FORT WORTH — A man faces 10 years to life in federal prison and a $5 million fine after being convicted by a federal jury on Wednesday for methamphetamine possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more.
Jermaine Duane Irvin, 41, has been in custody since his arrest at his home in Arlington on Feb. 28. Irvin is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 13 by U.S. District Judge John McBryde, a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Irvin and four others, Christopher Gamez of Arlington; Osamu John Hack of Grand Prairie; Maria Guadalupe Contreras; and Alex Plasencio III, also of Arlington; were charged with running the conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in the Arlington area from August 2012 to February 25, the release said.
Gamez, Contreras, Hack and Plasencio were arrested in late February and have each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine. -- Mitch Mitchell
Moments after police kicked open an unlocked door Thursday on Thannisch Avenue, they had Jermaine Darden, 34, facedown on the floor, said his mother, Donna Randle.
Police said an officer fired his Taser when Darden resisted arrest.
His mother said several people shouted at officers that Darden, who had asthma, was not resisting but was struggling to breathe.
Darden died. The exact cause of death was not yet determined Friday.
We just watched a report by NBC 5 Investigatesabout how Mexican drug cartels are sending members to North Texas.
Federal agents say they're setting up “command and control” units to direct drug shipments all over the country.
NBC 5's Scott Friedman reported that the Drug Enforcement Administration says this is a dramatic change they’ve noticed for about six years.
“You name it," said at DEA official. "There’s no city limits sign for these guys. Wherever they can fit in, they’ll move in, sometimes as normally as a normal family.”
Chasing tornado damage in Granbury and Cleburne sure has put a dent in our blogging. We've got some catching up to do. We'll start by calling your attention to these headlines from the Crime and Safety page at
Star-Telegram.com:
Jodi Arias said in a post-conviction interview with a TV station that she prefers the death penalty over life in prison, according to The Associated Press.
Arias talked to Fox affiliate KSAZ in the courthouse minutes after she was convicted of first-degree murder. With tears in her eyes, she said she feels overwhelmed and that she was surprised because she didn't believe she committed first-degree murder.
She said in the interview that she would "prefer to die sooner than later" and that "death is the ultimate freedom."
A sandwich shop burglar convicted of breaking into almost three dozen fast-food businesses will now have his meals in prison.
Rodney James Ricketts, 36, of Pasadena, was convicted Tuesday of theft, and then sentenced him to 49 years in prison.
Authorities called him a professional safe-cracker and serial burglar. During the trial, jurors learned how he broke into dozens of businesses, many of them Subway restaurants, in North Texas, the Houston area and North Carolina.
And he already has a prison record.
Domingo Ramirez Jr. covered this case since Ricketts' 2011 arrest in Bedford. Domingo also wrote about the trial. Here's his report.
-- Bill Miller
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05/08/4835569/subway-burglar-sentenced-to-49.html#storylink=cpy
Arias is charged with first-degree murder in the June 2008 death of Travis Alexander, a motivational speaker and salesman, at his suburban Phoenix home. Authorities said she planned the attack in a jealous rage.
She initially denied involvement and later blamed the killing on masked intruders. Two years after her arrest, she said she killed Alexander in self-defense.
An Arlington man is in federal custody, accused of sharing online pornography involving female infants and toddlers, according to online court records.
Barry Robert Turner, 42, is a registered sex offender (shown here), having served two years in prison on a 2005 conviction in Tarrant County for indecency with a child by sexual contact.
Jennifer Johnson’sboyfriend shot her four times, then stood over her and said, “Now, go put that on Facebook,” Johnson’s mother testified Tuesday at the boyfriend’s murder trial.
Eugene Esters (below) is on trial in the slaying of Johnson on Dec. 5, 2011 in east Fort Worth.
Jennifer Johnson (right), the sister of Chris Johnson, cornerback for the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.
Their mother mother, Della Johnson, 53, was also shot.
“He got to the front of his vehicle and just started shooting,” Della Johnson testified. “She was down at the first shot, but he walked around and shot her again while he was standing by the door."
The daylight holdup occurred just after 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Ehrhart’s Jewelers in Denton.
At first, a man walked up to the business and an employee hit a buzzer to allow him inside, but he held the door open as two other men -- men in masks -- jumped out of a red car and stormed the store.
These are the stories of two 14-year-old girls, both named Ruby, who had contact with young men who reportedly had very dangerous pasts.
Ruby Zavala was found safe Monday in the East Texas community of Winfield, and the 23-year-old man accused of kidnapping her is in jail. Police said she was not with Jesus Ramirez willingly.
Ruby Contreras of North Richland Hills was reunited with her family late Friday after Mexican authorities found her and Stephan Cox, 26, on Thursday morning in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, investigator Keith Bauman said Monday.
Police said this Ruby met Cox on social media websites.
“During those conversations, Stephan Cox was able to entice Ruby away from the custody of her family,” Bauman said.
Cedric Ricks was returned to the Tarrant County Jail early Friday evening and charged with capital murder in the slayings of Roxann Sanchez and Anthony Figueroa and with serious bodily injury in the attack on her other son, Marcus Figueroa.
Ricks obviously had been badly beaten recently. Terry Grisham, a spokesman for the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department, said he asked Ricks about his injuries. The prisoner said he was beaten up in his cell in Oklahoma but declined to elaborate.
“His whole face is swollen," Grisham said. "His left eye is shut.”
When Ricks fled Roxann Sanchez’s apartment Wednesday night, he apparently believed that he had left everyone stabbed to death, except the couple’s 8-month-old son.
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05/02/4821216/a-fun-night-out-in-fort-worth.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy
Monica SotoMonica Sotoin the Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/05/02/4821216/a-fun-night-out-in-fort-worth.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy
A Tarrant County grand jury has indicted a Grapevine man on two counts of criminally negligent homicide in connection with the drug overdose deaths of two Southlake Carroll High School teens.
You'll recall that Cullen Marino, 22, (shown here) is accused of providing drugs to Chase Nunez, 18, and Kyle McNutt, 17, and then failing to call 911 after he found them unresponsive in the middle of the night.
The Fort Worth Police Department has increased the number of officers at all public events, including this weekend's Mayfest to monitor for any suspicious activities.
For example, police are investigating a man for allegedly taking improper photographs, possibly of children, at Mayfest.
A police report indicates the alleged offense occurred Thursday about 7 p.m. at Trinity Park.
“The FWPD Sex Crimes Unit is currently investigating a case where a suspect identified by police was alleged to have participated in the offense of Improper Photography, potentially involving children,” Sgt. Kelly Peel said in an email.
FORT WORTH -- DNA evidence and a hubcap helped link a 34-year-old Waxahachie man to the slaying of a Fort Worth woman found dead in an alley last year, court documents state.
Rusty Allen Tyler was arrested Wednesday at his mother's Waxahachie home on a murder warrant accusing him of intentionally running over and killing Kelly Farmer, 39. He was released Thursday from the Mansfield jail after posting a $35,000 bond.
Farmer, described by police as a prostitute who lived and worked along the Lancaster Avenue corridor, was found dead in an alley off the 2900 block of East Lancaster on the morning of March 3, 2012.
FORT WORTH — A 14-year-old boy has died from injuries he sustained after being hit at an intersection in south Fort Worth and police are seeking information about the pickup truck or SUV that hit him and fled the scene. Deston Bibbs was riding his bicycle along Sycamore School Road about 9:20 p.m. Thursday and had entered a lane to cross the traffic island when he was hit by the vehicle as it turned right onto Crowley Road. Bibbs suffered numerous broken bones and severe head trauma in the crash and was transported to a Fort Worth hospital, where he died Friday afternoon, officials said. Police are currently reviewing red light camera footage to try and identify the vehicle. Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call 911, the traffic investigation unit at 817-392-4889 or Crime Stoppers at 817-469-8477. -- Terry Evans
FORT WORTH — A jury could not reach a unanimous verdict this week in the case of a woman who is suspected of immersing her 1-year-old daughter in a bathtub filled with scalding water.
Laquisha Chanel Thomas, 24, had given birth to her fourth child only days before she was charged with causing serious bodily injury to her older child nearly a year ago, her attorney, Kenneth Cutrer said. At the time of the incident, Thomas’s children were 8-days-, 4-years-, 2-years- and 1-year-old, Cutrer said.
“She was tending to a newborn and not able to supervise all these kids effectively,” he said.
All four of Thomas’s children are in foster care, Cutrer said. A medical professional became the caretaker of the child who was burned and took in her three siblings, Cutrer said. The burned infant still requires medical attention, Cutrer said.
According to Cutrer, the state tried to prove that Thomas was the one who put her child in scalding water and the evidence did not support that. Thomas said from the beginning that her 4-year-old was trying to be helpful and bathe the child, Cutrer said.
When the infant screamed Thomas removed her from the water and called emergency medical help, Cutrer said. When the incident occurred in May officials with Child Protective Services investigated and concluded that neglectful supervision and physical abuse did occur, Marissa Gonzales, a CPS spokeswoman said. All Thomas’ children were removed from her care, Gonzales said.
Prosecutor Melinda Westmoreland said she does not agree that Thomas’ 4-year-old was responsible for scalding the baby. If she did agree that the child was responsible she would not have prosecuted the case against Thomas charging her with causing serious bodily injury to a child, Westmoreland said.
A decision on re-trying the case against Thomas has not been reached, Westmoreland said.
“We’ll try to work out an agreement that both sides can live with at this point,” Cutrer said.
A robbery suspect was shot and killed by a Fort Worth police officer who was wounded in the exchange of gunfire following a robbery this morning, police said.
The officer, an eight-year veteran, was shot in the leg and was listed in good condition at JPS.
The officer, who was not identified, was responding to a robbery call at Whataburger in the 6400 block of Brentwood Stair Road shortly before 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.
“The officer saw either money falling out or being thrown by the suspect,” said Police Chief Jeff Halstead in a news conference. “The officer who was still in his car chases the suspect who was on foot.”
An Irving man faces a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl after she gave birth to a child Saturday in a portable toilet at a soccer field, Irving police reported.
Officers found the baby later, but the child was dead, according to documents filed in the case.
Now, Mauricio Hernandez, a 51-year-old school janitor, is accused of sexually assaulting the girl when she was 13.
Also, officers said the girl told them that Hernandez gave her "pills that would terminate the pregnancy."
The man arrested after authorities say he threatened his babysitter Monday afternoon with a bomb scare has been identified as Javier Payan of Watauga, police said Tuesday.
The babysitter, who was not identified, was also in custody Tuesday with injury-to-a-child charges pending, police said.
But police today declined to release the name of the babysitter or the condition and gender of the child.
Police are looking for Juan Antonio Segura, 21, who they say ran over and critically injured an ATM technician on Friday after taking a money bag from him.
Police also believe he is the same man who stole a money bag from the same technician in December at the same store.
A man reportedly angry at a babysitter because his child was injured was arrested Monday evening after SWAT officers and a bomb squad descended on an apartment complex on the border of far north Fort Worth and Haltom City.
The driver of a bus that crashed earlier this month in Irving, killing three people, said he may have blacked out, officials said.
According to a preliminary report, driver Loyd Rieve, 65, said he "looked up and observed the barrels (attenuator)" and said "he possibly could have blacked out."
Meanwhile, a third person who was on the bus died Sunday at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Alice Stanley, 83, was a longtime resident of North Richland Hills.
We’re tardy sharing this story with you, but it’s one you’ll want to note.
Mitch Mitchell reported Friday that a former bus driver in Fort Worth, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a mentally challenged passenger, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Ronald James Coleman, 52, was convicted Friday of one count of aggravated sexual assault of a disabled person and one count of injury to a disabled person.
Officials said Coleman was a contract driver for the T's Mobility Impaired Transportation Service, or MITS. On Aug. 26, 2009, he picked up a woman at her workshop to take her home. At one stop, while the bus was delayed, he attacked.
This still frame from video shows Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev visible through an ambulance after he was captured in Watertown, Mass.,
There's no question that the link we provided earlier was an actual real-time conduit to police operations as they closed in on the second suspect in Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon.
The first indication was the Boston accents -- no mistaking those.
But then we were hearing actual dispatches about the boat parked behind a house at 67 Franklin St. in Watertown.
The Boston bomb suspect manhunt appears to be focused on a boat parked behind a home at 67 Franklin St., Watertown, Mass., according to the Christian Science Monitor.
According to the newspaper's website:
Unconfirmed reports state that a body has been found in a boat sitting in a backyard in the neighborhood. The popular Boston news blog Universal Hub has posted a Google satellite view image of the street, where a boat platform can be seen.
Davila (above and below) was condemned for fatally shooting 48-year-old Annette Stevenson at her home. Her granddaughter, Queshawn, also was killed.
While in custody for the birthday shootings, Davila was also charged with the April 3, 2008 slaying of Darrel Ford. The 37-year-old was fatally shot in the 4900 block of East Lancaster.
Davila continued to make trouble while awaiting trail. Court records showed that he attacked Tarrant County jailers and maintenance workers during an escape attempt while awaiting trial.
Records show Davila has been on Texas’ death row since February 2009.
With all the attention on Boston and Kaufman County, we almost overlooked yesterday’s report by Deanna Boyd on a suspected robber getting shot by CHL carrier in southeast Fort Worth, according to the earliest reports.
It’s a short article — practically what we call a "brief" — but it has sparked rigorous debate on guns, race, politics...
An arrest warrant affidavit details how the wife of a former Kaufman County justice of the peace told authorities that her husband shot and killed Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia, and Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse.
Bill Hanna is reporting on this development. According to his update, Kim Williams, 46, has "confessed to her involvement to the scheme and course of conduct in the shooting deaths."
The wife of a former Kaufman County justice of the peace has been arrested on capital murder charges in connection with the deaths of District Attorney Mike McLelland, his wife Cynthia, and Assistant DA Mark Hasse.
Bill Hanna reports Kaufman County Jail records show that Kim Lene Williams, 46, was booked in at 2:58 a.m. Wednesday on a capital murder charge.
She's the wife of Eric Williams, the former JP and a 1985 graduate of Azle High School. He was jailed last weekend on a charge of making a terroristic threat. Let's see what develops next.
Texas, on Tuesday carried out its third execution in 2013 -- Ronnie Threadgill, who was convicted for fatally shooting a teenager during a carjacking outside a nightclub 12 years ago in Corsicana.
Threadgill, 40, received lethal injection in Huntsville less than two hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-day appeal.
"To all the guys back on the row, keep your heads up, keep fighting," he said. "I'm ready. Let's go."
