Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Worst Driving Instructor Ever Charged With Driving Drunk During Lesson

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Russell Cohen was a very bad driving instructor

RIDGE, New York — Do as I say, but definitely not as I do.

A Long Island driving instructor was arrested after his four teenage students called 911 after they grew nervous that he was driving drunk, police said.

Russell Cohen, who was working as a substitute teacher for the Suffolk Auto Driving School, was arrested after the students managed to get him to pull over at a McDonald’s at about 11 a.m., according to the Suffolk County Police Department.

The teens said Cohen had been behaving erratically and saying inappropriate things to the female students in the car, so they asked a restaurant employee to call 911, Newsday reported.

When the kids didn’t come out, Cohen sped off and  crashed into the rear end of another car less than an hour later, authorities said.

The 29-year-old driver of the other car was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Cohen, 58, was not hurt, but was charged with aggravated DWI and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

“I’m happy I’m alive,” said student Matt McGeough, 16, of Holbrook.

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Man Claims Axe-Wielding Ghost Planted Meth Cops Found In His House

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Michael Auttonberry turns ghostly when he smokes meth, apparently

WEST MONROE, Louisiana — Stay away from whatever this guy is smoking.

A Louisiana man was busted after claiming to cops that a ghost planted drugs on him after he was hit in the head with an axe.

Police say Michael Auttonberry, 59, had no visible wounds to his head when they responded to a report that he had been stabbed at his home in West Monroe, according to an arrest report from the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office, the Smoking Gun reported.

When deputies arrived, Auttonberry not only shouted at them, but also at people “who were obviously not there,” the arrest record said. Officials noted in their report that Auttonberry had not been stabbed in the head with an axe as he’d claimed.

Deputies also were unable to locate the intruders Auttonberry said were in his home.

When officers discovered a pile of crystal meth on his nightstand, Auttonberry allegedly told them that it had to have been planted by a “ghost or intruders” who happened to be climbing out a nearby window.

Auttonberry was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance and giving a false police report.

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Authorities Discover Crack Pipe Vending Machines Installed in Public Places

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Officials found three such vending machines seling crack pipes

CORAM, New York — Officials seized three vending machines that purported to be selling pens but actually dispensed carefully disguised crack pipes.

The blue-and-white dispensers mysteriously appeared outside a housing complex, a Home Depot and shopping mall on Long Island.

But while the machines offered “pens” for $2, a close inspection of what came out revealed a hidden glass tube and set of filters — a virtual crack pipe kit.

Authorities were alerted to the machines after residents grew angry and, in one case, smashed one of them open with a sledgehammer.

“There are some people who think they’re going to make some money out of this and prey on a community and promote drug use in a community,” Brookhaven Town supervisor Ed Romaine said at a news conference. “They’re going to be sadly mistaken.”

Officials pulled up three machines over the weekend on the grounds that they violated local codes against alerting public property.

While three machines have been located, officials said they couldn’t be certain there weren’t others and asked the public to report any more that they had seen.

 

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Florida Couple Busted Running Drive-Thru Drug Window Out of Mobile Home

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William Parrish and McKenzee Dobbs’s drive-thru drew the attention of cops after a spate of overdoses in the area

OCALA, Florida — Business was a little too brisk.

A Florida couple operating a drive-thru window to sell drugs from their mobile home were raided by cops after a spate of overdoses in the area, authorities said.

William Parrish Jr. and McKenzee Dobbs of Ocala, Florida, were arrested on Aug. 23 after they turned a kitchen window into a drive-thru so customers would not have to constantly come and go from their home and draw unwanted attention, WFTV-TV reported.

The couple were so brazen and businesslike, they even hung up signs directing people where to drive and indicating whether they were open or closed, police said.

“We were seeing some overdose incidents that were happening in this particular area, specifically at this particular location,” said Ocala Police Capt. Steven Cuppy. “There [were] some heroin sales that were going on there. Subsequently, through the investigation, we were able to determine that product was laced with fentanyl.”

Parrish, 32, was charged with driving under the influence, keeping a dwelling used to sell drugs, possession of drugs with intent to sell and resisting arrest without violence, according to Marion County Sheriff’s Office inmate records.

Dobbs, 20, has been charged with keeping a dwelling used to sell drugs, possession of drugs with intent to sell, possession of fentanyl and possession of fentanyl with intent to sell, court records show.

William Parrish Sr. told WFTV his son had been on methadone and was “trying to get himself straightened out” and maintained reports of overdoses were a “lie.”

 

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Weather Gal Busted in Boozy Bar Brawl With TV Anchor Over Hubby

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Anchor Erica Bivens (l) suffered a fractured skull and ruptured ear drum in the tussle with weather girl, Chelsea Ambriz

CHARLESTON, West Virginia — The weather girl on a local TV news broadcast was arrested after allegedly fracturing the show anchor’s skull in a boozed-up bar brawl over the anchor’s husband.

Meteorologist Chelsea Ambriz, 26, was charged with battery after allegedly tackling WSAZ-TV station anchor Erica Bivens and knocking her to the ground. Bivens was left with a fractured skull and ruptured ear drum in the tussle, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

Bivens had been out drinking with her husband, Donald, in Charleston when the couple bumped into Ambriz at the local Broadway Bar in downtown Charleston, according to a police report obtained by TV news blog, Ftvlive.com.

Ambriz, who works with Biven on the station’s 4 p.m. newscast, began flirting with Donald — but he spurned her advances, according to the police report.

Bivens, who already had a rocky relationship with Ambriz allegedly confronted the weather girl about making moves on her man.

That’s when Ambriz allegedly lunged at Bivens — causing both of them to tumble to the ground near a bartender’s station, according to the police report.

Bivens was rushed to the hospital with hearing loss and a lump on her head.

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Florida Crackhead Busted in Theft of Donation Jar for 7-Year-Old Shooting Victim

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Tammy Crews was caught on camera swiping the donation jar

JACKSONVILLE, Florida  — A cold-hearted thief who stole a collection jar containing $600 for the family of a 7-year-old girl killed in a stray-bullet shooting, has been arrested, police say.

Tammy Crews, 46, was  arrested on Saturday, after getting caught on surveillance video grabbing the donation jar of the counter at Tapatio Restaurant in Jacksonville, shoving it in her bag and swiftly walking out.

The restaurant was collecting money for the family of Heydi Rivas-Villaneuva, who was shot while sitting in a parked car after a gun battle erupted between two men standing on either side of the vehicle.

Police say the restaurant had collected about $600 in donations when Crews nabbed the container.

According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office, Crews “admitted that she took the donation jar and used the money to support her crack cocaine addiction.”

Once cops posted the surveillance video to Facebook, they were flooded with tips and caught up to Crews the next day, just a few blocks from the restaurant.

Tammy Crews

After cops began speaking to her, she admitted carrying a crack pipe for which she was detained. Once back at the precinct, she admitted she had stolen the jar and spent much of the cash on drugs.

Three people have been arrested in connection with the little girl’s shooting.

 

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Man Charged in Brutal Slaying of ‘Full of Life’ 101-Year-Old Neighbor

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Gregory Jesmer is accused of brutally stabbing his 101-year-old neighbor

ROCHESTER, New York — A 101-year woman with “a lot of life left in her,” was brutally killed when her knife-wielding wacko upstairs neighbor stabbed her repeatedly in her own apartment.

Cops were called to Marcia Morrison’s home Tuesday morning when a senior transportation company came to pick her up, but she did not answer the door.

Inside, they found a gruesome scene, with the centenarian lying in a pool of blood after being stabbed repeatedly in the neck, throat and upper torso, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported.

“This is one of the most egregious crimes that we as a community have ever seen,” said prosecutor Monica O’Brien, head of the Monroe County District Attorney’s elder abuse bureau.

A short time later, cops arrested 54-year-old Gregory Jesmer, who lived above Morrison, after he got off a bus and began following a 13-year-old girl and offered her money to come home with him. A passing motorist intervened.

Investigators say that as they questioned Jesmer, certain evidence emerged that pinned him to the slaying of Morrison.

Jesmer has had previous arrests for grand larceny and driving while intoxicated.

Marcia Morrison

Morrison did not have children and her husband had died decades ago, but she was very active in the community. Neighbors said Morrison was a stalwart in the building where she lived and was a powerhouse despite her age.

“She had a lot of get-up-and-go in her,” neighbor Sandra Fields said. “She was like our grandmother.”

“She had a lot of life left in her, more than some young people,” Fields said.

She said she knew Jesmer and that he drank a lot, but that he didn’t seem violent or threatening. Fields said Jesmer sometimes asked neighbors for money and she thought Morrison had sometimes helped him out.

He has been charged with second-degree murder.

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Texas Woman With Shaved Head Busted For Sending Meth to Jailed Double Murderer

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Sara Russell’s shaved hairdo is a hairdon’t

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — A woman with a distinctive shaved hairstyle has been busted for trying to send drugs to a convicted murderer serving a life sentence in prison.

Investigators say mail room workers at the James V. Allred prison in northern Texas intercepted a letter sent by 29-year-old Sara Elizabeth Russell to Jason Burkett after spotting an unusual bulge behind a photograph inside a handmade card.

A closer inspection revealed a package containing a white powder which later tested positive for methamphetamine, KFDX-TV reported.

They also found handwritten instructions on how to disguise the meth in the card, including a note to tape the outside edges of the package shut.

Burkett admitted that he had made the card and mailed it to Russell but claimed to investigators that he did not ask her to mail him drugs.

Investigators say the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab matched fingerprints found on the package to Russell. They believe Burkett sent her the card with pre-arranged directions to place the drugs inside and return it to him.

Jason Burkett is serving life in prison for double murder

She has been charged with one count of prohibited substance in a correctional facility and was held on $10,000 bond.

Burkett is serving life sentences for the murders of two teenage boys in Conroe, Texas in 2001.  His co-defendant, Michael “Romeo” Perry was executed in 2010 for the murder of the mother of one of the boys.

 

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Georgia Sheriff in Hot Water for Buying $70K Muscle Car With Federal Grant

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The Gwinnett County sheriff bought this $70K muscle car with cash it got from a federal grant

LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia — The U.S. justice department is demanding tis money back from a Georgia sheriff who used a government grant to buy a $70,000 muscle car that he uses to drive to and from work.

In a letter to Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway  the DOJ characterized the purchase of a Dodge Charger Hellcat — a 707-horsepower muscle car that some have called the fastest sedan ever built — as “extravagant.”

The purchase of the vehicle, which was paid for with federal asset forfeiture funds, was initially approved, but now the feds are questioning if the Hellcat is being used for what the department said they planned to use it for.

Conway stands behind the purchase.

“Sheriff Conway maintains that this vehicle is an appropriate purchase, especially for an agency with a $92 million budget and the opportunity this vehicle provides in making our roadways safer,” Deputy Shannon Volkodav, a sheriff’s office spokeswoman, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The initial application said the car could  be used for a program that stages drag races in controlled environments to educate drivers about the dangers of illegal street racing. The department also said the car could be sued to undercover and covert operations.

But the DOJ questioned the car was a legitimate purchase.

“The vehicle in question is a high-performance vehicle not typically purchased as part of a traditional fleet of law enforcement vehicles,” the department wrote in a letter to the sheriff.

The sheriff’s office defended the claim, saying he sheriff also used it “when he participates in field operations, covert and otherwise, with our deputies.

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Drunk Woman Bites Off Nose of Party Host Who Asked Her to Leave

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Jessica Collins was left with blood on her face after biting off a party host’s nose

CONROE, Texas  — A night of drinking took a gruesome turn when a woman bit off the nose of a party host who asked her to leave.

Jessica Collins, 41, had been out with the victim and a mutual pal for a night of drinking before heading back to the woman’s house.

The victim told KTRK-TV that they all returned to her home after the bar, when Collins demanded more alcohol and cigarettes.

She then told Collins to leave, but she instead jumped on the host, pulling her to the ground by her hair. Collins then allegedly bit off a large piece of woman’s nose and swallowed it.

“I didn’t have time to react, to push her away,” said the woman, whom KTRK identified only by her first name, Tatiana. “I think I was trying to fight back, but I couldn’t. All I could remember was the taste of blood in my mouth.”

She says she passed out several times and didn’t realize her nose was injured until she was in the ambulance.

“I started calling my husband when I was in the ambulance,” Tatiana said. “I was screaming, like, ‘I don’t have a nose. I’m 28 years old and I don’t have a nose anymore.'”

Doctors told her that she needed urgent reconstructive surgery, but Tatiana says she doesn’t have health insurance. Friends set up a GoFundMe account to raise money to pay for the surgery.

Collins was charged with assault.

 

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