Dead baby found in garbage bag in New Mexico may have been injected with heroin
ALCALDE, N.M. – A newborn baby found dead inside a trash bag in New Mexico may have been injected with heroin, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
After getting a call from a New Mexico man concerned about the safety of his unborn son, officers went to the home where the mother was staying and found the dead child August 17, New Mexico State Police said in a news release.
The man had recently returned from a trip and noticed that his girlfriend no longer appeared to be pregnant. The father told investigators that the child’s mother is a regular heroin user and got high during the pregnancy, according to an affidavit.
According to the Journal, the father said that he’d been told his girlfriend was injecting the baby with heroin to stave off withdrawal symptoms.
Police spoke with the woman Friday after finding her living in a small camper trailer. She allegedly told officers the pain of childbirth caused her to lose consciousness, and she awoke to find the newborn unresponsive.
Responding officers noticed the “smell of death” and, after a search of the trailer, found the baby inside a black tote bag that was in a trash bag near the toilet.
An autopsy that will determine the cause and manner of the child’s death is pending. Police are waiting for those results before filing official charges.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
O.C. School District Reopens Investigating Into Video of Students Giving Nazi Salute as More Images Emerge
A Southern California school district is reopening an investigation into video showing students giving a Nazi salute, with one official saying unspecified new photos and video have emerged.
The Garden Grove school district in Orange County announced the new probe Tuesday night just before a tense school board meeting in a community angry after learning high school officials knew about the salute video months before it became public this week.
Pacifica High School Principal Steve Osborne apologized at the meeting for not informing the community earlier — and said officials have gotten “new allegations, new photos and video … and new claims that have led us to reopen and widen the scope of the investigation.”
School officials haven’t characterized the new allegations or material.
At issue, to start with, is a November video appearing to show Pacifica High School students raising their arms in a Nazi salute, and at least one of the students singing a Nazi-era marching song.
The eight-second video was recorded before an off-campus student athletics banquet, in a room where the students were unsupervised, the Garden Grove Unified School District said.
After a small group of students shared it on social media, high school administrators learned of it in March and “addressed the situation with all students and families involved,” the district said in a statement.
But even district-level officials, they say, didn’t know of the video until this week, when the The Daily Beast published it.
The revelation roiled teachers and residents who say they should have been told long ago — and it has the district scrambling to promise it will investigate further and battle any hate and bias in the schools.
“Rest assured that any students engaging in hate speech or activities will face disciplinary action in accordance with California Education Code,” the district said in a news release Tuesday.
“We deeply apologize for the pain this has cause our community and the national community at large.”
The school hasn’t said how the students in the November salute video were disciplined, citing federal law that protects student records.
Residents and teachers blast school officials for secrecy
Parents and teachers used Tuesday night’s school board meeting to criticize the high school’s initial secrecy over the salute video.
“How are we to battle (extremist ideology) if we aren’t even made aware of it?” Randy Steiner, a parent of a Pacifica High student, said when the board gave him a chance to speak.
Pacifica history teacher Ana Tourtellotte said the district lost precious time.
“Not being able to both directly and publicly confront this sort of behavior makes us feel like we were robbed of a significant teaching opportunity. And frankly, it made us feel like fools,” Tourtellotte said.
“The obscure nature of the song, the premeditated nature of the act, as well as the response taken by our institution suggests the need for a systemic look at our school and district culture, and I fear it’s not an isolated incident,” she said.
Principal apologizes
Osborne, the principal, acknowledged the school administration “did a disservice to the entire school community by limiting our action to the small group of students involved.”
“We are sorry that our investigation and our transparency with the Pacifica community fell drastically short. In retrospect, our judgment was wrong and we take full responsibility for that,” he said.
The school district said it will work with community partners, including Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance, as it considers developing and expanding anti-bias programs.
Part of that, the district said, will be making sure students and staff “understand their role in speaking out about hate and bias at schools.”
Other times high schoolers have given Nazi salutes
This was just one among recent cases of US students being caught on video giving the Nazi salute.
High school students in Newport Beach, California, were at a party earlier this year laughing as they raised their arms in the Nazi salute next to a swastika made of plastic cups.
The photo prompted Anne Frank’s stepsister, Eva Schloss, to visit the students and educate them on why such symbols were painful and offensive.
Wisconsin high school students posed for a photo in spring 2018 giving the Nazi salute. The school district decided not to punish the kids after a 10-day review, citing First Amendment protections.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Disgruntled Employee With Firearms Arrested After Threatening Mass Shooting at Long Beach Hotel
A possible mass shooting was thwarted when Long Beach police arrested a disgruntled Marriott employee who had access to weapons and allegedly told a coworker he planned to shoot everyone he saw at his workplace, the city’s police chief said Wednesday.
Rodolfo Montoya, 37, was arrested without incident at his home in Huntington Beach on Tuesday, according to Long Beach Police Department Chief Robert Luna.
Investigators searched the home and seized multiple firearms, including an assault rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and high-capacity magazines, Luna told reporters at a news conference where the arrest was announced.
“I believe the Police Department has worked to avert what could have been a real tragedy in this community,” Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said.
The investigation began when a worker contacted authorities on Monday evening to alert them to a verbal threat of violence against the Long Beach Marriott, according to police.
Montoya was employed as a cook at the hotel, which is located in the 4700 block of Airport Plaza. Investigators believe he was upset over some recent workplace activity having to do with human resources.
In expressing his anger to the coworker, Montoya allegedly detailed a plot where he would shoot fellow employees and guests coming into the hotel, according to the police chief. He also described the tools he would use to carry out the plot.
“Suspect Montoya had clear plans, intent and the means to carry out an act of violence that may have resulted in a mass casualty incident,” Luna said.
But, according to the chief, the possible plan was thwarted when the coworker contacted police, prompting an investigation that led to a search warrant and an arrest.
Luna credited the employee’s tip with potentially saving lives and reminded the public that coming forward with information is the only way those types of incidents can be reported.
“We’ve seen countless of acts of senseless violence throughout the country in the last several months,” he said. “We want to remind everyone that if you see, hear or read about any threats or suspicious activity, I believe that it is your obligation to report that to the police.”
Investigators are looking into how Montoya obtained the cache of firearms and ammunition.
He has no known criminal record, but some of the firearms may been illegal to possess in California, as were the high-capacity magazines confiscated from the suspect’s residence, according to Luna.
Montoya was being interviewed by detectives on Wednesday afternoon, the police chief added.
He was booked on suspicion of manufacturing and distributing assault weapons, possession of an assault weapon and making criminal threats, according to a police news release.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call police at 562-435-6711. Anonymous tips can also be left by dialing 1-800-222-8477, texting TIPLA plus your tip to 274637, or going to the website http://www.lacrimestoppers.org.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Police find Trump-shaped ecstasy pills on Florida man
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Ecstasy pills shaped like President Donald Trump have led to charges against a Florida man.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office says 23-year-old Brendan Dolan-King of Clearwater was charged Friday with felony drug possession after police confirmed five Trump-themed orange tablets seized during a June search of his home were in fact illicit drugs.
Authorities say forensic laboratory testing proved the pills to be MDMA, a substance commonly referred to as ecstasy or molly. Police say they also found fentanyl.
According to reports, the puckered-lipped Trump-inspired pills that resemble children’s multivitamins have popped up across Europe and the United States.
Indiana state police in 2018 seized similar orange pills stamped with the 45th president’s face and the words, “great again,” an apparent reference to Trump’s “Make American Great Again” campaign slogan.
Photo Credit: Indiana State Police Peru Post via AP
Schools are locking up students’ phones, creating ‘severe anxiety’
Lock ‘em up.
Kids are increasingly being asked the impossible — to survive a day at school without their phones.
Hundreds of schools in New York City and the tristate area are about to start the school year using magnetically sealed pouches during the day — so kids aren’t distracted by their digital lives while trying to learn.
The schools, including Pelham Preparatory Academy and Wings Academy, are using the devices designed by Silicon Valley company Yondr.
A corporate spokesperson tells The Post that more schools here are using them than ever before: “Demand has tripled this year. It’s incredibly exciting.”
Yondr’s pouches seal when students place their phones in them at the start of the day. Students then keep the pouches on them so their phones aren’t at risk of getting stolen. When school lets out, they get a code to unlock them.
But while teachers at one Bay Area school are pleased at the renewed attention they’ve gotten in the classroom, some researchers are less enthused. Not knowing what’s going on can cause severe anxiety, research psychologist Larry Rosen told NBC Bay Area.
“I would caution this school that one of the ramifications of this policy is that you’re activating anxiety in your students, which may backfire,” he said.
He advocates for “technology breaks during the school day so students can alleviate their anxiety.”
The pouches are the same ones performers are increasingly asking their audiences to stow their phones in during shows. Musicians such as Alicia Keys and Childish Gambino and comedians including Dave Chappelle and Wanda Sykes have mandated their fans use the pouches to improve performance experiences — and prevent leaks of material.
But if rabid audiences are anything like school children, the anxiety of not having a phone at all times may be too much to bear at times. At a recent Chappelle show, one drunk fan chewed through the bottom of a Yondr pouch, according to the New York Times.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/08/21/schools-are-locking-up-students-phones-creating-severe-anxiety/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Women sue porn site operators for ‘outing’ their identities
The “outing” of 22 women who made sexually explicit videos has ruined their lives, a lawyer representing the women said Tuesday in a San Diego courtroom.
Edward Chapin said some of the women have attempted suicide, lost contact with family and friends or were fired from jobs as a result of the publication of their names on a pornography site.
The plaintiffs have sued three men — Michael Pratt, Matthew Wolfe and Andre Garcia — involved with the porn site GirlsDoPorn.com and other related companies.
The plaintiffs accuse the three men of fraud, breach of contract, and misuse of their names and photos without their consent — all while the men earned millions in profits, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Chapin said the pornographers repeatedly verbally promised the women, often young and desperate for money, that the footage would be sold only on DVDs to rich buyers in Australia or New Zealand and would never be released on the internet.
Some women were also initially under the impression that they would be making modeling videos fully clothed.
But the defendants’ lawyers say the women were aware what they were signing up for as they were given written release forms and recorded on camera agreeing that they were making the videos willingly in addition to being paid thousands of dollars.
Defense lawyer Aaron Sadock, according to the Union-Tribune, said none of the women were tricked into visiting the site or flying to the set.
He added that some of the women accusing of them of wrongdoing actually made more than one sex video with the company or other companies.
The women are seeking punitive damages, damages for emotional distress, ownership rights to their clips, and to take a cut of the profits made off those videos.
Chapin said the women, after their names were leaked on the internet, were in a “living hell” as people began harassing and humiliating them.
The defense lawyer argued that it’s hard to prove that his clients leaked the women’s personal information and suggested that internet “trolls” may be behind the leak.
He added that the women weren’t naive about sexually explicit videos and knew most viewers of pornography watch online rather than on DVDs.
He claims the agreements each woman read stated their videos could be used across any media, worldwide, without limitation, the newspaper reported.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/08/21/women-sue-porn-site-operators-for-outing-their-identities/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
13-Day-Old Baby Severely Beaten in Santa Ana; Father Arrested
A Santa Ana father was arrested on suspicion of child abuse after his 13-day-old baby suffered a savage beating, leaving him in critical condition with a skull fracture and internal injuries.
Jonathan Reyes was arrested after the boy’s mother awoke to find the child badly beaten and brought him to an emergency room, the Santa Ana Police Department said in a news release.
Along with a skull fracture and internal injuries, the baby suffered multiple visible injuries to his face and body, and tested positive for methamphetamine.
Reyes is the child’s biological father, and admitted that he used methamphetamine while he was supposed to be taking care of the child while the mother was asleep, police said. Reyes denied abusing the child.
Police said Reyes was out on bail for a robbery that took place in March. He was arrested and booked at the Orange County jail on suspicion of child abuse, as well as committing a crime while out on bail.
via: https://ktla.com/2019/08/21/13-day-old-baby-severely-beaten-in-santa-ana-father-arrested/
Photo Credit: Santa Ana Police Department
6 seniors arrested for sexual activity at Connecticut conservation area
FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Six seniors were arrested in a conservation area in Connecticut for lewd and sexual activity, the Associated Press reports.
Those arrested, ranging in age from 62 to 85, are accused of meeting up for sexual activity at the Grace Richardson conservation area in Fairfield.
Police set up surveillance and saw several violations.
The arrestees include an 82-year-old man and an 85-year-old woman.
Police arrested 67-year-old Daniel Dobbins and 62-year-old John Linartz for breach of peace and public indecency.
According to the Connecticut Post, Dobbins was also arrested in May of 2017 for walking around a New Canaan park naked. He reportedly told responding officers he was naked for medical reasons.
Otto D. Williams, 62; Charles L. Ardito, 75; Richard Butler, 82; and Joyce Butler, 85; face breach of peace charges.
Authorities say the area is advertised online as a place to meet up for sex and police will continue to monitor activity there.
Photo Credit: Fairfield Police Dept
Farmer kills himself to avoid prison for massive organic food scam
A farmer who masterminded a $142 million organic-food scam — and spent his ill-gotten gains on escorts and gambling in Las Vegas — killed himself after being sentenced to 10-plus years in prison.
Randy Constant, 61, was found dead in a vehicle inside the garage at his home in Chillicothe, Mo., on Monday evening, according to the Associated Press.
Livingston County Coroner Scott Lindley determined that Constant died of carbon monoxide poisoning and ruled it a suicide, the AP said.
Constant pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud in a case that federal prosecutors in Iowa dubbed “Field of Schemes” and described as the largest organic-food con in US history.
He was sentenced on Friday to 122 months behind bars but allowed to remain free bond while the US Bureau of Prisons decided where he would serve his time.
Between 2010 and 2017, Constant sold more than 11.5 million bushels of grain more than 90 percent of which he falsely claimed was grown on certified organic fields in Nebraska and Missouri.
During 2016, his crooked sales equaled about 7 percent of all organic corn and about 8 percent of all organic soybeans grown in the US, prosecutors said.
The grain was mainly used as feed for cattle and chickens to produce premium-priced meat and eggs that were marketed as organic, with federal Judge C.J. Williams saying Constant did “extreme and incalculable damage” by ripping off consumers and damaging faith in the organic-food industry.
While pulling off his scam, Constant traveled more than 20 times to Las Vegas, where he stayed in hotels, hired escorts and gambled, prosecutors said.
He had sexual relationships with three women who lived in Sin City, paying two of them more than $225,000, purportedly for their work for his companies, even though they did “very little of value” for the money, prosecutors said.
Banking records show Constant also spent more than $360,000 in Las Vegas, including about $110,000 from a bank account he shared with one of the women.
That spending included payments for breast augmentation surgery, foreign travel and a vehicle and insurance, prosecutors said.
At Constant’s sentencing, his lawyer, Mark Weinhardt, called him a “real puzzle,” noting the contradiction between his long-running fraud and good deeds that included serving on the school board and donating time and money to local causes and the Methodist church, the AP said.
Following his suicide, Constant’s wife, Pam Constant, released a statement that said, “I know Randy was deeply ashamed of his conduct. As much as we tried to be there for him … it was clearly just too much for Randy.”
She also said he’d be remembered as “a wonderful father, community leader, tireless volunteer and my beloved husband of 39 years.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/08/21/farmer-kills-himself-to-avoid-prison-for-massive-organic-food-scam/
Photo Credit: Facebook
Dying man tells cops ‘F–k you’ when asked to ID his shooter
Those were a dying man’s defiant last words to cops when they asked who had shot him on Wednesday night.
Arsenio Gravesande, 28 — an acquaintance of slain rapper Nipsey Hussle — was blasted in the left hip following a beef on a Brownsville street corner around 9:20 p.m., authorities said.
Cops who raced to the scene at Union Street and Sutter Avenue asked Gravesande his name and to identify the shooter, but were met with the profane response.
“F–k you, son,” Gravesande — a known Crip with 43 arrests to his name — told the officers with what proved to be his final words to law enforcement, according to sources.
“Sometimes they cool down and talk to us,” said a police source. “They have a change of heart and ID the shooter.”
But Gravesande never had that chance, as doctors at Brookdale Hospital determined that what had initially appeared to be a non-life threatening gunshot had in fact struck multiple arteries, sources said.
Gravesande went in for emergency surgery but could not be saved and instead became one of five people shot dead in the span of 22 hours Tuesday across Brooklyn and Queens.
Hussle — himself a reformed Crip who was fatally shot in Los Angeles in March — met with Gravesande while the rap star was filming a music video in Brooklyn, his grieving relatives said.
Investigators have yet to identify a suspect or motive in Gravesande’s slaying.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/08/21/dying-man-tells-cops-f-k-you-when-asked-to-id-his-shooter/
Photo Credit: Handout Nipsey Hussle (left) and Arsenio Gravesande.