Florida mom whose 1-year-old son died when a friend left the tot in a hot car wants the state’s governor to intervene, saying she doesn’t understand why prosecutors dropped charges in the case
Makia Wallace, a 34-year-old corrections officer in Orange County, first met 35-year-old Dougkindra Wallace while in high school. Makia later started paying her friend $80 monthly to take her son, Jace Lucas Leslie, to and from day care in Pine Hills due to her 12-hour shifts, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The arrangement worked for almost a year for the women – who are not related – until Sept. 11, when Dougkindra found the boy dead in her back seat after leaving him in her car before going to her job as a third-grade teacher at Rolling Hills Elementary School.
After dropping her own son with a babysitter, Dougkindra got on a call and drove to her job instead of dropping off Jace at day care – the result of her being “likely distracted,” according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
More than seven hours later, after the heat index surged as high as 105 degrees, Dougkindra left work and drove to a student’s house before heading to Jace’s daycare, where she discovered the boy dead — still buckled in his rear-facing car seat, the newspaper reported.
Dougkindra later surrendered to cops, but prosecutors ended up dropping the felony charges she faced — aggravated manslaughter and child neglect – in October, saying they didn’t have enough evidence of negligence, the Sentinel reported.
“All I’m asking for is justice,” an emotional Makia Wallace told the newspaper. “I’m refusing to be silent for my baby.”
The grieving mom said she has reached out to Gov. Ron DeSantis to get involved in the case. She also tried to reach an incoming prosecutor in the hopes that lesser charges can be filed against her former friend, according to the report.
State Attorney Aramis Ayala, whose terms ends next week, told the newspaper her office could not proceed with prosecuting Dougkindra despite the “horrific” facts of Jace’s death.
“This is an extremely sad and tragic case,” Ayala said. “… Although the Defendant clearly owed the victim a duty of care, breached that duty, and caused the victim’s death — this is the definition of simple negligence, a tort — not a crime.”
Staffers for DeSantis did respond to a request for comment, according to the report, although Makia Wallace said she had been told by his office he would not get involved unless a conflict of interest was found.
Makia, meanwhile, said she celebrated what would have been her son’s second birthday earlier this month and vowed to not stop fighting on his behalf.
“I just reflect back on every time Jace has brought me the jot and the love that I feel,” she told the Sentinel. “Every day, I wake up and I have to fight – fight for justice for my baby.”
Jace was one of 24 children who died in hot cars this year, according to Jannette Fennell, president and founder of KidsAndCars.org, who noted inconsistent prosecution of the tragic deaths nationwide.
“You’ll see cases that have an almost identical type of situation, and they’re treated extremely differently,” Fennell told the newspaper.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/31/florida-mom-vows-to-fight-for-charges-in-sons-hot-car-death/
Photo Credit: Orange County Corrections; Family handout
Sex offender, 38, ‘spent hours glued to child porn on AT&T store iPad’ until horrified workers called police
A convicted sex offender has been slapped with charges that he looked at child porn on an iPad in a cell phone store in Boulder, Colorado, Crime Online reports.
Sex offender, Nathan Wood, 38, pleaded not guilty to charges of perusing child porn in the AT&T store.
He was charged with offenses that include sexual exploitation of a child and attempted sexual exploitation of a child for the April 18 incident in the store.
Wood was allegedly glued to the iPad for hours.
Authorities alleged Wood used an iPad at the store for four hours before leaving.
Finally, after the store closed, employees of the store searched the browser history of the iPad that the sex offender had commandeered and found shocking evidence of his porn browsing.
Wood had allegedly been visiting dark-web child porn sites.
According to Newsbreak, both of the charges against the sex offender for allegedly looking at child porn in the store are felonies.
Wood is being tried in Boulder District Court.
Nathan Wood, 38, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Boulder District Court to sexual exploitation of a child and attempted sexual exploitation of a child, both felonies.
When police officers got their hands on the iPad that the sex offender had used at the store, allegedly to look at child porn, they found German phrases that allegedly amounted to search terms for images of nude children.
Wood also apparently visited sites that showed underage victims being sexually assaulted.
Prior to the offending alleged incident with the alleged child porn in the store, Wood was convicted in 2012 in Boulder County for sexual assault and burglary.
He had stolen women’s clothing from bathrooms in female dormitories at the University of Colorado and also assaulted a woman acquaintance as she slept in such a dorm. This led to charges of trespassing for starters, according to a CBS affiliate KCNC Denver report directly following the 2011 incident.
Authorities arrested 29-year-old Nathan Wood on charges of sexual assault, four counts of trespass, three counts of burglary and three counts of theft.
Wood was sentenced to six years in prison plus two years of work release and supervised probation for that offense.
After the incident with the alleged child porn in the store, Boulder cops relied on surveillance footage to track down the sex offender.
The sex offender promptly confessed to looking at porn in the store, but denied that any of it featured children, investigators alleged. He also attempted to deny ever looking up German search terms for child porn, claiming that he must have gotten his German mixed up.
According to Denver Post sister newspaper The Boulder Daily Camera, Wood’s trial is slated for May.
via: https://knewz.com/sex-offender-porn-store/?utm_source=nypost
Photo Credit: knewz.com
Miya Ponsetto, 22, identified as accuser in Keyon Harrold Jr. case
A white woman from California is the suspect wanted by cops in the latest headline-grabbing case of bogus accusations allegedly leveled against an innocent black person, The Post has learned.
Miya Ponsetto, 22, was identified by NYPD sources as the woman caught on camera falsely accusing the 14-year-old son of jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold of stealing her iPhone.
Photos posted online with Ponsetto’s name also appear to match the young woman who melted down in the lobby of the Arlo Hotel in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood and tackled Keyon Harrold Jr. in a vestibule.
“No, I’m not letting him walk away with my phone!” she shrieked at one point, according to a video clip posted online by the elder Harrold.
On Wednesday night, NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison tweeted a montage of surveillance video clips that also included a shot of the woman’s face with the word “WANTED” under it in red letters.
Harrison said the NYPD “is requesting the public’s assistance locating the suspect in this video,” who he said “falsely accused an innocent 14-year-old teenager of stealing her cellphone,,,then proceeded to physically attack him and fled the location.”
Public records show there’s only one person with the name Miya Ponsetto in the US.
That person is 22 and has a last known address in Sun Valley, Calif.
She’s also associated with an address in Simi Valley, Calif., that appears to be her former family home.
CNN has reported that it interviewed the woman involved in Saturday’s incident and said that she’s 22 years old.
The cable network didn’t identify her further, saying that “she said she has concerns for her safety unrelated to this incident.”
The photos of Miya Ponsetto posted online include two professional shots of a varsity cheerleader at Simi Valley High School in California from the 2015-2016 school year.
Those pictures were available for purchase until The Post inquired about them, after which they were first listed as “not for sale,” then blocked from being viewed without a password.
Ponsetto doesn’t appear to have a phone number listed in her name and didn’t immediately respond to messages sent to email addresses linked to her through public records.
Messages left at two phone numbers listed in her father’s name weren’t immediately returned.
Other numbers listed in the names of other family members either weren’t answered or were answered by people who said they weren’t her relatives.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/31/miya-ponsetto-22-identified-as-accuser-in-keyon-harrold-jr-case/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story
During this time. We need to think about what we eat and how much we eat of it. Because there are thousands and thousands of people right now who have never experienced in their life going to a food bank or food pantry.
I will say that COVID-19 is the great equalizer of them all there is no more rich poor or in the middle well I take that back….
Hip Hop artist MF Doom DEAD at 49
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Daniel Dumile, best know as the rapper and producer MF Doom, died on October 31, his wife announced on the artist’s Instagram page on Thursday afternoon. He was 49.
To Dumile. The greatest husband, father, teacher, student, business partner, lover and friend I could ever ask for,” his wife wrote. “Thank you for all the things you have shown, taught and given to me, our children and our family. Thank you for teaching me how to forgive beings and give another chance, not to be so quick to judge and write off. Thank you for showing how not to be afraid to love and be the best person I could ever be. My world will never be the same without you. Words will never express what you and Malachi mean to me, I love both and adore you always. May THE ALL continue to bless you, our family and the planet. All my Love, Jasmine.”
No cause of death was provided, only that MF Doom had “transitioned” on October 31.
One of the most celebrated, unpredictable and enigmatic figures in independent hip-hop, Dumile was born in London, but relocated to New York City as a child. He began his music career under the name Zev Lov X as part of the trio K.M.D. alongside his brother DJ Subroc, and the group had a minor hit in the early 1990s. After Subroc was killed in a car accident in 1993, the group disbanded, and Dumile retreated from public view, only to reemerge toward the end of the decade with a new name and an extravagant new persona.
Now calling himself MF Doom and wearing a metal mask inspired by the Marvel Comics villain Dr. Doom, Dumile released “Operation: Doomsday” in 1999. Produced by Dumile himself under the pseudonym Metal Fingers, the album couldn’t have been more out of step with hip-hop’s mainstream; featuring Dumile’s signature plainspoken flow and head-spinning volleys of intricate internal rhymes, off-the-wall cultural references and non-sequiturs, the album gained him a sizable cult following.
Dumile’s career was anything but straightforward, and he followed up the notoriety gained through “Doomsday” with a flurry of collaborations, instrumental releases and projects under the alternate alias Viktor Vaughn. His aligned with the influential Minneapolis label Rhymesayers for his second album as Doom, “Mm…Food,” in late 2004, but it was another project from earlier that year that truly established him among the uppermost ranks of independent hip-hop figures. Released via the Highland Park indie Stones Throw, “Madvillainy” united Dumile with California producer Madlib, with whom he established an uncanny chemistry. By turns cerebral and goofy, drugged-out and lucid, the album offered heady, jagged-edged collages of jazz samples and obscure film dialog, while Doom’s rhymes were as absurd, inventive, hilarious and endlessly quotable as ever. The album saw Dumile enter the lower rungs of the Billboard top 200 album chart, and brought with it substantial press attention and praise from some of the biggest names in hip-hop.
The following year, Dumile returned to the charts ― this time breaking into the top 50 ― via a collaboration with producer Danger Mouse, dubbed “The Mouse and the Mask.” Dumile’s subsequent recording career was characteristically erratic, releasing plenty of unexpected projects (including repeat work with Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim), while other long-rumored collaborations (particularly a joint album with the Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah) failed to materialize. Never seen in public without his metal mask, Dumile became notorious for sometimes sending masked impostors to lip-sync in his stead at concerts; asked about this habit by Rolling Stone, he explained, “everything we do is villain-style.”
His last full album as Doom (having since dropped the MF) was released in 2009 ― titled “Born Like This,” it featured production from Madlib as well as the late J Dilla, and saw Dumile break into the album charts for the first time as a solo artist.
Original link Here https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mf-doom-death_n_5fee60c1c5b61817a5361803
Al Sharpton calls on NYPD to identify, charge woman in viral Manhattan hotel confrontation
MANHATTAN — Civil rights icon and activist Rev. Al Sharpton is calling on the NYPD to publicly identify and charge a woman who confronted and allegedly attacked a Black teen and his father at a Manhattan hotel.
“There is clearly no reason to treat her any differently…than any number of Blacks that are accused of a crime, or others in this city” Sharpton told the PIX11 Morning News on Wednesday.
Police said Tuesday they had identified the woman and were looking for her, but didn’t release her name.
The woman is accused of pushing and grabbing 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. after falsely accusing him of stealing her cellphone at SoHo’s Arlo Hotel on Sunday, officials said. His 40-year-old father, Keyon Harrold, suffered scratches to his hand during the incident.
Police sources said the woman’s phone had actually been left in an Uber and was returned the same day.
While the NYPD confirmed they were looking into multiple charges against the woman, they said it was not being investigated as a bias incident.
“Thank God his father was there,” Sharpton said. “He might have been handcuffed and treated any kind of way.”
Sharpton said the reason the story has evoked such a strong reaction in New York and beyond is because it is sadly all too familiar for many Black families.
“When we see this young man, that could have been any of our kids, and any of the circumstances could have led to something that would have been physically damming and legally damaging,” he said.
Sharpton is set to appear at a rally Wednesday against racial profiling and demanding justice for the teen.
via: https://www.pix11.com/news/local-news/manhattan/al-sharpton-calls-on-nypd-to-identify-charge-woman-in-viral-manhattan-hotel-confrontation
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Worker fired after deliberately destroying 500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine
A worker at a Wisconsin medical facility was fired for deliberately destroying over 500 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, a report said.
Aurora Medical Center said in a statement obtained by Fox6 that the worker at their Grafton location admitted Wednesday to intentionally removing 57 vials of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine from a pharmacy refrigerator on Saturday.
“We are more than disappointed that this individual’s actions will result in a delay of more than 500 people receiving their vaccine,” the company said in its statement.
“This was a violation of our core values, and the individual is no longer employed by us.”
Wednesday’s revelation came after the company’s initial review attributed the incident to “unintended human error.”
Local authorities have been made aware of the incident, the company said. Aurora Medical Center did not disclose a possible motive for the worker’s actions.
The FBI and FDA were also involved in the investigation, according to FOX6.
The spoiled vaccines were designated for Aurora Medical Center health care workers.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/30/worker-fired-after-deliberately-destroying-500-doses-of-covid-19-vaccine/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Child, 3, hospitalized in critical condition after ingesting marijuana edibles in New Jersey
CLIFFSIDE PARK, NJ — A 3-year-old child has been in critical condition at a New Jersey hospital for days after ingesting marijuana edibles, officials said Monday.
The child was rushed to a hospital on Christmas, unresponsive. Investigators determined that Darnell Jefferson allegedly brought the edibles to the home of Enjoli Camacho.
They were arrested on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and possession of narcotic paraphernalia.
Jefferson and Camacho were both processed and released pending their first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court.
via: https://www.pix11.com/news/local-news/new-jersey/child-3-hospitalized-in-critical-condition-after-ingesting-marijuana-edibles-in-new-jersey
Photo Credit: Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office
White teen pushed out of college after video of her saying N-word at 15 resurfaces
A high school cheerleader had her college “dream” shattered when a black classmate arbitrarily posted a years-old video of her saying the N-word, her lawyer said this week — as the University of Tennessee faced backlash for pushing the teen out.
Incoming freshman Mimi Groves, now 19, was kicked off the school cheer team and forced to withdraw earlier this year amid complaints from outraged alumni and students when fellow teen Jimmy Galligan posted the clip.
The incident gained national attention when it was detailed in a New York Times story over the weekend.
Groves’ lawyer accused the university of making a “rush to judgement” for something his client did as a kid.
“Mimi was a kid when she did this,” attorney Shan Wu told Fox News Monday. “She’s appalled, and having said that, she’s not trying to excuse [her actions] in any way.”
“What she lost was her dream,” the lawyer added. “Like many athletes, she had worked most of her young adult life for a shot at going to a great school and being on their team. That was taken away from her in what can only be described as a rush to judgement.”
Galligan, of Leesburg, Virginia, was in class at Heritage High School in Loudoun County last year when a friend texted him the video of Groves spitting out the racial slur.
“I can drive, n—–s!” Groves said in the clip while driving in traffic. She had sent the three-second clip to a friend through Snapchat in 2016.
Galligan, 18, whose mother is black and father is white, said he complained to school faculty but they ignored the video of the then-high school cheerleading captain.
So he held onto the video until he found the right time to publish.
“I wanted to get her where she would understand the severity of that word,” he told the Times.
In June, Galligan posted the video on social media in the midst of protests across the nation after the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by police in Minnesota the month before.
Around that same time, Groves, who was an incoming freshman at the University of Tennessee, posted on her Instagram urging her followers to “protest, donate, sign a petition, rally, do something” in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Times reported.
“You have the audacity to post this, after saying the N-word,” a person whom Groves didn’t know wrote in response to her public post.
Groves admitted her actions were inexcusable.
“At the time, I didn’t understand the severity of the word, or the history and context behind it because I was so young,” Groves told the Times.
“It honestly disgusts me that those words would come out of my mouth,” she continued. “How can you convince somebody that has never met you and the only thing they’ve ever seen of you is that three-second clip?”
But her world came crashing down when her dream school pressured her to resign amid outrage from admissions officials, she told the Times.
“They’re angry, and they want to see some action,” an admissions official told the Groves family, according to an audio recording reviewed by the Times.
On Twitter at the time, the university didn’t publicly name Groves, but acknowledged that an incoming student would no longer attend due to controversy over a racist video.
“On Wednesday, following a racist video and photo surfacing on social media, Athletics made the decision not to allow a prospective student to join the Spirit Program. She will not be attending the university this fall,” the university posted on June 4.
Galligan says he has no regrets about sharing Groves’ video publicly.
“If I never posted that video, nothing would have ever happened,” he told the Times. “And because the internet never forgets, the clip will always be available to watch.
“I’m going to remind myself, you started something,” Galligan added. “You taught someone a lesson.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/29/white-teen-kicked-out-of-college-after-n-word-video-resurfaces/
Photo Credit: Snapchat; TikTok