Day care owner accused of keeping babies tied to car seats
MESQUITE, Texas — The owner of a Dallas-area in-home day care center has been jailed on child endangerment charges after she was accused of keeping infants and toddlers tied to their car seats for hours.
An arrest warrant affidavit alleges that Rebecca Anderson kept the small children tied up in car seats for at least seven hours a day at her Mesquite, Texas, day care center, Becky’s Home Child Care. The affidavit also says the 60-year-old woman yanked a 6-month-old child by the bib around his neck, tying laces around the young children’s necks to limit their movement and giving them acetaminophen to quiet them.
She was booked Sunday night into the Dallas County jail on nine counts of child endangerment with bonds totaling $45,000. Jail records list no attorney for her.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/18/day-care-owner-accused-of-keeping-babies-tied-to-car-seats/
Honor student smiled, laughed as she stabbed pal in love-triangle
A Michigan teen accused of fatally stabbing a classmate was “smiling and laughing” during the attack, according to reports.
Two dozen students watched in horror as Tanaya Lewis, 17, killed Danyna Gibson, 16, with a kitchen knife in a classroom Wednesday at Fitzgerald High School in Warren, Mich., Fox 2 Detroit reported Friday.
“Witnesses said the defendant was smiling and laughing as she was chasing the victim,” Detective Donald Seidel of the Warren Police Department told a judge Friday, WXYZ-TV reported Saturday.
One blow penetrated Danyna’s heart, the station reported.
Prosecutors said Lewis screamed, “I’m going to kill her” as a teacher tried to shove her out of the classroom, according to the station.
Police said there was animosity between the two straight-A students over a boy.
Lewis is being held without bail on a capital murder charge.
She said “yes” to the judge when asked if she understood that she is facing life behind bars without parole.
Danyna’s family is soliciting funds on GoFundMe for her funeral.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/17/honor-student-smiled-laughed-as-she-stabbed-pal-in-love-triangle-cops/
Pregnant woman beaten up after not giving boyfriend food stamp card
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis man was arrested after allegedly beating his pregnant girlfriend when she refused to give him her food stamp card, PIX11 sister station WREG reports.
The victim told police she was sitting in her car in the 3400 block of Briar Park West Saturday when Hosea Taylor walked up to the vehicle. That’s when he reportedly assaulted her and stole her backpack, which he thought contained her wallet.
After speaking with the victim, police said they spotted Taylor and followed him to a home on Winchester where he was taken into custody.
He reportedly admitted to stealing the backpack from the victim.
Taylor was charged with domestic assault and robbery.
In December, police responded to another alleged domestic incident involving the couple. Taylor was arrested in that incident but charges were later dropped.
Postal worker admits to stealing over 6,000 letters with cash, checks and gift cards
WAUWATOSA, Wis. – United States Postal Service inspectors say a postal worker took cash, gift cards and checks from thousands of envelopes addressed to Wisconsin residents.
Ebony Smith, 20, admitted to stealing more than 6,000 letters from residents in two Wauwatosa ZIP codes – 53226 and 53213 – according to WITI. It was a special blue envelope that helped catch her in the act.
When residents realized their greeting cards with cash inside weren’t getting delivered, the United States Postal Inspection Service opened an investigation and learned that Smith delivered mail to both zip codes.
In January, inspectors placed a first-class card containing a $20 bill in a special blue envelope. When opened, the enveloped triggered a transmitter letting the USPS know the bait was taken.
On Smith’s route, investigators approached her outside of her vehicle. The $20 was gone and officials allegedly also found a bag containing 31 greeting cards and another 23 cards near the front seat.
According to a plea agreement, Smith admitted to stealing cash, checks and gift cards from Washington Highlands residents along her route — saying she would take “$50 to $100 per week.”
On July 24, Smith’s Honda Odyssey was towed to a Milwaukee scrapyard. Photos obtained by WITI show what workers found inside: 6,625 greeting card envelopes and 540 personal checks. All were postmarked between March of 2017 and this past January, and not belonging to Smith.
It was more than enough for prosecutors to file federal charges. Smith pleaded guilty to mail theft on Sept. 12. Her sentencing date wasn’t immediately released.
Jailbird allegedly gouged out cellmate’s eyes, made necklace with his ear
A Florida jailbird gouged out his cellmate’s eyeballs, plopped them in a cup then strolled to the prison chow hall with the man’s bloody ear dangling around his neck, according to a report Friday.
Prison guards at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Lakeside had no clue that inmate Larry Mark, 58, had been strangled, mutilated and wrapped in a blood-soaked sheet until his thuggish cellmate showed up for breakfast Thursday — wearing the trophy of flesh, prison sources told the Miami Herald.
The unnamed killer allegedly got mad at Mark for pestering him — and told other inmates he planned to eat his eyeballs, the paper reported.
He struck just hours before a gang-related knife fight broke out in another wing of the prison, which was recently hit by staff shortages, according to the paper. Mark was serving a life sentence for murder.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement would not provide the name of the attacker, who had recently been transferred from death row at a state prison, accordion to the paper
Corrections officers at the prison are on edge due to the staff shortages, which have left up to 250 inmates supervised by a single guard.
Julie Jones, a rep for the Florida Department of Corrections told the paper, “Any loss of life at the hands of an inmate is intolerable, and we are working with our partners at FDLE to investigate this death and ensure anyone responsible is held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/14/jailbird-gouged-out-cellmates-eyes-made-necklace-with-his-ear/
Junkie mom arrested for stealing drugs from dying daughter
A drug-addicted Missouri mom was busted this week for swiping pain medication from her terminally ill daughter — and taking it herself, cops said.
Carol Ballweg, 46, was the primary caregiver for her 20-year-old daughter, only identified as “CM,” and was required to provide her with fentanyl and oxycodone for pain, Troy, Mo., cops said in a statement.
Staff at Troy Family Practice called local police Monday to report “concerns of neglect and drug abuse related to a patient,” cops said.
They had previously made several “hotline” calls about the young woman’s care — expressing concerns that Ballweg repeatedly asked for the medications to be filled earlier than required, police said. CM’s home health provider also raised the alarm.
So doctors decided to screen CM’s urine and found no traces of her prescribed drugs — prompting them to no longer fill her prescriptions, cops said.
Meanwhile, as her mom popped her pills, police said her helpless daughter developed bed sores, which can be life-threatening.
Cops executed a search warrant at Ballweg’s home on Tuesday — when she fessed up to having an opioid addiction and taking the meds herself.
She was charged with four counts of stealing a controlled substance and two counts of abusing a disabled or vulnerable person, according to police.
Her bond was set at $100,000, and a judge ordered that she cut off contact with her daughter.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/14/junkie-mom-arrested-for-stealing-drugs-from-dying-daughter/
Man faked Down syndrome to con caregivers into baths, diaper changes
An Arizona man is accused of pretending to have Down syndrome so he could hire caregivers who bathed him and changed his diapers, authorities said.
Police arrested Paul Anthony Menchaca, 31, at his parents’ home in Gilbert on Sept. 6 after his female caregivers discovered he didn’t have special needs, news station KTNV reported.
The first caregiver responded in May to an ad on CareLinx, a site designed to help families find licensed help.
Menchaca contacted and hired the helper while allegedly posing as a woman named “Amy,” who claimed to be the mother of a man with Down syndrome, according to AZFamily.
“’Amy’ asked all three victims to ‘punish’ [Menchaca] when he soiled his diaper by putting him in timeout and taking away his privileges,” an arrest affidavit obtained by AZFamily said.
The caregiver told police that she helped bathe and change the man’s diapers on 30 separate occasions. In five separate incidents, Menchaca reportedly told her that his genitals were not cleaned well enough.
She then referred the second caregiver in July and the third the following month.
All three women agreed to the same terms, and claimed that Menchaca would become sexually aroused when he was being washed.
The first victim told police she became suspicious and followed Mechaca back to his parents’ home.
“[The victim] was greeted by [Menchaca’s] actual mother and father and discovered [Menchaca] did not have Down syndrome and did not require diaper changes,” the police report said.
When the three caregivers confronted Menchaca, he reportedly admitted to lying about having Down syndrome.
Menchaca now faces charges for fraudulent schemes and sexual abuse.
Teen boy charged in suffocation deaths of his 2 siblings
VERSAILLES, Ind. — A 14-year-old Indiana boy charged in the suffocation deaths of his two young siblings told investigators that he killed them so that they wouldn’t “have to live in the hell that he did,” prosecutors allege.
Ripley County Prosecutor Richard Hertel said Wednesday that the teen was arrested last week on juvenile charges of murder in the May 2017 killing of his 23-month-old half sister, Desiree McCartney, and the killing two months later of his 11-month-old stepbrother, Nathaniel Ritz, at their home in Osgood, a rural community about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Indianapolis.
In a probable cause affidavit filed in court, authorities say the teen, who was 13 at the time of the deaths, told investigators that he used a towel to suffocate his half sister and a blanket to kill his stepbrother.
Hertel said the teen was advised of the charges he faces at a Monday court hearing, after which the judge said he’d rule on whether the teen is competent to stand trial before deciding whether to grant prosecutors’ request that he be tried as an adult.
The boy, who is being held at a juvenile center, was charged following a State Police investigation that Hertel said is ongoing.
According to the affidavit, the teen told investigators who questioned him about his siblings’ deaths that “he had a conversation with God about them, but he could not talk about it because he had promised God he wouldn’t tell anyone.”
Under further questioning, the teen began “talking about saving Desiree and Nathaniel from hell and the chains of fire,” it states. He then added that “he didn’t want them to have to live in the hell that he did,” before going on to describe how he suffocated the children.
When asked what that “hell” was, the boy replied “chores,” before asking investigators if they’d seen the list of daily chores he had to complete, the affidavit states.
According to the affidavit, the teen’s grandmother told investigators that when she asked him why he killed his siblings, he replied that “he didn’t want them to be treated the way he had been.” She said he also described how he’d firmly held the towel and blanket over their heads to suffocate them.
An uncle told investigators that the day before Nathaniel Ritz’s death, the teen told him that Ritz’s father had bloodied the teen’s nose.
Hertel said the teen’s motivations remain unclear, but that doctors who will examine him may be able to shed light on them.
“In my time here, which has been 19 years, I’m not sure that I’ve seen anything quite as disturbing and as final as something like this,” he said during a news conference in Versailles, the county seat.
The prosecutor said that shortly before the teen’s half-sister’s death, the boy squeezed a kitten so hard its insides came out, telling relatives it had scratched him.
Hertel said the suspect’s father is currently in prison and that he believes the boy’s mother is cooperating with the investigation.
Neighbor Becky Horn told WLWT-TV that the children’s deaths stunned the small community.
“Our whole street, we were in tears for weeks over this,” Horn said.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/09/13/teen-boy-charged-in-suffocation-deaths-of-his-2-siblings/
White Guy Pulls Gun on Black Students Waiting for Friend
As four black Florida A&M University students waited outside for a friend to let them into his apartment building for a party, a white man confronted them—and ultimately pulled a gun on them in an incident Tallahassee police and the university are now investigating. Video of a portion of the Saturday night incident went viral after one of the students, Isaiah Butterfield, posted it on Twitter; Butterfield tells BuzzFeed News that before he started filming, the white man in the video walked past him and his friends and through the building’s entrance. “Then he turned and he said, ‘You aren’t getting in here if you don’t have a key,'” Butterfield says. “We were shook because we hadn’t said anything to him.” He says the man then came back outside and started harassing the group, at which point another white person walked up and started defending the black students. Butterfield then started filming.
The white bystander, who had a key to the building, let the group inside; the first white man then insisted they not get on the elevator with him and asked repeatedly whether they had a key to the building. As the group attempted to enter the elevator, the man pulled out a gun. “He made sure we saw that he had a gun so we didn’t get in the elevator,” says Butterfield, who notes that the group had earlier questioned whether the man actually lived in the building, since it is student housing and he looked older than most residents. (At one point in the video, the man can be heard saying, “Where am I going? I am going upstairs to get laid.”) The students, who were ultimately let into the building by their friend, reported the incident to police the following day. Building management has since released a statement saying the man in the video is not a resident. Social media users identified him, and his employer announced he has been fired from his position as general manager of a nearby hotel.
via: http://www.newser.com/story/264483/guy-pulls-gun-on-black-students-waiting-to-enter-apartment.html
Girl stabbed to death by love rival in classroom fight between two “straight-A students”
WARREN, Mich. — A 17-year-old Michigan high school student could be facing a murder charge after police say she fatally stabbed a classmate over a guy whom both had dated.
Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer said the deadly clash between the two “straight-A students” took place in a Fitzgerald High School classroom Wednesday morning. A school resource officer immediately began life-saving procedures, but the 16-year-old victim was pronounced dead at a hospital about an hour later. Dwyer said the teenage suspect used a steak knife.
“This is truly a tragedy. … This appears to be an altercation between two students and we’re investigating to determine why this occurred,” Dwyer said.
Dwyer said the girls knew each other and had no history of trouble. He told The Associated Press the suspect was upset and disturbed when the male student broke up with her and started dating the victim, leading to her attacking her love rival.
The suspect was taken into custody at the scene, and is being held at the police department lockup until the arraignment, which could happen Thursday. Dwyer said the suspect will probably be charged with premeditated murder in the city’s district court.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the suspect has an attorney, though she can request one at her initial hearing. Michigan prosecutes 17-year-olds as adults in homicide cases.
The victim was on the school robotics team, student council, ran cross country and played in the marching band, Dwyer said.
The school was initially placed on lockdown but students were later released. The district said in a statement that the high school will remain closed Thursday, but that students and their parents can come during normal school hours for support and assistance from counselors, psychologists and social workers.
School officials say they are working with police and conducting an internal review that includes safety procedures.
Dwyer said the school resource officer, who had been with the department for 10 years, “did everything he could to save that young girl.”
“He’s taking it very hard that he wasn’t able to save her life,” Dwyer said.