Crime on HuffingtonPost.com

Paraplegic Man Castrated, Stabbed During Argument

2013-06-18T20:09:00Z

A Philadelphia man was arrested after he allegedly stabbed and castrated a paraplegic man during an argument.

Edgar Bonilla, 41, was charged with attempted murder after the Monday night mutilation, which left the unnamed 43-year-old victim in critical condition, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Police say Bonilla and the victim were having an argument at about 7 p.m. over a woman, who is also paraplegic. Bonilla was reportedly visiting the pair, who live in a home for the disabled. The suspect stabbed the victim several times in the neck and abdomen, then mutilated his groin, according to WPVI.

The victim was in a coma and remained in critical condition Tuesday.

Bonilla was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and robbery for stealing the victim's medication. He's being held on $5 million bail. His next court date is set for July 2.

Bonilla also has a history of trespassing and robbery. In 2004 he pleaded guilty to defiant trespassing, and he received a 12-month probation sentence, Metro reports.

Mother Allegedly 'Encourages' Boyfriend To Rape Baby

2013-06-18T20:01:43Z

A Missouri mother is facing child abuse and second-degree murder charges this week after being accused of allowing -- and perhaps even encouraging -- her sex-offender boyfriend to rape her young daughter.

Prosecutors allege that Howell knew her boyfriend, Jordan Lafayette Prince, was a convicted child abuser and allowed him to spend time with her daughter Ashlynn. They say she was in the trailer with him when he allegedly raped and strangled the 4-month-old girl last December, according to the St. Charles County Prosecutor's complaint.

Details in the murder case against Jessica Lynn Howell were released this week, according to Missouri Fox affiliate KTVI. St. Charles Prosecuting Attorney Tim Lohmar told the station that text messages between Howell and Prince suggest Howell openly allowed the sexual abuse to occur.

“In those text messages she suggested and encouraged some unspeakable things,” Lohmar said. “It is very, very disturbing.”

Prince, meanwhile, has been indicted on counts of first-degree murder, as well as child abuse and forcible sodomy, according to local station KMOV.

The St. Louis Tribune reports that Prince had previously been found guilty of abusing a 4-year-old in Idaho. Howell reportedly knew about the incident and actually confirmed her boyfriend's police record through an Internet search.

Howell, who has previously been charged with child endangerment, according to the paper, is in jail with a $1 million bond.

(h/t Raw Story)

Guy Allegedly Beats Man With His Own Fake Leg

2013-06-18T19:58:33Z

His alleged victim may have a prosthetic limb, but it seems it is Joel Parrishw who doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Police say that Jeffrey Johnson, 43, was riding his moped on Monday when Parrish pushed him to the ground, according to a Myrtle Beach, S.C., Police Department incident report. Parrish then allegedly kicked and punched the victim, police said.

Parrish, 45, then "picked up the subject’s prosthetic leg and hit him with it several times," according to police.

Authorities tried to talk to the victim when they arrived, but he could not speak "due to the amount of pain he was in," according to the report.

The victim suffered a laceration above his right eye that required stitches.

Parrish was charged with felony assault. The motive for the alleged attack was not mentioned in the report.

Hat tip: The Smoking Gun

Man Faces Felony Charge For Allegedly Sending Death Threat To Cruz

2013-06-18T19:58:09Z

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) reportedly received threats from a man who said he would kidnap, murder and burn the tea partier and his father.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office said 37-year-old Nick Gates demanded $3 million from Cruz and his father, according to the Houston Chronicle. Gates now faces a felony charge for making a terroristic threat and is being held at the Harris County Jail in Houston under a $10,000 bail.

The Houston Chronicle reports:

An intern at Cruz's Austin office told investigators that a man called the office on June 5, saying that Cruz "owed him money or a bomb would explode," according to an arrest warrant filed in the case. The man, who identified himself as Abolfazi Akbori, called again the same day after the office had closed and left a threatening message on the office's voicemail system.
Another phone message was left at Cruz's San Antonio office containing threats that the caller "would kidnap, murder, and burn Ted Cruz and his father," the arrest warrant states.

The message states, "Ted has a choice. Give me three million dollars or lose the sun." The caller said that "due to government misconduct the sun would blow up and said he might be able to prevent the sun from blowing up if he receives three million dollars," according to the arrest warrant.

KPRC reports workers in Cruz's Texas and Washington, D.C. offices were given a photograph of Gates and made aware of his history, which includes a previous felony conviction for attempted retaliation after threatening a police officer that arrested him for drunk driving.

Cruz is one of several political figures to receive death threats in recent days.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, received a death threat from a man who said he wanted to "personally blow" his "head off." President Barack Obama has received several death threats throughout his time in office, most recently in March when a man allegedly posted tweets that claimed he was "coming to kill" Obama and his family.

Click here for more from the Houston Chronicle.

Texas Mother Alleges She Was Jailed For Asking To See Son's Arrest Warrant

2013-06-18T19:48:09Z

A Texas woman says she was thrown in jail for asking a single question: if she could see a police warrant for her son's arrest.

When police arrived at the young mother's home on May 29 to arrest her 11-year-old boy, this is what the woman says happened (according to local Fox affiliate KJTV-TV):

I told [one of the officers], "I will release my son to you upon viewing those orders." Those were exactly my words. ... He said, "This is how you want to play?" He took two steps back, turned around to the officer and said, "Take her." They turned me around, handcuffed me and took me in.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told KJTV she spent the night in jail and that, oddly, the police never returned to arrest her son.

In the state of Texas, anyone under the age of 18 is considered a minor and in most circumstances cannot be taken from their home by the police without an arrest warrant.

Why the police wished to arrest the 11-year-old is unclear. A representative from the office of attorney Dwight McDonald, who is representing the woman, could not reveal the boy's crime because he is a minor.

Neither the Slaton Police Department nor the Slaton City Manager would give a comment to The Huffington Post.

(Hat tip, Celestial_the_tower on Reddit)

Jury Can't Reach Verdict For Detroit Cop Who Shot 7-Year-Old

2013-06-18T19:18:36Z

DETROIT — A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday after jurors failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a Detroit police officer who fatally shot a 7-year-old girl during a chaotic search for a murder suspect that was recorded by a reality TV crew.

Loud voices could be heard in the jury room a few hours before jurors threw in the towel and were dismissed. They sent three notes, the last one indicating they still couldn't reach a unanimous verdict on the third day of deliberations, despite encouragement from Wayne County Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway.

Joseph Weekley, a member of an elite police squad, was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Aiyana Stanley-Jones.

He was accused of being "grossly negligent" in how he handled his submachine gun as his black-clad, masked and armed unit stormed the Detroit home to capture a suspect in May 2010. Police threw a stun grenade through a window, and Weekley was the first officer through the door.

He told jurors that he accidentally pulled the trigger during a struggle with the girl's grandmother, but Mertilla Jones denied interfering with the gun. Weekley was not charged with intentionally shooting Aiyana.

The hunt for a murder suspect was being recorded by a crew from "The First 48," a police show on A&E Networks. Some video shot from the sidewalk was part of the evidence.

The jury could have convicted Weekley of involuntary manslaughter, a felony, or reckless discharge of a firearm, a misdemeanor. He also could have been cleared of all charges.

The judge listed several factors for the jury to consider on the involuntary manslaughter charge. To convict, the jury had to find that he willfully disregarded possible injuries to others by failing to control his gun, as well as other elements.

"We are stuck," the jury said in its first note Tuesday.

Before dismissing the jurors, the judge asked if anyone felt that more deliberations would be fruitful if "some matters" could be addressed. She didn't elaborate. Only one juror raised her hand.

"One out of 12 probably won't be enough," Hathaway said.

The mistrial doesn't mean the charges go away. Hathaway will hold future hearings to discuss the case.

"The Wayne County prosecutor's office is prepared to proceed with the case," Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from Weekley or his attorney, Steve Fishman.

Separately, a videographer for the "The First 48," Allison Howard, is charged with perjury and withholding video crucial to the investigation. Her trial is set for June 24.

___

Follow Ed White at http://twitter.com/edwhiteap

41 Busted In Child Sex Sting

2013-06-18T19:15:26Z

Forty men and one woman face a slew of charges following a major Florida operation targeting people who use the Internet to arrange sexual encounters with children.

Some of the suspects, who range in age from 18 to 65, traveled from as far as Wisconsin and Alabama to meet minors for expected sexual encounters. Just 13 were from Polk County, where the operation was executed between June 8 and June 15.

According to the statement from the Polk County Sheriff's Office:

An electrician; a student; an insurance salesman; a bank teller; a handyman; an AV technician; a file clerk; a painter; mechanics; theme park employees; a law enforcement academy graduate; an IT phone technician; laborers; a youth football coach; a photo lab technician, a heavy machine operator; a tax preparer; a hospital accountant; a wall-paper installer and a senior partner in a CPA firm; all wanted to have sex with a child – all were arrested and booked into the Polk County Jail.

Eleven suspects admitted they were married, according to police. Sixteen of them brought condoms.

The suspects face a combined total of 180 charges including but not limited to attempted lewd battery, traveling to meet a minor, drug possession, transmission of harmful material to a minor, to procuring a minor for prostitution and resisting arrest without violence.

The bust is the largest of its kind in Polk County history, according to the release.

WATCH: FBI Releases New Video Of 2008 Times Square Bombing

2013-06-18T19:12:31Z

NEW YORK -- Authorities are trying to generate leads in the 2008 bombing at a Times Square military recruitment station with new video footage and a higher reward.

On Tuesday, authorities released videos of the bomber riding a blue bicycle to the scene on March 6, 2008. The bike was later recovered in a trash bin.

The FBI and the New York Police Department also are now offering a $65,000 reward.

No one was injured in the attack, but Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the bomber narrowly missed killing or wounding bystanders.

Officials say the suspect and possible accomplices may be connected to earlier bombings at the British and Mexican consulates.

NEW Lawsuit Over Police's Actions During Dorner Manhunt

2013-06-18T19:02:59Z

LOS ANGELES — A surfer who was shot at by police during the manhunt for rogue ex-cop Christopher Dorner has filed a lawsuit against a Los Angeles suburb and its police department.

David Perdue, 38, was driving his black Honda pickup early Feb. 7 on his way to pick up a friend to go surfing when he was stopped by officers looking for Dorner, an ex-Los Angeles police officer who had promised to bring "warfare" to his former department's officers and their families.

Authorities say Dorner killed four people, including two law enforcement officers, during a weeklong rampage that involved a massive manhunt and ended with his apparent suicide in a mountain cabin following a gunbattle with police.

At the time officers stopped Perdue, Dorner had already killed two people, and officers throughout the area were protecting people he named as targets. Authorities believed he was driving a pickup, although it was a different type of truck and a color than Perdue's truck.

The officers who stopped Perdue asked him a few questions, then told him to turn around and go back the way he came, according to the lawsuit.

Soon after, a second police car driving toward him accelerated to 25-30 mph "without any warning," and rammed his pickup, spinning him around and tearing off the rear axle. Air bags deployed and Perdue's upper body was jolted over the center console, he says in his complaint.

Perdue says the two officers fired at least three bullets into the open driver's side window, sending them into the side air bags, past his head and through the front windshield.

Perdue was ordered out of the pickup with a gun to his head and forced to lie face-down on the pavement. He was detained for an hour.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court, says Perdue has suffered "physical injuries, severe emotional distress and mental suffering": he in constant pain, moves slowly and unsteadily, has suffered altered speech, problems with his memory, has nightmares and is anxious and depressed, according to the complaint. The law also alleges that his wife has suffered the loss of intimacy with her husband.

The complaint alleges that the city and its police department refused to accept responsibility for what happened and instead published false and conflicting accounts.

It also notes that Perdue, who is white, was much shorter and smaller and looked nothing like Dorner, who was black.

A statement from the city said they could not comment on specifics of the lawsuit. The Los Angeles district attorney's office is investigating.

The Perdue shooting was not the only case of mistaken identity that morning. Two women delivering newspapers in Torrance were also shot at by Los Angeles police officers; the city reached a $4.2 million settlement with the women in April in addition to the $40,000 settlement for the loss of their pickup truck.

___

Tami Abdollah can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/latams

Dr. Gregory Jantz, Ph.D.: New Security Measures: Is the NFL the New TSA?

2013-06-18T19:01:43Z

I read last night that Century Link field (known in the Pacific Northwest as the CLink) will no longer allow purses into any Seattle Seahawks game. We're not being singled out: this is a new stadium policy across the National Football League and purses are out everywhere. According to the NFL, "Prohibited items include, but are not limited to: purses larger than a clutch bag, coolers, briefcases, backpacks, fanny packs, cinch bags, seat cushions, luggage of any kind, computer bags and camera bags or any bag larger than the permissible size." NFL -- meet the TSA.

I had no idea what a "clutch" purse was when I read the story. A "clutch" in sports usually refers to a "clutch play" or a "clutch player," when someone pulls the proverbial rabbit out of the hat in the final second or bottom of the ninth to win the game. A new "clutch" has been inserted into the sporting lexicon and it's now a purse no larger than a hand (with or without straps) because of the need, according to the NFL, for increased public safety and to speed up entry. The NFL didn't say it in their explanation, but I heard the echoes of the bomb blast at the Boston Marathon continuing to reverberate. Crowds are no longer just fans at games; we have become potential targets. I suppose we always were, but until Boston that fear went unanchored. Once the backpack in Boston was set down next to an eight-year-old, all bets were off. Nothing and no-one is considered off-limits or safe.

Over the years, we've griped and complained our way through airport scanners and body searches. We've silently cussed out Richard Reid while taking off our shoes and juggling carry-ons and computer bags. We've seen the signs at airports, on buses, trains and ferries, warning of the danger of unaccompanied bags. We've been told to stay alert and report anything that doesn't look right. We've been told to consider ourselves and our families in potential danger and act accordingly.

For years, bag searches have been part of Seahawk games but the contraband being looked for was more along the lines of alcohol, firearms, knives, and, more recently, laser pens -- items that could harm an individual or even several but not something specifically designed to cause wholesale carnage. Now, pressure cookers filled with nails has been added to the list. A backpack was used in Boston so backpacks are banned. No one suspected the Tsarnaevs, so everyone is suspect.

The reality of an unsafe world continues to encroach on my world. When I go to a Seahawks game, I'm trying to retreat from the world for a few hours. The conflict I watch on the field is intense and consuming, but it's a game. The people around me are fans. A home game is a home game, someplace I'm supposed to feel at home. Home has become no longer safe. It's been undermined by a decades-long threat of terror in general and by two disaffected brothers in particular.

Will I continue to attend Seahawks home games? Absolutely. They're my team and I look forward to the fall and all the potential the new season brings. I'm sure I'll gripe and complain, just as I do at the airport, about the clear ziplock bags and find out just how much stuff you can stuff into a clutch. But beneath all that annoyance will be an undercurrent of genuine anger. I am incensed at the thought of people in the world capable of callously harming myself, my family, and those I've gotten to know over the years in the seats around me.

When the Boston Marathon bombing happened, I naturally asked myself what I would have done, had I been there. On opening day for the Seahawks, in a small way, there will become here for me.

Jodi Arias TV Movie Airs Saturday On Lifetime

2013-06-18T18:49:44Z

PHOENIX — A made-for-television movie on Jodi Arias is scheduled to air this weekend.

"Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret" is set to be shown Saturday on Lifetime, but the movie won't be about the trial.

Screenwriter Richard Blaney wrote the script with Gregory Small. Blaney told The Arizona Republic ( ) the project was in the works more than a year ago. He says they completed the script in December. http://bit.ly/19NmBq4

That was the same month that Arias' televised trial started in the brutal 2008 slaying of her ex-boyfriend, Travis Alexander, a Mesa motivational speaker.

Small says they didn't anticipate the trial getting as much attention as it did.

A jury convicted Arias of first-degree murder in May but couldn't reach a decision on whether she should live or die.

___

Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com

Man Allegedly Tries To Kill Wife, Breaks Own Neck

2013-06-18T18:33:22Z

A Florida man allegedly attempted to murder his sleeping wife Friday, but succeeded only in breaking his own neck.

Steven Pinel, 49, allegedly shot his wife in the face at around 11:49 as she slept in their Bradenton home. The blow, however, "didn't render her unconscious," Police Chief Michael Radzilowski told the Bradenton Herald.

Radzilowski said "there was an issue" with the gun and Pinel was unable to keep firing. His wife was able to flee.

Pinel --wearing only underwear -- also allegedly fled the scene, according to Dreamin' Demon. Police say he crashed his vehicle in a ditch, breaking his neck in the process.

He also allegedly tried to hijack the vehicle of someone who stopped to help him, but failed because the woman refused to give him her car keys and drove away, Manatee County Sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow told the Bradenton Herald.

He was arrested later that night and charged with attempted murder, domestic battery and carjacking, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.

The woman's injuries were not life-threatening.

H/T: Dreamin' Demon

Pinel is not the first alleged criminal to completely fail at everything he tries. In October, alleged would-be identity thief Joshua K. Pinney showed up at a Washington State bank in what may be the worst disguise ever.

In may, a thief in Colombia was hit by a bus immediately after snatching a woman's phone.

Gay Sex Trial Judge Advised To Step Down

2013-06-18T18:22:37Z

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- The attorney for a young Florida woman who was charged with a felony for having sexual contact with her 14-year-old girlfriend has filed a motion asking the judge to remove himself from the case.

Circuit Judge Robert Pegg chose September as a trial date for 18-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt, who was charged with lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12 to 16 in February.

In a motion filed Monday, Hunt's attorney, Julia Graves, said she was never notified of the trial date and alleged that Pegg moved the case ahead of 200 other pending criminal cases because he is biased against Hunt, who is gay. A similar case Pegg handled involving a male defendant and female victim took 19 months to conclude, Graves said in her motion.

The judge did not immediately respond to a telephone message Tuesday seeking comment.

Hunt's story received international media attention and prompted gay rights advocates to say she is being unfairly targeted for what would be considered a common romance if she was not gay. They have argued that older high schoolers dating their younger counterparts is an innocuous, everyday occurrence that is not prosecuted – regardless of sexual orientation – and not a crime on par with predatory sex offenses.

Hunt's family has alleged that the day before she was arrested, police and the younger girl's parents secretly recorded a phone conversation in which the two girls discussed kissing in the school bathroom.

State Attorney Bruce Colton, however, said he would have brought charges regardless of the defendant's sexual preference because Hunt violated a law that prohibits adults from having sexual contact with underage children.

Prosecutors have offered Hunt a plea deal that would allow her to avoid registering as a sex offender if she pleads guilty to lesser charges of child abuse. He said he would recommend two years of house arrest followed by one year of probation if she takes the deal.

But the Hunt family has said they would accept a plea deal only if the charges are dropped to a misdemeanor.

The alleged victim is identified only by her initials in court documents, and her parents have not been publicly identified. The AP does not identify alleged victims of sex crimes.

Colton said the victim's family is not pushing for prison but wants Hunt to be held responsible in some way.

Texas Jail Allegedly Ran Horrific 'Rape Camp'

2013-06-18T18:10:22Z

A recently filed lawsuit alleges that a Texas sheriff's office ran a "rape camp" at a county jail, where numerous male guards repeatedly raped and humiliated female inmates over an extended period of time.

Two women who were inmates at the jail, which is attached to the county's quaint courthouse building, are now suing Live Oak County and guards Vincent Aguilar, Jaime Smith and Israel Charles Jr.

The lawsuit says the three guards forced the women to shave their vaginas in front of them, to perform oral sex on each other and on the guards and sometimes "to conceal [the guards'] ejaculate by way of ingestion," the court documents state. The guards would also pin the women against the wall while verbally berating them, groping them and digitally raping them, the suit says.

The documents also say the guards told one plaintiff that she “belong[ed] to [them]” and was their “sex slave or whatever they wanted her to be.”

During any given attack, there were allegedly anywhere from one to three other guards who watched the crimes as they were committed.

Both plaintiffs were in the Live Oak County Jail while awaiting trial. One of them, the lawsuit says, had been incarcerated because of marijuana possession -- charges that were later dropped.

The lawsuit says the "rape camp" was run from sometime in 2007 until at least 2010, and suggests that the two plaintiffs may not have been the only ones violated. One of the women could not even count the number of times she was assaulted, the suit says.

Aguilar, Smith and Charles were arrested for sexual assault in 2010 after a female inmate who had been in a segregation cell for weeks asked for medical attention and said she had been sexually assaulted, local paper the Bee Picayune reported. The recent lawsuit says Aguilar and Smith are currently in jail in Texas, while Charles is living in nearby Bee County.

The guards allegedly refused to give the women food and water, and also beat them and threatened to kill them "in order to compel their compliance," the lawsuit says. All the while, the jail allegedly failed to take appropriate measures to prevent such attacks and failed to discipline county employees for committing sexual assault. The supervisor of the jail "was a party to the assaults," the documents state.

The two female plaintiffs are seeking punitive damages and compensation for lawyers' fees.

The Live Oak Sheriff's Office did not return a request for comment.

(Hat tip, Courthouse News)

From left to right: Israel Charles Jr., Vince Aguilar, Jaime Smith.

Anti-Gay Hate Crime Victim Was 'Acting Tough,' Says Suspect

2013-06-18T18:04:29Z

By Irene Plagianos

MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The man charged with gunning down a gay man in Greenwich Village last month allegedly told police he shot the victim because he was “acting tough.”

“I killed him. He was trying to act tough so I shot him,” Elliot Morales, the accused murderer of 32-year-old Mark Carson, told officers in police statements released Tuesday.

Morales, indicted on charges of second degree murder as a hate crime, as well as criminal possession of a weapon and menacing, pleaded not guilty Tuesday during an appearance in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Wearing a white T-shirt, Morales sat quietly through the brief Supreme Court arraignment, only speaking to enter his plea.

Though Morales is accused of hurling a barrage of anti-gay slurs before fatally shooting Carson at Sixth Avenue and West 8th Street May 18, he told police that he did not have issues with gay people.

“I am not gay. I don’t have a problem with gay people. I have lots of gays in my life,” he told cops, according to the statement made after his May 18 arrest.

In his rambling statement, he told police his life was filled with problems, with a sister who is a “crackhead” who had a boyfriend who “raped her neice.”

“I am homeless and I stay with friends once in while,” he said. “My family life is f---ed up, which is why I drink.”

He also said he was distraught about what his actions would do to his “sickly” mother.

“This is gonna kill my mom…I always hurt her and make bad decisions in life and make her cry,” he said, before asking, “Did someone die? Did a child die?”

Carson, a big-hearted man who worked in a yogurt shop and had recently moved to Brooklyn, had encountered homophobia before but didn't let it bother him, friends said after his death.

If convicted of murder as a hate crime, Morales faces 25 years to life in prison.

Morales is due back in court on July 30. He remains in custody, without bail.