Over 600 pounds of methamphetamine found inside celery shipment
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
(NEW YORK) — More than 600 pounds of methamphetamine have been found concealed within a shipment of celery in California, officials said.
The incident occurred on the evening of Aug. 9 when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility in California encountered a 34-year-old man driving a commercial tractor-trailer who was seeking entry into the United States from Mexico, according to a statement on Monday issued by CBP.
“The driver, who held a valid border crossing card, was transporting a shipment declared as celery,” authorities said. “Following routine procedures, CBP officers directed the driver, the tractor-trailer, and its cargo to secondary inspection for a more thorough examination.”
During that inspection, a CBP K-9 unit alerted officers to the presence of narcotics and officials ended up intercepting 629 pounds of methamphetamine contained within 508 packages hidden among the celery with an estimated street value of approximately $755,000, officials said.
“Our officers’ vigilance and expertise once again thwarted an attempt to smuggle narcotics disguised as everyday produce,” said Rosa E. Hernandez, port director for the Area Port of Otay Mesa. “This discovery underscores our unwavering commitment to protecting our communities from the perils of drug trafficking.”
CBP officers subsequently seized the narcotics and the commercial tractor-trailer involved in the smuggling attempt and the currently unnamed driver was handed over to Homeland Security Investigations for further investigation.
CBP credits this seizure as a result of Operation Apollo, “a holistic counter-fentanyl effort that began on Oct. 26, 2023, in southern California, and expanded to Arizona on April 10, 2024,” authorities said. “Operation Apollo focuses on intelligence collection and partnerships, and utilizes local CBP field assets augmented by federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to boost resources, increase collaboration, and target the smuggling of fentanyl into the United States.”
(NEW YORK) — Human bones were found in a Brooklyn park along the shore of the East River for the second time in a week, according to the New York Police Department.
Police responded to a 911 report of a body found at Jane’s Carousel early Wednesday, and determined the civilian discovered skeletal remains on the rocks along the shore, the NYPD said.
The discovery came two days after police responded to another report of a found body part near the same location. A New York City Parks enforcement officer discovered skeletal remains on the beach, the NYPD said.
A femur and a couple of smaller bones were found Wednesday, according to New York ABC station WABC.
The medical examiner is investigating the remains found on both days, according to the NYPD.
(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — The former sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot Sonya Massey in her Illinois home while responding to her call for help has held six different police jobs since 2020, the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board confirmed to ABC News.
Body camera footage released Monday shows former deputy Sean Grayson yelling at Massey, an unarmed 36-year-old Black woman and mother of two, to put down a pot of boiling hot water.
The footage, reviewed by ABC News, shows that Massey told the deputy, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” and then she apologized after the officer threatened to shoot her. She poured the water into the sink and ducked down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt. She briefly rose, and Grayson shot her three times in the face.
A review by Illinois State Police found that Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force.
Grayson, who is white, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey’s death.
The Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board (ILETSB) records show that Grayson, 30, worked three full-time and three part-time jobs in four police departments and two sheriff’s offices over the past four years, all within the state of Illinois.
Grayson was employed at three different police departments in 2021 alone, the records show. His shortest term of employment was with the Kincaid Police Department, where he was employed for just over three months. Records list his reason for leaving as “other.”
His longest term of employment was with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, where he worked for a year and two months. Grayson was fired from Sangamon County last week, following Massey’s death.
Grayson worked part time at the Pawnee Police Department from August 2020 to July 2021; his reason for leaving is listed as “other.” He also worked part time at the Kincaid Police Department from February to May of 2021.
The Kincaid Police Department told ABC News that Grayson was “let go by the Village of Kincaid board when he refused to live within the 10-mile radius of the village.” They also said they have no complaints against Grayson and no disciplinary actions were taken against him while he worked with the Kincaid police.
The Virden Police Department hired him part time from May to December 2021, and he also worked full time at the Auburn Police Department from July 2021 to May 2022. Both departments list his reason for leaving as “resigned.”
Grayson then worked at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office full time from May 2022 until he resigned in April 2023. He was hired at the Sangamon Sheriff’s Office in May 2023 where he remained until he was fired last week.
ABC News is seeking further details on Grayson’s employment history.
“It is clear that the deputy did not act as trained or in accordance with our standards. Therefore, Sean Grayson’s employment with the Sheriff’s Office has been terminated,” Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell wrote in a statement last week announcing Grayson’s termination.
Massey’s father, James Wilburn, questioned Grayson’s employment history.
“The biggest question is: How did this man ever get hired in law enforcement?” Wilburn told ABC News. “When a Black man has just a little blemish in his credit, he can’t get hired in the police department. But here’s a man who, in four years, he’s been in six different departments.”
Wilburn has also criticized Sheriff Campbell for his role in Grayson’s employment and called for Campbell to resign at a press conference on Tuesday.
“The sheriff here is an embarrassment,” Wilburn said. “[Grayson] should have never had a badge. And he should have never had a gun. He should have never been given the opportunity to kill my child.”
Campbell told ABC News he will not be resigning.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Massey’s family, says that Grayson must be held accountable for his actions.
“Sonya Massey needed a helping hand. She did not need a bullet to the face. We cannot continue to shoot first and ask questions later when it’s Black people,” Crump said to ABC News.
ABC News’ Davi Merchan and Emily Chang Contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A Georgia sheriff whose office in 2023 investigated an online school shooting threat that led to Colt Gray, the teen now accused of a deadly rampage inside his high school last week, said they “probably” dropped the ball on notifying the suspect’s school district about monitoring him.
Colt Gray, 14, is accused of killing two students and two teachers in Wednesday’s shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, about 45 miles north of Atlanta. Nine others were also injured. Colt Gray had transferred from another school in neighboring Jackson County to Apalachee only two weeks prior, the sheriff’s department in Barrow County told ABC News.
In May of last year, the sheriff’s office in Jackson County investigated an online school shooting threat that the FBI said was traced to Colt Gray. The FBI reached out to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office after Discord users alerted the Bureau about a post threatening a shooting at a middle school in Jefferson, Georgia.
An investigator interviewed Colt Gray and his father about the post at their home on May 21, 2023. The then-13-year-old told the investigator he had a Discord account but had deleted it months earlier and denied making the threats online, according to a transcript of the interview. There was no probable cause for arrest, the FBI said in a statement.
Following the investigation, a former captain in the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office sent a note to the FBI saying that “we have made area schools aware and will monitor this subject,” according to the sheriff’s office. The FBI also said in a statement that Jackson County “alerted local schools for continued monitoring of the subject.”
Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said following the school shooting in Barrow County, the FBI alerted her that the suspect was the same teenager her office had investigated last year. Mangum said in a news release on Sept. 6 that after “speaking with Dr. Donna McMullan with the Jefferson City Schools On September 5, 2024, it came to my attention they had no record of being notified of a threat by Colt Gray who was enrolled there.”
The incident raises questions about whether the previous district could have forwarded that information to Barrow County Schools officials once Colt Gray transferred to their district two weeks ago.
Asked by ABC News on Monday whether her office dropped the ball, Mangum said not on the investigation.
“But on notifying the school, probably,” she said, noting that some personnel who worked on the case left the office before the shooting incident last week. “Because I don’t know. If you say area schools are notified, who did you talk to and what school did you talk to? I don’t know.”
Mangum maintained that the 2023 investigation was “done thoroughly” but said she is unable to provide an answer about what happened with the school notification.
“I’m the sheriff. The bottom line is, it falls on me because I am the sheriff,” she continued.
Mangum said Monday her office was looking into emails to see if they could find any records, but at this time they only have the note the former captain sent to the FBI stating that the office did notify schools. She said she has yet to speak to the former captain who sent the note to the FBI and the former investigator who interviewed Colt Gray. She indicated that she didn’t know whether the former captain made phone calls to any area schools instead of leaving a paper trail.
ABC News has reached out to the former captain and investigator for comment.
As for the investigation into the online school shooting threat, Mangum said there wasn’t probable cause for an arrest or to charge the teen with making a terroristic threat.
“As far as the investigation, no, I don’t see anything else that could have been done back then in May of 2023 that he could have done. He did everything he could do at that time with what he had,” Mangum said of the investigator.
She said she believes the 2023 investigation will likely be important for the prosecution regarding the school shooting last week.
Mangum said she is “heartbroken” over the deadly incident.
“My prayers go out to those families that lost their loved ones,” she said. “It hurts me to even think that that could have happened anywhere.”
Colt Gray has been charged as an adult with four counts of felony murder. More charges will be filed, prosecutors said.
His father, Colin Gray, has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children in the second degree, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. He is accused of “knowingly allowing his son, Colt, to possess a weapon,” GBI Director Chris Hosey said last week.
The father and son both made their first court appearances on Friday. Neither has entered a plea and both are set to return to court on Dec. 4.
