Stupid people of the week

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Man Arrested for Killing Girlfriend’s Dog

“Man” doesn’t include that this guy was a serving cop.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is announcing the arrest of a man who poisoned and killed his girlfriend’s dog.

In May 2025, the victim left for a trip, and her boyfriend, Edwin Campuzano, 22, left poison pellets in the food bowl of a 3-year-old Maltese Poodle because he did not like the dog.

After eating the poison, the dog died, and the leftover pellets were recovered from the bowl. A store transaction showed that Campuzano purchased the poison with his debit card from Tractor Supply, two days prior to the victim leaving.

The incident was reported to HCSO in December 2025, and an arrest warrant was obtained on January 16, 2026. Campuzano turned himself in later that day and was charged with Aggravated Cruelty to Animals.

At the time of the incident, Campuzano was a full-time law enforcement officer with the Bartow Police Department, but is no longer employed by the agency.

“Those who wear the badge are held to a higher standard, and when someone falls short of that responsibility, it reflects a serious failure of the values we are sworn to uphold,” said Sheriff Chad Chronister. “This innocent animal deserved care and protection, and the trust placed in him as a partner makes this loss all the more senseless.”

Source; HCSO

A former flight attendant is accused of fooling airlines into giving him free flights. But how?

A former flight attendant accused of posing as a pilot and working airline employee fooled three U.S. carriers into giving him hundreds of free tickets over a span of four years, federal authorities say. But precisely how he is alleged to have done it — and why the airlines wouldn’t have caught on sooner — has industry insiders scratching their heads.

Dallas Pokornik, 33, of Toronto, was arrested in Panama after being indicted on wire fraud charges in federal court in Hawaii last October. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday following his extradition to the United States. His federal public defender declined to discuss the case.

According to court documents, Pokornik was a flight attendant for a Toronto-based airline from 2017 to 2019, then used fraudulent employee identification from that carrier to obtain tickets reserved for pilots and flight attendants on three other airlines. Court documents contained no explanation of why, in an industry focused on flight and airport safety, the airlines didn’t recognize the credentials as invalid.

The indictment did not identify any of the airlines involved but said the U.S. carriers are based in Honolulu, Chicago and Fort Worth, Texas. A spokesperson for Hawaiian Airlines said Wednesday the company does not comment on litigation. Representatives for United Airlines and American Airlines did not immediately respond to emails from The Associated Press.

One Canadian carrier based in Toronto, Porter Airlines, said in an emailed statement it was “unable to verify any information related to this story.” Air Canada, which is based in Montreal but has a major hub in Toronto, said it had no record of Pokornik working there.

Allegations surprise industry experts

John Cox, a retired pilot who runs an aviation safety firm in St. Petersburg, Florida, called the allegations surprising, considering the cross-checking that airlines are able to do to verify the employment of a crew member seeking to fly on another airline.

Airlines generally rely on databases of active airline employees maintained on third-party websites to check whether someone is actually an employee.

“The only thing I can think is that they did not show him as no longer employed by the airline,” Cox said in a phone interview Wednesday. “Consequently when the checks were made at the gate, he showed up as a valid employee.”

Passenger airlines typically offer such free or steeply discounted standby seats, when available, to their own crew members or those of other carriers — a courtesy that makes the whole industry function better, by getting crew members where they need to go. Employees can also use the perk for their immediate families when flying for leisure. Sometimes employees might sit in one of the “jump seats” with shoulder harnesses in the cockpit or in the cabin, but federal rules prohibit the cockpit jump seats from being used for leisure travel.

How the screening usually works

Crew members who need to travel to another city for work go through airport security by scanning a “known crew member” card linked to a database that has their photo, said Bruce Rodger, an airline pilot who owns an aviation consulting firm. They also present an employee badge and government-issued identification.

Using the known crew member process for leisure travel isn’t allowed, he said.

For leisure travel, crew members can purchase discounted standby tickets or request a jump seat. With a standby ticket, a crew member reaches the gates via normal airport security screening. It’s possible to have a standby ticket but request a jump seat, which allows the employee to fly for free.

The plane’s captain must approve who rides in the cockpit jump seats. Often that’s a licensed pilot but Federal Aviation Administration regulations also allow for others with official reasons to be there like a Defense Department evaluator, an air traffic controller observing, a crew member or a representative of the manufacturer.

In 2023, an off-duty airline pilot riding in the cockpit of a Horizon Air flight said “I’m not OK” just before trying to cut the engines midflight. That pilot, Joseph Emerson, later told police he had been struggling with depression. A federal judge sentenced that man to time served last November.

Pokornik asked to ride in the cockpit, prosecutors say

U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday that Pokornik requested to sit in the cockpit’s jump seat — typically reserved for off-duty pilots. It was not clear from court documents whether he ever actually rode in a plane’s cockpit, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Honolulu declined to say.

Years ago, the airline industry tightened up the standards for the flight benefits employees receive after the famous case of Frank Abagnale, whose exaggerated 1980 memoir, “Catch Me If You Can,” described posing as a pilot to fly for free, among other cons. His story gained additional fame when Steven Spielberg made it into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio in 2002.

Additional restrictions on who can get aboard a plane and inside a cockpit were imposed by the airlines and FAA after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Source; Assoc. Press

HPD officer accused of driving 130 mph with 8-year-old son in car, court docs show

A Houston police officer is off the job after being arrested for allegedly racing at extreme speeds along the Grand Parkway with his son in the backseat.

Authorities said the officer was pulled over Thursday night after a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy observed two vehicles racing at speeds approaching 130 miles per hour – double the posted 65 mph speed limit.

The officer has been identified as Giovanni-Quinn Gumataotao, a two-year veteran of the Houston Police Department. He is charged with racing on a highway and endangering a child.

According to court records, a patrol deputy with the Harris County Sheriff’s Department first spotted Gumataotao driving a black sedan alongside another black sedan on the Grand Parkway. The deputy reportedly struggled to keep up as the vehicles accelerated to nearly 130 mph.

Investigators said after one of the drivers exited the freeway, another vehicle pulled up alongside Gumataotao’s car and the two allegedly began racing again. The deputy continued following the vehicle until it exited at Clay Road, where a traffic stop was initiated.

During the stop, the deputy discovered Gumataotao’s 8-year-old son seated in the backseat. Authorities said the officer’s wife was called to pick up the child while Gumataotao was arrested and taken to jail. He has since posted bond.

Houston police confirmed Gumataotao has been relieved of duty pending the outcome of the case.

ABC13 went to the officer’s home on Friday, but no one answered the door.

Harris County officials noted that while a task force was launched last year to combat speeding along the Grand Parkway, this traffic stop was made by a regular patrol deputy and not a member of that task force.

Source; ABC13

Category: Crime, Police, Stupid Criminals