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.
Man impersonating officer pulls over van full of actual cops on Long Island
HICKSVILLE, N.Y. — Police in the New York City suburbs say they’ve arrested a fake cop who tried to pull over real detectives.
Nassau County police say Valiery Portlock sounded a horn and flashed emergency lights Friday morning as he an attempt to pull over a van in Hicksville, Long Island.
The unmarked van turned out to be occupied by detectives from the department’s electronics squad.
Police say that once the detectives identified themselves and approached his vehicle, the 25-year-old Portlock swerved his Nissan Sentra into oncoming traffic and sped to the Long Island Expressway.
Police say highway patrol officers eventually pulled Portlock over and arrested him without incident.
He faces charges of criminal impersonation and reckless endangerment.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Washington mother says fake CPS workers tried to take her son
MARYSVILLE, Wash. – A Washington state mother says she went through a terrifying experience early Monday morning when a pair claiming to be Child Protective Services agents demanded she hand over her 4-year-old child.
But the victim told police the strangers refused to provide proof they worked for the state and now detectives are investigating.
“Anxiety and adrenaline just pretty much took over and I just pretty much wanted to get my son somewhere safe,” said mother Jessi McCombs. “I just don’t want somebody else to end up in a situation like that or worse.”
McCombs said a man and woman knocked on her door early Monday morning, announced they were with CPS and demanded she hand over her 4-year-old son, Liam. She said they had detailed information about her and her family.
“She was there about my son’s injuries and they were there to take my son into custody. My son doesn’t have any injuries, so I was really confused and thought for sure she had the wrong house until she told me his name and birthday, she knew my name,” she said.
After some back and forth, McCombs still refused to give up Liam and eventually the strangers left. She then dropped Liam off at day care and went to work. She says she called Marysville police, but the department says they didn’t receive an official report until later last night.
“I did what I thought was best,” she said.
McCombs said another neighbor spotted the same strangers driving around the complex later that day in what looked like an old police car.
“It’s an open and active investigation,” said Mark Thomas from the Marysville Police Department.
Detectives are looking into the case and working to identify the people McCombs talked to Monday morning.
Thomas says CPS agents will always contact local law enforcement to assist before removing any child from a family, adding that Marysville Police was never contacted about any case regarding McCombs.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/21/washington-mother-says-fake-cps-workers-tried-to-take-her-son/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
California Gang Members Laugh In Court While Receiving Life Sentences For Attempted Murder Of Cop
Two California gang members convicted of attempted murder in the 2015 shooting of a police officer smiled and laughed as a judge handed them life sentences on Monday, according to a report.
Jamie Caudillo and Steven Rincon stood trial for shooting at former Merced Police Officer Ryan Rasmussen during a routine traffic stop in Merced, Calif., on Feb. 28, 2015.
According to prosecutors, Caudillo, the passenger, fired at Rasmussen as Rincon sped off. Rasmussen was hit on his bulletproof vest and his hand.
Fellow officers fired at Caudillo, hitting him at least once, the Merced Sun-Star reported.
A 10-hour manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies eventually ended with the arrest of Caudillo and Rincon.
In May, Caudillo was found guilty of shooting Rasmussen, and Rincon of being the getaway driver, the Merced Sun-Star reported. Both were charged with attempted murder, the report said.
Rasmussen, who lost his right pinky finger in the encounter and was forced to retire from police service, said Caudillo “stripped me of my career.”
Merced County Judge Carol Ash said neither gang member appeared to express remorse during the trial.
“I pray that they ask God for forgiveness,” said Rasmussen’s mother, Judith, as Rincon reportedly laughed and shook his head.
Caudillo was sentenced to 50 years and eight months to life in prison, while Rincon received 80 years to life in prison, the Sun-Star reported.
Rincon, a third-strike offender, already was facing charges for a jailhouse murder, according to court records.
The men’s attorney said they would be appealing their sentences and convictions.
Photo Credit: start.att.net
Mom arrested after putting recycling in wrong color bag
A British woman was arrested and held in a police cell — for putting her recycling in the wrong colored bags, according to reports.
Mom of three Lyndsey Webb, 34, was caught putting out black bags in Ipswich rather than following a new system of orange or clear ones for recyclables.
She told The Telegraph she was eventually arrested and forced to give evidence via video link from her cell, getting fined $60 and given a six-month conditional discharge.
“All I did was get the color of my rubbish bags wrong and I’ve suddenly got two police officers at my door arresting me in front of my kids,” she said.
“These people have put me and my family through a total nightmare.”
However, officials say she was only busted because she ignored previous summonses to appear in court, leading to an arrest warrant.
“She was originally sent a warning letter, but her offending continued,” said a spokesman for the Ipswich Borough Council, who claimed Webb was “dumping a large quantity of bags outside a shop in an alleyway.”
“She was sent a summons and missed two court appearances. She was arrested under warrant because of her failure to attend court.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/08/20/mom-arrested-after-putting-recycling-in-wrong-color-bag/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Best Buy deliveryman sets elderly woman on fire; beats her to death
A Best Buy delivery man allegedly doused a woman with a liquid chemical and beat her to death after installing her washer and dryer in Florida, cops said.
Jorge Luis Depre Lachazo, 21, arrived at the Boca Raton home with his coworker to install the appliances on Monday and Lachazo was eventually left alone with Evelyn Udell to explain how to use the devices, according to the Boca Raton Police Department.
The coworker suddenly heard screams and ran inside to discover the 75-year-old Udell lying on the floor covered in blood.
Lachazo then hopped into the delivery van and fled the scene, cops said.
Udell was rushed to Delray Medical Center, where she died on Tuesday.
When he was apprehended, Lachazo admitted that he struck the woman and set her on fire.
The man also told police he had used cocaine and marijuana earlier in the day.
The suspect was charged with murder, arson, and armed burglary.
Photo Credit: Boca Raton Police Department
Ohio man arrested after woman says she went to party, woke up in freezer with severe frostbite
EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio – An Ohio woman is recovering from severe frostbite after telling police say she went to a party and then woke up inside a freezer with severe frostbite.
She managed to escape and crashed a car, which led police to arrest a suspect in East Cleveland, according to WJW.
The woman was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center for treatment. She told police the last thing she remembers is attending a party at a group home on Sunday, and believes she may have been in the freezer for more than one day.
On Tuesday afternoon, East Cleveland police arrested 41-year-old Eric Glaze on charges of kidnapping and attempted murder.
“The next thing I know, I’m talking about police everywhere, and I seen the SWAT dudes come up and kick the door in,” said neighbor Aaron Dennis.
East Cleveland police said they were first alerted to a problem around 10 a.m. when a Garfield Heights woman crashed her car near East 115th Street and Superior Avenue in Cleveland. She told police she was escaping from a man who had put her in a freezer inside a group home on Glenmont Road.
“We were able to ascertain that the suspect was not actually inside the vehicle, but we’re still unclear if the suspect was chasing her in another vehicle,” said East Cleveland Police Cpt. Scott Gardner.
Police said the woman identified Glaze as an acquaintance and directed them to the home where he lived, the same place she says she attended a party on Sunday.
“She came over here on her own volition and essentially, she was administered some sort of narcotic, according to her. She’s not exactly certain of the events, that happened in between, but she woke up and she was in a freezer that was running,” Gardner said.
Police said the woman was not restrained, and was able to push open the lid and escape Tuesday morning.
“She seems to think that they were, that they had drugged her to the capacity that she was dead, is what she was indicating to us, and that they were essentially trying to get rid of her,” Capt. Gardner said.
“Why didn’t you just call 911, have the ambulance come and check her out? First, then they would have determined whether she took something, had something, you know what’s I’m saying, before you just say ‘Oh she’s dead,'” said neighbor Pat Phoeson.
East Cleveland police said the group home houses people with mental challenges, although it is not registered with the city.
“Whether it’s a group home, no group home, whatever it may be… We should have known,” Phoeson said.
East Cleveland police said the woman told them that, to her knowledge, she was not sexually assaulted. But detectives said they were having a rape kit done, in case she was assaulted and does not remember it.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Stranger picks up 7-year-old boy after he’s left at wrong bus stop, father claims -took him back to his grandmother’s house
MARION, Ark. (WHBQ/CNN) — An Arkansas father said a bus driver dropped his 7-year-old son off at the wrong stop, more than a mile away from home.
DeMarcus Watkins Sr. said a complete stranger picked up his son after noticing the boy walking on the side of the road in Marion on Aug. 15.
“Luckily a goodhearted person took him back to his grandmother’s house,” said Watkins.
The father is now demanding an apology from the Marion School District. Watkins claims his son tried to tell the driver he missed his stop but was ignored.
“My biggest problem was when he got to this point and he was telling the driver and the driver’s aide that this is not his right stop, no one really paid attention,” said Watkins.
He said the driver gave his son the option to get off at a different stop or go back to the bus terminal.
The boy’s family didn’t realize he was missing until they saw other kids being dropped at their regular bus stop — except for him.
The superintendent of Marion schools said they are reviewing bus video cameras to determine if the correct procedures were followed. He said there is no question there could be improvements, and they plan to meet with the family this week.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Man Arrested While Attempting to Fix Flat Tires With Gauze and Band-Aids in Mission Viejo
Orange County sheriff’s deputies responding to a report of a suspicious man next to a parked SUV arrived to find him attempting an unusual (and ineffective) method to fix a flat tire.
The man was attempting to patch two damaged tires using gauze and Band-Aids, OCSD – Mission Viejo Police Services said in a Facebook post.
A citizen reported the suspicious man next to the vehicle near Felipe Road and Barbadanes around 6 a.m.
When deputies arrived, they found both driver’s side tires were flat and a 26-year-old man trying to repair them using gauze and Band-Aids.
The man was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs, deputies said.
The suspect’s identity was not released.
Photo Credit: Mission Viejo Police Services