You could call it a $1.7 billion buzzkill.
Almost 100 people were arrested for the commercial growing of marijuana in California's Sierra Nevada range. The arrests came as part of a 450 agent collaboration between federal and state agents targeting operations of Mexican cartels. The arrest led to the destruction of 432,000 plants and $1.7 billion in pot seized.
According to Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims, Mexican drug cartels are intertwined with US domestic marijuana production. Most of the people arrested in the California raids hold Mexican passports, said Gil Kerlikowske during an interview with the AP regarding the busts. Kerlikowske directs the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy.
In Nevada County, "I think it's going to be a busy, busy year for our (Narcotics) Task Force," Sheriff Keith Royal told the AP . "Historically, there are tens of thousands of plants out there" in cartel plantations locally, in addition to commercial farms operated by county residents.
A tragic case out of Maryland has left a 65-year-old teacher dead and a 14-year-old boy charged with murder and facing the possibility of being tried as an adult. The boy was 13 when he allegedly raped and killed teacher Hannah Wheeling in a state detention facility. Prosecutors have filed papers requesting to try the boy as an adult. Judge C. Philip Nichols Jr. will be hearing the matter on August 27.
"Whoever wins that, wins the case," said Byron L. Warnken, a longtime University of Baltimore law professor, according to the Baltimore Sun.
The 14-year-old boy, whose name has not been released due to his age, was being held at Cheltenham Youth Facility on burglary charges when Wheeling was killed. He quickly became a suspect after being seen with Wheeling shortly before her death.
In Concord, California, a two year-old boy was killed on July 29, a victim of an attack by three of his step-grandfather's pit bulls. Jacob Bisbee was rushed to the hospital, but died in the ambulance. The dogs have been put down by county authorities and felony charges have been brought against the pit bull owner.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, during a visit to his grandfather's house, the toddler wandered into the garage where the dogs were kept. The dogs generally were not allowed near children and the door usually was bolted above where a child could reach, but somehow Jacob found his way in. By the time his grandmother found him, it was too late.
Thirteen year NBA veteran Lorenzen Wright was found dead in a densely wooded area fifteen miles outside of Memphis, Tennessee this week. The 34 year-old Wright was missing for 10 days before his body was discovered by Memphis police. Over his professional basketball career, Wright played for five NBA teams and was living in Memphis at the time of his death.
Although local police did not initially suspect foul play when his disappearance was first reported by family, CBS News reports Memphis Police Department's statement that "it has some of its finest homicide investigators working on the case." In addition, the Toronto Sun reports that a 911 call was made in the early hours of July 19th from Wright's cell phone, when the dispatcher heard several gun shots in the background. There have been no other official statements released regarding the details surrounding Wright's death.
On July 28, the Utah Supreme Court reversed two convictions for accomplice to rape for Warren Jeffs, the leader and "prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jeffs had been convicted in 2007 of using his power over the followers of his religious faith to force a fourteen year-old girl into marriage with her nineteen year-old cousin.
The court found that the instructions given to the jury in Jeff's case were erroneous and that error affected the outcome of the verdict. CNN reports that the victim in the case repeatedly objected to her marriage and did not want to have sexual relations with her husband. Evidence was given at trial that Jeffs counseled her to "submit" to her husband and give herself entirely to him and her marriage. This, said Jeffs, was the only way she could be sure of eternal salvation.
A deadly attack on a 47 year-old father of four has left a town in New Jersey shaken. The town of Summit, N.J., reportedly considered itself a diverse, upscale city which welcomes immigrants. The vicious beating death of Salvadoran immigrant, Abelino Mazaniego, by three teenagers has turned that view on its head. The young attackers, Khayri Williams-Clark, Nigel Dumas and one unidentified minor, had the attack filmed on a cell phone video camera by what is believed to be a fourth accomplice and allegedly circulated the video among their peers.
According to the Associated Press, the young men charged with the attack allegedly approached Mazaniego as he sat on a bench after his shift at the Dabbawalla Indian restaurant. Without warning they attacked him, beating him so severely he died in the hospital.
Melinda Dennehy, a former high school teacher, has pleaded guilty to emailing nude photographs of herself to a 15-year-old male student. Dennehy, 41, of Hampstead, New Hampshire pleaded guilty to misdemeanor indecent exposure.
The story began in March when nude photos of Melinda Dennehy, who taught sophomore English, were passed around the high school. Dennehy resigned three weeks after the photos circulated. Police later determined that Dennehy sent four posed photos to the 15-year-old male student with her genitals exposed.
The student confirmed to police that Dennehy texted him with descriptions of specific sexual acts she wanted to perform with him. According to the student, the story went far beyond the Melinda Dennehy photos. The teacher continuously sent him text messages" and "kissed him twice on two separate occasions" on school grounds.
An alleged feud between two woment that started on Facebook, ended in the arraignment in Pontiac, Michigan, of one of the women last Friday, July 23. The two women, who were supposedly fighting over the affections of a prison inmate, got into a high speech car case resulting in the death of Alesha Abernathy and leaving Danielle Booth, 20, in the hospital with serious injuries. Torrie Emery, 23, is charged with multiple felonies for her part in the chase and death of Abernathy.
According to the Associated Press, Emery was in her car when she spotted Booth in another car with Abernathy behind the wheel. She gave chase, with her three year old child in the back seat. Police Det. Paul McDougal, who was in an unmarked squad car, saw both cars rush by at speeds approaching 100 mph. During the chase, Booth had called 911 and was still speaking with the dispatcher when Abernathy ran a red light and hit a dump truck.
The man who operated the crane which crashed and killed seven people on March 15, 2008, has been exonerated. A judge in New York City has found William Rapetti not guilty of seven counts of manslaughter. Rapetti was operating the 300 foot crane when it crashed just over two years ago, killing and wounding dozens of people. Rapetti was the only person connected with the incident to face criminal charges.
The accident in occurred in March of 2008, when Rapetti's crane collapsed killing six workers on the construction site and a Floridian tourist, according to the New York Daily News. In the bench trial before Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Roger Hayes, evidence was presented by prosecutors that the crane operator used too few slings to attach the 11,300-pound steel collar to beams used on the building under construction. One of the slings he used was allegedly damaged and it was that sling that tore, sending the collar to the ground. An inspector from OSHA gave evidence that Rapetti said he had not done the required inspection on the slings.
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