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  • 24
    Oct
    2012
    11:14am, EDT

    Police: Louisiana woman set herself on fire, wrote racial slurs

    Investigators say the woman who claimed she was the victim of a violent racially-motivated attack fabricated the claims and actually set herself on fire. Paige Brown reports.

    By Andrew Mach, Staff Writer, NBC News

    The Louisiana woman who told police that she was set on fire by three men and that her car had racial slurs smeared on it did the heinous actions she described herself, authorities now believe.


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    Sharmeka Moffitt, 20, told police she parked her car by a walking trail in Civitan Park in Winnsboro, La., on Sunday evening to go exercise when she was set on fire by three men who she described as wearing white hoodies. She was able to extinguish the flames herself and when police found her car, the letters "KKK" and the N-word had been scrawled across the hood.

    But what had the rumblings of a hate crime was all apparently a "self-inflicted situation," police said.

    “In less than 24 hours, the state crime lab was able to analyze the evidence found at the scene, including a cigarette lighter, lighter fluid and also the hood of the car that had a paste-like substance spread across it, and it identified [Moffitt’s] fingerprints as well as some female DNA,” Louisiana State Police Capt. Doug Cain told NBC News. “With this evidence, investigators were able to determine that she was alone in the park that night and made up the story.”


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    Authorities released their findings at a press conference Tuesday evening. The Louisiana State Police, the Winnsboro Police Department, the Franklin Parish Sheriff’s Department and the FBI were all assisting in the investigation.  

    “This has been a very disturbing case for all involved,” Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb said. “All of the evidence indicates this was a self-inflicted situation.”

    Cain said police have not yet spoken with Moffitt, who underwent surgery Tuesday to treat burns covering more than 60 percent of her body on her chest, back, arms and legs. “We certainly hope to speak with her about it, but her health comes first,” Cain said. Moffitt remains in critical condition in the burn unit at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, the Shreveport Times reported.

    A few hours after police said Moffitt had lied, nearly 130 residents of the tight-knit Winnsboro community attended a candlelight vigil at Civitan Park Tuesday night to offer prayers and support to Moffitt and her family.

    In a statement, Moffitt’s family said, “Our family is devastated to learn the circumstances surrounding our daughter’s injuries. While this was not the resolution we had expected, it is a resolution, and we appreciate the thorough investigation by the local and state police, as well as federal agencies.”

    Val Horvath Davidson / The Shreveport Times

    Edna Moffitt, the mother of burn victim Sharmeka Moffitt, wipes away tears during a press conference at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, La., on Tuesday.

    “We are sincerely sorry for any problems this may have caused and wish to express our appreciation for the outpouring of love, prayers and support we have received from friends, acquaintances, church organizations and government officials.” 

    While Cain said he hasn’t seen anything of this nature in the area before, this isn’t the first time alleged hate crimes have been exposed as hoaxes.

    A Nebraska woman who claimed she was the victim of a homophobic hate crime in July was subsequently charged with making false claims to police after they spent three weeks investigating the case and discovered no clues or leads in the case.  

    The woman, Charlie Rogers, 33, told police three men wearing black ski masks broke into her home during the early morning hours, bound her wrists and ankles with zip ties, beat her and carved anti-gay slurs into her arms and abdomen. Because of inconsistencies in Roger’s various accounts of the attack and conflicting forensic evidence, police arrested Rogers.

    Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com 

    A Washington state woman who falsely claimed a stranger had thrown a cup of acid in her face in August 2010 later admitted her injuries were self-inflicted and part of an attempt to kill herself.

    28-year-old Bethany Storro was charged with three counts of felony theft for allegedly taking more than $28,000 in donations from people believing she had been assaulted by a stranger. When the acid proved not to be fatal, Storro told a detective that she could at least get plastic surgery on her face. 

    Police have not yet said whether Moffitt will face criminal charges due to the attack.

    Frankin Parish District Attorney Mack Lancaster told NBC News that “there is a distinct possibility that [Moffitt] might at this point be charged, but I have not yet received any investigative reports on the incident,” he said. “We will review those reports just as in all cases and determine what, if any, charges will follow.”

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    311 comments

    nothing to see here..the rev. al and rev. jessie can turn around and go back home...

    Show more
    Explore related topics: fire, louisiana, crime, hoax, burn, sharmeka-moffitt
  • 23
    Oct
    2012
    2:23pm, EDT

    Louisiana woman set on fire; 'KKK' smeared on her car, police say

    A 20-year-old woman, who called 911 to tell them that she was set on fire by three men wearing white t-shirt hoodies, is in critical condition. KTAL's Jacque Jovic reports.

    By Andrew Mach, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A Louisiana woman is in critical condition after she was set on fire, resulting in burns on roughly 60 percent of her body, and her car appears to have had racial slurs written on it at the time of her attack.


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    Val Horvath Davidson / The Shreveport Times

    Edna Moffitt, the mother of burn victim Sharmeka Moffitt, wipes away tears during a press conference at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, La., on Tuesday.

    Sharmeka Moffitt, 20, had parked by a walking trail in Civitan Park in Winnsboro, La., on Sunday evening to go exercise, her mother told The Shreveport Times, when she was set on fire. 

    Moffitt told police she couldn’t recognize the race of her attackers but she said she thought they were wearing white hoodies. Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb confirmed that the letters “KKK” and the N-word were scrawled across the hood of her car, written in some sort of paste-like substance, reported KSLA in Louisiana.

    Police are not yet classifying the incident as a hate crime. The Louisiana State Police, the Winnsboro Police Department, the Franklin Parish Sheriff’s Department and the FBI are all assisting in the ongoing investigation.  

    Moffitt said she was alone at the time but was able to put the fire out herself with a water spigot. When an officer arrived to the scene less than a minute later, she told police that three males had intentionally doused her with flammable liquid and set her ablaze.

    She was rushed to the burn unit of the Louisiana State University Medical Center in Shreveport, La., where she was listed in critical condition, the News Star reported.

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    Investigators said Monday were unable to question Moffitt further because of the severity of her burns. Moffitt’s mother, Edna Moffitt, said her daughter was scheduled to have surgery Tuesday to treat the burns on her chest, back, arms and legs.

    “They want to take the dead skin off and place other skin there if they can,” Edna Moffitt told The Shreveport Times.

    Winnsboro Police said they will be tightening security at the park as a result of the incident.

    Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com 

    “This is a horrific event for our community,” Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb said Monday. “It makes everyone uneasy. It is our hope that everyone stands together at this time, and follow the information that is gathered, follow the facts, follow the evidence, and, hopefully, that will lead us to justice in this case."

    Police said they have no suspects or motives in the attack but are pursuing all avenues of investigation. They are currently awaiting the results of a scientific analysis by the Northwest Louisiana Crime Lab of physical evidence found at the scene.

    “I have no idea who did it,” Edna Moffitt told The Shreveport Times. “I want them to pay for what they did to her.”

    A candlelight vigil for Moffitt is scheduled for Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. in Civitan Park. 

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    173 comments

    Sick evil bastards, and I'm white but that's is just EVIL. How can you do that to another human being? That is the kind of thing I can't understand.

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    Explore related topics: fire, louisiana, crime, burn
  • 15
    Jun
    2012
    8:17am, EDT

    Teen set on fire: 'I felt like I was going to die'

    For the first time since he was set on fire more than two years ago, Michael Brewer, 17, took the stand Thursday to testify against Matthew Bent, the teen accused of instigating the attack. NBC's Thanh Truong reports.

    By Edward B. Colby and Brian Hamacher, NBCMiami.com

    Michael Brewer testified Thursday that he thought he would die when he was pulled from a pool after he was set on fire at a Deerfield Beach, Fla., apartment complex in 2009.


    Follow @msnbc_us

    Brewer recalled a cold liquid going down his back before the burning sensation started during the attack on Oct. 12, 2009.

    “I started running towards the pool and then I jumped a fence and dove toward the swimming pool,” he said.

    For more, visit NBCMiami.com

    Brewer said he remembered a woman and someone else pulling him from the pool and seeing skin hanging down from his arms.

    "I felt like I was going to die," he said.

    They put him in a lawn chair and told him everything was going to be OK as he started feeling very cold, Brewer said.

    “I was in tons of pain,” he said, his right wrist shaking as he spoke.

    Brewer took the stand Thursday afternoon in the trial of Matthew Bent, 17, one of the teens charged in the infamous burning of his classmate, who was 15 at the time of the attack.

    Bent is charged with attempted second-degree murder. He faces 30 years behind bars.

    Prosecutors say Bent was the ringleader of the attack, persuading two other teens to pour alcohol on Brewer and set him on fire after a dispute over money Bent claimed Brewer owed him.

    Under cross-examination, Brewer admitted that he lied in a deposition about the cause of a dispute between him and Bent. He acknowledged that he previously said their dispute was over a video game, and did not suggest anything about drugs as the cause.

    But on Thursday he said they had been having a dispute over money because Bent had tried to sell him a bowl, in which one can smoke marijuana or tobacco, but he did not want it.

    Brewer told defense attorney Johnnie McCray that he was not hurt and just stood there after Denver Jarvis poured the liquid on him, and he was only hurt when Jesus Mendez set him on fire. Mendez pulled out a lighter and sparked the blaze that set him on fire, according to prosecutors.

    Jarvis and Mendez have both pleaded no contest to charges related to the attack.

    Brewer said that he did not hear anyone say they were going to set him on fire.

    Evidently frustrated with one question about what happened right before the attack, he covered his face with his hands.

    Brewer said that he knew Bent from the neighborhood and school and that they chilled sometimes. But later he interrupted McCray's question by saying, "Not chill – associate. He was not my friend, he was my associate."

    On his birthday on Oct. 11, 2009, Bent came to his front porch and asked him if he had his money, Brewer said.

    “Then he goes, 'Well, I’m going to take the bike instead'” of the money, Brewer said.

    "He sits on it and he starts backing the bike up and then I yell inside for my sister," Brewer added. She came outside, and Bent ended up leaving without the bike, though he came back later with Jarvis, he said.

    Brewer took some deep breaths early in his testimony, telling a prosecutor that he was nervous. He wore a blue dress shirt and a striped tie.

    He said he didn't remember talking to the police on his birthday, but did remember going to his birthday party. He said he didn't go to school the next day, on Monday, Oct. 12, "because I thought Matthew Bent was going to hurt me because I got him arrested."

    'I was scared'
    He said he was headed to his friend's home at the Lime Tree apartments when he was surrounded by a group of boys that included Bent. He jumped a wall to go to his friend's house.

    “I started walking fast because I was scared and nervous and stuff. And then I see Matthew coming around the corner," Brewer said.

    “He said, 'Mike come here, nothing’s going to happen to you, nobody’s going to do anything to you,'” Brewer said. He added that he stood there as Bent, on a bike, came closer and closer as he presumably tried to distract him.

    “I just remember a cold liquid going down my back and then I started walking and then I started feeling burning. And then I started running,” he said.

    Brewer was burned on over 60 percent of his body and spent months in the hospital recovering from his injuries.

    Brewer said he pretended to be sick sometimes so he wouldn’t have to go to school because he was bullied about the length of his hair and called girly.

    He also said that he teased some people at Deerfield Beach Middle School.

    Brewer was on the stand for 67 minutes. The trial stopped for the day right after he stepped down, and will resume Friday at 1:30 p.m.

    Three law enforcement officials testified earlier on Thursday, including a forensics expert from the state fire marshal's office.

    During the second day of testimony Wednesday, several teens were called to the stand to testify, including Jarvis and Jesus Mendez.

    Jarvis, 17, testified that Bent was offering kids $5 or $10 to hurt Brewer the day of the attack, including pouring the alcohol, which they had found by chance, on top of him.

    "I poured the liquid on him and he just standing there, and I put down the container and I seen Bent coming into the apartment, and I walk over to him," Jarvis said.

    Bent rode up to him on a bike, Jarvis said.

    "He go to reach into his pocket to get the money and then I see everybody running. So I look back to see why everybody's running, and I see Brewer on fire," Jarvis said.

    Witness Joel Mendez, Jesus Mendez's brother, testified that Bent offered everyone $5 to hit Brewer, and confirmed that Bent told Jarvis to pour the alcohol on Brewer.

    The defense claims that Bent was not the ringleader, pointing to Jarvis' recorded statements taken the day after the attack.

    Bent's attorney Perry Thurston pressed Jarvis in court about saying then that nothing would have happened if he had just not picked up the container.

    "No, all that on the tape happened in 2009. Since the incident of that day I try to forget as hard as I can about this whole situation," Jarvis said.

    Jarvis was sentenced to 8 years in prison with a probation term of 22 years. Jesus Mendez, now 18, was sentenced to 11 years in prison, followed by 19 years of probation.

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    167 comments

    um-- isn't this a hate crime? One black and two latinos against a white boy? Imagine the reverse-- holy Hannah, we'd be having riots in the street.

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