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Daycare shut down, black teacher arrested after White child burned
   HALL COUNTY, Ga. -- The state ordered a daycare center to shut down on Friday, declaring that children there are in imminent danger. The order stems from the investigation of the daycare, Discovering Basics and the arrest of one of the daycare center's teachers on a felony charge of child cruelty. It's the latest in the case of a Hall County toddler who was severely burned last week. On Friday, sheriff's investigators backed up the mom's story that the child was burned while he was at the daycare the previous Friday, June 13. For sheriff's investigators, there is no doubt about what happened to 16-month-old Damon Gaddis, and where it happened to him. "These injuries did occur at the daycare," said Hall County Sheriff's Deputy Nicole Bailes, "And, more specifically, they occurred shortly after he arrived at the daycare" that morning. Damon somehow suffered second- and third-degree burns, from scalding water. He is facing multiple surgeries. At about 12:30 Friday, June 20, the Sheriff arrested Damon's teacher, Eddye Pittmon, 55, accusing her of one felony count of child cruelty in the first degree for not getting Damon treatment for the burns right away -- or ever. - (Black-on-white) |
The name of the Vermilion Parish Sheriff's deputy shot and killed in Abbeville Monday is Allen Bares Jr. of Erath. He graduated from Erath High. Bares, in his early 50s, leaves behind a wife and two children. Bares and his family are residents of Abbeville. State Police have released the names of the two suspects arrested in connection with the shooting death of Bares. The suspects have been identified as 20-year-old Quintylan Richard and 19-year-old Baylon Taylor. Richard is the alleged the shooter. He was found at a Kaplan apartment complex. Both men were charged with first degree murder. No bond had been set. They were booked into the Vermilion Parish Sheriff's Law Enforcement Center at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. They were arrested at 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday. - (Black-on-white)
Two more people have been arrested in connection with the Monday shooting death of off-duty Vermilion Parish sheriff's deputy Allen Bares Jr. According to State Police, Quintygi Richard, 24, and Miguel Comeaux, 28, both of Abbeville, were arrested on charges of accessory to first-degree murder for helping the shooting suspects elude capture on the day the shooting took place. 
One of four people charged in the death of a Shelton State student last year has pleaded guilty. Tamarra Shavon Wilder, 19, pleaded guilty to murder in Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court last Thursday. She is one of four defendants accused in the death of 
TACOMA, Wash. — Quick Facts *
A State Mental Hospital doctor has found the man accused of shooting a woman in a Conway Walmart unfit to stand trial. According to a State Hospital forensic report filed in Faulkner County District Court last week, 30-year-old Myron Terrell “lacked the capacity to understand the proceedings against him and the capacity to effectively assist his attorney in his own defense” when examined by a forensic psychologist. Terrell is accused of shooting 
FLORENCE COUNTY, SC - Two suspects from Fort Worth were arrested Monday night and charged with capital murder in the death of 54-year-old 
HOUSTON - Investigators with the Harris County Sheriff's Office's Special Victims Unit, and Crime Stoppers, need the public's help in identifying and locating a suspect who broke into an apartment and sexually assaulted a 63-year-old woman. In the early morning hours on Friday, HCSO deputies responded to a sexual assault at an apartment complex located in the 10000 block of Old Bammel North in northwest Harris County. The victim, a 63-year-old woman, told deputies the suspect broke into her apartment by kicking in the patio door, and then raped her. She told deputies the suspect threatened to kill her if she did not comply with his demands. The suspect fled on foot, but not before demanding money and other items from the apartment. The victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment. The suspect is described as a black male between 20 and 30 years old, approximately 5'9" - 6' feet tall, of big build with a large belly. He had marks underneath both eyes. 
JACKSON, Miss. —A Hinds County Detention Center employee is accused of shooting a man during an altercation, according to a spokeswoman for the Jackson Police Department. Officer Colendula Green said the incident happened about 1 p.m. Thursday in the 4000 block of California Avenue. Green said George Franklin, 40, confronted Marcel Williams, 26, about Franklin's 21-year-old daughter
The man charged with choking and terrorizing the mother of a child he's accused of killing last year will remain in custody on a $1 million cash-only bond. Joseph Robert Patterson, 28, was arrested on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault, interference with emergency communications and third-degree burglary early Wednesday morning, Minnehaha County State's Attorney Aaron McGowan said in court. The victim is the mother of 
PUEBLO, Colo. - Pueblo Police say two people who they have identified as persons of interest in a homicide have been arrested. Kasai Ciofassa, 23, and Donna Tortessi, 32, were arrested in Denver on Tuesday, June 24, 2014. Police say an SUV that was stolen from the victim's home has been recovered. Officers were called to the home in the 3200 block of Westview Drive just before 10 p.m. on Sunday, June 22, 2014. The person who called for help said there was smoke coming from the home and the sound of an alarm could be heard. Police say the body of 
WINNSBORO, La. -- A woman is being charged with attempted murder after deputies say she flung her baby out of a moving car. The Franklin Parish Sheriff's Office was dispatched to Franklin Medical Center in Winnsboro around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, June 22, to investigate the incident. They were called to the ER when staff noticed a
A Manhattan judge dismissed a rape charge Tuesday against a self-proclaimed “black Hitler” accused of torturing his grandson’s nanny for three days. Sherman Gamble, 54, of Manhattan was busted last March when the woman told cops he raped her, held her captive for several days, beat her, choked her and shoved a newspaper down her throat. ”There is no evidence that the defendant, either personally, or while acting in concert with another, engaged in sexual intercourse with the complaining witness,” wrote Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jill Konviser in her decision to drop one of the top counts against Gamble. He still faces serious felony kidnapping, sex trafficking and promoting prostitution raps for the sick act. “I am going to kill you,” he allegedly bellowed at the woman during the March attack. “I am the black Hitler.”
33-year-old Charles Freeman was sentenced Tuesday in Montgomery County Court on his second-degree murder conviction. Prosecutors said he was the driver in the May 2013 abduction and murder of 19-year-old 
A Philadelphia police officer has been arrested after allegedly encouraging and taking part in fights with her teenaged children and others teens. Officer Tamika Gross, 35, was arrested this morning on three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, four counts of corruption of minors, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person. The investigation was conducted by the Philadelphia Police Department’s internal affairs bureau and the district attorney’s office. The DA’s office says in a statement that Gross actively encouraged her 18-year-old son and her teenaged daughter to fight other teenagers, in three separate incidents.
After nearly 20 days on the lam, a woman has been arrested in connection with the killing of her wife, who was found dead in a San Carlos apartment earlier this month. Tiffany Nowden-Vale, 39, was booked into the Las Colinas Detention Facility Tuesday night on a first-degree murder charge, San Diego police confirmed. U.S. Marshals found Nowden-Vale at a home on Market Street after searching for her for the past three weeks – since her wife was found dead. Police have considered Nowden-Vale a person of interest-turned-suspect in the case. On June 5, at around 6 p.m., Nowden-Vale’s wife, 
With investigators closing in and public clamor high, the Bessie Smith Cultural Center employee believed to be the culprit behind the theft of nearly $60,000 turned to community leaders he trusted and then turned himself in to police Monday afternoon. Torrey Lamar Hines, 35, is charged with burglary, vandalism and theft over $50,000 after taking responsibility for the June 10 burglary that quickly sobered the mood along M.L. King Boulevard just hours after some 6,000 people attended the popular Bessie Smith Strut. Hines also confessed to vandalizing the interior of the center with spray-paint to make it look like a crime committed by white supremacists, sources with knowledge of the investigation said. 
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced Monday they've connected two cold case sexual assault to a convicted rapist already serving a life sentence. Ricky Lee Grier, 48, pled guilty to two counts of first-degree sexual assault in connection with two cold case sexual assaults from 1993. 
Police are trying to identify a man wanted in a series of groping incidents in the Bronx. Police said he’s attacked at least nine girls and women since February. The victims range in age from 12 to 21. The first incident happened back on February 13, when police said he groped a 14 year-old girl as she was walking to the train on Eastchester Road. The most recent incidents happened two weeks ago. Police said on June 11, he targeted a 
CINCINNATI, OH - A man is wanted in connection with a sexual imposition that happened in Fountain Square parking garage last week. Officials say on June 17 at 8:45 a.m. a female victim was waiting for the elevator after she parked her car when a man walked behind her and had unwanted sexual contact with her. He then fled up the stairs to street level. The suspect is described as a black male. 
Fla. - A Lake City man accused of breaking into a residence and raping a female victim was found hiding inside a nearby residence and was arrested early Sunday morning. Ralph Willis, 49, was charged with false imprisonment, sexual assault, burglary, trespassing and obstructing justice. The Lake City Police Department said officers responded to an address on St. Johns Street around 4:58 a.m. Sunday after a report of a burglary in progress. The officers found the homeowner, who told them the suspect broke into her house, raped her and afterward kept her from calling 911 to report it. The victim pointed to another house down the street where the suspect had run, and officers surrounded the house, which belongs to Willis' daughter, and found Willis inside. 
Law enforcement officials in Dallas are asking for help finding a suspect who is said to have sexually assaulted a 
CLARKSVILLE, TENN. — Officers responded around 10 p.m. Sunday to an apartment in the 2000 block of Cobalt Drive after a woman made a complaint against Clifton Studyway, 34, for exposing himself. The woman said Studyway was naked in front of the window of his apartment, the warrant said. She told police that this has occurred several times and officers have come to the apartment before. Studyway received a misdemeanor citation for indecent exposure in May at the same location. He stood naked at his bedroom window to expose himself to a woman in the building who was walking to her car, the May warrant said.
Police in Lansdale are searching for a man they say is wanted on charges of Corruption of Minors for a June 6th incident involving 
Police in Dayton are not releasing any details of the investigation into the kidnapping and rape of a teenage girl and the two men who are facing charges. Jalen Fields, 18, and Luther Ward, 22, are being held in the Montgomery County Jail after their arrests Sunday night. Fields is being held on suspicion of rape and Ward is being held on suspicion of abduction, according to jail records. Both are listed as suspects in the kidnapping and rape of a 
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A man who is to be arraigned Monday for the alleged sexual assault of an elderly woman in Grandville spent 30 years in the Pennsylvania prison system for murder, and his 2012 release prompted authorities to warn the community. Shawn Jarrett, 50, is charged with first-degree home invasion and first-degree sexual assault. He was officially named Monday, June 23, as a suspect in the homicide of 
RANCHO SAN DIEGO - A 19-year-old Spring Valley man was behind bars Tuesday for allegedly running another man down with a car during a fight that began at a fast-food restaurant near Cuyamaca College, leaving the victim gravely injured and likely to succumb to his injuries, authorities said. Darius Watkins-Risberg was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the hit-and-run crash that left 
A River Valley man is behind bars after police said he attacked a woman with a baseball bat at Walmart on Sunday night (June 15). Fort Smith police said the incident happened at the Walmart on Rogers Avenue. Police said a man identified as Corey Mosley got a running start and struck a woman identified as
PRAIRIEVILLE, LA - A man and a woman from Prairieville, LA have been charged with aggravated cruelty to animals after reports that they hosed down a dog and continuously beat it with a baseball bat. It happened Monday, June 16. Deputies were called to a home in Prairieville. Several witnesses say 31-year-old Jamari Jackson beat a 
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Police are still searching for a man involved in a shooting Friday night that left a Marine dead and his wife injured. Friends say 26-year-old 
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DOWNTOWN MEMPHIS, Tenn. - James Hawkins, Sr., didn't have to go out on the streets to find what he was looking for. Prosecutors say the convicted rapist satisfied his desires by preying upon 
(LAS VEGAS)–A police report says the mother accused of throwing her children out of window and then jumping out herself says she reported hearing a voice telling her to do it. 34 year old 
A 75-year-old woman was left with two breaks in her jaw following a vicious attack in East Ham in broad daylight. 
A man has been found guilty in the brutal beating of an elderly woman at the Foggy Bottom Metro station. Surveillance video showed James Dorsey beating and robbing an
PHOENIX - A 58-year-old Phoenix man has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing a Phoenix woman to death nearly 25 years ago. Cudellious Love was arrested Friday by Phoenix police and booked into jail on one count of first-degree murder in the death of 27-year-old 
FLINT, MI -- A trial is underway for the men accused of killing a security guard outside of River Village Apartments near downtown. Floyd Perkins, 22; Aaron Williams, 33; and Kenya Hyatt, 21; all face first-degree felony murder, armed robbery and firearm charges in the August 2010 killing of 
COLUMBIA, SC - The man charged in the Five Points shooting that injured a University of South Carolina student said the media was making a big deal out of the case because 
A Ferndale man was sucker punched and briefly lost consciousness as he walked along Woodward with a male friend in what police say may have been a “knockout game” attack by two strangers. The so-called knockout game involves an attacker who targets a victim and tries to the knock the person unconscious with a single punch. Nationally, there is some dispute whether the “game” is a real crime trend or the result of some media hype. The victim was identified as 
CLEVELAND – A man twice convicted of killing a woman and eight children at a sleepover in Cleveland’s deadliest arson was sentenced Friday to 35 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Antun Lewis will receive credit for time served since 2009. The fire killed 33-year-old 
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A man was convicted Wednesday of sexual battery after a child victim disclosed in April 2011 a history of sexual abuse that occurred. An investigation revealed that Julian Belizaire, 36, forced the 
FARMINGTON, Ark. —A University of Arkansas employee is accused of raping a
A Dallas County man who admitted sexually assaulting a fellow high school student said Wednesday that he wants other young men to learn from his criminal case and understand that “no means no.” Sir Young said his case should be a “lesson learned” for all and that having sex with a classmate who told him “no” and “stop” was wrong and has changed both of their lives. He was 18 and the girl was 14 in 2011 when they began kissing in a music practice room at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and he forced her to have sex.
MAITLAND, Fla. - Maitland police arrested a man they say raped a 
Matthew Louis Reese was given an additional 20 years in prison Thursday morning, bringing the total sentence to 95 years. Judge Pat McDowell told Reese he must serve at least half of that term before he could be eligible for parole (he’ll be almost 80 by then). He must also pay a $5,000 fine. Prosecutors got just what they wanted: stacked sentences for the three charges that Reese pleaded guilty to. Defense lawyers were asking for concurrent sentences.
NEW CASTLE, Del. -- Police say a man was arrested and charged with rape in New Castle, Delaware Friday. 20-year-old James Daniels was charged with raping a 25-year-old woman. The incident occurred around 5:15 a.m. on June 17th at the Super Fuel in the 3000 block of New Castle Avenue. Daniels paid the woman to perform a sex act, and when the act ended, he punched the victim several times. Daniels then drove the woman to a secluded place. The victim managed to run from the vehicle but Daniels chased after her. Police say he caught her, and forced her back into the vehicle. He forced the victim to disrobe and allegedly struck her with a baseball bat, and sexually assaulted her. 
A 26-year-old man was denied bail this afternoon after being accused of stabbing and trying to sexually assault a woman who was walking down the street on the South Side. Johnathan Azor pulled alongside the woman in a red Chevy sedan around 11 p.m. Thursday. The man began making advances before he parked his car and approached the woman. Azor grabbed the woman around the throat and began to drag her back to his vehicle. When she struggled, he stabbed her in the forehead and the hip. With the knife lodged in her head, the defendant grabbed the woman by the throat and ordered her to perform oral sex. When she screamed, he grabbed her purse and fled in his vehicle. The victim called 9-11, and a few minutes later, he was stopped by police officers. His pants were still unzipped and unbuttoned in the vehicle and the woman's purse was recovered from his vehicle.
The Arlington County Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division has closed two, twenty-five year old unsolved cases after William Couch pled guilty to abduction with intent to defile and object sexual penetration. On May 9, 1989, a female victim went to bed leaving her door unlocked. During the night, a male suspect entered her residence and sexually assaulted her. He then robbed the victim of cash and fled the scene. On September 11, 1989, a second female victim arrived at work early for her shift. She was grabbed from behind and forced into the maintenance room, where she was choked and raped by the perpetrator. 
ST. LOUIS • A jury on Thursday convicted a man of beating and raping a woman he followed from a bar in the Central West End in 2004. The national DNA database connected Marcus Hughes to the crime in 2011, while he was in jail in Mississippi, awaiting trial on a drug charge. Hughes, formerly of the 3600 block of Page Boulevard in St. Louis, claimed the sex was consensual and that he hit the woman during a later struggle. But the St. Louis Circuit Court jury found him guilty after four hours of deliberations of forcible rape. Jurors acquitted him on a sodomy charge, and found him guilty of second-degree assault, reduced from a first-degree assault charge.
West Palm Beach police arrested a man on Friday night they say is connected by DNA to a nearly 19-year-old unsolved rape case. Tarimmus Maxwell, 39, faces charges of sexual assault. He remains in the Palm Beach County Jail without bail. In April 1995, a woman was attacked and raped in the 600 block of 15th Street in West Palm Beach. She had cuts across her face and bruises all over her body. She was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital where they saved DNA evidence.
Police have some pretty good evidence in a Tuesday case of indecent exposure on a PRTC bus: the man’s mug on surveillance video. Officers were called to a bus stop on Darbydale Avenue near Worchester Drive in Dale City about 4:25 p.m., where a 40-year-old woman reported the incident. She said she was on the bus when a man sitting near her exposed himself, said Prince William police spokesman Jonathan Perok. As the victim attempted to get the bus driver’s attention, the man stood up and got off the bus at the next stop. Police checked the area, but couldn’t locate him. But they do have video of what he looks like. The exposer was black, 30 to 35 years old, about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds with a medium build, black hair, brown eyes and a goatee. He was last seen wearing a blue or gray t-shirt, faded jeans and a black hat.
VINELAND — Police arrested two men on June 20 for their alleged involvement in the armed robberies of a Rite Aid pharmacy and a Kentucky Fried Chicken. Luther Kidd, 53, was charged with two counts of robbery and held in the Cumberland County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail. Rodney McNair, 56, was also charged with two counts of robbery, in addition to possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon. He was held in the Cumberland County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
KIRKLAND, Wash. - U.S. women's soccer star Hope Solo was booked into jail for investigation of two counts of fourth-degree domestic violence assault after
LAWRENCE – A woman was stabbed several times by her girlfriend inside their apartment in Lawrence on Saturday morning before the building was set on fire, police said. Officers and firefighters were called to the home at 638 Haverhill Street early Saturday morning. 
SAN DIEGO - San Diego police remained tight-lipped Sunday about motives or other details surrounding the arrest of a suspect in a Christmas Eve triple homicide. Chief Shelly Zimmerman will hold a news conference at 11:30 a.m. Monday to discuss the arrest of 
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Police in Jacksonville have arrested a 23-year-old man in the killing of a cab driver on the Northside earlier this month. Rohbanni Wilson is charged with murder in the shooting death of 43-year-old 
SAN DIEGO — Authorities asked the public for help in identifying four people wanted in connection with the fatal beating of a 25-year-old man during a weekend dispute in the Gaslamp District. 
Pensacola Police have arrested a man who punched a female in the face Wednesday afternoon when he robbed a business. Vincent Lavon Johnson, 41, of Pensacola, was taken into custody around 8:15 a.m. today in the 3000 block of North Roosevelt Street. He was charged with felony battery, strong-arm robbery and burglary. The robbery occurred around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday at Boost Mobile, 5039 Bayou Blvd. Officer Greg Gordon said Johnson entered, walked around, put his phone in his pocket, approached a counter, reached over the counter, and punched store employee 
DETROIT – There won’t be a trial as all five charged in the case of a suburban man beaten by a mob in Detroit have now pleaded guilty to reduced charges. The final three: 19-year-old Latrez Cummings, 24-year-old James Davis, and 30-year-old Wonzey Saffold pleaded to assault Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court. The three all admitted they participated in the attack on 54-year-old
JACKSON, Ga. -- A Georgia inmate convicted of rape and murder has become the first person to be executed in the U.S. since the botched lethal injection of a prisoner in Oklahoma in April. Marcus Wellons, 59, was put to death by lethal injection at the state prison in Jackson. In 1993, he was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering 
Missouri has carried out the execution of 46-year-old John Winfield for the murders of two women in St. Louis County 18 years ago. Winfield received a lethal injection of pentobarbital at 12:01 Wednesday morning and was pronounced dead at 12:10. 
John Ruthell Henry, 63, was executed by the state of Florida last night, after being found guilty of murdering
LOS ANGELES - A serial killer facing the death penalty for murdering 10 women in Los Angeles was found guilty by a jury on Thursday of four more counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of women he strangled between 1987 and 1997, prosecutors said. The jury deliberated for less than a day before convicting Chester Turner, 47, a former pizza delivery man, of the four murder counts. All 14 of the women Turner killed were found strangled in largely working class South Los Angeles, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said in a statement. As one of his victims was pregnant, he also was found guilty of the murder of her unborn baby during his first murder trial in 2007.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- One of two women charged with brutally killing 
SACRAMENTO — A former Sacramento Police officer accused of raping a disabled stroke victim multiple times doesn’t deny having sex with her. Prosecutors say Gary Baker admitted he had sex with the
SEATTLE — A high-ranking member of the King County SWAT Team is under arrest, accused of theft, promoting prostitution and drug possession. Deputy Darrion Holiwell, a 19 year member of the King County Sheriff’s Office, is behind bars after a 2 month investigation uncovered allegations he acted as pimp for his estranged wife who worked as a prostitute. Court documents say he told her, “If you’re going to have sex, you might as well get paid for it”. “She was willing to do this but Darrion set her up. We believe there were some ads on Backpage.com. The money was co-mingled in their account. 80% of the money from this escort business went to Darrion,” said Sheriff John Urquhart. 
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Jurors found Aubrey Toney guilty of murder but not aggravated murder Friday in the long-running trial, meaning he will not be eligible for the death penalty. Jurors also found Toney guilty of felonious assault and a firearms specification. The jury did not reach a verdict on an attempted murder charge against Toney. Both sides gave their closing arguments Thursday afternoon before the jury discussed the case for about an hour. Jurors wrapped up deliberations around 6:30 p.m. Thursday and were sequestered until they reached a verdict Friday evening. Toney is one of two men accused in the shooting death of 
The victim of a homicide in The Village on Friday died from blunt force trauma to the head, a medical examiner spokeswoman said Tuesday. 
