Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Episode Date: April 27, 2023

Millions on alert as severe storms take aim across the country, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sued by Disney as he continues his trip overseas, a California man charged after he allegedly impersonated a doctor for years and treated thousands of patients, 911 calls released in the police shooting of a New Mexico man after they responded to the wrong home, and lawmakers introduce new legislation to protect children and teens on social media.

Tonight, the dangerous flood emergency along the Mississippi River growing more dire by the hour. The river rising to its highest level in more than two decades, flooding communities along its bank. Some residents forced to evacuate by boat. How soon that river is expected to crest. Plus, California bracing for its own flooding disaster as the record-breaking snowfall from this winter begins to melt. And a severe weather threat in the south at this hour, 22 million people under alert will have full team coverage. An urgent manhunt underway after four prisoners escaped from a Mississippi jail.

One of them allegedly shooting and killing a pastor on the side of the road. An officer later wounded in a shootout with that same inmate. How that standoff came to a fiery end as police searched for the prisoners who remain at large. Disney sues DeSantis, the Florida feud intensifying. the company is claiming the governor orchestrated a, quote, campaign of government retaliation after Disney spoke out against the so-called don't-say gay bill. Trump accuser, testifies the woman who claims the former president raped her in the 90s, taking the stand in a New York courtroom, her disturbing allegations, plus what we're hearing

from the former president tonight, and when we could learn if he will take the stand. Fake doctor charged, a California physician accused of treating thousands of patients without any certification to do so, how his years-long scheme came to an end. And stopped in their tracks, a train outside of New York City, making an emergency stop after a child was spotted near the dangerous third rail, how a quick-thinking conductor brought him to safety. Top story starts right now. Good evening. I'm Ryan Nobles, in for Tom Yamis from Washington, D.C. And we begin top story tonight with a severe weather triple threat across the country. Possible tornadoes, flooding, and extreme heat, putting millions on alert. At this hour, severe storms taking aim at Texas and Florida, bringing dangerous hail and heavy rain.

22 million people are under alert into tonight, with a number. tornadoes possible. And a possible tornado heading right now toward Waco, Texas. Bill Cairns is here to track it all in just a few moments. The second threat is the flood emergency, which is all along the Mississippi River, as far north as Minnesota. Currents raging as water levels reach their highest point in 20 years as snowpack begins to melt, and things are only expected to get worse. This is the outlook for the next several days. The Mississippi River is expected to crest in La Crosse, Wisconsin as early as tomorrow, then in parts of Iowa on Saturday and on Monday. Residents there racing to fill up sandbags to protect local businesses

and homes along the river's edge, others evacuating by boat. And out west, a new flood emergency taking shape. You'll remember these scenes of record snowfall in the mountains of California from earlier this year. Now those snow packs are melting rapidly, too, as temperatures soar into the 90s, more than 200 miles of land expected to soon be underwater. We'll have more on the West Coast flooding in a moment, but we begin first with Maggie Vespa in Davenport, Iowa. Maggie, we can see how much the water has risen there even since yesterday. Yeah, Ryan, exactly. The water is rising sort of at least one city block in the last 24 hours by our estimation and people here are realizing this is really serious right now I'm standing on a street that is normally next to a dry

park that normally borders the river and look at these two kayakers over here under this pavilion they're kayaking on what is normally the park and that's how people are getting around in a lot of these newly flooded areas but here's the key there okay this is a community that is used to some degree to flooding right people aren't shaken by every flood that comes along but with the water already this high it's expected in this area not to crest until early next week tonight up and down one of america's longest rivers a slow moving disaster inch by inch is taking shape this one is scaring people yeah it's going to devastate the whole downtown if it if it comes through rising waters now swallowing entire neighborhoods reaching what experts call major flood stage from st paul

Minnesota to Fountain City, Wisconsin to Dubuque, Iowa, where levels are already six feet above flood stage and rising. That city closing all 17 of its floodgates for the third time in half a century. Between one and two this morning, it was in the house. Near Davenport, utility providers cutting off gas to flooded homes, residents evacuating by boat. I know when I first moved out here, we had very small floods. They came and went real fast. But the last few years, they've gotten worse. The threat relentless. With water fueled by melting snowpack in North Dakota and northern Minnesota slated to rise for days. Here in Iowa, where homes are already underwater, the flooding isn't expected to peak until Monday. Rarely storms understorm.

The Mississippi River flooding phenomenon, one flashpoint amid a week of wild weather. Across the south, 22 million people again face the threat of severe storms. storms. This, after baseball-sized hail, shattered windshields in Texas, and pummeled parts of Florida. A catastrophic mix alongside historic flooding in the Midwest, the worst these Riverside communities have seen in decades. Incredible video, Maggie, and you join us again now from Davenport. You really can't help but feel like these communities are somewhat sitting ducks with the weather only expected to get worse at this point. What are authorities telling us? people to do in preparation for more of that flooding.

Yeah, Ryan, I mean, the fact that this is building over days, that slow-moving disaster, our climate team is calling it is part of what makes this so dangerous. So basically, in the meantime, over the next four or five days here in Davenport, officials are asking people to really monitor the forecast, sign up for official alerts in your area, and they also say pack an evacuation kit, with they say enough clothes, enough medications, basically enough necessities, everything you would need to stay away from home, potentially, several days.

All right. Maggie Vespa, live for us in Davenport, Iowa. Thank you so much. And we want to tell you more about the breaking weather news in Texas that we mentioned earlier. So let's go right to NBC News meteorologist Bill Karens. Bill, this could be a dangerous tornado that's actually on the ground. Tell us more. Yeah, good evening. Everyone in Waco has had the sirens going off for the last 15 minutes. They've been in their safe rooms. They've been in their basement, storm cellars, in the bathrooms, with stuff over the top of them, because this has been a severe thunderstorm that has produced numerous tornadoes.

It started out here by Valley Mills. It has headed right over the top of the city, and you can see this little hook. That's where the tornado would be. I have not seen any confirmed reports of a tornado in the Waco area. It looks like, across our fingers, that the circulation was just above the ground, and it looks like it is now exiting the Waco area. So for everyone with interest and friends and families in the Waco, Texas area, It does not appear that they took a direct hit from this supercell thunderstorm and possible tornado.

Again, it's threats not over for other areas, but for Waco is looking better. It actually, actually looks stronger at this current time. Could produce a tornado at any time heading towards Prairie Hill and Mart. That'll be the next two areas we'll watch here in the next 15, 20 minutes. This tornado watch in central Texas here goes until 10 o'clock this evening. I'm seeing one new tornado warning out here in areas just to the east of Brady, Texas, and huge hail-producing storms near Stephenville. Waco, by the way, there was a report of ping pong ball-sized hail.

And in the media, local media, they were saying possibly baseball-sized hail. So there could be some damage from that. And into areas of Florida, we've been seeing incredible amounts of hail with these storms. And that will continue as we go through the evening. So again, the areas of concern, we're watching Ryan, Central Florida, and also here right around Waco and heading towards Louisiana tonight. All right, Bill Cairns, thank you so much. And staying with weather and the dangerous start to spring in California, where normally

high temperatures will melt massive amounts of mountain snow, threatening severe flooding and testing decades-old levees. Steve Patterson reports. California is a climate war zone. After suffering through a decades-long megadrought, followed by months of record rainfall and deadly flooding, now residents, braced for another crisis. The snowpack in the Sierra Mountains that melts in the spring is more than 250 50% what it normally is. It contains twice as much water as the state's 28 major reservoirs, and as temperatures rise, what goes up must come down. My anxiety for the next few months is that we'll go into an extended heat wave, and the snowpack will start to melt very, very

rapidly. All that water is a problem for central California's Tillery Basin, where officials warned an estimated 200 miles of farmland could be underwater by July. Across the state, neighborhoods are also at risk. This makes us nervous. We haven't seen this since ever. Officials in Stockton, California, with 800,000 residents, have concerns. We're concerned about how it's going to get routed down through the river system. Are you worried about the levees holding up?

Absolutely. That's my job. More than 1100 miles of levees are in a system that surrounds Stockton. If they were to fail here, one federal study says most of the city would be about 10 to 12 feet. about 10 to 12 feet underwater. Huge portions of the levees were built generations ago. Now porous and seepage prone, with little investments since. The American Society for Civil Engineers gives California's levees a derating. What's the solution for those levees?

The solution would be to build them to a stronger extent, but we don't have the money at the stage in our budget. Now disadvantaged communities face the biggest threat. It can get very scary, not knowing, is it going to break? Are we going to flood what's happening? I'm going to have to trim all these down. Pandora Crowder lives in a section of Stockton's government housing, rows of homes up against an old levee wall.

It's not fair that those of us who are the most disinvested and the most economically challenged are the last ones to be thought of because we're almost kind of expendable, right? Activists say disaster is only a matter of time. If we have a significant flood event here, and it's not even if it's when, we're going to experience all the loss of life. Communities now bracing for the worst amid California's rapidly changing climate. Steve Patterson joins us now live from Los Angeles.

So Steve, what are activists there pushing for in order to curb the threat of this snowpack melt? Yeah, that's simple, Ryan. More funding. So much from this state has been diverted away from infrastructure and flood projects, especially in areas that already have less. Recently, 40 million for floodplain protection was removed from the state's preliminary budget. Activists say adding that back, that's a good first step, Ryan? All right.

Steve Patterson, live from Los Angeles tonight on the weather issue there. Steve, thank you. New tonight, a massive search is underway for escaped prisoners from a Mississippi jail. One of them is suspected of killing a pastor who stopped to help. That inmate then getting into a shootout with police. NBC's Blaine Alexander has the latest. Police say these are the men that sparked a massive multi-state manhunt across the south. Inmates on the run after escaping Sunday from a Mississippi jail.

One of them, 22-year-old Dylan Arrington, is now believed dead after a standoff with police. Officials say he shot an officer in the leg while barricaded inside this house, which moments later went up in flames. Police are working to confirm the identity of one person found dead inside. And tonight, police are releasing surveillance footage of another escapee. Jerry Raines seen Sunday at a gas station in Spring Valley, Texas, more than 400 miles from Mississippi. We're still actively searching for three. Of course, you know, we have been getting information. The U.S. Marshal Fugitive Task Force are following up on several leads. The same place where their getaway truck was found, wrecked and abandoned. The violent tear has

taken at least one life. Sixty-six-year-old pastor Anthony Watts, police say he stopped to help Arrington, thinking he was a stranded motorcyclist. This surveillance. The silence video appears to show Arrington run off the road. Seconds later, you see the pastor's truck slow down, then back up before stopping to help. Police say that's when Arrington shot him repeatedly, stealing his truck and leaving him to die on the side of the road. Reverend Carl Burton served with Watts at St. Mary's Missionary Baptist Church. He died trying to help somebody else. Does that sound like your pastor, your friend?

Yes. glorifying God and serving others that's what he wanted to do Blaine joins us now live to talk more about this so Blaine what's the latest tonight

in this multi-state manhunt well it's still going on Ryan you know this is something that has now spanned multiple states a number of different agencies are all involved in this we just got that surveillance footage of one of the suspects down in Texas early this afternoon but again they saw him

on Sunday. So there are a number of different agencies all involved in this, but it's still a very active search tonight. And Blaine, do we know any more tonight about how these prisoners were able to escape? Yeah, the sheriff kind of walked it out for us. He says that there was a hole in one of the cells. And somehow those four inmates got into that cell. They were able to get through that hole and make it up onto the roof of the jail, we're told. They stayed there for some period of time, the sheriff said, before they ultimately got down and spread out and were able to make it off the property. He says, of course, that is something that they're looking into as well as increased staffing to try and keep things like this from happening in the future.

All right, Blaine Alexander, thank you for that report. Now to New York, where explosive testimony took place in the latest civil trial of Donald Trump by the woman who says he raped her years ago and defamed her. Allegations he denies. Lord Jarrett is following the trial. E. Jean Carroll taking the stand in a packed courtroom today, telling a Manhattan jury quote, I'm here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn't happen. It's a disturbing allegation the former president has always denied. Today, the longtime advice columnist told the jury of six men and three women, what began as a chance encounter at Bergdorf Goodman, soon turned violent. She believes it happened in 1996, but can't say for sure.

What she does recall is it started with playful banter, as Trump wanted her help buying a gift. The two joked about trying on lingerie. She told the jury the next thing she knew, he shoved her against the wall of a dressing room. Quote, I was pushing him back. It was quite clear that I didn't want anything else to happen. Then she says he assaulted her. An accusation Carol has described many times before. I fought.

It hurt. It was against my will. She told the jury she confided in two friends when it happened. One who advised her to go to the police. The other said, stay quiet. quiet. Quote, he has 200 lawyers. He'll bury you. Carol never went to the police, something Trump's defense team hammered in opening statements Tuesday. Instead, she filed a civil suit for battery last year using a new law that gives survivors of sexual assault a one-year window to file

claims even when the statute of limitations has passed. She's also suing Trump for defamation, pointing to this post on truth social last fall, where he called her story a hoax and a lie. Other posts from Trump just this morning calling the case a scam. Drawing a rebuke from the judge presiding over the trial, warning Trump's defense attorney, such comments are, quote, entirely inappropriate. And Laura Jared joins us now. Laura, we saw on your piece that judge in the case issued a warning to Trump's defense team about those social media posts.

Clearly not happy with what the former president is posting online. Could he go further than just warnings here? Yeah, Ryan, you know, Judge Kaplan seems pretty fed up. with all the social media post warning that essentially Trump should not do anything to prejudice the proceedings, prejudice the jury in this case, and certainly not do anything to jeopardize any security, but it's unclear whether he actually wants to go that extra step and actually impose sanctions of some kind, finding Trump in contempt. He didn't say that he would go that far, but he did all but hint at it, and it's unclear whether he'd even want to impose something

like a gag order. Obviously, that has serious implications. But this is definitely something to watch Ryan, as the judge really does appear frustrated with the former president's social media posts. All right, Laura Jared, thank you so much. Now to Donald Trump's biggest potential rival. Florida governor and potential GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is in Israel as he continues a global trade mission. But his battle with Disney is overshadowing his trip.

The company filing a lawsuit today against the governor, Gabe Gutierrez, is with DeSantis in Jerusalem. As Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, criss crosses the world on a trade mission tonight, his state's largest single-site employer, Disney, is accusing him in a new lawsuit of a targeted campaign of government retaliation. The suit announced just moments after a panel of DeSantis' allies voted to invalidate Disney's control of its self-governing district. My mantra was, you're not going to have Disney have its own government in central Florida. DeSantis' feud with Disney has escalated, ever since the entertainment giant opposed. Florida's Parental Rights and Education Act, which critics dubbed the Don't Say Gay Bill last year. It banned classroom instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Tonight, DeSantis's office says the lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the voters and operate outside the bounds of the law. But some prominent Republicans like Nikki Haley taking Disney side. If Disney would like to move their hundreds of thousands of jobs to South Carolina and bring the billions of dollars with them, I'll let them know I'll be. happy to meet them in South Carolina. While former President Donald Trump has also slammed DeSantis for picking a fight with Mickey Mouse. You're welcome, Ron. Trump's campaign also blasting the governor's overseas travel, releasing this calendar graphic showing the days DeSantis has been away from Florida, arguing he's campaigning

for president on the taxpayers' dime. They keep saying, oh, I think DeSanctus can do okay with farmers. I don't think so. Based on polls, he's not doing okay with anything. The latest in a series of relentless attacks. I always had a good relationship with them, and then once the midterm election happened, he started taking shots at me.

I didn't really do anything to do it except do a good job. A spokesman for DeSantis denies any taxpayer money is being used for this trade mission, although a previous one in 2019 did end up using at least some public funds, according to the new service of Florida, citing government documents. Though he's not yet officially announced his candidacy

and NBC News poll finds DeSantis is 15 points behind Trump in the presidential race. When asked about that Monday in Japan, DeSantis dodged. I'm not a candidate, so we'll see if and when that changes. This week, he's been to not just Japan, but South Korea and now Israel, followed by the U.K. He shared images of his wife Casey and two of his kids, sharing sushi. But the trip, some analysts say, is meant to bolster his foreign policy credentials after facing backlash were referring to the war in Ukraine as a territorial dispute. Well, I don't know what he's trying to do or what the goal is.

Obviously, he doesn't deal with foreign policy every day as governor. DeSantis later clarified, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal. Now DeSantis is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, a staunch ally of former President Trump. I imagine that every Israeli politician will try to stay out of it and we'll try to say that both of them are, of course, friends of Israel. Whether President Trump lets Israeli politicians do that or not is another question, because he tends to see things in very personal terms.

And Gabe joins us now from Jerusalem. Let's turn back to the Disney dispute. How are they trying to turn this into a free speech issue? Well, Ryan, Disney says that the governor's actions are anti-business and unconstitutional and that the company was simply being punished for expressing its opinion on state legislation. Now, Governor DeSantis is on this overseas trade mission, supposedly meant to attract businesses, and he's set to deliver a high-profile address here in Jerusalem tomorrow, but this trip is now being overshadowed back home by this culture war issue.

DeSantis himself, though, has not commented on the lawsuit during this overseas trip, but his office says it is unaware of any legal right for a company to operate its own self-government or have special privileges. Ryan? All right, Gabe, thank you so much for that report. And like Gabe mentioned, this lawsuit by Disney is just the latest escalation in the battle between the potential presidential candidate and the major media company. For more on this, let's bring in NBC News legal analyst, Danny Savalos. So, Danny, we know that there are political implications here for sure, and they are big. But talk to us about this lawsuit and what it could mean legally for Governor Ron DeSantis.

It's an interesting lawsuit. It alleges a number of different counts. Probably the most viable one is the first one, what's called the contracts clause. It also makes other claims for violations of the First Amendment, but probably the most powerful claim is the argument that the legislation enacted in Florida violates the Constitution's contracts clause. In other words, it targets Disney and impairs its current contracts, be that with the state or otherwise. And if that's true, and if the state of Florida cannot show a substantially important reason for impairing those contracts, then Disney may win. Now, as for the other accounts, you see account for takings clause violation. That's not as powerful because the government can take your property or devalue your property

if they give you just compensation. And, of course, the First Amendment allegation, they'd have to prove that the state somehow impaired or infringed upon this corporation's right to speak, which in spirit feels like what Florida did, but I think under the elements of such a claim, that's going to be harder to make out. All right.

So now that the federal lawsuit has been filed, do you think that this is a situation where we'll see any additional legal action from the governor of Florida? And will this even make it to court? Will there be some sort of negotiation at some point? I doubt there will be a negotiation, for no other reason than DeSantis has indicated that he's not interested in negotiating. But again, he is not the only defendant.

It's not really just what Ron DeSantis wants to do. It's what the defendants as a whole want to do, what Florida wants to do. So that may, those two interests or sets of interests may ultimately be at odds. But there isn't really a money damages situation that will make. this whole. It's about whether or not this legislation and this effort to challenge Disney's the Improvement District that it's enjoyed since 1967, whether or not that is unconstitutional. I can't imagine Disney would even be interested in a dollar amount because this is the number one, and it puts this in its complaint, that this is a huge money-making operation, not

just for Disney, but for the state of Florida. And Disney repeats that. Over and and over again in its complaint. Florida benefits from Disney. Perhaps you could read between the lines, but we just heard Nikki Haley allude to that, look, Disney's saying it makes a lot of money for Florida, and maybe the implication there is it could be making that money somewhere else. All right. Danny Savals, thanks for breaking it down for us. We appreciate it. Let's turn now to the criminal investigation into the president's son, Hunter Biden. Two sources confirming to NBC News, Hunter Biden's attorney met with prosecutors today at the Department of Justice headquarters to discuss possible charges in the Delaware case. Now, as we've been reporting,

prosecutors are considering charging the president's son with tax crimes and a gun charge, stemming from a 2018 investigation into his business dealings overseas. For more on this, let's go to NBC News, Justice and Intelligence correspondent Ken Delanian. Ken, how significant of a development is this? And do we know anything more about what happened in today's talks? Ryan, neither side is commenting on what happened today, but this feels fairly significant. Often defendants in tax cases are given one last chance to go to the tax division in Washington to plead their case about why they shouldn't be charged. And tax prosecutions come with a lot of prosecutorial discretion. There are a lot of people who evade taxes in the United States

and never get charged with crime. So the question here really is whether the DOJ thinks that they can establish criminal intent, you know, can show that it. You know, can show that it. Hunter Biden knew he should have paid these taxes and willfully decided not to pay them, that remains up in the air. But it also feels like after years of investigating this, and we know that the IRS and the FBI were finished with the criminal investigation part of this as long as a year ago, it feels like this may be coming to some fruition, Ryan. And give us a bit more of specificity about these charges that the prosecutors are considering. How much trouble is Hunter Biden potentially end. So it's a mixed picture. NBC News is reporting that prosecutors are considering

two misdemeanor charges of failure to file a tax return. Remember there were some years where Hunter Biden says he was addictive to drugs, he was making a lot of money, he didn't even file a tax return. Those are misdemeanors, though. There's also a felony on the table for an improper use of a business expense. And then there's a question of whether he lied on a form to buy a gun where he said that he wasn't using drugs at the time when, in fact, that he was. That's a rarely used charge, but we're told that that's on the table. So there is the potential for a prison term there, but there's also the potential for a much lesser sentences.

These are not the most significant of charges. Nonetheless, any prosecution of the president's son would be a politically very significant act. All right. Ken Delanyan, thank you. And turning now to First Republic Bank, shares of the troubled institution saying, nearly 30% today after the lender revealed it had lost nearly 30% of deposits following the run on SVB earlier this year. Now, this steep decline despite a move last month by 11 major banks to infuse $30 billion of deposits into First Republic. And to break this all down for us is

business and data reporter Brian Chung, and he joins us now to talk more about the situation. Brian, it does feel a little bit like deja vu here, right? We were talking about First Republic's risks back when Silicon Valley Bank closed its doors. What's happening this time around? Yeah, and Ryan, that, by the way, was about six weeks ago. And the question was, well, maybe we're out of the woods and the whole banking issues after both that firm and signature bank went under. And here we are talking about First Republic Bank.

And all this was triggered by, as you mentioned, the news that deposits were really bleeding out of this bank. That came in the form of a disclosure in their earnings report on Monday night. And then yesterday, the stock fell by almost 50%. Today, it fell by almost another 30%. And because of that, that has really underscored investor concern that this bank might not make it as well. Now, for what it's worth, there's no discussion about any sort of government intervention like we saw with those two aforementioned banks at this time. However, if the bank does continue to float with the amount of deposits that it's deposits that it bled already so far, there is the concern that they're going to need a cash infusion to avoid an intervention from the FDIC and the government, which makes all of this a very sensitive situation that shows who really not out of the.

the woods. But I do want to emphasize First Republic is the only bank that saw that dramatic of essentially funds going out of the firm. Many other regional banks have reported over the last week, Ryan, reported something closer to about 5% in terms of deposit losses. Not nearly that dramatic. Well, and that brings me to my next question because, you know, with situations with banks never happen in isolation. Is there any kind of a concern that the drop with this bank could trigger more instability in the broader financial sector? Yeah, well, as you mentioned, all of the banks are connected together in this very complicated financial system that we have. But look, when you see the kind of issues that we've seen with First Republic and the headlines just over the last 48 hours or so,

it shows that regulators don't see the urgency to step in at this moment and don't worry that, you know, the potential failure of this firm, which were not there yet, could trigger anything else. Now, we have to remember that with Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank about six weeks ago, it all happened so fast that it seemed like regulators, that the FDIC, the Federal Reserve, and also at the Treasury, were indeed worried that there could be some contagion effect. We don't know if that's the case here with First Republic. Although it should be noted that First Republic Bank is larger than Silicon Valley Bank, but it's not just size, it's also profile, complexity, interconnectedness with other firms that also represents potential stability factors here.

But again, no word from regulators just yet, at least on the record. We'll have to see if the developments in the next few days perhaps push them into wanting to say something or have a stance on that stability factor. All right, Brian Chung, thank you very much. And still ahead tonight. Ill intent, a California man now charged with posing as a doctor and treating patients, including some with cancer, how police went undercover to take him down. Plus, the chilling 911 calls released after a New Mexico man was shot and killed by police

who went to the wrong home, what his daughter told the operator, moments after that shooting. And the transit workers hailed as heroes after they stopped a train and rescued a three-year-old who had wandered near the tracks. Stay with us. Top Story is just getting started. Back now with a disturbing story out of California. A Los Angeles man allegedly impersonating a doctor has been charged with five felonies after prosecutors say he treated thousands of patients. for several years without a medical license. Miguel Almaguer has the story.

Tonight, a phony doctor now facing five felony charges after allegedly treating thousands of patients without certification, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney. In this case, we actually believe many of his patients believe he's a licensed California physician. 44-year-old Stefan Gavorkian has been practicing medicine for years at this North Hollywood practice

called Pathways Medical Group, prosecutors say, where he performed blood tests and advised patients about treatments for viral infections, serious illnesses, and even cancer. But the criminal complaint says he didn't have the certification to do any of these things. Allegedly only as much of a doctor as Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Catch Me If You Can. Dr. Harris? Yes. Do you concur with What, sir? The L.A. County DA's office saying the investigation began after an anonymous tip to the California State Medical Board. The complaint coming from a patient who listed Gavorkian as their primary care physician. Officials then sent in an undercover investigator to seek treatment from Gavorkian.

He went in with a set of medical tests that were prepared by an expert. And then during the investigation, the defendant reviewed. the blood test and advised on treatment. According to a press release from the DA, Gavorkian allegedly failed to accurately address abnormal levels of a hormone that could indicate a serious medical condition for that undercover patient, the DA charging him with five counts of practicing medicine without certification. A search for his name in California's licensing database came back with no results. We reached out to Kovorkian and his attorney, but have not.

heard back. Gavorkian was released on his own recognizance last week, the DA says, and on the condition, he would not practice medicine. He could face up to seven years in prison. The DA is now encouraging those who may have been victimized in this case to call the consumer protection hotline and to seek additional medical treatment. And Miguel Amagherr joins us now from Los Angeles. So, Miguel, do we know if this allegedly fake doctor actually caused harm to some of the patients? he was treating? Well, Ryan, we don't have specific names of the patients.

Of course, HIPAA laws do protect them. But legal analysts say even if they weren't harmed during the treatment, seeing a doctor who simply isn't licensed could lead to bad information. And of course, procedures that aren't necessary as well as medical advice that simply is wrong. Now, they are also asking for if other victims to potentially step forward, if they say they've been treated by this doctor, this is all very worrisome and something the district attorney's office here in Los Angeles. Angeles is taking very seriously, Ryan.

All right, Miguel Almaguer, thank you so much for that report. Turning now to an update in a story out of New Mexico, where police shot and killed a homeowner after responding to the wrong address. Now chilling, 911 calls being released. The family mourning the loss of a father and calling for accountability. NBC's Valerie Castro has more, and we do want to warn you, the footage you're about to see is disturbing. Hey, have them!

I hear banging and I hear gunshots. Tonight, newly released 911 calls by Farmington police reveal the chaotic moments when a New Mexico man was fatally shot by officers after they showed up to the wrong home. His 14-year-old daughter calling for help. My mom was screaming and she was saying like, oh my God, screaming, oh my God. The shooting, police say, a tragic mistake captured by body camera footage. Police Department. Police announcing themselves multiple times around 11.30 p.m., but just over two minutes later. Hey, have them!

Shots fired, shots fired. Officers were responding to a domestic violence call at 5308 Valley View Avenue. I've got officers aware of the situation. I need you to separate from each other, okay? Yep. But instead, they arrived at this home across the street at 5305. The officers heard in the body cam video realizing they were at the incorrect address. The video released by Farmington Police was edited by the department to redact the name of one of the officers.

Is this not 5308? That's what I said right there, right? Don't tell me I'm wrong. The man, Robert Dodson, was armed with a handgun as he opened the door. What followed was a chaotic scene, with officers retreating and opening fire. Mr. Dotson was struck and later died at the scene. Even though Robert Dotson was armed, an attorney for the city of Farmington confirms he did not fire his handgun at officers. This angle from a second officer's lapel cam shows Dotson in the doorway.

After Dotson was shot, police say his wife fired one round at officers, not realizing it was police who'd fired the fatal shots. Hands up! Oh, my God. No! No! No! Go! Go! You know, I only took away my husband, my best friend, my soulmate, but you took away numerous children's father. One of those children called 911 during the confusing scene.

Okay, can you confirm that everyone's safe inside your home? I don't, I don't, I'm safe, but my dad, my dad's shot. Yeah, I'm on the phone with 911. Dotson's family and attorney also releasing this doorbell camera footage of the moment Dotson answered the door, armed with his handgun and showing his perspective. In a statement, the city's attorney saying, the officers had to use deadly force to defend themselves. And sadly, Mr. Dotson created the set of circumstances

that gave officers no real choice but to use deadly force. An attorney for Dotson's family says the video evidence is irrefutable, pointing out the grave mistake officers made when they arrived at the wrong home. I don't understand how the third house on the left translates to the first house on the right are with a big, bold, light, and bright numbers, not enough for you to recognize. And Valerie Castro joins us now for more on this story. So Valerie, I understand the Dotson family has plans to file a lawsuit. Brian, that's right.

But the attorneys for the family tell us they don't have a timetable just yet. They also plan to ask for federal law enforcement agencies to prosecute the officers involved and investigate the department. for excessive use of force. The city attorney representing the officers, says the officers involved who are now on administrative leave, were justified in perceiving a threat and responding the way that they did. Brian?

Valerie, thank you. And when we come back, the horrifying video captured on a New Jersey highway, a driver plowing into an officer and taking off. That officer luckily recovering tonight. But we know about that driver. That's next. Back now with Top Stories News Feed, and we begin with former Fuji's member Pras Michelle being found guilty in a sweeping corruption trial.

The Grammy Award winning rapper was convicted on 10 felony counts, including acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, witness tampering, and falsifying campaign finance records. Prosecutors say he plotted with a Malaysian businessman, and the Chinese government to try and gain access to U.S. lawmakers, including former president's Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Montana's House Republicans have voted to censure the state's first openly transgender lawmaker. The House voting 68 to 32 to censure Democratic legislator Zoe Zephyr,

after she called for her colleagues to vote against a bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Zephyr's now barred from participating on the House floor. That bill has since passed and is expected to be signed by the state's governor. A New Jersey officer is lucky to be alive after he was struck in a hit and run that was caught on camera. And a warning, this video may be disturbing. Dash cam footage shows the officer assisting a stranded driver when he was hit by a Volkswagen Passat in Robbinsville Township. Luckily, he was able to call medics for help and has since been released from the hospital. No one else was hurt.

The 52-year-old driver was later tracked down, arrested, and charged. And several New York transit workers are being honored for saving a three-year-old near train tracks. Engineers on board a train spotted the child near an electrified third rail outside of New York City. A train conductor managed to stop the approaching train, pick the boy up, and brought him on board. Officials say the child who has autism and is non-verbal, ran off from his mother and sister, they were all reunited, and he was not hurt. And now we turn to a new initiative on Capitol Hill to protect children from the dangers of social media. A bipartisan group of lawmakers proposing new rules for platforms, including one that would make 13 the legal age to use social media.

Garrett Haig has the latest. Mary Esposito signed up for Instagram as a 10-year-old, bypassing the site's minimum. age limit of 13 just by clicking a box. Her interest in fashion soon led her to posts about diet and body image. I started to restrict my intake and eat less things at dinner because I wanted to be like the girls I saw on social media. I saw all these girls getting tens of thousands of likes. By 13, she was in inpatient therapy for an eating disorder. Just one of what the CDC said in 2021 was 57% of high school girls who described themselves as persistently sad or hopeless, with social media use as a factor.

I was just bombarded with all this negative stimuli, and I didn't know how to handle it. If a 10-year-old can figure out how to get around your age verification, it's clearly not working. It's clearly not working. I think the big social media companies will tell you that they're doing age verification, but the data is in, and they are not. Stories like Marys are why Hawaii Democrat Brian Schatz teamed up with Arkansas Republican, Tom Cotton and others to introduce the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act today.

What does it say that you've got one of the most conservative Republicans and one of the most progressive Democrats approaching this issue the same way? There's a lot of issues in Washington that can divide us and divide Americans. But when it comes to parents having a say on what their children are seeing and doing online, I think you have broad agreement on it. And that's why we have age-old restrictions on what minors can do in the real world. We simply want to apply that same framework to the digital world. Their bill sets age 13 as the legal minimum for social media platforms, requiring companies to conduct more rigorous verification.

Teens under 18 would need verified parental consent to sign up for an account, and platforms would be prohibited from using algorithms to target content to minors. A spokesperson for META, which operates Facebook and Instagram, said the company is still reviewing the legislation. In a statement, the company's global head of safety said META has tools that help parents and teens limit the amount of time teens spend on Instagram and quote, don't allow content that promotes suicide, self-harm, or eating disorders. Esposito, now a thriving college freshman, operates a business on TikTok in her spare time and where she warns young girls of the potentially harmful effects of social media when they're just not ready for it. You know, I am an adult. I know who I am.

I'm solid in my beliefs and my values and my self-worth. And I wasn't then when I was 10 or even 13. And Garrett Hake joins us now from Capitol Hill. Garrett, somewhat ironic that a day where social media is a big discussion point on Capitol Hill, and one of the most prominent social media owners in the country, Elon Musk, happened to be there today. You were the only reporter that caught up with him and asked him questions about a meeting that he had with the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. What did he tell you? He told me that they talked about the future, Ryan, more specifically, AI, and the economy. You know, when you think about how broad Musk's portfolio is, that kind of makes sense.

It could have been about space. It could have been about technology. It could have been about social media. But I think the Senate and the House have really been grappling with what to do about AI and the role that Congress might play in regulating it in the future. Potentially a very interesting discussion that I hope at least Schumer is more forthcoming about than was Musk in our brief conversation. All right, Garrett Hake, thank you so much. When we come back, a major change at the Vatican, who the Pope is now going to let vote in bishops' meetings for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church.

That's next. Back now with Top Stories Global Watch and the deadly bombing in central India. Officials say 10 police officers and a civilian were killed while returning from an operation against left-wing extremists. Investigators believe in extremist. the area received a tip and targeted their vehicle with an IED. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has now been charged with terrorism. The outspoken Kremlin critic who is already in prison, attending a court hearing virtually from his cell.

He called the charges absurd and was muted at one point by the court. And Pope Francis making a historic move for the Catholic Church. The Pope will now allow women to vote for the first time at a global meeting of bishops later this year. The new rules will grant five religious sisters voting rights. Women's groups have been asking for the right to vote at high-profile conferences for years. Coming up next, bringing history home. Why one fourth grade class is fighting so hard to bring this golden spike from the past back to Utah. That's next. Finally tonight, the fourth grade class turning a history lesson into action, advocating to bring a slice.

or, should I say, spike of American history, home to Utah. And they're asking kids everywhere to help out. Here's Nightly News anchor, Lester Holt. It's small enough to hold in your hand, but at one time connected a continent together. This small golden spike was part of one of the greatest achievements of the 19th century. And now one fourth grade class in Utah wants to bring it back home. The spikes are really important. The history behind them is really important, too.

To understand the history, you need to go back, way back, to the 1800s to a place called Promontory Point in Utah. Fourth grader, Jersey, explains. Hi, I'm Jersey in 1869 after six years of hard labor. The final track of the Transcontinental Road was laid. People can now travel across the country in a few days instead of weeks or months. Four spikes were used in a ceremony on May 10, 1869, when the railroad was completed in Utah. It was a big deal. They are very important parts of Utah history.

They helped make Utah the crossroads of the West. The Golden Spike was the last one used to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad connecting the east and west coasts. But years later, this important piece of American history would wind up in another state. To them in California, it's no big deal. And to us in Utah, it's really big. The Golden Spike is housed in this case at Stanford University's Cantor Arts Center in California. Why California? Well, the Golden Spike was privately owned by Leland Stanford, and he founded the university that bears his name. People visit the museum at Stanford University.

They might not know what the spike is when they see it. There is no plaque, no explanation of what they're looking at or anything explaining its history. And that really puzzled me, because to us it's a huge deal. It's like a big part of Utah history, and we learn about it each year in fourth grade. Teacher, Mr. Pendleton, went to see the spike in California. It really seemed to be that important to them. And so in that moment, I had the idea, well, I could make this a writing assignment each year with my class. So what started as a class assignment quickly turned into a full-on crusade.

Today we are kicking off a statewide letter writing campaign, Spikes to Utah. This will probably be the toughest assignment I've ever done because I've never done anything bigger than this. Spikes to Utah! Spikes to Utah! Spikes to Utah was formed. The students know getting this artifact back to Utah is no small feat. But with the anniversary approaching, the students are hoping they can encourage kids and grown-ups from across the country to send in letters of support. Regardless of the outcome, this is something that hopefully they'll remember for the rest of their lives.

And the idea of engaging in civic discourse. and learning. Be an activist for things that you care about is important. Together we can bring the spikes to Utah. Spikes to Utah! Spikes to Utah! They've convinced me get that spike to Utah. And thanks so much for watching Top Story.

I'm Ryan Noble's in for Tom Yamis from Washington, Eastie. Stay right there. There's more news now on the way.