True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Georgia Teacher Charged With Masturbating in Front of 19 Second Graders

By HardBoiledNews Staff

CARROLLTON, Georgia — A substitute teacher working at a Georgia elementary school has been busted for  allegedly masturbating in front of a classroom filled with 19 second graders, police said. 

Amelia Ressler, 30, was arrested after staff members at Mt. Zion Elementary School reported allegations of misconduct involving her engaging in “indecent and immoral acts while in the presence of school-aged children,” the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. 

The school is near Carrollton, a city about 54 miles west of Atlanta.

Investigators obtained photos and video of Ressler masturbating in front of a second-grade classroom, authorities said.

Investigators are continuing to conduct interviews with the 19 children who were present in the classroom during the alleged incident and additional charges could be added, police said.

“We appreciate the dedication Carroll County Schools has for the safety of their students as they are working diligently to communicate with all parents of students affected and we will continue to work closely with them during the remainder of the investigation,” the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

Teen Steals $1 Million From Georgia Kroger Where He Worked

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Tre Brown

GWINNETT, Georgia — He must have taken the whole “go big or go home” thing a bit too literally.

A Georgia teen has been charged with scamming nearly $1 million over a two-week period from a Kroger supermarket where he worked.

The Gwinnett County Police Department says 19-year-old Tre Brown ran the scam by creating more than 40 fake returns which he then funneled back to his credit cards. The bogus returns ranged from $75 to $87,000, cops said.

In total, Brown allegedly managed to steal over $980,000 in just two weeks. The scam came to a close when employees at Kroger’s corporate offices noticed the suspicious transactions and called police.

Investigators say that Brown used the money to buy clothes, guns, shoes, and two cars. Prior to being arrested, Brown totaled one of the vehicles. 

Cops say Brown, who has been charged with theft,  has given back a large sum of the money.

Former Ga. Cop Gets 15 Years For Moonlighting as Gang Member

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Vancito Gumbs

ATLANTA — A former  Georgia cop convicted of moonlighting as a hitman for a violent criminal gang has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Vancito Gumbs, 28, of Stone Mountain, Georgia had boasted of being a hitman for the Gangster Disciples while working as a Dekalb County cop, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities said Gumbs had relayed sensitive law enforcement information to the gang and provided a firearm to a fellow gang member.

Gumbs’ family has argued that he was never guilty of being a killer but rather prone to boasting about himself. A military veteran, they have said he suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

At the heart of the case against him was a 2015 text message Gumbs sent to a woman in which he claimed: “I’m a gd hitman.” Prosecutors said he was talking about the Gangster Disciples, although his lawyers argued “gd” meant “goddamn.”

He was convicted of racketeering in 2019.

The Gangster Disciples are a national gang with roots in Chicago dating back to the 1970s and have held responsible for 24 shootings from 2011 through 2015, including 12 murders, prosecutors said.

They say Gumbs had been photographed flashing a hand sign used by the Gangster Disciples and had been caught on recorded calls talking to a chief enforcer for the gang while employed as a DeKalb County police officer.

Evidence showed that during these calls, Gumbs relayed law enforcement information to the gang and provided a firearm to a fellow gang member. On later calls, the enforcer noted that he had Gangster Disciples police officers at his disposal.

The jury found that Gumbs remained involved with the gang even while knowing they were involved in murder.

Georgia Teens Guilty of Disfiguring and Raping Inmate’s Ex For Cash

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The gang attacked the ex of a prisoner, Jose Santos Carranza-Castro (bottom right) for cash

LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia — A pair of vicious teens agreed to “disfigure,” and rape the ex-girlfriend of a man in prison in exchange for money paid by a man in prison.

One of the attackers, Josue Ramirez-Aguilar, now 20, pleaded guilty last week, along with two women who served as a driver and a lookout. A second man, Francisco Joshua Palencia, was convicted by a jury on Thursday.

The jailbird behind the attack, Jose Carranza-Castro, 38, also pleaded guilty last week.

Carranza-Castro first tasked Ramirez-Aguilar with the attack in April 2017, offering him cash to “permanently disfigure the victim with acid or boiling water” and assault her, according to prosecutors.

Ramirez-Aguilar agreed to do it and recruited Palencia to help. They both got their girlfriends, Ana Lopez-Huinil, 17, and Angela Garcia, 19, to help.

After three weeks of planning, in which they discussed cutting the victim’s face, “beating her and disfiguring her with boiling water,” the pack struck.

At first, they tried to barge in on the woman in ay 2017, but failed, pounding on her door while she was home with her boyfriend, but fleeing when she called the cops.

But days later,  when she arrived home at 3 a.m.. with her two sons, a toddler and an infant, she found two masked men in her kitchen with two pots of water boiling on the stove.

As she tried to run, one of the intruders threw boiling water on her, causing second-degree burns on her neck, shoulder, back and side.

They then shocked the woman with stun guns, dragged her into her bedroom, where they made her perform oral sex and raped her, as her 3-year-old son sat on the bed crying,  the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The infant remained in a portable car seat in another room as the assault occurred.

The men then fled with a TV, jewelry, shoes, a purse and a stun gun stolen from the apartment. Prosecutors said the men got in by cutting a screened-in porch, which allowed a 2-month-old German Shepherd puppy to escape. The dog was never found.

Investigators managed to identify Ramirez-Aguilar, through fingerprints her left on the pots used to boil the water. He confessed after being arrested, and identified Palencia, Lopez-Huinil, Garcia and Carranza-Castro as co-conspirators.

The two attackers admitted to beating, shocking and scalding the victim, but blamed each other for the sexual assault.

Palencia was sentenced to life plus 111 years in prison. Ramirez-Aguilar was sentenced to life. Carranza-Castro was sentenced to life in prison. Garcia and Lopez-Huinil were both sentenced to 30 years.

Brutal Rapist Caught When Victim Spots Him at Atlanta Train Station 6 Years After Attack

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Rapist Antonio White walked free for six years before his victim spotted him on a subway platform

ATLANTA — He had a face she would never forget.

A vicious rapist was sent to prison for the rest of his life after a victim he had attacked six years earlier spotted him on a subway platform in Atlanta and alerted police.

Prosecutors say the woman began screaming when she laid eyes on Antonio White, 54, in October 2013, drawing the attention of transit police, who placed him under arrest.

Six years earlier, White had raped the woman at gunpoint as she walked home from another subway station and he offered her a ride. The woman, who knew White from when they used to live in the same housing complex, took him up on his offer, but he then drove her to an abandoned house.

Prosecutors say the victim was trapped inside the car because the door handle and button to control the window were missing. She eventually managed to get out and run, but White chased her with a gun and grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back inside the car where he raped her, authorities said.

During the attack, White said to the victim: “Shut up that screaming, bitch, or I’ll kill you.”

While the woman told relatives and friends what had happened, prosecutors say she never reported the attack to police, as she didn’t know White’s real name and believed nothing would come of the case.

But when White was arrested, cops quickly discovered he had sexually assaulted several other women in the housing complex where he had lived between 1983 and 2008. In several cases, he would approach the women on foot and assault them in wooded areas.

White had one prior rape conviction, a robbery conviction, and he previously pleaded guilty to sexual battery. For the 2007 attack, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

 

Women Charged With Selling Marijuana Edibles at Georgia Church

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Cops say the women were selling edible marijuana baked goods, puddings and cereal bars

SAVANNAH, Georgia — Holy smokes!

Two women were arrested after undercover narcotics agents caught them openly selling marijuana edibles at a Georgia church, officials said.

Ebony Cooper, 28, and Leah Presley, 26, were busted after the event for entrepreneurs at the church in Savannah, where Cooper had been selling baked goods, puddings and other treats laced with marijuana.

When agents with the Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team spotted the sale, they purchased several items from Cooper. They then followed her after she left and eventually pulled her and Presley over and searched their vehicle.

Inside, officers found a large amount of pot edibles plus $1,000 in cash and a loaded handgun, cops said.

Both women face felony drug charges, although cops say Presley didn’t appear to be involved in the sale at the church event. Officers also determined that Cooper had been actively hawking her wares online as well.

Leah Presley (L) and Ebony Cooper

Police say the event at the church was run by an outside vendor, and that church officials appeared to have no knowledge of the drug dealing. The other vendors at the event all appeared to be involved in legal businesses, cops say.

Georgia Man Blames Sleepwalking in Rape of Son’s Girlfriend

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Ricardo Cole claims he doesn’t remember climbing into bed with his son’s girlfriend because he was sleepwalking

LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia — He’s not going to sleep so well in jail.

A Georgia man has been charged with rape for climbing into bed with his son’s girlfriend and trying to have sex with her, but claims he was sleepwalking and doesn’t remember a thing.

According to the police report, the victim was lying in bed at Ricardo Arturo Cole, Sr.’s home in Lawrenceville, when “she felt someone get into bed behind her,” the Gwinnett Daily Post reported.

“(She) said she thought it was her boyfriend,” the report said. “(She) said the person then rolled down her pants and underwear” and tried to have sex with her, though there was no penetration.

“(The victim) said she turned around and realized that the male was not (her boyfriend), but was his father, Rick,” the report said. “(She) said she pushed Rick away and asked what he was doing. (She) said Rick apologized and said he was sleepwalking.”

Cole then left the room.

The incident occurred on April 8, but the victim told cops that she thought her boyfriend would be upset if she went to the police, so she didn’t report it right away. She later decided to go to police in May.

The victim said she broke off contact with the boyfriend and his father following the incident.

Cole has been charged with rape and was held without bond.

 

Thief Makes Off With $100,000 Worth of Ramen Noodles in Truck Heist

By HardBoiledNews Staff

It’s possible the thief made off with 300,000 packs of ramen

FAYETTEVILLE, Georgia — Go big, or go hungry.

Cops in Georgia are hunting a crook who drove off with a tractor trailer stuffed with more than $100,000 worth of ramen noodle packs.

The Fayette County Sheriff’s office says the owner of the truck had left it on the grounds of a friend’s Chevron gas station for about a week in late July, but when he returned the trailer was gone.

Police didn’t specify the brand of ramen the truck was carrying, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But a packet of  the freeze-dried noodles can be as cheap as 30 cents (or even less if bought in bulk), so the 53-foot trailer could conceivably have been carrying over 300,000 packs.

Cops think the theft may have been part of a string of car break-ins and a motorcycle heist in the area around the same time.

Cruel Crook Tells Mom ‘Spare Me the Sob Story’ as He Steals Cash For Baby Shower Cake

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Antonio Ivey wanted coke, not cake

MACON, Georgia — A heartless thief was sentenced to 15 years for a robbery spree in which he told a woman shopping for a baby shower cake to “spare me the sob story” when she begged him to let her keep some cash to buy it.

Prosecutors say Antonio Dewayne Ivey Sr., 33, whipped out a gun as he walked up to Laquesta Mitchell in a Walmart parking lot in Macon, Georgia last July and demanded cash.

Mitchell offered to hand over her bank cards, but Ivey insisted she give up her cash, prosecutors said.

“She told him that the money he was taking was for her daughter’s cake,” prosecutor Nancy Scott Malcor said at Ivey’s sentencing, according to the Macon Telegraph. “The defendant said, ‘Spare me the sob story.’ “

Authorities said Ivey, who was hunting for cash to fuel his cocaine habit, then went on to steal another woman’s purse in a parking lot of a  Kroger. He then stuck up the Advance Auto Parts store.

In court on Monday, Ivey apologized to the victims and said the gun he used was a pellet pistol. He pleaded guilty to the three robberies and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

 

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

By HardBoiledNews Staff

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.

Topless Shoplifter Sparks Manhunt, Manages to Evade Police

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The skin went flying when employees at a Walmart spotted the topless woman stealing clothes

ATHENS, Georgia — What a boob!

A topless shoplifter at a Georgia Walmart proved harder to identify than cops thought, sparking a wide search that ended when the woman got away.

“Units are responding to a report of a topless female shoplifter running from Walmart. No further description was given, but we presume she’ll be the only topless woman running down Epps Bridge Road,” the Oconee County Sheriff’s office wrote on its Facebook page.

The white female, who was in her early 20s, was spotted by a loss prevention officer  inside the store, pulling off her shirt and bra in the women’s section. She then put on a shirt she yanked off the rack and a pair of shorts, which she slid over another pair she was already wearing, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.

Store employees confronted her as she tried to leave, kicking off a struggle during which she pulled off her shirt, kicked off her sandals, and fled barefoot and without a shirt in the direction of the nearby Kohl’s store, deputies said. She still had on the pair of stolen shorts.

Cops searched the area, but were unable to find the woman.

“The only description we had is she was topless. If she was in the area, we would have found her,” Sheriff Scott Berry said.

 

Georgia Cop Fired After Trying to Run Down Suspect With Patrol Car

By HardBoiledNews Staff

ATHENS, Georgia — A Georgia police department fired one of its officers after he drove his patrol car into a fleeing suspect, authorities said.

Officer Taylor Saulters was let go by the Athens-Clarke County Police Department after a review of his body cam showed how he attempted twice to knock the suspect down using his police car.

The episode began on June 1, when Saulters and his partner saw Timothy Patmon, who was wanted for probation violation. When he spotted the officers, Patmon fled, and Saulters began chasing him in his vehicle.

As Patmon veered left, the video showed Saulters speed up and try to cut him off, but bounce off a curb, flattening his front left tire, cops said.

Patmon then ran to the right, and Saulters hit the gas again and maneuvering the patrol car so that Patmon was knocked to the ground by the vehicle’s right front fender.

“Man, you hit me with your car!” Patmon then told Saulters, who asked if he was injured.

“I know what I did. Why’d you run?” Saulters replied.

Later, Saulters was recorded telling other officers that he “didn’t hit [Patmon] with the car, I blocked him with the car.”

Patmon requested medical treatment, and was later released with scrapes and bruises. He was then booked into Clarke County jail for violating his probation and obstructing a law enforcement officer.

Saulters was initially placed on administrative leave and later fired after an internal affairs investigation.

“This was not the kind of conduct we would expect from an Athens-Clarke County police officer,” Athens-Clarke police spokesman Epifanio Rodriguez told the Athens Banner-Herald.

 

Man Walks Out of Court Just Ahead of Murder Conviction, Remains on Loose

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Verlaine LaGuerre walked out of court just ahead of his guilty verdict and has not been seen since

ATLANTA — He got out in the nick of time.

A man on trial for murder managed to walk out of a court building and disappear just before he was found guilty of killing a man.

Verlaine LaGuerre, 26, remains on the lam after walking out of the Fulton County courthouse during the the lunch break last month, and not returning to hear the verdict in bis case.

LaGuerre had been on trial for the 2011 death of star football player, Matthew Hardeman,  who was shot more than 50 times.

Prosecutors said LaGuerre and Hardeman had exchanged “dirty looks” in front of Hardeman’s home and then got into a fist fight, prompting LaGuerre to later return with a pal and open fire with an assault rifle and a handgun.

Hardeman bullet-riddled, lifeless body was later found by his family in the front yard.

LaGuerre and his buddy, Prentice Baker, were sentenced to life in prison for the slaying.

Hardeman’s family told WAGA-TV that they fear that LaGuerre may come after them.

 

Crazed Georgia Doc Threatens to Slit Staffers’ Throats, Roll Heads Down Hall

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Georgia doctor, Marian Antoinette Patterson, was charged with terrorizing her employees

VALDOSTA, Georgia  — Off with their heads!

A Georgia doctor named Marian Antoinette Patterson has been charged with allegedly threatening to slit the throats of her employees, police said.

In one case, Patterson allegedly yelled at an employee that she would  “cut her head off and roll it down the hallway,” and would call the employee’s children so they could see it, WCTV-TV reported.

In the late February incident, cops say Patterson also flung a catalogue, prescription bottles and a reflex hammer across her Valdosta office, damaging a wall in the office. She also threw water on two employees and tried to throw a large potted plant.

The Lowndes County Sheriff’s office said one employee told deputies that Patterson grabbed them by the arm and would not allow them to leave the office.

Investigators opened a probe and charged Patterson late last week with three counts of terroristic threats and one count of false imprisonment.

Patterson’s medical license was temporarily suspended on March 5, aft the Georgia medical board received reports that Patterson had been under the influence while at the practice on multiple occasions.

Sheriff Ashley Paulk called Patterson’s situation “unfortunate,” and said other issues in her life had contributed to her out-of-control behavior.

“It’s unfortunate, there’s some factors in her life that brought about some emotional problems I feel like,” Paulk told WALB. “I hope this is something she can put behind her, because she has a lot of patients, a lot of people that trust her as their doctor, and it’s just one of those things that I hope she can work through.”

               

 

House Seller Sued for Shooting Photographer Hired to Snap Pictures of Home

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The homeowner claimed she wasn’t expecting a photographer to take pictures of her house

WINSTON, Georgia — This is probably not the best way to start selling your house.

An Atlanta-based photographer is suing a Georgia homeowner after she shot him when he arrived to take photos of her house for a real estate listing.

Whitney Morris, who suffered serious injuries in the Feb. 2 shooting, is also suing the real estate agency that hired him and the agency employee who was supposed to let the homeowner know he was coming.

According to the lawsuit, Morris was initially booked by Real Estate Expert Advisors to do the shoot on Feb. 1, but had to reschedule, the Gwinnett Daily Post reported.

When he showed up at the house the next day, he began by taking pictures of the the exterior of Belinda Brooks’ home in Winston. He then took a key from a lockbox and let himself inside, triggering off an alarm. Brooks — who was inside a bedroom — picked up a handgun and fired through the door, striking Morris as he entered the house.

When Brooks realized what had happened, she called 911 and told the dispatcher that no  one had told her that a photographer was coming and that she thought Morris was an intruder.

But Morris’ suit accuses Brooks of to failing to “act as a reasonable person would under the circumstances.”

Mother Charged With Slamming Car into Pole to Prove God is Real to Kids

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Bakari Warren says God told her to wrap her car around a telephone pole with her kids in back

NORCROSS, Georgia (March 25, 2018) — A god-fearing mother is behind bars after she allegedly slammed her car into a pole to prove to her two kids in the back seat that God is real.

Cops in Norcross, Georgia say 25-year-old Bakari Warren told officers that she drove her SUV into a pole to show her kids, ages 5 and 7, that God will protect them if they have faith.

Warren’s children also told cops that their mother wrecked the car on purpose.

“Yeah, because she turned,” one of the children said. “Her eyes were closed and she was saying, blah, blah blah, ‘I love God.’”

Officers said Warren did warn the children to buckle up before she crashed and no one was hurt. Warren was arrested on the spot and charged with two counts of child cruelty .

Traffic cameras show the SUV crossing a road   and driving head-on into the concrete pole.

“It could’ve been a lot worse,” Norcross Police Sgt. Eric Butynski told WSB-TV. “It could’ve been heavier traffic at the time, she could’ve hit the pole at such an angle that she did more damage to the car.”

Warren is being held in jail on a $22,000 bond and her children are staying with their grandparents.

Cheapskate John Gets Life For Killing Prostitute Who Refused to Take $8 For Sex

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Felix Shirley (l) flew into a murderous rage when Misha Moore refused to take just $8 for sex

ATLANTA — A cheapskate john was sentenced to life in prison for killing a prostitute after he offered her just $8 for sex and she refused, authorities said.

Felix Shirley, 26, encountered 27-year-old Misha Moore in January 2017 as he was leaving his shift as a construction worker at Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium, the Fulton County District Attorney said.

As they approached a subway station, she offered him sex for money, but when he tried to give her just $8, she told him “it was not enough,” which sent him into a rage, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Shirley then threw her against a wall and when she fell to the ground, he began kicking and stomping on her. He then pulled out a .22 caliber revolver and fatally shot her in the face and neck, prosecutors said.

Her body was later found at the bottom of a stairwell by two Underground Atlanta employees.

The killing was captured by a subway surveillance camera and police quickly circulated images of Shirley. He was captured about three weeks later.

He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life plus five years.

Man Arrested for Threatening to Kill CNN Employees Over ‘Fake News’

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The caller threatened to attack CNN’s headquarters over ‘Fake News’

DETROIT — A Michigan man has been arrested for allegedly calling CNN nearly two dozen times and threatening to kill everyone who worked there, accusing them of producing “fake news,” amid hate-filled rants.

The menacing calls began pouring into the CNN switchboard in Atlanta on Jan. 9 from a number registered to a home in Novi, Michigan, the FBI said.

“Fake news. I’m coming to gun you all down. F — k you, f — king ni—rs,” 24-year-old Brandon Griesemer allegedly told the operator before hanging up.

Several minutes later, Griesemer called back and repeated his threat: “I am on my way right now to gun the f — kin’ CNN cast down. F — k you,” according to an FBI affidavit.

Griesemer allegedly called back 30 minutes later and whispered: “I’m coming for you CNN. I’m smarter than you. More powerful than you. I have more guns than you. More manpower. Your cast is about to get gunned down in a matter of hours.”

The calls carried on the next day, when authorities say Griesemer spouted out slurs about Jews, before stating: “You are going down. I have a gun and I am coming to Georgia right now to go to the CNN headquarters to f — king gun every single last one of you. I have a team of people. It’s going to be great, man . . . You gotta get prepared for this one, buddy.”

CNN managed to figure out who the caller was after bringing in an investigators who was able to trace the number back to Griesemer’s family home in Michigan.

The terrifying calls come at a time of heightened tension for the news media, with President Donald Trump frequently attacking critical press as “fake news,” with CNN being a regular target. Last week, the president unveiled his “Fake News Awards,” naming CNN numerous times. He has also shared several images on Twitter showing him attacking the CNN logo.

Griesemer’s father told the Washington Post that “this whole thing has been a mistake, he really didn’t mean any of it.”

“He didn’t know what he was saying, the seriousness of it. We’re not even gun owners or anything like that. We don’t have any, neither does he,” his father said.

The FBI affidavit also says Griesemer had earlier admitted to phoning in threats to a Michigan mosque in September last year.

Ninja in Training Breaks Into Georgia Target to Steal Ninja How-To Books

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Christopher Atkins calls himself a ninja in training

DUNWOODY, Georgia — Practice makes perfect.

Police arrested a burglar in Georgia who had broken into a Target store and made off with a stack of books that teach how to be a ninja and enter into secured areas.

Christopher Zahyeer Atkins, 25, of Altamonte Springs Florida, was busted around 1 a.m. Monday as he walked away from the store with a pile of ninja books, DVDs and some electronics, the Dunwoody Police department said.

Officers had been brought there by a burglar alarm and officials at the alarm company spotted a man on security cameras attempting to get inside the store. When officers arrived, they say they spotted Atkins walking away from the shop with a bunch of things tucked under his arm.

“Officers interviewed the suspect and he admitted to making forced entry into the business because he was reading the book Naruto, Volume 5. In this book it was teaching him to be a ninja and how to enter secured areas,” the Dunwoody police department said in a post on Facebook.

Naruto is a series of Japanese manga books about a young ninja.

Atkins was arrested and charged with first degree burglary

Escaped Circus Tiger Gunned Down in Suburban Atlanta After Attacking Dog

By HardBoiledNews Staff

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.

Sheriff Suspended After Flashing Bust in Atlanta Park

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Jeff Mann was elected Dekalb County Sheriff in 2014

ATLANTA– A Georgia sheriff has placed himself on suspension after he was busted for exposing himself in a public park and then fleeing from police.

DeKalb County Sheriff Jeffrey Mann was caught with his pants down late Saturday in a part of Atlanta’s Piedmont Park known for people committing “sexual acts after dark,” Atlanta police said.

According to a police report, Mann had exposed himself and was walking towards and officer. As they got close, the officer turned on his flashlight, and commanded Mann to stop. But Mann fled instead and led the officer on a quarter-mile chase before giving up, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

He was charged with indecency and obstruction.

DeKalb County Commissioner Nancy Jester said the arrest was “certainly not a good headline for DeKalb County.”

She said Mann — who has been with the department for more than a decade and was elected sheriff in 2014 — had always been considered professional, but “now we have this, so I don’t know.”

“We’ll see where this takes us,” she told the paper.

In a memo to his staff, Mann said he had no choice but to place himself on suspension for conduct unbecoming an officer.

“I cannot ask my employees to abide by a code of conduct unless I am willing to subject myself to it as well.  In fact, I must be held to an even higher standard than my employees,” he wrote.

Still, he said the suspension didn’t qualify as an admission of guilt and that he planned to defend himself against the charges.

Atlanta Man Sentenced to Life in Prison In Hot Pockets Slaying

By HardBoiledNews Staff

ATLANTA — He thought Hot Pockets were to die for.

An Atlanta man was sentenced to life in prison for fatally shooting his sister’s boyfriend eight times in 2016, saying “I just snapped,” after they failed to bring home Hot Pockets from the store.

Prosecutors say Nathaniel Mathis had asked his sister and her boyfriend, Rodney Benton to pick up the frozen snack when they went shopping on June 11, 2016.

But when they got to the store, they found that the Hot Pockets had sold out so Mathis sister called him to let him know. They then tried to check out using Mathis’ EBT card but it didn’t work so they drove home empty handed, WGHP-TV reported.

“The defendant was home and still upset when he approached the SUV”, a Fulton County District Attorney spokesperson told the channel.

Nathaniel Mathis

Mathis then walked toward the passenger side of his sister’s SUV and shouted, “You know what’s going on, before opening fire and striking the 34-year-old Benton eight times.

As he fled the scene, Mathis stopped a woman and asked her to tell his sister that, “I just snapped. I love her and didn’t mean for it to happen this way.”

Cops eventually caught up to Mathis in a wooded area, pointing a gun at his head. After several hours of negotiations, Mathis was shot with a beanbag gun and taken into custody.

 

Couple Ran Prison Taxi Service for Inmates to Buy Booze, Smokes: Feds

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta is a minimum-security facility

ATLANTA — Hard time, it wasn’t.

A federal prisoner and his girlfriend have been charged with running a taxi service for minimum security jailbirds in Atlanta, driving them to buy booze, smokes and other contraband before returning them to jail.

Prosecutors say Deldrick Jackson, who is serving time in the Atlanta penitentiary on a cocaine and money laundering rap, and his girlfriend, Kelly Bass, collected $4,000 over six months for shuttling inmates out of the minimum security prison camp through a hole in the fence.

Bass, 38, would sit outside the prison fence in her Acura SUV and would sometimes drive prisoners to go shopping, or to a local hotel, or would just hand them the contraband goods they had asked for, according to court documents.

Among the items they would sneak in included bottles of alcohol, cigarettes and cigars, mobile phones and even nail clippers, prosecutors said.

In January, prison officials installed cameras near the holes in the fence and captured footage of Bass picking Jackson, 41, and other prisoners up and then returning them hours later.

In April, officials stopped Bass’ vehicle after a pickup and arrested her and Jackson. A search of the car turned up two cell phones, a box filled with packs of cigarettes, and several bottles of alcohol, prosecutors said.

The pair were charged with escaping from a federal prison  and assisting others to escape.

Federal officials said the scheme underscored the “very clearly the problems at the federal camp of the U.S. Penitentiary Atlanta but also the efforts underway by the FBI, working with the Atlanta Police and its other law enforcement partners, to remedy the matter.”

 

5-Year-Old Boy Crushed in Tragic Hotel Spinning Restaurant Mishap

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The view from the Sundial Restaurant at Atlanta’s Westin Peachtree

ATLANTA — A 5-year-old boy was killed in a tragic mishap at a rotating restaurant in Atlanta when his head got trapped between the spinning section of the eatery and the stationary part, police said.

The boy, who was in town visiting with his family from North Carolina,  was eating at the 72nd floor Sun Dial restaurant at the top of the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, when he wandered away from his parents table.

“They were up enjoying one of our favorite attractions, the restaurant and just things went horribly wrong,” Sgt. Warren Pickard of the Atlanta Police Department told WAGA-TV.

“The child was in the restaurant having lunch with his family and doing what small children do, the child’s 5 years old,” Pickard said. “He wandered away from the table and was somehow able to get lodged in between the rotating floor and the wall and the table.”

“People in the restaurant, everyone ran to the child’s aid. Pulling furniture, turning over tables, trying to administer first aid, but just were not successful in saving the child’s life,” Pickard said.

Hotel officials said the restaurant’ spinning mechanism shut off automatically and rescuescrews worked for about 30 minutes to free the child from a 4-inch gap. But by the time the boy made it to a local hospital, it was too late.

The hotel stands 72 stories tall

Westin Hotel manager George Reed said the restaurant was closed as the investigation continued and that hotel staff were devastated by what he called a “tragic accident.”

“We are working with the authorities as they look into this tragic accident and we will continue to assist them in any way we can,” he said in a statement. “Words cannot express the depths of our sorrow. Our thoughts remain with the family.”

The Sun Dial revolving restaurant and cocktail lounge has been in business since 1976. It has 360-panorama views of Atlanta from 720 feet up.

Former MLB Outfielder Otis Nixon Found After Disappearing for Two Days

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Nixon was a top rate base stealer in his heyday, but struggled with personal demons

 

WOODSTOCK, Georgia — Former long-time Major League Baseball outfielder Otis Nixon was located safe and sound Monday after a two-day police search that was triggered when he failed to show up for his scheduled tee time at a local golf course.

Police in Woodstock, Georgia said that Nixon had been “located and is safe” and thanked the public for their help in finding him. No further details about where Nixon had been were immediately released.

Nixon, 58, was last seen leaving his house in Georgia around 10 a.m. Saturday morning and had not been seen for two days when police asked for the public’s help in trying to find him.

He had been heading to a golf course in a gray 2011 Range Rover, but didn’t show, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

Nixon, who had his best days professionally with the Atlanta Braves, retired after the 1999 season. He has had a history of drug abuse and his name last surfaced publicly in 2013, when he was arrested for possession of crack cocaine.

In 1991, while with the Braves, he was suspended for 60 games after testing positive for cocaine and missed playing in the World Series.

A speed-demon, switch hitter, Nixon stole 620 bases, scored 878 runs and hit .270 in a 17 year career.

He began his career with the New York Yankees, but also played  with the Indians, Expos, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Dodgers and Twins, as well as two stints with the Braves.

 

Nixon in a recent police handout photo