A California man accused of threatening to blow up a Detroit-area mosque told a judge on Friday he wanted a new lawyer, saying his current counsel "is a Shiite" and a "patron of the mosque."

Roger Stockham, 63, appeared at what was scheduled to be his preliminary examination on charges of making a false report or threat of terrorism and one count of possessing explosives with an unlawful intent.

But he instead told Dearborn District Court Judge Mark Somers: "I reject my appointed counsel. He is a Shiite," referring to the sect of Islam.

Defense attorney Mark Haidar, who wasn't present for the hearing, told The Associated Press earlier this week that he disclosed his Muslim faith to Stockham during their initial meeting at the jail.

Somers said he recognized Stockham was not satisfied with his legal representation, ordered him to a holding area and said he would see about getting him a new attorney.

A former California state mental hospital director was found guilty Thursday of sexually abusing his adopted son in what prosecutors contend was a pattern of preying on young boys that spanned four decades.

A Superior Court jury convicted 63-year-old Claude Foulk of 31 of 35 counts of sex crimes, including lewd and lascivious acts on a child and sodomy by use of force.

Foulk did not show any reaction as the verdict was read.

He was found guilty of 20 counts of forcible oral copulation, nine counts of sodomy and two counts of lewd acts. He was found not guilty of two counts of sodomy and two counts of oral copulation, charges that were alleged to have happened after the son turned 18.

Prosecutors say another 11 men also came forward to claim Foulk molested them as children dating back to 1965, but only the son's case could be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations.

Foulk was fired from his post at Napa State Hospital after his arrest last year.

He could face a maximum sentence of up to 248 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 23.

During an emotional weeklong trial, five now-grown men testified that Foulk abused them for years. They claimed the man they knew as an uncle and foster father bought them pizza and took them to a mountain cabin before forcing them to engage in sex acts.

One of Foulk's two adopted sons told jurors Foulk abused him from the time he was 9 until he was 21, telling him it was how a man shows love.

Police have arrested a 29-year-old Las Vegas man in a brazen armed robbery of $1.5 million in casino chips from the posh Bellagio resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

Anthony M. Carleo was being held Thursday at the Clark County jail pending a Friday court appearance on felony armed robbery and burglary charges.

Las Vegas police say Carleo was the motorcycle-helmeted robber who waved a gun, grabbed high-value casino chips and made off on a motorcycle before dawn Dec. 14. No shots were fired and no one was hurt. Police said then that they thought the same man robbed the Suncoast casino in northwest Las Vegas early Dec. 8.

But stealing $1.5 million in chips isn't like stealing $1.5 million, experts and police pointed out at the time. Chips are unique to casino properties and are generally not interchangeable, although state regulations let casino companies redeem sister properties' chips with some restrictions.

A suburban Denver pot grower who tried to use state medical marijuana law in his defense is due to be sentenced in federal court.

Christopher Bartkowicz is scheduled to appear in court Friday. Judge Phillip Brimer must decide whether to accept the five-year prison term that's part of a plea deal Bartkowicz reached with prosecutors or impose a sentence of his own.

Bartkowicz pleaded guilty to three drug charges after federal drug agents raided his Highlands Ranch home last February and seized hundreds of pot plants growing in his basement.

The raid came after a Denver TV station promoted a story in which Bartkowicz bragged about how much money he would make growing pot under Colorado's medical marijuana law.

A 59-year-old New York man has pleaded guilty to slashing his wife's neck during an attack that ended with him being dragged underneath her car.

The Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester reports that John Gilbert pleaded guilty Wednesday in Ontario County Court to assault, aggravated criminal contempt and endangering the welfare of a child.

Gilbert was facing a February trial on attempted murder charges when a plea agreement was reached with prosecutors.

Authorities say Gilbert attacked Jennifer Gilbert when she went to his home in Geneva in 2009 to pick up her three children. She wasn't badly hurt.

Police said when she tried to escape, her estranged husband clung to the car, then fell underneath it and was dragged for 40 feet, suffering serious injuries.

The government has continued to strengthen its case against Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam (RAHJ rah-juh-RUHT'-nuhm) after one of his former employees pleaded guilty to insider trading charges.

Former Galleon portfolio manager Adam Smith entered the federal plea in Manhattan on Wednesday to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud. The charges carry a potential penalty of up to 25 years in prison.

Smith is among more than 15 people who have pleaded guilty in connection with what prosecutors have called the biggest hedge fund insider trading case ever.

Authorities said when they brought the case late in 2009 that those who traded securities based on inside information in the case earned more than $50 million in illegal profits.