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Engineer killed wife, assaulted mom: Police

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:52:59 +0000

Background: News footage of the scene in Readfield, Maine where the body of Margeaux Whittemore was found in the driveway (WMTW). Inset: Sam Whittemore (Kennebec County Jail).

A Maine man was undergoing a mental health evaluation after he was charged with allegedly murdering his wife and accused of assaulting his mother.

Maine State Police said in a news release that on the morning of Feb. 19, a 911 call reported an “incident” at a home in Readfield, Maine. When first responders arrived at the scene, they found the body of his wife, Margeaux Whittemore, 32, in the driveway of the home, reportedly unclothed. Inside the home, they found his mother, Dorothy Whittemore, 67, suffering from “critical” injuries. Sam Whittemore, 34, was tracked down by troopers after he allegedly fled the scene.

Police stated that Whittemore’s father, whose name was not provided by police, was not at the home at the time of the alleged incident but arrived shortly after.

Dorothy Whittemore’s condition was upgraded since she was taken to the hospital. Margeaux Whittemore’s body underwent an autopsy on Feb. 20. Her cause of death was not disclosed, but the medical examiner ruled the manner of death as homicide.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Sam Whittemore is an engineer who used to work for SpaceX. He stated that he currently uses his engineering skills to improve coral reef restoration. Margeaux Whittemore, a yoga teacher, kept an Instagram account that recorded her global travels, including with her husband, but had seemingly not been updated since October 2024.

The couple had been visiting Sam Whittemore’s parents at their home, according to the police. There was no information about what ensued to cause the alleged attacks on Sam Whittemore’s wife and mother.

Upon being taken into custody, Sam Whittemore was transported to a nearby hospital for evaluation before being booked into the Kennebec County Jail. He was charged with murder and held without bail. He was initially expected to appear in court on Feb. 21, but via video conference, Whittemore’s lawyers cited a “competency issue,” according to reporting by WABI, a local CBS affiliate. The judge called for a competency evaluation as well as future status conference.

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14-year-old beat and sexually assaulted 91-year-old woman

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 22:20:50 +0000

Jesse Stone (Marion County Sheriff’s Office).

A teenage boy in Florida admittedly sexually assaulted a 91-year-old woman earlier this year, court records filed this week show.

Jesse Stone, 14, broke into the home of the nonagenarian victim over the summer, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

The woman woke up around midnight and saw someone “sneaking through her home,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release.

Then, the adolescent criminal brutally attacked his victim.

“In a cruel act of violence, she was beaten and sexually battered,” Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said at the time.

The incident occurred on June 9, near the town of Reddick — a tiny town some 90 miles northwest of Orlando.

In the immediate aftermath of the shocking incident, law enforcement offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

By June 17, the assailant was in custody.

The sheriff offered a lengthy statement taking stock of the case:

I told everyone last week that we would find the person responsible, and we have. I’m very proud of the hard work that my detectives and forensics team have done on this case to bring about a quick closure. This type of unimaginable violence is still shocking to me after all of my years in law enforcement. The Reddick community has shown its resilience and support for us and their community through all of this. I also want to thank all of the citizens that sent in tips and leads in this case. It came as a shock that any individual would commit such an act on a 91-year-old, but it is truly disturbing when we see the young age of the arrestee. Although I firmly believe he should be held accountable for his crime, as a father, my compassion goes out to his family. Hopefully his arrest will lead to getting him help that prevents any further such acts.

A neighbor of the victim provided law enforcement with videos of Stone, the sheriff’s office said, according to Tampa-based NBC affiliate WFLA. Then, the neighbor saw the teenager riding his bike — wearing the same clothes he had on the night of the attack.

Investigators said they used DNA evidence and results from a rape kit to confirm Stone was, in fact, the culprit responsible for the crime.

“It’s a very meticulous, tedious process, but a lot of agencies don’t have that resource,” Marion County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Paul Bloom told the TV station. “A lot of their DNA is sent off and the results take a long time. We don’t want that. We don’t want time with this person out there to potentially attack another victim.”

During a subsequent interview with law enforcement, Stone allegedly admitted to breaking in, punching, and groping the woman.

The teenager was charged as an adult with one count each of sexual assault by someone under 18 years toward a victim over the age of 12 and burglary of a dwelling with battery, court records show.

He originally pleaded not guilty — but changed his plea on Nov. 7 before Fifth Judicial Circuit Judge Lisa Herndon.

Stone’s sentencing hearing is slated for Dec. 19.

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Man allegedly sexually assaulted sleeping hospital patient

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 06 Oct 2024 03:24:01 +0000

Inset: Shamon Pearce (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Grady Memorial Hospital (WSB).

A Georgia man allegedly high on crack was found naked in a stroke patient’s room at an Atlanta hospital in a case of attempted sexual assault of a sleeping patient.

Shamon Pearce, 24, faces charges of aggravated assault, battery and misdemeanor sexual battery in the attack of the 47-year-old woman, online jail booking records show.

The incident happened on Sept. 27 at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, police said. Nurses initially spotted Pearce smoking from a crack pipe in an elevator before he entered the room of a patient recovering from a stroke, reported Michael Seiden, with Atlanta’s ABC affiliate WSB, citing the police incident report.

The victim woke up as the suspect was trying to put a sheet over her head, the report said the woman told police. When she asked what he was doing, he became aggressive, climbed onto her and told her to be quiet and not move, the report said she told police, the outlet reported.

“She then realized what he was doing,” according to the report. “She began moving and telling him to get off her and they both fell off the bed. She tried to scream for someone to help.”

Hospital staff found the suspect naked and the patient on the floor of the room, the report said.

A nurse took images on her phone and called for other nurses to help, the document said.

The nurses tried to lock Pearce in the room to prevent him from escaping, but he overpowered them, ran down the hall naked and went down a set of stairs, the news station reported.

Pearce allegedly hid in a basement trash can for an hour before finding a used hospital gown, putting it on and walking out of the facility. He was arrested nearby, allegedly initially telling officers he had been discharged from the hospital hours earlier, according to the incident report.

He later allegedly confessed, telling police, “he got on the bed with her and rolled over on her, he was high and smoking drugs and he was just trying something new,” the report said.

In a statement, the hospital said, “The safety of our patients, staff, and visitors is our top priority.”

The hospital outlined additional security steps, including increasing security staff throughout the hospital, locking inpatient units and requiring badges to access the area. Hospital officials also said visitors must contact the nurse’s station to enter any unit.

“A robust visitor management system will be installed,” the statement said. “This system will ensure we can account for every person inside the hospital. We will be implementing an alert system that equips staff with wearable mobile panic buttons for emergency situations.”

Pearce was being held at the Fulton County Jail with bail set at $10,000, online records show.

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Men assaulted police as crowd called them ‘Nazis’ on Jan. 6

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 02:32:57 +0000

Background: FILE — Violent rioters loyal to President Donald Trump storm the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021 (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File). Insets, top to bottom: James Link Behymer, Donald Lee Moss (Dept. of Justice court filing).

Two Indiana men have admitted to fighting with police on Jan. 6 as hordes of angry Donald Trump supporters descended on the Capitol building.

Donald Lee Moss, 62, of Elizabethtown, Indiana, and James Link Behymer, 61, of Hope, Indiana, pleaded guilty to one count each of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, federal prosecutors announced Friday. According to court filings, the two friends were part of the riotous crowd of Donald Trump supporters who faced off against Metropolitan Police Department officers outside the Capitol as Congress was set to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win.

They joined a mob that surrounded officers and shouted obscenities and curses at them at around 2:01 p.m. that day, despite being told to move back.

“Sir, step back for your own safety,” one officer said, extending his hand toward Behymer, according to court documents. After other officers echoed this instruction, Behymer responded defiantly.

“USA! USA! USA!” he shouted, while simultaneously Moss pointed toward the Capitol building and shouted: “This is our f—ing house!”

As an officer extended his hand to keep Behymer back, Behymer swung his fist down, striking the officer’s wrist, prosecutors said. When the officer again tried to move Behymer back, he struck the officer’s arm again while Moss shoved the officer’s hand off Behymer.

“Get your f—ing hand off of him!” Moss shouted as the mob constricted around the police. After hitting the officer, Moss forcefully pushed another officer from behind.

Moss and Behymer were among the mob as the chaos escalated.

“F— you! F— Nazis!” rioters shouted. “Go back to the Gestapo training camp!” Members of the crowd also called the officers “traitors.”

Moments later, Behymer grabbed an officer’s hand and baton while the officer tried to keep Behymer away. This went on for a few minutes, prosectors said.

The two ultimately entered the building at around 2:13 p.m., which is when rioters smashed some of the Capitol’s glass windows and started to stream inside. After encouraging other rioters to enter the building, the two men made their way toward the Capitol Crypt and the hallway toward the Senate Wing doors.

At around 2:31 p.m., Moss is seen on surveillance footage crossing the Crypt lobby and placing it “directly in the path of the retractable ceiling door to prevent the door from closing,” prosecutors said.

Donald Lee Moss, circled in red, left, is seen putting a chair below a retractable ceiling in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 (Dept. of Justice court filing).

Rioters’ success in keeping the gate open was a significant factor in the Capitol breach, authorities said.

Around 10 minutes later, the two exited the building, only to go back in again around 10 minutes later after rioters broke through a barricade set up at the Senate Wing doors. They ultimately exited the building for good at 3:34 p.m.

The charge carries a potential eight-year prison sentence. Moss and Behymer will be sentenced on Feb. 13, 2025, before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, the Barack Obama appointee who is also overseeing the federal criminal Jan. 6 case against Trump.

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Teacher sexually assaulted minor and made him drive her car

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 14:28:18 +0000

Jessica Lawson (Saint Anthony Police Department).

An Idaho teacher who admittedly sexually assaulted a teenage boy will spend up to two decades behind bars after taking a plea deal.

In August, Jessica Lawson, 36, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery of a child. On Thursday, she was sentenced by Senior District Judge Stephen Dunn to between two and 20 years in prison — where she will have to attend sex offender treatment. Upon release, Lawson will have to register as a sex offender.

The plea agreement wipes out two charges of felony rape of a minor, as well as charges of felony delivery of a controlled substance and misdemeanor dispensing alcohol to a minor.

The since-condemned woman was arrested in November 2023 after a traffic stop where law enforcement found the victim behind the wheel of his abuser’s vehicle because she was too drunk to drive herself.

The compounded crimes were remarked upon by Idaho Deputy Attorney General Madison Allen during the sentencing hearing this week, according to a courtroom report by East Idaho News.

“Jessica Lawson, who was 36 years old at the time, had an unlawful sexual relationship with a 16-year-old minor male victim when she picked him up from his home secretly without his parents’ permission,” Allen said. “She took him to her house where the two began to drink alcohol and then they engaged in sex acts together.”

The defendant’s defense attorney also briefly spoke.

“She wishes to apologize to the victim,” Allen Browning said. “She has agreed and understands that she will be going to prison. She understands that in the interest of justice, that is appropriate.”

On Nov. 6, 2023, Lawson’s vehicle was pulled over because the taillights were out. The basic traffic stop soon took on much greater importance when police found the teenager driving and the intoxicated teacher in the passenger seat.

The teenage boy would go on to tell authorities that Lawson had given him marijuana that night while she drank alcohol. He said the woman picked him up from his parent’s house around 11 p.m., and then they returned to her home, where she drank, he smoked, and they had sex.

That same night, Lawson called the minor’s parents to tell them she had taken him to her house and given him alcohol, but she did not admit to giving him marijuana or having sex with him, East Idaho News previously reported.

After being arrested, she initially pleaded not guilty.

On Thursday, the former teacher apologized to the boy and his family.

“I alone am responsible for my actions, but I believe (a prior) relationship was the catalyst that set me down the path to where I am today,” Lawson said. “I want to apologize to the victim and his family for any pain that I have caused. I want to apologize to the community and anyone I’ve let down.”

During a victim impact statement, the boy’s father discussed the long road ahead for the family going forward — noting that he and his wife adopted the victim just days before the crime.

“It takes a village to raise a young man, especially a young man that has been in and out of foster care, that has never known what it’s like to have a mom and a dad,” the boy’s father said. “My son is going to take a long time to heal and he doesn’t even know the wounds that he has yet. He’s not going to understand those wounds until he’s a parent, and he’s sending his daughter or son … to the house of a parent that he trusts.”

Brandi Buchman contributed to this report.

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Rioter who assaulted cops gets prison, can see son graduate

homesafetytechpros — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 18:32:36 +0000

Right: Convicted of assault, Jan. 6 rioter Jason Farris is circled in yellow in an exhibit from the Justice Department. Inset right: Jason Farris, as identified in Capitol riot footage by federal prosecutors. (Images via FBI court filings.)

Texan Jason Farris shoved police violently to the ground on Jan. 6 and helped the mob remove a barricade that led to another cop being knocked unconscious once struck in the head by a wooden beam soaring through the air. For his role in the riot and assault, Farris was sentenced to 18 months in prison this month.

But it won’t stop him from seeing his son graduate this summer.

Farris, 45, was sentenced to by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Feb. 23. He pleaded guilty last October to a single charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers at the Capitol. He was also sentenced to 24 months supervised release and was fined $2,000. Though he faced other charges including obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder — which carried a potential five-year sentence — he struck a plea agreement for the assault charge in March 2023.

When he was sentenced last week, according to a paperless minute entry for proceedings, Jackson granted a prosecutor’s request to dismiss the remaining handful of disorderly conduct and trespassing misdemeanor charges. Farris was ordered to self-surrender and be released on his own recognizance.

The judge also agreed, according to a separate minute entry on the federal docket in Washington, D.C., to fit him with an ankle bracelet and “subject [him] to stand-alone locating monitoring” while he is authorized to travel this June from his home in California “to attend his sons high school graduation scheduled for June 6, 2024, provided that defendant provides Pretrial Services with his precise itinerary, including all transportation and lodging information, one week before the date of his travel.”

“Defendant must contact Pretrial Services within one business day of his return. All other conditions of release remain the same,” the Barack Obama-appointed judge ordered.

In his own sentencing memorandum to the court seeking leniency, Farris expressed remorse for his actions at the Capitol and attached letters of support from his family members.

Beyond assault, his actions at the Capitol included his taunting of police and screaming at them about how they should be ashamed of themselves.

“I bet your family is proud of you, f—— f—– ass,” he allegedly said to an officer, invoking an anti-gay slur.

Farris’ aunt, however, said when she spent the Christmas holiday with Farris, her own husband and their children, her nephew had turned over a new leaf.

“Jason did talk about the incident that took place on January 6th, and he repeatedly expressed his disappointment in himself about his involvement and expressed how sorry he was for the embarrassment it has caused the family,” she wrote. “Jason also expressed remorse for getting involved and wished he had never gone to the Capitol. Jason is aware he will be getting some time in prison for his involvement and while serving his time has expressed that he plans on doing a lot of self-reflection, self-improvement and looking into ways to
better himself for when he is released. Jason’s employer in Texas will be holding his position for him when he is released from Prison. There is nothing Jason could do that could make me love him less.”

Prosecutors said Farris came all the way from Dallas, Texas, to Washington, D.C., to attend Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally at the Ellipse. He went from Trump’s speech to the Capitol, marching on the lower west plaza where he joined a crowd of rioters who were confronting police.

In a statement after sentencing, the Justice Department said Farris had approached officers and yelled: “You ain’t s—. Ain’t none of you s—,” while he hit a baton held by an officer.

Rioters grabbing metal bike racks being used by police to stem the tide were turned against them and it was Farris who walked up behind one officer and shoved him with both hands, knocking him to the ground.

The officer regained their footing momentarily before a large wooden beam came soaring through the air. It had been thrown by a rioter toward him in the seconds after Farris had tangled with police over the barriers.

Third-party video showing police being hit by the wooden beam less than fifteen seconds after he was shoved to the ground by Farris, according to Justice Department court records.

Metropolitan Police Department body camera footage shows Jason Farris, circled in yellow, moments after pushing officer to ground at Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.) Courtesy U.S. Department of Justice.)

“The impact of the object knocked the officer to the ground and caused them to lose consciousness briefly. Two days later, the officer was diagnosed with a concussion,” the department said.

In their own sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors urged the court to sentence Farris to 27 months. When he assaulted police on Jan. 6, they wrote, he also “ascended the stairs to the Upper West Terrace of the Capitol … climbed onto a mechanical window-washing machine attached to the front of the Capitol building and, with two other rioters, operated it so that it rose up several stories on the face of the Capitol building.”

Left: Third-party video footage of Jason Farris using a flagpole to hit a window of the Capitol building provided by Justice Department. Right: Metropolitan Police Department body-worn camera video showing Farris using a slur to insult police officers. (U.S. Dept. of Justice trial exhibits.)

“As the crowd below cheered, Farris used the end of a flagpole to strike a glass window of the Capitol. After he came down, Farris illegally entered the Capitol building, where he remained for a short period of time. He exited only after he saw police officers with guns,” they wrote.

An attorney for Farris did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

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