Police arrest self-proclaimed girlfriend of Uvalde shooter for allegedly threatening victims' families, vowing more violence



A 19-year-old woman claiming to be the girlfriend of the gunman who murdered 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas last year has been charged for allegedly making interstate threats, which is a federal crime.

Victoria Gabriela Rodríguez-Morales, whose supposed boyfriend was ultimately put down by police, was arrested Wednesday in Puerto Rico after a grand jury issued a 13-count indictment.

"The U.S. Attorney's Office has no tolerance for illegal threats, especially threats that target people who are the victims of the horrific mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas," U.S. Attorney Stephen Muldrow of the District of Puerto Rico said in a statement. "We hope that this arrest brings a sense of peace to those who were targeted by the defendant."

According to an FBI affidavit obtained by Law & Crime, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service have been investigating a series of violent interstate threats "directed at public institutions, public officials, and private citizens in Uvalde, Texas, and other Texas areas, from operator(s) in Puerto Rico" for several months.

Rodríguez-Morales was identified as the prime suspect. She had already been under investigation for similar threats targeted at the victims' families since at least 2018 — four years prior to the May 24, 2022, mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.

The suspect previously resided with her mother in Uvalde, where she had run-ins with the law and "sent email threats to kill public officials, shoot schools, and kill teachers and students."'

KSAT-TV noted that court documents suggest the suspect was found to have above-average intelligence and a lack of remorse or guilt. She was also reportedly diagnosed with "opposition Defiant Disorder and Intermittent Explosive Disorder."

After a brief stint in a juvenile detention center, she relocated with her family to Puerto Rico around May 2020.

From 2020 up until this year, Rodríguez-Morales threatened the Uvalde Police, Uvalde High School, Morales Junior High School, the Texas Public Safety Department, the Uvalde Fire Department, and other institutions, by email, over social media, and using relatives' phones, according to the FBI affidavit.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico listed some of the many threats the suspect allegedly made, including

  • "They will shoot uvalde high school and morales jr high whenever I tell 'em So yeah the persecution is gonna start today";
  • "I will haunt everyone from class 2022 to 2023 Each and every single one of y'all will die";
  • "Each and every single one of y'all will die in the name of [the school shooter]";
  • "Your childrens hospital may blow in pieces If yall dont do as i say"; and
  • "We will shoot Uvalde Texas high school and Texas A&M college."

The FBI affidavit details various other ghoulish remarks, including, "Lovely they died I'm glad some of their blood runs in my hands Me and [the school shooter] wanted to do this together but he did not wait for me to come," and "more kids will die and teens so don't cry about this one cause there's worse coming."

According to officials, at least one of Rodríguez-Morales' alleged threats resulted in the temporary closure of a school in Texas.

The suspect also allegedly threatened Kimberly Mata-Rubio, the 34-year-old mother of Lexi, a 10-year-old girl slain in the Robb Elementary School shooting. "If Mata Rubio wins the elections I will kill her," Rodríguez-Morales is quoted as writing.

Mata-Rubio ran for mayor of Uvalde, losing in last month's election to former Mayor Cody Smith.

In a number of the threats issued after her alleged boyfriend was riddled with bullets, the suspect alluded to other people being willing to "start the plan we have." It's presently unclear whether she had been in contact and scheming with the mass shooter's cousin, Nathan Cruz, who was arrested by the San Antonio Police Department on Aug. 8.

The SAPD indicated authorities had been informed by a family member that Cruz was making threats and "upon further investigation, detectives were able to gather enough evidence to produce an arrest warrant for Terrorist Threat."

CNN reported that Cruz's mother allegedly overheard a phone conversation where he was attempting to illegally get his hands on a rifle similar to that used by his cousin in the 2022 mass shooting.

The FBI affidavit indicates that besides other evidence linking the suspect to the threats, she also uploaded photos and videos of herself to accounts associated with the messages.

The suspect faces five years for each of the 13 counts with which she has been charged. As of Thursday, she remained in custody at the Puerto Rico Metropolitan Detention Center.

"The subject in this case was hundreds of miles away from the place she intended to torment through threats of violence. Yet she was still identified, located and arrested," said Joseph González, special agent in charge of the FBI San Juan Field Office. "May this serve as public notice that this behavior will not be tolerated, in Puerto Rico or anywhere else in the nation."

A guardian of one of the Uvalde school shooting victims told KSAT, "I've had threats against my other kids and nothing happens to these people. So I'm glad that something is finally happening."

Guardian of Uvalde shooting victim, FBI respond to arrest of shooter's girlfriendyoutu.be

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AG Barr: DOJ has followed up on credible claims of voter fraud, has not found fraud on scale that could change election results



Attorney General Bill Barr told the Associated Press Tuesday that the United States Department of Justice has not found any evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Barr said that U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have investigated specific complaints and information they've received and that the investigations have not unearthed evidence that the outcome of the election was fraudulent.

"To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election," Barr said.

On Nov. 9, the attorney general authorized federal prosecutors to look into "substantial allegations" of voter fraud while advising federal investigators to disregard "specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims." Barr has been a consistent critic of mail-in voting, warning before the election that widespread mail voting created opportunities for election fraud.

In the wake of the election, President Donald Trump and his lawyers have asserted that a "national conspiracy" of voter fraud took place and that former Vice President Joe Biden's victory in several key battleground states was illegitimate. The president has refused to concede to Biden as his campaign pursues various legal challenges to the results of the election. Additionally, lawmakers in several states have begun conducting election integrity hearings to listen to testimony from witnesses who say they have proof of voting irregularities that amount to widespread fraud.

Some of the Trump campaign's legal filings have been rejected by judges who found that the evidence presented by Trump's lawyers was not sufficient to substantiate their claims — including Republican-appointed federal judges. Lawsuits by Trump or state Republicans seeking to block the certification of election results in three different states were dropped or lost this week.

Barr did not address many of the specific allegations made by Trump's legal team, but he did say that the DOJ has investigated claims that Dominion Voting Systems machines were somehow hacked or manipulated to throw the election to Biden, finding no evidence this happened.

"There's been one assertion that would be systemic fraud and that would be the claim that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results. And the DHS and DOJ have looked into that, and so far, we haven't seen anything to substantiate that," Barr said.

He added that many people are demanding that the federal criminal justice system investigate allegations that are outside of its jurisdiction and belong in civil lawsuits. He suggested that conducting state audits of election results is the appropriate response to many of these allegations of voting irregularities, rather than criminal investigations by the federal government. Amid allegations of voting irregularities, an audit of the Georgia election results confirmed a Biden victory and produced no indication that widespread fraud took place.

"There's a growing tendency to use the criminal justice system as sort of a default fix-all, and people don't like something they want the Department of Justice to come in and 'investigate,'" Barr said.

He noted that criminal investigators require a basis to believe a crime took place before they can launch an investigation. Those allegations that meet that requirement, Barr said, have been followed up on.

"Most claims of fraud are very particularized to a particular set of circumstances or actors or conduct. They are not systemic allegations. And those have been run down; they are being run down," Barr said. "Some have been broad and potentially cover a few thousand votes. They have been followed up on."

The Trump legal team led by Giuliani and campaign senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis issued a statement responding to Barr, accusing the Department of Justice of lacking "any semblance of an investigation."

President Trump's lawyers, Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, take a swipe at AG Bill Barr after he said that there's n… https://t.co/OsR72msM00
— Josh Wingrove (@Josh Wingrove)1606852659.0

"With the greatest respect to the attorney general, his opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial irregularities and evidence of systemic fraud," Trump's lawyers said.

GOP rep introduces bill to make 'Antifa thugs' pay, lose benefits for rioting, looting



As lawlessness plagues major cities across the United States, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) introduced legislation last week that would increase the punishment for people convicted of looting and rioting.

Dubbed the "Support Peaceful Protest Act," the bill would make individuals convicted of federal crimes during the course of a protest ineligible for enhanced federal unemployment benefits or any "supplemental unemployment compensation" available to Americans during the COVID-19 panic.

The bill would also "hold individuals convicted of federal offenses during the course of protests financially liable for the cost of federal policing."

The bill states:

In the case of an individual convicted of a Federal offense related to the individual's conduct at and during the course of a protest with respect to which a Federal law enforcement officer was engaged in policing activity, the court shall, in addition to the penalty for such conviction, order the individual to pay an order of restitution to the appropriate Federal law enforcement agency in anamount that is equal to the cost of such policing activity,as determined by the court.

In a statement, Banks said rioters who are destroying cities — like Portland and Kenosha — need to feel the financial burden they are imposing on their communities.

"Antifa thugs are descending on suffering communities, disrupting peaceful protests and leaving violence, looting and vandalism in their wake. They turned Milwaukee, Seattle and Portland into warzones, and now they're moving the chaos to Kenosha, Wisconsin. Who knows which community is next?" Banks said.

He added, "Due to enhanced federal benefits, taxpayers are giving wages to jobless rioters that are destroying our communities. We need to cut them off from their funding and make them feel the full financial consequences of their actions."

It's not yet clear if Banks has enough support to secure the bill's passage. The House is on recess until after Labor Day.

However, we already know at least 74 individuals whom Bank's bill would target.

As TheBlaze reported, the Justice Department announced last week federal charges against 74 individuals accused of committing violence in Portland over the last several months.

"Violent agitators have hijacked any semblance of First Amendment protected activity, engaging in violent criminal acts and destruction of public safety," U.S. Attorney Billy Williams said.