This Week's Most Ratchet Crimes in America

The word "ratchet" may 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 they inspire us to have conversations about race, class, and the American dream.

This week's roundup includes pocket-sized Jell-O shots, runaway corpses, and wedding-reception stabbings. 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 [email protected].

RELATED: The Week's Most Ratchet Crimes in America
RELATED: The Week's Most Ratchet Crimes in America
RELATED: The Week's Most Ratchet Crimes in America

Date: 6/3/2014
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Crime: Kidnapping
Ratchet Meter: 7

An Uber driver was arrested yesterday for allegedly kidnapping a Los Angeles woman after she woke up in a motel room with no recollection of how she got there following a night of drinking.

ABC Los Angeles reports that the 26-year-old woman called 911 on June 2nd after waking up in a Panorama City motel room along with an unfamiliar shirtless man. Police told ABC Los Angeles that the woman had gone out drinking in West Los Angeles the night before, presumably calling Uber to arrange a safe ride home.

When officers arrived at the Panorama Motel, they found 32-year-old Frederick Dencer of Encino. Though the LAPD says surveillance footage shows Dencer carrying the woman into the room, he provided police with a conflicting account the night's happenings:

Police believe the woman's last stop the Sunday night before was at the Greystone Manor nightclub in West Hollywood. Police believe Dencer, an Uber driver, was hanging out at the club after another fare and may have been solicited by a nightclub worker to take the drunk victim home, according to the LAPD.

Police said the woman's cellphone was dead so it was not immediately determined if she had called for an Uber ride. Since the nightclub worker solicited the ride for the woman, it was not an official Uber assignment, police said. If it had been an official Uber assignment, Dencer would have received the victim's home address with the fare, but the victim was too drunk to tell him, police said.

LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon told ABC Los Angeles that he believed Dencer "took advantage of the situation." Furthermore, though police maintained that no sexual assault occurred, they noted that there was some "fondling through [the woman's] clothes."

Dencer was charged with kidnap for the purpose of sexual assault and is being detained on $1 million bail.

UPDATE: In the wake of Dencer's arrest, Uber spokesperson Eva Behrend issued a statement on the matter: Uber became aware this afternoon of a serious incident in Los Angeles. The facts are unknown at this stage and it's certainly unclear that this is an Uber-related incident, as the driver in question was not logged in, connected to or operating on the platform at the time. We have reached out to authorities and will work with them to help uncover the facts. It is also our policy to immediately suspend a driver's account following any serious allegations, which we have done. Nothing is more important to Uber than the safety of our riders.

Date: 6/4/2014
Location: Warren, Mich.
Crime: ????
Ratchet Meter: 9

Let's just take this one from the beginning. According to WJBK Fox 2, a 62-year-old man and his 92-year-old mother drove from Michigan to pick up his 31-year-old girlfriend from an Arizona mental health facility. While everything went fine on the trip there, the woman apparently overdosed on oxycodone while passing through Flagstaff on the return journey.

After several attempts to revive her between New Mexico and Oklahoma, the man finally determined that she had indeed died. Even so, he apparently looked up what to do with her corpse on the Internet, and somehow decided it would be best if he continued all the way back to his home state.

So that's what he did.

According to WJBK, he "propped her body up and placed sunglasses on her face and a stuffed animal in her lap." Throughout the 26 hour drive, the man's wheelchair-bound mother sat in the back seat unable to use the bathroom. To make things worse, the car's air conditioning stopped working halfway through the trip.

Only when his girlfriend's mental hospital finally called him, did he admit that she was dead. Though they urged him to go the nearest ER, he refused. Police finally caught up with him as he pulled into the driveway of his son's house. Currently he is not in custody, however Warren, Mich. prosecutors are still deciding how to handle the case.

"If you've ever smelled a dead body before-you never get that out of your head," a neighbor told WJBK. "As soon as the police opened the door, thank God there was a good breeze going because you would just get a whiff of it once and a while."

Date: 6/3/2014
Location: Waukesha, Wis.
Crime: First-Degree intentional homicide
Ratchet Meter: 10

Authorities say two 12-year-old girls stabbed their friend, another 12-year-old girl, in Wisconsin on June 1 after planning the crime for months. According to the Huffington Post, Waukesha Police Chief Russell Jack said the suspects, identified as Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, invited the victim to a sleepover at one of their homes on Friday May 30. Jack added that as the girls played in a wooded area early Saturday morning, one held the victim down while the other stabbed her 19 times in the "arms, legs, and torso."

CNN reports that the aggressors had been plotting the brutal attack since February:

They first thought to kill the victim by placing duct tape over her mouth while she was sleeping and stabbing her in the neck, the complaint read.

Next, the plan was to kill her in a bathroom where there was floor drain that could make cleanup easier, it continued.

But, finally, the girls decided to do it in a park while playing a game of hide-and-seek, the complaint read.

Furthermore, CNN adds that Jack explained the motive to reporters during a press conference: "Both suspects had a fascination with a fictitious character [that's] often posted "to websites dealing with stories about death and horror," he said. According to the New York Daily News, one of the suspects told police that the attempted murder was an offering to a demonic figure named Slender Man:

According to a criminal complaint, one of the two girls told a detective they were trying to become "proxies" of a mythological demon-like character called Slender Man, which they learned about on creepypasta.wikia.com, a website about horror stories and legends.

Though she suffered serious wounds to "several" major organs, the victim was still able to crawl out of the woods, where a bicyclist spotted her and called 911.

Geyser and Weiler have been charged as adults with first-degree intentional homicide. As of yesterday, the victim was in stable condition at Waukesha Memorial Hospital.

Date: 6/3/2014
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Crime: Triple homicide
Ratchet Meter: 6

Apparently the need to post something on Facebook before anyone else doesn't go away, even when it's a murder. Or, when you're the one who committed the murder.

Twenty-two-year-old Cedric D. McGinnis of Texas killed three women June 3: his ex-girlfriend, April Serrano, and her sister and mother. McGinnis allegedly killed April and either her mother or sister by shooting them in the head, and at least one of the women died of a stab wound to the torso. When April's father came home, he shouted "They killed my family!" while on the phone with 911. Shortly after the killings, McGinnis went on Facebook to post about April's death, all without mentioning he was the one to blame. "R.I.P April Marie Serrano mane," he wrote. "It's always the innocent ones that get fucked over. Gone but never forgotten. RNS #lovetothefamily #lovetoher."

Cops soon learned that he and April had a previous relationship, and went to question him, where he confessed after some prying.

Date: 6/6/2014
Location: Elizabeth, N.J.
Crime: Child abuse
Ratchet Meter: 8

A substitute teacher at an Elizabeth, N.J. elementary school has been terminated for allegedlytaping several students' mouths shut.

NBC New York reports that the teacher covered the mouths of five Winfield Scott Elementary School third grade students with decorative tape last week because they wouldn't stop talking, threatening to rip it off. ABC New York adds that when it was finally removed 15 minutes later, the students were further humiliated as their peers laughed at them.

Angelique Correa Henderson told NBC New York that the ordeal was emotionally scarring. "My heart kept on beating fast," she revealed.

Parents were obviously outraged. "We're talking about kids," Henderson's father, Munford, told NBC New York. "You're sworn to protect and teach, not to hurt them and put them in fear."

Not only has the teacher been removed from the school's list of substitutes, police and state authorities are investigating the matter.

Date: 6/3/2014
Location: Manchester, England
Crime: Suspicion of causing bodily harm
Ratchet Meter: 10

We once again head overseas for a story that's too bizarre to leave out. A couple who had just gotten married were jailed after getting into a fight with hotel security guards. Certainly not your typical wedding night tale.

The couple, Nick and Kristy Bigland, were arrested Saturday May 31 at the Hilton Hotel in Manchester, England following an altercation with security guards. A dispute between the Biglands and the concierge staff over their hotel suite erupted into a full-blown fight, and, according to the Manchester Evening News, the newlyweds couldn't have possibly cared less about causing a scene.

During the scuffle, the groom, dressed in his wedding suit, allegedly attacked one the security guards cutting his face in the process. The bride is claimed to have shouted racist abuse at the guards, who were Asian.

Anyone who gets into a fight while still wearing what they got married in clearly doesn't care too much about causing a scene. Nick Bigland, 25, was charged with suspicion of causing actual bodily harm, while Kristy Bigland, 29, faces racially aggravated public order charges.

Instead of consummating their marriage, they spent their wedding night in separate cells and were released the following morning. A wedding story for the ages.

Date: 5/26/2014
Location: Rochester, N.H.
Crime: Drug possession, criminal contempt
Ratchet Meter: 10

Authorities say that, in her haste to get high, a New Hampshire woman proceeded to shoot up right in front of a Catholic elementary school.

The New York Daily News reports that 28-year-old Terrilynn M. Bodge was seen in front of St. Elizabeth Seton School in Rochester, N.H. on May 26 doing heroin. Bodge reportedly still had the tourniquet wrapped around her arm when police arrived, and they found drug paraphernalia, presumed to be hers, on school property.

The Barrington, N.H. native was arrested and charged with not only drug possession, but criminal contempt as a result of a pending case involving the New Hampshire State Police. Clearly she likes testing the law.

Date: 5/31/2014
Location: Bronx, NY
Crime: Leaving the scene of an accident that caused injury
Ratchet Meter: 8

According to authorities, an off-duty NYPD officer was arrested after allegedly dragging his girlfriend from his vehicle May 31, then leaving the scene.

The New York Daily News reports that 29-year-old Julio Jimenez was seen arguing with his girlfriend outside of their Bronx home around 8 p.m. that Saturday evening. The Daily News adds that the unnamed 23-year-old woman then was leaning into the car's backseat when Jimenez took off with half of her body hanging out of the vehicle. What's more, their 3-year-old son was in the backseat as well.

The woman sustained cuts and bruises, while Jimenez, a four-year veteran of the police force, was arrested and charged for leaving the scene of an accident that caused injury.

Date: 6/1/2014
Location: Bronx, NY
Crime: Charges pending
Ratchet Meter: 9

An argument over leftover food escalated following a Bronx wedding reception June 1, as officials say a man stabbed his own cousin to death.

The New York Post reports that 58-year-old Juan Martinez was stabbed in the leg several times around 9 p.m. that Sunday night following a vow-renewal ceremony at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in the Bronx's University Heights section. An NYPD spokesman told the Post that Martinez and his cousin began fighting over leftover food, as well as "who was going to take the cans of Sterno" that were being used to heat the food.

Martinez later succumbed to his injuries at St. Barnabas Hospital, and his cousin is reportedly in custody.

Date: 6/5/2014
Location: Glyndon, Minn.
Crime: DUI
Ratchet Meter: 7

After arresting a woman for drunk driving May 30th, police in Minnesota found Jello shots stuffed in her pockets.

The Smoking Gun reports that 28-year-old Cathy Sanchez was pulled over on Highway 10 around 2 a.m. that Saturday morning for reckless driving. A Glyndon Police Department officer could immediately tell that she was drunk, and Sanchez confirmed this by failing sobriety tests and blowing a .136 when given a Breathalyzer.

As police searched her, they found three Jell-O shots shoved into her pockets. Authorities learned that Sanchez-who owned up to five previous drunk driving arrests after trying to give police a fake name-had three prior DWI convictions in addition to a concealed weapons conviction. Worse, her license had been cancelled because she had been deemed a threat to the public.

Sanchez now faces two felony charges which both carry a maximum of seven years in jail.