Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Crime Alert 12.15.23

Episode Date: December 15, 2023

Shoplifter barricades himself in dressing room. Bus driver accidentally eats THC gummies.  For more crime and justice news go to crimeonline.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Alert, I'm Nancy Grace. Breaking crime news now. Note to all, if you need to know the time, just buy a watch. Don't steal one. Christopher Lawrence caught shoplifting at a Maryland Penny's. Instead of going quietly, the 37-year-old barricades himself in the fitting room armed with a knife. A SWAT team ultimately called in and deploys pepper balls in the changing room.

Nancy, after Lawrence locked himself in a dressing room, police evacuated the store before spending nearly four hours trying to get Lawrence out. Lawrence threatened officers with a knife all the while. Pepper balls are frangible projectiles that are typically used in situations where a suspect poses a threat and officers need to keep their distance. The projectiles are filled with a powder with effects similar to pepper spray. Lawrence taken into custody charged with first degree assault all over a wristwatch. Betty knows what time it is now. Remember the commercial bus driver who ate THC-infused gummies and passed out behind the wheel? There were 38 passengers on board.

Zhenwan Chen, 59, told a judge he didn't know the gummies contained the active ingredient in marijuana. He's now been assigned to a probation program. If he successfully completes two years of probation, the 38 counts of reckless endangerment will be erased. Hey, check your gummies next time. More crime and justice news after this. Now with the latest crime and justice breaking news, Crime Online's John Limley. We began in Florida as a judge sentences a dentist to life in prison for the murder of his former brother-in-law following a contentious custody fight. We turn to Sydney Sumner with Crime Online. 47-year-old Charlie Adelson was found guilty last month of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation in the 2014 shooting

death of Dan Markle in his car outside his home in Tallahassee. According to prosecutors, Adelson paid to have Markle slain. Jurors found him guilty in under three hours. During the eight-day trial, prosecutors presented evidence of wiretaps and conversations that were taped in secret and implicated Adelson. Phil Markle, Dan Markle's father, stated that he and his family had suffered tremendously, noting that in addition to losing his son, he also lost contact with his grandsons, who were three and four years old at the time of their father's death. Following her divorce from Markle, their mother, Wendy Adelson, Charlie Adelson's sister, who has denied involvement and is not facing charges, shared custody of the boys. In order to be nearer to her family, she wanted to move from Tallahassee

to South Florida, but a judge had decided that she couldn't leave without Markle's approval. He declined, citing his desire to keep the kids close to home. The prosecution told jurors that Adelson used his girlfriend, Catherine Magbanua, to hire the father of her two children, Sigfredo Garcia, to perpetrate the murder. Reports say that Garcia enlisted the assistance of a childhood buddy, Luis Rivera. Magbanua and Garcia are now serving life terms for first-degree murder, while Rivera is receiving a 19-year sentence after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for testifying against them. A week after her son's conviction in Tallahassee,

the 73-year-old matriarch of the Adelson family was unexpectedly taken into custody at Miami International Airport on suspicion of planning her ex-son-in-law's hitman murder. Donna Adelson had one-way tickets to Vietnam and Dubai, two nations with which the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty. Donna Adelson is still being held at the Leon County Jail without bond. She's facing the same allegations as her son. Prosecutors in Nebraska have charged a man with first-degree murder in connection with the stabbing death of a Catholic priest. According to authorities, the priest was attacked during a break-in at the church rectory and cried out for help just before he died of his injuries. counts of firearms offenses and burglary in connection with the crime that shook Fort Calhoun,

a small town where the Reverend Stephen Gutskull was the minister at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. Minutes after Gutskull called to report the break-in, just after 5 a.m. Sunday, deputies arrived at the residence according to an affidavit filed with the charges. However, the documents only said that the killing was planned and carried out deliberately during a burglary, providing no explanation for the attack's motive. No relationship between Williams and the 65-year-old clergyman is mentioned in the court papers. A woman who police say injured one person as she drove through a group of religious demonstrators multiple times in Montana's largest city,

allegedly told a clerk at a nearby convenience store that she was outraged that members of the group were expressing racist beliefs against white people. Once again, Crime Online's Sydney Sumner. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the Bronx-based group as, quote, an extreme and anti-Semitic sect of black Hebrew Israelites. Lieutenant Matt Lennick, a spokesman for the Billings Police, told reporters that the woman drove at or past the group of people multiple times while they were standing on a sidewalk holding signs and speaking into an amplifier. Authorities say the 45-year-old man struck in the incident had only minor wounds. After being detained for several hours, 55-year-old Genevieve Rancoret

was charged with eight felonies for assault with a weapon, the vehicle, felony criminal mischief, and driving while intoxicated. Rancoret is also being held on a motion to revoke a suspended or deferred sentence. Thanks, John. Melissa Lim Juan dropped off by family at a local Tampa park. The 39-year-old there to meet someone she's been talking with on Facebook. She's expected home that evening, but she never makes it. Calls to Melissa's phone that day go straight to voicemail, and since her July disappearance, her phone doesn't ring at all. Melissa's 5'10 and has blonde hair and blue eyes. If you have info on Melissa Lemoine, please contact Hillsborough Sheriff's 813-247-8200.

For the latest crime and justice news, go to crimeonline.com. With this crime alert, I'm Nancy Grace. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.