Wilmjax News

(09/25/07 — RALEIGH) - Raleigh police have charged man and woman with some bizarre charges.

Police arrested Deborah Stephens and Pernell Kornegay for allegedly having sex in a cemetery.

Police went to City Cemetery on Hargett Street around 10:20 a.m. Monday after getting a complaint about a couple having sex. They arrested Stephens and Kornegay.

Boy are charged with one felony count of crimes against nature.

They make their first court appearance Tuesday.

Article here.

(09/25/07 — FAYETTEVILLE) - Cumberland County Sheriff’s Deputies have arrested four Pine Forest High School students after a fight broke out on the campus Tuesday.

Luis Angel DeJesus, 17, of Spring Lake allegedly spat on a school official after being told multiple times to go to class on Tuesday morning. Sheriff’s deputies say a fight broke out as DeJesus was being escorted to the principal’s office for counseling.

Three of the suspect’s friends, who witnessed the confrontation, began to threaten an assistant school principal. Four additional school officials, who are also coaches at the school, were assaulted while trying to bring the situation under control. Authorities say they were injured and were treated at a nearby medical facility.

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(09/25/07 — MOORE COUNTY) - Three Moore County teenagers charged with the murder of a 12-year-old girl faced a judge for the first time Tuesday.

Emily Haddock’s grandfather found the child dead inside their Marks Road home Friday afternoon. The child had been shot several times.

Family members say 12-year-old Emily Elizabeth Haddock stayed home sick from school Friday and her parents were at work.

Her grandfather checked on her at 1:30 p.m. and found her dead. Since Friday officials had been searching for a person of interest seen walking along Marks Road Friday.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Families in one north Charlotte neighborhood are learning about a series of violent robberies. Several teenagers with guns are targeting neighbors. And they might not even notice anything suspicious about them until it’s too late.

A neighbor in the Allen Hills neighborhood was trimming back trees when he was robbed at gunpoint. It’s part of a robbery spree in this neighborhood. Police say the crimes are being committed by teenagers. Sylvia Cannon lives in the community.

“I think the parents done a rotten job of raising them,” she said.

Police said the crime spree started two weeks ago. That’s when three pizza delivery drivers were robbed at gunpoint. Officers arrested one person in connection with that crime. But they said his accomplices are still on the loose and committing armed robberies in this neighborhood.

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A district court judge has revoked an earlier bond and set a new one for a Jacksonville man who is accused of committing a sexual assault while out on bail from a previous sexual assault charge.

Leonel Humberto Saballos, 35, of Broken Oak Court, is in the Onslow County Jail under a $700,000 secured bond. He would have to present the full amount of his bond to the court to be free prior to his court date, which has not been set. He was ordered by the court to surrender his passports or other documents he could use to leave the country, said Dewey Hudson, district attorney for the 4th Prosecutorial District.

Saballos was arrested by the Onslow County Sheriff’s Department on Sept. 2 and charged with breaking into a home and sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl. He had been charged in June with 14 other sex charges and was released July 9 on a reduced bond, law enforcement officials said.

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CLINTON — Four men were arrested on trafficking charges after lawmen searched their vehicle and found a quarter of a kilo of cocaine and other drugs, authorities said.

On Aug. 21, officers with the Special Investigations Division of the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office stopped a white Cadillac on U.S. 701 at the intersection of Luke Hobbs Farm Road. A search of the vehicle revealed the cocaine, 3.1 grams of marijuana, two rocks of crack cocaine and several weapons, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

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Raleigh, NC — A former examiner for the state Division of Motor Vehicles has sued under the state’s whistleblower act, saying he was fired because he tried to prevent drivers’ licenses being issued to people who may be here illegally or who would have driving privileges after their visas expired.

Jeffrey M. Brown, 34, of Jones County said the DMV made up reasons to fire him in early April. He had worked for the agency for less than a year. The state’s whistleblower act prevents state employees from reporting wrongdoing that occurs at work.

The lawsuit says DMV officials said he had unnecessarily detained a man because Brown feared the man was in the US.illegally. Another reason given by DMV officials, the lawsuit said, was that Brown made inappropriate remarks about someone of Middle Eastern descent.

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SALISBURY, N.C. — The murder trial of an illegal immigrant accused of driving drunk and causing a wreck that killed a pregnant woman in Landis is already well underway.

Opening statements began early Tuesday after all 12 jurors for the trial were chosen on Monday. The prosecution is currently presenting its case.

Rigo Verto Guillen-Martinez faces several charges stemming from the February 6 crash that killed Leeanna Newman. Authorities say he was trying to elude a Kannapolis police officer when he hit Newman’s car head-on at a high rate of speed.

Newman and her unborn child died a short time later. Her young daughter survived the accident.

The trial began with video of the crash from a camera mounted inside a police cruiser. Many jurors leaned forward to get a better look, and some held their hands over their mouths in disbelief.

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PLEASANT GARDEN, N.C. (WGHP) — Teachers at Pleasant Garden Elementary School have become the first students in a new gang-awareness program being run by the Guilford County Sheriff’s office.

The goal of the program is to teach teachers how to spot signs of trouble, including the colors, clothing and tattoos gangs use to communicate.

“We’re trying to help teachers identify what they’re looking at and maybe help us get a handle on the situation,” explained Sheriff B.J. Barnes.

Teachers can act as eyes and ears for the community in a way parents cannot. “A lot of times, a young person at home may  not show signs recognized by parents, but may show it at school,” explained Corporal Larry Lambeth.

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(09/18/07 — CLINTON, N.C.) - Authorities charged a 17-year-old woman with the death of her newborn.

According to the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office, Marleni Morales Bamaca of Clinton went to Sampson Regional Medical Center Friday seeking treatment. Upon examination by a physician, it was determined she had recently given birth.

Bamaca denied giving birth and hospital officials alerted authorities.

Deputies went to the teen’s home in search of the child but were initaially unable to locate evidence of a child birth. Further investigation led authorities to the body of an infant male.

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(09/18/07 –DURHAM) - A Durham city councilman is under fire for what some are calling a controversial phone call. Thomas Stith recorded an automated message last week criticizing the City’s handling of illegal immigrants.

Dozens with Durham’s El Centro Hispanic community group marched into Monday night’s meeting unnerved and concerned they’re being targeted.

“While he may not be targeting Latinos directly by default we are the largest group of immigrants in this area,” said Alba Onofrio, El Centro executive.

Onforio said it was an unexpected crowd provoked by an uninviting message.

“Did you know that Durham is a sanctuary city — a city where illegal immigrants commit crimes without fear of being deported,” the message asked.

It was recorded by Stith last week, urging residents to attend a meeting about Resolution 90-46. It states no city officer or employee may ask the immigration status of any person.

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(09/18/07 — SALEMBURG, N.C.) - Three people are charged with holding 10 Sampson County teenagers at gunpoint for about 6 hours, forcing the hostages to smoke marijuana and perform sex acts on one another.

Sampson County Sheriff Jimmy Thornton says the men held six high school-age females and four males hostage at the home of one of the victims early Sunday.

Twenty-year-old Terrance O’Brian Parker, 20-year-old Wayne Bernard Fleming and 21-year-old Orman Rashan Carroll are charged with 10 counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon and 10 counts of second degree kidnapping. Parker and Fleming also face gun charges, and Parker is charged with first degree forcible sexual offense and injury to real property.

Thornton says Parker and Fleming fired a total of four shots into the floor of the home, but nobody was injured.

 Read more.

CONCORD, N.C. — Police in Concord, North Carolina, arrested two people in connection with fires investigators say were intentionally set at three different churches Saturday morning.

Lamottrice Fennell faces three counts of burning a church building. Shirmonte Miller is charged with one count of aiding in the burning of a church building.

“We thought somebody just threw a bomb in there,” is how Jannie Brown described the damage at Grace Land church on Old Charlotte Road.

First Christian Church on Rone Avenue and First Church of God on Corban Avenue were also set on fire. In all, damges are set at $12,600. No one was injured.

Article here.

Do you know anything about the Jena Six?

Do not feel bad if the answer is “no.” Mainstream news media has carried scant coverage of an event that has captivated and mobilized a large segment of the black community.

In cities across the country, organizers have arranged bus trips to Jena, La., population 3,000. They had intended to protest at a sentencing hearing for one of six black teenagers charged in Jena for beating up a white schoolmate.

The hearing is off. On Friday, a state appeals court overturned the conviction of Mychal Bell, who had been tried as an adult and had faced up to 15 years in prison for aggravated battery.

At press time, the status of the bus rides was unclear. But the other boys in the case are still awaiting trials on battery.

Students at North Carolina Central University have organized a bus trip scheduled to leave Wednesday from a Wal-Mart parking lot in Durham. News of the ride hit my e-mail inbox Friday.

Most of my news about Jena has come through e-mail from friends with links to press releases and news stories. Black radio talk show hosts have kept the story in heavy rotation. T-shirts are being sold with the slogan, “Free the Jena Six!”

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GASTONIA –Jamond Rashad Burney told his mom he wanted to be a Crip. He’d been wearing the gang’s navy blue color, hanging out with older guys and getting himself into trouble.

Now 18-year-old Burney and two 15-year-olds are charged with murder in the June 26 stabbing death of a homeless man. Gastonia police say they’ve determined why Royce Dean Mathis was targeted but wouldn’t reveal the motive.

The latest arrest came Saturday, when police charged a second 15-year-old.

Twice now in the past two months, teenagers have been charged in the slaying of a homeless person in the Charlotte region. Advocates for the homeless say assaults on the group have risen at an alarming rate in recent years and young people are responsible for a large portion of the attacks.

Sgt. Dean Conner, who is overseeing the Gastonia investigation, won’t say what led police to the teenagers, but late last week said they were trying to figure out whether the slaying was gang-related.

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