. His daughter and her mother were among three women wounded in the attack.

Even as his attorneys worked to convince the jury to sentence him to life in prison without parole, Granger instead focused on denying the sexual assault allegation, angrily insisting he was not a child molester and denigrating his daughter.

Those outbursts got him thrown out of court, and they culminated Tuesday as Sebolt's daughter began reading a statement after the jury announced its sentence following less than two hours of deliberations.

As Deborah Ray Holst stood in front on him and began reading her statement, Granger shouted, "I didn't kill your mother!" and that he didn't want to hear her statement. Holst then asked Judge Bob Wortham if Granger could be shocked.

"Tase me. Inject me with poison," Granger said.

"I would love to do it myself," Holst responded.

He was removed from the courtroom but returned minutes later with what officials later said was a spit mask — made of cloth and nylon, and used to stop inmates from spitting on guards — covering his mouth.

But he continued to interrupt Holst. At one point a bailiff put his hands over Granger's mouth in an effort to quiet him, but he became increasingly agitated. At least seven bailiffs and deputies were needed to subdue him as Holst finished her statement, saying her mother was a caring person who always had a smile on her face and calling Granger "an evil, evil non-human."

After Holst finished, Wortham told Granger, "I think you removed any doubt from the jury's mind about the correctness of their verdict."

Earlier Tuesday, Granger interrupted prosecutors during their closing arguments in the trial's punishment phase by laughing and saying he wasn't a child molester. Wortham warned Granger about not talking. When Granger held up in the direction of jurors a yellow legal pad with the word "DEATH" drawn on it, Wortham had Granger removed from court for the rest of the closing arguments.

As he testified on Monday, against the advice of attorneys, Granger called his case a "mockery of justice" and a "lynching." He was then restrained and temporarily removed from court.

Following the jury's sentence, Holst said outside the courthouse that she "couldn't be happier" with the decision.

Lead prosecutor Ed Shettle said it wasn't Granger's behavior in court but his actions during the courthouse shooting, his lack of remorse and his potential to hurt others that led jurors to their decision.

"Bartholomew Granger got the death penalty because he deserved the death penalty," Shettle said.

James Makin, one of Granger's attorneys, said he had hoped the jury would have decided against a death sentence, but added: "I'm a realist." Makin said he doesn't believe in the death penalty but acknowledged, "If I had a gun in that parking lot that day (of the courthouse shooting), I probably would have done something with it."

Granger testified during the trial that he emptied the 10-bullet magazine of his illegally purchased semi-automatic carbine, saying he fired toward his daughter. Then, when he saw his daughter was still moving while lying in the street, he ran over her with his pickup truck. The daughter spent three months in a coma.

The trial was moved 75 miles to Galveston, so jurors didn't have to walk past the crime scene each day.

Granger's daughter, now 22, was among the witnesses who testified against him.

Prosecutors said Granger parked outside the courthouse for hours, then ambushed the women when they appeared at the courthouse in the late morning. Sebolt also was outside at the time, accompanying a relative to the courthouse. She was shot twice and died in the revolving door at the courthouse entrance.

Granger subsequently came under fire from police, abandoned his bullet-riddled truck about three blocks away, walked inside a construction business and took several people hostage. At some point he was wounded and eventually overpowered by his captives, and police moved in to take him into custody.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano at http://www.twitter.com/juanlozano70.

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US calls for NKorea amnesty for sentenced American

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. called Thursday for North Korea to grant amnesty and immediately release a Korean-American sentenced to 15 years' hard labor for "hostile acts" against the state.

Kenneth Bae, 44, a Washington state man described by friends as a devout Christian and a tour operator, is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released without serving out their terms, some after trips to Pyongyang by prominent Americans, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Analysts say Bae's sentencing could be an effort by Pyongyang to win diplomatic concessions in the ongoing standoff over its nuclear program. But there was no immediate sign a high-profile envoy was about to make a clemency mission to the isolated nation which has taken an increasingly confrontational stance under its young leader Kim Jong Un.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the U.S. was still seeking to learn the facts of Bae's case. He said the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which handles consular matters there for the U.S., did not attend Tuesday's Supreme Court trial and that there hasn't been transparency in the legal proceedings.

"There's no greater priority for us than the welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad, and we urge the DPRK authorities to grant Mr. Bae amnesty and immediate release," Ventrell told a news conference, referencing the socialist country's formal title, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea has faced increasing international criticism over its weapons development. Six-nation disarmament talks involving the Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia fell apart in 2009. Several rounds of U.N. sanctions have not encouraged the North to give up its small cache of nuclear devices, which Pyongyang says it must not only keep but expand to protect itself from a hostile Washington. Tensions have escalated since it conducted its third nuclear test since 2006 in February.

Pyongyang's tone has softened somewhat recently, following weeks of violent rhetoric, including threats of nuclear war and missile strikes. There have been tentative signs of interest in diplomacy, and a major source of North Korean outrage — annual U.S.-South Korean military drills — ended Tuesday.

Patrick Cronin, a senior analyst with the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, called Bae's conviction "a hasty gambit to force a direct dialogue with the United States."

"While Washington will do everything possible to spare an innocent American from years of hard labor, U.S. officials are aware that in all likelihood the North Korean regime wants a meeting to demonstrate that the United States in effect confers legitimacy on the North's nuclear-weapon-state status," Cronin said in an email.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters traveling aboard Air Force One en route to Mexico that if North Korea is interested in discussion, they should live up to their obligations under the six-party talks.

"Thus far, as you know, they have flouted their obligations, engaged in provocative actions and rhetoric that brings them no closer to a situation where they can improve the lot of the North Korean people or re-enter the community of nations," Carney said.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency announcement of Bae's sentencing came just days after it reported Saturday that authorities would soon indict and try him. It referred to Bae as Pae Jun Ho, the North Korean spelling for his Korean name. The State Department had appealed Monday for his release on humanitarian grounds.

Bae, from Lynnwood, Wash., was arrested in early November in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea's far northeastern region bordering China and Russia, state media said. The exact nature of Bae's alleged crimes has not been revealed.

"Kenneth Bae had no access to a lawyer. It is not even known what he was charged with," the human rights group Amnesty International said in a statement. "Kenneth Bae should be released, unless he is charged with an internationally recognizable criminal offense and retried by a competent, independent and impartial court."

Ventrell said the Swedish embassy's most recent access to Bae was last Friday. It has only had a handful of brief opportunities to see him since he was arrested in early November, according to U.S. officials.

Friends and colleagues say Bae was based in the Chinese border city of Dalian and traveled frequently to North Korea to feed orphans. Bae's mother in the United States did not answer calls seeking comment Thursday.

There are parallels to a case in 2009. After Pyongyang's launch of a long-range rocket and its second underground nuclear test that year, two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after sneaking across the border from China.

They later were pardoned on humanitarian grounds and released to Clinton, who met with then-leader Kim Jong Il. U.S.-North Korea talks came later that year.

In 2011, Carter visited North Korea to win the release of imprisoned American Aijalon Gomes, who had been sentenced to eight years of hard labor for crossing illegally into the North from China.

On Thursday, Carter's press secretary, Deanna Congileo, said by email that the former president has not had an invitation to visit North Korea and has no plans to visit.

Korean-American Eddie Jun was released in 2011 after Robert King, the U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights, traveled to Pyongyang. Jun had been detained for half a year over an unspecified crime.

Jun and Gomes are also devout Christians. While the North Korean Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the government.

U.N. and U.S. officials accuse North Korea of treating opponents brutally. Foreign nationals have told varying stories about their detentions in North Korea.

The two journalists sentenced to hard labor in 2009 stayed in a guest house instead of a labor camp due to medical concerns.

Ali Lameda, a member of Venezuela's Communist Party and a poet invited to the North in 1966 to work as a Spanish translator, said that he was detained in a damp, filthy cell without trial the following year after facing espionage allegations that he denied. He later spent six years in prison after a one-day trial, he said.

___

Kim reported from Seoul. Associated Press writers Lou Kesten and Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report.

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Woman sentenced in Phoenix fake coupon ring

PHOENIX (AP) -- A Phoenix woman who pleaded guilty to her involvement in a fake coupon ring was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison and may have to pay up to $5 million in restitution.

Robin Ramirez, 41, also was sentenced to seven years of probation and credited with 287 days already served behind bars.

Maricopa County prosecutors said Ramirez's restitution amount will be determined later but will be capped at $5 million.

Ramirez and two other women were arrested last July after an eight-week investigation by Phoenix police, who said they seized more than $25 million worth of fake coupons and $2 million in other assets from the women's Phoenix-area homes.

Police said Ramirez was the leader of the operation that bought the counterfeit manufacturer coupons overseas and then sold them on a website.

People who purchased the coupons could use them for items from major national manufacturers and could get cash back if the value of the coupon exceeded the item's price, according to authorities.

Police said high-quality copies of manufacturer's coupons began surfacing in the United States from an unknown source about four years ago.

The victimized companies hired private investigators to find where the coupons were being sold, and that led them to Arizona.

Ramirez pleaded guilty in March to illegal control of an enterprise, counterfeiting and fraud schemes.

Two other people arrested on suspicion of participating in the scheme — Amiko Fountain, 43, and Marilyn Johnson, 54 — each pleaded guilty to one count of counterfeiting in November.

Fountain and Johnson helped operate the website site and ship the coupons, according to prosecutors who said the women each face up to 18 months in jail when they're sentenced May 8.

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US calls for NKorea amnesty for sentenced American

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. called Thursday for North Korea to grant amnesty and immediately release a Korean-American sentenced to 15 years' hard labor for "hostile acts" against the state.

Kenneth Bae, 44, a Washington state man described by friends as a devout Christian and a tour operator, is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released without serving out their terms, some after trips to Pyongyang by prominent Americans, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Analysts say Bae's sentencing could be an effort by Pyongyang to win diplomatic concessions in the ongoing standoff over its nuclear program. But there was no immediate sign a high-profile envoy was about to make a clemency mission to the isolated nation which has taken an increasingly confrontational stance under its young leader Kim Jong Un.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the U.S. was still seeking to learn the facts of Bae's case. He said the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which handles consular matters there for the U.S., did not attend Tuesday's Supreme Court trial and that there hasn't been transparency in the legal proceedings.

"There's no greater priority for us than the welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad, and we urge the DPRK authorities to grant Mr. Bae amnesty and immediate release," Ventrell told a news conference, referencing the socialist country's formal title, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea has faced increasing international criticism over its weapons development. Six-nation disarmament talks involving the Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia fell apart in 2009. Several rounds of U.N. sanctions have not encouraged the North to give up its small cache of nuclear devices, which Pyongyang says it must not only keep but expand to protect itself from a hostile Washington. Tensions have escalated since it conducted its third nuclear test since 2006 in February.

Pyongyang's tone has softened somewhat recently, following weeks of violent rhetoric, including threats of nuclear war and missile strikes. There have been tentative signs of interest in diplomacy, and a major source of North Korean outrage — annual U.S.-South Korean military drills — ended Tuesday.

Patrick Cronin, a senior analyst with the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, called Bae's conviction "a hasty gambit to force a direct dialogue with the United States."

"While Washington will do everything possible to spare an innocent American from years of hard labor, U.S. officials are aware that in all likelihood the North Korean regime wants a meeting to demonstrate that the United States in effect confers legitimacy on the North's nuclear-weapon-state status," Cronin said in an email.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters traveling aboard Air Force One en route to Mexico that if North Korea is interested in discussion, they should live up to their obligations under the six-party talks.

"Thus far, as you know, they have flouted their obligations, engaged in provocative actions and rhetoric that brings them no closer to a situation where they can improve the lot of the North Korean people or re-enter the community of nations," Carney said.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency announcement of Bae's sentencing came just days after it reported Saturday that authorities would soon indict and try him. It referred to Bae as Pae Jun Ho, the North Korean spelling for his Korean name. The State Department had appealed Monday for his release on humanitarian grounds.

Bae, from Lynnwood, Wash., was arrested in early November in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea's far northeastern region bordering China and Russia, state media said. The exact nature of Bae's alleged crimes has not been revealed.

"Kenneth Bae had no access to a lawyer. It is not even known what he was charged with," the human rights group Amnesty International said in a statement. "Kenneth Bae should be released, unless he is charged with an internationally recognizable criminal offense and retried by a competent, independent and impartial court."

Ventrell said the Swedish embassy's most recent access to Bae was last Friday. It has only had a handful of brief opportunities to see him since he was arrested in early November, according to U.S. officials.

Friends and colleagues say Bae was based in the Chinese border city of Dalian and traveled frequently to North Korea to feed orphans. Bae's mother in the United States did not answer calls seeking comment Thursday.

There are parallels to a case in 2009. After Pyongyang's launch of a long-range rocket and its second underground nuclear test that year, two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after sneaking across the border from China.

They later were pardoned on humanitarian grounds and released to Clinton, who met with then-leader Kim Jong Il. U.S.-North Korea talks came later that year.

In 2011, Carter visited North Korea to win the release of imprisoned American Aijalon Gomes, who had been sentenced to eight years of hard labor for crossing illegally into the North from China.

On Thursday, Carter's press secretary, Deanna Congileo, said by email that the former president has not had an invitation to visit North Korea and has no plans to visit.

Korean-American Eddie Jun was released in 2011 after Robert King, the U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights, traveled to Pyongyang. Jun had been detained for half a year over an unspecified crime.

Jun and Gomes are also devout Christians. While the North Korean Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the government.

U.N. and U.S. officials accuse North Korea of treating opponents brutally. Foreign nationals have told varying stories about their detentions in North Korea.

The two journalists sentenced to hard labor in 2009 stayed in a guest house instead of a labor camp due to medical concerns.

Ali Lameda, a member of Venezuela's Communist Party and a poet invited to the North in 1966 to work as a Spanish translator, said that he was detained in a damp, filthy cell without trial the following year after facing espionage allegations that he denied. He later spent six years in prison after a one-day trial, he said.

___

Kim reported from Seoul. Associated Press writers Lou Kesten and Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report.

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Wisconsin woman sentenced to 10 years in prison for baby's death in 1957

By Brendan O'Brien

(Reuters) - A 76-year-old Wisconsin woman was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in prison for killing her infant daughter more than half a century ago, after the girl's brother persuaded police to reopen the case.

Ruby Klokow, who pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in February, was sentenced in Sheboygan County Circuit Court for the 1957 death of her daughter Jeaneen, who died at the age of seven months after being thrown onto a couch and falling onto the floor.

Sheboygan County Judge Angela Sutkiewicz handed down a much stiffer sentence than the one prosecutors recommended. Prosecutors reached a plea deal in February with Klokow and her attorney, recommending 45 days in jail with 10 years probation.

Klokow told police in 1957 that Jeaneen had fallen off a sofa after she placed her there, according the criminal complaint.

Klokow's son James, who was about 2 years old at the time of his sister's death, went to police in 2008 and told them that he and his brother Bruce were "subjected to repeated and extreme physical and mental abuse by their mother," according to the criminal complaint.

After the case was reopened, Klokow admitted that she had been frustrated and angry at the time. Both James and Jeaneen were crying and she had picked the girl up and threw her toward the sofa, but she bounced off and struck the floor, the complaint said.

James told investigators that Ruby blamed him for his sister's death, according to the complaint.

A pathologist also determined that Jeaneen's injuries could not have been caused merely by falling off a couch, according to the complaint.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Lisa Shumaker)

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Former GM engineer, husband sentenced in trade secret theft case

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) - A former General Motors Co engineer was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and her husband was sentenced to three years for conspiring to steal trade secrets for use in China, federal prosecutors said.

Former engineer Shanshan Du, 54, and her husband Yu Qin, 52, each received sentences well below the roughly eight to 10 years that the government had sought. Both were sentenced on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Marianne Battani in Detroit.

Both defendants are U.S. citizens, and their case is part of a crackdown by the U.S. Department of Justice on trade secret theft, whether involving China or other countries.

Last November, a federal jury convicted Du and Qin on two counts each of unauthorized possession of trade secrets and one count of conspiracy to possess the secrets without permission.

Qin was also convicted on three counts of wire fraud and one count of obstruction of justice.

The defendants had been accused of taking confidential GM information from the Detroit-based automaker related to hybrid vehicles, and trying to pass it to competitors, including China's Chery Automobile Co, through their firm Millennium Technology International.

Investigators accused Du of copying more than 16,000 GM files soon after the automaker in January 2005 gave her a severance offer. They said Qin later claimed, while pitching his services, to have invented some of the stolen GM technology.

"These defendants stole trade secrets, which General Motors spent many years and millions of dollars to develop, to give an unfair advantage to a foreign competitor," U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade in Detroit said in a statement. "Stealing trade secrets harms Michigan businesses and costs jobs."

Prosecutors said GM has estimated that the value of the stolen documents exceeded $40 million. The defendants had argued that the documents in question were not trade secrets.

"I'm pleased that the judge went below the sentencing guidelines, and took into consideration Mr. Qin's contributions to the engineering field, his respect in that field, and his remorse," Qin's lawyer Frank Eaman said in an interview. He nonetheless said he was planning to appeal the conviction.

A lawyer for Du did not immediately respond to a request for a comment. McQuade's office was not immediately available for comment.

The case is U.S. v. Qin et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan, No. 10-cr-02454.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)

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Man sentenced to five years for role in NYC synagogue bomb plot

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man was sentenced on Friday to five years in prison for plotting to blow up synagogues in New York City, only the third conviction under a state terror statute passed in the wake of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks.

Mohamed Mamdouh, 22, a Moroccan-born U.S. citizen, appeared in a state court in Manhattan after previously pleading guilty to conspiracy as a crime of terrorism and two related weapons charges.

Prosecutors accused him of planning to bomb various synagogues with a co-conspirator, Ahmed Ferhani, in retaliation for what they believed to be shoddy treatment of Muslims throughout the world.

Ferhani, 28, an Algerian, was considered the driving force behind the plot and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March.

Prosecutors, who joined Mamdouh's defense lawyer in recommending the five-year sentence, said Mamdouh's role was less significant. He had faced a maximum of 25 years in prison for his most serious charge.

The two men were arrested in May 2011 when Ferhani purchased guns, ammunition and what he believed was a live grenade from an undercover officer as Mamdouh waited a few blocks away, prosecutors said.

"Their intent was to create chaos and to intimidate and coerce Jews living in New York City, and thereby send a message far beyond New York," prosecutor Gary Galperin told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus in court on Friday.

Police characterized the men as "lone wolf" terrorists with no known ties to militant organizations. Defense lawyers initially accused law enforcement of entrapment.

Mamdouh did not offer a statement in court on Friday. His lawyer, Aaron Mysliwiec, said he was "genuinely remorseful" for a mistake he made while at a low point in his life.

In imposing the sentence, Obus said society cannot tolerate such plots, particularly "in light of recent events," an apparent reference to last week's bombings at the Boston Marathon.

The case is one of only two brought under the state anti-terrorism statute by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance.

The other involves a Dominican-born U.S. citizen, Jose Pimentel, who was arrested in November 2011 after an informant allegedly recorded him over several months as he bought bomb-making materials and plotted to target police stations in the New York metropolitan area. He has pleaded not guilty, and his case is still pending.

The statute acts as a "booster," allowing longer prison sentences when attached to underlying crimes.

In 2007, a Bronx gang member named Edgar Morales became the first defendant convicted under the terror statute, but an appeals court overturned his conviction after ruling that the statute could not be used to prosecute violent gangs under the theory that they terrorized the community.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Alden Bentley)

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New hearing for Arkansas inmate sentenced as teen

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A man sentenced to life in prison without parole when he was 14 years old could end up serving a much shorter prison term after Arkansas' highest court ruled Thursday that he deserves a new sentencing hearing.

The state Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing hearing for Kuntrell Jackson, whose case was one of two that led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year throwing out mandatory life sentences without parole for juveniles.

"We agree with the State's concession that Jackson is entitled to the benefit of the (U.S.) Supreme Court's opinion in his own case," Justice Josephine Linker Hart wrote in the Arkansas Supreme Court's unanimous decision.

It's not clear when Jackson's new hearing will be held, but when it is, the justices said he may present evidence about his age and the nature of the crime.

Arkansas' high court also said Jackson's sentence has to fall within a range of 10 to 40 years or life.

Jackson has been in the state prison since 2003 and has more than two years of jail-time credit, prisons spokeswoman Shea Wilson said. But that doesn't necessarily mean he will be released from prison soon.

"My hunch is that there won't be an immediate release," said Bryan Stevenson, one of Jackson's attorneys. "Obviously we think there are some very compelling and mitigating circumstances that warrant a reduced sentence, but ... at this point, we don't know what the court's going to sentence, so I don't want to suggest that he's coming home tomorrow."

Jackson was sentenced to life in prison without parole after the shooting death of a store clerk during an attempted robbery in 1999. Another boy shot the clerk, but Jackson was present, and so he was convicted of capital murder and aggravated robbery.

Jackson is now 27 years old and is serving his sentence at a maximum-security prison in Arkansas. He will stay there until the Department of Correction receives instructions from the court saying otherwise, Wilson said.

The state Supreme Court also chipped away at the capital murder law when applied to juveniles in Jackson's case. In another opinion handed down Thursday, Justice Cliff Hoofman wrote that "there is currently no authorized sentence for a juvenile convicted of capital murder under Arkansas law...."

In that case, the state Supreme Court said Lemuel Whiteside, another young man sentenced to life in prison without parole, deserves a new sentencing hearing. Whiteside was convicted of capital murder and aggravated robbery in connection with a 2009 robbery and death. He was 17 at the time of the crime.

"I think there may be remaining questions that are yet to be resolved, but generally we think that what the court has ordered is consistent with the (U.S.) Supreme Court's decision," said Stevenson, a Montgomery-Ala.-based lawyer.

Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision, the court had already ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to death.

Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel respects the state Supreme Court's decisions and wasn't surprised by them, spokesman Aaron Sadler said.

The U.S. Supreme Court's June decision came in the robbery and murder cases of Jackson and Evan Miller, who also was 14 when he was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.

Miller was convicted in Alabama of capital murder during the course of arson. A neighbor, while doing drugs and drinking with Miller and a 16-year-old boy, attacked Miller. Intoxicated, Miller and his friend beat the 52-year-old man and set fire to his home, killing him.

Using Jackson's case, Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor said in a separate opinion that they would have gone even further than just getting rid of laws requiring mandatory life in prison without parole for juveniles like Jackson.

"There is no basis for imposing a sentence of life without parole upon a juvenile who did not himself kill or intend to kill," Breyer said in a separate opinion last year.

Stevenson said Jackson's lawyers are pleased that the state Supreme Court decided to send his case back to a lower court for resentencing.

"That's been our hope all along that a more appropriate and just sentence could be imposed than the mandatory life sentence that he received initially," Stevenson said.

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Associated Press writer Chuck Bartels contributed to this report.

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Follow Jeannie Nuss at http://twitter.com/jeannienuss

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Mexican Farm Owner Sentenced For Scheme to Defraud the Export-Import Bank of the U.S

WASHINGTON, April, 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) announced that a Mexican farm owner was sentenced to serve 60 months' probation for his role in a scheme to defraud Ex-Im Bank of approximately $825,563. 

Jaime Galvan-Guerrero, 40, was sentenced by Judge Kathleen Cardone in U.S. District Court in El Paso, TX.  In addition to his term of probation, Galvan was ordered to pay $825,563 in forfeiture and a $2,000 fine.  Galvan, who is a citizen of Mexico, plead guilty on August 3, 2011, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud Ex-Im Bank of approximately $825,000.

According to court documents, Galvan was the purported owner of a farm in Delicias, Chihuahua, Mexico.  Galvan admitted that he and co-conspirators created false invoices, shipping documents, financial statements, and other documents that were submitted to a Baltimore, MD finance company.  The false documents, which falsely purported to purchase construction equipment, were ultimately submitted to Ex-Im Bank to guarantee the financial transaction.  Galvan admitted that, in fact, none of the equipment was purchased or exported to Galvan in Mexico.  Instead, Galvan and his co-conspirators split the Ex-Im Bank insured loan proceeds and ultimately Galvan defaulted on his loan in late 2007, causing a loss to Ex-Im Bank and the U.S. government of $725,522.  Between 2007 and 2010, Galvan paid back most of his debt to the government.  After his arrest in 2010, Galvan paid off the remaining balance of approximately $150,000 to Ex-Im Bank. 

The U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Texas, El Paso Division prosecuted the case.  The case was investigated by Ex-Im Bank OIG, Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso; Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Washington, D.C.

Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing.  Ex-Im Bank provides a variety of financing mechanisms to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services.

Ex-Im Bank OIG is an independent office within Ex-Im Bank.  The OIG receives and investigates complaints and information concerning violations of law, rules or regulations, fraud against Ex-Im Bank, mismanagement, waste of funds, and abuse of authority connected with Ex-Im Bank's programs and operations.  Additional information about the OIG can be found at www.exim.gov/oig.  Complaints and reports of waste, fraud, and abuse related to Ex-Im Bank programs and operations can be reported to the OIG hotline at 888-OIG-EXIM (888-644-3946) or via email at IGhotline@exim.gov .

SOURCE Office of Inspector General for the Export-Import Bank of the United States

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Egypt policeman sentenced to 15 years for torture

Apr 15 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $4,139,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,137,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,442,389 4. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,100,469 5. Steve Stricker $1,935,340 6. Phil Mickelson $1,764,680 7. Dustin Johnson $1,748,907 8. Jason Day $1,659,565 9. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 10. Keegan Bradley $1,430,347 11. Charles Howell III $1,393,806 12. John Merrick $1,375,757 13. Russell Henley $1,331,434 14. Michael Thompson $1,310,709 15. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 16. Bill Haas $1,271,553 17. Billy Horschel $1,254,224 18. ...

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Egypt policeman sentenced to 15 years for torture

Apr 15 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $4,139,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $3,137,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,442,389 4. Adam Scott (Australia) $2,100,469 5. Steve Stricker $1,935,340 6. Phil Mickelson $1,764,680 7. Dustin Johnson $1,748,907 8. Jason Day $1,659,565 9. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 10. Keegan Bradley $1,430,347 11. Charles Howell III $1,393,806 12. John Merrick $1,375,757 13. Russell Henley $1,331,434 14. Michael Thompson $1,310,709 15. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 16. Bill Haas $1,271,553 17. Billy Horschel $1,254,224 18. ...

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2 NJ men sentenced for conspiring to join al-Qaida

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Two New Jersey men were each sentenced to at least 20 years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to conspiring to join an armed Islamic group in Somalia with ties to al-Qaida.

Mohamed Alessa, of North Bergen, was given a 22-year sentence, and Carlos Almonte, of Elmwood Park, was given a 20-year prison term.

Attorneys for 23-year-old Alessa and the 27-year-old Almonte had sought to portray the men, who were teenagers when they came to the attention of law enforcement, as troubled youths spurred to radicalism under the influence of a man who was actually an undercover officer working for the New York City Police Department.

Federal prosecutors sought to counter that portrayal by arguing the two were dangerous, calculating, would-be terrorists bent on joining an overseas organization in order to kill "disbelievers in Islam." Prosecutors said the two had carried videos on their cellphones of American soldiers being beheaded, and considered Maj. Nidal Hasan, the alleged perpetrator of the worst mass shooting on a U.S. military installation at Fort Hood, in Texas, a role model.

"Your honor, if you send a message that homegrown violent extremism will be met with serious consequences, it will be less likely that others will engage in this crime," Asst. U.S. Attorney L. Judson Welle argued before U.S. District Judge Dickinson Debevoise, who oversaw the case in federal court in Newark.

Attorney Stanley L. Cohen, representing Alessa, said his client's 22-year sentence was far too harsh for an individual Cohen described as so immature that he had asked the undercover informant if he could take his beloved pet cat Princess with him to Egypt and suggested the trio might go nightclubbing and surfing while there.

Cohen questioned why his client, who was arrested with Almonte in June 2010 before they could board separate planes to Egypt at New York's Kennedy Airport, received a sentence two years longer than American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, and five years longer than convicted terrorism plotter Jose Padilla.

"I think the sentence is excessive and unwarranted," Cohen said. "Although I think the judge is very diligent, I think these cases are very difficult, because we live in times when people are frightened and scared, and people have lost the ability to differentiate between reality and perception, and it's very difficult to jump over that hurdle."

Alessa and Almonte, turning frequently to look at their respective family members who packed the courtroom, each spoke before their sentencing. Their statements were similar, emphasizing the remorse for the pain they had caused their families, and arguing they had been misguided, troubled young people who never really intended harm.

"I've learned it's not a game. I have no one to blame but myself. My family is paying the price now." Alessa said, apologizing profusely for the "anguish" and "shame" he had brought on his mother and father, who were in the courtroom, and who could be heard wailing and shouting in the courtroom hallway following the sentencing.

He spoke of being a once-troubled teenager prone to outbursts of anger that he didn't understand, and spoke of his longing to be given a second chance.

"After all, I only consider myself a Jersey boy," he added.

Almonte, known as Omar, echoed Alessa's statement of being an isolated, lonely teenager who had looked up to the informant who had seemingly taken the pair under his wing, become their friend, and urged them to channel their anger into joining militant groups overseas.

Both Cohen and Almonte's attorney, James Patton, argued it was the undercover NYPD officer who had repeatedly insisted the two get passports and buy tickets to Egypt, from where they allegedly would move on to Somalia.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Welle countered with transcripts of audio tapes made by the informant, purporting to show Alessa and Almonte relishing the thought of getting the chance to kill American soldiers overseas. The two men viewed multiple online videos, including some they kept on their cellphones that showed U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan under sniper attacks, ambushes, bomb attacks, executions and beheadings, according to Welle.

"I like watching (disbelievers) get slaughtered," Almonte allegedly said, according to a transcript of an undercover tape shown in court.

Alessa and Almonte each pleaded guilty in 2011 to a charge of conspiring within the United States to murder individuals outside the U.S. by trying to join al-Shabab, a designated terrorist organization.

The attorneys said they would review the judge's lengthy sentencing memorandum, but that appeals were unlikely because of the terms of the defendant's plea agreements.

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Follow Samantha Henry at http://www.twitter.com/SamanthaHenry

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Utah man sentenced in Boston porn-on-plane case

BOSTON (AP) — A Utah man charged with viewing child pornography on a Boston-bound commercial flight won't have to serve his jail sentence if he sticks to the terms of his probation.

Prosecutors say 50-year-old Salt Lake City resident Grant Smith pleaded guilty Thursday to possessing child pornography.

A Boston judge suspended Smith's 2 1/2-year sentence and placed him on five years' probation.

Smith must continue sex offender treatment, comply with Utah sex offender registry requirements and follow restrictions on contact with children and Internet use.

Prosecutors say a fellow first-class passenger saw Smith viewing pornographic computer images of young girls during a November 2011 flight. The passenger took a cellphone photo of the images and alerted a flight attendant.

Smith was arrested in Boston and initially pleaded not guilty. He resigned his job as a University of Utah engineering professor.

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Ohio man sentenced to death for Craigslist plot

AKRON, Ohio (AP) -- A self-styled street preacher was sentenced to death Thursday in the killings of three down-and-out men lured by bogus job offers posted on Craigslist.

The jury that convicted Richard Beasley of murder recommended that he face execution. The judge had the option of reducing the sentence to life in prison.

Beasley, 53, was convicted of teaming up with a teenager in 2011 to use the promise of jobs on a southeast Ohio farm to lure them into robberies. Three men were killed, and a fourth who was wounded testified at Beasley's trial.

The judge read the three death sentences in a hushed courtroom crowded with victims' relatives, some of them holding back tears.

Beasley skipped the chance to speak to the judge before the sentencing on the aggravated murder convictions. He listened to the verdict with his head on his chest, sitting in a wheelchair he uses for back pain.

Later, about to be sentenced on other crimes including kidnapping, Beasley said he sympathized with the families of victims but said he was innocent and expects to have his conviction overturned on appeal.

"I have killed nobody, and that's a fact," Beasley said.

"This case will be reversed," said Beasley, whose statement was cut short by the judge. She said he could comment on the sentencing only.

Beasley's co-defendant, who was 16 at the time of the crimes, was too young to face the death penalty. Brogan Rafferty was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole on his conviction last year.

One victim was killed near Akron, and the others were shot at a southeast Ohio farm during bogus job interviews.

The slain men were Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron; David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va.; and Timothy Kern, 47, of Massillon. All were looking for a fresh start in life, prosecutors said repeatedly during the trial.

The survivor, Scott Davis, now 49, testified that he heard the click of a gun as he walked in front of Beasley at the reputed job site. Davis, who was shot in an arm, knocked the weapon aside, fled into the woods and tipped police.

Beasley didn't turn around to watch Davis tearfully denounce him and thank the judge for handing down the death sentence.

Davis said he was grateful to be alive and told the relatives of slain victims, "They didn't deserve what this animal did to them."

"Thank you again, God, for saving me from that beast," he said.

Debra Bruce, Pauley's twin sister, choked back tears as she told Beasley, "You took my best friend, confidant and my twin."

Bruce said she was sickened by references to Beasley as a preacher or chaplain. "No true man of God would take lives," she said.

"David's death has left a wound in my heart that will never completely heal."

Beasley, who returned to Ohio from Texas in 2004 after serving several years in prison on a burglary conviction, claimed at trial that Davis had in fact pulled a gun on him in retaliation for Beasley serving as a police informant in a motorcycle gang investigation.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, whose office worked with the Summit County prosecutor, watched the sentencing and said later there was no evidence of more victims, but he couldn't rule that out.

Based on what he knows about Beasley, "It would not surprise me at all if there's other homicides," DeWine said. "But whether we will ever find them or prove them, I can't say that."

In arguing the sentence before the jury, both sides highlighted Rafferty's case: The defense said his life sentence should factor into the jury's deliberations but prosecutors said it shouldn't because Rafferty's age ruled out the death penalty entirely.

The jury recommended execution after hearing two hours of testimony from witnesses, including Beasley's tearful mother, who were called to portray him sympathetically and press for leniency.

Carol Beasley testified that her son had a troubled childhood and suffered physical abuse by his stepfather. She also said she learned within the past year that her son had been sexually abused by neighborhood youngsters.

"I always felt there was much more than he told me," she said.

As she testified, Beasley slumped forward, his chin on his chest and his right hand covering his eyes.

The defense also called a psychologist, John Fabian, who testified that Beasley suffers from depression, alcohol abuse, low self-esteem and a feeling of isolation, all possible results of a troubled, abusive childhood.

Prosecutor Jonathan Baumoel had urged jurors to consider the "enormous" weight of Beasley's crimes as they considered his punishment, calling him "the worst of the worst."

Beasley will become the seventh person from Summit County currently on Ohio's death row. Twelve other people from Summit County were previously sentenced to death including one defendant, Donald Craig, who received separate death sentences for two different killings.

Several had their sentences overturned, one — Craig — died of natural causes, and five have been executed. The last inmate put to death from Summit County was Brett Hartman, executed last year for stabbing an Akron woman more than a hundred times, then cutting off her hands.

The county has a relatively low death sentence rate, according to data from the Ohio Supreme Court, the state prisons system and the state public defender's office analyzed by The Associated Press. Only one of every five defendants who have faced capital punishment charges since 1981 actually received a death sentence, according to the analysis.

Most defendants facing a death sentence pleaded guilty to avoid execution, with several receiving sentences of life with no chance of parole.

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Associated Press Legal Affairs Writer Andrew Welsh-Huggins in Columbus contributed to this report

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Nev. mom, daughter sentenced in neighbor's death

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A mother and daughter could spend the rest of their lives in prison after killing their 73-year-old neighbor in Las Vegas and pawning her coin collection.

Forty-seven-year-old Lourie Rodriguez was sentenced Monday to 22 years to life in prison in the killing last April. Her 27-year-old daughter, Amber Hall, was given 11 years to life in prison.

Police say Hall hid a board in her 3-month-old son's stroller on a visit to Jean Greenburg's apartment before Rodriguez used the board and a knife to attack Greenburg.

A search of their apartment turned up more than $2,500, which Hall told police came from pawning Greenburg's coins.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty in January to first-degree murder and robbery, while Hall pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and robbery.

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African linked to extremist group sentenced in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) — An East African man has been sentenced in New York to just over nine years in prison for conspiring to support terrorism by associating with a violent extremist group in Somalia.

Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to nine years and three months in prison. He had pleaded guilty in June.

Ahmed was detained in Nigeria in 2009 before being turned over to U.S. authorities. Prosecutors in New York had accused the Eritrean (ehr-ih-TREE'-uhn) man of receiving explosives training, buying an assault rifle and raising money for al-Shabaab.

Al-Shabaab was designated by the United States as a terrorist group in 2008. Manhattan's top federal prosecutor said in a release that Ahmed traveled thousands of miles to align himself with al-Shabaab and aid their campaign of terror.

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African sentenced to 11 years in child labor case

DETROIT (AP) — A former tennis pro accused of fraudulently bringing four children from the African nation of Togo to the U.S. and forcing them to work as slaves in his Michigan home was sentenced Monday to more than 11 years in federal prison.

Jean-Claude Toviave, who didn't apologize when provided the opportunity to speak at his sentencing hearing in Detroit, also was ordered to pay two of the children $60,000 each.

Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow to sentence Toviave to the maximum sentence within the guidelines, and he did, handing down a 135-month sentence, with credit for about two years of time served.

"I can't get a read on you," Tarnow told Toviave. "I can't tell if you understand what you did was really wrong."

The four children emigrated from Togo in 2006 with fraudulent immigration paperwork that listed them as being Toviave's biological children, which they are not. He enrolled some of them in middle school when they arrived. They now range in age from teenagers to young adults.

The victims said Toviave beat them with toilet plungers, broomsticks and electrical cords and starved them if they didn't follow his orders. They were forced to vacuum, iron, cook, clean and shine shoes at the home in Ypsilanti, near Ann Arbor, for nearly five years until January 2011.

In a court filing, prosecutors said the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Toviave, who was a tennis pro in Togo until 1990, "savagely" beat the children if their chores weren't finished or completed to his satisfaction.

One victim said he suffered permanent damage to his vision and persistent headaches tied to an episode in which Toviave kicked him and punched him in the face.

Two of the victims were in the courtroom during sentencing, but declined to speak.

Victim statements were entered into the record, however, and one was read aloud by a representative.

"The physical torture, beating me and starving me, you inflicted was so painful that I prayed at night that God would either help me to be free or allow your assaults to kill me," wrote the unnamed victim. "The pain is something I will never forget. In the midst of your verbal and physical assaults, you worked the four of us to death."

The victim wrote that although Toviave's actions made it so that he "can no longer trust anyone" and he wakes "from nightmares on a regular basis that involve me being back under your care," he participates in several sports at his school, is president of the student council and has vowed to become a doctor one day.

"My future is very exciting," the victim wrote.

When given the chance to speak before sentencing, Toviave recounted traveling to Ghana in 2007 to visit his sick mother. After the hearing had ended, Toviave asked Tarnow if he could say something else. Tarnow said OK, but Toviave then decided against it.

A jury convicted Toviave of four counts of forced labor in October. He previously pleaded guilty to fraud and misuse of visas, mail fraud and harboring aliens.

Along with restitution, Tarnow ordered Toviave to pay $7,200 to two victims to be used toward counseling, but both the judge and defense lawyer Randall Roberts, who called his client "penniless," said it seemed unlikely Toviave would be able to come up with the money.

Roberts, who asked Tarnow to sentence Toviave to four years, said the judge's sentence "was as tough as it comes."

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