Georgia Police Dog Dies Chasing Suspect in 90-Degree Heat
A police K9 in Georgia suddenly fell ill while chasing a suspect and died.
News outlets report the Gwinnett County police dog named Eli was working with his handler in Snellville on Thursday when he began to show symptoms believed to be heat-related. A police statement says the eight-year department veteran had been tracking the suspect for about 30 minutes in 90-degree weather.
It says the 9-year-old dog was quickly taken to a local veterinarian for treatment but didn’t recover.
Details surrounding the chase and suspect are unclear.
via: http:// https://ktla.com/2019/05/24/georgia-police-dog-dies-chasing-suspect-in-90-degree-heat/
Photo Credit: ktla.com/Gwinnett County Police
Man takes bath in kitchen sink at Wendy’s, viral video shows
(Meredith) – A video of a former Wendy’s employee bathing in a sink full of soapy water at the fast-food restaurant has gone viral.
Someone recorded a Snapchat video of a male employee stepping into the industrial-size sink, wearing only shorts, at a Wendy’s location in Milton, Florida.
Facebook user Haley Leach shared a screen-recording of the 90-second clip on Facebook Tuesday, where it racked up more than 700,000 views. Leach told the Dayton Beach News-Journal that she posted it because she felt the public needed to know.
In the video, employees can be heard laughing in the background while one worker repeatedly says, “Take a bath.”
The franchise owner later released a statement calling the incident a “prank” by a former employee who used poor judgement, according to WEAR-TV.
We are taking this incident seriously and it is obviously totally unacceptable,” the statement said. “This was a prank by a person who no longer works at this restaurant, and who clearly did not use good judgment. We are taking this opportunity to reinforce our very strict quality procedures with our restaurant team.”
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation also launched an investigation into the matter, the News-Journal reported.
Inspectors went to the location and reportedly found no major violations. The restaurant passed the inspection, and the manager was instructed on sanitation and safety requirements.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/Haley Leach
Feds bust Disney World worker for trying to lure young girl for sex
A Disney World employee was nabbed for trying to lure an 8-year-old girl for sex — after bringing a child-size pink dress and condoms to the “encounter” that was actually set up by an undercover federal agent, authorities said.
Frederick Pohl, 40, of Clermont, Fla., believed he had been chatting online with the girl and her dad to arrange a sexual encounter — but he was unwittingly communicating with the fed, the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida said in a statement Thursday.
Pohl allegedly sent explicit photos of himself to the “girl” and agreed to meet with her at an Orlando hotel.
He was arrested upon arrival and charged with transferring obscene material to a minor and attempting to entice a minor, the feds said.
A spokesperson for the Middle District of Florida confirmed to 7 News Miami that Pohl was employed at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. A Facebook page that appears to belong to him indicates that he works at Tomorrowland Attractions, one of the themed “lands” that make up the Magic Kingdom.
Pohl faces a maximum sentence of life behind bars if convicted.
Disney didn’t immediately return a message.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/24/feds-bust-disney-world-worker-for-trying-to-lure-young-girl-for-sex/
Photo Credit: nypost.com/Seminole County Sheriff’s Office
Man faces life in prison for cutting up, dissolving girlfriend’s body
A Texas man who killed his live-in girlfriend, cut her body into small pieces, and dissolved the remains in chemicals was sentenced to life behind bars for the horrifying murder, prosecutors said this week.
Kevin Wayne Powell, 50, described in local reports as a self-employed home remodeler, was found guilty of capital murder in connection with the gruesome 2015 slaying of Kasey Rae Nutter, 28, the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Wednesday.
He received an automatic sentence of life in prison without parole.
In the fall of 2015, Nutter made many claims of abuse against Powell, including a pending charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the statement said. Witnesses believed Powell became paranoid that Nutter was speaking to police behind his back and might seek retribution against her.
The woman’s last known communication to anyone was in December of that year, prosecutors said.
When her grandmother reported her missing in early 2016, authorities launched a probe — prompting one of Powell’s relatives to come forward.
The relative testified that the woman’s much older beau told him that he’d “taken care of” Nutter — murdering her, cutting her body into small pieces with multiple power saws, dissolving the remains in chemicals and disposing of them, according to the report.
Then evidence was found indicating that Powell had repainted his home bedroom and began covering certain areas with furniture screwed onto the wall. He had also pawned his saws shortly after a missing person’s report was filed, prosecutors said.
With a search warrant, cops raided Powell’s home and found DNA evidence confirmed to be Nutter’s that the man had attempted to hide along floors and baseboards.
Investigators continued to search for Nutter for three years, but never found any information indicating she was alive, prosecutors said.
Joetta Keene, Powell’s defense attorney, argued that “Kasey was a mess” and “very troubled,” according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Earlier in the trial, she argued that jurors might eventually come to believe that Nutter was not dead.
“You will not even believe, beyond a reasonable doubt, whether Kasey Nutter is alive, or dead, part of human trafficking,” Keene said. “You just don’t know.”
But prosecutor and Intimate Partner Violence Team chief Allenna Bangs said, “Kasey was living a life of terror at the hands of the defendant and saw no way out.”
“His abuse and her untimely death should not have been the end of her story,” Bangs added. “She deserved better, and the jury saw fit to rectify that.”
In October 2016, Powell was indicted on a capital murder charge, the Dallas Morning News reported.
The trial against him began May 14 and jurors took just over an hour to return a guilty verdict, according to the report.
He’s now in custody at the Tarrant County Jail.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/23/man-faces-life-in-prison-for-cutting-up-dissolving-girlfriends-body/
Photo Credit: nypost.com/Tarrant County Jail
Teen who showed sex tape to friends will register as sex offender
A judge in Ohio has ordered a teen who admitted to secretly filming himself having sex with a 14-year-old girl and sharing the footage with classmates to register as a sex offender for the next 25 years.
Jeremiah Horton, 18, was indicted by a grand jury in December after the girl’s mother went to police with the video. Police said the senior football player sent it to fellow students at North College Hill High School in Cincinnati, from which he was later expelled, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.
In addition to registering as a Tier 2 sex offender, Horton was sentenced by a judge to spend six months at River City Correctional Center, a rehab facility for nonviolent felony offenders. Horton had faced up to three years in prison, WKRC reports.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate, but you did something you shouldn’t have done, obviously,” Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Patrick Dinkelacker told the teen. “And there’s a price to pay.”
The judge also warned Horton not to violate his parole upon release from custody, saying he would certainly spend significant time behind bars if that occurred.
“We’re not playing anymore,” Dinkelacker told the teen.
Horton, who was one of four teens prosecuted in connection with the video, pleaded guilty in April to a felony child pornography charge. As part of his sex offender designation, Horton will be required to register his address with authorities every six months for the next 25 years, the Enquirer reports.
Prosecutors said Horton shared the video with classmates in September. Three students then shared the explicit footage, including one 14-year-old boy who sent it as a group text messages to eight other people, according to court documents obtained by the newspaper.
Those three teens who were prosecuted in juvenile court have since been placed on probation.
Horton, for his part, apologized to the victim and her family in court Thursday, WKRC reports.
“I’m not proud of what I did,” Horton said, adding that he was also sorry for the humiliation he caused his father, who has raised him alone as a single parent.
Horton’s attorney, meanwhile, said his client’s actions were a “youthful indiscretion” gone awry.
“I doubt very seriously you’ll ever see this young man in the criminal justice system,” attorney Carl Lewis told Dinkelacker.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/24/teen-who-showed-sex-tape-to-friends-will-register-as-sex-offender/
Photo Credit: nypost.com/North College Hill Police
Son buried dead 97-year-old mom in backyard to collect benefits
An Arizona man allegedly buried his dead 97-year-old mother in the backyard — and told no one so that he could continue raking in the woman’s Social Security and Veterans Affairs benefits, local police said.
Daniel Shannon, 66, of San Tan Valley, was busted Wednesday for allegedly hiding the corpse of Leonie Shannon, who hadn’t been seen since December, the Pinal County Sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Cops were called to the home on April 5 after someone became concerned about the whereabouts of the woman — who was under her son’s care.
At the time, Daniel Shannon told investigators that his mother walked away from the home on Dec. 21, and it wasn’t the first time the nonagenarian took off. The woman had just started receiving Veterans Affairs benefits, he claimed, and he didn’t want to report her missing in case she returned home.
But his story kept changing, police said.
Finally, when detectives questioned him Wednesday, he admitted his mom passed away on Dec. 21 — and instead of reporting it, he buried her in the backyard so he could continue receiving her Social Security and Veterans Affairs benefits, cops said.
He claimed he needed the benefits to help pay for the patent on his “invention.” Cops did not specify what that invention was.
Authorities obtained a search warrant, and detectives discovered a body in the backyard. The medical examiner will positively identify the remains and determine a cause of death.
Daniel Shannon was charged with fraud and improper disposal of a body.
Cops are continuing to investigate, and he said could potentially face additional charges.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/24/son-buried-dead-97-year-old-mom-in-backyard-to-collect-benefits-cops/
Photo Credit: nypost.com/Pinal County Sheriff’s Office
High school reprints yearbooks after students seen flashing alleged racist signs
A Chicago high school will reprint its 2018-19 yearbooks at a cost of $53,794 after 18 photographs show students making a hand gesture associated with white nationalism, according to reports.
Students of “various races, ethnicities, genders and grades” were seen flashing the upside-down “OK,” schools chief Joylynn Pruitt-Adams told parents, students and staff in an email Monday about the Oak Park and River Forest HS, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“The photos in question, as well as other club/team photos in which students are striking poses and making gestures, will be replaced with straight-forward group shots,” Pruitt-Adams wrote about the 1,750 copies of “Tabula.”
“While putting stickers over the photos would be a cheaper solution, it would draw attention to particular groups of students and place a cloud of suspicion over all the students in those photos, regardless of whether they used the sign or not,” she said.
The hand gesture has at times been used in the popular “circle game,” in which pranksters holds the circle below their waists to make others look at it, but it has more recently become associated with the white supremacist movement.
Members of the online group 4chan first began using the symbol as a means of tricking others into thinking they were seeing “white power” symbols everywhere.
Groups like the Anti-Defamation League have said the gesture has come to signify an authentic hate symbol.
Among those to publicly flash the controversial sign was the self-described racist accused of killing 51 Muslim worshipers at mosques in New Zealand.
“My understanding is [yearbook staff] followed protocol,” Pruitt-Adams said. “Things in this country change so rapidly. I don’t want anyone to think we are accusing our students of anything. For us, it was the impact of what the publication could have on the student body.”
School board member Matt Baron voted against reprinting the yearbooks.
“One of my biggest concerns: that if we toss out these 1,750 Tabulas, rather than come to the thoughtful conclusion that they should still be distributed, we are playing right into the hands of all the haters whose evil is at the root of this corrosive and divisive angst — and worse — that we are experiencing,” he said on Facebook.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Father sentenced to 438 years for the rape, sodomy, sexual assault of his own 2 children
(WALA/Meredith) — A Georgia father was sentenced to 438 years in an Alabama penitentiary for his part in raping, sodomizing and sexually abusing two of his own children a dozen years ago.
The sentencing for Michael William Lesher, 53, of Carollton, Ga. was announced Wednesday.
The victims reported the crimes in 2007 after a school resource officer reported an injury to one of the victim’s necks.
According to Tuscaloosa News, prosecutors were unable to get far with the case until the victims were in their 20s and willing to testify. There is no statute of limitations for sex crimes against children.
Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson said he is pleased with the sentence, noting that the conviction and sentence give some closure to the victims, who were believed by some in law enforcement to be too young to testify when the incidents were first reported.
Despite the case being delayed for years before he entered office, Anderson said, “seeking justice for these victims became the goal of the Morgan County District Attorney’s office. They have waited far too long for their day in court, and I am glad that we were finally able to give them the opportunity to tell about the abuse that they suffered at the hands of their father.”
A Morgan County jury convicted Lesher on March 29 following a four-day trial in Circuit Court. The jury returned guilty verdicts on two counts of Rape in the First Degree, two counts of Sodomy in the First Degree and two counts of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree as well as one count of Incest.
Judge Stephen F. Brown handed down Lesher’s sentence Tuesday afternoon in Decatur. Chief Assistant District Attorney Paul Matthews and Assistant District Attorney Courtney Schellack prosecuted the case for the state.
“In my 37 years as a prosecutor, this is singularly the most disturbing case of child sexual assault that I have ever tried,” Matthews said.
Lisa Lesher, 40, who prosecutors say was an accomplice to her husband’s crimes, remains in custody pending trial.
Photo Credit: kmov.com/Morgan County Sheriff’s Office
Jury acquits man accused of killing, dismembering 2-year-old dumped in Chicago lagoon
CHICAGO — A Cook County jury acquitted an Illinois man accused of killing a 2-year-old boy, dismembering his body and dumping his remains in Chicago’s Garfield Park Lagoon.
Kamel Harris, 44, was found not guilty on Thursday in the gruesome 2015 death of 2-year-old Kyrian Knox.
In August of 2015, Kyrian’s mother had given the boy to Harris, the father of a friend, for a couple of weeks while she and a friend tried to find jobs in Iowa in hopes of moving there, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Harris took the stand in his own defense Wednesday and said he gave Kyrian to three people after speaking by phone to a woman he believed to be the boy’s mother.
The toddler’s body was found weeks later in the lagoon after someone saw a foot floating in the water.
Harris’ attorney repeatedly said that there was no forensic evidence tying his client to the crime.
The boy’s mother, Lanisha Knox, wailed in the courtroom after hearing the jury’s verdict, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. After leaving the building, Knox reportedly said, “That was some bulls***. I can’t believe this.”
“This is an innocent man,” Assistant Public Defender Kulmeet Galhotra told the paper. “The guy who did this is still out there.”
Harris is expected to be released from custody soon.
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
Man Detained After Strangling Girlfriend, 2 Young Children in Riverside Before Threatening to Kill Them, Put Child in Dryer
A man was taken into custody more than 14 years after his then-girlfriend reported that he battered and strangled her and her two children in Riverside and threatened to kill them and put one of the children in a dryer, the Riverside Police Department said Wednesday.
The suspect, Leopoldo Martinez Garcia, severely battered and strangled the 24-year-old woman unconscious, and also battered and strangled her 1 and 4-year-old children in August 2004 at a home in the 2700 block of Iris Street in the Eastside neighborhood of Riverside, police said.
Garcia refused to allow her to leave or call for help for her and the children, according to authorities.
He held up shotgun and threatened to kill her and one of the kids, and put the other in the dryer, police said.
The mother and her children escaped the next day and called police, but officers couldn’t find Garcia and he was believed to have changed his identity and fled the country, Riverside Police said.
The Riverside Police Department’s METRO Team was called to assist with the case in 2017. The task force assists the U.S. Marshall Service with finding and arresting criminals who flee the country.
About a year later, authorities narrowed down Garcia’s location to the Mexican state of Michoacán and the investigation continued until the task force and Mexican authorities found two possible locations for the suspect within the state, police said.
Garcia was found and detained in Michoacán last week by Mexican authorities on May 16 and then transferred into U.S. custody, according to Riverside Police.
The U.S. Marshals Service is holding Garcia in Texas where he awaits extradition to Riverside County.
He faces three counts of attempted murder and several other felony offenses, according to authorities.
No further details were immediately available.
Photo Credit: ktla.com