Florida man rich enough to buy private island busted for shoplifting
A wealthy Florida Keys man found the dough for an $8 million island off Key West –but was apparently too cheap to cough up the cash for household items he stole them from Kmart, according to reports.
Andrew Francis Lippi, 59, the owner of the Key Haven “Real World” house used in 2006 for the 17th season of the MTV reality series, was arrested on a charge of grand theft over the weekend just days after he purchased the luxe 4.9-acre Thompson Island of Monroe County, The Miami Herald reported.
According to the news outlet, Lippi had swiped $300 worth of goods that included a Keurig coffeemaker, a Hamilton Beach coffeemaker, eight light bulbs and a bed skirt from a Key West Kmart.
Sometime between March 30 and April 5, Lippi bought the wares from the big box department store and then returned the original packaging boxes with other items packed inside, The Miami Herald reported, citing a police report.
Cops say Lippi put a basketball in the Keurig box instead of the $165 coffeemaker, put old light bulbs in the box for the bulbs, and put a pillowcase in the packaging instead of the bed skirt.
The Hamilton Beach coffeemaker was swapped out with an older model, according to the report.
Lippi denied the allegations to The Miami Herald but refused to go into detail.
“Basically it has to do with a commercial dispute,” Lippi said. “I will say this, that the way it was handled by Key West police and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department was wonderful. Some of the finest people I’ve ever dealt with who were kind throughout the whole process.”
When asked about the theft accusation, Lippi said: “It’s very complicated and I’d rather not get into it.”
He added that he purchased the bed skirt from Kmart, but when he got home the pillowcase was inside.
According to cops, Kmart handed over security footage to authorities that showed Lippi with a cart that had the bed skirt in it, the report said.
A week before Lippi’s Saturday arrest, he bought Thompson Island from philanthropist Edward B. Knight.
The island, which is connected to A1A in Key West by a land bridge, is the only private island with direct access to Key West.
The lavish island compound features four bedrooms, six bathrooms, a caretaker’s cottage, a four-car garage and views of the Atlantic Ocean, according to an online listing.
Lippi was released from the Stock Island Detention Center the morning after his arrest, according to the report.
His arraignment is scheduled for April 18.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/04/09/florida-man-rich-enough-to-buy-private-island-busted-for-shoplifting/
A 7-Eleven owner caught a hungry teen shoplifting. Instead of calling the police, he gave him food
A 7-Eleven store owner was working in the back office when an employee alerted him to a possible shoplifter.
Via the store’s security cameras, Jitendra Singh watched as a teen slyly pocketed items such as gum and candy.
By the time Singh went into the main store area, the shoplifter was at the counter paying for a few items.
“I asked him, ‘Take out whatever you have in your pocket,’ so he took out one of the items,” Singh told CNN.
But Singh knew the teen had taken more. He told the boy to empty the rest of his pockets or he’d have to call the cops.
When the store owner asked why he was stealing the merchandise, the teen said it was because he and his younger brother were hungry.
At this point, an employee had a 911 operator on the phone — but Singh told him to hang up.
“I said, ‘Well that’s not food. You’re stealing gum and candies. That’s just something for munching,’” Singh said. “I said, ‘If you’re hungry, ask me. I’ll give you food.’”
Singh, who has owned the 7-Eleven in Toledo, Ohio, for five years, said his store offers pizza, chicken wings, taquitos, nachos and sandwiches — all of which make for a much better meal.
The store owner understood why the teen was stealing
The store owner decided not to report the boy to the police. Instead, Singh gave him some real food and sent him on his way Saturday night.
“When he said, ‘I’m hungry and that’s why I’m stealing,’ I said OK, he has some genuine problem. He’s not a thief who’s going and stealing stuff and selling it,” Singh said.
He didn’t want the boy’s life to be ruined for trying to feed himself and his family.
“At least (he) won’t go to jail,” Singh said. “Once you go to jail, you’ll have a criminal record later in life. You’re not going to be able to get any good job or anything.”
Customers are praising his generosity
A customer who witnessed the incident posted about it on Facebook. The post has resonated with thousands of people, garnering more than 1,600 shares and 3,700 likes.
Singh said he didn’t expect his good deed to impact so many people.
“Customers are now coming back and saying, ‘You’re a good guy and you did a good thing,’” Singh said. “For me, it was not a big deal. … I did what any normal human being would’ve done in that situation.”
Children at ‘Peppa Pig’ movie in tears following trailers for horror films
Children eagerly waiting to see the new film “Peppa Pig: Festival of Fun” began their theater experience in tears after trailers for horror movies featuring blood and violence were played before the screening.
Parents briefly removed their children from the screening at Empire Cinema in Ipswich, England, on Saturday after trailers for the films “Ma” and “Brightburn” were played before the children’s movie.
“Brightburn,” a superhero horror film featuring Elizabeth Banks, shows a child wearing a mask and seemingly killing a bloodied woman at the end. The trailer shows flashes of hanging bodies. The trailer for “Ma,” starring Octavia Spencer, is filled with sexual violence, blood, bodies and includes a scene of a teen being hit by a truck.
Charlie Jones, a BBC journalist, said she took her daughter to the film screening and attempted to cover her eyes when the scary trailers were played.
“Normally I would expect her [my daughter] to be singing and dancing when watching something like [Peppa Pig] but she was just really subdued,” Jones said. “I tried to cover her eyes during the trailers and told her they were silly films for mommies and daddies, but there were lots of kids crying and she was very confused and started crying too.”
Jones said she went “mad” at the manager after the incident.
“It was meant to be a special day for Annie. I don’t think he understands the impact of it,” she added. “Annie is very imaginative and scared of monsters and things like that at the moment.”
“You go to the movies and you expect it to be a safe family day out, you don’t expect her to be exposed to anything which could do harm,” Jones said.
An Empire Cinemas spokeswoman apologized for “any distress” caused by the incident.
“As soon as the staff on site were made aware of the situation, the program was stopped and trailers were taken off-screen immediately. We do sincerely apologize for this and for any distress caused and will be reviewing our internal procedures to ascertain how this came to be,” the spokeswoman said in a statement to the BBC.
FL man found a body at his childhood home’s backyard during renovations. It was his mom
When Aaron Fraser began excavating behind his childhood home in Jacksonville, Florida, as part of a renovation in 2014, he made a gruesome discovery: human remains.
They were the skull and bones of his mother, Bonnie Haim, who had gone missing in January 1993 and whose body had not been found.
Prosecutors say that discovery led officials to arrest her then-husband, Michael Haim, and charge him with second-degree murder.
“The truth was always out there, buried in their backyard,” Assistant State Attorney Alan Mizrahi said in opening statements in the murder trial on Tuesday.
Michael and Bonnie Haim had been having marital problems, and he has long been a prime suspect in the case, his defense attorney Janis Warren said in her opening remarks.
But he has maintained his innocence since her disappearance. In an interview with CNN affiliate WJXT shortly after Bonnie Haim disappeared in 1993, Michael Haim said she left their home on the night of January 6 after a relationship issue.
“Basically she just wasn’t happy and she wanted to leave, and I couldn’t stop her from leaving,” he told WJXT.
Warren said prosecutors did not have enough evidence to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
“We agree she’s dead. We agree that’s her body in the backyard. But they have to prove to you that he did it,” she said. “When you listen to the evidence, ladies and gentlemen, and when you’re finished, you’re gonna see the lack of evidence in this case far outweighs any evidence they brought you.”
The childhood memories of Fraser, who was 3 when his mother disappeared, are expected to be a major part of the case against Michael Haim, CNN affiliate WJXT reported.
After his mother disappeared, he told a child welfare worker at the time, “Daddy hurt Mommy,” WJXT reported.
“Aaron also stated that ‘Daddy shot Mommy’ and ‘My daddy could not wake her up,’” a 2015 arrest affidavit said, according to WJXT.
Opening statements in the trial
Bonnie Haim’s remains were found under a shower pallet in the home’s backyard, Mizrahi said. A .22-caliber shell was also found near the body, he said, and Michael Haim owned a .22-caliber rifle.
Although a medical examiner could not affirmatively determine how she was killed, Mizrahi argued that Michael Haim shot her and then buried her there in 1993.
“The defendant’s actions before the killing and after the killing demonstrate his depraved indifference to Bonnie Haim’s life,” he said.
Investigators had searched the property several times in the years after her disappearance, but did not find her remains until Fraser’s discovery two decades later.
“That was the piece of the puzzle that we really felt we were missing,” Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Director Mike Bruno told WJXT in 2015. “There are so many unsolved or cold cases that are in this same situation of we just need that one clue, that one tip, that one piece. Here, we were able to get it, and to start that piece of closure.”
Warren, Haim’s attorney, said on Tuesday that prosecutors would not be able to prove that he killed her and placed her body there on the night she disappeared.
“The only thing that’s important is: Can they prove he killed her? And can they prove he put the body in the yard? There’s no evidence of either one of those,” she added.
Woman screamed ‘You broke my heart’ while shooting pastor and his wife
COLLIERVILLE, Tenn. — “You broke my heart.” Those are the final words police say Latoshia Daniels told Pastor Brodes Perry before shooting him several times, according to WREG.
According to police, officers were called to the Meridian Place Apartments in Collierville on Thursday after receiving calls from residents stating they had heard multiple gunshots and screams.
When they arrived they found Brodes Perry, executive pastor at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, and his wife suffering from gunshot wounds.
Authorities said the shooter, Latoshia Daniels, was still armed and refused to put down the gun.
Perry’s wife told police Daniels showed up at her home unexpectedly the night of the shooting. Having known her from her time living in Little Rock, she agreed to let her inside the home.
She was escorting Daniels back out when the suspect pulled a handgun and started shooting, screaming “You broke my heart” at the husband, according to a court affidavit.
A police report says his wife knelt by him and Daniels told her to get out of the way, then shot her in the left shoulder.
Perry’s wife told police she didn’t know of any affair taking place between the two but Daniels actions made that seem to be a possibility.
Both victims were taken to the Regional Medical Center where Brodes Perry later died.
While at the hospital, police said Daniels also attacked an officer. Police said the officer was trying to take her into custody and that’s when she jerked away and shoved him before taking off running. Officers said they had to force her to the ground before they could get her handcuffed.
Daniels was charged with first degree murder, attempt first degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.
She is being held without bond.
Toddler Repeatedly Enters Wrong Password, Locks Father’s iPad for 48 Years
Let’s just call this reason No. 580 not to leave your kids alone with technology: They might lock you out of it.
That’s what happened over the weekend to Evan Osnos, a staff writer at The New Yorker and a fellow at the Brookings Institution.
He put out a tweet — or a cry for help — letting the world know of the little situation his toddler put him in.
“Uh, this looks fake but, alas, it’s our iPad today after 3-year-old tried (repeatedly) to unlock. Ideas?” Osnos tweeted. A photo of the iPad’s screen noted the device was disabled. It also had this mind-blowing message: “Try again in 25,536,442 minutes.”
That’s more than 48 years, for those of you who don’t want to do the math. So Osnos’ iPad will be available to him again sometime in 2067. Great, he’ll have something to keep him occupied in the retirement home.
The iPad lockout is a security feature of Apple devices that kicks in whenever someone repeatedly types the wrong password. The more times an incorrect password is entered, the longer the lock-out time grows.
Thankfully Osnos’ Twitter followers gave all kinds of help in the comments, because there’s nothing but good things in the comments, right?
People offered hundreds of suggestions. Some were practical: “Just connect it to the computer you originally synced it to iTunes on, let it sync and it’ll be fine.”
Others were nonsensical: “Put it in a bag of rice.”
One commenter had a novel idea: “Time travel seems to be your best bet.”
Yeah, probably.
Another person suggested Osnos should “reboot” the 3-year-old, but that seems a tad bit unnecessary.
Ready for a restore
Several others said no worries — just wait out the 48 years. Because you know folks on social media are known for their patience.
So what does Apple suggest? Apple says you would need to perform a restore to use the device again (but you would lose the data on the device if you’ve never backed it up).
Osnos told the New York Daily News on Monday he was still locked out of the device.
“It’s down a few hundred minutes from yesterday, but it looks like we’ve still got 25 million minutes to go,” he told the newspaper. “The consensus seems to be that we’re using an old operating system that won’t let us restart fresh from iTunes.”
CNN reached out to Osnos for comment and is waiting to hear back.
Later on Monday Osnos tweeted that he’d managed to get the iPad into DFU (Device Firmware Update) mode and is in the process of restoring the tablet.
“Thanks to those who shared advice!” he said.
Assuming Osnos gets back into the iPad, maybe he should just give his kid the password.
Oregon Man Gets Jail for Sexually Assaulting Small Dog Who Was Euthanized Due to ‘Extensive’ Injuries
A judge sentenced an Oregon man to 60 days in jail for sexually assaulting a small dog whose injuries were so severe that she had to be euthanized, prosecutors announced Monday.
In sentencing 52-year-old Fidel Lopez, Judge Angel Lopez told the defendant he would have imposed a tougher penalty if the law allowed it.
“If it could have been more, I would have gladly given you more,” the judge said in court, according to a news release from the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office. The sentence — 60 days in jail and 36 months of probation — was the maximum possible.
Fidel Lopez pleaded guilty to a count each of aggravated animal abuse in the first degree and sexually assaulting an animal.
In entering the plea, Lopez “admitted that he unlawfully and intentionally tortured ‘Estrella,’ a Lhasa Apso mix, and that for the purpose of arousing his sexual desires, he sexually assaulted Estrella,” the release stated.
Lopez was arrested on Feb. 13 following an investigation that began late last year when the dog’s owner took her to an animal hospital amid concerns the pup had been sexually abused, according to officials.
Veterinarians determined Estrella had been sexually assaulted. The dog had to be euthanized because of “extensive internal injuries,” prosecutors said.
Forensic evidence confirmed Lopez abused the canine, the release stated.
According to an affidavit obtained by the Oregonian, Lopez became frustrated after his fiancee — Estrella’s owner — didn’t come home or answer her phone, and he had sex with the dog.
When the woman returned, the dog was crying and hiding under a couch, the newspaper reported. She requested a rape kit because Lopez had expressed a prior interest in bestiality, according to the Oregonian.
As part of the sentence, Lopez will not be allowed to have a dog for 15 years, the DA’s office said.
He also cannot contact Estrella’s owner without permission from the probation department, and he must undergo treatment for people who abuse animals, among other penalties.
“This case was prosecuted to the fullest extent possible under Oregon law,” Deputy DA Nicole
Jergovic said in the release. “The torture and abuse that Estrella suffered is unimaginable. Under Oregon’s current sentencing guidelines, Fidel Lopez is receiving the maximum sentence based on the amount of time he has already served in custody and his lack of criminal history.”
Man Charged in Killing of His Son’s Mother During Custody Exchange Outside Hawthorne Police Station
A man accused of fatally shooting the mother of his 1-year-old son outside a Hawthorne police station has been charged with first-degree murder, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Jacob Ryan Munn, 30, also faces a count of possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The charges include special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and that the defendant used a shotgun in the homicide
The fatal shooting took place around 6 p.m. Sunday in front of the police station, located at 12501 Hawthorne Boulevard, according to the Hawthorne Police Department.
Munn had left the 17-month-old boy in the station for his ex-girlfriend, 28-year-old Brenda Renteria, to pick up, prosecutors said.
Renteria was shot in front of the station as she approached the door, according to authorities. The victim was with her mother at the time.
After the shooting, the suspect got into his car and drove away from the scene, Lt. Jim Royer said. He was apprehended about three hours later.
The child was not hurt, police said. He was taken into protective custody.
Munn faces the possibility of the death penalty or life in prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
A decision has not yet been made whether to seek capital punishment.
Munn’s arraignment was continued until April 24. He is being held without bail, prosecutors said.
Woman says SUV burst into flames 22 minutes after driving off used car lot
GRAFTON, Wis. – A Wisconsin woman says the car she saved two years to buy burst into flames 22 minutes after she bought it, and the used car dealership that sold it to her is refusing to give her money back.
Images from the incident serve as a haunting reminder of Nicole Brandt’s near-death experience on Wednesday, April 3.
“I haven’t been able to drive since then,” Brandt told WITI Monday.
She was on I-43 northbound in Grafton, on her way to pick up her kids in the used 2006 Chrysler Pacifica she purchased 22 minutes earlier at Big Bill’s Auto near Appleton and Center in Milwaukee.
“Something from underneath the engine. It was just melting. The engine was just melting out from underneath,” said Brandt.
The SUV began smoking, and Brandt pulled over. An approaching driver snapped photos. Brandt got out seconds before flames appeared near the windshield.
“The car is a shell. A burnt-out shell,” said Brandt.
No one at Big Bill’s Auto would talk to a WITI reporter who stopped by on Saturday and Monday.
“All I wanted was my money back,” said Brandt.
After some haggling on Thursday, Brandt said she thought she was able to get the dealership to refund the $2,900 she paid for the SUV – but now she doesn’t think the funds were ever transferred.
“There’s no money in the account,” Brandt said. “The bank said that they should have at least seen the transaction — even if it hasn’t hit my account yet. They should at least see it. He didn’t do the refund.”
Officials with the Grafton Fire Department and Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office said they will never be able to determine what really happened to the SUV.
Meanwhile, Brandt said she’s looking into ways to try to get her money back. She did not have insurance.
Bay Area Uber Driver Caught on Video Returning to Rob Home of Passenger He Dropped Off at Airport
A man who drives for Uber in the Bay Area is behind bars after allegedly returning to the home of a passenger he dropped off at the airport in an attempt to burglarize it, officials said Monday.
Jackie Gordon Wilson, 38, of Rancho Cordova, was unsuccessful in robbing the passenger’s home but wound up targeting another residence nearby, San Mateo police said in a news release.
Officers were called about the burglary at the second house, on the 1700 block of Nash Drive, around 5:35 p.m. Thursday. They found the home completely ransacked with several items missing, investigators said.
The break-in was partially captured by a Ring doorbell security camera, and the homeowner uploaded the video to the company’s Neighbors app, police said. The app allows users to share home surveillance video from the company’s devices with others in their community.
The Uber passenger who’d been dropped off at the airport is also on the app — and quickly recognized the man as their driver, who’d been recorded by their Ring device returning to their home on the 600 block of Rand Street, according to detectives.
The residences are about half a mile apart in the Shoreview neighborhood.
The video from Rand Street showed Wilson outside the passenger’s house about an hour after the person was dropped off, but he abandoned attempts to break in after an alarm went off, officials said.
Authorities investigated the claims overnight and identified Wilson as a suspect the following day.
Wilson was arrested at his home in Rancho Cordova, outside Sacramento, around 9 p.m. Friday. He was wearing the same clothes as the suspect on the Shoreview homes’ surveillance cameras, officials said.
Upon serving a search warrant at Wilson’s residence, investigators allegedly uncovered property stolen from the home on Nash Drive.
He was being held on suspicion of burglary and attempted burglary, and detectives are now looking into whether he can be tied to similar crimes in the area.
In an emailed statement, Uber said it removed Wilson’s access to the ride-hailing app as soon as it was made aware of the accusations against him, and the company is cooperating with police.
Lyft did not immediately return request for comment on whether Wilson was also a registered driver on its platform.