Latest news with #kidnapping
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Blue city mayor nearly kidnapped after claiming city is getting safer: police
Just one day after Mayor Paul Young of Memphis touted declining crime in the city, a man was arrested for allegedly stalking and attempting to kidnap him. Trenton Abston, 25, was arrested Wednesday and charged with attempted kidnapping, stalking and aggravated criminal trespass against Young, according to the Memphis Police Department (MPD). Police said in an announcement on Facebook that public and private security camera footage showed Abston scaling the wall to the mayor's neighborhood and walking to Young's home. He was arrested with a TASER, gloves, rope and duct tape in his vehicle. Thanks to a rapid response by MPD officers, as well as security camera footage, Abston was quickly apprehended, the department said. "We understand the concerns raised by this incident and want to reassure the public that the Memphis Police Department remains fully committed to the safety of all residents, including our city's elected officials," the police department said. "We take any potential threat seriously and will continue to act swiftly and thoroughly." According to Shelby County, Tennessee jail records, Abston remains behind bars as of Friday, and his bond has not yet been assessed. It is unclear whether he has an attorney, and the Shelby County public defender's office could not be reached for comment. The suspect was arrested just one day after Young took to X to defend the city after comments made by sports analyst Stephen A. Smith, who said NBA players don't want to play in Memphis due to safety concerns. "The people in Memphis, it's a great sports town — great fans, great people — but there's an element there where cats like Jimmy Butler and others don't feel like it's the safest environment," Smith said on Tuesday's edition of "First Take" on ESPN. "I'm talking to the local authorities in Memphis. You've got to clean some of that stuff up because it's dissuasive to NBA players. They have talked about it. I know. They've told me. That's all I'm saying." The comment sparked backlash from Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant and from Young. "talkin bout the grizz more than the finals [laughing emoji] wit these [cap emoji] ahh sources," Morant posted on X. "instead of focusing on the performances we seen from jdub/shai, tj/Siakam, how this series is going. We say sumn negative about a city/team on a national level." Young also weighed in on X. "Stephen called us a great sports town - facts," he said. "Best fans in sports? True. People of Memphis? Unmatched." "But what he is missing is that crime is down significantly in 2024 and 2025. We're not just talking change, we're delivering it. Memphis is rising and we've got the numbers and the heart to prove it." He also thanked Memphians and Morant for standing up for the city, and invited Smith to come to Memphis, where he is welcome "anytime." Young's office and the Shelby County Sheriff's Office did not immediately return comment requests. MPD said the security footage was not available for release.
CBS News
20 hours ago
- CBS News
Aurora man sentenced 99 years to life in prison for robbery, sexual assault of hotel employee
An Aurora man has been sentenced to 99 years to life in prison for a series of violent crimes he committed just six days before Christmas in 2020. Khafre Buxton, 37, was sentenced after he was convicted on all counts against him. Those charges include second-degree kidnapping, sexual assault, aggravated robbery, first-degree burglary, unlawful sexual contact and a violent crime sentence enhancer. According to prosecutors, Aurora police officers were dispatched to an aggravated robbery call at a Quality Inn located in the 1000 block of S. Abilene Street in the early morning hours of Dec. 19, 2020. Khafre Buxton Arapahoe County Around 3 a.m. Buxton arrived at the hotel and knocked on the door. The front clerk let Buxton inside and that's when he pulled out a machete. Buxton took the front clerk and a security guard to a back office to obtain money from a filing cabinet. Buxton then kidnapped the female front desk clerk. Buxton left the hotel with the victim in his car and drove to a nearby hardware store where he sexually assaulted her. Aurora police officers spotted Buxton's car down the street from the Quality Inn and initiated a traffic stop. That's when the victim was able to escape the vehicle and ran toward officers. Buxton was arrested. "The defendant terrorized an innocent front desk clerk and a security guard who were doing nothing more than working their routine job that night," Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Gallo said in a statement. "Instead of taking cash and leaving, Mr. Buxton continued his crime spree by kidnapping the clerk and sexually assaulting her. I commend the Aurora Police Department for their quick response times which ultimately led to the capture of the defendant less than a mile down the road." Buxton was formally sentenced on June 13.
Daily Mail
20 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Predator, 66, who posed as an Uber driver and had a 'rape kit' with a balaclava and Viagra in his car is found guilty of kidnapping and sex crimes
A predator who posed as an Uber driver to pick up 'vulnerable and intoxicated' women he could abuse has been found guilty of kidnapping and sex crimes for a second time. Graham Head, 68, was found with a 'rape kit' consisting of latex gloves, condoms, Viagra tablets and a balaclava in his car when he was arrested in November 2022. At his home, police found business cards advertising him as a 'N-Uber driver' with the slogan 'Safe and Reliable - For All Occasions' emblazoned underneath one of his phone numbers. Head kidnapped and attempted to rape a 25-year-old woman after he offered her a free ride home in his silver Mercedes in the early hours of November 18, 2022. He also assaulted a 19-year-old woman by penetration in a separate attack. In July 2023, Head from Pevensey, East Sussex, was handed a 23-year sentence for sex crimes and kidnapping. The Court of Appeal later overturned the conviction in November last year following a complaint from Head relating to the judge who presided over the original trial. Now, today he has been convicted of all the charges again by a jury of seven men and five women after eight hours of deliberation at Lewes Crown Court. During the trial, jurors heard that Head was a 'sexual predator' who 'slipped up' the night he was arrested by police. He claimed that he offered the 25-year-old a lift home but did not touch her and never met his other alleged victim. Prosecutor Paul Jarvis KC said: 'The defendant is a sexual predator. Basing himself in Pevensey and ostensibly working as an unofficial Uber driver or taxi driver. 'He was also looking for vulnerable young women who he could sexually abuse. 'He carried Viagra and condoms with him, either on his person or in his car, as well as latex gloves. 'He would use the latex gloves to minimise the risk of leaving traces of his DNA on his victims.' Head had two mobile phones and was 'savvy enough' to know that if he kept them on while he was driving, the network provider could record his movements. He therefore kept them on flight mode while he was searching for victims, the court was told. The two attacks are said to have taken place in the early hours of August 19, 2022, in Hove Park and on November 18, 2022 outside the alleged victim's home. Mr Jarvis said: 'Now in August 2022, she (the first victim) was 19 years old. When she was, we say, intoxicated and vulnerable in the early hours of the morning the defendant sexually assaulted her in Hove Park.' 'In November 2022, she (the second victim) was 25 years old. 'When she was also vulnerable and intoxicated in the early hours of the morning, Mr Head kidnapped her and sexually assaulted her in his car and then drove off leaving her distressed on the roadside. 'On both occasions, the defendant was driving his grey Mercedes estate motor vehicle with the registration number L21 GRH.' The 25-year-old was able to remember the 'L21' portion of Head's number plate, which led to police pulling his car over and arresting him the same night, jurors heard. 'He slipped up on November 19, 2022 in two respects. First because his victim was alert enough to be able to memorise part of the licence plate for the police to be able to identify his car when they saw it,' said Mr Jarvis. The 25-year-old had been on a night out and had consumed alcohol and cocaine on the night in question, the court heard. Her account is that a man pulled up alongside her and told her he was an Uber driver who had just finished his shift but would give her a free ride home. Journeys from Middle Street, in Brighton, where the victim left Monarch Bar, to the victim's home address were found after analysis of the satnav in Head's Mercedes. Mr Jarvis continued: 'He offered to give her a life home but his real plan was to drive around until he was satisfied she was fast asleep so he could sexually assault and rape her. 'He drove close to her home address and tried to rape her in the back seat of his car but she came to and kicked him away.' The 25-year-old has since died and did not give evidence at the trial. Head will be sentenced on August 22.
CBS News
21 hours ago
- CBS News
"American Nightmare" kidnapper Matthew Muller pleads guilty to 1993 kidnapping, sexual assault in Folsom
"American Nightmare" kidnapper Matthew Muller pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges related to a 1993 cold case in which prosecutors said he forced two campers out of their tent and sexually assaulted one of them. The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office said on Thursday that Muller, who was 16 at the time, used a gun and ordered two young campers out of their tent near Folsom Lake. Prosecutors said "he tied the male up and carried the female away to sexually assault her." The district attorney's office said its cold case, science and technology unit played a key role in linking Muller to the 32-year-old case. They added that Muller later admitted to the crime. Muller was sentenced to 11 years to life in state prison, prosecutors said. This sentence will be served consecutively to his life sentences for a pair of home invasions in Santa Clara and his 40-year sentence for federal crimes relating to a 2015 case in Vallejo. Earlier this year, Muller pleaded guilty to charges in connection with home invasions in Mountain View and Palo Alto in 2009. In Mountain View, prosecutors said Muller broke into a female's home, attacked her, tied her up, made her drink a concoction of medications and told her he was going to rape her. The victims persuaded Muller against it. Just a month later, he broke into a Palo Alto home where prosecutors said he bound and gagged a woman and forced her to drink Nyquil. He then assaulted her and was again persuaded to stop. He pled no contest to two counts of forcible rape of Denise Huskins in 2015. Huskins was kidnapped from her Vallejo home in what police had thought was a hoax.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alleged trespasser at Memphis mayor's home charged with attempted kidnapping
A man accused of trespassing at the home of the Memphis, Tennessee, mayor has been charged with attempted kidnapping and stalking, according to police, who said the suspect had a Taser, gloves, rope and duct tape in his vehicle at the time of his arrest. The suspect was apprehended and charged after police investigated "suspicious activity" in Mayor Paul Young's neighborhood, the Memphis Police Department said Wednesday. "On Sunday night, around 9:30 pm, a man jumped a wall leading into our subdivision," Young said in a statement. "We now know that he walked straight to our home, knocking on the door with gloves on, a full pocket, and a nervous demeanor." MORE: Georgia man charged with making threats against Senators Ted Cruz and Deb Fischer: DOJ Surveillance footage showed that the individual went directly to the mayor's residence upon scaling the wall and did not approach any other home in the neighborhood, according to the Memphis Police Department. The suspect -- 25-year-old Trenton Abston -- has been charged with attempted kidnapping, stalking and aggravated criminal trespass, police said. He is detained at the Shelby County Sheriff's Office jail and is scheduled to appear in court on Friday, online jail records show. It is unclear if he has an attorney at this time. The Memphis Police Department credited the "rapid response" of its officers and the surveillance footage throughout the neighborhood with quickly identifying, locating and arresting the suspect. "We understand the concerns raised by this incident and want to reassure the public that the Memphis Police Department remains fully committed to the safety of all residents, including our city's elected officials," the department said in a press release. "We take any potential threat seriously and will continue to act swiftly and thoroughly." MORE: Break-in reported at home of slain Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman: Police The incident comes amid heightened concerns over violence against elected officials, after two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses were shot on Saturday in what prosecutors called "political assassinations." Democratic Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed, and Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were wounded in the attacks. Young, who has served as Memphis' mayor since January 2024, cited the Minnesota shootings while making a plea that political violence "cannot become our norm." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mayor Paul A. Young (@mayorpaulyoung) "In today's climate, especially after the tragic events in Minnesota and the threats my wife and I often receive online, none of us can be too careful," Young said in a statement on Instagram while sharing a photo of him and his family. "The link between angry online rhetoric and real-life violence is becoming undeniable." "Let's do better," he added. "Let's raise our discourse, reduce the hate, and protect one another -- no matter our beliefs. Let's reclaim our strength as one community. Let's choose love."
