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Police: Southgate man, 69, escaped kidnap plot by white 17-year-old 'girlfriend' and her two black accomplices
 "I thought this was going to be my last car ride," says a 69-year-old man. "My own personal car was going to be my hearse." Police say the Southgate man was the victim of a plan to be robbed and kidnapped, set up by his (white) 17-year-old girlfriend and two (black men in their 30s. The night of Jan. 2 police say the man's girlfriend, Destiny Marie Gerwatowski, came up with the plan with suspects Alphonso Lamarr Straughter Jr., 31, of Dearborn, and Tajick Lewis Jackson, 36, of River Rouge. "After they got my wallet, they were ticked off because there was only $90 in my wallet," the man says. That's when he says the attack became more vicious. "They threw me in the trunk of my car and started backing out the driveway," he says. As the victim was locked in the trunk, his prayers were answered when he found a lighter. He used it to find the emergency trunk release. "God finally answered a prayer about the lighter," he says. "I flicked it on and found the inside trunk release and when I felt the car creep forward I bailed out." The victim says once he was able to free himself, he ran across the highway to a liquor store to call 911. Gerwatowski, Straughter and Jackson are locked up facing charges including carjacking, armed robbery, home invasion and unlawful imprisonment. |
SPOKANE, Wash. - In front of a packed courtroom filled with friends of murder victim Shorty Belton, Kenan Adams-Kinard entered a guilty plea in the August 2013 beating death of the 88-year-old WWII vet. Prior to officially entering his plea, Adams-Kinard was taken through a series of questions by Judge Sam Cozza to insure the 17-year-old understood what his guilty plea meant, what he was pleading guilty to, and that as part of the plea he would have to serve a minimum of 20 years in prison before he would be eligible for parole. Adams-Kinard acknowledged he understood what Judge Cozza was asking with a prompt “Yes sir” after each question. “On the charge of first degree murder, what is your plea?” Judge Cozza asked. “Guilty,” Adams-Kinard responded. - (Black-on-white)
EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. —Hours after a woman was gunned down outside a popular El Dorado Hills pub, a picture is emerging of the man accused of killing her. Investigators and witnesses are painting Anderson Swift, 41, of Oakland, as someone who appeared to be desperate to get money and a car. Swift approached the victim and her friend outside 36 Handles Pub after midnight Wednesday, demanding money and keys to their car, said El Dorado Sheriff's Lt. Tom Murdoch. The women turned around to get back into the pub when the man fired shots, killing one woman, then taking her keys and taking off in her car, Murdoch said. Swift was arrested minutes later when he crashed the stolen car, a Subaru Legacy into a backyard on Deakin Way and Silva Valley Parkway, investigators said. "This was a random act of violence, where a suspect or criminal from the Oakland Bay Area had hijacked or carjacked another vehicle somewhere along the line," said Vinal Perkins, a partner in the pub and owner of the surrounding shopping center. 
LAS VEGAS -- 
MADISON, Wis. - A judge sentenced a Massachusetts steelworker to 20 years in prison and eight years of extended supervision in connection with his former girlfriend's shooting death. Forty-year-old Phillip Byrd pleaded guilty in July to one count of second-degree intentional homicide. Sheriff's deputies discovered 
New Orleans police are looking for a "person of interest" in the October murder of a 31-year-old woman found shot to death in a Treme vacant lot. April Davis, 31, may have "critical information" about 
A San Francisco transgender woman is recovering from a brutal stabbing attack over the weekend. It began when a man starting shouting slurs at the woman and her partner, but police say they won't investigate it as a hate crime. Two victims got off a Muni bus on Saturday at Golden Gate and Van Ness avenues to get away from a man screaming insults at them. However, once they were on the sidewalk, he was right behind them with a knife. The victim, 
A couple was arrested in West Palm Beach after trespassing in a car sales lot and having sex on top of a car Tuesday morning, according to an arrest report. A passerby said he saw Ramon Mitchell, 29, and Erin Byrd, 18, having sex on top of the car, the report said. The man, who lives next to Mike’s Auto Sales, said Mitchell yelled at him as he was walking past. When the West Palm Beach police officer arrived the couple was inside a white van putting their clothes back on. As they were being arrested, Mitchell spit in the officer’s face. The officer went to St. Mary’s Medical Center for 
A newly promoted New Jersey police captain has been charged with trying to run down a councilman from a nearby city with her car, authorities said Tuesday. Monique Smith, an Irvington police captain, faces aggravated assault, stalking, criminal mischief, harassment and two weapons charges stemming from her Monday night encounter with Newark Councilman 
Harlem Assemblyman Keith Wright’s senior staffer took a plea deal Tuesday in Manhattan court, dodging a criminal record for a June drunk-driving incident where she blew a .113 on a Breathalyzer. Jeanine Johnson, 35, pleaded guilty to driving while her ability was impaired – a violation not a crime. She also agreed to a 90-day suspension of her license, four days of community service, a drunk driving program and a $300 fine. Johnson allegedly refused to get out of her 2001 Acura and name-dropped her boss, Wright.
She then threatened to call NYPD brass to get the responding officers in trouble, according to sources. The assemblyman is the brother of Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Wright, who is suing the city over a $115 ticket he got for driving in a bus lane.
Serial Laundromat groper Lowell Britt, who rubbed up against seven teens and women and masturbated in front of a 
Authorities alleged that 
A 23-year-old woman told police that a man threatened her with a knife and tried to force her to remove her clothing after she and a friend had been out with him, according to a police report. Henry Leonard McCray, 51, of Myrtle Beach was arrested Tuesday on a charge of second-degree assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct, according to Myrtle Beach Jail records. McCray is being held on $30,000 bond on the charge at J. Reuben Long Detention Center. McCray also faces unrelated charges of shoplifting, shoplifting with a value under $2,000, resisting arrest and assault while resisting arrest.
HERNANDO, Miss. –A 19-year-old woman is charged with the first murder in Hernando since 1996. Tomeshia Odom is charged with murder. Odom is accused of stabbing 21-year-old 
Stepvon Dee Batts, who has been held on robbery charges since mid-December, was accused Tuesday of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape in a Dec. 8 attack on a 19-year-old woman in Raleigh. Police served arrest warrants on Batts, 24, of 622 Rawls St. in Raleigh, at the Wake County Detention Center. 
HIGHLAND PARK - The man suspected of abducting and raping an 11-year-old girl who was on her way to school has been arrested after a month-long manhunt. Highland Park Police Chief Kevin Coney said the suspect was taken into custody around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, aboard a Greyhound bus that had stopped at a station in Jackson, Mich.
A man was arrested Tuesday after he was seen masturbating while watching children walk to school in Miami, police said. Damell Elliott faces a charge of loitering and prowling. According to the police report, several witnesses called 911 saying a naked man was sitting in a car with cartoon characters painted on it.
A Fort Lauderdale man is accused of animal cruelty after he choked and dragged a puppy in a store parking lot Tuesday, police said. According to the police report, Reginald Ware picked up a 
AUSTIN — The family of a man was shot and killed after he tried to get into a South Austin home on Monday morning says they are shocked and are still trying to figure out how the situation unfolded. According to the James family, 24-year-old Jared Toussaint James had autism and was living at the Educare Community Living Corp for the past year. His mother moved him to the Austin location from Baton Rouge so he could be closer to her since she is stationed as a Captain at Fort Hood. A man who feared for his and his family’s safety shot and killed Jared after he started banging on the family’s door and was able to force his way into their home.
Jets linebacker Jermaine Cunningham has been charged with violating New Jersey's revenge porn law, one of three charges he faces after his arrest last week. 
The complaint states, "FSU, in concert with Tallahassee Police, took steps to ensure that Winston's rape of Plaintiff would not be investigated either by the university or law enforcement." 
Two of the 11 bikers charged in the beating of a Columbia grad in front of his terrified wife and daughter took no-jail plea deals Wednesday in Manhattan court. Allen Edwards and Edwin Rodriguez copped to felony assault and riot in exchange for five years probation. They were the first defendants in the case to take deals.
A man accused of masturbating on a woman's deck and then stealing her dog before he was shot after breaking into a second apartment has been officially charged. 
"liked to pour champagne in her behind" 
Shasta Himelrick
The suspect, 40-year-old Jermaine Moody, used to be a resident of Enfield but is now living on the road, which has caused some difficulties in locating him. The alleged rape took place about seven to eight months ago, Powell said, adding the police department was informed of it about a little more than a month ago. 
BATON ROUGE, LA - A 13-year-old girl escaped from an attempted kidnapping after a man thought she was a prostitute he recently purchased oral sex from. 41-year-old Claude Lamonte Mason approached the 13-year-old girl around 1:15 p.m. on Jan. 4. He exposed himself to the girl and repeatedly told the girl to "look at it." Mason then tried to pull the girl toward a nearby vehicle. The child pulled away, and as she was running, Mason snatched the girl's cell phone out of her hand. The child then ran down the street where she told residents and a nearby police officer what happened. She was able to point out Mason, who began to run away. Police found Mason hiding under a house where he was later removed and taken into custody. Mason admitted to exposing himself.
FAIRFAX, Va. -- A registered sex offender is being held without bond after allegations that he exposed himself to an employee at a bar. Fairfax police say a female employee at Buffalo Wing University reported that 48-year-old Ronal Furbush of Fairfax exposed himself to her at 11:45 p.m. last Friday. Police say a manager told him to leave the business and he did so. Police later identified the suspect and obtained a warrant for Furbush charging him with indecent exposure. He was taken into custody on Sunday.
RALEIGH — Police Monday charged a 21-year-old man with being sexually involved with a
A Mid-City man has been jailed after a girl sometimes left in his care reported being sexually molested by him over a four-year span starting when she was 10. New Orleans police booked Walter Ellis, 59, with two counts each of sexual battery and indecent behavior with a juvenile. Ellis was booked into Orleans Parish Prison on Dec. 27, two weeks after an arrest warrant was approved. A girl last month told a NOPD Special Victims Section Detective of the sexual abuse by Ellis, which the girl said started in 2008 when 
The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force fatally shot a suspect in Pittsburgh's Knoxville neighborhood Tuesday morning. Jennings reported that the task force went to serve a warrant on a man at 4:30 a.m., accused of sexually assaulting
A 32-year-old man pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning to a 23-count indictment, alleging he raped a relative repeatedly during a two-week span in 2012.
Philadelphia Police announced the arrest of a man who allegedly shot and killed a father and part-time limo driver during a robbery in West Philadelphia Saturday night. Alonzo Dilligard was arrested Monday and charged in connection with the death of 24-year-old 
A Kenner police officer cruising down Williams Boulevard in Kenner got an eyeful when he spotted a man and woman engaged in oral sex in a moving car. The officer pulled behind the car, which was still moving, and activated his overhead lights. Instead of pulling over, the driver continued on for about four blocks as he and his passenger, later identified as Arletha Alexander, 46, began to "scramble" around in the vehicle. The officer saw Alexander make her way back to her own seat. The driver, later identified as
Three men were in custody and being questioned in connection with the shooting of two cops in The Bronx, law enforcement sources said Tuesday. One man, 
MOUNT CLEMENS - A judge has ruled that two young men will stay in prison for the rest of their lives without parole for murdering a man days after abducting him from a metro Detroit sub shop. Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Diane Druzinski on Tuesday decided that
A federal weather service employee charged with stealing sensitive infrastructure data from an Army Corps of Engineers database met a Chinese government official in Beijing, according to court documents that reveal the case to be part of an FBI probe of Chinese economic espionage. 
Officers find a man engaged in sexual activity with a minor, after following up on a call about a suspicious vehicle. Greenville Police say 30-year-old Keith Smith is being held under a $1,000,000 bond, following the incident. Smith is charged with two counts of statutory rape and indecent liberties with a child. Lt. Kurry says officers responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle on Thursday, when they found Smith in the act with a minor, police say he knew. The 30-year-old Greenville man is being held in the Pitt County Detention Center. 
Oklahoma City police arrest a man accused of showing his private parts to a 
A Bethany man received nearly 42 years in prison for multiple sexual assaults, including three attacks that occurred after he'd bailed out of jail with a sex abuse case pending. Facing charges of third-degree sex abuse, harrassment, theft and burglary, 
KENNER, La. - New Orleans Saints outside linebacker Junior Galette has been charged with domestic violence/simple battery following an arrest at his Kenner home Monday morning, according to Police spokesman Lt. Brian McGregor. Terrance Banks, Galette's cousin from New Jersey and a former teammate at Temple University, was also taken into custody and charged with simple battery, according to the KPD. Police discovered a woman with apparent injuries in front of the house. Galette is accused of choking and then pushing the woman, who would not leave his home and wanted money for cab fare, to the ground. The woman referred to herself as Galette's girlfriend/personal assistant, while Galette called her a "dancer." 
Officer 
The Bethlehem man charged with killing his roommate Sunday was hallucinating in court and couldn't immediately be arraigned, according to court papers. 
Judge 
Inside and outside a Pensacola courtroom Friday, two families wept for the lost lives of two young men. The family of 
GAMBRILLS, Md. — We are learning more about a violent end to a bank robbery in Anne Arundel County. It left one officer in the hospital and a suspect behind bars. Police say the robbery suspect struck an officer with his car as he tried to escape, prompting other officers to open fire. It was a chaotic scene on Route 32 in Gambrills Monday night as a reported bank robbery came to an end. Police say 28-year-old Lamar Mills held up a Navy Federal Credit Union in Odenton, then hopped in a getaway car, hoping to escape.
Leyth O. Jamal, a transgender 
A Phoenix man has been arrested for allegedly stabbing his roommate to death. Police said 23-year-old Mykel Cantrel Cooper has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 29-year-old 
Jerame C. Reid, the man who was shot and killed by Bridgeton City Police on Tuesday night, previously served 13 years in prison on attempted murder and other charges for shooting at New Jersey State Troopers when he was a teenager, according to the Press of Atlantic City. Reid, 36, of Millville was killed Tuesday after the car he was riding in was stopped by police at South Avenue and Henry Street. Reid, the passenger, was shot after a handgun was "revealed" during the traffic stop, the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office said. Both police officers, Braheme Days and Roger Worley, fired their weapons, investigators said. 
MIAMI – The Miami Police Department has released the name of the armed robbery suspect killed by Miramar Police officers who were forced to shoot after a neighborhood gun fight on New Years Eve. Investigators say 28-year-old Eric Tyrone Forbes was killed after 
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Walter Lewis Johnson was arrested for allegedly impregnating 
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Gainesville Police Department is looking for a man who is wanted for sexual battery. Investigators say 32-year-old Tjamal Peterson argued with the victim and left her home, but then returned and climbed in through a window while she was asleep. The woman told police she woke up with Peterson on top of her, choking her. She said when she tried to fight back, he put his knee on her neck and sexually battered her, then fled the scene. Police have a warrant out for his arrest and describe him as dangerous.
A blind-drunk Brooklyn street sweeper with an insatiable sweet tooth took his broom-mobile out to get candy — and ended up 40 miles away on a Long Island highway in a low-speed chase with cops, sources said on Friday. Jerry Mitchell, 48, who has no driver’s license, was cleaning the Gateway Center Mall while double the legal alcohol limit at around 8 p.m. on Thursday, police said.
Police surrounded a Montgomery County Target store after mall security spotted a man inside after hours. Authorities charged 18-year-old Isaiah Bell, of Philadelphia, with burglary and other related offenses after they caught the teen stuffing a duffel bag with multiple electronic items around 11:20 p.m. Thursday, officials said. 
MONROEVILLE — A Plum man is facing multiple robbery charges after police say he tried to target several stores inside the Monroeville Mall. Monroeville Police say 21-year-old Demetryaiss Holyfield was arrested a short time after the robberies Thursday.
Police are seeking a man in connection with an unprovoked attack on an interracial couple outside a Pasadena coffee shop, which authorities are investigating as a hate crime, officials said. 
FOREST PARK, Ohio – 
GRANDVIEW, MO - A Kansas City man has been charged in the Dec. 29 rape of a 67-year-old woman inside her home. Peter H. Hudson, 34, faces charges of first-degree rape, first-degree burglary and second-degree robbery. "It's horrible, it's horrible. Terrifying," said a woman who asked not to be identified. Friends and neighbors at the retirement community say they are too afraid to be identified after the horrifying incident. The victim, who lived in a retirement community reported to police that about 1 a.m. Monday she heard a noise at her door and saw a shadowy figure outside the window just before her door was kicked in. The attacker grabbed her around the waist, covered her mouth and took her phone before raping her, forcing her to shower and then tying her up in a closet with the cords of a heating pad and vacuum. The alleged rapist then went through her belongings and stole her vehicle. 
RAEFORD, N.C. - A Raeford man was arrested Friday and charged with multiple child sex crimes. Roy Samuel McNeill, 65, of Raeford, was arrested early Friday morning and charged with statutory
SPRING GARDEN -- The man accused of attacking and sexually assaulting a woman on New Year's Day in a Philadelphia parking garage has been formally charged. 32-year old Steven Woodson of Pittsburgh is charged with rape, robbery and attempted murder. It happened before 11:00 a.m. Thursday inside a garage at 17th and Callowhill Streets in Spring Garden. Authorities say Woodson followed the 33-year-old victim into the garage and started to rob her. He then forced her to undress and sexually assaulted her. A man driving into the garage saw what was happening, got out of his car and chased the suspect. 
MEMPHIS, TN - A man wanted in Memphis, suspected of raping and robbing at least three women, was found and arrested in New Bedford, Massachusetts. New Bedford officers responded to Market Ministries Shelter for an unrelated matter. When Dontel Morgan saw police, he reportedly ran out a door at the back of the building and over a fence. The shelter manager found his name for police, who then learned Morgan was wanted in Memphis. He had warrants for two counts of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, aggravated assault, two counts of sexual battery, three counts of kidnapping, and three counts of possession of a deadly weapon with the intent to commit a crime.
Morgan is suspected of raping and robbing at least three women from Memphis apartment complexes. 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Police say they arrested a serial rapist on Dec. 31. Antwan Tinker is accused of raping four women. Police say the first rape took place on Nov. 1 and the last occurred on Dec. 30. 
OLEAN, N.Y. - In a disturbing video posted online, a pit bull mix can be seen suffering as it slowly dies from being poisoned. Police now say they have caught the woman responsible. A video posted on Facebook shows a man holding down 
ATLANTA - A man is under arrest, charged with two especially grisly murders. Ardentric Johnson is accused of strangling 
Albert Holland, who was tried, convicted and sentenced to death — twice — for the 1990 murder of a Broward County police officer, is once again facing the ultimate punishment. Holland, 56, was gearing up for a third trial for the fatal shooting of