All posts tagged "Robbery"

As United States Postal Service letter carriers face increasing violence and assaults on the job, the police officers who could protect them have been sidelined by the government, a new Raw Story investigation revealed.

With letter carrier robberies skyrocketing by 543 percent between 2019 and 2022, the issue has spurred a bipartisan group of Congress members to introduce legislation aimed at providing more secure mailbox equipment and better protecting letter carriers.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), who introduced the Protect our Letter Carriers Act last week, said Raw Story's investigation should urge Congress to turn the bill into law....

Gov. Gavin Newsom called for new laws targeting retail thieves Tuesday amid a rash of brazen robberies often captured on video and spread on social media and TV newscasts that have tarnished the Golden State’s image — and drawn scrutiny to criminal justice reforms he backed. Newsom’s legislative framework adds teeth to prosecution of people he says are “professional thieves.” He called for increasing felony penalties and prison time for those who resell stolen goods. He also called for new penalties for auto burglary and for possession of items stolen from a vehicle, locked or not, with intent......

A Queens gang leader who killed a rival over the theft of popular drill rapper Shawny Binladen’s gold chain learned the steep price of revenge: two life sentences for the 2019 murder. Christopher Acevedo, 28, the founder and leader of the Wood City gang in Queens, was staring down mandatory life in prison after a jury convicted him of the racketeering murder of David Hutchinson in May. On Wednesday, Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Diane Gujarati handed down the sentences, to run concurrently. Acevedo was hoping to steal back the reputation his gang lost when a member of the rival SNOW gang, Donta......

NEW YORK — Nearly four decades after they were busted for the New Year’s Day murder of a French tourist in Times Square, two childhood friends who have long professed their innocence appear to be on the brink of finally clearing their names. In an Oct. 6 letter a top prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office asked a judge for a “pre-motion conference to discuss an anticipated motion to vacate the convictions” of Eric Smokes and David Warren. The letter from Terri Rosenblatt, head of the Post-Conviction Justice Unit (PCJU) said the DA’s office is “prepared to concede … that there i......

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Despite a torrent of letters from friends and family saying what a fine father, husband and man ex-lawyer Cory Fleming is, U.S. Judge Richard Gergel on Tuesday sentenced him to nearly four years in federal prison for his role in a $4.3 million theft of insurance proceeds resulting from the 2018 slip-and-fall death of Alex Murdaugh’s family housekeeper. Fleming was sentenced to 46 months in prison and ordered to pay $102,000 in restitution and a $20,000 fine. Fleming was immediately taken into custody by U.S. marshals. Gergel called Fleming’s actions “egregious,” and said the s......

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A former Super Bowl champion was arrested in Charlotte Tuesday and now faces charges of possessing a stolen car, a stolen firearm and drugs. According to a police report, officers found Bashaud Breeland, 31, with a stolen Mercedes-Benz SUV, 62 grams of suspected illegal mushrooms, more than five pounds of marijuana and eight guns, including two AR-15s and two AK-47s. Breeland is a former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback who played with the team during its Super Bowl win in 2020. WBTV first reported Breeland’s arrest. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers discovered th......