Wilmjax News

Durham — A new book about the Duke lacrosse case has made its way on book shelves.

“Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case, co-authored by K.C. Johnson, a history professor at the City University of New York’s Brooklyn College, was released Tuesday.

Johnson, who also runs a blog about the case called Durham-in-Wonderland, plans to visit Duke University next week to discuss the lacrosse case.

Johnson’s book is one of several about the case. Former Duke University men’s lacrosse coach Mike Pressler, who lost his job after the case broke last year, co-authored “It’s Not About The Truth,” with sports journalist and author Don Yeager. His book made the New York Times bestseller list.

Another book, “A Rush to Injustice,” was written by Nader Baydoun, a Tennessee trial lawyer and Duke alumnus. Both books were released in June.

Read more.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Police say many more people have come forward claiming they are victims of a man accused of scamming people by taking deposits for homes he was supposed to rent to them, but which he doesn’t even own.

Darryl Patterson was arrested on Friday and charged with obtaining property by false pretense. Investigators said more charges will likely be filed.

On Monday, Eyewitness News talked with the owner of the homes, who said she’s hurt that the man who had been living in one of her houses for two years and looking after several others she owns, was going behind her and renting them out to several people at once.

Read more.

KINGS MOUTAIN, N.C. — At one point Sunday morning a Kings Mountain convenience store’s parking lot was full of police cars and crews frantically sending out an Amber Alert for a 5-month-old boy.

His mother, Jeanette Michelle Goforth, claimed he was inside her car when it was stolen from the store while she went inside late Saturday night. But now police say that story was made up.

Within hours after Goforth issued an emotional plea for the return of her baby, the child’s father had brought the him to the Kings Mountain Police Department. He told them the baby was never missing and was never inside the stolen car.

On Monday afternoon Goforth turned herself into police and was charged with making a false report to police. While she wouldn’t comment on the situation, others in Cleveland County have plenty to say. They’re angry that police had to waste their time.

Read more.

ONSLOW COUNTY — An alleged repeat sex offender is in jail in Onslow County.

Officials say Leonell Humberto Saballos broke into a home and sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl around 4 a.m. on Sunday morning.

Saballos already faces 14 counts of sexual offense stemming from his arrest in June.

Read more.

LUMBERTON — A man from New York City wanted by the military for desertion was arrested in Robeson County this week, accused of robbing an automotive supply store at gunpoint.

Lorenzo Lewis James, 21, was being held on $50,000 bond Monday at the Robeson County jail on charges of robbery with a dangerous weapon. James has been absent without leave from the U.S. Navy since November, said Fairmont police Detective Sgt. David Windom.

Read more.

REIDSVILLE — A Reidsville father was jailed on a charge he injured a child in a fit of ‘rage’ while administering corporal punishment, the sheriff’s office said in a press release issued today.

Gilberto Pavon Ceron, 39, of 236 Pond Trail, was being held in the Rockingham County jail under a $100,000 bond, according to the sheriff’s office.

Ceron injured the child Wednesday, although the child did not require emergency medical treatment, the sheriff’s office said.

Article here.

GREENSBORO — Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes wants to deport the illegal immigrants he arrests in crimes. But even if U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement grants him the authority to begin deportation proceedings, he doesn’t have the jail space to hold people facing deportation.

Barnes met Friday with other sheriffs in the same situation — and one who might be able to help.

The group, which included Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, Randolph’s Maynard B. Reid, Alamance’s Terry Johnson and Caswell’s Michael Welch, discussed addressing illegal immigration as a region rather than individual counties.

The five sheriffs met with Sen. Elizabeth Dole on Friday to discuss immigration and law enforcement issues in the area.

“I’ve been meeting with sheriffs because we want to look at the criminal element among these illegal immigrants,” Dole said.

She has used the Senate’s August recess to hold such meetings across the state.

Dole agreed with the sheriffs that illegal immigration is a “huge problem” in North Carolina and offered what help she could.

“I hope to be able to facilitate where there is red tape that needs to be cut,” she said.

Alamance County is one of three counties in the state that have been approved to enter a 287(g) agreement with ICE. Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act equips police to begin the process of deporting illegal immigrants.

Read more.

GREENSBORO — No one disputes the fact that gang activity is proliferating across North Carolina and permeating the state’s communities, neighborhoods and schools.

“Gangs have been present in our community for as long as I can remember,” said Sgt. Mike Richey, an anti-gang officer who is a 15-year veteran of the Greensboro Police Department.

“But there’s been an increase in gang activity in every entity of our community. All of us recognize it.”

Earlier this summer, however, when the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office announced it would end the long-running DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program, it left the Guilford County School System — the state’s third largest — without a widespread, law officer-administered program with any anti-gang focus, Superintendent Terry Grier said.

What remains is largely a scattershot approach, mainly through High Point police offering its GREAT (Gang Resistance Education and Training) in some schools within that city, and school resource officers throughout the system trying to offer staff training and gang education.

But Grier, hired as superintendent seven years ago after administration stints in locations such as Sacramento, Calif., and Akron, Ohio, disagreed strongly with any notion that the Guilford County Schools under his leadership have been slow to address the rising number of gang-related issues in recent years.

Read more.

The Rev. John Henry Walker, accused of tax evasion and stealing from his Charlotte congregation, was sentenced Friday to more than five years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Frank Whitney also ordered the 48-year-old pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church to pay more than $277,000 in restitution to the government.

Walker pleaded guilty to tax evasion, bank fraud and lying to federal agents. Though his lawyer asked that Walker remain free long enough to preach a goodbye sermon at his church, the judge ordered marshals to take him immediately into custody to begin serving his sentence.

The courtroom was packed with current and former members of the church, with the pastor’s supporters mostly sitting on one side and his critics on the other. Outside, after the sentencing, emotions flared, with the two sides scuffling and calling each other names. Some angry backers of Walker also charged TV camera crews and photographers, demanding that they stop crowding the path of Walker’s wife, Rosie, an associate minister at the church.

Prosecutors had pushed for a 10-year sentence, saying Walker’s “powers of persuasion” were a danger to his congregation. Walker’s attorney, touting the pastor’s military service and his previous career as a Greensboro firefighter, asked the judge to consider probation and home detention.

Read more.