The word "ratchet" might be played out, but until the Internet agrees upon a more accurate description for these crimes, it will have to do. These stories are sad, imaginative, and inspire us to have conversations about race, class, and the American dream.
This week's roundup includes raging landlords, a hot-tub threesome , and selling grandma's car for drugs. Each crime is rated on our Ratchet Meter, a base-10 logarithmic scale modeled after a similar system developed by Charles Richter—except that the Ratchet Meter has nothing to do with science because it's not actually a real thing.
Read on for the best of the worst ratchet crimes in America. Proceed with caution, stay safe, don't try this at home, and send your tips to cityguidetips@complex.com.
And for your viewing pleasure, here's the latest episode of Ratchet News Network with The Kid Mero:
1. RNN: Ratchet News Network
2. Arizona Trio Arrested for Public Threesome
3. Philadelphia Police Officers Arrested for Kidnapping and Extortion
Date: 7/30/2014
Location: Philadelphia, P.A.
Crime: Assaulting, kidnapping, and robbing suspects over a six year period
Ratchet Meter: 10
The morning of July 30, six members of the Philadelphia Police Department's Narcotics Field Unit were arrested for allegedly assaulting, kidnapping, and robbing suspects over a six year period.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, officers Brian Reynolds, Michael Spicer, Linwood Norman, John Speiser, Perry Betts, and Thomas Liciardello were indicted on 26 counts. They stand accused of taking over $500,000 worth of property, money, and drugs from suspects from 2006 to 2012. The Inquirer adds that “extreme force” was exerted in these scenarios, while the officers resorted to falsifying documents to underreport what they seized:
Warren Layre, 61, told The Inquirer in an interview last year that the officers beat him with a steel bar and kicked in his teeth during a warrantless raid on his machine shop on West Sedgwick Street in June 2011. Speaking to a reporter two years later, he pulled back his lip to show the gaps in his teeth that remained.
According to the indictment, Liciardello reported less than $7,000 of the $41,158 they seized from Layre's shop.
Reynolds, Spicer, Norman, Betts, and Liciardello all face life in prison if convicted. Meanwhile, Speiser faces a maximum of 40 years in prison. Each of the officers have entered not guilty pleas. -Julian Kimble
4. Man Steals Grandmother's Car, Sells It for Cash and Heroin
5. Two Rikers Island Guards Charged for Smuggling Cocaine and Painkillers into Facility
Date: 6/23/2014
Location: Bronx, N.Y.
Crime: Bribery, drug possession, and conspiracy
Ratchet Meter: 8
Two Rikers Island guards have been charged for smuggling drugs to inmates at the prison.
The New York Times reports that Infinite Divine Rahming, 30, and Steven Dominguez, 26, were officially charged with bribery, drug possession and conspiracy yesterday. Both were initially arrested on June 23 after being caught with upwards of eight ounces of cocaine at the prison. A third accomplice, Deleon Gifth, was arrested on related charges on Monday July 28. According to the Times, the trio accepted money from people outside of the prison to guarantee the delivery of contraband including cocaine and oxycodone to inmates:
Between Feb. 25 and June 23, the three officers each met with people they believed to be friends and relatives of inmates at Rikers, but who were actually undercover investigators from the Department of Investigation, officials said. The investigators arranged for the officers to bring what they believed to be oxycodone pills — they were fake — into the jail in exchange for payments from $500 to $900, the authorities said.
Furthermore, corrections officials say Rahming and Dominguez were also involved in cocaine transactions that took place outside of Rikers Island. Lastly, in an effort to send a message, the Department of Investigation will punish three more guards and a commanding officer for their participation in similar crimes. -Julian Kimble
6. Pregnant Woman and Boyfriend Try to Have Sex With Man They Met on Craigslist, He Dismembers Them
Date: 7/16/2014
Location: Wyoming, MI
Crime: Decapitation, murder.
Ratchet Meter: 9
Recently, the headless body of 25-year-old Charles Oppenneer was found in a wooded park in Michigan. After an investigation, police tracked down a suspect in Oppenneer's murder, leading them to the house of 31-year-old Brady Oestrike (the gentleman you see above.) But Oestrike wasn't going to be taken in easily, and tried escaping in his car, only to end up crashing into a cement wall and shooting himself in the head. In the car's trunk police found the body of Oppenneer's girlfriend, 18-year-old Brooke Slocum, who was eight months pregnant. As police investigated what happened, they found Craigslist messages between Oestrike and the couple, arranging sex for money between Oestrike and Slocum, with Oppenneer watching. After searching Oestrike's house, they found 40 firearms, knives, and collections of weapons. -Jason Duaine Hahn
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8. Horrendous Mother Deserts Children to Pleasure Boyfriend
9. NYPD to Spider Man: Stop Resisting B*tch!
10. Brooklyn Woman Charged for Brutally Murdering Another Over $200 Dispute
Date: 7/25/2014
Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Crime: Murder
Ratchet Meter: 9
Authorities in New York City say a Brooklyn woman whose body was dismembered and scattered across Long Island was killed by her landlord after declining to pay for utilities that barely worked.
Chinelle Latoya Thompson Browne, 27, had been missing since July 5. According to the New York Daily News, that's when neighbors heard the mother of four arguing with Leah Cuevas, 42. Browne, a Guyanese immigrant, was renting a room in Cuevas' deceased uncle's apartment for $400 a month.
Citing court records, the Daily News says that Cuevas also charged Browne $200 monthly for unreliable water and electricity. When she learned that Cuevas wasn't even legally her landlord, she refused to pay the $200 and sought to move out.
However, when Cuevas demanded the $200, their dispute turned violent:
No, Leah! What you doing?” a neighbor heard Chinelle Latoya Thompson Browne’s gut-wrenching scream during the fatal attack. “Oh, no! Oh, no! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
Cuevas cursed back at Browne, telling her to “Shut the f— up,” according to court documents.
“The scare in (Browne’s) voice was like nothing I ever heard before,” a witness told detectives.
Between July 8 and July 17, Browne's torso, legs, arms, and head were discovered in different parts of Long Island. Cuevas pleaded not guilty to murder charges, and is currently being held without bail.
Browne's husband, Dale Browne, and children still plan to move to New York City. -Julian Kimble
11. This Guy Got Arrested After He Posted “Yall Will Never Catch Me” on Cops' Facebook
12. New Jersey Man Convicted for Stabbing Ex-Wife 84 Times Because She Was Messy
Date: 7/25/2014
Location: Danville, N.J.
Crime: Murder
Ratchet Meter: 10
Officials say a New Jersey man was convicted of the brutal 2010 slaying of his ex-wife.
According to Reuters, Anthony Novellino, 67, killed Judith Novellino, 62, in June 2010 after the couple divorced. When she returned to their home in Danville, N.J., he stabbed her 84 times with an eight-inch blade, then used a pig mask to cover her face. Reuters adds that Novellino's ire was triggered by claims that his wife maintained a messy house during their marriage:
Attorneys for both sides said Anthony Novellino had emailed photos of the unkempt condition of the home to friends and relatives and complained, which was a sticking point in their divorce proceedings.
In addition to murder, Novellino was convicted of unlawful possession of a weapon, tampering with evidence, and hindering his own apprehension. He'll be sentenced on Sept. 12 and faces life in prison. -Julian Kimble
