Brooklyn high school teacher arrested for allegedly producing child pornography
BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn high school teacher was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of making child pornography and using Facebook to lure his alleged victims, authorities said.
Jonathan Deutsch, a teacher at Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences in Manhattan Beach, faces five counts of sexual exploitation of child, according to the United States Attorney Eastern District of New York. If convicted, he faces a minimum of 15 years in prison.
Starting in January of 2017, the 34-year-old suspect allegedly contacted hundreds of Facebook users who appeared to be minors. He had sexual conversations with at least 45 of them, officials said.
The victims, none of whom were Deutsch’s students, range in age from 10 to 16 years old, officials said.
He often instructed the children and teens to send him videos and photos of them performing sexually explicit acts, authorities said. He allegedly sent minors sexual photos that he told the victims were of himself.
Deutsch teaches English at Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences, according to the high school’s website. After his arrest, Deutsch’s page on the school’s website was deleted.
PIX11 News has reached out to the city’s Department of Education for comment.
400-Lb Man Not Guilty After Boy Asphyxiates Under Him
Donald Martin Jr. pleaded guilty to reckless homicide in April in connection with the death of his 11-year-old grandson. On Monday, a judge ruled the Mount Orab, Ohio, man was innocent.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports Martin in June withdrew his guilty plea, and Brown County Judge Scott Gusweiler found the case didn’t meet the state’s definition of recklessness, which requires a disregard for the risks and consequences of one’s actions.
In pinning Dylan Martin-Davis between his body and the arm of a couch to calm the boy down on Nov. 17, 2017, Gusweiler wrote that he found no proof the 58-year-old was aware the position could cause death; WLWT describes the position as Dylan being put over the arm of the couch, with Martin then on top of him.
Dylan, who Fox8 reports weighed 90 pounds, died of asphyxiation. The child’s father disagrees with the ruling, telling the Enquirer, “How do you kill a child and walk free? How can you pin a child down—my understanding is for five to 10 minutes—and not know what you’re doing?”
Family Claims Hazing Took The Life Of 20-Year-Old UC Riverside College Student
Police are currently investigating the passing of a 20-year-old college student who sadly passed away over the weekend. Tyler Hilliard would have been a junior at the University of California, Riverside this year, however his family says his heart stopped after an alleged hazing incident.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Hilliard’s family says he was pledging to be a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. His mother, Myeasha Kimble-Hilliard, said she discovered text messages in his phone that revealed he went to a Mount Rubidoux hiking trip, also allegedly known as “gold paddle day.”
The text messages also reprotedly revealed that Hilliard was “forced to eat an entire onion covered in hot sauce, forced to drink large amounts of water and was paddled with a piece of cactus as part of the fraternity’s pledge process.”
“I’m not saying that his death was a direct result of hazing. I don’t know that for sure,” his mom told reporters. “But I believe something happened that led up to his death.”
However, Hilliard’s aunt Robyn Fountain said, “It was very clear that they were being hazed.”
Hilliard was rushed to the hospital around 9 p.m. on Saturday after he left Mount Rubidoux. His family says his heart stopped seven times before he was pronounced dead.
As of now, authorities have labeled his death as “suspicious.” Detectives are investigating if hazing played a role in Hilliard’s death or if he had an underlying medical issue. The results of the autopsy report have yet to come back.
The LA Times reports that UC Riverside has a zero-tolerance hazing policy and the university’s chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha couldn’t be reached for comment at the time of publishing.
The university released this statement in response to the news: “The UC Riverside community grieves the loss of our student Tyler Hilliard. We’ve shared our condolences and offer of support with Tyler’s family and have made counseling services available to students, faculty, or staff who knew him. UCR Student Affairs and UCPD are collaborating with the Riverside Police Department to determine the circumstances regarding Tyler’s passing.”
“I couldn’t ask for a better kid,” Myeasha Kimble-Hilliard told KTLA. “He had a bright future ahead of him.”
“Their organization is hazing and they need to be aware of it,” she added. “And they need to put a stop to it.”
Article via: Family Claims Hazing Took The Life Of 20-Year-Old UC Riverside College Student
School superintendent on Texans star: ‘You can’t count on a black QB’
A school superintendent in Texas said he thought he was sending a private message when he wrote a public Facebook post blasting Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, stating, “you can’t count on a black quarterback.”
Lynn Redden, superintendent of the Onalaska Independent School District, made the comment in reference to the final play of the Texans’ 20-17 loss on Sunday to the Tennessee Titans during which Watson held onto the ball before completing a pass to receiver DeAndre Hopkins as time expired, leaving no time to try a last-second, game-tying field goal.
“That may have been the most inept quarterback decision I’ve seen in the NFL,” Redden wrote on a Facebook post promoting a Houston Chronicle story about the game. “When you need precision decision making you can’t count on a black quarterback.”
But Redden didn’t realize that the post was public. He later deleted his comment and told the Chronicle he wishes he never shared that sentiment.
“I totally regret it,” Redden told the newspaper.
Redden, who oversees 1,130 students and 175 staffers as the district’s superintendent, did not immediately return a message seeking comment from The Post early Tuesday. He had not faced any discipline in connection with the remark as of Monday afternoon but told the Chronicle he understands how people may consider it to be racist.
Redden said he was referring to the statistical success of black quarterbacks in the NFL.
“Over the history of the NFL, they have had limited success,” he told the newspaper.
Doug Williams in 1988 became the league’s first black quarterback to lead his team to a championship, taking the Washington Redskins over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXII. Williams, who started the season as a backup, was named the game’s MVP after completing 18-of-29 passes for 340 yards and four touchdowns.
More recently, in 2014, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson became the second black quarterback to win it all, beating the Denver Broncos 43-8 in his second season as a pro.
The eagle-eyed reader who caught Redden’s comment, meanwhile, said he hopes there are repercussions to follow.
“It’s important to make sure horrible words are met with consequences, especially for those in powerful positions with influence,” reader Matt Erickson told the newspaper.
Watson, for his part, said the Titans simply countered with “good coverage” during the game’s waning seconds, according to ESPN.
Asked if he should’ve thrown the ball away earlier, he said: “Of course.
“But while you’re playing … you can sit back and sit in your seats and say that I needed to throw the ball away,” Watson said. “But we tried to take a shot and we didn’t have any timeouts and they guarded the sideline very well. So my instincts took over and tried to get the ball and time ran out.”
Coach Bill O’Brien instead took most of the blame.
“We’re just trying to get it into field goal range and just trying to — we’ve got to do a better job of coaching that play up,” O’Brien told reporters.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/18/school-superintendent-on-texans-star-you-cant-count-on-a-black-qb/
Pa. mom charged in homicide of boy, 2; allegedly put Vicodin in sippy cup
A mother has been charged with criminal homicide in the alleged poisoning death of a 2-year-old boy in Tullytown, Bucks County.
Jennifer Clarey has been charged with one count of criminal homicide in connection to the death of Mazikeen Curtis.
Mazikeen’s body was found inside his home in the 500 block of Lovett Avenue just after 10:30 p.m. on August 25.
According to court documents, Clarey allegedly drugged her son, putting the active ingredient in Vicodin inside the boy’s sippy cup, causing him to overdose.
Mazikeen’s sippy cup was sent to a lab where tests revealed the presence of Vicodin on the sippy cup and in the contents of the sippy cup.
Authorities say an empty Vicodin prescription bottle was later found inside a closed lock box in the home.
Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub says research was done into Mazikeen’s medical history, and he was never prescribed Vicodin.
“We did some exhaustive research into Mazikeen’s health history. He was not prescribed Vicodin. In fact, it’s incredibly rare – if ever – that Vicodin, as we know is an opioid pain killer, would ever be prescribed for a two-year-old,” Weintraub said. “Plain and simple, this was a murder, and the weapon was the pills that came from this bottle.”
Authorities said the little boy’s body was discovered after police responded to a welfare check.
Their neighbor, Dawn Dunlap, said she and her neighbors were the ones who called for the check.
“Me and my other neighbor, we discussed it and said, ‘you know what, this is something we have to do,'” Dunlap said.
She said just hours before the boy was found dead his mother, Jennifer Clarey, was acting extremely out of character.
“It wasn’t something that I had ever seen before so for me to hear and see what I was seeing was just not her,” Dunlap said.
Authorities say Jennifer Clarey was found inside the home with self-inflicted wounds to her wrists.
Clarey was being held Tuesday without bail in Bucks County Prison.
Duo busted after allegedly selling weed treats at church — including cereal, brownies and puddings
For the love of pot!
Two women were busted Friday on drug charges after one allegedly sold weed edibles at a church in Savannah, Georgia, according to the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team.
Ebony Cooper, 28, was reportedly openly hawking various treats — including cereal, brownies and puddings — that contained marijuana at a church event for entrepreneurs, authorities said.
Officials said she advertised the illegal baked goods on social media prior to the event.
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Undercover agents bought several items from Cooper then followed her to 26-year-old Leah Pressley’s car, which they searched, according to officials.
The search allegedly turned up a large number of pot edibles, more than $1,000 in cash and a loaded gun.
Both Cooper and Pressley were arrested and booked at Chatham County Detention Center on felony drug charges, authorities said.
Bert And Ernie Are A Gay Couple Says Former ‘Sesame Street’ Writer
Bert and Ernie are who YOU imagene them to be. I always thought Bert and Ernie were just good friends who just hung out. And who just happened to be roommates. I do love the fact that this former writer of Sasame Street from 1985-1988 could see himself and his partner in these two beloved Sesame Street characters . Now im more inclined to believe Frank Oz one of the original creators. But it seems SOME of the people of LGBTQ community want to believe other wise. As long as you (former writer for Sesame Street could see himself and his partner) can see yourself in Bert and Ernie then it’s alright with me!
A former “Sesame Street” writer says there’s some truth to the long-standing rumors that two of the show’s most beloved characters, Bert and Ernie, are gay.
Emmy winner Mark Saltzman, who is credited with having worked on 31 episodes of “Sesame Street” that aired from 1985 through 1998, told LGBTQ news outlet Queerty he always saw Bert and Ernie as a same-sex couple.
“I remember one time that a column from The San Francisco Chronicle, a preschooler in the city turned to mom and asked, ‘Are Bert and Ernie lovers?’ And that, coming from a preschooler was fun,” Saltzman said in an interview published Sept. 16. “And that got passed around, and everyone had their chuckle and went back to it. And I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert and Ernie, they were. I didn’t have any other way to contextualize them.”
The writer, whose other credits include “The Jim Henson Hour” and the TV movie musical, “Mrs. Santa Claus,” went on to suggest that the Bert and Ernie’s storylines were inspired by his real-life relationship.
“The other thing was, more than one person referred to Arnie & I as ‘Bert & Ernie,’” Saltzman said, referring to his partner, Arnold Glassman, a filmmaker and film editor who died in 2003.
“I was already with Arnie when I came to ‘Sesame Street.’ So I don’t think I’d know how else to write them, but as a loving couple,” he said. “I wrote sketches … Arnie’s OCD would create friction with how chaotic I was. And that’s the Bert and Ernie dynamic.”
Actor, director and puppeteer Frank Oz, who performed regularly as Bert from 1969 through 2001, also offered his take.
It seems Mr. Mark Saltzman was asked if Bert & Ernie are gay. It's fine that he feels they are. They're not, of course. But why that question? Does it really matter? Why the need to define people as only gay? There's much more to a human being than just straightness or gayness.
— Frank Oz (@TheFrankOzJam) September 18, 2018
Bert and Ernie have, of course, endured speculation over their sexuality numerous times since they were created by Jim Henson for the pilot episode of “Sesame Street,” which aired in 1969.
In the 2001 book Hollywood Urban Legends, author Richard Roeper traced the rumors back to Spy magazine founder Kurt Anderson, noting that Bert and Ernie “conduct themselves in the same loving, discreet way that millions of gay men, women and hand puppets do” and “live a splendidly settled life together in an impeccably decorated cabinet.”
In 1994, the Rev. Joseph Chambers, a Pentecostal minister from North Carolina, even attempted to get the characters banned under the state’s sodomy laws, according to The Advocate. “Bert and Ernie are two grown men sharing a house and a bedroom,” Chambers said at the time. “They share clothes, eat and cook together and have blatantly effeminate characteristics.”
And while “Sesame Street” has repeatedly denied the claims, Bert and Ernie have been depicted as a same-sex couple in popular culture numerous times.
The July 8, 2013, issue of the New Yorker, for instance, showed the characters cuddling together on a sofa to celebrate the Supreme Court declaring the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, unconstitutional that June. Still, given the years of speculation, it’s unlikely we’ve heard the last of the Bert and Ernie scrutiny just yet.
https://twitter.com/sesameworkshop/status/1042117602678587395?s=21
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Dad arrested for driving teen couple to park to ‘do their thang’
A Florida man faces charges after he allegedly drove his 15-year-old son to a park with his teen girlfriend so they could have sex — or, in the dad’s words, “do their thang,” according to police.
Laurence Mitchell, 53, was arrested earlier this month after an officer spotted him after-hours in his car at McChesney Park in Port St. Lucie, according to The Smoking Gun.
The dad reportedly told the officer that his son requested he take him and his girlfriend to the local park “so they can do what kids do.”
“Well, they aren’t out there stealing, they are just having sex,” Mitchell allegedly said to the cop, adding that “they could be out there doing worse.”
Mitchell, however, allegedly admitted that he didn’t know if the girl’s parents consented to her being out.
The police officer then interviewed the teen couple after they returned from the soccer field, the TCPalm reported.
Mitchell’s son reportedly told the officer that he and his girlfriend were “just smokin’ and f–kin’.”
Police arrested the dad and booked him at St. Lucie County Jail on a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was released on $750 bond and scheduled to appear Sept. 25 in court.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/09/18/dad-arrested-for-driving-teen-couple-to-park-to-do-their-thang-cops/
Man huffs spray paint, then beats mother with spatula
ST. ALBANS, West Virginia — A West Virginia man was arrested after being accused of huffing paint and then beating his mother.
Glenn Allen Casdorph, 30, faces charges of malicious wounding in the incident, WCHS reports
Police say they responded to reports of domestic violence and found Casdorph, a known huffer, sitting on a bench in the front yard. He had a large amount of silver spray paint on his face and hands. He also was holding a large steel bar.
Police say his mother was inside the home, and her head was wrapped with gauze. She was also covered in blood. Police said the weapon used in the attack was actually a spatula.
Casdorph is in jail on $10,000 bond.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/09/18/man-huffs-spray-paint-then-beats-mother-with-spatula-police-say/
Man threatens to shoot 11-year-old who beat him at video game ‘Fortnite’
HUNTINGTON, N.Y. — A man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly threatening to shoot an 11-year-old child, possibly at his school, after the boy beat him at the video game “Fortnite.”
Michael Aliperti, 45, of Huntington, was arrested around 1:40 a.m. and faces charges of second-degree aggravated harassment and acting in a manner to injure a child, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
The arrest was the result of Aliperti threatening to shoot a child after losing to the boy during the game “Fornite,” police said.
The 11-year-old reported the threats, which were made through text messages and online voice messages left using an Xbox gaming system, police said.
Aliperti said he planned to shoot the child, possibly at his school, according to police.
The alleged threats were made Monday night.