By FREIDA FRISARO and KATE PAYNE

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge in Miami set a $60,000 bond Tuesday for U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who made her first appearance in court on charges of conspiring to steal $5 million in federal disaster funds meant to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

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The Florida Democrat is facing 15 federal counts that accuse her of stealing funds that had been overpaid to her family’s health care company, Trinity Healthcare Services, prosecutors alleged. The company had a contract to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Cherfilus-McCormick stood with her attorneys as Judge Enjoliqué Lett read all 15 charges, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. She told the judge she is aware of the charges she faces.

She said in a statement sent to the AP that she plans to fight for her constituents.

“Today I made my initial appearance in a case that is both politically timed and politically motivated,” Cherfilus-McCormick said in the statement. “Let me be clear: I am innocent and I look forward to my day in court. This has been a fight not just for my name — it’s a fight for my constituents, an attack on the progress we have been making and the movement we have started.”

She said she will not be “intimidated or silenced.”

In addition to bail, the judge said Cherfilus-McCormick must surrender her personal passport, and she is restricted from traveling to and from Florida from anywhere other than Washington, D.C., Maryland and the Eastern District of Virginia.

The congresswoman will be allowed to retain her congressional passport so she can do certain duties for her job.

In a federal indictment unsealed earlier this month, prosecutors claimed that within two months of receiving the funds in 2021, more than $100,000 had been spent to purchase a 3-carat yellow diamond ring for the congresswoman.

The health care company owned by Cherfilus-McCormick’s family had received payments through a COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, the indictment said. Her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, requested $50,000, but they mistakenly received $5 million and didn’t return the difference.

Cherfilus-McCormick has denied the charges, through her attorney, David Oscar Markus.

Prosecutors said the funds received by Trinity Healthcare were distributed to various accounts, including to friends and relatives who then donated to Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign for Congress.

Cherfilus-McCormick won a special election in January 2022 to represent Florida’s 20th District, which includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, after Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021.

The charges she faces include theft of government funds; making and receiving straw donor contributions; aiding and assisting a false and fraudulent statement on a tax return; and money laundering, as well as conspiracy charges associated with each of those counts.

According to a statement provided by the congresswoman’s chief of staff, she doesn’t plan to resign from office and maintains her innocence. She said she has cooperated with “every lawful request” and will continue to do so until the matter is resolved.

Payne, who reported from Tallahassee, Florida, is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

As a school bus driver, Mebal Kaanyi has to pay attention.

So when she was driving her afternoon bus route last week for Roseville Area Schools, she noticed a four-year-old boy running down the street crying. He didn’t appear to have parents with him and was barefoot with no sweatshirt, she said.

“He crossed that Owasso Boulevard, as busy as it was, and went to the other side of the road and on that side, it’s a lake – Lake Owasso,” Kaanyi, of Shoreview, said.

Despite fencing by the lake, Kaanyi said the gate must not have been latched and the boy was able to make it to the water where he fell in.

“Of course, even me, I was terrified on entering the water because I do not know how to swim,” she said. “I’ve never done that in my whole life so I was afraid to follow him, but still, something kept on pushing me – ‘You need to save that kid because if you don’t save him, nobody’s going to know he’s in there.”

Kaanyi, a Shoreview resident, got into the water and though the boy was struggling, he pushed himself toward her, allowing her to then grab his hand and pull him from the lake, she said.

People driving by who saw the rescue offered to bring Kaanyi towels for the boy, who was soaking wet and shaking. Kaanyi, who had called her work dispatch to request police, waited with the boy until first responders arrived.

The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office contacted Kaanyi the next day to thank her and let her know that the boy had been reunited with his parents, she said. A spokesperson with the sheriff’s office confirmed on Tuesday the boy’s reunion with his parents.

On Tuesday, Kaanyi was recognized for her actions with a $1,000 check from Sheletta Brundidge, through Brundidge’s company ShelettaMakesMeLaugh.com, a podcast network and promotions company based in Cottage Grove.

Brundidge for about the last two years has traveled to different parts of the country providing free interior keyless door locks to parents to help keep their children from wandering, like the child Kaanyi rescued. She travels to cities where children have wandered away and drowned and estimates she’s spent around $30,000 to $40,000 on locks for parents that can’t afford them, she said. When she heard about Kaanyi’s rescue of the boy, she wanted to surprise her.

“Here we are, just letting her know what a hero she is and how amazing it is that she saved this child,” Brundidge said.

Children with autism are more prone to wander, something Brundidge has experienced with her own son, who is autistic.

“I like to say I’m just a mama with a mouth on a mission to help other parents because I don’t want any mother to have to bury her child,” Brundidge said. “And so it’s my job to make sure that the awareness is made, that the awards are handed out, that the locks are given away.”

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Kaanyi, who is a single mother, said she plans to save the money she received on Tuesday to support her 9-year-old daughter.

“It’s just telling people out there to always do you — be you, and do you. Never look at color, race, something like that. Just do what your heart tells you,” Kaanyi said. “Do good things and people should treat each other, one another with kindness. That day it will be that kid, next time it will be me, my daughter. You know, you don’t need to help somebody with you expecting to get something in return. Just do you.”

By MELISSA GOLDIN

In addition to pardoning two North Carolina turkeys at the annual White House ceremony Tuesday, President Donald Trump discussed his crime-fighting efforts in Washington, D.C., claiming that it’s been months since the city has seen a murder.

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But Metropolitan Police Department statistics say otherwise.

Trump deployed National Guard troops to Washington in August in an effort to curb violent crime even though it had already reached its lowest levels in decades.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

TRUMP: “We haven’t had a murder in six months.”

THE FACTS: That’s false. There have been 62 homicides in Washington since May 25, including one last week, according to the MPD. The city has seen 123 homicides so far in 2025. Since National Guard troops were deployed to Washington on Aug. 11, there have been 24. In some data, only 61 homicides were reported in the last six months, and only 23 since Aug. 11, because of a technical error, the MPD said.

Asked for comment on Trump’s claim, the department said that the statistics speak for themselves.

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers stressed Trump’s transformation of Washington “from a crime-ridden mess into a beautiful, clean, safe city” when asked about the discrepancy between his claim and city data. She did not address the discrepancy directly.

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to end its monthslong deployment of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb found that Trump’s military takeover illegally intrudes on local officials’ authority to direct law enforcement in the district. The order is on hold for 21 days to allow for appeal.

District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb in September sued to challenge the Guard deployments. He asked the judge to bar the White House from deploying Guard troops without the mayor’s consent while the lawsuit plays out.

During the turkey pardoning, Trump said Washington “is now considered a safe zone,” making the erroneous claim that “we haven’t seen a murder in six months.”

A Department of Justice report from January showed that total violent crime in 2024 was at the lowest it had been in more than 30 years, including a 32% drop in homicides from 2023, when it experienced a post-pandemic peak.

Homicides in the past six months are down 46% from the same period last year, while homicides since the August deployment are down 38% from the previous period, MPD data shows. There has been a 29% decrease in homicides in 2025 to date compared to 2024.

Violent crime during the National Guard’s initial one-month surge in Washington was down 39% from the same period last year, including a 53% drop in homicides, with seven during the surge, compared to 15 during the same timespan in 2024.

Arson is the only type of crime that has not seen a decrease, with a 0% change from last year to this year.

The city’s statistics came into question, however, after federal authorities opened an investigation into allegations that officials altered some of the data to make it look better. The investigation is ongoing.

Associated Press writers Gary Fields and Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office says it is moving away from its CodeRED emergency system following recent cyberattacks and data breaches nationwide.

CodeRED is a critical notification system used to deliver time-sensitive alerts during severe weather events, public safety threats and other emergencies. CodeRED has reported that information such as names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and possibly passwords for profiles may have been compromised.

“If the same password is used by system users for any other personal or business accounts, those passwords should be changed immediately,” county officials said.

During this transition, partner agencies with emergency alerting capabilities will issue public alerts on Washington County’s behalf.

The county is encouraging residents who use the system to do the following:

• Change any usernames or passwords to other personal or business accounts similar to those used for CodeRED profiles.

• Ensure Emergency Alerts are turned on in phone settings.

• Follow Washington County Sheriff’s Office and local public safety agencies on social media.

• Maintain multiple ways to receive alerts, such as NOAA Weather Radio and local news outlets.

The county said CodeRED has reported there is no evidence that any user information has been used to carry out identity theft or fraud.

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