Stupid criminals of the week

Hundreds arrested in massive global crime sting using messaging app

Sometimes the FBI gets one right. They played the epic long game on this one. That free, encrypted app designed for all your mafia needs should have gotten a wee bit more scrutiny. Don Corleone and Tony Soprano would definitely not approve.

More than 800 suspected criminals have been arrested worldwide after being tricked into using an FBI-run encrypted messaging app, officials say.

The operation, jointly conceived by Australia and the FBI, saw devices with the ANOM app secretly distributed among criminals, allowing police to monitor their chats about drug smuggling, money laundering and even murder plots.

Officials called it a watershed moment.

Targets included drug gangs and people with links to the mafia.

Drugs, weapons, luxury vehicles and cash were also seized in the operation, which was conducted across more than a dozen countries. This included eight tonnes of cocaine, 250 guns and more than $48m (£34m) in various worldwide currencies and cryptocurrencies.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the operation had “struck a heavy blow against organised crime” around the world.

European Union police agency Europol described Operation Trojan Shield/Greenlight as the “biggest ever law enforcement operation against encrypted communication”.

Details on the operation at the source. Source; BBC

SC man charged with attempted murder after shooting at employees of closed pizza store

When most people say, “I’d kill for a pizza,” they don’t mean it literally. I said, “Most,” though.

A South Carolina man has been charged after allegedly firing shots at employees of a Rock Hill pizza parlor because the restaurant was closed, officials said.

Kito Azi Weaver, 22, of Columbia, was arrested Sunday and charged with four counts of attempted murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, said Lt. Michael Chavis of the Rock Hill Police Department.

Weaver argued with employees at the Domino’s Pizza on White Street east of downtown Rock Hill around 1:30 a.m. Sunday because the store was closed, Chavis said. The business is near other businesses and several residences in the 1100 block of White Street west of where White Street intersects with Main Street.

Weaver went back to his car and returned with a gun, Chavis said. Weaver is charged with firing at least four shots at four employees from outside the store, Chavis said. Four bullet casings were found in the parking lot, according to Chavis and a police incident report.

No one was injured, Chavis said.

Weaver then fled in a gray Camaro, Chavis said.

Weaver was taken into custody about 20 minutes later after a traffic stop on the southern side of the city at Heckle Boulevard and Saluda Street, according to police records.

A gun inside the car was seized, officials said.

Weaver was given a $500,000 bond in an initial court appearance at the Rock Hill Municipal Court later Sunday and remains in the York County Detention Center, court and jail records show.

Source; Charlotte Observer

Iowa man pleads guilty after hitting police officer in Crystal [MN]

An Iowa man has pleaded guilty to an incident where a Crystal police officer was hit last summer.

According to court records, Shi Sho pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in a car chase where an officer was injured in July 2020. His sentencing date is scheduled for June 25.

A criminal complaint states the Minnesota State Patrol attempted a traffic stop on July 16, 2020, but the vehicle did not pull over, leading to a pursuit. Eventually, law enforcement was able to box in the suspect’s vehicle.

While officers were attempting to arrest the driver, Sho, he started ramming squad cars with the vehicle and struck a Crystal police officer, according to the complaint.

The complaint states a witness gave investigators footage of the incident recorded on a cellphone. That footage shows the suspect vehicle stopped with several officers surrounding it.

The complaint states that in an attempt to arrest the driver, one of the officers tried to break the driver’s side window. The vehicle is then seen reversing and hitting another car before pinning the victim against a squad car. The vehicle then drives forward, knocking the officer to the ground before appearing to run over the victim’s legs.

The officer was taken to the hospital and was found to have suffered a serious hematoma, the complaint states. He was later released from the hospital.

Source; KSTP

Mom arrested for posing as 13-year-old daughter at school

A 30-year-old mother who was arrested after posing as her daughter at a Texas middle school said she did it to push for better security.

Casey Garcia — who jail records show is 4 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 105 pounds — was arrested on one count each of criminal trespass and tampering with government records, El Paso County Sheriff’s Office officials said.

She also was arrested on an unrelated traffic warrant.

Deputies were notified Tuesday by San Elizario Independent School District campus officials of Garcia trespassing on school grounds and posing as a student, Sheriff’s Office officials said.

Several posts were made on social media documenting her posing as a student, officials said. An investigation led to two warrants being issued for Garcia’s arrest.

In a YouTube video titled, “Why I posed as my 13 year old daughter. A raw but real answer,” she says she dyed her hair and used skin tanner to pose as the girl.

Garcia said that after she was asked for her ID number at the school and whether she had signed in, she was allowed inside. She said school staff was more concerned about her phone being out than in who she actually is.

She said she was the only student “in one of my classes,” adding, “The teachers were so preoccupied with the students that were online that they weren’t paying attention to the students that were there physically.”

She praised her daughter’s teachers but said it is a problem at all schools.

“I bet you anything someone else can do this,” she says in the video. “This is why I did this — whether you agree with me or not.”

Later, she says: “I think the deal breaker for me was actually walking in and posing as a seventh-grader. I mean, I’m no spring chicken, but it wasn’t hard. And I made it to all seven periods, until the last teacher, she was female, and she said, ‘Julie, can you stay after class?’ And I said absolutely. She looked at me and she (said), ‘You’re not Julie.’”

“No, I’m not,” sheshe [sic] replied. “I took off my mask, I took off my glasses, and I said, ‘No, I’m not Julie. I’m Julie’s mom.’

“And she said, ‘Why?’ ”

Garcia says, “I think she was really mind-boggled, like she had no idea what the hell just happened.”

She explains just why she did a 21 Jump Street at her kid’s middle school at the source. Source; USA Today

Sulphur Springs [Man] In Custody On Felony Warrants

Lastly, we have news of the warrant arrest some months back about a young man with the most appropriate name ever for a sex offender (alleged).

Sulphur Springs Police Department Sgt. Brandon Mayes was told he could find Chasen Lane Beaver, a wanted man, at a Kasie Lane residence. Mayes contacted him at the address and took him into custody at 8:17 a.m. Tuesday, March 16, then transported him to jail, according to arrest report.

The 24-year-old Sulphur Springs man remained in Hopkins County jail Wednesday for insufficient bond on a sexual assault of a child charge, according to jail reports.

Beaver was originally taken into custody Sept. 2, 2020 on the sexual assault of a child charge, after he “admitted to having sexual intercourse and performing oral sex on” a 16-year-old female on or about July 15, 2020, at a Duckworth Street address, SSPD Det. Sgt. David Gilmore alleged in the 2020 arrest report. Beaver was released from jail Sept. 3, 2020, on a $25,000 bond, according to jail reports. He was indicted on the charge during the February 2020 Grand Jury session, according to court records.

Chasen Beaver. It’s like his parents wanted him to be a child molester (allegedly).

Source; KSST Radio

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Crime, Stupid Criminals, WTF?