National

(LOS ANGELES) — YouTuber Trevor Jacob has agreed to plead guilty to obstructing a federal investigation into a 2021 plane crash in California that the Federal Aviation Administration has claimed the pilot purposely caused, court documents show.

The charge — destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation — carries up to a 20-year prison sentence. A plea agreement was filed on Wednesday, court records show. Jacob is expected to make his initial court appearance in a few weeks.

The crash occurred in November 2021 while Jacob flew over Los Padres National Forest. Jacob posted a 12-minute video of the crash to his YouTube channel that has received nearly 3 million views, according to the video’s YouTube page.

Prosecutors claim that Jacob never planned on reaching his destination and that the plan was always to crash the plane, and that he lied to federal investigators about not knowing the crash location. Prosecutors claim he flew in a helicopter and hoisted the wreckage out of the remote area, then dismantled the aircraft with the goal of obstructing an investigation.

Jacob was also accused of lying to the FAA, which revoked his pilot’s license last year over the crash.

“I did not jump out of my plane for views,” Jacob told ABC News at the time.

Jacob’s attorney, Keri Curtis Axel, told ABC News they have no comment at this time.

In an April 2022 letter to Jacob regarding surrendering his private pilot’s license, the FAA said the flight was “careless or reckless so as to endanger the life or property of another.”

Jacob attached multiple cameras to the inside and outside of the plane and was wearing a sports parachute in a backpack during the flight, according to the FAA letter. The FAA claims Jacob opened the side door of the plane claiming the engine had failed.

The FAA noted that Jacob did not attempt to restart the engine, contact air traffic controllers about the problem or look for areas to land safely. The FAA said Jacob then jumped from the plane “while holding a camera attached to a selfie stick.”

Also in the video, Jacob goes to the plane’s wreckage and retrieves the cameras that were attached to the plane.

In the plea agreement, prosecutors claim that Jacob contacted a company to help him retrieve his plane, and that he and a friend flew in a helicopter to the crash site in the weeks following the incident and retrieved the wreckage. Jacob later reportedly told investigators that he was not aware of the plane’s wreckage location, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that Jacob and his friend drove the wreckage to an airport and cut up and destroyed it “with the intent to impede and obstruct federal authorities,” the plea agreement stated.

Prosecutors also claim that Jacob falsely told the FAA that the plane’s engine had quit “in order to conceal the fact that he had purposefully abandoned his airplane in flight as part of his scheme to create a video to gain notoriety and to make money,” the plea agreement stated.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(OKLAHOMA CITY) — Severe weather, including possible tornadoes and flash flooding, is expected in a huge part of the Heartland on Thursday, from the Great Plains to Texas and North Dakota.

Nine states are also under flood alerts from Montana down to Mississippi.

A tornado watch is in effect for northern Louisiana through 5 p.m. local time Thursday. A couple of tornadoes are possible, along with damaging wind gusts up to 65 mph and isolated large hail events up to 1 inch in diameter.  

Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Wichita are all in the elevated risk for tornadoes and large hail, mainly between the hours of 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. local time.

The weather comes after there were 11 reported tornadoes in three states — Colorado, Arkansas and Kansas — Wednesday. Some damage was reported in Kansas where there was a tornado.

Softball-sized hail was reported in Colorado and Kansas saw winds up to 81 mph with the severe storms.

Severe storms are expected yet again across the Plains on Friday from Texas to Iowa. Cities such as San Antonio; Dallas; Oklahoma City; Kansas City, Missouri; and Des Moines, Iowa, could see damaging winds, large hail and brief tornadoes.  Brief tornadoes are most likely to occur in the pocket from Des Moines to Kansas City, while Oklahoma City to San Antonio will likely see large hail.

Aside from the severe weather, southern Texas will also see very heavy rain over the next several days. Locally, 6 to 10 inches of rain are possible, along with a flash flood threat Friday into the weekend.  

Flood alerts are also in effect from the Dakotas to Colorado and Montana, where heavy rain is also expected.

Heat wave in the West
 
In the West, an early season, summer-like heat wave from Seattle and Portland, Oregon, into central California is expected over the weekend and could bring major, record-breaking heat.

An excessive heat watch is in effect for Seattle and Portland Saturday through Monday. Temperatures are expected to be in the mid to upper 80s in Seattle and into the 90s in Portland.

Record highs are also possible for several days straight in the Pacific Northwest over the weekend and into early next week. 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) — A Michigan school district has banned students from bringing backpacks to school after a third grade student brought a loaded handgun to campus — the second time that it has happened in the last two weeks.

Grand Rapids Public Schools said the decision came after it confiscated the handgun from the 8-year-old’s backpack on Wednesday, the fourth time the district has found a student at school with a gun this academic year. In three of the four incidents, guns were confiscated from elementary school students, including the incident last week.

“This is not a decision we’ve taken lightly and we know this poses a significant inconvenience for our families. I am more than frustrated that a decision like this is necessary, but we must put safety first,” Grand Rapids Public Schools Superintendent Leadriane Roby said in a statement.

The district said the policy will remain in effect “until further notice.”

“Here we are again, and I will just say that I am frustrated, I am sad and I am angry that this continues to happen,” Roby said at a press conference Wednesday.

Another student realized there was a gun at school when the 8-year-old dropped their backpack. When the student picked up the bag, they realized it was heavier than it should have been and reported it to a teacher, Larry Johnson, the district’s executive director of public safety and school security, told reporters at a press conference.

The teacher then took immediate action to investigate and school officials discovered there was a weapon inside the bag, Johnson said. The incident was then reported to local police.

“I’m happy that we didn’t have a tragedy, but I’m frustrated that parents are not listening and we need them to listen and secure these weapons,” Johnson said.

Johnson said there was nothing in the 8-year-old’s history that would indicate they would bring a weapon to school.

“Now is the time to step up before we have a tragedy in this community. This is unacceptable. We will not continue to tolerate it,” Johnson said.

Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom told reporters that he anticipates there will be criminal charges in this incident and the prior incident last week when a 7-year-old brought a gun to school. He said the charges will not be against the children.

Winstrom called on parents to check their students’ backpacks before they go to school to insure the city can avoid a tragedy.

“Any child that had picked up that bag that manipulated the trigger — even through the bag — could have fired that handgun and it could have easily killed someone. So, that 8-year-old is a victim. I’m just thankful that we’re not talking about any other victims today,” Winstrom said.

Johnson said the district will deal with the students in a disciplinary manner as they see appropriate.

The district said it is working on enhancing its security protocol and it will be modifying its rules as needed. Johnson said the district will be enhancing its cameras and has invested in secured entryways.

Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalyn Bliss called on parents to keep guns out of the hands of children, saying the city cannot do it alone.

“We can only do so much,” she said at a press conference. “Keeping our kids safe and keeping guns out of the hands of children, that is all of our responsibility. Every single community member, every single parent, needs to step up and be a part of this solution.”

Grand Rapids isn’t the only school in Michigan to recently ban backpacks. Flint Community Schools, about two hours east of Grand Rapids, made a similar move to disallow backpacks in late April.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(AUSTIN, Texas) — An Army sergeant convicted of murder in the fatal 2020 shooting of an armed Black Lives Matter protester during a demonstration in Austin, Texas, was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Wednesday, even as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott seeks to grant him a pardon.

Attorneys for 35-year-old Daniel Perry asked a judge to consider giving their client a 10-year sentence for the murder of Garrett Foster, a U.S. Air Force veteran, citing Perry’s lack of criminal history and presenting evidence that he has post-traumatic stress disorder from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

But Travis County, Texas, Criminal Courts Judge Clifford Brown rejected the plea for leniency and sentenced Perry to 25 years in prison.

Prosecutors have asked Brown to consider a sentence of at least 25 years.

“This man is a loaded gun, ready to go off at any perceived threat. He’s going to do it again,” Travis County Assistant District Attorney Guillermo Gonzalez told Brown during Tuesday’s hearing.

Brown announced his sentencing after Foster’s mother and sister testified Wednesday morning.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to sit here facing the evil that killed my son, sitting here thinking how surreal it is that this is happening, finally. After three long years, we’re finally getting justice for Garrett,” Sheila Foster testified.

Anna Mayo, Garrett Foster’s sister, testified that her brother was an U.S. Air Force veteran who comes from a family of military combat veterans, including her father.

“When I look at you, I see a very small man who used his military status as a means to kill,” Mayo testified, speaking directly to Perry, who sat at the defense table wearing black and gray striped jail clothes and with his head bowed down. “I do not see any honorable traits and I see no remorse for what you’ve done. You can’t even look at my family.”

Perry, who was an active-duty U.S. Army sergeant based in Texas at Fort Hood, was working as a driver for a ridesharing company when he drove onto a street crowded with protesters on July 25, 2020, in downtown Austin.

Foster, 28, who was white, was pushing his fiancee Whitney Mitchell’s wheelchair during the Austin protest over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis when authorities said protesters surrounded Perry’s ridesharing car. Foster, who was legally wielding an AK-47 rifle in accordance with Texas’ open carry law, was fatally shot when he approached Perry’s vehicle, according to prosecutors.

During the trial, defense attorneys argued that Perry fired at Foster in self-defense, alleging the protester pointed the rifle in his direction. But prosecutors argued that Perry could have avoided the fatal confrontation by simply driving away and witnesses testified at the trial that Foster never raised his rifle at Perry.

After a jury convicted Perry of murder on April 7, Abbott said he was “working as swiftly as Texas law allows” to pardon Perry.

Abbott criticized both the jury’s decision to convict Perry and Travis County District Attorney José Garza for pursuing the case.

“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” Abbott said in a statement.

During Tuesday’s hearing, prosecutors called Mitchell, who lost both her legs to sepsis, to the witness stand and she gave emotional testimony of how difficult her life his become since losing Foster, her primary caregiver.

“It’s hard to sleep in my bed because he’s not there. To have to learn how to do all of that stuff that Garrett was doing for me for a decade, and it’s hard because I have to get comfortable being vulnerable,” Mitchell testified, according to ABC Austin affiliate station KVUE.

Defense attorneys called forensic psychologist Greg Hupp to testify. Hupp said he believes Perry suffers from PTSD and has personality characteristics consistent with an autism spectrum disorder.

Following the trial, Judge Brown unsealed court records revealing racist messages and anti-protest sentiments Perry posted on social media prior to the shooting. In one of the social media posts, Perry wrote, “Black Lives Matter is racist to white people … It is official I am racist because I do not agree with people acting like monkeys.”

During the two-week trial, the jury did not see or hear Perry’s social media posts.

Two soldiers, Ronald Wilson and Traveon Napper, who served in the Army with Perry were called to the witness stand Tuesday and both testified that Perry, in their opinion, is not a racist. Wilson testified that sharing such social media posts was a way to cope with the daily stress of serving in the military.

Perry’s mother, Rachel Perry, also took the witness stand, testifying her son has shown remorse for the fatal shooting.

“He cried a lot when this happened,” Rachel Perry testified. “His intention was just to protect himself, not to go out and shoot anybody.”

Following Perry’s conviction, his attorneys requested a new trial, citing juror misconduct. The defense attorneys alleged jurors brought outside information into the jury deliberation room concerning self-defense law during their deliberations.

Judge Brown rejected the motion for a new trial.

Perry’s attorneys said in a statement that they will appeal the verdict and “are now in a position to fully cooperate in the Texas pardon process.”

“In short, in the event Sgt. Perry might ultimately receive a pardon, it would simply reflect the strong self-defense laws that exist in Texas and the political efforts of a rogue district attorney to curtail the rights of Texas citizens in an effort to appease the district attorney’s own political supporters,” the defense attorneys said.

ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — Four teenagers, including a 16-year-old, have been charged in the murder of a beloved 24-year-old Chicago police officer, authorities announced Wednesday.

Officer Aréanah Preston had just finished her shift and was still in uniform when she was shot and killed at about 1:42 a.m. Saturday, according to Chicago police.

The four suspects — ages 19, 19, 18 and 16 — “were out looking for victims” that night and are believed to be connected to multiple robberies and a car theft in the hours leading up to Preston’s murder, interim Chicago Police Superintendent Eric Carter said at a news conference.

As Preston was returning home, the teens pulled up in a stolen car, and at least two of the teens allegedly fired at her, according to police.

Preston returned fire, but the teens continued to shoot, and they allegedly stole Preston’s gun before fleeing, Carter said.

Preston’s gun has not yet been recovered, police said.

Police identified three of the four suspects Wednesday as Trevell Breeland, 19; Joseph Brooks, 19, Jakwon Buchanan, 18. The 16-year-old was not named.

The four suspects were all charged with first-degree murder and face other charges, including armed robbery and arson, police said. The 16-year-old will be charged as an adult, police said.

Carter said Preston was a “beloved, daughter, sister and friend who wanted to make a difference in this world” and “create a better future for Chicago.”

Police Officer Aréanah M. Preston
End of Watch: May 6, 2023

We join Officer Preston’s family and loved ones in mourning the loss of our fallen hero. Our hearts are heavy, but through our grief, we will carry on her legacy of service to Chicago and its people. pic.twitter.com/cZOTrGKZzS

— Chicago Police (@Chicago_Police) May 8, 2023

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(DENVER) — Denver Police Department officials said they’re investigating a shooting that left five people injured, including one critically.

The shooting was reported on East Girard Avenue, a mostly residential street southeast of central Denver, officials said on Twitter Wednesday night.

Four men and a woman were injured, police said. The circumstances behind the shooting and information about the suspect are under investigation, authorities said.

“It is possible that the suspect(s) are among those injured,” police said.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(EL PASO, Texas) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities in most regions along the southern border are over capacity even as the number of those in custody has declined, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, there were 26,354 people in CBP custody, which Ortiz said was, “several thousand less” compared to earlier in the morning.

Five of the nine Border Patrol sectors in the southwest are over 125% capacity.

“But that means that there are four sectors that aren’t,” Ortiz said, adding that Border Patrol has been flying migrants from high-traffic areas to facilities with more capacity.

From the Mexico side of the border in Ciudad Juarez, the number migrants crossing into the El Paso area has declined since the weekend.

“The officials in Texas and other places in the US are exaggerating what is happening here for political reasons. There is no crisis here at the moment,” a city government spokesperson said. “We’ve had many other immigration waves that were far more impactful, when all of our shelter space was full and people were on the streets.”

Overall, Ortiz said authorities are tracking around 65K migrants in northern areas of Mexico and that the surge CBP has been expecting may soon subside.

“The increase that we have seen in the last 5 to 7 days was really the surge … I think that what we see now is a continued effort by some to message incorrectly that once Title 42 goes away, it’s going to be a free for all along the border,” Ortiz said. “I don’t see that being the case. Our agents will be out there performing their duties.”

Title 42, the pandemic-era policy which allowed the U.S. to expel upward of two million migrants from the border, expires Thursday.

Currently, 4,000 beds remain open in Ciudad Juarez shelters — well below 50% capacity. That number has been dropping for two weeks and continues to fall.

Ortiz said he believes the administration has shifted to a strategy that prioritizes enforcement and shows migrants the consequences of crossing illegally.

Asked whether heavy-handed measures were necessary for migrants sleeping in the streets of El Paso, Ortiz stood by his approach.

“It wasn’t about chasing people around down the streets, into churches, into a protected areas,” Ortiz said. “It was a very methodical approach. And I was very proud of everyone.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CLEVELAND) — The Cleveland Police Department has asked the public to help find a Cleveland EMT worker who’s missing and may be in danger.

Authorities said that 30-year-old Lachelle Jordan has been missing since May 6 and was last seen near Fairport Avenue in Cleveland.

Authorities said that at the time of her disappearance, Jordan was last seen wearing “a blue and white East Cleveland Fire Department sweatshirt with ECFD on the back and the Fire logo on the front, green and white tie dye pants and rainbow-colored Croc shoes.”

Mark Barrett, president of the Cleveland EMS Union, told ABC News that Jordan was a new employee and had filed reports with her job that she was being stalked.

Jordan’s job removed her from the truck where she worked and brought her to headquarters due to safety concerns for her and her co-workers, Barrett said.

Days before Jordan’s disappearance, Cleveland prosecutors charged 65-year-old Michael Stennett with stalking and violating an order of protection, according to a Cleveland Municipal Court case summary document.

A family member of Jordan’s told Cleveland 19 News that Jordan was going to testify in a rape case against Stennett, who was indicted on two counts of rape and one count of abduction in May 2022, according to Cuyahoga County court records.

Cleveland police said currently there isn’t any evidence connecting Stennett to Jordan’s disappearance, according to Cleveland 19 News.

According to ABC News Cleveland affiliate WEWS, prior to going missing, Jordan was planning to attend Stennett’s pre-trial hearing on Monday.

According to an arrest warrant for Stennett obtained by WEWS, Jordan noticed that Stennett followed her multiple times while she was in her personal vehicle when she was working, as well as waiting outside her home.

The arrest warrant stated that, two days before she went missing, Jordan allegedly noticed Stennett sitting outside her home, according to WEWS.

Stennett’s attorney did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Crimestoppers is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who has information on Jordan’s location. People can leave an anonymous tip by calling 216-252-7463.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Ohio food banks are reporting a surge in demand amid concerns about growing food insecurity and what it may signal for the overall U.S. economy.

“Right now we’re running 47% higher in ’23 than we did, you know, a year ago,” said Matt Habash, CEO of Mid-Ohio Food Collective. “And I thought it would drop after the pandemic.”

Serving 20 counties across central Ohio, the organization is one of the largest of its kind in the country, providing 170,000 meals a day to those in need. One of their locations, the Mid-Ohio Market, is set up like a regular grocery store that organizers say is to combat stigma associated with food insecurity.

Kayla Kraig, a mom of five, said she started volunteering there about three months ago. When she told her story to other volunteers, they encouraged her to use the food bank when she needed help putting food on the table.

“They were like, ‘You need to shop.’ I didn’t know that it was like that. I feel like that’s the first reaction is, ‘I’m embarrassed to ask for help,'” Kayla told ABC News’ Alex Presha.

Kayla said she ultimately decided to shop there twice in the last three months, giving her some much-needed breathing room.

“I can rest my shoulders instead of being like, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do this month?'” Kayla said.

The Mid-Ohio Food Collective and its partner agencies had the highest number of people walk through their doors in March — more than 141,000 people, the organization said.

“We had to come to the pantry, and this is life-saving, because I don’t know what we would do. It’s a game changer,” one resident told ABC News.

Habash attributes some of the demand to pandemic federal problems being no longer available, like stimulus checks, child tax credits and emergency food stamp benefits, which ended in March. There’s also rising inflation — groceries are 23% more expensive now than they were at the start of the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“It doesn’t look like there’s any end in sight…it scares me to death,” Habash said.

In southeast Columbus, Community Kitchen, which provides people in need with a free meal, is also seeing an increase in demand. The organization’s president, MJ McCleskey, told ABC News that many of the people coming into the facility have never been there before. The need is so big, they’re now looking to open another facility, she said.

Some economists worry what’s playing out in Ohio and other parts of the country could be an indicator for the health of the U.S. economy. Mark Partridge, a rural and urban policy expert at Ohio State University, is also alarmed by the trend.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve seen this kind of pressure that you have to go back to the really early 1980s, in the 1970s to see anything like this with really rapid inflation, especially for food prices. And wages are not keeping up with inflation,” Partridge told ABC News.

ABC News’ Alex Presha and Katie O’Brien contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(SAN DIEGO) — Researchers have successfully simulated a high magnitude earthquake on the largest building ever tested, and the structure survived.

Global interest in mass timber construction — which involves thick, compressed layers of wood, bonded together, creating structural load-bearing elements — has skyrocketed in the last several years, after the International Building Code announced the intention to add new building provisions to allow the construction of wood buildings up to 18 stories, Shiling Pei, associate professor at the Colorado School of Mines, told ABC News.

“There is very strong interest in doing so on the West Coast,” he said. “But one thing the West Coast has is earthquake hazard.”

To test whether these high rises made of timber could withstand an earthquake, the National Science Foundation funded the construction of Tallwood, a 10-story mass timber building situated on the University of California San Diego’s campus. Tallwood, the world’s tallest full-scale building ever tested on an earthquake simulator, was then placed upon one of the two largest shake tables in the world, according to the university’s Englekirk Structural Engineering Center.

On Tuesday, the researchers simulated two of the largest earthquakes in recent decades — the 6.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Northridge, California, in 1994, and the 7.7 Chi-Chi earthquake that struck Taiwan in 1999 and killed more than 2,400 people.

First they “played” the Northridge earthquake on the simulator for five minutes before turning to the Chi-Chi earthquake, watching the building all throughout the process.

Tallwood “danced,” Pei said — a sign the construction was a success.

“The building moved around just like a tree in a windstorm,” Pei said.

Tallwood endured no structural damage, only the odd chip or crack in the drywall after the Chi-Chi simulation, things “you can repair very easily,” he added.

The researchers are using the data they gathered at the shake test to model what would happen in even taller buildings. If constructed correctly, an 18-story building should be able to withstand earthquakes of similar magnitudes.

“The rocking wall system basically consists of a solid wood wall panel anchored to the ground using steel cables or rods with large tension forces in them,” Pei said. “When exposed to lateral forces, the wood wall panels will rock back and forth — which reduces earthquake impacts — and then the steel rods will pull the building back to plumb once the earthquake passes.”

Also of utmost importance is the exterior envelope, which must protect the building from temperature extremes, weather events and stairs, which must remain functional to allow occupants to safely exit and first responders to continually access all floors of the building, according to UC San Diego.

The shake table has recently been upgraded to move in 3D at six degrees of freedom, including east to west, north to south, up and down, and roll pitch and yaw, according to the university. It can shake structures weighing up 4.5 million pounds, or roughly the weight of 1300 sedan cars, and is the only earthquake simulator located outdoors.

After six years of research and planning, the excitement at the shake site was palpable, Pei said.

“It is very rare to have an appointment with an earthquake,” he said.

Even more amazing was being able to climb to the top of the structure and see it “good as new,” Pei said.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.