If you’ve ever thought that some of those fly-by-night cash-for-gold operations that sprout like weeds when the economy sucks are a scam, well, so does the U.S. Secret Service. Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins’ office sent word yesterday that a two-year joint investigation with the Secret Service wrapped up…
Three additional suspects were indicted yesterday for allegedly dousing a puppy in flammable liquid and lighting it on fire at a Pleasant Grove apartment complex in early April. The puppy, named Justice by people who rescued it, ultimately died from the burns that covered most of its body. Darius Ewing,…
On Memorial Day, two Mormon missionaries stopped by Rare and Out of Print Books and Art in Mesa, Arizona, to have their picture taken with a first edition of the Book of Mormon that was kept there. But when store owner Helen Schlie looked in the fireproof box where she…
The Dallas Police Department sends word that it has suspended officer Jakarsha Carter following a family violence call early this morning. According to the police report, Carter, 29, and a 25-year-old woman were arguing in a car in the 9800 block of Sophora Circle just after midnight. When the woman…
Horse racing may be a dying sport,, but it’s apparently enough of a going concern to be used by Mexico’s most powerful cartel to launder millions in drug profits. According to an indictment unsealed yesterday, Los Zetas, the notoriously ruthless organization that effectively controls large swaths of Mexican territory and…
In news sure to inspire furious bickering inside your television, a Texas A&M study has found that the castle doctrine — on which Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law is based — does not deter crime and, in fact, increases murder rates. The killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin by…
Meet the average modern Texas prisoner, released in 2009. He spent 2.8 years behind bars — 32 percent more time than his average prisoner predecessor released in 1990. If he was busted for a violent crime, he spent 5.3 years locked up, a 44 percent increase from his predecessor in…
The federal government has already accused Sam Hurd, a Dallas Cowboys receiver until a year ago, of being caught with a kilo of cocaine while trying to buy a lot more in an attempt drug-dealing network. Because a man’s got to live, right? How can a guy feed his family…
Dallas police just announced that they’ve arrested one of the two men suspected in the May 28 robbery of a Metro PCS store. That man is George Tucker, and he can be seen in the video above waving a gun at the store employees, a male customer, and, at one…
When 21-year-old John Husband was shot in the back around 5:30 p.m. on Saturday after a traffic stop turned ugly, everyone assumed the worst. Dallas police officer Leland Limbaugh pulled Husband over for not hitting his turn signal as he pulled into the Spring Ridge Apartments at 3600 Folklore Trail…
The Dallas Voice has been on this for a while now, but it deserves a belated mention. According to the Plano Police Department, two women were holding hands as they walked with an teenage friend through the parking lot of the Plano Sports Authority (a rec center) at about 2…
Most Tuesdays when the Dallas County Commissioners Court ends, reporters throng the dais to pepper the commissioners with questions. The question that was on the tip of everyone’s tongue this morning was “Hey John Wiley Price. Did you really embezzle and launder all that money like the FBI guy said?”…
Update at 2:36 p.m.:Police have posted a more detailed account of the shooting on their Facebook page: On June 2, 2012 John Robert Husband, 02/12/1991, was observed by Dallas Police Officer Leland Limbaugh #10051 driving into the Spring Ridge Apartments at 3600 Folklore Trail without signaling his intent to turn…
The FBI dropped a bombshell in federal court today with an affidavit by Special Agent Donald Sherman as to why, exactly, law enforcement felt the need to seize more than $400,000 in cash (thick stacks of $100 bills) and other assets from Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price last year…
In its own words, Raytheon is “a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security, and other government markets,” which is a fancy way of saying “We make a lot of money making military shit so the U.S. government doesn’t have to.” But with the war in Iraq officially…
Around 1:45 Tuesday morning, Lee Dell Thomas, Jr. climbed out of the vomit-soaked cabin of a crane high above SMU, dangled from the outside of the crane by two arms, then one, and then plummeted 150 feet to his death. It was a clumsy death, undignified, and quiet. Most of…
Update at 12:52 p.m.:Police have identified the man as 44-year-old Lee Dell Thomas, Jr. A news conference is scheduled for 4 p.m. at DPD headquarters. Update at 11:46 a.m.:The Dallas Police Department has posted an update of sorts on its Facebook page. They still have not identified the man and…
When I picked up the phone a bit ago, I was expecting a call back from a congressional candidate for whom I’d left a message. Instead, it was a robocall from a pleasant-voiced woman speaking Spanish. I would have hung up — I’ve forgotten what little I learned in high…
On May 5, the badly burned body of a man was found in a vacant field in far southeast Dallas, not far from the railroad tracks. Pieces of him were missing. The body’s condition made identification difficult, so Dallas police released macabre photos of his tattoos to the press: A…
Recent anthrax scares at preschools, synagogues, government offices, and just about anywhere else the U.S. Postal Service will deliver a white powder-filled envelope, not to mention the panting media coverage, has people on edge, calling in the cavalry at the sight of powdered sugar. Or blow. Dallas Fire Rescue’s Haz-Mat…
Every week writers for Dallas Observer and our parent company, Village Voice Media, produce elegant magazine-style feature writing — a gritty portion of which comes in the form of true-crime stories. Now VVM has collected some of its best recent true-crime yarns into an ebook: Seven Sins: A True Crime…
Darius Ewing, the 18-year-old black man who surrendered to Dallas Police after the death of the stray lab-terrier puppy Justice, saw his bail dropped from $100,000 to $50,000 at a hearing last week. Justice died on April 13, a little more than a week after the puppy was unsuccessfully hanged…
