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(NORTH PORT, Fla.) — Three men were arrested after posing as Amazon delivery drivers in order to gain entry and ransack a home in Florida, according to the North Port Police Department.

The three suspects — Robert St. Germain, Anton Bradley Brown and Adlet Javon Francis — are now in custody after being involved in a “targeted armed home invasion” that occurred in May, police announced on Wednesday.

Back on May 23 at approximately 1:30 p.m., officers responded to a report of an armed robbery at a residence in North Port, Florida, police said. The investigation revealed that three males “posed as Amazon delivery drivers to lure a young female resident to the door,” officials said.

When the female opened the door, the men — who were all armed — “forced their way inside,” stole cash and “ransacked the residence in search of additional valuables,” police said.

The suspects also “held the daughter and mother inside the home while waiting for the father to return,” police said.

Once the father returned home at approximately 5 p.m., he “noticed the front door was locked and attempted to enter through the back,” officials said.

The father was confronted by one of the suspects and a “brief struggle ensued,” police said.

The suspects eventually fled the scene, police said.

One of the suspects later found an unoccupied Ford F-150 with the keys inside, stole the truck and “fled the area,” police said. The vehicle was recovered later that weekend in a shopping center, police said.

After the robbery at the home, crime scene technicians “processed the primary scene and surrounding areas” and recovered evidence like items “believed to have been left by the suspects,” police said.

Officials believe the robbery was a targeted incident and not a “random act of violence,” since the suspects were known to one of the victims.

Francis was arrested on July 12 on “unrelated charges” and Germain and Brown were arrested on Tuesday, police told ABC News. Their charges include conspiracy to commit home invasion, home invasion, robbery, kidnapping and use of a two-way device to commit a felony, police said. Brown also faces a charge of grand theft auto, police said.

Germain is currently being held at the the Indian River County Jail, Brown is held at the Broward County Jail and Francis remains at the Orange County Jail, police told ABC News.

North Port Police Chief Todd Garrison said the case “demonstrates the relentless commitment of our detectives.”

“Their tireless work has been instrumental in advancing this investigation and brining those responsible to justice,” Garrison said in a statement.

It remains unclear whether the suspects have attorneys who can speak on their behalf.

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(NEW YORK) — U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said at a hearing Thursday that he will follow up on a former DOJ official’s allegations that Trump administration officials suggested defying orders from courts in order to enforce the administration’s immigration policies.

The development came at the start of a hearing in which Boasberg was seeking to determine what due process rights were due to more than 250 Venezuelan nationals who were released to their home country from the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador last week after they were removed from the U.S. under the Alien Enemies Act.

Judge Boasberg began the hearing by bringing up former Justice Department official Erez Reuveni’s whistleblower complaint, saying that Reuveni’s allegations “to the extent they prove accurate have only strengthened the case for contempt” against the administration.

The federal judge said the court will follow up on the allegations made by Reuveni “and how they affect the contempt proceedings” — and also said he will assess whether DOJ attorneys’ conduct might “warrant referral to state bars.”

Regarding the more than 250 Venezuelan nationals who were released to Venezuela last week in a prisoner swap, Boasberg ordered status reports on whether all the CECOT deportees have been released from detention in Venezuela, as well as their willingness to return to the U.S. and any challenges they may want to bring on their deportation to El Salvador.

The judge ordered both parties to submit a status report by Aug. 7 and every two weeks thereafter.

“My sense is that there may be some who will think it’s too dangerous to come back here and risk being sent to CECOT again,” Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the ACLU, told the judge. “But as Your Honor knows, the individuals that were removed under the [AEA] were taken out of immigration proceedings where they were applying for asylum.”

Gelernt said the ACLU has not been in contact with the deportees since their arrival in Venezuela, but said the organization intends to reach them all “immediately.”

In March the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act — an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process — to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.

An official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged shortly afterward that “many” of the men deported on March 15 lacked criminal records in the United States — but said that “the lack of specific information about each individual” actually “demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.”

Boasberg ruled in June that the men, who were then being held in El Salvador’s CECOT facility, were entitled to practice their due process rights to challenge their detentions.

At Thursday’s hearing, an attorney for the Justice Department said the government is prepared to comply with a court order to facilitate the return of the Venezuelans to the U.S.

When asked by Boasberg if the government would be willing to return the Venezuelans if the Supreme Court finds the Alien Enemies Act proclamation invalid, the DOJ attorney said the CECOT deportees would have to “bring different claims.”

“We’d have to see what those claims look like, and I don’t have an analysis on my fingertips of what that would look like absent the AEA,” the DOJ lawyer said.

In a filing last week, lawyers for the former detainees argued that they should still be able to practice the due process rights they were deprived of when they were removed from the country with little notice under an authority that multiple judges have ruled is unlawful.

“Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court request an immediate status update from the government as to whether it is prepared to bring the members of the class back to the United States for habeas proceedings,” they argued.

As part of a series of lawsuits that began in March when Trump issued the proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act, Judge Boasberg has sharply criticized the conduct of the Trump administration and considered holding officials in contempt. In an order last month, Boasberg rebuked the Trump administration for detaining the men on “flimsy, even frivolous, accusations” and failing to provide them with a meaningful opportunity to exercise their rights.

“Defendants instead spirited away plane loads of people before any such challenge could be made. And now, significant evidence has come to light indicating that many of those currently entombed in CECOT have no connection to the gang and thus languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations,” Judge Boasberg wrote.

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(BOISE, Idaho) — Though the motive behind University of Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger’s violent attack remains unknown, the former police chief says “new information could come out still.”

“There’s always cases that, you know, 10 years later, somebody says something,” James Fry, who was the Moscow police chief at the time of the murders, told ABC News moments after Kohberger was sentenced to life behind bars on Wednesday.

After nearly three years and an exhaustive, expensive investigation, Fry admitted he wishes he knew more about the motive. Moscow police said they don’t know which victim was the specific target and have not found any link between Kohberger and the victims.

“You’re always wanting to get the families the why,” he said, but “sometimes they don’t get to have the why.”

Fry sat down with ABC News for his first network interview since the nondissemination order was lifted, allowing him to open up about the yearslong investigation that’s defined the department and the killer who terrorized his community.

The victims — roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, and Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin — were stabbed to death at the girls’ off-campus house on Nov. 13, 2022.

Police reports released for the first time on Wednesday reveal just how gruesome the crime scene was and noted that Goncalves and Kernodle suffered from defensive wounds.

Goncalves was stabbed 34 times and described as “unrecognizable as her facial structure was extremely damaged,” a report said. Kernodle was in an “intense struggle” and had over 50 stab wounds, a report said.

That’s done by someone who is “cold, filled with rage,” Fry said. “Angry, very angry.”

“I think it was a fight for their life,” Fry said, noting Kernodle may have encountered Kohberger when she went into the kitchen after getting her food delivery.

Two roommates survived, including Dylan Mortensen, who told police she saw a man in a mask with “bushy eyebrows” in the house on the night of the murders.

Asked why Mortensen may have been spared, Fry said there are a lot of theories, including that Kohberger may have been exhausted from the stabbings or he could’ve felt he’d been in the house too long.

“I don’t know — only he has that answer,” Fry said.

On July 2, weeks before the trial was set to start, Kohberger pleaded guilty to all counts. On Wednesday, Kohberger was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences on the four first-degree murder counts and the maximum penalty of 10 years on the burglary count.

When Fry sat down in the jury box at sentencing, he was directly across from Kohberger, marking the first time he saw him face-to-face.

“He should be ashamed of what he did,” Fry said. “He destroyed lives, families, communities. Changed everybody that ever worked that case, changed my university.”

“It’s not human what happened,” he said.

In the end, Fry said he feels some vindication. He had promised his community and the victims’ families that this case would not go cold. During the nearly seven-week manhunt, in which the department divulged little-to-no information, that became a valid concern. Fry was receiving death threats, sleeping with a loaded shotgun near his bed and covering office windows with butcher paper to keep people from seeing inside. All while searching for, and eventually finding, the killer, who will now spend the rest of his life behind bars.

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(NEW YORK) — At least 130 million people from Texas to Maine are under alert for dangerous heat and humidity over the next few days.

Hot and sticky temperatures will make it feel as high as 115 degrees in parts of the Mississippi River Valley. Even Niagara Falls will get no relief from the sweltering conditions; the tourist destination will feel like the mid-to-upper 90s on Thursday.

The heat index in Chicago, which factors in humidity, will make it feel in the triple digits and nighttime and early-morning temperatures will provide little comfort. As of 4 a.m. Thursday, the actual temperature was 80 degrees, or 85 with the heat index.

Texas will be just as hot on Thursday, as the heat index is expected to make it feel 107. Up north in Detroit, it’s forecast to feel 102.

Dangerous heat will spread to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast as temperatures in the I-95 corridor from Washington, D.C., to Portland, Maine, will make it feel like it’s in the mid-90s on Thursday.

Maine is under a heat advisory mainly for Friday as the heat index will make Portland, Maine, feel like it’s 100 degrees.

New York City, Boston and Philadelphia are also bracing for extreme temperatures. On Friday, the feels-like temperature is expected to be reach 104 in New York City, 103 in Boston, 106 in Philadelphia and 109 in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

Meanwhile, the Midwest and the Southeast is expected to see hot and humid weather stretch into the weekend and into early next, as the heat indices are expected to make it feel 110 degrees in some parts.

Most of the Southeast, including Atlanta, is expected to see a level four out four “extreme heat risk” on Monday and Tuesday as a potentially life-threatening heat wave continues in the region.

Besides the heat, the Midwest, specifically Kansas and Missouri, is expected to see a summer flash flooding continue. Strong thunderstorms on Thursday could cause flooding across the region, which is still recovering from flash floods earlier this week.

Heavy thunderstorms are expected to develop over the Midwest on Thursday afternoon and through the night, with rainfall totals forecast to reach 2 to 4 inches or higher in some areas along the I-70 corridor. The Kansas City region may see the brunt of storms with multiple rounds of heavy rain possible.

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(MARTIN COUNTY, Fla.) — A woman was attacked by an alligator while swimming in waist-deep water with her boyfriend and dog in Florida, according to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

The attack occurred on Wednesday, when the 27-year-old woman and her boyfriend took their boat out in the South Fork of the St. Lucie River in Stuart, Florida, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

While the two were swimming in waist-deep water with their dog, “an alligator bit the hand and wrist of the female” and momentarily pulled her underwater, officials said.

The gator released the woman, with her boyfriend “swiftly” jumping in to “save her life,” Martin County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Michael McCarthy told reporters on Wednesday.

The woman’s boyfriend drove her to the boat ramp at Charlie Leighton Park in Palm City, Florida, and the victim was flown to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce, Florida, officials said.

The sheriff’s office said the woman — who has not been identified — suffered “several broken bones” in her hand and wrist, along with minor lacerations and scuffing on the top of her hand and wrist.

The dog and the boyfriend were not injured in the attack, officials said.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation responded to the scene and are “awaiting their trapper to locate the alligator,” the sheriff’s office said. FWC confirmed to ABC News the trapper has not yet captured the gator and will continue “removal efforts” on Thursday.

The status of the woman’s condition as of Thursday remains unclear.

Martin County Sheriff’s Office and HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

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(NEW YORK) — One week after more than 250 Venezuelan nationals were released to their home country from a mega-prison in El Salvador, a federal judge is holding a hearing Thursday to determine what due process rights the men may be entitled to after they were removed from the U.S. under the Alien Enemies Act.

In June, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that the men, who were then being held in El Salvador’s CECOT facility, were entitled to practice their due process rights to challenge their detentions.

Boasberg had ordered the Trump administration to come up with a plan to allow the men to challenge their detentions from El Salvador by June 11, but a federal appeals court put that deadline on hold.

With the men now in Venezuela, Boasberg scheduled a conference Thursday to determine the next steps in a class-action lawsuit filed by the families of the removed men.

In March the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act — an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process — to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.

An official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged shortly afterward that “many” of the men deported on March 15 lacked criminal records in the United States — but said that “the lack of specific information about each individual” actually “demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile.”

In a filing last week, lawyers for the former detainees argued that they should still be able to practice the due process rights they were deprived of when they were removed from the country with little notice under an authority that multiple judges have ruled is unlawful.

“Plaintiffs respectfully request that this Court request an immediate status update from the government as to whether it is prepared to bring the members of the class back to the United States for habeas proceedings,” they argued.

As part of a series of lawsuits that began in March when Trump issued the proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act, Judge Boabserg has sharply criticized the conduct of the Trump administration and considered holding officials in contempt. In an order last month, Boasberg rebuked the Trump administration for detaining the men on “flimsy, even frivolous, accusations” and failing to provide them with a meaningful opportunity to exercise their rights.

“Defendants instead spirited away plane loads of people before any such challenge could be made. And now, significant evidence has come to light indicating that many of those currently entombed in CECOT have no connection to the gang and thus languish in a foreign prison on flimsy, even frivolous, accusations,” Judge Boasberg wrote.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.