Stupid people of the week

Utah County DA calls press conference to declare that he & his wife are NOT ritualistic cannibals who murdered children.

Utah County Attorney David Leavitt is calling for an investigation of Sheriff Mike Smith’s handling of allegations involving “ritualistic sex abuse.”

Leavitt called a press conference Wednesday morning after the Utah County Sheriff’s Office told the media the night prior that it is investigating a child sex abuse ring that operated in Utah, Juab, and Sanpete counties between 1990 and 2010.

At the press conference, Leavitt announced that he and his wife were subjects of a child sex abuse investigation approximately 10 years ago, but claimed those allegations were totally untrue.

“I learned that my wife and I were part of those allegations, allegedly that we were guilty of cannibalizing young children, and murdering young children,” Leavitt said.

Leavitt called the victim of the case ‘tragically mentally ill’ and dismissed that he or his wife had ever participated in ritual child sex abuse.

“To have [my wife’s] reputation, her professional character and everything about her life’s work called into question brought into question by a few cheap political opportunists offends me to the depth of my being. It does nothing but to demean the integrity of me, my wife, and 15 other members of this community who had absolutely nothing to do with a discredited case from 15 years ago,” Leavitt said

Leavitt said the woman’s allegations named “15 to 20″ other people and that the case was debunked. Leavitt suggested the timing of the Utah County Sheriff’s Office announcement of its ‘ritualistic sex abuse’ investigation is politically motivated. ”

“There is no organized ring of abuse, it was debunked more than 10 years ago, it was dismissed by someone who was not in any respect affiliated with me and it wasn’t even investigated in a serious way by the sex crimes task force of Utah County. That this all occurs less than one week before ballots drop in an election in which I am participating causes me tremendous concern,” he said.

At a hastily-called press conference Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff Smith said Leavitt has his facts wrong.

Smith said the ritual sex abuse investigation involves more than just the case where Leavitt said he and his wife were accused.

“Several times, Mr. Leavitt named himself and mentioned cannibalism and murder. This investigation is about child sex abuse,” Smith said. “I take exception to any victim coming forward and being categorized as ‘tragically mentally ill’. How dare you. These are victims of crimes who have mustered the courage to come forward and this is what you call them? Mentally ill. How dare you.”

Smith denied accusations by Leavitt that a Utah County Sheriff’s Office sergeant had confirmed to Zeus Z24, a website that claims to be an online news site, that Leavitt and his wife were being investigated in the ritual sex abuse ring.

The Utah County Attorney’s Office alleges Zeus Z24 is run by rape suspect Nicholas Rossi, who is currently fighting extradition back to Utah.

Leavitt admitted in his press conference that Rossi, who allegedly goes by the name Arthur Knight, could have fabricated the so-called ‘exclusive confirmation’ by the Utah County Sheriff’s Office that the Leavitts were ‘primary suspects’ in the investigation.

Smith said nobody from the Utah County Sheriff’s Office ever confirmed Leavitt is connected to their current investigation.

Smith added that Leavitt may have compromised their case by making certain statements at the press conference earlier in the day.

According to Smith, the FBI is involved in its ongoing investigation of the child sex abuse ring and dismissed Leavitt’s public statement that he should resign.

“I will not be resigning,” Smith said. “We won’t be intimidated by Mr. Leavitt.”

Source; KUTV

Capitol Police arrest man with fake badge, ammunition, and ballistic vests

The United States Capitol Police revealed Friday that it arrested a Michigan man outside the Capitol “with a fake badge, a BB gun, body armor, high capacity magazines and other ammunition.” He faces charges for unlawful possession of high-capacity magazines and for possession of unregistered ammunition.

Before 5 a.m. Friday morning, Jerome Felipe, 53, began speaking to a Capitol Police officer and presented a fake badge, according to a press release.

The badge identified Felipe as part of the “Department of the INTERPOL,” police said. He told the officer he is a criminal investigator with the department.

Police were then given permission to search his vehicle, where they found “a BB gun, two ballistic vests, several high capacity magazines, and other ammunition.”

However, police said, “No real guns were found.”

Before speaking to the officer, Felipe had parked his 2017 Dodge Charger near Peace Circle, which is on the west side of the Capitol, police said. The Capitol Police said, “Investigators are still working to determine the reason Felipe was parked near the U.S. Capitol.”

The 53-year-old is a retired New York police officer from Flint, Michigan. According to the New York Police Department Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, Felipe retired in 2018.

Source; Washington Examiner

Man caught lifting weights after $730K disability payout now going to prison, feds say

A former postal worker received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of disability payments for about a decade after he reported a work-related back injury, prosecutors said.

But during these years, the man was caught traveling, fishing and weightlifting despite “claims of a debilitating” injury, prosecutors said.

Now, he’s going to prison.

George Utley was sentenced to two and a half years in prison after he pleaded guilty to receiving stolen government property, “specifically Department of Labor Disability Benefit Payments,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

Between January 2009 and March 2019, the 56-year-old Army veteran received over $732,000 worth of benefit payments by reporting false statements about his medical condition and other sources of income, prosecutors said.

Utley’s defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on May 24.

The Department of Labor provides compensation benefits such as medical payments and lost wages to employees injured on the job, court documents show.

Applicants can submit a claim for benefits by providing supporting medical evidence of their work-related injury, prosecutors said. The program then requires employees with disabilities to regularly report any changes in their medical condition and new sources of income or employment.

Utley started receiving benefits in January 2009 after he reported a back injury that occurred while he was working as a mail handler at a Pennsylvania United States Postal Service facility, court documents show.Utley reported that he sprained his back after standing up in the break room.

Utley received both lump sum payments dating back to his reported injury and regular monthly disability benefits payments ranging from approximately $2,600 in 2011 to $3,300 in 2019, court documents show.

Court documents state that despite reports of his “painful disabling medical conditions,” Utley spent only $14 in pain medication for his back once in 2012. Between 2013 and 2022, prosecutors said he never filled any prescription medications for his injury.

As part of his testimony, Utley told authorities that he had no prior back injuries before the 2009 incident, prosecutors said. But court documents show that Utley failed to report he was in at least nine car accidents before 2009 in which he filed several lawsuits for neck and back injuries.

Prosecutors said Utley also failed to report more than a hundred thousand dollars worth of insurance settlement payments he received following the accidents.

Court documents show Utley was also running several businesses during the period he received disability payments.

Prosecutors said that despite “claims of a debilitating, work-related back injury,” Utley posted several pictures on social media between 2015 and 2019 showing him weightlifting, going bicycling in the mountains, fishing a 3 foot-long kingfish and visiting the Grand Canyon.

Utley was also caught on surveillance video in his Florida residence in 2019 doing extensive yard maintenance, lifting heavy items with no visible difficulty, court documents state.

Following a 2017 medical examination, a doctor determined Utley could return to work at USPS, court documents show. But when he was offered a job back as a postal worker in 2018, Utley refused and later told a vocational rehabilitation specialist that he would “never return to work.”

Prosecutors said “had Utley complied with his reporting requirements, he would not have received the disability benefit payments at issue in this case” and added that Utley’s false reports cost the United States “a loss totaling $732,459.46” between 2009 and 2019.

Utley is also sentenced to two years of supervised release, court records show. As part of his sentencing, he will have to pay $732,459.46 in restitution to the Department of Labor.

Source; Yahoo!

Florida woman at McDonald’s flips out over wrong order, calls 911, twerks

A Florida woman was arrested Friday after throwing and knocking things down at a McDonald’s.

The woman, identified as Tianis Jones, 22, intended to pick up her order of a Happy Meal, chocolate shake, a Filet-o-Fish sandwich, tea and fries, according to WTVT, after placing it online.

When she arrived at the drive-thru, she was directed to pull up to the third window. Instead, Jones ignored the directions, parked her car and entered the restaurant to address the mistake.

The McDonald’s surveillance video captured Jones’ interaction with employees. She became so irate that it led to a call to 911 over the wrong order. While Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd only released two minutes of Jones’ conversation with 911, the entire call lasted 10 minutes.

“I’m at McDonalds, I’m five months pregnant,” Jones says. “These people don’t know how to run a f—king McDonald’s. I want my money. They tried to cheat me out of my money. I want my money!”

Jones’ sister attempted to calm her down, but to no avail. In addition, McDonald’s even offered to reimburse Jones, but she refused. The 22-year-old began knocking over food condiments from the counter and later went behind the counter to throw stacks of cups.

Jones would eventually exit the McDonald’s, but not before twerking.

“I don’t know what was wrong with her that night,” said Judd. “I don’t know if she was two fries short of a Happy Meal, but she created a McMess and acted like a McNut. She ended up a McBurglar.”

Tianis Jones faces burglary with assault, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and misuse of 911 charges.

Source; Fox News

California family finds raccoon with its head stuck in their roof (I’m not sure if I feel more sorry for the family or the raccoon)

Wildlife Emergency Services in Santa Cruz responded to an unusual call on Monday from a homeowner who found a live raccoon that had chewed through his roof and gotten stuck halfway.

The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter posted the (hilarious) photo of the raccoon with its lower half sticking out of the roof on Facebook.

According to the post, the Wildlife Emergency Services responded by telling the homeowner to PUSH THE RACCOON THROUGH THE HOLE.

Ok, I understand time was of the essence, but if I were that person, I would kindly tell the Wildlife Emergency Service: [No way Jose]

Can you imagine casually pushing an angry raccoon through a small hole in your ceiling BY ITS FACE?! I certainly can’t. But apparently, that’s what the concerned citizen did, and I have SOOOO many questions about the details here.

The mama raccoon was reunited with her babies that she apparently was desperately trying to reach when she gnawed a hole in the roof. I’m really glad to hear the raccoon in question is thriving, but the real question is, is the homeowner ok?

I’m genuinely concerned for the health and well-being of anyone who would shove a raccoon’s face through the ceiling!

Source; Not the Bee

LA police say alleged robbery suspect accidentally shot accomplice while unloading stolen tourist goods

Two men have been arrested in connection with a follow-home robbery that targeted four tourists in Los Angeles after one of them was accidentally shot by another as they were allegedly unloading the stolen property from a vehicle, authorities said Friday.

Artiz Alvarez, 20, and Chanz Lee Yarbrough, 21, both of Los Angeles, face multiple charges in connection with the April 20 home invasion, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

Just before the incident, the four tourists, all men visiting from Northern California, arrived at their Airbnb from a restaurant. As they got out of their vehicle around 12:45 a.m., three suspects approached them and held them up at gunpoint, the LAPD said.

Two of the suspects were armed with handguns and the third had a rifle, police said. One victim was pistol-whipped and they were forced to go inside the home where they were ordered to get on the floor while the residence was ransacked, the LAPD said.

The $75,000 worth of belongings stolen include a high-end watch, Mercedes key fob, phones, designer clothing, and currency, police said.

A short time after the robbery, a shooting occurred at 1:15 a.m. When officers responded, they found a trail of blood from a sidewalk to an apartment door. SWAT officers were called and entered the empty unit.

Investigators obtained a search warrant and found many of the stolen items from the earlier robbery inside the apartment unit where one of them lived, the LAPD said. Inside, officers found three guns, two semi-automatic handguns and an “AR Pistol,” a police news release said.

At 2:15 a.m. that same day, Yarbrough went to a hospital with a gunshot wound to his left leg. He told authorities he was shot by someone while in Hollywood. Investigators determined he was accidentally shot by another one of the suspects as they were unloading the stolen items from a vehicle.

After the shooting, the three suspects took the stolen items into the apartment and took Yarbrough to a hospital. Alvarez was arrested on April 25 in connection with the robbery.

He is charged with four counts each of kidnap for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon and one count of being an ex-con with a gun. At the time of the crime, Alvarez was out on bond for a different robbery, police said. Yarbough is charged with four counts each of kidnap for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

They are each being held on $4 million bail. The third suspect has not been identified.

Source; Yahoo!

Armored car driver who stole $537,000 worth of coins gets probation

Steal a half million dollars and get probation? Only in Chicago.

A Chicago man has pleaded guilty to stealing $537,088.22 in coins while working as an armored car driver between May and August 2019.

Cameron Bowman, 31, received a sentence of 24 months probation from Judge Catherine Haberkorn after pleading guilty to felony theft. Haberkorn also ordered him to pay $525,000 restitution to his former employer, Thillens Cagistics.

Thillens management called police to the company’s warehouse at 4242 North Elston in August 2019 after they discovered discrepancies in Bowman’s transactions. Prosecutors said Bowman stole the coins by entering incorrect dollar amounts into a computer after completing his rounds, then pocketing the difference.

While Bowman did not initially admit to any wrongdoing when he was confronted about the missing coins, he did ask if he could leave and return with the money. About an hour later, he returned to the office with a Ziploc bag containing $25,300 in $100 bills, police said.

Police did not say what Bowman might have done with all the coins the company accused him of stealing. Bowman’s partner was “forthcoming with information,” police said.

Source; CWB Chicago

 

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Crime, Police, Stupid Criminals, YGBSM!!