Kelly Loter, 48, the owner of Dallas’ Level Two advertising firm, has admitted his role in what he describes as a massive healthcare fraud scheme. The U.S. Department of Justice says Forest Park Medical Center paid more than $40 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals. Surgeons, primary care…
Dallas’ final crime numbers for 2016 are out and while crime remains historically low, Dallas’ murder clearance rate for the year, as reported by the Observer last month, took a dip last year to well below the department’s three-year average. Monday morning, interim Dallas Police Chief David Pughes told the Dallas…
As of a couple of months ago, it seemed as if former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel was getting a break. On Nov. 18, Dallas County prosecutors agreed to dismiss domestic violence charges against Manziel stemming from an alleged early 2016 attack on then-girlfriend Colleen Crowley as long as Manziel…
Over the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, many people had time off to be with, or hide from, friends and family. But the cops and criminals didn’t take the season off. Here are a few crimes that you may have missed during the holidays. Bite-and-Run Dog Attack: Late…
Violence marred Dallas’ 2016. The city saw 163 murders through Dec. 19, up 30 percent from the 125 murders Dallas suffered by the same day last year. While the city has come a long way since Dallas’ body count peaked at 500 in 1991, the murder numbers, combined with a…
The families of the officers shot and killed by Micah Johnson during a July 7 ambush following a downtown protest against police brutality are getting about $10 million from the Assist the Officer Foundation and The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings announced Tuesday. Dallas police Sgt. Michael Smith, Senior Cpl. Lorne…
On Monday, a Dallas County grand jury failed to reach a verdict in the manslaughter trial of ex-Garland cop Patrick Tuter, who killed Michael Allen Vincent while on duty in 2012. After the jury reported the lack of a verdict, Dallas County Judge Quay Parker declared a mistrial. Tuter and Allen’s lives…
On Wednesday afternoon, a Tarrant County jury convicted Fred Couch, father of Ethan Couch, DFW’s most prominent affluenza-stricken teenager, of impersonating a police officer. Despite the conviction, he’s avoided joining his son in the Tarrant County Jail. Couch received a sentence of a year of probation, 100 hours of community service and a $260…
In 2016, Transportation Security Administration screeners routinely detected more than 50 guns at U.S. airports. The 2,653 firearms discovered last year set an annual record for the TSA. North Texas residents set a high bar in 2015 when it came to bringing guns to the airport, accounting for nearly 8 percent…
Actor Judge Reinhold threw a major fit at Love Field Thursday. Dallas police arrested Reinhold, best known for his parts in Beverly Hills Cop, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and, a little more recently, Arrested Development, Thursday afternoon at Love Field after the actor took issue with being screened by…
In Dallas it’s a holiday tradition right up there with the Cowboys’ Thanksgiving game, mocking the Neiman Marcus Catalog and being pissed off at being stuck in traffic during the marathon — package theft season. As the temperature drops, the number of videos posted by local police agencies and angry…
Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda will spend the rest of his life in a federal prison. U.S. District Judge Terry Means sentenced Ledezma-Cepeda on Tuesday afternoon for interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit murder. Ledezma-Cepeda is the third person sentenced for his role in the 2013 Southlake murder of Guerrero Chapa, a lawyer for…
At 8 a.m., it’s a common sight to see elementary and middle school students walking to school in northeast Dallas. For one man, it’s also an opportunity. On Nov. 7, a Chevy Malibu pulled up next to a schoolgirl and the man behind the wheel asked for directions. When he…
John Battaglia, the Dallas man who shot and killed his two daughters on May 2, 2001, will not die next week. His execution, scheduled for Dec. 10, will now occur no earlier than February 2017, thanks to a stay of execution ordered late Friday afternoon by the Texas Court of…
Thursday morning, Crowley police revealed the details behind the grisly double murder of Troy and Mary Brewer. Police say that Carl Brewer, 17, killed his parents and prompted a 10-hour standoff at the scene of the crime. On Tuesday afternoon, police received a 911 call from a friend of Carl Brewer’s. The…
Wednesday, Dallas police identified the man they say is responsible for the Oct. 8 attack on Trent Kreslins. Kreslins is a University of Oklahoma senior who stepped in to stop a domestic violence attack in Uptown. According to Dallas police, Abdullah Bannat, 19, is the man who punched Kreslins after…
Police are warning the public about a man who has been lurking near Dallas schools and exposing himself to students. There has been at least four offenses reported in the past year anmd in one recent case, the man rubbed a victim’s breasts and genitals before fleeing. “The Child Exploitation…
Monday afternoon, Wichita, Kansas police released the identity of the woman they believe killed Laura Abarca, the mother of Sophia Gonzalez, the kidnapped infant found in a house near the Dallas Zoo during an early morning SWAT team raid on Saturday. Yesenia Sesmas, 34, recently moved to Dallas, said Wichita police Lt…
John Battaglia, who killed his two daughters on May 2, 2001, will be executed on Dec. 7, State District Judge Robert Burns confirmed Friday afternoon. Despite testimony from three psychologists that Battaglia might not understand his death sentence and that his execution is imminent — which is the Texas standard for…
Thursday, an intruder kidnapped six-day-old Sophia Gonzalez and killed her mother, Laura Abarca, in Wichita, Kansas. Early Saturday morning, a Dallas Police SWAT unit found Gonzalez and made two arrests at a Dallas home. Abarca’s boyfriend found her body after getting home from work just before 4 p.m. Thursday and…
Johnny Manziel’s winding legal journey appears to be coming to an end. The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office and Manziel’s defense team agreed Thursday to preliminary terms for dismissing the family violence charges filed against Manziel in April, according to the Associated Press. Manziel, winner of the Heisman Trophy during his…
So do we love our cops here in Dallas or what? Will our cops be happy now that we’re about to agree to more pay for them? People who know a few things about police issues in Dallas say the same thing to both questions. Maybe not.
