Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Phony Uber Driver Took Pics of Unconscious Women in His Car: Cops

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Phony Uber driver Tommy Wayne Beard was found with an unconscious college student in his car

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — A creepy perv posing as an Uber driver was taken into custody after cops found him driving around with an unconscious University of Alabama student in the back seat of his car.

The Tuscaloosa County sheriff’s office said they also found numerous photos of unconscious young women in 61-year-old Tommy Wayne Beard’s phone, the Tuscaloosa News reported.

Cops began investigating Beard when they spotted the woman passed out in the back seat of his car around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday. He told them he was an Uber driver and was taking the woman home.

But the 22-year-old woman told cops she had no recollection of getting into Beard’s car and could only remember leaving a bar in downtown Tuscaloosa earlier in the evening.

Beard then confessed that he was not actually a driver for Uber but had simply purchased a placard identifying him as one and was picking people up and giving them rides, cops said..

When cops found the pictures in Beard’s phone they took him into custody although he was not immediately charged.

Two People Arrested In Alabama Crab Leg Buffet Brawl

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Chequita Jenkins (l) and John Chapman were busted in the crab-driven clash

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — The claws really came out in this one.

Two people were arrested after an argument over crab legs at a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet boiled over into a full-scale rumble, police said.

“There’s a woman who’s beating a man. People are moving around, plates are shattering everywhere,” Huntsville police officer Gerald Johnson who was eating at the restaurant at the time told WHNT-TV.

He said people had been waiting for up to 20 minutes for more crab legs to be brought out at the Meteor Buffet and that all hell broke out once they arrived, with people accusing each other of cutting the line.

“Everyone was saying, ‘They cut me in line. She cut me in line. He cut me in line. I was here first,'” Johnson said.

He added that people began sparring using the buffet table tongs.

“It’s not something you typically hear, if you can imagine a fencing match,” Johnson said.

Police arrested John Chapman and Chequita Jenkins who was eating at the buffet with her kids.

“They’d been waiting there for the crab legs for a good 10, 20 minutes. When they finally came out, it’s very heated. Especially if someone is taking more than their fair share,” Johnson recounted.

Chapman is facing disorderly conduct, Jenkins is charged with third-degree assault. Both people could end up paying a few hundred dollars in fines, well above the $10.58 per plate charge at Meteor Buffet.

 

Crook Uses Hot Sauce as Weapon on Clerk in Convenience Store Hold-Up

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The thief has a thing for hot sauce and spicy foods apparently

VALLEY, Alabama (Nov. 15, 2018) — That’ll bring tears to your eyes.

An Alabama man has been charged with hurling hot sauce in a store clerk’s eyes as she opened the register, and then trying to snatch cash from the drawer.

Cops in Valley say the suspect, 42-year Michael Brisky, walked into the CV Express store and up to the register where he acted like he wanted to buy two pieces of candy.

But when the 73-year-old clerk opened the register to give Brisky his change, police say he threw a cup of liquid in her face, stinging her eyes.

Cops say Brisky then reached over the counter to grab cash out of the register but struggled with the clerk before fleeing.

When cops arrived, they found the clerk sitting on the floor in pain with orange liquid all over her face. She was treated at the scene.

After reviewing surveillance tape, cops picked Brisky up about three blocks from the scene. He has been charged with robbery and theft

 

Pervert Police Chief Busted for Masturbating in Front of Strangers on Elevator

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Police Chief Billy Maurice Driggers had a a bad habit of following women with his hands in his pants

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Florida — An Alabama police chief has been busted for allegedly fondling himself in an elevator in front of strangers and masturbating as he followed teen girls down a Florida beach.

Billy Maurice Driggers, 44, who is the chief of police in Level Plains, Alabama, was charged in Panama City Beach in Florida on four counts of disorderly conduct.

Police there say they first got a call last week about a suspicious person at a condo complex. There guests had told security that they saw a man masturbating as he watched women.

Police eventually identified Driggers as the suspect and determined that he was not a registered guest of the condo nor did he have any reason to be there, police said, AL.com reported.

A review of surveillance footage from the property showed Driggers using the elevators at the resort and on three occasions appeared to have his hand down his pants, masturbating in front of women and children, police said.

Driggers was also accused of masturbating while walking behind teenage girls on the beach and filming or taking photos of the girls rinsing off in the outside showers, police said.

Investigators said they were not able to determine an instance where Driggers’ exposed his genitals. “However, Driggers’ actions were found to be obscene and sexually deviant in nature,” the statement read.

Driggers has been placed on administrative leave without pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

“The city of Level Plains will be cooperating and assisting with the ongoing investigation with Alabama and Florida law enforcement agencies. In the interim during Driggers absence, another police officer will be appointed to serve as the acting police chief pending the resolution of the investigation,” city officials said in a statement.

Driggers has been police chief for Level Plains since June of 2016.

 

 

13-Year-Old Beheaded by Drug Dealers After Seeing Grandmother Killed

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Oralia Mendoza (l) was stabbed and 13-year-old Mariah Lopez beheaded in a drug deal gone bad

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — A 13-year-old girl with special needs was beheaded by drug dealers after witnessing them stab her grandmother to death in an Alabama cemetery, investigators said.

The grisly slayings came at the end of a drug deal gone bad, as the grandmother, Oralia Mendoza, who was associated with the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, went with three others, including her boyfriend, to pick up a batch of methamphetamine in Georgia.

After one of Mendoza’s drug partners grew suspicious that she was going to set them up, the gang drove her and her granddaughter, Mariah Lopez, to a cemetery in Owens Cross Road.

There they stabbed Mendoza and left her to die. They then marched Lopez into the woods where they beheaded her, Investigator Stacy Rutherford told a Madison County judge, according to AL.com.

Israel Palomino, 34, and 26-year-old Yoni Aguilar — who was Mendoza’s boyfriend — have been charged with two counts each of capital murder. Investigators say Aguilar confessed and also pointed the finger at Palomino.

The cross-state drug trip began on June 2, when Palomino, Aguilar, Mendoza and a woman named Leticia Garcia went to pick up a quarter kilo of meth in Norcross, Georgia. At some point, on the way back, Palomino grew concerned that Mendoza was setting them up, Rutherford testified.

On June 4, Mendoza was told she and Lopez would be taken somewhere safe, but were instead taken to the cemetery where Mendoza was killed.  Because Lopez witnessed the slaying, the suspects took her to a secluded area in the woods to kill her.

Yoni Aguilar (l) and Israel Palomino face capital murder charges

In his statement, Aguilar said Palomino forced him to kill the girl. “He said he was fearful of Israel,” Rutherford testified.

Three days later, Lopez’s body was found. Less than an hour after police released a description of the girl’s clothes to the media, her mother came in and said she believed it was her daughter who had been missing. Mendoza’s body was found a week later after cops zeroed in on Aguilar and Palomino.

 

Ozzy Osbourne Sentenced to 30 Years In Barbershop Shooting

By HardBoiledNews Staff

It’s the Ozzy on the left we’re talking about

MONTGOMERY, Alabama  — A totally different crazy train all together.

A man named Ozzy Osbourne has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for a fatal barbershop shooting three years ago, authorities said.

Osbourne, 27, of Montgomery, Alabama, was convicted in May of shooting 30-year-old Rodrekas Ziegler in the neck as he walked into the barbershop on Sept. 11, 2015, prosecutors said.

Last week, a judge sentenced Osbourne to 359 months in prison — or 29 years and 11 months.

“Our community is tired of these senseless murders and it is my hope this conviction and the sentencing will reinforce the message that there are extreme consequences to violent actions,” Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey said.

Osbourne’s namesake, the former singer of Black Sabbath, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Man Cuts Deal in Fatal Shooting During Heated Game of Dominoes

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Sterling Warren didn’t have a leg to stand on following a fatal shooting over a game of dominoes

DECATUR, Alabama — A one-legged Alabama man cut a deal and pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a pal during a fight over a game of dominoes.

Sterling Gerome Warren, 68, was given a 10-year sentence as part of the deal after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the 2013 shooting of Thomas Jerome Bibb, Jr. during a game at Warren’s house.

“It’s unfortunate, it’s sad,” assistant district attorney Stacy Adams said, according to the Decatur Daily. “Mr. Bibb lost his life over 10 points in a domino game.”

According to cops,  Warren — an amputee who wore a prosthetic leg — shot Bibb because he refused to leave when the game was over. He allegedly punched and threatened Warren when he tried to get Bibb to leave, prompting Warren to pull out a shotgun and open fire.

Warren had faced a murder charged but agreed to the plea deal involving a reduced charge as his trial was about to begin.

Alabama Executes 83-Year-Old Prisoner, Oldest in Modern Times

By HardBoiledNews Staff

 

Walter Moody was put to death for sending a package that killed a judge in 1989

ATMORE, Alabama — It was his time to go.

An 83-year-old Alabama inmate jailed for the 1989 mail bomb killing of a federal judge, was executed Thursday, making him the oldest convict to be put to death in modern times.

Walter Leroy Moody Jr. was convicted in 1996 of mailing out four bombs in December of 1989, killing Judge Robert Vance of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, as well as Robert Robinson, a  black civil rights attorney from Savannah, Georgia.

Two other bombs, including one mailed to an NAACP office in Jacksonville, Florida, were found before they detonated.

At his trial, prosecutors said Moody had sent the bomb to Vance as part of an effort get revenge against the legal system, stemming from  a 1972 pipe-bomb possession conviction that prevented him from practicing law.

He then sent the other bombs to obscure his tracks and make it look like the Ku Klux Klan was responsible.

The bomb killed Vance instantly at his home near Birmingham, and severely injured his wife.

Moody was first convicted in 1991 in federal court and sentenced to seven life terms plus 400 years. He was later convicted in state court in 1996 and sentenced to death for Vance’s murder.

Moody’s attorney’s had appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which had initially granted a short stay, but later overruled it without explanation. Moosy was executed shortly afterwards.

Moody became the oldest U.S. inmate put to death since executions resumed in the U.S. in the 1970s, according to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center. His attorneys argued in court filings that his advanced age and vein condition would make lethal injection more difficult.

Alabama’s Attorney General Steve Marshall, said the execution was justice served.

“Moody has spent the better part of three decades trying to avoid justice. Tonight, Mr.Moody’s appeals finally came to a rightful end,” Marshall said.

 

 

Well-Known Evangelical Pastor Hit With Child Sex Abuse Charges

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The founder of the Acton Bowen Outreach Ministries is charged with sex abuse for allegedly molesting a young family friend

HOOVER, Alabama — A well-known evangelical pastor in Alabama has been busted on child sex abuse charges, police say.

Paul Edward Acton Bowen, the 37-year-old founder of Acton Bowen Outreach Ministries, was arrested on Tuesday on charges of second-degree sodomy, enticing a child to enter a vehicle or house for immoral purposes, and second-degree sex abuse.

Cops only described the victim as a male family acquaintance above the age of 12 but under 16.

“This is certainly one of the more disturbing cases that we’ve investigated in quite some time,” Hoover Police Capt. Gregg Rector told AL.com. “Mr. Bowen is in a highly-respected position of influence and he is trusted by many. We believe he betrayed that trust in the worst kind of way.”

Bowen was released Wednesday on $90,300 bond.  In a statement, Bowen denied the allegations against him.

“I have not done what I am accused of and have not acted inappropriately in any way,” Bowen said. “My family and I trust the legal system and the people who are entrusted with the duty of protection each of our rights. I believe the truth will stand and I will be vindicated of this false accusation. We ask that each of you keep everyone involved in this process in your prayers.”

Bowen describes himself on his website as a speaker, best-selling author and visionary.

“Many words are used to describe him, but Acton Bowen’s only passion has been to connect people with the one, true God,” the website states. “Once recognized as one of the nation’s leading student pastors, God has clearly blessed Acton with the ability to reach today’s high tech, attention-lacking culture.”

 

Husband Arrested in Death of Mom Who Led Secret Online Porn Star Life

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Cops say they suspected Jeff West in the January killing of his secret porn star wife, Kat West, all along

CALERA, Alabama — The husband of an Alabama mom who had a secret life as an online sex star has been arrested for her murder, a month after her half-naked body was found bludgeoned to death on the street outside their home.

Cops were finally able to build their case against 44-year-old William “Jeff” West, 44, in the January slaying of his wife, Kathleen West, after  a key piece of forensic evidence  came to light, although they have yet to reveal what it is.

“We know what happened that night and we do have evidence to support that,” Calera Police Chief Sean Lemley said at a press conference, according to AL.com. “But providing that evidence may hinder prosecution.”

He said the husband was a suspect from the very beginning, and that when cops had spoken to him during the investigation, “he didn’t seem to be very upset.”

Security camera footage from a local liquor store had shown the couple looking happy the night before Kathleen’s body was found. But Lemley said it was unclear what happened in the interim.

“Unfortunately, domestics turn bad pretty quickly,” he said.

He said it took a while to work out exactly what had happened because, unlike most domestic violence deaths, Kathleen’s body was found on a public street, not at home.  The investigation was also complicated by the fact that she was partly naked when she was found.

By day, Kathleen was a typical stay-at-home mom. But she had a second life online as a porn star, where she posted racy images to a private Instagram account with nearly 52,000 followers — and promoted a $15.99-per-month subscription deal for “naughty fun.”

Asked whether her secret life online played a role in the killing, Lemley said simply: “I think her online profession, her activities, certainly warranted a lot of attention.”