When her son died of burns after a bath, police say she took a Lyft and dumped his body in a dumpster
BALTIMORE, Md. — A Baltimore mother and her partner have been charged in connection with the death of a missing 4-year-old boy, whose body was found in a dumpster.
Alicia Lawson, 25, reported her son, Malachi, missing to Baltimore police August 1st. She said Malachi disappeared from the front doorstep of her northwest Baltimore home after she stepped inside momentarily, according to a statement of probable cause.
The report sparked a frantic search by local and federal authorities.
Two days later, police said, she confessed that her son wasn’t missing – he was dead. Lawson gave police the location of the boy’s remains. Police recovered Malachi’s body in a trash bag in the dumpster, court papers said. The boy died after the couple decided not to seek medical treatment, court papers said.
Lawson and her partner, Shatika Lawson were taken into custody Saturday. They have been charged with several offenses, including involuntary manslaughter, assault, first-degree child abuse resulting in the death of a child younger than 13 years old, neglect of a minor and giving false statements.
The state Office of the Public Defender, which is representing Alicia Lawson, declined to comment. It was not immediately clear if Shatika Lawson had an attorney.
They didn’t call for help
The women told police they were bathing Malachi on July 23rd after he soiled himself, court documents said. Shatika Lawson told police she put the boy in the tub. The two then turned to wash his clothes in the sink, court papers said.
They said when they turned back around to the child, he had suffered serious burns on his lower body, from his waist to his feet, according to court papers.
But neither of them wanted to seek medical help and instead opted to treat his wounds on their own, the probable cause statement said.
They were both afraid “the child would be taken from them, that they would get in trouble for what had happened to the child” and because of their “past history with child protective services,” the document said.
The mother took son’s body to a dumpster
Alicia Lawson said she woke up and found Malachi “laying in his bed in a puddle of wetness,” August 1st, according to court documents. Lawson told police she believed he was dead.
She called a Lyft, wrapped the boy in a blanket and dropped off his body after placing him in a black trash bag, court documents said.
FBI agents obtained information from her cell phone that showed she searched for trash collection sites two days earlier, the court documents said.
An officer who attended the autopsy said he saw severe burns on the child’s lower body, injuries consistent with pictures Alicia Lawson took July 23rd.
Investigators also tested the water from the bath at the home and said “at no time did the water temperature ever exceed ‘lukewarm,’” according to court documents.
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Armed Man Who Caused Panic in Missouri Walmart Wanted to Test If Store Honored 2nd Amendment
A man accused of walking into a Walmart in Missouri equipped with body armor, a handgun and a rifle less than a week after a gunman killed 22 people in a Texas Walmart said it was a “social experiment” and not intended to cause panic, police say.
“I wanted to know if that Walmart honored the Second Amendment,” Dmitriy Andreychenko told investigators, according to a probable cause statement filed by Springfield police.
Andreychenko, 20, was arrested Thursday after panic ensued when he walked into the store that afternoon with his rifle slung across his chest, pushing a shopping cart and recording himself with a cell phone, police say.
Patrons fled the store, police were called, and an off-duty firefighter detained Andreychenko until officers arrived to take him into custody, police said.
He told investigators he intended to buy grocery bags, and didn’t intend for any negative reaction, police said. And he claimed the recording was in case anyone stopped him and asked him to leave, police said.
His wife and sister told him beforehand that the idea was not smart, especially considering the recent shootings in El Paso and Dayton, according to the document.
He told his sister it was “a social experiment on how his Second Amendment right would be respected in a public area,” police said, citing an interview with the sister.
The rifle he carried had a loaded magazine, but a round was not chambered; and the handgun was loaded with a round in the chamber, the probable cause document said.
‘He’s lucky to be alive’
He faces a charge of making a terrorist threat in the second degree, the police department said on Twitter. CNN was unable to determine whether he was represented by an attorney.
The consequences he faces are not a reflection of how Missouri — an open carry state — respects the Second Amendment, prosecuting attorney Dan Patterson said in a statement.
“Missouri protects the right to open carry a firearm, but that right does not allow an individual to act in a reckless and criminal manner, endangering other citizens,” Patterson said. “As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously explained, ‘The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man … falsely shouting fire in a theater, causing a panic.’”
Police Lt. Mike Lucas said he did indeed cause a panic.
“His intent was not to cause peace or comfort to anybody that was in the business,” Lucas said. “In fact, he’s lucky to be alive still, to be honest.”
No shots fired
Andreychenko entered the Walmart Neighborhood Market on Thursday afternoon, Lucas said.
When he did, the store’s manager pulled the fire alarm to initiate patrons’ escape, according to CNN affiliate KYTV.
No shots were fired, and no one was injured, police said.
Lucas said the recent spate of mass shootings in public places may have placed customers on heightened alert, leading them to call police to report an active shooter.
“All we know is the fact that he walked in here heavily armed with body armor on, in military fatigues and caused a great amount of panic inside the store. So, he certainly had the capability [and] the potential to harm people,” Lucas said.
“And then obviously what’s happened in Texas and Dayton and all that kind of stuff in the last seven days — that’s on everybody’s mind.”
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Hemet Man Gets 230 Years in Prison for Repeated Rapes of Girlfriend’s Daughter Who Gave Birth at 13
A Hemet man was sentenced Friday to 230 years to life in prison for years of sex abuse and rape against the underage daughter of his girlfriend, resulting in the victim giving birth to his child at 13, officials said.
Deon Austin Welch, 30, was convicted in June of 15 counts of child rape for the abuse that began when the girl was 11, according to Riverside County court documents.
It was an aggravated case in which the girl’s mother and county social workers failed to protect her, the documents show.
The victim became pregnant in early 2016 and delivered a child with DNA matching the defendant’s that November. But prosecutors say she told her mother’s coworker Welch had been coming into her bed and touching her sexually years before, in March 2014.
At that point, the case was referred to county’s Department of Public Social Services, and Hemet police began investigating.
That June, the victim told investigators Welch raped her multiple times in their apartment. But her mother insisted on being present for the ensuing forensic medical exam and made it difficult for staff to establish facts in the case, resulting in the test being marked inconclusive, according to a trial brief.
Weeks later, the mother had a restraining order against Welch dismissed, lying that he was living in Mexico and couldn’t return. The defendant returned to the apartment a short time later, and the rapes continued, officials said.
Prosecutors say the victim told a social worker that Welch had returned to the home in October 2014, but neither social worker nor mother did anything about it.
“The only option left for the victim was to learn to accept the situation and survive,” the trial brief states. “There was no way out, and no place left to run.”
The social worker allegedly continued regular contact with the victim through 2016 — including after she became pregnant.
Police were called about the case again in September 2016, when the girl’s mother took her to the Hemet Valley Medical Hospital and inquired about getting an abortion.
When officers interviewed the girl again, she told them she’d been raped at least 90 times.
Welch was arrested months later, on March 17, 2017.
In an initial post-arrest interview, he at first denied any inappropriate sexual contact with the victim. He later claimed he woke up at 2 a.m. after passing out on the couch and that she got on top of him, but he wasn’t sure if they had sex, court documents show.
In a subsequent interview, Welch allegedly admitted to having sex with her multiple times but said he was “kind of blackmailed into it.” He stated that the victim had threatened him by saying, “If you don’t do this, I’m going to tell my mom,” according to the brief.
Welch showed no emotion as the judge announced his life sentence Friday, the Desert Sun reported.
In February 2018, the victim’s mother was charged with three felonies: child endangerment, perjury and being an accessory to repeated child molestation. She was sentenced to formal probation and a one-year jail term with a five year, eight months suspended sentence.
Last August, the girl was awarded $10 million in a settlement with DPSS after suing the agency for alleged violation of the state’s Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and breach of duties.
The case is one of several that drew ire against DPSS for its failure to report and investigate child abuse claims, resulting in the agency’s director, Susan von Zabern, leaving her post in September 2018.
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Girls throw a chair, bricks, rocks at bus in the Bronx after being told to get off
CLAREMONT VILLAGE, the Bronx — Two girls who allegedly vandalized an MTA bus after being kicked off in the Bronx are being sought, police said Friday.
The two unidentified girls were involved in a dispute with other passengers while riding the BX11 MTA bus around 6:15 p.m. on June 25 near College Avenue and East 170th Street when the bus driver intervened and asked all parties involved to exit the bus, according to police.
After exiting the bus, the girls can be seen in surveillance footage throwing rocks, bricks and even a chair at the windows of the bus causing a side window to break along with other unspecified damages.
The girls in question fled toward Grand Concourse along with several other individuals, according to authorities.
The girls are described as being in their late teens.
Photo Credit: NYPD
Mom sues for excessive force, says police shot her 12-year-old son in bed with his hands up
(WLS/CNN/Meredith) — An Illinois mother is suing for excessive force, accusing police officers of shooting her unarmed 12-year-old son in May.
In new lawsuits against two cities and four officers, she says her son was in his bed, with his hands up, during a raid targeting her boyfriend.
The boy’s mother, Crystal Worship, says the child was sitting on the bed with his hands up in the air when the officer shot him in the leg.
She could hear her son, Amir, screaming for help.
According to the lawsuit, officers from both the Country Club Hills and Village of Richton Park police kicked open the doors to the house.
The officers dressed in full swat gear then threw flash grenades into the house.
The target of the raid was Worship’s boyfriend, who was wanted on drug charges.
But after he was arrested, the family says a Richton Park police officer pulled out a gun and pointed it at Amir.
The gun was not on safety and fired.
“The house was secure already. I don’t understand why his gun was off safety,” Worship said.
The family’s lawyer Al Hofeld, Jr. saod there is “still no possible professional reason or excuse for what this officer did to Amir Worship.”
Amir was rushed to surgery.
His mom says she was not allowed to go with him to the hospital.
The child now disabled and scarred from the raid gone terribly wrong.
“According to doctors, he will never be able to play sports again,” Hofeld said.
Local media reached out to the police departments but did not receive a response.
Illinois state police has opened an investigation.
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Modesto ‘Straight Pride’ Leader Calls His Organization a ‘Totally Peaceful, Racist Group’
When Don Grundmann took the podium to boos and jeers at a Modesto City Council meeting Wednesday, he appeared angry that some people had called his efforts to organize a “straight pride” event in the California city racist.
He singled out Councilmember Kristi Ah You, accusing her of “pulling the race card” and allegedly inflaming tensions by “attacking us as racists.”
Then he appeared to make a slip of the tongue.
“We haven’t done anything,” he said. “We’re a totally peaceful, racist group.”
The crowd erupted in laughter.
As Grundmann tried to regain control of the room, he said his group was “here to defend all races” and claimed that Planned Parenthood was the “greatest mass murderer of blacks in this nation’s history.”
Shortly after, he was told his time was up and the crowd booed as he left the podium.
Grundmann, who previously ran two failed campaigns for the US Senate, leads a group called the National Straight Pride Coalition. It claims on its website that heterosexuality, the nuclear family and Western civilization, among other institutions, are under attack.
The group is planning a “straight pride” parade in a local park on August 24.
Modesto is home to about 214,000 people, according to the latest Census.
Over more than four hours, almost 30 constituents spoke against the event. A handful spoke in favor of it, citing free speech.
Matthew Mason, a Modesto native and Turlock resident, called event organizers “white supremacists.”
“I’m here to condemn the straight pride event and to unequivocally state that this white supremacist rhetoric is not speech that deserves protection,” Mason said at the meeting. “Whenever this rhetoric is given a platform, violence always follows.”
CNN has attempted to reach Grundmann but was unable to leave a message because his voice mailbox was full. He has not responded to an email request for comment.
Marjorie Sturdy, vice president of the Modesto Progressive Democrats, also voiced her opposition at the meeting.
“You’ve never heard of anybody losing a job because they’re straight or white,” she told CNN. “You’ve never heard of anybody not being able to obtain a job because they’re straight. The entitlement of being straight and white shouldn’t be celebrated. You get to celebrate that every day of your life.”
Sturdy said that the Modesto Progressive Democrats are teaming up with local community groups to organize an event on the same day as the “straight pride” parade. She said it will include music, speeches and prayer.
“It’ll be a colorful, fun, celebration of life,” Sturdy said.
The ‘straight pride’ event needs city approval
The City of Modesto said it hopes to decide on the “straight pride” application Friday.
Thomas Reeves, spokesman for the City Manager, told CNN that officials are evaluating the risk to the city, residents and participants.
He added that the city’s final determination would not be an indication of where it stood on the issue.
“Whatever decision is made on the permit is no way is a reflection of the city’s perspective, opinion or views on the issue,” Reeves said.
In late June, a “straight pride parade” planned in Boston on August 31 became one step closer to reality after city officials approved the organizers’ public event application.
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Jeffrey Epstein dead in apparent suicide
Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein died overnight in an apparent suicide, law enforcement sources told the Post Saturday.
A gurney carrying a man who looked like Epstein was wheeled out of the Manhattan Correctional Center around 7:30 a.m. and headed to New York Downtown Hospital. A call for a reported cardiac arrest came in at 6:38 a.m., Fire Department sources said.
Two weeks ago, Epstein, 66, was placed on suicide watch after he was found nearly unconscious in his cell with injuries to his neck.
The multimillionaire financier was being held without bail pending trial on child sex-trafficking charges.
Epstein was busted July 6 over the alleged sexual abuse of dozens of young girls in his Upper East Side townhouse and his waterfront mansion in Palm, Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005. He pleaded not guilty and faced up to 45 years in prison.
Thousands of documents unsealed Friday in connection with a defamation case against the perv’s alleged recruiter revealed dozens of high-profile names that a self-identified victim, Virginia Giuffre, said she was forced to perform sex acts with, from former Maine Sen. George Mitchell and ex-New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, money manager Glenn Dubin and MIT professor Marvin Minksy.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/08/10/convicted-pedophile-jeffrey-epstein-dead/
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Elderly man kills wife, then himself over health care costs
FERNDALE, Wash. – A 911 call made Wednesday morning ended in tragedy when deputies found an elderly man and his wife dead in an apparent murder-suicide.
According to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded about 8:30 a.m. to the 6500 bock of Timmeran Lane near Ferndale after a 77-year-old man called 911 and told the dispatcher, “I am going to shoot myself.”
He told the 911 operator that he left a note with information and instructions. The dispatcher tried to keep the man on the line, but he ended the call after saying, “We will be in the front bedroom.”
Deputies set up a perimeter around the house, and a crisis negotiator tried for an hour to contact the people inside using a phone and a loudhailer, the sheriff’s office said. When that didn’t work, deputies deployed a robotic camera, which found the man and his 76-year-old wife were both dead from gunshot wounds.
According to the sheriff’s office, there were several notes left in the home, citing ongoing severe medical problems with the wife and concern that the couple didn’t have enough money to pay for her health care. One of the notes also listed next-of-kin. Deputies are working with law enforcement from out of state to notify relatives.
There were also two dogs inside the home when the couple was found. They’ve been turned over to the Humane Society.
“It is very tragic that one of our senior citizens would find himself in such desperate circumstances where he felt murder and suicide were the only option,” Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo said. “Help is always available with a call to 911.”
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/09/elderly-man-kills-wife-then-himself-over-health-care-costs/
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Nursing home sued after video shows staff taunting elderly woman
GLENVIEW, Ill. — An Illinois nursing home was sued after caregivers allegedly posted Snapchat videos of themselves taunting a dementia patient.
The short Snapchat video shows 91-year-old Margaret Collins who has dementia. In the video, it said “Margaret hates gowns!” with two laughing and crying emojis. It showed a certified nursing assistant repeatedly putting a hospital gown on top of an elderly woman while she tries to wave it away.
“You just can’t believe you’re seeing this,” Joan Biebel, Collins’ daughter, said. “You think your mom is safe and now this is going on. You’re just trying to figure out what the heck is happening here.”
The incident happened last December at the Abington of Glenview nursing and rehab center. Family members said staff knew that Collins did not like hospital gowns and preferred to wear her own clothes.
Brayan Cortez and Jamie Montesa were both charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct. Police said Cortez was in the video and Montesa recorded it and they said she told investigators she had recorded video of Collins in her wheelchair once before.
“If they’re in her room, they should’ve been there for a reason to help her, assist her, not to exploit her and threaten her and demean her and post it on social media,” Biebel said.
Now, the family is suing the nursing home, its parent company and the workers. The lawsuit seeks more than a million dollar in damages.
Administrators said in a statement:
“The privacy and dignity of our residents are of the utmost concern at The Abington. Recently, two employees were immediately terminated when it was determined that they violated our standards and policies.”
Police reports said Cortez and Montesa did initially return to work after serving a six day suspension. The Illinois Department of Public Health reported administrators initially concluded the allegations were unfounded after co-workers vouched for the pair.
“This was a sick game that two CNAs tried to play for their own enjoyment and by filing this lawsuit and pursing this lawsuit we will prevent this from happening to other individuals in this facility, as well as other facilities across the state,” John Perconti, attorney, said.
The state found Abington failed to implement its abuse prevention policy. Family members moved Collins to another facility, but they say her health has deteriorated.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/10/nursing-home-sued-after-video-shows-staff-taunting-elderly-woman/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Ohio family sues after ancestry kit reveals their daughter isn’t related to her dad
An Ohio family says in a civil lawsuit that a fertility clinic used another man’s sperm more than 20 years ago when the parents used in vitro fertilization to have a child and they only found out because of the results of a recent Ancestry.com test.
It is unclear who Rebecca Cartellone’s biological father is. It is not Joseph Cartellone, who with his daughter and his wife, Jennifer, is suing the Institute for Reproductive Health, Ovation Fertility Cincinnati and The Christ Hospital Health Network.
“I never would’ve imagined the Christmas gift of home DNA kit would unveil this kind of abuse of our trust,” Joseph Cartellone told reporters Wednesday.
The Cartellones say in documents filed Wednesday in a Hamilton County court that in 1994, Jennifer Cartellone underwent in vitro fertilization but the sperm came from someone else, not her husband. Rebecca Cartellone was born later that year.
“This is a massive betrayal of trust and an unthinkable break of trust,” said Joseph C. Peiffer, managing shareholder of the Peiffer Wolf Carr & Kane law firm. He told reporters in Washington it was the results of a home DNA kit from Ancestry.com that showed no relation between father and daughter.
The law firm represents a number of families who are suing fertility clinics, alleging misconduct.
A paternity test confirmed Joseph Cartellone is not Rebecca’s biological father, the lawsuit said.
In vitro fertilization is a series of procedures in which an egg is fertilized in a lab and then transferred to a uterus, according to the Mayo Clinic. The process is generally used by couples who otherwise have struggled to get pregnant.
The couple entered a contract for IVF through The Christ Hospital and its affiliated Greater Cincinnati Institute for Reproductive Health, which the lawsuit says later split into two entities: the Institute for Reproductive Health and Ovation Fertility Cincinnati.
The Christ Hospital Health Network declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing pending litigation. It said it was “evaluating the allegations surrounding events alleged to have occurred in the early 1990s.”
The Institute for Reproductive Health wrote in a statement that it didn’t exist in 1994. Officials said the problem occurred in a different and unaffiliated lab.
“Because this alleged incident occurred in the Christ Hospital’s laboratory, before our practice and laboratory existed, we cannot comment on what may or may not have occurred in their laboratory,” they wrote.
They added: “Embryology procedures are performed in a distinct laboratory during all IVF processes. Our physicians are not involved in the fertilization of eggs with sperm, as this process is handled by embryologists in the IVF laboratory. IRH has stringent protocols in place to verify patient identity and maintain the chain of custody of all specimens involved in the IVF process. Our lab protocols have been inspected and accredited. … We take very seriously the trust and faith that our patients have in our practice, and we will continue to provide the highest quality individualized care.”
Ovation Fertility Cincinnati said it opened in the 2000s.
“And therefore any action that could have occurred in The Christ Hospital’s laboratory 25 years ago is unrelated to our lab,” it said.
The Cartellones’ attorney Adam Wolf said the same doctor and lab director from the original lab, The Greater Cincinnati Institute, are now listed as working with the Institute of Reproductive Health. The doctor and lab director are not named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges breach of contract, negligence and breaking a legal-binding promise.
It also alleges battery against Jennifer Cartellone because she would not have consented to an embryo that had been fertilized by a stranger being used in the procedure.
The family is asking for a monetary compensation and the name of the biological father and information about his medical history.
Joseph Cartellone said his daughter is struggling with the news that came from the DNA tests she gave as a Christmas gifts last year.
“She’s experiencing significant emotional distress and confusion concerning her own identity,” he said.
She wonders whether she has brothers or sisters, and who her other grandparents are.
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