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Former Haitian Police Officer And Naturalized US Citizen Pleads Guilty To Gun Running

Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times,

A naturalized U.S. citizen and former Haitian National Police officer pleaded guilty to smuggling at least 140 firearms to Haiti.

Soldiers patrol amid the sound of gunshots heard in the distance in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Oct. 17, 2024. Odelyn Joseph/AP Photo

Jean Robert Casimir, 53, of Lauderhill, Florida, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to conspiracy, smuggling, and violation of the Export Control Reform Act on Tuesday, Aug. 4.

According to court records, Casimir admitted to engaging in an extensive firearms trafficking operation since 2020.

He was arrested on Dec. 16, 2024, in Lauderhill and indicted on Jan. 23, 2025. His sentencing is set for Dec. 4.

Casimir told the court that from August 2020 through December 2024, he illegally exported guns from the United States to Haiti without the required license from the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security.

He told the court he purchased the guns for his security business, which hires off-duty Haitian National Police officers to provide armed security for people visiting the island.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Homeland Security investigators saw photographs of firearms used by Haitian gangs in which serial numbers were clearly visible. The affidavit stated that the guns were traced back to legal purchases Casimir made at a Florida gun store in 2020.

Casimir denied selling guns to gang members. He said the guns were stolen from one of his employees during a robbery.

To smuggle the firearms, Casimir and his co-conspirators disassembled the guns, encased them in a foam insulating material and sealed them in industrial air compressors they had cut open and welded back together. They shipped the air compressors to Haiti from Miami.

The investigation was a combined effort by the FBI Miami Field Office, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., and HSI Miami with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorneys from the District of Columbia and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) National Security Division, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.

According to a DOJ press release, the case is part of a Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative to eliminate criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad.

"Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of U.S. law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations," the press release states.

According to data released by the United Nations Human Rights Office, there are an estimated 270,000 to 500,000 illegal weapons in circulation in Haiti, even though country does not manufacture guns or ammunition.

Haiti has been overrun by armed gangs and vigilante groups for more than a decade.

Political corruption and natural disasters have destabilized the country. As the government struggled to deal with the crises, powerful gangs took control of various areas, including the capital, Port au Prince.

Armed off-duty police officers take cover during an exchange of gunfire with army soldiers as they protest over police pay and working conditions in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Feb. 23, 2020. Dieu Nalio Chery/Ap Photo Tyler Durden Wed, 08/05/2026 - 21:45

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Louisiana Has The Highest Car Ownership Burden In America

For many Americans, owning a car is a necessity, but the financial burden varies dramatically by state. In the least affordable places, annual vehicle expenses consume nearly one-quarter of the typical household’s income.

This map, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, ranks every state by annual car ownership costs as a share of median household income, based on analysis from LendingTree of active auto loan holders. The estimates include financing, insurance, fuel, and maintenance.

The States Where Car Ownership Costs the Most

The table below ranks every state by annual car ownership costs as a share of median household income.

State Total Costs Median Household Income % of Household Income Louisiana $14,894 $64,199 23.2% Mississippi $13,378 $62,242 21.5% New Mexico $14,115 $71,388 19.8% Arkansas $12,798 $65,378 19.6% Alabama $13,164 $70,171 18.8% West Virginia $11,951 $64,001 18.7% Kentucky $12,628 $67,925 18.6% Oklahoma $12,722 $69,633 18.3% Florida $14,546 $81,830 17.8% Missouri $13,235 $75,360 17.6% Arizona $14,860 $85,779 17.3% Wyoming $13,533 $79,511 17.0% Texas $14,139 $83,921 16.8% Nevada $14,341 $85,408 16.8% Montana $13,245 $79,309 16.7% Georgia $13,733 $84,205 16.3% Tennessee $12,350 $75,790 16.3% Kansas $12,941 $79,492 16.3% Indiana $12,269 $75,750 16.2% South Carolina $12,233 $76,161 16.1% Michigan $12,208 $76,202 16.0% North Dakota $12,766 $81,973 15.6% Ohio $11,574 $76,016 15.2% Iowa $11,992 $79,478 15.1% North Carolina $11,725 $77,854 15.1% Nebraska $12,133 $80,399 15.1% South Dakota $12,092 $80,931 14.9% Wisconsin $11,947 $81,570 14.6% New York $13,183 $90,341 14.6% Idaho $12,340 $85,442 14.4% Pennsylvania $11,735 $81,630 14.4% Illinois $12,549 $87,594 14.3% Maine $11,231 $80,469 14.0% Oregon $12,528 $89,709 14.0% Delaware $12,680 $92,145 13.8% Rhode Island $12,042 $87,903 13.7% Colorado $13,876 $102,229 13.6% California $14,325 $105,425 13.6% Minnesota $12,304 $91,706 13.4% Vermont $11,542 $87,088 13.3% Alaska $13,051 $100,705 13.0% Washington $13,558 $104,625 13.0% Utah $13,023 $101,750 12.8% Virginia $12,214 $96,941 12.6% New Jersey $13,708 $109,788 12.5% Connecticut $12,630 $101,109 12.5% Hawaii $13,193 $106,052 12.4% Maryland $13,314 $108,326 12.3% District of Columbia $13,205 $115,486 11.4% New Hampshire $11,418 $105,038 10.9% Massachusetts $11,745 $110,350 10.6% 🇺🇸 U.S. Average $12,841 $85,759 15.0%

Data is for active auto loan holders. Cost and income figures were adjusted to 2026 dollars.

Louisiana is the nation’s least affordable state for car ownership, with the typical household spending 23.2% of its income, or $14,894 annually, on vehicle expenses. By comparison, Massachusetts households devote just 10.6% of their income to car ownership.

Mississippi, New Mexico, Arkansas, and Alabama round out the top five, with households in each spending roughly one-fifth of their income on car ownership.

Why Car Ownership Is Less Affordable Across the South

The South dominates the least affordable rankings because many states combine relatively modest household incomes with high ownership costs.

Insurance is one major factor. Louisiana and Florida, for example, consistently rank among the country’s most expensive states for auto insurance due to severe weather, litigation costs, and high accident claims.

Drivers in many Southern states also travel more miles each year, increasing spending on fuel, maintenance, and repairs.

America’s Most Affordable States for Car Ownership

Massachusetts has the nation’s lowest car ownership burden, with annual costs equal to 10.6% of median household income, or $11,745.

New Hampshire and Maryland also rank among the most affordable states, helping make the Northeast the country’s least financially burdensome region for car ownership. Higher incomes help keep costs manageable across much of the region, while extensive public transit may allow some households to drive less or own fewer vehicles.

These rankings show that car affordability depends on more than the cost of owning and operating a vehicle. Household income also plays a major role, meaning similar expenses can create very different financial burdens depending on where people live.

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the cheapest car brands to own and maintain.

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Declassified Documents Show FBI Probed Whether Trump Fired Comey At Russia's Direction

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

Newly declassified documents show the FBI probed President Donald Trump's termination of the agency's director as part of an effort to substantiate allegations that Trump colluded with Russia.

Former FBI Director James Comey in Berlin, Germany, on June 19, 2018. Carsten Koall/Getty Images

The documents, declassified by a White House task force on Aug. 5, refer to Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017.

In one of the documents, dated May 16, 2017, the FBI said it was opening an investigation "based on an articulable factual basis that reasonably indicates that President Donald J. Trump may be or has been, wittingly or unwittingly, involved in activities for or on behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation which may constitute violations of federal criminal law or threats to the national security of the United States."

The goal of the investigation "is to determine if President Trump is or was directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with, the Russian Federation in a manner constituting a threat to the national security of the United States and/or a violation of federal criminal statutes," the document states.

The investigation, codenamed Oxferd Comma, would also look into whether Trump and "others yet to be named" obstructed or conspired to obstruct any related FBI investigations, according to the document.

That included whether Trump's firing of Comey was linked to the FBI probing Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election, the document said.

Comey was fired after officials determined he mishandled a probe into then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a personal server to send classified emails, including announcing without clearance from the attorney general that the case should be closed without prosecution, according to a memorandum from then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to the attorney general that was later made public.

Trump said shortly after Comey's termination that he fired Comey due to his mishandling the probe of Clinton, who ran against Trump in the 2016 election.

The document opening the probe said that Trump's rationale for firing Comey "has changed over time."

While Trump initially in public attributed the decision to conclusions from Rosenstein and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and the White House said in a statement that the firing had "nothing to do with Russia," Trump said in a television interview several days later that he was going to fire Comey regardless of the recommendation from Department of Justice officials because "this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story."

James Baker, the FBI's general counsel at the time, and William Priestap, the FBI's assistant director for counterintelligence at the time, signed off on the probe, and other top FBI officials, such as acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, were aware of the investigation, according to the document and other papers.

The White House Government Transparency Task Force declassified and released the documents.

Trump created the task force in May to advise him on documents "that should be declassified and/or released to the public to further his administration's priorities of transparency and accountability," according to a July 13 statement from the task force.

John Solomon, chairman of the task force, said in a statement released by the White House that evidence when the investigation was opened already undercut suspicions that Trump was acting as a Russian asset, including testimony from FBI special agent William Barnett.

The White House declined to comment.

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

The probe into Trump's termination of Comey was closed on April 9, 2019, after special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that there was no evidence to support claims that Trump and his campaign colluded or coordinated with Russia.

"The Special Counsel provided the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining his prosecution and declination decisions," the document outlining the closing of the investigation reads.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/05/2026 - 20:55