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True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

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Love Triangle Ends With Three Dead at Canada Nudist Camp

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DRUMMONDSVILLE, Canada — A love triangle at a Canadian nudist camp turned deadly when a 76-year-old jilted lover gunned down his ex-paramour and her new beau, before turning the gun on himself.

Authorities say Denys Carpentier marched onto the grounds of the Quebec nudist/swingers playpen, Adam et Eve, and opened fire on Suzanne Gareau, 50, and his old pal, Rodrigue Tremblay.

Carpentier is believed to then have turned the gun on himself.

“It’s probably linked to a love triangle,” Sgt. Claude Denis of the Sûreté du Québec told Canada’s National Post.

Friends at the campground, about 100 miles north of Montreal, said Gareau and Carpentier had recently split and she had shacked up with his old friend Tremblay, 77, instead.

 

Carpentier (l) had been in a long-term relationship with Gareau before a recent split

But Carpentier, who was plagued with jealousy and had been very possessive of Gareau when they were together, flew into a fit of rage.

Adam et Eve describes itself as a campground for “liberated people” and contains a mix of trailers, bungalows and cabins surrounding a main complex.

It also has a disco, walking trails, a hot tub and a swimming pool.

“It’s a very sad event that has happened, but it has nothing to do with nudism,” federation spokesman Michel Vaïs told the Post. He said Adam et Ève opened in 1972 as a nudist camp, but eventually became a destination for swingers.

Innocent Man Released After 17 Years as Lookalike Suspect is Discovered

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KANSAS CITY, Kansas — A man was freed after spending 17 years in jail for a purse snatching he didn’t commit when authorities found out he had a dead lookalike with the same name who may have been responsible for the crime.

The eerie coincidence landed Richard Jones behind bars in 1999 for a 19-year stretch for the Kansas robbery in which the only evidence pinning him to the crime was the victim identifying him as the thief.

At the time, prosecutors and the witness didn’t know there was another man out there who bore an uncanny resemblance to Jones, shared his first name and also lived near where the crime occurred, while Jones lived across the state line in Kansas City, Missouri.

But when Jones’ lawyers caught wind of the other man, they showed the witness the other man’s picture and he admitted he could not tell the two men apart.

Last week, a judge agreed and tossed Jones’ conviction out.

While there was no evidence that the other man committed the crime — he denied any role during a hearing before the judge — the bizarre situation poked holes in the sole bit of evidence against Jones.

The judge ruled that the photo array that was used by police to show the robbery victim was improper as it  included no one else who remotely looked like Jones.

“Everybody has a doppelganger,” Jones lawyer, Alice Craig told the Kansas City Star. “Luckily we found his.”

 

YouTube Star Austin Jones Hit With Child Porn Charges

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CHICAGO — Austin Jones, a musician and YouTube star has been hit with child pornography charges for allegedly talking underage fans into sending him sexually explicit videos.

The 24-year-old pop singer, who resides in Bloomingdale, Illinois, has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, most of whom are young girls, and his YouTube videos are routinely watched millions of times.

Federal prosecutors say he is charged with talking two 14-year-old girls he met on Facebook into sending him video of them exposing their private parts while twerking for the camera and talking about how young they are.

“Get super close and say these lines: hey Austin, it’s (name) and this butt is (age) years old and then make it clap for 30 seconds. Got it?” he was quoted in the indictment as telling one of the victims.

To the second victim, Jones was quoted as saying: “Think about how amazing that would be for you!! To have your favorite singer spanking your ass!” He then said, “If you’re lucky, maybe I’d let you suck my d**k.”

Prosecutors said Jones would goad the victims into making more explicit videos by telling them they had to prove they were his biggest fans. If they demurred, he would threaten to break off communication. He admitted to the FBI that he would masturbate to the videos.

After being contacted by the FBI, Facebook deactivated Jones’ account, prosecutors said.

Jones was arrested on Monday at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and was set to go before a judge on Wednesday to face two counts of producing child pornography. He faces between 15 and 30 years on each count.

In 2015,  a petition circulated demanding Jones be removed from the Warped Tour for allegedly soliciting underage girls to send him twerking videos. He later apologized to fans, saying in a post on Facebook that he had gone into therapy and that he never “intended to mistreat or humiliate anyone.”

Cops Hunt Man Who Stole Signs Meant for the Blind Along a Hiking Trail

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U.S. Cops are asking for help identifying this man

GENESEE PARK, Colorado — Cops are hunting for a brazen thief who made off with 37 Braille interpretive signs meant to help the blind from a hiking trail in Colorado.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s office says the man took the signs — valued at over $18,000 — from two trails in Genesee Park sometime between April 22 and May 6.

A man caught on surveillance footage stealing a laminated paper sign that had been placed in the park to replace one of the stolen signs is considered a “person of interest,” cops said.

Investigators described him as between 55- and 65-years-old, with white hair, but bald on top. They said he stands between 160 and 190 pounds at the time of the theft, and was wearing a blue jacket with white lettering on the left breast. He was accompanied by a small black dog, cops said.

Tipsters are encouraged to call the sheriff’s office at 303-271-5612.

Joker Look-Alike Hauled in On Gun Charges

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MIAMI — They didn’t need to call Batman to bust this joker.

Cops in Miami had no trouble at all taking in a man accused of pointing a gun at passing cars whose face tattoo and dyed green hair gave him an uncanny resemblance the joker character in the Batman movies.

Lawrence Patrick Sullivan, 29, was stopped Tuesday night with a loaded handgun in his pocket after residents had called to complain that a man had been brandishing a gun at motorists, cops said. He was easy to track down due to his facial tattoos.

The police report states that Sullivan told the cops that he had “a gun in my pocket,” but that he didn’t have a concealed weapons permit, “cause it’s expensive.”

Sullivan was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and he was released on $5,000 bond.

He told cops he works as a tattoo model.

Sullivan questioned why he was charged with a felony.

“The gun’s in my name, it’s not a dirty gun. Why they gonna charge me with a felony?” Sullivan told WTVJ-TV after being released.

When reminded he didn’t have a permit for the gun, Sullivan responded, “F**ck the permit. We live in America.”

‘Sons of Guns’ Reality Star Sentenced to Life in Prison for Child Rapes

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‘Sons of Guns’ ran from 2011 until 2014 on the Discovery Channel

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — A former star of the reality show “Sons of Guns” will spend the rest of his life behind bars after being found guilty of repeatedly raping two young girls.

Will Hayden, 51, was convicted in April of raping the two girls — one in the early 1990s and the other in 2013 and 2014 — when they were just 11- and 12-years-old. The younger woman, who is now 15, testified that Hayden raped her repeatedly over the course of two years.

“One test of society is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children,” East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore said.

Hayden and his family were stars of the show “Sons of Guns” which featured their Louisiana custom gun business, Red Jacket Firearms. The show ran from 2011 until 2014 on the Discovery Channel and was cancelled after Hayden was arrested on the rape charges.

The judge sentenced Hayden to concurrent life terms on the aggravated rape convictions, as well as 40-years for forcible rape. Hayden will not be eligible for probation, parole or a suspended sentence, the judge ruled, meaning he will spend the rest of his days behind bars, the Baton Rouge Advocate reported.

The reality show star testified in his own defense in the case to deny that he had raped the girls. His attorney says he is planning to appeal the verdict.

He also faces charges of aggravated incest involving his oldest daughter, Stephanie Hayden, who co-starred on the show. In 2014, she told Dr. Phil that her father once came into her bedroom one night when she was child, stinking drunk and pinched and kissed her while trying to take her clothes off. She told the talk show host she managed to escape and that he never did it again.

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.

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

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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.

Bounty Hunters Charged In Fatal Killing of Innocent Man Mistaken for a Fugitive

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CLARKSVILLE, Tennessee — Seven bounty hunters were charged with first degree murder for fatally shooting an innocent, unarmed man in a wild chase in Tennessee after they mistook him for a wanted fugitive.

Police say 24-year-old Jalen Johnson was killed and another man wounded when the bounty hunters descended upon a car they were in with two others in a Walmart parking lot on April 23.

Investigators say none of the men in the car were the person the bounty hunters were looking for and that Johnson, a father of three, was unarmed and had done nothing wrong.

The men took off in their vehicle after the bounty hunters opened fire. They gave chase for seven miles, ramming the vehicle and continuing to fire. The gunfire left Johnson dead and wounded a second passenger, cops said.

Johnson’s uncle, Toni Jenkins, told The Associated Press that his nephew and the others in the car thought they were being attacked by gang members, causing them to flee.

Bail bondsmen have the authority to hire or act as bounty hunters to bring in bail jumpers, but they can only use deadly force unless in self-defense.

The men charged include: William L. Byles, 31; Kenneth Chiasson, 38; Antwon D. Keesee, 32; Jonathan Schnepp, 31; Roger D. West, 31; Prentice L. Williams, 34 and Joshua Young, 27.

They face a charge of first-degree felony murder, three counts of attempted second-degree murder, three counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, attempted especially aggravated kidnapping, four counts of aggravated assault, employing a firearm in commission of a dangerous felony and felony reckless endangerment, police said.

Swinger Couple Charged With Assaulting Teen Girl in Sex Room in Their Home

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Cops found a sex room like this one hidden above the Germain’s garage

GOODHUE, Minnesota — A pair of Minnesota swingers have been charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl repeatedly over several months in an adult toy-filled sex room they had hidden in their home.

The Goodhue County Sheriff’s office said they were approached by the girl in January, saying that Michael Germain had raped her numerous times with the encouragement of his wife, Heather Germain, and that she had joined them in a threesome on at least one occasion.

Deputies executing a search warrant discovered a warren of electronically-locked rooms in the attic above their garage that were filled with sex toys, cameras, whips, chains and other bondage devices, the Red Wing Republican Eagle reported.

Michael and Heather Germain

Investigators also found cats of lubrication, disinfectant wipes and evidence of cocaine and methamphetamine on several items in the house.

The couple told investigators they engaged in the swinger lifestyle, but Michael Germain denied having sex with the young girl. But a search of video found at the house turned up footage and photos of the girl engaged in sexual activity.

Michael Germain, 43, has been charged with multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct as well as interference with the privacy of a minor. Heather Germain, 49,  has been charged with criminal sexual conduct, interference with the privacy of a minor and drug possession.