Crime & Arrests

Two gym owners in NJ who refused to shut their doors despite official orders were arrested at their facility Monday ... and now, people are FURIOUS!!

Both protesters and supporters had been posting up in front of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, NJ for days after the owners made it clear they would not comply with a state COVID-19 order requiring non-essential businesses to close up.

Things really got intense on Friday when a judge issued a court order demanding the owners vacate the premises and cease operations immediately.

But, Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti refused -- and it all came to a head on Monday when several law enforcement agencies swarmed the gym and again, asked both men leave.

They again refused -- so, they were both arrested on site.

According to one witness, K9 units were on scene to help out. But, it does not appear things got out of hand.

Prosecutors in Camden County say 33-year-old Smith and 51-year-old Trumbetti were taken to a local jail and formally charged with "1 count of 4th degree Contempt, 1 count of Obstruction, and 1 count of Violation of a Disaster Control Act."

Both men have since been released from custody.

Ex-MLB star Aubrey Huff -- who's been vocal about HATING all of the COVID shutdowns and masks, etc. -- went to bat for the gym owners shortly after their arrests saying, "Ian Smith has taken the bullet for all of us."

Ex-UCLA player Craig Lee -- a key piece of one of the school's best recruiting classes ever -- is breathing easier today ... the former Bruin just cut a plea deal with prosecutors in his attempted murder case, and is only getting probation.

We broke the story ... Lee -- a top UCLA recruit in Jim Mora's famed 2013 class -- was arrested last year after law enforcement says he was involved in an altercation at a weed dispensary that turned violent.

According to court docs, obtained by TMZ Sports, officials say Lee and at least 2 other men entered Kings Palace Marijuana Dispensary in Jurupa Valley, Calif. on June 30, 2016 ... when someone from the group shot a store employee.

Officials say a security guard in the store returned fire ... and that's when they say Lee and the other suspects bolted out of the place.

After an ensuing 3-year-long investigation into the incident ... law enforcement claimed the whole thing was a robbery gone wrong, and say a key witness told them Lee's role in it all "was to grab drugs and money and run."

Lee was eventually hit with 3 felonies by prosecutors ... including attempted murder, attempted robbery, and accessory for allegedly aiding the others to flee.

But, a rep for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office tells TMZ Sports Lee agreed to a deal this month ... pleading guilty to the accessory count.

In exchange, the prosecutors agreed to drop the other 2 charges.

We're told Lee was sentenced to 80 days in jail ... but was given credit for time served and won't have to spend another day behind bars.

Lee was also hit with 36 months of formal probation ... but prosecutors say if he keeps his nose clean for two years, he'll have the opportunity to have the felony conviction reduced to a misdemeanor.

As part of his probation terms, Lee, among other things, cannot possess a firearm or leave the state without first getting permission.

A dude from Michigan figured a prosthetic face mask making him look super old would allow him to steal a fortune at several casinos, with the help of some fake driver's licenses and other personal info from elderly victims.

John Colletti, who is 55, needed to look a lot older, and the prosthetic face mask did the trick, but for safe measure, he wore hats, glasses and even surgical masks. He went to the MGM Grand Casinos last year in Michigan and Kansas and withdrew a fortune at the self-service kiosks ... this according to the federal complaint.

The feds say at least 10 people were victimized and Colletti stole more than $100,000.

The FBI cracked the case with the help of a search warrant, and they found a lot, including 4 prosthetic face masks, flash drives, counterfeit money and books on how to commit a crime without getting caught.

A San Jose cop has been benched after dragging a woman across a parking lot face first.

It went down at a McDonald's parking lot. A Door Dash driver recorded the brutal arrest while it was already in progress. You see the cop kick the woman -- who is already on her knees. Then, as his partner aims his gun at her, the cop tackles her to the ground and drags her a good distance. Mind you ... she was already handcuffed.

You hear children in the woman's car crying as McDonald's customers scream at the officers to stop.

Retired judge LaDoris Cordell, who has heard use of force cases, told CBS San Francisco, "If anyone wanted a prime example of use of excessive force by a police officer, this incident is one."

The San Jose PD released this statement ... "Officers used force during the arrest after the suspect failed to comply with their commands. The department has initiated an internal investigation into this incident."

The death of Alonzo Brooks is still a mystery, but his mom believes the cold case is heating up and they're close to getting some real answers ... thanks in large part to the national attention it just received.

Maria Ramirez tells TMZ ... as bittersweet as it may be, the timing of the pandemic, along with the story of her son's murder featured on the rebooted "Unsolved Mysteries" series on Netflix, has been beneficial to the investigation.

Alonzo's mother says it got so many viewers -- along with so much interest and support -- because of the current situation in the country ... and she has faith it's going to lead to cracking the case and providing her with some closure.

As we reported ... there have already been some major developments this week in the murder case. Brooks' body was exhumed in Topeka, KS as tips have continued to pour in.

Alonzo was found dead in a creek in May 2004, about a month after he went missing, after attending a party in La Cygne, KS, at which he was one of only a few Black people.

Law enforcement had no suspects or solid answers for the family and the case went cold until the FBI reopened it this month. It's now calling Alonzo's death a hate crime ... offering a $100k reward for info leading to an arrest.

"Today is Opening Day, which means it's a great day to arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor."

That's a tweet from the official Tampa Bay Rays Twitter account ... using the biggest day of the season to bring justice for Breonna Taylor, who was killed by 3 police officers in her Louisville home.

The Rays made the impactful statement early Friday morning ... hours before kicking off their season against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Not only did the team make waves with the tweet ... the Rays are also committing $100,000 to local groups fighting systemic racism.

"Systemic racism is real," the team said. "Let’s unite for positive change."

The MLB as a whole has shown solidarity with Black Lives Matter at the start of the season ... with kneeling demonstrations, video messages and jersey patches.

Players -- including Dodgers star Mookie Betts and several S.F. Giants -- took a knee during the national anthem before their game Thursday to symbolize a need for change in the country.

"American Crime" actor Johnny Ortiz is facing a real-life attempted murder charge for his alleged role in an L.A. drive-by shooting ... TMZ has learned.

We broke the story ... Ortiz and another man, Armando Miguel Navarro, allegedly tried to kill a man named Brian Duke in a gang violence-related incident. Though Navarro's the one accused of pulling the trigger, prosecutors also hit Ortiz with an attempted murder charge ... now we know why.

Law enforcement sources tell us ... witnesses on the scene gave a description of the car, which was pulled over about an hour later in L.A. with 4 people inside, and Ortiz driving.

We're told all 4 were taken into custody, but the D.A. only charged Ortiz and Navarro ... the other 2 were released.

Our sources say prosecutors have some video evidence linked to the shooting.

Ortiz has also costarred in "McFarland, USA" with Kevin Costner, and with Aaron Paul in "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie." He was arrested in late May and is still locked up, being held on $1,120,000 bail.

Great news for Ed Oliver ... the Buffalo Bills' rising star is getting his DWI and gun charges dropped because of insufficient evidence, prosecutors confirmed to TMZ Sports on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old former first-round pick -- who had a rock-solid rookie season for Buffalo last year -- was arrested back on May 16 in Montgomery, Texas after cops say he was drunk driving.

Officers claim witnesses told them they saw Oliver swerving and driving dangerously at around 9 PM ... and they say when they eventually caught up to Ed, he was doing 80 mph in a 45 and illegally passing people.

Cops say when they pulled Ed over, they noticed a "moderate" odor of alcohol and said Oliver had bloodshot and glassy eyes.

The officers also say Oliver had an open can of Bud Light in the driver's side door ... and claim the guy bombed sobriety tests.

Cops also say they found a pistol in his car after searching his ride.

Eventually, Oliver was arrested and charged with class B misdemeanor driving while intoxicated and class A misdemeanor "unlawful carry weapon."

But, prosecutors told us Wednesday they filed a motion to drop the charges after the testing for drugs/alcohol came back negative.

Oliver's attorney, Gary E. Patterson, elaborated to Fox 26's Mark Berman, saying, "The charges against Ed Oliver are being dismissed by the district attorney in Montgomery County (because of) the lack of evidence."

"The blood results came back and they were totally negative. He had no drugs at all in his system..So everybody know it's not the attorney that's getting him off. They had no evidence."

As for the gun charge, Patterson told Berman, "It gets automatically dismissed because it's only illegal to have a pistol in your vehicle if you're intoxicated or if you get charged with another criminal act. So when the DWI is dimissed, it's not illegal to have a pistol with you."

Oliver himself weighed in on the news, writing on his social media page, "Now y’all go back and read this article knowing that all my blood work came back clean!!!but I had a beer can between my legs get the f*** out of here how does a 5’8 officer see inside a window above his head anyway how do 5 cop cars show up before I take a sobriety test huh"

This dog is in desperate need of a new owner after the pitiful excuse for a man picked up his pet and slammed it the ground ... which got him arrested, temporarily.

This happened in downtown Vancouver, and luckily, worried bystanders shot this video and sent it to the local SPCA. The dog, a pit bull, was barking while its owner argued with a cyclist. Witnesses say the dog had lunged at the cyclist ... possibly at the behest of the owner.

But, watch ... after the argument ended, the owner picked up the helpless dog -- above his shoulders -- and threw it down on the concrete sidewalk. The dog yelped and was clearly distressed.

You can hear the horrified witnesses, who immediately called police. Officers reportedly arrested the owner, but later released him without charging him. However, an investigation is still ongoing. It's unclear if police have seen this video.

Get a load of this tool ... completely losing his mind, hurling the n-word at 2 Verizon employees all because he apparently hated their prices.

The disgusting incident went down July 15 in Stafford, Virginia where a Verizon employee recorded this man named Robert Colonna going berserk. Colonna was so pissed about something not working -- and its cost -- that he hurled a loogie at the closed door, and then started dropping n-bombs as he screamed at the workers.

The staffer who posted the video explained it this way ... "[He] assaulted me before entering store throwing phones inside store then picking them up leaving the store claiming he had something else for us. I IMMEDIATELY locked the door behind him."

The employee, who is heard on the phone with either cops or corporate, goes on to say, "He used racial slurs and spit at me. I know his name is Robert. Robert initially pulled up to the store in a company truck making a hard stop in front of [the] store before jumping out and assaulting me while I was holding the door for an elderly man. He was only charged with Disorderly conduct. When police arrived I asked about assault charges. Robert stated he tripped before he hit me..true but his intentions before he tripped was to hit me I believe...as you can see what I mean."

A protester in a wheelchair was yanked out of his chair and manhandled by multiple LAPD officers ... and body cam video dramatically shows the use of force.

The man -- Joshua Wilson -- was protesting police brutality last week when police moved in to disperse the crowd. You see Wilson in his wheelchair, but as police make their move he falls out of the chair.

As multiple cops swarm the helpless man as he lay on the ground, another cop moves the wheelchair far out of arm's reach.

Wilson, who was injured, was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm ... and spent more than a day in jail before being released on $35,000 bail.

A man out for a bike ride spit on a woman -- on camera -- and apparently called her a racial slur ... according to Canadian cops, who've tracked him down and arrested him.

The racist incident went down Saturday at a park in Calgary ... and video clearly shows the cyclist spitting on a woman passing him on a skateboard. You also hear the man hurl a racial slur against Asian people.

The Calgary Police Service says Justin Williams spit on other folks and used more slurs during his bike ride, and even threatened a witness with a weapon when confronted. Cops says he's been arrested and charged with 3 counts of assault and one count of possession of a weapon dangerous to the public.

Johnny Ortiz -- who starred alongside Kevin Costner in "McFarland, USA" -- is currently sitting behind bars after being charged with premeditated attempted murder charges ... TMZ has learned.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Ortiz and another man, Armando Miguel Navarro, allegedly tried to kill a man named Brian Duke "for the benefit of, at the direction of, and in association with a criminal street gang with the specific intent to promote, further and assist in criminal conduct by gang members."

Navarro is the one accused of pulling the trigger, and while it's unclear exactly what role Ortiz played in the crime ... prosecutors felt it warranted the attempted murder charge.

Ortiz -- who starred as one of the cross country runners in the based-on-a-true-story Disney flick, "McFarland, USA" -- was arrested in late May, and remains behind bars. The judge set his bail at a whopping $1,120,000.

His family insists he's not guilty, and is trying to raise his bail through crowdfunding. They wrote on the site, "Johnny is everything to our family. Johnny does everything to help the community and the Hispanic community especially ... he is in jail fighting for his case that he is innocent on."

The actor's also appeared in "Ali," "American Crime" and "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie."

Pop Smoke's alleged murderers were tracked down by LAPD detectives the old-fashioned way ... there were no shortcuts or easy breaks.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the big break in the case leading to the arrests of 4 men allegedly connected to the rapper's death didn't come from a tipster, but instead from LAPD detectives pounding the pavement and knocking on doors.

We broke the story ... Pop Smoke was gunned down back in February by at least 4 masked gunmen after what appeared to be a home invasion robbery at his rental property in the Hollywood Hills.

Detectives went back to the basics because, as we reported, they hit a roadblock back in February when potential witnesses wouldn't cooperate, and combing social media turned out to be a bust.

Our sources say detectives used video from citizens and businesses in the area to help track and ID the suspects, who were slapped with murder charges last week and could face the death penalty.

Sources also tell us cops believe Los Angeles street gang members were involved in Pop's murder, but they say the case doesn't appear to be a gang hit or an East Coast-West Coast beef -- Pop was from NYC.

Instead, police believe the tragedy was a robbery gone wrong after the alleged killers saw Pop's posts on social media in the hours before the fatal shooting. Pop shared his address, and flexed with huge wads of cash.

We're told, even though the arrests have been made, the case remains under active investigation as detectives search for more evidence.

Ash Armand, famous for appearing in the Showtime series, "Gigolos," has been arrested for murder -- cops in Vegas say he beat his girlfriend to death.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says Ash called 911 Thursday morning to report his girlfriend was unresponsive in their home, and when police arrived, they found the woman's lifeless body.

Cops say the woman, who was in her early 30s, showed signs of trauma and Armand was detained on the spot and detectives were brought in to investigate. Police believe Armand, who appeared in Season 3 of "Gigolos," was under the influence of narcotics and beat the woman to death.

Ash is a stage name, BTW -- he was booked for murder under his real name, Akshaya Kubiak, and is being held without bail in the Clark County Detention Center.

"Mob Wives" star Drita D'Avanzo wants the judge in her husband's federal gun case to cut him a little slack come sentencing, and she fired off a handwritten letter to make her case.

Drita wrote to Judge Kovner, pleading with him to show leniency on Lee D'Avanzo because he's a caring family man who needs to come home to his wife and kids.

In the handwritten letter, obtained by TMZ, Drita says Lee is an amazing father to their children who "never missed a soccer game and was very involved in our kids school work and any activities they were involved in. He is a family man and is missed!"

Drita adds ... Lee "has a family that is fully supporting him and hoping he comes home soon!"

Lee pled guilty to gun possession charges in March after the NYPD raided the family home and allegedly found 2 loaded handguns. Drita was eventually cleared of all charges.

Acting Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Seth D. DuCharme prosecuted the case against Lee, and the sentencing hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.