Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Man Uses Change of Address Form to Get UPS Mail Sent to His House

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Dashaun Spruce managed to get thousands of letters meant for UPS sent to his house instead

CHICAGO — It’s so stupid, it’s brilliant.

A clever con man used a postal service change of address form to redirect mail meant for UPS corporate headquarters in Atlanta to be sent instead to his tiny apartment in Chicago.

Federal prosecutors say Dushaun Spruce managed to deposit $60,000 worth of checks that were meant to go to UPS, during the month the company’s voluminous quantity of mail was arriving at his house late last year.

It was only after the checks went astray that UPS even noticed something was wrong and contacted the postal police.

When authorities raided Spruce’s home, they found 3,000 pieces of mail that was intended to go to UPS. Postal carriers said so much mail had started showing up at Spruce’s house, that it couldn’t fit in his letter box  and they had to leave it in postal tubs outside his door.

Postal officials say they process 37 million change of address forms each year, but only about 1,000 end up being investigated for fraud.

Spruce told the Chicago Tribune that he had started receiving UPS’ mail due to a mix up and that he wasn’t responsible.

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Boneheaded Rapper Jailed for 15 Years for Waving Around Illegal Gun in Music Video

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Ricardo Burgos thought he’d add some street cred by waving guns around in his video

CHICAGO — Boneheaded bravado isn’t one of the seven sins, but it should be.

A rapper trying to make it big will instead spend the next 15 years behind bars after shooting a video featuring him waving around guns that as a convicted felon are illegal for him to carry.

Ricardo Burgos, who goes by the stage name “Nation,” shot the video in January 2016 in a hotel room just north of Chicago in which he is seen holding two guns — including a .45 caliber pistol — while rapping about selling drugs, committing acts of violence, and dissing cops.

Burgos, 31, who allegedly is a member of the Conservative Vice Lords street gang, had previously been convicted of multiple felonies and so isn’t legally allowed to possess a firearm, prosecutors said.

He was busted a short time later when he brought the gun into Chicago. Investigators determined that the .45-caliber pistol had been stolen from a store in Indiana and had been used in a shooting in Chicago two days before the music video was filmed.

Burgos was additionally hit with a drug charge for multiple illegal narcotic sales he made to undercover officers in 2015.

He pleaded guilty to one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a felon, and one count of distribution of a controlled substance.

 

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Serial Stowaway Sneaks Onto Flight Without Ticket for 10th Time

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Marilyn Hartman has snuck onto planes so many times she has been dubbed the “serial stowaway”

CHICAGO — A woman dubbed the “serial stowaway” has been busted for the 10th time for sneaking through security and onto an airplane without a ticket, this time making it all the way from Chicago to London before being caught.

Marilyn Hartman, 66, of Grayslake, Illinois, is a notorious figure in aviation circles for her ability to find ways of getting onto planes unnoticed despite the intense security at airports.

She was busted at least eight times in 2014 for pulling such stunts. The next year, she got nabbed twice in two months at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports. She’s also been arrested in California and Arizona.

Hartman has spent a year in jail for the repeated episodes and was released on probation to a nursing home in December 2015.

But Chicago police say Hartman showed up at O’Hare on Jan. 14, where she managed to sneak past airport security without a boarding pass or passport, and then got on a British Airways flight to London.

She allegedly hid in the airplane bathroom during takeoff and then sat down in an empty seat for the rest of the flight, although airline staff realized she didn’t belong there and notified authorities in the United Kingdom that they had a stowaway onboard.

Hartman was detained at Heathrow Airport and sent back to Chicago where she was place under arrest.

In a statement, the Transportation Security Administration said Hartman had been checked through security even though she had no ticket and that it was investigating what went wrong.

 

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Teen Paperboy Raising Cash for Christmas Presents Slain on Route in Chicago

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Paperboy Brian Jasso was trying to save cash to buy his mother (R) headphones for Christmas

CHICAGO — A 15-year-old newspaper delivery boy saving money to buy a Christmas present for his mom, was shot and killed in what police think may have been a case of mistaken identity.

Paperboy Brian Jasso was helping his mother’s boyfriend deliver copies of the Chicago Tribune on the south side of the city Sunday morning when their car was rear-ended at a traffic light, police said.

The occupants of the car behind them then began shooting, firing numerous shots through the rear window of the delivery vehicle, striking Jasso in the back of the head and killing him, cops said.

Investigators said neither the boy nor the mother’s boyfriend had gang ties and it is believed the gunmen may have confused them for someone else.  Another theory is that it was a carjacking gone bad.

“I hope the person who did this sees this so they could know whose life they took,” the boy’s mother Carmen Manzano, told the Tribune. “He was a person who had dreams, he was a person who wasn’t doing wrong like they are doing bad things on the street.”

The family said the teen had been helping out to raise some extra money to buy his mother a present for Christmas and to be able to afford to take his girlfriend out on a date.

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Psychic Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud in Bilking Elderly Woman Out of $3.5 Million

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BOSTON —  Surely she should have seen the tax man coming.

A predatory psychic who bilked an elderly Martha’s Vineyard woman out of $3.5 million in order to rid her of demons, has pleaded guilty to tax evasion.

Sally Ann Johnson, 41, swooped into the victim’s life in 2007 and convinced to pay top dollar for repeated spiritual cleansing ceremonies, exorcisms and healing services over the next seven years. At times, Johnson even lived with the victim.

Federal prosecutors say Johnson, who also went by the names Angela Johnson, Angelia Johnson, and Sally Reed operated various psychic businesses in Florida, Illinois, New York and Massachusetts.

The businesses, Flatiron Psychic, Psychic Match, Inc., and Psychic Spiritual Salon, Inc., all offered “psychic readings,” “spiritual cleansing & strengthening,” and “meditation & healing.”

But what ultimately landed Johnson in the dock was the lengths she went to in order to obscure the payments the victim made to her so that the IRS wouldn’t pick up on it.

Prosecutors say Johnson used an alias and directed that payments be sent to at least three different bank accounts connected to her, including an account in another person’s name. Johnson would then withdrew large amounts in cash.

She also ran up huge credit card bills on accounts in the victim’s name and had her pay the bill in lieu of paying directly for her services.

Prosecutors say the whole subterfuge was designed to conceal Johnson’s income from the IRS and that, in fact, she never paid a dime in tax on the $3.5 million.

Johnson pleaded guilty to interfering with the administration of the Internal Revenue laws and had agreed to pay $3,567,3000 back to the victim as well as pay back taxes. Sentencing was scheduled for Jan. 17, 2018.

 

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Slow-Speed Runaway Bulldozer Escape Crushes Police Car Like Tin Can

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KANKAKEE, Illinois — He was set on making his getaway no matter how long it took.

An Illinois man led cops on a wild, slow-speed chase after stealing a 20-ton bulldozer, smashing a patrol car beneath its treads and narrowly avoiding crushing an officer.

Austin White, 18, was arrested on August 24 in the bizarre incident but dashcam video of the episode just surfaced this week, following a Freedom of Information Act request by WLS-TV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3Pq72bO2Zo

Police say White stole the giant vehicle from a construction site in the middle of the night and was goofing around when cops began arriving at the scene. He then bolts, going 12 blocks through city streets, traveling just 5 miles per hour.

In the video, White can be seen driving the multi-ton truck over an approaching patrol car whose driver hopped out just in time.

Officers can be seen throughout the episode giving chase on foot.Eventually they managed to pull White from the vehicle and toss him to the ground. They were forced to use a Taser to subdue before hauling him in.

Austin White after cops had enough to do with him

He is being held on six felony counts of attempted murder and driving under the influence of drugs. Police say White has never had a driver’s license.

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YouTube Star Austin Jones Hit With Child Porn Charges

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CHICAGO — Austin Jones, a musician and YouTube star has been hit with child pornography charges for allegedly talking underage fans into sending him sexually explicit videos.

The 24-year-old pop singer, who resides in Bloomingdale, Illinois, has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, most of whom are young girls, and his YouTube videos are routinely watched millions of times.

Federal prosecutors say he is charged with talking two 14-year-old girls he met on Facebook into sending him video of them exposing their private parts while twerking for the camera and talking about how young they are.

“Get super close and say these lines: hey Austin, it’s (name) and this butt is (age) years old and then make it clap for 30 seconds. Got it?” he was quoted in the indictment as telling one of the victims.

To the second victim, Jones was quoted as saying: “Think about how amazing that would be for you!! To have your favorite singer spanking your ass!” He then said, “If you’re lucky, maybe I’d let you suck my d**k.”

Prosecutors said Jones would goad the victims into making more explicit videos by telling them they had to prove they were his biggest fans. If they demurred, he would threaten to break off communication. He admitted to the FBI that he would masturbate to the videos.

After being contacted by the FBI, Facebook deactivated Jones’ account, prosecutors said.

Jones was arrested on Monday at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and was set to go before a judge on Wednesday to face two counts of producing child pornography. He faces between 15 and 30 years on each count.

In 2015,  a petition circulated demanding Jones be removed from the Warped Tour for allegedly soliciting underage girls to send him twerking videos. He later apologized to fans, saying in a post on Facebook that he had gone into therapy and that he never “intended to mistreat or humiliate anyone.”

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Chicago Gang Leader Faces 70 Years After Instagramming Pics From Gun Range

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CHICAGO — A Chicago gang leader faces up to 70 years in prison for firing a pistol with pals at a gun range and then posting pictures on Instagram that documented the day.

Labar “Bro Man” Spann, 38, is barred from having a gun due to a variety of prior felony convictions including aggravated battery of a police officer, drug offenses, harassment of a witness and armed robbery.

The reputed leader of the Four Corner Hustlers pleaded guilty to going with a gal pal and a friend to Midwest Sporting Goods in Lyons, Illinois in September 2014 and loading a Glock 19 and opening fire at targets at the range.

Prosecutors alleged that Spann later posted a number of photographs and videos on Instagram showing him at the range and the targets at which he’d fired.

“Ya’ll know I had to go first just to show my b***ch how this s**t works lmao I do this s**t,” Spann wrote below one picture he posted showing a target with holes in the head and chest.

Spann also pleaded guilty to pressuring his girlfriend, Ladonah Hampton, to lie to authorities and say that he had never fired a gun while at the range.

He was also pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to sell after cops found dozens of small bags of the white powder in his home.

Spann faces up to 70 years in prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 5, 2017.

In addition to his various felony offenses, Spann was acquitted of being the mastermind behind the 2003 killing of Rudy Rangel, a notorious high-ranking member of the Latin Kings street gang.

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Hero Driver Leaps into Action to Save Motorist Having Seizure

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DIXON, Illinois — A hero driver was caught on tape leaping into action to save a fellow motorist having a seizure behind the wheel from a nasty accident at a busy Illinois intersection.

Police say the terrifying episode unfolded late in the afternoon last Friday when the stricken driver ran a red light and began drifting into oncoming traffic in downtown Dixon.

That’s when Randy Tompkins, who was sitting behind the wheel of his pickup truck with his wife beside him in the opposite lane, sprang into action, with the whole thing being captured on the dashboard camera of a nearby police car.

 

At approximately 4:06 p.m. yesterday afternoon, one of our squad cars was on routine patrol approaching the intersection of 4th Avenue and North Galena Avenue.

Officers observed a blue passenger car traveling north on North Galena Avenue and had disobeyed the red traffic signal at that intersection. The car proceeded through the intersection, almost striking several vehicles. Our squad car activated its emergency lights in an attempt to conduct a traffic stop on the car. The car proceeded north at a low rate of speed and began traveling into the oncoming lanes of travel.

A truck, that was southbound in the 1300 block of North Galena Avenue, had to back up to avoid being struck by the car. The driver of the truck could see the driver of the car and observed that something looked medically wrong. The driver of the truck (later identified as Dixon resident Randy Tompkins) exited his vehicle, ran up to the car and without hesitation jumped into the car through the passenger side window in an attempt to stop it. Tompkins was able to get the car in park just as officers approached the vehicle as well. The driver of the vehicle was found to be having a seizure.

Tompkins and the two officers stood by until Dixon City Fire arrived and transported the driver to KSB Hospital. We want to thank Tompkins for his heroism and for coming to a complete stranger’s aid!
#DixonProud

Posted by Dixon, Illinois Police Department on Saturday, June 3, 2017

First, Tompkins backed his vehicle up and out of the way of the oncoming motorist and then raced out of his car and dove headlong through the passenger window of the sick driver’s car and pulled the parking brake.

“I saw him come out from behind the traffic, and he almost hit me in my lane,” the 39-year-old Tompkins told the Northwest Herald. “I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t realize he was having a seizure until he got to the intersection.”

The quick-thinking Tompkins said it all happened in a blur, but that he “just did what had to be done”.

“He was in danger himself, and he was a danger to others,” Tompkins said. “My adrenaline was pumping, and I just reacted.”

Police say the driver, who was described as a man in his 20s or 30s, had indeed had a seizure and was taken to a local hospital and later released.

“We want to thank Tompkins for his heroism and for coming to a complete stranger’s aid!” the Dixon Police wrote on Facebook.

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We’re On a Mission From God: Fire Erupts at Jail Featured in ‘The Blues Brothers’

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Elwood and Jake begin their mission from God

JOLIET, Illinois — The prison featured in the opening scenes of the cult classic film, “The Blues Brothers,” was heavily damaged when a fire erupted in an old industrial building on the grounds of the abandoned jail.

The fire at the old Joilet Correctional Center broke out Monday evening and was brought under control after a few hours. No one was injured in the blaze, officials said.

The cause of the fire was not immediately clear, fire officials said. Two people found leaving the grounds of the prison were taken in for questioning and told authorities that other people had been in the complex before the blaze, the Joliet Herald-News reported.

Opened in 1858, the prison was closed in 2002 and was most famous for its cameo appearance in the 1980 film when Elwood Blues, played by Dan Aykroyd, picks up his brother Jake, portrayed by John Belushi, in order to get the band back together following a stint in prison.

Fire tears through the roof of an industrial building on the grounds of the abandoned Joliet Correctional Center

The jail also appeared in the Fox series “Prison Break” and in the Bob Odenkirk comedy, “Let’s Go To Prison.”

But its role in the opening sequence of “The Blues Brothers” made it a tourist destination of sorts, and visitors to Joliet would often visit the abandoned jail to pose for photos.

In 2013, a fire at the complex destroyed a warehouse building after which officials welded shut the gates leading into the jail to keep vagrants out. In 2009, a prison parking lot was transformed into a public park.

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