LifeDaily

Scientists estimate that between 150 and 200 animal species go extinct every 24 hours. This recent development has been brought about directly by our interaction with the natural world. Whether it be by habitat destruction, pollution, or poaching, humanity is having an adverse effect on our planet’s wildlife.

All is not lost, however, there are a number of environmentally-conscious people in the world currently working to stave off future extinctions. These brave souls are combating human criminality first and foremost and surprisingly, they seem to be making a difference.

A Tragic End

In March of 2018, a 45-year-old Northern White Rhinoceros named Sudan died in his enclosure, surrounded by armed guards. The rhino had been suffering from a severe infection on his back right leg and his age only made it worse. His death was met with international sadness by conservationists the world over.

International Panic

The reason for this worldwide dismay and the armed guards around him prior to his death was that Sudan was the last male of his species. Today, only two female northern white rhinos remain at the conservancy. They are the last of their kind and the blame for their current state of near-extinction can be laid at the feet of mankind.

Holy Horns

Killing rhinos for their horns is a practice that goes back centuries. Many cultures around the world believe that the keratinous horns that help protect these magnificent beasts are possessed of magical properties. Collectors, quacks, and shamans across the world still have a strong desire to get their hands on these horns.

South Africa

South Africa is home to the largest population of rhinos in the world. As such, it is also an important nation when it comes to rhino conservation. This, however, may seem at odds with the statistics that show the country had experienced an increased rise in rhino poaching between 2007 and 2014. It was a growth of over 9,000% in those years. So what changed?

Kruger’s Importance

Most of this illegal activity took place in Kruger National Park, 7,523 square miles of protected habitat that lies on South Africa’s northeastern border with Mozambique. In the past, Kruger, which is among the largest game reserves in Africa, had suffered heavy losses. But a few years ago, the government decided to do something about it.

Numbers Down

The South African government, in cooperation with international donors, have channeled more and more funding and resources into securing Kruger since 2014. As a result of this collaboration, poaching numbers for rhinos in the park have declined slightly, from 1,054 to 1,028. Though to be fair, 1,028 rhinos were killed in South Africa still amounts to three rhinos a day. It’s not much to celebrate.

Other Countries

Recently, there are indications that poaching gangs have begun banding together to raid places like Kruger. They have even begun moving beyond the South African border and gaining footholds in other countries, countries with fewer resources available to protect their endangered wildlife.

Rhino Unit

South Africa has since organized a specialized unit to combat this spread. The aptly named Rhino 9 Task Team is a multidisciplinary team operating in Mpumalang which has been gathered together to fight poaching at the source. This is no ragtag bunch of untrained soldiers, however, but an organization with a single purpose: to apprehend poachers.

Professionals

Rhino 9 is comprised of various government departments including members from various disciplines. Members of the team include those in the South African Police Service, Customs and Excise department, the South African National Defence Force, as well as game rangers from Ezemvelo and SANPark.

Numbers Don’t Lie

Together, members of the Rhino 9 Task Team have had a dramatic effect on the poaching population working in and around Kruger National Park. Over the last six months, Rhino 9 has stopped a total of 365 rhino poachers. Many of whom have been convicted.

Their Fates

National police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo has spoken out about the effectiveness of Rhino 9. “Of the 365 suspects who were arrested, 165 remain in custody while facing court processes, six were deported to their native countries, 11 received fines and 57 are serving their various jail terms.” He added that the last 15 were caught during a sting in Mpumalanga.

Unlicensed Weapons

In addition to the scurrilous scoundrels that Rhino 9 brought to justice, agents also uncovered a number of illegal firearms in their midst. They seized guns, ammunition, axes, tog bags, cell phones, and other incriminating evidence that would help seal their fates in the weeks to come.

Other Charges

Besides the poachers that had been put away in the past six months, the 15 individuals nabbed in the latest raid were charged with a multitude of things including: possession of dangerous weapons, trespassing, hunting of protected animal, kidnapping, assault, possession of the remains of a wild animal, possession of stolen property, and being in the country illegally or without proper documentation.

Many Convictions

Between January and June of 2018, the Rhino 9 Task Team has secured various convictions against the aforementioned poachers. Many of them received the maximum nine years’ imprisonment and a few were given at least three months’ imprisonment with the option of paying a significant fine.

Stolen Goods

In addition to jail time, fines, and the fact that they will now forever be on Rhino 9’s list of suspected poachers, the culprits all had their ill-gotten gains confiscated. All their hard-earned trophies will be locked away instead of sold on the black market. It may not help the rhinos they once belonged to, but it’s a powerful blow against the industry.

A Warning

Vish Naidoo added that “these arrests should serve as a warning and deterrent to other potential poachers.” The strategies that Rhino 9 has put in place since they began will significantly reduce the chances that smugglers keep operating near ports of entry at national parks. Unfortunately, neither the rhinos nor their valuable animal cousins are out of the woods just yet.

Power Vacuum

As with any enterprise, the demise of one villainous organization will undoubtedly result in a temporary power vacuum. It is likely that many new smugglers and poachers will move into the area, bringing with them new tactics for hungry markets. This, of course, means that Rhino 9’s job is far from over.

Future Potential

This potential for growth is a deeply worrying development for many environmentalists. Still, the evidence of the effectiveness of organizations and programs like Rhino 9 is likely to have a positive effect on what other reserve parks do in the future. The outpouring of community support and assistance has been very positive and represents a more positive change.

Training and Results

The recent arrests and convictions of so many poachers have also brought to light the importance of having well-trained and well-equipped rangers in place to deal with potential brigands. Securing these remaining habitats is a good way to ensure that rhino numbers see an increase, rather than a decrease in the coming years.

Eliination

One can only hope that Rhino 9’s example will minimize the risk to the still-dwindling rhino population. There are so few subspecies left today and it is our duty to keep them alive so future generations can enjoy them as much as we have. The goal in all this violence and retribution against these unscrupulous souls is to consign the barbarism of rhino poaching to the history books; where it truly belongs.

Daring South African Environmental Rangers Deal Crushing Blow to Poachers is an article from: LifeDaily

Jealousy takes many different forms but usually ends in disaster. When you mix jealousy with love and passion, a toxic triangle is formed, and sometimes it cannot be controlled or tamed.

Having already been convicted of murder and sentenced to jail, Amanda and her husband knew they were looking at some hard time for what they did to Grant’s ex-girlfriend. Years later, even more stunning and gory details would be revealed.

Sharing Custody

Amanda Grant Hayes Story — www.oxygen.com

While things hadn’t worked out between Grant and Laura, they did share two kids together, who they had joint custody of. The two had never formally been married but were good parents on the whole. When Grant met Amanda, there was more than a little mutual jealousy going on.

Picking Up

The day, back in 2011, had started much like any other for Laura. The kids had been staying with her ex-boyfriend, and his now-wife and Laura was headed over there to pick them up. However, that would be the last time Laura would be seen alive. What happened next was almost unbelievable.

The Motive

Even though the real motive never came out, even in court, it was obvious that Grant and possibly his wife had wanted to get rid of Laura, with many suggesting that jealousy was the main player. However, after Laura was murdered by Grant, with his wife present he claimed, the two tried to dispose of her body in two ways; both of which shocked and disgusted jury members and even prosecutors.

Unceremonious End

A press release explained that having killed Laura Ackerson, the couple wasn’t sure how to dispose of the body. “Once in Richmond, the couple first attempted to use muriatic acid to destroy Ackerson’s body,” the release noted, “When that didn’t work, they took a boat onto Oyster Creek and dumped Laura’s body parts into the water with hopes that alligators would eat her remains.”

Failed Attempts

As if murdering a mother-of-two wasn’t bad enough, neither the acid attempt nor the alligator attempt worked. Having dismembered Laura’s body, the couple assumed the acid would dissolve her remains. When that didn’t work, they were sure that hungry alligators were the answer. When Laura’s torso and leg were found floating in Oyster Creek in Richmond, it was obvious that there had been foul play.

Later Details

While both Amanda and Grant Hayes had been convicted of murder years ago, the details of how they had killed and disposed of their victim only came out more recently. Amanda was already looking at 13-16 years behind bars for second-degree murder. Grant, however, was looking at a life sentence after being convicted of first-degree murder.

Likely Story

When Amanda Hayes testified in her Fort Bend County trial that she hadn’t killed Laura Ackerson, she claimed that she helped her husband dispose of the body because she was “scared” of what he might do to her if she failed to assist. However, police deputies claimed that Amanda had a “dim view of women” and, as such, was guilty of murder.

Sentence Increased

When Amanda Hayes stood trial once again due to the new revelations, she was convicted of “tampering with evidence to impair its availability in an investigation.” As that’s a second-degree felony, Judge Maggie Jaramillo sentenced her to 20 years in prison, but to run consecutively with her previous conviction.

Harsh Verdict

The lead prosecutor, Amanda Bolin, spoke to reporters about the case saying, “The jury verdict was swift, and the Court’s sentence was appropriately harsh. Laura Ackerson’s family can be assured that Amanda Hayes will be punished for all of her barbaric behavior – whether it was in North Carolina or the great state of Texas.”

Complex Case

Due to the numerous complexities of this case, a total of 49 witnesses took the stand over 13 days of grueling testimony. The trial ran for more than a month, and the jury of three men and nine women returned its verdict having spent 11 hours in final deliberations. But something about this case affected a lot of people in a very deep way.

Forthcoming Apology

It’s not uncommon for murderers and people who do unthinkable things to feel guilty after the act and apologize. Amanda Hayes attempted to do just that in court when she said, “I would just like to apologize with my whole heart, being and soul, personally to Laura. I apologize to her, to her family, to her children, to my family, to Grant’s family, to everyone who had to work this case, to everyone who had to sit through this trial.” She pleaded.

Willing Participant

While Laura’s father didn’t believe a word of Amanda’s apology in court, claiming she was a “manipulator and a liar,” Judge Stephens also had some choice words for the convicted woman, saying, “Based upon my view of the evidence, it is quite possible and likely that Amanda Hayes could have saved the life of Laura Ackerson, and she chose not to. She chose, instead, to participate in her killing.”

Claiming Innocence

Amanda’s defense team claimed that she had nothing to do with the murder and was therefore innocent. They testified that it was Grant Hayes alone who cut up Laura’s body, put it in coolers and carried it in a trailer without his wife’s knowledge. She claimed that Grant Hayes coerced her into admitting guilt for a crime she didn’t commit.

Not Her Fault

According to Amanda’s defense attorney, Johnny Gaskins, his client is not guilty, “We’re disappointed Amanda wasn’t acquitted. We believed in Amanda,” he said, “Amanda would never have been in this situation, had it not been for Grant Hayes.” But the prosecutors had a different tune to play.

Jury Rejects

According to the Assistant District Attorney Boz Zellinger, who also prosecuted Grant Hayes, the jury was right to find Amanda Hayes guilty, “I think the jury rejected her words, and that was the clearest thing that came out today – that her act and her sentences from the witness stand were rejected by the jury,” he said.

She Did It

According to Grant Hayes, it was his wife Amanda who had killed Laura during a heated argument which took place between the two women. However, the defense claimed, Grant Hayes was a “dangerous sociopath who used his wit and charisma to manipulate and control his wife and to take advantage of a large sum of money she received from an inheritance.”

Totally Broke

At the time of Laura’s murder, the couple was almost completely broke and were facing imminent eviction from their Raleigh home. Grant had already pawned off various pieces of expensive jewelry belonging to Amanda and possibly wanted to tap into more funds. However, child custody seemed to also be very much at play here.

Mental Issues

Defense attorney Rosemary Godwin told the judge, “There is no reason to believe that Mrs. Hayes suffered any less domination and abuse than Laura talked about and discussed in her (child custody) case, albeit it is our position that it was more mental and emotional, and her dynamic was different.”

Cause of Death

One of the most troubling pieces of information missing from this case is how Laura Ackerson died. While it is known that she was doused in acid and then fed to alligators, it’s not known how she was killed in the first place or by who. Obviously, that leaves many unanswered questions for the Ackerson family. As such, her death was ruled to be from “undetermined homicidal violence,” according to the medical examiner.

Justice Served

Even though the details of the murder remain unclear, as neither Grant nor Amanda Hayes wants to admit any guilt, at least justice has been served. While Grant is looking at a lifetime behind bars without parole, Amanda Hayes will also be looking at a cell wall for the foreseeable future. It’s hoped that that fact can at least bring some closure for the family of the victim.

Already Convicted Couple Accused of Dousing Victim with Acid, Feeding Her to Alligators is an article from: LifeDaily

Cosmetic surgery is a fad which is becoming more and more popular, coincidentally in line with the increase in popularity of social media. These days, many people feel the need to go under the knife for that nip and tuck which will make them more physically attractive.

Leah was only 29, and she seemingly had it all. As a successful beautician, Leah was more into her body image than most, but when she decided to go for that ‘Brazilian butt lift’ in Turkey, the result would be devastating.

Vacation Time

Leah Cambridge Story — Scott Franks / Facebook

Leah loved her three kids with a passion and was a good mother on the whole. When she decided to take a trip to Turkey with her partner Scott, she made sure her kids were taken care of for the short time she was away. The bags were packed, and the couple was looking forward to a few days in the sun.

Two Reasons

The reason for the trip wasn’t only rest and relaxation though as Leah had an ulterior motive for visiting Turkey. Sure she was always up for some surf and sand, but this trip was more about Leah looking better in her selfies for all her social media friends; something she took very seriously. The couple relaxed for a few days in the Turkish city of Izmir ahead of Leah’s surgery.

High Standards

Despite the Elite Clinic’s claims that they offer “UK Standards of care” the Izmir clinic failed to take proper care of Leah, and the results were devastating. Leah was an attractive girl already by most standards, but had been obsessed with the idea of having a “J-Lo” bottom and decided to pay nearly $5,000 for the privilege of that bubble butt, albeit a false one. But the bum lift didn’t go according to plan.

Famous People

One of the reasons Leah decided to use this specific clinic was because it was renowned for performing cosmetic surgeries on well-known celebrities, with great success. The clinic’s website states that British celebs such as Lauren Goodger and Amber Dowding had procedures carried out there, and they went perfectly and without incident. Apart from that, Leah was saving a fortune by having the bum lift done in Turkey and not back home in the UK.

Deadly Operation

While the exact details are still unclear as an investigation is carried out, Leah died at some point during the procedure or just after it. She was otherwise in good health and had no reason to suspect that the operation would go wrong for her. But it’s the fact that prices for such procedures are up to 70 percent lower in Turkey than in Britain, and that is very appealing for people who are desperate for surgery.

Different Procedures

Cosmetic surgery in Turkey is a booming business. While facelifts can cost as little as just $3,000, breast jobs cost around the same price. The service in Turkey is a comprehensive one too and includes consultations with the surgeon, hospital fees, and post-op check-ups. But the service goes even further than that.

Flights Included

In an effort to drum up even more business many of the clinics in Turkey offer an all-inclusive service, meaning they will even book your flights and accommodation near to their clinic in advance for you. This means that the prospect of cheap cosmetic surgery is even more appealing for many, especially those on a budget.

Still in Turkey

While Scott loved Leah just the way she was, he supported her decision to have the cosmetic surgery in Turkey, despite his reservations. Scott and his family had to stay longer in Turkey to arrange for Leah’s body to be flown back to the UK. The whole incident has been harrowing for Scott, and for him, it’s more like a “bad dream.”

Bad Dream

“I just wish this was a bad dream.” Scott told reporters, “Two days ago I was happy. Now I’m a broken man and will be forever. I’m hurt so bad, and this is only the start. My life has crashed.” What makes it even more tragic is that the surgery was one only for beauty and not something Leah had really needed.

No Answers

What makes things even worse for Scott and his family is that they still have no idea what went wrong with Leah’s procedure. “People need to be aware of situations that can happen with this treatment.” he warned, “We are still waiting for answers and are also trying to get a flight to bring Leah home.”

Keep Watching

It seems that it was all about getting props on social media for Leah. Soon after arriving in Turkey she took to her various online platforms, posting messages to her friends. Just before the operation, Leah posted, “Hi guys I’ve just arrived at Elite Aftercare, and I’m very excited to let you know what I’m having done soon — so keep watching.” Her friends kept watching but were blindsided by what ultimately happened to Leah.

Butt Lift

The butt lift procedure, as it is known, is a controversial one although it’s considered to be a lot safer than many other procedures. The main advantage is that it involves taking fat from the waist or stomach and inserting it into the buttocks. It is considered safer as no silicon is involved, but that wasn’t the case for Leah.

Like a Nightmare

The fact that Leah left three young kids behind makes the story even more tragic. After her condition worsened during the procedure, doctors and nurses were unable to stabilize her,”It’s like a nightmare,” said Scott, “Leah wanted to get married, and we definitely would have in next few years, but instead, I’m going to have to plan a funeral. I’m looking at her face on video, and I think it can’t be true.”

Controversial Procedure

According to Professor Jim Frame from Anglia Ruskin University the butt lift is a dangerous procedure, “To be successful, a fat graft needs nutrition and so has to be injected into tissue that has a blood supply,” he warned, “Fat has more chance of staying in place if it is inserted into muscle – but this is where the risk lies.”Injecting fat into the buttocks can easily lead to serious problems if done incorrectly.” He said.

Potentially Fatal

Professor Frame explained that when fat enters the bloodstream, it can blood a lock vessel which is most likely what happened to Leah. “In the lungs, for example, it blocks oxygen from entering the bloodstream, while in the brain it can cause a stroke – both can be fatal.” He said. But Leah isn’t the only one who has died while under the cosmetic surgeon’s knife.

Fat Embolism

According to Frame, last year a survey of 692 surgeons found that at least 32 patients died from a condition called a fat embolism as a result of botched cosmetic surgery. “Most of these deaths appear to have been caused by inappropriately qualified practitioners working in non-approved facilities, including homes and garages,” explained Frame,”Other post-surgery problems, such as gangrene and sepsis, can also be fatal.” He added.

Sharing His Pain

Scott took to Facebook to reach out and share his pain at the loss of his partner. “I can’t believe I’m setting off to say my goodbyes to my little darling,” Scott wrote, “This is going to be the hardest thing I’ve done. I can’t imagine being in the house without her.” With heartfelt words, Scott added, “I will always leave a space for you at the table and make sure our kids remember you.”

Big Claims

Elite Aftercare makes some pretty big claims on their website. Operating out of a luxury villa on the outskirts of Izmir, patients enjoy sea views and five-star service across the board. The establishment offers butt lifts, tummy tucks, breast jobs, liposuction, and a variety of other procedures. At the same time, the clinic’s website claims, “Elite Aftercare aims to provide a UK standard of care, ” a sentiment not shared by Leah’s family.

Who’s Responsible?

For now, it isn’t clear what happened to Leah during her operation. What is clear is that some negligence must have been at play here for an otherwise standard procedure to go so wrong. And while the main Elite surgeon, Dr. Ali Üçkan, usually heads up the procedures, it’s unclear whether he carried out the surgery on Leah.

Hard Lessons

For Scott and his three children, with the oldest being 12, life is tough. Having lost a loving wife and mother, Scott is doing what he can to pull things together, if only for the sake of the kids at this stage. The fact that Leah was tragically taken as a result of botched cosmetic surgery is something Scott and his family will have to come to terms with, in the fullness of time.

Mother-of-Three Pays Ultimate Price for Botched Cosmetic Surgery Abroad is an article from: LifeDaily

With the increased threat of terror attacks across America, law enforcement has to become savvier than ever when it comes to identifying and arresting would-be terrorists already living in the U.S.

When three people living on a secluded compound in New Mexico were discovered, investigators were stunned that school shooters in the making were being trained to carry out future attacks.

Little Abdul

Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj Story — www.myajc.com

When Abdul was born with severe medical issues, his family knew that life would be a struggle for him, as well as for them. At the time he went missing when he was just three years old, an official raised suspicions that Abdul’s family could be involved, but there was no proof, yet.

Heavily Armed

The family lived with a bunch of other people on a secluded compound in the U.S. Suspicions were originally raised due to the outward appearance of the family, as they wore traditional Muslim attire. The fact that the people were “most likely heavily armed and considered extremist of the Muslim belief,” according to an official, meant that law enforcement needed to tread carefully.

Remains Found

After those red flags were raised, a raid of the compound was planned. The remains of a child were found there and they turned out to be those of 3-year-old Abdul. But something even more sinister was afoot at this compound and the police had an eerie feeling about it. When the suspects were brought in for questioning the plot thickened.

Training Kids

A bunch of different firearms and used bullet casings were found at the compound. There was also a shooting range and authorities were led to believe that young children were being trained in the use of weapons in order to carry out mass-school shootings at a later date, according to documents found onsite. Law enforcement needed to start building a solid case.

11 Counts

When 11 counts of felony child abuse were brought, prosecutors were confident that they were facing an open-and-shut case as the evidence was so compelling. However, someone somewhere forgot about the “10-day rule” required under New Mexico state law for defendants in custody. After that time frame elapsed the defendants needed to be released from custody despite the threat they posed.

Abusing Children

On top of the allegations of school shooter training, some of the defendants are facing charges like the “intentional abuse of a child resulting in death and conspiracy to commit intentional abuse of a child resulting in death.” While not-guilty pleas were entered to the court, Abdul’s untimely death is highly questionable and needs to be addressed. The fact that his parents are implicated in his murder makes things even more complicated.

Granting Bail

State District Judge Sarah Backus came under serious fire recently when she decided to grant the defendants bail. She received more than 200 phone calls and emails heavily criticizing that move and was even threatened by some people. But it was the fault of the prosecutors who had been incompetent which resulted in the suspected terrorists being released.

Prosecution’s Failure

At the same time, Taos County District Court Judge Jeff McElroy only had bad things to say about the prosecutors in this case who, in his view, had totally dropped the ball. The judge said this case was “a situation where the court is being caught between very public, very shocking information and a complete failure to follow proper procedures in prosecuting the case.” But he also had more to say and even employed some sarcasm.

Overworked?

Judge McElroy questioned why prosecutors failed to make their case in a timely manner. “I don’t know if they are overworked or they don’t have enough people at their office. I don’t see the district attorney here or the chief deputy district attorney, but it is disturbing to me that the district attorney would put this court in that kind of a situation.” His comments didn’t go unnoticed.

Child Welfare

Perhaps the good news in this case, if one can call it that, is the fact that all 11 children found living on the remote compound were immediately taken into the custody of state child-welfare workers. But the kids were keeping quiet about the “skills” they learned from the likes of Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and his friends.

Heavy Claims

Despite failing to act in time, prosecutors made some heavy claims which certainly veered towards terrorism charges. Having questioned the suspects, prosecutors claimed that juveniles had been taught how to use guns as well as various tactical techniques. They had allegedly learned these skills in order to target and murder teachers, students, and even law enforcement personnel.

Gloating Defense

After the defendants, Lucas Morton, his wife Subhannah Wahhaj, and her sister Hujrah Wahhaj, were released from custody in Taos, their defense lawyer, Meghan Mitsunaga smiled as she told reporters, “They’re out now.” But there are also trespassing charges against them which are still outstanding and need to be dealt with.

Living in Filth

Law enforcement agents who attended the illegal compound, which had been set up on the wrong piece of land in the first place making it illegal, were shocked to discover the levels of filth and neglect the people there were living under. The same agents reported “bizarre cult practices” taking place there, noting that the trio wanted, “to conduct future acts of violence against individuals and civic institutions,” according to the court documents.

Case Developing

Judge McElroy was clearly frustrated by the technicality which forced him to release the deadly trio from custody. Wanting to avert a public backlash against his decision, McElroy said: “I urge everyone not to react to solely the information contained within the warrants that were filed but rather to the evidence as it gets developed in this case.” But many people are horrified that state law provides for people as dangerous as this to roam free.

Social Media

Social media lit up with comments and posts from the general public who found it hard to believe that these people had been released from custody. One Twitter user wrote what many folks were thinking, “The judge had to do this by law, because the prosecutors chose not to file any paperwork on people who were abusing children, training them for school shootings and oh yeah there was a kid’s corpse on their property. What is going on there in New Mexico??”

Bizarre Rituals

Prosecutors have also accused two of the defendants, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Leveille of carrying out “bizarre rituals” on Abdul before he died. The defendants claimed that such practices were normal in their culture, in order to cast out “harmful spirits” so the young boy could be cured. But it’s the hand-written documents they found onsite which worried law enforcement the most.

Phases of Terror

Investigators found hand-written documents, one of which was entitled “Phases of a Terrorist Attack,” which spoke of “the one-time terrorist” and also ideal attack sites. Other documents seized also spoke of Jihad (holy war) and martyrdom in the name of Allah. Everyone was clear that these people should not have been let free.

Illegal Immigrant

While Leveille, who is originally from Haiti, joked about dying in Jihad, no one ever took him too seriously. Having come to America 20 years ago on a visitor visa, Leveille had been living in the states illegally for most of that time. Now that he is known to the authorities there is a chance he will be deported back to his native country.

Attacking Hospitals

According to reports, Leveille had spoken and written about attacking what he deemed to be “corrupt institutions” across the U.S. One such target was a hospital in Atlanta called the Grady Hospital. The children who were taken into care also said that Leveille wanted to target the military, big corporations, and even the CIA.

Deporting Terrorists

This case highlights the deep issues America has regarding illegal immigration, especially where terrorists set up compounds like the one in New Mexico. It’s for law enforcement, the CIA, and the FBI to ensure the safety of American citizens, and not to allow legal technicalities to get in the way of important prosecutions and vital police work.

New Mexico Trio Released After Prosecutors Drop the Ball is an article from: LifeDaily

Taxi drivers across the world put their lives at risk on a daily basis as they never know who their next fare may or may not be. The same applies to Uber drivers, who work long shifts to make a living by driving people across town, often during the early hours of the morning.

When one man set out for his shift, purposely working on Memorial Day to make some extra cash, the last person he was expecting to pick up was a 16-year-old girl who was armed a knife and a machete. She was certainly a troubled teen, but no one could have predicted this.

Uber App

The Uber app offers a driving service whereby both the driver and passenger are sent up-to-date information on their phone to ensure they make their connection on time and safely. The app is secure and efficient and sees to it that passengers are picked up on time by their designated driver and dropped at their destination in one piece. For the most part, the Uber app works seamlessly and without issue.

Walmart

Eliza Wasni, 16, had been acting suspiciously at Walmart in the early hours that Tuesday morning. Staff were suspicious when she left the store without making a purchase, but that was because she had shoplifted. The bigger problem was that she hadn’t stolen candy as most teens would — Wasni stole a knife and a large machete.

Calling Uber

For reasons known only to her, Wasni opened her phone and ordered an Uber car to pick her up. But what happened next was a shock for the whole community as the teen decided to use the items she’d stolen from Walmart on her innocent driver Grant Nelson in an unprovoked attack. Assistant State’s Attorney Michelle Cunningham explained …

Attacking Him

“Only two minutes or so after picking up the defendant, she begins to hack at him and stab him from the back of the seat,” explained Cunningham. But having been repeatedly slashed and stabbed from the back seat as he drove, Nelson managed to stop the car, running to the nearest condo building for help as he bled out. One resident, Jay Markicic, heard the commotion going on.

Help Me!

Markicic heard Nelson banging on doors and screaming: “Help me! God help me, please! I’m gonna die!” At that point, Wasni tried to drive off in Nelson’s car but hit a median and fled on foot. When police found her within the hour, she was hiding but still holding the knife and machete.

No Respect

Wasni was clearly in a disturbed state of mind when police found her. She displayed a blatant disrespect for authority when the cops asked her nicely to put the weapons down. When she refused, acting in a threatening manner by hollering at them, they had no choice but to subdue her with a taser gun.

Beyond Belief

A neighbor of the Wasni family, Patrick Sullivan, said that the community was completely shocked by the incident. Sullivan said he was “Stunned. Beyond belief. This is a good neighborhood.” But even though Nelson had been rushed to the nearby St. Francis Hospital, he died from his injuries a short time later.

Senseless Murder

The Nelson family are understandably shocked by the murder which was unprovoked and senseless. Nelson’s younger sister Alexandra expressed the family’s grief in a statement: “The loss of intelligence and conversation and nuance and thoughtfulness that he brought into all of our lives is going to be felt, and it will reverberate with us throughout the coming weeks and months and years, and it is not a hole that can be easily filled,” she said.

First in 12 Years

Police confirmed that this was the first homicide to take place in Lincolnwood, Illinois, since 2006, which is an encouraging fact in itself, albeit little consolation for the Nelson family. Twelve years ago, a man named James McDurmon killed his brother during a domestic dispute. McDurmon was found guilty and sentenced to 60 years behind bars for the murder.

Genuine Guy

Many of Nelson’s friends paid tribute to him, saying he was a genuine person and always “quick to laugh.” One friend, Mike, told reporters “It’s overwhelming, really. It’s very sad. Heartbreaking.” Mike worked with Nelson and also told reporters that his friend always had reservations about late-night driving and the dangers it posed.

Already Concerned

Mike recalled an incident Nelson told him about: “I remember him mentioning that he once had to stop and get gas in a really sketchy neighborhood. He might not have really thought anything of it.” And Mike was also the last person to message Nelson before he was killed.

Early Hours

Just before 3 a.m. on Memorial Day, Nelson sent a message to Mike on Facebook, apologizing for missing his message: “Sorry, I was Ubering,” he wrote. That was Nelson’s final message.

Shy Type

According to another friend, Colleen, who worked with Nelson years ago, he was a super nice guy. “It’s pretty heartbreaking to hear that,” she said. “That guy is super nice. One of the nicest guys you’ll know. Quiet, shy, but he wouldn’t do anything to anybody.”

Walking Away

According to Colleen, Nelson was anything but the confrontational type. “Grant’s the type of person that would walk away from an altercation. He would never stay around. He would let something go and walk away,” she said. “He was always happy, just always a nice person. He really didn’t deserve what happened to him.”

Uber Statement

These kinds of things are bad publicity for Uber, who already find themselves in legal battles across the board. A spokesperson for Uber released a statement about the murder of one of their drivers. “We are heartbroken by the loss of one of our partners, Grant Nelson. Our deepest sympathies and prayers are with his family and loved ones during this incredibly difficult time,” Uber said.

Lyft Statement

Lyft is a car service much like Uber, but with some small differences. The company also felt the need to release a statement about Nelson, who also drove for them. “We’re horrified by these reports and our thoughts are with those impacted. This type of violence has no place in our society. Our trust and safety team is looking into these reports, and we stand ready to assist law enforcement in their investigation. While the individual identified by police has driven for Lyft, there was no ride at the time of the incident.”

Serious Issues

Having been found guilty of first-degree murder and tried as an adult, it became clear that Wasni had serious anger issues. A judge in court recently admonished Wasni regarding her behavior so far in jail. She has already had at least 23 disciplinary infractions in just one month. And that includes physically attacking prison guards.

Additional Charges

Having violently attacked prison guards while in custody in a juvenile detention center, Judge Lauren Gottainer Edidin warned Wasni that she could face additional charges. Many feel that this young girl is so troubled that she needs professional mental help. The judge told Wasni that complying with the rules in prison “may make your situation better.”

Much Loved

Nelson was loved by many people from different walks of life. In paying tribute to him, a lifelong friend named Geoff said, “Grant encapsulated what we seek in a lifelong friend. He was a kind, empathetic and extremely funny human being who could always be counted on to lift your spirits when life had you down.”

Remain Safe

Nelson’s family released an official statement to the press: “To Uber, Lyft and taxicab drivers, who take us all where we need to go: We pray that you will remain safe and free from harm, and hope that if anything can be done to increase your safety, it will be done.”

Unprovoked Teenage Uber Passenger Attacks Innocent Driver is an article from: LifeDaily

Uber drivers are generally hard-working people who simply want to make a living by driving people across town. And while a clean car and good manners are key, Uber employees also need to know how to look after themselves on the job, just in case trouble arises.

When one man started his Uber shift he assumed it would be a night like any other — one filled with drunk passengers and measly tips. But, when he was chased in a pickup truck by a man who thought his girlfriend was in the car, the night would turn out to be anything but standard.

At the Bar

Jason Boek had a volatile relationship with his girlfriend. The two were off and on constantly it seemed, and Boek sure had a temper when it came to love. The couple and a bunch of others were drinking at the bar in Dundee, Florida that night, and it was time to call an Uber driver to take people home.

Helping Out

Boek’s girlfriend had a lot to drink that night, but she still had her wits about her. When she noticed a friend at the bar had too much to drink, she did the right thing and scheduled an Uber ride so the drunk women would make it home safely and in one piece.

Never Assume

When it comes to late-night bars and excessive drinking, it’s best never to make any assumptions. Boek already had anger issues and was always jealous that his girlfriend was seeing other men even if she wasn’t. But when his girlfriend’s drunk friend entered the Uber car, Boek assumed it was his girlfriend, and that made him see red.

Back Inside

It was late at night, the street lighting was dim, and Boek misjudged the situation. While the drunk women was inside the Uber, Boek’s girlfriend had returned to the bar to carry on socializing and drinking with her other friends. Boek, however, was convinced his girlfriend was in the Uber and decided to give chase.

Aggressive Texts

Boek often sent his girlfriend angry flurries of text messages, especially when he had been drinking heavily. Even though she swore that it wasn’t her in the Uber, Boek didn’t believe her and threatened her by text. “I’m going to eff up the Uber driver.” Boek was now behind the wheel of his pickup truck following the Uber driver, Robert Westlake.

Tailgating

County Sheriff Grady Judd explained in a press conference what happened next. “[Boek] is explosive,” he said. “He’s stalking his girlfriend. He’s angry with her, and he tells her, ‘I’m going to eff up the Uber driver.'” The Sheriff continued: “Boek tailgates him a minute, then he pulls out beside him, rides beside him a couple of seconds … and then starts to pass him and forces him to a stop in the roadway.”

Approaching the Driver

Sheriff Judd explained that once the vehicles were stationary, Boek jumped out of his pickup truck aggressively and approached Westlake’s vehicle. The conversation that ensued between the two men was tense, as Westlake had no idea whatsoever what the issue was in the first place. No one expected what happened next.

Got a Gun

“I say something?” Westlake asked. Boek responded, “You know I got a pistol?” Westlake had no reason not to believe the man threatening him who was holding a cell phone like a gun, exclaiming, “You want me to f—ing shoot you?” At that point Westlake panicked a little, assuming his life was in danger and that he was about to be shot.

Stand Your Ground

The stand your ground law, which is also known as the “line in the sand,” establishes a situation whereby any person has the right to defend themselves against threats or violence. The law applies to the extent that one can even use lethal force if they feel their life is in danger. This was a clear cut case of Westlake standing his ground in what he perceived as a deadly threat.

“Oh My God”

Westlake took out his pistol and shot Boek once in the chest, as the drunk passenger beside him screamed, “Oh my God!” Westlake immediately made a call to 911 explaining that Boek “ran me off the road, jumped out of his vehicle, I couldn’t get away.” But Westlake had no idea that the man coming towards him was only holding a cell phone.

Made Public

For whatever reason, Sherriff Judd saw it fit to release the audio from that 911 to the public. In it, Westlake said to the dispatcher, “He [Boek] came towards me, shouting he’s got a pistol [and] reached toward his waistband. I fired one shot from my pistol. He dropped his cell phone I kicked it away, I didn’t realize it was a cell phone at first.” However, Westlake immediately came to assist the man he had just shot: “I’m applying pressure to the wound, he’s faintly breathing,” he said.

License to Carry

In what some consider a bizarre statement, Sheriff Judd told reporters, “At the end of the day the message is clear, don’t mess with the Uber driver. Leave the Uber driver alone because he just might be a certified police officer in waiting.” As it happened, Westlake had a license to carry a gun and had just finished training at the police academy.

Justified Homicide

Judd also turned a few heads when he stated in the press conference that, to his mind, the homicide was justified. “This is a justifiable homicide all day long. You have the right to protect yourself,” he said. “This is a classic ‘stand your ground’ case.” But Westlake felt terrible about what had happened.

Guilt Pangs

A spokesperson from Uber released a statement about the fatal incident: “We are saddened by this unfortunate incident and will continue to work with police on their investigation.” At the same time, Boek’s mother Michele said about her son, “He’s not a bad person. He needed help.” But Westlake feels guilty for taking a man’s life, even though he felt he had no other option.

Feeling Pain

Boek’s sister Jenna also spoke to reporters from her home, explaining to them the grief the family is feeling right now. “How he was portrayed in that press conference is not who he is as a person,” she said. “Now my 2-year-old son is never going to know him.”

Saving a Life

Having trained at the police academy, Westlake rushed over to Boek to attempt to save his life as he lay on the ground bleeding. At one point, Westlake thought he could save the man’s life. “I thought for a moment that I hit it in a spot where he could survive. I thought for a moment after doing compressions [that] I had him back,” he told reporters.

Traumatic Event

The whole event was also traumatic for Westlake who explained, “Everything I do now I’m going to be reminded that this other person doesn’t get to do it. So it’s hard to enjoy some things.” On top of that, Uber suspended Westlake saying they would evaluate his status once the investigation into the incident is complete.

Filled With Doubt

Westlake, 38, has many regrets about what happened on that fateful night. “Everybody tells me what I did was right, but you feel like, ‘did I have to?’ after the fact … I wish the whole chain of events didn’t happen,” he told reporters. But no one is suggesting that Westlake set out to commit murder, and was, as previously mentioned, just standing his ground.

No Charges

For their part, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office stated recently that they would not be bringing a case against Westlake. They confirmed that the investigation “remains open pending the results of Boek’s autopsy.” After that, the sheriff’s findings will be forwarded to the Office of State Attorney Brian Haas for consideration.

Lesson Learned

While the details of this case are tragic, especially for the Boek family, it does highlight the importance of the stand your ground law. Boek was mistaken in his judgment of the situation and should have thought twice before pretending to be holding a firearm. Many hope that this incident will dissuade others from threatening taxi and Uber drivers alike.

Uber Driver Stands His Ground After Being Chased By Jealous Boyfriend is an article from: LifeDaily

True friendship is all about helping people in their hour of need. Whether it’s a short-term loan or a shoulder to cry on, few things in life are more special or more important than a best friend.

When one woman received a call from her best friend, she grabbed her pocketbook and rushed out of her Bronx apartment. The former would do anything for the latter, and all the more so when she needed her most. She didn’t think she’d be rewarded for her kindness in such a sinister way.

Hard Life

Lisa Velasquez Story — Lisa Velasquez / Facebook

One of the most tragic parts of this story is that Lisa Marie Velasquez saw more tragedy and trauma in her lifetime than most people do. Back in 2006, when she was just 12 years old, her pregnant mother was murdered in front of her and her siblings. That incident would be enough to ruin anyone’s life, but Velasquez was the resilient type and picked the pieces of her life up and moved on.

Serious Trauma

Velasquez’s siblings were both younger and older than her, but they all witnessed the brutal murder of their mother. At the time, her on-again, off-again boyfriend beat her mother, strangled her, and stabbed her, all in front of the kids. While he was arrested and convicted for the murder, the Velasquez family was in pieces. Those feelings were about to arise once again.

Domestic Dispute

According to the police, Ciara Martinez had gotten into a bad fight with her boyfriend Daquan Wheeler one night. When Wheeler, a convicted criminal with a seriously checkered past turned violent and threatening, Martinez called her friend for help. Velasquez made her way over to the nearby apartment to try to calm the situation down and assist her friend.

Selfless Friendship

With no concern for herself, Velasquez walked right into a tense and dangerous situation that was unbeknownst to her. However, she didn’t think twice as she loved Martinez and rushed to her side. When she arrived at the apartment things escalated when Velasquez decided to call the police on Wheeler. That was the last decision the 25-year-old would make.

Brutal Murder

Wheeler saw red when Velasquez called the police. In a fit of rage inside the Bronx apartment, he bludgeoned Velasquez to death, but the worst was yet to come. After Martinez witnessed the murder, she helped her boyfriend to dispose of her friend’s body. But the way the two chose to get rid of the body would send shock-waves through the community.

Unceremonious Ending

Velasquez hadn’t deserved to be brutally murdered just for trying to help her friend. Her friend and Wheeler then dismembered her in the bathroom of their apartment and put her body parts in separate black trash bags. The murderous duo then needed to dispose of the evidence which could tie them to the murder.

Bronx Parks

Wheeler and Martinez decided to scatter their victim’s body parts around two parks in the Bronx, a couple miles apart. They also dumped some of her body parts in different locations around the city. When her head was found, the medical examiner confirmed she had died from skull-crushing blows from a hammer.

Smelled Like Bleach

When a law enforcement officer enters an apartment and smells fresh bleach in the air, it always raises suspicion. When cops arrived at the Bronx apartment to question the couple, they smelled bleach, but that wasn’t all. They also noticed that a fresh coat of paint had been applied to the walls in the bathroom but not in the rest of the apartment.

Distraught Aunt

When police released the identity of the victim, Velasquez’s aunt Jacqueline Perez spoke of her outrage and sadness. “The way she was tortured, for Christ’s sake, she didn’t deserve that,” she said. “Who in their right minds would do something like this? She’s my niece. She didn’t deserve this.”

No Stranger

Velasquez was no stranger to tragedy having watched her pregnant mother murdered in front of her. “In this lifetime, I never thought we would go through this again,” said Perez. “This is the second episode … the type of animal that would do something like this to a human being.”

Totally Destroyed

“My mother is never going to be the same,” Perez said. “She wasn’t the same after her daughter’s murder; now it’s worse.” Perez also spoke about how destroyed the family feels as a result of the murder. “We all feel destroyed because this is devastating. … I can’t even describe what I’m feeling or what the family feels.” She said.

Different Charges

Even though Wheeler was the one who murdered Velasquez, both he and Martinez were charged on numerous counts. The couple was arraigned on charges of murder, manslaughter, concealment of a human corpse, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon. And while Martinez is due in court any day now, she already has priors for bail jumping and robbery.

Family Outrage

Perez said the family was overwhelmed when they saw Martinez in court. “The fact that we saw [Martinez] is overwhelming,” she said. “She’s walking; she got her arms and her legs. Where [is] my niece at now? In a bag, in different bags.” But Velasquez’s friends were also at court, and they had some supportive words for the defendant.

Bronx Court

During Martinez’s brief appearance at a Bronx court, she was yelled at by a friend of the victim. “Murderer!” shouted Lisa Rivera, a close friend of Velasquez. She also spoke to reporters outside court admitting “I called her a murderer. I called her exactly what she was.” She added that it was “very, very hard” to face Martinez.

Family Support

As the old saying goes: blood is thicker than water. And even murderers have family and friends who love them unconditionally. It was a stab in the back for Velasquez’s family when a member of the Martinez family shouted, “I love you! We are here for you, Ciara!” in court. But the victim’s aunt had even more to say.

Speaking Out

Velasquez’s aunt was outraged that the defendant’s kin showed such a public display of support for a person who dismembered a member of her family. “I don’t know who she was,” Perez said. “I don’t care at this point. … I’m there for my niece too. It’s so funny that she’s not alive, but Ciara is. So this is why I’m so angry.”

Feared for her Life

Velasquez, who was raised by her disabled grandmother after her mother was killed, feared for her life since she was 12. After her mother was killed, her murderer turned to the children to warn them: “If you tell anybody I killed your mother, I’ll kill you.” A harrowing thing for anyone to hear, especially a young child who has just witnessed their mother being killed.

Never Recovered

According to Perez, her mother Iris never recovered from the shock of her daughter being killed when she was nine months pregnant. “[Iris] witnessed it. After that, my mother took custody of the kids,” Perez said. “She’s sick. She can’t walk. She never recovered from her daughter being murdered.”

Neighbor’s Shocked

Just before the police found the apartment where Velasquez was murdered they had received a bunch of calls from concerned neighbors. One neighbor named Lizannette told police on the day the victim was murdered that she saw a man and heard a girl “screaming ‘You gonna kill me! You gonna kill me!'”

Sorely Missed

Velasquez’s close friend, Lisa Rivera spoke at a vigil outside the family’s Melrose apartment building. Through floods of tears, Rivera paid tribute to her slain friend. “She was loving, nurtured, and everybody loved her, and she’s gonna be missed,” she said. And while the perpetrators of this heinous murder are getting what they deserve, it’s little consolation for the victim’s family.

Dismembered Woman’s Remains Dumped in Bronx Parks by Close Friend’s Boyfriend is an article from: LifeDaily

Bible study is an integral part of the lives of Christians around the world. By preaching positive messages of love and helping the less fortunate, millions of Christians get great satisfaction from learning more from the Holy Bible, which they cherish.

A hard-working painter and building contractor had a heart full of love, even though he had a criminal history. As a Native-American, he was a spiritual person in his own way. So, it’s not unreasonable that he didn’t want to attend Christian Bible classes for personal reasons, especially while working.

New Beginnings

When Ryan Coleman got a job at Dahled Up Construction in Oregon, he was looking forward to a new beginning working for a reputable and successful building firm. The company had some great reviews online, and it was a local gig. Coleman enjoyed the prospect of being a painter and couldn’t wait to get started on the job.

Dahled Up Construction

Dahled Up Construction, based in Albany, employs general building contractors who carry out a variety of different jobs depending on a client’s needs. From building extensions to roofing repairs and beyond, Coleman thought he had landed the perfect job, for the most part.

Bible Study

Coleman knew that his new boss was the religious type, being a strong believer in the teachings of Christ. He wasn’t clear about the small print in his contract which mentioned Bible study classes and was more looking forward to his first day on the job. However, unforeseen issues lay ahead that Coleman wasn’t expecting.

Freedom of Faith

In America, citizens are entitled to hold whatever religious beliefs they want and to express them reasonably. As long as those beliefs aren’t too hateful or lead to violence, everyone is entitled to believe what religion they want and to practice it accordingly. Coleman defines his religious beliefs as “indigenous” and is proud of that fact.

Indigenous Beliefs

Coleman, being half Caucasian and half Native-American is very proud of his Cherokee and Blackfoot heritage. While he may not practice his faith in the same way as Christians, he defines himself as a spiritual person and a moral one, too. But that small print in the contract about obligatory Bible study was something he had overlooked.

Obligatory Bible Study

Coleman wasn’t totally clear about the details, but when he was told he was obligated to attend Bible study classes at work, he was more than a little perturbed. For the first six months of his employment at the small company, he attended the Bible classes which were given daily by a Christian pastor but felt he couldn’t continue due to his faith.

On the Clock

One of the factors that bothered Coleman a lot was the fact that he was obligated to attend the Bible classes during working hours. That meant that he was “on the clock” and that the Bible lessons were part and parcel of his job. While many people may have enjoyed the break from work, Coleman simply wanted to do the job he was being paid for.

Illegal Requirement

After enduring six months of Bible classes, Coleman decided enough was enough. When he approached his boss Joel Dahl to complain, telling him that being required to attend Bible study classes was illegal, the boss ignored him and informed him he needed to continue attending. Coleman knew he had to take action immediately.

Keeping His Job

While he wasn’t happy about the Bible study, Coleman needed to keep his job. The pay was good enough and the general conditions acceptable so he just “put up and shut up” when it came to the religious study. He had a sneaky feeling that his boss would fire him if he spoke up, so he just suffered in silence month after month. But everyone has their breaking point, and Coleman’s was nigh.

Open Mind

When Coleman finally plucked up the courage to approach Dahl with his gripes he told him, “I’ve kept an open mind, and it’s just not my thing,” regarding the Bible study. With that, Dahl responded, “Well, I’m going to have to replace you.” That left Coleman shocked and worried about his future.

Forced Prayers

The employee didn’t want to fight with anyone let alone his boss. But when Dahl told him, “You’re not going to tell me how to run my own company,” Coleman replied accordingly: “I said I’m not trying to tell you how to run your own company, but you’re not going to tell me what god to pray to.” The whole issue is highly questionable, legally speaking.

“Totally Illegal”

Coleman decided to bring a lawsuit to the tune of $800,000 against his employer. His attorney, Corinne Schram from Portland said: “This is so illegal. … Unless you are a religious organization like a church, you cannot force your employees to participate in religious activities.” However, Dahl’s lawyer disagreed.

Paid to Pray

According to Dahl’s attorney, Kent Hickam, his client does require all staff members to attend the Bible study. But this attorney says it is 100 percent legal as Dahl pays his staff to attend. For his part, Dahl feels he is being financially exploited by Coleman who was seemingly happy to attend the Bible study for the best part of six months.

Honorable Intentions

According to Hickam, “Mr. Dahl feels that it’s unfortunate that [Coleman] is now trying to exploit Mr. Dahl’s honorable intentions for unjustified financial gain.” And it seems that Dahl does have honorable intentions having struggled for years with drug and alcohol abuse. But is it right for him to push his views onto other people, including his employees?

Second-Chance Employers

The Second Chance Act of 2007 aims to encourage convicted criminals to enter into jobs within the community once they are set free from jail. As such, due to his own checkered past, Joel Dahl is proud to define himself as a “second-chance employer” as he can relate. Dahl feels that God is an integral part of his life and wants others to share that view.

Criminal Past

Dahl had served time in prison for attempted second-degree assault. He told reporters that he’s been clean for seven years now and has never looked back. He noted that one of the main reasons he opened his building company back in 2016 was to employ other convicted criminals or people who have struggled with addiction.

Thanking God

It may seem strange to some people, but God is such a big part of Dahl’s life that he even thanks him when contracting jobs are completed. In a recent Facebook post, for example, Dahl wrote: “Fixing up this old house at times I was discouraged ’cause there was so much to fix. But Me and God did this together and we got er done.”

Second Chance

Instead of being thankful to Dahl for employing him and giving him a second chance, Coleman has been accused by some people of being an extortionist. Having served prison time himself, some believe that Coleman was out of order bringing such a hefty lawsuit against his former employer.

New Life

Having been completely sober for four years, Coleman won back custody of his two children recently. They were taken from him by child protection services as he was neglecting them due to his drug and alcohol addictions. Coleman claims he has started a new life and wants the means to support his children for the future.

Moral Questions

While some people believe that Coleman is justified in his claims against his former employer, many disagree. On the one hand, being forced to attend bible study is wrong, although it was explained clearly to Coleman before he took the job. On the other hand, having attended Bible classes regularly for six months and then stopping suddenly raises other questions in this interesting case.

Man Sues Employer After Being Fired for Not Wanting to Attend Bible Study is an article from: LifeDaily

Warm beverages provide just the right amount of comfort on a cold day, but overheated beverages can be dangerous. Despite the temperature of hot a cup of coffee or tea being as high as 185 degrees, some people either do not handle the beverage with care or it is improperly served to them.

As the cases in the following story will show, accidents do happen. Some sound like legitimate cases while others are a bit questionable — but we’ll let you be the judge of that. Here are the top 10 most popular and expensive spilled hot coffee cases in history.

Fragoso v. Dunkin’ Brands, Inc

Hot Coffee Lawsuits Story — www.yelp.com

In 2012, Jennifer Fragoso was served piping hot apple cider from Dunkin’ Donuts that resulted in her receiving second and third-degree burns on her upper thighs. She charged the business and the individual Dunkin’ Donuts location with negligence, breach of express and implied warranties, and product liability, and claimed that the company put her in danger by heating her drink to excess.

What Happened?

Fragoso claimed that Dunkin’ Donuts failed to provide her with a beverage of a reasonable temperature, causing her to suffer severe burns and spend thousands of dollars on medical care. As a result of the spill, due to an unsecured lid, Fragoso spent several months undergoing treatment and therapy. Despite this, she still suffered unsightly, permanent scarring across her upper thighs. It was never reported whether Fragoso received money for the burn, but a Dunkin’ Donuts’ representative added that all of their cups are now labeled: “CAUTION: THIS BEVERAGE IS EXTREMELY HOT.”

Angelica Keller v. Southwest Airlines

The front row seats on Southwest Airlines do look great being that customers get extra leg room and a quick exit, but none of the seats have tray tables. Keller, traveling on a Southwest flight from Nashville to Houston, found that when the cup of tea she’d been given had spilled in her lap, she suffered serious injuries. Because of the incident, she sought $800,000 in damages with $300,000 for the pain and suffering she went through.

What Happened?

Keller claimed that when she was handed the cup of tea because she was in the first row of the plane and didn’t have a drop-down table, the tea spilled on her lap. The lawsuit says that the flight attendant brought her a cup of “extremely hot water” sitting in another cup which contained the tea bag and condiment packets. Keller was eventually awarded $500,000 in punitive damages.

Matthew Kohr v. Starbucks

A North Carolina police officer, Matthew Kohr, spilled a cup of Starbucks coffee in his lap during a shift of work. He claimed that the spill “aggravated his Crohn’s disease, causing anxiety and sleeplessness, and led to a loss of intimacy with his wife.” He sought $750,000 in damages to cover legal and medical expenses as well as the damages they both suffered.

What Happened?

The lawsuit states that the lid popped up and the cup folded in on itself, spilling the hot coffee on Kohr’s thigh and groin area. Kohr claimed the January 2012 incident had repercussions on his wife’s life, which not only forced him to take time off of work but also impacted his job performance when he was there. Ultimately, the jury voted that Starbucks was not required to pay any more to Kohr from the incident. There is also no word with the state of Kohr’s sex life.

Abdelal v. McDonald’s

As reported by the Huffington Post, the case involved a 4-year-old, Lynn Abdelal, who was given a cup of blistering hot coffee to give to her grandma, who in turn, suffered a second-degree burn when its lid fell off. The complaint asked for $4 million in damages based on the fact that the McDonald’s employee served coffee to such a young child, in violation of company policy.

What Happened?

Abdelal was eating at a McDonald’s in Harwood Heights, Chicago when her grandmother asked her to throw an empty coffee cup in the trash. Instead, Abdelal went to get a refill. According to the lawsuit, a McDonald’s employee handed the child a cup of freshly brewed coffee without securing the lid or placing it into a cardboard sleeve. Abdelal spilled hot coffee on her chest, causing severe burns and scarring. As of 2012 when the incident happened, McDonald’s still had not been served with Abdelal’s lawsuit.

Hedy Chen v. In-N-Out Burger

A University of California at Berkeley graduate sued In-N-Out Burger over injuries suffered when she was badly burned after spilling a cup of hot coffee on her legs. Chen said the incident happened when she and friend stopped at an In-N-Out drive-through restaurant in Oakland on April 1, 2013. Chen received second-degree burns and sought an unspecified amount in damages for her injuries.

What Happened?

According to the lawsuit, Chen ordered a cup of coffee and an employee handed her an “excessively hot” beverage in a paper cup without a protective sleeve. The cup was so hot that Chen couldn’t hold it and she dropped it onto her abdomen and thighs. The lawsuit alleged that she asked the employee to call 911, but the worker refused and said that she was forbidden to do so because it was against company policy to call 911. Chen said the employee gave her a bag of ice instead. This lawsuit seems to still be ongoing.

Lourdes Cervantes v. Continental Airlines

A Texas woman, Lourdes Cervantes, sued United Airlines for more than $170,000 in damages after she was burned by hot coffee while on a flight in 2011. The case stemmed from a trip on a Continental Flight before the carriers merged when Cervantes was flying from Madrid to New Jersey. According to the lawsuit, Cervantes suffered second-degree burns, and severe pain and suffering that required medical treatment and led to permanent scarring.

What Happened?

A flight attendant reportedly placed the coffee on a tray table in front of Cervantes, when the passenger in the row ahead of her reclined, causing the hot coffee to spill on her lap. Cervantes suffered quite a bit of pain. But what made it even worse is that she had multiple sclerosis, so when the coffee spilled on her she couldn’t get up. She just had to sit there and take it. Continental and Cervantes wound up settling the case privately out of court, so it’s unclear how much money, if any, that she received.

Jose Adames and Sally Irizarry v. Denny’s

Parents sued a Denny’s location in Angola, New York after their 1-year-old daughter was burned with coffee. The girl received first- and second-degree burns and the family says the cost of medical care throughout her life will run to around $340,000. Some of her skin was pulled off when her clothes were removed and health care workers put her under “conscious sedation” to remove the remaining dead skin.

What Happened?

The incident happened in 2012 when the girl allegedly grabbed a cup of coffee and spilled it all over herself. Her parents claim that it was the waitress’ fault for placing it within the reach of their toddler. The final settlement remains confidential, but it’s believed to be near the $500,000 mark previously disclosed in court papers.

Kathleen Perez v. Burger King

A Louisiana woman, Kathleen Perez, sued Burger King for injuries she claims came from a spilled cup of hot coffee she purchased at a drive-through. The incident allegedly resulted in serious burns to Perez’s arm, chest and stomach, causing her to seek an unspecified amount in damages for her injuries. The injuries included burns, permanent scarring and discoloration, pain and suffering, disability, embarrassment and mental anguish.

What Happened?

Similar to the 1994 case involving Liebeck, Perez accused a Burger King employee of failing to properly secure the coffee cup’s lid, which caused the coffee within (heated to an extreme temperature) to spill. There is very little information on how this case panned out, and there are no court records about what happened to Perez and if she was awarded the undisclosed amount she sought.

Edwards v. McDonald’s

Selena Edwards, 38, of Victorville, California, sued McDonald’s over a spilled cup of coffee, which caused her third-degree burns and hospitalization which forced her to undergo skin grafting. What’s interesting about this case is that it turned out that all of the photos Edwards sent in 2014 were fake, pulled off of the Internet from a hospital’s website.

What Happened?

After prosecutors alleged that the evidence Edwards provided was fake, she was charged with 21 felony counts of insurance and worker’s compensation fraud. One of the photographs she pulled off the Internet was of a burned hand, but it wasn’t her burned hand. She surrendered to authorities on Oct. 29, 2014, and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Liebeck v. McDonald’s

In 1994, Stella Liebeck ordered a 49-cent cup of coffee from McDonald’s, placed it between her knees, and in the process of adding cream and sugar, spilled the coffee all over her body when the lid came off. Liebeck acknowledged that the spill was her fault, but what she took issue with was that the coffee was so hot, near boiling point, causing her to receive third-degree burns on her legs and genitals.

What Happened?

Liebeck claims the incident nearly killed her and required her to have extensive surgery. She said she would have accepted the coverage of her $20,000 medical bill, but when McDonald’s countered with an $800 offer, her lawyers hit back like a ton of bricks. The jury awarded her $2.9 million, but unfortunately, the judge only let her keep around $600,000.

10 Most Expensive and Popular Spilled Hot Drink Lawsuits In History is an article from: LifeDaily

Many of us have heard those stories of mothers who found untold strength when it came to lifting a car off of their trapped loved one. Adrenaline is a powerful thing and people will do strange things when they or those they love are in mortal danger.

What follows is a scene straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster. But unlike “Twister,” which is little more than a goofy movie, this story of escape, danger, and the kindness of strangers is as intense a tale as they come — and that’s because it’s true.

Tornado Warning

Strangers Rescue Family Story — www.fox26houston.com

Tom Mitchell was driving to escape the storms and tornadoes that had ripped through the area. He was just outside of Canton, Texas, heading north when he came upon something peculiar on the side of the road. A car was overturned and was more than half-submerged in a nearby creek. He pulled over to investigate.

Overturned

Mitchell wasn’t the only one to stop that day. Several other drivers, all driving away from the thundering storms, had pulled over to see if there was anything they could do to help the car. Sirens screeched far off in the distance, signaling the emergency workers barrelling their way towards any number of similar catastrophes. They would not get to the overturned car in time.

Seeking Shelter

The car belonged to Emily and Phillip Ocheltree, who had decided that the increased warnings about the ensuing tornado were too dangerous to ignore. Emily and her children had tried hiding out in the closets of their home during the tornado sirens but knew the only truly safe place for them was the local storm shelter.

Flipping Out

As Emily, Phillip, and their kids made their way to the shelter, their truck hydroplaned and veered off the road. Phillip lost control of the wheel and the lethal combination of sleekness, momentum, and gravity took the vehicle as it fell, flipping it upside down as it landed in the water, where it began to sink.

Panic and Rising Pitch

In the pitch black of the sinking vehicle, Emily and Phillip struggled. The children, 4-month-old son Marshal and 18-month-old daughter Addyson were screaming in the back seat. Upside down and disoriented, the parents tried desperately to free them from their car seats, unaware that just outside, help was gathering.

Stopping to Help

Tom Mitchell and the other rescuers were making their way into the muddy creek. Tom, knowing that he was not strong enough to be able to withstand the current and lift the car, hung back. He couldn’t do much except watch, but if watching was all he was going to do, then he would make sure everyone could see the rescue happen.

Let There Be Light

After an excruciating struggle, the rescuers managed to open the truck’s door. Light flooded into the sinking car, letting the terrified parents know that they weren’t alone. Emily shouted at the rescuers, telling them “I don’t want help for us. Please help my kids. My kids are in the back seat.”

Helping Hands

The rescuers, already waist deep in the rising water themselves, needed to move fast to get the kids out of the backseat. One of the men yelled out to the gathered bystanders angrily for help. He couldn’t get the back door open. As soon as they wrenched it open, however, they had another issue entirely; the child was stuck.

Need for a Knife

“We got a baby!” shouted the man. “I need a knife! I need a sharp knife!” He looked into the backseat and saw both the children trapped, the baby and the toddler. With the help of a knife, a tire iron, and the joint efforts of all the collected strangers, they managed to pull baby Marshall from the back of the car.

Pulled Free

Four-month-old Marshall was unconscious when they pulled him from the car. Not only that, he was freezing cold and a deathly shade of blue. They rushed the baby to the side of the road. Mitchell looked down at the limp, pale child. Something was very wrong with the baby. It was time he stepped in.

Stepping In

Mitchell slipped his cell phone into his pocket and knelt before the tiny bluish-gray baby. He rolled up his sleeves and began administering CPR on Marshal. The baby gave no reaction, nothing was working. Deep down, Mitchell feared that the despite his best efforts to save him, the child would not make it.

Addy Free

Minutes later, as Mitchell continued to try and breathe life into the unconscious baby, Addyson was pulled from the sinking vehicle, still strapped in her car seat. The rescuers continued to try and free the parents as Addy was brought to the side of the road. Neither of the Ocheltree children were breathing.

Beseeching God

One of the other bystanders, Ms. Howard, began to pray over Mitchell’s shoulder as he continued to resuscitate baby Marshall. “Lord, give him breath!” she shouted. “Oh Lord, help him breathe!” Meanwhile, the phone video was still rolling, catching every minute of the ordeal on camera.

Help Arrives

Emergency crews had arrived at the scene by this point. Paramedics took over where Mitchell left off and fire crews climbed into the water to help drag Emily and Philip from their rapidly disappearing vehicle. Thankfully, the combination of Mitchell’s CPR and Ms. Howard’s praying seemed to pay off in the end.

The Power of Prayer

Baby Marshal was released from the hospital a few days after the incident, he was a bit shaken up, but was none the worse for wear. As for little Addyson, who is nicknamed “Addybug” by her family, she too is on the mend. If you ask the Ocheltrees, they’ll tell you that their kids’ recoveries are nothing less than proof of the power of prayer.

Getting Better

She had to spend some time on a ventilator at the hospital and remain under observation, but she’ll survive. “She is definitely on the road to recovery,” explained Phillip Ocheltree when he shared the status on his Facebook page. He followed this with a video of Addy eating a snack in her hospital bed.

Popular Story

As anticipated, Mitchell’s cellphone video of the rescue went viral within a few days of its initial posting. It has since been viewed more than 27 million times on Facebook. Following the kids’ recoveries, The Ocheltrees were invited to officially meet some of their rescuers on WFAA-TV Channel 8.

Unexpected Assistance

Jaime Martinez is a former firefighter in Guatemala who, like Mitchell and the others, just happened to be passing by when he saw the whole thing go down. He stopped and help give CPR to the children while they waited for the paramedics to arrive. When they met on Channel 8, all of them embraced, hugged, and sobbed as they thanked him.

Powerful Message

Mitchell and Howard also gathered to meet the family on Channel 8 and there were no dry eyes in the house. The story isn’t just a viral one, it’s an important one; especially in this day and age. It is a tale of four lives, all saved by a group of people who despite fleeing from a tornado, were willing to risk their own lives to help.

Coming Together

This story could have ended very differently. Had no one stopped, had people not banded together to rescue the Oceltrees, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they all would have perished in that muddy creek. As it is, the family was saved and now the world knows that such cooperation is possible, even in the face of danger.

Strangers Band Together When They See Overturned Car Sinking During Tornado is an article from: LifeDaily

When we lose a partner, a parent, a child, or even a friend, the pain can be unbearable. However, we all have our own way of dealing with the pain and the grief, which is why there’s no right or wrong way to grieve.

When police officers heard that a new father was left a single parent to two little girls after his wife passed away, they initially felt bad for him and sympathized with his situation. However, when they heard what he did right after his wife died, they arrested him on the spot.

A Concerning Tip

Justin Todd Rey Story — www.bobschluben.com

On October 24, 2017, police in Lenexa, Kansas received a call from someone who believed that people were living inside a storage unit at a local storage container property. Officers from the Lenexa Police Department were dispatched to the scene shortly after. What they found, however, left them speechless.

Arriving at the Scene

After arriving at the storage unit in the 9200 block of Marshall Drive in Lenexa, the officers discovered the family that the caller was talking about. They immediately began questioning the man, Justin Todd Rey, to try and figure out what was going on. Yet they knew something was off without having to ask any questions.

A Red Flag

While speaking to Rey, who was holding a newborn baby girl and had a 2-year-old girl with him, the officers couldn’t help but notice that the older child looked unwell. According to the officers, the 2-year-old was extremely pale and had dark bags under her eyes. She also had thinning hair.

Signs of Neglect

According to one of the responding officers, the child appeared to be so unwell that it looked as though she had cancer. The newborn also appeared to have a serious eye infection. Officers suspected that the 35-year-old father wasn’t properly caring for his children.

Heading to Arizona

The police officers also wondered where the children’s mother was. According to Rey, his wife, Jessica Rey, was in Arizona and he planned to meet up with her there. But as the conversation continued, Rey started changing the story.

The Story Changes

While questioning Rey, the 35-year-old told the officers that his wife had died. According to the officers, Rey claimed that Jessica had actually passed away while giving birth to their newborn daughter just days before. Then Rey changed his story again …

Another Discrepancy

After claiming Jessica died during childbirth, Rey later told the police that she committed suicide shortly after giving birth. The officers thought the discrepancy was strange, but they didn’t press him about it. Moments later, however, Rey volunteered some information that gave the officers no choice but to arrest him on the spot.

The Cooler

According to Jackson County Circuit Court records, Rey “spontaneously informed the officers his wife was inside the cooler and looked to the direction of a red and white Igloo-style cooler with wheels.” Before police stopped him, Rey explained that he had been getting ready to catch a train to Arizona.

Plans for a Burial

Once he and the girls made it to Arizona, he planned to give Jessica a proper ceremony and burial. At that point, the officers couldn’t tell if the man was insane or if he was telling the truth about having his dead wife’s body in the cooler. They had no choice but to look and find out.

The Body

Like Rey had told them, the officers discovered a dismembered body inside the cooler. However, they couldn’t be sure if the body belonged to his wife, Jessica, because of the state the body was in. In fact, the officers couldn’t tell the age, gender, or race of the remains.

The Fingerprints

The dismembered body was immediately sent to the Jackson County Medical Examiner. They hoped they would be able to have better luck identifying the body. Eventually, the medical examiner was able to confirm the body belonged to Jessica Rey with fingerprints taken from the body.

An Investigation Begins

Meanwhile, Rey was arrested and the two little girls were taken into protective custody. The police opened up a missing persons/suspicious death investigation. They charged Rey with two counts of aggravated child endangerment and two counts of contributing to a child’s misconduct. He was placed on a $1 million bond.

Retracing the Family’s Steps

Investigators at the Lenexa Police Department contacted the Kansas City police to help them retrace Rey’s steps the days leading up to Jessica’s death. While it’s still unclear when the family arrived in Kansas, police discovered they checked into a hotel along Interstate 70 on September 25.

Checking Out

When they checked in, Jessica was still pregnant. According to the police, Jessica was last seen alive at the hotel on October 20. During the investigation, hotel management explained that Rey called the front desk and pretended to be Jessica while checking out of the room over the phone.

The Security Footage

Surveillance video taken at the hotel shows the family leaving the room on October 23, however, Jessica is nowhere to be seen. In the footage, Rey can be seen walking through the hotel pushing a stroller and pulling a red cooler on wheels as his 2-year-old walked beside him. That red cooler was the same one police found Jessica’s body inside the next day.

Rey’s Reasoning

While in custody, Rey explained that Jessica committed suicide. He feared that if he called the police or got medical help, they would take the children away from him. So instead, he took a photo of his children posing with Jessica’s body. Then he started cutting her into pieces.

An Eight-Hour Process

According to Rey, it took him eight long hours to finish cutting up the body. According to the authorities, Rey claimed to have flushed some body parts that wouldn’t fit in the containers down the drain. During a preliminary hearing, however, Rey testified in order to set some things straight.

Setting the Record Straight

During the preliminary hearing, Rey explained that he believed what he did was the only way to keep his family together. “It’s something I had to do,” Rey said in Johnson County District Court. “My family is very dear to me. It’s something I had to do to protect my family.”

The Testimony

“I didn’t endanger my children. My children were perfectly healthy,” Rey said in his testimony. “It was not fun for me.” While the court previously heard that Rey and the children had been living in the storage unit, he claimed in his testimony that they had only been at the unit for 11 hours and that he was about to leave for Arizona when the cops arrived.

Facing Justice

Rey has since been charged with abandonment of a corpse. He will face that and his previous charges in a trial, which has been scheduled for November 5. “My sister deserves justice,” Rhonda Monteiro, Jessica’s sister, told The Kansas City Star. “He could have taken her to a hospital, but he didn’t. Instead, he chopped her up and put her in a cooler. She was a good person. She was influenced by this guy in a bad way. She felt sorry for him, and she was loyal. She was good with the kids.”

Man Claims Disturbing Response to Wife’s Death Was to Protect Their Kids is an article from: LifeDaily

Isaac Newton’s third law of relativity states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Some might interpret that to mean that eventually “karma” catches up to all of us and we have to face the consequences of those reactions, especially in the case of criminal activity...

For almost two decades, authorities have been on the hunt for one of America’s most wanted criminals. However, when he seemed to vanish without a trace, they started to wonder if he would ever be forced to pay for his despicable crimes. Yet, 16 years later, justice is finally being served.

The Fight

On July 8, 2002, 38-year-old Andre Neverson visited his older sister’s home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. While there, he allegedly started arguing with her. Patricia, 39, was a single mother with two kids working as a nursing administrator. According to the police, the argument was about money.

The Shooting

The police believe Neverson had lent his sister money for her home. During their fight, Neverson was angry that Patricia still hadn’t paid him back. When she didn’t have his money again, Neverson allegedly pulled out his gun and shot her.

The Rampage Continues

Patricia was later discovered in her home. She died because of two gunshot wounds, one to her stomach and one to her head. But Neverson’s rampage didn’t end there. The following day, Neverson went to visit his ex-girlfriend, Donna Davis.

The Ex-Girlfriend

Donna was studying hospital administration at the Audrey Cohen College in Queens, New York. On the afternoon of July 9, Neverson drove to the school and picked Donna up after one of her classes. Donna thought Neverson just wanted to talk, but the 38-year-old had more violent intentions.

Another Senseless Death

After Donna got into Neverson’s minivan, he allegedly shot her in the head. Neverson then drove to Brooklyn and dumped his ex-girlfriend’s body on a vacant lot that was overgrown with weeds. Donna’s body was found in the weeds two days later.

Revenge

Investigators from the New York Police Department believe that Donna had broken up with Neverson, and the shooting was an act of revenge. Police immediately started searching for Neverson around New York. They also started an investigation into the two murders that they suspected he was responsible for.

A Criminal Record

They found that Neverson wasn’t even supposed to be in the United States at the time of the murders. According to police records, Neverson had been arrested in 1992 after he shot a former girlfriend’s uncle, Earl Mitchell. Neverson shot Mitchell in the leg when the man tried to break up a fight between Neverson and his niece.

The Deportation

For the shooting, Neverson was charged with attempted murder and served five years in prison. When he was released on parole, Neverson, who was originally from Trinidad and Tobago, was deported to Jamaica. It wasn’t until early 2002 that he came back into the country with his older sister’s help.

A Loyal Sister

Patricia got Neverson a fake passport, which cost her and the mother of Neverson’s child $10,000. Even after all that Patricia did for her younger brother, he still allegedly shot and murdered her a few months later. According to the police, Neverson was still on parole for attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a firearm when he killed Patricia and his ex-girlfriend.

The Phone Call

Yet after those two murders, Neverson completely disappeared. The police failed to find any trace of him aside from a short phone call he made to his father, Denzil Humphrey, telling him that he’d never see Patricia again. Neverson’s mother was devastated by the news and called for police to get justice for Patricia.

A Mother’s Fury

“I want my son off the street, but I don’t just want him in jail. He deserves worse than that,” Neverson’s mother, Erine, told the New York Daily News after the loss of her daughter. “I want to ask him how he could do that to his sister.”

The Break-In

It wasn’t until a few months later, however, that Neverson popped up again. On November 6, 2002, Neverson climbed through the window of another ex-girlfriend’s apartment with a gun in his hand. He told the woman that he didn’t want to hurt anyone but he just wanted to see his daughter.

The Most Wanted List

When the woman’s brother confronted him, Neverson immediately fled the apartment. Police officers searched the surrounding area for Neverson but failed to find any trace of him. In 2004, the U.S. Marshals took on the search for the fugitive and added him to the ‘15 Most Wanted’ fugitives list.

A Dangerous Criminal

The U.S. Marshals described Neverson as a dangerous criminal who was likely armed. They warned that Neverson spoke several languages and would change up his appearance to disguise himself. In 2005, investigators got a tip that Neverson had been seen in Trinidad, but they failed to find him when they searched for him there.

16 Years Later

For years after that, authorities heard nothing of Neverson and weren’t even sure if he was in the United States anymore. However, 16 years after the two murders, the U.S. Marshals got information on Neverson’s location. According to the tip, Neverson was hiding in Connecticut.

A Big Mistake

In early September 2018, police arrested a man for reckless driving. At the time, they didn’t realize that the driver was actually Neverson, since the man gave them a fake name. The driver was released on bail before his fingerprints revealed his true identity to the police. It was only after Neverson had been released that the Bridgeport police realized their mistake.

The Arrest

Police and federal officials went to the house where they had heard Neverson had been hiding. When they saw him leaving the home at around 3:45 in the afternoon on September 4, they arrested him on the spot. After his arrest, authorities brought Neverson back to Brooklyn’s 71st Precinct.

The Charges

According to the U.S. Marshals, Neverson was arrested not only for the murders of his sister and ex-girlfriend but also for violating the terms of his parole as well as illegally entering the country after his deportation. He will now be forced to face the consequences of all his crimes.

The Search is Finally Over

“The United States Marshals Service is extremely pleased to have a violent criminal, who murdered two women in New York, off the streets of Connecticut after 16 years on the run,” U.S. Marshal Brian Taylor, District of Connecticut, said in a U.S. Marshals press release.

Long-Overdue Justice

“I haven’t really digested it,” Patricia Neverson’s son, Akim Neverson, told the New York Daily News after hearing that his uncle had finally been found and arrested. “I’m definitely relieved he’s somewhere, rather than he’s jumping out of some bush, trying to end my life.”

16-Year Search for One of America’s Most Wanted Criminals Ends Because of Reckless Driving is an article from: LifeDaily

The person you share your life and your bed with is supposed to be the person you know best in the world. Yet after a relationship ends, people often find out that they barely knew their partner at all.

In 2017, two Scottish women discovered that the man they had both been dating at different times over the span of a few years had lied to them both about his true identity. However, when police heard about the methods he used to keep his secret, they arrested him and put him in jail.

A Lying Boyfriend

In May of 2016, a Scottish woman contacted her local police to inform them about something she found disturbing about her ex-boyfriend. According to the woman, she had reason to believe her former partner had lied to her throughout their entire relationship. At first, the police didn’t understand why the woman had called them.

When a Lie Becomes a Crime

Finding out you’ve been lied to can be incredibly painful, especially when the person lying to you is supposed to be the person you trust most in the world. However, lying to a romantic partner isn’t a crime. Yet, when the woman explained what her former boyfriend had lied about, police started listening.

A Disturbing Discovery

According to the woman, whose name has not been released to the public, she had dated the man from May 2013 until they broke up in January 2016. At some point after they ended the relationship, however, the woman found out that the man had lied about having a penis. Throughout their almost 3-year relationship, she had no idea that it was all a lie.

Another Girlfriend Speaks Out

At first, the police weren’t sure what to do about the messy situation, or if there was anything they could do. However, in May of 2017, police received another call from a local woman. According to the police, she had a very similar story to tell them.

A Short-Lived Romance

According to the woman, whose name has also been kept from the public, she met her former boyfriend at work. They started dating in August of 2016 and moved in together just two months later. Sadly, the relationship didn’t last and they broke up in May 2017.

The Truth is Revealed

The woman explained that the pair broke up because of financial issues. But about a month after they separated, she too learned about Carlos Delacruz’s secret. Like Delacruz’s former girlfriend, she had no idea that he didn’t have a penis their entire relationship.

The Investigation Begins

When she found out, the woman felt so violated that she felt she had to call the police to report it. After hearing an almost identical report from two different women, the police opened an investigation. They had to find out if a man really was going around lying to women he was intimate with.

The Birth Records

The police also wanted to figure out if a crime had actually been committed as a result of the lies. During their investigation, detectives learned that Delacruz had actually been born in Madrid, Spain. According to records, he had been born a female in 1983.

Living as a Man

Delacruz later changed his name to Carlos and began living as a man. As an adult, Delacruz moved to Scotland and settled in Banknock, a small village in central Scotland. While in Scotland, Delacruz continued to live as a man and never told any of the women that he dated about being transgender.

The Interview

Eventually, the police brought Delacruz in to speak with him about the accusations his former girlfriends had made against him. During the interview, the 35-year-old refused to comment on the matter. However, he agreed to be medically examined while in custody.

The Medical Examination

During the medical examination, it was determined that Delacruz did not have a penis. With that piece of information, police realized that Delacruz’s lie meant he did actually commit a crime. Since Delacruz didn’t have a penis, that meant he had been using an unknown object to penetrate his sexual partners without their consent.

The Arrest

Once police discovered what Delacruz had been doing for the past few years, they arrested him for sexually assaulting his two former partners. During his trial, the court learned that Delacruz developed a ‘male appearance’ when he was eight years old. And when he was 16, Delacruz officially changed his name.

The Trial Begins

Delacruz had been officially recognized as a man and his birth certificate, passport, and Spanish identity card listed his gender as male. During the trial, however, the Edinburgh Sheriff Court also learned that Delacruz has not fully transitioned from female to male.

The Excuse

During the trial, it was revealed that Delacruz told both his former partners that he was extremely self-conscious about his body. As a result, he always got dressed in a different room. When they were intimate, Delacruz always insisted on keeping his shirt on and always turned the lights completely off.

A Violation

“The accused was in a relationship with one of the women between May 2013 and January 2016 and they first had sex in May 2013. She believed she was being penetrated by his penis,” fiscal depute Kirsten Cockburn told the court. “The accused does not have a penis. She knew he was self-conscious about his body and always wore a t-shirt.”

All Part of the Trick

“[On one occasion] the accused turned his back [while in bed together] and she heard him with a [condom] wrapper,” Cockburn told the court during the trial. “The accused turned around and inserted his penis into her. During intercourse, he would hold on to the base of the penis with his hand.”

A Painful Experience

According to Delacruz’s first girlfriend, sex was always extremely painful. She was also left with a yeast infection each time they were intimate. The second victim reported that the first time she had sex with Delacruz, it was so painful that she started bleeding and had to ask him to stop. Every other time they were intimate, she would bleed for days afterward.

The Prosthetic

During the trial, the court heard that the 35-year-old penetrated the women with a prosthetic penis, which he considered to be a part of him. He even went so far to deceive his first partner about his identity that he shamed her for not getting pregnant even though that was clearly impossible.

Emotionally Scarred

As a result of the lies and deception, both women have since suffered physically and emotionally. One victim explained that she now suffers flashbacks and panic attacks because of what happened to her. She also felt she had no choice but to move away to get away from Delacruz. The other victim reported that she now struggles to sleep and eat.

The Sentence

At the end of the trial, Delacruz was sentenced to three years in prison for the assaults that took place between 2013 and 2017. He was also given a five-year non-harassment order against both of his victims. Delacruz will also be placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Man Imprisoned for Using Prosthetic ‘Member’ to Trick Girlfriends About True Identity is an article from: LifeDaily

One of the scariest things affecting the lives of people across the U.S. today is the prospect of getting caught up in a mass-shooting incident. Raising difficult questions about gun control and the right to bear arms, random shootings are a fear embedded deep inside the American psyche.

As people sat drinking coffee in Cincinnati’s Fountain Square one Thursday morning, they weren’t prepared for what was about to happen in this usually peaceful setting. When the shooting stopped, and the dust settled, the lives of many people would be changed forever.

Fountain Square

Cincinnati Bank Robbery Story — www.cincyweekend.com

Fountain Square is one of the main features for the good people of Cincinnati and is a symbol of the city. Featuring coffee shops selling fresh donuts and great pastries, Fountain Square is a place where locals and tourists alike gather for their morning coffee. The square dates all the way back to 1871 when it replaced a butcher’s market.

The Genius of Water

Having been founded in 1871, then renovated twice in 1971 and 2005, Fountain Square features shops, restaurants, and hotels and is usually bustling with people. Originally named “The Genius of Water,” a reference to its magnificent water fountain, the plaza has been expanded over the years and is a place many tourists visit in the city.

Thursday Morning

People were enjoying their routine morning coffee in the busy square, but this Thursday would be very different from all others for all the wrong reasons. A young man wearing a white buttoned-down shirt and dark pants had a black work bag slung over his shoulder as he ordered himself a coffee from Starbucks.

Blending In

The young man, Omar Santa Perez, blended in perfectly with the array of bankers, lawyers and other professionals who frequented the square. Nothing about Perez looked suspicious. What was about to happen couldn’t be predicted by anyone.

In the Bag

It’s not clear what was in Perez’s mind that morning, but inside of his black bag, he had a secret. As it turned out, that bag contained a 9mm handgun along with 250 bullets. Perez spoke to no one as he sipped his takeout coffee, sitting quietly at a table near to the entrance of the lobby of Fifth Third Center.

Just Past Nine

At precisely 9:06 a.m., Perez got up from his seat having finished his coffee and calmly walked into the lobby with the black bag still over his shoulder. When he took his gun out of the bag and started shooting at random, everyone scrambled for safety.

Hit the Ground

Just as Eboni Ginyard was brewing some fresh coffee behind the counter at a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts, she heard the first shot. As the sound was unfamiliar to her, she thought it might have come from the construction site, but she was wrong. When her customers jumped to the ground, she knew a shooter was out there and feared for her life.

Totally Still

Ginyard could smell the gunpowder and heard people screaming words she couldn’t quite make out. As she laid as flat on the ground as she could, she dared not even lift her head to get a better look. Her life flashed before her eyes as she laid there hoping it wouldn’t be her turn next.

Bad Idea

Just across the way on Walnut Street, a worker from the construction site noticed a commotion. Roger Higginbotham was used to loud noises because of his job, but he knew gunfire when he heard it. He knew it was a bad idea, but his curiosity got the better of him. He made his way over to the center as a homeless man on the street nearby informed him: “Somebody’s shooting a gun!”

Calling 911

With all the pandemonium and the fact that it all happened so quickly, it was hard for anyone to retain any form of composure. A woman named Bella, having realized what was going on, pulled out her cell phone as she sat in a bathroom at Graeter’s just across the street. Bella was petrified but tried to remain calm.

Help on the Way

“What’s going on?” the operator asked, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I don’t know,” Bella said. “We’re hearing what kind of sounded like gunshots.” Bella’s voice quivered as she listened to the operator. “Alright, sweetheart,” the operator said calmly, “I want you to stay where you are.” The dispatch center had already received hundreds of calls.

Rapid Response

The police response was rapid as officers were already present on Walnut Street near the square. Officers Jennifer Chilton, Gregory Toyeas, Antonio Etter and Eric Kaminsky rushed to the scene, guns drawn at the ready. The four officers took cover at strategic points near to the shooter, waiting to make their move and put an end to this incident.

Shooting at Random

Often the worst part of mass-shootings is the random way in which people are wounded and killed. The crazed gunman fired at people as they dove underneath desks. He also shot at them while they ran and sprayed bullets into an elevator door as it closed. The shooter hit his target at least five times, and the blood began to flow.

Multiple Casualties

Whitney Austin was on a conference call as she entered the lobby through the revolving doors. As soon as she was inside a bullet hit her. Perez then fired another 11 bullets in her direction. She was lucky to escape with her life, but other people weren’t so lucky.

Three Fatalities

While it could have been a lot worse, mass-shootings never end well. Richard Newcomer, 64, lost his life in the incident, as did Prudhvi Raj Kandepi, 25, and Luis Calderon, 48, who only moved to Cincinnati a year prior to work at a bank there. But the shooter was cold-blooded as he continued to shoot at anything that moved.

Caught on Camera

As people watched in horror from an office building just across the way, one man took out his phone and started recording. He posted his footage to Facebook with the caption: “The police converging on the building. People running from the square. The sound of distant gunshots.” The man added: “It’s crazy,” at the end of the post as people felt helpless and scared.

Take Him Down

As officer Chilton moved carefully towards the shooter with her colleagues, she screamed: “Shots, shots, shots!” as she stepped out bravely from behind a wall and tackled the shooter. The shots smashed through the window of the lobby as the other officers discharged their weapons.

Suspect Down

The officers, who were all well-trained when it came to firearms, had struck Perez, bringing him to the ground like a sack of potatoes. It was a stroke of luck that his gun jammed at the time, giving officers valuable seconds to compose themselves and put an end to this heinous and senseless mass-shooting.

Praising Officers

According to CBS affiliate WKRC-TV, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley spoke in the highest terms about the brave officers who put an end to the shooting. He noted that “If he had gotten on the elevator, gone up to a floor, if he had been there earlier or a little bit longer, many more people would have been killed.”

Paying Respect

As another mass-shooting in America sinks in, the people of Cincinnati mourn the loss of innocent citizens who shouldn’t have been killed that day. At least 300 people gathered to carry out a vigil in Fountain Square, just a few meters from the shooting. People there offered messages of hope, comfort, and support for the deceased as well as for their families.

Senseless Cincinnati Fountain Square Attack Ends in Tragedy is an article from: LifeDaily

Laziness isn’t the most attractive quality to have, especially when it comes to getting and keeping a job. But depending on what your job is, being lazy and careless can actually land you behind bars.

After getting a job at a 911 call center, a Texas woman was literally responsible for the lives and safety of those who called her for help in times of emergencies. However, now that woman is going to jail because of the way she responded to thousands of calls.

The First Day

Crenshanda Williams Story — www.am1070theanswer.com

On July 7, 2014, Crenshanda Williams was hired and started her first day as a 911 telecommunicator at the Houston Emergency Center in Houston, Texas. But before Williams started answering calls, she underwent training. During the initial training, she was shown how to properly answer distress calls.

The Training Begins

During training, Williams also learned just how important her new job was. Since most people call 911 in times of extreme emergencies, people’s lives were literally on the line. Like other 911 operators, she was somewhat responsible for the safety and well-being of all the people whose calls she would answer in the future.

An Important Job

In the beginning, Williams seemed to take her responsibilities seriously. She spent each shift at the call center answering endless emergency and non-emergency calls while working at all hours of the day. However, at some point, that all changed.

A Careless Employee

At some point, Williams started caring less about her job and the responsibilities that went along with it. She also started caring less about the desperate people who called her begging for help. Eventually, she barely listened to what the callers were saying.

Endangering Innocent Lives

By the fall of 2015, Williams cared so little about the endless emergencies that she actually started intentionally hanging up on callers. By refusing to do her job properly, Williams was actually putting innocent citizens in more danger. Thankfully, her bosses eventually noticed what was going on.

The Call Logs

While supervisors were reviewing their staff’s call logs, they couldn’t help but notice something strange. Williams’ call log had an abnormally high amount of “short calls.” At emergency centers, “short calls” is a term used to describe calls that last less than 20 seconds.

An Investigation Begins

The supervisors suspected that Williams, one of the very people who are supposed to be there for people in their time of need, was intentionally hanging up on callers. So the supervisors began an investigation into Williams. What they found was extremely disturbing.

Contacting Authorities

Between October 2015 and March 2016, Williams had been involved in thousands of short calls. What was more concerning, however, was the fact that most of those calls had been disconnected by Williams. The supervisors immediately contacted the police and told them what they found.

A Formal Investigation

The Houston Police Department began their own investigation in April 2016. After reviewing the evidence, they agreed that Williams appeared to be intentionally hanging up on 911 callers. As a result, they decided to bring Williams in to talk about the matter and hear what she had to say about the accusations.

No Excuses

However, when Williams spoke to police about the calls, her response didn’t help her case. Instead of making up an excuse, Williams told the police that she just didn’t want to talk to anyone when she would hang up on callers. She also explained that she didn’t feel like talking to people in distress.

No Remorse

Considering most calls are about robberies, murders, and other crimes, most people who call 911 are in distress. However, the police were even more disturbed by Williams’ lack of remorse. During all the interviews, Williams never felt bad about what she did or the possible consequences of those actions.

The Damage is Done

Williams’ bosses at the Houston Emergency Center had no choice but to fire Williams in August 2016. However, the damage had already been done. And and in the wake of her firing, the gravity of the situation was brought to light by citizens who were hung up on as they tried to get help.

A Medical Emergency

According to Buster Pendley, Williams hung up on him when he called for help after his wife collapsed. A blood clot had moved to her lungs and she needed medical attention as soon as possible. “She was gasping and I could feel her heart beating out of her chest, but I couldn’t get a pulse,” Pendley told CBS News. “The 911 operator answered the phone, and she said, ‘This is Crenshanda, may I help you?’ [My] wife’s passed out I need an ambulance,” Pendley said. “She said OK, and she hangs up on me.”

A Robbery

Luckily, Pendley called 911 again and his wife was saved in time. But others weren’t so lucky. On March 12, Hua Li called 911 to report that a store was being robbed by an armed man. “They just said, ‘This is 911. How can I help you?’ I was trying to finish my sentence, and we got disconnected,” Li said, according to Click2Houston. By the time help finally did arrive, the store manager had been shot and killed.

“Ain’t nobody got time for this.”

On March 13, Williams answered another call from a security guard. The man was trying to report two drivers that were drag racing and driving recklessly. However, Williams hung up on the security guard before he could even tell her his name. In the audio recording from the call, Williams can be heard saying “Ain’t nobody got time for this. For real,” after dropping the call.

The Charges

As a result of her carelessness and negligence, Williams was charged with two counts of interference with an emergency telephone call. If she was found guilty and convicted of those charges, Williams would face a year in prison and a $4,000 fine for each charge.

Criminally Accountable

“The citizens of Harris County rely on 911 operators to dispatch help in their time of need. When a public servant betrays the community’s trust and breaks the law, we have a responsibility to hold them criminally accountable,” Assistant District Attorney Lauren Reeder said in a statement regarding the disturbing situation.

The Sentence

In April 2018, the 44-year-old was found guilty of interference with emergency telephone calls. As a result, she was sentenced to 10 days in jail. After that, she would be on probation for 18 months. Sadly, however, this isn’t the first time a 911 operator had been punished for hanging up on callers and putting citizens in danger.

A Disturbing Trend

In 2006, 911 dispatcher Sharon Nichols refused to listen to a 5-year-old boy who she told to stop playing on the phone. In reality, however, the boy’s mother, Sherrill Turner, had collapsed and needed immediate medical attention. Because Nichols wouldn’t listen to the 5-year-old boy and hung up, his mother died before officials finally arrived at the home.

A Warning to 911 Operators

As a result, Sherrill’s family filed a wrongful death suit. In the end, Nichols was sentenced to a year of probation and 15 days of community service. “I think the sentencing was fair,” said Prosecutor Lora Weingarden. “When she’s not serving as a 911 operator she’s not a danger to anybody. … I hope that it makes every 911 operator in the city and across the country think real hard before dismissing a call as a prank.”

911 Operator Jailed for Lazy Responses to Thousands of Emergencies is an article from: LifeDaily

For billionaires, life is simply different from what other people experience. For a person who has that kind of money, they just don’t have to worry about the sort of things that consume so much of the time of ordinary people.

Instead, they’re free to pursue just about anything they want to in life. It’s definitely a wonderful freedom to have but, in some cases, it can free people up to do the wrong things…

Tech Boom

During the 1990s, a lot of nerds made a lot of money really quickly, thanks to the explosion of the internet and personal computers. Companies like eBay, Google, and Amazon turned a few tech savvy people into billionaires in less time than it takes some people to graduate from college.

Starting Something Big

Although it took him a little longer to make it into the billionaires club, Henry Nicholas still made it in less than a decade by co-founding the computer chip and telecommunication networking company Broadcom. In a story that sounded like the start of tech giants like Microsoft and Apple, Nicholas started the company with in the spare room of his home with Henry Samueli, his doctoral advisor from his time studying electrical engineering at UCLA.

Sudden Riches

Each of them invested $5,000 of their own money into the business and over the next few years, they’d been so successful that when the company went public in 1998, Nicholas became a billionaire overnight.

Big Changes

As you might imagine, suddenly coming into that amount of money can change everything about a person’s life. Things were great until a few years later when the dot-com bubble burst. He reportedly lost $8 billion, which lead to him to the twin problems of working way too many hours and partying far too much, causing all sorts of problems with his marriage.

Still A Billionare

In 2003, Nicholas stepped down from Qualcom, saying that he wanted to devote more time toward his family. He still held on to a 3 percent stake in the company, meaning that he was still worth plenty of money. According to Forbes, his current net worth is estimated to be somewhere around $3.1 billion dollars.

Effectively Endless Money

For a bit of perspective, if you had $1 billion and decided to spend $10,000 of it each day, it would take you just under 274 years to blow through all that money. So what do you do when you’re out of a job and have more money than you could reasonably spend in a lifetime?

Noble Causes

For Henry Nicholas, he turned toward philanthropy and politics. Nicholas’ sister had been shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1983, which inspired him to begin a non-profit organization that supports the families of murder victims and to lobby for laws in several states that increased rights for the victims of crimes.

Spread It Around

Nicholas also made major contributions to several schools, colleges, Habitat for Humanity and the Episcopal Church. But in addition to his philanthropic efforts, he also found some less savory things to do with his time and money.

White Collar

In 2008, Nicholas was arrested after the Justice Department unsealed two indictments against him. The first was for the kind of crimes you would expect from a very wealthy person — 21 counts of securities fraud where he’d allegedly misrepresented $2.2 billion in employee stock options. While that was unexpected, the second indictment was downright shocking.

Completely Unexpected

Nicholas was accused of four counts of drug trafficking, of soliciting prostitutes for himself and his clients, consuming a wide variety of illegal drugs, and spiking the drinks of unwitting rivals in the tech industry. According to court documents, he’d even built a sprawling lair under his home in Laguna Hills so he could host drug-fueled parties in the company of prostitutes.

Man-Cave

“He wanted to live above ground with his wife and three children, with the option to go below ground to immerse himself in his cocaine, ecstasy, Viagra, speed, prostitutes, and party friends,” claimed one man who said he’d helped to build the lair.

Beating The Charges

Over the next couple of years, Nicholas would be cleared of all the charges, both for fraud and for the alleged hard-partying lifestyle. But regardless of his legal innocence, it would be a difficult task to repair his reputation and it would ultimately lead to the breakdown of his marriage.

Another Brush

But Nicholas would get into some trouble again in 2016 when an ex-girlfriend accused him of verbal and physical abuse, saying that out of control drug abuse was partly to blame for his terrible behavior. Those charges would be dropped eventually as well.

Slip Up In Vegas

But it once again seemed that Henry Nicholas was unable to steer clear of scandal when in September of 2018, he was staying at a Las Vegas casino-resort and had locked himself out of his hotel room. He did the natural thing and asked for help from the hotel staff.

Whoops

But when a member of the security staff helped him unlock the door to his room, they found Ashley Fargo, the ex-wife of one of the heirs to the Wells Fargo fortune, passed out with semi-deflated balloon in her mouth, according to TMZ. Paramedics were called to the room and they were able to revive her.

Contraband

Security found canisters of nitrous oxide in the room and a further search by police uncovered a case containing heroin, cocaine, meth, and ecstasy, according to Larry Hadfield of the Las Vegas Police Department.

Not For Money

Considering the amount of money Nicholas has, it would seem highly unlikely that he planned on selling the drugs. However, because of the amount of narcotics found, he was hit with drug trafficking charges.

‘An Addict’

“It sounds like his biggest crime is being an addict,” said Alex Kazarian, an attorney and legal analyst for CBS Los Angeles. “He’s a billionaire. He’s not a person that’s trying to make money off of drugs. He’s a person that’s trying to make friends off of drugs.”

Still Trafficking

“Unfortunately, the way the laws are written, if you’re giving away drugs or if you’re selling drugs, you’re trafficking,” Kazarian added. Ashley Fargo, the woman found in Nicholas’ room was also facing the same charges.

Straight And Narrow

If the pattern of Henry Nicholas’ past brushes with the law holds true, he will be able once again to clear himself of the charges against him with the help of some top quality lawyers. If that’s the case, it would probably be a good idea to stick with the philanthropy and stay away from the partying moving forward.

Tech Billionaire Lands in Hot Water for Vegas Shenanigans is an article from: LifeDaily

Like many Americans, Karma Lawrence loved Trader Joe’s. It was the perfect place to get all of her favorites including some special snacks and foods that she couldn’t get anywhere else. Including a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

This 60-year-old, self-proclaimed “fresh format” grocery store is one of the most popular chains in America. It employs more than 38,000 people in the US and one of those people was the last person Karma ever expected to see working at a grocery store.

Familiar Face

Geoffrey Owens Story — themanwhoatesouthjersey.wordpress.com

As Karma brought her cart of food up to the counter, she noticed something peculiar about the fellow manning the cash register. As she stood there, waiting for him to finish with the person ahead of her, she wondered if he just had “one of those faces.” Then, sudden recognition dawned in her mind.

Is That Elvin?

The guy scanning mixed nuts and gluten-free bread looked just like Elvin, Denise Huxtable’s husband on the Cosby show. He looked a fair bit older, of course, he would have to, the show went off the air in 1991. But it couldn’t be Elvin Tibideaux. He was an actor, not some Hawaiian Shirt wearing Telxon jockey.

Candid Camera

Then, Karma looked at the man’s name tag which read “Geoffrey.” A quick Google search revealed that the Elvin was played by none other than Geoffrey Owens, now 57. Stunned, that a former TV star would be bagging groceries in Trader Joe’s, Karma snapped a picture of him at the register. She even got his name tag.

Regret

When she got home, she posted the photo online, letting everyone know that she’d seen famous 80’s-era actor Geoffrey Owens working at a New Jersey Trader Joe’s. A few days after that news went viral, however, Karma began regretting that she’d ever snapped the photo of him in the first place.

Job Shaming

This is because, whether she knew it or not, Karma’s post about his workplace could be construed as an attempt at “job-shaming.” She was excited that she’d seen someone she recognized in public, but everyone else thought she’d just drawn attention to a classic “Oh, how the mighty have fallen”-type situation.

Famous Support

She had submitted the pictures on a whim to a number of celebrity websites yet was surprised to find that most people agreed with Owens. The majority of the visitors to those sites believed that she was indeed job-shaming him by making light of his new, slightly less auspicious position at his local Trader Joe’s.

Backlash

She was unprepared for the negative backlash she received by doing so. In fact, there was so much hate and nastiness that she was forced to shut down almost all her social media profiles because of it. Her critics took particular delight in making fun of her first name by saying things like “Karma’s a…” well you know the rest.

Outpouring of Support

While disappointed to have to deal with the job-shaming, Owens was more than happy to receive the outpouring of support he’d gotten over social media from people like Terry Crews, Blair Underwood, and voice actress Pamela Adlon. He even went on TV to discuss the issue and his Trader Joe’s job.

30 Years

Owens was invited to speak on Good Morning America to talk about his careers, both showbiz in and otherwise. “I’d been teaching acting and directing for 30-plus years but it just got to a point where it didn’t add up enough,” he explained. He added that the Trader Joe’s job offered him flexibility and allowed him to stay in show business as well.

Not a Secret

“I didn’t advertise that I was at Trader Joe’s,” said Owens. He added that it wasn’t as though he was ashamed of it, he just didn’t want anyone in the entertainment industry to see what he was doing and decided, “Well, he’s doing that; he’s not pursuing acting anymore.” He wanted to be careful of that eventuality.

Dwindling Funds

There was also a pretty good reason that Owens had to keep the Trader Joe’s job as well. It made ends meet between acting gigs. There was also the matter of him losing a good deal of residual income over the past few years thanks to the negative press from the Bill Cosby sexual assault case.

Residuals

Even before Cosby was declared guilty, mounting allegations and criminal charges against the former comedy superstar had already prompted several networks to stop airing reruns of their sitcom. This meant that the flow or residual income had all but dried up.

Devastation

Owens admitted to being devastated by the unceremonious, some might say cruel, revelation of his side gig at Trader Joe’s. Yet he says the period of devastation was short thanks to the supportive responses that he and his wife saw coming in. The brief shame he felt was gone and he once again felt good about his job.

No Shame

Numerous actors were among the people offering comfort and support. Many said that there was no shame in being an actor who works a day job. Tyler Perry went a step further than them and even offered Owens a role in his Oprah Women’s Network top-rated drama “The Haves and the Have Nots.”

Invitation

He made the offer to Owens via Twitter on Tuesday, writing, “I’m about to start shootings OWN’s number one drama next week! Come, join us!!! I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs. The measure of a true artist.” He was right of course, it’s not easy to work two jobs, especially when one of them is retail. But Owens now had a decision to make.

Generous Offer

Owens went onto Entertainment Tonight as well and chose to wear his Trader Joe’s name tag in the interview; though he opted to leave the Hawaiian shirt at home. He called Perry’s offer, “very, very generous” but said that he’d prefer to book acting jobs because of his talent and not because of some viral news story.

On Merit

“It would be lovely as one of the results of this, some doors open in terms of giving me the opportunity to audition. That, I would appreciate – always, as all actors do. I don’t necessarily feel comfortable being given things as a result of this.” he told Entertainment Tonight. This attitude proves that Owens is a man of great professional integrity.

Every Job Counts

“It might pay better, it might have better benefits, it might look better on a resume and on paper, but actually it’s not better…” Owens explained. He added that every job is worthwhile and valuable and that this was what he wanted to get across to people out of this. That said, he was cognizant of his renewed opportunity as a result of the snapshot.

No Position

Owens was also cognizant of the fact that he isn’t in a position to turn any jobs down at the moment, but he’d like to do it the right way. If Tyler Perry wants to have him in his project, he’d like to go in a room and audition like everyone else, that way he can know for sure if he’s the right one for the job.

This Too Shall Pass

He said that he knows this whole business of being the “Cosby Trader Joe’s guy” is going to pass but that if it means people rethink about what it means to work, it’ll be worth it. Owens hopes that more than anything this makes people re-evaluate the value of having a job, any job and how important that fact is.

Woman Recognizes Familiar Face at Trader Joe’s and an Actor Offers the Reality of Working in Show Business is an article from: LifeDaily

Inspired by “arrest-referral” programs in the United Kingdom, Seattle officials developed a program to minimize the harm that people that commit minor crimes do themselves and their communities. Instead of throwing criminals in prison, the program seeks to offer help and support to those in need.

According to its website, “Those programs have recently been implemented in virtually every police department in the United Kingdom because pilot projects proved to be so effective.” The city of Seattle created their own program and since implementation, it’s been keeping low-grade criminals off the street. Here’s how they’re doing it….

What is LEAD?

Seattle LEAD Story — www.leadkingcounty.org

The Seattle program, LEAD, stands for Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion. With LEAD, more chronic, illegal drug users and prostitutes will be referred to treatment instead of being thrown in jail, according to the LEAD program, which launched in parts of Seattle in October 2011.

Getting Started

LEAD was first introduced in 2011 on the streets of Belltown, where Seattle police officers were given the discretion to connect certain people busted for drug and prostitution crimes with case workers instead of locking them up in jail. A coalition of law enforcement agencies, public officials, and community groups collaborated to create LEAD and LEAD’s Policy Coordinating Group, which governs the program.

How it Began

Lisa Daugaard, and leaders from law enforcement, the city’s prosecutor’s office and the community decided to create a better option for people facing low-level drug and prostitution crimes. Instead of going to jail, LEAD offers services to people caught with small amounts of illegal drugs. “Our goal is to help people reduce the harm that is happening in their life because of their homelessness and because of their drug use.”

Benefits of LEAD

According to its website, LEAD’s goal is to “improve public safety and public order, and reduce the criminal behavior of people who participate in the program.” Daugaard told WHIO, “Individuals over time do better in LEAD than they do in the justice system as usual. … They commit fewer crimes, they recover, they live healthier lives and they cause fewer problems for other people.”

What LEAD Offers

The program is aimed at meeting a client’s immediate needs, like food and housing. Then LEAD works with participants over months or even years to remake their lives through opportunities like job training, education and treatment. Community-based treatment and support services also include healthcare and mental health support.

How LEAD Works

Every LEAD participant is partnered with a case manager who helps meet their needs and mentors progress, supporting them even when progress is slow, according to Devin Majqut, a LEAD supervisor. “We don’t view relapse as a failure; it’s part of recovery,” Majqut told WHIO.

Those in LEAD

Johnny Bousquet told KIRO 7 that he believes LEAD saved his life. “I was homeless. I was addicted to heroin, meth and cocaine,” he said. Bousquet was a Seattle music executive on his way to fame and fortune after producing a music video starring members of the University of Washington’s football team. Then, five years ago, after going through a divorce and depression, Bousquet was arrested for trying to sell drugs to an undercover Seattle police officer.

Johnny Bousquet

Before Bousquet was booked the SPD offered him the opportunity to enter rehab instead of going to jail. “I didn’t think I had any hope, and I didn’t think anybody cared about people like me.” Bousquet accepted and has been clean and sober for the past seven months because of LEAD. Lisa Daugaard says that, “the one word I would use for what we have seen is hope.”

What Makes LEAD Different?

“The diversion in LEAD is made at the pre-booking stage, in the hopes of bypassing the costs and time entailed in booking, charging, and requiring court appearances of an individual,” according to LEAD’s website. The program also “provides participants with immediate case management services, and access to additional resources not available through existing public programs.”

Supporting the Approach

City of Burien’s County Executive, Dow Constantine told KIRO 7, “Studies have shown that this approach reduces recidivism, makes it less likely people will offend in the future and makes it more likely they’ll get their lives on track, over the long term for public safety. That’s what you want to have happen.”

The Statistics

According to Najja Morris, LEAD’s National Support Bureau director, LEAD participants are 58 percent less likely to be re-arrested than chronic drug users sent to jail, where the chances for recovery are slim. “People have a misconception that people are getting treatment in jails and prisons, and they’re actually better,” Morris said. “No, it’s making you feel better because this person is away for a while.” However, LEAD is not for everyone.

Not for Everyone

Morris said that even when LEAD is an option for law enforcement officers: “there are some people who do need to be removed from the community because they’re unsafe.” The drug users that are offered LEAD as an alternative to going to jail enter LEAD because they are not unsafe to other individuals. The most harm these people are doing is to themselves.

Tracking Progress

Elisabeth James, co-founder of Speak Out Seattle, a nonpartisan coalition advocating for solutions to public safety, homelessness and drug addiction, has seen her neighborhood struggle with homelessness and addiction. She told WHIO that LEAD provides “a lot of different services, but they don’t report on how many people might actually be re-arrested, or who fall through the cracks in the program and end up back in jail for something more serious.”

Supporters of LEAD

Speak Out Seattle has not formally supported or opposed LEAD since they believe they need more data to determine if the program is effective. “We want to have more current data and the more inclusive data on the effect on the public in general.” However, unlike James, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg is fully on board.

Success Rate

“This is science; this is medically approved science,” Satterberg told KIRO 7 about LEAD’s approach and success rate. According to Satterberg, the King County Prosecutor’s Office spent more than $3.5 million in 2017 processing low-level drug cases that could be referred to LEAD; more than the $3.1 million he said the county is expecting to add to its LEAD spending each year.

A Word for Doubters

Satterberg also said that the decision about who will be offered a place in LEAD is left to law enforcement officers alone. “The police officer can decide: Does this person deserve a break? Could they use some help? And if they decide no, this person is violent, dangerous, they’re a drug dealer not just a drug addict, then the officer doesn’t have to use that tool. They can continue to take people to jail,” he said.

Saving Taxpayers Money

However, Satterberg said that “for those tiny amounts of drugs that people possess because they’re daily drug users, let’s get them help. Let’s get them help instead of jail. Jail we know doesn’t work and costs taxpayers millions of dollars a year.”

The LEAD Budget

The proposed 2019-2020 LEAD budget will include $3.1 million from the county’s Mental Illness and Drug Dependency (MIDD) fund to expand LEAD to other cities. According to The Seattle Times, the LEAD budget also includes $4 million to continue the program in Seattle. Since its inception, LEAD has spread beyond Belltown to include Capitol Hill, Pioneer Square and the Aurora corridor. The city also provided $1.75 million to fund the program in 2018, which included 525 participants.

Hoow Much Does it Cost?

According to its website, the program will cost the city nothing. “LEAD stakeholders obtained funding from private foundations to implement the program. Its funders include the Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Vital Projects Fund, RiverStyx Foundation, Massena Foundation, and the Social Justice Fund Northwest.”

Expansion

“LEAD was inspired by ‘arrest-referral’ programs in the United Kingdom,” according to its website. “Those programs have recently been implemented in virtually every police department in the United Kingdom because pilot projects proved to be so effective.” After launching in Seattle, LEAD has been adopted in 20 cities and counties across the country, with others on the way.

Instead of Jailing Addicts and Escorts, New Seattle Program Seeks to Help Offenders is an article from: LifeDaily

Most of the time when you read a story about a person who has committed a horrible crime, they get caught and end up being locked away for a very long time. It provides closure for the reader but more importantly for the victims of those crimes. It provides them with peace of mind knowing that the person who harmed them is off of the streets.

But not every story ends that way. In the case of one horrible crime that held the public in its grip for months, the victim would have that peace of mind stripped away years later for an unfathomable reason.

Dominating the News

Elizabeth Smart Story — www.ecelebrityfacts.com

Back in the summer of 2002, there was one story that dominated the news, keeping viewers interested for months. A 14-year-old girl named Elizabeth Smart was abducted in the middle of the night. She was woken up by a man with a knife who forced her out of her home.

Silent Witness

The entire event was witnessed by her 9-year-old sister Mary who she shared a room with. Mary had been awakened when the man came in, but had been frozen with fear and pretended to be asleep.

Just a Dream

After the man had made off with her sister, Mary woke up her parents and told them what happened. They initially thought their daughter had just been dreaming until they found a screen window that had been cut and Elizabeth missing.

Give Back Our Baby

Elizabeth’s parents called the police immediately and, the next day, they went on television pleading for the kidnapper to return their daughter. A massive regional search effort was kicked off involving bloodhounds, airplanes, and as many as 2,000 volunteers each day.

In the Public Eye

But as the days went by and the official and community-led efforts came up with nothing, the number of volunteers steadily dropped until it petered into nothing. Still for months, Elizabeth’s family kept her name in the press, provided home videos of her, and even made a website about her abduction.

Sudden Memory

There wouldn’t be any breakthroughs in the case until months later when Elizabeth’s sister Mary suddenly realized that she recognized the voice of the abductor. It was a man named Emmanuel who the family had hired for a day to work on the roof and do a little yard work.

Releasing His Face

The family had a sketch artist draw up Emmanuel’s face from their descriptions and released it to the media, where it was shown on programs like America’s Most Wanted and Larry King Live. A tip from the family of “Emmanuel” led police to find him, and with him Elizabeth Smart.

Ceremony in the Woods

“Emmanuel,” whose real name was Brian Mitchell, had held Elizabeth captive for nine months at a camp in the woods with the help of his wife Wanda Barzee. The two had performed a bizarre ceremony where the 14-year-old was “married” to the middle-aged man, who claimed to be an angel.

Bizarre Beliefs

Mitchell and Barzee apparently believed that he was a “Davidian God” who was destined to kill the Antichrist in seven years. But before that happened, he would need to take “seven times seven wives.”

Months of Terror

Over the nine months that she was held captive, the couple kept Elizabeth shackled to a tree with a metal cable most of the time. Mitchell also repeatedly sexually assaulted the teenage girl, and forced her to consume drugs and alcohol. The couple would also sometimes starve her and sometimes feed her garbage, always with the threat of death hanging over her head.

Heavy Punishment

Barzee would plead guilty to the charges against her and testify against Mitchell, a move that would help reduce her sentence to just 15 years in federal prison and 15 years in state prison to be run concurrently. Mitchell, on the other hand, would be sentenced to life in prison.

Working for Change

In the years since she was abducted, Elizabeth Smart became an activist, working to support sexual predator legislation, the AMBER Alert system, and founding the Elizabeth Smart Foundation. She also wrote two books entitled My Story and Where There’s Hope.

Peace of Mind

Part of the reason Elizabeth Smart could so successfully rebuild herself and move on with her life after her terrible ordeal was the fact that she knew the people who had wronged her would be locked up for a very long time. But in 2018, she would find out that one’s imprisonment wasn’t as certain as she’d believed.

Other Charges

Because Wendy Barzee had been in jail since the time of her arrest, that time counted toward her 15 year federal prison sentence, despite the fact that she’d only been convicted in 2009. In April of 2016, she was released from federal prison and sent straight to a state prison to serve out a 1-15 year sentence for an attempted kidnapping charge, stemming from a plot she and Mitchell had to kidnap Elizabeth Smart’s cousin.

More Wives

In the months after they had kidnapped Elizabeth, Barzee and Mitchell had tried to break into the home of her cousin, apparently to abduct her and add her to Mitchell’s list of wives. Fortunately, their attempt had been unsuccessful.

Not Cooperating

Theoretically, it was possible for Barzee to be released if a parole board felt that she’d been sufficiently rehabilitated to rejoin society. But in reality, there was no chance of that since she refused to take part in psychological evaluations or even show up for her parole hearings.

Stunning Release

That’s why Elizabeth Smart was shocked when she found out that Barzee was going to be released in September of 2018, due to a decision by the parole board. “Upon further review and advice from legal counsel, the Board must count time spent in federal custody toward Ms. Barzee’s state sentence,” the board said in a statement.

Suddenly Free

Instead of being locked away for another 15 years, or until her unlikely reform, Wendy Barzee was to be released on September 19th of 2018, roughly 16 years after Elizabeth had been kidnapped.

Danger to the Community

“She is a woman who had six children and yet co-conspired to kidnap a 14-year-old girl, and not only sit next to her while I was being raped but encourage her husband to rape me,” Elizabeth said. “So do I believe that she is dangerous? Yes, but not just to me. I believe that she is a danger and a threat to any vulnerable person in our community.”

‘Incomprehensible’

“It is incomprehensible how someone who has not cooperated with her mental health evaluations or risk assessments and someone who did not show up to her own parole hearing can be released into our community,” Elizabeth said. “I am trying to understand how and why this is happening and exploring possible options.”

Conspirator in World-Famous Kidnapping Released From Prison on Technicality is an article from: LifeDaily

They say that dogs are man’s best friend, yet some dogs are far more than just cute companions. In addition to being unconditionally loyal and loving, some dogs are born with an incredible instinct to protect and serve.

In the mid-90s, a Canadian police officer on the canine unit was partnered with a German Shepherd puppy, who turned out to be one of the most dedicated and skilled police dogs the department had ever seen. After years spent saving lives and even playing a part in history, the officer was devastated to see his beloved partner pass away. Thanks to a group of scientists, however, the legendary dog’s legacy lives on.

K-9 In Training

German Shepherd Clones Story — www.allgermanshepherds.com

In 1995, a German Shepherd puppy was sent to Canada from the Czech Republic. For the first 14 months of his life, the puppy underwent rigorous training to prepare him for a life fighting crime as a police dog. After completing his training, the puppy was assigned to work on the canine unit of the Halifax Regional Police.

An Instant Bond

Once Trakr arrived in Halifax, he was assigned to handler James Symington. Symington had worked as an officer for the Halifax Regional Police for years and was one of the founders of the department’s canine unit. From the moment the pair met, they had an instant connection.

6 Years on the Force

Trakr and Symington worked tirelessly together to find missing people, arrest criminals, and search for illegal items like drugs and weapons. The pair worked together on the Halifax Regional Police canine unit for six years. Throughout those years, Trakr proved to be an incredible asset to the force.

An Impressive Record

During those six years, Trakr managed to find over $1 million in contraband. He was also credited for finding more than 100 people and helped arrest hundreds of criminals. However, Trackr was prematurely retired from the canine unit in May 2001.

Trakr’s Retirement

The retirement was forced in retaliation against Symington after he stopped the department from implementing a policy to have all police canines euthanized after they retire. According to Symington, the department, where he had worked for 13 years, had become hostile towards him after blocking the policy.

Taking a Break

Without Trakr by his side and with the issues with his colleagues at work, Symington decided he needed to take a break. So shortly after Trakr’s retirement, Symington took a medical leave from the force. His official reason for the medical leave was for an ongoing elbow issue. But the truth was that the hostile work environment was causing him too much stress.

A Defining Moment

At that point, Symington thought his days working alongside Trakr were over. But then Symington turned on the news on September 11, 2001. He watched footage of planes crashing into the World Trade Center and the towers collapsing shortly after. Then he saw brave men, women, and rescue dogs coming together in the search and rescue operation.

Had to Help

At that moment, Symington knew he and Trakr had to help. Symington immediately started packing up his car with his and Trakr’s gear. As soon as everything they needed to get to work was in the car, Symington started driving straight to New York City. Symington drove straight from Prospect Bay, Nova Scotia, to Manhattan.

Suiting Up Once More

Since the roads were nearly empty the entire way, Symington made it to New York in just over 14 hours. He and Trakr arrived in the early hours of September 12 and got to work looking for survivors at Ground Zero as soon as they could. Sometime after 6 a.m., Trakr found a sign of life amid the chaos and destruction.

A Live Hit

Firefighters dug in the spot where Trakr was indicating he had found a “live hit,” or a sign of life. Under a mountain of debris, firefighters discovered Genelle Guzman. Guzman had been trapped there for about 26 hours but made it out alive thanks to Trakr.

The Last Survivor

Guzman had been working on the 64th floor of the South Tower when it was hit. She managed to make it down to the 13th floor before it fell, and while she survived the collapse, she was buried under the toxic debris. Guzman was one of just five people found alive that day and the very last survivor of the attacks.

The Search Continues

For Symington and Trakr, however, the work wasn’t finished. Like most other first responders, they refused to stop working because they believed there might be other survivors trapped in the debris. Over the following days, the pair refused to give up.

Worked Hard

However, by the 14th, both Symington and Trakr were absolutely exhausted. That day, Trakr collapsed from chemical and smoke inhalation, burns, and exhaustion. He was treated and the next day, he was released and Symington drove him back to Canada.

Punished Heroes

While they were in New York, officials from the Halifax police saw the pair helping in the search and rescue efforts on the news. Since Symington was supposed to be on leave and had participated in rescue efforts without permission, they suspended him from the force. Eventually, Symington decided to leave the force for good and moved from Canada to California with his wife and Trakr.

Degenerative Myelopathy

While in Los Angeles, Symington started noticing Trakr was having trouble walking. According to Symington, Trakr became paralyzed in his hind legs as a result of neurological problems that were likely caused by inhaling toxic smoke at Ground Zero. At times, Trakr used a wheeled harness to get around on his own, but Symington and his wife often carried him around. “For us, it was an honor,” Symington told ABC News.

Thinking Ahead

In April 2009, Trakr died at 16 years old. However, before he got sick and passed away, Symington could tell his beloved companion didn’t have much time left so he had Trakr’s DNA taken. At that point, cloning wasn’t even possible yet but Symington knew how special Trakr was. Symington wanted to be prepared in case there ever was a day where you could clone a dog.

The Contest

So when Symington was watching the news one day in 2008 and heard that BioArts, a company that clones dogs, cats, and endangered species, was searching for the most “cloneworthy” dog and was going to make a free clone for the winner of their essay contest, he knew he had to apply. In his entry, Symington explained the incredible things that Trakr had accomplished in his lifetime of service. “Once in a lifetime,” Symington wrote in his essay, “a dog comes along that not only captures the hearts of all he touches but also plays a pivotal role in history.”

A Clear Winner

According to Lou Hawthorne, the founder of the cloning company, they received more than 200 essays but Trakr was the obvious winner. “Trakr was just so far beyond any of them,” Hawthorne told ABC News. “He was a clear winner.” When Symington found out that Trakr had been chosen to be cloned, he was thrilled. “My hopes are that it could be a version of Trakr. Not that I think you could ever replace Trakr, because I know you can’t.”

Trakr’s Legacy Continues

Trakr’s clone, Trustt, was born shortly after Trakr passed away. Originally, the contest was only for a single clone, but when everyone saw how successful Trustt had been, they decided to make four more clones of Trakr, who Symington named Solace, Valor, Prodigy and Deja Vu. “They’re calm,” Symington told ABC News. “They’re very zen.”

Following Trakr’s Footsteps

“Every single one of them has the same markings,” said Symington, who started training the dogs in 2011 to become search and rescue dogs. “If he shows even 70 percent of what Trackr had as far as skills, intuition, and courage – then without question I’m going to dust off my search-and-rescue gear and we’ll go back to work,” Symington told The Globe and Mail after Trustt’s birth.

9/11 Hero Dog’s Legacy Continues Long After He Passes Away is an article from: LifeDaily