Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Man With Gun Face Tattoo Busted on Illegal Gun Possession Charges

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Michael Vines learned that having a face tattoo means he will never get away from cops for long

GREENVILLE, South Carolina — He must really believe in truth in advertising.

A man with a handgun tattooed on his face has been charged in South Carolina with having an illegal handgun, cops said.

Michael Vines was caught after a recent car accident, when he was spotted tossing a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber handgun into a nearby grassy field as police arrived.

The gun was later recovered and it was determined that because of his past criminal record, Vines is not legally allowed to own a gun.

Vines was charged with driving with a suspended license, driving too fast for conditions and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to the Greenville police.

 

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N. Carolina Truck Driver Jailed For Lying About Role in Bosnian Massacre

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A woman weeps at a memorial to those slain in the Srebrenica massacre

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — A Serbian man who came to the U.S. in the 1990s as a refugee from the bloody Balkan wars, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for lying about his role in one of the war’s most brutal massacres.

Milan Trisic, 55, admitted that he was a member of the feared Bratunac Brigade during the war in Bosnia and Herzogovina and took part in the bloody Srebrenica massacre in 1995 in which up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys were summarily executed.

The killings are considered the worst war atrocity in Europe since World War II, and late last year, former Serbian general, Ratko Miladic, was found guilty by a U.N. tribunal of genocide and crimes against humanity for commanding the slaughter at Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo. He was sentenced to life in prison.

When Trisic applied for refugee status, prosecutors say he claimed to have lived in Serbia during the war, hiding the fact that he was involved in arresting and beating thousands of  Muslim prisoners and transporting them to be killed and buried in mass graves.

Once he moved to the United States, Trisic settled in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he became a truck driver and raised a family. He eventually obtained a green card by similarly lying about his wartime activities on his application.

“Those who wish to live in the United States ought to respect our laws, support our national security, and pursue residency legally and honestly.  Anything less is inexcusable,” said U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Trisic will be deported back to Serbia upon completion of his sentence. It is unclear if he will face war crimes charges upon his return to his homeland.

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Man Breaks Into Pizza Hut, Calls 911, Claims He is Jesus and is Hungry

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Richard Lee Quintero said he was Jesus and needed pizza

HIGH POINT, North Carolina — Jesus, like the pizza dough, has risen.

A North Carolina man was busted after calling 911 and proclaiming that he was Jesus Christ and had broken into a Pizza Hut because he was “starving,” police said.

Richard Lee Quintero, 46, broke into the High Point eatery early Wednesday and made the divine claim, according to audio of the 911 call obtained by WFMY-TV.

“Yes, this is Jesus Christ and I just broke into the Pizza Hut,” Quintero said. “I broke the window. Jesus is here now, he’s back to earth.”

When the operator asked Quintero if he worked for the restaurant, he replied:  “No, I just broke in, had a pizza.”

He then added that he also had a Mountain Dew. “I’m Jesus.”

Quintero also said he was “tired of the Judases here on earth” and that he was starving and “everybody’s been treating me mean.” He also reportedly told dispatchers that he has schizophrenia.

“I broke the window. Jesus is here now, he’s back to earth.”

Quintero was arrested without incident ad was charged with felony breaking and entering and felony larceny.

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Inmate Serving Life Finds Death After Wrecking Stolen Vehicle in Escape Bid

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David Woods was serving life but met his end in this ditch after his escape from prison in North Carolina

GASTONIA, North Carolina — All’s well that ends well.

An inmate serving a life sentence for murdering an 89-year-old woman was killed when he stole a truck while trying to escape from a work detail and crashed into a ditch, police said.

David Woods, 46, was on an outside work assignment from the Gaston Correctional Center in North Carolina, when he managed to take off in a city-owned pickup truck, the Department of Public Safety said.

But Woods eventually lost control of the vehicle, driving into a ditch and flipping over multiple times.

“I seen that truck just going in the air and just flipping over, over, and over and going into this ravine right there,” witness Ruth Varney told WSOC-TV. “And then after that I’d seen a bunch of smoke and dirt and everything. It was pretty devastating.”

Woods had been serving a life sentence since 1995 for second-degree murder. He had pleaded guilty to the 1993 beating death of an 89-year-old woman in an alcohol and weed-fueled stupor while trying to burglarize her trailer with another man, Jeffrey Dickens.

After the killing, the pair made their way to a known crack cocaine house to purchase drug.

Dickens, 44, was convicted of first-degree murder and also received a life sentence.

Prison records show that Woods racked up 31 infractions in his 23 years behind bars, for possessing unauthorized funds, weapon possession, provoking assault, profane language and substance possession.

The state division of prisons is investigating the circumstances surrounding Woods’ escape.

 

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Parents Who Went on Dr. Phil for Help Finding Daughter Charged With Her Death

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Erica Parsons adoptive parents went on Dr. Phil two years after she disappeared pleading for public help finding her even though she was already dead

SALISBURY, North Carolina — A pair of adoptive parents who went on Dr. Phil pleading for help finding their missing daughter who disappeared in 2011 have been charged with killing her, authorities said.

Casey and Sandy Parsons, who are already in prison for tax fraud, were indicted by a North Carolina grand jury in the slaying of their 13-year-old  daughter, Erica Parsons.

Her dismembered body was found in a shallow grave in September 016 in South Carolina, five years after she vanished. Already in prison, adoptive dad Sandy Parsons had shown investigators where he buried the child shortly before Christmas in 2011.

The teen had lived with her adoptive parents in Rowan County from 2000 until the time of her disappearance, police said.

The couple have been charged with first-degree murder, child abuse, concealment of death and obstruction of justice..

Forensic experts say the girl appeared to have endured numerous beatings, malnourishment and abuse over the years, according to the Charlotte Observer.

She was not even reported missing until 2013, when the couple went on “Dr. Phil” McGraw’s national TV show to plead for help in finding her.

Sandy Parsons admitted he locked Erica in a closet, beat her “with belt buckle” and bent her fingers back and choked her, according to the Observer.

Both continued to collect adoption benefits after Erica’s disappearance and were convicted of tax fraud in 2014.

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Ex-Gov Computer Contractor Guilty in Massive Cyber Sabotage at Fort Bragg Army Base

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GREENVILLE, North Carolina — A former government contractor has been convicted of leaving behind a “logic bomb” computer virus in an act of cyber sabotage that slowly destroyed a payroll system for nearly 200,000 Army reservists at Fort Bragg.

Federal prosecutors say Mittesh Das, 48, of Atlanta, decided to leave the destructive computer virus behind after he had lost his contract to operate the base’s payroll and personnel management system.

Authorities say the program was set to kick into high gear the day after Das left the job in late November 2014, with computer systems failing left and right. Officials say it cost $2.6 million to repair the damage Das left behind.

“Cyber-sabotage is not a ‘prank.’  It is a very serious crime with real victims and real costs.  In this case, the crime cost taxpayers $2.6 million,” said John Stuart Bruce, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

The virus caused delays in payments to the 200,000 reservists not long before the holiday season.

Das faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when he is sentenced on Jan. 9.

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Teen Busted Selling Weed Out of Backyard Kiddie Playhouse

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Layton Jenkins will soon graduate to the big house

STATESVILLE, North Carolina — This guy is growing up so fast, he’ll soon fit in a prison jumpsuit.

North Carolina police busted a teenager who was allegedly selling drugs out of a kiddie playhouse in his backyard, authorities said.

Detectives were investigating reports of possible drug dealing in the area of  18-year-old Layton Charles Jenkins’ home in Statesville, when the saw him allegedly engaged in a drug sale right in front of his house, the Statesville Record & Landmark reported.

As they approached to speak to Jenkins, he had walked back to the playhouse in his backyard. The officers then noticed a strong smell of marijuana coming from the playhouse, cops said.

Jenkins gave the officers permission to search the playhouse and they uncovered 50 grams of marijuana, 10 grams of butane hash oil — commonly called “shatter” — and a stash of booze, police said. They also found plastic baggies and a digital scale.

Jenkins was hit with a variety of charges like possession with intent to sell marijuana, felony possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia and underage possession of alcohol.

He was also taken in on a number of warrants for his arrest on prior drug charges. He was held on $30,000 bail. He has prior convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and possession of drug paraphernalia.

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Black Suspect Busted in Racial Arson Attack He Tried to Pin on ‘White America’

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Curtis Flournoy is accused of setting a fire he tried to blame on ‘White America’

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Police arrested a black man for a racially-charged arson attack on a North Carolina store in which a threatening note was left that was signed “White America.”

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department say they busted 32-year-old Curtis Flournoy on Sunday for the attack and charged him with ethnic intimidation, burning a commercial building and writing anonymous and threatening letters.

Police had previously said they were investigating the attack Thursday evening on Charlotte’s Central Market, which sells South Asian products, as a hate crime. Investigators said a rock had been thrown through the store’s window and a fire set in its entrance way which burned itself out by the time authorities arrived.

No one was hurt.

A note found at the scene stated that refugee business owners weren’t wanted and “that they would torture the owner if they did not leave and go back to where they came from,” police said. The note was signed “White America.”

But video surveillance footage captured a black man leaving the scene.

 

The store’s owner, Kamal Dhimel, previously lived in Nepal and Bhutan before coming to the U.S. in 2010. He opened the store in 2014, selling goods from Nepal, India and Pakistan.

He told The Charlotte Observer that he hadn’t faced anti-immigrant attitudes in the U.S. before last week’s episode.

Police did not say what they believed Flournoy’s motive might have been. He has a long rap sheet with multiple arrests for drugs as well as damaging property and assaulting a government official. He is currently being held on $22,500 bond.

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Teen Decapitates Mom, Carries Head Out of House As Cops Arrive

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The suspect’s father collapses to the ground when he learns his wife has been killed

ZEBULON, North Carolina — A North Carolina teen has been charged with first-degree murder after cutting off his mother’s head and walking out of their house with it in one hand and bloody butcher knife in the other as police arrived.

“It was a gruesome scene,” Franklin County Sheriff Kent Winstead said at a press conference on Monday.

As officers approached, cops say the alleged killer, 18-year-old Oliver Funez, put his mother’s head on the ground and surrendered without a fight. Her body was found inside the house.

Police say they were alerted to the grisly slaying by Funez, himself, who phoned 911 to report that his mother, Yesenia Funez Beatriz Machado, 35, was dead.

“He stayed on 911 until the deputy arrived, talking the whole time,” Winstead said.

Two other kids, ages 2 and 3, were in the house at the time, cops said, but were unharmed. A fourth child who lived in the home was at school at the time. All three kids are in the custody of their father.

Police say Funez’s mother had been stabbed several times. Investigators say it was too early to say what caused Funez to kill his mother.

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North Carolina Man Busted in Puzzling Half-Ton Chicken Statue Heist

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The stolen bird statue weighed 1,000 pounds

TAYLORSVILLE, North Carolina — It was an act of fowl play.

North Carolina cops busted a man for making off with a 1,000-pound concrete chicken statue from a neighbor’s farm.

The Alexander County Sheriff’s office on Thursday said they have arrested Andrew Justice, 32, of Taylorsville for stealing the half-ton chicken last weekend using a tractor to lift it from in front of a neighbor’s property and drive it away. The base of the statue was found several miles away.

Unfortunately, only pieces of the 3-foot-tall statue have been found, police said. Investigators had said the bird was worth approximately $1,100.

Andrew Justice was charged with larceny

The owner of the statue, Pete Gilleland, said he had bought the rooster statue for his wife’s birthday to place at the entrance of their North Carolina broiler farm.

“She always decorated for each holiday,and people were always watching to see what it would look like next,” he wrote on Facebook.

Justice has been charged with larceny and damaging property.

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