Indictments

WASHINGTON - A Nigerien man allegedly involved with Al Qaeda at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., marking the second time this month the Obama administration has announced criminal charges against suspected terrorists. Ibrahim Suleiman Adnan Adam Harun was charged in U.S. District Court with conspiring to murder U.S. nationals abroad, plotting to bomb U.S. government facilities in Africa and other offenses. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

SACRAMENTO - Three years after a major influence-peddling scandal rocked California and the nation's largest public pension fund, a federal grand jury indicted two former top officials on fraud, conspiracy and obstruction charges. The indictment, unsealed Monday in San Francisco, names as defendants Federico Buenrostro Jr. of Sacramento, a former chief executive of the California Public Employees' Retirement System, and Alfred J.R. Villalobos of Reno, Nev., a former CalPERS board member and one-time deputy Los Angeles mayor.

The federal fraud indictments of two former CalPERS officials , announced today in San Francisco, represent the dropping of shoes from a very tall height -- at least that's one explanation of why the case has taken so long.  The charges against former CalPERS Chief Executive Fred Buenrostro and former CalPERS board member Alfred Villalobos stem from wrongdoing that may date back as far as 2002. A report CalPERS commissioned from the law firm of Steptoe & Johnson was made public in 2011.

As the defendants sobbed and their attorneys fought back tears, an Ohio judge convicted two high school football stars of raping a 16-year-old girl and sentenced them to juvenile prison Sunday, but the case that cast an ugly light over a small town and its athletes is not over. Shortly after Judge Thomas Lipps sent Ma'Lik Richmond, 16, and Trent Mays, 17, out of the Steubenville courtroom to begin serving their time, Ohio Atty. Gen. Mike DeWine said he had asked Jefferson County to convene a grand jury to investigate whether more people should be charged in the case.

A former Web producer for a Tribune-owned television station in Sacramento was indicted Thursday, accused of helping members of the hacking group Anonymous vandalize a Tribune site shortly after he was terminated from his job. Matthew Keys, 26, now deputy social media editor for Reuters, was charged with three hacking-related counts and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted in the December 2010 incident. The hack appeared on a news story on the website of the Los Angeles Times, which is also owned by Tribune.

A Reuters deputy social-media editor was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on charges connected to a hack of the Los Angeles Times' website in 2010. Matthew Keys, who tweets as @TheMatthewKeys and has more than 23,000 followers, faces charges of conspiracy to cause damage to a protected computer and transmission of malicious code. In a news release, the Justice Department said Keys faces up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 for each of the three counts he faces.

Several officials at the now-defunct Peanut Corp. of America knew their products may have harbored salmonella bacteria, but they covered up the evidence and sold the food anyway, alleged a 76-count federal indictment unsealed this week. Peanut butter, roasted peanuts and other items prepared at PCA's Blakely, Ga. plant were linked to a 2009 salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 700 people across 46 states and may have contributed to nine deaths. One of the largest food-based recalls in history resulted, affecting thousands of products made since 2007, including cookies, cereal and even pet treats, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

A federal grand jury, investigating one of the largest food-related recalls ever, indicted four executives at the now-defunct Peanut Corp. of America, accusing them of knowing that their products were tainted with salmonella bacteria, covering up the evidence and selling the food anyway. The 76-count criminal indictment, disclosed Thursday, accused the four of engaging "in multiple schemes to defraud the company's customers. " Named as defendants were the former president, Stewart Parnell; his brother Michael, a food broker representing the company; Samuel Lightsey, operations manager at the company's Blakely, Ga., plant; and Mary Wilkerson, the plant's quality-assurance manager.

Two reputed Latino gang members are facing federal hate crime charges for allegedly carrying out racially motivated attacks on four black youngsters as part of a wider campaign of terror aimed at forcing African Americans out of a west Compton neighborhood, the U.S. attorney said Friday. Jeffrey Aguilar, 19, and Efren Marquez, 21, were indicted Thursday by a grand jury on five felony civil rights charges in connection with a series of incidents that began New Year's Eve. Authorities allege they beat a young black man with a pipe and then turned their threats and racial epithets toward members of a black household where he fled.