Tag: crime

Texas Instagram Influencer Found Along Road Was Strangled to Death: Medical Examiner

Alexis Sharkey, the Instagram influencer found naked in the bushes near a Houston road in November, was strangled to death, the medical examiner’s office announced Tuesday.

Sharkey, a 26-year-old Texas influencer with over 71,500 Instagram followers, went missing on Nov. 27 after spending Thanksgiving with friends. She was discovered the next morning by a City of Houston public works employee, who had reportedly noticed feet coming out of some bushes just off a road.

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CITIES ARE PRESSURING LANDLORDS TO EVICT PEOPLE UNDER ‘CRIME-FREE’ HOUSING LAWS

Granite City is one of thousands of municipalities across 48 states—from El Cajon, California to nearly 50 towns in the Twin Cities metro area and Appleton, Wisconsin to Norristown, Pennsylvania and beyond—that have enacted similar ordinances, according to the International Crime Free Association, whose founder developed the crime-free model in the early 1990s. 

Sometimes known as nuisance property ordinances, these laws can take slightly different forms but their goals are often the same: to penalize landlords and tenants by encouraging or requiring eviction for contact with the criminal legal system, including suspected criminal activity and calls for police services. These ordinances often encourage or require private landlords to evict tenants as a result. In many places, tenants are often required to sign an addendum to their lease agreement, acknowledging the law and agreeing to its consequences.

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Bail Fund Promoted By Kamala Harris Helped Man Accused Of Sexually Penetrating A Child

A bail fund promoted by Sen. Kamala Harris helped a man accused of sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl get out of jail in July, according to court documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF) also helped post bail in August for a man accused of assaulting a 71-year-old woman as he burglarized her home, court documents show. One week after his release the man was found to be in violation of his bail. The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office told the DCNF on Wednesday there is still an active felony warrant out for that man’s arrest.

Court documents reviewed by the DCNF reveal that the bail fund also provided support in June to a man who allegedly stomped on and robbed a victim on the streets of Minneapolis on May 25, the same day George Floyd died while in police custody.

During the nationwide wave of protests and riots following Floyd’s death, Harris, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, called on her followers to donate to the MFF in a June 1 tweet. The California senator said contributions to the fund would “help post bail for those protesting on the ground in Minnesota” against Floyd’s death.

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6 Other Times People Broke Into the U.S. Capitol

On Wednesday, protesters with a pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” rally broke through Capitol Police and breached the premises of the U.S. Capitol Building. Some of them even made it to the Capitol Rotunda and the Senate Floor. The U.S. Capitol has survived many invasions in the past, and it will endure through this one, as well.

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FBI COUNTERTERRORISM INFORMANT SPENT A DECADE COMMITTING FRAUD

Agbareia’s story is emblematic of a larger institutional problem at the FBI. Many of the bureau’s more than 15,000 informants commit crimes that go unpunished because the bureau views the informants’ work as valuable. The extent of this problem is largely unknown because the FBI is not required to report to Congress when informants violate the law without FBI authorization. According to policy, however, the bureau is supposed to notify the Justice Department of these violations. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by USA Today, HuffPost, and the Daily Dot show that from 2010 to 2014, the FBI permitted informants to violate the law more than 20,000 times. The number of unauthorized crimes committed by informants like Agbareia that are ignored by the FBI has never been disclosed.

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‘BASICALLY CYBERBULLYING’: HOW COPS ABUSE SOCIAL MEDIA TO PUBLICLY HUMILIATE

Police departments have said that maintaining a presence on social media and direct engagement with the community builds trust and leads to arrests of people with outstanding warrants by soliciting crime tips. But a trend has emerged on social media accounts run by law enforcement: a hypermalicious form of voyeurism and public humiliation targeting people who have been arrested or just suspected of a crime. Critics argue that this form of “engagement” does not reduce recidivism and can often do more harm than good.

The Mobile County sheriff’s office deleted the post, telling a local NBC affiliate it had received threats to deputies’ safety. But despite the outcry, the office has continued the “Thug Thursday” Facebook series at the request of its followers, said Lori Myles, spokesperson for the sheriff’s office. 

“Our goal is making the arrest and getting that criminal off the street,” Myles said. “We use the definition of THUG as what is in the dictionary…a criminal.”

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