Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Phony Cancer Victim Charged With Fraud for Using Fake Illness to Raise Cash

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Jennifer Cataldo raised over $100,000 from friends and relatives

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — This is sick.

A woman who falsely claimed she was battling with cancer in order to bilk her friends and family out of cash has been hit with federal fraud charges.

Jennifer Flynn Cataldo, 37, of Sterrett, Alabama, pretended she was terminally ill and convinced pals to give her $1000,000, all of which she put in her pocket, prosecutors said.

“Sadly, crimes like this make good people think twice before they are willing to be charitable,” FBI Special Agent Roger Stanton said. “It is hard to comprehend how anyone could sink so low as to claim to have cancer just to fuel their greed.”

Federal authorities say that between 2014 and 2017, Cataldo told her friends and family that she was dying from cancer and allegedly solicited contributions from people she knew to fund her lifestyle.

For example, in January 2016, Cataldo allegedly launched a GoFundMe campaign dubbed “Mom had Terminal Cancer Disney Trip,” with the goal of raising $4,000 to take her daughter to Disney World before she died.

The campaign ended up raising more than $10,000, prosecutors said.

Then in September 2016, a friend who believed Cataldo was dying created a second GoFundMe page titled, “Jenny Flynn Cataldo Medical Care,” to raise $20,000. It ultimately took in $25,000.

In both cases, prosecutors say Cataldo transferred the cash from the GoFundMe accounts into her personal bank account.

Cataldo, who was hit with state charges in Alabama earlier this month, faces up to 20 years on each of several counts of wire fraud she now faces in federal court and up to 30 years on bank fraud charges.

GoFundMe officials have said they are working to recover the cash and return it to anyone who donated to Cataldo.

Girl, 9, Narrowly Escapes Vicious Kangaroo Attack at Alabama Animal Park

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — A 9-year-old girl had the fright of her life when she was viciously attacked by a jumpy kangaroo at an Alabama petting zoo.

Jennifer White was filming her daughter. Cheyenne, as she approached the enclosure housing a kangaroo named Erwin on Saturday and captured the beast as it reached through the fence, grabbed the screaming little girl by the hair and bit into her ear, Huntsville’s WAFF-TV reported.

Cheyenne ended up needing 14 stitches in her head but was otherwise not seriously injured, her mother said.

“I’m just glad I was there,” she told the station. “I don’t want it to happen to someone else’s kid because they might not be as lucky as she was.”

Erwin has lived at the park for nine years

Operators of the Harmony Park Safari outside of Huntsville told AL.com that Erwin had been there for nine years and had always been well behaved. Still, his enclosure featured two signs warning that the animal does bite.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees such animal parks, said that a complaint had been filed following the incident and that it was investigating.

A park operator, who gave his name only as Lewis, told AL.com, that the park receives “tens of thousands” of visitors a year and that they do not keep any dangerous animals.

“We’re just so happy the little girl’s OK,” Lewis said.

Woman Filmed Stomping Boyfriend’s Car Says She ‘Prayed About it and Stuff’

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

CULLMAN, Alabama — A woman caught on video angrily smashing in the windshield of her ex-boyfriend’s car says a night of prayer convinced her not to launch the wild attack but that she changed her mind when she saw a shovel lying near the vehicle.

Barbara Emily Lowery, 24, landed behind bars on a disorderly conduct charge for the Monday episode in which she stomped in the windshield and sunroof of the car in the parking lot of a furniture store. She also scrawled on the hood in permanent marker: “You’re so pretty, fucker.”

The furious fracas was filmed by several stunned passersby and the video spread online.

“I prayed about it first, and I slept on it, and I decided it wasn’t a good idea. Then I saw a shovel,” Lowery told WBMA-TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obwHFRG42i8

The station reported that the eruption of violence stemmed from a love triangle that took an ugly turn, but Lowery declined to kiss and tell.

“Well I’m not trying to give his personal business out like that,” she said.

The owner of the car, Nick Myrick, said on his Facebook page that Lowery was not his ex, but was simply, “an angry person.”

But Lowery said she had no regrets.

“I already knew going into it that I would have to face some consequences, and you know it kind of sucks, but like I said I prayed about it and stuff, and I did it anyway,” Lowery said to the station.

Feds Indict Alabama Widow For Stealing Social Security for Husband She Murdered

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Opal Elaine Tillman killed her husband in 1987

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — A woman who was convicted of murdering her husband 30 years ago has been charged with illegally collecting his social security benefits for nearly a decade after her release from prison.

Opal Elaine Tillman, 71, of Morris, Alabama, came under investigation following her arrest in 2015 for stealing over $60,000 from an elderly couple she worked for as a housekeeper. She pleaded guilty in that case last month.

Tillman was imprisoned from 1988 until 1996 for killing her husband, Walter Tillman, federal prosecutors said. The month after he died in 1987, prosecutors say Opal Tillman applied to receive his social security benefits.

Shortly after she was convicted, she was informed by the social security administration that she was no longer eligible to receive the payments as “a person who has been convicted of the felonious and intentional homicide of a wage earner cannot be entitled to monthly benefits.”

But in 2009, prosecutors say Tillman applied once again to receive the payments and was inadvertently approved. She continued to receive the payments until 2016 — a total of $168,000, prosecutors said.

Tillman is currently incarcerated for stealing money from the elderly couple she worked for from 2011 until 2015. Local authorities say Tillman started helping the couple with their finances as the 87-year-old wife’s health declined, but began helping herself to their savings.

The scam continued until relatives noticed several suspicious transactions from the couple’s bank account.

“I think there is a special place for people that take advantage of our senior citizens, most especially those placed in a position of trust,” Jefferson County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Randy Christian said at the time.

Alabama Jail Booking Turns Bizarre When Gun Falls From Prisoner’s Anal Cavity

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Jesse O’Neal Roberts chose a pretty odd place to keep his heat

ELKMONT, Alabama — This gives whole new meaning to the term “gun butt.”

Alabama police were nearly blown away when a suspect who “appeared to be walking strangely” when he was brought into a county jail, stumbled and a handgun dropped out from his anal cavity.

“I immediately considered that he defecated on himself before noticing a familiar shape in the form of a pistol in his boxers,” a corrections officer processing the arrest of Jesse O’Neal Roberts said in a police report.

Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely was unimpressed. “It happens,” he said, leaving one to wonder just how crazy things must get in Alabama’s jails.

Police say the 23-year-old Roberts was brought in early Tuesday after a local resident reported a prowler on his property. The caller spotted Roberts near his garage and held him at gunpoint until cops arrived.

Cops say Roberts appeared drunk and they spotted his pickup truck stuck in a ditch nearby. He was arrested for public intoxication and hauled off to the county jail where officers found his rather uncomfortable piece of contraband.

Investigators determined the weapon, a .380 Jimenez, had been reported stolen from a home in Florence, Alabama. It seems unlikely the owner will want it back now.

Alabama Schools Employee Caught With Fighting Dogs, $500K of Heroin

By HardBoiledNews Staff 2 Comments

Cops found 22 fighting dogs in Charles Walker’s house

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — A Birmingham City schools employee was busted with half a million dollars worth of heroin and is believed to run a dog fighting ring, police said.

Charles Walker, 45, who works in technical services and computer services for the school system, was busted last week as part of drug investigation.

Police had postal inspectors deliver a suspected drug package to Walker’s home that had been delivered through the mail. After Walker took custody of the package, agents swooped in and arrested him after a brief foot pursuit.

Authorities executing a search warrant say they found 1,700 grams of heroin and Fetanyl and about $9,000 worth of crack cocaine as well as a handgun and $55,000 in cash at Walker’s home.

But they also discovered 22 pit bulls at the home — 17 adults and five puppies — that were kept in unhealthy conditions and appeared to have been used as fighting dogs.

Walker has been charged with trafficking in cocaine, heroin and a synthetic controlled substance and that he faces additional animal cruelty charges. He was released on $15,000 bond.

The dogs have been taken to a local animal sanctuary and will remain there until a judge decides their fate.

Alabama Biker Stages Fake Arrest as Part of Marriage Proposal

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

MOBILE, Alabama — That’s a novel way of convincing a woman you’re a keeper.

An Alabama biker enlisted the aid of the Mobile police to stage his arrest as part of an elaborate way of asking his girlfriend to marry him.

Daiwon McPherson, 33, wanted to surprise his girlfriend of five years, Shawna Blackmon, but knew he had to pull out all the stops.

“She knows my every move –I can never surprise her,” he told the Alabama Media Group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o028z401YEM

As part of the ruse, he made plans to meet her for dinner in downtown Mobile on Friday night, but then didn’t show up and didn’t answer his phone. He then had friends in the Mobile biker community tell Blackmon he was on the run from police and that he had a gun.

“Friday is bike night…it was believable,” Blackmon said.

When she approached a nearby gas station she saw McPherson surrounded by police cruisers with lights flashing and officers ordering him to the ground.

“I thought he was going to jail!” she said.

The officers then asked her to retrieve the gun McPherson was supposedly carrying, but when she approached, he pulled a ring out of his pocket. The surprise worked.

“It never crossed my mind… I had no idea,” she said.

“I really wanted to bring the bike life and the police together,” McPherson said. “I can’t believe I actually pulled this off.”

 

Mannequin Challenge Video Leads Cops to Weapons and Drug Stash

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

This gang made it a bit too easy for cops

This gang made it a bit too easy for cops

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — A mannequin challenge clip featuring a gang of gun-wielding dopes ended with two men getting arrested and Alabama cops seizing a cache of drugs and guns after the video went viral.

The video, which was shot on Nov.9, features several armed men standing still in poses as if they were engaged in a pitched gun battle in front of a home in Huntsville. When the video spread like wildfire on Facebook, it drew the attention of police.

A raid of the house uncovered two handguns, an assault rifle and a shotgun as well as a bullet-proof vest and a cache of bullets and magazines, the Madison County sheriff said. Cops also found several bags of marijuana packaged up to be sold as well as scales and other drug equipment.

Two men, Kenneth Fennell White, 49, and Terry Brown, 23, were arrested. White was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of a firearm by a violent felon and was held on $30,000 bail. Brown was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and loitering and held on $3,800 bail.

Terry Brown (L) and Kenneth White

Terry Brown (L) and Kenneth White

The mannequin challenge is a viral video trend in which a group of people stand frozen like statues in a pose while someone walks through the scene filming with a camera. Numerous athletes and celebrities have taken part, but this is the first arrest believed to have stemmed from such a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rGIymTpaxE

Man Tosses Blind Date From Car, Leads Cops on High-Speed Chase

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Whoever set her up on this date has some explaining to do

Whoever set her up on this date has some explaining to do

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — It was truly a blind date from hell.

A man who got pulled over by police pushed a woman he had just met on a blind date out of his car before leading officers on a high-speed chase.

Officers with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s office in Alabama say they pulled the man over at  8 p.m. on Saturday night for a minor traffic violation. The man said he did not have his license with him but the officer agreed to run his name and information through the system.

But when the cop walked back to his patrol car, the driver, identified as 22-year-old Jesse Allen Elliot of Hayden, threw his date out of his Mazda and sped away.

Deputies say they ended their pursuit because of Elliot was driving erratically and at a dangerously high rate of speed. It turned out the name Elliot had given them was false and that he had several outstanding misdemeanor warrants and a suspended driver’s license.

The woman was unharmed.

“She told deputies that she had just met the suspect and, in fact, had been on a blind date with him when they were stopped. She was given a ride to her home,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

“I think these two are off to a bad start,” Chief Deputy Randy Christian told the Birmingham News. “Whoever fixed her up has some explaining to do.”