Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Man Begs for Change to Buy Gas for His $245K Ferrari

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SAN RAFAEL, California — He spent so much on the new Ferrari he had no money left over to buy gas … or so he said.

Police in San Rafael, California say 36-year-old Rocky Jimenez, of Georgia was begging for gas money at a gas station with his Ferrari 488 GTB standing nearby.

Passersby say Jimenez was acting strangely, with witnesses saying he poured gasoline on the $245,000 car and that he hassled people as they came and went.

Jimenez told cops the car was his, but that it had been in the shop for the past two year and that he had only just gotten it back.

Police were skeptical as Jimenez gave increasingly vague answers to questions. When he allowed the officers to look into his bag, they found the key to the car but no papers for it. They also found the keys to another Ferrari.  A call to area dealers revealed that the car Jimenez was driving had indeed been stolen.

He was charged with vehicle theft, possession of a controlled substance and possession of stolen property. Officers also found property in his car linked to a burglary from two days earlier. They are looking to see if Jimenez may have been involved with other unsolved burglaries.

 

California Man Shot With Shotgun Shell Loaded With Rice Krispies

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EUREKA, California — A  cereal shooter has been arrested for blasting a pal with shotgun shell loaded with Rice Krispies, cops said.

Cops in Eureka, California say Timothy Glass Jr., 29, had loaded the Rice Krispies-filled shell into a flare gun on Wednesday and shot his friend in the hand.

When police arrived at the scene, they say Glass had already fled on foot. He was detained a short while later after encountering cops nearby. Police say Glass resisted arrest and injured a police officer.

The man who was shot identified Glass and is expected to recover but attempted to decline to press charges.

Glass was held on a probation violation and resisting arrest charges.  Prosecutors in Humboldt County will review the case and decide how to proceed, cops said

Mexican Biker Gang Charged with Stealing 150 Jeeps in Southern California

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SAN DIEGO — Nine members of a Mexican motorcycle gang have been charged in a series of high-tech auto heists in which they made off with more than 150 Jeep Wranglers by hacking into a database that allowed them to get duplicate keys.

Prosecutors said the men, members of the Hooligans motorcycle gang based out of Tijuana, had been running the scheme since at least January 2014. In all, they allegedly netted $4.5 million worth of cars they brought back from southern California to Mexico to be sold or stripped for parts.

“The joy ride is over for these Hooligans,” said Deputy U.S. Attorney Mark Conover. “These arrests have put the brakes on an organization that has victimized neighborhoods.”

The gang operated brazenly, taking off with cars they would snatch out of people’s driveways overnight as they slept nearby.

Prosecutors allege that the Hooligans would scout vehicles out in advance and collect their vehicle identification numbers. They would then gain access to a proprietary database used by the manufacturer to create duplicate keys for cars. Using the codes, the gang was able to create a key for the specific Jeeps they were targeting, prosecutors said.

Investigators said that enabled the thieves to make with cars in sometimes less than two minutes. For months, investigators were baffled as to how the Hooligans were managing such effortless thefts.

They got a break when one car owner whose Jeep was stolen, happened to have surveillance camera trained on her driveway and captured footage of the thieves in action. The footage revealed that the men had a key to the car.

The FBI then contacted Chrysler and were able to determine that 20 of the cars that were stolen had had duplicate keys issued to a dealership in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. None of the owners were aware that the keys had been issued.

Three of the nine defendants — Henry Irenio Pulino, 24, Alejandro Guzman, 23, and Reynaldo Rodriguez, 33 — have been arrested and the other six at large and are believed to be in Mexico.

Prosecutors say the men similarly targeted motorcycles, prosecutors said.

 

Man’s Spit Connects Him to Two Brutal Cold Case Slayings in California

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The slayings of Michelle Lozano and Bree’Anna Guzman had remained unsolved since 2011

LOS ANGELES — Cops were able to zero in on the ruthless killer responsible for the cold case rape and murder of two women by linking the suspect’s saliva after he spat on the street to DNA collected at the murder scenes back in 2011.

The DNA testing connected Geovanni Borjas, 32, to the killings of 17-year-old Michelle Lozano and 22-year-old Bree’Anna Guzman, whose bodies were found dumped under freeway overpasses, Los Angeles police said.

“DNA collection at time of arrest allowed us to connect this monster to the deaths of these two young women,” Police Chief Charlie Beck said.

Lozano disappeared on Easter in 2011, after she left her house to take a walk. Her body was found a day later under a freeway, police. Investigators determined she had been raped and were able to collect DNA the perpetrator left behind.

Later that year, Guzman vanished on the day after Christmas while heading to a local pharmacy to pick up a prescription. Her body was found about a month later. Cops say she was also sexually assaulted.

Geovanni Borjas

The cases proved slow going at first, but investigators caught a break several years later when they were allowed to do a “familial search” of DNA databases to see if it would lead them to the relative of the killer as they were unable to connect the DNA they had to anyone for whom they had samples.

The search led cops to Borjas’ father who had been arrested many years earlier. Further investigation led cops to believe Borjas was their man so they began following him and got lucky when he spat on the street.

A sample was collected and when DNA tests were run, they conclusively connected him to the 2011 rapes and murders, cops said.

Borjas could face the death penalty if prosecutors opt to seek it. He was held without bail on tow counts of murder, rape and kidnapping.

His arrested marks only the second time the LAPD has used a familial search to catch a suspect.The first time led to a match in the notorious Grim Sleeper case, connecting Lonnie Franklin Jr. to the serial killings. He was convicted in May 2016 of 10 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Some states do not allow for such testing and the tests are considered controversial in California.

“If we stop collection of DNA at time of arrest, if we stop allowing familial searches, then men like this go free,” Beck said.

White Man Shouting Racial Slurs Slashes Black Man With Machete

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Anthony Hammond

CLEARLAKE, California — A white man spouting racial slurs at people in a California parking lot has been charged with viciously hacking a black man with a machete, cops said.

Anthony Hammond, 34, is accused of haranguing people in the parking lot of his apartment complex over the holiday weekend before rushing back to his home to grab a large machete, Clearlake police said.

He then returned to the parking and while continuing to yell racial slurs at the victim slashed him on the shoulder, causing serious injury, cops said. He was rushed to a nearby hospital.

Hammond then allegedly ran back to his apartment triggering a standoff with cops as officers formed a perimeter around the building.

Looking through the window, cops say they watched as Hammond attempted unsuccessfully to hide himself inside a refrigerator. He then fled to the rear of the apartment and when cops spotted an empty pistol case, investigators say they believed Hammond was likely armed.

For several hours, refused to leave the home, but eventually gave himself up without a fight. Cops recovered the machete but found no gun in the home.

Police say that while being transported to the Lake County Jail, Hammond threatened to kill an officer and his family upon his release from jail.

Hammond was charged with aggravated mayhem, battery with serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, felony resisting executive officer, hate crime, battery on a person, and two outside agency felony arrest warrants.

Giant Cockfighting Ring Busted in California, Thousands of Birds Seized

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VAL VERDE, California — Authorities say they busted up a massive illegal cockfighting operation in California, seizing 7,000 fighting birds in what they say is the largest crackdown of its kind in U.S. history.

Officers with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s bloodsport crime team say they received a top about a property in Val Verde that was being used as a large scale training ground and storage facility for fighting birds.

Following a months-long investigation, officers raided the 80-acre property earlier this week, and seized thousands of birds as well as mobile fighting rings, deadly razor gaffs that area attached to a rooster’s feet as well as medications often used in cockfighting.

“This is, the experts say, the largest seizure of fighting birds ever in United States history,” said Capt. Jeff Perry. “Any kind of animal blood sport activity will not be tolerated in Los Angeles County.”

https://youtu.be/pnOi5i85DZo

Investigators said some birds can sell for as high as $1,500, valuing the haul as high as $10.5 million. Several dead birds with wounds consistent with cockfighting were also found on the property.

No arrests were immediately made, Perry said, although several low-level members of the cockfighting outfit were detained and could later be charged. Other suspects are currently being identified, and the investigation is still ongoing.

 

California Sting Uncovers Million Dollar Bee Heist

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FRESNO, California — This gives whole new meaning to the notion of a sting operation.

California cops busted a beekeeper they say stole nearly a million dollars worth of bees and their hives from other beekeepers around the country.

Police began their investigation into Pavel Tveretinov, 51, of Fresno, in late April, when they received a report from an almond orchard in Madera County that 100 bee hives had been stolen from their property.

The hives were found on his property and he was charged with possession of stolen property and was released on $10,000 bond. Cops say the hives belonged to a beekeeping outfit out of Missouri called Buzz Beekeeping that had leased them to the California almond farmer for the season.

Pavel Tveretinov

But as investigators looked further, they discovered approximately 2,500 hives they believe Tveretinov stole from various parts of California, which have a total value of $875,000. Some of the hives were determined to have belonged to beekeepers from as far away as Montana.

Cops said that while it is impossible to identify who the bees belong to, the boxes in which they are stored often have markers and numbers on them that tie them to specific beekeepers.

In this case, they say Tveretinov attempted to paint over the identifying markings but that he did a lousy job as many still showed through the paint.

 

Man Caught Trying to Set Up Marijuana Farm in California’s Giant Sequoia Park

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FRESNO, California — A man carrying 10,000 marijuana seeds was arrested on his way to what authorities believe would have been a secret grow site deep in California’s Giant Sequoia National Monument.

Rosario Beltran-Leal, 43, a Mexican citizen who had been living in nearby Delano, was caught at a drop point for a cultivation site in a remote area of the forest — which is famous for its soaring trees — that is closed to the public, according to federal authorities.

Prosecutors say he was also carrying a large amount of food and cultivation supplies.

The U.S. Forest Service says such illegal grows are not uncommon on public lands and are often associated with criminal gangs in Mexico. The growers often use harmful pesticides and clear out native plants to make way for the marijuana.

Last year, officials uncovered 22 grow sites in the mountains near the forest in Tulare County.

Beltran was charged with conspiring to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute and manufacturing marijuana in a federally designated area. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Man Convicted in Bizarre Adult Adoption Immigration Scheme

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Helaman Hansen says he meant well, and making off with $1 million was just a coincidence

SACRAMENTO, California — A man accused of bilking hundreds of illegal immigrants out of over $1 million with the false promise of securing them citizenship by having them adopted as adults, has been convicted of fraud.

Helaman Hansen, 64, of Elk Grove, California was accused of running the bizarre and elaborate scheme from 2012 through 2016, netting as much as $10,000 from each of the immigrants he conned.

The scam was based around the bogus promise that the victims would be granted U.S. citizenship if they were legally adopted by an American. Hansen did arrange for several adult victims to be adopted but none ever received citizenship as the law only allows someone under the age of 16 to be granted such status following an adoption.

In reality, adult adoptions are exceedingly rare, and Hansen’s con came unwound when court officials in the Sacramento and Alameda Superior Courts noticed an unusual amount of such adoptions and grew suspicious that something wasn’t kosher.

Prosecutors say that Hansen had created a number of entities, such as Americans Helping America, to sell memberships in what he called a “Migration Program,” through which the adoptions would be arranged.  At the beginning, memberships were sold for an annual fee of $150, but that cost gradually grew as high as $10,000.

Many of Hansen’s victims were over the age of 50 and a substantial number hailed from Pacific island nations like Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand, prosecutors said.

In all, prosecutors say he duped over 500 people and collected over $1 million in fees.

After an 11-day trial, a federal jury found Hansen guilty of 12 counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and two counts of encouraging and inducing illegal immigration for private financial gain. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Drunk Driver Suspected of Killing 2 Mini Horses in Hit and Run

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Scout and Big Red had to be put down following the crash

PENNGROVE, California — A man busted for drunk driving is believed to have earlier crashed his car through a corral, killing a woman’s beloved pair of miniature horses and then fleeing the scene.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s office said the tragic hit-and-run occurred around 2 a.m. Saturday when a car ploughed through a Penngrove woman’s property, striking the two horses, Scout and Big Red. The animals were later euthanized.

Cops in nearby Cotati, California busted Ronald Rennert, of Oakland, after spotting him swerving all over the road in a Honda CRV that appeared to have damage to its front end, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported.

After getting him back to the station house, word filtered back about the unsolved horse hit-and-run and officers put two and two together, cops said.

Further investigation revealed pieces of what appeared to be a Honda CRV on the grounds at the horse corral and traces of horse hair embedded in the front of Rennert’s car, police said.

The horse’s owner, Juanita Carrillo said the tragedy had left her deeply shaken.

“Even though this won’t bring my ponies back, it does give us a bit of relief to know that we have found him and he will have to pay the price for what he has done,” she wrote on her Facebook page.