Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Plane Passengers Stopped With 13 Lbs of Cocaine in Their Neck Pillows

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

NEWARK, New Jersey — It certainly wouldn’t have helped anyone sleep.

Two airline passengers were busted flying into Newark International Airport carrying 13 pounds of cocaine sewn into the neck pillows they had brought with them, federal authorities said.

Rafael Francisco Bautista Perdomo and Brenda Alyssa Mancebo, both 20, were stopped on Wednesday after landing on a flight from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic

A routine baggage screening revealed that the neck pillows they had brought as carry-on were stuffed with about 6.5 pounds of cocaine each.

Perdomo admitted he had been $10,000 to take the drugs into the United States. He initially told federal agents that he didn’t know Mancebo, but a search of her phone turned up a number of “selfies” taken by Perdomo and photos of them together.

There were also WhatsApp messages between them the day before the flight in which Perdomo allegedly wrote, “If you are afraid, don’t do it,” and “leave it alone, get rid of it.”

Both were charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and face at least 10 years in prison. They were both held without bail.

Rehab Center Head Busted for Selling Dope to Clients

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

PITTSBURGH — That’s a pretty awful way to make sure you’ve got repeat customers.

The head of a Pennsylvania drug rehab center has been arrested for selling heroin and fentanyl to the people who had come to him for help, authorities said.

DEA agents accuse David Francis, 66, of using the Next Step Foundation in Mckees Rocks outside of Pittsburgh, as cover to sell drugs to both the center’s clients and others from the community.

When he appeared in court on Friday, Francis told the judge he was going through withdrawal from drugs himself, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Francis

During raids of the center and of Francis’ home, agents located at least three clients who said they had been getting high off of fentanyl he had supplied. Several drug baggies and needles were also found at the rehab center and at Francis’ home.

Investigators say a person who bought drugs from Francis in May died of a fentanyl overdose. The overdose and others in the area triggered the investigation that led to Francis’ arrest.

According to DEA statistics, more than 50% of all overdose deaths in Pennsylvania last year were caused by fentanyl abuse.

Teen Arrested in Hammer Death of 14-Year-Old Texas Girl

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Katylynn Cargill went missing on June 19 and her body was found two days later in a landfill

BEDFORD, Texas — A teenage acquaintance of a 14-year-old Texas girl who disappeared while out walking her dog and was later found dead in landfill has been arrested in connection with her death, police said.

Investigators were able to connect the 16-year-old boy to Kaytlynn Cargill’s death through DNA evidence and cell phone records, WFAA-TV reported.

The station reported that police believe the boy killed Cargill with a hammer in a drug deal gone bad. Authorities have not yet released the boy’s name. He was arrested Friday and taken to a juvenile detention center. Charges are pending.

Cargill had gone missing on June 19 and her body was found two days later in a dump in Arlington, Texas.

A witness told cops that Cargill went to a dog park that evening to exchange marijuana with a 16-year-old suspect and his brother. The deal allegedly involved Cargill taking marijuana and making it into “dabs,” a concentrated form of weed and then selling it back to the suspect, the station reported.

According to the police report, blood was found on the walls, kitchen blinds and on the patio of an apartment where the suspect was staying around the time Cargill disappeared. Blood was  also found on the head of a hammer. DNA testing has determined the blood was Cargill’s.

Florida Man Stuffs $1,000 Up His Rear in Failed Bid to Hide it From Cops

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Pattreon Stokes looks a bit bummed

OCALA, Florida — You can take your money and stick it where the sun don’t shine, but why would you want to?

A Florida motorist who was stopped with a carful of drugs attempted to hide over $1,000 in cash from cops by shoving it up his rectum, police said.

Early Saturday morning, deputies with the Marion County Sheriff’s office stopped Pattreon Stokes, 26, for speeding. When officers approached, they say they smelled marijuana smoke wafting from the vehicle. Cops said Stokes also had a 7-month child riding up front with him.

A subsequent search turned up 197 grams of methamphetamine, some crack, four grams of heroin and a scale. Officers say Stokes also had a small amount of weed  and a bundle of cash on him.

He was arrested and taken to the county prison, but when they arrived, the cash Stokes had with him was gone. Police say he insisted the officers had already taken it from him,  but then they “noticed something quite unusual.”

“They observed $20 bills falling from Stokes’ buttocks area,” police said.

Then, ”after a necessary but undesirable process for everyone involved,” police pulled $1,090 from his rectum.

He was charged with drug trafficking and possession as well as smuggling contraband into a detention facility.

“Judging from Stokes’ mug shot, he looks pretty “bummed” about the whole situation,” cops quipped.

And “for all of our wonderful cashiers in Marion County, we apologize for giving you this terrible mental image today. If you choose to use gloves during your daily duties, we will understand,” the sheriff’s offices continued.

 

‘Wall of Cocaine’ Worth $250 Million Seized in Canadian Port

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

The cocaine was valued at $250 million

ORILLIA, Canada — Investigators seized a literal wall of cocaine that  smugglers had attempted to sneak into the country, in one of the largest drug hauls ever in Canada, officials announced.

Authorities said the drugs — over 1,000 pounds of pure cocaine — had a street value of around $250 million.

Ontario police say they first stumbled upon the coke in March at the Port of Montreal during the search of shipping containers from Argentina. In the container, they found cocaine blocks encased in concrete and stacked four to five feet high on multiple palettes.

“Inside of the palettes were numerous rocks. A few of the random stones would have cocaine. These stones were put together with cement and the cocaine was sealed inside,” Ontario Provincial Police Deputy Commissioner Rick Barnum said.

The seizure led to a further search of Canada Border Services Agency warehouses in Montreal and in Stoney Creek, Ontario, where more cocaine was found.

Three people were arrested, but investigators believe more people were involved.

 

Oklahoma Top Cop Resigns After Being Tied to Neo-Nazi Organizations

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Bart Alsbrook was named Colbert’s interim police just last week

COLBERT, Oklahoma — The interim police chief in a small town on the Oklahoma-Texas border has resigned after a local TV station reported that he appeared to have ties to neo-Nazi organizations.

Bart Alsbrook had been a reserve police officer in Colbert until being named interim chief last week.

But news station KXII-TV reported soon after that a Bart Alsbrook showed up in records as the owner of two websites, ISD Records and NS88 Videos, that sell neo-Nazi paraphernalia, like such as music by “The Klansmen,” and Nazi patches.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, has listed both sites as connected to hate groups. The Center also listed him as the Texas coordinator of Blood & Honour USA, a racist skinhead gang.

When contacted by the Tulsa World newspaper, Alsbrook insisted that someone had stolen his identity and that he was not responsible for the websites.

“Someone has been using my name for years on the Internet in regards to racist topics. It’s not me, rather someone who has hijacked my name due to my combativeness and rejection to white power skinheads who were always coming to the heavy metal shows, starting fights and messing up our scene,” he said. “We hate each other. They use my name in all sorts of things.”

But within hours of being contacted by the local TV station, both web sites tied to Alsbrook were taken down.

 

 

 

Gun-Toting Teens Sought in Bullet Fast, Stick-Up Robbery Spree

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Surveillance cameras captured two of the armed teens in the act

HAMMOND, Indiana — Cops are on the hunt for a group of gun-wielding teens who pulled off a string of stick-up robberies in a matter of minutes.

Indiana police say they believe three teens were behind four separate early morning, gun-point hold-ups that Hammond and stretched into East Chicago last Friday.

In each, two of the teens approached people as they walked down the street, while a third followed closely behind in a getaway car.

The first robbery took place at 6:20 a.m. when two of the teens, who were wearing hoods and brandishing guns, tried to rob an 85-year-old man in the street. Minutes later, they tried again with a 67-year-old man, Hammond police said.

Soon after, they struck again, this time robbing a 33-year-old woman who was walking with her 11-year-old daughter.

Later, they targeted a 49-year-old man walking down the street in nearby East Chicago.

Investigators described the suspects as black males between the ages of 16 and 24. Each stood between five-feet-10-inches and six-feet tall and had medium builds.

One of the two suspects who committed the stick-ups wore a white hooded sweatshirt and the other had a blue hooded sweatshirt.

The driver of the car — which was described as a 4-door, gray sedan — is believed to either be female or a male with long hair, cops said.

Police said the suspects should be considered armed and dangerous.

Thousands of Bright Orange Trump Ecstasy Tablets Seized in Germany

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

OSNABRUCK, Germany — Some people already feel like it’s a bit of a trip having Donald Trump as president, but for anyone feeling left out, these guys have you covered.

German police say they have seized thousands of orange-colored ecstasy pills molded in the shape of Donald Trump’s face.

Police in the north-western city of Osnabruck say they found the dope stashed in the trunk of a Peugeot being driven by a 51-year-old father and  his 17-year-old son from the Netherlands to Hanover.

Investigators say the drugs, which featured the president’s face on the front and his name etched on the back, was to be marketed under the slogan, “Trump makes partying great again.”

Authorities believe the Trump-themed drugs are being manufactured in Amsterdam to be shipped all over Europe.

Cops also found a large stash of cash in the car. They say the total value of the drugs and the cash amounted to $47,000.

 

Florida Gangster Gets 6 Years for Setting Off Gun While Taking Strip Club Selfie

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Rorn Sorn was a little too amped up in the Champagne room

 

TAMPA, Florida — In most cases, an accidental discharge at a strip club won’t land you behind bars.

But a Florida gangster has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for accidentally shooting a .40 caliber handgun in the restroom of a St. Petersburg strip club while taking a selfie, authorities said.

Rorn Sorn, 34, went to Club Lust in December with a pal and went into the restroom. A guard then heard a gunshot a few minutes and spotted Sorn and his friend leaving the room, federal prosecutors said.

When the guard asked if they had fired a gun, Sorn responded: “It was an accident, man. I as just trying to take a selfie.” Club employees spotted a bullet hole in the bathroom mirror that went through the wall into the ladies’ room.

A search revealed that Sorn was carrying the gun, marijuana and Xanax pills. Sorn, who is a member of the Asian Pride Gang, had numerous prior convictions, including for burglary and attempted first degree murder, which makes it illegal for him to carry a gun.

As a result, Sorn pleaded guilty to illegal firearms possession in April.

Mexican Cartel Hit Men Convicted in ‘Fast & Furious’ U.S. Agent Slay

By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON — Two drug cartel hit men have been convicted of gunning down a U.S. immigration agent and wounding his partner in a roadside ambush in Mexico in 2011.

Jose Emanuel Garcia Sota, 35, known as “Safado,” and Jesus Ivan Quezada Piña, 29, known as “Loco,” were members of Los Zetas cartel hit squads and had been on a mission to steal cars the day of the shooting, prosecutors said.

On Feb. 15, 2011, the two men were among a group that spotted an armored Chevrolet Suburban bearing diplomatic plates driven by Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agents Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila.

The agents were on their way to Mexico City on official business, when the cartel members opened fire with AK-47s and AR-15s on a busy highway south  of San Luis Potosi. Zapata, 32, was fatally shot, and Avila was wounded. Investigators later found approximately 90 shell casings at the scene, according to the trial evidence.

Five other cartel members have already pleaded guilty to murder and conspiracy charges in the shooting. All are awaiting sentencing and face up to life in prison.

Slain ICE agent Jaime Zapata

A jury found Sota and Piña guilty on counts of murder, attempted murder and firearms charges. The judge scheduled a hearing for Aug. 29 to select a sentencing date in order to accommodate for when Avila and Zapata’s family would be able to attend. The hit men also face up to life in prison.

The gang members have said they believed the vehicle was being driven by members of a rival cartel, apparently not noticing the diplomatic plates. The shooting has proven to be exceedingly damaging to the Los Zetas cartel, leading to the arrest of over 100 of its top bosses.

Zapata’s family has filed a wrongful death suit against the U.S., alleging that ICE sent the men into Mexico with inadequate security, and that some of the weapons used in the shooting were trafficked by suspects under ATF surveillance, but who had not been arrested as part of the controversial “Operation Fast & Furious.”