CLEVELAND (WOIO/Gray News) – The former lead pastor of a church in Ohio was found guilty of operating a funeral home without a license.
He is now headed to prison for almost 12 years, according to WOIO.
Shawnte Hardin was convicted in early August on 31 criminal charges that include operating an unlicensed funeral home, abuse of a corpse, passing bad checks, theft and tampering with records.
Authorities say Hardin is linked to the cremated remains of nearly 90 people found inside of his now former church in Akron.
Hardin’s attorney said the cremated bodies were being stored at the church after a friend of Hardin’s, who was a funeral home director, lost his license. The funeral director said he was storing the cremains as he tried to locate relatives of the deceased, but the funeral director has since passed away.
Before Hardin was sentenced to 11 years and 10 months in prison by a judge in court, WOIO reports that the people he hurt yelled in outrage. One woman reportedly in tears yelled, “You lied to me, you lied to me!”
Another woman in tears asked Hardin, “Is this how you treat family?”
The prosecutor said substantial incarceration was needed for a man who violated the public’s trust and impersonated a funeral director in at least four counties.
BERLIN (AP) — A 60-year-old man allegedly had himself vaccinated against COVID-19 dozens of times in Germany in order to sell forged vaccination cards with real vaccine batch numbers to people not wanting to get vaccinated themselves.
The man from the eastern Germany city of Magdeburg, whose name was not released in line with German privacy rules, is said to have received up to 90 shots against COVID-19 at vaccination centers in the eastern state of Saxony for months until criminal police caught him this month.
The suspect was not detained but is under investigation for unauthorized issuance of vaccination cards and document forgery.
He was caught at a vaccination center in Eilenburg in Saxony when he showed up for a COVID-19 shot for the second day in a row. Police confiscated several blank vaccination cards from him and initiated criminal proceedings.
It was not immediately clear what impact the approximately 90 shots of COVID-19 vaccines, which were from different brands, had on the man’s personal health.
German police have conducted many raids in connection with forgery of vaccination passports in recent months. Many COVID-19 deniers refuse to get vaccinated in Germany, but at the same time want to have the coveted COVID-19 passports that make access to public life and venues such as restaurants, theaters, swimming pools or workplaces much easier.
Germany has seen high infection numbers for weeks, yet many measures to rein in the pandemic ended on Friday. Donning masks is no longer compulsory in grocery stores and most theaters but it is still mandatory on public transportation.
In most schools in Germany, students also no longer have to wear masks, which has led teachers’ associations to warn of possible conflicts in class.
Posted by ChasinDatPaper on December 26, 2021 at 11:33am
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Desmond Tutu, South Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning icon, an uncompromising foe of the country’s past racist policy of apartheid and a modern-day activist for racial justice and LGBT rights, died Sunday at 90. South Africans, world leaders and people around the globe mourned the death of the man viewed as the country’s moral conscience.
Tutu worked passionately, tirelessly and non-violently to tear down apartheid — South Africa’s brutal, decades-long regime of oppression against its Black majority that only ended in 1994.
The buoyant, blunt-spoken clergyman used his pulpit as the first Black bishop of Johannesburg and later the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town as well as frequent public demonstrations to galvanize public opinion against racial inequity, both at home and globally.
Nicknamed “the Arch,” Tutu was diminutive, with an impish sense of humor, but became a towering figure in his nation’s history, comparable to fellow Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela, a prisoner during white rule who became South Africa’s first Black president. Tutu and Mandela shared a commitment to building a better, more equal South Africa.
Upon becoming president in 1994, Mandela appointed Tutu to be chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which uncovered the abuses of the apartheid system.
Sir Sean Connery has died at the age of 90, his family has said.
The Scottish actor was best known for his portrayal of James Bond, being the first to bring the role to the big screen and appearing in seven of the spy thrillers.
Sir Sean died overnight in his sleep, while in the Bahamas. It is understood he had been unwell for some time.
His acting career spanned decades and his many awards included an Oscar, two Bafta awards and three Golden Globes.
Sir Sean's other films included The Hunt for Red October, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The Rock.
He was largely regarded as being the best actor to have played 007 in the long-running franchise, often being named as such in polls.
His Oscar came in 1988, when he was named best supporting actor for his role as an Irish cop in The Untouchables.
He was knighted by the Queen at Holyrood Palace in 2000.
Curren$y and producer Harry Fraud connect with frequent collaborator Wiz Khalifa for "90' IROC-Z."
This is the first offering off of Curren$y and Harry's forthcoming album titled "The OutRunners," which drops this Friday, July 24th.
Additional features on the 9-track project include Conway the Machine, Rick Ross and Jim Jones.
Tracklist:
1. The Offload 2. Cutlass Cathedrals 3. 90' IROC-Z Ft. Wiz Khalifa 4. Gold and Chrome 5. Mugello Red Ft. Rick Ross 6. Riviera Beach Ft. Conway the Machine 7. Seven Seas 8. In the Coupe Ft. Jim Jones 9. Pounds of Paper
All songs produced by Harry Fraud Mixed by John Sparkz and Harry Fraud Mastered by John Sparkz Recorded by Richard Weber
Homicide Hartford, Connecticut is buzzing with a lot of up and coming talent. One of those artists is Smack aka Smacky Osoma. His latest visual is for his "Shotta Flow" remix. Peep game.
Directed and edited by Wesley Pearson aka The Kid Wes, CEO of Turn Up Films.
CHICAGO - Two men charged in the 2015 slaying of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee received their sentences Wednesday morning.
Convicted gunman Dwirght Boone-Doty was sentenced to 90 in prison.
Corey Morgan, who was charged with first-degree murder in October, was sentenced to 65 years in prison.
Prosecutors argued that the Nov. 2, 2015, "execution" of Tyshawn Lee was carried out as revenge on a rival gang member, that Morgan and two others believed the fourth grader's father was responsible for a shooting weeks earlier that left Morgan's brother dead and his mother wounded.
Boone-Doty befriended Tyshawn to gain his trust after the boy arrived at the park, prosecutors said. He picked up the basketball that boy had brought to the park, lured him into a nearby alley and shot him with a .40-caliber handgun multiple times at close range while Morgan watched from an SUV, they said.
A third man charged in the attack, Kevin Edwards, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder before going on trial. Edwards, who prosecutors described as the getaway driver, received a 25-year prison sentence in exchange for his plea.
Rapper and community activist, Lil O-Dawg, takes fans on a tour of the mean streets of South Miami, where ain't nothing sweet. O-Dawg talks about the crab in a bucket mentality that's pervasive in the hood and the need for the community to unify, dead the black-on-black crime, come up financially and much more.
Report via TMZ -- Kim Kardashian is helping free inmates at an amazingly high rate, and she's been doing it rather quietly ... until now.
We've learned Kim and her legal team helped 17 prisoners gain freedom over the last 3 months or so -- each of them having served years of life sentences without parole ... for low-level drug offenses.
It's all part of the 90 Days of Freedom campaign launched by Kim's lawyer, Brittany K. Barnett, in partnership with lawyer MiAngel Cody of The Decarceration Collective. The campaign puts the First Step Act -- signed by President Trump last year -- to work for prisoners who received Draconian sentences.
Kim is footing the bill while Barnett, who also co-founded the Buried Alive advocacy group, and Cody handle the lawyering. We're told Kim's been secretly funding the campaign over the past few months.
We've known about a few cases Kim's backed -- Jeffrey Stringer in Florida, Cyntoia Brown in Tennessee, Alice Marie Johnson in Alabama -- but now we know the list is much longer.
Here are a few examples:
Jamelle Carraway is back with his family after serving 11 years of a life sentence in federal prison.
Jamelle, who was 31 when he was arrested for cocaine possession, is living and working in Illinois as he makes the slow transition back to society.
Eric Balcom is back home in Florida, and seeing his mother for the first time in 16 years after serving hard time in federal prison.
He was convicted on a drug charge when he was 29, and was sentenced to life without parole.
Terrence Byrd is finally free after spending half his life -- 25 years -- in federal prison on drug possession charges. We're told he's been reunited with his 96-year-old grandmother, the woman who raised him.
Kim, Brittany and MiAngel aren't done working miracles, either -- we're told they're on top of several more cases.
(ABC30) STOCKTON, Calif. -- A Stockton businessman who pleaded no contest to raping a 5-year-old girl has been sentenced to just 90 days of house arrest.
In addition to the house arrest, 79-year-old Lyle Burgess was also sentenced Wednesday to five years of probation for the crime.
The girl's lawyer said Burgess was a friend of the girl's family, and the sexual assault happened after the family was invited to his Calaveras County cabin in 2016.
"He's obviously very wealthy, and it's just an example of how the wealthy people, time and time again, escape the penalty for what they did," said attorney Ken Meleyco.
Burgess does not even have to register as a sex offender. The girl's family has now filed a civil suit against Burgess.
The ruling was handed down by Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkleyon Friday, February 5, when Meek, real nameRobert Williams,appeared in a Philadelphia courtroom.
Brinkley sentenced the rapper 6 to 12 months in county jail, but opted to let him serve the time on house arrest. He can leave home only to do community service with groups serving adults, not young people. After 90 days Brinkley will reevaluate his progress to determine if he will be given additional time.
The judge also gave Meek another six years of probation.
As we previously reported, Brinkley ruled on December 17, 2015, that the rapper violated his probation, stemming from a 2009 drug and gun conviction, by leaving Philadelphia on several occasions without notifying his probation officer. Friday was the sentencing phase.
Meek, 28, testified in December that the life of an artist is chaotic and schedules frequently change at the last minute. He said that he wasn't trying to thumb his nose at the court and promised that he was a changed man since he began dating Nicki Minaj.
"I'm not a gangsta. I'm not a criminal," he said at the time. "I have my queen, Nicki [Minaj] now. I'm trying to do better and feel like I can be the best rapper out there."
Posted by ChasinDatPaper on September 23, 2015 at 8:30am
Video After The Jump
NEW YORK (AP) -- The lovable legend of Yogi Berra, that ain't ever gonna be over.
The Hall of Fame catcher renowned as much for his dizzying malapropisms as his unmatched 10 World Series championships with the New York Yankees, died Tuesday. He was 90.
Berra, who filled baseball's record book as well as "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations," died of natural causes at his home in New Jersey, according to Dave Kaplan, the director of the Yogi Berra Museum.
Berra played in more World Series games than any other major leaguer, and was a three-time American League Most Valuable Player.
For many, though, he was even better known for all those amusing "Yogi-isms."
"It ain't over `til it's over" is among eight of them included in Bartlett's.
"When I'm sittin' down to dinner with the family, stuff just pops out. And they'll say, `Dad, you just said another one.' And I don't even know what the heck I said," Berra insisted.
Short, squat and with a homely mug, Berra was a Yankees great who helped the team reach 14 World Series during his 18 seasons in the Bronx.
"While we mourn the loss of our father, grandfather and great-grandfather, we know he is at peace with Mom," Berra's family said in a statement released by the museum. "We celebrate his remarkable life, and are thankful he meant so much to so many. He will truly be missed."
Berra served on a gunboat supporting the D-Day invasion in 1944 and played for the Yankees from 1946-63. His teammates included fellow Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford.
"No! Say it ain't so. He was a good man, my former manager and friend! RIP Yogi," former Yankees star Dave Winfield tweeted.
Lawrence Peter Berra, the son of Italian immigrants, got his nickname while growing up in St. Louis. Among his amateur baseball teammates was Jack McGuire, another future big leaguer.
"Some of us went to a movie with a yogi in it and afterwards Jack began calling me Yogi. It stuck," Berra told the Saturday Evening Post.
He was a fan favorite, especially with children, and the cartoon character Yogi Bear was named after him.
Until recent years, he remained a fixture at Yankee Stadium and in the clubhouse, where the likes of Derek Jeter, Joe Torre and others in pinstripes looked up to the diminutive old-timer.
In 1956, Berra caught the only perfect game in World Series history and after the last out leaped into pitcher Don Larsen's arms. The famous moment is still often replayed on baseball broadcasts.
After his playing days, Berra coached or managed the Yankees, New York Mets and Houston Astros. He led both the Yankees and Mets to pennants.
In 1985, his firing as manager by the Yankees 16 games into the season sparked a feud with George Steinbrenner. Berra vowed never to return to Yankee Stadium as long as Steinbrenner owned the team.
But in 1999, Berra finally relented, throwing out the ceremonial first pitch of the Yankees' season-opener.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of a Yankees legend and American hero, Yogi Berra," the Yankees posted on Twitter.
We are deeply saddened by the loss of a Yankees legend and American hero, Yogi Berra. pic.twitter.com/Bf8uXxUPzR
Berra, who played in 15 straight All-Star Games, never earned more than $65,000 a season. He died on the same date, Sept. 22, as his big league debut 69 years earlier.
Growing up, he was anything but a natural.
Chunky and slow, Berra was rejected by his hometown St. Louis Cardinals after a tryout in 1943. But a Yankees scout recognized his potential and signed him.
He reached the majors late in the 1946 season and homered in his first at-bat. The next year, he continued to hit well, but his throwing was so erratic he was shifted to the outfield, then benched.
His breakthrough season came in 1948, when he hit .315 with 14 homers and 98 RBIs while improving his fielding. In 1949, he compiled a .989 fielding percentage and did not make an error in the All-Star Game or World Series.
"I don't care who the hitter is," Yankees Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel told the New York Journal-American, "(Berra) knows just how he should be pitched to."
Berra was the AL MVP in 1951, 1954 and 1955. He holds World Series records for most hits (71) and games (75).
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1972.
"You never think of that when you're a kid," Berra said. "But egads, you gotta be somethin' to get in."
Among his boyhood friends was Joe Garagiola, who went on to a career as a major league player and broadcaster. In rejecting Berra at the 1943 tryout, the Cardinals signed Garagiola, another catcher, instead.
Berra was born in St. Louis on May 12, 1925, the son of Pietro, a laborer in a brickyard, and Pauline Berra. He grew up in "The Hill," or Italian district, with three older brothers and a younger sister.
Berra was forced to drop out of school in the eighth grade and go to work to help support his family. He took jobs in a coal yard, as a truck driver and in a shoe factory.
He continued to play amateur baseball, which brought him to the attention of major league scouts.
In 1943, his first professional season with the Yankees' farm team in Norfolk, Virginia, was interrupted by World War II.
Berra married his wife, Carmen, in 1949. The couple met in their native St. Louis. Carmen died in 2014. Yogi is survived by their three sons.
Dale Berra, a major league infielder, who briefly played for his father on the Yankees in 1985; Tim, who played one season for the NFL's Baltimore Colts, and Lawrence Jr.
Berra published three books: his autobiography in 1961, "It Ain't Over ..." in 1989 and "The Yogi Book: I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said" in 1998. The last made The New York Times' best seller list.
In 1996, Berra was awarded an honorary doctorate from the state university in Montclair, N.J., where he and his family lived. The university also named its baseball stadium for Berra. The adjoining Yogi Berra Museum opened in 1998.
The museum houses Berra memorabilia, including what he said was his most prized possession, the mitt he used to catch Larsen's perfect game.
He tickled TV viewers in recent years by bringing his malapropisms to a commercial with the AFLAC duck. ("They give you cash, which is just as good as money.")
His wife once asked Berra where he wanted to be buried, in St. Louis, New York or Montclair.
"I don't know," he said. "Why don't you surprise me?"
Original Block Hustlaz artists Wiz Lo, P90 and Breeze Begets team up for this new banger entitled "100 Proof." Official music video directed by K Walker Films
Chris Brown's stint in anger management rehab didn't go so well. He was kicked out after only two weeks for violent behavior.
Brown's attorney, Mark Geragos, took him to a Malibu treatment facility on October 30, after his client was charged with assault for allegedly punching a man in the face while in Washington, D.C.
On November 10, Brown was visited by his mother, Joyce Hawkins, for a family counseling session. Hawkins wanted her son to remain in treatment. The singer became angry, walked outside and shattered a window on his mother's car by throwing a rock through it, according to the L.A. Times.
Nobody was injured, but the facility sent Brown packing.
Geragos and Brown appeared in a Los Angeles court today for a probation progress report stemming from Rihanna's 2009 felony assault. The Probation Department recommended live-in anger management for the singer and the judge agreed.
Brown was ordered to check into an anger management facility for 90 days. The facility must be in L.A. County and approved by the Probation Department.
Breezy also has to perform 24 hours of community service a week while in rehab, undergo periodic drug testing and take any medication prescribed by the rehab facility.
Still hanging over Brown's head is the Washington, D.C. case. He pleaded not guilty last month to a misdemeanor assault charge. He will be allowed to attend court proceeding there. The L.A. judge wants to be updated on the case. Depending on how that goes, Brown could have his probation revoked and be sent to jail.
Chief Keef is back in a Chicago jail cell today after a judge sentenced him to 90 days of rehab associated with Cook County Department of Corrections, according to ABC Chicago.
The 18-year old rapper, real name Keith Cozart, was arrested in May for driving 110 mph in a 55 zone in Northfield, Illinois. As a condition of his release he was sentenced to 18-months probation, ordered to take random drug tests and paid a fine of $531.
On October 15 Keef was taken into custody again after testing positive for weed. He was sentenced to 20 days in jail. The "I Don't Like" rapper was released after serving 9 days.
His rehab sentence today also stems from that positive drug test. Keef tweeted that he was about to be sent to jail around 3 this afternoon.
Somewhere buried deep in Dr. Dre's vault there's a treasure trove of unreleased records from many of your favorite artists. Dre is such a perfectionist he keeps recording new music looking for the perfect songs for his long awaited Detoxalbum.
Will any of the tracks ever see the light of day? Only time will tell, but one artist who probably has as many unreleased songs with the Aftermath boss as anybody is Lil Wayne.
"I've always worked with Dre," Wayne told MTV News. "I'm not sure if you guys know how Dre works, Dre always send you a song, so I done probably did like 90 songs for Dre. You just never know which one he gonna put out."
FAST FACTS: *Approximately 90 students at Frayser High School are pregnant or have recently given birth
*The startling numbers fall in line with high teen pregnancy rates in the entire Frayser community
*A new initiative to help combat the problem will soon be introduced
About 90 students at a Memphis High School are either pregnant, or have been recently.
The startling news was confirmed by a high ranking city official and comes as the community plans to roll out a new initiative to help combat the problem.
However, one Frayser High School graduate says teen pregnancy is not a new problem for the school.
"When we would come back from summer break, there would be a thousand people pregnant. We were like, what's going on?" joked Alicia Williamson, who graduated from Frayser in 2004.
"There were a whole lot of bellies. You had to watch out so you didn't bump into them. Being 2011, I thought a lot of them would have thought this is not the right way to go, having babies during school time," she added.
The organization, Girls, Inc. teaches girls about preventing pregnancy.
Deborah Hester Harrison, who heads the organization, says Memphis' teen pregnancy rate stands at between 15 and 20 percent, almost twice the national average.
In the Frayser zip code, the rate is about 26 percent. Harrison partly blames the media.
"So much of our society is sexually oriented. As adults we can look at that and it doesn't impact us, but kids are different," Harrison said.
It's why Girls, Inc. offers classes where teenage girls "care for" computerized babies to give them a feel for what teenage parenthood is like.
The organization will also be part of a new initiative tentatively scheduled to be introduced next week.
Video After The Jump
LYNWOOD, Calif. — Los Angeles sheriff's officials say Lindsay Lohan will likely spend about two weeks of her three-month sentence in jail.
Department spokesman Steve Whitmore says Lohan is likely to be released on Aug. 1 or 2. The projected release date reflects all the credits Lohan is likely to receive.
The department has said the actress was likely to serve a quarter of her sentence or less.
Lohan surrendered at a Beverly Hills courthouse on Tuesday and was immediately whisked away to an all-women's jail in Lynwood. She will serve her time in an isolation unit that has previously hosted Paris Hilton and Michelle Rodriguez.
The 24-year-old's jail sentence began two weeks after a judge sentenced her to three months in jail and another three months in rehab for a probation violation.
Arrival and departure
Wearing dark denim jeans, a gray top, black corset belt and black jacket, the 24-year-old Lohan showed up at the Beverly Hills courtroom about 10 minutes late. After a short hearing, she rose and was handcuffed behind her back to serve her time for a probation violation.
Lohan was accompanied to court by her mother, Dina, and younger sister Ali, who wiped away tears after her sister was taken into a lockup.
Her estranged father, Michael Lohan, yelled, "We love you Lindsay!" as his daughter was led away. She was then taken across town to the Century Regional Detention Facility in the industrial suburb of Lynwood.
'She's accepted responsibility'
In court, Lohan was represented by her longtime attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, who had resigned earlier but never filed a formal motion with the court. Famed celebrity attorney Robert Shapiro said Friday that he had agreed to represent the actress, but Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel said Tuesday that he had told her hours earlier that he would not take the case.
Holley said after the hearing that Lohan had decided she did not want Shapiro to represent her.
"She's stepped up, she's accepted responsibility," Holley said of her client. "She's scared as anyone would be, but she's as resolute and she's doing it."
Prosecutor Danette Meyers said she thought Lohan was receiving the appropriate sentence. She said the case, which is atypical for the attention it receives, spotlighted that drunken driving is a serious offense with consequences. "Someone can get killed," Meyers said. "Hopefully it has opened a number of eyes."
While the judge did not address Lohan's tardiness Tuesday directly, she did order her to report to probation officials within a day of her release from jail. The judge had previously ordered Lohan to report within two days.
Revel also has ordered officials not to allow Lohan to serve any of her sentence on house arrest or work release.
'Eeeks'
Two weeks ago the judge determined that the "Mean Girls" star violated her probation by missing seven alcohol education classes since December. She had been on probation since August 2007 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor drug charges and no contest to three driving charges.
Lohan, a prolific user of the microblogging site Twitter, posted a message roughly 12 hours before her court appearance referencing her looming incarceration.
"The only 'bookings' that I'm familiar with are Disney Films, never thought that I'd be 'booking' into jail eeeks," Lohan posted.
The jail and rehab stints have left some of the actress' projects in limbo, including her planned portrayal of porn star Linda Lovelace in a biopic.
Once considered an up-and-coming star, Lohan has in recent years been better-known as a tabloid staple and for the criminal case she has struggled to put behind her.
Her probation had to be extended for a year to give Lohan more time to complete her alcohol education courses and Revel ordered weekly attendance in December. But the actress didn't complete the sessions as ordered and missed a court date in May, setting a stage for her return to jail.
She is expected to serve her time — probably a quarter of her sentence or less — in isolation at a women's jail in the industrial suburb of Lynwood. The facility has hosted several female celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Michelle Rodriguez, Khloe Kardashian and very briefly, Lohan.
She will be forced to wear a jail-issued jumpsuit and be given a set of simple toiletries that all inmates receive: toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, comb, deodorant, shampoo and shaving implements. Hilton received one for her own secluded 23-day stay in 2007 for reckless driving charges.
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