MINI TRUE CRIME ROUNDUP: Man arrested near Trump golf course, teen clown faces murder charges, a priest scandal and more

WBBM also reported on another woman facing serious charges this week. In November 2020, the DuPage County State's attorney says Rosa LaGrone suspected her boyfriend Darnell Mans was dating another woman. So she shot Mans in their Naperville home and then did a live video chat with the alleged other woman while Mans was seen on the floor in a pool of blood. Manz died a few days later. This year, a jury found Lagrone guilty of first-degree murder and a judge just sentenced Lagrone to 38 years in prison. Roger Plummer News Radio 105.9 WBBM. In Philadelphia, a murder conviction might soon be overturned. Let's hear about it from Odyssey Station, KYW News Radio. Billy D.A. Larry Krasner says his office will appeal a judge's decision to overturn the first-degree murder conviction of the man found guilty of killing officer Moses Walker 14 years ago. K-W. Crime and Justice reporter Kristen Johansson joins us live with the latest. Kristen? Yeah, Matt, the hearing happened yesterday, and we did ask Larry Krasner about it, who didn't say anything about it, but today he was flanked by both the mother of Moses Walker, the police officer who died more than a decade ago and by the president of the FOP, and he says that he will appeal the overturned murder conviction of Raphael Jay Jones, who was the accused shooter in this case. If the appellate courts disagree, we will be retrying this case. We have a lot of evidence to do so, and we will be retrying it vigorously. So yesterday, Judge Jennifer Schultz ruled that because a former homicide detective, Philip Nordo, who has been convicted of sexually assaulting witnesses, was tied to this case as part of a confession. One of Jay Jones's confessions to the crime. It could have altered the defense's strategy in this case. But that confession was actually never used at trial. So that's where they believe that there is a case here where they can appeal to the Superior Court. Krasner says, obviously, that they're going to appeal to both the Superior Court. Court and the Supreme Court level, and they are confident about that because they believe that they have a mountain of evidence. I should mention here that Moses Walker's mother, Waniah Walker, who was present, talked about her son a lot and actually said that today would have been his 55th birthday. KYW also provided an update on the murder of a rec center employee that rocked the nearby community around four years ago. A third defendant gets sentenced in the murder of a Philadelphia rec center employee nearly four years ago. KYW's John McDevitt reports. Prosecutor said in September of 2022, two groups of juveniles were involved in a shootout. Outside the Mill Creek Rec Center, Rec Center employee Tiffany Fletcher, was caught in the crossfire. She was shot in the torso and later died. Tiffany's mother, Geraldine, was at the sentencing of one of the defendants, Tevin Kee, where the 21-year-old apologized to the victim's family. They take a human body like it's nothing.

But God created that body. Her body is his temple. She's with him now. Assistant District Attorney Jeff Anjowski. Mr. Key did enter a open or non-negotiate a guilty plea to murder to third degree, conspiracy to commit murder to third degree, and two firearm offenses. He was sentenced to 12 and a half to 25 years in prison, which is consistent with his co-defendant sentences. Mackie Jay Jones and Malik Flagler pled guilty in 2024 to third degree murder. They were sentenced to 10 to 25 years. than 12 and a half to 25 years in prison, respectively. Since the murder of the Middle Creek Rec Center's name has been changed to honor the victim, it's now the Tiffany Fletcher Rec Center. John McDevitt. KYW News Radio 1039 FM. Another case KYW reported on this week involves a man on trial for allegedly killing his wife. Her disappearance went unsolved for years. Now her husband is about to go on trial. Alan Gould is accused of killing his wife, Anna Machiska, Machiaska, who vanished from their Malvern Chester County home back in 2017. Investigators have never found her body. Her family says that while she was looking into divorce, she never would have abandoned her son. Gold was charged last year with first-degree murder. His lawyers say, after years of innuendo, Mr. Gold is looking forward to the opportunity to clear his name in court. He's set to appear for a pretrial hearing today. His trial is set to begin in a week. And KYW also reported on a deadly roadway incident in Newark, New Jersey. A Delaware man has been charged with murder after fatally shooting a motorcyclist during a road range incident in Newark. KYW's John McDevin reports. According to Delaware State Police, occupants of a Hyundai Allantra got into a verbal altercation with a man on a motorcycle at the intersection of Salem Church Road and old Baltimore Pike in Newark. Officials say 46-year-old Jason Palletti a bear was shot and killed when he got off his bike at the intersection and reached for something in a saddlebag. What he was reaching for... is not being disclosed by police right now. Investigators say it was 28-year-old William Simpler Jr. of St. George's Delaware, who allegedly fired the fatal shot. Simpler was in the front passenger seat. The suspect was tracked down at his residence where he was taken into custody without incident. Simpler was charged with murder first degree and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. John McDevick. KW News Radio 103.9 FM.

Odyssey Station KMOX in St. Louis reported on a case involving a teen in a clown costume. A 15-year-old scene in viral video wearing a clown costume now formally charged with first-degree murder in East St. Louis. That's the sound from a ring camera. The court documents show St. Clair County prosecutors charge the teenager in juvenile court for the fatal stabbing of 78-year-old John Allen. They're seeking to try the teen as an adult. Police found Allen's body in the street near 76th and State Monday night before tracking down the teenager and collecting that doorbell footage of him in costume. In Pittsburgh, Marty Griffin of Odyssey Station KDKA Radio reported on a shooting incident in the city that happened last Sunday and about efforts to reduce crime. I want to play this clip. There was a homicide last night in the strip district. Listen to this. Listen.

and she's on scene. Female approached her at her car, and the caller shot her in the face. There's lots of screaming going on in the background. We have no additional information. 211, we're coming into the area. Copy. That's unbelievable. It's from the gate 27th and Liberty is the intersection. 252 base medicine for Code 3 on this, correct? I'll see where they're up. Code 4 on team for them. From medic 6, we're at 28th Street. 280. done so can we get a mobile crime and a VPU. All right, thanks. That was a homicide. My man, Mike Fisher, Pittsburgh scanner. Wow, sounds like the way it's presented, brother, self-defense case almost, right? Marty, that's probably if I were to be the defense, I would go that way. I would say this would be self-defense, but the burden of proof is on the person who pulls the trigger. Mike is very intuitive about what's happening in the city because it's his game and he's the pro. We don't get a lot of homicide calls in Pittsburgh and I want to throw these numbers out there. Last year, 35 year low in homicides, 35 recorded cases. How about that? And the clearance rate, 70% for all cases and 91% when you include older cases. And by the way, regionally, Allegheny County, 40% drop in homicides, an 18-year low. Mike, we talk about violence a lot in this show with teens in robberies and drugs and overdoses, but it appears as if homicides, we have them under control, sir. It appears that way. Mori, like you said, a lot earlier in a show, it's life of what matters. And after all the investments and speaking about it, it seems like something's happening that's paying off. And I think that's a good trend. I do too. My man, Mike, thanks, brother. Thanks, round. He's the best. Look, there have been years where we had 100. There have been years where we had well over 100. I wanted to get to some of my notes from one of my insiders. They averaged more than 50 a year since 1999. So last year to have 35 and trending for the same number this year says a couple things. Number one. Yes, we have a depleted police department. Yes. We're a couple hundred officers short. Yes. We could use more cops. But they seem to have their arms wrapped around homicide. And their clearance rate on old cases is insane. 91%. Sattler, homicide, badass at clearing cold cases that no one thought could be solved. I wanted to mention this in the context of how this show is framed sometimes. I get criticized for suggesting that downtown is a hell zone. Downtown is horrible. No. We point out problems downtown that need to be addressed. We shine a light on issues downtown that can be fixed. But it would be irresponsible of me to suggest that...

This city is doing a hell of a job regarding homicide. Griffin also discussed a type of crime that's been claiming lives. Sextortion. Here he's referencing cases around Peter's Township and Mount Lebanon in Pennsylvania. I wanted to play this piece that tomorrow for together. It's so significant and so important. And this sort of thing is happening in real time. to our kids. And I've seen it. Patrick has seen it. I know cops who are investigating it and lawyers who are freaked out about it. And parents need to know. Listen to this piece tomorrow. Put together, listen. Police alleged 23-year-old Charles Ezekiel Usher of Mount Lebanon communicated with a 15-year-old boy, drove him to Peters Lake Park for a sexual encounter last July, and recorded it on the teen cell phone. The observer reporter first reported Uschner's charges as investigators say they discovered the video while looking into former Peters Township High School student, Zachariah Myers, who is accused of blackmailing classmates with explicit images. Uschner faces multiple felony charges and is being held in the Washington County Jail on $500,000 cash bond pending in August 17th preliminary hearing. To Myra Rush News Radio KDKA. That is so timely. So my kids, my whole family, will we live in Mount Lebanon. And my daughter, let me get to this. My daughter said that this guy who got busted went to Mount Lebanon. How about that? And this extortion stuff, ma'am, is the third person. charged in this extortion case, catfishing scheme. And this is real. I have a couple of police sources. They have investigated active cases in Mount Lebanon. So everybody thinks Mount Lebanon's perfect and Peters is perfect and everybody's rich and white and in a bubble and in mansions and Mercedes. That's fine. But this is actually real world in real time. So let me tell you what happens. And Patrick can jump in because he knows this very well too. So these guys, well, go ahead, Patrick, kind of describe how this plays out and why this is so damn evil. Go ahead. Boy, it's awful. They prey on these kids. The local case, there were videos in person as well. And then they take them and they essentially they blackmail them. So they hold it over them and blackmail them for cash and other things. Threatened to expose them to their family, their friends, and completely hold it over their heads. So what happens? And we've seen this as a suicide. So these chatbots pose as, quite frankly, hot young girls. And they're so real that the boys, teenage boys, fall into this. And the relationship they think they have. And by the way, there have been a number of suicides as a result of this. They'll ask them for pictures of their privates. Now, you would think, oh my God, I would never do that, neither of my kid. Okay. But when you're young and you're kind of enamored and this is kind of cool and kind of attractive, this happens every damn day. And so what happens is these teenage boys.

send these private pictures of their private parts, and they think they're sending it to a young girl who loves them. Then what happens, Patrick? Crazy. Well, yeah, then they want cash from them or Bitcoin or whatever type of currency that they're looking for. They want that to keep them from distributing it to your family and friends and exposing you. And it's becoming more and more common. All over the country. I even have an older family member who got hit, someone who's in their 60s. Whoa. Hit by this from someone online. What happened? Wow. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, they were on a dating site and exchange some racy pictures. Then the person comes back and threatens to, you know, send her pictures and to all of her family members through her Facebook contact list. Wow. Yeah, it's why you've got to lock your social media down too. And what happens is, and I mentioned this because it's true, everybody in Mount Lebanon and Peters, oh, we're different, we're special. Okay, but this is happening right now in our backyard. And it's happening more than most people want to know, Patrick, is it not? It is, and it's happening every day. And now it's a combination of live human people doing this. It's AI chat bots and other things doing it, people overseas, all the above. You have to be aware and you have to talk to your kids about this. And frankly, you've got to talk to your seniors about it now, too. Hey, just think of this when you were that age, how sensitive you are. So what happens, to some of these kids. And you don't want to believe this, but it's true. They kill themselves. Because what happens is these cons expose themselves and say, here's what we're going to do. We're going to send these pictures of your private parts everywhere, unless you send us whatever, $1,000, and they get worked up, and they take their lives. It's that dangerous, Patrick, is it not? It absolutely is. Well, you think back to when you were that age. Right on. Your world is very small. Right on. And to think that everything around you is closing in, I can see how these kids would go there. And it's awful that somebody would take advantage of them like this. Hey, folks, this scenario in Peters is even darker than that. I mean, the guy running this was the class present, for God's sakes. and had a lot of young men as part of this network of sex distortion. And in this case, with this man who went to Mount Lebanon High School, according to my daughter, it's absolutely heinous and dangerous and scary as hell and frightening. And in this case, this guy sexually assaulted a 15-year-old boy. and met him in a park. But in the Peters case, at one point, there were 400 counts. 400. It's bad, and it's dangerous as hell. Wall Street Journal did a piece on four athletes, students, straight A's, boys, teenagers who got sucked into these extortion schemes,

and took their own lives. What am I trying to tell you? I sat down with my son, Vince. He just turned 16 yesterday. My wife sat down, and we weren't overbearing about it. We certainly weren't freaked out about it. And when I was with him alone, because dads and boys and that thing, I said, look, my man. I was your age once. I liked a lot of girls. We used to go and hide, and this is the truth. We'd go hide in the woods near our house and look at a playboy book like it was a big frigging deal. And I told my son Vince, I said, the landscape has changed, as you know. It's all there. It's all there in front of you. It's all accessible immediately. And I've got to ask you to promise me. You will never, ever, ever exchange pictures of your private parts with anyone, ever. I'm not judging. I try and do this. Stuff isn't easy, obviously. My father. and mother never had to experience this kind of thing. God bless them. And I said, my man, I'm not judging you. You're a 16-year-old boy. But there's a lot of porn out there. There's a lot of bad things out there. Don't allow anyone to ask you for anything like that personal and don't ever, ever allow anyone to scare you. into giving them money. I said, son, there is nothing you can do that would make me punish you for just coming to dad and telling them the truth. There's just nothing. And I mentioned a couple kids from out 11 who were involved, and that's where he's in school right now. And then our daughter Chloe mentioned that this kid, we just got arrested, this man went there. And it's that close to home. Do yourself a favor. Whether it's your grandkids, your own kids, your nephew, your nieces, someone, please talk to someone, especially teenage boys, because this is real. And it's happening right now, as you know. The sex-stortion stuff is real, man. It's not TV hype, not social media hype. It's real. There's a case. Well, that was a case in Mount Lebanon. They've had other active cases. There are significant number of cases in Peters, Upper St. Clair. I'm just telling you, man. I'm not telling you to annoy your teenagers. I'm not. I'm telling you to just check in on your boys, especially with this sort of thing. This week in Buffalo, W-B-E-N News and Talk spoke with former priest James Valuzac about other cases involving sexual exploitation claims. We really have been zeroing in on the claims against Buffalo Priest Joseph Godo. This board said that there was no connection between Godot and Canisius High School student Devon Wearing's.

death by suicide back in 2017. But a lot of people are still wondering who exactly to trust. What was your reaction when you saw this yesterday? Good morning, Brian, and good morning, Buffalo. My initial reaction was that I wasn't surprised that Father Gatto was returned to ministry. It seems to me that the case really hinges upon... whatever happened, whatever was discussed in confession between Gatto and the former Kinesh student. And all Gatto had to do was simply say that it was confessional material, that he couldn't talk about it, the church, the independent review board, the bishop. would not have tried to tread on that in any way. It's considered off limits to talk about anything that happened in confession. And the mother of this boy spoke eloquently in the federal court in the bankruptcy proceeding, and Bishop Fisher heard her testimony and called for the investigation. That's all laudable and certainly courageous on the mom's part. But really, it underlines the fact that concessional secrecy can be an impediment to ever knowing what really happened in this case. We just don't know. We don't know is how you're taking this. I think a lot of people are looking at who to trust this review board. It's kind of, well, maybe unknown to a lot of people who makes up this review board. And why should people trust their findings? Well, first of all, there's nothing independent about this review board. It is appointed by the Bishop of Buffalo. And this retired Buffalo police detective who was hired by the diocese to investigate this case was on the payroll of the diocese in order to conduct her investigation. She reached out to me about a month ago and asked me whether I would cooperate in their investigation. And I took a minute to think about it, but immediately said, yes, of course I would. She was reaching out to me because they had, in their file, a letter that I had written to Bishop Richard Malone stating the fact that I had revealed my allegation against Gatto to my home bishop back in 2014 when I left ministry. I subsequently wrote a letter to Malone. I subsequently wrote a letter to Pope Francis, asking him to consider my allegation against Gatto. And all of that was ignored. None of that was ever followed up on until this police detective reached out to me, but then she didn't follow up. That was only the first of four allegations against Father Joseph Gatto.

And this boy who committed suicide after confession was the force. And it just seems really unreasonable to me that we would call any of this independence. You know, I want to ask, there's been no decision made on Gatto's next assignment, but, you know, this has happened in a lot of cases where there's been an accusation or two or something like this where the priest is removed, but then depending on what is found, whether it's by this review board or somebody else, the priest may return to ministry. And, you know, we've even seen this in the, you know, case of former Bishop Malone, where he has... return to preside over some certain ceremonies, confirmations, things like that. I mean, as a former priest yourself, does there come a point where you would look at this and say, you know what, there's just, there's too much here for me to be able to do the work I need to. You know, even regardless if you believe these accusations to be false, at some point it has to become untenable. Really what it comes down to is that neither the review board or its investigators or the bishops who have impaneled it up to this point have been trustworthy. And you say untenable. It's essentially that. And my heart goes out to the good people in the pews. You are practicing their faiths every Sunday, and many of them every day in church, who really can't understand that this cover-up continues to go on. Thank you so much for listening to this True Crime Roundup from the On-Deadline podcast. This episode was written and produced by me, Lauren Barry. Special thanks to KNX News in Los Angeles, WBBM News Radio in Chicago, KYW News Radio in Philadelphia, KMOX in St. Louis, Marty Griffin out of KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, a new morning out of WBEN News and Talk in Buffalo, and Scoot out of WWL in New Orleans. You can find these programs on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your podcasts. You can find these True Crime Roundups by subscribing to the On Deadline podcast, the Who Killed Strawberry podcast, or the Bitter Academia podcast, on the Odyssey app, or wherever you find your podcasts.