2012 is here!

Pearland man robbed of his Air Jordans.

PEARLAND, Texas (AP) — A 19-year-old Houston-area man says he was beaten and a friend was slashed in the face as a group of men robbed him of his new pair of expensive Air Jordan shoes.

Efrain Espinoza says the men first tried to steal his cell phone, followed him from a party Monday to his home near Pearland and then swiped the $180 shoes during a fight. A 19-year-old woman with him required treatment for a stab wound to her face.

Brazoria County officials say they've arrested a 19-year-old woman but declined to elaborate.

Sale of the limited edition shoes last week sparked a shopping frenzy at stores around the nation.

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Pearland man booked in Louisiana for embezzling $155,000

COVINGTON, La. (AP) - A 44-year-old man was booked into St. Tammany Parish Jail for allegedly embezzling $155,000 in corporation funds.

According to Covington Police Department spokesman Capt. Jack West, Richard Sharp was charged at his home in Pearland, Texas with one theft over $1,500 and issuing worthless checks.

Sharp is one of the four shareholders of GDH International. West said after he was questioned about the theft, Sharp wrote a fraudulent check in the amount of $106,000 to make a partial payback of the funds that he had stolen.

West said that after securing a warrant and contacting the Pearland Texas Police Department, detectives found documents and computers that implicate Sharp.

Kids caught on video stealing toys from church.

ABC: Some might call it cutting out the middleman. The police call it theft.
A group of youths stole two bags’ worth of donated toys from St. Helen Catholic Church, in Pearland, Texas, during Mass on Sunday, police said. A similar theft had occurred at Mary Queen Catholic Church, in nearby Friendswood, said police.

“You’d think toys for the needy would be safe at a church,” said Lt. Onesimo Lopez of the Pearland Police Department.

Lopez, who belongs to St. Helen, said parishioners had been leaving brand-new, unopened toys at a designated area in the church’s foyer to be given to needy children at Christmas. There was an estimated $600 worth of toys in the two bags, he said.

According to a police news release, just before 11 a.m. Sunday, two girls and a boy were filmed outside the church by surveillance cameras. After Mass began at 11 a.m., the suspects were seen entering the church and walking out with the two large bags. One bag was being carried by a girl whom police estimated was between 8 and 10 years old.

They were also seen panhandling outside the church, with at least one woman giving them money.
The video shows the trio getting into a gold Chrysler minivan with tinted windows and no front license plate.

Police suspect they are part of an itinerant group of thieves targeting holiday toy donations, Lopez said. The kids didn’t look familiar to the priest or anyone else police interviewed, he said.

Lopez said no similar burglaries had occurred during the holidays in recent years. The last time police caught itinerant thieves was last summer, when two men and a woman were arrested for stealing from cars outside day care centers, he said.
Lopez said none of the tips called in had proved useful.

Pearland woman charged with dangling baby out car window

PEARLAND, TX (KPRC/CNN) – A Texas woman is accused of dangling a baby out of the window of a moving car on Thanksgiving Day.

Near Pearland, TX, 19-year-old Gabrielle Handy denies she put the little girl in danger, but two sisters who spotted her car cruising down the interstate saw differently.

The sisters called 911 as they followed the car and told the dispatcher, Handy was dangling her 13-month old niece out a rear window.

The dispatcher told the sisters to keep the car in sight until a patrol car could catch up, so they did, watching as the little girl was dangled outside the window at speeds between 55 and 65 miles an hour.

The two women shadowed the car from almost 20 miles being careful not to get too close for fear of startling Handy. They were afraid she might drop the baby. A Precinct 7 deputy constable caught up with her car and pulled it over at West Airport and the Southwest Freeway. By that time, the child had been pulled inside.

Handy denied holding the baby outside of the car and the little girl's mother had no explanation. Handy is charged with endangering a child.

Copyright 2011 KPRC via CNN. All rights reserved.

Pearland woman charged with dangling baby out car window

PEARLAND, TX (KPRC/CNN) – A Texas woman is accused of dangling a baby out of the window of a moving car on Thanksgiving Day.

Near Pearland, TX, 19-year-old Gabrielle Handy denies she put the little girl in danger, but two sisters who spotted her car cruising down the interstate saw differently.

The sisters called 911 as they followed the car and told the dispatcher, Handy was dangling her 13-month old niece out a rear window.

The dispatcher told the sisters to keep the car in sight until a patrol car could catch up, so they did, watching as the little girl was dangled outside the window at speeds between 55 and 65 miles an hour.

The two women shadowed the car from almost 20 miles being careful not to get too close for fear of startling Handy. They were afraid she might drop the baby. A Precinct 7 deputy constable caught up with her car and pulled it over at West Airport and the Southwest Freeway. By that time, the child had been pulled inside.

Handy denied holding the baby outside of the car and the little girl's mother had no explanation. Handy is charged with endangering a child.

Copyright 2011 KPRC via CNN. All rights reserved.

Pearland woman charged with dangling baby out car window

PEARLAND, TX (KPRC/CNN) – A Texas woman is accused of dangling a baby out of the window of a moving car on Thanksgiving Day.

Near Pearland, TX, 19-year-old Gabrielle Handy denies she put the little girl in danger, but two sisters who spotted her car cruising down the interstate saw differently.

The sisters called 911 as they followed the car and told the dispatcher, Handy was dangling her 13-month old niece out a rear window.

The dispatcher told the sisters to keep the car in sight until a patrol car could catch up, so they did, watching as the little girl was dangled outside the window at speeds between 55 and 65 miles an hour.

The two women shadowed the car from almost 20 miles being careful not to get too close for fear of startling Handy. They were afraid she might drop the baby. A Precinct 7 deputy constable caught up with her car and pulled it over at West Airport and the Southwest Freeway. By that time, the child had been pulled inside.

Handy denied holding the baby outside of the car and the little girl's mother had no explanation. Handy is charged with endangering a child.

Copyright 2011 KPRC via CNN. All rights reserved.