AMBER GUYGER CASE KEY WITNESS MURDERED AFTER HER GUILTY CONVICTION (JOSHUA BROWN):
WHITE DALLAS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER LOSES ELECTION AFTER EXPOSING DALLAS POLICE DEPT COVER UP (PHILLIP KINGSTON).
“WE’VE GOT SOME LONG DAYS AHEAD OF US” (DR MARTIN LUTHER KING JR).
WE NEED TO PRAY FOR THE USA AND PREPARE FOR NOVEMBER 2020.
DEAR LORD, GIVE US WISDOM & STRATEGIES.
Post Sources: BallotPedia, CBS News, Fox News, Dallas News, Status Coup, TIME, WFAA, Youtube
******* Key Witness in Amber Guyger Murder Case Fatally Shot Days After Emotional Trial Wraps Up
Less than three days after ex-Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison for murdering Botham Jean in his own apartment, a key witness in the case was fatally shot.
Joshua Brown was killed Friday night at a Dallas apartment complex, as confirmed to TIME and originally reported by the Dallas Morning News.
The Dallas Police Department told TIME that law enforcement responded to a report of a shooting at a Dallas apartment complex just after 10:30 p.m. on Friday and found the victim “lying on the ground in the apartment parking lot with multiple gunshot wounds,” but did not identity the victim.
Spokesperson Kimberlee Leach with the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office confirmed to TIME that the victim was Brown.
The victim died from his injuries at Parkland Memorial Hospital, police said in a statement.
Several witnesses had heard gunshots and noticed a silver four-door sedan speeding away from the parking lot, police said.
But authorities did not provide more details about the suspect and noted that no one is currently in custody.
Brown, who was also Jean’s neighbor, testified during Guyger’s trial that he met Jean for the first time the same day that he was shot on Sept. 6, 2018.
After talking in his testimony about how he would hear Jean singing gospel or Drake songs inside his apartment, Brown became emotional and had to take a break from questioning.
Lee Merritt, a civil rights lawyer who represented the Jean family during trial, has spoken extensively on social media about Brown’s death, and said “his murder underscores the reality of the black experience in America.”
“A former athlete turned entrepreneur—Brown lived in constant fear that he could be the next victim of gun violence,” Merritt said, adding that Brown’s mother asked that he “do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of his murder.”
Brown’s death has also elicited concern from politicians. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Sunday that “just when when we caught a glimpse of justice for Botham Jean, much of it feels stolen back with the murder of Joshua Brown.”
**** Dallas City Council Member On Officer Shooting Investigation: DA ‘Screwing This Up’ (Circa 2018)
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A Dallas city councilman is demanding 911 calls and any police videos be released in the case involving former officer Amber Guyger’s deadly shooting of Botham Jean in his apartment last month.
Councilman Philip Kingston said he is unhappy with the way the investigation into the Botham Jean shooting is being handled, going so far as to accuse Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson of, “screwing this up.”
Kingston responded to news the DA will not release 911 calls, radio calls or any possible police body cam videos that exist or Amber Guyger’s personnel records during her time as an officer.
The transmissions made by Guyger in the moments after the shooting are key evidence to prove or disprove her story that she mistakenly walked into the wrong apartment directly above hers at the South Side Flats and mistook Botham Jean for a burglar when she shot and killed him.
Kingston told CBS 11 after Wednesday’s city council meeting, it makes the city look bad that nearly a month after the shooting so little information is being released.
He blames Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall and DA Johnson.
“I think the investigation is over and I think we need to start being transparent with the information these decision makers are looking at because they’ve all said we want transparency, we want transparency, we want transparency, but they’re actions are 180 degrees from that,” said Kingston.
CBS11 received a response from the DA’s office which said Kingston’s comments would only fuel the argument for a change of venue in the case if there’s an indictment and trial:
“Case law regarding venue change mandates no pretrial release of evidence that could influence potential jurors and render them unable to return a fair and impartial verdict in any potential criminal trial.
See e.g. Gonzalez v. State, 222 S.W. 3d 446.
This law includes non-disclosure of all of the described.
This potential case should be tried in Dallas County, not some contiguous county where the interests of justice are not as compelling.
The DAs office is following the law in its effort to seek fair and impartial jurors in any potential trial regarding this tragic matter.”
AMBER GUYGER’S TEARS vs BOTHAM JEAN’S FAMILY TEARS:
IF BOTHAM JEAN SHOT AMBER HE WOULD HAVE BEEN SENTENCED TO LIFE.
AMBER’S TEARS WON’T RESURRECT BOTHAM JEAN.
FORGIVENESS DOES NOT ELIMINATE CONSEQUENCES.
Post Sources: ABC News, Inside Edition, Salon.com, Youtube
**** This time white tears didn't work: Why Amber Guyger's guilty verdict surprised me
The former Dallas police officer was found guilty of murdering her neighbor Botham Jean in his own apartment
Finally, a cop's white tears didn't work.
Fired Dallas police officer Amber R. Guyger, a white woman who shot and killed her unarmed black neighbor, Botham Shem Jean, was found guilty of murder on the second day of jury deliberations, an all-too-rare instance of the justice system holding police officers accountable for reckless actions.
The guilty verdict shocked me, and not because I’m used to being let down by the juries, grand juries, prosecutors and judges presiding over cops' cases.
It shocked me because Guyger had a weapon stronger than the law on her side; even more powerful than the gun she carried.
Guyger was armed with white tears. And in America, white tears are a source of ultimate power.
White tears helped kill Emmett Till, the 14-year-old black boy accused of whistling at a white woman in Mississippi back in 1955.
White tears almost allowed Susan Smith to get away with killing her own kids after claiming that an African American man was the culprit.
And white tears could have ruined the life of an innocent black man in Quincy, Mass, when a white woman said she was assaulted by a black male in his early 20s and only after police reviewed surveillance footage admitted she had made it up. Guyger invoked that power of white tears in court: "I was scared he was going to kill me," she said to the jury.
This time the outcome was justice.
Guyger, 31, lived in the same apartment complex as Jean.
On September 6, 2018, she entered Jean's apartment, which is on a different floor from hers. She says she thought she was in her apartment.
There she saw Jean eating ice cream, and she says she thought he was an intruder, so she shot him.
Jean died from his injuries in a nearby hospital.
Three days later, Guyger was arrested by Texas Rangers who took over the investigation.
Guyger was initially charged with manslaughter and terminated from the police force.
After a series of protests, public outrage, and a sorry attempt by the Dallas police department to smear Jean’s reputation as a Christian man, Guyger was charged with murder by a Dallas grand jury.
The disgraced Guyger faced a multiracial and multiethnic jury during her week-long trial that ended Tuesday in that shocking verdict.
Even though it seems like it would have been an open-and-shut case, African Americans know better.
We have seen how often cops continue to enjoy freedom after killing black people, even when the victims posed no threat, had no weapons, and the incidents were even caught on tape.
Freddie Gray, Eric Garner and Michael Brown — just to name a few — had no firearms on them.
They should be alive today and are not. All of their killers walked.
How does this happen? Cops who kill too often earn a get-out-of-jail-free card when they say “I feared for my life and the lives of my fellow officers.”
And Guyger tried it as well, claiming she was afraid Jean was going to kill her — even though by her logic he would have been more justified in shooting, because she had intruded into his apartment.
Guyger got the verdict she deserves, but I'd hold off on celebrating this turn of justice until she's sentenced.
Her conviction carries a sentence from five to 99 years, and she could easily receive a lesser penalty and be home soon.
And even if she is made to serve decades in prison, an innocent man is dead.
What will Dallas do to prevent another Amber Guyger incident?
Police officers have enormous powers — to take someone's freedom, to take their lives even.
Those powers were granted to Guyger, who then made a colossal, life-ending error in judgment while wielding those powers, with no checks in place to prevent those powers from killing a man.
According to Guyger, she was too tired to recognize her own home that night.
And yet she had enough cognitive control to fire deadly shots at a living being.
Jean had no weapon and, once again, was in his own home; and yet Guyger felt shooting him was her only option.
That's a serious issue — of training, of recruitment, of assessment — that goes deeper than one man's killing, and needs to be aggressively handled by the Dallas Police Department.
JEFFREY EPSTEIN’S AUTOPSY RESULTS; BROKEN NECK BONES RELATED TO STRANGULATION:
EPSTEIN WOULD NOT HAVE SNITCHED ON HIS HIGH PROFILED CLIENTS SO WHY WAS HE KILLED IN SUCH A GRUESOME MANNER?
FEDERAL PROSECUTION STAFF HAD GATHERED ENOUGH INVESTIGATIVE EVIDENCE TO LINK EPSTEIN’S ELITE CLIENTS TO CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING CRIMES.
THUS IT’S SAFE TO SAY EPSTEIN WAS MURDERED JUST PRIOR TO HIS TRIAL TO KEEP FROM HAVING HIS ELITE CLIENTS EXPOSED & HUMILIATED.
MORAL TO THIS STORY:
THE WHOLE WORLD NOW KNOWS THAT MANY SUPER WEALTHY PEOPLE ENJOY HAVING SEX WITH CHILDREN.
Post Sources: CBC News, CBS News, MSNBC, Washington Post, The Independent, PBS News, Yahoo News, Youtube
***** Autopsy finds broken bones in Jeffrey Epstein’s neck, deepening questions around his death
An autopsy found that financier Jeffrey Epstein sustained multiple breaks in his neck bones, according to two people familiar with the findings, deepening the mystery about the circumstances around his death.
Among the bones broken in Epstein’s neck was the hyoid bone, which in men is near the Adam’s apple. Such breaks can occur in those who hang themselves, particularly if they are older, according to forensics experts and studies on the subject. But they are more common in victims of homicide by strangulation, the experts said.
The details are the first findings to emerge from the autopsy of Epstein, a convicted sex offender and multimillionaire in federal custody on charges of sex trafficking. He died early Saturday morning after guards found him hanging in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan and he could not be revived.
Attorney General William P. Barr, whose department oversees the Bureau of Prisons facility where Epstein died, has described his death as an “apparent suicide.” Justice officials declined to comment on the new information from Epstein’s autopsy.
The office of New York City’s chief medical examiner, Barbara Sampson, completed an autopsy of Epstein’s body Sunday. But Sampson listed the cause of his death as pending.
Asked about the neck injuries Sampson said in a statement that no single factor in an autopsy can alone provide a conclusive answer about what happened.
“In all forensic investigations, all information must be synthesized to determine the cause and manner of death. Everything must be consistent; no single finding can be evaluated in a vacuum.”
The details add to the bizarre circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death, which have launched a wave of questions and conspiracy theories about how he could have died in federal custody. Even President Trump has egged on speculation, without evidence, that Epstein — whose alleged victims say they were pushed to have sex with his powerful and celebrity friends — might have been killed to keep him from spilling the secrets of others.
The revelation of Epstein’s neck injuries follows reports that officers at the Metropolitan Correctional Center broke protocol and failed to properly monitor him.
Corrections officers had not checked on Epstein for “several” hours before he was found hanging in his cell, a person familiar with the matter said, one of a series of missteps in the hours leading up to his death.
Veteran prosecutors and law enforcement officials were shocked that one of the most high-profile inmates in the country wasn’t more carefully watched. Barr said over the weekend he was “appalled” at serious “irregularities” in jail protocol, and he later transferred the warden to another facility.
People familiar with the autopsy, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive stage of the investigation, said Sampson’s office is seeking additional information on Epstein’s condition in the hours before his death. That could include video evidence of the jail hallways, which may establish whether anyone entered Epstein’s cell during the night he died; results of a toxicology screening to determine if there was any unusual substance in his body; and interviews with guards and inmates who were near his cell.
Jonathan L. Arden, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners, said a hyoid can be broken in many circumstances but is more commonly associated with homicidal strangulation than suicidal hanging.
Arden, who was not involved in the Epstein autopsy, said that in general, a finding of a broken hyoid requires pathologists to conduct more extensive investigation. That investigation can include analysis of the location of the noose, how narrow the noose is, and if the body experienced any substantial drop in the course of the hanging.
The age of the deceased is also important, Arden said. The hyoid starts out as three small bones with joint-like connections but hardens during middle age into a U-shape that can break more easily.
“If, hypothetically, the hyoid bone is broken, that would generally raise questions about strangulation, but it is not definitive and does not exclude suicidal hanging,” he said.
A handful of studies conducted over the past decade have produced conflicting results about the likelihood of a hyoid break in a suicide. In a study of 20 suicidal hangings in Thailand, published in 2010, one-fourth of the men who hanged themselves had broken hyoids. In a larger study of suicidal hangings of young adults and middle-aged people in India, conducted from 2010 to 2013, hyoid damage was found in just 16 of 264 cases, or 6 percent. The study addressed the discrepancies in academic reviews, saying wide variations in findings of hyoid breaks are “possibly due to factors like age of the victim, weight of the victim, type of suspension and height of suspension.”
Hyoid fractures have previously sparked controversy in jailhouse and other contentious deaths.
In 2008, Ronnie L. White, a teenager accused of killing a police officer, died of an apparent suicide in a suburban Washington jail cell. But two days later, the cause of death was changed to homicide when a Maryland state medical examiner discovered the teen had a broken hyoid.
The incident fanned racial tension and fueled conspiracy theories about the suspect’s death in Prince George’s County, Md.
Medical examiners concluded White was probably strangled with a sheet, towel or “crux of the elbow.” The officer who moved his body pleaded guilty to obstruction. But no one was ever charged in White’s death. A federal judge said in 2013 that it remained a mystery whether the inmate was slain or took his own life.
The hyoid bone played a central role in a heated dispute last year over another high-profile death in New York, that of Eric Garner. A New York police officer was accused of using an improper chokehold while trying to arrest Garner and of causing his death. A police officers’ association claimed that an autopsy from Sampson’s office found there was no break of Garner’s hyoid bone, and that this proved that the officer could not have strangled Garner and caused his death.
This “demonstrates conclusively that Mr. Garner did not die of strangulation of the neck from a chokehold,” the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association said.
But Sampson rejected that claim, saying she stood by her conclusion that Garner died of “compression of neck (chokehold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” Sampson’s office said Garner’s bronchial asthma, obesity and high blood pressure were contributing factors.
In a widely circulated video of the 2014 incident, the officer was seen grabbing Garner around the neck, pushing him and his face into the pavement. Garner is overheard pleading several times: “I can’t breathe.”
Two weeks later, Sampson’s office concluded the officer’s actions were the primary cause of his death.
————————————————————
**** Epstein death: Broken neck bones in autopsy raise questions about apparent suicide of accused sex trafficker
Jeffrey Epstein had suffered broken bones in his neck of a kind more commonly seen in deaths by strangulation than suicides, according to reports.
The disgraced 66-year-old financier was found hanging in his cell at a federal prison in New York on Saturday while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
His death was described as an “apparent suicide” by attorney general William Barr, who criticised “serious irregularities” at the jail.
Authorities have not yet released details of the autopsy, but The Washington Post claimed on Thursday that it discovered “multiple breaks in his neck bones”, including the hyoid bone.
While the injury to the hyoid can occur in suicides by hanging, particularly in older people, it raises further questions about the circumstances of the multi-millionaire’s death.
“If, hypothetically, the hyoid bone is broken, that would generally raise questions about strangulation, but it is not definitive and does not exclude suicidal hanging,” Jonathan Arden, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners, told the Post.
The case has already attracted several conspiracy theories, including one promoted by president Donald Trump on Twitter.
It has also caused outrage among Epstein’s victims and their representatives, who had hoped that Epstein’s trial next year would produce the justice they thought he had long evaded.
The office of New York City’s chief medical examiner Barbara Sampson, which has not commented on the findings of the autopsy, is said to be seeking further information about Epstein’s condition in the hours before his death.
Epstein had previously been placed on suicide watch after being found unconscious on the floor of his cell with marks on his neck last month.
However he was not under that regime at the time of his death and guards had not checked on him for up to three hours before he was found hanging at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in lower Manhattan.
Epstein, who once counted Mr Trump and former president Bill Clinton as friends, died a day after new legal documents, unsealed by a court, provided more details about the young girls he was said to have abused over several decades.
Several investigations are being carried out into the circumstances, including a “psychological reconstruction” and an “after action” review by the prison, as well as probes by the FBI and US Department of Justice’s inspector general.
ELIJAH CUMMINGS DEFENDS HIS 23 YR BALTIMORE REPRESENTATION (SO DO THE RATS):
WAS TRUMP RIGHT? IS BALTIMORE STILL “THE WIRE”??
HOW MANY BLACK MEN HAS CUMMINGS HELPED TO (SECRETLY) INCARCERATE INSTEAD OF HELPING THEM TO BECOME GAINFULLY EMPLOYED?
CONGRESSMAN ELIJAH CUMMINGS (“THE BULLY”) IS KNOWN TO RETALIATE AGAINST ANYONE WHO DOESN’T AGREE WITH HIM OR CHALLENGES HIM.
IN FACT, MANY OF HIS CONSTITUENTS ARE AFRAID OF HIM WHICH EXPLAINS WHY HE’S BEEN IN PUBLIC OFFICE 23 YRS.
SO WILL CUMMINGS USE HIS CONGRESSIONAL JUDICIAL COMMITTEE POWER TO RETALIATE AGAINST PRES TRUMP OVER HIS BOLD TWEETS ABOUT BALTIMORE?
WILL CUMMINGS RETALIATE AGAINST ALL THE JOURNALISTS & BLOGGERS WHO REPORTED ON THIS STORY?
STAY TUNED.
Post Sources: Baltimore Sun, DW News, Fox News, NBC News, Turning Point USA, Washington Examiner, Youtube
**** The trouble with Trump's tweets about Baltimore is that they are true
President Trump’s recent tweets about Baltimore, rats, and the city’s political leadership have roiled Washington and prompted another round of cries of “racism” from the usual race hustlers, who are seeking out every camera they can find. But rather than focus on whether or not Trump is a racist, how about we focus on the man’s words? Are they true?
Yes, they are.
First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1995, Elijah Cummings has represented Maryland’s 7th Congressional District (which includes Baltimore City) for the past 23 years. Prior to that, Cummings was an elected member of Maryland's House of Delegates, representing District 39 (also Baltimore City) beginning in 1983. In all, Cummings has represented Baltimore for 36 years.
What has Baltimore to show for Cummings’ years of representation? Here are a few examples. In 2017, 13 high schools in the city of Baltimore were found to have zero students — not a single one — who were proficient in math. And out of the 3,804 students in all who took the state math proficiency test, only 14 were proficient.
Baltimore’s schools perform this poorly despite the fact that residents of Baltimore pay 3.2% city income tax, the maximum local income tax rate allowed by state law in an already high-tax state. Take that as further proof that throwing money at problems doesn’t necessarily solve them.
Crime in Baltimore is, simply put, out of control. With over 2,000 violent crimes per 100,000 people, in the year 2017 Baltimore was well within the most dangerous 1% of U.S. cities.
And then, there’s the rats, the mention of which generated much of the ire directed at Trump. He claimed that Baltimore is “rat infested," causing some left-wing pundits to claim he was using code to refer to “black and brown people.” Yet, once again, the issue is whether he was right. And he was. The city has a very real rat infestation problem.
Baltimore’s rats have long been the subject of commentary in the news and in social media. From both sides of the political aisle, everyone from Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders to Ben Carson and Baltimore’s former Mayor Catherine Pugh (who resigned in May amid federal and state corruption investigations) have been outed on the web for having publicly commented on the city’s filth and squalor in years past. A 2018 video has surfaced of Pugh touring her miserable city and nearly gagging on her own words as she exclaimed, “You can smell the rats … Oh my God, you can smell the dead animals.”
So, yes, there are rats. A lot of rats. So many rats that one citizen created a full feature-length documentary film about Baltimore’s rats. The city and county themselves launched the “Rat Attack Program” to battle the epidemic, sadly without much success.
On Monday, Baltimore’s local Fox broadcasting affiliate WBFF was reporting on Trump’s tweetstorm when, as if sensing its opportunity for two seconds of fame, a rat ran through the frame effectively photobombing the Fox45 reporter’s live shot!
As a black American pundit, I am often asked whether I think Trump is a racist. I do not, but the answer I always give is that I don’t care. What I care about is the truth.
The point is that the overarching focus on race accomplishes nothing. And if the focus is simply on truth, then in this case, Trump is unquestionably right.
That Baltimore’s political leadership has failed its constituents is inarguable. That's why those same political figures, along with the race hustlers of the day, repeatedly pull out the same card they’ve been playing for decades. They get away with it by accusing their own accusers of racism. They choose to focus on accusations of intent rather than substance of the issue.
Baltimore is steeped in squalor, and the black community there bears the brunt of its inept, corrupt political leadership. Trump hasn't had time to cause that in his less than three years in office. But in less than three seconds, his tweet has shone a glaring spotlight onto it, and that bright light is causing the rats to scurry.
MALEAH DAVIS, 4, RAPED & MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD BY HER MONSTER STEP-FATHER DARION VENCE (MALEAH’S LAW):
DARION VENCE DISPOSED OF MALEAH IN A TRASH BAG....HE SHOULD RECEIVE THE DEATH PENALTY.
BOTH CPS & MALEAH’S MOTHER BRITTANY BOWENS ARE TO BLAME FOR HER MURDER.
WHY DID CPS RETURN MALEAH & HER BROTHER FOLLOWING EVIDENCE OF SUBSTANTIATED SERIOUS ABUSE FOUND IN THE HOME??
WHAT KIND OF HEAD INJURY CAUSED MALEAH TO HAVE MULTIPLE BRAIN SURGERIES?
CONGRESS (BOTH PARTIES) NEEDS TO AUDIT & OVERHAUL CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES IMMEDIATELY IN EVERY STATE & WASHINGTON DC.
CONGRESS SHOULD ALSO CREATE NEW CPS LEGISLATION ENTITLED “MALEAH’S LAW”.
MOST CPS SYSTEM SUPERVISORS ARE SORORITY BLACK WOMEN WHO DON’T REALLY CARE ABOUT LOW INCOME ABUSED BLACK CHILDREN.
PLEASE FIRE MOST BLACK CPS SUPERVISORS AND REPLACE THEM WITH WHITE WOMEN.
YES I SAID WHAT I SAID.
DON’T LET MALEAH’S PREMATURE DEATH BE IN VAIN.
Post Sources: CBS News, KHOU, USA Today, Youtube
***** Dogs detect human decomposition in car of man arrested in case of missing girl Maleah Davis, 4
Trained dogs detected the scent of human decomposition in the car of a man arrested in connection with the puzzling disappearance of Maleah Davis, 4, outside Houston, a prosecutor said.
Derion Vence was in jail Sunday on a $1 million bond after he was arrested Saturday and charged with tampering with evidence – a human corpse. Vence is set to appear in court Monday.
Vence, 26, lived with Maleah’s mother, Brittany Bowens, and is believed to be the last person to see the girl before her disappearance more than a week ago.
Houston police said Maleah has not been found and the investigation is continuing. Authorities have declined to say whether they believe Vence killed the girl, but prosecutors said in court documents filed Saturday that Vence could face additional charges, including murder.
Police have said blood found in Vence’s apartment was linked to Maleah.
Vence initially told police he was assaulted by three men in a truck after stopping for a flat tire on the way to pick up Bowens at the airport on the night of May 4.
Vence said Maleah and his 2-year-old son were with him and they were all abducted by the three men, who knocked him unconscious.
When he came to the next day in Sugar Land, about 20 miles southwest of Houston, the girl was missing, Vence told police. He also said the Nissan Altima he was driving was stolen.
Police said surveillance video showed Vence getting dropped off at Methodist Sugar Land Hospital in the silver Altima last Sunday.
Police found the car in a parking lot Thursday.
At Vence’s probable cause court hearing Saturday night, Harris County prosecutor Pat Stayton said two dogs trained to find cadavers reacted to the trunk of the car.
“The dogs were responding to the scent of human decomposition in the vehicle,” Stayton said.
Surveillance video from a neighbor had shown Vence carrying a large, blue laundry basket with a large trash bag from his apartment on May 3, Stayton said. Vence returned three minutes later without the basket and later he was seen leaving the apartment with cleaning supplies, including bleach.
In the car, police found a laundry basket that looked like the one Vence took out of his apartment, Stayton said.
Police have described Vence as Maleah’s stepfather, but Bowens said through a spokesman that Vence is her former fiancé.
Child Protective Services removed Maleah and her brothers from the home Vence and Bowens shared in August after the girl sustained a head wound, but the children were returned in February, according to an agency spokeswoman.
The Houston Chronicle reported that Maleah’s grandmother, Brenda Bowens, had tried to get the kids placed at her home instead of in foster care when Child Protective Services conducted an investigation starting in August.
CATHERINE PUGH LOSES POLITICAL CAREER DUE TO CORRUPTION (FBI RAIDS):
SHE IS NOW IN HIDING.
ATLANTA & BALTIMORE NEED TO ELECT WHITE MAYORS IMMEDIATELY.
LONG TERM BLACK LEADERSHIP IN THE ATL & BALTIMORE CREATED COMPLACENCY & ENCOURAGED CORRUPTION.
MOST BLACK LEADERS DON’T CARE ABOUT BLACK VOTERS ANYWAY, ONLY THEMSELVES.
IT’S TIME FOR REAL CHANGE.
YES, WHITE POLITICIANS CAN EFFECTIVELY LEAD BLACK VOTERS WITHOUT RACISM.
2020 ELECTION
Post Sources: New York Post, AJC, CNN, PBS, Youtube
***** Feds raid Baltimore mayor’s home amid kids book corruption scandal
FBI and IRS agents raided the home of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh on Thursday amid calls she resign over her shady children’s book sales.
The blitz on Pugh’s home indicated publicly for the first time that she’s being investigated by the feds, as well as by the Maryland Office of the State Prosecutor.
Authorities are looking into lucrative sales of Pugh’s “Healthy Holly” series to the University of Maryland Medical System while she was on their unpaid board of directors.
The investigation that led to Thursday’s raids began more than a year ago, sources told The Baltimore Sun.
Pugh, 69, has been on an indefinite leave of absence since April 1, when calls for a state probe into her began.
She claimed then that she was taking time off to recover from a bout of pneumonia.
The Democrat was at home at the time of the raids. Sources told local outlet WJZ that she has since left Maryland.
As agents hauled out boxes of “Healthy Holly” books and documents from Pugh’s home, Gov. Larry Hogan called for Pugh to step down.
“Mayor Pugh has lost the public trust,” the Republican governor tweeted. “She is clearly not fit to lead. For the good of the city, Mayor Pugh must resign.”
Hogan directed the state’s prosecutor on April 1 to begin a probe into Pugh’s “questionable dealings.”
Besides Hogan, the Baltimore City Council, Baltimore lawmakers in the House of Delegates and the Great Baltimore Committee, a business group, have also called for Pugh’s resignation.
The feds also executed search warrants at the office of Pugh’s lawyer, Steven Silverman, City Hall, the Maryland Center for Adult Training, whose job program Pugh once ran, and the home of an aide, the FBI confirmed.
Silverman said agents served a subpoena to his office for Pugh’s financial records. “We will continue to vigorously defend the mayor,” he told the Washington Post.
The health provider paid $500,000 to buy 100,000 copies of the book from Pugh’s company, Healthy Holly LLC, in a no-bid arrangement between 2011 and 2018.
Pugh apologized that she had “done something to upset the people,” returned $100,000 to the health-care system and canceled a book deal.
She has also stepped down from the board.
Another health-care provider, Kaiser Permanente, confirmed to The Baltimore Sun this month that it had paid Pugh $114,000 for 20 copies of her book between 2015 and 2018 while the company was trying to get a contract from the city.
Kaiser was awarded a $48 million contract in 2017 to provide heath benefits to city workers by a spending board on which Pugh sits.
Pugh did not comment and her spokesman said he hasn’t talked to her.
BILL COSBY’S “WELCOME TO JAIL” MEAL INCLUDES JELLO PUDDING (3-10 YRS):
COSBY 81, AN EXAMPLE OF EACH HUMAN BEING EVENTUALLY REAPING WHAT THEY HAVE SOWN IN THIS LIFE.....GOOD OR BAD.
TAKE HEED LEST YOU ALSO FALL.
Post Sources: Fox News, TMZ, Youtube
***** Bill Cosby had pudding in first prison meal: report
Disgraced comedian Bill Cosby reportedly had vanilla pudding as part of his first meal in a state prison after being sentenced three to 10 years on Tuesday.
Cosby, 81, now known as Inmate No. NN7687, will serve his sentence at SCI Phoenix, a new state prison in Schwenksville, Pa.
TMZ reported Cosby was served a chicken patty with gravy, vegetables, mashed potatoes and vanilla pudding for dessert.
Cosby famously appeared in a number of Jello commercials in the 1980s and 1990s, but it was not immediately clear if he was served Jello brand pudding in prison.
The former television superstar, who traded on a squeaky clean, fatherly image, was sentenced after being found guilty of three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault in April in one of the most widely publicized trials in modern history.
The once revered comedian was found guilty of sexual assault in April for drugging Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, in his Philadelphia home in 2004.
MANUEL ORREGO-SAVALA WHO KILLED NFL PLAYER EDWIN JACKSON IS SENTENCED TO 16 YRS IN PRISON (ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT):
MANUEL ORREGO-SAVALA (FROM GUATEMALA) WAS DRUNK DRIVING, KILLED EDWIN JACKSON & HIS UBER DRIVER, THEN COWARDLY LEFT THE SCENE.
SAVALA IS ANOTHER REASON WHY AMERICA DOES NOT NEED OPEN BORDERS BUT NEEDS LOGICAL ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REFORM ASAP.
IMMIGRATION REFORM IS NOT RACISM AGAINST LATINOS.....IT’S LAW AND ORDER TO PROTECT OUR NATION.
Post Sources: AP, Fox News, NBC News, Youtube
****** Guatemalan Man living illegally in USA gets 16 years for crash that killed Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson and an Uber driver
A man from Guatemala living illegally in the U.S. was sentenced Friday to the maximum of 16 years in prison for a drunken-driving crash that killed Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson and his Uber driver.
Manuel Orrego-Savala, 37, pleaded guilty in July to two counts of operating a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol content of .15 or more, causing death. The sentence marked the maximum possible under his plea agreement.
Investigators said Orrego-Savala had a blood-alcohol content of 0.19 — nearly 2 ½ times Indiana's legal limit — when his F-150 truck crashed into Jackson and his Uber driver, Jeffrey Monroe, 54, on Feb. 4 along Interstate 70 in Indianapolis.
Monroe, of Avon, Indiana, had pulled over when the 26-year-old Jackson became ill. Both men were standing outside Monroe's car on the highway's shoulder when Orrego-Savala's truck crashed into them.
Authorities said Orrego-Savala was walking away from the crash when a state trooper detained him. Under his plea agreement, prosecutors dropped two counts of failing to remain at the scene of an accident.
A Marion County judge sentenced Orrego-Savala after hearing an emotional testimony from Monroe’s widow, Deborah Monroe, and Jackson's mother. The widow told Orrego-Savala that the crashed killed “the greatest love of my life” and destroyed their retirement plans that included travel and fulfilling her husband’s dream of going to the Great Wall of China.
"My family and I are serving a life sentence because of you," she said, speaking directly to Orrego-Savala, who kept his head lowered during much of Friday's hearing.
"You're a drunk, a liar, a murderer and a coward," Monroe said.
Jackson grew up in Atlanta and started eight games for the Colts during the 2016 season, finishing third on the team with 61 tackles. Jackson was considered a possible starter at inside linebacker for 2017 but missed the season after suffering a training camp injury.
His mother, Mary Ellen Powell Jackson, told the court she was preparing to leave Sunday services when she learned that he had died in a crash in a phone call.
Our hearts have been ripped apart and we're always asking, 'Why Edwin?'" she said, recalling him as a hardworking, handsome athlete, and a good, obedient and caring son who had "a heart of gold."
Orrego-Savala was deported in 2007 and 2009. Federal authorities said he illegally re-entered the U.S. and faces federal immigration charges that could potentially result in a 10-year sentence, said Jeremy Johnson, a Marion County deputy prosecutor.
“I’m grateful he was an illegal immigrant because our federal government will give him 10 more years. So that’s 26 years he’ll spend in prison for what he did,” Monroe said according to FOX 59.
HURRICANE FLORENCE CREATES PRICE GOUGING CRISIS IN NORTH CAROLINA:
MORE THAN 500 REPORTED INCIDENTS OF BUSINESSES FINANCIALLY ABUSING HURRICANE VICTIMS, INCLUDING GAS STATIONS & HOTELS.
THIS IS UNTHINKABLE & GREEDY.
EACH BUSINESS PRACTICING PRICE GOUGING SHOULD BE HARSHLY PROSECUTED.
Post Sources: CBS News, CNN, NCDOJ, WRAL, Youtube
***** There have been more than 500 reports of price gouging in North Carolina after Florence
When North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency ahead of Hurricane Florence, the state's price gouging law went into effect.
The law mandates that businesses in the state aren't allowed to spike prices during any natural disaster for necessary items like food, water and hotel rooms.
But so far, the North Carolina Attorney General's office has received more than 500 complaints.
Residents have complained of exorbitant markups on such items as gas and water, Attorney General Josh Stein Stein said Sunday.
Stein said his office is also getting reports of hotels over-charging evacuees.
The price gouging law will be in place until Governor Roy Cooper lifts the state of emergency.
Stein also warned storm victims to be vigilant when repairing their homes after the storm and look out for price gouging and scams.
Businesses that charge too much may have to refund customers and pay up to $5,000 for every violation.
To report, potential price gouging in North Carolina, call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or file a complaint at www.ncdoj.gov.
——————————————-
NORTH CAROLINA PRICE GOUGING LAW IN EFFECT
Release date: 9/10/2018
(RALEIGH) The price gouging law that protects consumers from scammers is now in effect in North Carolina after Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency for the state as Hurricane Florence moves toward the coast. Attorney General Josh Stein notified businesses and consumers today to be on the lookout for any issues.
“My office is here to protect North Carolinians from scams and frauds,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “That is true all the time – but especially during severe weather. It is against the law to charge an excessive price during a state of emergency. If you see a business taking advantage of this storm, either before or after it hits, please let my office know so we can hold them accountable.”
North Carolina has a strong statute against price gouging – charging too much during a time of crisis – that is tied directly to a declaration of a state of emergency. When Governor Cooper declared a state of emergency for North Carolina on Friday, September 7, the statute went into effect for the entire state and will remain so until the state of emergency is lifted.
Attorney General Stein and the North Carolina Department of Justice will be reviewing complaints from consumers closely over the next several weeks and are prepared to take action against any businesses engaging in price gouging activities. Please report potential price gouging by calling 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or file a complaint at www.ncdoj.gov.
CHARISSE STINSON 21, KILLS 2 YR-OLD SON JORDAN IN COLD BLOOD (BLAME DSS):
WHAT WAS CHARISSE’S MOTIVE??
WHY DID DSS/CPS RETURN THE CHILD TO CHARISSE AFTER CLEAR EVIDENCE OF ABUSE??
DSS CHILD ABUSE & ELDER ABUSE OFFICES IN FLORIDA, NORTH CAROLINA & SOUTH CAROLINA DO NOT PROTECT ABUSED CHILDREN, NOR ABUSED SENIOR CITIZENS.
ESPECIALLY DSS OFFICES IN CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA.
MOST DSS OFFICES ARE NOTHING MORE THAN SOCIAL CLUBS TO HIRE BLACK GREEK SORORITY SISTERS & FRAT BROTHERS.
WHY ISN’T THE FEDERAL OFFICE OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES DOING ANYTHING?
DON’T LET LITTLE JORDAN HAVE DIED IN VAIN.
CONGRESS NEEDS TO IMMEDIATELY ORDER AUDITS OF ALL DSS/ CPS/ ELDER ABUSE OFFICES.
Post Sources: ABC News, Fox News, Youtube
**** Charisse Stinson: Mother of missing 2-year-old Largo boy admits to causing son's death, report says
LARGO, Fla. — The mother of a 2-year-old Largo boy, who was the center of a statewide Amber Alert, has been charged with murder in the death of her son.
Officers arrested 21-year-old Charisse Stinson and charged her with First Degree Murder in the death of Jordan Belliveau.
Jordan was found dead in the wooded area of Lake Avenue and McMullen Road in Largo on Tuesday afternoon.
According to an arrest affidavit written by Largo Police, Stinson admitted to causing the death of her son.
The report alleges Stinson, "in a moment of frustration," struck Jordan in the face with the back of her hand "which in turn caused the back of his head to strike an interior wall of her home. After the blow to the head, the victim suffered seizures during the night, which lead to further decline [in his health], resulting in his death."
The report goes on to state that Stinson did not seek medical help, but rather took her son to a wooded area and left him to die. Authorities say Jordan's body had injuries matching what Stinson told them happened.
According to police, initially Stinson told them that she was walking on East Bay Drive with Jordan around 9:30 p.m. Saturday when they were offered a ride in a white Toyota Camry by someone they did not know who told them his name was Antwan.
She then told police that once inside the car, "Antwan" struck her in the face multiple times, causing her to lose consciousness. She claimed that she didn’t regain consciousness until around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, when she awoke in a wooded area at Largo Central Park to find Jordan missing.
Her story prompted a statewide Amber Alert. Investigators even released a composite sketch of the alleged suspect, based on Stinson's description.
When asked why she took the ride from "Antwan," Stinson told police it was because Jordan was kind of heavy and she didn't want to have to carry him all the way to her destination.
As the search for Jordan continued, ABC Action News learned authorities were at the Stinson's apartment on Sunday picking up evidence and trying to determine when was the last time Jordan was there.
Police later told ABC Action News they discovered bloody children’s items inside of the apartment. On Monday, they took those items into evidence but said they were not certain if they were connected to Jordan’s disappearance.
Jordan’s mother told investigators her son cut his chin and recently received stitches for the injury. Detectives also took a few items of children’s clothing into evidence Tuesday which were found rolled up in a rug outside of Jordan’s mother’s apartment.
Stinson was arrested shortly after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and charged with First Degree Murder in the death of Jordan. She is expected to make a first appearance in court Wednesday afternoon.
ABC Action News reached out to Jordan’s father, who was too distraught to speak with us.
"I can't speak on how my brother feels because I never lost a child. I just know my brother is devoted right now," said Stephon Davis, the child's uncle. "I just want my nephew to be laid in peace and his mama and whoever involved in this, justice.”
Digging into court documents, ABC Action News discovered that Stinson and Jordan's father had a history of domestic battery. A Largo arrest report from July stated that Jordan's father drove the boy to Stinson's home, to exchange custody of Jordan. According to the report, Stinson "did not want the child yet," which caused an argument that became physical when the father punched Stinson.
The Department of Children and Families could not release any information on the case, saying in part, “The loss of this child is profoundly saddening. We are actively working with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and the Largo Police Department during the course of their criminal investigation. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office conducts all child protective investigations in Pinellas County, not DCF.”
FTC & DEPT OF VETERAN AFFAIRS CRACKS DOWN ON FAKE VETERAN CHARITIES:
FAKE VETERAN ORGANIZATIONS RECEIVE MILLIONS ANNUALLY FROM THE VA BUT DON’T HELP VETS.
FAKE VETERAN ORGANIZATIONS ARE GRANTED NON-PROFIT IRS STATUS BUT DON’T HELP VETS.
IT’S TIME FOR CONGRESS TO ORDER ANNUAL AUDITS OF ALL AGENCIES & CHARITIES CLAIMING TO HELP VETS.
Post Sources: Military Times, Forbes, USA Today, Non-Profit Quarterly, WTVA, Youtube
******Here’s how state and federal authorities are targeting sham veteran charities
Federal and state authorities have put sham veteran charities on notice.
“I’m here to warn scam artists: Watch out. We’re investigating complaints. We will track you down, and in partnerships with our [state] attorneys general, we will shut you down,” said John Wobensmith, Maryland Secretary of State, during a news conference announcing the initiative that included other states’ attorneys general, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance..
The FTC ― with law enforcement officials and charity regulators in 70 offices from every state, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam and Puerto Rico ― announced “Operation Donate with Honor,” which includes the crackdown on sham charities, as well as an education campaign for potential donors. Officials announced more than 100 actions across the country.
FTC Chairman Joe Simons announced action against a charity, Help the Vets, Inc., which was run by Neil G. “Paul” Paulson, Sr., who is reportedly an Army veteran, according to his Guidestar charity profile, and according to an Internet Archive of Help The Vets’ website. His military service couldn’t be immediately confirmed. The Guidestar profile says the charity is closed.
Paulson and Help the Vets Inc. will be banned from soliciting charitable contributions under settlements with the FTC and the states of Florida, California, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio and Oregon, for allegedly falsely promising donors their contributions would help wounded and disabled veterans. Officials alleged that Help the Vets collected more than $20 million from 2014 through 2017, and that 95 percent of those donations went to fundraising, administrative expenses and Paulson’s salary and benefits ... not to veterans.
Attorneys for Paulson and for Help the Vets Inc. declined to comment, they said, “because there is a lawsuit pending.”
Paulson also reportedly operated charities under the names of American Disabled Veterans Foundation, Veterans Fighting Breast Cancer, Vets Fighting Breast Cancer, Military Families of America and Veterans Emergency Blood Bank.
The FTC has also charged another charity operator, Travis Deloy Peterson, with using fake veterans charities and making millions of illegal robocalls to solicit donations of cars, boats and other property, claiming that the donations would go to veterans charities and that they were tax deductible. Instead, officials allege, he sold the items for his own benefit.
A federal court in Utah has issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Peterson from making unlawful robocalls or engaging in misrepresentations about charitable donations, as the FTC moves ahead with its enforcement action. Peterson is accused of violating the FTC Act and the FTC’s telemarketing sales rule.
Attempts to reach Peterson were unsuccessful.
According to the FTC complaint, Peterson allegedly used the charity names Veterans of America, Vehicles for Veterans, Saving Our Soldiers, Donate your Car, Donate That Car, Act of Valor, and Medal of Honor.
The state enforcement actions involved charities seeking donations online, and by telemarketing, direct mail, door-to-door contacts, and at retail stores, falsely promising to help homeless and disabled veterans, to provide veterans with employment counseling, and to send care packages to service members.
“It’s the sad truth there are individuals and organizations that seek to take advantage of the genuine altruism of potential donors, and seek fraudulently to raise money on the backs of veterans to benefit themselves,” said Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen.
That said, officials noted that the vast majority of charitable organizations do good and important work. The “Operation Donate with Honor:” campaign is providing resources to help donors find those charities that legitimately meet the needs the donor wants to help address.
As part of their education campaign, officials are urging potential donors to be aware that just because a charity’s name includes words such as “veteran” or “military,” it doesn’t mean the organization is legitimate. At www.ftc.gov/Charity, officials have provided materials on donating to charities that help veterans, those that help service members and their families, and donating through an online giving portal.
This isn’t the first time the FTC has addressed the problem.
In 2009, the FTC and officials in 49 states launched “Operation False Charity,” a crackdown on allegedly fraudulent telemarketers who claimed to help police, firefighters and veterans.
UPDATED, 12:20 PM: The back-and-forth continues between Morgan Freeman and CNN over the news org’s expose about him. Here is the actor’s attorney Robert Schwartz’s response to CNN’s latest statement:
“We presented CNN with objective evidence, including videotapes and on-the-record denials by the claimed “victims,” that the alleged incident that gave rise to the story never happened. We proved to CNN, beyond any doubt, that the whole story was built on fakery. The credibility of the entire CNN attack on Mr. Freeman has now been undermined. And in choosing to ignore all of the evidence that we presented, CNN has confirmed our concerns about its reporters, its lack of oversight, and its gross misconduct in unjustifiably attacking Mr. Freeman.”
PREVIOUSLY, 9:18 AM: CNN has rebutted Morgan Freeman’s demand for a retraction, saying it stands by its report that multiple women accuse him of harassing them or behaving inappropriately on set, while promoting his movies, and at his production company.
“The unfounded accusations made by Mr. Freeman’s lawyer are disappointing and are difficult to reconcile with Mr. Freeman’s own public statements in the aftermath of the story,” the cable news network said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.
“CNN stands by its reporting and will respond forcefully to any attempt by Mr. Freeman or his representatives to intimidate us from covering this important public issue,” the network added.
Hours earlier, Robert M. Schwartz of Irell & Manella, has emailed a 10-page letter to CNN chief Jeff Zucker, implying that this might become a lawsuit.
In its report, published last week, the cable news organization said eight women have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior. CNN interviewed 16 people for its report, including some who said they witnessed the behavior.
One production assistant said she was subjected to unwanted touching and comments about her figure and clothing on a nearly daily basis, including one incident in which the 80-year-old actor allegedly “kept trying to lift up my skirt” while inquiring if she was wearing underwear.
Freeman, who has lost endorsements and has said he is devastated by the accusations, initially apologized and but then clarified. In his letter to Zucker, Schwartz wrote, “It has been said that ‘A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.’ In just the few days since CNN published the article on Mr. Freeman, it has traveled all the way around the world and back, millions of times. If CNN has any decency, or any allegiance to journalistic integrity, it will immediate retract the article and issue a public apology to Mr. Freeman.”
A young production assistant thought she had landed the job of her dreams when, in the summer of 2015, she started work on "Going In Style," a bank heist comedy starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin.
But the job quickly devolved into several months of harassment, she told CNN. She alleges that Freeman subjected her to unwanted touching and comments about her figure and clothing on a near-daily basis. Freeman would rest his hand on her lower back or rub her lower back, she said.
In one incident, she said, Freeman "kept trying to lift up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear." He never successfully lifted her skirt, she said -- he would touch it and try to lift it, she would move away, and then he'd try again.
Eventually, she said, "Alan [Arkin] made a comment telling him to stop. Morgan got freaked out and didn't know what to say."
Freeman's alleged inappropriate behavior was not limited to that one movie set, according to other sources who spoke to CNN. A woman who was a senior member of the production staff of the movie "Now You See Me" in 2012 told CNN that Freeman sexually harassed her and her female assistant on numerous occasions by making comments about their bodies.
"He did comment on our bodies... We knew that if he was coming by ... not to wear any top that would show our breasts, not to wear anything that would show our bottoms, meaning not wearing clothes that [were] fitted," she said.
At 80 years old, Freeman is one of Hollywood's biggest stars, with a movie career that spans nearly five decades. His starring roles in movies like "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Shawshank Redemption" in the late 1980s and early 1990s made him a household name.
He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for 2004's "Million Dollar Baby," and has earned four other Oscar nominations. His voiceover work has also become iconic, including his narration for the Academy Award-winning documentaries "The Long Way Home" and "March of the Penguins."
In all, 16 people spoke to CNN about Freeman as part of this investigation, eight of whom said they were victims of what some called harassment and others called inappropriate behavior by Freeman. Eight said they witnessed Freeman's alleged conduct.
These 16 people together described a pattern of inappropriate behavior by Freeman on set, while promoting his movies and at his production company Revelations Entertainment.
Of those 16, seven people described an environment at Revelations Entertainment that included allegations of harassment or inappropriate behavior by Freeman there, with one incident allegedly witnessed by Lori McCreary, Freeman's co-founder in the enterprise, and another in which she was the target of demeaning comments by Freeman in a public setting.
One of those seven people alleged that McCreary made a discriminatory remark regarding a female candidate for a job at the Producers Guild of America, where McCreary is co-president.
Four people who worked in production capacities on movie sets with Freeman over the last ten years described him as repeatedly behaving in ways that made women feel uncomfortable at work. Two, including the production assistant on "Going in Style" whose skirt he allegedly attempted to lift, said Freeman subjected them to unwanted touching.
Three said he made public comments about women's clothing or bodies. But each of them said they didn't report Freeman's behavior, with most saying it was because they feared for their jobs. Instead, some of the women -- both on movie sets and at Revelations -- said, they came up with ways to combat the alleged harassment on their own, such as by changing the way they dressed when they knew he would be around.
CNN reached out to dozens more people who worked for or with Freeman. Some praised Freeman, saying they never witnessed any questionable behavior or that he was a consummate professional on set and in the office.
Several other times during this investigation, when a CNN reporter contacted a person who had worked with Freeman to try to ask them if they had seen or been subjected to inappropriate behavior by an actor they had worked with -- not initially even naming the actor they were asking about -- the person would immediately tell them they knew exactly who the reporter had in mind: Morgan Freeman.
Some of those people were sources for this investigation while others declined to comment further or did not want what they said used in this story.
The pattern of behavior described by those who spoke with CNN shows another example of the systematic problems that exist in the entertainment industry. The allegations against Freeman are not about things that happened in private; they are about things that allegedly happened in public, in front of witnesses -- even in front of cameras.
Before #MeToo, many men in the industry could behave without fear of consequences, because many times when a powerful man did so, it was the victim who suffered repercussions.
CNN reached out to Freeman's spokesperson for comment and then, at his request, emailed him a detailed list of the accusations against Freeman. The spokesperson did not respond to multiple follow-ups by email seeking comment on the accusations.
After this article was published, Freeman released a statement in which he said, "Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy. I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent."
CNN also reached out to a spokesperson for McCreary, and then provided her with a detailed list of accusations regarding Freeman's alleged behavior at Revelations and details of the accusation against her as well as a number of questions for her regarding Freeman's alleged behavior at Revelations and the environment there.
The spokesperson did not respond to multiple follow-ups by email seeking comment.
The allegations of inappropriate behavior by Freeman are not limited to the confines of his company or to movie sets. Three entertainment reporters who spoke to CNN said Freeman made inappropriate remarks to them during press junkets, which are publicity events for journalists who cover new films, typically attended by the movie's biggest stars.
One of the three, CNN entertainment reporter Chloe Melas, the co-author of this article, says she was subjected to inappropriate behavior by Freeman more than a year ago, when she interviewed him at a press junket for "Going in Style."
According to Melas, who was six months pregnant at the time, Freeman, in a room full of people, including his co-stars Arkin and Caine, shook Melas' hand, not letting go while repeatedly looking her up and down and saying more than once a variation of, "I wish I was there." She says he also said to her, "You are ripe." Cameras were on and recording during one of Freeman's remarks to Melas -- "Boy, do I wish I was there" -- but not for the rest. As is common practice with such junkets, Melas was the only CNN employee there at the time.
Afterward, Melas reported what had happened to her supervisor, who instructed her to inform CNN human resources. According to Melas, she was told that CNN HR contacted their counterparts at human resources for Warner Bros., which produced and distributed the movie, and which like CNN is owned by Time Warner. Melas said she was also told that Warner Bros.
HR could not corroborate the account because only one of Freeman's remarks was on video and the Warner Bros. employees present did not notice anything.
Melas and her supervisor agreed that she would not cover the movie.
Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Warner Bros. confirmed that what Melas was told was accurate, but declined to comment further. A representative for Caine declined to comment. A representative for Arkin said he was not available for comment.
After the encounter with Freeman, Melas started making calls to see if other women had experienced anything similar, or whether this was an isolated incident. She soon learned that other women had similar stories -- and so she, and later her co-author, began this months-long reporting process.
Freeman and Lori McCreary founded Revelations Entertainment in 1996. Variety reported last year that Freeman started the company with McCreary because he was frustrated by the lack of choice roles for black actors and because he wanted to reveal the truth about serious issues -- a mission that inspired the name "Revelations."
The company's credits include a list of ambitious films about religion, apartheid, astronomy and stem cell research. Revelations also produced the film "Along Came a Spider" and the hit CBS show "Madam Secretary," both of which feature strong female leads.
But former staffers who spoke with CNN say that behind the façade of a progressive and artistic agenda the company's two founders created what one called a "toxic" work environment.
Six former staffers said they witnessed Freeman's questionable behavior around women, which they said included sexual comments and one said included an incident of unsolicited touching. One female former staffer said she was the target of sexual comments by Freeman.
The female former employee at Revelations told CNN that Freeman was flanked by a group of men on the set of "Through the Wormhole" when she met the actor for the first time. He "looked me up and down," she said, and then asked her, "How do you feel about sexual harassment?"
"I was stunned," she told CNN. "This is the person that I worked for, this is his company, I didn't expect it at all ... I said timidly, 'I love it' in a sarcastic way hoping to make light of the situation because I was so confused and then he turned to the guys on the crew ... and said, 'See guys, this is how you do it.'"
One woman who was a manager at Revelations told CNN that sometimes Freeman would "come over to my desk to say hi and he'd just stand there and stare at me. He would stare at my breasts."
"If I ever passed him he would stare at me in an awkward way, would look me up and down sometimes stopping and just staring," she said. "One time he stopped, looked me up and down as I walked into a room of people, and everyone burst out laughing. And I literally froze feeling very uncomfortable and one of the people in the office said, 'Don't worry, that's just Morgan.'"
"That sort of interaction was when I stopped wearing a skirt around the office when he was there," said the former manager. "I can't say it was an accident that I'd be wearing a potato sack and a ponytail on certain days when he was there and do my best to avoid him when he was in the office."
Freeman was not in the office on a daily basis, the former employees said.
But when he did show up, he behaved like a "creepy uncle," in the words of a male former employee. "One time I witnessed Morgan walk up to an intern and start massaging her" shoulder, he said. "The intern got visibly red and wiggled out of his grasp, it was awkward." The incident stood out to him because Freeman was using only one hand to touch the intern, as his other was injured in a 2008 car accident that was widely covered by the press.
Another former employee told CNN she was present when the male former employee told several people about this incident shortly after it occurred.
CNN spoke to two male witnesses who each saw a separate occasion in which Freeman asked women to twirl. One instance occurred at the office, while another happened at an off-site company event.
Another incident stood out to people who spoke with CNN who witnessed it. Two former staffers who were there, and a writer for the show "Madam Secretary" who also attended, each described the scene to CNN.
For his 79th birthday, Revelations threw Freeman a party in the office. According to the sources, roughly 30 people attended the party, some of whom were new to the company and had never met the actor. McCreary was among those in attendance, the sources said.
People at the party had to stand in a circle, a former executive at the company who attended the party told CNN, and tell Freeman who they were and what they did.
Then, the former executive said, Freeman went up to women in the circle and would "stand maybe within an inch of their face and just look them up and down and not say anything, and then would move on to the next woman and he'd stand like within an inch of their face and look them up and down and not say anything, and it was really, really strange." The former executive added, "It was really weird and he did it to every woman but of course he didn't do it to any of the men. He didn't speak to any of the men."
The writer for "Madam Secretary" who was at the party said, "We saw Morgan go around to the girls in the circle and get really close to their faces, he didn't do it to the men. I don't know what he said but we all thought it was strange and couldn't wait to get the hell out of there. Absolutely there were sexual undertones to it."
After the #MeToo movement began, the same writer said, writers on the show joked -- with that incident in mind -- "that Morgan would be the next person to be called out."
McCreary herself has also been the subject of demeaning comments by Freeman. In front of what was reportedly an audience of 400 people at 2016's Produced By conference, Freeman described what she was wearing during their first meeting, saying, "She had on a dress cut to here."
"She wants to be thought of as serious," said Freeman of McCreary, who was on the same panel. "But you can't get away from the short dresses."
Freeman stood by his comments when he appeared a few days later on the "Today" show and host Savannah Guthrie said some people were "surprised" by the remarks he made on the panel.
"It was just something I said in jest about when I first met her, it was more than 20 years ago," he said to Guthrie. "How is that news?"
The Hollywood Reporter reported at the time that McCreary "did not visibly react to the comment." One of the former Revelations executives told CNN that McCreary was visibly upset when she returned to the office.
"I tried to console her and she was clearly upset and I think she was surprised and found it hurtful and embarrassing," said the former executive. "She was devastated."
Five sources told CNN that there was no formal human resources department at Revelations at the time. There was a rotation of executives who served as the point of contact for HR issues, but former staffers said they did not feel comfortable talking to senior personnel about their workplace grievances.
This prompted some staffers to form a "survivors club" where they gathered to vent about their experiences at Revelations, according to five sources who have been to the gatherings, which take place outside of the office.
Publicly, McCreary champions the #MeToo and Time's Up movements.
Two days before January's Screen Actors Guild awards, at which Freeman accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award, McCreary released a statement on behalf of the Producers Guild of America (PGA), to say that its board ratified new anti-sexual harassment guidelines for its members.
"The PGA is indebted to Time's Up as a resource in creating our protocols," she said in a press release issued with her co-president Gary Lucchesi, referring to the initiative aimed at fighting harassment and discrimination against women.
Yet the former Revelations employee who said Freeman asked her how she felt about sexual harassment also alleged that on a phone call with a member of PGA, McCreary said of a candidate vying for a position at PGA East, "she'll never be able to do a good job, she has a family."
Two former senior level Revelations employees said McCreary would openly mock women who had to leave work early for family commitments and school functions. McCreary also allegedly said that some employees couldn't handle big workloads because they had to "run home" to their families and therefore couldn't stay late at work, according to one of the sources. She openly advocated for work-life balance, that source said, but she would make "snide" remarks to those who left work early.
A spokesperson for the PGA said in a statement, "The Producers Guild of America is an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not question or consider marital or parental status in its hiring practices. As soon as CNN notified us about the allegation, we investigated the matter and have found that it has no merit. Lori McCreary is an outstanding PGA President. In all of her work with the Guild, she has been a consistent, vocal, and proactive advocate for women and all who are underrepresented in our community."
A spokesperson for McCreary did not respond to repeated follow-up requests for comment regarding the allegations against McCreary.
One of the former male Revelations employees recounted to CNN what he called the "shocking" remarks that Freeman made while he was on set for a number of Freeman's movies.
What he says he witnessed follows the pattern described by the women who said they were harassed by Freeman.
"[He'd say] things like 'I'd like to have an hour with her' or make vulgar and sexual comments about women," the former employee said. "He would be verbally inappropriate and it was just shocking.
You're more shocked than anything because it's hard to have the wherewithal to say to him 'That's inappropriate.' You're just like 'whoa.' It's hard because on any set he is the most powerful person on it. It's weird because you just don't expect it from Morgan Freeman, someone who you respect."
The female production assistant (PA) mentioned at the beginning of this story who worked on "Going In Style" said she was in her early 20s when Freeman, then 78 years old, harassed her. She said the experience led to her decision to leave the movie industry.
"It was constant comments about the way I looked," she said, adding that Freeman often made the comments within earshot of others on the production staff. She said she frequently came home from work in tears.
The woman recalled a time when she went to the set wearing a dress with a t-shirt over it to cover her exposed back, but "Morgan said to me that I shouldn't be wearing the shirt over my dress."
Another female production assistant who witnessed this particular alleged incident told CNN that Freeman's behavior towards the younger female production staff was an unchecked and persistent issue during filming.
Both women said the t-shirt incident took place in front of a group of people and that they heard at least one other woman publicly chastise Freeman for that particular comment. The behavior was discussed among the women he targeted, the female production assistant said.
A third woman who worked on a recent movie of Freeman's recalled an incident at the film's wrap party. "He was looking at my breasts, and I told him, 'My eyes are up here.' Then we went to take a group photo and he pressed himself up against me. It was inappropriate."
CNN spoke to one of the woman's colleagues on the film, who said that as soon as the photo was taken, the woman walked over and told a group of people what Freeman had done to her.
Another production assistant, who worked with Freeman on "The Dark Knight," told CNN that although she was never personally targeted by Freeman, she witnessed some inappropriate comments Freeman made to female members of the crew. She also said that female members of the crew would at times discuss how Freeman had made them feel uncomfortable.
"Morgan did things in a way that an older more established person can get away with because they have that power," she told CNN. "They can't be replaced, but you can be replaced very easily, that's just kind of the dynamic on set. PA's can be replaced, grips can be replaced, electricians can be replaced, but the actors -- once they're in, they're in.
Had it been somebody else on the crew... I would feel comfortable reporting them because I wouldn't feel like my job would be in danger by reporting them, but if you report somebody like Morgan Freeman that the movie would lose a lot of money by replacing them or getting them in trouble, then you're the trouble maker and you'll get fired because you're just a PA."
Freeman's alleged fixation on how women dressed was apparent when he hit the road to promote his films, as was his alleged pattern of looking women up and down while making sexually suggestive comments to them.
As the entertainment producer at Chicago's WGN-TV, Tyra Martin spent hours interviewing Freeman at various press junkets. Over the course of a decade, she said, she sat down with him at least nine times and grew accustomed to his comments about her appearance. But Martin made it clear in an interview with CNN that she was always "in on the joke." WGN produced videos featuring some of Freeman's remarks to Martin, describing it as him flirting with her. But Martin felt that one incident crossed a line.
"When I stood up, I pulled my skirt part of my dress down and he did say, 'Oh, don't pull it down now.'" Martin said. "That gave me pause but I never felt uncomfortable."
It is unclear whether video of that incident exists.
An entertainment reporter who is a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association said Freeman made comments about her skirt and her legs during two different junkets. Much like many of the women in this report and those who declined to go on the record, the reporter said Freeman's fame and power kept her from speaking out.
"I was just trying to do my job and I brushed it off," said the reporter, who did not want to be identified for this story because she's fearful of losing out on interviews with other celebrities.
"You don't want to put him on the spot because one, he's famous and two, it's on camera and three, you just want to do your job."
In a mirror image of his days presiding over Hollywood red carpets, the disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was led in handcuffs past a gantlet of photographers on Friday as he appeared in court to face charges that he had raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex.
Mr. Weinstein’s appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court lasted barely 10 minutes, but stood not only as a breakthrough in the investigation into sex-crime claims against him but as a watershed in the larger #MeToo movement. After decades of harnessing his wealth and power to silence women — and after weathering an earlier criminal inquiry into groping allegations — his reign as a film-industry titan suffered a decisive blow in, of all places, the shopworn arraignment courtroom, where he was among the morning cattle call of defendants.
It was 9:25 a.m. when Mr. Weinstein — in a dark blazer, a light-blue sweater and an untucked button-down shirt — was escorted into courtroom AR-1 by Sgt. Keri Thompson and Detective Nicholas DiGaudio, two investigators from the New York Police Department’s Special Victims Division. The unit had been pushing hard for months on Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, to pursue a case against Mr. Weinstein, particularly after Mr. Vance declined to prosecute the groping case of an Italian model, Amber Battilana, three years ago because of what he called a lack of evidence.
As the hearing opened, Mr. Weinstein, still in handcuffs and looking vaguely shellshocked, was led with his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, into the well of the court where he stood in front of Judge Kevin McGrath. The lead prosecutor in the case, Joan Illuzzi, announced the charges against him: first-degree rape and third-degree rape in one case; and first-degree criminal sex act in another.
The criminal sex act count stemmed from an encounter with Lucia Evans, who first told The New Yorker, and then investigators from Mr. Vance’s office, that Mr. Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him during what she expected would be a casting meeting at the Miramax office in TriBeCa in 2004. The victim in the rape case has not been publicly identified, but prosecutors said that that attack occurred on March 18, 2013, at 569 Lexington Avenue, the address for the DoubleTree Metropolitan Hotel.
After noting that the charges had emerged after “months of investigation,” Ms. Illuzzi added that the inquiry had shown “that this defendant used his money, power and position to lure young women into situations where he was able to violate them sexually.”
Ms. Illuzzi also said that the investigation would continue and she asked Judge McGrath to issue an order of protection against Mr. Weinstein on behalf of one of the women, who was not identified. A grand jury remains empaneled in the case and is still looking into whether Mr. Weinstein abused more women and used his vast financial resources to keep them quiet.
Mr. Weinstein said nothing during the hearing, standing with his back to a roomful of reporters. He was not required to enter a plea because he was arrested on a criminal complaint, rather than an indictment. But after the hearing, Mr. Brafman said his client intended to plead not guilty. By Wednesday, Mr. Weinstein will also have to decide whether he plans to testify in front of the grand jury.
As the hearing neared an end, Mr. Brafman, one of New York City’s top defense lawyers, handed Mr. Weinstein’s passport to Ms. Illuzzi and paid his bail with a $1 million cashier’s check. As part of his bail package, he has agreed to wear a monitoring device and restrict his travel to New York and Connecticut. When the proceeding was over, Mr. Weinstein was allowed to slip out of an employee door at the back of the courthouse, where he climbed into a waiting Toyota.
All told, his passage through the courts took about an hour, a far shorter and much less grueling ordeal than most defendants endure.
Outside the courthouse, Mr. Brafman told a scrum of reporters that he would “move quickly” to dismiss the charges, calling them “constitutionally flawed and factually unsubstantiated.”
“I anticipate that the women who have made these allegations, when subjected to cross-examination — in the event we get that far — will not be believed by 12 people,” Mr. Brafman said. He continued: “Assuming we get 12 fair people who are not consumed by the movement that seems to have overtaken this case.”
Hinting at a potential line of defense, Mr. Brafman also drew a distinction between bad behavior and criminal conduct. “Mr. Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood,” he said. “Bad behavior is not on trial in this case.”
As is the case in many sex crimes prosecutions, whether the charges brought on Friday ultimately stick is likely to hinge on the issue of the complainants’ credibility. It remains unclear how much physical evidence investigators have found to corroborate their stories, and Mr. Brafman in his comment promised “a vigorous cross-examination.”
The day had started early for Mr. Weinstein. Around 7:30 a.m., he walked into the First Precinct station house in Lower Manhattan, flanked by several sex crimes detectives and hounded by another gaggle of reporters and photographers. Toting three large books under his arm, he looked up without saying a word as shutters clicked and onlookers called out, “Harvey!”
He was fingerprinted and formally booked and waited in a holding cell for detectives to finish paperwork. Then, about an hour later, he was led from the station house in TriBeCa and taken to the court at 100 Centre Street, his arms pinned behind him in three sets of handcuffs to accommodate his girth, a law enforcement official said. The books he had been carrying — among them “Elia Kazan: A Biography,” by Richard Schickel, and “Something Wonderful: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution,” by Todd S. Purdum — were gone.
The charges against Mr. Weinstein followed a wave of accusations that led women around the world — some of them famous, but many of them not — to come forward with accounts of being sexually harassed and assaulted by powerful men. Those stories spawned the global #MeToo movement, and since then, the ground has shifted beneath men who for years had benefited from a code of silence around their predatory behavior.
Mr. Weinstein himself had reigned for decades as one of Hollywood’s top producers, known as much for his bullying and aggression as for his cinematic triumphs. Over the years, journalists and investigators, chasing leads from a whisper-network of women and a handful of complainants, sought to expose the accusations and hold him accountable, but largely came up empty. Mr. Weinstein’s power was after all enormous; his (and his lawyers’) connections were extensive; and he was often able to buy or coerce the silence of any accusers, at times employing an Israeli security firm called Black Cube, many of whose employees were former intelligence operatives.
But everything shifted in October when The New York Times and The New Yorker published articles containing the accounts of several A-list movie stars and employees of the Weinstein Company, his former namesake production firm. The matching articles shattered Mr. Weinstein’s reputation and eventually spurred criminal inquiries in New York, Los Angeles and London.
Mr. Vance’s prosecutors, for example, conducted dozens of interviews in New York and elsewhere and issued hundreds of subpoenas. A similar but separate federal investigation is also being conducted into Mr. Weinstein’s finances and into the question of whether he violated stalking laws in his dealings with women who say he abused them.
The First Police Precinct station house, where Mr. Weinstein was arrested, was not unfamiliar to him or his accusers. Three years ago, Ms. Battilana, the model, accused Mr. Weinstein of groping her during a meeting in his office, and spoke to detectives at the same station house, on Varick Street.
The next day, with detectives watching and recording, Mr. Weinstein and Ms. Battilana met at the TriBeCa Grand, where Mr. Weinstein acknowledged he had touched her breasts and promised not to do so again. But he was not asked about putting his hand up Ms. Battilana’s skirt as she had alleged. Detectives took Mr. Weinstein to the First Police Precinct for questioning, but as soon as the groping allegation came up, he halted the interview and asked for a lawyer, the police said.
Unlike in the case announced on Friday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office decided that time not to charge him.
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