Tag: Michigan
Man fatally shot wife in chest over fight about cigarettes
A Michigan man was charged with murder on Monday for fatally shooting his wife in the chest after the two had an argument over cigarette smoking.
Vashon Flowers, 46, allegedly shot Jamie Thomas-Flowers inside their Muskegon Heights home at about 6:30 a.m. on Sunday following an argument that took place when the husband came home with cigarettes, according to Muskegon Heights Police.
The couple had recently quit smoking, but Vashon arrived at the residence and said he wanted to smoke while drinking, cops said.
Vashon stormed out of the home and returned several hours later.
When the man came back, he kicked in the door and shot his wife four times in the chest before running away, according to police. He later surrendered to cops.
In addition to the murder charge, Flowers was also charged as a habitual offender due to prior felony convictions.
Muskegon County District Judge Raymond Kostrzewa denied bail during Flowers’ arraignment.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/20/man-fatally-shot-wife-in-chest-over-fight-about-cigarettes-cops/
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Teacher accidentally played porn during history class: district
A substitute teacher in Michigan showed pornography for at least 30 seconds during a middle school history class, district officials said.
The unidentified teacher at O.L. Smith Middle School in Dearborn had intended to play footage about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but mistakenly aired pornographic material to an entire class of startled seventh-graders on March 13, WJBK reports.
“This event was a very unfortunate and rare occurrence,” the school’s principal, Zeina Jebril, wrote in a letter to parents of the 29 students in the class. “Our district has very powerful and proven filtering software to prevent this type of event from happening. Each day thousands of students log on to the internet throughout the district without incident.”
Jebril said school officials were investigating how the incident occurred and what steps are needed to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
David Mustonen, a spokesman for Dearborn Public Schools, said the substitute teacher was “unaware that the video was there,” blaming the in-class peep show on a technological glitch.
“In this particular instance, it appears that there was some type of loophole,” Mustonen said. “One time too many, but very isolated.”
Police and district officials told WJBK there’s no evidence that a student was responsible for playing the footage, perhaps as a prank.
No criminal intent was found on behalf of the teacher, but the educator won’t be invited back to schools in Dearborn because district officials can’t confirm where the video originated, WJBK reports.
White women called cops on man ‘gardening while black
A Michigan man claims three white women falsely accused him of various crimes for months to keep him away from a public park, in what he says is a case of “gardening while black.”
Marc Peeples, 33, says in a lawsuit filed last week that the trio repeatedly made bogus calls to the Detroit Police Department about him, throughout 2017 and early 2018, over a community garden he built in a park, the Detroit Metro Times reported.
The women — Deborah Nash, Martha Callahan and Callahan’s granddaughter Jennifer Morris — tried to get him “incarcerated or seriously injured by law enforcement,” because they wanted control of Hunt Park, according to the suit filed in Wayne County Third Circuit Court in Michigan.
They told cops that Peeples had stolen from homes near the park, threatened to burn down their homes across from the park and said he would kill them, according to the lawsuit.
Their claims resulted in him being charged with three counts of stalking but the case was dismissed.
Peeples and his attorney, Robert Burton-Harris, describe what happened as a case of “gardening while black,” according to NBC News.
In one incident, Nash called the cops to claim Peeples had a gun. When six officers arrived at the park, they found him raking leaves.
In another incident, Peeples was teaching a group of schoolchildren about gardening when Callahan allegedly called 911 and said he couldn’t be around kids because he was a convicted pedophile. He was arrested but never charged.
“I was arrested in front of children, and even after I was arrested my name was still being slandered, people were still saying things about me that wasn’t true,” Peeples said.
“I wanted to hold people accountable. I was locked up, I had to face trial, and I had to put my life back together.”
He is seeking $300,000 in damages.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/03/05/white-women-called-cops-on-man-gardening-while-black-suit/
13-year-old boy kills himself after school allegedly ignores bullying
An eighth-grade student in Michigan reportedly took his own life after he faced relentless bullying on his school bus.
Michael Martin, 13, died Jan. 25 at Sparrow Hospital two days after he attempted suicide at his Lansing home, the Lansing State Journal reported.
His mother, Joanna Wohlfert, said the teen was teased about his weight and braces on the school bus in the months prior to his death.
He often skipped class at Everett High School to avoid the bullies, which led to his grades slipping, she said.
Wohlfert said the school district and bus company failed to investigate the issue after she repeatedly reached out to them.
“He was going through a dark time and nobody cared,” his mom told the newspaper. “Nobody paid attention to him.”
In emails provided to the newspaper, Wohlfer pleads with faculty and administrators to address the bullying.
“I AM ASKING FOR ANY HELP I CAN GET,” she wrote to a school counselor in a Jan. 8 email.
School officials released a statement Monday confirming authorities are investigating the teen’s suicide.
“The Lansing School District is engaged in a comprehensive and on-going investigation and is working closely with the Lansing Police Department,” the district said.
“It is the policy and practice of the district to not comment or share any details pertaining to the investigation while it is on-going.”
via: https://nypost.com/2019/02/05/13-year-old-boy-kills-himself-after-school-allegedly-ignores-bullying/
Inmates used makeshift dummies in escape bid
Prison officials in Michigan thwarted an apparent escape attempt by two inmates who used makeshift dummies as part of their effort to throw off the guards, authorities said.
The suspected escape attempt — which happened at about 6 p.m. Saturday at the Macomb Correctional Facility in New Haven — was foiled when a corrections officer stationed in a tower spotted cellmates Chakaris Isiah Loury, 24, and Darious Ellington Culpepper, 27, walking toward a fence after lagging behind their unit as they were headed toward a cafeteria, corrections spokesman Chris Gautz told the Detroit Free Press.
Prison officials later found makeshift dummies inside the inmates’ cell, one in each bunk. Using their coats and other pieces of clothing, Loury and Culpepper fashioned the items into what appeared to be their bodies beneath a blanket and resting comfortably in their beds, Gautz said.
“They claimed they were going to fight, but because they put stuff in their beds, we certainly treat it as an attempted escape attempt,” he told the newspaper. “They never got more than 10 feet from the fence and they never touched the fence. The staff was incredibly alert and responded right away. The public was never in danger.”
Loury and Culpepper did not appear to have any items in their possession to help further their escape attempt, Gautz said. Loury is serving 25 years for assault with intent to commit murder, while Culpepper was sentenced in 2016 to eight years for armed robbery, the Free Press reports.
The method employed by the inmates — using dummies left behind in cells to dupe unwitting guards — echoed that of Richard Matt and David Sweat, two inmates who escaped from New York state’s maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility in 2015.
Matt and Sweat’s ill-fated and highly publicized escape was later immortalized in a 2018 television miniseries produced by Showtime and directed by Ben Stiller.
Sweat, 38, is now serving a life sentence at the Auburn Correctional Facility after being transferred from a prison near Buffalo earlier this month, while Matt was killed during the 21-day manhunt.
via: https://nypost.com/2019/01/07/inmates-used-makeshift-dummies-in-escape-bid-officials/
Photo Credit: Michigan Department of Corrections
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/
Man confesses to killing neighbor for clearing snow from his driveway
A Michigan man charged with murdering his neighbor confessed to killing the woman after seeing her blowing snow out of his driveway, court records show.
Wendell Earl Popejoy, 63, of Ottawa County, confessed to shooting his neighbor, Sheila Bonge, 59, according to court documents obtained by the Grand Haven Tribune. Popejoy, who had no prior criminal record, told Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office Detective Anne Koster that he “made the decision” to kill the woman after seeing Bonge outside on Dec. 26, blowing snow from the easement driveway in front of his home in the 14000 block of 104th Avenue.
“Wendell stated that he had made the decision when he saw Sheila to kill her,” Koster said during a hearing Sunday, according to a court transcript. “He then grabbed a gun from his home. He went out to the easement where Sheila was blowing the snow. Wendell stated that he went up behind Sheila and shot her in the back of the head and disposed of her body behind his residence.”
Police found Bonge’s body two days later. She had been reported missing by relatives earlier that week after last being seen on Dec. 24 at her home, MLive.com reports. Popejoy was arrested on Dec. 29 and was arraigned Tuesday in Grand Haven District Court on charges of open murder and using a firearm in commission of a felony.
Details of the relationship between Bonge and Popejoy are unclear, but a friend of Bonge’s told WZZM that she had ongoing disputes with several neighbors. One of the woman’s neighbors — not Popejoy — unsuccessfully sought a protection order against Bonge and her fiancé, according to court documents obtained by the station. The order, pertaining to a disagreement regarding Bonge’s use of an easement, was not granted, however.
Deputies from the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office had been called to the neighborhood more than five times recently for disputes between neighbors, WOOD reports.
Bonge’s family, meanwhile, said they’re still “in shock due to the heinous nature” of the crime, according to a statement released to the station.
“We are deeply saddened by the fact that there is nothing we or anyone can do to bring our mother back,” according to the statement. “She was loved dearly by so many for her sweet and caring nature. She was selfishly and brutally taken from us far too soon. We have no other choice but to put our faith in the justice system.”
An online fundraiser has been established in Bonge’s memory and to help offset funeral expenses.
“She was suddenly taken away from her family in such a cruel senseless way,” according to the website. “She was a mother, a grandma, a great-grandma, aunt, and a sister. She was loved very much and will be deeply missed.”
Popejoy remains held without bail at the Ottawa County Jail, records show. He’s due to return to court for a probable cause conference Jan. 10, according to Grand Haven Tribune.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/01/05/man-confesses-to-killing-neighbor-clearing-snow-from-his-driveway/
Convicted rapist gets joint custody of victim’s child
A convicted sex offender who raped a Michigan woman when she was only 12 years old has now been granted joint custody of his victim’s 8-year-old son, according to a report.
Christopher Mirasolo, 27, was awarded joint legal custody — and shared parenting time — with his now-21-year-old victim after DNA testing established the child’s paternity late last month, the Detroit News reported.
The victim’s attorney, Rebecca Kiessling, is seeking protection for both the woman and her child under the federal Rape Survivor Child Custody Act, she told the outlet.
“This is insane,” Kiessling said. “Nothing has been right about this since it was originally investigated. He was never properly charged and should still be sitting behind bars somewhere, but the system is victimizing my client, who was a child herself when this all happened.”
Kiessling has filed objections with Sanilac County Circuit Judge Gregory S. Ross, who made the order, according to the report.
She claimed Ross had disclosed the victim’s address to Mirasolo and ordered the rapist’s name to be added to the boy’s birth certificate — without the victim’s consent or a hearing, according to the report.
The Detroit News was unable to reach Ross for comment.
Kiessling told the outlet that the victim and her sister slipped out late one night in September 2008 to meet a boy when the boy’s older friend, Mirasolo, asked them if they’d like to go for a ride.
Mirasolo ended up holding them captive for two days in a vacant house before he released the older sister in a park — and allegedly threatened to kill both girls if they ratted him out. He then raped the younger girl, according to the report.
He was arrested a month later when the pre-teen became pregnant. He was sentenced to one year in county jail but only ended up serving six-and-a-half months so he could care for his sick mother, Kiessling said.
“[My client] and her family [were] told first-time sex offenders weren’t sent to prison because people come out worse after they go there,” Kiessling told the Detroit News.
Mirasolo was arrested for a second sex assault on a teenage victim two years later — for which he only served four years in prison, according to the report.
It wasn’t clear how much time Mirasolo would spend with the victim’s son, Barbara Yockey, his attorney, told the Detroit News.
“Chris was notified of the paternity matter and an order of filiation was issued last month by the court saying he had joint legal custody and reasonable visitation privileges,” she said. “He never initiated this. It was something routinely done by the prosecutor’s office when a party makes application for state assistance.”
via: http://nypost.com/2017/10/09/convicted-rapist-gets-joint-custody-of-victims-child/
Teen kills mom in her sleep after she told him he couldn’t keep puppy
MASON – A Wheatfield Township teenager fatally shot his mother as she slept hours after she told him he couldn’t keep a puppy he had brought home a few weeks earlier, police said.
Andrew David Willson, 19, was arraigned Monday in 55th District Court on one count each of murder and felony firearm possession.
Magistrate Mark Blumer denied bond for Willson, who has been in police custody since Friday.
Andrew Willson called police shortly before 7 a.m. Friday and said he had come home from a drive to find that his mother had been murdered, an Ingham County Sheriff’s detective told Blumer in a hearing that led to charges being issued against the teen.
Lisa Marie Willson, 51, was found dead in a bedroom of her home in the 200 block of Linn Road near Williamston, police said. She was shot once in the back of the head.
Investigators determined that no one besides her and her son had been inside the house the night of the killing, Detective Charles Buckland testified.
Andrew Willson had talked to his mother about the puppy Thursday evening, and she told him he would have to bring the dog to his father’s home in Dansville, Buckland testified.
The teen told detectives that in the overnight hours he removed a .22 Magnum rifle from a locked cabinet, then went into his mother’s room and shot her in the back of the head as she slept, Buckland said.
He then drove around back roads for awhile before discarding the rifle. Police recovered the weapon, which had a spent shell casing and a live round in it.
Andrew Willson has no criminal history, police said.
An attorney for Willson, Stephen Milks, declined to comment after the hearing.
A preliminary hearing has been set for Sept. 28.
Woman Pulls Gun During Fight in Michigan Walmart’s Back-to-School Aisle – Over a Notebook
NOVI, Mich. (WJBK) – Shoppers at a Walmart in Novi, Mich. were in for some frightening moments as they witnessed a woman pull out a loaded gun Monday afternoon. Police say the gun was pulled out during a fight over school supplies.
“It was in the back to school section over a notebook,” says Novi Police Det. Scott Baetens.
Novi officers say two Farmington Hills women, ages 32 and 46, were inside the Novi Towne Center Walmart, shopping for school supplies. Apparently, so was a 20-year-old South Lyon woman and her mother, 51.
“One girl was going to buy a notebook. There was one left, some pushing resulted,” Baetens says. “They began to argue who was the rightful purchaser of that notebook.”
Both duos of women were not backing down, as police and witnesses described the two women pulling the younger woman’s hair. That mother got shoved out of the way as the three continued to fight. That mother then pulled out a gun.
“She’s a valid CPL holder,” Baetens says. “She pulled out her firearm and tells them to stop attacking her daughter while pointing the gun at them.”
The fight quickly ended as customers were seen running away and police were called.
“It was a senseless act of violence all the way around,” Baetens says.
Novi police say they need more witnesses to come forward as they work to get surveillance video from the Walmart to get a closer look at what happened. Police spoke with prosecutors, who hope to determine who the aggressors were and if the woman, in fact, pulled the gun in self defense. Those four women are all facing possible charges.
“A simple assault could be just a local ordinance, a 90-day misdemeanor,” Baetens says. “All the way up to felonious assault with a firearm, which is a felony.”
Police say the gun was loaded but no round was in the chamber. No one was hurt.
In the end, Baetens says he’s unsure who got the notebook.