PONCA CITY, Okla. – We’re learning more about an incident last week that sent the FBI to a Ponca City neighborhood.
On June 30, neighbors became concerned when they spotted FBI agents staged near a Ponca City home.
“It’s a pretty quiet neighborhood for something like this to turn up. It’s just unusual,” Barry Roller told NewsChannel 4.
FBI special agents told NewsChannel 4 their hazmat team was looking for possible hazardous materials on the property.
Now, court documents are painting a more sinister picture of what sent officials to the home.
On Monday, a criminal complaint was filed in federal court following the arrest of 37-year-old Danielle Layman on a charge of use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder for hire.
According to the affidavit, a tipster called the FBI to report that they had been hired to murder an individual in Tel Aviv, Israel using ricin.
The affidavit states that the tipster responded to a Craigslist ad that was seeking someone for a 10-day modeling job overseas.
After meeting with a woman who claimed to be ‘Samantha Dowry’, the tipster said that Dowry explained the real reason for the job and showed a PowerPoint presentation regarding the logistics of the murder.
The instructions told the tipster to seek out the target for help seeing tourist attractions around Tel Aviv, and to add the ricin to his coffee.
Once the target was dead, the tipster would be paid $4,000 in cash.
After going to the FBI with the information, agents began looking into Dowry and learned that her real name is Danielle Layman.
The affidavit states that Layman used to be the Director of Nursing for the Ministry of Labor in Israel. Reports in Israel detailed that Layman was in a custody battle over visitation rights with the target.
While searching Layman’s property, investigators say they found several dozen castor beans and instructions on how to make ricin.
If convicted, Layman could face 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Fox Sports has fired Jamie Horowitz, one of its most senior executives, amid a probe into sexual harassment allegations, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Fox Sports President Eric Shanks announced the removal of Mr Horowitz as president of Fox Sports National Networks in a memo to staff.
“Everyone at FOX Sports, no matter what role we play, or what business, function or show we contribute to — should act with respect and adhere to professional conduct at all times. These values are non-negotiable,” Mr Shanks wrote.
Fox Sports recently retained a law firm in relation to concerns of sexual harassment at the division of 21st Century Fox, the person familiar with the matter said. No claim has been made against the company, but Mr Horowitz was removed as a result of the law firm’s probe, the person said.
Mr Shanks’s email to staff acknowledged that Mr Horowitz’s immediate departure may come as a surprise to many, but didn’t specify why he was exiting. Representatives for Fox Sports declined to elaborate on the staff email, and Mr Shanks didn’t return a call seeking comment.
Mr Horowitz retained well-known entertainment industry lawyer Patricia Glaser, who said the way Fox Sports has treated him is “appalling.”
“At no point in his tenure was there any mention by his superiors or human resources of any misconduct or an inability to adhere to professional conduct,” Ms Glaser said. “Jamie was hired by Fox to do a job that until today he has performed in an exemplary fashion. Any slanderous accusations to the contrary will be vigorously defended.”
Daniel Petrocelli, a lawyer with of O’Melveny & Myers representing Fox Sports, responded to Ms Glaser, saying: “Mr. Horowitz’s termination was fully warranted and his lawyer’s accusations are ill-informed and misguided.”
The harassment probe at Fox Sports comes in the wake of an effort by parent company 21st Century Fox to crack down on inappropriate office behaviour after a year that has seen numerous lawsuits and allegations of sexual harassment and racial discrimination at Fox News. 21st Century Fox is owned by News Corp, publisher of The Australian.
Mr Horowitz joined Fox Sports just over two years ago after a long run at Walt Disney Co’s ESPN and a much shorter stint running NBC’s morning news program “Today”.
At Fox Sports, Mr. Horowitz was tasked with boosting the performance of its cable network Fox Sports 1, which was launched in August 2013 to take on ESPN. The network has struggled to develop signature programming that will keep viewers tuned in when there isn’t a sports event on.
Among the moves Mr Horowitz made was to bring some well-known names over from ESPN including Skip Bayless and Colin Cowherd. In a 2016 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr Horowitz said he wanted to borrow a page from Fox News and focus on big personalities to discuss and debate the news of the day rather than just be another place to get highlights.
Mr Horowitz was also in charge of digital operations at Fox Sports and has clashed with longtime staffers there over the future direction of the unit, people familiar with the matter said. Last month, Fox Sports let go members of its writing and editing staff there to focus more on video.
In a memo explaining the shift in strategy at the time, Mr Horowitz wrote, “our advertising partners want to be presented alongside premium video across all screens, so we will now focus on delivering high quality sports video content to support their efforts.”
Mr Shanks said in his memo to staff that until a replacement is named for Mr. Horowitz, he will handle oversight of programming, marketing and digital operations.