Husband distraught after wife’s body left to rot inside funeral home for 3 years
GREENWOOD, S.C. — The husband of a South Carolina woman whose body authorities said was left inside a funeral home to rot for almost three years says he can’t stop thinking about how poorly she was treated in death.
A grand jury indicted Lawrence Robert Meadows and Roderick Mitchell Cummings with desecration of human remains after prosecutors said they left the body of Mary Alice Pitts Moore in unrefrigerated rooms under blankets and surrounded by air fresheners at First Family Funeral Home’s locations — first in Greenwood and later in Spartanburg.
Fred Parker Jr., who was married to Moore for 38 years, says he talked to the people at First Family Funeral Home once after his wife’s March 2015 death and never heard from them again after her body was prepared for a viewing for a Celebration of Life service.
“Someone, a private investigator, called and she said I just need to ask you a few questions and the next thing I know, the coroner came and met me in Saluda and they told us,” Parker said. “And it’s been messed up ever since. You wouldn’t want to do a dog that bad.”
According to arrest warrants, Cummings and Meadows kept the body because Moore’s family didn’t pay their entire bill.
Parker told The Index-Journal of Greenwood the funeral home never told him he owed money or gave any reason for why they held on to Moore’s remains instead of cremating her as promised.
“I never did get to see them no more, from day one to day two,” Parker told the newspaper. “All he did was take $1,100. My daughter said she gave him $300 and I didn’t know anything about this until this came up. He never did try to contact me or anything, no nothing.”
According to the paper, Parker sued Cummings and Meadows in civil court, along with First Family Funeral Home. Earlier this month, the funeral home’s license was revoked.
According to state records, Meadows lost his personal funeral license in April 2015 in an unrelated fraud case and Cummings never had a South Carolina funeral license.
Meadows and Cummings face up to 10 years and a $5,000 fine if convicted.
“I’m still toting her picture in my wallet. I had to stop looking at it. She was a good woman. That’s all I can say,” he said. “Man, if I could get her back, oh Lord. That’s my heart. That’s my heart.”
Priests caught having sex in car near Miami Beach playground
Two Catholic priests were taken into custody after being caught performing sex acts on each other in a parked rental car near Miami Beach, according to reports.
Diego Berrio, 39, and Edwin Giraldo Cortez, 30, were charged with lewd and lascivious behavior after passersby spotted their tryst in broad daylight inside a Volkswagen Beetle, which was “in full view of the public,” according to CBS Miami.
After receiving a complaint, police arrived at the scene to see the sexual acts still going on. The officers were easily able to spot the two, as the car was parked next to a playground and did not have tinted windows.
The two priests were so engaged that they didn’t notice when police were there until officers tapped on the window, according to CBS.
Both Berrio and Cortez are from Arlington Heights, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Berrio is a priest at Mission of San Juan Diego, while Cortez served at the St. Aloysius Parish in Chicago. Both were removed from the ministry, according to WPLG.
“It is our responsibility to ensure those who serve our people are fit for ministry,” Anne Maselli, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Chicago, told WPLG. “We take this matter very seriously.
Police investigate woman filmed dunking 3-year-old boy’s head in toilet
LEESBURG, Fla. — Police and social workers are investigating a woman who was recorded repeatedly dunking her 3-year-old son’s head in a toilet and flushing it.
In a statement issued Sunday, the Leesburg Police Department said detectives are working with prosecutors to determine whether to bring charges against the woman, who has been identified as Kaitlyn Wolf.
Since the video went viral, officers have had to park outside the woman’s central Florida home in response to multiple threats. It’s now been viewed more than 420,000 times and comes with a warning on Facebook.
“This video may show violence against a child or a teenager,” the warning reads. “We haven’t removed it from Facebook because it may help rescue the child in question.”
Wolf told WKMG the video has been taken out of context and that the screaming boy also was laughing. She says he said, “let’s do it again” when the video was finished.
Wolf said the video wasn’t intended for Facebook. The Orlando Sentinel reports the video was posted by the girlfriend of the child’s father.
In a follow-up video, the girlfriend of the child’s father said she thought publicly sharing the video was the right thing to do. She has children of her own and said she will not let them near Wolf.
“I do not feel bad and I will not apologize for posting it whatsoever,” she said. “I do hope that the kids in the situation that were in the video do get their justice and do get help. As for Kaitlyn, I have no respect for her whatsoever in what she did and I will attest to that any day of the week.”
via: https://pix11.com/2018/09/04/police-investigate-woman-filmed-dunking-3-year-old-boys-head-in-toilet/
Someone ‘donated’ 5 pounds of marijuana to a Florida thrift shop
Employees at the Pines Thrift Store in Sarasota, Florida, are scratching their heads after someone left nearly 5 pounds of marijuana outside the shop last week.
Four bags of vacuum-sealed marijuana turned up inside a tote bag near the clothing drop-off area outside the store, officials with the Sarasota Police Department told Fox 13.
Inside the tote was a brown paper bag, which contained the pot.
The cops were called after an employee opened the bag and saw what was inside.
The pot weighed about 4.7 pounds and is worth an estimated $5,400, ABC News reported.
So far, no arrests have been made, according to Fox 13. However, the Sarasota Police Department sent the bags off for DNA and other testing to find out the drugs’ source.
Officials are also checking to see if surveillance footage of the area could help them in their investigation, WFTS-News reported.
https://nypost.com/2018/09/04/someone-donated-5-pounds-of-marijuana-to-a-florida-thrift-shop/
Fan shoots into crowd after being told Ice Cube concert was sold out
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Sheriff’s deputies shot a man who opened fire outside an Ice Cube concert venue after being told the show was sold out, according to the San Diego County, California, Sheriff’s Department.
The man had been trying to buy a ticket to the concert featuring the rapper Sunday at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego, the department said in a statement.
He approached a ticket window about 6:40 p.m. local time (9:40 p.m. ET) and was told no more tickets were available, it said.
“An argument ensued at the gate and nearby deputies responded. The man pulled out a silver plated semi-automatic handgun and fired several shots into a crowded area. Deputies engaged and returned fire,” the statement said.
Witnesses said the man had fired three shots and that sheriff’s deputies had tried to stop him with a Taser before opening fire, CNN affiliate CBS 8 reported.
A video posted to social media appeared to show a deputy firing four shots at a man who collapsed in front of a ticket window as bystanders exclaimed. A man in a black and white uniform with a walkie-talkie on his belt was then shown trying to restrain another man.
Separate footage on Twitter captured sheriff’s deputies attempting to resuscitate a man lying on the ground.
The sheriff’s department said the alleged gunman shot by deputies was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. No one else is believed to have been injured in the incident.
The department later identified the suspect as 22-year-old Daniel Elizarraras of Escondido. Elizarraras is in stable condition and expected to survive, the sheriff’s department said.
“The shooting is currently being investigated by the Sheriff’s Homicide Unit,” the department said in a statement. “The involved deputies were not injured.”
Del Mar Racetrack, where the Ice Cube concert is being held tweeted: “The situation has been contained. The concert is moving forward as planned.”
CNN affiliate 10News reported that the concert began at 8:30 p.m.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/09/03/fan-shoots-into-crowd-after-being-told-ice-cube-concert-is-sold-out/
‘Stand your ground’ shooter who shot unarmed black man has no regrets
The white Florida man who reignited the state’s “stand your ground” debate earlier this summer — when he fatally shot an unarmed black man who pushed him — says he would do it all over again if he had to.
“I’ve had plenty of time to think about it,” explained Michael Drejka in a jailhouse interview with WTSP-TV.
“As far as changing anything, as events…I don’t see, I really — no, not off the top of my head,” the 47-year-old said, after being asked whether he could think of anything he would’ve done different that day.
“I was very scared. I’ve never been confronted like that, or never been assaulted like that if you will — ever.”
Drejka, who is charged with manslaughter, is accused of fatally shooting 28-year-old Markeis McGlockton outside a convenience store in Clearwater, Fla., on July 19 after being pushed to the ground by him.
He initially went weeks without being arrested on account of the state’s controversial “stand your ground law” — which allows citizens to use deadly force when fearing “imminent death or great bodily harm.”
Asked how he felt after the cops “backed” him and “refused to arrest” him, Drejka said: “Vindicated.”
“I followed the law the way I felt the law was supposed to be followed,” he told WTSP. “I cleared every hurdle that that law had to, had to put in front of me.”
Drejka said he was “shocked” and “devastated” after learning of the State Attorney’s Office’s decision to file manslaughter charges last month.
“I didn’t hear about it until they were putting handcuffs on me,” the alleged killer explained.
He didn’t speak too much about the shooting itself, but did describe the moment he got pushed.
“Didn’t know it was a shove. It felt like I was tackled or someone hit me from behind with something,” Drejka said. “I left my feet and slid along the ground.”
Asked whether he was in fear for his life, Drejka told WTSP: “Yes sir. It was only one other person that was making a move and that move was towards me… I didn’t know what was coming for me and there’s only one way to look at that. You have to be scared for it, ’cause if you’re not, you’re wrong…And that’s that.”
Drejka claimed that he wasn’t racist, despite what others have said about him using the “N-word” in the past and getting into fights with black people at the very same gas station.
“I do not hate anybody,” he said. “I’ve worked with too many people, met too many people in my life to be that kind of person. There’s, there’s no way to survive really, by being like that. It doesn’t help anyone, you know, and to have a, that kind of feeling about an entire race of people seems foreign to me.”
Drejka told WTSP that one of his biggest “pet peeves” in life is the “abuse” of handicapped parking spots, which McGlockton was parked in on the day of the shooting. His girlfriend had been arguing with Drejka when McGlockton ran up and pushed him, surveillance footage shows.
“It’s always been a hotbed for me,” Drejka said, noting how his “high school sweetheart” was handicapped, as is his mother-in-law.
“My whole life has always been looking for a handicapped parking spot, and it’s always touched a nerve with me because of the way they’re abused and used.”
Despite having no remorse, Drejka apologized to McGlockton’s family at one point during the Friday interview — but admitted that it probably wouldn’t do any good.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “That’s all I can really say to them and uh, thinking about it, would you accept those kind of words from someone, I don’t think I would. You know, just to, uh, I think there’s too much hate already to, uh, for me to be able to say anything that would make any kind of difference.”
Drejka is being held on $100,000 bond at the Pinellas County Jail. He is facing up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/03/stand-your-ground-shooter-who-shot-unarmed-black-man-has-no-regrets/
Florida man shoots up the home of person who left bad restaurant review
A bad restaurant review prompted a man in Florida to fire shots at the home of the person behind the online complaint, according to police.
Deputies said the Daybreak Diner owner’s son, Michael Johnson, was upset that a customer shared a post on Aug. 19 claiming the Orlando restaurant didn’t accommodate her disabled mother, news station WFTV reported.
The patron, Monica Walley, reportedly complained that employees were “unnecessarily rude” and she launched a social media campaign against the diner.
Johnson soon expressed his anger about the review to his roommates, Normal Auvil and Jesse Martin, while they were drinking beer Aug. 20 at their home, according to the report.
The trio found Walley’s address online, then drove to the residence “with the intent to harm someone” or cause property damage, according to an affidavit obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
From the vehicle, Auvil fired three shots into the home, nearly hitting someone on a couch in the living room, authorities said.
Auvil, 42, was arrested Thursday and charged with shooting into a building, shooting from a vehicle and abuse of a disabled person.
“Both Martin and Johnson expressed concern for their safety and stated they had witnessed or been subjected to violent outbursts by Auvil in their residence,” according to the police report.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/03/man-shoots-up-home-after-bad-restaurant-review-cops/
Former ‘Cosby Show’ Star Now Works As Trader Joe’s Cashier is sparking dialogue on Twitter
Actor who played Elvin Tibideaux ‘looked bloated and unhappy.
‘An exclusive RadarOnline.com investigation discovered Owens — who played Elvin Tibideaux on the long-running sitcom — scanning groceries in Clifton, N.J., for around $11 an hour.
Wearing an ID badge bearing his name, the balding 57-year-old sported a stained Trader Joe’s T-shirt Opens a New Window. while manning his post.
“He looked bloated and unhappy Opens a New Window. ,” noted shopper Karma Lawrence, 50, a medical secretary.
Despite his grim mood, Owens politely wished Lawrence “a good day” after ringing up her items, she said.
Still, she was shocked to see him.
“It made me feel really bad. I was like, ‘Wow! All those years of doing the show and you ended up as a cashier,’” Lawrence said.
Owens played oldest daughter Sondra Huxtable’s boyfriend-then-husband on the NBC Opens a New Window. show from 1985 to 1992.
But after the series ended, he found himself on the outside, according to his aging mother, Ethel.
“He was the star of the show Opens a New Window. , but they forgot about him after it went off the air!” Ethel — who shares a two-story home with Owens in nearby Montclair — told Radar.
But Trader Joe’s customers still recognize him, she said.
“They come up and say they remember him from their childhoods,” Ethel said.
After Cosby, Owens landed sporadic guest spot TV gigs.
He’s also had bit parts in the 2018 short film Fizzle and on TV’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
When Radar called Owen and asked about Trader Joe’s, he slammed down the phone Opens a New Window. , but contacted us the next day to list his recent acting jobs, including teaching a Shakespearean workshop in New York City.
Said Karma: “I would have thought after The Cosby Show he would maybe be doing something different. Other fans would be surprised as well.”
Thousand Oaks Man Arrested After Allegedly Pouring ‘Large Amount’ of Urine Over Neighbor’s SUV
After urine was poured on an SUV in Thousand Oaks just over a week ago, authorities arrested a man suspected of putting the urine there and on a front door mat, police said Friday.
A “large amount” of urine was poured over the vehicle and a front door mat belonging to the same person before authorities responded to the scene on Aug. 22. The vandalized SUV was in the 2800 block of Amber Wood Place when police officers were called there.
The victim of the vandalism, who police describe as “elderly,” had surveillance video at his home that helped lead investigators to identifying James Eddy Pierson as the suspect. Pierson has since been arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism and elder abuse.
The victim said the urine got into the interior of his SUV, making it impossible to remove all of the bodily fluid and leaving about $2,000 in damage, according to police. He also told officers that the man had poured urine on the front door mat of his home in Thousand Oaks.
According to one of his neighbors, Don Palmer, the victim’s home has been getting vandalized for some time and he’s been “tormented over years.” It’s unclear what kind of prior harassment or vandalism Palmer is referring to, but he said it was enough for the victim to purchase a Ring surveillance camera to catch the person behind it.
That video, released by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, shows a man pouring a container of brownish yellow liquid over the front end of a white SUV.
“People should not have to live like that in any community, but especially here in Thousand Oaks,” Palmer said, adding that the victim and his partner have been “frazzled” over the whole situation.
“They don’t want to have any issues, they want to live in peace,” he said. “It’s just a shame what’s been going on.”
Pierson was taken into custody after detectives served a search warrant at his home on Thursday, police said. There, the investigators found evidence linking him to the crimes and indicating he uses methamphetamine, according to police.
He is being held on $25,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 4.
Arizona Couple Arrested After 19-Month-Old Ingests Meth, Fentanyl, Oxycodone
A mother and her boyfriend have been arrested after their toddler son ingested fentanyl, methamphetamine, amphetamine, Oxycodone and opiates. The toddler also suffered burns, possibly from a torch used to smoke meth.
The child’s mom, Estella Hernandez, and her boyfriend, Rafael Kagan, face felony charges of child abuse and possession of narcotic drugs.
On Aug. 26, 2018, police officers and firefighters responded to an apartment near Seventh Street and Indian School Road in Phoenix, responding to a call of a child not breathing.
Upon arrival, police learned the 19-month-old boy had possibly ingested the drug Percocet while the child’s mother, Hernandez, and the mother’s boyfriend, Kagan, were sleeping.
According to the police report, emergency crews found the child “unresponsive” and “officers were told someone had administered Narcan to the child. (Narcan is a medication used to block the effects of opioids, especially in an overdose.)
Officers say they noticed a shelf near the bed containing four while pills and a glass pipe commonly used to smoke meth.
Paramedics transported the boy to Phoenix Children’s Hospital hospital, where, according to the police report, the “toxicology screening was later found to be positive for opiates and amphetamine.”
Further testing revealed the child “tested positive for fentanyl, methamphetamine, Oxycodone and opiates.”
According to the police report, a “nurse stated the child must have ingested a decent quantity of opiates to be as lethargic as he was.”
Police also noticed the little boy had “bruising to his right eyelid and to his middle back and an abrasion by his lower lip.” He also had “red spots under his chin and on his neck.” He also had some healed burns on his arm.
Police believe burns on the boy’s arm were from a torch used with meth.
Police say the boy’s mother, Hernandez, at first told officers one man was the boy’s father and that: “he thinks the child took some Percocet.” Hernandez then told police a second story, that another man was the boy’s father, and that “he was the one with the pills,” according to the police report.
She also told police that the second man administered Narcan to the little boy.
Finally, Hernandez told police that she and her boyfriend, Kagan, had been sleeping and “she woke up to find the child unresponsive.” It was later determined that the couple was passed out.
According to the police report, Hernandez told officers that Kagan “deals Percocet pills.”
And later during a police interview, Hernandez admitted that she, too, sells what she thinks are Percocet pills. She says “she usually puts the pills away after selling them, but last night she did not.”
She also admits she uses heroin and meth.
A search warrant at the apartment revealed an “extensive amount of drugs, drug paraphernalia, money and a scale.”