Iranian smuggler deported from U.S.
CHICAGO, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. immigration officials Friday deported an Iranian convicted of shipping equipment that could be used for uranium enrichment.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations deported Amirhossein Sairafi, 44, who was released from the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., Thursday. Sairafi boarded a commercial flight to Tehran, Iran, in Chicago.
Sairafi and two others were convicted of conspiring to ship highly specialized vacuum pump equipment to Iran in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States, money laundering and violating the IEEPA March 7, 2011, and was sentenced to 41 months in prison.
As part of the conspiracy, federal documents indicate Sairafi mislabeled shipments to hide the nature of the equipment, which potentially can be used for uranium enrichment.
Mom shoots baby, self
OCALA, Fla., Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Police in Florida say a woman facing charges in the baseball-bat beating of her boyfriend Friday shot and killed her 6-month-old baby and then shot herself.
Melanie Reyes, 20, was in critical condition at Ocala Regional Medical Center, the Marion County Sheriff's Office said. Her son, Jonah Mendoza, who was the object of a custody battle, was pronounced dead about 1 p.m.
Police said they were asked to check on Reyes at her home after a relative spotted a Facebook posting indicating Reyes planned to commit suicide. Police said they recovered a handgun at the home and found no evidence of anyone else on the premises, the Star Banner newspaper in Ocala, Fla., reported.
Reyes was involved in a custody battle with Jonah's father, Jordan Mendoza, who had petitioned to establish paternity and arrange for visitation.
She also was facing aggravated domestic battery charges for allegedly hitting her current boyfriend, Marcelino Febo, with a baseball bat. She told police Febo had knocked her to the ground and called her names.
No felony for dad who tied child with tape
CHICAGO, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- The conviction of an Illinois man, who posted a photo on Facebook of his infant daughter bound and gagged with tape, was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Andre Curry, 22, was convicted in November of aggravated domestic battery and aggravated battery, each a felony.
He told police he was playing with his 22-month-old daughter, used blue painter's masking tape to cover her mouth and bind her ankles and wrists, and then took a photograph and uploaded it to his Facebook account with a caption, "This is wut happens wen my baby hits me back," followed by a winking emoticon.
In Cook County, Ill., Court Friday, the day of Curry's sentencing, Judge Lawrence Flood reversed himself and reduced the conviction to a misdemeanor, saying in reviewing the case he found no intent to obstruct the child's breathing by placing the tape over her mouth.
Curry was sentenced to 18 months probation and parenting classes, and received a lecture from the judge, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.
"In your rush to show everyone how funny you were, you used a helpless 22-month-old child, who was completely dependent on you, as a prop. This was not funny. I want you to understand the gravity of your lack of judgment," Flood said.
Second fugitive bank robber caught
CHICAGO, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- The second of two bank robbers who escaped from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago last month was captured Friday, the FBI said.
Kenneth Conley, who along with cellmate Joseph "Jose" Banks, used ropes made from bedsheets to scale the wall of the high-rise lockup from the 15th floor Dec. 18, was captured in Palos Hills, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Banks was captured two days after the escape less than 5 miles from the jail.
FBI spokeswoman Joan Hyde said Conley was found at an apartment complex in the south suburb about 4 p.m. Friday.
