Student in Custody After Prank Call About Person With Gun Prompts Lockdown of 2 San Dimas Schools
A student was taken into custody after a prank call regarding an armed person on campus prompted the lockdown of two schools in San Dimas on Thursday, authorities said.
The incident began just before 9:40 a.m. when the San Dimas Sheriff’s Station received a 911 call regarding a person with a gun at San Dimas High School, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Both schools were placed on lockdown as deputies searched the campus to verify the validity of the call, sheriff’s officials said.
After a sweep of the school, deputies determined there was no threat to either campus.
The incident was determined to be a hoax, and the student who placed the call was subsequently detained and taken into custody, according to the Sheriff’s Department. Authorities are not identifying the juvenile due the student’s age.
The Bonita Unified School District took to Twitter earlier to calm fears of a possible armed person on campus, saying that all students and staff were safe, and that every precaution had been taken to protect them.
The district reported they had been told by the Sheriff’s Department that call had likely been a hoax.
Meanwhile, many concerned parents could be seen waiting outside the school as deputies searched the campus. Some said they showed up after receiving a text message from their children.
“Very stressful, he texted us to let us know he was scared and they had them on lockdown, they had tables up against the door, and that he was freaking out,” one mother told KTLA through tears.
The uncle of another student said his niece first reported the school had been locked down because of a possible student with weapons in his backpack.
“Now we’re hearing that there’s two possible guys who do not come to this school that they’re hanging around in the basketball court with weapons also. So we don’t know what’s going on,” the man told KTLA as he awaited word from authorities.
A short time later, parents and guardians were allowed to pick up their children from school once they determined the call was a hoax.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
8-year-old boy takes mom’s car on 87 mph joyride: ‘I just wanted to drive a little bit’
GERMANY — An 8-year-old German boy stole his mother’s car and took it for a night-time drive at 87 mph (140 kmph) along a highway, local police said.
The child was discovered parked at a motorway services along the A44 highway near the northwest German city of Soest in the early hours of Wednesday — about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from his home.
The boy’s mother called police at 12:25 a.m., alerting them that her son had taken her VW Golf, which has automatic transmission.
Local police and the boy’s mother started to look for the car-loving child, and he was found by his mother shortly after in a service station along the autobahn.
The boy had parked the car and turned on the hazard lights, securing the area with a warning triangle.
When speaking to police after the incident, the boy reportedly said: “I just wanted to drive a little bit.”
A spokesperson for Soest North Rhine-Westphalia police told CNN that the boy stopped driving because he didn’t feel comfortable driving on the motorway.
The boy would regularly go karting and drive bumper cars and had driven a car on private property, police said.
Police told CNN that they had spoken to the boy about the danger posed by his night-time ride, and that he would face no criminal charges.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Trial begins for man accused of killing ex, eating parts of her body
Louisville, KY (WLKY) — The trial for accused killer Joseph Oberhansley began Wednesday in Jeffersonville. As he was led into the courtroom he once again proclaimed his innocence telling the media gathered outside that two black men had broken into his ex’s home and were responsible for the crime.
His day in court comes nearly five years after Tammy Jo Blanton, 46, was found murdered inside her Locust Street home in Jeffersonville. Blanton had broken up with Oberhansley and moved out of her home days before.
According to the prosecutor, Blanton stayed with a friend then returned home after work on September 10, 2014- telling that friend she was ‘taking her life back.’ When she failed to show up to work the next morning co-workers called her phone.
Oberhansley, according to investigators, answered, claiming to be someone else and at one point said Blanton was with her father. When a welfare check was done, police found Oberhansley still at her home. Police say he had a knife, covered in blood and hair, in his pocket.
The body of Blanton was discovered in her bathtub, covered with a tent. There was also evidence, according to investigators, her organs had been eaten.
In his opening statements Wednesday, Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull called the crime scene “horrific” and urged the jury to convict Oberhansley on murder, rape, and burglary charges.
Oberhansley interrupted Mull on two occasions, at one point telling him, “You don’t have proof of that.” The defense addressed the jury for just eight minutes, urging them to :look and listen” to evidence.
Brent Westerfeld, one of three attorneys representing Oberhansley, later told reporters, “We believe his decision making was a result of his mental illness and we believe that that makes this process unfair.”
But Mull said Oberhansley needed his day in court. “We were able to finally get a jury we think is fair and impartial and I’m thrilled they’re here,” he said of the jury that was selected earlier this week in Hamilton County.
Mull said he looked forward to getting justice for Blanton’s family, whom he said had been “so patient” during the five years it took for the case to go to trial.
The trial resumes Thursday at 8 a.m. and could last several weeks. The jury will be sequestered in Clark County during that time
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/22/trial-begins-for-man-accused-of-killing-ex-eating-parts-of-her-body/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Prosecutor wants to ensure officer accused of exposing himself, urinating on 12-year-old girl never returns to force
CLEVELAND, OH (WJW) — He took an oath to serve and protect, but a Cleveland police officer is now charged with lewd and despicable crimes against a 12-year-old girl. Prosecutors say he tried to kidnap her from a school bus stop, but he did not stop there.
A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Solomon Nhiwatiwa Wednesday on the following eight counts:
- 1 count of attempted kidnapping (with sexual motivation specification)
- 1 count of pandering obscenity involving a minor
- 1 count of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles
- 1 count of endangering children
- 1 count of criminal child enticement
- 1 count of public indecency
- 1 count of assault
- 1 count of attempted interference with custody
“This is just an individual who is just a bad man, who just happens to work as a police officer,” said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley.
Solomon Nhiwatiwa, 34, has been a Cleveland police officer since March 2014 and was most recently assigned to the third district.
“He approached a young girl, tried to entice that young girl; she was a 12-year-old child who was waiting for her school bus,” O’Malley explained.
O’Malley says the girl was at her bus stop along Euclid Avenue in Euclid around 7:00 a.m. Friday. She says a man in a blue BMW SUV pulled up and asked if she needed a ride to school.
According to a Euclid police report, Nhiwatiwa asked,”what are you doing?”
She told him she was waiting for the bus.
He then asked “what school do you go to?”
After naming her school, he asked, “can I take you there?”
The girl declined and said, “no thanks.”
“He continued to engage in conversation with her. The young child continued to shut him down, tell him no — she didn’t want to talk to him, no, no,” said the prosecutor.
The report states that Nhiwatiwa continued and said, “can I talk to you and ask you some questions?”
Again the girl said”no.”
Investigators say he left, then returned with his genitals exposed and appeared to be recording himself with his cell phone.
“Several minutes later, he then approached her and began to urinate on the child,” said O’Malley.
According to the report, the girl then yelled, “what is your problem?”
He responded, “what’s wrong?” and called her an expletive.
Investigators say they suspected Nhiwatiwa because an hour earlier, a neighbor called police about a man peering into cars and reported the license number of a suspicious blue SUV.
“Police are our safety net, they are the people that protect children like this girl every day…The mission of my office is to ensure that he never acts as a police officer again and never holds that title again,” O’Malley said.
Nhiwatiwa has been placed on administrative leave without pay. He turned himself in to Euclid police Tuesday and remains in the Euclid City Jail. He will eventually be transferred to the Cuyahoga County Jail.
He is scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday morning.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Women steal baby stroller from store, leave child behind
MIDDLETOWN, N.J. — Two women who allegedly stole a baby stroller and left a child behind have been arrested in New Jersey.
A group of three women and children entered a baby store in Middletown on Aug. 16.
Authorities say one of the women went to the front of the store to grab the stroller, while the other two distracted an employee.
One of the women then returned after realizing one of the children was left behind.
Two of the three women have been arrested and face shoplifting and conspiracy charges. Both are from England and in their early 20s.
The store’s owner Enelio Ortega says the women stole an English stroller that likely would have been cheaper overseas.
Ortega says the stroller has been returned.
The third woman remains at large.
via: https://pix11.com/2019/08/22/nj-women-steal-baby-stroller-from-store-leave-child-behind/
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Dead baby found in garbage bag in New Mexico may have been injected with heroin
ALCALDE, N.M. – A newborn baby found dead inside a trash bag in New Mexico may have been injected with heroin, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
After getting a call from a New Mexico man concerned about the safety of his unborn son, officers went to the home where the mother was staying and found the dead child August 17, New Mexico State Police said in a news release.
The man had recently returned from a trip and noticed that his girlfriend no longer appeared to be pregnant. The father told investigators that the child’s mother is a regular heroin user and got high during the pregnancy, according to an affidavit.
According to the Journal, the father said that he’d been told his girlfriend was injecting the baby with heroin to stave off withdrawal symptoms.
Police spoke with the woman Friday after finding her living in a small camper trailer. She allegedly told officers the pain of childbirth caused her to lose consciousness, and she awoke to find the newborn unresponsive.
Responding officers noticed the “smell of death” and, after a search of the trailer, found the baby inside a black tote bag that was in a trash bag near the toilet.
An autopsy that will determine the cause and manner of the child’s death is pending. Police are waiting for those results before filing official charges.
Photo Credit: pix11.com
O.C. School District Reopens Investigating Into Video of Students Giving Nazi Salute as More Images Emerge
A Southern California school district is reopening an investigation into video showing students giving a Nazi salute, with one official saying unspecified new photos and video have emerged.
The Garden Grove school district in Orange County announced the new probe Tuesday night just before a tense school board meeting in a community angry after learning high school officials knew about the salute video months before it became public this week.
Pacifica High School Principal Steve Osborne apologized at the meeting for not informing the community earlier — and said officials have gotten “new allegations, new photos and video … and new claims that have led us to reopen and widen the scope of the investigation.”
School officials haven’t characterized the new allegations or material.
At issue, to start with, is a November video appearing to show Pacifica High School students raising their arms in a Nazi salute, and at least one of the students singing a Nazi-era marching song.
The eight-second video was recorded before an off-campus student athletics banquet, in a room where the students were unsupervised, the Garden Grove Unified School District said.
After a small group of students shared it on social media, high school administrators learned of it in March and “addressed the situation with all students and families involved,” the district said in a statement.
But even district-level officials, they say, didn’t know of the video until this week, when the The Daily Beast published it.
The revelation roiled teachers and residents who say they should have been told long ago — and it has the district scrambling to promise it will investigate further and battle any hate and bias in the schools.
“Rest assured that any students engaging in hate speech or activities will face disciplinary action in accordance with California Education Code,” the district said in a news release Tuesday.
“We deeply apologize for the pain this has cause our community and the national community at large.”
The school hasn’t said how the students in the November salute video were disciplined, citing federal law that protects student records.
Residents and teachers blast school officials for secrecy
Parents and teachers used Tuesday night’s school board meeting to criticize the high school’s initial secrecy over the salute video.
“How are we to battle (extremist ideology) if we aren’t even made aware of it?” Randy Steiner, a parent of a Pacifica High student, said when the board gave him a chance to speak.
Pacifica history teacher Ana Tourtellotte said the district lost precious time.
“Not being able to both directly and publicly confront this sort of behavior makes us feel like we were robbed of a significant teaching opportunity. And frankly, it made us feel like fools,” Tourtellotte said.
“The obscure nature of the song, the premeditated nature of the act, as well as the response taken by our institution suggests the need for a systemic look at our school and district culture, and I fear it’s not an isolated incident,” she said.
Principal apologizes
Osborne, the principal, acknowledged the school administration “did a disservice to the entire school community by limiting our action to the small group of students involved.”
“We are sorry that our investigation and our transparency with the Pacifica community fell drastically short. In retrospect, our judgment was wrong and we take full responsibility for that,” he said.
The school district said it will work with community partners, including Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance, as it considers developing and expanding anti-bias programs.
Part of that, the district said, will be making sure students and staff “understand their role in speaking out about hate and bias at schools.”
Other times high schoolers have given Nazi salutes
This was just one among recent cases of US students being caught on video giving the Nazi salute.
High school students in Newport Beach, California, were at a party earlier this year laughing as they raised their arms in the Nazi salute next to a swastika made of plastic cups.
The photo prompted Anne Frank’s stepsister, Eva Schloss, to visit the students and educate them on why such symbols were painful and offensive.
Wisconsin high school students posed for a photo in spring 2018 giving the Nazi salute. The school district decided not to punish the kids after a 10-day review, citing First Amendment protections.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Disgruntled Employee With Firearms Arrested After Threatening Mass Shooting at Long Beach Hotel
A possible mass shooting was thwarted when Long Beach police arrested a disgruntled Marriott employee who had access to weapons and allegedly told a coworker he planned to shoot everyone he saw at his workplace, the city’s police chief said Wednesday.
Rodolfo Montoya, 37, was arrested without incident at his home in Huntington Beach on Tuesday, according to Long Beach Police Department Chief Robert Luna.
Investigators searched the home and seized multiple firearms, including an assault rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and high-capacity magazines, Luna told reporters at a news conference where the arrest was announced.
“I believe the Police Department has worked to avert what could have been a real tragedy in this community,” Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said.
The investigation began when a worker contacted authorities on Monday evening to alert them to a verbal threat of violence against the Long Beach Marriott, according to police.
Montoya was employed as a cook at the hotel, which is located in the 4700 block of Airport Plaza. Investigators believe he was upset over some recent workplace activity having to do with human resources.
In expressing his anger to the coworker, Montoya allegedly detailed a plot where he would shoot fellow employees and guests coming into the hotel, according to the police chief. He also described the tools he would use to carry out the plot.
“Suspect Montoya had clear plans, intent and the means to carry out an act of violence that may have resulted in a mass casualty incident,” Luna said.
But, according to the chief, the possible plan was thwarted when the coworker contacted police, prompting an investigation that led to a search warrant and an arrest.
Luna credited the employee’s tip with potentially saving lives and reminded the public that coming forward with information is the only way those types of incidents can be reported.
“We’ve seen countless of acts of senseless violence throughout the country in the last several months,” he said. “We want to remind everyone that if you see, hear or read about any threats or suspicious activity, I believe that it is your obligation to report that to the police.”
Investigators are looking into how Montoya obtained the cache of firearms and ammunition.
He has no known criminal record, but some of the firearms may been illegal to possess in California, as were the high-capacity magazines confiscated from the suspect’s residence, according to Luna.
Montoya was being interviewed by detectives on Wednesday afternoon, the police chief added.
He was booked on suspicion of manufacturing and distributing assault weapons, possession of an assault weapon and making criminal threats, according to a police news release.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call police at 562-435-6711. Anonymous tips can also be left by dialing 1-800-222-8477, texting TIPLA plus your tip to 274637, or going to the website http://www.lacrimestoppers.org.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Police find Trump-shaped ecstasy pills on Florida man
CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Ecstasy pills shaped like President Donald Trump have led to charges against a Florida man.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office says 23-year-old Brendan Dolan-King of Clearwater was charged Friday with felony drug possession after police confirmed five Trump-themed orange tablets seized during a June search of his home were in fact illicit drugs.
Authorities say forensic laboratory testing proved the pills to be MDMA, a substance commonly referred to as ecstasy or molly. Police say they also found fentanyl.
According to reports, the puckered-lipped Trump-inspired pills that resemble children’s multivitamins have popped up across Europe and the United States.
Indiana state police in 2018 seized similar orange pills stamped with the 45th president’s face and the words, “great again,” an apparent reference to Trump’s “Make American Great Again” campaign slogan.
Photo Credit: Indiana State Police Peru Post via AP
Schools are locking up students’ phones, creating ‘severe anxiety’
Lock ‘em up.
Kids are increasingly being asked the impossible — to survive a day at school without their phones.
Hundreds of schools in New York City and the tristate area are about to start the school year using magnetically sealed pouches during the day — so kids aren’t distracted by their digital lives while trying to learn.
The schools, including Pelham Preparatory Academy and Wings Academy, are using the devices designed by Silicon Valley company Yondr.
A corporate spokesperson tells The Post that more schools here are using them than ever before: “Demand has tripled this year. It’s incredibly exciting.”
Yondr’s pouches seal when students place their phones in them at the start of the day. Students then keep the pouches on them so their phones aren’t at risk of getting stolen. When school lets out, they get a code to unlock them.
But while teachers at one Bay Area school are pleased at the renewed attention they’ve gotten in the classroom, some researchers are less enthused. Not knowing what’s going on can cause severe anxiety, research psychologist Larry Rosen told NBC Bay Area.
“I would caution this school that one of the ramifications of this policy is that you’re activating anxiety in your students, which may backfire,” he said.
He advocates for “technology breaks during the school day so students can alleviate their anxiety.”
The pouches are the same ones performers are increasingly asking their audiences to stow their phones in during shows. Musicians such as Alicia Keys and Childish Gambino and comedians including Dave Chappelle and Wanda Sykes have mandated their fans use the pouches to improve performance experiences — and prevent leaks of material.
But if rabid audiences are anything like school children, the anxiety of not having a phone at all times may be too much to bear at times. At a recent Chappelle show, one drunk fan chewed through the bottom of a Yondr pouch, according to the New York Times.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/08/21/schools-are-locking-up-students-phones-creating-severe-anxiety/
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