Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Cop Sentenced to 11 Years For Dealing Drugs in Uniform

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James Edgerson had been a Dumas police officer for 14 years

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — A former small town cop was sentenced to more than a decade in prison for his role in a multi-state drug operation which saw him at times selling cocaine and methamphetamine while in uniform.

James Edgerson, 39, had been with the Dumas police department in Arkansas for 14 years when he was arrested along with five others in 2015 for dealing drugs, federal  prosecutors said.

Investigators say Edgerson sold drugs while in uniform and carrying his department-issued weapon on numerous occasions and in one instance, dealt drugs while standing next to his police cruiser.

“Police officers take an oath to protect and serve their communities,” said acting U.S. Attorney Patrick Harris. “Edgerson’s significant sentence reflects his absolute violation of this oath, and his abuse of the trust placed in him by members of his community. This sentence also demonstrates that no one is above the law.”

Edgerson pleaded guilty in February. Four of his co-conspirators had previously pleaded and Edgerson’s cousin, Kendrick Lamar Edgerson is scheduled to go to trial in September.

Prosecutors say Edgerson admitted to participating in the conspiracy from May 2015 through through September 2015. He had been charged with buying and selling multi-ounce quantities cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana by the pound.

 

8-Year-Old Arkansas Boy Killed in Tragic Tombstone Collapse

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An 8-year-old boy died after an old tombstone fell on him

LYNN, Arkansas –An 8-year-old boy died in a freak accident when a tombstone toppled over and crushed him in an Arkansas church graveyard.

The tragic mishap occurred during a birthday party Saturday afternoon at the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Lynn, when the boy wandered into the graveyard out back.

Officials believe the boy had been playing on a large tombstone when it broke and fell on him, KAIT-TV reported.

The boy was rushed to a local hospital where he was declared dead. Authorities have deemed the death an accident.

Members of the church said they were devastated by the accident.

“Just an eight-year-old rambunctious young man, just like many eight-year-old young men and full of life,” the church’s Pastor Jeff Neely told the station.  “There is definitely a lot of prayer being sent up on behalf of their family.”

The boy’s name has not been released.

 

Scientist Cops to Top-Secret Rice Theft

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The Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center in Stuttgart, Ark. was the scene of the crime

The Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center in Stuttgart, Ark. was the scene of the crime

 

STUTTGART, Arkansas — The theft of a few grains of rice grains has landed one scientist in as much trouble as if he’d pinched a bag of diamonds.

Geneticist Wengui Yan, 61, was aware of a plot to steal the top secret rice from a government plant in Arkansas and deliver it to China — yet did nothing to stop it. The plant researches and produces genetically modified rice. That’s valuable scientific knowledge to a huge and growing population such as China.

Wengui Yan

Wengui Yan

Yan was working as a geneticist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center in Stuttgart in 2013, when a delegation from China came seeking to steal samples. He picked up the Chinese delegation from a motel in town, on July 22, 2013, and took them to the center. He traveled with them to a rice farm where he knew they would have an opportunity to steal seeds, the Department of Justice said.

Yan originally faced up to 10 years behind bars, but pleaded guilty to the offence and faces up to 20 months in federal prison.

Co-defendant Weiqiang Zhang, 50, of Manhattan, Kansas, is awaiting trial, according to the Dept. of Justice.