Woman busted in execution-style murder of Brooklyn mom identified

By Edward Era Barbacena

The woman busted in Florida in connection to the execution-style slaying of a Brooklyn mother over the summer has been identified by US Marshals. 

Claudia Banton

Claudia Banton, 42, was found Monday in downtown Jacksonville and arrested for the Aug. 4 killing of Delia Johnson, according to the Marshals Service in Florida. 

Banton will be extradited to New York to face charges for the slaying, which took place on a crowded Crown Heights sidewalk, police and sources said.

But as of late Tuesday morning, she remained in custody at the Duval County Jail, the Marshals Service said. 

Johnson, 42, was shot from behind, at point-blank range, as she talked on the phone on busy Franklin Avenue.

Chilling surveillance footage released by police shows the suspect walk up to Johnson and shoot her in the head before nonchalantly walking back to a double-parked SUV and driving away.

Johnson’s relatives had previously said they recognized the female shooter as a one-time close family friend. The NYPD has not confirmed any connections between the two.

Marshals in Florida located an address Banton was associated with and conducted surveillance on her, officials said. 

They spotted her getting into the passenger side of a car and followed it a short distance, to Main Street, north of the Trout River Bridge, officials said. There, they conducted a traffic stop and took her into custody, officials said.

Banton — who goes by two aliases, Claudia Williams and Keisha Brown — has four prior arrests, including for kidnapping and grand larceny, police sources said.

 

71 year - old Filipino - American Jose Sierra

71-year old Filipino - American Man Stabbed Multiple Times During Robbery and Gets Ear Cut Off

By Edward Era Barbacena

A 71-year-old Filipino man is recovering after a horrific assault outside a trolley station in El Cajon, reports ABC10 News.

Last Wednesday, around 5 am, at the Arnele Avenue trolly stop, Jose Serra got off and began the quarter-mile walk to a manufacturing facility, where his friend Todd Jones, had hired him for odd jobs, according to ABC10.

Police say Serra was followed off the trolley for about a block and was then attacked with a 12” knife.

“Was just walking down the sidewalk. This guy came up to him, pulled out a knife and just starts poking him and slashing him,” Todd Jones stated to ABC10 News.

After getting stabbed several times, the assailant ran off, possibly with Serra’s backpack. Serra was later found by a bystander.

“He was stabbed in the hand and arm, slashed in the back of his head to the front. Ear was dangling on there. He’s had to have plastic surgery,” stated Jones.

Jones also continued to explain Serra was stabbed twice in the stomach area, which damaged his intestines.

“One stab went all the way through the back and cut his main artery back there. The nurse told me that no one usually survives that. Looks like he’s going to make it through … miracle,” said Jones.

Serra was already suffering from health issues throughout the year before the attack and now faces a long road to recovery. He recently lost his job as a janitor, according to Jones.

“We need to get this guy, because a guy that works a guy knife like this could definitely kill anybody,” Jones stated.

The suspect is described as a Hispanic male with a shaved head, 5’9” to 6’, around 175 to 200 pounds with tattoos on his arm and possibly face. Before attacking Serra, the assailant asked him directions to Spring Valley.

 

The woman who was dubbed as "SoHo Karen appears in court on hate crime charges over alleged phone theft

Possento obviously has a very unstable behavior that leads to have a poor judgement. She's unpredictable when out in a public

By Edward Era Barbacena 

A woman labelled by social media users as “SoHo Karen” has appeared in court on hate crime charges after she wrongly accused a Black teenager of stealing her phone.

Miya Ponsetto, of California who appeared to be out of control in the viral video, appeared in a Manhattan court on Monday for a pre-trial hearing in connection with the alleged hate crime against 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr.

She was arraigned in July for attacking the son of jazz player Keyon Harrold, who she wrongly accused of stealing her phone in a Manhattan hotel lobby last December.

The 23-year-old disturbed woman filmed herself accusing the teenager of wrongdoing, in footage that soon went viral and led to her arrest in January.

She discovered shortly after that she had left her phone in an Uber, and pleaded not guilty.

Paul D’Emilia, Ms Ponsetto’s attorney, said after Monday’s hearing that Ms Ponsetto had been “grossly overcharged” and has apologised for her behaviour.

“She was charged with crimes that were greatly enhanced, if I could say that,” Mr D’Emilia told DailyMail.com. “We don’t feel those charges are appropriate, but hopefully there’s something that we can reach that will be satisfactory to everybody.”

He added that she had been seeking therapy at home in California and was waiting for a “possible diagnosis” for “anger management”, according to the New York Post. 

It was  apparent that she had a very unstable behavior  with poor judgement that made her very unpredictable out in the public so the unthinkable took place when she lost her wireless phone and looked at Keyon Harold jr. as an object of her ridiculous displacement.

What made the scenario worst was that there were white people who came before Harold but she assumed that it was him who stole his phone because he was black. Her obscured behavior and paranoia was completely inappropriate and unacceptable.

Ms Ponsetto, who did not speak during the court hearing, added afterwards: “I just wish I had apologised differently, I feel like I made a mistake.”  She is expected to appear again on 10 January.

The California woman could face imprisonment of 10 years if convicted of a hate crime, as well as charges of harassment and of endangering a minor, it has been reported.

She was widely criticised for an interview with CBS News in which she suggested she could not have committed a hate crime and “wasn’t racial profiling whatsoever” because she was Puerto Rican.

“I’m, like, a woman of colour,” Ms Ponsetto said at the time.

On Ponsetto profile in one of her social media accounts, she clearly describes as 'caucasian' but in a worst case scenario, she dropped her card as a person of color. 

 

Rabbi Neil Blumofe speaking at a press conference Monday in Austin, Texas.

Jewish residents in an Austin neighborhood were sent antisemitic letters blaming them for COVID

At first, Asians were targeted and now Americans are  putting their displacements against the Jews.

By Edward Era Barbacena

A string of antisemitic attacks has taken place over the last few days across Texas and in Austin. In the latest incident, several people in an Austin neighborhood received hateful letters at their homes. The letters received by Jewish residents in Hays County were sealed in a plastic bag filled with small rocks, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said Sunday, according to the Austin American-Statesman.  

The letters blamed Jewish community members for the novel coronavirus pandemic. “Every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish,” the letters read. They also named Jewish scientists and pointed fingers at leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that are Jewish.

“Negative actions motivated in bias is an attack against an entire community and not just an attack on a single person,” Becerra wrote on Twitter. “This behavior is not acceptable.”

According to the Austin American-Statesman, Chabad of San Marcos, the only Jewish center in the county, offered guidance and support to members who were targeted.  

After receiving multiple calls from people who were upset regarding the incident, Rabbi Ari Weingarten said he is working with community leaders to “heal spirits” and remind them that “unity is key.” Since the eight nights of  Hanukkah begin Nov. 28, community menorah lighting events have been scheduled. “The message of Hanukkah is that light is stronger than dark and good prevails,” Weingarten said.

While the Hays County Sheriff’s Office said the letter distribution does not qualify as a criminal offense, it said it is aware propaganda is being anonymously distributed. The FBI, however, noted that is is prepared to investigate should the need arise.

“We are aware of the incidents and are in regular contact with local authorities,” the FBI said in a statement regarding the letters, according to the Hays Free Press. “If in the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a federal violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate. “

According to the Anti-Defamation League in Austin, 17 antisemitic incidents have been reported in the past 10 days in Texas. This includes an incident in which Austin’s Congregation Beth Israel synagogue was set on fire Sunday night, While the damage was contained to the exterior of the building, fire officials said they are looking for a man seen carrying a five-gallon container then fleeing the scene in a car after starting the fire.

Additionally, in October about a dozen people displayed an antisemitic banner from the heavily trafficked North MoPac Boulevard overpass, and displayed similar posters in the East Sixth Street entertainment area, the Houston Chronicle reported. In the same week, an Austin school building was also vandalized with swastikas, homophobic slogans, and racist slurs.

Community leaders and others condemned the actions, including the Austin City Council and mayor.

“When we see acts of hate, they're jarring. They're hurtful, and they are scary. But they are not surprising," Austin Mayor Steve Adler said, according to the Houston Chronicle. “Because there are people who do hateful and horrible, wrongful things."

 “The danger is that hate spreads,” he cautioned.   

 

Hampton bar tender accuses American TV journalist Don Lemon of sexual assault in 2018

By Edward Era Barbacena

A man who accused CNN’s American TV journalist Dom Lemon of assaulting him in a Hamptons bar three years ago claimed that the alleged behavior could be part of a “pattern.”

Accuser Dustin Hice made the comments on Monday’s “The Megyn Kelly Show” even as Lemon’s attorneys have fought back against Hice’s lawsuit in court filings, accusing the ex-bartender of withholding texts, deleting social media posts and hiding a witness that contradicted his claims.

CNN TV anchor Don Lemon

Hice claimed in his suit that Lemon had put his hand down his own pants, rubbed his private parts and then shoved his fingers into Hice’s face.

“Anybody that acts like that in public without any fear of what it might it do to somebody or the consequences it might have, that’s a pattern,” Hice told host Megyn Kelly after she asked if it seemed that was something he had done before.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Hice added. “He’s protected by the fact that he’s African American, gay man on television and I’m just some nobody.”

Lemon is gay and married, while Hice said in the interview he is heterosexual.

Neither CNN nor Lemon’s attorney returned a request for comment from The Post on Monday, but a network spokesperson has previously painted Hice as a CNN hater looking for a payday.

Neither CNN nor Lemon’s attorney returned a request for comment from The Post on Monday, but a network spokesperson has previously painted Hice as a CNN hater looking for a payday.

“The plaintiff in this lawsuit has previously displayed a pattern of contempt for CNN on his social media accounts,” the spokesperson told USA Today in a statement in 2019. “This claim follows his unsuccessful threats and demands for an exorbitant amount of money from Don Lemon.”

Attorneys for Lemon have outlined a lengthy discovery process in court filings that saw Hice allegedly admit to deleting numerous social media posts. Lemon’s legal team also said Hice indicated in texts to the key witness in the case that there could be a financial reward for testimony corroborating his story.

Dustin Hice Claims that Don Lemon sexually molested
him three years ago ( 2018 ) at a Hampton bar

But that witness, a friend who was at the bar with Hice, apparently said in a deposition that he wasn’t sure Lemon actually had any physical contact with Hice. Text messages uncovered from a third witness during discovery showed Hice posing with a lemon in front of his crotch in front of Lemon’s home. A second photo in a recent court filing shows Hice and the key witness rolling on Lemon’s driveway.

That witness, who didn’t back up Hice’s version of events, was not put forth as a potential witness by Hice’s attorneys, Lemon’s court filings said.

A photo from a court filing showing Hice in front
of Lemon’s home.

The second court photo showing Hice and a witness
in Lemon’s driveway

Hice, who was a seasonal bartender at The Old Stove Pub in Sagaponack, joined some coworkers after work and ended up at Murf’s Backstreet Tavern.

Hice said he recognized the CNN anchor and called to the bartender for two Lemon Drop drinks in a play on the host’s last name. Hice claimed he was “being cordial.”

“I didn’t mean anything derogatory towards it,” he told Kelly. “But as soon as he said ‘I’m just trying to have a good time,’ I just walked away.”

Murf’s Backstreet Tavern were the alleged assault
 took place.

Lemon’s attorneys said in a court filing that Hice taunted Lemon and “repeatedly yelled” across the bar but that the host declined.

Hice claimed that Lemon came up to him several minutes later and confronted him, then launched his vulgar attack. The ex-bartender also claimed Lemon asked several times, “Do you like p—y or d–k” during the alleged incident.

Lemon’s attorneys said in its response to the lawsuit that the CNN host “is often subjected to racist and homophobic harassment” and denied any assault.

Pennsylvania couple charge after infant's body found hidden behind wall

 

Pennsylvania white couple charge after infant's body found hidden behind wall 

The mother admits she hid dead infant’s body inside of walls

By Edward Era Barbacena

A Pennsylvania white mother admitted she hid her baby son’s dead body in the walls of her home – after she took his remains along in a move from another house, police said.

Kylie Wilt, 25, told authorities her 1-year-old baby had been dead and hidden since February 2021, reports said.

Wilt, 25, told police that she placed her baby’s body in a crate and cut a hole in the wall in her Charleroi home before fixing the drywall and painting over it, according to the Washington County DA’s office

Investigators said agents with the state’s Child and Youth Services department came to her home last week to ask where her baby was, officials told WPXI. She reportedly told them that he was in North Carolina being watched by someone else.

She then changed her story, telling CYS that her 5-month-old baby had died in February of sudden infant death syndrome [SIDS] at the couple’s former residence.

CYS had been investigating Wilt’s baby for months after he was born with THC — the active ingredient in marijuana — in his system. Wilt knew that smoking marijuana during pregnancy could cause health issues tol the baby but she kept smoking marijuana until she gave birth.

After the baby died, she told police she became nervous. She, her boyfriend, and her three other children moved to another home three blocks away — and took the baby’s body with them.

Wilt told police that she hid the baby because she didn’t have enough money for a funeral. The baby’s cause of death is under investigation.

Former neighbor Robin Stasicha told KDKA that she had heard the baby crying “all the time” before the family moved.

“And all of a sudden, it didn’t one day and didn’t see them bringing him in and out and didn’t figure this is what happened.,” Stasicha said.

She claimed that she asked her property manager about the baby, who said the child had died.

“I was thinking, I’m here all the time,” Stasicha said. “I never saw an ambulance. Wouldn’t you call 911 if your baby wasn’t responding to you?”

Wilt is facing charges of concealing the death of a child, abuse of a corpse, obstruction of justice, welfare fraud and tampering with evidence. 

The baby’s father, Alan Hollis, is also facing charges of obstructing administration of law or other governmental functions.

 

Mom says Southwest Airlines thought she was trafficking her biracial daughter

By Edward Era Barbacena

Domestic flights in the United States is probably the worst in the world.  There are overwhelming number of reports of delayed flights, unruly passengers and now, passengers are being racially profiled.

A California woman is accusing Southwest Airlines of racial profiling, saying she was accused of human trafficking while traveling with her biracial daughter.

Mary MacCarthy of Los Angeles told CNN she and her 10-year-old daughter, Moira, were flying to Denver on October 22 after receiving news that MacCarthy's brother had suddenly died.

MacCarthy said they had a brief stop in San Jose and boarded another Southwest flight but realized then that they couldn't be seated together.

"I asked flight attendants if we could be seated together but they told us we'd each have to take a middle seat," MacCarthy said. "So with their permission I asked other passengers if they would kindly move so we could be together, especially as my daughter was grieving, and they did. People are nice.

When they arrived in Denver, MacCarthy said, she and her daughter were met on the jetway by two Denver police officers.

"I got quite a shock; having lost my brother the night before, I thought that someone else in my family had died and that police had been sent to deliver the news!" MacCarthy wrote in an email to Southwest Airlines' media team, which was included in the police report.

"As for my daughter, she was terribly frightened: she was already experiencing the trauma of her uncle's death, and she is scared of police due to constant headlines about how police treat Black people (she is Black). She began to sob and was inconsolable," her email said.

The officers assured her nothing was wrong but said they wanted to question her and her daughter, MacCarthy said.

"They said they were here because my daughter and I were reported for suspicious behavior, acting suspiciously before boarding and while boarding," she said.

"I took out my phone and immediately started recording. I told (the officer) who we were and that my daughter was crying because she had lost a family member," MacCarthy said.

According to a report from the Denver police, "Both Mother and child were cleared." 

The report also noted that officers were responding to a "possible Human Trafficking reported by South West flight attendant" -- but MacCarthy says she only found out two weeks later that she was suspected of human trafficking.

It was pretty obvious that the police call was made by a white employee of Southwest airline

"I got a call from Denver Police human trafficking unit letting me know they were following up on the incident," she told CNN.

CNN reached out to the Denver Police Department on Sunday afternoon about MacCarthy's claim but has not received a response.

MacCarthy accuses Southwest Airlines of racial profiling. She says she's retained an attorney and wants the airline to be held "fully accountable."

"I gave the airline plenty of time to contact me and apologize -- over two weeks later, I've yet to receive anything more than two brief automated responses. The time for an apology is long past," MacCarthy said.

In her email to Southwest's media team, MacCarthy said she wanted a written apology from the airline, immediate reimbursement of the full price of their tickets, and "additional compensation to account for the trauma imposed on an innocent family, and especially on a grieving ten year-old Black girl."

Southwest Airlines said it is "disheartened" by MacCarthy's account of the events and plans to reach out to her.

"We are conducting a review of the situation internally, and we will be reaching out to the Customer to address her concerns and offer our apologies for her experience traveling with us. Our Employees undergo robust training on Human Trafficking. Above all, Southwest Airlines prides itself on providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for the millions of Customers who travel with us each year," Southwest Airlines spokesperson Dan Landson said in a statement to CNN on Sunday.