Tag: kentucky

Crypto investor allegedly tortured captive Italian businessman with a chainsaw for weeks in luxe NYC pad in sadistic scheme to gain password: sources

A cryptocurrency investor from Kentucky is suspected of torturing an Italian businessman with a chainsaw in a sadistic, weeks-long extortion attempt to gain the password for his accounts at a ritzy Manhattan apartment – before the captive made a daring escape, police sources said.

John Woeltz, 37, was arrested after the bloodied and bruised businessman – a 28 year-old man – broke out of the SoHo house of horrors Friday morning, ran to a police officer and said he’d been held prisoner for more than two weeks, the sources said.

Cops rushed to the luxurious Prince Street pad – which Woeltz was allegedly renting for roughly $30,000 to $40,000 a month – and discovered multiple Polaroid photos showing the businessman being tied up with electrical wire and tortured, including one of him bound to a chair with a gun pointed at his head, according to the sources.

Since being taken captive, the businessman had been bound with an electric cord, Tased while his feet were put in water, pistol-whipped, forced to take cocaine and threatened to have his limbs cut off with an electric chainsaw, the sources said.

The nightmare erupted from a dispute over cryptocurrency, in which the suspect allegedly tried to extort millions of dollars from the man by unleashing a litany of horrific tortures, according to sources.

The man was rushed to Bellevue Hospital for treatment, while cops arrested Woeltz, who was expected to face an assault charge, the sources said.

Woeltz was charged Friday night with two counts of second-degree assault, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree, first degree unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a weapon.

A second person — 24-year-old Beatrice Folchi of Manhattan — was also arrested and charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree unlawful imprisonment.

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2 weeks before Real ID deadline, 28 Kentucky lawmakers ask for another delay

The federal Real ID deadline is just two weeks away, and with less than 40% of Kentuckians eligible for driver’s license compliant, 28 state senators are asking the federal government to again delay the move.

Currently, just 36.3% of Kentuckians eligible for a driver’s license have a Real ID, the state says.

Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, chair of the Kentucky Senate Transportation Committee, joined 27 other state senators this week calling for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to delay the May 7 deadline. The letter, dated April 17, says Kentucky “isn’t fully prepared” for the change.

“If the REAL ID requirement moves forward as scheduled, it will further strain already overburdened regional offices and create unnecessary hardship, particularly for seniors, rural residents, and working families who struggle to access the necessary documents or transportation,” the letter says. “Some measures were passed in the last legislative session, but these will not be implemented before May 7.

The state senators asked Noem for “another reasonable extension” to ensure a smooth rollout.

In Louisville, lines are growing as people rush to get their Real IDs. A quick search Wednesday of upcoming appointments at local branches showed no openings.

John Woodford was at the branch at Broadway and 29th Street in west Louisville on Wednesday. He said he’d been in line for more than 30 minutes.

It’s hard for time slots, it’s too long, (and) there’s not a big enough place for us,” Woodford said. “… Everybody wants to get here early, so it’s going to be a line when you get here early.”

With just two weeks left before the deadline, many people wish the branches could do more to accommodate the people waiting like extending hours or offering more places or space to service people who need the Real ID.

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SICK! Planned Parenthood Distributes Adult Coloring Books to Children at Kentucky Science Center, Says it was a Mistake After Claiming “False” Incident was a “Coordinated Attempt to Stir Outrage and Manufacture Controversy”

Planned Parenthood is once again under fire after handing out coloring books with pages containing breasts, a female uterus, and male genitals to children, lying about the incident, then claiming it was a mistake.

The March 21 controversy at the Kentucky Science Center involved a group of over 400 eight to 13-year-old children from local middle and elementary schools.

The center said in a social media post Wednesday,

We sincerely apologize for the distribution of a Planned Parenthood coloring book at our recent Health & Wellness Days event. Planned Parenthood provided this material without our consent and it does not reflect our policies or the intended content for the event.

We deeply regret the harm this caused. We are taking immediate steps to ensure that all materials distributed at our events are thoroughly reviewed in advance and this partner is no longer welcome at the Science Center.

However, according to WDRB, “Planned Parenthood disputes the coloring book was distributed at all, calling the claims ‘false’ and ‘part of a coordinated attempt to stir outrage and manufacture controversy.’”

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Seven years ago man told family he was going for a walk in Kentucky woods and vanished…until now

Human remains found by a stream have been identified as a missing Tennessee man who vanished nearly seven years ago after telling family he was going for a walk.

William Cross, 29, disappeared after being dropped off on Williamsburg Street in Whitley, Kentucky, on May 18, 2018, just 30 miles from his Scott County, Tennessee home.

He was last heard from that night when he told a family member that he was walking in the woods, reported WVLT.

‘The call disconnected, and Cross was not seen alive or heard from thereafter,’ his missing persons bulletin obtained by WATE said.

In October 2023, a Kentucky teenager made the grisly discovery of partial human remains while hiking through a wooded area off of Sweeney Drive in Revelo, reported the McCreary Journal.

The McCreary County Sheriff’s Office was notified of the discovery and began searching the area.

With the help of members of Southeast Search and Rescue, Inc. (SSR, Inc.) and their tools and a cadaver dog, additional human remains were located.

The remains were collected sent for examination. However, they were not identified as Cross until March 21.

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Kentucky Senate Passes Hemp Drinks Bill With Amendment Regulating, Instead Of Banning, Them

The Kentucky Senate advanced a bill Friday that would regulate intoxicating hemp-derived beverages but without banning their sales as first proposed.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, amended Senate Bill 202 after Republicans and Democrats alike expressed skepticism about the ban when the measure was approved by a committee earlier this week.

Adams’s floor amendment removed the temporary sales ban and would instead impose a cap of 5 milligrams of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, on cannabis-derived drinks. The bill adds regulation of the intoxicating beverages to state laws that regulate alcoholic beverages, giving the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control the authority to oversee their distribution and sale.

Raque Adams said her floor amendment provided a “really solid starting point to put guardrails around this product so it doesn’t get in the hands of our children, guardrails for public health and guardrails for safety while maintaining the small business interests that we have seen across the commonwealth.”

“We are treating cannabis-infused beverages exactly like we’re treating alcohol,” Adams said.

As canned hemp-derived beverages containing THC have been gaining popularity across the country and popping up in convenience stores, state governments have increasingly sought to regulate them.

SB 202 passed the Senate by a vote of 29-6 with the minority of Democrats opposing the legislation, arguing that, while they agreed with regulating the beverages, the legislation was rushed and that senators and the public were not given enough time to understand the changes.

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Kentucky Senate Panel Votes To Ban Sale Of Hemp-Derived Beverages On A Temporary Basis

Kentucky lawmakers advanced a “shell” bill Wednesday evening to ban the sale of hemp-derived beverages in the state until summer of 2026, a move supporters say will allow time to understand how intoxicating versions of the beverages are impacting consumers.

But those involved in the hemp industry decried the proposed moratorium on the sale of hemp-derived beverages as hampering, or even crippling, small businesses trying to market, distribute or sell the canned beverages that are gaining popularity across the country and popping up in places including convenience stores.

Senate Bill 202 sponsor Sen. Julie Raque Adams (R-Louisville) said the goal of her bill is to better understand and regulate intoxicating hemp-derived beverages similar to how the state regulates other intoxicating beverages such as beer or liquor.

She spoke to lawmakers alongside Rep. Matthew Koch (R- Paris) with a line of cans on a desk featuring various flavors and amounts of infused non-intoxicating cannabidiol, known as CBD, and other cannabinoids, which can include intoxicating tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

“We are simply placing a moratorium on their sale until such time as we can establish robust regulations that protect Kentucky consumers and, most importantly, Kentucky children,” Adams said. “We have a real, I think, consumer protection issue going on right now. We need to make sure that Kentucky gets this right.”

Legislative concerns about regulating hemp-derived beverages sprang into public view on the 22nd day of this year’s 30-day session. The deadline for filing bills in the Senate was February 18.

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Massie Teases Senate Run – Jewish GOP Group Threatens ‘Unlimited’ Spending To Stop Him

Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie is teasing a potential run for Mitch McConnell’s Senate seat in 2026, and a Jewish Republican group is already threatening to unleash “unlimited” spending to thwart any such bid, given his frequent opposition to legislation pushed by the pro-Israel lobby. 

On Thursday, Massie posted a poll on X, asking if he should stay in the House, run for Senate in 2026, or run for governor in 2027. A Senate campaign was the choice of 67% of the respondents.

The libertarian-minded Massie opposes all foreign aid. At his own political peril, he dares to make no exception for the State of Israel, which is among the world’s richest countries. He has also voted against legislation that would infringe on free speech by, for example, punishing colleges that allow students and professors to say the wrong things about Israel.

Add it all up — and stir in the fact that he’s a member of a party whose legislators almost universally toe the pro-Israel line — and Massie is likely the House representative the pro-Israel lobby would most like to eliminate. The idea of him ascending to the Senate has pro-Israel forces racing to DEFCON1. 

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Kentucky, Montana, Idaho Among States Looking to Ban mRNA Vaccines

As calls to ban mRNA shots intensify worldwide, a growing number of U.S. states and communities are eyeing laws to prohibit or pause their use.

A bill introduced Tuesday in the Kentucky House of Representatives would ban until July 1, 2035, the administration of “any human gene therapy product for any infectious disease indication, regardless of whether the administration is termed an immunization, vaccine, or any other term.”

Lawmakers in Idaho and Montana recently introduced similar bills. Legislative initiatives are in the planning stages or have been passed at the county level in at least four other states, including Iowa, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.

“A critical mass will soon be reached, forcing the federal government to follow suit,” said epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher of the McCullough Foundation.

Dr. Kat Lindley, president of the Global Health Project and director of the International Fellowship Program for the Independent Medical Alliance (IMA), said such initiatives are “important in sending the message” to public health agencies “that states recognize the damage mRNA shots have done to U.S. citizens.”

Hulscher said the McCullough Foundation “will be actively engaged in legislative efforts to ban mRNA injections” in several states.

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Kentucky Cops Arrest Man for Shouting at Them

A Kentucky man is suing the police, claiming he was arrested in retaliation for shouting at a group of officers from an apartment balcony. In a complaint filed last month, Brandon Rettig alleges that he was arrested on bogus public intoxication charges after he angered the officers, who violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights. 

According to the lawsuit, on June 8, 2024, Brandon Rettig was at his girlfriend’s apartment in Newport, Kentucky, when a team of police officers responded to an unrelated incident outside the building. From the balcony, Rettig shouted at the officers. In a later interview, Rettig claimed to have shouted “go get ’em boys” at the officers. The lawsuit insists that while the officers were angered by the comments, “Rettig did not utter fighting words or threatened to harm anyone.”

The suit claims that soon after Rettig made the comments, Officer Ronald Lalumandier shouted up to him, “Keep it up, I’ll take your ass to jail,” adding “I got keys to your apartment.” Three police officers, including Lalumandier, then entered the apartment building using a key card, which Lalumandier had access to as a former tenant.

According to body camera footage, the three officers confronted Rettig in the hallway of the apartment building and arrested him after a short argument. 

“Are you serious? I live here,” Rettig told the officers.

“Yes, 100 percent. We told you out there, you didn’t listen,” responded one of the officers. “You shouldn’t be doing what you’re doing…doesn’t mean you can act the way you were acting.”

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Kentucky Residents Who Participate In State’s New Medical Marijuana Program Will Be Ineligible To Own Guns, Feds Warn

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is warning Kentucky residents that, if they choose to participate in the state’s medical marijuana program that’s set to launch imminently, they will be prohibited from buying or possessing firearms under federal law.

As Kentucky prepares to implement the medical cannabis law that Gov. Andy Beshear (D) signed last year, ATF has put residents on notice about the ongoing federal ban on gun ownership by people who use marijuana, regardless of individual state policies.

“You cannot possess firearms and ammunition and also be a user of marijuana,” ATF Special Agent AJ Gibes told WDRB this month, referring to a statute requiring gun purchasers to fill out a form that includes a question about whether they are an active marijuana consumer. If they check yes, they’re disqualified from owning the firearm.

Notably, Gibes said that while people who already own a gun aren’t “expected to” turn them over if they become state-legal cannabis patients, those who “wish to follow federal law and not be in violation of it” must “make the decision to divest themselves of those firearms.”

He added that ATF is “not actively seeking and working solely on investigations involving just the possession of firearms and marijuana because of our finite resources,” but that doesn’t change the law, and people will still be at risk of prosecution if they violate it.

ATF has also weighed in on other recent state cannabis policy developments.

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