Tag: News
Woman held down 2-year-old toddler while cousin recorded himself sexually abusing child
CINCINNATI, Ohio — A sex offender and his cousin in Ohio are facing federal charges after being accused of making child pornography with a 2-year-old toddler with plans to sell the video, federal authorities said Thursday.
Cousins Ciera Richter, 25, and Jason Fletcher, 40, were both arrested.
According to WXIX, Fletcher’s probation officer found child porn on his phone back in May. A further search of the phone revealed an entire collection of child pornography and videos, some of which included Fletcher with a 2-year-old child.
The videos show the woman, Richter, helping to hold, entertain and position the toddler while Fletcher is being recorded sexually abusing the child.
Ciera Richter (Butler County Sheriff’s Office)
According to the indictment, Fletcher intended to sell the videos.
“The indictment alleges that Richter provided the toddler to Fletcher with the knowledge that as a consequence of the transfer, the two-year-old would be portrayed in child pornography,” said U.S. Attorney Benjamin Glassman.
Fletcher, already a registered sex offender, was previously convicted by the state of Ohio of importuning a minor, among other crimes. Under the terms of his probation, he was not to possess any pornography.
Fletcher and Richter were each indicted on one count of conspiracy to produce child pornography and production of child pornography, according to a release from the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.
According to officials, Fletcher faces a potential range of 35 years to life in prison, due to his prior state convictions for crimes involving children, federal officials said.
Richter is also charged with one count of selling a child, and could receive up to 30 years to life in prison.
via: http://pix11.com/2017/12/07/two-cousins-accused-selling-toddler-to-produce-child-porn/
Bronx baby overdoses on her dad’s heroin while sleeping in his bed
FORDHAM HEIGHTS, the Bronx — A Bronx girl overdosed on heroin allegedly belonging to her dad while sleeping in his bed, prosecutors said.
The 1-year-old girl and her brother, 2, were in their dad’s bed when he was allegedly using heroin early Saturday, according to court documents. Some heroin spilled onto the bed and the baby girl ingested it.
“I was using heroin in the bed before my kids laid down,” Edgardo Rodriguez, 20, told police, court records show. “My kids were there. Some of it spilled onto the bed. It made a mess. I went to sleep. I don’t know how my daughter got in contact with the residue on the bed because I was high.”
The children’s grandmother and father noticed she was having trouble breathing around 8 a.m. and rushed the girl to the hospital, officials said. She was unresponsive by the time they arrived at St. Barnabas Hospital.
She was administered three doses of naloxone and placed on a Narcan drip. Doctors later transported her to Montefiore Medical Center where she remains in intensive care.
A white powdery substance was found on the comforter of the bed inside the Bronx apartment, according to court documents. Rodriguez also had a clear plastic bag filled with a white, powdery substance in his pants pocket. He told police it was heroin.
Rodriguez was charged with reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a controlled substance and endangering the welfare of a child.
A second baby also overdosed in the Bronx over the weekend. Her parents found a plastic bag in her mouth. No charges have been filed in that case.
New Jersey boy collects hundreds of toys for children in Puerto Rico
WOODLAND PARK, N.J. – Jayden Perez, 8, hysterically cried when he opened a gift from his parents. Inside an envelope hidden in the couch was a pair of VIP tickets to a New York Giants game. Perez is a diehard fan.
“I started crying,” he explained. “Because I never went to a Giants game.”
His mom got the tickets as a gift from her boss.
This grateful third-grader is now paying it forward. He and his mother, Ana Rosado, have organized a toy drive to benefit children devastated by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
“I’m teaching him, you know from a younger age, that he should lend a helping hand,” said Rosado.
There are now almost 900 toys piled high in boxes in their basement. Rosado said two women who are friends of the family will hand-deliver all the gifts to children in areas hardest hit by the storm. They plan to fly down in time for Three Kings Day, which is apart of the celebration of Christmas but it is observed on Jan. 6.
“To help the people who need to make a kid, a happy boy, happy girl, happy children,” said Hector Pena, a total stranger who stopped by tonight to donate several bags of gifts.
The family will be accepting donations from now until Dec. 15. For more information on how to donate you can call 201-913-6543 or contribute money for more toys here.
via: http://pix11.com/2017/12/04/new-jersey-boy-collects-hundreds-of-toys-for-children-in-puerto-rico/
Yonkers man dies after being tasered at Best Buy
TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — A 21-year-old Yonkers man died Wednesday night after he was tasered by officers.
Security from Best Buy struggled with Jonathan Maldonado after the man allegedly committed a larceny at the store around 5:50 p.m., officials said. Police responded to the scene and tasered Maldonado.
He was handcuffed, but began to lose consciousness, police said. Best Buy employees told officers that Maldonado had ingested several packets of an unknown substance.
Maldonado went into cardiac arrest while in an ambulance. He died at the hospital just before 7 p.m.
It was not immediately clear what exactly Maldonado allegedly did at the Best Buy in Hartsdale.
Three officers involved in the arrest suffered minor injuries, officials said. They were treated at a local hospital. The three officers have since been released and placed on modified duty.
Police plan to share more information on this incident on Dec. 1.
via: http://pix11.com/2017/11/30/yonkers-man-dies-being-tasered-at-best-buy/
Man brutally beat, urinated on ex-girlfriend as men watched, police say
MEMPHIS, Tenn. —A Memphis man is behind bars after police say he kidnapped and attacked his ex-girlfriend, stripped her naked, then urinated on her as other men watched.
Austin Guinn was taken into custody Tuesday and charged with aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping for the Tuesday incident, according to WREG.
The victim told authorities she was at a nearby liquor store when Guinn kidnapped her and took her to his home on West Burdock Avenue. He allegedly forced her into the bathtub where he pulled off her clothes and began urinating on her as other men stood by and watched. She said he then beat her both with his fist and a pistol.
She somehow ended up at a safe location where she called for help. When officers arrived they said the victim’s eyes and face were severely swollen and she had abrasions on her arm, torso and leg.
The victim is expected to be okay physically.
It appears this is not the first time Guinn has been in trouble with the law. According to court documents, a warrant was issued for Guinn’s arrested on Nov. 26 for another domestic violence incident.
It’s unclear if the two cases are connected.
He was also arrested in 2015 on drug-related charges.
Man allegedly stabs 15-year-old girl more than 50 times, burns body
PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia man is accused of stabbing a 15-year-old girl more than 50 times and burning her body after they met on social media.
Police said Thursday that 23-year-old Cole Herring has been charged with murder, arson and abuse of a corpse in the death of Sabriya McLean.
Homicide Capt. Jack Ryan says Herring attempted to conceal the murder by burning the Delaware girl’s body and burying it under a pile of leaves.
Her body was found Tuesday behind a building in west Philadelphia.
Ryan says Herring’s parents had a role in reporting the killing to authorities. The motive is not yet known.
A message left with the public defender’s office listed as representing Herring was not immediately returned.
via: http://pix11.com/2017/11/30/mana-allegedly-stabs-15-year-old-girl-to-death-burned-body/
Babysitter tells NJ mom he’s taking her 6-year-old daughter to movie, sexually assaults girl instead
ELIZABETH, N.J. — The former baby sitter of a 6-year-old girl has admitted he sexually assaulted her at a motel after telling the child’s mother he was taking her to a movie.
Union County prosecutors said Tuesday Jonathan Tavara-Nima pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault. The 31-year-old Elizabeth man faces a minimum of 25 years in prison when he’s sentenced Jan. 26.
Authorities say the victim’s family had hired Tavara-Nima through a website. But he continued to show up at the girl’s home after his employment ended, sometimes uninvited.
Authorities say Tavara-Nima told the girl’s mother in May that he was taking her to a movie. But he instead bought her a new dress and stockings and took her to a motel, where the assault occurred.
Brooklyn hospital illegally charged rape survivors for rape kits, sparking statewide A.G. investigation
FORT GREENE, Brooklyn — When a woman or man is sexually assaulted and then undergoes the administration of a rape kit — a lab test that collects DNA evidence that identifies the attacker — the procedure is free of charge, by law.
That law was violated by The Brooklyn Hospital Center for at least two years, affecting many dozens of women, according to an investigation by the New York Attorney General’s Office. It’s now probing to see if other hospitals across the state may have made the same violation by billing survivors repeatedly for rape kit administration.
“To seek that care and then have those essential services billed, and then keep getting that reminder of that time and that assault, it’s unconscionable,” said Josie Torielli, assistant director of the New York Alliance Against Sexual Assault.
Her organization received a complaint earlier this year from a woman who had survived a sex assault in 2016 and had a rape kit administered at Brooklyn Hospital.
“After her visit, she was billed seven different times for her rape kit,” said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Tuesday.
When the woman contacted the New York Alliance Against Sexual Assault, it enlisted the help of the state’s Office of Victims’ Services. It, in turn, contacted the hospital, which assured the state agency that it would stop billing the woman for the rape kit administration. It did not.
Not only that, said Attorney General Schneiderman, “When she didn’t pay the bill, they actually sent it to a collection agency. This is intolerable conduct.”
The average cost of a rape kit, including ones administered at The Brooklyn Hospital Center, according to the attorney general’s office, is $900.
“Nine hundred dollars?” exclaimed Syltasha Coby, a local resident, when told about this news. “For people to get charged, and they’re a victim, I think that’s unfair, to be honest.”
She was not the only person outraged.
“Us women, we’ve gotta suffer,” said an outraged Tarina Wyatt, a general patient at Brooklyn Hospital. “It’s just not fair.”
Eighty-five women were illegally billed for rape kits by the hospital between mid 2015 and early 2017, according to the attorney general’s investigation. Now, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, in a settlement with the state, will have to reimburse those women, with interest, and pay a $15,000 fine. No criminality was found in the case, Schneiderman said.
For its part, The Brooklyn Hospital Center issued a statement, that read, in part:
“The State Attorney General’s office brought this issue to the hospital’s attention in February 2017. We deeply regret the inadvertent breakdown in our billing processes related to sexual assault victims.
“We appreciate the efforts of the Attorney General’s office and thank them for their collaboration and advocacy. Working closely and transparently with their office, the hospital designed interdisciplinary processes and protocols to ensure that these billing issues do not occur again and to reflect not only our compliance with the law, but also our longstanding commitment to victims of sexual assault.”
Still, the case raises further questions, according to Attorney General Schneiderman.
“Our investigation into this issue has only just begun,” he said at a news conference Tuesday morning. “Today, we’re sending letters to other hospitals across the state, seeking billing data and other information on their policies and procedures in this area.”
Schneiderman said that his office is strongly interested in hearing from anyone who may have ever been billed for a rape kit. His hotline number is 800.428.9071, or online contact can be made here.
10-year-old crashes truck into home, reportedly tells police ‘I wanted to kill people’
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Police are investigating after a 10-year-old girl crashed into a home in Kentucky and allegedly told police she “wanted to kill people,” according to WDRB.
Homeowner Joshua Pate had just returned home from work on Friday when the crash happened. Five children were in the living room when the crash happened. He said the couch likely saved their lives.
“The loveseat slid around and made kind of like a barrier … the back of it is kind of high and I think the kids just slid with the loveseat,” Pate said.
Pate told WDRB he overheard the 10-year-old driver talking to police after the crash.
“(The officer) couldn’t believe what she said. He was like ‘excuse me?’ and she said, ‘I wanted to kill people,’ and he said ‘I’m sorry, what did you say?’ and she said, ‘I wanted to kill people,” Pate said.
Pate said they plan to take legal action against the girl’s family, according to WDRB.
Police are still investigating the incident.
Newborn found dead in bag under porch; mother charged
NEW CASTLE, Pa. — Police say a 23-year-old woman left her dead newborn child in a bag under the porch of her father’s Pennsylvania home.
Authorities say Brittany Robinson was charged Sunday with criminal homicide, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and concealing the death of a child.
Police say they believe the baby was born alive. An autopsy is set for Monday night to determine the exact cause of death.
Authorities say Robinson’s father was hanging up Christmas lights Sunday afternoon when he found the infant in the crawlspace of his Shenango Township home.
Robinson went a hospital Sunday for treatment related to childbirth. She was discharged early Monday morning and immediately taken into custody.
No attorney information is available.
via: http://pix11.com/2017/11/27/newborn-found-dead-in-bag-under-porch-mother-charged/