Busted MMA fighters and fights

[GeneChing]

War Machine news is now here. As I said above, I might do the same for Bones someday. We'll see how that story develops.

[Marco]

Very sad to read that there are so many criminal martial artists.

[GeneChing]

Strapped to a cross? Maybe this should have been posted in our Martial-Arts-&-Religion thread.

Defendant in Springfield 'crucifixion' case is mixed martial artist with lengthy arrest record
By Jack Flynn | jflynn@repub.com
on January 17, 2015 at 8:45 AM

SPRINGFIELD - A mixed martial artist charged with strapping two men to a makeshift cross and beating them has an image of Christ tattooed on one shoulder and The Grim Reaper on the other, court records show.


Vito C. Resto

Vito C. Resto, 36, of Springfield, is being held at the Hampden County House of Correction under a judge's ruling that he is too dangerous to be released on bail.

After hearing testimony from police and witnesses, Judge William Hadley wrote that Resto "hung individuals on a cross and beat them as punishment for misdeeds in drug trade."

During his arraignment, the defendant pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, assault and battery, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

As bizarre as the new charges sound, this is not Resto's first high-profile case. In 2004, he was charged and later acquitted in a rush hour shoot out at an intersection just off Interstate 91.

Still, the alleged crucifixions have brought a different kind of attention to Resto, an accomplished mixed martial artist with an extensive criminal record.

At 6 feet, 2 inches and 250 pounds, Resto was ranked among New England's top fighters in the amateur heavyweight division in 2014. Fighting under the name Vito Corleone Resto, he won his only two fights last year, according to the Massachusetts Mixed Martial Arts website.

The Hartford native has a mixed record in the criminal justice system, picking up convictions on drug and firearms charges but avoiding long, minimum-mandatory prison sentences for repeat offenders.

In his most recent case, Resto was charged with assaulting a woman at a downtown club in 2013. But the case was dropped after the victim - an ex-girlfriend, mother of his two children and co-defendant in a 2009 drug case - decided not to testify against him.

In the arrest report, Resto was described as a salesman at Cabo's Fashion and Footwear on Liberty Street; among his five tattoos are images of Christ on his right shoulder and The Grim Reaper on his left, the report said.

Following his arrest, Resto was released on $500 bail. A trial was scheduled for Feb. 24, 2014, but cancelled after the alleged victim did not appear. His bail
was refunded the next day, records show.

The latest charges came after a witness called state police on Dec. 3 to report a man had been strapped to a wooden cross and was being beaten by several men behind 53 Orchard St. in the city's Riverview section, the records show.

The beating lasted about eight minutes and left the victim injured and bleeding, the witness said.

Springfield police recovered the cross, made with a 4 by 4 board crossed with 2 x 4, and state police located the alleged victim. The man, identified as Victim 1 in court documents, said Resto had strapped him to the cross.

Investigators identified a second victim several days later. No other suspects have been charged, but the investigation is continuing, police said.

Before the alleged crucifixions, Resto's most publicized arrest involved a rush hour shootout on East Columbus Avenue in 2004.

Witnesses identified Resto, then 26, as the driver of one of two vehicles involved in a gun battle at a busy intersection close to Interstate 91. At trial, the judge ruled the prosecution had not proven its case against Resto, and dismissed the charges before sending the case to the jury.

Two other defendants were convicted and given state prison sentences.

While awaiting trial for the shootout, Resto was charged in a federal firearms case that carried a potential 15-year mandatory sentence.

In April, 2005, he pleaded innocent to an eight-count indictment in U.S. District Court for being a felon in possession of a handgun while under indictment for other felony charges.

A year later, he pleaded guilty to three charges, but avoided the 15-year term given to career offenders. Instead, Judge Michael A. Ponsor ordered him to serve one year in prison and one year of home detention, followed by three years of supervised release.

From the start, the case was marked by wrangling over terms of Resto's bail and supervised release, which included travel restrictions, electronic monitoring and a curfew; the judge, for example, allowed Resto to attend his daughter's birthday party, but not to travel to Puerto Rico for his grandfather's funeral, or to play in a touch football league.

More than a dozen similar requests were submitted by his lawyer, Mark G. Mastroianni, now the presiding judge in U.S. District Court in Springfield.

After refusing to let Resto celebrate July 4 with his family, Ponsor said it would amount to "special treatment (that) would be unfair to other persons under supervision and would set an unmanageable precedent."

Responding to Mastroianni's contention that his client was being treated unfairly, a probation official wrote that Resto had received lenient treatment and yet continued to violate the terms of his release.

"Rehabilitation cannot be measured by non-compliance," he wrote.

The wrangling continued into 2012, nearly six years after Resto's guilty plea; by then, Ponsor had assumed semi-retired status and left the case; Mastroianni had been elected Hampden District Attorney, and Resto had been indicted and taken into state custody for participating in what state and federal officials described as a 100-kilo-per-year cocaine and marijuana ring.

The federal firearms case finally wrapped up in January, 2012 with Resto admitting to three probation violations.

For punishment, Judge Rya Zobel gave him a one-day sentence.

[GeneChing]

Moved them to an existing thread I cobbled out of other existing threads - it's here.

[GeneChing]

VIDEO: MMA Fighter Is Unnecessarily Tased By Cops

Jake O'Donnell
1:24 pm, January 21st, 2015

Whoa, Dave Herman, nice 22-6 record but bad timing last week, right? (A gas station at night.) Or maybe wrong question? (“Please show me three forms of I.D. to prove you’re a police officer.”) Or maybe just bad luck? (Karma.) Whatever it was, you done went and got yourself a-tased. (Probably not your fault, though.)

Herman and his wife claim to have been having car troubles while driving through Dekalb County, Indiana, with their infant child in the car. The police who made the arrest reported that he was speeding with his lights off. Upon pulling over, Herman then got out of the car (as you can clearly see in the video, narrated by his wife) and politely asked the officers for three forms of identification to prove they were, in fact, actual police officers.

A douchey move no doubt, but these people claim it’s required of law enforcement. That sounds kind of nuts but ok, we’ll take their word for it.

The officers then tasered the **** out him while his wife filmed the entire thing. This was how the police report described it.

[BR] David exited his vehicle and approached Officers in an aggressive manner. David was given multiple warnings to get on the ground and failed to comply. David had to be tased in order to be taken into custody. An infant and adult female were also present in the vehicle.

According to Bleacher Report, Herman was arrested for “resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, battery against law enforcement and neglect of a dependant, all felonies, and a resisting law enforcement misdemeanor, according to the police report.”

You tell us if that sounds appropriate given the content of the video below.

Just or unjust tasing? You make the call.

And just out of curiosity, who here has been tased? I have.

[sanjuro_ronin]

They were UNIFORMED COPS in a cop car...
Seriously.

[GeneChing]

Another case of female battery. At least she had some skills apparently.

Dispute in Chehalis Between Mixed Martial Arts Fighters Lands One in Jail
Posted: Wednesday, January 28, 2015 4:43 pm | Updated: 7:37 pm, Wed Jan 28, 2015.
By The Chronicle

A Lewis County Superior Court judge set bail at $100,000 for a 33-year-old Chehalis man accused of assaulting a 29-year-old woman Wednesday.

Both the victim and the suspect, Joseph R. Whearty, are mixed martial arts fighters, Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said.

Whearty faces one count of second-degree assault and one count of unlawful imprisonment.

Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello requested bail be set at $500,000. Defense attorney Joely O’Rourke argued for $10,000 bail.

Deputies responded to the 100 block of Carlisle Avenue in Onalaska on Tuesday to investigate the assault. The victim reported that she and Whearty were arguing at their home in the 1200 block of Koontz Road in Chehalis.

The victim told deputies she had asked Whearty to move out of the home, and she left to give him time to pack.

When she returned at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, she found Whearty intoxicated at the Chehalis residence. She told deputies he put her in a choke hold and she feared for her life. He allegedly threw her on a bed and punched her. The victim tried to escape through a window, but it would not break, Brown said.

Brown said children were at the home during the assault and the woman tried to get herself and the kids outside and into a car. Whearty followed them outside and put the victim in a choke hold again, trying to get her keys and purse. She screamed and Whearty ran into the house, Brown said.

The victim and children got into the car, but before she could drive away, Whearty got down behind the car. The woman maneuvered around him, but then he jumped on the car. He then allegedly punched the windshield and cracked it. He jumped off, and the woman drove to Onalaska and called 911.

Whearty was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail for second-degree assault, domestic violence.

Second-degree assault carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail and a $20,000 fine. Unlawful imprisonment carries a maximum sentence of five years and a $10,000 fine.

Arraignment and trial setting is scheduled for today.

[GeneChing]

People who threaten to use martial arts - especially on cops - are silly. Remember the ol' 'warning - my hands are registered as a deadly weapon' bluff?

Marion County releases video of confrontation with 'mixed martial arts' man who claimed wife was kidnapped
The Oregonian/OregonLive By Joseph Rose | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on February 07, 2015 at 8:50 PM, updated February 07, 2015 at 11:15 PM

Attachment 9305

Marion County Corrections

A muscle-bound man who screamed that his wife had been kidnapped and threatened to use mixed martial arts on Marion County sheriff's deputies who surrounded him is undergoing a mental health evaluation, police said.

Joshua Shepherd's confrontation with deputies in a shopping mall parking lot near Salem began Friday after he crashed his car into a another vehicle and ran from the scene, yelling about the FBI and claiming his wife had been kidnapped, said Marion County Sgt. Chris Baldridge.

While running down Lancaster Drive Northeast, Shepard, 41, who deputies described as someone who "had that mixed martial arts build to him," stripped of his clothes. Baldridge said deputies found the man on the ground and wearing only his fighting-style shorts.

"When the lone deputy first arrived, Mr. Shepherd would only lay down on the ground and refused to follow the command to place his hands behind his back," Baldridge said. "The deputy stated that he felt as though Mr. Shepherd was attempting to bait him into coming closer."

Three deputies and a Salem K-9 unit were eventually called to the scene to help take Shepard into custody. As the officers approached, the man reportedly said he would kill them.

Sheperd was "lifting himself in a plank style approximately one inch off of the ground and holding himself in that position," Baldridge said.

Two deputies used their feet to touch one of Sheperd's feet, Baldridge said. "Mr. Shepherd immediately attempted to spin and attack the deputies," he said.

In response, the K-9 dog attacked Shepherd, allowing the officers to take him into custody. Even after being handcuffed and loaded onto an ambulance, the man continued to threaten deputies and medics as they attempted to treat him for the dog bite, police said.

Marion County sheriff's have released a video of Sheperd making the threats inside the ambulance. Warning: The video contains profanity.

A witness has also posted a video from the confrontation outside the shopping mall. Warning: The video contains profanity.

Sheperd's wife was not kidnapped, Baldridge said.

-- Joseph Rose
503-221-8029
jrose@oregonian.com
@pdxcommute

[GeneChing]

More on McNeil

Martial arts fighter Shaun McNeil found not guilty of one-punch murder of teenager Daniel Christie on New Year's Eve

Shaun McNeil, 26, found not guilty of murdering teenager Daniel Christie
Christie, 18, was killed after one punch to the head on New Year's Eve, 2013
McNeil broke down when found guilty of lesser charge of manslaughter
The jury reached their verdict after six hours of deliberations
It's alleged Mr McNeil assaulted three men before he approached Mr Christie and his brother punching him to the face

By Lucy Thackray for Daily Mail Australia and Aap
Published: 22:17 EST, 10 June 2015 | Updated: 03:29 EST, 11 June 2015

Shaun McNeil has been found not guilty of the one-punch murder of teenager Daniel Christie in Sydney's King Cross, but will be sentenced for manslaughter.

McNeil, who had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter, broke down in the dock on Thursday after the Supreme Court jury handed down its verdict after about six hours of deliberations.

Daniel's father Michael Christie, who sat in the gallery taking notes throughout the trial, was not in court for the verdict.

The crown argued McNeil delivered a 'large swinging punch' to Daniel, causing his body to stiffen and his head to hit the pavement with an audible crack.


Shaun McNeil has been found not guilty of the one-punch murder of Sydney teenager Daniel Christie on New Year's Eve 2013


Daniel Christie, 18, knocked his head after receiving a single blow. He died more than a week later

They said he intended to cause the 18-year-old grievous bodily harm when he delivered the blow on New Year's Eve 2013.

McNeil, 27, has always maintained he lacked the requisite intent, later describing the punch as a 'jab'.

The trial heard McNeil had been walking along Darlinghurst Rd with his girlfriend, Sonya Walker, about 9pm when three teenagers approached and asked the pair if they wanted to buy drugs.

They also commented that Ms Walker was 'hot', sparking a confrontation in which McNeil was punched in the face and one of the teens was punched to the ground.

Daniel's brother Peter Christie told the trial that the 9pm fireworks had just gone off when they saw a chubby teenager lying in the middle of a pedestrian crossing.

He said another teen approached him and Daniel and said: 'This dude hit all of us.'

A tall, 'kind of muscly' man in a white shirt then walked towards them, he said.


McNeil (pictured) broke down in the dock after the Supreme Court jury handed down its verdict, finding him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter after around six hours of deliberations

'He had an aggressive sort of manner, sort of like beefing himself up to look big,' Peter explained from the witness box.

'I heard him say `I'm an MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter'.'

As McNeil approached within about a metre-and-a-half, Peter said his brother took a slight step back, raised his palms 'in dismissal' and said 'no, no, no, no'.

It was then that Daniel was hit, his brother said.

McNeil's barrister Craig Smith said his client thought the Christie brothers were part of the same group as the teenagers.

McNeil is expected to return to court for sentencing on August 21.

The attack on Daniel happened just metres from where Thomas Kelly, 18, was fatally punched by Kieran Loveridge on July 7, 2012.

The teens' deaths sparked intense media coverage of alcohol-fuelled violence and prompted the introduction of controversial lock-out laws in Kings Cross and central Sydney, as well as mandatory sentencing for fatal one-punch assaults if alcohol or drugs are involved.


Mr Christie's death was one of several attacks that sparked new laws introduced to help curb alcohol-fueled attacks

There's a vid too. It's the victim's dad speaking about this.

[GeneChing]

Wrestling hold breaks leg of N.C. sheriff; man charged


Among other charges, Logan Pederson faces three counts of felony assault,

By Jeff Hampton
The Virginian-Pilot
June 10, 2015

GATESVILLE, N.C.

A man with mixed-martial arts training was charged after emergency responders were hit and the leg of the Gates County, N.C., sheriff was broken with a wrestling hold.

Logan Pederson, 21, of Corapeake, N.C., was charged June 2 with three counts of felony assault, in addition to driving under the influence, reckless driving, disorderly conduct, communicating threats and destruction of government property.

Sheriff Ed Webb could be out three months and awaits an MRI to know the extent of the damage.

"He was just plumb nasty," Webb said from his home Tuesday. "Anything he could do to be hateful, he did it."

Emergency personnel responded to a wreck on Hazelton Road in Gates County late June 1. When a paramedic attempted to treat Pederson, the driver of the wrecked truck, authorities say, he hit her. He also is accused of striking a firefighter with an elbow to the head.

He also threatened and spit on officers, authorities said.

Later, as Webb led Pederson in handcuffs to be tested for an alcohol test, authorities said, he got the sheriff into a wrestling hold. Webb heard his leg snap, he said. Another officer struck Pederson with a clipboard to get him to release the hold, authorities said.

I guess the officer didn't tap.

[GeneChing]

Well, maybe not that OT actually. Certainly different for this thread.

Privately Owned Armored Trucks Raise Eyebrows After Attack on Dallas Police
By MANNY FERNANDEZJUNE 17, 2015


Jeff Funicello in his armored vehicle in Mesa, Ariz. He has used the truck as a kind of traveling billboard for his mixed martial arts gym. Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times

HOUSTON — Jeff Funicello is selling his black 1975 GMC truck on Craigslist. It would be perfect for a thrifty bank. Or a low-budget SWAT team.

The body is armored, and the windows are bulletproof. It has sliding portholes to point rifles from and a sprinkler system inside. Long ago, it transported money, and it was once the target of a shootout in the 1980s. But now it sits, pockmarked from splotches of automotive-repair putty, on the driveway of Mr. Funicello’s home in Mesa, Ariz.

Why does he own it? Mr. Funicello, who runs a mixed martial arts gym called the Spartan Academy, said the question should be: Why not?

“This is America,” he said. “I should be able to have a howitzer or a bazooka if I want one. If I wanted to buy a fire truck, I could.”

Mr. Funicello said he had never been pulled over by the police in the 10 years he owned the truck. “I had current plates,” he said. “My tags were correct. I wasn’t swerving like a drunk. They had no reason to pull me over.”

As Mr. Funicello’s vehicle illustrates — and the attack on the Dallas Police Headquarters last weekend by a man in an armored van that was apparently bought on eBay makes clear — anyone can buy virtually anything online and drive virtually anything on the road. The Ford van in the Dallas attack resembled a vehicle used by the police or money-transporting companies, with gun portholes, armor plating and outer running boards along the sides to stand on.


Mr. Funicello's armored truck, which he is selling for $11,000. Scores of reinforced vehicles are listed for sale on Craigslist and eBay. Credit Nick Cote for The New York Times

It was one of scores of military and police-style vans, trucks and cars offered for sale on Craigslist and eBay, vehicles the owners defend as novelties that are driven for fun, not for assaults. Particularly after the Dallas attack, the vehicles have raised concerns for some law enforcement officials, but they say the vehicles appear to be legal for the most part, so there is little they can do.

An armored Ford van selling for $9,900 on Craigslist in the Atlanta area is not only bulletproof but “bombproof,” as a seller describes it online.

In Southern California, someone is selling a 1993 Humvee on eBay and Craigslist that looks ready for overseas action — the beefy, diesel, tan-colored armored vehicle comes with a CB radio and a gun turret. The price is real, at $40,000, but the .50-caliber machine gun mounted on top is fake, the person selling it writes in the descriptions. The Humvee appeared to have a new starter and power steering gear, but the age of the smoke grenade launcher was unclear.

“I am an active duty U.S. military member,” the seller wrote on Craiglist. “I do not have time for tire kickers or dreamers without money.”

Online, one can buy a camouflaged Humvee with an enclosed rear shelter unit or a 1997 armored SWAT van for $5,000 that, the seller claims, was used by the City of Southlake, outside Fort Worth.

It was unclear how often the suspect in the Dallas attack, James L. Boulware, 35, drove his armored van. Mr. Boulware’s father said his son referred to the van as an R.V. and often slept inside it. Though numerous similar vehicles were available for purchase online, several of them were not in driving condition — like Mr. Funicello’s armored truck — and it was impossible to determine how many others like it were on the roads.

Officer David Tilley, a spokesman for the police in the Dallas suburb of Plano, said he was not aware, in his 18 years with the department, of officers having any contact with anyone driving a similar armored van.

“Had we run across something of that nature that wasn’t commercially operated, such as armored vehicle services that collect money from banks or businesses,” he said, “I am certain we would have put out an officer safety bulletin on it.”

Officer Tilley and other police officials said, however, that they were not aware of any violations for which an armored van such as Mr. Boulware’s might be cited. There are size and weight limits for vehicles in most states, but many armored vans and other military-style vehicles like Humvees do not exceed them. In California, Mr. Boulware would have needed a license issued by the commissioner of the California Highway Patrol to drive a privately owned armored car on a highway.

A number of those selling military and police-style vehicles on Craigslist and eBay emphasize in their ads that the cars are “street legal.”

John Warren is selling his 1973 Pinzgauer, a green, all-terrain Swiss Army vehicle he bought on eBay, for $21,400 on Craigslist in the San Francisco Bay Area. He said that in the 10 years he drove it, he was pulled over twice by officers. Each time, the officer did so out of curiosity, not to hand him a ticket.

“People who buy these types of vehicles to pursue their hobbies, whether it be four-wheeling or rock-crawling or parades, or are military collectors, they’re a whole lot different from somebody who would buy an armored car,” said Mr. Warren, 57, a retired fire battalion chief. “I had originally bought it to sort of turn into a camper that I could take into the middle of nowhere and do photography projects.”

People have been driving reinforced cars long before the Dallas attack. But the celebrities and executives who install bulletproof windows and other types of armor on their vehicles often do not want it noticed. Those who buy and sell armored vans like the kind Mr. Boulware purchased want people to look.

And the popularity of apocalyptic movies and television shows — the Facebook listing for the van Mr. Boulware appeared to have bought trumpeted its “convenient gun ports so no zombie juice touches you” — has put a new twist and maybe added a macabre cachet to such vehicles.

“There is a trend for the super-wealthy to get what I call a ‘get out of Dodge’ vehicle for kind of a doomsday prep-type person,” said Trent Kimball, the president and chief executive of Texas Armoring, which declines requests to install flame-shooting devices and gun ports but has put electrified door handles on vehicles to shock would-be attackers.

A majority of the 100 vehicles the company armors each year leave the United States for overseas clients. The costs exceed the $8,250 Mr. Boulware apparently paid for his van. Depending on the level of armor — whether it offers protection from bullets from a handgun or a high-powered machine gun — the price for Texas Armoring to convert a vehicle is $55,000 to $500,000, the company said.

Mr. Funicello used his armored truck as a kind of traveling billboard for his mixed martial arts gym, but it has sat outside his home about two years after someone stole the truck’s master cylinder. He is asking $11,000.

“We were taking it to tournaments and we would have our ring girls in bikinis piling out of it and handing out fliers,” Mr. Funicello said. But it had its limitations, he added: “It’s just not convenient to drive it to the store.”