Neighbor Allegedly ‘Euthanized’ Phoenix Family’s Wounded Dog With Sledgehammer
A Phoenix man allegedly “euthanized” his neighbor’s wounded pit bull with a sledgehammer after the dog was hit by two cars over the weekend, according to a witness.
Jessica Headly told KNXV the injured dog, a pit bull named Beau, tried to get home after being struck by the cars.
“She was able to crawl to the porch. She wasn’t yelping but she was panting hard,” Headly said.
That’s when a neighbor came over with a sledgehammer, Headly told KNXV.
“I was like, what are you doing,” Headly said. “You can’t do that. I’m going to take the dog to the vet. Let me handle it.”
But the man told her the dog was suffering and then hit Beau twice on her head, killing the animal.
“That’s the last thing she saw is some stranger with a sledgehammer. That’s horrible,” Headly said.
Beau’s owner, Jesse Garcia, was not home at the time.
“I wish he would’ve thought twice about what he did to our dog,” Jesse Garcia said.
The man who struck Beau declined to comment, KNXV reported.
Police did go to the home Sunday night, but no arrests were made and no citations were issued, according to KNXV.
Utah Principal Placed on Leave After Student Forced to Sit Naked as Punishment
The Salt Lake City School District has placed Edison Elementary Principal Laurie Lacy on leave, and police have launched an investigation, following an incident that police said ended with a Utah department of children and family services getting involved.
The Salt Lake City Police Department and the school district would not give exact details of the incident, but a source close to the situation told KTLA sister station KSTU in Salt Lake City that Lacy told a student to pull his pants down in her office as a punishment.
Detective Greg Wilking with Salt Lake City Police said the incident took place on April 7.
The source told KSTU that a teacher brought the student, a refugee they thought to be in the first grade, to Lacy’s office after the student kept pulling his pants down during school.
Lacy told the student to take his pants off in her office, the source said.
The student had no underwear on, the source explained, and Lacy forced him to sit half-naked in a chair in the corner of her office.
At least a few teachers were in the office during the situation and witnessed it happen, said the source. The person wasn’t sure how long the student sat in the chair without pants on.
Det. Wilking said the school district and DCFS reported the incident to police on April 12. He said Special Victims Unit detectives are investigating the case, because it’s somewhat sexual in nature and involves a young boy.
Because the case is in such an early stage, he wouldn’t comment further.
Jason Olsen from the Salt Lake School District, sent KSTU this statement:
“The district was made aware of the allegations involving the principal at Edison Elementary several days ago and immediately started a comprehensive investigation, including placing the principal on leave. We are also fully cooperating with police in their investigation.”
Whittier Bus Driver Was Distracted by Sexual Encounter When He Left a Disabled Teen to Die
A Whittier bus driver who is serving a two-year prison term for the death of a 19-year-old student with autism left the boy behind on a bus in the hot sun because he was distracted by an affair with a fellow bus driver, lawyers for the teen’s family say.
Text message records show Armando Abel Ramirez, 37, was corresponding with another bus driver to arrange to have sex on Sept. 11, 2015, when he failed to ensure all students had exited his bus for school on one of the hottest days of the year, according to laywer Robert Glassman.
Sierra Adult School student Hun Joon “Paul” Lee’s dead body was found lying in the aisle of the bus hours later, after his mother became worried when he didn’t return from school at his usual time. The school told Eun Ha Lee her son had been absent that day, despite the fact that she boarded him on a bus at 8 a.m.
He was pronounced dead at 4:33 p.m., Whittier police said.
Paul had the mental capacity of a 3-year-old and was nonverbal, his mother said, meaning he would have been unable to cry for help.
In a 2015 interview with KTLA, Lee questioned how he could’ve been left behind, as she said there were only three other students on the bus that morning.
“I feel like, we are nothing,” she said. “They killed my son. Technically, they killed my son.”
On May 15 the student’s family will face Pupil Transportation, the company that operated the bus, in court. Ramirez has already been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to one felony count of dependent adult abuse.
Ramirez was a substitute driver and was working a split shift on the day of Paul’s death, the L.A. County District Attorney’s officials said while sentencing Ramirez in January.
He did not check the back of the bus to ensure no students were left behind before his morning shift ended, prosecutors said.
Glassman, the Lee family’s attorney, said he’s uncovered new evidence that shows Ramirez had been in a rush to leave the bus and meet up with his coworker.
“He took his attention away from Paul and onto his phone, onto those text messages and onto sex — rushed away from work to go have sex,” Glassman told KTLA. “With these text messages we can cross-reference the time on the text messages with the time the bus pulled up in front of the school and we can see that he was texting at the exact moment that he was supposed to be off-boarding Paul.”
Lawyers for Pupil Transportation declined to comment until after court proceedings.
Teens threw house party after killing grandparents
A Georgia teen accused in the brutal slaying of her grandparents earlier this month partied with her boyfriend in their house while the bodies began to rot, according to officials.
Police said that Cassandra Bjorge, 17, and her boyfriend Johnny Rider, 19, sealed the doors and windows to contain the stench of the decomposing bodies so they could throw a party at the home in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
The teen girl’s grandparents, Randall and Wendy Bjorge, both 63, had been dead for a week before their bodies were discovered during a wellness check on April 8, news station WXIA reported.
Bjorge and Rider were both charged with murder and aggravated assault in the deaths of the elderly couple. The teens allegedly slashed their throats, as well as kicked, beat and used a tire iron on the pair, according to the the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The 17-year-old appeared at a preliminary hearing Wednesday, where she reportedly confessed to stabbing her grandparents.
“This is a very unique and disturbing case on so many levels and detectives are still exploring motive,” Gwinnett County police officer Deon Washington told the Gwinnett Daily Post. “We may never find a scenario that makes sense to a reasonable person.”
via: http://nypost.com/2017/04/19/teens-threw-party-in-house-after-killing-grandparents-cops/
Mother burns son, 9, with iron for not showing her his school work, cops say
Pembroke Pines woman used a hot iron to burn the chest of her 9-year-old son because he failed to show her his school work, according to police.
Tamecha Jean, 32, was arrested Monday on suspicion of committing aggravated child abuse. Broward Judge Christopher Pole ordered Jean to be released on her own recognizance and to wear an ankle monitor as her case proceeds.
An anonymous tip to an abuse hotline brought Pembroke Pines investigators to Jean’s home in the 2300 block of Northwest 96th Terrace, police Capt. Al Xiques said.
Though the alleged child abuse happened in February, two scars on the boy’s chest were evidence of violence, as was the child’s statements to police, according to a report. There were no prior reports of child abuse at that address, Xiques said.
Jean is accused of placing the iron on the center of the boy’s chest and left nipple. A quarter-sized mark in the shape of the tip of an iron and a second, one-inch long scar that may have been from the edge of an iron was on the nipple, police said.
Jean told investigators that while using a belt to spank the boy, he may have burned himself because he moves around a lot while being spanked, the police report said.
The iron was in her hand but was unplugged when she began disciplining him, she told police. She said it may have burned him but she was not sure; she did not intend to burn him and he didn’t tell her he was burned, according to the police report.
“In this case, the mother intentionally and maliciously inflicted injury upon the child as a form of discipline,” Xiques said during a news conference Tuesday outside police headquarters on Pines Boulevard. “That’s just outrageous, to use a hot iron as a type of punishment. It seems more like a form of torture.”
Pembroke Pines police learned of the abuse tip Monday from the Broward Sheriff’s Child Protective Investigations Section, a contractor for the Florida Department of Children and Families, and acted upon it immediately, Xiques said.
Since Feb. 17, the case has been investigated by BSO and another law enforcement agency, according to DCF spokeswoman Paige Patterson-Hughes.
When it was determined Pembroke Pines police had jurisdiction, they became involved on Monday, she said.
“The child was safely placed elsewhere as the investigation began in February,” said Patterson-Hughes. “He was not left in an unsafe situation.”
Citing confidentiality, she said she was not allowed to say exactly when he was removed from the home.
“Investigators have to make a determination how the alleged abuse occurred, whether there was abuse, neglect or abandonment,” Patterson-Hughes said.
Jean is also the mother of a 2-year-old and a 16-year-old. After a shelter hearing Tuesday, the three children were placed in state-licensed foster care. Jean will be allowed to see the two children who were not injured during supervised visits, Patterson-Hughes said.
The police captain emphasized the need for people to report instances of violence toward children.
“Had not someone come forward we would have never known about it,” Xiques said. “Anyone with information regarding a child who may be victimized or has been victimized, please contact police.”
The Florida Department of Children and Families’ child abuse hotline is 1-800-962-2873.
MAN HID MOTHER’S BODY PARTS IN REFRIGERATOR, COURT DOCUMENTS SAY
A Hawaii man accused of killing his mother months ago stuffed her dismembered body parts in seven plastic bags in the kitchen freezer of the Waikiki apartment they shared, according to court documents made public Monday.
Yu Wei Gong has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Liu Yun Gong.
He called 911 on April 11 and said: “‘I killed my Mom,'” according to a detective’s affidavit supporting an arrest warrant. When officers arrived and could not find the woman, Gong told them she was “in the fridge,” the complaint said.
An officer found what appeared to be body parts.
“Another covered object in the freezer felt to a different officer like a human leg and foot,” the complaint said.
Yu Wei Gong didn’t speak or enter a plea during a brief court appearance Monday. Deputy Public Defender Diamond Grace requested a Mandarin interpreter for his preliminary hearing, scheduled for Wednesday. He remained in custody with bail set at $2 million.
Grace didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking comment after the hearing.
Authorities say Yu Wei Gong told officers that he accidentally killed his mother in September after she became angry when the 26-year-old said he wanted to work instead of going to school.
Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Rachel Lange determined Liu Yun Gong had suffered blunt force injuries to the head, the complaint said. Her identity was confirmed by comparing fingerprints to those on file under her Hawaii driver’s license.
The manager of the apartment building where they lived told police he had not seen the man’s mother since before Christmas, the complaint said.
It said Liu Yun Gong did not show up for work on Aug. 21, 2016. When a supervisor called her phone, it went unanswered. Yu Wei Gong called the supervisor the next day, saying his mother was on another Hawaiian island and had left her phone at home.
Three women watched the hearing and said outside court they wanted to support Gong spiritually because he had attended their church.
Gong and his mother, who they knew by different names, attended Waipahu United Church of Christ, said former pastor Norma Desaegher.
“He has nobody. No family as far as we can tell,” she said, adding that it’s been several years since she last saw him. “We wanted to give him that spiritual support.”
Gong moved to Hawaii from China when he was 19, after his mother married an active church parishioner she met online, the women said. Mother and son stopped going to church after the man died in 2014.
The women said Gong took English classes at the church and moved with his mother and step-father to Waikiki so she could pursue a massage business.
“We just wanted people to know they were a good family” Desaegher said.
Texas Mother Arrested After Videos Allegedly Showing Her Abusing, Burning 1-Year-Old Son Posted on Facebook
A Virginia woman’s efforts to save her 1-year-old nephew from the hands of his abuser — allegedly his own mother — by turning to social media prompted police to investigate the case and resulted in the Texas woman’s arrest.
Ra’Neicha Broadnax, 20, is expecting her first child, but her motherly instinct has already kicked in and that in part inspired her to save her 1-year-old nephew Jaiden from harm, KTLA sister station KDAF in Dallas reported.
After seeing multiple videos of Jaiden being burned, hit and having a bag placed over his head, she reached out from Virginia to contact authorities in Texas, where the little boy’s mother lives.
Broadnax said, at first, she was told that nothing could be done.
Then she turned to Facebook.
Broadnax posted videos of the baby screaming while someone — the baby’s mother, according to Broadnax — taunted the child.
“Tell your daddy that’s what happens when you sit around and play with people,” a woman is heard telling the baby. “Say ‘Dad, you should have just left my mama out your b——-.’ Say that.”
The woman continues, “You just want to keep playing, so this is what you get. That’s too bad, Jaiden. Too [expletive] bad!”
In various videos, the woman can be seen holding a flame to the baby’s hand, tying a plastic bag over his head and stuffing a plastic bag into his mouth, KDAF reported.
Broadnax said she obtained 64 heartbreaking videos showing the innocent child strapped in a car seat, unable to get away from his abuser. Broadnax told KDAF that after watching three seconds of the first video, she was on the phone calling authorities.
Her older brother, who also lives in Virginia, fathered a child with 23-year-old Janelle Peterkin, who lives in Humble, Texas, outside Houston.
Broadnax said Peterkin was angry with the father, who has another girlfriend, and sent the photos and videos of her torturing their son to the couple.
The brother never received those messages because he was blocking Peterkin’s calls, according to the station. But after he was arrested last week, his girlfriend got possession of his cellphone. She unblocked Peterkin’s number and that is when she allegedly found the videos.
“His girlfriend was snooping through his phone and she saw he had (Peterkin) on the ‘Do Not Disturb’ features, so she took it off and the phone vibrated for an hour straight. When she looked, there were over 300 messages from Peterkin and 64 videos,” Broadnax explained.
Broadnax knew Peterkin’s address because she previously asked for it in order to send a gift to Texas for her nephew’s first birthday. She placed the address in Google maps to find the nearest police station.
That led Broadnax to the Humble Police Department, which Broadnax said she called immediately. Broadnax said she asked police to do a welfare check on her nephew, fearing he was dead. She said in one of the videos, she saw the baby’s eyes rolling back. Broadnax claims she explained to them what was happening, but they did not do anything.
That is when she decided to post the videos on social media. After that, she was flooded with responses from law enforcement from all over the U.S., she said.
“After I put the post up, someone from New York Police Department called me and from all different states, police were calling,” Broadnax said. “Then a detective called me from the Humble Police Department asking where Janelle was.”
Broadnax said investigators went to the Jaiden’s day care and called her, saying that they saw no physical evidence of abuse.
But after watching the videos Broadnax forwarded them, the case was handed over to Harris County Precinct 4 deputy constables, who conducted an interview. Deputies confirm that Peterkin admitted that she made the videos about 90 days ago to show her ex-boyfriend and father of her child that he did not care enough about their baby.
Peterkin was then arrested and charged with child endangerment, according to KDAF. She was released from jail after posting a $15,000 bond.
Broadnax said her brother, who has three children, had no idea his son was being abused. The brother learned about Jaiden’s abuse while watching television in jail.
“My brother was watching TV and saw me on the news and thought it was for my other brother’s baby until he heard his son cry,” Broadnax said.
She said he wishes that his son’s abuse had not been publicized on social media, but is grateful that his sister took action to make sure the baby was saved.
Still, Broadnax does not feel the baby is completely safe because he remains in the custody of Peterkin’s family. Broadnax said Peterkin has a history of displaying erratic behavior and has previously vandalized her brother’s vehicle.
“Her craziness is what got her on the blocked list,” Broadnax said. “My brother loves his kids; he has three little babies. Janelle has taken him through hell.”
Broadnax said she called Peterkin after seeing the videos, asking why she hurt Jaiden.
“She was so nonchalant with an ‘OK, I don’t care’ attitude, and she was saying it is her son, and that we did not do anything for the baby,” Broadnax said. “This is all about my brother. This is about nothing else but my brother and I want everyone to know that.”
Broadnax also wants her nephew to heal and never be harmed again.
Neither Peterkin nor her family has given a statement to KDAF.
Okla. Woman Gets Life In Prison for Dressing as a Witch to Terrorize Her 7-Year-Old Granddaughter
An Oklahoma City woman who prosecutors say dressed like a witch while severely abusing her 7-year-old granddaughter was sentenced last week to life in prison, PEOPLE confirms.
It was two months ago that Geneva Robinson, 51, and her 33-year-old boyfriend and co-defendant, Joshua Granger, pleaded guilty to child abuse and neglect charges.
On Thursday, Robinson learned she’ll spend the rest of her life behind bars when she received three life sentences; Granger received a 30-year sentence for helping Robinson commit the abuse.
The defendants initially faced a combined 29 counts of felony child abuse and neglect.
Robinson assaulted her granddaughter for more than a year, prosecutors said, including burning the girl with cigarettes, smacking her in the face and beating her with a rolling pin.
She painted her skin green and dressed in black whenever assuming the persona of the abusive “Nelda the Witch,” according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE.
Robinson also removed the girl from the local school system and deprived her of food. Court records further confirm Robinson often forced her granddaughter to sleep outside with her dogs.
As she was sentenced, prosecutors also released cellphone video showing some of her abuse.
In the footage, which PEOPLE declined to publish, Robinson appears dressed as “Nelda” and grabs the girl by the throat before dragging her across the floor.
She tells the child she’s going to eat her, according to the video.
Detectives began investigating Robinson in 2014, after receiving a call from workers at Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman, Oklahoma, where she had tried to have her granddaughter committed – saying she couldn’t control the girl.
The victim told investigators her grandmother regularly whipped her, beat her and pinched her skin with pliers, court documents state. She also said she went days without eating.
The girl told detectives her grandmother would wear a green mask and bring her into the garage, where she was restrained and forced to sleep on a pair of pants, according to the documents. Robinson also used a pink dog leash to tie her up and suspend her from the ceiling.
Inside Robinson’s home, police recovered the leash as well as a horse whip.
Court records indicate Robinson allegedly utilized her “Nelda” character on others, including the girl’s father when he was a child.
The victim, who is now 9, addressed Robinson in a letter that was read in court on Thursday, a court official confirms.
“I love you,” the girl wrote, the official says. “I forgive you. You’re the best grandmother I ever had.”
It was not immediately clear in whose custody the child is now.
Lawyers for both defendants were unavailable for comment Monday afternoon.
via: https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/okla-woman-gets-life-dressing-165822265.html
NEW CHATTANOOGA CITY COUNCILWOMAN OPENLY ADMITS SHE’S A RACIST
The newest member of the Chattanooga City Council has an extensive history of criminal behavior and once proudly declared herself racist.
Demetrus “Meechie” Coonrod was arrested and sentenced to prison for charges including child abuse, assault, and armed robbery, local NBC affiliate WRCB reported on Wednesday. Coonrod is also the vice chairwoman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, The Washington Free Beacon reports.
Local news website the Chattanooga reports that Coonrod took part in a string of armed robberies targeting restaurants, and on one occasion a blood plasma center. The ringleader of those robberies received 45 years in prison, while Coonrod received seven. That sentence was later reduced in exchange for her testimony against a sexually predatory group of prison guards.
Coonrod was released to a Salvation Army halfway house in 2010, but was kicked out after a string of violations. In the final incident, Coonrod (who is African-American) hurled a racial slur at a white worker.
The future lawmaker said that she wanted to speak to a black man, yelling, “You’re a f**king peckerhead,” and, “You’re a f**king peckerwood.” According to the incident report, she also asserted she was a racist.
“You are god damn right I’m racist,” she reportedly said.
But fellow council members tell WRCB they are standing by Coonrod.
“Her past is her past. She was elected by the people,” said council member Darrin Ledford.
“She made it clear up front,” Anthony Byrd, another colleague, said. “If you put your mind to something and put God first, the sky is the limit.”
Coonrod told WRCB that she wanted to help her community and turn her life around.
“I had time to think about my life. Like what am I doing? What am I not doing? How can I make things right. I knew I did not want to come outside of prison being the same person I was going inside prison,” she said. “I began to knock on every door. Reach out to elected officials saying hey I need some help. I need you to help me help my community.”
Coonrod is set to be sworn in to Chattanooga City Council next week.
Young dad killed in movie theater had people ‘after him’
His life ended as the final credits rolled.
A Yonkers man was fatally stabbed early Saturday in the lobby of the movie theater where he worked, police said.
The 19-year-old victim, who had just started working at the Showcase Cinema De Lux multiplex in Ridge Hill, was arguing with another man at 12:44 a.m. when the encounter turned violent.
The killer then whipped out a knife and stabbed the worker in the chest, according to Yonkers cops.
A relative identified the dead man as Daij Thomas, adding that Thomas had been attacked two weeks ago but survived. “He had a disagreement with a group of people. We don’t know over what, but we knew they were after him. If we would’ve known who or over what we would’ve tried to help him,” said brother-in-law Landon Tucker-Brown, 28.
Thomas worked two jobs at the mall and was trying to get an apartment for himself, his girlfriend and their young son.
“He was a good kid and he was finally getting his life together,” Tucker-Brown said.
The bloody encounter unfolded as the theater’s late-night showings were wrapping up. Video of emergency responders working to save Thomas in the lobby was posted online.
Thomas was pronounced dead at New York-Presbyterian/Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville.
The slay suspect was described as 6-feet tall and thin.
Those who said on social media they knew the victim paid him tribute.
Tia Thomas updated her Facebook cover photo with a picture of her slain boyfriend with angel wings, noting, “Life cut short, Spirit Lives Forever, Rest Easy Young King.”
The post said Thomas began working at the theater on Wednesday and “now he’s gone.”
via: http://nypost.com/2017/04/15/worker-fatally-stabbed-in-movie-theater/