One of the top stories this week is that of Decarlos Brown, who was charged in the fatal stabbing of a woman on a train in Charlotte. The crime occurred on August 22, but the Charlotte Area Transit System recently released surveillance footage to local media outlets, causing the case to garner national attention. Brown has been charged federally with committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system, which could result in the death penalty if convicted. Brown has also been charged in North Carolina with first-degree murder.
Republican leaders of the North Carolina General Assembly have since announced their plans to introduce wide-ranging legislation when they reconvene later this month. The legislators are aiming to advance a package of proposed laws in part designed to tighten pretrial release rules, create more oversight of and less discretion for magistrates, and restart the use of the death penalty in the state. Any criminal legislation that is enacted will be covered on this blog and included in our annual legislative summaries.
The wedding crashers. Police arrested a pair of wedding crashers who allegedly swiped $60,000 from newlyweds during their wedding reception in southern California. Security video played a key role in identifying and locating the suspects. The video showed a man dressed in black grab a box from the banquet hall. The man sprinted outside and escaped in a waiting SUV. According to police, the box had about $60,000 in cash, checks, and gifts intended for the married couple.
Man pleads guilty in massive identity theft scheme. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, a Maryland man has admitted to orchestrating an elaborate fraud scheme that relied on the stolen identities of medical doctors to generate thousands of illegal prescriptions, some of which were filled at pharmacies in Los Angeles. Between September 2020 and May 2023, Benjamin Jamal Washington and his co-conspirators obtained personal information from dozens of licensed physicians, including names, birthdates, addresses, phone numbers, National Provider Identification numbers, and Drug Enforcement Administration registration numbers. By the time the operation was uncovered, Washington and his accomplices had issued more than 5,600 fraudulent prescriptions for controlled substances, including oxycodone and promethazine with codeine. Pharmacies across the United States filled the prescriptions, and the drugs were later sold for profit.
Washington pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. He is now awaiting sentencing and faces a statutory maximum sentence of 42 years in prison, including a mandatory two-year consecutive term for aggravated identity theft.
Sweden to lower the age of criminal responsibility. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has announced plans for the country to lower the age of criminal responsibility from the current 15. This action was prompted by an increase in cases of crime gangs recruiting children via social media and using them as hitmen. According to the latest official data, the number of children under the age of 15 who are suspected of murder, aiding and abetting murder, or attempted murder was 93 in the first six months of 2024. That number is three times what it was from the same period in 2023. A government-appointed investigator has recommended that the age of criminal responsibility be lowered to 14 in cases of particularly serious crime, but the Prime Minister did not say whether his government would follow that recommendation.
Check your crawl spaces. A man in Oregon was arrested for living in a crawl space of a condominium complex without the owners’ knowledge. Late Wednesday night, a witness reported seeing a man “who was not known to live in the complex parking his car and walking to the back of one of the buildings.” Upon further investigation, the witness also noticed the “door to the crawl space was open and light was coming from inside.”
Once officials arrived at the scene, they noticed damage to the crawl space door and an extension cord running through a vent. Police discovered that the man had a bed, lights, chargers, televisions, and other electronics plugged into the house. They also found a pipe with white residue that tested positive for methamphetamine. The man was transported to the local jail where he was booked on charges of first-degree burglary and the unlawful possession of methamphetamine. His bail was set to $75,000.
“The Real Tarzann” under investigation in Australia. Australian authorities are investigating an American influencer who filmed himself wrestling wild crocodiles in Queensland. Mike Holston—who goes by “therealtarzann” on Instagram—posted a series of videos showing his dramatic encounters with saltwater and freshwater crocodiles. In one post, he dives into the water and emerges holding the crocodile by its throat with blood streaming from his elbow. In another, he jumps off a boat and into a bushy waterway in pursuit of a crocodile, which he then wrestles. Holston claims the videos, which have amassed millions of views, are for “educational purposes.” But the videos prompted outrage in Australia, where the maximum penalty for interfering with a saltwater crocodile is $24,800.