Louisiana Archives – Hard Boiled News

‘Sons of Guns’ Reality Star Sentenced to Life in Prison for Child Rapes

May 13, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

‘Sons of Guns’ ran from 2011 until 2014 on the Discovery Channel

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — A former star of the reality show “Sons of Guns” will spend the rest of his life behind bars after being found guilty of repeatedly raping two young girls.

Will Hayden, 51, was convicted in April of raping the two girls — one in the early 1990s and the other in 2013 and 2014 — when they were just 11- and 12-years-old. The younger woman, who is now 15, testified that Hayden raped her repeatedly over the course of two years.

“One test of society is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children,” East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore said.

Hayden and his family were stars of the show “Sons of Guns” which featured their Louisiana custom gun business, Red Jacket Firearms. The show ran from 2011 until 2014 on the Discovery Channel and was cancelled after Hayden was arrested on the rape charges.

The judge sentenced Hayden to concurrent life terms on the aggravated rape convictions, as well as 40-years for forcible rape. Hayden will not be eligible for probation, parole or a suspended sentence, the judge ruled, meaning he will spend the rest of his days behind bars, the Baton Rouge Advocate reported.

The reality show star testified in his own defense in the case to deny that he had raped the girls. His attorney says he is planning to appeal the verdict.

He also faces charges of aggravated incest involving his oldest daughter, Stephanie Hayden, who co-starred on the show. In 2014, she told Dr. Phil that her father once came into her bedroom one night when she was child, stinking drunk and pinched and kissed her while trying to take her clothes off. She told the talk show host she managed to escape and that he never did it again.

‘Swamp People’ Star Busted for Illegally Hunting Gators

May 11, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

NOBLE, Louisiana — A former star of the reality show “Swamp People” has been arrested on charges of illegally catching and selling alligators and other animals.

The Sabine Parish Sheriff’s office said Roger Rivers, Jr., 42, and four others who worked for him, were busted after a year-long investigation by wildlife officials into allegations that they were illegally hunting gators, according to KTBS-TV.

Rivers, who appeared in the fifth season of the History Channel show which follows a group of gator hunters around Louisiana, is well known locally for living off the land.

According to his bio for the show:

“Roger Rivers spends every day on the hunt for food for his family of five. Whether it’s hogs, turtles or gators, Roger hunts them and never comes home empty-handed.

“However, Roger has one problem: an addiction to hunting big gators. Every year is a quest for him to capture the biggest gators in the swamp. Last year, he was able to come home with a 14-foot monster that nearly took his life when it pulled him overboard.”

Police say Rivers was booked into the Sabine Parish Detention Center on eight charges, including selling alligator snapping turtles, taking alligators and selling them without a license, selling alligator meat illegally and marijuana possession.

He was released on $10,000 bond.

Also arrested were Joseph Wilson Meshell, 66, and his three sons, Joseph Wilson Meshell Jr., Jessie Lee Meshell, and Michael Meshell, who all allegedly worked for Rivers.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents launched the investigation after receiving a tip about out-of-season hunting and the sale of animals harvested from those hunts.

Dead Giveaway: LSU Lineman Busted Wearing His Number During Burglary

April 28, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Adrian Magee played three games as a freshman

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana — He’ll be swapping his playbook for a copy of the penal code.

An offensive lineman for LSU got busted burglarizing an apartment while wearing clothes bearing his own uniform number, cops said.

Adrian Magee, 20, is accused of making off with an Xbox gaming console, six Xbox games, Gucci flip flops, an Onyx bluetooth speaker, and $1,200 cash from the apartment.

He might have gotten away with it, had the 6-foot-5, 309-pound lineman not stuck his head in through the apartment doorway to ask the victim after he returned if he had been robbed, cops said.

The man whose apartment it was, being a huge LSU fan, immediately recognized Magee mainly because he had on a pair of shorts emblazoned with his uniform number, No. 73.

When the victim said he planned to review surveillance tape to see if he could identify who the culprit was, Magee left and soon returned with the stolen items and admitted he was responsible.

Magee, who played three games as a freshman last season, has been suspended indefinitely by the tea,.

Couple Busted in Old School ‘Pigeon Drop’ Con Targeting Elderly Women

April 19, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Vanessa Favors and Milous Brown keep their scams old school

KENNER, Louisiana — A con artist posing as a devoutly religious woman and her boyfriend have been charged with running an old-fashioned “pigeon drop” scam to bilk an elderly woman out of her cash.

Police say Vanessa Favors, 61, of Atlanta, Georgia., and Milous Brown, 74, of Birmingham, Alabama, were busted after targeting a 65-year-old woman at a store in Kenner, Louisiana, but say they have been arrested for running similar scams in the past.

“We certainly believe they are traveling and preying on the elderly to scam them,” Kenner Police Lt. Brian McGregor told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “We’ve also been in contact with other police jurisdictions who are reviewing similar cases.”

In a “pigeon drop”con, scamsters typically pretend to find a bag, wallet containing a large sum of cash, and approach their mark asking if the bag belongs to them. The fraudsters then propose splitting the money, but only after agreeing to a complicated arrangement in which the victim hands over cash as security while a lawyer ensures their keeping the money is legal.

In this case, Favors is charged with approaching the woman outside a Kenner grocery store. Favors, who was carrying a bible, asked the woman if she dropped her bag and then opened a purse holding a large wad of cash.

Favors offered to share the money for a fee and got the woman to agree to drive to a nearby where Favors said she planned to contact an attorney, cops said. On the drive over, cops say Favors began reciting biblical verse loudly, distracting the victim while she stole her wallet.

When they arrived at Wal-Mart, Favors took the handbag and the victim’s wallet inside where she met with Brown and quickly ran up several hundred dollars worth of items on the woman’s credit cards.

It was only after Favors did not return that the woman became suspicious and realized her wallet was gone.

Police believe the couple pulled off a similar scam on a 69-year-old woman outside a Winn Dixie in Kenner in 2013. Investigators believe other victims may have been targeted in and around New Orleans but may not have come forward because they were embarrassed.

A Whole Life of Crime: Man Arrested for 60th Time in Louisiana

January 20, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Ellis Ray Kitchen has made a whole life out of crime

ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana — Old habits die hard.

A career criminal in Louisiana has been busted for the 60th time — and the third time in month — for shoplifting, police said.

Ellis Ray Kitchen, 68, was arrested on Wednesday after he bolted from a shopping mall with property he had stolen from one of the shops there, the Alexandria Police department said.

When officers arrived, Kitchen allegedly dropped what he had stolen and ran, but when they caught up with in the mall parking lot, they found other property he had taken from another business.

Four days earlier, Alexandria cops busted him at the same shopping mall for trying to walk off with a tool set without paying.

Following the second arrest, Kitchen, who police say appears to be homeless, was booked for the 60th time into the Rapides Parish Detention Center.

Kitchen had previously been busted on Christmas Eve for trying to walk out of a local shop in Alexandria with items he hadn’t paid for.

Kitchen’s rap sheet in the area dates back to at least 1991, parish records show. Many of the arrests have been for theft and Kitchen has been listed as a habitual offender since 2012.

He is also a level three registered sex offender. In 1981, he was convicted of raping a woman and in 1986 he sentenced to five years for attempting to rape a woman.

Drunk Driver Who Sped Off With Dead Pedestrian on Roof Sentenced to 15 Years

January 18, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff 4 Comments

Quintella Williams had to be forced to stop after driving off with Sakanah Franklin on the roof of her car

NEW ORLEANS — A drunk driver who hit and killed a pedestrian and then callously sped off with the victim’s body on the roof of her car, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide.

New Orleans police said Quintella Williams, 30, was intoxicated when she struck 37-year-old Sakanah Franklin in the early morning hours on Oct. 24, 2015.

Police said Williams then continued driving six blocks with Franklin’s body on top of her Jeep Compass. Witnesses gave chase and forced Williams to pull over as she was about to get on an interstate. Franklin was pronounced dead at the scene.

Court records showed that Williams’ blood alcohol level registered between 0.15 and 0.20, well above the legal limit, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported.

Williams had faced up to 30 years in prison. A mother of three children, Williams will be credited with time served since her arrest.

Williams did not comment in court during the sentencing hearing but her mother, Bridgette Perry, told the newspaper that the situation was a tragedy that has torn two families apart.

“We are deeply sorry, and so sad about the whole situation,” she said. “They lost a little one, and we did, too, in that she won’t see anybody for a while.”

Woman Busted for Zapping Man on Genitals with Stun Gun

January 17, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Nadira Tardieff is charged with taking her anger out on a man’s jewels

THIBODAUX, Louisiana — She took ball-busting to a new extreme.

Police in Louisiana say Nadira Tardieff tried to settle a fight with a man by zapping him repeatedly with her pink stun gun, including at least one shock to the man’s genitalia.

Thibodaux police say they were called to a Quality Inn in the early hours of Saturday morning, where they found the 37-year-old Tardieff arguing loudly with a man in the parking lot, drawing the attention of a crowd of people at a fast food restaurant across the road.

When cops were unable to calm Tardieff down, they placed her under arrest and as they tried to bring her a police cruiser, they say she sunk her fingernails deep into the arm of one of the officers, “ripping flesh from his arm.”

Once they managed to get her inside the car, cops say she yelled that she scratched the officer on purpose and “they were lucky that is all she did.”

Police say they then spoke to the man she had been arguing with and he told them that she had attacked him inside her hotel room with a pink stun gun, zapping him several times, including on his genitals.

Tardieff was charged with aggravated battery with a dangerous weapon, disturbing the peace, resisting arrest and battery of a police officer. She was held in the Lafourche Parish Detention Center on $21,000 bond.

Louisiana Man Makes Cops’ Job Easy With Misfired Text About Drug Deal

January 12, 2017 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Dwayne Hebert

PIERRE PART, Louisiana — It’s a misdial for the ages.

A Louisiana drug dealer was busted after he accidentally sent a text messages to a sheriff’s deputy while trying to set up a drug buy, police said.

Dwayne Paul Hebert, 39, of Pierre Part, whipped off the misdirected message to an Assumption Parish Sheriff’s deputy on Friday evening in an effort to arrange the delivery of methamphetamine, police said.

The cop played along and set the meeting up, but arranged to have the narcotics squad waiting on standby to swoop in when Hebert showed up.

When he arrived, Hebert was arrested, and deputies found two guns and a stash of meth on him.

He was booked on charges of weapons possession, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and resisting an officer. He was held on $25,000 bond on the drug charges.

Police say they had busted Hebert with two others in November for operating a meth lab out of a boat and that he was free on $90,000 bond in that case.

Ex-NFL Back Joe McKnight’s Killer Charged with Manslaughter

December 6, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Ronald Gasser was charged with manslaughter in McKnight’s killing

HARVEY, Louisiana — The man who gunned down former NFL running back Joe McKnight in a road rage incident last week has been charged with manslaughter.

The arrest late Monday of Ronald Gasser came four days after the shooting, and after he had initially been released. The delay had touched off allegations online of racial bias and that the Jefferson Parish Sheriff was dragging his feet. Gasser is white and McKnight is black.

But Sheriff Newell Normand insisted the delay was driven by the need to allow investigators to speak to as many witnesses as possible and gather enough evidence to deliver the strongest case to prosecutors.

“This isn’t about race,” he said. “Not a single witness to this day said there was one racial slur uttered during the course of these events. Unfortunately, a life was lost. But you want you know something, folks? Two people engaged in bad behavior that day. Why? I don’t know.”

Gasser, 54, was held on $500,000 bond.

Normand said the deadly encounter began when McKnight — who appeared to have been driving erratically — cut Gasser off as they drove over a bridge. That enraged Gasser who told police he “set out after Mr. McKnight,” with the two engaging in a running game of cat and mouse over several blocks, weaving around cars and screaming at each other from their cars.

When the two stopped at a red light, McKnight got out of his Audi Q7 SUV and approached Gasser’s Infiniti G37 from the passenger side.The two exchanged more words, and Gasser pulled out a gun and shot McKnight three times, killing him, Normand said.

He said Gasser’ told police he acted out of fear of McKnight’s “threatening statements.”

“That’s why on Thursday evening, only faced with, and only having Mr. Gasser’s statement, that we thought it best that an arrest not be made for strategic reasons, until we could get other witnesses,” Normand said.

McKnight played 4 seasons in the NFL

He said the delay in making the arrest was part of an effort to make sure that investigators could interviews witnesses who hadn’t been tainted.

“The Stand Your Ground law gives us an obligation to get it right,” Normand said. “For those who have criticized us – tough, I don’t care. I can put my head on my pillow at night knowing I did the right thing.”

He leveled particular criticism at a witness who falsely told a local newspaper that Gasser had gotten out of his car and opened fire at McKnight as he tried to apologize and then stood over his body and screamed,“I told you don’t you f— with me,” and then fired again.

“Shame on that individual,” he said.

Normand revealed for the first time that McKnight had a gun in the car he was driving, but that it belonged to his stepfather and he never displayed and that Gasser was not aware it was there.

In 2006, Gasser was involved in a road rage incident at the same intersection in which he struck another motorist several times. He was charged with battery but the charges were later dropped.

McKnight was selected in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft by the New York Jets. He played for the Jets and Kansas City Chiefs, both as a running back and kick returner. McKnight, 28, most recently played for the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2016/12/06/joe-mcknight-manslaughter-arrest-ronald-gasser/95033986/

Joe McKnight’s Killer Released, But Not Cleared as Investigation Continues

December 2, 2016 By HardBoiledNews Staff Leave a Comment

Ronald Gasser admits shooting McKnight but was initially released after questioning

HARVEY, Louisiana — The gunman who admitted shooting ex-NFL player Joe McKnight in a road rage incident was released after questioning pending further investigation, police said.

Ronald Gasser, 54, was allowed to go free hours after shooting McKnight three times during an altercation on a road just outside of New Orleans. But he has not been cleared, police said.

Police say the two men got into “a heated verbal exchange” at the intersection which led Gasser to pull a gun and shoot three times through the passenger window of his Infinity G37, striking McKnight in the hand, shoulder and chest as he stood in the street outside the car.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said the fight began when someone “recklessly” cut off the other while driving on a bridge nearby which was followed by a chase through the streets, ending in the shooting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcdInUu2aFs&feature=youtu.be

Normand said initial accounts in local media that cited an unnamed witness describing McKnight trying to apologize to Gasser who opening fire and then stood over McKnight and said “I told you don’t you f— with me,” before firing again were untrue.

“None of that is true,” Normand said. “We have no witness account of an apology being made by Mr. McKnight to Mr. Gasser.”

Normand said three shell casings were recovered inside Gasser’s car, suggesting he was inside the vehicle when he fired. And Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich said McKnight’s wounds were not consistent with someone being hit by shots fired from above.

Still, the decision to release Gasser, who is white, as the investigation into the shooting of McKnight, who is black, sparked outrage from the former NFL running back’s teammates and family members.

McKnight played four seasons in the NFL

“We think a black man was lynched yesterday,” said Morris Reed, the president of the New Orleans branch of the N.A.A.C.P. “We are demanding some answers.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” former teammate Damon Harrison, wrote on Twitter. “Shoot in the air and you’re in jail for at least a week. Lord help us all.”

Normand said investigators simply hadn’t gathered enough evidence yet to make a decision on whether to charge Gasser.

“The easiest thing for me would have been to say, ‘Book him Dano,’ but the fact of the matter in trying to flush out all these details and not have rush to judgement, we chose not to do that,” he said. “Everybody wants to make this about race. This isn’t about race.”

He noted that the man that raised McKnight, who was a local high school football star, had once worked as a deputy in the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s office. McKnight played as a running back and return specialist in the NFL for four seasons — three with the New York Jets and one with the Kansas City Chiefs. He then played in the Canadian Football League.

Normand warned that any protesters who strayed outside a designated area outside the sheriff’s office would be arrested.

Gasser, who owns a telecommunications and real estate business, had remained at the scene after the shooting and had handed his .40 caliber handgun over to police when they arrived. Normand said he had cooperated with investigators.

Later in the day, police released details of an earlier road rage incident involving Gasser dating back to 2006, where he was charged with punching another motorist several times after an argument about Gasser driving recklessly. A charge of simple battery was later dismissed and police said they are investigating why that happened.