The Daily Blog

Jul 5

NEW YORK (AP) — The mother of a 19-year-old Cornell University student who died during an alcohol-related fraternity hazing ritual has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the national fraternity.

Marie Lourdes Andre filed the lawsuit Monday in Brooklyn against the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. The suit seeks at least $25 million in damages.

George Desdunes (dehz-DOONZ’) was found unconscious on a couch at the fraternity house in Ithaca in February and later was pronounced dead. The lawsuit says he had his hands and feet bound in a mock kidnapping and was made to drink alcohol until he passed out.

Cornell revoked the fraternity’s recognition after the death.

The fraternity was founded at the University of Alabama in the 1850s. Its website says it consists of 241 chapters with about 11,000 undergraduate members. It hasn’t returned a telephone call seeking comment.

Jun 15

James Hawkins Found Guilty Of Murdering Charlene Gaither, Issued Death Sentence.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A jury issued a death sentence Saturday for a Memphis man found guilty of murdering the mother of his three children and then dismembering and disposing of her body.

The jury reached its decision shortly before 7:30 p.m. EST in the case against 33-year-old James Hawkins.

Hawkins’ 15-year-old daughter, the prosecution’s chief witness, had testified that her father repeatedly sexually abused her when she was 12 years old.

The girl said she saw her father stab and strangle 28-year-old Charlene Gaither during an argument on Feb. 9, 2008. Hawkins’ two sons, ages 13 and 14, also testified against him.

It took less than two hours for the jury to convict Hawkins on Friday.

During the sentencing hearing Friday, jurors were shown six gruesome photos of Gaither’s torso, which had dark gray wounds where the head, feet and hands were removed. They also heard for the first time about Hawkins’ 17 prior convictions on aggravated robbery and aggravated assault charges.

The defense called witnesses, who testified that Hawkins had an IQ of 77 and suffers from attention deficit disorder.

Hawkins’ mother, Della Thomas, told the jury Saturday she did not want her only son to die.

She said Hawkins’ father, James Hawkins Sr., would hit her and also abuse their daughter.

Thomas said her son’s behavior worsened after his brother was fatally shot at age 15. Thomas said she raised Hawkins and his five siblings the best she could as a single mother who had to work to support the family.

“He is my only son,” Thomas said. “Like any mother, you don’t want your son to die.”

Hawkins showed more emotion during the sentencing phase than during the trial. On Saturday, he would often close his eyes and bow his head. He could be seen drying his teary eyes during his mother’s testimony.

Hawkins did not testify, but he did apologize to Gaither’s family.

Outside the courtroom, the victim’s father, Louis Irvin, said he was relieved to finally get justice for his daughter.

“I’m sad, though, his mother is going to lose a child,” Irvin said. He also said that he hopes the sentence serves as a deterrent for people who think of committing murder.

“We need to make this an example,” Irvin said. “We have to stop this violence and hatred.”

Relatives of Hawkins declined to comment.

Defense attorneys were not available for comment after the verdict was read.

Prosecutor Missy Branham said that the heroes of the trial were the children who testified against their father.

“This was just a trauma for all the children,” Braham said.

Cynthia Guy, Gaither’s sister, has been taking care of the victim’s three children. She said they are doing fine and she would do her best to care for them.

“The jury did their job,” Guy said. “Like I said, nobody wins in this situation.”

Because of the sexual abuse allegations, The Associated Press is not identifying the defendant’s children, whose last names are different from the father’s.

May 21

Mildred Patricia Baena: Mother Of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Love Child.

Mildred Patricia Baena, 50, has been identified as the mother of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s love child, RadarOnline.com reported Tuesday night.

Baena, who goes by Patty, was a housekeeper for the Schwarzenegger family for 20 years before retiring in January.

According to TMZ, the former housekeeper—who lives several hours outside of Los Angeles with Schwarzenegger’s illegitimate son and her three other children—began to “pursue Arnold” in the late 1990s. She reportedly told friends that she and Schwarzenegger had unprotected sex during the day at his house, though she didn’t tell him that he was the father of her child until the boy was a toddler.Schwarzenegger announced Monday night that he had fathered a child with a household staffer over a decade ago, before he was elected as California governor.

Apr 15

Gloria James Sued: LeBron James’ Mom Sued By Valet.

Gloria James, LeBron James’ mother, is being sued for battery by the Miami Beach parking valet she allegedly slapped last Thursday morning, according to TMZ.

Rockfeller Sorel, the valet parker, reportedly claims in the lawsuit that James “had no right” to hit him during the altercation.

Sorel’s attorney, Angela L. Cohn, told TMZ that James called him a “f***ing n-word” as the confrontation became physical.

James was arrested early in the morning after getting into a scuffle with Sorel at the Fontainebleau resort in Miami Beach.

She was charged with misdemeanor assault.

Apr 9

LeBron James’ mom, Gloria James, reportedly arrested for assault.

LeBron James’ mother, Gloria James, was reportedly arrested for misdemeanor assault at a Miami hotel, according to multiple reports. The Associated Press confirmed the arrest by Miami Beach Police.

NBC Miami reports Gloria James was arrested at the Fontainebleau Hotel and released early Thursday morning. WPLG reports Gloria James assaulted a parking attendant at the hotel.

She reportedly assaulted a valet because it was taking too long to have her car delivered. Miami Beach police told the Associated Press that several witnesses supported valet Sorel Rockfeller’s account of the incident.

Police reported that Gloria James had a strong odor of alcohol on her breath and here eyes were bloodshot when officers arrived at the hotel at 4:47 a.m.

James was issued a Promise to Appear on charges of simple battery and disorderly conduct, according to reports. A police report indicated James was released to Miami Heat executive Steve Stowe.

In 2006, Gloria James was arrested for DWI and kicked out the window of a police car after being detained. In addition to driving while intoxicated, she was charged with reckless operation, speeding for driving 50 mph in a 30-mph zone, disorderly conduct and damaging police equipment.

Mar 11

Toni Braxton Ready to Unbreak Hearts in New Reality Show, ‘Braxton Family Values’.

Toni Braxton is joining her sisters and their mother in a new reality show, ‘Braxton Family Values.’

In a brand new teaser, the tight-knit Braxton sisters — Toni, Traci, Towanda, Trina and Tamar — battle for the spotlight as they’re faced with relationship drama, bankruptcy and much more.
And with varying levels of success, envy stands as the biggest focal point of the show.

“Our goal is to put on families that are big personalities, who are interesting, entertaining, full of drama and conflict and you can’t wait to tune in next week,” Kim Martin, the WE network’s president and general manager, said in a press release.

The show premieres on the WE network on April 12.

Mar 5

Facebook Diaper Feud Ends in Young Woman’s Fatal Stabbing.

A teenage mother is charged with second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing her friend over a dispute about a $20 loan that escalated into a Facebook feud.

Kamisha Richards, 22, died after being stabbed in the chest with a steak knife Monday night inside an apartment in the east New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, police said.

Kayla Henriques, 18, was arrested early Tuesday and charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

Investigators are still trying to determine what exactly happened between the two young women, who were described as lifelong friends. Richards was dating Henriques’ brother, Ramel.”We cannot comment on what is going on in the investigation,” a New York Police Department spokeswoman told AOL News today. However, a heated exchange on Facebook offers a glimpse into a possible motive.

About three days before the stabbing, the two women had gotten into a dispute that started with a $20 loan, according to The New York Times. Richards had lent her friend the money so Henriques could buy Pampers for her 11-month-old son, but Richards became furious when she found out that Henriques had spent the cash on something else, the report said.Over the weekend, the argument escalated via Facebook comments and text messages.

“U don’t do 4no 1. … I have no kids and I refuse 2take care of any1 elses so yeah I will be needing that $20. … this the last time u will con me into giving u money,” Richards posted at about 5:44 p.m. Sunday, according to London’s Daily Mail.

Henriques replied, “Dnt try to expose me mama but I’m not tha type to thug it ova facebook see u wen u get frm wrk.”

The argument continued, and at 8:52 p.m., Richards said, “Ima have the last laugh,” to which Henriques replied: “We will see.”

Roughly 24 hours after the last message was posted, Richards reportedly went to Henriques’ apartment and confronted her about the money. The argument began in the kitchen and continued in a bedroom, where Richards was stabbed, police said.

Richards stumbled out into a hallway, where she was found by one of Henriques’ relatives.

“She wasn’t panicking,” the relative told the New York Daily News. “She was calm. I called the ambulance and put pressure on [the wound]. I did everything I could to try to save the girl.”Responding paramedics transported Richards to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Investigators reportedly found the steak knife at the crime scene and followed a blood trail to a neighboring apartment building, where Henriques was arrested.

According to the Times, Henriques is an 11th-grader at John Adams High School. The newspaper said Richards had graduated from John Jay College in May with a degree in criminal justice. She worked as a security guard at JPMorgan Chase in Manhattan and planned to attend Brooklyn Law School.

“We are very saddened by this tragic situation, and our thoughts and prayers are with Kamisha’s family and friends,” JPMorgan Chase said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal. “She was an extraordinary employee who had a wonderful reputation among her colleagues, and she will be deeply missed.”

Feb 9

Split Leaves Carlina White’s Mother ‘Heartbroken’ Again.

Sorrow has replaced happiness a second time for a mother recently reunited with her daughter who was snatched from a New York hospital 23 years ago and raised by another woman.

Joy White met Carlina White, the daughter she feared was lost forever, in a joyous reunion last month. But the relationship has become complicated. Carlina White, now 23, has become distant and is asking questions about money related to her disappearance, according to NBC’s “Today” show.

“Everything was great,” the mother said on the program today. “I was on such of a high when I first reunited with my daughter. … I was floating in air I was so happy. And that moment was so great.”

But after spending four days in New York, where her biological mother lives, the younger White went back to Atlanta, “Today” said. White says she believes her daughter is suffering from an identity crisis, which has left her “heartbroken.”

“I want my daughter back. I want her here, and I want her to spend time with me and the
family,” White said. “It’s like we’re two strangers. We don’t know each other.”

An emotional White added: “She’s with that family, and that’s all she knows. I’m her mother, and it hurts not to have a relationship.”

The cold case unraveled last month as DNA tests confirmed that the woman raised in Connecticut as Nejdra Nance was really Carlina White.

The woman who raised her, Ann Pettway, of Raleigh, N.C., has been held without bail on charges of kidnapping. She is accused of posing as a nurse and taking the 3-week-old Carlina from Harlem Hospital in 1987 after her efforts to have a child failed.

Joy White said her daughter asked about a 1992 settlement from a lawsuit against the hospital, reported to be $750,000. White and Carlina’s father each took about $163,000 and put the rest in a trust for their missing daughter if she was found before age 21, “Today” said. All of the money, though, is now gone.

“We don’t have the money,” White said. “We both had to live. … At the time things was really rocky with me, as far as a living situation. And I have two other kids, a son and a daughter … and I had to take care of myself.”

Her daughter also asked about a $10,000 reward that was offered for her return and won’t give interviews without getting paid, according to “Today.”

“I’m disappointed because this was a miracle that happened,” White said. “And it really hurts me that it’s about money.”

Carlina White’s father, meanwhile, told CBS’ “The Early Show” that he is in constant touch with her.

Carl Tyson said they text each other every day and talk every three days by phone. He told his daughter, “Daddy’s gotta hear you on the third day. I gotta hear that voice!”

Tyson told CBS he hopes Pettway spends the same number of years behind bars as he did without his daughter.

“She took 23 from me, so she needs 23.”

Jan 28

How far would you go to get your children into a better public school? The best intentions of one Ohio woman landed her in jail.

In a highly unusual case, Kelley Williams-Bolar, a single mother who lived in Akron public housing, was convicted of lying about her residency in order to send her two daughters to a highly ranked school. Her sentence, which inflamed emotions in the community, was 10 days in jail, according to reports, and is due to end this week.

“It’s overwhelming. I’m exhausted,” she told ABC News. “I did this for them, so there it is. I did this for them.”Four years ago, Williams-Bolar, 40, sent her girls, now 12 and 16, to the Copley-Fairlawn school district that was outside her Akron district of residence, reports said. Her father lives in the Copley-Fairlawn district, and she said she lived with him part-time after her home was burglarized and she wanted her children safe.”When my home got broken into, I felt it was my duty to do something else,” Williams-Bolar said, according to ABC.

But the district accused the aspiring teacher of lying about her address, falsifying records and having her father file false court papers to circumvent the rules, ABC said. The school asked her to repay $30,000 in tuition, saying her daughters were getting a quality education without paying taxes to contribute to the cost. She refused and was indicted.

A jury convicted her Jan. 15 of two counts of tampering with records, and she was sentenced three days later, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. She was ordered to begin the sentence immediately and was taken from the courtroom sobbing loudly, the newspaper said.

Before she was sentenced, she told the judge “there was no intention at all” to deceive the school, the Beacon Journal reported, and she pleaded to be spared jail time.

Her father, Edward Williams, 64, went on trial with his daughter, but the jury deadlocked on the charge of grand theft, the paper said.

In a jailhouse interview with the paper last week, Williams-Bolar said she’d do it again if she had to.

“If I had the opportunity, if I had to do it all over again, would I have done it?” she said. After pausing, she answered: “I would have done it again. But I would have been more detailed. … I think they wanted to make an example of me.”

Presiding Judge Patricia Cosgrove seemed to agree.

“I felt that some punishment or deterrent was needed for other individuals who might think to defraud the various school districts,” she said, according to ABC.

The school district spent about $6,000 to bring Williams-Bolar to trial, a sum that included hiring a private investigator to follow her and her children, Newschannel5 reported.

Copley-Fairlawn Superintendent Brian Poe said the district has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because of children illegally enrolled in its schools. The cases are usually resolved by parents proving they live in the district, taking their kids out of the schools or paying tuition of about $800 a month, the station reported.

Williams-Bolar’s case was the first residency challenge to reach a criminal courtroom, but Poe said it was to send a message. “If you’re paying taxes on a home here … those dollars need to stay home with our students,” Poe said, according to the station.

The sentence puts Williams-Bolar’s teaching career at risk. She is close to graduating with an education degree from the University of Akron and works as a special needs teaching assistant at a high school, the Beacon Journal reported.”I’m not going to give up on my education,” said Williams-Bolar, who plans to appeal the conviction.

But the judge said as of now, she can’t become a teacher.

“Because of the felony conviction, you will not be allowed to get your teaching degree under Ohio law as it stands today,” the judge said. “The court’s taking into consideration that is also a punishment that you will have to serve.”

From jail, Williams-Bolar has been talking by phone to her girls, who no longer go to the Copley-Fairlawn schools and have been staying with their grandfather.

She told the Beacon Journal: “I’m upset because I have never been away from my family.”

Jan 17

Mega Millions Lottery Riches Story Marred by Jarring Mug Shot.

When Holly Lahti came forward to claim her half of a $380 million lottery jackpot, it looked like one of those rags-to-riches stories come true, featuring a 29-year-old single mother of two girls, working as a bank teller and living in a tiny Idaho town.

Then along came her estranged husband. And now the story features a mug shot of Lahti sporting a black eye, and reports that she may have to split her winnings with her husband, who has been arrested on charges ranging from second-degree kidnapping to domestic battery and DUI.

Lahti, of Rathdrum, Idaho, became one of two winners last week to split the multi-state Mega Millions jackpot, the second-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. At the time, a neighbor of her mother’s told reporters about how the woman visited her mother almost daily, and co-workers at Inland Northwest Bank in Post Falls, Idaho, talked about how excited there were for her.”She’s very sweet. Very down to earth. Just a really nice person,” the manager of Ady’s Convenience and Car Wash, which was awarded $50,000 for selling the winning ticket, told ABC News. “Good head on her shoulders. I think she’ll do very well.”

But by Saturday, the local ABC News affiliate KXLY was reporting that her estranged husband, Joshua Lahti, found out about his wife’s winning ticket from a reporter. The couple, who married in 2001, have since separated but are not divorced, the station reported.Next came the mug shots, published on the Radar.com website and featured in reports on ABC News and in the U.K.’s Daily Mail newspaper. The reports cited a January 2003 incident when she and Joshua Lahti both were arrested and jailed on battery charges, which were later dropped.But her brushes with the law pale in comparison with the criminal histories of some past jackpot winners. Among other cases:

In 2008, a Michigan man who won $57 million in the Mega Millions lottery was later reported to be a registered sex offender with a criminal past including charges of forced-entry burglary.

Also in 2008, the Massachusetts winner of a $10 million jackpot turned out to be a high-risk sex offender who failed to notify the state when he moved from Connecticut, apparently violating the state sex offender law.

And in 2007, the winner of a $1 million lottery scratch ticket in Boston was revealed to be a convicted bank robber who, under the terms of his probation, was prohibited from gambling.