True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Creepy

Sicko Son Kills Dad, Stepmom With Machete For Trying to Stop Sex Assault

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Jesus Medrano III

KENOSHA, Wisconsin — A deranged sicko has been charged with killing his father and stepmother with a machete after they tried to stop him sexually assaulting a young relative, police said,

Investigators in Wisconsin say Jesus Medrano III, 24, had brought the weapon into the bedroom where he planned his assault with the intention of using it if anyone tried to stop him.

“This is as violent, assaultive and tragic a set of crimes that one can commit against their own family members,” said Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley, according to the Kenosha News. 

Police called to the house encountered a horrific scene with “blood all over the floor and along the walls.” According to the criminal complaint, Jesus Medrano Jr., 49, was lying in front of the door with his arm nearly severed and a stab wound to his stomach. His wife, Latrice Meyers-Medrano, 36 was lying face-down on a mattress. The scene was soaked with blood.

Cops say Medrano III confessed to having sexual thoughts about one of his young relatives, and went into her bedroom that night planning to sexually assault her, bringing a sock to gag her and a machete he planned to use in case his father tried to stop him.

According to the complaint, when he woke the sleeping girl she struggled, waking up another sibling that shared the room and alerting Medrano Jr., who came to find out what was wrong.

Graveley said that as soon as Medrano III realized his father did not believe him when he said nothing was wrong, so he stabbed his father in the stomach, then struck him in the shoulder. When his stepmother came into the room, he stabbed her as well.

Jesus Medrano Jr. and Latrice Meyers-Medrano

Medrano III said he fled when he heard his father saying they would call police, running to the home of a relative who lived a few blocks away. Other kids ran from the house to a neighbor who called 911.

Cops later found Medrano III, covered with blood and with a machete in his right hand. “Just kill me,” Medrano said, according to police who took  him into custody without incident.

Medrano III has been charged wiith two counts of first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree sexual assault and child abuse. He was held on $2.5 million bond.

Sick Border Agent Charged With Pouring Urine on Boss’ Desk on Last Day on Job

By HardBoiledNews Staff

TONAWANDA, New York — He crossed some serious borders here.

A former Border Patrol agent has been hit with federal charges after allegedly spraying urine on his supervisor’s desk on his last day on the job at a station on the Canadian border.

Prosecutors say Eduardo Flores Jr. was caught on camera splashing urine all over Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Brandon Steele’s desk, chair, keyboard, clothing, books and personal items, including picture frames, in the cubicle at the station in Tonawanda on Aug. 24.

Flores retired from the Border Patrol four days later and the day of the alleged vandalism was  Flores’ last day in the office.   

Steele, upon returning to work after three days off, “noticed an unpleasant scent” at the cubicle, according to the criminal complaint.

Video surveillance footage showed that Flores “began to spray/pour a substance throughout the cubicle” and over the supervisory agent’s belongings and “continued this action for about one minute,” the complaint states.   

Authorities said it cost $458 for a cleaning company to sanitize the cubicle.

Flores was charged with destruction of property. He faces up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine.

Husband Charged in Murder of Pregnant Schoolteacher Wife

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Richard Guichelaar

KENTWOOD, Michigan — A Michigan man has been charged with murder for allegedly strangling his pregnant school teacher wife in their bed, police said.

Richard Guichelaar, 35, was ordered held on $2 million bail for the Nov. 16 slaying of his 32-year-old wife, Amber, in their home in Kentwood, Michigan.

At the time of her death, Guichelaar called the cops to say he found his wife — a teacher at Kentwood Public Schools — dead in their bed. The couple had two kids and Amber was pregnant with their third.

Investigators said they immediately found the scene suspicious and eventually the medical examiner ruled that Amber had been strangled and had injuries consistent with having been assaulted. 

Detectives determined that her husband was the only one in the house at the time capable of strangling his wife and that his explanations of what had happened didn’t add up.

Guichelaar, who works for a landscaping and snow plowing business, argued at his arraignment that he was not a flight risk.

“Just know that I will show up for everything I’m supposed to and I’m not a risk, your honor,” he said, according to MLive.com.

His lawyer argued for some bail as his client had strong ties to the community.

Tomb Raiders Busted Stealing Skulls from Florida Cemetery for Religious Rituals

By HardBoiledNews Staff

MOUNT DORA, Florida — Cops nabbed a pair of ghoulish grave robbers who had been stealing skulls from a Florida cemetery for use in religious rituals.

Investigators with the Lake County Sheriff’s office managed to track the suspects down with the help of DNA evidence recovered from cigars found around the busted open crypts at the Edgewood Cemetery in Mount Dora.

The reprehensible robberies date back to Dec. 6, when cemetery workers found four tombs broken open and the bodies within mutilated, cops said.

When crime scene investigators found the cigar butts, they sent them off to the lab as possible evidence. In early January, analysis of the DNA retrieved from the cigars came back with a hit: 43-year-old Brian Montalvo Tolentino, of Davenport.

On Jan. 6, detectives obtained a search warrant for mouth swabs from Tolentino for a direct DNA comparison. When detectives interviewed Tolentino, they say he confessed to going to the cemetery with his pal, 39-year-old Juan Burgos Lopez, of Lake Wales, and committing the crimes. 

Tolentino stated that Lopez used a crowbar to open the vaults and then removed the skulls that were taken to be used for religious practices.

Detectives then obtained a search warrant for Lopez’s residence where they say they recovered the human remains from what appeared to be some sort of religious shrine. 

Both men were charged with four counts of disturbing the contents of a grave and four counts of abuse of a dead human body. They were each held on $40,000 bond.

Family Renovating S.C. Home Find Baby’s Remains Hidden in Wall

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The bones were found hidden in the wall of this house

PACOLET, S.C. — A family remodeling a house in South Carolina found bones from a baby inside a wall, the county coroner said.

Authorities gathered the remains on Saturday from the home in Pacolet, an old mill town. and will send them to a forensic anthropologist to study, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said in a statement.

It wasn’t immediately apparent how long ago the baby died, or how old it was at the time. The coroner described the bones as “fetal human skeletal remains.”

“Based on our limited information, it is believed the remains have been concealed for a long period of time,” Clevenger said.

Coroner’s Office investigators will work with an anthropologist to determine the identity of the baby, how the child might have died and how the remains ended up inside the wall of the home.

It will likely take several months to finish the work, the coroner said.

Man Kicks In Ex-Boss’ Door Over Slow Reply to Facebook Friend Request

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Caleb Burczyk just wants to be friends

WILLISTON, North Dakota — There’s a reason this guy doesn’t have many friends.

A North Dakota man has been charged with terrorizing his ex-boss by kicking in his door after the man didn’t respond to his Facebook friend request quickly enough, authorities said.

Police say Caleb Burczyk, 29, started sending aggressive Facebook friend requests to his former employer starting the day before Christmas, some which included threats.

“Accept my friend request or I’m going to murder you,’” investigators quoted Burczyk as writing in an affidavit filed in court, according to the Williston Herald.

On Dec. 26, Burczyk said there would be trouble for his former boss if Burczyk had to fire up his pickup and come find him, the document said. That message included a photo of his truck.

Later that day, the victim’s door was kicked in.

Burczyk layer posted a photo of himself on Snapchat with a message about his boss’ family needing a new door. That photo showed him in a black cap, black vest and red and black plaid long-sleeve shirt, court documents state.

Security footage from Dec. 26 showed the man who kicked in the door of the home on Creekside Drive wearing the same outfit.

Burczyk has been charged with counts of burglary and terrorizing. He was held on $25,000 bond and  is due back in court Jan. 27.

Hungry Thieves Make Off With Brooklyn Restaurant’s Pasta

By HardBoiledNews Staff

NEW YORK —  Pasta la vista, baby.

A bolognese-loving burglar broke into a Brooklyn restaurant and made off with all its homemade pasta while leaving behind its pricey booze and kitchen equipment.

Workers at Borsalia — a recently opened eatery in Williamsburg — say the thief got inside the night of Christmas Eve by breaking the lock on a hatch on the sidewalk and then drilling a hole into the wall that separated the entrance from the kitchen.

Once inside, the thieves cleared out all 15 pounds of the restaurant’s pasta, which had been made the day before by the kitchen staff. The purloined pasta included ravioli, cappelletti, tagliatelle and gnocchi.

The haul was so unusual, that staffers didn’t even notice the pasta was gone until the cops arrived and were taking a close look around.

“We went downstairs and found this big hole in the wall…but everything in the restaurant was perfect,” Manager Cristiano Rossi told Patch. “When the police came we went into the kitchen and we opened the pasta storage — it was empty.”

He said that aside from the carbo-haul, the only other thing missing was about $40 from a tip jar

Rossi said cops fingerprinted the kitchen and collected camera footage from nearby businesses, but have not had any updates in the case since. He said Borsalia had not yet set up its own camera system since it opened only a month ago.

The heist left Borsalia’s kitchen crew working all day and night on Christmas to replace the pasta supply.

Rossi said the only reason he could imagine why someone would go to the trouble is because their pasta is so good.

“Our pasta is in high demand and is of the highest value,” he said.

Serial Killer Charged in Cold Case Murder of 9-Year-old Girl in California

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Michaela Joy Garecht and David Misch

OAKLAND, California — A jailed serial killer has been charged with the kidnapping and murder of a 9-year-old girl who disappeared without a trace from a store parking lot 32 years ago, authorities said.

David Misch, 59, was connected to the unsolved disappearance of Michaela Joy Garecht in Hayward, California on November 19, 1988, through a partial palm print and two eyewitnesses who picked his photo out of a lineup.

The brazen kidnapping occurred in broad daylight outside the Rainbow Market after she and a friend had taken their scooters there to buy snacks. Her body has never been found. 

“The kidnap and murder of a child is horrific. The pain to the family and friends is indescribable, especially when their child is not found. This crime shocked not just the local community, but the entire Bay Area and the nation,” said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. 

After Garecht and her friend came out of the shop, they found that one of their scooters had been moved behind a car parked in a nearby space. When Garecht went to retrieve it, the driver of the car grabbed her as she walked past his door. He forced her screaming into the front seat of the car and sped away, authorities said.

All detectives had to work with was a partial palmprint found on the scooter.

Prosecutors say that around the 30th anniversary of the kidnapping, they took another look at the evidence and had a fingerprint examiner review a list of names of persons of interest, one being Misch’s.The print was a match.

Authorities say their ability now to compare prints has been significantly advanced through software and technology.

Misch, who is currently incarcerated for a 1989 murder of a woman. He has also been charged with two other notorious cold case killings — the 1986 slayings of Michelle Xavier, 18, and Jennifer Duey, 20, who were brutally raped and murdered on their way back from a birthday party.

When police tried to interview Misch about Garecht’s disappearance, he refused. He also refused to comply with a warrant for his fingerprints and DNA, even after being told it could exonerate him from the crime, police say.

His attorney, Ernie Castillo, described his client as a “loving father, a caring son and a good brother.”

“He is not someone who would hurt or kill a child. David denies the allegations against him and will fight these charges,” Castillo said in a statement to this the East Bay Times.

Parents Lose Lawsuit Over Destruction of Son’s Porn Stash

By HardBoiledNews Staff

GRAND HAVEN, Michigan — An elderly couple took a real legal spanking when a judge ordered that they must pay their son for destroying his massive pornography and sex toy collection.

Paul and Beth Werking, of Grand Haven, were sued by their 42-year-old son David Werking after they destroyed his collection of DVDs, VHS tapes and other pornographic materials in 2018. The younger Werking estimated the value of the collection to be around $25,000.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court, David Werking claimed his parents illegally destroyed his porno stash after he left it behind at their home when he moved out at the “request of local law enforcement” in 2017. He now lives in Indiana.

Emails between the father and son, described the collection as including 12 moving boxes “full of pornography plus two boxes of sex toys.” David Werking included an itemized list of the destroyed property, including 1,605 titles of pornographic DVDs and VHS tapes. The collection also included at least 50 sex toys. 

Some of the titles David Werking described as irreplaceable. But his old man didn’t see it that way.

“Frankly, David, I did you a big favor by getting rid of all this stuff for you,” Werking’s father wrote in an email, citing concerns for his son’s emotional and mental health, the Holland Sentinel reported.

The elder Werkings told their son they were unwilling to transport the porn to him in Muncie, Ind., and were uncomfortable having it in their home. 

A final judgment on damages has not yet been determined.

The lawyer for the parents said she has  hired pornography expert Victoria Hartmann, the executive director of the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas, to help determine those damages.

Male Escort Admits Screwing Uncle Sam Out of Nearly $300K in Taxes

By HardBoiledNews Staff

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — You’ll never get away with trying to screw Uncle Sam.

A Florida man has pleaded guilty to stiffing the feds out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes from earnings he made working as a high-priced male escort, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities say Jami Kopacz, of Fort Lauderdale, admitted using his company, JK Training, through which he booked many of his trysts, as a vehicle to hide his real income and avoid paying tax.

Federal prosecutors say Kopacz ran the scam from 2015 through 2018, filing false corporate and personal tax returns that “substantially underreported” his income.

The fraud ultimately cost Uncle Sam more than $278,000 in lost tax revenue, prosecutors said

He faces a minimum of three years in prison and will be required to pay the money back.

Santa and His Elves Go Undercover, Bust Several Thieves at California Mall

By HardBoiledNews Staff

RIVERSIDE, California — This gives a whole new meaning to SantaCon.

Undercover cops dressed as Santa and his elves made several busts of shoplifters and suspected car thieves at a shopping mall in California.

The Riverside police say they had assigned officers from their property crimes unit to work with store detectives at the Target store in the busy Canyon Springs shopping center last week. 

Dubbing the operation, “Santa’s intervention,” in a matter of hours, the cops made several arrests, including one where Santa tackled a suspect to the ground.

“As the suspects exited the store with merchandise they just stole, Santa and his elf were waiting to take them into custody for the theft,” the department wrote on its Facebook page.

In one bust, the officers nabbed a woman walking out of the store with a shopping cart full of stolen items. They also found illegal narcotics in her pockets.

A second arrest involved a local transient who cops say is a habitual thief at this particular store. Store detectives recognized him as he entered the store but stopped him before he could steal again. He was subsequently arrested for trespassing and being in possession of illegal narcotics.

The third arrest involved 55-year-old Patrick Seilsopour who allegedly stole expensive Lego toy sets totaling $1,000. He was arrested outside the store by Santa and his elf for grand theft. Cops say Seilsopour is believed to have committed similar retail thefts at several Target stores in the region.

Toward the conclusion of the operation, detectives received information about three suspicious men casing vehicles in the shopping center parking lot.  One of the undercover detectives spotted the men in the act of stealing an older white Honda CR-V. 

Two of the suspects saw the detective and ran off but were quickly apprehended by the other officers.  One suspect resisted arrest but was taken into custody with the help of the undercover Santa, who tackled him to the ground. 

Another suspect was detained by the undercover elf, who held him at gunpoint. The third suspect who actually stole the Honda, managed to get away but the vehicle was found abandoned nearby. Cops say they know who the man is.

Florida Woman Hid Dead Roomie’s Body for Months to Keep Collecting His Social Security

By HardBoiledNews Staff

It wasn’t quite Weekend at Bernie’s

BRADENTON, Florida — A ghoulish Florida grifter hid her dead housemate’s body in a garbage bin for months so she could keep collecting social security payments, police said.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s office says Michelle Haney, 48, admitted she found 39-year-old Jon Leonard dead back in July in the mobile home they shared.

But instead of calling police, she first hid his body in a closet for three weeks. When the smell became too unbearable, she moved Leonard’s corpse to a sealed trash can, police said.

Haney then took the trash can to a neighbor’s house and asked if she could store it in his carport for a while. The neighbor agreed, but when she didn’t return for it after several months, the man opened it up and smelled a foul odor, so he called the police.

Investigators discovered a body in an advanced state of decomposition.

Haney told detectives that she failed to report Leonard’s death in order to continue to collect his social security payments. 

She has been charged with abusing a dead body and will likely face other charges, cops said.

Leonard’s exact cause of death has yet to be determined pending the completion of an autopsy.

NY Doctor Pleads Guilty to Writing Opioid Prescriptions in Exchange for Sex

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Joseph Santiamo faces up to 20 years in the clink

TRENTON, New Jersey — A sicko New York doctor has pleaded guilty to writing prescriptions for addicts for powerful painkillers in exchange for sexual favors.

Joseph Santiamo, 65, a geriatric medicine specialist in Staten Island, admitted he handed out scripts for thousands of pills of oxycodone to young clients who were obviously struggling with addiction, federal prosecutors in New Jersey said.

“This defendant knowingly prescribed for his patients dangerous quantities of oxycodone, and even more egregiously, solicited sexual favors from certain patients who were struggling with substance abuse in exchange for writing them additional opioid prescriptions,” U.S. Attorney Carpenito said.

 “Many of these patients were dealing with pain and addiction, and instead of getting help from their doctor, they were drawn deeper into the cycle of drug abuse. His admission of guilt today ensures that he will be appropriately punished for this behavior,” Carpenito added.

Santiamo admitted in court that from 2012 until 2018 he prescribed large quantities of oxycodone to patients without legitimate medical purpose. 

Prosecutors said that for a number of his patients, there was no medical necessity for Santiamo to treat them with oxycodone, nor to prescribe the large quantities that he did. Santiamo also solicited sexual favors from certain of his younger patients in exchange for oxycodone prescriptions. 

In some instances, Santiamo did this despite evidence that certain patients were abusing opioids, prosecutors said.

“The only difference between him and a person who deals drugs on the street is the white lab coat he wears,” said Susan Gibson, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division.

Santiamo faces up  to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced in April.

Alleged Serial Killer Now Charged With 17 Murders in Texas Retirement Homes

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Billy Chemirmir allegedly posed as a maintenance worker to gain access to his victim’s homes

DALLAS — An alleged serial killer accused of sneaking into retirement homes to smother elderly residents and steal their belongings has been indicted in three new deaths, bringing the total number of capital murder cases against him to 17.

Billy Chemirmir, 48, has been accused in indictments, lawsuits and medical examiner reports with the deaths of 24 elderly people in North Texas. If convicted, Chemirmir could face the death penalty. He has pleaded innocent and is being held in lieu of $11.6 million bail.

The new charges against Chemirmir involved three elderly women killed at the Tradition-Prestonwood luxury senior living complex in Dallas in 2016 and 2017. The women had all been previously identified as possible victims of Chemirmir in civil lawsuits against the facility.

In previous cases, Chemirmir is believed to have smothered his victims with a pillow or choked them to death. Investigators say Chemirmir often posed as a maintenance worker to gain access to the victim’s apartments and later sold or pawned their jewelry.

Many of the deaths now attributed to Chemirmir were initially listed as natural causes with the deaths often not investigated because there was no suspicion of foul play.

In all three of the new cases, jewelry and other valuables were reported missing from the women’s rooms after they were found dead.

Chemirmir’s lawyer, Phillip Hayes, told the Dallas Morning News that much of the evidence against his client is circumstantial, and that while it may put him in the area of an alleged murder, it doesn’t prove he was the killer.

“It seems like every unexplained death they come up with, they’re pinning on him,” Hayes said. “If you look at all of it, it doesn’t stand up.”

The Tradition-Prestonwood home said in a statement that it relied on investigators who initially ruled the deaths as natural causes.

“Those rulings stood for more than 27 months,” the statement says. “The Tradition-Prestonwood has cooperated with all the authorities and will continue to do so.”

Chemirmir’s reign of terror ended in March 2018, when a 91-year-old woman survived an attack by him and reported it to police. She said the man told her to “Go to bed and don’t fight me,” before putting a pillow over her head and then making off with her jewelry.

Cops were able to connect Chemirmir to the attack through his license plate number which a witness had taken down after spotting a suspicious vehicle in the area. Over time, investigators have been able to connect him to many other cases.

Devil Worshipper Awaiting Trial For Killing Teen Charged in New Fatal Shooting

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Edward O’Neal’s parents say he worshipped the devil

HOUSTON — A teenaged devil worshipper who made headlines in 2016 for stabbing a 16-year-old to death and dumping his body in the woods, has allegedly shot and killed another man while he awaits trial for the first slaying.

Edward O’Neal IV, now 23, has been charged with fatally shooting his cousin’s ex-boyfriend, Derrick Mike after being released in August following four years in custody as he underwent mental competency evaluations for the earlier killing.

O’Neal had been charged in 2016 with stabbing his 16-year-old pal, Ryan Roberts, to death and hiding his body in a wooded area. Soon after the killing, O’Neal tried to take his own life.

O’Neal’s mother told authorities at the time that her son, who suffers from mental health issues and developmental disabilities. They said he had recently been worshipping the devil and had killed two family pets. 

Since then, he has been held in the county jail on $50,000 bond until he was deemed fit for trial. Earlier this year, the bond was lowered to $25,000 and he was released in August.

In the more recent slaying, O’Neal allegedly shot Mike multiple times as he came to collect his belongings from his ex-girlfriend’s house and move out. O’Neal’s mother told cops that her son told her his cousin asked him to kill Mike because he cheated on her. 

She then told investigators “that her son had mental issues and that she is afraid of what else he might do,” according to the Houston Chronicle.

The cousin told cops she could not find her gun following the shooting and spotted O’Neal running away after hearing gunfire.

S.C. Man Guns Down 72-Year-Old Woman in Fight Over Feral Cats

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Sean Malahy faces murder charges

LEXINGTON, South Carolina — An argument over feeding feral cats turned deadly when a South Carolina man pulled a gun and shot his 72-year-old neighbor in the face, cops said.

Police in Lexington, South Carolina say the incident unfolded Thursday evening when a friend of 49-year-old Sean Malahy got into a fight with Judy Dyanne Burnett about feeding feral cats behind the Town Square shopping center.

Malahy soon joined in the argument which then turned physical. That led Malahay to pull out a gun and shoot Burnett in the face, cops said. She died while paramedics rushed her to the hospital.

Investigators say Malahy and Burnett had been in an ongoing rivalry for years over who would feed, trap and release the feral cats that live behind businesses in a wooded area along Lexington’s West Main Street.

Malahy was charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime and was held without bail

N.Y. Charter Jet Company Owner Busted for Child Sex Trafficking

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Paul Alexander ran Central Jet Charter

NEW YORK — A creepy charter jet company owner who is a registered sex offender has been charged with trafficking underage girls as young as 12 for sex, prosecutors said.

Paul Alexander, 57, of the Bronx, was busted in a sting dubbed “Operation Mile High,” which drew its name from the fact that he is the chief executive of Central Jet Charter Inc., which provides private jets to wealthy travellers.

Alexander is a two-time felon with convictions for sex assault and child pornography.

Authorities caught on to Alexander in March, when an underage girl told cops that he had  sexually abused her and other underage girls, and pimped them out to other men, the New York attorney general’s office said.

After a months-long probe involving covert recording devices, social media, and undercover operations, investigators determined that Alexander was trafficking children across county lines for sex. 

The case was sealed when Alexander offered sex with a 12-year-old victim and a 14-year-old victim to an undercover officer for $300. Alexander encouraged the undercover officer to use alcohol and marijuana to make the victims more cooperative, prosecutors said.

Alexander, who was being held without bail, faces up to 50 years in prison—where he has served time several times over the years. He’s a Level 3 registered sex offender from a 1996 sexual assault conviction against a female of unknown age, and in 2o03 he was convicted of possession of an obscene performance by a child who was not a stranger to him.

The case marks the first time Attorney General Leticia James has charged a defendant with a newly enacted law that makes tit easier to prosectuor those who traffic children for sex.

“There is nothing more reprehensible than sexually exploiting a child,” James said.

Chinese Lehigh U. Chemistry Student Admits Poisoning Black Roommate

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Yukai Kang faces up to 20 years for poisoning Juwan Royal who still suffers effects two years later

BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania —  A former Lehigh University chemistry student from China has pleaded guilty to spiking his roommate’s food and drink with a toxic heavy metal once used as rat poison.

Yukai Yang, 24, acknowledged he purchased thallium in March 2018 and began giving it to his roommate, Juwan Royal. 

Yang had also been charged with vandalizing the dorm room he shared with Royal with racist graffiti, reading, “N****r get out of here,” but those charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement. Royal is Black. 

Royal testified that he had lost weight and suffered headaches and nausea as a result of the poisoning. He likened the pain from the poisoning to being stabbed with “hundreds of tiny knives.” 

Royal was diagnosed with heavy metal poisoning in April 2018. Thallium is odorless and tasteless, and can be fatal in humans. The metal is used internationally in electronics manufacturing and for other purposes. It once was used in rat poison in the US, but has been banned for that use since the 1970s.

Prosecutors said Yang spiked Royal’s food, beverages and mouthwash with small amounts of thallium from February through April 2018. 

Royal first called police in February that year when he drank from a water bottle in his room and his tongue began to burn. He said he woke up Yang to tell him what happened and washed his mouth out, but his tongue remained sore for a few days.

Then on March 18 Royal got sick again and police were called once more.

Prosecutors said Yang told officers that the milk in the refrigerator and Royal’s mouthwash had changed color. He told officers he believed someone was tampering with the belongings in their room.

Royal became sick again on the morning of March 29 when he began throwing up and shaking. He was taken to the hospital for treatment.

About a week later, the racist graffiti showed up on Royal’s bed and police were called again.

Yang provided a written statement that said he left the room and locked the door. But prosecutors said police compared the graffiti with Yang’s letters and saw similarities. 

After Yang’s computer was seized, he admitted to buying chemicals online but said it was intended to harm himself if his grades started to decline. He did admit to mixing the chemicals with food and drinks in the dorm refrigerator.

Northampton County Deputy District Attorney Richard Pepper said Royal spent about two years in physical therapy because of neurological damage from the poison, according to Lehigh Valley Live.

‘Two and a half years later he’s still having neurological issues with his toes,’ Pepper said.

Yang faces between six to 20 years in state prison when he’s sentenced on January 21. 

He is not a US citizen, and his student visa was revoked after his arrest. The judge told Yang he will likely face deportation to China upon completing his sentence.

Brazilian ‘Pregnant’ Woman Busted Smuggling Coke in Fake Baby Bump

By HardBoiledNews Staff

GUARA, Brazil — She gave birth to a criminal charge.

A Brazilian woman pretending to be pregnant was caught smuggling a baby-sized block of cocaine concealed inside a watermelon shell tucked under her shirt. 

The São Paulo woman had boarded a bus bound for Rio De Janeiro while pretending to be pregnant, but was searched after authorities received a tipoff about a narcotics smuggling ring, according to the São Paulo police.

A search revealed that the woman’s so-called “baby bump” was actually a watermelon harboring four bricks of cocaine paste that weighed around 4.5 pounds total.

The woman confessed that she had been paid $100 to take the coke from Paraguay to Rio.

São Paulo police described the ploy as having “creativity without limit.” The woman has been charged with drug smuggling.

Russian Police Bust ‘Volga Maniac’ Serial Killer Behind at Least 26 Slayings

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Radik Tagirov

KAZAN, Russia — Russian investigators have arrested a long-wanted serial killer known as the “Volga maniac,” who stands accused of murdering at least 26 elderly women in their homes.

The suspect, identified as 38-year-old Radik Tagirov, was arrested in the city of Kazan in southwestern Russia as the result of a years-long investigation into dozens of murders in 2011 and 2012 that police have long believed had been committed by a single person.

The serial killer was dubbed the “Volga maniac” because many of the slayings were committed in 12 cities situated along the Volga River, Europe’s longest waterway.

Tagirov had previously been convicted in 2009 for theft and was connected to the killings through DNA evidence and shoe prints found at some of the crime scenes, cops said.

Most of the victims were elderly women, between 75- and 90-years-old, who lived alone. Investigators said that the suspect posed as a social services or utilities worker to enter the apartments.

Once inside, police say Tagirov strangled the women with his hands or nearby objects, and would often take valuables and money from their homes. Investigators have suggested that the total number of victims could be as high as 32, which would make Tagirov one of the most prolific serial killers in modern Russia.

In a video released by the police online, a handcuffed Tagirov admits he committed murders but he didn’t specify how many. When asked by the police why all his victims were elderly women and why he decided to kill them instead of just robbing them, he said he had no explanation.

“All that happened spontaneously. I wanted to eat. I lived partly on the street,” he said when answering what motivated him to commit his first murder. He said he couldn’t recall when exactly it took place.

Tagirov said that he chose to strangle the women as he thought it was “quiet, fast” and “painless for them.” 

The suspect reportedly committed his first murder back in 2011 in Kazan. Within months that year several more women were found in the city. One woman survived, but was blind so was unable to describe the attacker.

Ex-Indiana Cop Charged in Bizarre Oxygen Tank Theft Insurance Scam

By HardBoiledNews Staff

VERSAILLES, Indiana — It was all a bunch of hot air.

Police in Indiana say a former sheriff’s deputy has been charged with an elaborate insurance fraud scheme in which he repeatedly claimed tanks of oxygen had been stolen from his home.

James Gholson, 35, managed to rake in over $250,000 in the scam in which he allegedly used forged police report forms to make claims about the purported robberies, detectives said.

During the time of the scam, Gholson served as a reserve deputy with the Jennings County Sheriff’s Office, and later a full-time deputy. He resigned in June 2020 when the investigation began. He was arrested after a six-month probe.

The Indiana State Police say Gholson had a side business operating an oxygen supply company from his home in Elizabethtown. In 2018 and 2019 he made several claims with his business and homeowner’s insurance companies claiming thousands of dollars of equipment had been stolen.

James Gholson

In one claim, he was paid over $100,000 by one company and over $87,000 by another. In another claim, he received a $56,000 payout from one company and $10,000 from another, cops said.

Investigators later determined that he used false invoices showing that he possessed the equipment he claimed had been stolen, and a false police report showing that he had reported the theft to the Jennings County Sheriff’s Office.

The scam began to unravel in November 2019, when he tried to file a claim that he had a trailer with two mowers stolen from his property, providing a false invoice showing he had purchased the equipment and a fraudulent police report from the Jennings County Sheriff’s Office.  

The insurance company grew suspicious and began investigating, ultimately denying the claim. They then passed the info on to Indiana authorities.

He was arrested on Monday and charged with  insurance fraud, official misconduct and forgery.

Jail-Cell Killer of Britain’s ‘Worst Pedophile’ Convicted of Murder

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Richard Huckle had been serving 22 life sentences for child rape

HULL, United Kingdom — An inmate has been convicted of murdering “Britain’s worst pedophile” in a prison cell attack he called “poetic justice” for the children the victim had abused.

Paul Fitzgerald, 30, said he wanted Richard Huckle to feel what his victims had felt, so he  strangled him with electrical wire, inserted a sharpened pen into his brain and stuck a kitchen utensil into his anus and lower bowel.

Jurors at Hull Crown Court took just an hour to convict Fitzgerald of murder after a four-day trial.

Prosecutors said the October 2019 attack was designed to “humiliate and degrade” Huckle, who had been serving 22 life sentences for assaulting dozens of children while working as a photographer and Christian teacher in Malaysia.

Prosecutors acknowledged that Huckle was a “predatory paedophile” who was “notorious in the press.” They said Fitzgerald told doctors he had sexually assaulted Huckle, even though he did not find him sexually attractive.

“He felt that it was poetic justice and he wanted Richard Huckle to feel what all those children had felt,” prosecutor Alistair MacDonald told the court. 

“The insertion of an object into his anus, and possibly into his brain as well, was, say the prosecution, a form of punishment associated with the offending which had led Mr Huckle to prison.”

The court heard that Fitzgerald took a number of objects to Huckle’s cell  – including weapons fashioned by the defendant, such as a melted toothbrush with a screw inserted, and items used as a ligature and bindings for the victim’s hands and feet.

Mr MacDonald said: “This was a carefully planned and executed attack, in the course of which Mr Huckle had been subjected to a prolonged attack also designed to humiliate and degrade him.”

He said Fitzgerald told staff after the attack at the East Yorkshire prison that he “enjoyed” it and would have gone on to kill other inmates but he was “having too much fun”.

He also said he had “murdered Mr Huckle in cold blood” and would like to have cooked bits of his body.

Fitzgerald denied murder and said his medical conditions – including mixed personality disorder, psychopathy and gender identity disorder – had impaired his ability to exercise self-control.

The court heard on Monday that the defendant said he had “constant ruminations” in his mind about torture, rape and murder, and said: “My problem is I just don’t have the ability to control myself.

“I don’t have the ability to look at people and see them as human beings. I don’t value them, I don’t care about them.

“I don’t feel bad about hurting people, I don’t have the capacity to feel remorse.”

Scientists Counting Sheep Discover Unexplained Monolith in Rugged Utah Wilderness

By HardBoiledNews Staff

IN REMOTE SOUTHERN UTAH — Researchers surveying bighorn sheep in the rugged wilderness of southern Utah discovered a mysterious metal monolith erected amid the barren rocky landscape.

Members of Utah’s division of wildlife were riding aboard a department of public safety chopper when they spotted the shining structure among the arid red-rock landscape. 

The structure, which stands about 12 feet tall, appeared to be planted in the ground, officials said. 

“During the counts we came across this, in the middle of nowhere, buried deep in the rock. Inquiring minds want to know, what the heck is it? Anyone?” the public safety department posted on Instagram.

The helicopter pilot, Bret Hutchings, told local news channel KSL-TV: “That’s been about the strangest thing that I’ve come across out there in all my years of flying.”

Hutchings was helping wildlife resource officers count bighorn sheep in the south of the state.

“One of the biologists is the one who spotted it and we just happened to fly directly over the top of it,” Hutchings said. “He was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And he’s like, ‘There’s this thing back there – we’ve got to go look at it!’”

Hutchings said the object looked manmade and appeared to have been firmly planted in the ground, not dropped from the sky.

“I’m assuming it’s some new wave artist or something or, you know, somebody that was a big 2001: A Space Odyssey fan,” Hutchings said.

The monolith and its setting resembled a famous scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film, in which a group of apes encounter a giant slab.

Bighorn sheep live in some of Utah’s most rugged and remote areas and survive in hostile climate conditions. Fearing amateur explorers might get stuck in the wilderness while seeking out the monolith, the flight crew have not revealed its exact location.

Jail Guard Who Tortured Teen With Stun Gun Sentenced to 5 Years

By HardBoiledNews Staff

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — A former Tennessee jail guard convicted of torturing a teen who had been tied to a chair with a stun gun has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Mark Bryant, 42, had been convicted in federal court in January of repeatedly tasing an 18-year-old Jordan Norris, who was restrained and surrounded by officers inside the Cheatham County jail for nearly a minute back in 2016. 

Bryant returned two hours later and tased Norris again, this time while the detainee was handcuffed, shackled, and compliant, prosecutors said.

 As a result, Norris suffered burns that an officer on the scene described as making his skin look like “raw hamburger meat.”  As the senior officer at the scene, Bryant then directed his colleagues not to submit reports about the abuse.

“The extraordinary abuse of power displayed by Bryant was both disturbing and disappointing to the many fine men and women in law enforcement who strive every day to carry out their duties with honor and professionalism,” said U.S. Attorney Donald Cochran.  

Mark Bryant

Bryant’s first federal trial ended with a hung jury.But in January, a jury convicted Bryant of two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law. The jury acquitted Bryant of two counts of obstruction of justice and one count of lying to the FBI.

Family members said Norris had never been in jail before the night he was abused. They said Norris had frequent nightmares and severe chest pain and that he fell into deep and prolonged depression after the tasings.

Two years after the incident, and after Cheatham County settled a civil lawsuit about the tasing, Norris was found dead in his home. Family members say it was a drug overdose.

Biker Racing With Big Bag of Meth Wrecks, Shoots Self, is Hit by Car, Lives

By HardBoiledNews Staff

KANSAS CITY, Kansas — It just wasn’t his day.

A man carrying a large bag of meth wrecked his motorcycle during a drag race and then accidentally shot himself before being hit by a passing car, cops said.

The Kansas City, Kansas police department said the man was racing on his bike Thursday night when he “lost control and wrecked.”

During the crash, a gun the man had tucked into his waistband went off, shooting him in the hip. After he came to a rest, a passing car hit him and fled the scene, cops said.

He was taken to a local hospital with critical but non-life-threatening injuries. 

The man, whose name was not released, had a felony record, and officers discovered a “large bag of suspected methamphetamine” in his motorcycle, cops said.