LGBTQ news and entertainment
Three men have been sentenced to decades in prison after being found guilty of perpetrating a years-long robbery scheme targeting NYC gay bar patrons that ultimately left two of the victims dead. Continue reading “3 Men Sentenced To Decades In Prison For Drugging, Robbing, Killing NYC Gay Bar Patrons”
Three men accused of drugging and robbing men at Manhattan gay bars and nightclubs have been found guilty on murder, robbery and conspiracy charges. Continue reading “3 Found Guilty In Drugging Deaths Of LGBTQ Nightclub Patrons”
Some news items you might have missed: • The Advocate: Four teens in Texas have been arrested for assaulting and robbing a gay man at gunpoint. Police say the man was targeted by the teens using Grindr, the popular gay dating/hookup app. Continue reading “Teens Arrested For Armed Robbery Via Grindr + More News”
“Jeopardy!” champion Amy Schneider, who recently became the show’s highest-earning female contestant, shared on Twitter that she was robbed at gunpoint over New Year’s weekend. Continue reading “Jeopardy! Champion Amy Schneider Robbed At Gunpoint”
(image via Depositphotos) Officer Eric King, LGBT Liaison for Atlanta Police Department
A 60-year-old gay man was violently beaten to death on Christmas Eve defending his partner from a gang of robbers who left the scene of the crime having stolen a single dollar. Juan Fresnada and his 29-year-old partner Byron Caceres were leaving a McDonald’s restaurant in the Bronx near 1:30 a.m. when a man approached the couple demanding money. Friends of the couple told NBC New York, “The guys just told them ‘Give me the money, give me the money.’ He was like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’” The couple reportedly tried to avoid the conflict by heading into a nearby deli, but the perpetrator followed them, and things quickly escalated. “My husband tried to defend me,” Caceres told the New York Daily News. “The guy had his fist ready like he was ready to attack me. My husband said, ‘Don’t you get close to him.’” Two other men joined the first and began to beat the couple. Defen defending his partner, Fresnada told Caceres to run to safety. According to Caceres, the assault lasted between 10 and 15 minutes as the robbers beat Fresnada relentlessly before smashing a steel trash can on his head leaving him in the middle of East 165th Street with severe injuries to his legs and head.
When Caceres returned, he doesn’t own a cell phone and couldn’t call the police, his partner was bleeding and breathing heavily. The younger man attempted CPR but a bystander said that might not be a good idea since Fresnada was breathing so heavily. According to NBC New York, throughout the ordeal, no one stopped to help the couple. Eventually, an ambulance arrived to take the older man to a nearby hospital where he was treated for a fractured skull which led to swelling in his brain and blood pooling in the back of his skull. The younger man refused treatment and is expected to fully recover. Fresnada remained hooked up to a ventilator and unresponsive until he died from his extensive injuries on Friday, December 27. Caceres says he doesn’t believe the attack was a hate crime as he doesn’t remember hearing any homophobic slurs during the assault. The two men met in 2015 through a program for low-income gay men and have been inseparable since. The police have released this montage of surveillance footage of the men. Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
(source: NBC New York, New York Daily News)
St. Louis resident Tony Tovar is being called the “World’s Chillest Man” after video footage of him calming sitting through a bar robbery went viral. According to NBC News, Tovar was having a beer at Behrmann’s Tavern on August 28 when an armed robber entered the establishment demanding the patrons get down on the ground and hand over their valuables. Tovar, however, sat on his barstool and calmly sipped his beer while the gunman moved around the watering hole. In surveillance footage, you can see the robber press his gun into Tovar’s arm. But the “World’s Chillest Man” just lits up a cigarette. Tovar later said, “I just had a really good feeling he wasn’t out to harm anybody.” Watch the Chill One in the report below.
A Detroit man has been arrested in the assault and murder of two gay men.
According to DetroitNews.com, Demetris Nelson used the gay dating app, Grindr, to find and contact his victims.
Demetris Nelson, 26, was charged Friday in 36th District Court in Detroit with several crimes, including first-degree murder, assault with intent to murder and assault with intent to rob while armed and felony firearm possession, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
If convicted, he faces up to life in prison for the murder charge.
A magistrate ordered him held without bail and scheduled a probable cause hearing for July 26 and a preliminary examination into the case for Aug. 2.
Police say Nelson shot and killed Brian Anderson, 31, and shot and critically wounded Malcom Drake, 26, both of Detroit, last Saturday during an attempted robbery.
Prosecutors allege he shot them because they are gay and used a social networking app to locate the two victims.
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| U.S. Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte |
The story of Ryan Lochte and three other U.S. swimmers being robbed on Sunday appears to be unraveling as surveillance videos now contradict the original reports by the Olympic athletes.
The story seems to be getting bigger and bigger in part due to the egos of police officials who are upset over their city appearing to be dangerous and crime-ridden.
From the Daily Mail:
“They stopped at a gas station and they were all really drunk. They went to the toilet and damaged it pretty badly,” a source tells the paper. “The security guy saw them and started arguing with them – telling them they had to pay. They refused and argued back. He pointed his gun at them and insisted they pay for the damage – they gave him some money and left.”
Security footage showing the athletes demolishing the bathroom and being stopped by the guard has surfaced.
U.S. Olympic swimmers Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz Swimmers Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were taken off a flight and detained by Brazilian police. A judge also ordered Lochte’s passport be seized, but he had already boarded a flight to Charlotte, North Carolina.
He even posed for a photo on his flight home with American Airlines flight attendant David Anthony, who posted the picture online with the caption, ’I couldn’t make it to #Rio for the Olympics this year, so the Olympics came to me. Now if only Ryan Lochte would go on a date with me!”
Lochte maintains he and his fellow swimmers were really robbed. He told Matt Lauer footage of him laughing and smiling after the incident were a result of his being “in shock.”
“I wouldn’t make up a story like this nor would the others — as a matter of fact we all feel it makes us look bad,’ Lochte told Lauer. “We’re victims in this and we’re happy that we’re safe.”
His attorney, Jeff Ostrow says the athletes are being unfairly targeted for shining a light on Rio’s crime problem.
[snip]
Ryan Lochte will likely not be extradited back to Brazil despite a judge’s order demanding he remain in the country and is probably in the clear so long as official charges are not filed against him in the case explained Ari Melber of MSNBC on Thursday morning.
Should it be determined that the entire story was made up, Lochte and the other men could be charged with false communication of a crime, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail in Brazil.
Some legal experts on CNN have countered that, bad behavior aside, if you imagine yourself at 6AM at a gas station with a person coming up to you with a gun demanding money, one might describe that situation as a “robbery” keeping in mind that the men were very possibly intoxicated.
What does seem clear is Lochte could be losing tons of endorsement cash in the aftermath of this debacle.
Stay tuned for further developments.
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| Ryan Lochte posed for this pic on his way home to the U.S. from the Rio Olympics |
