More arrests made in alleged gang rape of 11-year-old Cleveland girl

More arrests made in alleged gang rape of 11-year-old Cleveland girl

Jamarcus Norris Napper (top left); Jared Glenn McPherson (top center); Kelvin Rashad King (top right); Marcus Anthony Porchia (bottom left); Xavier King (bottom center); Devo Shaun Green (bottom right)

by Alex Sanz / 11 News
khou.com
Posted on February 23, 2011 at 3:21 PM
Updated today at 5:04 PM


CLEVELAND, Texas – More arrests have been made in connection with the alleged gang rape of an 11-year-old Cleveland Middle School student, according to the Cleveland Police Department.
Six more suspects are in custody bringing the total number of arrests in the case to 11.

The suspects named Wednesday are: Jared Glenn McPherson, 18, of Cleveland; Kelvin Rashad King, 21, of Cleveland; Marcus Anthony Porchia, 26, of Cleveland; Devo Shaun Green, 20, of Cleveland; Xavier King, 17, of Cleveland, and Eric Bernard McGowan, 19 of Cleveland.

McGowan was in custody prior to the indictment in the Liberty County Jail for other non related charges. There have been 10 suspects arrested thus far in the investigation.

Cleveland Police have arrest warrants and are still searching two other suspects in the case, 22-year-old Carlos Bernard Ligons and 27-year-old Cedric De Ray Scott.

Only 11 News was in Cleveland on Wednesday when angry family members gathered outside the police department to complain about the arrests.

One woman, who said her nephew was among those arrested, said the community has been torn apart by the case.
"It's upsetting everybody," said the woman, who didn't want her name used. "It ain't nobody in this community not upset behind this. It's pitiful."
"They have no proof of anything," said another man who said his cousin was in custody.

Last week, the Cleveland Independent School District said the girl reported the alleged assaults to her principal’s office in early December.
Court records obtained by 11 News suggest other assaults took place between mid-September and December 1.
The girl told school officials she was raped by as many as 20 men in an abandoned mobile home in the 1700 block of Ross Street.

The men arrested earlier this month were identified as Jared Len Cruse, 18; Rayford Tyrone Ellis, Jr., 19; Timothy Daray Ellis, 19 and Isaiah Rashad Ross, 21.

All four are from Cleveland and live within a few blocks of the trailer, police said.

Cruse is a graduate of the Douglass Academy and his graduation photo is still posted on the Cleveland ISD website.

Cruse was also accused of a being a part of a home invasion where a Sheppard woman was shot in January.

Breaking: Explosions rock Belvieu plant!

Multiple explosions, fire at Mont Belvieu plant

Credit: AIR 11
A fire at Enterprise Products in Mont Belvieu was burning out of control more than an hour after witnesses heard multiple explosions.

by Michelle Homer / khou.com
khou.com
Posted on February 8, 2011 at 1:05 PM
Updated today at 1:39 PM


MONT BELVIEU, Texas – Several explosions at a Mont Belvieu plant were followed by flames that could be seen from miles around.
The explosions happened at Enterprise Products at 135 Sun Oil Road around 12:25 p.m.


Witnesses reported seeing workers fleeing from the Chambers County plant. Other workers were being told to stay inside.
The company hasn't released any details about injuries. An employee, who didn't want to be identified, said at least one contractor has not been accounted for.


The employee said the explosion happened in a subsection of the plant.
Chambers County officials say there's no known threat to the public at this time.

They have not called for evacuations.
State Highway 146 is closed near the plant.

The fire was still burning out of control nearly an hour after it began. The flames could be seen 25 miles away in Houston.

A Houston caller named Pat said she was talking by phone to a relative inside the plant when the first set of explosions happened. There were three more explosions while they were still on the phone. "Anywhere from eight to 11 explosions," according to Pat.

READ MORE AT KHOU

Controversy surrounds teen beating by Houston police

(CNN) -- Houston's mayor and police department were on the defensive Friday, two days after graphic video came out showing several police repeatedly kicking and beating a 15-year-old burglary suspect as he lay on the ground.
An internal police investigation of the incident last March led to the firing of seven police officers, said spokesman John Cannon of the Houston police department.

Two successfully appealed and returned to their jobs, said Houston NAACP President D.Z. Cofield.

Five other officers were disciplined in other ways, Cannon said. And a Harris County grand jury indicted four of the officers this summer, based in part on the video.
Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos opposed the video becoming public and felt doing so might prejudice potential jurors and force the indicted officers' trials to be moved out of the county.

Quanell X, a local activist, got hold of the surveillance tape showing the scene outside a storage facility and gave it to the media.
He said he had every right to obtain the footage and make it public.

"I will show my people what they deserve to see, and let the public see what you don't want them to see," Quanell X said.
Mayor Annise Parker said the police leadership and city acted properly.

"I resent any implication that we were trying to hide the tape," she said.
After viewing the footage, Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland Jr. fired the seven officers and a grand jury called for misdemeanor charges against four of them in June.

Lykos told reporters Thursday there was not sufficient evidence to pursue more serious charges, such as aggravated assault.
"Without revealing what was presented to the grand jury, in order to have aggravated assault you have to have serious bodily injury or impairment or use of a deadly weapon," she said. "None of that was apparent in this case."

The tape, first shown Wednesday on CNN affiliate WTRK, shows the 15-year-old boy -- being chased by police and falling to the ground after being upended by a moving police car. He then falls face first and places his hands on the ground.

A disciplinary letter from McClelland, dated June 23 and posted online less than two weeks later by CNN affiliate HTRK, says that the boy had his hands behind his head and neck area, in an obvious position of surrender.

Then, the letter adds and the tape shows, Officer Raad Hassan "then ran toward (the boy) and kicked him a total of 15 times," then later kicked him more times in the groin area even after he "was handcuffed and no longer a threat."

READ THE FULL STORY ON CNN

Bay

by khou.com staff
khou.com
Posted on January 27, 2011 at 11:23 AM
Updated today at 11:23 AM


BAY CITY, Texas – A substitute teacher has been arrested and charged in connection with death threats made to students in Bay City ISD, the Matagorda County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

Paul Nolen May, 41, was arrested on Wednesday.
He’s charged with 12 counts of making a terroristic threat – all of which are third-degree felonies.

The threats began on December 28 when the district received a hand-written, profanity-laced letter, purportedly from the parent of a student.

In the letter, the sender expressed anger over their child being disciplined at school. The letter detailed new "rules" for the school to follow regarding discipline and threatened to "kill a random student" if the demands were not met.
About a week later, a second threat was sent via text message.

The message, sent from an anonymous source and forwarded among Bay City ISD students, said this: "Hey! Forward this to everyone…1 rule broken, two girls dies at the jr. high and 2 from high school, dnt go! The school will be on lockdown."

It was not clear if May was suspected in both threats. Investigators declined to release any additional information Thursday.

May was being held in the Matagorda County Jail on bonds totaling $240,000.

Tomball man gets 10 years for fatal DWI

A Tomball man who said he’s turned his life around after a drunk-driving wreck that has left one man in a vegetative state will spend 10 years in prison.
Judge K. Michael Mayes, of the 410th state District Court, sentenced Stephen Burks, 39, to 10 years in prison Friday for one count of intoxication assault. The accident injured Carlo Lujan, 21, also of Conroe.

Burks also received 10 years’ probation for injuring Aurelio Iglesias, 47, of Conroe, during an August 2009 accident at the intersection of Texas 105 East and Millmac Road.
Burks will have to serve at least five years in prison before being eligible for parole.

“I am happy (about the sentence),” Assistant District Attorney Tyler Dunman said. “This has been a case that has really impacted me because sometimes it may be easy if someone is killed by a drunk driver (because) the family can move on. But in this case, the good Lord left Carlo Lujan to really show the impact of drunk driving in our county.”
Lujan, a 2007 graduate of Caney Creek High School, played football for the Panthers.
DPS troopers who responded to the Aug. 15, 2009, accident testified during Burks’ sentencing hearing.

Burks was driving a pickup truck that ran into the back of Lujan’s passenger vehicle, which rear-ended a second vehicle that Iglesias was driving.

Lujan was airlifted to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, where doctors determined his head had dislocated from its spine during the accident, leaving him in a minimally-responsive state.

Iglesias, a preschool teacher with the Conroe Independent School District, testified how he was trapped inside his car for at least 30 minutes and suffered injuries to his knee, groin and ribs.

“At first, I was really scared ... I thought my car would explode,” Iglesias said. “Now, I’m like an old man; I’m still scared when I’m driving.”
Armida Lujan, the mother of Carlo Lujan, told Mayes about her son’s life before the crash.

“Carlo loved to be in church. ... He was a youth minister,” Armida Lujan said. “He had preached that night (of the accident) about faith.”
Carlo Lujan’s caretakers wheeled him into the courtroom on a stretcher during the hearing to let Mayes see his vegetative state.
“The doctors never gave us any hope,” Armida Lujan said. “I thought he just had injuries like broken ribs and he’d recover. But time passed, and he didn’t look good.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE

Michael Jackson's Doctor Clueless

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- The pretrial hearing for Dr. Conrad Murray continues Wednesday as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge decides whether there is "probable cause" to try him on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the death of pop star Michael Jackson.

The hearing, which began Tuesday, is expected to last two or three weeks, with 20 to 30 witnesses testifying.
On Tuesday, Jackson's former security chief testified that Murray seemed not to know how to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation as he waited for paramedics to arrive at the singer's house.
Faheem Muhammed said he and and guard Alberto Alvarez saw Murray crouched next to Jackson's bed "in a panicked state asking, 'Does anyone know CPR?' "

"I looked at Alberto because we knew Dr. Murray was a heart surgeon, so we were shocked," Muhammed said.

Jackson's doctor heads to court Murray faces court hearing Events surrounding Jackson's death

When defense attorney Ed Chernoff asked if perhaps Murray was asking for help because he was tired, Muhammed said, "The way that he asked it is as if he didn't know CPR."

Jackson appeared to be dead at that time, with his "eyes open and his mouth open, just laying there," Muhammed said.

Prosecutor David Walgren earlier said that Murray used "ineffectual CPR with one hand while the patient was prone on a soft bed." Two hands with the patient prone on a hard surface is the proper method, he said.
Muhammed, the third witness on the opening day of the hearing, said he never saw

Murray performing CPR on Jackson before paramedics arrived and carried him to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
Jackson's mother, Katherine, sister La Toya and brothers Randy and Jackie sat in the second row of the courtroom during Tuesday's opening session.
Jackson's two oldest children, Prince and Paris, were at their father's bedroom door as the drama unfolded just after noon on June 25, 2009, Muhammed said.

"Paris was on the floor on her hands and knees and she was just crying," he said.
The children would learn two hours later that their father had died when Murray and Jackson manager Frank Dileo talked to them in a hospital room.
"Frank blurted out and said, 'Your daddy had a heart attack and died,' " Jackson personal assistant Michael Williams testified.

At the start of the hearing Tuesday, the prosecutor said that Murray waited at least 21 minutes after he found Jackson unresponsive before calling for an ambulance.

"By all accounts, Michael Jackson was dead in the bedroom at 100 North Carolwood prior to the paramedics' arrival," Walgren said.
The coroner concluded Jackson died from "acute propofol intoxication" in combination with "the contributory effects of the benzodiazepines," Walgren said.
Propofol is a powerful anesthetic used to "put people under for surgery," and the benzodiazepines were sedatives Murray later acknowledged giving Jackson in the morning before his death, he said.

"Michael Jackson was preparing for one of the most important tours of his life" in the months before his death, Walgren said.
Murray's defense team has hinted it would argue that Jackson was under pressure from the concert promoter, which led him to demand treatments to help him sleep.
Kenny Ortega, who was directing what would have been Jackson's comeback concerts, was the first of about 30 witnesses the prosecution is calling.
Ortega described Jackson as "involved, active, participating" at his last rehearsal, which ended 12 or 14 hours before his death.
"He was in a delightful mood, and we had an absolutely fantastic day," Ortega testified.

But Ortega described a different, "scary" Jackson at the Staples Center rehearsal on June 19, six nights before his death.
"I just felt that he appeared, you know, really lost," Ortega said. "It was scary. I didn't know what was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on it."


READ THE FULL STORY AT CNN

Humble Hospital Sold

Humble (Texas) Surgical Hospital has sold its property to Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II, according to a Grub & Ellis news release.

The physician-owned hospital will lease the facility for 15 years. The facility includes includes six state-of-the-art operating rooms and two procedure rooms in which a variety of surgical services are performed, including: orthopedics, ophthalmology, podiatry, plastic surgery, pain management, chiropractics, spine and gastroenterology.