Hard Boiled News

True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

Gambling Feud Shootout Leaves 2 Dead, 4 Wounded in Memphis

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The card table gun fight over a gambling feud left two men dead

MEMPHIS  — The Old West lives on in some places.

Two men were killed and four others wounded in a card table shootout that stemmed from a gambling feud.

Tennessee police say the shooting occurred at at a home Saturday night in Memphis, when a gun battle erupted over a game of cards.

“It’s believed that this incident occurred as a result of a feud while gambling,” the Shelby County Sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Investigators believe that this was an isolated incident and that the victims knew the suspects.”

One of the victims was declared dead at the scene and another died later at a nearby hospital.

Police identified the two dead men as Marcus Conway,18, and Marquese Taylor, 22, both of Memphis. The survivors were taken to area hospitals in conditions ranging from serious to critical.

Cops say one of the victims was 13-years-old, but is expected to live.

No arrests have yet been made.

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Doc Diagnoses Patient With Dementia to Avoid Paying Back $300K Loan

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The doc took $300,000 from a patient to save her practice, then declared that the lender had lost her marbles

COLUMBIA, Tennessee — A crooked doctor borrowed $300,000 from an elderly patient and then declared that she had dementia when she tried to recoup the cash, authorities said.

Suellen Lee, 79, has given up her medical license after officials discovered that she took the sizable loan from a longtime patient and then diagnosed her with the dementia when she asked for the money back, state health records show.

Lee, an internal medicine specialist, insisted she had been “set up” by her patient and only retired because she thought she couldn’t win her case.

“It was all lies and I was told that if I fought it would be extremely costly to me,” Lee told the Tennessean newspaper. “And there would still be no benefit. There was no chance of reversal.”

Officials said Lee borrowed the money after her medical clinic fell into financial straits.

The patient had been treated by Lee for 25 years and had once been a personal friend and a co-worker. State records say Lee sent a letter about the woman’s diagnosis to her daughter, who in turn forwarded the letter to the patient’s bank, which then blocked her access to her accounts..

When questioned by investigators, Lee admitted that she had made the diagnosis based off of “observation” alone, and did not use any testing method or seek a second opinion from a mental health professional.

A psychologist who later assessed the patient, found “no indication of dementia,” the records say.

Lee  said the case wasn’t as it appeared, and that she had borrowed the money 20 years ago and had regularly paid it back in installments. She also stood by her diagnosis, which occurred about two years ago, saying the patient’s behavior had grown erratic behavior and she showed signs of memory loss. Lee insisted her former patient later misled the psychologist.

“She wanted to hurt me because she was so angry with me, because I had said that she was demented,” Lee said.

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Tennessee Dad Loses Leg in Family Feud After Attacking Son With Chainsaw

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Douglas Ferguson lost his leg after his son ran him over with a lawn mower during the chainsaw attack

BRISTOL, Tennessee — That’s one hell of a family feud.

A Tennessee man who tried to attack his son with a chainsaw lost his leg when his son ran over the old man with a lawnmower while trying to defend himself.

Police say the bloody encounter was the result of a long-standing family fight, and now 76-year-old Douglas Ferguson faces attempted murder charges for attacking his son.

The Sullivan County Sheriff’s office said the episode unfolded on June 28 in  the town of Bristol, when Ferguson tried to attack his son with a chainsaw as he was mowing his lawn, the Bristol Herald Courier reported.

But the son, whose name was not publicly released, fought back by running his father over with the riding lawn mower. When cops arrived, they say they found Ferguson bleeding from his leg and head.

His leg was later amputated.

Cops were unable to charged Ferguson for months due to the severity of his injuries. He was also charged with violating probation and is being held on $25,000 bond.

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Shrink Suspended For Whipping Patients With Riding Crop, Calling them Mules

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Valerie Augustus’s riding crop method was a bit more hands on than most therapists

MEMPHIS — A sicko Tennessee shrink has been suspended for allegedly beating patients with a riding crop and calling them mules as part of her therapy sessions.

Valeria Augustus has been ordered by state authorities to close her office for two months and could lose her medical license for good following a review, officials said.

Augustus has run Christian Psychiatrist Services for 17 years, and was found to have spanked at least 10 patients with the crop. In 2015, officials say she whipped the buttocks of a patient with a history of physical abuse, and who suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts.

An investigation by state authorities also found that Augustus had “made contact with other mental health patients with a riding crop, whip or other object.” The probe also revealed that Augustus kept a riding crop and a whip “displayed in her office” and “compared her patients to mules,” according to the Nashville Tennessean.

The Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners suspended Augustus’ license after determining there was “no evidence” in psychiatrist literature that using whips or riding crops is an effective part of treatment.

Her license was suspended for 60 days as the agency continues its probe. If cleared, Augustus can petition to have her license reinstated.

Augustus was also fined $10,000 – $1,000 for each patient she struck.

 

 

 

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EX-NBA Announcer Jailed for Upskirt Videos Filmed at Memphis Church

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Rick Trotter was canned by the Grizzlies after his upskirt video arrest

MEMPHIS — An ex-NBA announcer who called games for the Memphis Grizzlies for a decade, was sentenced to 60 days behind bars for illicitly filming up women’s skirts at his church.

Rick Trotter, 41, was caught in 2016 kneeling behind behind a woman at the Memphis church where he worked and angling his church-issued cell phone to take an upskirt video, prosecutors said.

A police search of his phone and church-issued laptop revealed similar videos of four women also shot within the church. The women ranged in age from 29 to 63.

Trotter, who joined the Grizzlies announcing staff in 2006, was dumped by the team immediately after his arrest.

Church officials also cut ties with Trotter after his arrest, saying his termination was the result of “deception and moral failures of sexual nature.”

“This revelation has been deeply devastating to all of us,” the statement continued. “We, as elders, have come around his wife and children offering spiritual, emotional and financial support.”

Trotter will serve his 60-day sentence at the Shelby County Penal Farm followed by four years on probation. He also must register as a non-violent sex offender.

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Woman Busted for Trying to Hire Ex to Kill Future Husband

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Crystal Gadlin allegedly turned to her ex to do away with her future husband

MEMPHIS — Here’s a woman who can’t figure out what she wants.

Police in Tennessee busted a Memphis woman who they say tried to hire her ex to kill her future husband.

Crystal Gadlin, 32, allegedly planned to pay her ex $40,000 from her soon-to-be husband’s life insurance policy in exchange for killing him, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported.

But instead of helping her out, Gadlin’s ex recorded the conversation and then went to police to report a “murder for hire plot,” cops said.

According to court records, Gadlin had picked her ex up so he could visit their kids, but then told him she intended to marry a man for his money and then offered him cash to kill her new paramour.

When Gadlin was taken into custody, she was unable to give a statement to authorities,  “due to her self-admission that she was high and intoxicated on cocaine,” cops said.

 

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Tennessee Drug Lord Who Shot His Own Son Convicted in Trafficking Case

By HardBoiledNews Staff

James “Boogie” Simonton’s drug empire was brought down after he shot his own son

GREENEVILLE, Tennessee — A cocaine kingpin was convicted of running a drug trafficking empire that only came to light when he shot his own son for knocking over his motorcycles.

James “Boogie” Simonton, 50, of Kingsport, Tennessee, faces a minimum of 15 years for his conviction in federal court on drug conspiracy and weapons charges.

Police initially caught wind Simonton when his 23-year-old son, James Jr., and a 14-year-old pal, showed up at a local hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and in a car riddled with bullet holes.

The day before the shooting, police say the younger Simonton had knocked over four of his father’s motorcycles with his car, causing thousands of dollars in damage. The son had apparently accused his father of stealing his cell phone.

As detectives investigated they discovered that the elder Simonton and another of his sons had been involved in smuggling large amounts of crack cocaine from Georgia into Tennessee. They also found the weapon he used to shoot his son — a Hungarian-made AK-63 assault rifle — as well as other guns.

After his arrest, and while in a federal lock-up, investigators say Simonton threatened a cooperating witness against him in an effort to influence the person’s testimony.  Simonton was also convicted of intimidating a witness.

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Escape Artist Busts Out of Tennessee Jail for the Sixth Time

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Philip Andrew Marshall has mastered the art of escape from the Bedford County Jail

SHELBYVILLE, Tennessee — They might want to move this guy to a different jail next time.

Police in Bedford County, Tennessee are hunting for an escape artist inmate who has broken out of the county jail for the sixth time.

Philip Andrew Marshall escaped through a ventilation shaft at the Bedford County jail on Monday, after managing to cut through the grate, police said.

He had previously managed to escape from the same jail in January.

“Since the last jail escape, we, the Bedford County Sheriff’s Department, have made some changes in our personnel,” Sheriff Austin Swing told WSMV-TV. “We have implemented new training and more training. We have reinforced the places where they have escaped before and anywhere we think they could escape. Still, he escaped.”

Deputies nearly caught up with him on Monday, getting as close as 200 yards to him as he ran, but he managed to get away.

Marshall was one of three inmates that escaped from the Bedford County Workhouse in September where he had been staying while repairs were being made to the jail.

A month later, he escaped again with two other men from the county jail, by crawling through an air vent and using a bed sheet to climb to the ground.

At the time of his first escape, Marshall was serving a sentence for evading arrest.

 

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Unborn Baby Shot in Mother’s Womb In Memphis Road Rage Incident

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The terrifying road rage shooting left a pregnant woman and her unborn infant with gunshot wounds

MEMPHIS — A newborn baby was miraculously delivered alive after being struck by a bullet in the womb during a terrifying road rage incident in which the child’s mother was shot by a passing motorist.

Police say the disturbing episode unfolded late last Friday when the child’s parents were driving on I-40 through Memphis and dark colored Chevy Impala with three men inside began riding on their bumper.

The Impala then pulled alongside the couple’s car on the passenger side and numerous shots were fired, striking the mother — who was 36 weeks pregnant — three times in her right hip, police said.

She was rushed to the hospital where the baby was delivered and doctors discovered that the child had also been hit by a bullet.

Both the mother and the child are expected to survive.

Investigators say they do not know if the shooting was premeditated or if the couple had been specifically targeted in any way.

According to WREG-TV, it was the second time a car had been shot at randomly on I-40 in recent days. A week earlier, a man reported that two cars had pulled up alongside him as he was driving and sprayed his car with bullets. He was not hurt.

It is unclear if the two shootings are connected.

 

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Churchgoer Accidentally Shoots Self, Wife During Church Talk About Guns in Church

By HardBoiledNews Staff

First United Methodist Church

TELLICO PLAINS, Tennessee — What would Jesus do? Probably not let this guy bring a gun to church again.

An elderly man accidentally shot himself and his wife at a Tennessee church during a discussion about church shootings, police said.

The congregation at the First United Methodist Church in Tellico Plains had just finished up a luncheon on Thursday in advance of Thanksgiving when the subject of bringing guns to church came up, cops said.

The man, who is in his 80s, then pulled out a .380 caliber Ruger handgun and said, “I carry my handgun everywhere,” said Tellico Plains Police Chief Russ Parks, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

The man then removed the magazine and cleared the guns chamber and began handing the weapon around. When he got it back, he replaced the magazine, chambered a round and holstered it, Parks said.

When another man asked to see the weapon, the man took it out, and apparently forgetting there was a bullet in the chamber, pulled the trigger, firing a shot.

The gun was on a table when it went off, slicing through the man’s hand and hitting his wife, who is also in the her 80s, in the abdomen. Both were rushed to a nearby hospital and were expected to recover.

Police said they didn’t expect to file any charges.

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