Tag: crime

As Violent Crime Skyrockets, Cops Arrest Innocent Man for Chalking Sidewalk Without a Permit

Earlier this year, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus presented his crime report to a public safety committee. It showed that crimes against people, property, and society skyrocketed in 2022 when compared to the previous year. McManus told city leaders he is ‘strongly concerned’ about the violence.

“With homicide, we saw a pretty dramatic increase of 43%,” said McManus. “[There were] 231 homicides in 2022.”

One would think that given this shocking increase in criminal behavior that police would turn their efforts to prevent such things. But one would be wrong.

In the throes of this stark rise in crime, where law enforcement officers can’t even be bothered to respond to 911 calls about serious offenses such as stolen vehicles and assaults, the Leon Valley Police Department found the time and resources to apprehend an innocent chalk artist. This artist was arrested on public property, moments before a storm, for the crime of sketching non-permanent designs on the sidewalk. Yes, you read it right.

Lakey Hinson, a chalk enthusiast and the victim of this absurd overreach of authority, was merely adorning a public pavement in front of the Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union one balmy afternoon on May 15. He was interrupted mid-art by officers Jorge Breton and Alan Gonzalez. The veteran officer and his trainee had embarked on this adventure in response to an anonymous tip of ‘public property defacement’, as narrated by the Express-News.

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Real estate heir accused of murdering his mother for inheritance money during a fishing trip dies in pretrial detention

Nathan Carman, the real estate heir who was facing an upcoming murder-on-the-high-seas trial in his mother’s death, has died in his jail cell.

Carman, 29, is believed to have died “on or about June 15, 2023,” according to a notice of dismissal filed Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont. He was being held in pretrial detention at the Cheshire County Department of Corrections in Keene, New Hampshire, at the time. The filing did not say how Carman died.

Carman was set for trial in October in the murder of his mother, Linda Carman, who died while on a fishing trip off the coast of Rhode Island in 2016. Nathan Carman had pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and fraud.

The Vermont real estate heir had also been suspected of killing his grandfather, John Chakalos, for millions in inheritance money in 2013, although he never faced charges. Prosecutors said the killings were part of a scheme to obtain money and property from Chakalos’ estate and related family trusts.

Cheshire County officials said in a news release that Carman was found unresponsive overnight in his cell on a routine round completed by correctional staff. Carman was the sole occupant of the cell, the news release said. Keene police officers, overseeing the initial investigation, processed the scene, but the manner of death was deemed undetermined.

An autopsy is expected to determine how Carman died.

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Seattle judge rules police must permit property damage, cannot enforce laws against graffiti, vandalism

On Thursday, Judge Pechman issued a clarifying order on the original injunction, stating the city or police can prosecute those who intentionally damage the property of others and any such crime remains a gross misdemeanor. However, the preliminary injunction still applies to the enforcement of the prohibition on property defacement, including graffiti, and as a result, police cannot arrest someone caught vandalizing property with graffiti. According to the judge’s order, this was done to avoid criminalizing free speech.

The Seattle Police Department has stated that officers can no longer enforce laws regarding property damage following a ruling from a federal judge.

On Tuesday, US District Court Judge Marcha Pechman issued an injunction that the City of Seattle cannot enforce its anti-graffiti ban in response to a lawsuit by Derek Tucson, Robin Snyder, Monsieree de Castro, and Erik Moya-Delgado who were arrested in 2021 for writing “BLM,” and anti-cop expletives such as “F*ck the police” in chalk and charcoal on concrete walls that had been erected to protect SPD’s East Precinct from vandalism and rioters.

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Harvard morgue theft ring stole body parts, sold human flesh to be used as leather, officials say  

Members of a macabre theft ring swiped human remains from the Harvard Medical School morgue in Boston and sold the body parts to a nationwide network of buyers, officials said Wednesday.

Indictments handed up by a grand jury in Scranton, Pennsylvania, targeted morgue manager Cedric Lodge, 55, and his wife, Denise Lodge, 63, who live in Goffstown, New Hampshire.

Katrina Maclean, 44, of Salem, Massachusetts, and Joshua Taylor, 46, of West Lawn, Pennsylvania, were also indicted. Maclean owns and operates a store called Kat’s Creepy Creations, officials said.

They’re all accused of conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods.  

“At times, Cedric Lodge allowed Maclean and Taylor to enter the morgue at Harvard Medical School and examine cadavers to choose what to purchase,” federal prosecutors said in a statement. “On some occasions, Taylor transported stolen remains back to Pennsylvania. On other occasions, the Lodges shipped stolen remains to Taylor and others out of state.”

Cedric Lodge “stole dissected portions of donated cadavers, including, for example, heads, brains, skin, bones, and other human remains, without the knowledge or permission of HMS,” according to the indictment.

He and his wife would reach out to buyers through websites and cellphones “regarding the sales of stolen human remains,” the court papers say.

The 15-page indictment doesn’t go into extended detail about what the body parts were purchased for, but it does mention that Maclean shipped human skin to a man in Pennsylvania “and engaged in his services to tan the skin to create leather.”

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Prominent Trans Activist Sentenced To LIFE In Prison For Murder Of California Family

A prominent trans activist has been sentenced for the 2016 triple homicide of a California lesbian couple and their son. Dana Rivers, born David Chester Warfield, has been handed a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

“It is a horrible thing to sentence someone to die in prison, and I don’t take that lightly,” Judge Scott Patton said during the court hearing held today. “But this is the most depraved crime I ever handled in the criminal justice system in 33 years. Frankly, you deserve to spend the rest of your life in prison.”

The sentencing comes months after Rivers, 68, had been found guilty of the murders in November of last year. Rivers was denied a motion for a new trial, though his attorney had attempted to argue prosecutorial misconduct. Judge Patton dismissed the issues raised, labeling them “trivial” and “frankly quite ridiculous,” while noting that the evidence for Rivers’ guilt was “overwhelming.”

Rivers’ crimes date back to November 11 of 2016, when police were called in response to the sound of gunshots being fired outside the home of Wright and Reed in Oakland, California. When authorities arrived, they found Rivers covered in blood and gasoline and fleeing from the house, which had been set ablaze.

When discovered by police, Rivers had been heading towards his black Harley Davidson motorcycle, which was parked outside of the home with the keys left in the ignition. When police searched the Harley, which Rivers affectionately referred to as “Barbie,” they found blood on the bike and a bloody knife in its saddlebag.

A further search of Rivers’ person revealed that he was in possession of a bloody screwdriver, a knife, brass knuckles, bullets, pepper spray and Benny Diambu-Wright’s iPod, according to court documents.

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Men accused of mutilating corpse won’t face trial, a casualty of Antioch police scandal

Contra Costa County prosecutors have dismissed felony charges against two men accused of mutilating a woman’s corpse — the latest case to be fouled by a racist text message scandal that rocked the Antioch Police Department.

Ashton Montalvo and Deangelo Boone were arrested and charged in October 2022 with arson and mutilation after the burned body of Mykaella Sharlman, 25, was found near a hiking trail in Antioch.

Sharlman’s autopsy ruled out homicide, but Montalvo and Boone were charged with setting Sharlman’s body on fire and putting it in a garbage can, according to the Mercury News in San Jose.

Sharlman‘s death was attributed to a fentanyl overdose, according to Bay Area television station KNTV.

In April, the Mercury News reported on an FBI and county prosecutor’s office investigation into the Antioch Police Department that revealed dozens of officers had been sending racist and homophobic messages to one another for years, using anti-Black slurs and other derogatory terms.

The report sent shock waves through the department, with more than 40 officers implicated in the scandal.

The case against Montalvo and Boone “relied heavily” on investigations by several Antioch police officers who were associated with the racist texts, the Contra Costa County district attorney’s office said last week in a statement.

The officers were not identified.

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An Anti-Porn App Put Him in Jail and His Family Under Surveillance

ON A WEDNESDAY morning in May, Hannah got a call from her lawyer—there was a warrant out for her husband’s arrest. Her thoughts went straight to her kids. They were going to come home from school and their father would be gone. “It burned me,” Hannah says, her voice breaking. “He hasn’t done anything to get his bond revoked, and they couldn’t prove he had.”

Hannah’s husband is now awaiting trial in jail, in part because of an anti-pornography app called Covenant Eyes. The company explicitly says the app is not meant for use in criminal proceedings, but the probation department in Indiana’s Monroe County has been using it for the past month to surveil not only Hannah’s husband but also the devices of everyone in their family. To protect their privacy, WIRED is not disclosing their surname or the names of individual family members. Hannah agreed to use her nickname.

Prosecutors in Monroe County this spring charged Hannah’s husband with possession of child sexual abuse material—a serious crime that she says he did not commit and to which he pleaded not guilty. Given the nature of the charges, the court ordered that he not have access to any electronic devices as a condition of his pretrial release from jail. To ensure he complied with those terms, the probation department installed Covenant Eyes on Hannah’s phone, as well as those of her two children and her mother-in-law. 

In near real time, probation officers are being fed screenshots of everything Hannah’s family views on their devices. From images of YouTube videos watched by her 14-year-old daughter to online underwear purchases made by her 80-year-old mother-in-law, the family’s entire digital life is scrutinized by county authorities. “I’m afraid to even communicate with our lawyer,” Hannah says. “If I mention anything about our case, I’m worried they are going to see it and use it against us.”

Covenant Eyes is part of a multimillion-dollar market of “accountability” apps sold to churches and parents as a tool to police online activity. For a monthly fee, the app monitors every single thing a user does on their devices, then sends the data it collects, including screenshots, to an “ally” or “accountability partner,” who can review the user’s online activities.

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Slavery as punishment for crimes is on the chopping block in Ohio

The Ohio Constitution currently allows slavery when it’s used “for the punishment of crime,” but that may not be the case for long, according to a CNN report.

Rep. Dontavius Jarrells, a Democrat, reportedly teamed up with Republican Rep. Phil Plummer to introduce an amendment to the state constitution that would remove slavery and involuntary servitude entirely from the document. The proposed change was referred to the Constitutional Resolutions Committee on Wednesday, according to CNN.

“Lawmakers are proposing the language to change to, ‘There shall never be slavery in this state; nor involuntary servitude,'” according to the report.

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San Francisco mayor asks for $63 million more for police amid crime wave

San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s budget request for the upcoming 2023-24 fiscal year calls for a $63 million increase in spending for the police compared to the previous one.

Breed’s requested budget for the upcoming fiscal year is $14.6 billion, a record high for both San Francisco county and the city. The $63 million increase marks a 9% increase from what police would get from the 2022-23 fiscal year, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The requested budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year will likewise see police receive a higher amount than the previous fiscal year, going up by $11 million. In total, police would receive $787.9 million under Breed’s requested fiscal budget.

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REVEALED: BLM co-founder’s cousin’s death caused by enlarged heart, cocaine use after he ran from police pursuit following hit-and-run, was tasered

The Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroner announced on Friday that Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Patrisse Cullors’ cousin Keenan Anderson’s death occurred due to the effects of an enlarged heart and cocaine use. 

“The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner determined the cause of death for 31-year-old Keenan Darnell Anderson as effects of cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart) and cocaine use (death determined hours after restraint and conducted energy device [CED] use); the manner of death is undetermined,” the group announced in a news release. 

Anderson’s family filed a $50 million lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles for wrongful death and civil rights violations. According to NPR, the family said they still plan to continue with the lawsuit after the findings were released. 

“An unarmed Black man, in obvious mental distress, was savagely attacked and repeatedly tased, in clear violation of LAPD policy by several trained officers,” they claimed, adding that “the innocent life of a little five-year-old boy will be forever changed as a result.”

Cullors responded to the report by saying, “My cousin was alive when he flagged the police. And after his interaction with the police, he was dead,” she continued, “This idea that the coroner is unable to determine how he died is unacceptable. And to point to the substances and point to the enlarged heart and not to the tasers is very, very disturbing.”

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