Tag: georgia

GEORGIA NATIONAL GUARD WILL USE PHONE LOCATION TRACKING TO RECRUIT HIGH SCHOOL CHILDREN

THE GEORGIA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD plans to combine two deeply controversial practices — military recruiting at schools and location-based phone surveillance — to persuade teens to enlist, according to contract documents reviewed by The Intercept.

The federal contract materials outline plans by the Georgia Army National Guard to geofence 67 different public high schools throughout the state, targeting phones found within a one-mile boundary of their campuses with recruiting advertisements “with the intent of generating qualified leads of potential applicants for enlistment while also raising awareness of the Georgia Army National Guard.” Geofencing refers generally to the practice of drawing a virtual border around a real-world area and is often used in the context of surveillance-based advertising as well as more traditional law enforcement and intelligence surveillance. The Department of Defense expects interested vendors to deliver a minimum of 3.5 million ad views and 250,000 clicks, according to the contract paperwork.

While the deadline for vendors attempting to win the contract was the end of this past February, no public winner has been announced.

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Family wants answers after man ‘eaten alive’ by bed bugs in county jail, attorney says

A family attorney in Georgia says a man died at a county jail after being “eaten alive by insects and bed bugs.”

According to attorney Michael D. Harper, LaShawn Thompson was at the Fulton County Jail for three months before he was found dead in a jail cell.

“What Mr. Thompson was housed in was not fit for a diseased animal,” Harper said. “He did not deserve this.”

Thompson was arrested on a misdemeanor battery charge in Atlanta in June 2022. He was taken to the Fulton County Jail and placed in the psychiatric wing after officials determined he had mental issues.

Thompson’s family said they obtained records that stated detention officers and medical staff noticed his health deteriorating but did nothing to administer aid to him or help him.

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Former NFL Player Eric Johnson Among 8 People Arrested For Human Trafficking & Gang Charges

Former NFL defensive back Eric Johnson and seven others were charged with human trafficking and other gang-related charges last Friday.

Johnson, 46, played in The League from 2000-2005 with the Oakland Raiders, Atlanta Falcons, and Arizona Cardinals. He’s now part of an apparent trafficking ring that stands accused of multiple acts involving four adult women and one female minor.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr says the LOTTO Gang members – including Johnson – are facing charges of trafficking of persons for sexual servitude, violation of the street gang terrorism and prevention act, conspiracy to violate the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act, aggravated assault and kidnapping.

Eric Johnson and the other seven suspects were indicted by the grand jury on Feb 8.

“Throughout our state, gangs are actively engaged in human trafficking as a primary means to make money, and we are using all available resources to fight back and protect our most vulnerable,” Carr told FOX 5 Atlanta. “By combining the strengths of our Human Trafficking and Gang Prosecution Units, we are working to ensure that those who lead, promote and encourage this unlawful activity are vigorously pursued and held accountable for their actions.”

“This indictment is just the latest outcome in our ongoing efforts to keep our children and our families safe, as we seek to root out violent crime wherever it occurs.”

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Cop Arrested After He Was Caught Dumping Naked Body of 16yo Girl in the Woods

The residents of Norcross have been searching for 16-year-old Susana Morales since she went missing on July 26, 2022. She was last seen walking home on surveillance footage but tragically would never arrive. Her disappearance had been a mystery until last week when her body was discovered 20 miles away. According to an arrest warrant, she was dumped there by disgraced Doraville police officer Miles Bryant.

“It’s unbelievable honestly, there is no words that I can say to explain it,” said Jasmine Morales, Susana’s sister. “It sucks that it took so long but I guess with him being an officer has something to do with that.”

On Monday, Bryant was charged with concealing Susana’s death — her body was discovered five days earlier. Bryant has only been charged with one count of concealing the death of another and one count of falsely reporting a crime.

According to the arrest warrant, police say Bryant dumped Susana’s naked body in a patch of woods in Dacula. Medical examiners are still trying to determine the teen’s cause of death. The warrant states that police suspect Bryant of rape, murder, and other offenses, although he’s yet to be charged with those crimes.

According to court records, Bryant lived near Susana. Local news, 11 Alive interviewed neighbors who said Bryant was normal.

One of those neighbors shared cell phone videos, showing what they described as investigators collecting a bed sheet from Bryant’s personal car. In one of the videos, his police car was being towed away.

“It’s hard to put my mind around it right now, that’s this person who lived in this complex did that,” said another resident who asked not to disclose her identity out of fear of retaliation. That neighbor says while she didn’t know Bryant personally he has introduced himself several times as a police officer who also moonlights as security at the complex.

Neighbors said Byrant’s demeanor during the past six months wasn’t alarming.

“He was very normal, just smiling laughing, living his life,” the neighbor said. “Poor baby laid out in a field somewhere. Are you serious, how can you be that cold-hearted? How is somebody that cold-hearted?”

Though much of the media is referring to Bryant as a “former officer,” he was a cop until Monday. He was only fired after being charged with dumping the naked body of a teenager in the woods.

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Georgia ‘witch doctor’ accused of raping woman who paid for ‘cleansing’ ritual, police believe he targeted illegal aliens

A man calling himself a “witch doctor” is accused of raping a woman who had paid him for a cleansing ritual, and police believe that he targeted illegal aliens because he could threaten to report them to immigration officials.

Police say that 44-year-old Hassan Shalgheen took an appointment from a woman seeking a cleansing ritual and invited her to his apartment in Duluth, a small suburban town near Atlanta, Georgia, on Sunday evening.

She said she found out about Shalgheen through WhatsApp, a social media platform.

Police said that Shalgheen took her clothes off for the ritual and then forced himself on her and sexually assaulted her.

She called police from his apartment at about 11 p.m.

Shalgheen was arrested and charged with two counts of rape. He was also charged with false imprisonment, theft, and sexual battery.

Video of the arrest was obtained by WANF-TV and showed police telling Shalgheen that they had a warrant for his DNA.

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‘Right-wing shooter?’ Suspect accused of shooting Warnock canvasser revealed to be Democrat activist

The man who allegedly shot a 15-year-old in the leg while campaigning for Georgia Democrat Senator Raphael Warnock has a social media history that points to him being a left-wing activist who believes the GOP wants to kill Americans, despite claims by left-wing activists that falsely assert that he is a Republican. 

Tweets from Jimmy Arturo Paiz’s Twitter account show that he is against Republican candidate for Senate Herschel Walker. A tweet from November reads, “Listening to Herschel Walker speak is the same as listening to Mushmouth speak. It’s so embarrassing to live in a state with people that actually support this garbage-ass person. But let’s be real, the GOP loves whitewashed brothers, always have.”

Another tweet quotes a Vice News article about the Myanmarese coup d’etat of 2021, where he tweeted: “This is an example of what authoritarian, right-wing, republican, GOP, ideology wishes it could get away with, and in many instances, it has to a lesser degree. Make no mistake, this is the ideology of the right.”

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Arsenic found in body of jailed ex-Georgian president – lawyer

Nail clippings taken from jailed former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili have tested positive for arsenic, his lawyer has claimed ahead of a court hearing involving his client. The ex-leader’s supporters have maintained that he is gravely ill and has had toxic heavy metals in his body.

Shalva Khachapuridze, who represents Saakashvili, said on Monday that the results of the toxicology test of his client’s samples would be available later in the day. The presence of the poisonous element was confirmed to him in a phone call, he told journalists on Monday, according to the private television station Mtavari Arkhi.

Saakashvili sneaked into Georgia in 2021 ahead of municipal elections, despite the risk of being arrested and facing prosecution on various charges. At the time, he had already been sentenced in absentia based on some of the charges, while others were still pending. On Friday, he is set to appear before a court over the most recent alleged transgression – an illegal crossing of the national border, Khachapuridze said.

The attorney stated that his client would probably have to use a wheelchair to attend the proceedings because he can no longer walk properly.

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Uncounted Votes on Overlooked Memory Card Flips Election in Georgia

An overlooked memory card in Cobb County, Georgia, with uncounted ballots changed the final results of a special election, officials have said.

The county’s Board of Elections and Registration voted to recertify the results of the Nov. 8 Kennesaw City Council special election during a Nov. 18 meeting, according to a statement.

“The recertification was necessary after workers discovered a memory card had not been included in the previous results. The additional ballots resulted in a change in the Kennesaw City Council Post 1 Special Election,” the release said.

Madelyn Orochena was originally declared the winner of the special election. However, when additional ballots were located on the memory card, Lynette Burnette was shown as the winner of the race by 31 votes, officials told local media.

“Unfortunately, once found we did upload it, and it changed the outcome of the Kennesaw City Council race,” Janine Eveler, Cobb County’s director of elections, told local media outlets.

Cobb election officials said that the memory card was located in Kennesaw when workers were preparing for an audit of the election, according to 11Alive. Further details weren’t provided about why the card was overlooked or where it was located.

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New Details Emerge Regarding Georgia Mom Debbie Collier’s Activities on Day She Disappeared

Police have revealed new details about the circumstances surrounding the death of Debbie Collier, the Georgia mom who disappeared after sending her daughter a chilling text after surveillance footage revealed that she purchased several items that were found on or near her body when she was discovered.

The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division (CID), the organization investigating Collier’s death, said in a press release Monday afternoon that Collier was alone when she entered the Family Dollar Store in Clayton, Georgia, on Saturday, September 10. 

Over the weekend, The CID said that it had received information claiming that Collier’s daughter, 36-year-old Amanda Bearden, had been at the store that day, but after talking to the clerk on duty and reviewing store camera footage, police determined she had not been there.

However, the footage revealed that Collier herself had entered the store at around 2:55 p.m., and exited around 3:09 p.m. While she was there, she appeared calm and “not in fear of anything,” the CID said in its press release. Authorities said she purchased a rain poncho, refillable torch lighter, paper towels, a large tarp and a reusable tote back.

Collier was found in a ravine 60 miles from her Athens, Georgia, home just a day later. She had severe burns on her body and there was the remains of a burned tarp nearby.   

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Taxpayers to Be Held Liable After Black Pastor Arrested for Watering Flowers

On the day he was kidnapped and thrown in a cage, Pastor Michael Jennings had harmed no one, committed no crime and was actually being a good neighbor. He never thought that being asked to water his friend’s flower bed would lead to such a police interaction but thanks to ignorant and apparently-racial profiling cops in Alabama, that’s exactly what happened. Now, the taxpayers of Alabama will be held liable for the actions of the cops.

According to Georgia Public Broadcasting, Jennings, a longtime pastor at Vision of Abundant Life Church in Sylacauga, Ala., is being represented in his newly filed federal lawsuit by national civil rights attorney, Harry Daniels, and attorneys Bethaney Embry Jones, Joi Travis and Roderick Van Daniels. They hosted a news conference Saturday with the Alabama NAACP to discuss the case.

“I’m here for accountability, and I’m here for justice,” Jennings said.

“These poor judgment decisions reflect poorly on the type of training the Childersburg police officers receive … if they were acting in accordance within police guidelines,” Alabama NAACP President Benard Simelton said in a statement to NPR.

As we reported at the time, Jennings was kidnapped by police in May — his kidnappers, two officers with the Childersburg police department. The entire interaction was captured on video.

According to police, they showed up at Jennings’ neighbor’s house that day claiming they received a call about a suspicious person. Being that Jennings has lived in the neighborhood for years and is long time friends of his neighbors, he is hardly suspicious yet police would use this claim to violate his rights.

As the video shows, Jennings is literally watering his neighbor’s flowers when police show up because this is exactly what his neighbors had asked. When the unidentified officer asks the pastor what he is doing, Jennings told him that he had just gotten back from conducting church and he stopped at his neighbor’s home to water their flowers because they had asked him to do so.

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