Northeast
Lawsuit accuses New York National Guard soldiers of sexually exploiting migrants at hotel
Five New York National Guardsman and a contract worker are accused in a federal lawsuit of sexually exploiting asylum seekers staying at one of the hotels in the state hosting migrants.
Seven migrants detail several instances of sexual exploitation at a Quality Inn in Cheektowaga, New York, by at least six National Guard soldiers working at the hotel to help with the influx of migrants that have been bussed to the state, according to a report from Military.com.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Feb. 8, accuses the soldiers of taking migrants, sometimes including teens, away from the hotel and asking for sexual favors or attempting to enter into romantic relationships with them.
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A Quality Inn in Cheektowaga, New York, where migrants are being housed. (Google Street View)
“The guests were (and remain) particularly vulnerable, given their uncertain immigration status, lack of mobility, need of basic supplies, and other needs,” the lawsuit reads. “Even a trip to a Walmart was considered a great gift.”
Sgt. Deven Colon, a religious affairs specialist with 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry Regiment, is the only soldier named in the lawsuit. According to the report, Colon was the high-ranking Guardsman on duty at the hotel and is alleged to have had an inappropriate relationship with a migrant that included buying her gifts, making sexual comments, and taking her to his home and other locations. Colon also allegedly told the asylum seeker that he had the authority to help her, the lawsuit claims, promising to get her and her children a house and to support them.
The trips away from the hotel were referred to as “dates” by Colon, the lawsuit claims, noting that on one occasion the soldier arranged with six other Guardsmen to transport the woman and her children to a rental property about two hours from the hotel. The soldier then allegedly “demanded” sexual favors from the woman, which the suit claims she “reluctantly agreed” to.
According to the report, Colon then texted the woman the next day and apologized while telling her to keep their encounter a secret.
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“I am just so lost and I need to find myself again. I don’t recognize the man I have become in these last few months,” the text read, according to the lawsuit.
Colon is also accused of taking at least one other woman and her children from the hotel and giving the mother a massage while flirting with her teenage daughter, later texting the teen to tell her he thought she was attractive, the lawsuit claims.
The 27th Brigade Combat Team, which 2nd Squadron, 101st Calvary Regiment falls under, did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has tasked the state’s National Guard with helping with the migrant crisis, with about 175,000 asylum seekers being transported to the state as they process their cases. According to the report, 2,100 troops have been put on active duty to help manage the influx.
National Guard personnel arrive at a new migrant holding center on Randalls Island in New York. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Many of the migrants are housed at hotels like the one in Cheektowaga, which is located just outside of Buffalo.
Another teenager at that hotel claims that a National Guard soldier, identified only as “Thomas” in the lawsuit, groped her, causing her to run away. Other children were warned to stay away from Thomas, the lawsuit claims.
Migrants chat with a National Guard soldier after traveling on a bus from Del Rio, Texas, at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In a statement to Military.com, a spokesperson with the New York National Guard said the allegations against its personnel are being taken “very seriously.”
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“If allegations are substantiated following an investigation – can result in adverse administrative and/or disciplinary actions pursuant to regulation and New York State Military Law,” the spokesperson said. “Criminal activities are referred to law enforcement for appropriate action.”
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New York
Man Sentenced to 115 Years for Killing N.Y.P.D. Officer in Queens
A man was sentenced to 115 years in prison on Monday for the fatal shooting of a New York City police officer who had ordered him to step out of a car in Queens in 2024.
More than 200 people, mostly police officers, packed a courtroom in State Supreme Court in Queens to hear Justice Michael Aloise sentence Guy Rivera in the killing of Jonathan Diller, 31, who was promoted to the rank of detective after his death.
“It took me five minutes to calculate these numbers,” Justice Aloise said. “It’s going to take you a lifetime to calculate the damage you did and the grief that you caused.”
He said that Mr. Rivera had determined his own fate “the second you pulled that trigger.”
Detective Diller’s wife, Stephanie, who sat among the officers in the courtroom, read a statement in court just before the sentencing, speaking of the pain and loss that she and her son, Ryan, now 3, have suffered. Ms. Diller, who testified during the trial, spoke directly to Mr. Rivera as he sat at the defense table.
“This is the last moment I will allow you to take from me,” she said as tears rolled down her cheeks. “You took my husband, Jonathan. You took the future we planned together. The life we were building, the years we were supposed to share together.”
“What you did to Jonathan” she said, “gave me and our son a life sentence without him.”
A jury found Mr. Rivera, 36, guilty earlier this month on four charges, including aggravated manslaughter, in Detective Diller’s death, but acquitted him of the most serious charge, first-degree murder. The decision, after a three-week trial in Queens, stunned the dozens of police officers present when it was announced in the courtroom on April 1.
To find him guilty of murder, the jury had to decide whether they believed Mr. Rivera had intended to kill Detective Diller when he pointed his gun at him in the Far Rockaway section of Queens on March 25, 2024. They ultimately determined that Mr. Rivera had intentionally pulled the trigger, but did not intend to kill him.
Mr. Rivera did not speak at his sentencing at the advice of one of his lawyers, Jamal Johnson, who told Justice Aloise they would appeal the conviction.
Mr. Johnson, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society, said after the hearing that Justice Aloise’s statement at sentencing showed the court “had already made up its mind about sentencing well before the trial was conducted.”
During the trial, prosecutors said that before the fatal shooting, Detective Diller’s partner, Sgt. Sasha Rosen, saw Mr. Rivera and another man, Lindy Jones, come out of a store and get into a car. Mr. Rivera had an L-shaped object in the pocket of his sweatshirt that resembled a firearm, prosecutors said.
Detective Diller approached the vehicle and asked Mr. Rivera repeatedly to comply with orders. When he did not, Sergeant Rosen reached in to pull him out of the car.
Then Mr. Rivera fired, the jury found. The defense argued that Mr. Rivera’s gun went off accidentally when Sergeant Rosen pulled him out, striking Detective Diller. Prosecutors said Mr. Rivera then turned his gun on Sergeant Rosen, but the weapon jammed.
Justice Aloise did not allow the jury to see video that, the defense contended, showed Mr. Rivera’s arm was broken during his confrontation with the police.
That evidence would have directly undermined the prosecution’s contention that Mr. Rivera was physically able to pull the trigger when he tried to shoot Sergeant Rosen, they said.
In all, Mr. Rivera was sentenced to 25 years to life for the aggravated manslaughter conviction; 40 years to life for the attempted murder of Sergeant Rosen; and 25 years to life for each of the gun possession counts. He was ordered to serve those sentences consecutively.
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On Monday, after the sentencing, dozens of police officers smiled and embraced one another as they left the courtroom. The prosecutors who tried the case and Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney, hugged several of Detective Diller’s family members.
Jessica Tisch, the police commissioner, called the sentence “obviously the right result, for him and for anyone who kills a New York City police officer.”
Outside the courthouse, members of the Police Benevolent Association, the police officers’ union, said they were pleased with the sentence.
“The verdict in this case did not send the right message to the Diller family and every police officer who wears the uniform,” said Patrick Hendry, the union president, who spoke at the foot of the courthouse stairwell, backed by nearly 100 police officers.
“But this sentence,” he said, “it sent the right message.”
Boston, MA
Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” musical returns to Boston for first time in 25 years
Say bonjour to the return of “Beauty and the Beast.” The national tour has been in Boston before, but this is the first time in 25 years that Disney is behind the production.
Kyra Belle Johnson stars as Belle, the bookworm who doesn’t quite fit into her quiet village.
“I think part of treating her like a real person is finding the humor and finding the faults and breathing and being present on stage every night,” Johnson said.
As Mrs. Potts, Kathy Voytko embodies the beloved teapot.
“When I was talking to my daughters about, ‘How do you feel about mom being gone for the better part of a year?’ They said, ‘Well, geez, mom, we’re gonna miss you, but it’s Mrs. Potts,’” Voytko explained.
The actors told WBZ-TV that Disney’s involvement in this tour makes a noticeable impact, with Voytko saying, “There is nothing like a Disney-produced Disney production because the magic in the show, the attention to detail, the loving recreation of the movie that we all know and love, plus some elements of surprise.”
Johnson added, “They care about this piece of art so much… And they’re really precious with it, but at the same time, they’re open with it.”
Book writer Linda Woolverton worked with the cast in the rehearsal room to make sure the piece felt modern.
“She literally changed some scenes and lines specifically for us and our versions of these characters to make it seem grounded and real,” Johnson explained.
And Johnson gained extra insight into Belle’s life by visiting the Alsace region of France, which inspired the original Disney animators.
“Walking in the town and having like a storefront and then the leaning building that was this like blue and the wooden windows and somebody leaning out of it talking to somebody on the street. These are real places, it’s not just like a made-up place in your head.”
The wonder she felt is echoed in the audience’s response.
“This is a gate for a lot of new theater lovers. We get a lot of people who this is their first show,” said Johnson.
“It’s for everybody,” added Voytko. “It’s for adults, it’s for married couples, it is for a date night, it for a pack of pals who just want to see something nostalgic from their youth and it makes it a thrill for us every single day.”
You can see Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” at the Citizens Opera House in Boston through Sunday.
Pittsburg, PA
NFL Draft in Pittsburgh sets onsite attendance record, third-best viewership mark
A historic number of people flooded into Pittsburgh for the NFL Draft on Thursday.
Around 320,000 fans attended the opening round of the draft on Thursday night just outside of Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, which marked an attendance record for round one of the draft, ESPN announced on Monday afternoon. In total, about 805,000 people attended the three-day event.
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ESPN also said that about 13,2 million people tuned in to watch the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday night, which made it the third-most watched opening round under the current format, which started back in 2010. Only the 2025 and 2020 editions of the draft drew a bigger audience on the first night.
The league said that a record amount of merchandise was sold throughout the NFL Draft weekend, too, though it did not provide a figure or metric there. The previous record on that front was set last season in Green Bay.
The Las Vegas Raiders used the No. 1 overall pick on Indiana quarterback and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza on Thursday night. Mendoza, who led the Hoosiers to the national championship earlier this year, was not in attendance in Pittsburgh. Instead, he celebrated with his family from home in Miami.
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The NFL Draft will be held next spring in Washington D.C. for the first time in modern history. It’s expected to be held on the National Mall. Washington D.C. held the draft one other time back in December 1940.
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