Tennessee
$500K in items taken from rapper at Cracker Barrel
FAIRBURN, Ga. (AP) - Police say Tennessee rapper Young Dolph had about $500,000 in jewelry and cash stolen from his custom camouflage Mercedes that was parked outside of a restaurant in Georgia.
WSB-TV reports Fairburn police say the rapper, whose real name is Adolph Thornton, was eating lunch at the Fulton County restaurant last week when the theft happened. Assistant Police Chief Anthony Bazydlo says surveillance video shows the suspects approach Thornton's car and possibly enter it without breaking into it.
The video then shows the suspects drive off and twice return to the vehicle before smashing one of its windows. The police report says the passenger window was broken.
Police say Thornton reported 11 items stolen, including a gun, Apple Airpods and a Richard Mille watch valued at $230,000.
Illinois
Ex-Chicago officer to go to trial 15 years after fleeing
CHICAGO (AP) - A former Chicago police officer is to go to trial for federal drug and conspiracy charges more than 15 years after he fled and went on the run.
Eddie Hicks has been held without bond since his September 2017 arrest in Detroit . His trial was scheduled to begin Monday in Chicago federal court on charges alleging he was the ringleader of a crew of five men who posed as federal drug agents to shake down drug dealers for cash and narcotics. Hicks and other members of the crew were arrested in 2001. Hicks fled in 2003 while awaiting trial.
The 70-year-old is charged with racketeering, drug, theft and firearm counts. He was a longtime narcotics officer and retired from the Chicago Police Department while under federal investigation in March 2000.
Arizona
Feds: Smuggling ring used U.S. banks to transfer $1M
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Federal authorities say a southern Arizona smuggling ring used the U.S. banking system to transfer more than $1 million.
The Arizona Daily Star reports it found sworn affidavits filed in U.S. District Court in Tucson that described the money being deposited into 22 bank accounts controlled by alleged ringleader Audias Sanchez Colin.
He was one of 27 people accused of conspiring to transport and harbor people who were in the country illegally and launder the proceeds of that conspiracy.
The 38-year-old Sanchez faces between eight and 10 years in federal prison when he's sentenced. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 12.
Authorities say the operation allegedly moved thousands of migrants from Mexico and Central America to the United States and then to various destinations around the country.
Mississippi
Man gets 50 years for wounding 2 deputies
NEW HOPE, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for shooting and wounding two deputies who were conducting a welfare check.
The Commercial Dispatch reports 35-year-old Kenneth Coscia was sentenced Friday in the 2014 shooting that wounded Lowndes County Sheriff's Lt. Clint Sims and Lt. Larry Swearingen. Coscia pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer as part of a plea deal that dropped other charges.
The wounded deputies told the court they were at Coscia's home for several hours before the shooting. They said Coscia was alone in the New Hope house, and his wife gave officers a key to enter the residence. Swearingen said Sims put the key in the lock and several gunshots were fired through the door, striking the deputies.
Coscia told the court he had been sleeping and awoke to armed deputies outside his home.
"I thought they were there to hurt me," Coscia said.
Coscia's father, Marion, testified that he had been worried about his son's mental health for several weeks before the shooting, but his son was reluctant to get mental help. He said Coscia had been stocking up on food as if preparing for the end of the world and would talk about the Book of Revelations and Illuminati. He says his son kept worrying about people taking away his guns.
Since his arrest, Coscia has spent two stints at the Mississippi State Hospital in Whitfield that performs competency evaluations. He was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which can cause hallucinations and delusions, but was ruled competent to face trial when on medications.
Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Clemons says it's frustrating that state law doesn't allow defendants found competent for trial to be sentenced to mental health facilities. "I really do think he is the poster child for why we need long-term mental health facilities for the criminally mentally ill," Clemons said.
However, Clemons says it was obvious that Coscia did not believe he was mentally ill, making it possible he would have gone off his medications if released.
Virginia
2 seen assaulting black man during rally remain unidentified
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) - It's been 1 1/2 years since the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, but two men seen on camera assaulting a black man in a parking garage remain unidentified.
Charlottesville police detective Declan Hickey is quoted by The Washington Post as saying the investigation into the Aug. 12, 2017, beating of Deandre Harris, has hit a dead end.
Three people linked to white nationalist, pro-Confederacy or anti-government beliefs are serving time in jail or prison, and a fourth awaits sentencing. None of them knew each other before the attack.
The two men at large have come to be known as "Red Beard" and "Sunglasses." Hickey says the best hopes for identifying the men are if they "pop back on the radar" at another rally or "piss off their wife or girlfriend."
Georgia
Court blocks lifelong GPS tracking of sex offenders
ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia's highest court says it's unconstitutional to require "sexually dangerous predators" to remain on electronic GPS monitoring after completing their sentences.
The unanimous Georgia Supreme Court opinion published Monday says that violates the Fourth Amendment protection against "unreasonable searches and seizures."
The opinion says the law amounts to warrantless searches to find evidence of possible criminal behavior after people have completed their sentences and regained their privacy rights, which is "patently unreasonable."
The opinion notes that other states have passed constitutional lifelong GPS monitoring requirements. For example, there are laws that include monitoring as part of the actual sentence.
The opinion says state lawmakers could require courts in the worst cases to require GPS monitoring as a condition when a sexual offender serves part of a life sentence on probation.
Published: Tue, Mar 05, 2019
