Former Epic Records Intern Says R. Kelly Sexually Abused Her When She Was 16
In the wake of Lifetime’s bombshell R. Kelly documentary, another accuser is speaking out for the first time, claiming he also sexually abused her when she was a teenager. Tracy Sampson tells Dateline that Kelly allegedly abused her beginning in the summer of 1999 when she was 16 and working as an intern at Epic Records. She claims he forcibly kissed her then initiated a sexual relationship with her all while she was underage. Sampson told Dateline that Kelly asked her, “‘Can I kiss you?’ and I was like, ‘No,’” to which he responded, “‘Well, give me a hug.’ And then, like, when I gave him a hug he just started kissing me.” She continued, “I was in love with him. I just didn’t know what to do. Like, I didn’t know if this was normal. I didn’t know if this is how adults acted.”
Sampson says she ended the relationship after she turned 18 and then sued Kelly in 2001 for sexual abuse, including forcing her to receive oral sex from another woman. Kelly denied the allegations but settled with Sampson out of court for $250,000. Kelly has been accused by multiple women of sexual abuse throughout his 25-year career, many of whom told their stories in Surviving R. Kelly,and in 2017 was accused of holding women against their will as part of an alleged “sex cult.” Kelly’s lawyer tells Dateline now that all of Kelly’s accusers are lying, “every one of them.”
Article via Vulture
Grimes, Azealia Banks subpoenaed in lawsuit over Elon Musk’s bad weed tweet
In some very 2019 news, pop stars Grimes (née Claire Boucher) and Azealia Banks have been subpoenaed in the ongoing lawsuit over Elon Musk’s bad tweet. You remember the one: In August, he announced that he might be taking Tesla private at $420 a share, a figure that turned out to be a wildly miscalculated weed joke. Now, the SEC is suing him for misleading investors, and, due to their very public feud, the two artists may hold some key information.
See, it began with some now-deleted Instagram posts from Banks, who shared the sordid tale of a weekend with Musk and Grimes, his girlfriend. Banks was allegedly at his L.A. home to collaborate on a song with Grimes, but claimed she was ignored “while Grimes coddled her boyfriend for being too stupid to know not to go on Twitter on acid.” Guess which tweet that was! “I saw him in the kitchen tucking his tail in between his legs scrounging for investors to cover his ass after that tweet,” she later added in an interview with Business Insider. Banks added even more fuel to the fire when she shared encrypted Signal messages between her and Grimes, who bragged about introducing Musk to weed and noted that he’s “super entertained by 420” and set the price of his stock at 420 “for a laugh.”
The subpoenas won’t require Grimes and Banks to testify in court. Rather, they require the two to preserve any communications, online or otherwise, that could be considered evidence.
Musk, meanwhile, still has a Twitter account.
Article via AVClub
Judge rules against elderly lesbians rejected from retirement home
Bev Nance, 68, and Mary Walsh, 72, were denied an apartment in Missouri’s Friendship Village because their marriage is not “understood in the Bible.”
A federal court on Wednesday ruled against a lesbian couple who brought a lawsuit against a Missouri retirement home that rejected the women’s apartment application because their marriage is not “understood in the Bible.”
Bev Nance, 68, and Mary Walsh, 72, married a decade ago in Massachusetts and have been in a committed relationship for roughly 40 years.
When they applied to move into the Friendship Village senior living facility, they did so “because it is in their community, they have friends there, and it offers services that would allow them to stay together there for the rest of their lives,” said Julie Wilensky, an attorney representing the couple.
But once Friendship Village staff found that Nance and Walsh are married, they told the couple that they were not allowed to move in, because the home did not condone homosexuality. The letter they received said that the only married couples they accepted were those in unions between “one man and one woman.”
The couple sued, alleging “discrimination on the basis of sex,” and their case was finally decided this week by a federal court in Missouri, which found “sexual orientation rather than sex lies at the heart of Plaintiffs’ claims.”
LGBTQ groups decried the outcome, and the couple’s lawyers said “we disagree with the court’s decision, and our clients are considering next steps.”
Michael Adams, CEO of SAGE, which advocates for LGBTQ seniors, said, “This is sex discrimination, and it is against the law.”
“Mary Walsh and Bev Nance were discriminatorily denied admission to the Friendship Village retirement community for one reason only — because they are two women in a committed relationship rather than a woman and a man,” Adams told NBC News.
The couple’s lawyers made that argument in court: that because Walsh and Nance are women who are in a relationship with a woman instead of a man as is traditional, they would not have been prevented from moving in if their sex were male.
Judge Jean C. Hamilton, however, provided a different view of the case’s merits.
“At no time do Plaintiffs assert that had they been men involved in a same-sex relationship or marriage, they would have been admitted as residents in Friendship Village,” Hamilton wrote in the court’s decision. “Under these circumstances, the Court finds the claims boil down to those of discrimination based on sexual orientation rather than sex alone.”
Hamilton then dismissed the women’s claim, noting that the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Missouri and other Midwestern states, ruled in 1989 that existing federal civil rights law “does not prohibit discrimination against homosexuals.”
The case Hamilton referred to, Williamson v. A.G. Edwards & Sons, is currently being challenged in court by the LGBTQ legal advocacy group Lambda Legal. The group is representing a man whose job offer was rescinded after the company found out he is gay. This case, Horton v. Midwest Geriatric Management, could be decided this year, and if the 1989 precedent is overturned, discrimination against LGBTQ people would become illegal at the federal level in all the states in the 8th Circuit: North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas.
The Supreme Court is also considering whether to take up one or several appeals court cases that address whether “sex” discrimination bans in federal civil rights law include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. There is currently a patchwork of mismatching laws across the U.S. regarding this issue.
Article via NBCNews
Morgan Freeman blamed for granddaughter’s death at killer’s sentencing
In an emotional sentencing of the man who killed Morgan Freeman’s granddaughter, the defendant’s family screamed that it was all the famed “Shawshank Redemption” actor’s fault, alleging that he sexually abused the victim when she was younger.
“Morgan Freeman molested her and he caused this. He did this,” Lamar Davenport’s mother yelled to a reporter as she was ushered out of court for shouting to her son when Justice Ellen Biben handed down a 20-year sentence.
“He’s innocent! It was an accident!” she insisted.
The allegations of an affair between Freeman and his step-granddaughter E’Dena Hines were made by the defense during Davenport’s murder trial in Manhattan Supreme Court.Freeman has strongly denied the allegations.
Davenport was convicted of stabbing Hines, who was his girlfriend, more than 25 times Aug. 16, 2015, on West 162nd Street.
He was in the throes of a PCP-induced rage when he slaughtered Hines in full view of neighbors and pedestrians.
In a partial win for the defense, Davenport was found guilty of the lesser included charge of manslaughter. He waived a jury trial, leaving his fate entirely in the hands of Biben.
via: https://pagesix.com/2019/01/17/morgan-freeman-blamed-for-granddaughters-death-at-killers-sentencing/
New Jersey school bus aide fired for threatening to put 10-year-old boy ‘through the window’
LINDEN, N.J. — Officials have fired a New Jersey school bus aide who was captured on video using profanities and threatening a 10-year-old boy.
District spokesperson Gary Miller says the confrontation happened Monday as the bus was dropping off children from Linden Public School No. 2.
In the video filmed by another student on the bus, the female aide told the boy that she would put his head “through the window.” Police say there was also a brief physical altercation.
Superintendent Danny Robertozzi says the aide was immediately fired.
School officials say the aide was not a district employee but was hired through a bus company that the district contracts.
Police have identified the aide as a 58-year-old from Roselle. An investigation is ongoing.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/01/17/school-bus-aide-fired-for-threatening-10-year-old/
Rape suspect has unlikely story of how 11-year-old had his baby – girl became pregnant only after touching a piece of clothing on which he’d ejaculated
NISKAYUNA, N.Y. — A 33-year-old man accused of raping and impregnating an 11-year-old girl claims it was all the work of a piece of cloth.
Robert Cronin of Niskayuna, N.Y., pleaded not guilty to predatory sexual assault against a child on Wednesday—the same day he told WTEN‘s Anya Tucker that the girl became pregnant only after touching a piece of clothing on which he’d ejaculated.
“Do you understand why it would be hard for people to understand the reasoning behind this conception that you’re offering?” Tucker asked, with Cronin responding “yes.”
Per WTEN, Cronin says “the Niskayuna Police who arrested him are just lacking in scientific knowledge.”
Fox News reports that Cronin, held without bail in Schenectady County jail, has five children with a fiance. He did not deny he is father to the child born recently to the 11-year-old, which a DNA test has confirmed, per WTEN.
A preliminary hearing is set for Friday, per the Albany Times Union.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/01/17/suspect-has-unlikely-story-of-how-11-year-old-had-his-baby/
Man who used dog-walking app to lure teen, demand sex pleads guilty
MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. — A man who used a popular dog-walking app to lure a teenager to his home to demand sex has pleaded guilty, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday.
Charles Johnson, of Mount Vernon, pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted sex abuse, a felony, in the May 3, 2018, incident, the DA said.
Johnson, who was 39 at the time, used Rover.com, a popular pet-care hiring app, to lure a victim, described by the DA as a teenage woman, to his Mount Vernon home on May 3 under the pretense that he needed a dog sitter, officials said.
He groped the teen as he trapped her behind a locked door, offered money for sex acts and exposed himself.
The teen freed herself and called police.
Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 22.
Prosecutors previously said they were investigating other incidents over the three years prior in which flyers were posted near schools and on Craigslist in Mount Vernon and Yonkers.
The ads were meant to lure teenagers and women to perform “jobs” for money, and included asking someone to videotape a workout and act as a “cheerleader,” and another seeking an “amateur painter” to paint the interior of a home, the DA said.
The DA did not address the Craigslist investigation on Thursday.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/01/17/man-who-used-dog-walking-app-to-lure-teen-demand-sex-pleads-guilty-da/
Photo Credit: Charles Johnson, of Mount Vernon, used a dog-walking app to lure a girl to his home for sex on May 3, 2018, officials said. (Westchester County District Attorney’s Office)
Woman stabs 2-year-old son to death
COVINA, Calif. — A Covina woman has been charged with murder after allegedly stabbing her young son to death last week, prosecutors told PIX11 sister station KTLAon Tuesday.
In addition to the count of murder, Xa Dinh Ngo — also known as Michelle Ngo — faces a special circumstances allegation that she used a deadly and dangerous weapon in the child’s killing, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. The weapon was identified as a knife.
The 2-year-old boy died after being stabbed multiple times in the family’s townhouse, located in the 100 block of Italia Street, last Friday, a news release from the DA’s office stated.
When officers first came into contact with the 39-year-old woman, she was partially-clothed and running down the middle of the 300 block of Second Avenue around 3:20 a.m. What appeared to be blood was spattered on her body, according to the Covina Police Department.
She was quickly detained after allegedly trying to flee from officers. Ngo initially was uncooperative with authorities, but she made statements that led officers to believe there was a possible victim, police officials said in the release.
Investigators were able to determine where she lived and went to the townhouse.
When police entered the residence, they found the toddler’s body. A small fire was also burning on the second floor.
Ngo was taken for a psychiatric evaluation and then arrested on suspicion of murder after being released from a local hospital.
She faces a possible sentence of 26 years to life in prison if convicted.
Ngo’s bail has been set at $2 million. Her arraignment is scheduled to take place Wednesday.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/01/17/woman-stabs-2-year-old-son-to-death-prosecutors/
Photo Credit: Xa Dinh Ngo — also known as Michelle Ngo — is seen in a booking photo released by the Covina Police Department.
Rob Kardashian Admits to Liking Being Scratched by Women, Seeking $500K in Damages from Blac Chyna
Blac Chyna is using comments previously made by ex Rob Kardashian in a deposition to challenge his claim that she physically abused him and should pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages as a result. Among Kardashian’s comments is his admission that he enjoys “being scratched” by women.
The former couple, who are parents to 2-year-old daughter Dream Renée, allegedly got into a physical altercation in December 2016 in the home of Kardashian’s younger sister, Kylie Jenner. In September 2017, Kylie, 21, and her older brother, 31, sued Chyna, 30, for battery, assault and vandalism, alleging she attempted to choke Kardashian with an iPhone cord during a fight.
In the complaint, the siblings claimed Chyna made a “deliberate attempt to extort the Kardashian family for her own monetary gains,” adding that her decision to have a baby with the only KarJenner son was “nothing short of an outright fraud to shake down the family.”
Some 15 months later, on Jan. 18, 2019, Chyna filed documents, obtained by The Blast, which include evidence that bolsters her assertion that her ex-fiancé suffered “no physical injuries, no actionable psychological injuries” during the incident.
Some 15 months later, on Jan. 18, 2019, Chyna filed documents, obtained by The Blast, which include evidence that bolsters her assertion that her ex-fiancé suffered “no physical injuries, no actionable psychological injuries” during the incident.
The year after the alleged fight, in July 2017, the exes made headlines once again because Kardashian posted graphic and expletive-ridden content about Chyna on social media — including three naked photos — while accusing her of drug use, alcohol abuse and infidelity.
After his social media rampage, Chyna and her legal team accused him of violating California’s revenge porn laws, claiming in court documents obtained by PEOPLE at the time that he allegedly hit her and threatened to kill himself multiple times. A judge later granted her a set of restraining orders against her ex.
Kardashian, who denied the assault claims, and his family requested that the case be dismissed. According to court documents filed Dec. 27, 2017, in the Superior Court of Los Angeles and obtained by The Blast, Kardashian “generally and specifically denies each of the allegations” and claimed Chyna “did not suffer any injury or harm as a result of any conduct by [Kardashian].”
In a statement to PEOPLE in response at the time, Chyna’s attorney said, “We are confident that we will prevail on this motion and at trial.”
A judge recently granted Chyna a trial date in the case, set for Feb. 3, 2020, with pre-trial depositions of Khloé Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner and Kylie to take place in the spring of 2019.
Article via People