Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Sheriff Suspended After Flashing Bust in Atlanta Park

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

$6 Million Worth of Drugs Found in Georgia Teacher’s Home

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Monica Britto (l) and Karla Alvarez (r) were charged with keeping an immense amount of blow in their home

OAKWOOD, Georgia — Authorities seized a stunning $6 million worth of cocaine and heroin in a raid of a Georgia middle school teacher’s home.

Teacher Karla Alvarez and two others face drug trafficking and weapons charges following the raid on Thursday, the Hall County Sheriff’s office said.

“I’ve worked drugs and gangs for a long time and it was one of the larger cocaine seizures I’ve ever seen,” Hall County Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Ware said, according to WAGA-TV.

Alvarez, 28, has taught at the Chestatee Middle School Academy since 2015 and is also a coach of the girl’s soccer team. Also arrested was 24-year-old Monica Pascual Brito. Her brother, Ricardo Pascual Brito, 25, was being sought.

Police say they received a tip that a “substantial” amount of drugs were being kept in the house and when they executed a search warrant, they discovered 61 kilograms of cocaine, a kilo of hero and two semi-automatic assault rifles.

This is what $6.2 million worth of coke and heroin looks like

Investigators estimated the drug stash to be worth $6.2 million.

Neighbors say the size of the drug haul has left them stunned.

“If it was $6,000, anybody might expect that,” Tom Wolf told the Gainesville Times. “But $6 million, who expects that?”

Cop Killed at Georgia Sperm Bank After Being Overcome by Fumes

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Greg Meagher was a 33-year veteran of the Richmond County Sheriff’s office

AUGUSTA, Georgia — A veteran Georgia cop was killed after inhaling liquid nitrogen fumes while trying to save the life of an employee of a sperm bank, authorities said.

Richmond County Sheriff’s Deputy Greg Meagher, 57, responded to Xytex Corp. in Augusta on Sunday afternoon to help the employee who had been sickened by the fumes, when he became overwhelmed, police said.

Three other officers were also stricken by the fumes but were able to get out of the laboratory facility and later recovered, officials said. Liquid nitrogen is used to freeze sperm at the bank.

Meagher and the female employee were later pulled out by firefighters, but Meagher had  succumbed to the gas and was pronounced dead. The woman was hospitalized and is expected to live.

Xytex Corp. said the incident appeared to have been triggered by a surge in pressure in the liquid nitrogen supply to the facility, but that none of the storage containers had been affected. The firm offered condolences to the deputy’s family and said they were cooperating with authorities.

Meagher had been a sheriff’s deputy for 33 years and had a distinguished career marked by stints as a drug investigator. In 2004, he was shot in the face during a drug sting, but survived and later returned to work, the Augusta Chronicle reported.

 

 

Man Told to Stop Smoking on Bus Sets Driver’s Hair on Fire, Steals Bus

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Deputies were forced to ram the bus bus to get Freeman to stop

SPARTA, Georgia — A drunken Georgia man set a bus driver’s hair on fire and then hijacked the vehicle and led police on a high-speed chase after being told to stop smoking on the bus, cops said.

Michael Douglas Freeman, 63, was on the Putnam Transit bus on Friday afternoon heading into Eatonton to buy milk when he lit up a cigarette, the Putnam County Sheriff’s office said.

When told by the driver and another passenger to put the cigarette out, police say Freeman “took exception” and snatched the keys when the driver pulled over and used his lighter to set her hair on fire, the Macon Telegraph reported.

Michael Freeman has seven arrests for drunk driving

The driver, Linda Grandt, 56, managed to swat the flames out and then hopped off the bus with the other passenger. Freeman then threw her purse out the window and took off with the bus.

Grandt called 911, and police were soon giving chase, but Freeman kept going at ever increasing speeds. At one point he drove over a strip of spikes which flattened a tire, but he continued on, hitting speeds of up to 95 miles per hour and, at points, driving on the wrong side of the highway cops said.

Eventually, a deputy managed to ram Freeman off the road as he pulled into central Sparta. As deputies surrounded the vehicle, Freeman refused to come out and tried to bite paramedics as they pulled him from the bus.

Freeman was jailed on charges that include battery, aggravated assault, eluding police and drunken driving.

“This will be his seventh DUI,” Sheriff Howard Sills said.

Jailed Drug Kingpin Pleads to Running Empire from Prison Using Drones

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Daniel Alo was already serving 20 years to life while running a multi-sate drug enterprise

BRUNSWICK, Georgia — A violent criminal has pleaded guilty to running a multi-state drug ring from prison using cellphones smuggled in by unmanned drones and financed by scratch-off lotto winnings.

Federal prosecutors had alleged that Daniel Roger Alo, 46, had strung together an outfit made up of members of various gangs like the Ghost Face Gangsters, the Bloods, the Gangster Disciples, and from individuals with ties to Mexican Cartels.

Alo was accused of the running the organization, which extended from Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and beyond, from his cell in Georgia’s Calhoun State Prison where he was serving 20 years to life for a 1994 kidnapping.

Using cell phones he smuggled in via drone, Alo coordinated large drug deals that moved pounds of crystal meth across the South.

“This defendant is an example of the enormous challenges that our law enforcement partners face in their fight against illegal drugs in our communities,” said Edward Tarver,  U.S. Attorney for Georgia’s southern district. “Alo used readily available technology (drones and cell phones) to continue his substantial criminal behavior even while confined in a secure State prison.”

The ring was busted open in 2015, when police seized 11 pounds of meth, 10 firearms, and over $600,000 from five of Alo’s co-conspirators, in a sting operation in Georgia.

Among those arrested was Ronnie Music, a convicted meth dealer who in February 2015 won $3 million in the scratch-off lotto game, 100X the Money.

Ronnie Music collecting his $3 million lotto prize in 2015

Authorities say Music, 44, used some of the proceeds to buy meth as part of the ring. He has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing prosecutors said. In all, 15 people have been rounded up as part of Alo drug empire, and agents have seized more than 15 firearms, over 15 pounds of crystal meth, piles of cash, multiple vehicles — and two drones.

Alo now faces from five to 40 years in a federal prison.

Watch 2 Armed Robbers Mess With the Wrong Shopkeeper

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MABLETON, Georgia — These guys must have had a death wish.

Starting surveillance footage captures the moment when Georgia shop keeper Jimmy Groover turns the tables on two armed thieves who quickly realize that attempting to rob a gun shop was a mistake.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH: https://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=ca12048a2baf

The video shows the two gun-toting thieves wander into the Dixie Gun and Pawn in Mableton, Georgia on Dec. 26, and open fire, forcing Groover to open fire with his sidearm to defend his and an employee’s lives.

A store employee puts his hands up as the armed robbers enter the store, while Jimmy Groover doesn’t immediately see what is going on

The footage shows the employee nervously backing away from the two armed and masked intruders. When the 64-year-old Groover, who is huddled over a cash register, suddenly realizes what is going on, he springs into action.

Groover says the men yelled, “Get down on the floor, get down on the floor or I’ll kill you,” before firing a shot, forcing him to fire back.

“I didn’t have any other choice. I hate that it happened,” he told WXIA-TV.

Groover opens fire, killing one of the gunmen and sending the other running for his life

One of the armed intruders was shot dead on the spot and the second man turned tail and ran for his life. Groover was not charged and the other gunman has not been located.

“I’ve been in this 30 years and nothing like this has ever happened and I never wanted this to happen. But I want to go home at night too,” Groover said.