Violent repeat offenders — 1 was arrested 14 previous times — accused of attempted murder, sexual abuse in two Chicago cases



Two violent repeat offenders — one of whom had been arrested 14 previous times — are accused of attempted murder, sexual abuse, and aggravated battery in separate cases in Chicago.

The first suspect is accused of sexually abusing a woman inside a Chicago Transit Authority elevator at the Jackson Red Line station in the Loop on Tuesday, CWB Chicago reported.

Briana Bush last week also was charged with three counts of aggravated battery in connection with the stabbing of a 24-year-old man, the outlet said.

Kurtis Porter is charged with criminal sexual abuse by force and aggravated battery of a transit passenger, the outlet said.

Porter allegedly followed a 29-year-old woman into the elevator around 5:40 p.m., the outlet said, adding that police said CTA security video shows Porter obstructing the surveillance camera upon entering the elevator.

The victim told police Porter exposed himself, sexually abused her, and grabbed her face during the attack, the outlet said.

Police and CTA distributed an internal bulletin that included images of Porter, the outlet said, adding that a CTA supervisor recognized Porter hours later and notified nearby patrol officers.

Judge Shauna Boliker on Friday ordered Porter detained, the outlet said. Cook County Jail records indicate that Porter — a 30-year-old — is behind bars on no bond.

More from CWB Chicago:

CPD records show Porter has been arrested 14 other times since becoming an adult in 2014, mostly for misdemeanors, but court files show nearly all of those charges were dropped. The only exceptions were a 2019 domestic battery case that ended with court supervision he did not complete satisfactorily and two trespassing charges at the same Old Town building that resulted in a 14-day sentence in November.

RELATED: Repeat offenders charged with murdering elderly woman; one suspect was on bond and skipped court days before fatal shooting

Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune

The second suspect — a 21-year-old female already on probation in connection with a violent 2024 robbery aboard a CTA train — has been charged with attempted murder, CWB Chicago said in a separate story.

Briana Bush last week also was charged with three counts of aggravated battery in connection with the stabbing of a 24-year-old man, the outlet said.

Officials told the outlet Bush was fighting the man and a 37-year-old woman aboard a Red Line train at 69th Street on Jan. 5 when Bush allegedly stabbed the man and left the scene. The victim was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition, the outlet added.

Judge Luciano Panici Jr. detained Bush at the state’s request, the outlet said.

Bush had been on probation in connection with a group robbery aboard a Red Line train in July 2024, the outlet said, citing court records.

More from CWB Chicago:

In that case, CTA surveillance footage allegedly showed Bush punching a 29-year-old man as he slept on the train near 95th Street and taking his phone. Police arrested Bush shortly after she fled the scene with the victim’s phone in her pocket, authorities said.

Bush was also charged with escaping electronic monitoring while awaiting trial in the robbery case, but prosecutors dropped that matter when she pleaded guilty to the robbery in September. Judge Peggy Chiampas sentenced Bush to two years of probation for the robbery.

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Repeat offenders charged with murdering elderly woman; one suspect was on bond and skipped court days before fatal shooting



Two repeat offenders, a male and a female, have been charged with murdering an elderly woman in Houston earlier this week — and the male suspect reportedly was out on bond when he skipped a court appearance just days before the fatal shooting.

Tajuana Thomas, 38, and Richard Mouton, 34, are charged with capital murder in the shooting death of a 72-year-old woman, police said, adding that the shooting took place in the 4000 block of Lockwood Drive just before 2 a.m. Monday.

'It's always disturbing that you could be on parole, get a felony conviction, and still be on parole and not have your parole revoked.'

Officers responded to a report of a shooting at the residence and located three people suffering from gunshot wounds, police said, adding that responding Houston Fire Department paramedics pronounced the victim dead at the scene.

Thomas and Mouton were hospitalized, police said, adding that video shows they were involved in the shooting.

KPRC-TV, citing law enforcement sources, said witnesses told police that Thomas had been upset with the victim — identified in court records as Linda Martinez — because she previously refused to bail Thomas out of jail, and the two "argued about it all the time."

Law enforcement sources also told the station that Thomas previously lived at the residence where the shooting took place, and the suspects entered the home through an unlocked back door.

Once inside, the suspects — who were wearing masks — allegedly found Martinez asleep on a couch, and sources told KPRC the pair demanded her jewelry while pointing an AR-style rifle at her.

The elderly victim apparently had plenty of fight in her.

RELATED: Violent repeat offender brutally beats up elderly whites, Mexicans in racially motivated attack, officials say

A law enforcement source told the station that Martinez used a revolver to shoot Mouton in the face and Thomas in the hip.

Court records also revealed criminal histories for both suspects, KPRC reported.

Thomas was on bond for misdemeanor terroristic threat, the station said, after a victim in 2022 reported that she had been fired from her job, showed up again, and allegedly told the victim she was going to "beat his ass."

More from KPRC:

Mouton, a convicted felon, was on parole until 2024, according to court records.

Then in July of 2025, Mouton got arrested for three charges in Harris County: drug possession, felon in possession of a weapon, and evading arrest.

In those cases, he allegedly ran nearly 1,500 feet from a traffic stop while possessing more than 100 grams of marijuana, 5 grams of ecstasy, 11.7 grams of Xanax, 24+ grams of methamphetamine, 3.4 grams of cocaine, and a firearm, according to records.

RELATED: 9-time convicted felon opens fire on man, woman outside Florida home; he allegedly was after money owed to him: Cops

The station said Mouton was released on bond shortly after his July arrest — but added that records indicate he didn't show up for a court date last week, after which warrants for Mouton's arrest were filed, KPRC said.

Mouton reportedly skipped court on Jan. 22; Martinez was killed on Jan. 26.

"It's always disturbing that you could be on parole, get a felony conviction, and still be on parole and not have your parole revoked," Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers told KRIV-TV.

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Top 5 of 2025: Worst repeat offending crooks of the year



There was no shortage of crime this year involving repeat offenders — folks who get arrested, maybe even convicted, then somehow they're let out of police custody or set free from jail, and then they're accused of yet more crimes.

Among top five repeat offenders of 2025, we present to you a 32-year-old Florida male who was accused of lewd behavior against young girls more than once ... a 13-year-old Baltimore male who got arrested with 18 felony arrests already on his rap sheet ... and a thug with over 40 arrests under his belt who was accused of punching and then shoving a mentally disabled man onto train tracks outside Chicago — all over $1.

Read about them all below.

Florida creep — out on bond after allegedly exposing privates to girl, masturbating, saying 'It's big, isn't it?' — is caught again


A 32-year-old Florida male who was out on bond after a 2023 incident during which he allegedly exposed his privates to a 13-year-old girl, masturbated, and said, 'It's big, isn't it?" was arrested again in late April.

About a year and a half ago, Lauderhill police said a 13-year-old girl was walking to school when she said a male in a vehicle told her, "It's big, isn't it," while he pleasured his exposed privates, WTVJ-TV reported.

Detectives arrested Travis Davis on charges of lewd and lascivious exhibition and indecent exposure of sexual organs, WTVJ said in a separate story, which added that police said they received additional calls from others describing similar accounts.

Prosecutors at the time said Davis admitted to driving around schools and approaching underage girls, WSVN-TV reported. A judge ordered Davis to have no contact with minors and to stay at least 100 feet away from all public and private schools in the area, WSVN said. Records show Davis was released on bond while awaiting trial, WTVJ said.

A 16-year-old girl told Fort Lauderdale police that she was walking to school on April 28 when a male in a gray Dodge Charger approached her at the intersection, WTVJ said. The girl said the male rolled down his window, exposed his genitals, and made inappropriate gestures and movements before fleeing the scene, the station said.

Detectives later identified the male in question as Davis, and he was arrested the next day on charges of exposure of sexual organs (second offense) and violation of pretrial release, police added to WTVJ.

13-year-old with 18 felony arrests under his belt — and a GPS monitor on his ankle — charged in violent Baltimore crime spree


A 13-year-old male who already had 18 felony arrests on his record was charged in connection with a spree of armed carjackings and robberies over the summer, WBFF-TV reported, citing Baltimore Police.

Police identified one of the suspects as a 13-year-old male in question since his ankle monitor GPS placed him at the scene of each crime, WBFF reported.

The 13-year-old was arrested and taken to juvenile booking, where he was charged with carjacking, robbery, assault, and several other offenses, officials told the station.

"The juvenile has 18 previous felony arrests in Baltimore City," police wrote on their official Facebook page, according to WMAR-TV. "The investigation is still ongoing to identify the other individuals involved."

Former Baltimore City Police Deputy Commissioner Jason Johnson told WBFF in a follow-up story that young repeat offenders are a growing problem: "The state maintains juvenile detention facilities for a reason. And this is a poster child literally for the type of person that needs to be detained."

Thug with over 40 arrests accused of punching, then shoving mentally disabled man to train tracks — all over $1


A rampant repeat offender was accused of punching and then shoving an intellectually disabled man off a Chicago suburb train platform and onto the tracks below, seriously injuring the victim — and all over $1.

Tommie O. Carter, 39 — who law enforcement sources said has been arrested over 40 times in Cook County, Illinois — has been identified as the culprit, WGN-TV reported.

Forest Park officers were dispatched to the Harlem Blue Line stop just before 8:35 a.m. Dec. 1 for a report of a battery, the station said. Forest Park is a suburb just west of Chicago.

Prosecutors allege Carter approached the man and repeatedly asked him for a dollar, WGN said, adding that the man replied that he had no money. Soon Carter allegedly punched the 59-year-old victim and shoved him onto the tracks, which is where officers found him.

WGN reported that the victim — who suffered multiple fractures to his right knee and a fracture in his left knee — was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Officers approached Carter on the train platform after witnesses identified him, the station said, citing court documents.

But Carter refused to comply with officers’ orders and fought back as they were placing him in handcuffs, police told WGN. He was accused of repeatedly spitting on officers throughout his arrest, the station said, adding that Carter was charged with attempted murder and three counts of aggravated battery against a police officer.

He reportedly already had seven felony convictions on his record as well as six other convictions. A judge ordered Carter detained.

Creep accused of slapping NYU student's backside, knocking her to ground is repeat sex offender who was paroled just months before


A 45-year-old male accused of slapping a New York University student's backside and knocking her to the sidewalk while she was on her way to class on Dec. 1 is a repeat sex offender who was paroled in September.

James Rizzo was arraigned late on the night of Dec. 3 in Manhattan Criminal Court, WCBS-TV reported. The station said Rizzo appeared emotionless while pleading not guilty to three new assaults — all the victims women — at his arraignment.

Rizzo — a level 2 sex offender with 16 prior arrests and a history of violence against women — was paroled in September after serving time for sex abuse, the station said, citing the New York State Department of Corrections.

Police told WCBS that Rizzo kept on attacking women while he was out on parole. The station said the most recent alleged attack occurred Dec. 1 in Greenwich Village; surveillance video shows NYU student Amelia Lewis walking to class when the suspect slaps her backside and shoves her to the ground.

Lewis, 20, spoke about the incident on a Wednesday podcast, WCBS said: "I wanted to report this, and after I did tell the cops I let NYU security know to let students know that this man is going around doing this to other women. They also told me they were already aware of the man in the blue towel around his neck running around the city."

Officials told the New York Daily News that Rizzo's criminal history stretches back to the 1990s, when he stabbed a 74-year-old woman in the face during a burglary in Brooklyn.

9-time convicted felon opens fire on man, woman outside Florida home; he allegedly was after money owed to him: Cops


A nine-time convicted felon opened fire on a man and woman outside a Florida home early in the morning of Dec. 7, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies responded around 2:15 a.m. to a report of two people who had been shot in the 3100 block of 11th Street Court East in Bradenton, officials said.

When deputies arrived, they found a 32-year-old woman with a gunshot wound to her face and a 41-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his chest, officials said, adding that both victims were taken to a hospital, officials said. The woman was later listed in stable condition, and the man's injury was determined to be minor, officials said, adding that he has since been released.

An investigation identified the suspect as 26-year-old Exzavion Richardson, officials said, adding that he was located in a vehicle several blocks away and detained during a traffic stop.

Richardson is charged with two counts of attempted murder, home invasion robbery, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, officials said. Jail records indicate he was being held with no bond.

As for his criminal history, court records indicate Richardson has at least two battery convictions and multiple convictions for lewd and lascivious behavior, WFLA-TV reported. Jail records indicate Richardson stands 6'3'' and weighs 205 pounds.

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Trump can fix a hidden public safety failure



During President Trump’s first term, he signed the First Step Act — the most comprehensive criminal justice reform bill in decades — into law. He now has a chance to take a “second step” by rightsizing federal supervision of people on probation — an often overlooked public safety gap — with the introduction of the Safer Supervision Act.

I worked with the president and many bipartisan leaders to pass the First Step Act. I have also been on supervision and spend time with law enforcement leaders across the country. The Safe Supervision Act will empower our federal probation officers and judges to devote previous supervision resources to the people most likely to commit more crimes.

The Safer Supervision Act is the smart, responsible way to make our communities safer — and it is a great 'second step' for President Trump.

Currently the federal system for supervised release — the period of monitoring that follows incarceration — is structured in a way that actively undermines this goal. By overwhelming federal probation officers with low-risk individuals, the current system diverts attention and resources away from the true threats.

Due to the sprawling, largely automatic application of supervised release, our federal system currently monitors more than 110,000 individuals. This policy forces federal probation officers to spread their time dangerously thin.

When officers must dedicate precious time and limited resources to tracking individuals who have already demonstrated a low risk of re-offending, they are left with insufficient bandwidth to provide the oversight and intervention required by high-risk, violent offenders.

The bipartisan Safer Supervision Act is a targeted piece of legislation that corrects this dangerous imbalance. It is a genuine public safety bill that has earned the strong endorsement of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, Major Cities Chiefs Association, and the NationalDistrict Attorneys Association, among others. This bill’s promise is simple: More efficient use of law enforcement resources will reduce repeat crimes.

The core mechanism of the act is the restoration of individualized assessment. Under the current system, supervision is imposed in virtually every case. The Safer Supervision Act requires courts to conduct an individualized risk assessment before imposing supervision.

By reserving supervised release for cases that genuinely warrant it, this change moves toward a gold standard of effective supervision endorsed by professional associations such as the American Probation and Parole Association.

The strongest supervision model ensures that intensive supervision and rehabilitation efforts are directed to the highest-risk areas. The bill would allow federal law enforcement to operate as true risk managers, directing resources where they can have the most effect on those who pose the greatest public threat.

RELATED: Mexico has cartel armies. Blue America has cartel politics.

Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

The bill helps break the cycle of recidivism by providing a strong incentive for successful rehabilitation. For low-risk individuals who have served their time and demonstrated good conduct, unnecessarily prolonged supervision terms become a counterproductive barrier. They inhibit successful re-entry by making it difficult to find stable employment and housing, which paradoxically increases the likelihood that the individual will re-offend.

The Safer Supervision Act establishes a process for early termination of supervision for individuals who have served half their term (or two-thirds for violent offenses) and have maintained good behavior. By giving people a clear finish line and rewarding sustained compliance, it dramatically increases the incentive for positive life changes. A successfully terminated supervision term means one less individual returning to crime, thereby enhancing the overall safety of their neighborhood.

Finally the act shows intelligence in addressing substance-use violations, treating them as opportunities for intervention rather than instant triggers for renewed incarceration. The bill creates an extremely narrow carve-out, giving judges discretion for minor offenses.

Under current law, mandatory re-imprisonment is required for these minor violations, often derailing successful rehabilitation and costing taxpayers significantly. The Safer Supervision Act empowers judges to prioritize treatment, counseling, and swift rehabilitation over immediate, expensive, and ineffective re-incarceration.

The support for the Safer Supervision Act is the most bipartisan coalition we have seen since the First Step Act. It is endorsed by police chiefs and prosecutors who understand the operational realities of crime and by fiscal conservatives demanding accountability for federal spending.

By adopting this bill, Congress can deliver a modern, evidence-based supervision system that ensures limited resources go to our highest-risk individuals, minimizes government waste, and delivers lasting public safety improvements.

The Safer Supervision Act is the smart, responsible way to make our communities safer — and it is a great “second step” for President Trump.

Democrat mayor says he has 'no desire' to jail repeat criminals — he wants to know their 'life story' instead



The Democratic mayor of Seattle, Washington, made an astounding claim about his policies related to repeat criminal offenders during a debate against his progressive challenger for the mayor's office.

Mayor Bruce Harrell was asked by a reporter whether Seattle was too lax on repeat offenders given that the city had the fourth-highest crime rate among major cities, according to FBI statistics. The debate from Thursday was moderated by Hana Kim of KCPQ-TV.

'So when this person is committing 6 or 7 crimes, I don't know his or her story. Maybe they were abused as a child, maybe they're hungry. So my remedy is to find their life story. I have no desire to put them into jail.'

Harrell said he wasn't sure how to answer the question before launching into a bizarre answer.

"That's an interesting question," he said. "I don't know how to answer that question — too lax? I don't know how you gauge that."

He told Kim that he understood that it was necessary to catch people "in the act" of doing bad things.

"I have all the faith in my police department, [who use] the best practices in terms of using force," he said. "I need 1,500 officers. I need constitutional arrests. I need people who are killing themselves with drugs to get help, to get treatment. So I'm not going to give an opinion on the attitude of my officers."

He said that he wanted to hire "culturally competent" officers after the death of George Floyd, which he called a murder.

"We created the Care Department, which is an unarmed response, the largest city in the country to do this," Harrell said. "So whether they're lax, in all due respect, is just not the question. The question is, 'Are they effective?' and they are very effective."

He went on to blame the "defund the police" movement for demoralizing his police department but said that the department is receiving 10 applications a day for new officers.

"So to me the question is, 'Are they effective?' and they are very effective, when given the resources," he concluded.

The moderator continued to press Harrell on the question of repeat offenders, even with minor offenses. At that point, Harrell's remarks really went off the rails.

"So let me make something very clear. I was the one that sponsored the 'Ban the Box' legislation when everyone opposed because the criminal system has had a disparate impact on black and brown communities. Let me lead with that," Harrell responded.

"So when this person is committing six or seven crimes, I don't know his or her story. Maybe they were abused as a child; maybe they're hungry. So my remedy is to find their life story to see how we could help first. I have no desire to put them in jail," he added.

RELATED: Son of former Seattle mayor admits to downloading child porn while on weekend cocaine 'benders,' police say

"But I need to protect you, and that's the calibration that we have," he continued. "I've put police officers on the stand. I've cross-examined them. So whether they commit seven or eight crimes to me is not the issue. The issue is, why are they committing these crimes?"

He went on to claim that his "health-based strategy" was the best way to balance protecting the public and finding criminals' life stories.

His challenger, Katie Wilson, criticized Harrell from the left and accused him of defunding diversion programs for offenders. When challenged about the lack of effectiveness of the program, she said she was not sure about the issue.

The entire debate is available for viewing on the YouTube channel for KCPQ.

Blaze News' requests for comment from Harrell and Wilson were not immediately answered.

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3 arrested in Cincinnati mob attack; 1 reportedly was out on bond for weapons charges at time of street beatdown



Police have arrested three of the five charged suspects in connection with the Cincinnati mob attack caught on video over the weekend — and one of the arrestees reportedly was out on bond for weapons charges when the street beatdown took place.

The arrestees so far are: 39-year-old Jermaine Matthews, 24-year-old Dekyra Vernon, and 34-year-old Montianez Merriweather, WXIX-TV reported. The two other charged suspects have not been named.

'He never should have been out.'

Merriweather and Vernon were booked Tuesday afternoon into the Hamilton County Justice Center on charges of felonious assault and aggravated riot, WXIX said, citing jail and court records. Matthews was booked into the county jail just after 1 a.m. Wednesday on charges of aggravated riot and assault, the station reported.

Merriweather was "identified on video punching [the] victim while co-defendants are stomping the victim in the head," while Vernon "struck [the] victim in the face with a closed fist prior to the victim becoming unconscious from the attack," WXIX reported, citing criminal complaints. Details on Matthews' case had not yet been filed in the court record, the station said.

The Cincinnati Enquirer said Vernon's bond was set at $200,000. Hamilton County court records show she has no prior criminal convictions in the county, the paper reported in a separate story.

Merriweather's situation is a bit more complicated, shall we say.

It turns out he was indicted July 10 on four felony charges after investigators said he was found in possession of a stolen firearm, the Enquirer reported. Court records indicate he was charged with carrying concealed weapons, receiving stolen property, improper handling of firearms in a vehicle, and weapons under disability, the paper noted. The weapons under disability charge stems from a 2009 felony conviction for aggravated robbery, the Enquirer said, citing documents.

But after his indictment just two weeks ago, Merriweather was released upon posting 10% of a $4,000 bond, the paper said.

"He never should have been out," Ken Kober, Cincinnati police union president, told the Enquirer.

Merriweather's bond in connection with the mob attack charges against him was set at $500,000, the Enquirer reported.

As for Matthews, his bond was set at $100,000, the paper said — although he later was charged with felony assault, as well, and a bond for that charge will be discussed at a Thursday hearing.

Matthews apparently is no stranger to law enforcement, either. More from WXIX:

Matthews is a convicted felon who pleaded guilty in 2009 to two counts of cocaine possession and a single count of cocaine trafficking, court records show.

He was sentenced to three years in prison.

During each of his two separate arrests in those cases — in December 2008 and February 2009 — police said Matthews tried to swallow a bag of crack cocaine but spit it out after being shocked with a Taser stun gun.

The FBI on Monday opened an investigation into the mob attack, WXIX reported. Fox News said the incident is under investigation as a potential hate crime.

Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa A. Theetge told NewsNation Monday she anticipates more people will be charged over the mob attack and said "anyone who put their hands on another individual during this incident in an attempt to cause harm will face consequences.”

In the main cellphone video of the early Saturday morning mob attack, a man dressed in a white shirt and black pants is chased into the street and knocked down before multiple attackers repeatedly punch and kick and stomp him over the course of nearly a minute amid hooting and hollering.

'The level of attack on this man? Completely unjustified.'

Then, a woman in a blue dress is seen apparently trying to intervene on behalf of the beaten-up man, but she's punched in the back of her head by another female — and seconds later, a male punches her in the face, knocking her flat on her back on the street. (It appears the video may not be viewable unless you're signed into X.) A disturbing close-up of the woman's face shows her eyes wide open and body motionless before a few people try to help her up.

A set of three other videos appear to show the same beatdown from different vantage points — and additional victims are seen, as well. (Again, the clips may not be viewable unless you're signed into X.)

  • One that lasts 23 seconds shows three other men knocked to the surface of the same street. Then, one attacker leaps and lands his body atop one of the male victims — pro-wrestling-style — while the victim is still lying on the street surface. Afterward, a laughing, smiling male pulls the attacker away.
  • Another video that lasts 12 seconds shows what appears to be the same victim from the 23-second video getting pummeled from behind and knocked to the ground as a voice is heard saying "sleep him again!" The victim is then dragged by his foot into the middle of the street.
  • The third video — which lasts one minute and 14 seconds — appears to show what preceded the beatdown in the main video. It shows the man dressed in the white shirt and black pants — who was beaten up in the first video — squaring off with a male in a red shirt and black shorts who would soon take part in the mob attack. It appears to show the man dressed in the white shirt and black pants making physical contact with the male in the red shirt and black shorts — and then it's on.

An additional Facebook video appears to show even more of what occurred prior to the mob attack. It depicts what seems to be a verbal argument and minor scuffle that was on its way to calming down, and then the man dressed in the white shirt and black pants seems to lightly slap the face of the male in the red shirt and black shorts, which — as noted above — leads to the beatdown.

However, BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock on Monday stated on “Jason Whitlock Harmony" that he's heard the argument that the man dressed in the white shirt and black pants — a white man — "started it" by making physical contact with the male in the red shirt and black shorts — a black man, and that was justification for the mob attack.

"That's ridiculous to me," Whitlock said. "The level of attack on this man? Completely unjustified."

BlazeTV contributor Shemeka Michelle agreed, telling Whitlock the attack was "definitely unjustified. When they tried to show the video of the guy in the red being pushed and acting as if that was justification. ... But for all of these people to jump in — and it wasn't just men jumping in; there were women jumping in as if they were men."

Whitlock on Sunday posted a message on X calling out the mob attack, saying that "this behavior and lack of national outrage are unsustainable. It's unsustainable. The anti-white bigotry at the root of this behavior must be addressed. Sickening."

NewsNation reported that Police Chief Theetge blasted bystanders, noting that despite the preponderance of people with cell phones out and recording the beatdown, only one person called 911.

“For all those people recording with cell phones and for us to only get one call is unacceptable in this city,” Theetge added, according to the outlet.

The chief also ripped those who posted videos of the attack on social media given that the clips don't show the full context of it, NewsNation said: “That social media post and your coverage of it distorts the content of what actually happened and makes our jobs more difficult.”

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Blaze News original: 7 times violent crooks were released — sometimes with no bail — and soon were charged with more violence



Stories have flooded the news cycle in recent years about authorities releasing violent criminals from custody — sometimes with no bail and despite violent charges already on their records — after which they're soon charged with committing violent crimes again.

It's an issue that has many observers angry, frustrated, and fed up with woke politicians, district attorneys, judges, and social justice warriors who seem intent on keeping dangerous individuals out of jail and on streets and committing more violent crimes.

Just this month, a 30-year-old male allegedly punched a 9-year-old girl in the face while she was with her mother in the dining concourse of New York City's Grand Central Station.

WNBC-TV said the suspect got away before the Bronx girl was taken to the hospital, the station said.

Turns out just days before, cops charged the same suspect — later identified as Jean Carlos Zarzuela — reportedly for randomly punching a 54-year-old woman and breaking her nose inside Grand Central. But a source told WNBC-TV that while a judge set Zarzuela's bail at $2,500 cash — and Zarzuela went to jail — he went before a different judge soon after and was released.

Police arrested Zarzuela a few hours after the girl was punched, WNBC said. He was charged with assault, WPIX-TV said, adding that the MTA indicated additional charges are pending.

The girl suffered from dizziness and pain, WPIX reported, citing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. She's expected to recover, WPIX added.

Man arrested for punching girl in Grand Central: MTAyoutu.be

“It doesn’t make any sense that this guy — who recently was released after being charged with randomly punching someone else and breaking that victim’s nose — should be back in a public space where he can attack others, especially children,” MTA Communications Director Tim Minton told WPIX. “The people responsible for the criminal justice system need to learn from this episode before more innocent people become victims.”

The following are similar recent examples:

Ex-con released with no bail after his arrest for domestic violence against estranged wife; the next day he allegedly shoots her to death in front of her children 


Adam Bennefield, 45, was charged with low-level misdemeanors in 2022 in connection with his alleged domestic violence against 30-year-old Keaira Bennefield — and the judge couldn't set bail, so he was released. Keaira Bennefield was so afraid of what might happen to her that she wore a bulletproof vest to drop her children off at school. A day later Adam Bennefield allegedly shot her to death in her car in front of her kids, ages 6 months to 9 years. The victim's mother said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's support of cashless bail led to her daughter's murder: "She should be charged for the crime. She's also responsible for the crime. She failed me. She let me down and my daughter down, and she needs to make a change with the bail reform."

Woman released on zero bail after allegedly ramming car into businesses; a week later she's charged with arson and attempted murder


Jacqueline Whatley, 36, was arrested last October after allegedly ramming a car into a Coffee Bean and a sushi restaurant in Los Feliz, California, KTTV-TV said. Police charged her with vandalism, which was eligible for no-cash bail, and she was released, the station said. About a week later, she faced attempted murder charges in connection with setting fires that destroyed a business, a home, and an occupied tent — and this time she was being held on $1 million bail, KTTV said.

Woman beats man with pole, released with no bail while deemed 'moderate risk'; days later she kills mother of 8 


Vanessa Harvey, 49, pleaded guilty in 2023 to voluntary manslaughter in the 2021 death of 42-year-old Machina Goodjoint, KLAS-TV reported, adding that two weeks before that crime Harvey beat her first victim — a man — with a metal pole. After the first attack, Harvey refused to appear for her probable cause hearing on a charge of battery resulting in substantial bodily harm, the station said. In the attack against Goodjoint, the victim's injuries were so severe that an officer reportedly believed Goodjoint was shot in the face. Harvey was sentenced to four to 10 years in prison and will be eligible for parole next year.

Thug reportedly released without bail after allegedly punching woman in face on NYC street — and despite suspect's 7 prior assault arrests


“He just punched me on the right side here, very strong,” Dulce Pichardo told WPIX-TV of the late March unprovoked attack in Brooklyn. “I was surprised. I said, ‘What’s going on? Why did you hit me? Why did you do it?’ I didn’t do anything. No reason to hit me." Officers arrested 33-year-old Franz Jeudy, WABC-TV reported. Jeudy was charged with third-degree assault — a misdemeanor, which means he wasn't bail-eligible — and he was released, the New York Post reported. The paper added that one of Jeudy's prior arrests took place in 2018 when he was charged with second-degree assault for an attack on a cop.

Thug arrested multiple times for assaults reportedly released from custody — then just 2 days later accused of brutal hatchet attack against elderly man


The suspect in a brutal hatchet attack against an elderly man last December reportedly was released from custody two days before the attack — and also had 19 bench warrants since 2012 and had been arrested for assaulting firefighters, health care workers, police officers, and strangers. Paleti Anikesi Veniale, 30, was charged with first-degree attempted murder, and prosecutors cited his extensive history of criminal violence when they asked for bail of $1 million.

Punk released with no bail after being charged with randomly attacking 2 men; a month later he's accused of punching 19-year-old female in face, breaking her nose


— (@)

CWB Chicago reported that after prosecutors charged Diashun Dixson with randomly attacking two men — one of them 64 years old — at the Chicago French Market in May 2023, a judge ordered Dixson to pay a $10,000 bail deposit. But the outlet said he couldn't post bail and stayed in jail until December when his attorney — citing the state's elimination of cash bail — filed a motion and got Dixson released. CWB Chicago said not even a month later Dixson was accused of randomly punching a 19-year-old female college student so hard in the face that her nose was fractured. The outlet said Dixson was soon back in jail.

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Horowitz: It’s the violent gun felons, stupid



We need not steal people’s guns without due process, as Joe Biden suggests, nor do we need to send in the National Guard to protect America’s cities, as Donald Trump recently suggested. What Chicago’s experience demonstrates is that we simply need to lock up the gun felons and career criminals who have already been found guilty through due process. It’s not so much about funding the police or drastic measures of having the military occupy American cities, but about simply locking up the criminals.

Americans watched with horror the viral video of a 16-year-old with a gun bust under his belt tussling violently with a NYPD officer on one of Manhattan’s infamous subways. It turns out that the boy had previously been arrested April 12 in Brooklyn for allegedly carrying a loaded gun and then again just two weeks ago for a robbery, but the details of the cases are sealed. Yet despite the history of gun violations and violence, the suspect was released on his own recognizance a day after the struggle with police.

This case embodies the source of the violence in cities like New York and Chicago. The culprits all have endless violations of bail terms and parole, and numerous violent crimes and gun felonies piling up on each other before the original case is disposed of in court, yet they continue to be released, especially in the case of the growing juvenile violence. Any other policy thrown into the public policy discussion other than tougher sentencing, pre-release holding, and tougher parole conditions is a distraction. You can fund police all day long, but if the criminals are not punished, they will just fight with the police knowing there are no repercussions.

“He’s charged with all those things, and now in his third arrest, he’s released again,” a high-ranking police source told the New York Post of the subway brawler. “What does it take to get locked up here?” This incident occurred a week after the man who attacked New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin was freed within a few hours on cashless bail.

Democrats wax poetic about gun violence, but then when they actually catch gun felons illegally possessing guns and committing more crimes in violation of their previous release or parole, they still offer them low bail. A Chicago judge recently released 32-year-old Clear Huddleston on a $3,000 cash deposit after he was caught illegally possessing a gun and drugs, despite his criminal history, which included robbery in 2008, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon in 2012, theft in 2016, and armed robbery in 2016. The way Democrats speak of guns, you would think they’d offer the death penalty to someone caught illegally possessing a gun as a career violent felon, yet even career violent gun felons and robbers are easily released and given multiple “chances.”

Then there is the case of Steven Kelsey, a Chicago man on parole for shooting a man while on electronic monitoring for possessing a firearm while out on parole. So he already had his second chance, despite actually shooting someone with a gun. Now he has been arrested for, you guessed it, an armed carjacking. Before the July 12 carjacking, Kelsey was convicted of illegal gun possession and aggravated discharge of a firearm in a 2015 case that started as an attempted murder case. This is after having been charged as a juvenile twice for possessing stolen motor vehicles and once for aggravated vehicular hijacking. Yet he didn’t serve much time, and shortly after he was paroled for the shooting, Kelsey was arrested again and charged with … you guessed it … unlawful use of a weapon by a felon on parole. But he was released in June of last year with just a $10,000 bail deposit on electronic monitoring, which, as always turned out to be worthless in deterring him from the armed carjacking earlier this month.

This is the story of nearly every carjacker and murderer in every major city, and it’s happening in red states too. Earlier this month, a 15-year old carjacker in Memphis was released from some nebulous juvenile program on electronic monitoring and is now accused of killing a woman in another carjacking, despite wearing an ankle monitor.

Carjackings are out of control as a result of repeat juvenile offenders never getting punished. This phenomenon fueled more than 1,900 carjackings in Chicago last year. At some point, youthful indiscretion should not be an excuse for serious, repeat offenses.

If we only deterred and punished the known career criminals, we’d stop most violent crime. The debate over police funding, while important, is largely a distraction to the main issue. Republicans, including President Trump, bought into the over-incarceration argument last decade, which led to an acceleration in de-incarceration of the most dangerous career criminals. Ironically, Trump himself made the comments about deploying the National Guard to suppress riots at the “America First Policy Institute,” which is run by his former domestic policy adviser Brooke Rollins, who convinced Trump to embrace the jailbreak agenda and also dissuaded him from actually deploying the National Guard during the BLM riots of May-June 2020.

It’s very easy for Republicans to broadly inveigh against rising crime under Democrats. But unless they commit to shedding their ties to the pro-jailbreak, Koch-backed organizations pushing de-incarceration, they will continue managing a rise in crime.

Despite Media Blackout, Wisconsin GOP Lawmakers Are Still Working To Prevent Another Waukesha Christmas Massacre

As the people of Waukesha wonder, 'How could this happen?' a handful of state lawmakers are asking, 'How can we prevent this from happening again?'

Horowitz: Violent criminal released by New Hampshire judge accused of brutally raping woman in cemetery six days later



These are the victim stories that are never told by politicians. These are the criminals who need to be locked up but are increasingly let out on the streets because criminal justice reform is all about the criminal, not the victim.

Amuri Diole represents everything that is wrong with our justice system. He was arrested on April 29 for allegedly assaulting a woman in a Manchester, New Hampshire, cemetery for two hours, smashing her head on a grave marker, raping her, putting a knife to her neck, and threatening to kill her. Like almost every one of these heinous criminal acts, this one was allegedly committed by a man who was incorrigibly violent and should never have been on the streets but was indeed released just six days before.

According to the Manchester Union Leader, Diole was arrested in November 2018 for reportedly brutally beating a man in Merrimack who was nice enough to employ him, despite his troubled background. During the attack, Diole allegedly broke the nose, jaw, and eye sockets of his victim. Despite five years of cycling in and out of psychiatric hospitals and being diagnosed with homicidal tendencies, Diole was not kept off the streets even after this demonic assault. He was in and out of jail since 2018, racking up more criminal arrests. Over a year later, the victim of the assault still had not gotten justice, and in January, Superior Court Judge Charles Temple ruled that Diole was incompetent to stand trial.

Freeze frame at this point. One would think that the alternative to going to prison would be locking this man up in a psychiatric institute. After all, if someone is so violent that he can't control himself, he is even more dangerous on the streets than the non-mentally ill criminals. Yet our system now uses the criminal's mental status as an excuse to simply release him. This is happening throughout the country. In this case, Diole was released from jail on April 23. The judge cited state law that gives prosecutors 90 days to obtain an order for involuntary commitment to a psychiatric hospital, something that is becoming very hard given that most psychiatrists are leftists and are unwilling to commit criminals.

Well, this unnamed female victim wasn't given 90 days to prepare to be raped. Nor was the victim of the previous crime for which Diore never stood trial informed of his release. The victim in the Merrimack assault told the Union Leader that he was not surprised Diole never left the cemetery after last week's alleged rape. "He's not afraid of consequences. He's not remorseful. Everyone who knows Amuri knows he's dangerous," he said.

And that is the hallmark of our criminal justice system.

According to court documents, Diole moved to the United States from Congo about 17 years ago at age 10 and lived a troubled life beginning in his teen years. It's unclear whether his family came over as refugees, but most immigrants from Congo over the past two decades have been resettled under the refugee program, many of them in New England.

The question everyone should be asking is why Republicans are not running on plugging all the loopholes that allow repeat criminals to escape justice and needlessly victimize others? The original term "criminal justice reform" was coined by Ronald Reagan to promote an agenda on behalf of victims of crime to ensure the bad guys are taken off the streets. He described it as an effort to "protect the innocent and put the professional criminals in jail where they belong." One of Reagan's particular priorities was ensuring that the criminally insane are not let back on the streets. How many Republicans ever discuss our under-incarceration problem?

The reality is that it's not only drug dealers — themselves most often violent and committing other crimes — who are escaping justice in this pro-criminal environment. Violent criminals are rarely punished commensurately with their crimes. At a time when the government claims to have zero tolerance for insurrection, federal prosecutors from Oregon dropped charges or are expected to drop charges on all but seven of the 97 Portland rioters arrested on federal charges. Remember, these are some of the worst offenders out of the thousands of rioters, riots that included attacks on a federal courthouse and involved the blinding of DHS agents with lasers. Only one individual is headed to prison for any amount of time. All charges of assault against federal agents for the remaining individuals, including one suspect accused of placing an agent in a chokehold, were dropped.

But this favoritism is not only for people beating and burning under the sacred banner of Black Lives Matter; it's for general criminals as well. Crime victim advocates in Minnesota recently pointed to a case of a man convicted a little more than a year ago for stomping someone to the point of great bodily harm, yet his 117-month sentence was stayed:

Just gonna set this here for future reference.Derek Lamont Leake, Jr, 20.IN CUSTODY on PC weapons.Convicted in… https://t.co/QmGmoMdBGx

— CrimeWatchMpls (@CrimeWatchMpls) 1620089575.0

Again, these cases are not the exception, but the rule. We now learn that Demond Goudy, the suspect in the murder of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams at a Chicago McDonald's drive-through last month, was out on bond for four separate felony cases.

One GOP governor after another sheds crocodile tears over giving criminals a "second chance," but so many of them have dozens of chances and still serve little or no time. As my TheBlaze colleague, Sarah Taylor, recently reported, the suspect charged in the brutal stomping murder of Maryland police officer Keith Heacock in Delmar, Delaware, accrued 38 prior arrests in just a decade but doesn't appear to have served much time in prison. To this day, Biden has failed to mention a word about Officer Heacock and this terrible travesty that occurred in his home state.

Then there are criminal aliens. We like importing other countries' criminals and won't even throw the book at them. Despite having two prior arrests, Jesus Leal-Corona was never deported. In 2019, he killed 24-year-old Frankie Hensley while driving drunk in New Jersey. Breitbart reports that he was sentenced to just five years in prison. By the time the system is done with him, it would be surprising if he doesn't get out much earlier and remain in the country indefinitely.

I began focusing on public affairs as a kid during the peak of the last crime wave in the early 1990s. I watched the citizens rise up and demand action, a call that was largely heeded by both parties, including the current president. Now, we can hardly find a self-described conservative willing to hold the line on violent crime. That's a testament to the success of the left in moving the Overton window so far from the values of our grandparents.