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Mortuary worker stabbed customer who filmed bodies: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 03:15:56 +0000

Background: Richardson Mortuary in Houston, Texas (Google Maps). Inset: Screenshot from the video taken by a customer (Instagram).

A Texas funeral home recently went viral for all the wrong reasons when an angry family member of a decedent filmed the conditions inside.

Richardson Mortuary in Houston, Texas became the target of a new investigation by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office after a video posted to social media showing several apparently neglected bodies spread like wildfire. KTRK, a local ABC affiliate, reported that once the video was posted by a family member of one of the deceased, several other family members arrived at the scene, worried about their loved ones inside.

One woman reportedly recognized her own grandmother, whom she told KTRK was “supposed to be cremated already.”

But the situation became even more chaotic when the man filming the video was confronted by an employee of the mortuary – who allegedly stabbed the customer.

Local Fox affiliate KRIV spoke to the alleged victim, who told the station at the scene that he was taking himself to the hospital. Police told KRIV that he had only suffered a “superficial” wound to the stomach, and that the employee might have been acting in self-defense. An investigation into the stabbing was ongoing.

Neither the alleged victim nor the employee were named, but the alleged victim’s sister spoke to several outlets including KTRK about the conditions inside Richardson Mortuary. Tamara McGruder and her brother, who shot the viral video, had gone to the funeral home wanting to check on the status of their mother and uncle.

When they arrived, they witnessed several of the dead being stored wantonly around the building, which was apparently undergoing construction. None of the rooms, including where bodies were being kept, had functioning air conditioning. Some of the bodies were out in the open, some in caskets or plastic body bags.

McGruder told KTRK, “It’s bodies in caskets, boxes, plastic bags. Its no A/C, its gnats. It smells like rotten blood.” She said that when she found her mother’s casket, “she had gnats in her face.”

Murita Brown was one of the family members who recognized her grandmother’s burial outfit in the video. She told KTRK, “I saw a lady in purple in the same suit as my grandmother, so I said, ‘Wait a minute, that look like my grand momma.””

She added that her grandmother was supposed to have been cremated last month, saying, “This was March the 21st and she was supposed to be cremated already, and we been waiting on her ashes and nothing having been happening.”

Demtrious Riley-Sylvester told KRIV that the mortuary told her family that her brother’s remains had been cremated, but found that was not the truth. She said, “It’s like some trash or a dog. Just throw him away like he’s trash, and she had me believing. We were just waiting on them to bring the ashes.”

Harris County Precinct 7 Constable Smokie Phillips told KTRK that he knew the business owner personally and told the station that he was currently in the hospital after having a heart attack. Phillips confirmed to the station that the owner allowed the bodies to be brought to other funeral homes.

Richardson Mortuary has reportedly been the subject of 14 complaints over the last 10 years.

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Day care worker allegedly slapped 2-year-old over spitting

homesafetytechpros — Sun, 26 Jan 2025 06:26:56 +0000

Joyce Perkins (Johnson County Sheriff’s Office).

An Indiana woman attacked a toddler but insists that she did not hit the child very hard, authorities in the Hoosier State say.

Joyce Perkins, 31, stands accused of battery on a person less than 14 years old, according to the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office.

The underlying incident occurred on Nov. 4, 2024, at Kiddie Academy of Greenwood on South Morgantown Road in Greenwood — a medium-sized city and part of the broader Indianapolis metro area.

Perkins first lost her job at the day care. The director told Johnson County sheriff’s deputies that he fired the defendant on the day the incident occurred, according to court documents obtained by Indianapolis-based NBC affiliate WTHR and Fox affiliate WXIN.

The director followed up by sending a video to law enforcement.

The footage allegedly shows a 2-year-old boy spitting on Perkins while she tends to another child. Then, the since-fired worker is seen “instantly” slapping the boy’s “face hard enough to spin him around and into a cabinet behind him,” according to a probable cause affidavit.

“I had to smack him because he spit all in my face,” the defendant is allegedly heard saying in the video.

Prosecutors say the video also contains audio of Perkins saying: “hell no” and “ya, he spit in my face, I don’t do that.”

More Law&Crime coverage: Day care worker repeatedly kicked toddlers in the back, 134 instances of abuse caught on film: Sheriff

After the alleged slap, Perkins is allegedly seen taking the boy out of the room by his shirt, according to law enforcement.

“Speaking generally, video evidence is very strong evidence and it’s good to have it,” Johnson County prosecutor Lance Hamner told WRTV. “I feel that as a prosecutor our job is to protect. It’s not to just enforce the law. The job requires we use the law to protect people.”

A detective reviewed the footage and eventually caught up with the defendant at her home earlier this week.

During an interview, Perkins allegedly told the detective she had “a reflection, a reflex,” to the child spitting on her. The defendant allegedly went on to say: “I didn’t hit him bad, you know, I just gave him a little small tap. He didn’t cry or nothing.”

Perkins allegedly said the boy was “acting up” on the day in question — by throwing toys while others helped to tidy the premises. The defendant allegedly said the child spit on when she asked him directly to help clean up.

More Law&Crime coverage: Day care teacher allegedly caught on video at work treating 3-month-old boy like ‘rag doll’ and ‘aggressively’ shaking baby bouncer until he went ‘limp’

The defendant allegedly went on to claim that she had not actually hurt the boy and allegedly may have defended her actions by saying: “he was the one spitting on me and that’s battery too.”

The detective is said to have responded that the woman’s alleged batterer was only two years old.

“It was my mother’s instinct to react,” the defendant allegedly reiterated. “He didn’t cry or nothing.”

Perkins was also reported to two state agencies.

More Law&Crime coverage: Georgia home day care owner arrested for second time in 2 weeks on over 30 child abuse allegations

In a statement, the day care center addressed the incident:

Recently, an isolated incident occurred involving a staff member who failed to meet our professional and ethical standards. We acted immediately, terminating her employment and reporting the matter to the Department of Child Services (DCS). The state licensing authority conducted a thorough investigation and confirmed that we responded appropriately and took every possible measure within our control to address the situation.

The law enforcement investigation is said to be ongoing.

Perkins was not detained as of this writing, jail records show.

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Florida woman allegedly shoved pregnant dollar store worker

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 18 Jan 2025 19:54:32 +0000

Inset: Maria Gritsaev (Flagler County Sheriff’s Office). Background: A Dollar General in Palm Coast, Fla. (Google Maps).

A Florida woman is behind bars for stealing from a Dollar General and attacking a pregnant woman, Sunshine State authorities say.

Maria Gritsaev, 34, stands accused of one count each of aggravated battery on a pregnant victim and petit theft by shoplifting, according to Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Jail records.

The incident occurred in early January, according to investigators. The defendant was arrested on Thursday.

On Jan. 2, deputies asked the public for help identifying the suspect. Law enforcement said the incident occurred at a store on Market Avenue at around 10:30 a.m. that day in Palm Coast – a medium-sized city roughly 30 miles north of Daytona Beach.

The suspect is said to have been a white woman who appeared to be in her late 40s. She was wearing a light-colored hat and scarf at the time. Police also noted she had long blonde hair – which authorities surmised might have been a wig. The wanted woman allegedly left the scene of the crime riding a silver mountain bike.

Law enforcement shared a blurry photograph of the alleged culprit seen from above when making their plea for citizen engagement. And, in the end, it was such engagement that moved the case forward.

“Here’s proof that just because the photo is bad doesn’t mean we can’t overcome it,” the sheriff’s office said in an Instagram post after an arrest was made. The post goes on to credit the defendant’s arrest to “an eagle-eyed social media user.”

More Law&Crime coverage: ‘My knee hurts’: Florida woman arrested after allegedly calling 911 over 30 times in a single year

Speaking with law enforcement, the Dollar General employee said she is eight months pregnant and that Gritsaev “stole a lighter and pushed her,” according to a charging affidavit obtained by Law&Crime. The defendant allegedly frequents the store, the employee added.

“[The store employee] stated that the female (suspect) did not have enough money to purchase the lighter, which costs approximately $2.00,” the court document reads. “[The employee] advised that when the suspect attempted to walk out of the store with the lighter without paying for it, she stood in front of her. [The employee] advised that the suspect then grabbed her and then pushed her out of the way.”

The defendant for her part, admitted to being in the store that day but denied what happened with the lighter.

More Law&Crime coverage: ‘She actually took the check by force’: Florida woman allegedly injures 83-year-old employer, steals her money and holiday cards after being denied $500 Christmas bonus

“Maria advised she was at the Dollar General and paid for the lighter,” the affidavit goes on. “Maria advised that a female employee [redacted] stood in front of her at the entrance. Maria further advised that she did not push anyone. Maria further advised that she was able to leave the store after getting around the female employee [redacted] and left the area because she did not want to be involved in any confrontation.”

Law & Crime contacted the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office for additional details on this story, but no response was immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.

The defendant is being detained in the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility on a combined $6,000 bond.

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Election worker fired for talking to Jon Stewart: Lawsuit

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 03:59:53 +0000

Virginia Chau, second from right, appears on “The Problem with Jon Stewart” (AppleTV+).

An election staffer in Colorado claims in a new lawsuit that the City and County of Denver booted her from a supervisor position for allegedly talking about poll worker safety on Apple TV+’s “The Problem with Jon Stewart” show — and now she’s suing.

Virginia Chau, a Voter Service and Polling Centers supervisor fired in 2022, alleges in a civil rights lawsuit filed on Monday that Denver officials axed her shortly after her Season 2, Episode 4 appearance. She claims the city didn’t appreciate her talking about the “increasing hostility from voters” being shown at the time toward “all election judges, particularly after former President Trump was spreading the Big Lie” about the 2020 presidential election being stolen from him, Chau’s lawsuit said.

Her lawsuit, alleging her First Amendment rights were violated, names the City and County of Denver, Clerk and Recorder Paul López and Elections Director R. Todd Davidson.

“Defendants’ termination of Ms. Chau constituted unlawful retaliation against Ms. Chau, who exercised her right to free speech when she spoke out as a private citizen about issues of public concern regarding dangers to and mistreatment of election judges,” says Chau’s complaint, obtained by Law&Crime on Tuesday.

“On Jon Stewart’s show, Ms. Chau raised concerns about threats against elections officials and the lack of training provided to those who work hard to ensure that our elections are safe, fair, and accurate,” the complaint explains. “Solely for that, Defendants terminated Ms. Chau from her position as an election supervisor.”

Before being fired, Chau’s suit outlines how she and other election workers were forced to deal with constant harassment and verbal abuse following the 2020 election, which she talked about with Stewart in the Oct. 2022 episode.

“[Chau] eloquently spoke about her personal experiences as a poll supervisor,” her complaint says. “At no time did she ever represent that she was speaking on behalf of Denver.”

While chatting with Stewart, Chau described how she and many other co-workers experienced “unprecedented racism from voters” in the wake of the election and COVID-19 pandemic, with people calling her the “China virus” and blasting her as not being a “real citizen,” the complaint says.

“It’s hard getting people to want to even participate,” Chau told Stewart of election staffers in the Mile High City. “We don’t have protections for poll workers or for elected officials.”

In her suit, Chau claims Denver officials failed to provide “necessary training and resources” to election judges that would keep them safe in an “increasingly hostile workplace,” her complaint says.

“Instead of heeding Ms. Chau’s call for more resources and training for election officials facing threats to their personal safety, Defendants decided instead to retaliate against one of their best, and most passionate, election workers,” the document charges.

Chau believes that Denver officials wanted to “punish” and “silence” her following her Stewart show appearance, with them first trying to demote her before the termination.

“Defendant Davidson offered Ms. Chau a demotion to hotline representative, explicitly because no member of the public would see her in that job and recognize her from the show,” her complaint says. “Ms. Chau asked Defendant Davidson if she was being removed from public view because, as an Asian female, she might be recognizable to anyone who had seen the show. Defendant Davidson responded that Defendants did not ‘want people to recognize [her] from the show.””

According to the suit, Chau was told by higher-ups that they were “disappointed” in her AppleTV+ appearance and that “it was not fair” for her to make the comments that she did in the episode. “[Davidson] insisted that she should have first cleared what she was going to say with Defendants — even though she was not representing Denver on the show,” Chau’s complaint says.

The now-former election worker is asking for compensation for non-economic damages, economic damages, “the physical and mental pain and anguish suffered,” and other compensatory and special damages.

“Defendants’ intentional actions or inactions as described herein intentionally deprived Plaintiff of due process and of rights, privileges, liberties, and immunities secured by the Constitution of the United States of America,” Chau’s complaint says.

Representatives for the City and County of Denver, López and Davidson did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Law&Crime.

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Preschool worker pinched boy with autism, 3, in groin: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 20:46:10 +0000

Keoni Ellis (Alachua County Jail).

A preschool worker punished a 3-year-old boy with autism who was horsing around with another student by pinching his groin area and pulling him by his ear, Florida deputies said.

Keoni Ellis, 28, is facing a charge of cruelty to children without great bodily harm, court records say. According to an arrest report obtained by Law&Crime, the Department of Children and Families called the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office to the CHILD Center for Early Learning shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Thursday for a possible child abuse case that occurred the day before.

Ellis was in a classroom supervising several children with autism. In the incident captured on surveillance video, the victim and another student appeared to be messing around. Ellis allegedly walked over to the victim and crouched down before pinching him in the groin/upper thigh area. The boy “immediately” backed away from Ellis and started rubbing the area where she pinched him, the affidavit says. He then further distances himself from Ellis and “sits with his legs crossed as if he is in a state of discomfort,” the affidavit said.

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Day care worker threw kid against wall like ‘luggage’: Cops

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 11:43:46 +0000

Kristie Kovarcik (Middletown Police Dept.) and the day care where she allegedly abused a child (WTNH screenshot)

A 47-year-old day care employee in Connecticut has been arrested for allegedly picking up a 2-year-old in her care and throwing the child into a wall “like a piece of luggage.”

Kristie Kovarcik was taken into custody late last month and charged with one count of second-degree reckless endangerment and one count of risk of injury to a minor, authorities announced.

According to a news release from the City of Middletown Police Department, detectives with the department’s Special Investigations Unit responded on Jan. 12 to a report of a teacher assaulting a toddler at the Town & Country Early Learning Center in the 100 block of South Main Street. The day care facility is about 15 miles south of Hartford, Connecticut.

Authorities said that the facility notified the victim’s parents about the incident and invited them to watch internal surveillance footage showing what happened. After watching the tape, the parents immediately went to the police station to file a report and request that Kovarcik be arrested.

One of the victim’s guardians described the surveillance footage to investigators, saying that Kovarcik walked over to the toddler, grabbed the child by the shirt with both hands and then “launch[ed] the victim through the air like a piece of luggage,” Greenwich Time reported.

Detectives also viewed the surveillance footage of the alleged incident, saying it showed that Kovarcik “picked up the minor child and tossed the child to the side,” per the release.

“The child’s head then struck a nearby wall, causing a minor contusion above his/her right eye. The Director of the facility heard a commotion and pulled up the surveillance camera for Kovarcik’s room,” police wrote. “She witnessed Kovarcik toss the child aside and heard the child’s head strike the wall. The Director entered the room and removed the child. She then reported the incident to the parents and DCF as required.”

According to Greenwich Time, investigators also watched a series of footage from randomly selected dates, one of which showed Kovarcik “forcefully shoving” a child out of her way on Nov. 1, 2023.

A clip from Jan. 8, 2023, reportedly also showed Kovarcik again engaging in abusive behavior.

“Kristie (Kovarcik) is observed lifting a second young child out of a chair by (the) shirt near (the child’s) shoulders and dropping (the child) to the ground,” the warrant reportedly states.

About 10 minutes later, she can reportedly be seen “kicking the victim, while the victim is already on the ground,” according to the warrant. A few hours later, Kovarcik was seen “forcefully pushing onto the chest” of a different child while trying to make the child sleep during nap time.

Police said they are reviewing the footage and creating a log to review if additional charges are warranted.

During a police interview on Jan. 12, Kovarcik told police, “I just kinda lost my cool,” and said it was a “very chaotic” day, Greenwich Time reported.

Kovarcik reportedly denied mistreating any of the children in her care and claimed that she was often left alone with the children and denied breaks for lunch, a claim authorities said was disproved by viewing the surveillance footage.

The day care facility released the following statement about the incident, reported New Haven ABC affiliate WTNH.

“Upon observing the incident involving Ms. Kovarcik on our internal camera monitoring system, we immediately initiated an internal investigation, notified the appropriate state authorities, and terminated the employee,” a Town & Country spokesperson said. “Our safety and training protocols are amongst the strictest in our industry, and we treat any such incident with the utmost seriousness. The safety and protection of the children in our care is always our top priority.”

Kovarcik appeared in court for her arraignment on Monday and was released after entering into a written agreement to appear again on April 2.

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