Man who raped teen on FaceTime call busted thanks to screenshots
A brutal rapist who attacked a teenager while she chatted to her boyfriend on FaceTime was caught thanks to him taking screengrabs of the attack.
Samuel Fortes, 27, followed the 19-year-old victim through the England city of Leeds before dragging her under an overpass and raping her during a 15-minute attack.
Although horrified by what he was seeing, the victim’s boyfriend took a screenshot of Fortes stamping on the girl – which was later used by police as evidence.
He called the police and his girlfriend was found a short time after at the scene of the attack, battered and bruised and naked from the waist down.
The victim’s heartbroken dad later said: “It is like you have been growing and protecting a flower for 19 years and all of a sudden somebody just comes and stomps on it.”
The student was returning from a night out with friends when Fortes, who had been lurking in Leeds city centre, spotted her at 3:15 a.m.
He walked alongside the teenager and asked her for her number.
She politely refused and tried to walk off, still chatting to her boyfriend on the mobile phone app.
As she was about to cross a footbridge to walk home, Fortes grabbed her from behind, Leeds Crown Court was told.
Prosecutor David Gordon said: “The victim struggled and told Fortes to get off her.
“He was smirking and she asked him why. His reply was to punch her in the face six times.”
He dragged her from the footbridge to underneath an overpass where she was savagely attacked.
Most of her clothes were ripped off. She suffered a fracture to her face, a broken tooth and extensive swelling to her face and body.
PUNCHED HER SIX TIMES IN THE FACE
The victim feared she was going to die but Fortes was disturbed when three passers-by on the footbridge found her handbag, phone and keys.
They went to look for the victim and found Fortes attacking her. Fortes fled and police were called.
One officer said: “I was also shocked by the injuries to her face. They were some of the worst I have seen in my 11 years of service.”
Fortes spent an hour hiding behind a bush before fleeing back to his home city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
But he was caught after a painstaking forensic examination of the scene revealed a single piece of hair which was linked to his DNA.
CCTV also showed him wandering around Leeds city centre before the attack, following his victim, and catching a train afterwards.
He was arrested – with the teen’s blood still on his sneakers.
Fortes admitted rape and wounding with intent at Leeds Crown Court on Monday and on Thursday was jailed for life with a minimum of eight years to be served.
Judge Rodney Jameson QC described the victim’s statement as “the most remarkable I have ever encountered,” adding: “I salute her extraordinary courage.”
The victim, now 20, said in the statement read to the court: “I was and still am sickened by the thought that one human could do that to another. I thought I was going to die. It is a feeling that no words could ever describe.
The court heard Fortes, who came to the UK from Portugal in 2010, has previous convictions for domestic violence against an ex-partner in 2017.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/04/19/man-who-raped-teen-on-facetime-call-busted-thanks-to-screenshots/
Michigan woman gets doctors’ names tattooed on her after lifesaving treatment
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A West Michigan woman has made huge strides in recovering after she was nearly decapitated in a car crash.
Lila DeLine was hit by someone going 60 miles per hour while pulling out of her driveway, causing her neck to snap and nearly decapitating her internally.
Doctors said her skull came off her spine and she nearly died.
“I was actually turning into my driveway and my husband heard me coming, and he said that he had gotten about halfway when this woman hit me. he knew enough to secure my neck and my head before moving me,” DeLine said. “He kept me sitting up in a position where I could breath again, and that saved my life that day.”
DeLine beat the odds and avoided paralysis. After several surgeries, she is learning how to talk, walk and swallow again, according to MLive.
The 36-year-old mother of two is back homeschooling her two daughters, making dinner for her family and doing chores.
Doctors said DeLine was taking steps less than a month after the crash.
While she may not be able to do everything she used to, she has finished her regular rehabilitation sessions at Mary Free Bed and continues her recovery at home.
DeLine credits her husband’s quick response and of course the doctors with saving her life, even going as far as to get her doctor’s names tattooed on her.
Ancestry.com apologizes for ad criticized for romanticizing slavery
Genealogical website Ancestry.com has apologized for a video advertisement depicting a white man in the 1800s telling a black woman they can “escape to the north.”
The ad, which aired on television and was posted on YouTube, shows the characters dressed in clothing from the 1800s running through an alley when they stop to talk.
The man holds a ring in his left fingers and tells the woman, named Abigail, that they can escape to the north. She starts to reply but he cuts her off saying they can go across the border where there is a place they can be together.
“Will you leave with me?” the man asks.
Critics said the commercial evoked images of slavery in the United States and a time when black women were subjugated and raped by white slave owners.
“What the hell is this @Ancestry?” Bishop Talbert Swan tweeted. “Why do white people insist on romanticizing my Black female ancestors experiences with white men during slavery? They were raped, abused, treated like animals, beaten, and murdered by white men. Stop with the revisions.”
As the video ends, a “marriage certificate” appears on the screen, saying that the couple portrayed were wed in Canada in 1857.
The ad, titled “Inseparable,” was published April 2 on YouTube, but the video went viral on Twitter Thursday and was later removed from the video-sharing platform.
In a statement sent to the media, the company, also one of the largest DNA-testing sites, said: “Ancestry is committed to telling important stories from history. This ad was intended to represent one of those stories. We very much appreciate the feedback we have received and apologize for any offense that the ad may have caused.”
CNN has reached out to Ancestry to seek more information about the ad, which directed users to ancestry.ca.
via: https://fox2now.com/2019/04/19/ancestry-com-apologizes-for-ad-criticized-for-romanticizing-slavery/
A 5-year-old called 911 asking for McDonald’s, and the responding officer delivered
Sometimes, your fast food cravings just can’t wait. That’s what happened to Iziah, a 5-year-old boy from Wyoming.
Iziah managed to get a hold of a cell phone that his family says was deactivated years ago, but he somehow got it connected to WiFi.
According to WZZM, he called 911 early Sunday morning and asked if they could bring him McDonald’s. His grandma was still asleep.
The 911 call revealed Iziah asking for McDonald’s and the dispatcher telling him no. But dispatch still reached out to police to do a wellness check on Iziah to make sure everything was alright.
Officer Dan Patterson responded to the call. He said while he was on his way to the house, he would be driving past a McDonald’s anyway, so he decided to stop and pick up a meal for Iziah.
“I figured hey, I’m driving past McDonald’s on my way there and I might as well get him something,” Patterson told WZZM.
When Patterson arrived at the house, no one answered the door, so he knocked on Iziah’s window. Patterson said the first thing Iziah said to him was, “My grandma’s going to be so mad. Can you please go away?”
According to WZZM, Iziah’s grandma was not mad. In fact, she was glad that Iziah learned a lesson about what makes a true emergency.
Man knowingly transferred HIV to women he met on dating apps
FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — Police say a Maryland man knowingly spread HIV to four women after meeting them on dating sites and apps.
The Frederick News-Post reported Tuesday that 34-year-old Rudolph Jericho Smith has been charged with first-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
He also faces counts of knowingly transferring or attempting to transfer HIV to another person. The charge is a misdemeanor under Maryland’s general health law.
Frederick police Lt. Kirk Henneberry said Smith was charged following a 21-month investigation. The time was needed to build the case.
He said detectives found alleged victims and scoured dating sites. They also filed requests for medical records.
Frederick County State’s Attorney Charlie Smith said police and prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person was aware they were HIV-positive before they can be charged
Mom to serve 30 days in jail for running over 9-year-old son in school parking lot
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A woman who pleaded guilty to reckless driving for running over her 9-year-old son while dropping him off at school in Michigan has been ordered to serve 30 days in jail.
Thirty-six-year-old Tiffany Kosakowski said during her Thursday sentencing hearing that she must “live with this for the rest of my life.”
Kent County Circuit Court Judge Curt Benson sentenced her to 6 months in jail, with all but 30 days suspended. He called her actions “simply inexcusable.”
Kosakowski’s son hung from the passenger-side front door for nearly 50 yards (48 meters) in December at Chandler Woods Charter Academy’s parking lot in Belmont before he lost his grip and was run over.
Authorities say he didn’t want to stay at school. The boy survived but suffered traumatic injury to his brain.
Two 14-year-old FL girls drew up plans to kill 9 people, police say
(CNN) — Two 14-year-old girls in Florida have been arrested after a teacher discovered their plans to kill nine people, sheriff’s reports say.
The Highlands County School Board confirmed in a statement to CNN that two Avon Park Middle School students were taken into custody Wednesday for “a possible plan to harm others off campus,” but declined to offer additional details, citing the ongoing investigation.
Avon Park is about 80 miles south of Orlando.
A teacher saw the two girls acting “hysterical” while they searched for a folder in her classroom, according to the girls’ arrest reports from the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office.
The girls were concerned that they could be arrested, the teacher told police, and one of them said, “I’m just going to tell them it’s a prank if they call me or if they find it.”
The teacher found the folder and a letter inside that mentioned “guns,” the arrest reports said.
Inside were eight pieces of paper, the reports said. They contained written plans to obtain guns, kill nine people and remove and dispose of the bodies.
Each girl faces nine counts of conspiracy to commit murder and three counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, according to the sheriff’s office reports.
Andrew Lethbridge, the Highlands County School System Deputy Superintendent, told CNN affiliate WFLA that the threat was being taken very seriously.
“Whether it’s in print or something that we say, it matters, and we are held accountable for those words,” he said.
Argument over use of car leads to Georgia toddler’s death
Police in Georgia said a two-year-old girl is dead because of a fight over a car.
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said the girl’s mom, 19-year-old Jackqueline Ingram, and her boyfriend, 28-year-old Marquie Gunter, were arguing over who could use a car Tuesday night.
Then, Gunter allegedly started firing gunshots outside the home in Augusta.
Police said multiple gunshots hit the car. Ingram ran inside and locked the doors. Gunter then allegedly kicked open the front door of the house and fired the gun again, hitting two-year-old Ja’Ziah Pollard in the head.
Gunter is charged with murder, aggravated assault, second-degree criminal damage to property, possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
According to police, Gunter is not Ja’Ziah’s father, but he does have another child with Ingram.
Bond information was not available.
Man falls asleep next to garage, accidentally shoots himself when homeowner wakes him
LAKE TAPPS, Wash. — A 33-year-old man is in custody after reportedly falling asleep in his truck next to a stranger’s garage in Washington state, then accidentally shooting himself when the resident confronted him.
According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded about 6:40 a.m. Thursday to reports of a man in a truck firing shots at a property in the 2800 block of 170th Avenue East.
When deputies arrived, they found a 33-year-old man in the driveway area of the property in question. He was suffering from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the leg and was taken into custody without incident.
Deputies learned that sometime overnight, the suspect was driving to visit an acquaintance in the South Hill area, but got lost and decided to park his truck alongside a garage at the property on 179th Avenue. The suspect reportedly used methamphetamine and then fell asleep inside his truck.
Thursday morning, the person who lives at the property noticed the unknown vehicle when she was pulling out of her driveway. The woman told deputies that she rolled down the window of her vehicle and verbally confronted the suspect.
The suspect reportedly awoke screaming and began firing a handgun. Multiple rounds went through the windshield and window of the suspect’s truck in the direction of the victim and her vehicle. One round also struck the suspect in the leg.
The woman was not injured.
The man was taken to an area hospital and is under guard while he is receiving medical treatment for his gunshot wound. He’ll be booked for assault in the first-degree when he’s released.
Nashville homeowner arrives at house to find naked man on couch and drinking juice
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Police said a man opened the door of his Tennessee home and found another man sitting on his couch naked and drinking juice Wednesday night, according to WSMV.
The homeowner walked in and found James Wooten sitting on his couch. He tried to get Wooten to leave, but the suspect screamed and wouldn’t go.
Police arrived and arrested Wooten for public indecency.
Police said they found the homeowner’s bedroom window propped open.
via: https://fox2now.com/2019/04/18/nashville-homeowner-arrives-at-house-to-find-naked-man-on-couch/