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  1. #2926
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    https://abc7news.com/menlo-park-moth...cheme/5316063/

    One of the co conspirators has pleaded guilty to the Operation Varsity Blues

    MENLO PARK, Calif. -- A Menlo Park mother pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Boston to a fraud conspiracy in which she admitted paying $15,000 for cheating on a college entrance exam for her son.

    Marjorie Klapper, 50, the co-owner of a jewelry business, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani to one count of conspiring to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud. She will be sentenced on Oct. 16.

    Klapper admitted in a plea agreement that she paid $15,000 to a fraudulent charity run by college consultant William Singer to have her son's score on the ACT exam improved by a corrupt proctor in 2017.

    Two other parents from Beverly Hills and Laguna Beach also pleaded guilty today, bringing to 13 the total number of parents convicted in a college admissions scheme. One other will plead guilty in June, according to court documents.

    Nineteen other parents, including actress Lori Loughlin, face a grand jury indictment that includes charges of money laundering conspiracy as well as fraud conspiracy.

  2. #2927
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    https://abc7.com/entertainment/princ...peech/5325835/

    PARKERSBURG, W.Va. -- A West Virginia principal accused of plagiarizing Ashton Kutcher in an address to his school's graduating class says he didn't mean to use someone else's work.

    Parkersburg High School Principal Kenny DeMoss has issued a statement saying he should have cited his sources in the May 23 speech, but asserted the ideas were his own.

    "I did not get all my ideas from Ashton. Format yes, thoughts and ideas were from my heart," he wrote, adding that he's upset the speech has stolen the focus from graduating students.

    A graduate posted a video to Facebook that spliced DeMoss' speech with Kutcher's 2013 Nickelodeon Teen Choice Awards speech and has since amassed more than 100,000 views. The speeches used similar wording and at times featured identical phrasing.

    DeMoss said the widely-circulated video cut out a preface that was supposed to make clear he was going to be folding others' ideas and thoughts into his speech.

    In an email Friday, DeMoss said he's putting the incident behind him.

    "Me and my family are the only ones being hurt here. My accuser isn't. I love kids and love this school and this will only make me better," he said.

    Wood County Schools Superintendent Will Hosaflook did not immediately return a voicemail seeking comment.

  3. #2928
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    https://www.foxnews.com/entertainmen...ed-dehydration


    .

    Country music star Kenny Rogers has been admitted to a Georgia hospital for dehydration, according to his official Twitter account.

    A statement posted Friday from his team said he would remain there for physical therapy to "get his strength back" before being discharged.

    The statement said the 80-year-old singer and actor appreciated the well wishes from fans and wanted to assure everyone that "he plans on sticking around through the years to come."

    "Kenny was recently admitted to a local Georgia hospital and treated for dehydration," read the statement on social media.

    "Rogers will remain there to complete some physical therapy to get his strength back prior to discharge. He appreciates the concern and well wishes he has received from his fans and can assure everyone he plans on sticking around through the years to come."

    KENNY ROGERS ON RETIREMENT: 'I'M GOING OUT BECAUSE I NEED TO GO OUT'

    The husky-voiced balladeer retired from touring in 2017 after a 60-year career spanning jazz, folk, country and pop, with hits like "The Gambler," ''Lucille" and "Lady."

    There has been much speculation that the music legend is gravely ill. In 2018, he dealt with a serious health issue that forced the Country Music Hall of Famer to pull out of his much-anticipated farewell tour.

    Kenny Rogers
    Kenny Rogers (2015 Daniel Knighton)

    "Kenny Rogers has been working through a series of health challenges and has been advised to cancel all performances through the end of the year to focus on recuperation," Rogers said in a statement at the time.

    "I didn't want to take forever to retire," he added, "I've thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to say farewell to the fans over the course of the past two years on 'The Gambler's Last Deal' tour

  4. #2929
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    https://patch.com/massachusetts/bost...public-reports

    Red Sox legend David Ortiz is recovering after being shot in the back at a bar in his home country of the Dominican Republic Sunday. Ortiz had surgery and is expected to make a complete recovery, his father, Leo Ortiz, told reporters Monday.

    Dominican Police said the unidentified shooter is in custody. The motive of the shooting is unclear; police confirmed to reporters it was not an attempted robbery. The person was reportedly captured and beaten by people at the bar.

    Police said the shooter got off a motorcycle at the Dial Bar and Lounge in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo shortly before 9 p.m., walked up behind Ortiz, and shot him once at close range. The bullet reportedly entered Ortiz's lower back and exited through his stomach.

    The Red Sox said Ortiz is recovering from surgery at Clinica Abel Gonzalez in Santo Domingo. ESPN reported "parts of [Ortiz's] organs had to be treated/removed" and that he is in intensive care, where he is in stable condition.

    "We have offered David's family all available resources to aid his recovery and will continue to keep them in our hearts," the Red Sox said in a statement.

    Video from the nightclub shows a person walking up behind Ortiz, pointing a gun and firing at Ortiz. Ortiz collapses while the crowd scatters in panic.

  5. #2930
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    https://apnews.com/91747ade74a4486fae5f54bc09f50a6f

    . SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — David Ortiz was flown to Boston for more medical care Monday after the former Red Sox slugger affectionately known as Big Papi was ambushed by a gunman at a bar in his native Dominican Republic, authorities said.

    The 43-year-old retired athlete had been in stable condition in intensive care at a Santo Domingo hospital after doctors removed his gallbladder and part of his intestine, according to his spokesman, Leo L?pez. He said Ortiz’s liver was also damaged in the shooting Sunday night.

    Ortiz is one of the most beloved figures in sports history in the Dominican Republic and Boston, a fearsome power hitter with a ready smile. He led the Red Sox to three World Series championships, was a 10-time All-Star and hit 541 home runs.

    Dozens of fans crowded the hospital earlier Monday, causing a traffic jam. In the U.S., fans prayed for his recovery and wished him well, with New England Patriots star Julian Edelman assuring him on Instagram: “Papi, all of New England has your back.”

    The Red Sox offered “all available resources” and sent an air ambulance to bring him back to Boston.

    “He’s on the Mount Rushmore of Boston sports,” said Eddie Romero, the team’s assistant general manager.

    Ortiz was at the Dial Bar and Lounge in Santo Domingo on Sunday night when a gunman approached from behind and shot him at close range in the torso, authorities said.
    David Ortiz flown to Boston after being shot in a barAP NEWS
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    Click to copyhttps://apnews.com/91747ade74a4486fae5f54bc09f50a6f
    David Ortiz flown to Boston after being shot in a bar
    By MART?N JOS? ADAMES ALC?NTARA and MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
    30 minutes ago

    1 of 22
    Leo Ortiz, left, the father of former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz, sits in the ambulance that carries his son to the airport from at the hospital where he was hospitalized after being shot the previous day in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Monday, June 10, 2019. Doctors removed Ortiz's gallbladder and part of his intestine after the beloved former Boston Red Sox slugger known as Big Papi was ambushed by a gunman at a bar in his native Dominican Republic, a spokesman said Monday. (AP Photo/Roberto Guzman)
    SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — David Ortiz was flown to Boston for more medical care Monday after the former Red Sox slugger affectionately known as Big Papi was ambushed by a gunman at a bar in his native Dominican Republic, authorities said.

    The 43-year-old retired athlete had been in stable condition in intensive care at a Santo Domingo hospital after doctors removed his gallbladder and part of his intestine, according to his spokesman, Leo L?pez. He said Ortiz’s liver was also damaged in the shooting Sunday night.

    Ortiz is one of the most beloved figures in sports history in the Dominican Republic and Boston, a fearsome power hitter with a ready smile. He led the Red Sox to three World Series championships, was a 10-time All-Star and hit 541 home runs.


    Dozens of fans crowded the hospital earlier Monday, causing a traffic jam. In the U.S., fans prayed for his recovery and wished him well, with New England Patriots star Julian Edelman assuring him on Instagram: “Papi, all of New England has your back.”

    The Red Sox offered “all available resources” and sent an air ambulance to bring him back to Boston.

    “He’s on the Mount Rushmore of Boston sports,” said Eddie Romero, the team’s assistant general manager.

    Ortiz was at the Dial Bar and Lounge in Santo Domingo on Sunday night when a gunman approached from behind and shot him at close range in the torso, authorities said.

    The Boston Red Sox management and the team's fans expressed shock and dismay Monday after the news that beloved former player David Ortiz was ambushed and shot in the Dominican Republic. (June 10)
    The gunman was not immediately identified or arrested and the motive for the shooting was under investigation, with authorities trying to determine whether Ortiz was the target.

    The operator of the motorcycle that was carrying the gunman was captured and beaten by a crowd of people at the bar, authorities said.

    Eliezer Salvador, who was at the scene, said the gunman said nothing, just fired once. Salvador then drove a wounded Ortiz to the hospital, telling reporters they had a brief conversation in the car as he urged the baseball great to stay calm and breathe.

    “Do you have any problems with anyone?” Salvador recalled asking him, to which Ortiz replied: “No, my brother, I’ve never wronged anyone.”

    Salvador held up Ortiz’s bloody belongings for reporters, along with some of his jewelry. He also apologized for hitting several cars while rushing to the hospital: “That wrongdoing was justified.”

    Ortiz’s father, Leo, said he had no idea why someone would have shot at his son.

    “He is resting,” the elder Ortiz said. “Big Papi will be around for a long time.”

    He added that he is pleased with the medical attention Ortiz has received but that he will be transferred to Boston so he can be with his wife and the Red Sox medical team.

    Two other people were wounded, including Jhoel L?pez, a Dominican TV host who was with Ortiz. Police believe L?pez was wounded by the same bullet, said National Police Director Ney Aldrin Bautista Almonte. L?pez was shot in the leg, and his injuries were not life-threatening, said his wife, Liza Blanco, who is also a TV host.

    Police did not identify the third person or detail that person’s injuries.

    The bar is in a bustling nightlife district packed with dance clubs and expensive bars that Ortiz is known to frequent.
    Chicago White Sox pitcher Ivan Nova, who’s from the Dominican, said the shooting rattled him.

    “The way that everything is going right now back in my country, I’ve got to be honest, I’m not very happy to say what is going on right now over there,” Nova said. “A lot of times I see guys who play on my team coming to the United States to live. The dream that you have as a baseball player is to have a good career, and then go back home and spend time with your family. Now you’ve got to think about if DR is a safe place for you to be in. It’s a tough situation.”

    Ortiz, who retired after the 2016 season and lives at least part of the year in the Dominican Republic, is often seen getting his cars washed and hanging out with friends, including other baseball players, artists and entertainers.

    The Red Sox retired his number, 34, in 2017, and Boston renamed a bridge and a stretch of road outside Fenway Park in his honor. He maintains a home in Weston, on the outskirts of Boston.

    Ortiz galvanized the city in the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that left three people dead, bellowing through a megaphone at Fenway Park: “This is our (expletive) city!”

    “In 2013, when we needed David Ortiz the most, he was there for us,” Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy said Monday. “Our focus is on his health and on getting him back here for treatment.”

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Bill Kole in Boston contributed to this report.

  6. #2931
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    https://ktla.com/2019/06/12/former-s...sions-scandal/

    Federal prosecutors plan to ask a judge Wednesday for more than a year in prison for a former Stanford sailing coach who admitted to accepting bribes in the college admissions cheating scheme.

    John Vandemoer will be the first person sentenced in the case that has ensnared athletic coaches at elite universities across the country as well as prominent parents, including business executives and Hollywood stars. Among those charged are actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin as well as Loughlin’s fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli.

    Prosecutors are seeking 13 months behind bars, saying such a sentence is necessary to help restore confidence in a college admissions system that many believe is rigged in favor of the rich.

    “The crimes of the defendant and his co-conspirators confirmed, for many, the worst of what they had long suspected: that hard work and sacrifice matter less than money and the access it buys,” they wrote in court documents.

    Vandemoer’s lawyers will urge the judge for no prison time, noting that he accepted responsibility and didn’t pocket any of the money for himself. They say Vandemoer was seeking only to “help the sailing program he loved.”

    “Vandemoer is before this court because in one instance he failed to live up to the high standards he set for himself and instilled in countless young people,” his lawyer wrote in court documents. “This is a mistake he regrets dearly and one that he is determined not to let define him or his life.”

    Vandemoer got $110,000 for Stanford’s sailing program last year from the admissions consultant at the center of the scheme in exchange for labeling a prospective student as a recruit, prosecutors say. The student ended up going to another school.

    The former coach later agreed to help another student get in as a recruit in exchange for bribes, prosecutors say. The student also ended up going to another school. The consultant, who by then was cooperating with authorities, told Vandemoer he would pay him anyway to keep their “relationship alive” and sent him $160,000 for the sailing program, prosecutors say.

    Vandemoer pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering in March on the same day prosecutors announced charges against 50 people in the bribery scheme.

    Huffman pleaded guilty last month to paying $15,000 to have someone rig her daughter’s SAT score and is scheduled to be sentenced in September.

    Loughlin and Giannulli have pleaded not guilty.

  7. #2932
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    https://www.rollingstone.com/culture...-blues-847480/

    Stanford’s former sailing coach, John Vandemoer, will receive just one day in prison for his role in the college admissions scandal, according to NBC News. This is the first sentencing to occur as a result of the sweeping scandal surrounding William Rick Singer, the ringleader who helped children of rich clients cheat their way into university.

    Before his sentencing on Wednesday, Vandemoer had already pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy for accepting $770,000 in bribes on behalf of Stanford’s sailing program, in order to falsely represent Singer’s clients as elite sailing team recruits. Vandemoer had accepted three separate bribes of $500,000, $110,000 and $160,000 between fall 2016 and October 2018. Vandemoer was fired from Stanford on March 12th after news of the scandal broke.


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    U.S. District Court Judge Rya W. Zobe was given a recommended sentencing of 13 months in prison for Vandemoer, but Zobe ultimately sided with Vandemoer’s defense attorneys, who argued one day in prison was time served because Vandemoer had given the bribes over to Stanford’s program rather than pocketing them.

    “It cannot be overstated: all parties agree that Mr. Vandemoer did not personally profit from the scheme,” wrote defense lawyer Robert Fisher. “Mr. Singer sent Mr. Vandemoer money, and he consistently turned that money over to Stanford.”

    “I want to be seen as someone who takes responsibility for mistakes,” Vandemoer stated in court. “I want to tell you how I intend to live from this point forward. I will never again lose sight of my values.”

    The scandal — which was the result of a FBI investigation dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues” — gained international attention after actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were indicted. Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, have pleaded not guilty to charges that they paid $500,000 to bribe their two daughters into the University of Southern California. Huffman has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud; prosecutors argue that she spent $15,000 to change wrong answers on her daughter’s SAT tests.

  8. #2933
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    https://www.nj.com/yankees/2019/06/r...port-says.html

    Now here is the latest on the David Ortiz shooting

    Was the shooting of former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz part of “love triangle” gone bad?

    That’s what the Daily Mail is reporting:


    Model Maria Yeribell Martinez Garcia is believed to be at the center of the love triangle with David Ortiz, DailyMail.com reports.
    She was filmed fighting another woman and Big Papi’s entourage before being thrown to the floor in waiting room of hospital where Ortiz was undergoing surgery.
    Garcia denied any romantic involvement with Ortiz but documents suggest he bought her a $85K Lexus RX - a day before he was shot.
    false
    Barack Obama, Patriots’ Tom Brady react to Red Sox’s David Ortiz getting shot

    Former President Barack Obama weighs in on Boston Red Sox great David Ortiz getting shot in the Dominican Republic on Sunday night.

    The Daily Mail previously reported Ortiz was shot after having an affair with the wife of a jealous drug lord.

    Ortiz’s wife, Tiffany, is with the three-time World Series champion, who’s recovering at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston following a pair of surgeries (one in the Dominican Republic, one in Boston). She released a statement Thursday on her husband’s recovery. Per NESN.com:

    I want to take this opportunity to offer our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Eliezer Salvador, owner of Presidente Sports, for your quick thinking and swift action on Sunday night. Your heroism and selflessness were the first steps to ensuring David could get the urgent care he required. For that, we are eternally grateful. To the amazing surgeons, medical team, and staff at the Abel Gonz?lez Clinic in the Dominican Republic, there are no words to express our gratitude for the amazing care you provided. Without you, our story could have had a tragic ending. You will forever be our guardian angels. David remains in guarded condition in the surgical intensive care unit following his second surgery. He continues to heal and make progress. David will continue to recover in the ICU and future updates on his condition will be provided when necessary.


    NESN reports Tiffany Ortiz talked to current Red Sox manager Alex Cora on Thursday. “(His) kids are doing OK and she’s holding strong,” Cora said, per MassLive. “The big man has been the big man. She said, ‘He’s just a beast.’”

    Meanwhile, the investigation into the men responsible for shooting the 43-year-old Ortiz continues both in the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, with the gunman reportedly wanted for a pair of robberies in New Jersey.

    Plan your Yankees-Red Sox London road trip: Lodging at Airbnb, Last Minute Travel, Choice Hotels, Intercontinental Hotels, Hotels.com

    Here is the latest from the Associated Press:

    SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — American prosecutors said Thursday that they believe two suspects in the shooting of retired Red Sox star David Ortiz are wanted for crimes in the United States, while the father of another suspect said his son belongs to a notorious Dominican gang of drug-dealing hitmen.


    Ortiz was shot in the back at a bar in the Dominican Republic on Sunday. Dominican officials announced Wednesday that they had detained the suspected gunman and five accomplices. Ortiz is now in a Boston hospital recovering from surgery in both the Dominican Republic and Boston.

    Prosecutors in New Jersey said that a bench warrant on armed robbery and gun charges has been issued for the man who authorities in the Dominican Republic say pulled the trigger. Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania prosecutor said he believes another suspect in the Ortiz shooting is wanted for attempted homicide in the state.

    A grand jury has indicted Rolfi Ferreira-Cruz in connection with two armed robberies in Clifton, New Jersey, in 2017, according to news release from the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office. The 25-year-old from Reading, Pennsylvania, has never been apprehended on those charges.

    Authorities in the Dominican Republic have said they have a Rolfy Ferreyra in custody and that he has confessed to the shooting. The New Jersey prosecutors did not address the difference in spelling but said the man they were looking for was the suspected shooter.

    It was not clear Thursday night if Ferreira-Cruz had an attorney representing him in the New Jersey case.


    Earlier in the day, Berks County District Attorney John Adams said he believes Luis Rivas-Clase — who is being sought in the Ortiz shooting — to be the suspect wanted for a Reading, Pennsylvania, shooting in 2018. He cautioned that confirmation would have to come through a fingerprint match.

    Pennsylvania authorities have released a mug shot of Rivas-Clase that strongly resembles the suspect in an image provided b Dominican authorities, who provided the same name but without the hyphen listed in U.S. court documents.

    On Thursday, Dominican authorities brought in the five suspects from Wednesday along with a handful of additional suspects, including a woman. The nine were rushed to the court in a police pickup truck accompanied heavily armed police for their first appearance, during which charges will be presented against them so they can continue to be held.

    Ortiz's family said Thursday that he is still an intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. "He continues to heal and make progress. David will continue to recover in the ICU and future updates on his condition will be provided when necessary," a statement said.

    American authorities don't expect to see Rivas-Clase, 31, back in Pennsylvania to face trial anytime soon, if ever.


    “Since this individual would be subject to charges in the Dominican Republic, the chance of us getting him back is frankly far-fetched,” Adams told The Associated Press.

    Separately, Rivas-Clase has also been charged with providing false identification to law enforcement and driving without a license in Reading. Bail was set at $10,000, and records show bond was posted on Nov. 29.

    But Rivas-Clase skipped bail and was subsequently declared a fugitive, according to an online docket. His attorney in that case did not immediately return a message while court records do not list an attorney in the attempted homicide case.

    Authorities in the Dominican Republic say Rivas-Clase is still at large.

    Meanwhile, the father of another suspect in Sunday’s shooting of Ortiz at a bar said his son is a member of gang of hired assassins and low-level drug dealers known as the Gilberts.

    The father, Nisdean Mirabal, told local television morning show “The Alarm Clock” that he had severed relations with his son, Oliver Mois?s Mirabal Acosta, after he was tied to a home used by the gang led by Junior Minaya Germ?n, who is known as Gilbert.

    Gilbert was fatally shot by police in 2013, according to Dominican media.


    Nisdean Mirabal said his efforts to dissuade his son from criminality failed.

    “He shocked me, saying, ‘I love Gilbert more than I love you.’ When he said that, we went our separate ways,” Nisdean Mirabal said.

    Mirabal Acosta was arrested Tuesday in the town of Mao, in the northern Dominican Republic. He is accused of driving a car used to stalk Ortiz before two other young men on a motorcycle shot the slugger in the back.

    The alleged gunman is seen on surveillance video exiting the car before mounting the motorcycle.

    “I know, from the video and the information that’s been put out, that he’s one of those responsible, and he needs to pay for what he’s done,” the father said.

    Ortiz is one of the most beloved figures in sports history in the Dominican Republic and Boston, a fearsome power hitter with a ready smile. The slugger known as Big Papi led the Red Sox to three World Series championships, was a 10-time All-Star and hit 541 home runs.

    The Red Sox retired his number, 34, in 2017 — a year after he retired — and Boston renamed a bridge and a stretch of road outside Fenway Park in his honor. He maintains a home in Weston, on the outskirts of Boston.

    While Ortiz lived in Boston, he visited the Dominican Republic at least six times a year, where he crossed paths with a wide variety of figures from the country’s legitimate and illegal business worlds, according to friends.


    (The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

    Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rosenstein73. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

  9. #2934
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    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/s...inues-n1017871

    The suspects involved in the shooting of former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz in the Dominican Republic will be held in prison while the investigation continues, officials said.

    Nine people have been arrested in connection with the attack in which a single gunman shot Ortiz, 43, once in the back on June 8 at the Dial Bar and Lounge in the eastern part of Santo Domingo.

    The public prosecutor of Santo Domingo East requested a year of "preventative detention" to continue holding the suspects while the investigation is underway, the attorney general's office said in a statement Friday.

    The suspects include Rolfi Ferreira-Cruz, also known as Ramon Martinez Perez, 25, who Dominican authorities said confessed to shooting the former baseball player known affectionately as "Big Papi."

    The other suspects are Oliver Mois?s Mirabal, Eddy Vladimir F?liz Garc?a, Joel Rodr?guez de la Cruz, Porfirio Ayendi Dechamps V?squez, Reynaldo Rodr?guez Valenzuela, Lanny Estefanny P?rez Reyes, Jos? Eduardo Cipri?n and Carlos Rafael ?lvarez.

    Ortiz is still recovering from the gunshot, which caused liver damage and required the removal of his gallbladder and part of his intestines. Jhoel L?pez, a local television host who was with Ortiz, was also injured in the leg by the same bullet but was released from the hospital Monday.

    Officials have described the attack as "complex" and in Friday's statement said more information about the "masterminds" behind the incident and how it unfolded would be revealed in the following week.

  10. #2935
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    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-o...al-2019-06-15/

    The man accused of shooting Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz will remain in jail for at least one year while awaiting trial. Rolfy Ferreyra Cruz and eight other suspects made a court appearance in the Dominican Republic on Friday, all wearing bulletproof vests and helmets. From his jail cell window, the suspected gunman told reporters Ortiz was not his intended target.

    Ortiz remains in a Boston hospital, where he's recovering from a second surgery. On Sunday, the former Red Sox slugger was ambushed and shot at the Dial Bar and Lounge in Santo Domingo, the nation's capital.

    Police have nine suspects in custody, and local media reported a 10th turned himself into authorities on Friday. Authorities are still looking for several others they said may be involved in the plot, including a man wanted in connection with an attempted murder in Pennsylvania. Defense attorneys told CBS News that their clients are innocent.

    Rolfy Ferreyra Cruz
    Rolfy Ferreyra Cruz is taken to court on June 13, 2019. ROBERTO GUZMAN / AP
    Dr. Jose Abel Gonzalez, who was part of the team that treated Ortiz in the hours after the shooting, told CBS News that Ortiz was in a lot of pain, but was in stable condition when he was taken into the operating room.

    Police interviewed Ortiz in the operating room, and Gonzalez said the baseball legend told investigators he didn't have a problem with anyone on the island, and that he was a "good man."

    Police have not yet announced a motive for the crime.

  11. #2936
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    https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...zua-story.html

    Like any Santo Domingo hotspot in the gritty eastern section of the Dominican Republic capital, the Dial Bar & Lounge was packed last Sunday night, its patrons engaged in lively banter, sipping cocktails and looking at their cell phones. One of the most famous former Major League Baseball stars and a three-time World Series champ, David Ortiz, was among them, seated front and center alongside a friend.

    Then a thin, baseball cap-wearing male hopped off the back of a motor scooter, walked up to the 43-year-old Ortiz, known as Big Papi by legions of fans, and fired a single bullet into Ortiz’s back, sending the ex-slugger to the floor. Initial reports described the incident as a robbery, which video quickly disputed. Once the shock of the brazen attack gave way, a troubling question took its place: Why?


    Answers may lie in the cracks that are developing in Ortiz’s carefully crafted persona.

    On one hand, there is the Boston baseball icon who has hosted his own charitable golf event in the D.R. each year, drawing sports world VIPs and raising millions for Dominican and New England disadvantaged children with pediatric heart care needs.

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    On the other hand, there are shady links to the slugger going as far back as his early Red Sox days. Behind his megawatt smile and baseball fame across two countries lie complicated issues and confounding lifestyle choices that include ties to an accused gambler, an alleged affair and an unreported car chase and subsequent coverup of the crash. Interviews with Dominican and American sources familiar with the case suggest the shooting was not simply a matter of Ortiz being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and his life may have been in danger even if he’d been in the U.S.

    Six days after Ortiz was shot, he remains in a Boston hospital, while Dominican authorities have implicated no fewer than 12 people in connection with the attack, including the alleged gunman, 25-year-old Rolfi Ferreira-Cruz, and two jailed suspects who are accused of somehow masterminding the hit from the prison cells where they are currently serving time. A Dominican source was incredulous that such a sophisticated operation could be orchestrated from prison, in a country where the poverty level is crippling.

    “They coordinated this from jail?” says the Dominican source, who has knowledge of the Ortiz case. The source asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal against himself or others. “These guys haven’t seen $5,000 in their lives. There might be three levels of what’s going on here: No.1, funding and planning; No. 2, execution (of the plan); and No. 3, guys being blamed. They probably have one cell phone between them. One is 24 years old. He’s been in prison for five years.”

    Dominican police: The price on ‘Big Papi’s’ head was set at just $7,800 as six suspects are now detained in the weekend shooting ?
    The Dominican source also is one of three people who described an alleged incident involving Ortiz in the D.R. that took place months before the shooting. The sources claim Ortiz’s white Lexus was chased and cut off by a black Mercedes SUV before crashing in front of a firehouse. Firefighters came to his assistance, according to the sources, but an official report is not believed to have been made. The incident did not appear in the media.

    While current reports say there could be additional arrests in the shooting case, the Daily News has learned that U.S. law enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, are actively involved in the probe, and that a powerfully connected drug kingpin believed to be nicknamed “The Abuser” may be one person of interest to authorities.

    “The DEA can’t comment on an ongoing investigation,” said a DEA spokeswoman.

    Ortiz remains in a Boston hospital following the shooting.
    Ortiz remains in a Boston hospital following the shooting. (Elise Amendola/AP)
    Two law enforcement sources, however, confirmed that the DEA is investigating the Ortiz shooting, and it is possible the U.S. State Department and other agencies are assisting, too. Multiple messages left with the State Department and the Dominican National Police were not returned.

    At least two of the suspects have criminal ties in the U.S. The Associated Press reported that Ferreira-Cruz, the alleged gunman, was indicted in a 2017 Clifton, N.J., armed robbery case but never apprehended. The AP cited a news release from the Passaic County prosecutor’s office. Another suspect, Luis Rivas-Clase, is being sought by authorities and may be the same person wanted in a 2018 Reading, Pa., shooting, according to the AP. Sources told the Daily News that the Northeast United States is the prime market for drugs coming from the Dominican Republic. “Everybody wants to sell to the U.S.,” said one source. “That hit could have easily happened in the U.S.”

    Theories on the motive for the Ortiz shooting have varied wildly in the hours and days after the shot was fired. The main theory, reported by the Daily Mail on Monday, is that police in the D.R. believe Ortiz was shot by two cops “hired by a Dominican Republic drug lord who thought the baseball player was having an affair with his wife.” An Ortiz representative, Leo Lopez, denied that the shooting had anything to do with a woman, but said it was the act of “hired killers.” Ortiz is married and has three children. His wife, Tiffany, provided statements on Ortiz’s medical condition last week.

    Videos taken moments after the shooting show clubgoers violently attacking Eddy Feliz Garcia, the driver of the scooter. Another video, taken at Dr. Abel Gonzalez Medical Center, the Dominican hospital where Ortiz was taken for surgery, shows a brawl involving a woman, not his wife, who was purportedly involved with Ortiz.

    And on Friday, the gunman, Ferreira-Cruz, shouted to reporters from a holding cell that he had mistaken Ortiz for another intended target and mistakenly shot the slugger. "It wasn't David,” Ferreira-Cruz said. “I got confused by his clothing."

    A prosecution spokesman, Erick Montilla, disputed that account, saying that he doubted any Dominican would not recognize David Ortiz and that Ferreira-Cruz was making up a story to avoid being attacked in jail. "He can say whatever he wants in an interview," Montilla said. "What matters is the investigation and what he said in the interrogation."

    In addition to the federal glare and the ongoing probe in the D.R., Eddie Dominguez, a former Resident Security Agent for the Red Sox when Ortiz was on the team, revealed some troubling elements of Ortiz’s off-the-field life in the book “Baseball Cop,” published last year.

    Dominguez wrote how in 2005, while he was an RSA and still an active Boston Police Department detective and a member of an FBI task force, allegations arose about a member of Ortiz’s entourage betting on baseball games, prompting Dominguez to open a BPD/FBI investigation. Felix Leopoldo Marquez Galice, nicknamed “Monga,” had assumed a false identity in the U.S., and was identified by one of Dominguez’s informants as having frequented a barbershop in Boston to place wagers on baseball games, including a July 2005 game between Ortiz’s Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox in the Windy City. According to the book, Monga placed two $1,000 bets that day — one on the White Sox to win, and another on the over-under — and won both bets.

    Ortiz.
    Ortiz. (Charles Krupa/AP)
    Dominguez, who became a founding member of baseball’s Department of Investigations in 2008, wrote that he later met with Ortiz, former Boston manager Terry Francona and former MLB security chief Kevin Hallinan at Fenway in 2006 to discuss Monga and the gambling evidence. Ortiz, according to Dominguez, denied knowing anything about the allegations. But no sooner had the Fenway meeting adjourned than Dominguez wrote that he got a call from his informant telling him that the barber running the gambling parlor Monga had frequented had just shut down the operation.

    Dominguez wrote that he turned over his information on the Monga investigation to an FBI task force, and that in 2007, multiple law enforcement agencies carried out the wide-ranging case known as “Operation Barbershop.” Monga was later arrested by immigration authorities at Ortiz’s home; he was eventually charged with nine counts of making false claims of U.S. citizenship and deported. Ortiz, who wasn’t disciplined by baseball in relation to the Monga case, fired back at “Baseball Cop” after its release, taking to social media to defend his character:

  12. #2937
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    “I wasn’t gonna comment on this episode but someone outta nowhere once again try to diminish my image just to sell a couple books...jus (sic) for some $$ in his pocket. MLB do a hell of a job letting us know as a player the importance of NOT betting on baseball...especially after pete rose,” Ortiz wrote on his official Instagram account on August 30, 2018. “I have been a player that has been extremely blessed… not only with the love of the fans, but also with lots of $$$. And im SMART ENOUGH to not get caught in some BS like that…trust me!!!


    Despite his celebrity, sources say Ortiz seems to have invited trouble in his home country. One Dominican source called the neighborhood around Dial Bar & Lounge “not a safe area” and described the bars in that part of the city as “well-known for being full of people with unjustified money, new rich guys with attitude and unjust wealth, driving Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out how (they have the money). David has a terrace (in his home) with a better view than the one he was at. It’s unconscionable what happened.”

    “Everything is fishy in the D.R.,” adds the Cuban-born Dominguez, who spent six years investigating corruption in baseball as a DOI member and lived on the island off and on during that period. “What you see is not what you get. Everything is Three-card Monte.”

    Whether the Ortiz investigation in the D.R. eventually reaches a powerful drug lord is up for debate, certainly among skeptics. According to two sources, one of them a law enforcement official, it is unlikely that a person of a certain stature would be prosecuted.

    “No way that guy would be touched,” said the official. “He knows people everywhere. The only way would be if American agents — the FBI or DEA — get involved.”

    (Editor’s note: Teri Thompson and Christian Red are co-authors with former Boston detective and MLB investigator Eddie Dominguez of “Baseball Cop: The Dark Side of America’s National Pastime.)
    https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/b...zua-story.html

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    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/s...vid-ortiz.html

    SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Dominican authorities identified the man they believe paid hit men to try and kill David Ortiz, adding that they were closing in on the mastermind and the motive behind the shooting of the famous slugger who is recovering at a hospital in Boston.

    The man was identified on Monday as Alberto Miguel Rodr?guez Mota, whom authorities said is a fugitive. The announcement was made as a judge held a hearing closed to the public for another suspect nicknamed “Bone.” Officials did not release details, but according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press, the man, whose real name is Gabriel Alex?nder P?rez Vizca?no, is accused of being the liaison between the alleged hit men and the person who paid them.

    An 11th person was arrested on Tuesday, the authorities said. An official identified the suspect as Franklin Junior Mer?n. The official, who agreed to disclose the information only if not quoted by name because they weren’t authorized to discuss the case publicly, told The Associated Press that Mer?n had been accused of renting one of the cars used in the June 9 shooting at a bar in Santo Domingo.

    The newest arrest came as doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital upgraded Ortiz’s condition from “guarded” to “good.” The Red Sox issued a statement Tuesday on behalf of his wife, Tiffany Ortiz, who said he continues to make progress and “we remain grateful to everyone who has helped David through this ordeal.”

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    The court documents obtained Monday state that a man who is in prison for an unrelated case reached out to P?rez about the alleged job a week before the June 9 shooting at a bar in Santo Domingo and sent him a picture of the target so he could share it with the hit men.

    P?rez allegedly shared the picture with the other suspects as they gathered at a nearby gas station just minutes before the shooting. Officials have not said whether the picture was of Ortiz.

    Gabriel Alex?nder P?rez Vizca?no was transferred to the Palace of Justice in Santo Domingo on Monday. He is accused of being the liaison between the alleged hit men and the person who paid them to kill Ortiz.

    Credit
    EPA, via Shutterstock


    ImageGabriel Alex?nder P?rez Vizca?no was transferred to the Palace of Justice in Santo Domingo on Monday. He is accused of being the liaison between the alleged hit men and the person who paid them to kill Ortiz.<br /><br />
    Gabriel Alex?nder P?rez Vizca?no was transferred to the Palace of Justice in Santo Domingo on Monday. He is accused of being the liaison between the alleged hit men and the person who paid them to kill Ortiz.

    CreditEPA, via Shutterstock
    The documents also state that P?rez sold a gold-colored iPhone 6 used to plan the attack to a woman for $180 so he could get rid of the evidence a day after the shooting. Authorities claimed the phone was giving him problems and that’s why he sold it.

    “He did this upon finding out that police were looking for him,” the document states.

    An attorney for P?rez did not comment upon leaving the courtroom after the hearing as police whisked away the suspect, who was wearing a red T-shirt, a flak jacket and a helmet. He did not speak to reporters.




    Ten other suspects have already been ordered to spend a year in preventive detention as the investigation continues, including the alleged shooter. The authorities say they are looking for at least three other suspects, including the man they believe paid the hit men.

    Ortiz’s lawyer, Jos? Mart?nez Hoepelman, said he was satisfied with how the investigation was going.

    “Trust the authorities,” he said. “They have worked tirelessly to obtain the results that we have so far. We all want more information, but we have to wait.”

    Police have said the coordinator of the attack was offered 400,000 Dominican pesos, or about $7,800, to orchestrate the shooting of Ortiz.

    Ortiz lives in Boston but visits the Dominican Republic several times a year.


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    https://www.wcvb.com/article/new-det...ortiz/28097144

    David Ortiz Update

    BOSTON —
    New details are expected Wednesday in the shooting of former Red Sox star David Ortiz, as the slugger remains hospitalized in Boston in what his wife calls "good" condition.

    A press conference detailing some key information in the shooting attempt on his life is expected to be held in the Dominican Republic.


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    Ortiz's condition upgraded to ‘good,’ continues to make progress, his wife says
    Documents reveal sophisticated plan to kill David Ortiz
    Ortiz's attorney Jose Martinez Hoepelman said Ortiz has no connection to so-called illicit activities, and the rest of what's been rumored is cheap gossip.

    “David Ortiz is innocent in what happened. He has no connection to illicit activities, no relationships with people who have criminal connections, nor has he violated his family values that would bring about such an incident," Hoepelman said.

    An 11th suspect in the attempted killing of the former the Boston Red Sox star has been arrested, officials said Tuesday. Franklin Junior Mer?n is accused of renting one of the cars used in the June 9 shooting at a bar in Santo Domingo.

    Ten other suspects have already been ordered to spend a year in preventive detention as the investigation continues, including the alleged shooter. Authorities said they are looking for at least three other suspects, including the man they believe paid the hit men.

    The Red Sox issued a statement Tuesday on behalf of his wife, Tiffany Ortiz, who said he continues to make progress and, "We remain grateful to everyone who has helped David through this ordeal."

    She added that the 10-time All-Star's road to recovery "has been bolstered by the many expressions of love" from around the world and it has "lifted his spirits tremendously."

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    Why is that Whoopi lady talking shit about the woman who took nude photos of herself?, Whoopi needs to mind her goddamn business. Whoopi is just jealous that nobody and I mean nobody would want to see her naked. Whoopi is a loud mouth.

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    https://www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/l...619-story.html

    The Dominican Republic's lead prosecutor said Wednesday that former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was not the target of a shooting in a nightclub in his hometown.

    Attorney General Jean Alain Rodriguez told reporters the target was another man, dressed similarly to Ortiz, who was seated with the retired baseball star on the night of the June 9 shooting in the capital of Santo Domingo.


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    Rodriguez said the shooting was orchestrated by a member of Mexico's Gulf Cartel, who remains on the run. He did not immediately describe a motive.

    Ortiz remains hospitalized from the gunshot wound to his back. Doctors in Boston have upgraded his condition from guarded to good.

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    At the time of the attack, Ortiz was with TV personality Jhoel Lopez and the apparent target, a man named David Fernandez, at Dial Bar and Lounge, which once served as a casual hangout for people getting their cars cleaned across the street. Ortiz was sitting with his back to the street when he was shot once in the back by a bullet that also injured Lopez.

    The shooting was carried out by two men on a motorcycle who were followed by several suspects in two cars, authorities said.


    Alleged mastermind of David Ortiz shooting identified by authorities
    JUN 17, 2019 | 8:05 PM
    Eleven suspects have been arrested, including the alleged shooter identified as Rolfy Ferreyra, aka Sandy, a skinny, tattooed 25-year-old whom U.S. prosecutors said is wanted on armed robbery and gun charges in New Jersey.

    Rodriguez said the shooting was orchestrated by a man named Victor Hugo Gomez, whom he described as a member or associate of the Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico's major drug-trafficking organizations. Officials did not say why Gomez would have targeted Fernandez.

    Gomez was believed to be in the United States and was being sought by the Drug Enforcement Administration, said Maj. Gen. Ney Aldrin Bautista Almonte, director of the Dominican Republic's national police.

    The weapon used in the shooting, a Browning Hi Power semi-automatic pistol, was buried in the garden of one of the suspect's home and was later turned over to police by his mother, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press.

    The other suspects include Joel Rodriguez de la Cruz, aka Squiddy; Reynaldo Rodriguez Valenzuela, aka The Chinaman; Franklin Junior Meran, aka Rubirosa; Porfirio Ayendy Dechamps Vasquez, aka Kid; and Eddy Vladimir Feliz Garcia, aka The Package, who was identified as the alleged motorcycle driver.

    Authorities say Garcia was captured and beaten by angry fans after he skidded and fell off his bike as the pair tried to flee. Garcia's attorney has said his client is an Ortiz fan and had no idea his passenger was going to commit a crime.

    Another suspect was identified as Oliver Moises Mirabal Acosta, aka Papi, whose father accused him of being involved in a gang of hit men and low-level drug dealers. He is accused of driving one of the cars used to stalk Ortiz before he was shot.

    Also accused is Gabriel Alexander Perez Vizcaino, aka Bone, whom they say was hired by someone who is in prison on unrelated charges to be the liaison between the hit men and the person who paid them. Authorities say Perez shared a picture of the target as he met the other suspects at a nearby gas station just minutes before the shooting, although they have not specified who was depicted in the picture.

    They said Perez then sold the cell phone used to plan the attack and to distribute a picture of the target to a woman for $180 so he could get rid of the evidence a day after the shooting.

    Police are still looking for at least three other suspects: a woman known as The Venezuelan or Red; Luis Alfredo Rivas Clase, aka The Surgeon, who is wanted for a 2018 shooting in Reading, Pennsylvania, and is believed to driving the other used to stalk Ortiz; and Alberto Miguel Rodriguez Mota, whom authorities believe paid the hit men. Authorities have said coordinator of attack was offered 400,000 Dominican pesos, or about $7,800.

    David Ortiz walks to the dugout following batting practice before a game between the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles in April 2016.
    David Ortiz walks to the dugout following batting practice before a game between the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles in April 2016. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
    Wednesday's announcement came as Ortiz recovers at Massachusetts General Hospital. Doctors in the Dominican Republic removed his gallbladder and part of his intestine before he was wheeled into an air ambulance sent by the Red Sox and flown to Boston.

    Ortiz led the Red Sox to three World Series championships, was a 10-time All Star and hit 541 home runs. The Red Sox retired his number, 34, in 2017, and he has a bridge and a stretch of road outside Fenway Park named after him. He has a home in Weston, on the outskirts of Boston, that he shared with his wife and three children before putting it up for sale.

    Although he lives in Boston, the 43-year-old visits the Dominican Republic several times a year. His father and sister live in Santo Domingo.

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    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...ersey-n1019856

    The man accused of shooting retired baseball great David Ortiz in the Dominican Republic has been indicted on drug conspiracy and weapons charges in New Jersey, prosecutors said Thursday.

    Rolfi Ferreira-Cruz, 25, from Paterson, New Jersey, is in custody in the Dominican Republic in connection with the June 9 shooting of Ortiz.

    Ferreira-Cruz is also now facing three criminal counts in his home state for conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine; possession with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine; and weapons possession, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

    Rolfi Ferreira-CruzRolfi Ferreira-CruzPassaic County Prosecutor's Office
    The charges carry penalties of up to 40 years behind bars.

    The six-page indictment said the alleged crimes happened Jan. 22 in Passaic County.

    The shooting last week of retired Boston Red Sox slugger Ortiz, known as "Big Papi," occurred at the Dial Bar and Lounge in Santo Domingo, and involved 11 suspects.

    Prosecutors say the shooting of Ortiz was a case of mistaken identity and that the bullet was meant for Sixto David Fern?ndez in what authorities have described as a murder-for-hire plot. Fernandez, a friend of Ortiz's who frequents the bar, was sharing a table with the slugger at the time.

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    https://nypost.com/2019/06/20/intend...-single-enemy/

    The man who cops identified as the intended target in the David Ortiz shooting says he has no idea why someone would want to kill him, claiming in a recent interview that he doesn’t have “a single enemy” — not even a cat.

    “I’m just a businessman,” David Fern?ndez told Zol 106.5 FM, a Dominican radio station, last Friday.

    “I have a garage shop,” he said. “I don’t know where these rumors came from, I don’t even have a cat as an enemy.”

    Authorities in the DR identified Fern?ndez on Wednesday as the man who was supposed to be targeted during the Ortiz shooting earlier this month. The former Red Sox slugger was hanging out with him outside a nightclub in Santo Domingo — drinking and smoking cigars — when the botched $8,000 hit job went down.

    Cops said they obtained new evidence about the assassination attempt that led them to believe Ortiz was not the target. They now suspect that Fern?ndez was supposed to be the victim — with his fugitive cousin, Victor Hugo Gomez Vasquez, allegedly hiring a murder crew to take him out because he thought Fern?ndez had snitched on him.

    Ortiz’s friend, however, doesn’t believe he was the one being shot at.

    “Logic exists,” he told 106.5. “David and I are two very different people physically…I don’t have a single enemy.”

    Cops have arrested at least 11 people in connection to the June 9 shooting as Ortiz continues to recover at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Several suspects are still at large.

  19. #2944
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    https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...te/1538148001/

    Update on David Ortiz

    Retired Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz hit another important milestone in his ongoing recovery process Saturday.

    Ortiz's wife, Tiffany, said in a statement released by the team that the longtime designated hitter known as "Big Papi" has been moved out of the intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston — significant progress after he was shot in the back at a bar in his native Dominican Republic nearly two weeks ago.

    "He remains in good condition and continues to recover under the care of Drs. David King and Larry Ronan," Tiffany Ortiz said in the statement.

    Ortiz was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital on June 10 — with the help of the Red Sox — after receiving initial treatment for his wounds at a Dominican hospital. He underwent two surgeries to treat injuries related to the gunshot wound, including a procedure that removed his gallbladder and part of his intestine.

    View image on Twitter
    View image on Twitter

    Boston Red Sox

    @RedSox
    The #RedSox today issued the following statement on behalf of Tiffany Ortiz:

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    Dominican authorities initially said Ortiz, who is a revered figure in the Dominican Republic, was the victim of a targeted attack. But prosecutors said in a news conference Wednesday that the attackers misidentified Ortiz and were actually targeting Sixto David Fernandez, a friend who was sitting at the same table.

    Dominican police have arrested 11 people in connection with the attack, including 25-year-old Rolfi Ferreira Cruz, who police said admitted to being the person who shot Ortiz. Ferreira Cruz was indicted in the United States on Thursday and charged with multiple crimes, including conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine.

    Contributing: Jorge L. Ortiz

    Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

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    https://www.staradvertiser.com/2019/...s-family-says/

    Beth Chapman has been admitted to Queen’s Medical Center and is in a medically induced coma in the hospital’s intensive care unit, her husband Duane “Dog” Chapman said.

    According to a statement late Saturday night from the Chapmans’ publicist, only “immediate family” are being allowed access to the reality television star at this time, with the family asking the general public to “please pray for Beth” while also sending “sincere thanks to everyone for their prayers throughout Beth’s battle with cancer.”

    Beth Chapman, 51, was first diagnosed with lung cancer in September 2017, and said in November that the cancer had returned despite surgery to remove it.

    In April, she was hospitalized “due to an accumulation of fluid in her lungs” and underwent a procedure to relieve pressure that had built up, according to her family.

    The Chapmans first starred in the reality TV series “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” and most recently appeared together in “Dog & Beth: On the Hunt,” both of which were filmed throughout Hawaii, including the couple’s Da Kine Bail Bonds office on Queen Emma Street. That office, along with a storefront for the Dog the Bounty Hunter shop, shut down at the end of January.

  21. #2946
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    So sad...

    Beth Chapman is not expected to recover and leave the hospital, and the family is preparing for the worst ... family sources tell TMZ.

    We've learned Beth's mother has flown from the mainland to Hawaii to be by her daughter's side. Her children and grandchildren -- many of whom live in Hawaii -- are also gathering at Beth's bedside.

    As we reported, Beth has been waging a difficult war against stage 4 lung cancer. She was hospitalized Saturday after experiencing difficulty breathing as well as choking. She was placed in a medically-induced coma.

    Family sources say there's not a lot that can be done for Beth and at this point, and the family is making medical decisions with the help of her doctors.
    https://www.tmz.com/2019/06/25/beth-...jO6_D-08XhFBns


    Quote Originally Posted by marakisses View Post
    yes i said i will leave it under you storage he said cuddle with me i said shut up it over??? what am i doing wrong??
    Quote Originally Posted by curiouscat View Post
    Happy Birthday! I hid a dead body in your backyard to celebrate. Good luck finding it under the cement. You can only use a stick to look for it.

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    https://www.wcvb.com/article/david-o...e-say/28223036



    SANTO DOMINGO, Distrito Nacional —
    The alleged mastermind of the attack in which former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was shot is now in custody in the Dominican Republic, police said.

    Police announced Friday that Victor Hugo Gomez Vazquez was arrested in the capital city of Santo Domingo.


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    Authorities said they expected to release more details later in the day.

    Vazquez is tied to Mexico's Gulf Cartel and is wanted in the United States on federal charges, including heroin and cocaine possession in an unrelated case in Texas.

    The U.S. Justice Department says the cartel smuggles cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine into the United States across the Texas border.

    Dominican officials said he ordered the shooting of his cousin, Sixto David Fern?ndez, because he believed he ratted on him to local authorities in a 2011 drug case that led to his imprisonment.

    As Ortiz recovers in a Boston hospital, officials say he was the victim not of a bizarre plot against a beloved sports figure but of a string of incompetent criminal mishaps that included misidentifying the most famous Dominican in the world, an instantly recognizable 6-foot-3 inch, 250-pound international celebrity.

    Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, right, sits on the field with his son D&#x27;Angelo, left, during spring training baseball practice Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014, in Fort Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
    Steven Senne
    Alberto Rodr?guez Mota had one job: taking a photo of the man whom his crew of hired killers was supposed to fatally shoot at an outdoor cafe, according to Dominican authorities.

    But the lighting was bad. And the target, an auto-shop owner, was sitting behind a white beverage cooler. In the photo sent to the hit man, he looked like a dark, blurry figure in white pants, the Dominican police chief and attorney general said.

    Hours later, on the evening of June 9, the hit man approached a hulking figure in a dark top and white pants and fired a single shot into his back. Instead of killing his intended target, he had wounded Ortiz, the baseball superstar almost universally adored in his native Dominican Republic and in much of the sports-loving world.

    "It's like they left this in the hands of boys," said Daniel Pou, an independent consultant on public security. "Without a doubt, it was amateurish."

    Play Video
    According to the official account, Mota sat down by himself at the bar in Santo Domingo, ordered a beer and waited. When night fell, he got up, phone in hand, and moved out of view in a video that authorities shared with reporters. That's when officials say he took the blurry picture of Sixto David Fern?ndez, who arrived about two hours before the shooting and requested a table so he could accommodate friends, including Ortiz, who would soon join him.

    As Fern?ndez waited, Rodr?guez sat back down and sent the picture to a low-level drug dealer nicknamed Chuky who was sitting in an overcrowded prison more than 60 miles away. Once Chuky — whose real name is Jos? Eduardo Cipri?n — received the picture on a phone smuggled into the prison, he shared it with his top outside contact, Gabriel P?rez Vizca?no, aka Bone, who then showed it to a small group of mostly young, skinny, tattooed alleged hit men just minutes before the shooting, authorities said.

    The picture of Fern?ndez shows him in a black T-shirt sitting at a table with the white cooler blocking the view of his legs. Authorities say the suspects mistakenly assumed he was wearing white pants as they gathered at a nearby gas station. By that time, Ortiz had arrived and taken a seat with his back to the street. He was wearing a black T-shirt, white pants and thick gold jewelry.

    Shortly afterward, authorities said, the suspected hit man, Rolfy Ferreyra, approached Ortiz from behind, fired and then fled on a motorcycle allegedly driven by Eddy Feliz Garc?a. Minutes later, the driver skidded and fell off his bike and was accosted by fans, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

    Rolfy Ferreyra Cruz
    Rolfy Ferreyra
    In the hours that followed, the suspects' demands for payment were refused because they shot the wrong person, according to national police director, Maj. Gen. Ney Aldrin Bautista Almonte.

    "No, you guys made a mess out of this," he said the suspects were told.

    In response, the suspects kidnapped P?rez, Chuky's contact outside of prison. They did not release him until Chuky gave them 50,000 Dominican pesos, roughly $1,000.

    Officials did not say when P?rez was kidnapped, but they noted in documents obtained by the AP that a day after the shooting, he tried to get rid of evidence by selling the iPhone 6 used in the attack. Authorities also recovered the gun, which had been buried in the garden of one of the suspect's home. His mother turned it in, according to court documents.

    Within three days of the shooting, authorities had detained 10 suspects, all of whom have been ordered to spend one year in preventive prison as the investigation continues.

    "They made a lot of mistakes," Francisco Dom?nguez Brito, a former attorney general, said. "This was basically improvised."

  23. #2948
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    https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ts/1628058001/

    A former NFL quarterback was shot in North Carolina on Monday after an altercation with his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend, the Concord (N.C.) Police Department said in a news release.

    Anthony Wright, who started 19 games with the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys over parts of four seasons, suffered multiple gunshot wounds during the incident and was rushed into emergency surgery at a local hospital, according to police. He was in stable condition as of late Monday afternoon.

    Police said the incident started with a "verbal altercation" in Concord, North Carolina — a small city north of Charlotte. According to the news release from police, Wright began arguing with his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend when the man was dropping off his daughter and shots were fired.

    The Concord Police Department said in the news release that it has issued a warrant for the arrest of William Moses Hooker Jr. Hooker faces a charge of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill.

    Wright, 43, last played in the NFL in 2007. A South Carolina product, he completed 54.9% of his passes as a pro with four different teams. He was a backup quarterback on the New York Giants team that won a Super Bowl title in 2007.
    Anthony Wright of the NFL has been Shot

  24. #2949
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    https://www.newsobserver.com/latest-...232185907.html

    Here is more. Willie Moses the accused shooter is now identified as a fugitive over the Anthony Wright shooting.

    Former University of South Carolina quarterback Anthony Wright was shot multiple times in a domestic dispute in North Carolina and remains in stable condition at a hospital near Charlotte, police say.

    Concord police say they responded at 12:40 a.m Monday to a “report of gun shots in the area of 1212 Middlecrest Drive,” according to a press release.

    “Officers arrived on scene to find Anthony Wright with multiple gunshots wounds,” police said in the release. “Wright was transported to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte where he was rushed into emergency surgery. Currently he is in stable condition.”

    His wounds were not considered life threatening, police officials told The Charlotte Observer.
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    Investigators credited witnesses with saying Wright “got into a verbal altercation” with a man who shares a daughter with Wright’s current girlfriend.

    “This altercation began when the ‘ex’ showed up to drop off his daughter. An argument ensued and shots were fired,” police said in a release.

    The Concord Police Department said it has issued a warrant on William “Willie” Moses Hooker Jr. for assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill.

    Wright came to Columbia as a SuperPrep All-American out of West Craven High School in Vanceboro, North Carolina. He joined the Gamecocks in 1995, backing up Steve Taneyhill. Wright ascended to the role of starter the next year, throwing for 1,850 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions while leading the team to a 6-5 record.

    He threw for 18 touchdowns, five interceptions and 1,685 yards as a junior, despite missing the final two games of the season with a knee injury. Wright split time with Phil Petty his senior season, as the Gamecocks fell to 1-10. Wright finished his career as the No. 3 passer in program history with 5,641 yards and 38 touchdowns.

    He is currently eighth all-time in both categories. He went undrafted, but managed to carve out a decade-long NFL career, mostly as a backup quarterback. He played in 31 games with 19 starts for the Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and New York Giants.

    He helped lead the 2003 Ravens to the playoffs, going 5-2 as a starter down the stretch, and was the third-string QB for the 2007 Giants Super Bowl team. That was his last non-preseason game, as an injury ended his career the next season. As of 2016, he was training young players in the Charlotte area.

    Read more here: https://www.newsobserver.com/latest-...#storylink=cpy

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    https://patch.com/maryland/baltimore...ends-ex-police

    Correction the suspect name is Willie Moses Hooker.

    BALTIMORE, MD — Former Baltimore Ravens quarterback Anthony Wright, 43, was shot multiple times at his girlfriend's house in Concord, North Carolina, July 1 by the woman's ex-boyfriend, authorities say. The Concord Police Department responded to a call for shots fired at 1212 Middlecrest Drive Northwest at 12:49 p.m.

    Witnesses told police that Wright and the girlfriend's ex-boyfriend, William "Willie" Moses Hooker Jr., had argued while Hooker was dropping off his daughter. The argument escalated and shots were fired, police reported.

    According to WJZ, Wright was rushed into surgery and listed in stable condition afterward. Police issued an arrest warrant for Hooker, who faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with intent to kill.

    NBC Sports reported that Wright launched his football career at South Carolina in 1995, then was drafted by the NFL and played for the Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and New York Giants, earning a Super Bowl ring with the Giants in 2008.

    Anyone with information on Hooker's whereabouts should call the police at 704-920-5000. According to the Independent Tribune, Hooker stands 5'11" and weighs about 200 pounds.

    He was last seen driving a 2015 Honda Accord four-door car with NC Tag #EMD-2568. At the time of the incident Hooker was in possession of a handgun, police say.

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