Crime & Arrests

Former A&E personality Tony McCollister -- who is charged with raping a child and having sex with two dogs -- says he's not guilty by reason of insanity ... and he wants to get his head checked.

McCollister is facing 26 felony charges related to sex with a minor under the age of 10, plus 4 misdemeanor counts of sexual conduct with an animal ... and on Thursday, he entered his plea and filed a motion asking the court to order an evaluation of his mental state at the time of the alleged crimes.

In Ohio -- where McCollister is charged -- a defendant must prove they did not know right from wrong at the time of the crime to be considered not guilty by reason of insanity.

Cynthia Bailey's ex-husband Peter Thomas has been released from federal prison ... though he's not a free man just yet.

The former "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star is out of FCI Miami, TMZ has learned ... and, he's now under community confinement supervision of the Miami Residential Reentry Management Office, according to the Bureau of Prisons website.

This means he's either living in a residential reentry center -- AKA a halfway house -- or he's held in home confinement ... it's unclear which.

Shia LaBeouf asked a Louisiana judge to defer to an even higher power ... begging the court to be allowed to leave the country to attend his father's baptism.

The actor filed documents earlier this week requesting to leave the jurisdiction from March 1 to March 8 for religious reasons to see his dad, Jeffrey ... who is set to be baptized in Rome, Italy.

Shia has no scheduled court appearances for the dates in question, his lawyers argued ... and, he was happy to provide the address where he's saying to the court upon request.

12:18 PM PT -- Brian King Joseph's lawyer tells TMZ ... "A jury’s ultimate determination matters more to us than Mr. Smith’s opinion of this case."

Will Smith is asking a judge to throw out the sexual harassment lawsuit against him ... with his lawyer alleging that the filing is just a desperate attempt to shake the star down for cash.

Remember ... violinist Brian King Joseph filed a lawsuit against Smith last month, in which he claimed he returned to his hotel room in Las Vegas and found a note reading, "Brian, I’ll be back...just us,” which was signed by “Stone F."

He also said that he found "wipes, a beer bottle, a red backpack, a bottle of HIV medication with another individual’s name, an earring, and hospital discharge paperwork belonging to a person unbeknownst to Plaintiff.”

A strange situation unfolded late Thursday evening outside of the house where Nancy Guthrie was abducted earlier this month ... when a man was arrested for a reported DUI.

NewsNation’s Brian Entin reported the man drove slowly past Nancy’s Tucson-area home Thursday night “50 to 100 times” before being questioned by a photographer, who alleges to have seen a photo of Nancy on the individual’s phone. Finding this strange, the photog notified Pima County sheriff’s deputies, who spoke to the man for a significant amount of time.

Entin reports they had the individual step out of the car and take a field sobriety test. Apparently, he did not perform well because it appears law enforcement arrested the man on the spot.

Where you going, Shia LaBeouf?!? The movie star was caught on video Thursday running down the street in New Orleans after his contentious court appearance.

Watch the clip ... Shia's wearing boots made for running and a light jacket as he sprints away from the cameraperson, who followed Shia as he left the courthouse.

Shia never turns around in the video and eventually evades the cameraperson by crossing the street without waiting for the crosswalk to signal to change.

The House Oversight Committee has finished deposing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and they'll take a crack at former President Bill Clinton tomorrow ... but Democrats say President Donald Trump is really their white whale.

Dems on the committee -- led by California Representative Robert Garcia -- gathered Thursday to demand the president sit down with them to answer questions about Jeffrey Epstein.

Rep. Garcia says the committee is setting a precedent of speaking to former presidents and other former high-ranking officials about this matter ... and, the president is on their list, too.

Nicki Minaj has been dumped by her lawyer handling one of her cases due to a “communication breakdown” as she faces a $10 million lawsuit ... this according to new legal docs.

The rapper’s attorney Matthew Abbott filed court docs asking to withdraw from representing Nicki in a lawsuit brought by a fan named Tameer Peak.

Tameer has sued Nicki before, claiming she falsely accused him of criminal conduct and stalking in September 2025, and for slander in August 2024.

A judge absolutely tore into Shia LaBeouf in court today for his alleged copious use of the homophobic F-word during the actor's recent brouhaha in New Orleans ... and ordered him to participate in weekly drug tests.

In court Thursday, a judge determined Shia was not taking his addiction seriously and, by using a homophobic slur, he'd threatened the safety of a marginalized community that has gone through "so much terror already."

As you know ... Shia has been charged with 2 counts of simple battery after he allegedly punched a bar worker, sparking a street melee that ended with Shia in handcuffs last week.

Cops were called out to Shia LaBeouf's New Orleans home a few times prior to his Mardi Gras arrest -- including once for an alleged fight between exes that allegedly included a punch below the belt ... according to police records obtained by TMZ.

Docs show a call for service at a NOLA home belonging to Shia for an alleged incident in early February between an unnamed man and the man's ex-girlfriend.

According to the police report, obtained by TMZ, cops say the man told police he was inside his home Feb 8. around 11:30 PM showing the place to his girlfriend when he heard a knock at the door and saw his ex-girlfriend entering the home and running toward them.

This is snow laughing matter! The NYPD has arrested a young man for allegedly assaulting officers in NYC with a snowball earlier this week.

Twenty-seven-year-old Gusmane Coulibaly made a blizzard of bad decisions lately, according to the NYPD.

Police allege Coulibaly was among those in the crowd who hurled snowballs at cops in Washington Square Park ... after previously having been arrested for an attempted robbery in the transit system.

A neighbor says "American Idol" alum Caleb Flynn was the model citizen and ideal father ... before the singer allegedly shot his wife in the head.

As we reported ... court documents show Caleb was charged with murdering his wife Ashley in their Tipp City, Ohio, home while their two daughters slept in another room. But one neighbor tells us no one in the town would've seen this coming.

The neighbor calls Tipp City a Mayberry-like suburb where everybody knows everyone else. And in a city that represented wholesome 1950's-era Americana -- Caleb and Ashley were the perfect embodiment of the town's squeaky-clean image.

"American Idol" finalist Dimitrius Graham says his recent arrest didn’t just leave him shaken ... it left him sidelined and seriously out of pocket.

Dimitrius tells TMZ he had to cancel two contracted shows after suffering a fractured wrist during the arrest Sunday, costing him a staggering $10,000. On top of that, he says he had to pass on additional freelance gigs because of the injury.

Even with the pain and the paycheck hit, Dimitrius says he’s not planning to sue ... despite people urging him to. Instead, he plans to write about the experience because, in his words, this kind of thing will continue happening to him.

Rosie O’Donnell’s daughter Chelsea O’Donnell was accused of touching a man’s genitals without permission, which led to her being thrown behind bars ... TMZ has learned.

TMZ obtained the report written by the State of Wisconsin Department of Corrections, which detailed why Chelsea’s probation was terminated in late 2025.

Rosie’s daughter was on probation for various arrests that took place in 2023 over alleged child neglect and drugs.

The Department of Corrections report says Chelsea allegedly touched a man's genitals without his permission. Authorities say Chelsea was driving a car, and the alleged victim was in the backseat on the passenger side.

"American Idol" finalist Dimitrius Graham was arrested in Los Angeles Sunday and booked on a trespassing charge ... TMZ has learned.

The head-turning incident was caught on video ... and shows Graham being cuffed by officers on an LA Metro train as you hear him yelling out about what is happening to him. The singer -- who also appeared on "The Voice" -- says he was unable to show his train ticket because his phone died ... but was barred from exiting the train to get a physical ticket and instead taken away to the clink.

He reposted the video on his own social media page, and also hopped online to share an update after claiming to be locked up behind bars for 24 hours.

Teenager Anna Kepner was killed on a Carnival Cruise during a family vacation last November ... and now her 16-year-old stepbrother has been charged with her homicide, according to court documents.

An emergency filing on Friday obtained by TMZ says her stepbrother was charged with homicide as a minor in connection with Anna's asphyxiation death in her stateroom aboard the Carnival Horizon on November 7.

Anna was on a Caribbean cruise vacation with her dad, stepmom and three stepsiblings when she died. A housekeeper reportedly discovered Anna's body underneath her bed — and the ship returned to Miami, Florida, the next day, as the FBI launched an investigation.