Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Dead Drunk Man Charged With Forcing 8-Year-Old to Drive Him Around

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Kevin Cook probably should have called a cab

DARLINGTON TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania  — In case you were wondering, the designated driver needs to be old enough to drive.

A falling down drunk Pennsylvania man was busted after forcing the 8-year-old granddaughter of a family to drive him around, cops said.

Kevin Michael Cook, 24, was allegedly so drunk he could barely stand when he forced the girl behind the wheel in northwestern Pennsylvania earlier this month.

Cops say they soon began receiving calls reporting someone weaving all over the road and that a small child was behind the wheel, WPXI-TV reported.

Two bystanders eventually managed to get the girl to stop after almost crashing two times. Officers arrived soon after and the girl told them that Cook had switched seats and had gotten behind the wheel while they waited for cops to arrive, but that she had been driving.

Officers attempted to give him a field sobriety test but were unable to because he was too drunk. According to the criminal complaint, Cook at one point toppled over and had to be grabbed by the officers to avoid slamming into the ground.

He as charged with endangering the welfare of child, driving under the influence and driving without a license.

Two Charged in Prosthetic Leg Heist

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SPOKANE, Washington  — Now they don’t have a leg to stand on.

Two Washington men have been arrested for allegedly beating a disabled man and stealing one of his prosthetic legs.

Keoni Canton, 28, and Dale Johnson, 34, allegedly barged into the apartment of the victim, whom they knew, roughed him up and stole a number of its, including one his legs, the Spokane police said.

Investigators were soon able to track the men back to an apartment nearby, where they arrested Canton and Johnson without incident. Unfortunately, cops were unable to locate any of the stolen items, including the leg.

Both men have been charged with first degree robbery and burglary.

Escaped Circus Tiger Gunned Down in Suburban Atlanta After Attacking Dog

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Cops had no idea where the cat had come from when it was found in a residential neighborhood outside Atlanta

McDONOUGH, Georgia — An escaped circus lion was gunned down by police in Georgia after it ran into an area crowded with homes and attacked a dog, authorities said.

Police in Henry County encountered the big cat near a highway overpass south of Atlanta around 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. As they called for help from animal professionals, the cat ran into a nearby backyard where it tussled with a pooch.

“With the tiger in close proximity to a school bus route in a densely populated area, officers made the decision to put the animal down with gunfire fearing that occupants of the home could be in danger,” the Henry County Sheriff’s office said in a statement.

At first it was a mystery where the animal had come from. A check of nearby big cat sanctuaries turned up no missing cats.

Later in the day, it was revealed that the cat was a 6-year-old Bengal tiger named Suzy who had escaped from a truck transporting her and 13 others from Florida to Tennessee for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Officials with the transport company, Feld Entertainment, said the truck had stopped in Georgia at some point overnight and Suzy had managed to escape unnoticed. The truck’s crew didn’t noticed she was unaccounted for until they reached their destination.

Animal Sex Sicko Asks to Be Castrated Instead of Serving More Time in Jail

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Yup, this guy.

HAMMOND, Indiana — A bestiality-obsessed sicko has asked a judge to allow him to be chemically castrated and set free instead of having to spend more time in prison for having sex with animals.

Michael Bessigano’s deviancy dates back to the early 1990s and he has been in and out of jail on animal sex-related charges repeatedly over the years. In 2007, the state of Indiana strengthened its anti-bestiality laws in response to the 46-year-old Bessigano’s crimes

He has been in the federal clink since January for violating probation by downloading animal sex porn onto his computer.

But his lawyer, Jennifer Soble has asked that the judge take into account time her client has already spent behind bars in an Indiana state prison for the same crime, and to set him free with the condition that he undergo chemical castration therapy.

“Mr. Bessigano’s history is unique; his entire history within both the federal and state systems is entirely animated by his unusual sexual preferences,” Soble wrote in the petition to the judge. “Those preferences are almost certainly the result of Mr. Bessigano’s remarkably traumatic childhood; unable to receive or seek affection from his parents, he sought that affection from animals.”

She argued that the prison system was ill-equipped to providing Bessigano with the right treatment for his fetish and that the carefully supervised hormone treatments would likely be more effective.

“Mr. Bessigano poses no risk of harm whatsoever to the human members of his community,” she continued.

But in several instances, animals he was caught having sex with over the years died as a result.

His lawyer argued that the animals’ deaths were inadvertent and that her client’s compulsion was driven by a sexual urge rather than a sociopathic desire to kill.

“To the extent that Mr. Bessigano has accidentally injured or killed animals during the course of his sexual exploits, that harm is no greater than that imposed by meat-eaters and leather wearers nationwide,” she wrote.

In 2009, Bessigano pleaded guilty to downloading animal sex porn and was jailed until the following year. Earlier this year,  he was again caught downloading such porn, violating the conditions of his release.

Woman Dimed Out By Chatty Parrot Gets Life in Hubby Slay

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Bud just repeated what he had heard

WHITE CLOUD, Michigan — She’s a jailbird now.

A Michigan woman was sentenced to life in prison for killing her husband in a crime that was revealed when the couple’s pet parrot repeated her dying hubby’s final words.

Glenna Duram, 49, claimed she shot her 46-year-old husband, Martin, five times and then turned the gun on herself in a failed dual suicide bid in 2015.

But her story unraveled when the bird, which witnessed the crime, began blurting out, “don’t f***ing shoot,” in Martin’s voice.

Glenna Duram remained hospitalized for months after the shooting but was eventually charged after relatives told investigators what the bird had been saying. Police also found notes Duram had written which expressed remorse for what she had done and cast doubt on her double suicide claim.

Glenna Duram (r) and her slain hubby, Martin

Duram told cops she was bi-polar and had struggled with depression before the shooting.

The parrot, an African grey named Bud, now lives with Martin Duram’s ex-wife. The bird was not called to testify at trial.

 

 

Wannabe Carjacker Discovers Football Players Make Bad Victims

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ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — He picked the wrong dudes to mess with.

A New Mexico man who allegedly tried to carjack three football players coming off the practice field, had his face treated like a spiked football when the teammates snatched away his gun and pummelled him into submission.

Angelo Drew Martinez, 21, allegedly approached the players outside the Loma Linda Community Center on August 11, as they were trying to get into their car.

One of the the players said, Martinez was hovering around “acting sketchy as if he was trying to get in,” and when they asked him what he wanted, he said he needed a ride, KOAT-TV reported.

When they agreed to give him a lift, they say he kept changing his mind about where he wanted to go, and then pulled out a gun and demanded they get out of the car, police said.

As they exited the vehicle, Martinez apparently fumbled his weapon, so the men jumped back in, snatched the gun away and punched him in the face several times.

Angelo Martinez pre-beatdown

When cops arrived, they discovered the gun was fake, but they also found a knife tucked in Martinez’s waistband and a note in his pocket that read: “Give me the keys to your wip and a nobody get heart [Sic]. I know where you live so don’t make me kill.”

 

Cops Hunt Forklift Bandits Caught on Camera Snatching Entire ATM

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The Conway Police Department needs your help identifying the person/persons responsible for stealing an ATM from First Service Bank around 3:00 Wednesday morning. The suspects cannot be seen but if you recognize the truck or you were in the area when this happened or have some information you want to share on this case, please call Detective Williams at 450-6130. Thanks in advance for your help.

Posted by Conway Police Department on Friday, August 18, 2017

CONWAY, Arkansas — Most people would just use a mask and a threatening note.

Cops in Arkansas are searching for a band of brazen bank thieves who used a giant forklift to rip an ATM from the ground and drive off with it from outside a bank.

Surveillance cameras captured the bold robbery at 3 a.m. on Wednesday with the forklift crashing through the First Service Bank’s drive-thru lane in Conway.

The theft wasn’t discovered until the next morning when an employee discovered the ATM was missing.

Cops not surprisingly say they believe the suspects likely work in the construction industry.

 

Man Charged With Beating Twin With Bat Over Taco Bell Meal

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Tyler Dukes wasn’t going to let family stand in the way of his Taco Bell

ATHENS, Alabama  — Blood may be thicker than water, but it’s got nothing on Taco Bell.

An Alabama man has been charged with slugging his twin brother on the head with a baseball bat after getting in a fight over having to share his Taco Bell meal.

Tyler Tarell Dukes, 19, allegedly blew his top after his brother and grandmother came home on Thursday with bagful of Taco Bell takeout.

Dukes “became irate over having to share tacos and because his brother didn’t get him a soft drink,” the Athens News Courier reported, citing a police report. “Tyler produced a baseball bat and struck his brother in the back and across the head, causing a deep cut.”

Seems like the bad blood may have been brewing for some time. When asked why he did it, Dukes told cops that his brother was “always disrespecting me.”

The victim was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated and released.

Dukes was charged with assault and held on $10,000 bond.

Crook Falls Asleep in House After Robbery, Wakes Up Surrounded by SWAT Team

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Kanyoni Sedekiya

ABILENE, Texas — If you are in this line of work, you don’t really want to fall asleep on the job.

A Texas man who pulled a gun on his roommate during a robbery attempt, then laid down for a snooze in the house for long enough for cops to come and arrest him.

The Abilene police department says 20-year-old Kanyoni Sedekiya barged into his roommate’s room around 4 a.m. on Friday and began arguing with him. Sedekiya then allegedly pulled a gun and demanded cash.

He bound his roommate’s hands and feet with tape but then fell asleep in the apartment. In the meantime, the roommate managed to free himself and call police from a neighbor’s apartment.

A SWAT team then sprang into action, surrounding the house and eventually negotiating Sedekiya’s peaceful surrender.

He’s been charged with first degree felony aggravated robbery and held on $60,000 bond.

Serial Arsonist Nabbed in N. Mexico Church Blaze

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Gordon Schuler apparently has a thing for fire

RIO RANCHO, New Mexico — A serial arsonist has been nabbed for allegedly trying to burn down a New Mexico church just a week after being let loose from jail, authorities said.

Gordon Schuler, 23, has been charged with setting fire to the Peace Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho in the early hours of July 31. Fortunately, a fire crew leaving a nearby hospital, spotted the smoke and were able to snap into action quickly.

Officials say that likely saved the building, but the interior of the church was very badly damaged, prosecutors said.

Police immediately suspected Schuler, a known firebug who had just been released on probation on July 25 on charges related to two arson fires last year.

Authorities say Schuler has been eyed in up to 10 arson fires in the Rio Rancho area but hasn;t been charged in all of them due to lack of sufficient evidence.

An investigation revealed that a video surveillance camera from a nearby business captured footage of Schuler carrying a backpack and hammer the night of the fire. A backpack and hammer were recovered in the ashes of the fire.

Schuler has been charged with using fire to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce, as the church sends more than 2% of its revenue to a central Lutheran church in Wisconsin.

He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.