Guard honored for thwarting gun delivery

Here's the link:

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100123/NEWS01/1230312/Guard-honored-for-thwarting-gun-delivery

Inmate rejects deal, pleads guilty to gun-smuggling try at Brevard jail

from floridatoday.com:

"SHARPES -- A Brevard County Detention Center inmate rejected a plea deal today that would have tacked 10 years onto a 30-year sentence he’s already serving for attempted murder.

Instead of taking the plea bargain on six pending felony cases, Phillip McCullough, 24, pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle a gun into the jail last year.

Circuit Judge Jack Griesbaum sentenced the 24-year-old to the maximum five years in prison allowed for that charge. That time was tacked onto the sentence he’s already serving on the attempted murder conviction.

McCullough now faces trial on five pending cases.

The deal prosecutors offered today would have allowed McCullough to serve a 40-year sentence on all his pending cases at the same time as the 30-year sentence he’s already serving.

Prosecutors said McCullough also is suspected -- but has not been charged -- in four homicides, some of which could carry a potential life sentence.

The deal offered today would have capped potential charges in those cases at second-degree murder and resulted in no additional prison time had McCullough cooperated with authorities’ investigations into those cases.


In November 2008, while awaiting prosecution on the 2007 case, sheriff’s deputies said McCullough, Heyne and another man helped hold down a jail inmate while he was sexually assaulted by a fifth man.

Then in August, Brevard County sheriff’s investigators said a corrections officer at the Sharpes jail was screening mail when he discovered a .38-caliber, two-shot derringer hidden inside a large stack of legal documents. The documents were hollowed out to accommodate the gun.

Investigators said McCullough and Heyne admitted to an escape plot — among other schemes — and said the plan involved Heyne taking McCullough as his hostage as part of the plot. Heyne then would have wounded McCullough to give the appearance he was not involved, officials said.

Heyne was sentenced in December to death row following a conviction in the 2006 slayings of his roommates and their 5-year-old daughter.

Investigators said Lamont Lewis of Mims and McCullough’s wife, Arneshewa McCullough, arranged for the purchase of the weapon, along with two rounds of ammunition, and removed the gun’s serial numbers to try to prevent it from being traced.

Lewis was sentenced in October to four years of probation under a plea deal that requires him to testify against his co-defendants.

Charges against Arneshewa McCullough and Heyne are pending."

Warrant Executed in Gilbert Arenas Gun Case

from tmz.com:

"TMZ has learned the D.C. police -- with the help of cops in Arlington County, Virginia -- have executed a search warrant this morning at the home of Javaris Crittenton -- looking for the gun that may have been secretly wheeled out of the Washington Wizards locker room in a laundry basket.Law enforcement tells us after Javaris and Gilbert Arenas drew guns on each other during a Christmas Eve standoff, witnesses believe they saw Javaris throw his gun into a laundry basket and someone from the organization wheeled it out.

We know there was surveillance video of people coming out of the locker room and cops are looking to see if they can spot the person who was pushing the cart.

Nevertheless, cops convinced a judge they had probable cause to search Crittenton's home -- we don't know if they found the gun."

Police: Arizona Mom Tries to Trade Daughter for Gun

from foxnews.com:

"

PHOENIX — Authorities say they have arrested an Arizona woman who traded her 2-year-old daughter for a gun.

Maricopa County sheriff's deputies arrested 33-year-old Tanya Nareau of Mesa on Tuesday after receiving a tip.

Deputies say they spoke with a family friend who had the child and confirmed Nareau gave the girl to him for gun.

Deputies say Nareau felt the friend would do a better job raising the child than she would.

Authorities say Nareau has been charged with the unlawful sale of a child and solicitation to possess a weapon by a prohibited person.

It was unclear if Nareau had legal representation."