Five teenage basketball players from the Washington, D.C., area are accused of stealing from a Florida 7-Eleven — and their coach lied to protect some of them, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.

The accused teens — all between 16 and 17 years old and hailing from Maryland and Washington, D.C. — are members of Run It Up, a travel basketball program affiliated with the Amateur Athletic Union, officials said.

The sheriff’s office added that the coach works for the Department of Juvenile Services at the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center in Maryland, ‘where his responsibilities include assisting and empowering youth.’

Their team was in the area to participate in the Puma NXTPro basketball tournament, and they were staying at a Solterra Resort vacation rental, which is less than a mile from the convenience store in the 3100 block of Ronald Reagan Parkway in Davenport, officials said.

Officials said the theft occurred Thursday around 4:10 a.m. and that the suspects concealed merchandise such as Doritos, gummies, Starburst Minis, a Big Mama sausage, lemonade, and grape and orange Slurpees — with a total value of $37.60.

A clerk confronted the suspects about the thefts, and they fled the store, officials said.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to the area and located three of the suspects near the entrance of the Solterra Resort vacation rental after they placed the stolen goods into a backpack and hid it in bushes, officials said.

A detective made contact with the team’s coach, Malik Abdul Harvey, 27, of Maryland, and asked if he could identify the remaining two suspects from a security video, officials said.

Later in the morning, the remaining two suspects were located, and they admitted Harvey was their coach, officials said.

Harvey then confessed to lying about not knowing the other two suspects in order to protect them, officials said.

The five theft suspects each were charged with two felonies — conspiracy to commit retail theft and tampering with evidence — as well as two misdemeanors, petit theft, and violation of the county curfew ordinance for juveniles, officials said.

Harvey was charged with felony child neglect as well as three misdemeanors: contributing to the delinquency of a minor, accessory after the fact, and resisting without violence, officials said.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd spoke at length about Harvey:

RELATED: Florida fools charged with felonies after cops say they coordinated theft of food, drinks from a Wawa — totaling about $40

Image source: Polk County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office video screenshot

The sheriff’s office added that the coach works for the Department of Juvenile Services at the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center in Maryland “where his responsibilities include assisting and empowering youth.”

The basketball trip was not associated with his employment duties, officials said.

Jail records indicate Harvey remained behind bars Friday afternoon; his total bail amount is $10,000.

Believe it or not, the sheriff’s office in late June arrested a dozen adults and three juveniles who they said were stealing food and drinks from a Wawa in Davenport — and the total value of the items was about $40.

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​Florida, Polk county sheriff’s office, Davenport, 7 eleven, Theft, Child neglect, Youth basketball team, Department of juvenile services, Coach arrested, Crime 

USA Today tried once again to smear Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark on Friday, and the outlet was humiliated once again.

The news outlet published an opinion piece suggesting that Clark’s insistence on calling for a foul when she was assaulted on the court was placing lesbian black players in danger of getting lynched by white supremacists.

‘What in the actual HELL? You utter, total, spite-filled brainless JERKS.’

An uproar followed, and the writer locked down her account and issued a bizarre statement admitting she had erred somewhat.

A day later, the outlet suggested that Clark had ignored a WNBA event for spurious and petty reasons.

“Caitlin Clark skipped the WNBA Orange Carpet on Thursday, opting to get her hair done in her hometown of Des Moines,” the outlet’s post on social media reads.

A community note on the X platform undermined the attempt to mischaracterize Clark’s decision.

“Caitlin was hosting a charity dinner in her hometown,” the note said.

The outlet was immediately excoriated by many on social media.

“How in the world is USA TODAY still existing with SEXIST headlines like this only aimed at Caitlin Clark?! They just keep doubling down on their ignorance and stupidity!” sportscaster Linda Cohn responded.

“For the love of god. What is the matter with you people. Maybe she needs the support of her family after all your bullying,” Amy Siskind replied.

“What in the actual HELL? You utter, total, spite-filled brainless JERKS,” another critic said.

The outlet issued a “clarification” about seven hours later.

RELATED: Caitlin Clark puts black lesbians at risk of death, USA Today writer suggests — and cites Emmett Till lynching

“Caitlin Clark was attending an event for the Caitlin Clark Foundation, which is why she missed the WNBA All-Star Weekend Orange Carpet,” the outlet posted.

Some did not think the correction was enough.

“Wait, so the day after you publish a column claiming her actions evoke Emmitt [sic] Till and will get people lynched, you rush and post an unverified slanderous headline that turns out to be a lie? Do you wonder why you’re a joke?” one detractor responded.

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​Usa today, Caitlin clark, Wnba, Mainstream media bias, Politics 

Tony Romo was arrested in Wisconsin after performing poorly on field sobriety tests, according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office.

Romo was driving traveling southbound on Interstate 43 Thursday when he was stopped at about 6 p.m. according to an arrest-detention report obtained by WISN-TV.

In 2017 he was hired as the lead game analyst for CBS football.

The former Dallas Cowboys quarterback was taken into custody, booked on a charge of operating while intoxicated, and then released.

A first-time charge of OWI is a civil offense in Wisconsin and typically carries a fine between $150 and $300, according to WISN.

Romo is very familiar with the area, as he was born in Burlington and graduated from Burlington High School. He visited in 2020 to attend the dedication of the “Tony Romo Field” by the Burlington Area School District for the school’s homecoming game.

The 46-year-old is married and has three children.

It appears to be his first arrest.

Romo played in Dallas for the entirety of his career in the National Football League, from 2003 until 2016. In 2017 he was hired as the lead game analyst for CBS football.

He still holds the Cowboys franchise record for total passing touchdowns at 248.

TMZ noted that he appeared to be smiling in his booking photo.

RELATED: Former NFL player’s business vandalized with ‘MAGA’ and racist slurs — but police say it was a hoax

KSTP-TV reported that CBS had no comment about the arrest.

Romo is due in court for the OWI charge on Sept. 21.

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​Dallas cowboys, National football league, Tony romo, Wisconsin, Crime 

The massive fraud scam in Minnesota’s Feeding Our Future nonprofit continues to grow after one convicted fraudster has been sentenced to an additional decade in prison for bribing a juror.

Abdiaziz Shafii Farah pleaded guilty to participating in the attempted scheme to bribe a juror with $120,000 in order to secure an acquittal.

‘Farah and his co-defendants participated in an unprecedented attack on the justice system.’

Four others were implicated in the bribery scheme that was revealed in June 2024.

A woman appearing to be Somali dropped off the money bag with a family member of the juror, as previously reported by Blaze News.

“This is for juror 52,” an alleged note on the bag read. “Tell her there will be another bag for her if she votes to acquit.”

The juror called the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the investigation led to seven defendants being arrested and jailed for the duration of their trial after they had been allowed to appear on their own recognizance. That juror was dismissed, and the others were questioned about whether they had been approached for bribery.

Farah had already pleaded guilty to numerous charges related to the multimillion-dollar scam and was sentenced in August to 28 years in prison.

On Wednesday, Farah was sentenced to an additional 10 years for the bribery charge.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Murphy emphasized during sentencing how jury bribery could have a “chilling effect” on jury selection.

“How creepy is it that a defendant in a case was stalking you, both online and in real life?” he asked. “Following you home, coming to your door?”

Prosecutors alleged that the defendants had targeted that juror because she was the youngest juror and a minority. They obtained evidence that showed they wanted her to persuade other jurors to vote for acquittal based on claims of racial bias.

Farah spoke before being sentenced and cried during an apology to the court, the juror, and the prosecutors.

“My biggest regret revolves around the negative impact my conduct has had on my community, our great state, and the judicial system,” he said. “My conduct has cost me more than I ever imagined, and I am responsible for it.”

RELATED: FBI RAIDS ‘Quality Learing Center’ and nearly 2 dozen more in Minnesota FRAUD investigation

He also said the time he has spent in jail has humbled him.

“Farah and his co-defendants participated in an unprecedented attack on the justice system,” Murphy added.

All of the defendants charged in the bribery scheme pleaded guilty. Five of the seven defendants in the original case were convicted, while the other two were acquitted.

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​Feeding our future, Somali fraud, Minnesota, Politics 

“It’s insanity,” James Lyons told Blaze News about the latest abortion bill making its way through the Massachusetts legislature. Lyons, a former state representative and past chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, added, “And it has to stop.”

A long-standing line, one that most radical abortion legislation rarely crosses, is viability outside the womb. The rate of survival for a baby born during the 23rd week of pregnancy is 23%-27%, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. At 24 weeks the survival rate jumps dramatically to 42%-59%.

‘The legislation promises that an already ominous shadow will grow even darker over the state.’

Democrats in the Massachusetts House overwhelmingly passed a bill in a 199-33 vote on Wednesday that would greatly expand abortion access past 24 weeks, effectively making it open season on viable human beings.

Advocates for the unborn have emphasized the extreme nature of this legislation and called for the state Senate to kill it outright.

Massachusetts law currently prohibits abortion past 24 weeks unless executed by a doctor who has determined it is necessary to preserve the life of the mother; necessary to preserve the mother’s physical or mental health; warranted because of a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis; or warranted “because of a grave fetal diagnosis that indicates that the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside of the uterus without extraordinary medical interventions.”

The bill recently passed by the House, H. 5595, would scrap these requirements for late-term abortions, enabling an abortion to be committed against a preborn baby past 24 weeks solely “based upon the professional judgment of the physician.”

H. 5595 would also change state law to bar any medical review process from overriding the decision by a doctor and patient to execute a late-term abortion, and would eliminate the requirement that except in an emergency situation, late-term abortions must be performed “in a hospital duly authorized to provide facilities for obstetrical services.”

RELATED: ‘Very s***ty’: Gay couple sue surrogate mother who REFUSED to abort baby with minor birth defect: Report

Bromberger Hoover Photography/Getty Images

Lyons further told Blaze News, “It is absolutely unconscionable what these people are doing in Massachusetts.”

He then noted that this is the latest in a sequence of radical pro-abortion maneuvers, including:

the 2020 Roe Act, which not only codified abortion rights into state law, enabled abortions after 24 weeks with the now-threatened restrictions, and lowered the age at which women can seek abortion without the consent of a parent or judge, but scrapped a provision in state law that required doctors to “take all reasonable steps … to preserve the life and health of the aborted child” if the baby survived the attempted abortion; andGov. Maura Healey’s (D) taxpayer-funded initiative to attack crisis pregnancy centers, which she complained were dissuading women from getting abortions.

“The reason that they’re getting away with it is because the Massachusetts legislature is dominated by radical leftists, and they unfortunately have done everything they can possibly do to silence any opposition,” said Lyons, who changed parties from Democrat to Republican in 1983 in part because of President Ronald Reagan but also because “there was no question about it that the Democratic Party was being taken over … by the radical left.”

Democratic state Rep. Christine Barber, a radical leftist with endorsements by Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Equity Now, told the Boston Globe that the late-term abortion bill is aimed at sparing residents from the inconvenience of having to travel out of state to kill their preborn children.

“Patients have to leave to other states, leave their support network, and pay out of pocket,” Barber said. “You should be able to get care that your doctors are recommending here in Massachusetts.”

‘The fight is not over.’

Barber cited as an example the trip that one resident, Kate Dineen, made to Maryland in 2022 to kill her 33-week-old baby. The boy suffered a stroke in utero and was reportedly given a 50% chance of dying before delivery. Dineen had a Maryland abortionist administer a lethal injection to the boy, whose remains she later delivered in Boston.

Reproductive Equity Now, an organization that has also used the out-of-state execution of Dineen’s baby to promote this legislation, celebrated the passage of H. 5595.

Claire Teylouni, interim co-executive director of the pro-abortion group, stated, “We are thrilled to see the Massachusetts House of Representatives take this crucial step to expand abortion access across the Commonwealth.”

Advocates for the unborn alternatively condemned Democrats’ campaign against the preborn.

Fr. Daniel Pacholec, direct of the Respect Life Office for the Catholic Diocese of Springfield, noted, “Massachusetts already has one of the most progressive abortion laws in the country, and this goes even further. This should make everyone squeamish. This is not a partisan issue. This is about human decency.”

Massachusetts Citizens for Life noted that “the bill passed despite the concerns of thousands of Massachusetts residents who contacted legislators and shared their opposition, and despite the fact that it would allow unborn children who are capable of feeling pain and surviving outside the womb to be killed.”

“Women experiencing unimaginable, heart-wrenching pregnancy complications absolutely deserve all the support they need, but that support is not what this bill provides,” said Myrna Maloney Flynn, president of MCFL, in a statement shared by the diocese. “Instead, this bill ensures increased abortion industry profits and taxpayer-funded late-term procedures. The legislation promises that an already ominous shadow will grow even darker over the state of Massachusetts.”

The MCFL has stressed that “the fight is not over” and urged Bay Staters to urge their state senators to oppose the version before them now, S.1563.

The Massachusetts Family Institute has also condemned the bill, noting that it would “end virtually all abortion restrictions in Massachusetts, allowing abortion at full term with no medical justification or second opinion required — for any reason, or none at all.”

When asked whether the goal of this and related legislation is to make the Bay State a national abortion destination, Lyons told Blaze News, “It certainly seems that way. And as a matter of fact, the Shield Act that was put in place was a direct result of the pressure that they were seeing outside of Massachusetts to let people know you can come here and we will protect you.”

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​Abortion, Massachusetts, Preborn babies, Eugenics, Democrats, Planned parenthood, Prolife, Politics