Tracy Mingo is accused of using disguises to evade identification so he could target employees at Circle K, Subway and Family Dollar stores throughout the Atlanta area between October 2025 and January 2026, the FBI said. (U.S. Attorney’s Office for the northern District of Georgia)
(NEW YORK) — A man who federal prosecutors in Atlanta nicknamed “master of disguise” is facing federal charges Thursday for allegedly robbing 10 businesses at gunpoint while dressed in different costumes.
Tracy Mingo is accused of using disguises to evade identification so he could target employees at Circle K, Subway and Family Dollar stores throughout the Atlanta area between October 2025 and January 2026, the FBI said.
Mingo allegedly entered each of the stores late at night — after all or nearly all customers had left — and robbed employees at gunpoint, officials said.
He allegedly donned disguises, including a construction worker, a health care professional and a security guard, according to the indictment.
Police and the FBI arrested Mingo in January when they said it appeared he was putting on the same security guard disguise used during the robbery of a Circle K store the night before. Mingo, 33, of College Park, Georgia, is now charged with 20 counts, including Hobbs Act robbery, attempted Hobbs Act robbery, brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
“For months, Mingo allegedly used disguises in an attempt to evade identification and continue targeting innocent workers at gunpoint,” FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Marlo Graham said in a statement. “He underestimated the determination of the investigators pursuing him and the strength of the partnerships that exist between the FBI and our state and local law enforcement partners.”
(WASHINGTON) — Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell was discharged Thursday from the rehabilitation center and will continue his recovery at home.
“Earlier today, I was discharged from the rehabilitation center to continue my recovery at home,” McConnell said in a statement. “Elaine and I are grateful for the many well wishes and support from friends, colleagues, and Kentuckians, and for the attentive care I’ve received from excellent doctors, nurses, therapists, and hospital staff.”
“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business,” McConnell added.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Stock photo of a person with the measles. (Mumemories/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Los Angeles County health officials said a person infected with measles visited Universal Studios Hollywood last month and potentially exposed others to the virus.
The county’s Department of Public Health said Wednesday that it is investigating the case involving the visitor who was at the theme park on July 26. Other possible locations within the county are being probed, according to the health department.
Anyone who was in the park that day between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. is asked to confirm their protection against the virus and is warned that they may be at risk of developing measles from seven to 21 days after being exposed, according to the health department.
Health officials said that people who have been vaccinated against the virus are likely to be protected, as are people who had measles previously.
“People who are unimmunized or have unknown measles immunization status are at higher risk and should monitor for symptoms closely. Anyone who remains symptom-free for more than 21 days after being exposed is no longer considered at risk,” the health department said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Universal Studios Hollywood said in a statement Friday that the park is working with the health department in their probe.
“The safety and security of our guests and team members is our highest priority,” the company said.
Measles symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes or a rash. The virus can spread through the air and can remain in the air or on infected surfaces for up to two hours after an infected person leaves an area.
Anyone who believes they have contracted measles is urged to call a doctor immediately, according to the health department.
“Measles spreads easily and can lead to serious complications, including pneumonia, brain swelling, and even death,” Dr. Muntu Davis, the Los Angeles County Health Officer, said in a statement.
Over 2,300 measles cases have been recorded this year, the highest number since 1991, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The majority of measles cases in 2026 have been confirmed among children and teenagers aged 19 and younger, according to the CDC. About one in 10 children under age 5 diagnosed with measles this year have been hospitalized.
About 93% of cases this year are among people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, CDC data shows.
The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles, the CDC says.
-ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
Laura Rojas Ortiz has been in ICE detention for more than 40 days, her family says. (Photo courtesy Laura Rojas Ortiz’s mother, Paolo)
(WASHINGTON) — A 21-year-old pregnant mother has been detained, along with her infant son, for more than a month at the family immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, her family and an advocacy group told ABC News.
Laura Rojas Ortiz was in the process of applying for a U visa — which is for victims or witnesses of crimes — when she was detained during a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Texas, her mother said.
“She was called to appear [at an ICE office] in Dallas,” her mother, Paola, said in Spanish. “She showed up like she always does, and they detained her.”
Paola told ABC News that her daughter turned herself in at the southern border over a year ago with her infant son and partner. The mother claims Rojas Ortiz later began the process of applying for a U visa after there was a shooting in her neighborhood and a bullet went through the walls, allegedly grazing her son.
According to Paola and a friend of Rojas Ortiz, the 21-year-old had been wearing an ankle monitor and regularly checking in with ICE before she was detained with her son as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown.
Rojas Ortiz, who is five months pregnant, has been detained for more than 40 days, her family said. Her mother says Rojas Ortiz has a high-risk pregnancy and has not been seen by medical staff at Dilley.
“To this day, she hasn’t gotten an ultrasound or been seen by a specialist,” Paola told ABC News. “They haven’t done blood tests or anything.”
Immigrant advocacy groups have said that arrests and detentions of pregnant women violate an ICE directive stating that the agency should not “detain, arrest, or continue to detain individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum, or nursing” except under exceptional circumstances.
Paola said her grandson, who had been drinking only lactose-free milk, has been given whole milk at Dilley.
Paola also told ABC News that when lawmakers recently visited the facility, ICE staff moved her daughter to a “medical room,” where she was told she was going to be checked by a doctor.
“And when they left — so that the politicians wouldn’t see her pregnant — that’s when they let her out of that medical room,” Paola said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
Last week, Rep. Joaquin Castro, along with a group of Democratic lawmakers, visited the Dilley facility, where he said more than 500 people are currently detained. Castro said he was only allowed by staff to meet with one minor.
“There are now more children there than there were before,” Castro said at a press conference last week. “I believe that is the result of the ICE surge that we’ve seen over the last month or so. We’ve seen these raids on the street. We’ve seen families that have been torn apart on the street, brutality on the street.”
Casey Revkin, the executive director of Each Step Home, an organization that supports immigrant detainees, told ABC News that her group has been providing Rojas Ortiz with financial assistance.
“We’ve been filling Laura’s commissary account and the accounts of the families at Dilley every week. These deposits are a lifeline to families in detention,” Revkin said. “It’s heartbreaking to think of a child not eating, and we’re always so relieved when we hear that a mom was able to use the commissary support to buy her children food they can enjoy.”
Immigrant advocates, medical professionals, and lawmakers have previously raised concerns about conditions at the South Texas facility.
The top medical official at the Department of Homeland Security, which operates the nation’s migrant detention centers, has disputed any suggestion that detainees are being denied proper care.
“These allegations of illegal aliens being denied proper medical care in ICE custody are FALSE,” DHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sean Conley previously told ABC News in a statement. “It is both policy and longstanding practice for aliens to receive timely and appropriate medical care from the moment they enter ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, women’s health, mental health services, any needed follow-up medical appointments, as well as 24-hour emergency care.”
“This is better, more responsive healthcare than many aliens have ever received in their entire lives,” Conley’s statement said.
VC-25B Bridge, an interim Air Force One presidential aircraft, stands ready on the tarmac on Aug. 4, 2026, in Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. The “bridge” aircraft, a $400 million gift from Qatar, is a modified Boeing 747-8 that bridges the gap until fully customized long-term replacement Air Force One planes are completed.
(WASHINGTON) — “No final decision has been made yet” about the future of the new Air Force One jet donated by Qatar following President Donald Trump’s second term, a White House official told ABC News.
Trump has pledged for more a year that the new Air Force One, a Boeing 747-8 that was given to the president in a controversial move, would be transferred to his presidential library after his term concluded.
Sources familiar with the proposed arrangement have previously told ABC News that ownership of the plane will be transferred shortly before Trump leaves office to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation.
Questions about the president’s plans for the plane remain — including whether Trump would keep it for personal use, if he would leave it for the next president as part of the Air Force One fleet, or if there are other plans in store.
The gifted plane has long been expected to be used as the new Air Force One until shortly before Trump leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement have previously told ABC News.
The White House official’s comments on Wednesday followed reports from NBC News and The New York Times that called into question the fate of the plane.
Trump’s son Eric Trump reportedly told NBC News in a text message that it was “not the plan” for the jet to be delivered to the library. “No. That’s not the plan at the moment for Miami,” he reportedly texted the outlet.
Eric Trump, who is involved in developing his father’s presidential library in Miami, suggested that an older decommissioned Air Force One jet would instead be going to the library, not the Qatari-gifted one, NBC News reported.
The Qatari royal family’s donation of the luxury jet valued at approximately $400 million, an unprecedented foreign gift, raised questions from some lawmakers and ethics experts.
The Air Force last year originally estimated it would cost less than $400 million to retrofit the plane to meet stringent security standards, though it’s unclear how much exactly has been spent so far.
Prior to the jet’s first presidential flight in July, the U.S. Air Force said it had been modifying the jet Texas since September to meet the security, communications and other needs to transport the president. Many of the details of the retrofitting on the new plane are considered classified.
Trump in July said plane would be further “maxed out” with security features, undergoing an upgrade that was expected to put it out of commission for about a month in the near future.
Those comments came after the plane carried Trump to July’s NATO summit in Turkey. As Trump prepared to depart the summit, the Secret Service urged the president to take the older Air Force One jet as a precaution, due in part for the differences in security capabilities, ABC News learned at the time.
When asked in May 2025 by ABC News’ Rachel Scott about the future of the plane, the president said it would be sent “directly” to his presidential library after he leaves office, adding, “I wouldn’t be using it, no.”
Trump repeatedly referenced former President Ronald Reagan’s library as a model for his own. A Boeing 707 Air Force One jet was retired to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, in 2001.
“Someday, it will be like Ronald Reagan, they decommission them,” Trump said during the May 2025 event. “You know, they get to a certain age, they decommission them. It’ll go to my library. They’re talking about going to my library in years out.”
ABC News’ Rachel Scott contributed to this report.
Former NIH Director Anthony Fauci testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on July 29, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress.
The committee’s party-line vote of 8-5 comes after Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination and declined to answer questions at a hearing last week about his role in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and its origins.
A contempt resolution would normally now head to the full Senate, where it would require 60 votes. It is unlikely the Fauci resolution would receive enough support in the full Senate to pass.
Democrats attempted several times on Thursday to table the resolution but were unsuccessful.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul, the committee’s chair, said Fauci could not plead the Fifth Amendment given he was preemptively pardoned by President Joe Biden out of fear of political prosecution.
“Dr. Fauci’s assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege was unsupported in light of the pardon and the testimony he offered in his opening statement,” Paul said ahead of the vote.
“We are voting on whether a witness who has received the benefit of a sweeping federal pardon can be ordered by this committee to answer questions and then defy that order without consequence,” Paul added.
Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, the committee’s ranking member, criticized the vote and the “damaging precedent” it sets, saying this “could harm our ability to conduct future investigations and disregards constitutional protections long recognized by the U.S. Senate.”
“This resolution will not provide the committee with any additional information, or compel Dr. Fauci to provide answers to our inquiries. Criminal contempt is punitive; it does not compel a witness to answer questions or produce the documents we’d all like to see,” Peters said.
Peters also condemned Paul’s suggestion of possibly referring the contempt resolution directly to the Department of Justice after the vote, saying “that would be even more dangerous and widely unprecedented move.”
Jalapeño peppers on display at a local street market in San Antonio, Texas. (Getty Images/Gabriel Perez)
(NEW YORK) — Health officials are expanding an investigation into jalapenos served at Chipotle restaurants to include Qdoba restaurants. The Food and Drug Administration said the jalapenos may be a possible source of a growing salmonella outbreak that has infected 345 people across 27 states.
Both restaurants have removed the jalapenos from their stores, the FDA said.
Qdoba said in a statement to ABC News that it is “cooperating with public health authorities” in the investigation and have pulled jalapenos from their restaurants.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we have proactively removed jalapenos from all our restaurants at this time,” the restaurant chain said. “We take any report involving guest health seriously and are committed to responding appropriately based on the facts and guidance from public health authorities.”
“Food safety is our highest priority,” Qdoba added. “We maintain rigorous food safety standards and work closely with our suppliers, distribution partners, and restaurant teams to help ensure the safety and quality of the food we serve.”
Chipotle previously told ABC News they had removed jalapenos from affected restaurants in multiple states as well.
“We have a robust ingredient traceability system and, upon learning of a potential Salmonella outbreak in the supply chain impacting several food service retailers, we proactively identified jalapenos as a potential common ingredient from a common lot, removed them from the restaurants where they had been distributed, and replaced them with product from different growers,” Laurie Schalow, Chipotle’s chief corporate affairs and food safety officer, said in a statement.
The FDA identified through a traceback investigation that both Chipotle and Qdoba received food ingredients that were grown in Mexico and imported by Coast Citrus Distributors from Sinaloa. Coast Citrus Distributors has since agreed to recall jalapeno product from the market, per the FDA.
Salmonella are bacteria that can cause a common foodborne illness called salmonellosis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Infections tend to occur more in the summer, when warmer weather presents ideal conditions for the bacteria to grow, the agency states.
Symptoms of a salmonella infection may include watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, headache, nausea, vomiting, and a loss of appetite, according to the CDC. Symptoms can start anywhere from six hours to six days after infection and can last from four to seven days, the agency says.
According to the CDC, the highest number of reported salmonella cases are currently located in Minnesota and Colorado, with at least 110 cases in each state so far. Overall, there have been zero deaths reported but 36 have been hospitalized, the CDC said.
The Minnesota Department of Health previously told ABC News the agency expects the number of salmonella cases to potentially increase in the coming days, noting that “it takes us a while to detect cases in surveillance.”
“Our investigations often start with speaking to persons diagnosed with a foodborne illness that were reported to the health department as part of our surveillance,” the department said. “We’d like to ask the public to please answer our calls. The information they provide is critical to solving outbreaks quickly.”
The FDA said it does not consider there to be an ongoing risk from eating at Qdoba or Chipotle restaurants.
Each year, the CDC estimates the U.S. sees about 1.35 million salmonella infections.
ABC News has reached out to GrubMarket, which owns Coast Citrus Distributors for comment.
A water tower is illuminated at dusk, Sept. 17, 2016, in Seaside Park, New Jersey. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Two municipal water systems in New Jersey were targeted in cyberattacks in the last week, widely thought to be the work of Iran, the state said Wednesday.
The affected utilities, which were not named, were temporarily blinded when automated systems went down. Both utilities shifted to manual operations and the state said there was no disruption to service and both systems have been “secured with strengthened access controls.”
“Our New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) responded to two cyber incidents affecting New Jersey municipal water systems this past week. The NJCCIC is working directly with the affected utilities alongside our federal partners at the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency,” the state said Wednesday.
“The investigations found that the incidents involved vulnerable internet-exposed control systems, which temporarily limited operators’ ability to monitor or manage them remotely. In both cases, staff shifted quickly to manual operations, and there was no disruption to service. Customers had uninterrupted access to safe drinking water throughout,” the state said.
Sources told ABC News that Iran remains the prime suspect, perhaps showing how it could retaliate as President Donald Trump threatens to escalate the war.
Officials are also assessing whether this could be the work of a different state actor mimicking Iran’s tactics in a possible attempt to influence what the U.S. does next.
In Georgia, the Clayton County Water Authority briefly issued a boil-water advisory when it was targeted by hackers. Columbus Water Works said it also detected an intrusion, but drinking water was unaffected.
The recent hacks, affecting water and wastewater utilities in at least a dozen states, exploited a vulnerability in widely used utility software, sources told ABC News.
A fix has been issued, but utilities across the country that run the same software are racing to see if they were also hacked.
So far, it appears nobody has become sick, and there have been no widespread disruptions to water supplies. However, officials are still working to understand the scope of the hack and what could have happened to systems Americans depend on every day.
(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys for David Hearn, who was alleged to have vandalized the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, filed a motion in D.C. Superior Court, citing “exceptional facts and circumstances” to have the indictment against him dismissed with prejudice.
The Justice Department moved last week to dismiss the criminal case against Hearn, a former Olympian, acknowledging the damage to the pool “was the result of flawed installation by the contractor.”
The filing by Hearn’s attorneys follows U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s motion on Friday seeking to dismiss the case without prejudice, which could still leave Mr. Hearn exposed to a future indictment.
If the motion filed by Hearn’s attorneys is granted, it would block the government from trying to charge him again for the same alleged crime in the future.
“Here, amid extraordinary political pressure and public pronouncements from President Trump demanding action, and in apparent disregard for their special duties as prosecutors, USAO-DC rushed to obtain a public felony indictment,” the filing states, using an acronym for the United States Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia.
“Defying both decency and common sense, the government proceeded to indict Mr. Hearn before it had obtained or evaluated the information necessary to establish a good-faith basis for the charge,” the filing continued.
“The Court should not leave the defendant subject to the possibility of renewed prosecution,” the filing states.
Hearn pleaded not guilty to a felony destruction of property charge last month after Pirro’s office accused him of allegedly “forcefully and violently” ripping up parts of the pool floor.
Citing President Donald Trump’s comments on the matter in recent days, the attorneys representing Hearns added, “That is particularly true when the President of the United States has already voiced his vigorous disagreement with USAO-DC’s dismissal of the case against Mr. Hearn — saying that the U.S. Attorney “choked,” “folded like an umbrella,” and “made a mistake,” and doubling down on the false claim that the damage was caused by vandalism — and has previously not hesitated to insinuate himself into cases that historically have been the exclusive province of the DOJ.”
Should the court deny the motion to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, Hearn’s attorneys asked the court to disclose grand jury materials or to conduct a review in chambers of those materials before granting the government’s motion to dismiss the case without prejudice.
Savannah Guthrie and mother Nancy Guthrie, June 15, 2023. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The recent release of two credible ransom notes sent to Nancy Guthrie’s family in the days after her abduction generated a “slight increase” in tips, but none that have cracked the case, authorities told ABC News.
The 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie was kidnapped from her Tucson, Arizona, home in the early hours of Feb. 1 and remains missing.
On Friday, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department released details from two ransom notes received by Tucson media in the days after the abduction.
The first note, sent on Feb. 2 to Savannah Guthrie, said, “We have your mother Nancy. She is safe but scared.” The note asked for millions of dollars in Bitcoin and said “she will be killed” if payment was not received.
The note included descriptions of a smartwatch near her bed and a damaged floodlight in the home’s backyard.
The second note, sent on Feb. 6 to the Guthrie family, said Nancy Guthrie died and “is buried in nature now,” according to the sheriff’s department.
“We did not fully grasp the seriousness of her physical condition,” the note stated. “We never intended to hurt her, that was not our intention. She perished shortly after she was taken.”
The note included an apology and said to the family, “Nothing you could have done could have changed the outcome. We want your family to know this and hope you all can find peace.”
In response to an inquiry from ABC News, the sheriff’s department said Tuesday that “investigators have seen a slight increase in tips since the two ransom notes were released,” adding that “all tips have been followed up on.”
Savannah Guthrie again pleaded for help in an Instagram post Saturday, writing, “We need someone to come forward.”
“Someone knows something. Someone suspects something,” the journalist said. “Someone recognizes the writing in the ransom demand notes. Someone has noticed something different, strange, troubling or just unusual — perhaps with someone they deeply love. Perhaps they are afraid to come forward.”
“We are real people, facing real grief,” she said. “We will never stop looking for answers.”
Anyone with information is urged to call 911, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
