Couple get 7 years in prison each for enslaving Guinean girl; forced her to work without pay in their home as a housekeeper, cook and nanny
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A suburban Fort Worth couple has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison each for enslaving a Guinean woman for 16 years.
A federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, sentenced Mohamed Touré and Denise Cros-Touré each to two seven-year terms and one five-year term, all sentences to be served concurrently. The 58-year-old Southlake, Texas, couple must also serve three years of supervised released upon completion of their prison terms and pay their victim $288,000 in restitution. They also will be deported to Guinea.
The couple and defense attorneys are exploring an appeal, said Scott Palmer, attorney for Cros-Touré.
Trial evidence showed the Tourés brought the girl, then aged at least 5 years but perhaps as old as 13, from her rural Guinean village in 2000. They forced her to work without pay in their home as a housekeeper, cook and nanny until she fled and alerted authorities.
The Tourés are the son and daughter-in-law of the late Guinean President Ahmed Sekou Touré, who helped lead Guinea to independence from French rule in 1958. Sekou Toure was the country’s first president, a role he held until his death in 1984.
The Tourés were convicted in January, and prosecutors had sought the full 20-year prison sentences allowed by law. However, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Conner tempered the sentence request.
“Forced labor trafficking cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute — in part because victims are often afraid to speak out,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox. “It took tremendous courage for this young woman to share her story at trial.”
However, Palmer said the judge’s decision to temper the sentence suggests the trial judge did not believe the pair were as evil as portrayed by prosecutors.
“I think he saw through the exaggerations and lies of the prosecution,” he said.
Lawsuit says pregnant woman was mistreated at STL Co. Jail; she was later diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer
CLAYTON, Mo. (KMOV.com) – For 39 days last fall, attorney Chelsea Merta says her client Adrianna Thurman sat in jail on a civil matter.
“How can a jail lose somebody in the system for so long,” Merta said.
Merta told News 4 Thurman was arrested after not showing up to a court for a hearing she was unaware of.
Thurman’s ex-boyfriend, Merta says, had been stalking her, demanding a paternity test for Thurman’s two kids. She says he is not the father.
“Who gets locked up on a paternity test issue first of all, but who gets ordered to take a paternity test for a man they know is not their child’s father,” said Merta.
In a lawsuit filed in April, Merta says the court system dropped the ball. When Thurman was arrested, the judge signed a document stating Thurman was not allowed to bond out of jail. The suit says Thurman was not told of her rights.
“Caseworkers would not speak with her,” said Merta.
Thurman was seven months pregnant at the time. The lawsuit says Thurman was treated rudely by the staff.
She also claims the jail would not let her see a doctor for weeks, even after complaining about back pain. She eventually saw a doctor and Merta claims a blood test was taken.
When Thurman finally spoke with a caseworker, she was told her case had “slipped through the cracks because staff was untrained and unaware of how to handle inmates on civil warrants”.
Documents say Thurman was eight months pregnant when she released from jail on November 9, but she went into labor prematurely.
At that point, Merta says it was discovered Thurman had stage 4 breast cancer that had spread to her spine.
“That blood panel test that the jail did should have revealed that to jail medical staff,” said Merta.
News 4 reached out to county leaders for a comment and is waiting to hear back.
Social media influencer plotted to take internet domain at gunpoint
The plan was like a bad movie script – complete with an attacker in a puzzling outfit and a backup weapon.
The intruder entered a victim’s home in Iowa carrying a cell phone, a stolen gun and a Taser. On his head was pantyhose and a hat, along with dark sunglasses to mask his eyes, court documents show.
But things did not go as planned.
Now, Rossi Lorathio Adams II could face two decades in prison. A jury found him guilty Thursday of hiring the intruder to break into the house in Cedar Rapids in 2017 to force the transfer of an internet domain at gunpoint, according to the US Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Iowa.
Threats and gun emojis
Adams, 26, founded a social media company called “State Snaps” four years ago. The company operates on various social media platforms, including Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter, court documents said.
“At one time, Adams had over a million followers on his social media sites, which mostly contained images and videos of young adults engaged in crude behavior, drunkenness and nudity,” court documents said.
His followers often used the slogan “Do it for state” when posting videos and images. So, Adams tried to purchase the internet domain “doitforstate.com” from a Cedar Rapids resident who owned it, court records said. But the owner did not want to part with it.
“Between 2015 and 2017, Adams repeatedly tried to obtain ‘doitforstate.com,’ but the owner of the domain would not sell it. Adams also threatened one of the domain owner’s friends with gun emojis after the friend used the domain to promote concerts,” court records show.
Then he had an idea: Why not take it by force?
Cousin sentenced to 20 years
In June 2017, Adams enlisted his cousin to break into the domain owner’s home and force him to transfer it. The cousin drove to the domain owner’s house and provided a demand note, which contained instructions for transferring the domain to Adams, court records show.
After entering the home, the intruder grabbed the victim’s arm and ordered him to connect his computer to the internet.
He put the firearm against the victim’s head and ordered him to follow the instructions. “Fearing for his life, the victim quickly turned to move the gun away from his head. The victim then managed to gain control of the gun,” court records show.
The victim shot the intruder multiple times and called the police.
The intruder, Adams’ cousin Sherman Hopkins Jr., was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year.
Now it’s Adams’ turn. He will remain in custody pending sentencing. He faces a maximum 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
Man in high heels caught on camera breaking into home, wearing victim’s clothes and jewelry
PORTLAND, Ore. – A 22-year-old man is behind bars after he was caught on camera breaking into a woman’s home recently.
Court records show Kye Phillips used the victim’s shower, tried on her clothes and jewelry and was also seen walking around in a pair of high heels, according to KPTV
“He was going through all my personal things. My underwear, my bras, he was going through all my clothes. He ate my ice cream and some food. Drank root beer from the fridge, just made himself at home,” said Shauna told WPTV.
She said she was alerted to the intruder thanks to her dog, who kept barking and set off the “Furbo” dog camera app on her phone.
That’s when she saw a live video feed from her dog camera showing a man stepping out of her bathroom.
“All of a sudden I see this guy coming out in a towel from my bathroom. I was like what are you doing in my house? Why are you wearing my clothes?” Shauna said.
KPTV reports Shauna immediately called police and raced home. Together, they confronted the man.
“His face was just like shock, like ‘oh my god, I can’t believe I was caught.’ He was wearing my black bra, a black bathing suit bottom that I have and a white coverup,” Shauna said during her interview.
The suspect is now facing charges of burglary and theft.
California Senate Approves Ban on Hairstyle Discrimination
California could become one of the first states to ban racial discrimination because of hairstyle.
The California Senate voted 37-0 on Monday to update the state’s anti-discrimination law’s definition of race to include hairstyles, such as braids and dreadlocks. The bill, SB188, was introduced by Holly Mitchell, a Los Angeles Democrat. It now heads to the state Assembly.
Mitchell said she introduced the bill to challenge myths about what constitutes professionalism in the workplace.
The proposal comes after an Alabama company refused to hire a black woman because she would not remove her dreadlocks. A federal appeals court sided with the company in 2016, ruling hairstyle was not an unchangeable characteristic of race. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
via: https://ktla.com/2019/04/22/california-senate-approves-ban-on-hairstyle-discrimination/
16-Year-Old Believed to Be Intoxicated Is Arrested After Running Red Light, Killing Pedestrian that is ID’d as a college baseball player
A teenager suspected of driving while intoxicated struck and killed a pedestrian before crashing into two other vehicles in Torrance Thursday night, the Torrance Police Department said.
A 16-year-old girl driving a Toyota Highlander was traveling south on Hawthorne Boulevard at around 8:40 p.m. when she ran a red light and struck a 19-year-old man who was standing on the pedestrian island separating the right-turn lane, police said.
After striking the pedestrian, the Toyota then crashed into two other vehicles at the intersection of Sepulveda and Hawthorne Boulevards, Torrance Police said.
The pedestrian suffered major injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to authorities.
Authorities did not identify the victim, pending notification of next of kin.
But friends gathered at the scene of the crash to share memories of the young man, who was a student and baseball player at El Camino College.
Officers suspected the girl of driving while under the influence of narcotics or alcohol and arrested her at the scene, Torrance Police said.
The drivers of the other two vehicles were not injured.
The intersection was closed for more than six hours while investigators worked, according to authorities.
No further information was immediately available.
Woman carrying gun and baby tackled after threatening to blow up San Diego church
Church members on Sunday tackled a woman, carrying a handgun and a baby, who threatened to blow up the church during Easter service, San Diego Police said.
The incident occurred as law enforcement and houses of worship were on heightened alert following deadly Easter Sunday bombings in churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.
San Diego Police arrived within two minutes of the first call and took the woman into custody, the department said in a statement.
The woman, in her late 20s or early 30s, walked into the auditorium of Mt. Everest Academy around noon, San Diego Police Officer Dino Delimitros said.
Church Tsidkenu, a non-denominational church, leases Mt. Everest for church services.
The woman walked onto the auditorium’s stage and waved the handgun while she “made threats that she was going to blow up the church,” police said.
“She was saying stuff that was kind of delusional. I was more worried about getting my family out of there,” churchgoer Ronald Farmer said.
Churchgoers were able to take the baby from the woman’s arms and pry the gun from her hands before tackling her to the ground, Delmitros said.
A bomb-sniffing dog found nothing in a sweep of the building and the suspect’s car, police said. Police said her gun was not loaded.
Authorities later found the woman’s 5-year-old daughter “healthy and unhurt,” police said. The two children are in protective custody.
Earlier Sunday, San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit announced that the department was stepping up patrols while it monitored the situation in Sri Lanka.
“At this time, there is nothing to indicate a connection to San Diego. However, in an abundance of caution, you will see extra patrols at houses of worship,” Nisleit said on Twitter.
More than 200 people were killed in coordinated bombing attacks in Sri Lanka.
Though it’s not clear who’s behind the eight explosions that forced the country of 21 million people into lockdown, they are “certainly acts of terror,” said Manisha Gunasekera, high commissioner of Sri Lanka to the UK.
Child punched for not being good enough lookout for shoplifting grandma
PHOENIX, Ariz. (KNXV ) — A 7-year-old was punched after not being a good enough lookout for his shoplifting grandma, police say.
Phoenix police responded to a Walmart near 75th Avenue and Lower Buckeye Road on Friday night for a suspected child abuse call.
Court documents state 27-year-old Rebecca Gonzales came to the store to pick up her 7-year-old son, who was being used by his grandmother as a lookout while she shoplifted.
Officers reportedly saw Gonzales slap and punch the child in the face when she was in the parking lot.
The child reportedly told police that he was hit because “he didn’t watch out for his grandma good enough.”
Police say the child’s mouth was bleeding when officers saw him.
Gonzales has been arrested for aggravated assault.
If you or someone you know is a victim of child abuse, there are resources available that can help. Arizona’s child abuse hotline is 1-888-SOS-CHILD (767-2445). More resources are available through the Arizona Department of Child Safety here.
Girl’s deadly reaction to toothpaste is extremely rare, allergist reminds parents
Monique Altamirano’s 11-year-old daughter, Denise Saldate, died of a severe allergic reaction to toothpaste, she told Allergic Living.
Denise, who had a severe dairy allergy, had recently been given a prescription toothpaste that unknowingly contained a milk-derived protein. Denise’s parents were careful to check food labels for milk and other potential allergens but did not think to check the toothpaste, which triggered a deadly allergic reaction that did not respond to an epinephrine pen or inhalers, Altamirano told the magazine.
CNN has reached out to the family to confirm the report but had not heard back at the time this story was published.
Since her death this month, Denise’s story has been shared thousands of times on social media, and a GoFundMe page set up by her uncle has more than surpassed the initial goal of $10,000 for funeral costs.
As parents of children with food allergies hear about Denise’s story, Dr. David Stukus, a pediatric allergist and associate professor at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, emphasizes that the sequence of events described by Denise’s mother is extremely rare.
“This is the first time I’ve ever heard anything remotely like this,” said Stukus, who has been a pediatric allergist for 13 years.
“There are food proteins in many different medications and nonfood products,” he said. “But by and large, the type of food and the amount of food is not nearly enough to cause any reaction in the vast majority of people with food allergies.”
The specific toothpaste involved in Denise’s case is also not commonly used and had been prescribed by her dentist, according to her mother.
Common products already in the household are unlikely to pose an issue if kids have been using them and tolerating them, Stukus said.
Denise’s case is a rarity, he said. Such rare fatalities can serve as careful reminders that food allergies can be severe and require clear communication between caregivers, careful inspection of food labels and having epinephrine available at all times.
Yet Stukus added some perspective: People with food allergies have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than they do of dying from an allergic reaction to food, he said.
“We don’t want to trivialize this, because we want people to be careful, but we also don’t want them to be afraid to leave their house.”
Almost all deaths from an allergic reaction to food happen because the child or young adult had an underlying condition such as asthma that made the reaction more severe, and there’s almost always either a lack of or a delay in the administration of epinephrine, he said.
“We lack the details of this case to really understand truly what happened, but we do know that this tragic case should not immediately be applied to every single person with food allergy,” Stukus said.
Rapper YNW Melly could face the death penalty in Florida killings
Florida prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty against rapper YNW Melly in connection with the killing of two men.
Prosecutors will look to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” the 19-year-old rapper, whose legal name is Jamell Demons, committed homicide “in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner” for financial gain, according to a State Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty.
Police arrested YNW Melly and another man, Cortlen Henry, in February, charging them with two counts of murder. Police said YNW Melly fatally shot his friends and then staged the crime scene to look like a drive-by shooting.
The rapper’s album “We All Shine” was released in January and featured the hit song “Mixed Personalities” with Kanye West.
‘They took my brothers from me’
YNW Melly was arrested after the deaths of Anthony Williams and Christopher Thomas Jr., both of Vero Beach, Florida, according to Miramar Police. On October 26 at 4:35 a.m., police said, Henry drove up to the Memorial Miramar Hospital with both victims in the vehicle. They had multiple gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.
Henry gave a statement to police, but the facts discovered during the preliminary investigation did not match what was presented to detectives, police said. Further investigation and forensic evidence found that YNW Melly shot and killed Williams and Thomas, and that YNW Melly and Henry then staged the scene to resemble a drive-by shooting, police said.
The day after the shooting, YNW Melly mourned the loss of his “brothers” in an Instagram post full of breaking heart emojis.
“They Took My Brothers From Me Over Jealousy,” he wrote. “I know y’all watching over me.”
In February, the rapper took to Instagram again, saying he was turning himself in to police and referred to “rumors and lies” about him.
“I want you guys to know I love you and appreciate every single one of y’all,” he wrote. “[A] couple months ago I lost my two brothers by violence and now the system want to find justice.. unfortunately a lot of rumors and lies are being said but no worries god is with me and my brother.”
The Instagram caption ended with a hashtag: “#freeus”
The rapper had an up-and-coming career
Before his arrest, YNW Melly had just begun a concert tour across the country, and his Instagram was full of the trappings of hip-hop stardom: stacks of cash, diamond jewelry and a gold grill covering his smiling teeth.
Billboard interviewed him a week before he was arrested and the rapper discussed his plans for 2019, how he linked up with Kanye and his overall background. During the interview, he said the two men who were fatally shot were his “day one brothers” and that he couldn’t speak on whether he was a target in the shooting.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/04/22/rapper-ynw-melly-could-face-the-death-penalty-in-florida-killings/
In this handout photo provided by the Broward’s Sheriff’s Office, rapper YNW Melly, real name Jamell Demons, is seen in a police booking photo after being charged with two counts of murder in the first degree February 13, 2019 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Demons allegedly conspired with Cortlen Henry to fatally shot two other Florida based rappers, Christopher Thomas Jr and Anthony Williams, October 26. (Photo by Broward’s Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images)