Current, former Marines caught up in alleged crime ring
By Barbara Starr
Seven active Marines, seven former Marines and a Navy sailor were among 50 people arrested in a sweeping Southern California raid aimed at shutting down a network that allegedly dealt in stolen cars, drugs, weapons and other military gear.
San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis announced 64-count indictment that followed an eight-month undercover operation. Arraignments occurred on Thursday after a series of arrests earlier in the week as part of a law enforcement effort code-named "Operation Perfect Storm."
Charges include vehicle theft, insurance fraud, sales of cocaine and methamphetamine, sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines, illegal gun possession, burglary, possession of stolen military equipment and insurance fraud.
Captured U.S. soldier's letter revives family's hopes
By Cristy Lenz
(CNN) - The family of Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier captured by the Taliban in 2009, received a letter from him recently - reviving their hopes that the 27-year-old army sergeant is still alive.
Bergdahl's father mentioned receiving the letter in an e-mail exchange with Dwight Murphy, the spokesman for the local POW/MIA group in Boise Valley, Idaho.
"We have received a letter from Bowe through the Red Cross!" the father says in the exchange. "He was scripted and redacted but he was no doubt alive and his faculties fully functioning as of two months ago."
He did not say when he got the letter, but Murphy copied and pasted the exchange with the father on his Facebook page after receiving his permission to do so.
The father's letter goes on say, "They are being very careful with him. He is still highly valued at high levels.
"Guantanamo, drones and politics in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Washington are still the big issues."
FULL STORY
Report: Secret court order forces Verizon to turn over telephone records of millions
By Chelsea J. Carter
(CNN) - The U.S. government has obtained a top secret court order that requires Verizon to turn over the telephone records of millions of Americans to the National Security Agency on an "ongoing daily basis," the UK-based Guardian newspaper reportedWednesday.
The four-page order, which The Guardian published on its website, requires the communications giant to turn over "originating and terminating" telephone numbers as well as the location, time and duration of the calls. The order, published on the newspaper's website, does not require the contents of conversations to be turned over.
CNN has so far been unable to independently verify the authenticity of the document.
If genuine, the order gives the NSA blanket access to the records of millions of Verizon customers' domestic and foreign phone calls made between April 25, when the order was signed, and July 19, when it expires.
Verizon spokesman Edward McFadden declined to comment on the report.
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