Texas | InsideOjodu https://www.insideojodu.com ...conecting the community Mon, 10 May 2021 09:25:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.10 http://www.insideojodu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/favicon.ico Texas | InsideOjodu https://www.insideojodu.com 32 32 The US issues Emergency declaration in 17 states after fuel pipeline cyberattack https://www.insideojodu.com/the-us-issues-emergency-declaration-in-17-states-after-fuel-pipeline-cyberattack/ https://www.insideojodu.com/the-us-issues-emergency-declaration-in-17-states-after-fuel-pipeline-cyberattack/#respond Mon, 10 May 2021 09:25:16 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=22058 Joe Biden’s administration has issued a regional emergency declaration for 17 states and Washington,…

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Joe Biden’s administration has issued a regional emergency declaration for 17 states and Washington, D.C., to keep fuel supply lines open after a cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline’s infrastructure on Friday, May 7.

Friday night’s cyberattack is “the most significant, successful attack on energy infrastructure” known to have occurred in the U.S., according to Politico.

Colonial Pipeline carries 45% of fuel supplies in the eastern U.S. Some 5,500 miles of the pipeline has been shut down in response to the attack.

While gasoline and diesel prices aren’t expected to be impacted if pipeline operations resume in the next few days, fuel suppliers are becoming “increasingly nervous” about possible shortages, Bloomberg reports.

Colonial said in a statement Sunday while its main fuel lines remained offline, some smaller lines between terminals and delivery points were now operational.

He said “We will bring our full system back online only when we believe it is safe to do so and in full compliance with the approval of all federal regulations”

The US said it’s “working with” fuel pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline to try and restart operations as soon as possible.

The regional emergency declaration by the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is so that fuel supply lines can be kept open.

The emergency declaration covers Alabama, Arkansas, D.C., Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

The DoT agency said in a statement the declaration “addresses the emergency conditions creating a need for immediate transportation of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other refined petroleum products and provides necessary relief.”

The attack is a significant breach of critical infrastructure and comes on the heels of multiple other major cyberattacks on both U.S. companies and the federal government in recent months by foreign actors.

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DNA in Houston murder clears one man serving life sentence https://www.insideojodu.com/dna-in-houston-murder-clears-one-man-serving-life-sentence/ https://www.insideojodu.com/dna-in-houston-murder-clears-one-man-serving-life-sentence/#respond Sun, 22 Dec 2019 22:44:04 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=9648 New DNA testing in a 2010 Houston murder case has led to the exoneration…

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New DNA testing in a 2010 Houston murder case has led to the exoneration of one man — after nine years behind bars — and the arrest of another.

Lydell Grant, 43, was found guilty of stabbing 28-year-old Aaron Scheerhoorn to death in the vicinity of a nightclub on the sworn testimony of multiple witnesses, according to reports. He was cleared last month — and released from prison — after DNA obtained from Sheerhorn’s fingernails was tested, using new technology. He was serving a life sentence.

On Thursday, Jermarico Carter, 41, was charged with the murder after the same DNA linked him to the crime. Investigators got a match to his DNA using an FBI database containing the DNA of convicted criminals, Fox 26 Houston reported Sunday.

“On behalf of the Houston Police Department, I want to extend an apology to Mr. Grant and his family as they have

waited for justice all these years,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said Friday on Twitter.

Acevedo said Carter “has recently confessed to his role in Mr. Scheerhoorn’s killing.”

Carter was in custody in Georgia on unrelated charges, the chief said.

Grant said Saturday that he wasn’t mad at Grant for sitting in jail for a crime he committed, Fox 26 reported.

“I’m not mad at him at all,” he said, according to the station. “I forgive him because he know now what he did.”

The station reported that as of Saturday Grant no longer had to wear an ankle monitor or abide by a curfew.

Houston prosecutors said they will move for Grant’s formal exoneration before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Grant’s lawyer Mike Ware of the Innocence Project of Texas was quoted by The Associated Press as saying that he believes erroneous witness identifications based on outdated and flawed techniques used by detectives helped to wrongly convict his client.

Mistaken witness identifications contributed to more than 70 percent of the more than 360 wrongful convictions in the U.S. that have been overturned by post-conviction DNA evidence, according to the Innocence Project.

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Bank accidentally deposits $37M into Texas woman’s account https://www.insideojodu.com/bank-accidentally-deposits-37m-into-texas-womans-account/ https://www.insideojodu.com/bank-accidentally-deposits-37m-into-texas-womans-account/#respond Sat, 14 Dec 2019 21:43:04 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=9456 A North Texas woman experienced a brief Christmas miracle earlier this week after a…

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A North Texas woman experienced a brief Christmas miracle earlier this week after a clerical error by her bank accidentally made her a multi-millionaire for a day.

Ruth Balloon was finishing up her shift at Roma Boots in Dallas when she decided to check her account at LegacyTexasBank, which she surprisingly found had an extra $37 million in it.

“I was like, ‘wow, we have a lot of money’!,” she told KTVT.

After some deep breaths, Balloon told her husband about what happened. He told her to ask the bank about the deposit — which he knew was probably too good to be true.

Balloon reached out to the bank who informed her it was due to a clerical error. They apologized to her and took back the life-changing cash.

“I hoped someone really gifted us with that $37 million,” Balloon told the outlet.

For her brief moment as a millionaire, Balloon daydreamed about ways she would have spent the money.

“First I was going to do 10% tithing, she told KTVT. “Then I was going to donate some money and then I would have invested in real estate.”

LegacyTexasBank gave a statement to the outlet where they said the error had been addressed and it “would have been caught and corrected during our evening processing.”

“On Tuesday, December 10, our client made a foreign currency deposit into her LegacyTexas account. Due to the fluctuation in exchange rates, all foreign currency transactions must be manually entered into our system through our back office. When our client’s deposit was being keyed in, our representative entered her account number into the amount field by mistake,” the bank said, according to KTVT.

Following the error, Balloon said she wasn’t going to try and keep the money, but hoped for a ‘thank you’ reward for being a good customer and notifying the bank.

“I was a millionaire, I have a screenshot of it so I can say that now,” said Balloon. “It’s quite a story.”

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Deputy unlawfully strip searched 6 woman in 2 weeks https://www.insideojodu.com/deputy-unlawfully-strip-searched-6-woman-in-2-weeks/ https://www.insideojodu.com/deputy-unlawfully-strip-searched-6-woman-in-2-weeks/#respond Tue, 10 Dec 2019 19:40:54 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=9363 A Texas sheriff’s deputy has been arrested on charges that he unlawfully strip-searched at…

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A Texas sheriff’s deputy has been arrested on charges that he unlawfully strip-searched at least six women in less than two weeks.

Floyd Berry, 49, was arrested Saturday and charged with three misdemeanour counts of official oppression, investigators said in a news release, cited by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Berry, an 18-year veteran with the Bexar County Sheriff’s office, was placed on leave after multiple people came forward alleging misconduct.

The allegations prompted the investigation.

Officials said Berry had “unlawfully strip-searched” six women while on patrol in late November and early December, the release said.

Berry was arrested Saturday and charged with three misdemeanour counts of official oppression.

He was booked into the Adult Detention Center with bail set at $45,000, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Jail records showed Berry remained in custody. Court records did not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Police were asking anyone with information on Berry’s alleged conduct to call the Bexar County Sheriff’s Public Integrity Unit.

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Feral Hogs attacks and kills Woman outside Texas home https://www.insideojodu.com/feral-hogs-attacks-and-kills-woman-outside-texas-home/ https://www.insideojodu.com/feral-hogs-attacks-and-kills-woman-outside-texas-home/#respond Tue, 26 Nov 2019 07:23:00 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=8972 Authorities say feral hogs attacked and killed a woman outside a Southeast Texas home…

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Authorities say feral hogs attacked and killed a woman outside a Southeast Texas home where she worked as a caretaker.

Christine Rollins cared for an elderly couple at their home in the small town of Anahuac.

“Unbelievably tragic. This is a very rare incident, just what little research we have found less than six of these have been reported in the nation,” Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said.

Hawthorne said Monday the 84-year-old woman she cared for was waiting for Rollins to arrive on Sunday. The woman went outside and found the 59-year-old Rollins in the front yard between her car and the front door.

Hawthorne says Rollins had a severe head wound and several other injuries consistent with an animal bite. The coroner in neighbouring Jefferson County ruled Monday that Rollins bled to death after an attack by feral hogs. Texas’ KATU2 reported that the medical examiner said the cause of death was “exsanguination due to feral hog assault.

Anahuac is just over 40 miles east of Houston.

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Texas parents dissolves remains of daughter in tub of acid https://www.insideojodu.com/texas-parents-dissolves-remains-of-daughter-in-tub-of-acid/ https://www.insideojodu.com/texas-parents-dissolves-remains-of-daughter-in-tub-of-acid/#respond Tue, 19 Nov 2019 21:58:37 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=8842 A Texas mother and father were sentenced Friday for their roles in dissolving the…

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A Texas mother and father were sentenced Friday for their roles in dissolving the remains of their 2-year-old daughter in a tub of acid after the child’s death.

Monica Dominguez, 38, and her 32-year-old husband Gerardo Zavala Loredo were both arrested in February after police searched their apartment and found the remains of their daughter, Rebecka Zavala, in a five-gallon container hidden in a bedroom closet, the Laredo Morning Times reported.

Webb County District Attorney Isidro “Chilo” Alaniz said that acid appeared to be inside it.

Both parents pleaded guilty Friday to tampering with evidence of a human corpse. Zavala Loredo took a plea deal and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Dominguez additionally pleaded guilty to endangering a child and abuse of a corpse. She will serve a total of 20 years in prison.

Her judgment will run consecutively with a 10-year revocation sentence for violating her probation in a prior child injury case in which her 9-month-old son suffered six bone fractures, according to the paper.

Neither parent could be charged with murder because the state of Rebecka’s remains prevented authorities from determining a cause of death, Zavala Loredo’s defense attorney Abundio Rene Cantu told KGNS-TV.

Dominguez had told investigators that Rebecka’s death was accidental, maintaining that the child had drowned in a bathtub when left unsupervised, authorities said. She said she asked her husband to help dispose of the body.

The couple’s four other children, ages 1 to 11, were taken into custody by Child Protective Services after their arrest, the Morning Times reported.

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Two Texas women arrested after allegedly beating 12-year-old student in revenge attack https://www.insideojodu.com/two-texas-women-arrested-after-allegedly-beating-12-year-old-student-in-revenge-attack/ https://www.insideojodu.com/two-texas-women-arrested-after-allegedly-beating-12-year-old-student-in-revenge-attack/#respond Wed, 23 Oct 2019 22:32:54 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=8303 Two women have been arrested in Texas after allegedly beating a 12-year-old student with…

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Two women have been arrested in Texas after allegedly beating a 12-year-old student with what “looked like baseball bats” as retaliation for an argument the girl reportedly had with a classmate to whom the women were related.

Kyhirah Clemons and Chonda Edmond were taken into custody Saturday following the alleged incident at Killeen High School on June 12, KWTX reported. They both are facing a felony charge of injury to a child and are being held on $100,000 bond.

The station, citing an arrest affidavit, says the victim told police she got into a dispute that day with a student at Killeen Middle School. It added that when the student’s mother, identified in the affidavit as Edmond, came to pick the classmate up, an altercation ensued.

The girl then went to Killeen High School later that day to hang out with friends – only to be confronted by Edmond again and a woman who claimed to be the aunt of the classmate, KWTX reported, citing the document.

The victim told investigators that “both adult females had objects that looked like baseball bats and began to strike her with the objects,” the affidavit reportedly says. She also stated that she lost consciousness during the alleged attack and by the time she woke up again, “she was still being struck while on the ground,” according to KWTX.

Surveillance video reviewed by officers “depicts parts of the reported events” and shows “individuals arriving at Killeen High School in an SUV and approaching (the victim) with club-like objects in their hands,” the affidavit reportedly says.

Edmond, in an interview with police, is said to have described Clemons as “a close friend that she refers to as a sister and is her only family member that lives locally.”

Officers who responded to the scene of the alleged attack on June 12 found the victim lying on the ground, KWTX reported. The extent of her injuries is unclear.

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3 Missouri children missing since 2017 found in Texas https://www.insideojodu.com/3-missouri-children-missing-since-2017-found-in-texas/ https://www.insideojodu.com/3-missouri-children-missing-since-2017-found-in-texas/#respond Sun, 20 Oct 2019 21:32:19 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=8218 Three missing children from Missouri have been found in Texas with their mother, two…

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Three missing children from Missouri have been found in Texas with their mother, two years after they were allegedly abducted.

U.S. Marshals on Thursday located Shawn Rodriguez, now 42, at a home in Arlington with her three children, Daniel, David and Ariana Olivera after a lengthy investigation, according to reports.

The children were all under the age of 8 when they and Rodriguez left Saline County, Mo., in August 2017 and disappeared, KCTV News reported. Rodriguez was reportedly headed for California at the time.

Earlier this year, the children’s father was granted full custody, and local authorities officially listed the children as missing in July, the station reported. In August, a warrant for Rodriguez’s arrest for parental kidnapping was issued in Saline County.

That same month, local authorities, along with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the United States Marshals Service in the Western District of Missouri, launched an investigation into where the children were, KSHB-TV reported.

Investigators said they were able to narrow down their search for the missing siblings by October, believing Rodriguez was hiding out in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas.

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Man who bragged police won’t find him is arrested on burglary charge https://www.insideojodu.com/man-who-bragged-police-wont-find-him-is-arrested-on-burglary-charge/ https://www.insideojodu.com/man-who-bragged-police-wont-find-him-is-arrested-on-burglary-charge/#respond Mon, 14 Oct 2019 17:32:20 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=8088 A Texas man who was wanted and challenged the police to look for him…

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A Texas man who was wanted and challenged the police to look for him has been apprehended by the police.

The Wharton Police Department was reportedly challenged by Jason San Miguel to find him after he was put on notice that he was wanted on a burglary charge. He bragged to the cops that he doubted they were capable of finding and arresting him.

“I would when I feel like it.” San Miguel allegedly replied when an officer suggested that he turns himself in.

A photo was posted by the Wharton Police Department on Facebook of their “hide-and-seek challenge”, along with a picture that clearly showed what looked to be San Miguel’s car.

“What he forgot was that our department is more than 18,000 strong, because each of you made the choice to police WITH us,” The Wharton Police Department Officers said.

“Together, we’re a team that not even Gerrit Cole can strikeout,” police wrote online, talking about the Houston Astros ace pitcher.

Apparently, San Miguel was not really good at hiding even with his bold boasts that he will never be caught. Police officers said they caught him in just a few hours in the attic of his home in Wharton, a city approximately 60 miles southwest of Houston – and it was probably the first place the police looked.

“To all who shared this post, and our officers who had to brave the itchy insulation that Jason exposed them to,” the Investigators have sincerely expressed their thanks.

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Former reporter loses 200 pounds to begin career as police officer https://www.insideojodu.com/former-reporter-loses-200-pounds-to-begin-career-as-police-officer/ https://www.insideojodu.com/former-reporter-loses-200-pounds-to-begin-career-as-police-officer/#respond Thu, 10 Oct 2019 20:03:40 +0000 https://www.insideojodu.com/?p=8032 Former Texas reporter and blogger Chad Dodge lost more than 200 pounds to answer…

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Former Texas reporter and blogger Chad Dodge lost more than 200 pounds to answer his “calling” and become a deputy at the Montgomery County Constables Office.

Dodge’s passion for law enforcement sparked when he was covering a story at the Montgomery County Police Academy a few years ago.

Appearing on “Fox & Friends” Thursday, he told host Ainsley Earhardt: “Just covering a lot of stories about law enforcement and becoming friends with a lot of law enforcement agencies and their workers. And, I realized that that’s what I wanted to do. It was a calling.”

According to Fox 26, by the next class Dodge was in training for the Citizens Police Academy. Dodge graduated, underwent gastric bypass surgery, and started to diet and work out.

At that point, he couldn’t do a sit-up or a push-up.

“I had something I needed to do, wanted to do, had to do,” he told Earhardt.

On Tuesday morning, Deputy Dodge was sworn in and started his patrol duties that evening.

He encouraged those looking to undergo a similar transformation “keep going” and reach for their goals.

“I really am just learning, because I have no experience in law enforcement beforehand,” he explained. “So, it’s all fresh to me. Even at 42 years old learning something new is exciting.”

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