Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 03.21.23

Episode Date: March 21, 2023

Texas teen kidnapped and locked in a shed for two weeks. Coffee shop owner caught spying on customers. For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.com  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Alert, I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking crime news now. George Camacho, 34, sends online messages to a 13-year-old girl, convincing her to meet him in person. He parks outside the teen's Texas home, and when she comes out, he throws her in the car and takes off. They head to his rental property in North Carolina.

Camacho locks the girl in a shed two weeks before cops can track him down. Prime Online's John Lindley. Nancy, Camacho groomed the girl over several months before abducting her across six state lines. The property owner from whom Camacho rented told authorities Camacho had lived there for two years and he had no idea the girl was with him for two weeks before she was found. The girl is now safely reunited with her family. Camacho now charged with child kidnap, restraint, human trafficking, rape, and indecent liberties. A customer uses the restroom at We Spy Coffee and More. As he's washing his hands, he notices a camera glued to the bottom of the sink,

facing, of course, the urinals. The customer confronts the co-owner, Spiridian Volkerikas, who would not speak to him when Florida cops get involved. Volkerikas admits to recording male customers using the restroom. Police have encouraged anyone who remembers using the restroom at the coffee shop recently to contact them as there may be more victims. The investigation has yet to reveal a clear answer on how long the camera has been in place and if the other owner or employees were aware. Von Herakis now charged with battery and video voyeurism.

More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Lindley. Two students were injured in a shooting outside a Dallas area high school Monday and police arrested the person suspected of opening fire. The shooting began on a high school campus in the suburb of Arlington around 6 55 a.m. before many students arrived for the first day back to classes after the spring break. One student was injured by gunfire, another was hurt by debris from the shooting, and both are receiving medical care.

Further information on the students' identities or conditions could not be immediately provided. Arlington police say the suspected shooter never entered the Lamar High School building and was arrested soon after officers arrived on the scene. They said the scene was secure in a tweet at 7.21 a.m., but have not released any more information about the shooter. A Massachusetts man who tried to hire a contract killer to kill his wife after she sought a restraining order against him instead asked an undercover federal agent to do the job. Sydney Sumner with Crime Online.

56-year-old Massimo Merengue faces up to 10 years in prison at sentencing after pleading guilty in federal court to murder for hire. Authorities started investigating in January 2021 when someone went to law enforcement and reported that Merengue had complained about the restraining order and asked for assistance in killing his wife. Federal investigators directed that person to introduce Merangi to an undercover agent posing as a contract killer. Merangi met with the agent in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, discussed a price of $10,000, and provided the agent with a photo of his wife's home and explained how to evade surveillance. At a second meeting, he provided the agent with a $1,500 deposit, a photograph of his wife, a description of her car, details about her work schedule,

and indicating when he would have custody of their children, which he said would be the best time for the construction work to start. Sentencing in the case is scheduled for June 8. The Memphis police supervisor on scene when Tyree Nichols was beaten to death by officers retired with his benefits the day before a hearing to fire him. This, according to documents filed to revoke his law enforcement certification. Lieutenant Dwayne Smith was identified in records obtained by media outlets as the officer that officials said earlier this month had retired before his termination hearing. Some Memphis City Council

members were upset an officer was allowed to retire before steps could be taken to fire them, including the council's vice chairman, who said it didn't seem fair that the then-unidentified officer could keep his pension and other benefits. The attorney for Nichols' family said the department should not have let Smith, quote, cowardly sidestep the consequences of his actions and retire after 25 years. Seven other Memphis officers were fired after Nichols died following a traffic stop January 7th, and five of them are charged with second-degree murder. Smith is not charged in Nichols' death. Spanish police have announced that they have seized a homemade narco-submarine able to

carry up to two metric tons of cargo. Once again, Crime Online's Sydney Sumner. Police came across the 30-foot-long craft last month while it was being built in Malaga on southern Spain's Costa del Sol during a broader international drug operation involving five other countries and the European Union crime agency Europol. The 10-foot-wide, semi-submersible craft is made of fiberglass and plywood panels attached to a structural frame, has three portholes on one side, and is painted light blue. It has two 200-horsepower engines operated from the inside. Rafael Perez, head of the Spanish police, said the vessel had

never sailed. Similar drug-smuggling vessels have in the past been discovered in the Atlantic Ocean, especially off Central and South America. They sit low in the water to escape detection and rarely are able to fully submerge. The wider police operation against the alleged international smuggling ring netted hundreds of kilos of cocaine, hashish, and marijuana in various places in Spain, with 52 people arrested. Spanish police said in a statement that police in Colombia, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Portugal also were involved in the operation.

New York cops respond to a call and find Forbes, March, and Oscar Guardado siphoning used cooking oil out of a container behind a restaurant. The restaurant sells their cooking oil to companies like Buffalo Biodiesel, that in turn convert it into biofuel. March and Gradardo siphoned about $1,000 of oil before cops catch them in the act, both being now charged with grand larceny of used cooking oil. For the latest crime and justice news, go to CrimeOnline.com. For This Crime Alert, I'm Nancy Grace. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.