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Florida woman allegedly caught hiding runaway teenage boy

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 09:26:00 +0000

Sherry Novelli (Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office).

A Florida woman was recently caught hiding a missing teenage boy she wanted to adopt, Sunshine State law enforcement says.

Sherry J. Novelli, 61, stands accused of one count each of interfering with the custody of a minor and contributing to delinquency, according to the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office.

On Feb. 10, deputies received the call about the missing boy from an academy for teenage boys who have had failed placement in foster care, the sheriff’s office said in a press release.

“Deputies learned that the boy had been granted permission to go to South County Park, but he was unable to be located when staff attempted to retrieve him from the park later,” the press release reads. “It was also learned that the boy had been involved in an unreported incident earlier in the day that involved a volunteer.”

Novelli was allegedly that volunteer, according to law enforcement. At the time the boy went missing, she was in the process of trying to adopt the boy — but earlier that day she was allegedly told to never have contact with the boy again.

The defendant when initially interviewed, allegedly said she last saw the boy at the park — but had simply given him food and left.

“The case was passed to a detective for further investigation,” the press release goes on. “The detective made contact with Crossroads and learned that Novelli had purchased the boy’s cellphone and was providing the service for it. She had also opened a bank account in his name.”

More Law&Crime coverage: ‘I ain’t hard to find’: Florida woman and sheriff’s office engaged in social media taunting battle over warrant

During the follow-up interview, Novelli allegedly reiterated that she did not know where the boy was — but suggested law enforcement look in Tampa — roughly 100 miles due north of the academy in Punta Gorda.

“She also wanted to know what steps were being taken to locate him,” the press release goes on. “The detective arranged to meet with Novelli, but Novelli missed the meeting, rescheduling for later in the afternoon because she had a dentist appointment.”

As the investigation continued, the detective allegedly learned that Novelli had not actually taken any formal steps to adopt the boy and had been rebuffed in her efforts to remove the boy from the academy because she was not his legal guardian.

More Law&Crime coverage: Florida woman allegedly threatens to burn down day care unless foster parent returns her infant daughter

Then, detectives allegedly pinged the boy’s phone and determined he was in Venice — a seaside town located roughly 30 miles northwest of Punta Gorda. The detective recalled that Venice was the same place Novelli said she was visiting her dentist.

“[T]he detective contacted several dental practices in that area to find where Novelli was receiving treatment and asked the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office for a deputy to check that location,” the press release reads. “The teen was located in Novelli’s car in the parking lot of that office. Both the teen and Novelli were taken into custody.”

The boy allegedly said he made the decision to run away after learning the defendant could no longer visit him at the academy, according to the sheriff’s office.

More Law&Crime coverage: ‘Stole a lighter and pushed her’: Florida woman arrested for allegedly shoplifting at Dollar General and shoving pregnant employee

Novelli had also given the boy his laptop as a means of communicating with her, law enforcement claims.

And that’s allegedly not nearly all.

“The detective learned that Novelli had set the teen up in a condo and would come spend time with him there,” the press release goes on. “She brought alcohol, cigarettes, and a marijuana vape pen for him, and the two would drink alcohol together there.”

The pair also allegedly employed the use of a “code word” to signal her visits. There is no allegation the relationship between the duo was sexual — and the boy told the detective as much.

Novelli was arrested on Feb. 13 and made bail the next day, jail records show.

“Youth who are enrolled at Crossroads Hope Academy have already had a rough go of things,” Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell said in a statement. “To further complicate their lives is not a ‘motherly’ thing to do, and it only further harms them. This woman made a series of poor choices.”

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Sleeping 9-year-old shot in drive-by caught on video

homesafetytechpros — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 05:44:46 +0000

Background: Bullet holes at a home in Atlanta where a 9-year-old boy was shot Saturday. Inset: Surveillance video allegedly shows the drive-by shooting in Atlanta that nearly took a 9-year-old’s life Saturday (WAGA/YouTube).

A 9-year-old boy in Atlanta was nearly shot to death while sleeping in his home over the weekend — with a bullet going through his back and into his leg, where it became lodged “close to a large artery” — during a drive-by shooting that saw his uncle return fire to “defend the family,” the victim’s aunt says.

“I was asleep,” the boy told local Fox affiliate WAGA on Saturday after being discharged from the hospital with the bullet still inside of him. “I was just crying because I was bleeding, and I didn’t know they were gunshots.”

The boy’s aunt, who asked to remain anonymous, said doctors told her the boy would be at risk of being paralyzed if they tried removing the bullet from his leg. He was shot early Saturday at around 3:45 a.m. by suspects in two different vehicles who were caught on surveillance video opening fire on his home.

“They said the bullet had went through his back and into his leg and the bullet is located close to a large artery, and if they removed it then he might not be able to walk,” the aunt said.

Footage obtained by WAGA shows the suspects pulling up on the child’s residence and stopping in front of it. They can be seen firing multiple shots at the home before speeding off in the two cars.

“My husband did return fire,” the aunt said. “We’re not sure if he hit anybody.”

At first, the family told WAGA they didn’t know whether anyone was hurt in the shooting, nor did they know if they were the intended targets. Another home that’s nearby has been targeted in multiple drive-by shootings, according to the aunt.

“Our house and the other house are identical,” she said. “My nephew, he was on the ground and I asked if he was okay, and he was bleeding from his back.”

Police say the boy was rushed to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta hospital after the shooting, where doctors were unable to remove the bullet from his leg. His aunt says they have to wait several weeks until they will know what to do.

“They have to give it a couple of weeks to monitor the bullet traveling so they can see if they can get him some surgery,” she told WAGA.

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‘MAGA Candidate’ caught stealing ballots in Indiana: Police

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 10:38:39 +0000

Inset: Larry Savage Jr. (Madison County Jail). Background: Savage allegedly stealing election ballots during a test of county voting machines (Madison County Election Board).

A 51-year-old former Republican congressional candidate in Indiana was arrested this week for allegedly stealing ballots during a public test of the state’s ballot card voting system. Larry Savage Jr., an elected precinct committeeman, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with one count of felony destroying or misplacing ballots and one count of misdemeanor theft, authorities announced.

In May, Savage came in 6th place in the Republican primary for Indiana’s Fifth District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, garnering 1.9% of the vote. On his campaign’s Facebook page, Savage writes, “I am a MAGA Candidate for U.S. Congress 2024” and that one of his reasons for running is to bring back “fair, transparent elections.”

According to a news release from the Indiana State Police, the incident took place during a test of the Voting System Technical Oversight Program (VSTOP) at the Madison County Government Center on Oct. 3, 2024.

“The test requires manual entry of a pre-audit group of ballots marked to record a predetermined number of valid votes for each candidate and on each public question,” police explained in the release.

“After the testing process, the ballots used are treated as if they were used on election day. Before the ballot card voting system can be used in an election, the machines are required to be tested openly to representatives of political parties, candidates, media, and the public.”

The Oct. 3, test involved four voting machines and 136 “actual candidate ballots marked for testing,” investigators said. Following the test, officials said they discovered that two ballots were missing from the initial ballot tabulation. An investigation revealed several videos that allegedly showed Savage being instructed on the validity of the test ballots and then “folding and placing both ballots in his pocket.”

The test was livestreamed on the Madison County, Indiana, government website. Savage can allegedly be seen rolling up two of the ballots and stuffing them in his pocket about 12 minutes and 45 seconds into the footage.

A judge granted a search warrant for Savage’s home and the missing ballots were located inside his vehicle.

According to a report from Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN, shortly after putting the ballot in his pocket, Savage allegedly approached a woman in attendance and, unprompted, said, “f—ed up ballots.” That woman, who was reportedly streaming the test on Facebook Live, subsequently went over to the election officials to ask if any of the test ballots were missing.

In fact, Savage reportedly commented on the woman’s livestream, essentially admitting to taking the ballots.

“3 ballots short!!! lol,” he wrote, per screenshots of the feed obtained by WXIN.

“Dont take anything,” Savage added.

Savage appeared to post a third comment on the feed, but the text is cut off in the screenshot.

As he was leaving the building, the station reported that Savage was seen outside the building showing another man the ballots he had allegedly pocketed. The other man reportedly patted Savage on the back a few times in response.

Footage of the police confronting Savage at his home was posted online and appears to show him claiming to officers that he asked an election official if the ballots used for the test were “real ballots.”

“She said ‘No, they’re sample ballots.’ So, when she said that, I rolled one up, put it in my pocket,” Savage tells officers. “I didn’t know we couldn’t take the thing. They even say ‘sample’ on them.”

Savage tells the officers that he was 10 minutes late to the meeting and that he may have missed any direct warning against taking ballots. WXIN reported that after being told that footage from the event showed that Savage never asked permission to take the ballots, he admitted he did not, but maintained that he believed he was allowed.

“If you got to Payless, or go wherever, it says sample and you usually can take a sample,” Savage says. “So that is the way I took it. I thought they were fake f—ing ballots.”

After an officer reads him the warrant, Savage appears to say, “They’re coming after us patriots. They don’t want us to be Americans anymore.” A short while later he reportedly told police “This is all political bulls—.”

Court documents reportedly show that when police searched his phone they found text messages clearly showing that Savage was fully aware that it was a crime to take the ballots from the facility.

Following his arrest, Savage was released on $500 bond. His first court date has not yet been scheduled.

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Man caught in militia group chat arrested in Jan. 6 riots

homesafetytechpros — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 20:31:17 +0000

Christopher Douglas Finney (Screenshots from court documents)

A New York man who filmed himself boasting, “We’ve done it! We are here!” as he entered the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection was arrested when FBI agents linked his militia chat group screen name “Chris Patriot” from the cellphone of another rioter facing charges, authorities said.

Christopher Douglas Finney, 32, is charged with obstruction of an official proceeding and civil disorder, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release.

He also faces several misdemeanor offenses that include knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

According to court documents, Finney traveled from his home in Hopewell Junction to Washington, D.C., for the “Stop the Steal” rally, where rioters subsequently disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election win.

Court documents outline Finney’s alleged participation in the insurrection and how he was caught after FBI agents searched the phone of another man charged in the Capitol breach and found messages in a militia chat group from an individual with the screen name “Chris Patriot” on a number subscribed to Finney.

The court documents list items he allegedly bought with his then girlfriend’s credit card at a Home Depot in New York before the riots: a Cyclone lightweight plate carrier vest, 3M Scotchguard Anti-Fog Goggles, CE 36-inch Plenum Cable Ties, and HDX 11-inch Bulk UV Resist Zip Ties.

Finney allegedly took cellphone video documenting his trip to the nation’s Capitol. Wearing a black baseball cap, goggles with a red border, a hand-held radio, and a protective plate carrier vest, he was near the Washington Monument on the morning of Jan. 6, but he couldn’t remember the name of the Capitol Building.

“We’re gonna be going up to, where they’re — what’s the building where they’re doing the counting at?” he says in one video, court documents said.

Someone off-camera says, “the Capitol” and Finney continues, “we’re going up to the Capitol, eventually. We’re gonna storm the Capitol. They’re not gonna keep us outta there. We’re gonna make sure that this is done correct and that Donald Trump is still our president.”

“We’re not gonna back down, stand down, we the people will not be silent anymore,” he adds.

Later, he’s seen on surveillance video addressing a crowd through a megaphone outside the fenced boundary of the Capitol’s restricted area, court documents said. About four minutes after he appears, the video records an off-camera reaction — “Oh s—, they got in” — as rioters breach the Capitol grounds.

“We’re storming the Capitol right now,” says Finney, in a face mask printed with a skull. “We just broke over the fence. As you can see, we have many many many people, millions of people, storming the lawn right now to the Capitol building. We started tearing down the fence; this is all fence right here as you can see. We’re going in there. Let’s go.”

Finney crosses the Capitol’s west lawn and scales a stone wall reinforced with fencing, saying “patriots” had accessed the southwest bleachers on the Capitol’s West Front, court documents said.

Finney allegedly shouts in outrage when U.S. Capitol police arrest an intruder on those bleachers. He expresses outrage that the police were detaining rioters and trying to control the crowd with pepper spray and flash grenades, calling such measures by “the riot squad” “pathetic” for “trying to disperse us.”

Footage from an officer’s body camera captures him facing a line of officers near the southwest bleachers. He retreated into the crowd from the police line, made his way to a media tower facing the center of the Capitol’s West Front, and reached scaffolding at the northwest corner of the Capitol’s West Front, documents said.

As Finney neared the entrance to the scaffolding, other rioters were tearing off the tarp that covered the scaffolding, exposing steps underneath that led to the Capitol’s Upper West Terrace.

“The wall is breached!” a rioter shouts.

Finney narrates: “So, we’re right up front now. They’re shooting paintballs at us. They’re shooting s— at — watch out! Watch out for the mace!” he says, pointing at an officer after coughing.

“We’ve all been sprayed. We can’t breathe, but we’re still movin’ forward. My face is on fire right now. … It hurts so bad right now, but we’re not gonna stop. We’re gonna keep movin’ forward …”

A siren is heard.

“I think we have people in!” he says.

He enters the scaffolding and climbs the steps beneath the scaffolding with the crowd.

“We’re makin’ it in. They can’t stop it. We will not back down, we will not be scared! We the people will not be stopped, we will not be stopped!”

He surged past the police line, over the steps and past bike-rack barriers onto the Upper West Terrace, authorities said.

“We’ve done it! We are here!” he says. “We have made it; we have made it to the Capitol.”

“Patriots, we have made it,” he continued as he approached the Senate Wing doors. “We are where they are counting.”

After turning to record other rioters rushing toward the doors, he says, “they’re breaking windows and s—, that’s not right” before saying, “this is 1776, all over again.”

He entered the Capitol at 2:14 p.m., quickly went back outside, and shouted angrily that “they” were shooting “patriots” in the Capitol before going back inside, court documents said.

Later, he allegedly says on recorded video, “From what I heard, Biden was certified; that’s bulls—. We’re not going to allow it. So, I love you guys. We’re gonna keep on fighting. We’re here. We’re not gonna give up. Be safe, everyone.”

Another video showed Finney with a view of makeshift weapons other rioters were attempting to deploy against a line of police officers preventing entry into the tunnel, court documents said.

“Push! Push! Push!” one rioter shouts to the crowd.

As the crowd pushed, another rioter threw an object emitting smoke at officers at the front of the tunnel.

Finney retreats down the steps as the entrance to the tunnel filled with smoke. His video shows a rioter throwing a broken piece of furniture at officers, another striking at officers with a baseball bat and a third making off with an officer’s riot shield.

A long wooden pole is passed in front of Finney as he faces the archway, and his gloved hand assists in passing the pole closer to the police line as a voice says, “Pass it up, pass it up,” before another rioter tosses it at police. A rioter jabs at officers with a pole, and other rioters beat officers with a bat and a riot shield.

Finney was arrested in Hopewell Junction on Thursday and will make a first appearance in the Southern District of New York.

It was unclear whether Finney has retained an attorney.

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