Mom arrested for allegedly macing group in fight with her daughter
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Virginia mother was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly macing a group of people that were fighting her daughter.
Around 7:15 p.m., police responded to reports of a fight in progress in the Belly Lee and Woodside Drive area of Newport News.
When officers arrived, they found a group of females being “disorderly.” Several of them showed symptoms of having being sprayed with mace, police said.
One woman told officers that the fight stemmed from a dispute between her daughter and another child, who was identified as 34-year-old Keisha Rankins.
While Rankins and the other mother were talking, their daughters began to fight in the street, police said. The other mother allegedly tried to separate the two and then became part of the fight resulting in several other people joining in.
Rankins allegedly picked up a can of mace from the ground and started spraying to get everyone off of her daughter.
Police arrested Rankins for three counts of malicious assault by acid/explosive/fire, two counts of assault, and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
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Arrest Made in Killing of Dog Chained to Fence, Doused With Accelerant, Set on Fire in Virginia Park
A man accused of chaining a dog in a Virginia park before setting him on fire, resulting in his death, has been arrested.
Jyahshua A. Hill, 20, was taken into custody without incident around 3 p.m. Monday by the U.S. Marshals Regional Fugitive Task Force, KTLA sister station WTKR in Norfolk, Virginia, reported.
The incident sparked widespread outrage, touching the hearts of many across the country. Investigators are crediting an outpouring of information and assistance from the public that helped them solve this crime.
“There are a lot of people to thank, but I’d like to single out all the citizens who contributed tips that pointed us in the right direction” said Richmond Interim Police Chief William C. Smith. “That, plus the excellent job done by arson investigators who did the bulk of the work, major crimes detectives, forensics technicians and animal control officers who all built a strong case to present to the grand jury.”
Hill was indicted by the multi-jurisdictional grand jury on May 8 on one count of felony animal cruelty.
On Feb. 10, Richmond Fire Department units were called to Abner Clay Park, 200 West Clay Street, for a report of a dog being set on fire.
Firefighters found Tommie with severe burns to his body. He had been tied to a chain-link fence, doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire in a Richmond park.
Tommie suffered burns on 40 percent of his body. Despite round-the-clock care, he died five days after rescue.
“He had just finished having his bandages changed and stopped breathing; his body simply gave out,” Richmond Animal Care and Control posted on Facebook. “Tommie was pain free and surrounded by people that loved him when he passed. Needless to say, we are all devastated and angry and sad and terribly disappointed.”
If the dog had survived the attack, under previous law the person responsible could have faced only a Class 1 misdemeanor charge punishable by up to 12 months in jail and a fine up to $2,500. That’s why the crowd following Tommie’s story turned its attention to SB 1604, introduced by Sen. Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach. The bill would increase the penalty for animal abuse from a misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony, which can draw up to five years in prison.
Five days after Tommie’s death, the House passed the bill unanimously. It cleared the Senate unanimously on Feb. 15.
The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office has assigned two attorneys to the case; one has expertise in arson and the other in animal cruelty prosecutions.
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911 operator wrote fake doctor’s notes to get out of work
An NYPD 911 operator was busted Monday for allegedly writing up fake doctor’s notes to get paid days off, police said.
Stephanie Williams, 30, is accused of giving the fraudulent medical notes to the NYPD on seven different occasions, cops said.
Williams was arrested just after 6:30 a.m. Monday while on duty in Bushwick, on a charge of criminal possession of a forged instrument, according to police.
She is expected to appear in Brooklyn Criminal Court for her arraignment Monday afternoon.
Williams was lauded in 2013 for her quick-thinking that led to the arrest of an armed teen in Staten Island.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/20/911-operator-wrote-fake-doctors-notes-to-get-out-of-work-cops-say/
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Man blamed ‘brain surgery’ after allegedly stabbing wife to death
A Queens man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly stabbing his wife to death and bashing her with a cutting board — and tried to blame his “brain surgery” for making him snap, according to police sources.
Isidro Pacheco, 56, turned himself in at the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica on Monday after wife Isabel Galeano, 44, was repeatedly stabbed while cooking in their home on Atari Lane that day, cops said.
Pacheco allegedly plunged a kitchen knife into his wife’s back — also cutting her hand — while bashing her with a wooden cutting board, sources say.
“Why did you do that?” he told cops she pleaded in Spanish while under attack, according to the sources.
First responders arrived at the house at 2 p.m. Monday after a 911 call of an attack in progress. Isabel was rushed to Jamaica Hospital but died from her wounds at 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, police said.
After turning himself in to cops, Pacheco allegedly told them he attacked her “because I had brain surgery,” sources said.
Cops haven’t yet confirmed that Pacheco actually underwent brain surgery, something they said could take time due to privacy laws, according to sources.
Pacheco was arrested on charges of second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon Tuesday following his wife’s death.
Police had never been called to the couple’s house and Isidro did not have a criminal record, sources said.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/21/man-blamed-brain-surgery-after-allegedly-stabbing-wife-to-death/
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Man fatally shot wife in chest over fight about cigarettes
A Michigan man was charged with murder on Monday for fatally shooting his wife in the chest after the two had an argument over cigarette smoking.
Vashon Flowers, 46, allegedly shot Jamie Thomas-Flowers inside their Muskegon Heights home at about 6:30 a.m. on Sunday following an argument that took place when the husband came home with cigarettes, according to Muskegon Heights Police.
The couple had recently quit smoking, but Vashon arrived at the residence and said he wanted to smoke while drinking, cops said.
Vashon stormed out of the home and returned several hours later.
When the man came back, he kicked in the door and shot his wife four times in the chest before running away, according to police. He later surrendered to cops.
In addition to the murder charge, Flowers was also charged as a habitual offender due to prior felony convictions.
Muskegon County District Judge Raymond Kostrzewa denied bail during Flowers’ arraignment.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/20/man-fatally-shot-wife-in-chest-over-fight-about-cigarettes-cops/
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Man robbed by woman after refusing to pay for sex
A man was allegedly robbed at knifepoint in the Bronx by a woman he met on a dating app after he refused to pay for sex, police and sources said Tuesday.
The 60-year-old man had been messaging with the woman on an app called Skout, and the pair met around 3 a.m. Monday at an apartment on Holland Avenue near Pelham Parkway South, police and law enforcement sources said.
She allegedly performed sexual services on him, and demanded to be paid, police said. But the man refused — later telling cops he’d never agreed to pay — and she allegedly took out a knife and stole $100 from him, along with a Bluetooth device and three cellphones, the sources added.
She then allegedly forced the victim to withdraw money from an ATM inside a nearby deli but was scared off when the man told a store clerk to call 911.
The man was uninjured. His date is still in the wind.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/21/man-robbed-by-woman-after-refusing-to-pay-for-sex-sources/
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Doctors say Parents who raise kids as vegans should be prosecuted
Good thing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex don’t live in Belgium. Prince Harry and wife Meghan have been said to be considering raising baby Archie as a vegan, a diet Belgian doctors now say is dangerous for growing bodies.
They said parents who place their children on such restrictive diets should be prosecuted.
“It is not medically recommended and even forbidden to subject a child, especially during periods of rapid growth, to a potentially destabilizing diet,” reads the legal opinion published Thursday by The Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium, the Telegraph first reported.
Belgian doctors said that the animal fats and amino acids found in meat and dairy, both excluded in veganism, are vital for growth. Older children could possibly tolerate a vegan diet, authorities said, but only if it were accompanied by supplements and regular medical supervision. To raise children otherwise, the authorities concluded, would be unethical.
Currently, 3 percent of Belgian children are vegan, the Telegraph reported.
The public denouncement was prompted by government official Bernard Devos, following a string of deaths in Belgian day-care centers, schools and hospitals. The opinion will make it easier, legally, for Devos to separate children from parents who insist on the diet.
In 2017, two Belgium parents were convicted following the death of their 7-month-old baby. The infant subsisted on a gluten-free, lactose-free diet and weighed less than 10 pounds when it passed, the Independent reported at the time.
In America, pet owners have been called unethical for imposing veganism on pets.
Last month, an anti-vegan protester ate a raw squirrel outside a vegan festival.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/17/parents-who-raise-kids-as-vegans-should-be-prosecuted-doctors/
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Man wakes from boozy night out to find his penis chopped off
A man woke up after a boozy night to discover his penis had been hacked off — and he had no idea how it happened, it’s reported.
Tan Nan had allegedly been out with friends in Hunan, southern China when he became so drunk he fell asleep, according to local media reports.
When he came round the following morning he felt a sharp pain in his groin, then noticed his genitals had been chopped off, reported Chinese-language local paper STEN. Police are now investigating the bizarre case.
Nan allegedly told cops he had no idea who was responsible for the cruel prank.
According to the Sanxiang Metropolis Daily, the 44-year-old from Huaihua, Hunan, was bleeding profusely but several hospitals apparently turned him away as they were not equipped for such an operation.
Finally, he was taken to Changsha Hospital and treated by microsurgery experts, according to reports.
Local media reported that Dr. Wu Panfeng, who treated Nan, said usually parts of the body that had been amputated should be kept in a dry, refrigerated manner.
After seven hours of surgery, his manhood was reported to have been successfully reattached.
Now he is recovering and doing well, medics have said.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/21/man-wakes-from-boozy-night-out-to-find-his-penis-chopped-off/
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A teen is set to graduate from high school and Harvard within 11 days
Braxton Moral walked across the stage Sunday at his high school in Ulysses, Kansas, as a newly-minted graduate.
Less than two weeks later, the 17-year-old is set on May 30 to mark another milestone: receiving his undergraduate degree from Harvard University.
Moral’s parents enrolled him at the world-renowned institution when he was just 11, he told CNN.
“My parents noticed I was bored in school and needed something to inspire growth, so they ended up finding the Extension School,” he said.
Harvard Extension School is mostly for nontraditional learners, be it someone with a job or who’s not in the age range of a typical college student, Moral said.
Most courses can be taken online, but Extension School students also must earn 16 credit hours in person at the iconic campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said Moral, who majored in government with a minor in English. Moral is currently a degree candidate from the school, a Harvard University spokesman confirmed.
An extraordinary vocabulary and a stunning memory
Studying for both high school and Harvard at the same time wasn’t easy, Moral said. But officials at his high school took a lot of the load off, allowing him to spend a couple hours each day working on Harvard’s coursework, he said.
Moral has always been drawn to law and politics, and he’s now hoping to go to law school, preferably at Columbia University, he said.
“I am, of course, excited to end this chapter of my life and anxious to begin the next,” he said.
Moral’s older sister, 29-year-old Brittney Jo Seger, told CNN her brother has always been talented.
“When he was little, his vocabulary was extraordinary,” she said. “Something my mom, sister and I noticed early on was his memory. That’s one of the things that makes him incredible. But he can look at anything or read anything, and he will instantly remember it forever.”
“This didn’t always benefit us older kids!” she joked.
Watching Moral walk across the stage during his first graduation was bittersweet, Seger said, because their parents couldn’t be there due to their mother’s health issues.
“My mother got a kidney transplant the week before, and my mother and father couldn’t be there because of that. We are a very close family, so we gathered together to help honor him in such a special time,” Seger said. “We can’t wait for Harvard graduation next week and for Brax to start a new chapter in his life and focus on his love for politics.”
Moral is also publishing a book, “Harvard in the Heartland,” about his experience as “an intellectually gifted boy from a small farming town in Western Kansas,” according to the book synopsis.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/05/21/a-teen-is-set-to-graduate-from-high-school-and-harvard-within-11-days/
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High school student named valedictorian while homeless, earns $3M in scholarships
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A teenager in Memphis, Tennessee, exceeded the goals he set for himself – and then some.
Tupac Mosley, 17, a Raleigh Egypt High School graduate was not only named valedictorian, but he told WHBQ he received about 50 scholarships for more than $3 million. He said he was accepted into more than 40 colleges. Mosley reportedly chose Tennessee State University where he will major in electrical engineering.
Mosley said his goal was to receive $1 million in college scholarships.
WHBQ reports Mosley became homeless his senior year. “After my father passed, we fell behind on bills and we ended up getting evicted from our home February 21 of this year,” the teen said.
Mosley told the TV station he and his family have been staying at a place called For the Kingdom — a camping site and nonprofit organization that helps urban children and teens.
During his speech at graduation, he thanked his teachers for always believing in him.
The teen had a very important message: “Never let your current situation, whatever circumstances you’re going through, be a mountain that you can’t climb.”
Photo Credit: pix11.com