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‘Furry’ who called himself a ‘beast’ sentenced to prison

homesafetytechpros — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 04:09:26 +0000

Frank Felix and Joshua Acosta (Fullerton Police Department).

A 33-year-old California man will spend the rest of his life in prison for murdering three people, including the parents of a 17-year-old girl he became obsessed with after meeting her in the “furry” subculture nearly nine years ago.

Frank Sato Felix was found guilty last year of three counts each of first-degree murder and enhancements of multiple murders, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said. On Friday, a judge sentenced him to three life terms behind bars.

The victims were 39-year-old Jennifer Goodwill-Yost, and her husband, 35-year-old Christopher Yost, along with their friend Arthur “Billy” Boucher, who happened to be spending the night at the home at the time of the murders.

According to a courtroom report from the Orange County Register, Yost’s sister made a victim impact statement.

“No sentence can erase the horrors of that night,” she said.

Felix also made a brief statement in which he reportedly called himself a “beast.”

“To the families and the victims, I would trade places in a minute with those who were killed,” he reportedly said.

As Law&Crime previously reported, prosecutors say the teen girl in 2016 “was introduced by her mother to the ‘furry’ subculture, which involves people dressing up in animal costumes.” It was at these events where the girl met Felix, then 25 years old, and his buddy Joshua Charles Acosta, an Army mechanic stationed at Ft. Irwin in Barstow, who was 21 at the time.

According to prosecutors, Felix became “obsessed” with the girl and was eventually “romantically involved” with her.

Goodwill-Yost and her husband, 35-year-old Christopher Yost — the girl’s stepfather — disapproved of the relationship. Felix decided he needed the parents out of the way so the 17-year-old girl could run away with him. He gave Acosta a shotgun and ammunition and on Sept. 24, 2016, they drove to the Yost home in Fullerton.

More on Law&Crime: ‘Planned to kill the whole family’: Man fatally stabs girlfriend and her mother, tells cops he would ‘do it again’ if he got out of prison, police say

They waited until the Yosts and Boucher went to sleep. The girl came outside and sat with Felix in his truck parked in the driveway. Armed with the shotgun, Acosta slipped inside the home. Acosta executed Boucher as he slept on the couch. He then went into the master bedroom where he shot Goodwill-Yost in the face. Yost ran for his life and tried to escape to a patio area. But Acosta tracked him down and shot him in the head.

Acosta, Felix and the girl headed back to Felix’s house in Sun Valley, where they burned their clothes and tried to destroy their cellphones, prosecutors said. Meanwhile, the Yosts’ other children, ages 6 and 9, were sleeping in the home at the time of the murders and woke up to find their parents and Boucher dead. They called 911.

After an investigation, Fullerton police arrested Felix at his home and Acosta at Fort Irwin. Prosecutors charged Acosta with three counts of first-degree murder. A jury convicted him in 2018, and a judge sentenced him to life in prison.

“Two little girls, six and nine, went to sleep not knowing the last time they would see their parents would be when they woke up to find them shot to death,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “The trauma inflicted on those little girls compounded by the loss both of their parents in such a violent way is beyond heartbreaking. Violence is never the answer, and a sick and twisted plan turned into life behind bars for two young men.”

As for the teen girl, the Orange County Register reported that she testified at Acosta’s trial that she had no knowledge of the plot to kill her parents. She reportedly told the jury that her stepfather had been molesting her for more than a decade. After telling Felix about the abuse, she claimed he threatened to tell her mother about the molestation unless she had sex with him. Prosecutors never charged her with a crime.

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Woman stabbed to death called cops on old classmate: Police

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 22 Mar 2025 09:47:16 +0000

Left: Brandon Braxton (Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office). Right: Whitney Heard (Facebook).

Almost a year after a North Carolina woman was found stabbed to death in her home, one of her former classmates allegedly confessed to the crime while in jail.

According to an affidavit filed on March 20, Brandon Braxton, 33, was charged with the murder of Whitney Hurd, 32, who was found dead in her home on July 14, 2024. Braxton, who was in custody at the Mecklenburg County Jail on an unrelated charge, reportedly submitted a grievance on March 3 with a note that read, “I killed Whitney Hurd.” Detectives confirmed through video surveillance that it was Braxton who wrote the note. Braxton, who has a long list of arrests in North Carolina, was named as a person of interest in the case and has now been formally charged.

Hurd was discovered in the early afternoon of July 14, 2024, and just hours before that, one of her neighbors told police that she saw a man driving Hurd’s white BMW X3 away from her home with no one in the passenger’s seat. She reportedly told police that Hurd “never let other people drive her car.”

The affidavit stated that the vehicle was later found using cellphone data from Hurd’s phone, which was never recovered.

Law&Crime’s “Sidebar with Jesse Weber” recently delved into Braxton’s criminal past and his history with Hurd, a former classmate from high school. According to the affidavit, Braxton was interviewed by police on Aug. 8, 2024, a couple of weeks after Hurd was found dead. At the time, police said that Braxton confirmed they used to “hang out” in high school and that he had been inside her residence. He denied to police that he had ever been in her vehicle. Braxton, who had just been signed out of jail after being arrested for an unrelated crime on July 24, 2024, reportedly acknowledged that he was aware of what had just happened to Hurd.

When police asked Braxton about the last time he saw Hurd, he reportedly said, “she looked petrified.” He also allegedly told police that he “would not provide further details” when asked if he knew where she was.

The affidavit stated that during interviews with Hurd’s friends and family, they said that while Hurd and Braxton “used to be friends” in high school, the two lost touch over the years. They also said that Braxton “began showing up at her residence,” and recounted an incident during which he “had fallen asleep intoxicated” in Hurd’s driveway “when she wouldn’t let him in.”

At some point, per the affidavit, Braxton allegedly broke into Hurd’s home, which prompted Hurd to call the police and inform her friends.

Police said in the affidavit that fingerprints found at the crime scene and in Hurd’s SUV matched Braxton’s. Phone records also allegedly showed that Braxton was in the area at the estimated time of the crime.

Braxton remains in custody at the Mecklenberg County Jail without bond after being charged with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon.

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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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Man called cops on his own “Breaking Bad-style” drug lab

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 11:02:56 +0000

Matthew Leshinsky mug shot (Suffolk County DA’s Office); Police seizing equipment from Matthew Leshinsky’s drug lab in Suffolk County, New York (News12 screenshot)

A 23-year-old man in New York will be going to prison after he called the police and unwittingly exposed his own Walter White-esque drug lab last year, which he had been falsely operating as a legitimate business.

Matthew Leshinsky pleaded guilty on Thursday to multiple drug charges, including unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine in the third degree, authorities announced.

“This defendant was operating a Breaking Bad-style drug lab and tried to conceal it under the guise of a legitimate business,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said in a statement. “He then inadvertently turned himself in when he reported that a burglary occurred at that same business.”

According to the DA’s office, Leshinsky called 911 at about 3:30 a.m. on June 7 to report a burglary in progress at his “purported business establishment, Quantitative Laboratories, LLC, in Ronkonkoma, New York.”

Once there, first responders saw “broken glass” at the entrance of what appeared to be a laboratory.

“While the officers continued investigating, they discovered what appeared to be a clandestine laboratory that was involved in the manufacture, production, and preparation of methamphetamine and dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a hallucinogenic substance, amongst other controlled substances,” the release states.

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Jurors rule for Davis Polk in former associate’s retaliation suit; defense called his claims a ‘conspiracy theory’

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 11 Feb 2024 17:24:28 +0000

Law Firms

Jurors rule for Davis Polk in former associate’s retaliation suit; defense called his claims a ‘conspiracy theory’

By Debra Cassens Weiss

January 29, 2024, 2:50 pm CST

(Image from Shutterstock.)

Federal jurors in New York City ruled for Davis Polk & Wardwell on Monday in a suit by a fired Black associate who claimed the law firm retaliated against him after he complained about racial disparities.

The plaintiff, Kaloma Cardwell, “appeared stoic as the verdict was read,” according to coverage by Law.com, which reports that jurors deliberated for about three hours. Law360, on the other hand, reports that deliberations lasted a little more than two hours.

Jurors found Davis Polk and two former firm leaders who remained in the suit had no liability.

Cardwell had claimed Davis Polk created “a pretextual record” against him, assigned him to fewer M&A deals, gave him lower-level assignments that could be performed by someone with lesser skills, isolated him and ignored him. He was fired in August 2018.

At trial, Cardwell said he was the target of a “secret scheme” to oust him, the Law360 story reports. He testified it was “impossible” that his work was as bad as portrayed in some reviews.

U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods had barred Cardwell from pursuing discrimination claims because of inadequate allegations, but the judge did allow jurors to consider retaliation.

At trial, the defense had contended Cardwell received mixed feedback even before he claimed discrimination, according to the Law.com story. Cardwell’s view of the case was a “conspiracy theory,” according to the closing argument by Davis Polk lawyer Jeh Johnson, a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.

One witness, professional development manager Rocio Clausen, testified about an instance in which Cardwell refused a request to help the law firm’s credit group with an assignment because it would take time away from his work in the mergers and acquisitions group.

Clausen said Cardwell was working fewer hours than other M&A lawyers, and his reaction “is not the traditional response, especially as an associate at a big, very very good law firm.”

She also described Cardwell’s body language during their meeting as “cavalier.”

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Officer loses defamation case after being called a racist

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:26:45 +0000

A screengrab from a local TV station showing Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Cincinnati in 2020; the chryron addresses an earlier development in the case. (Screengrab/WKRC)

An Ohio police officer has lost his defamation claims against several racial justice activists who accused him of being a racist and “white supremacist” during a dispute after a city council meeting in 2020.

A three-judge panel on Ohio’s First District Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a defamation case brought by Cincinnati police officer Ryan Olthaus in a 16-page opinion released on Wednesday.

In July 2020, Olthaus, at first anonymously, filed a lawsuit complaining that Julie Niesen, Terhas White, Allisa Gilley, James Noe, and several other unnamed Does defamed him over his use of the “OK” hand gesture – where one’s thumb and forefinger connect in a circular shape while the three remaining fingers are extended.

A trial court initially allowed Olthaus to remain anonymous in court filings – though his identity was broadly known. The Ohio Supreme Court later made the officer’s name a matter of public record.

The underlying incident occurred during a demonstration that followed a special open forum held by the Cincinnati City Council in June 2020. There is no dispute that Olthaus made the hand gesture in question. The officer claims that gesture was meant to signify how a fellow officer was doing – in response to a question from White. The activists, however, took the symbol quite a bit differently.

“In various ways, they publicly criticized Officer Olthaus and his gesture, describing him, primarily in social media posts, as a ‘white supremacist’ and calling the gesture a ‘white power’ hand sign,” the appellate court explains.

Olthaus alleged some of the defendants spread false and defamatory statements about him in social media posts that referred to him as a “white supremacist kkkop” and “white supremacist piece of s–––,” among others. Additionally, Olthaus alleged two of the plaintiffs falsely filed complaints with a local oversight board that accused him of using a “white power” hand signal while on the job and for using “a white supremacy hand-signal towards citizens of color.”

In the summer of 2022, all of the defendants moved for dismissal. After various motions, Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Shanahan ruled in the activists’ favor, finding that all of their comments were either true or constitutionally protected under the First Amendment.

The officer subsequently appealed. But, the appeals court explains, he did not appeal on the actual merits of the case itself.

“Olthaus fails to directly address the trial court’s reasoning on appeal,” the opinion reads. “Instead, he emphasizes the notice-pleading standard and the harm that Defendants’ statements occasioned, responding to the trial court’s reasoning only to assert that ‘[i]n the political atmosphere that existed at the time of the incident, Appellees’ statements rose above mere opinion when they were designed to personally attack and cause harm.’ But this statement does not reflect the standard for recovery under Ohio defamation law.”

In a somewhat blistering opinion, the court goes on to point out the legal deficiencies in how Oltahus’s appeal was structured:

Tellingly, Officer Olthaus cites no case law to support this argument, does not suggest the trial court used the wrong legal standard in its decision, and does not assert that it misapplied any relevant case law. Rather, he broadly asserts that the trial court got it wrong and assures us that he could prove his point later in the litigation. Such an argument does not provide us with any basis for reversal. It is incumbent upon an appellant to explain to us, with citations to authority and the record, how the trial court erred.

The appeals court notes that the form of the appeal itself would have been enough to affirm the lower court’s dismissal. But, after all the dressing-down, the appeals court offers to address the “substance of the issues as we understand them.”

And, there, still, Olthaus falls short.

Calling the pejoratives used to describe the officer as racist “plainly subjective, value-based” and unverifiable, the court determined that there is no actual, commonly-understood meaning of the terms, but rather an emotional one that will be different based on the person reading them. And, the court found, the same was true for the hotly-disputed “OK” hand gesture.

“Officer Olthaus musters no argument for how someone would plausibly go about proving or disproving one’s white supremacist bona fides,” the opinion reads. “Similarly, Defendants’ assertions that Officer Olthaus flashed a ‘white power’ hand sign is not susceptible to reasoned methods of verification. It is undisputed that he made a particular hand gesture — what is disputed turns on the subjective meaning of the gesture, with both the officer and Defendants offering competing interpretations.”

In other words, the appeals court found that all of the accusations “represent opinions, rather than facts that can be tested to determine their veracity.” And, the court determined, “accusations of bigotry similar to those present here are not actionable in defamation.”

Notably, the appeals court found that the Ohio Constitution offers an even more ringing – and explicit – protection of opinion than the U.S. Constitution. The appeals court also went on to apply the First Amendment to the ancillary issue of whether or not some of the defendants acted with actual malice. That standard relies on a longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent that makes it nearly impossible for a public figure or official, like a police officer, to prove defamation.

“We recognize and appreciate Officer Olthaus’ point that the allegations of white supremacy were incredibly damaging to him, personally and professionally,” the opinion reads. “Social media has the capacity to ruin lives with the click of a button, but courts do not exist to referee debates on those platforms, nor could we do so consistent with the First Amendment and the Ohio Constitution.”

On March 2, when the trial court dismissed the officer’s lawsuit, Niesen posted on Twitter: “Today’s not a bad day for the First Amendment.”

On Dec. 27, when the appeals court affirmed the lower court’s ruling, she posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Today is *also* not a bad day for the First Amendment ”

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