IOWA

Man convicted in 2018 slaying of student

A farm laborer was found guilty Friday in the abduction and killing of an Iowa college student who vanished while out for a run in 2018 and will face life behind bars for a crime that shocked the nation.

A 12-member jury unanimously found Cristhian Bahena Rivera guilty of first-degree murder in the attack on University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts.

Bahena Rivera, who came to the United States illegally from Mexico as a teenager, will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Judge Joel Yates ordered Bahena Rivera, who has been in custody since his August 2018 arrest, to be held without bond pending a July 15 sentencing hearing.

The verdict came after a two-week trial at the Scott County Courthouse in Davenport, in a case that fueled public anger against illegal immigration. The jury, which included nine White members and three of Hispanic or Latino descent, deliberated for seven hours on Thursday and Friday.

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Bahena Rivera’s defense attorneys, Chad and Jennifer Frese, said they were disappointed in the verdict and would appeal.

Tibbetts, who ran track and cross-country in high school, never returned home after going for a routine run in her hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa, on the evening of July 18, 2018.

— Associated Press

TEXAS

Former FBI agent charged with fraud

A former FBI agent has been charged with fraud for allegedly conning a Texas woman out $800,000 by convincing her for years that she was on “secret probation.” The retired agent at one point told the woman he’d have her probation lifted after she married him, prosecutors said.

William Roy Stone Jr., 62, was indicted Tuesday on 11 federal counts including wire fraud, conspiracy and impersonation of a federal officer. The case was unsealed Friday after he made an initial appearance in a court in Dallas.

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Stone’s attorney, Gregg Gallian, said his client pleaded not guilty. The FBI declined to comment.

Stone retired from the FBI’s Dallas office in October 2015 and the next month convinced the woman that a judge in Austin had put her under “secret probation” for drug crimes, according to prosecutors. He allegedly told the woman that the judge had appointed him to “supervise” her and that she had to pay for his expenses.

According to the indictment, Stone told the woman, who was not identified, that she was forbidden to tell anyone about her probation and risked imprisonment and losing custody of her children if she did.

— Associated Press

Shallow quake hits beneath Lake Tahoe: A shallow magnitude-4.2 earthquake struck beneath Lake Tahoe on Friday, but there were no immediate reports of any injuries or serious damage. The quake reported at 8:25 a.m. was about 5.5 miles west of Tahoe's east shore. Hundreds of people as far away as Reno, Nev., reported feeling the temblor.

— Associated Press

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