Several reporters for the Star contribute to another lengthy story taking a closer look at Simeon Adams, the 16-year old accused of killing Nathan Trapuzzano and shooting another man. A fair amount of the information has been previously reported, while some information previously reported only in a British tabloid, the Daily Mail, makes its way into a local report for the first time. It claims that the only contact between Adams and law enforcement before his arrest after a bloody crime spree came on March 4 when his probation officer, Tracy McDonald, who has since been fired, knocked on the door of his home.
The reporters find that the county's juvenile justice system had deemed him only a "moderate" risk despite his known history of carrying a gun. It repeats juvenile court Judge Marilyn Moore's contention that his probation officer is to blame for him being on the streets for his failure to request detention of Adams after more than a dozen probation violations. The story notes that, although Adams had previously faced gun charges, a juvenile can only be charged with a misdemeanor for gun violations and those charges are typically bargained away by prosecutors because they are supposedly more difficult to prove. At least that's the explanation for why Adams' prior gun charges had not been prosecuted. During his first gun arrest, Adams blurted out to police during his arrest, "Hey, that gun is mine," according to police. When he was arrested a second time for an auto theft, he told his probation officer that he needed the gun he possessed at the time of his arrest for his protection. The prosecutors dropped that charged during plea negotiations.
An attorney from Richmond tells the Star that it's pretty much standard operating procedure throughout the state for prosecutors to dismiss some charges against juveniles facing multiple criminal charges in exchange for an admission of at least some of the crimes. "The approach is always we want to do the broadest amount of charges that we think we can get across the finish line," Kaarin Lueck said. In Adams' case, that meant he was sentenced for only home detention after facing multiple criminal charges from a series of arrests over a several month period. The story claims it would have been unusual for someone like Adams with a "moderate" risk assessment to be sentenced to detention. "Marion County has been at the forefront of such efforts to keep youths out of juvenile detention," the Star reports.
The story repeats IMPD's belief that Adams was one of the two individuals involved in the March 22 robbery of the C&C Midwest Firearms gun store on Crawfordsville Road, which was plainly caught on surveillance cameras, although he has not been formally charged in the break-in and theft of more than 30 firearms valued at $13,000. Only one of those guns have been recovered to date, and police claim that none of those guns were used to shoot Trapuzzano or his other shooting victim, Erick Douglas, another teen, Dailand Butler, who was shot in the same area two days before Trapuzzano's shooting or Adams, who was found with a minor gunshot wound late the same the day he is accused of shooting Trapuzzano. Despite earlier news reports claiming that Adams suffered a critical gunshot wound to the neck during a shootout with other juveniles, the Star now says that he "wasn't hurt that badly" in the shooting.
For the first time, the Star identifies the accomplice, Martez "Duh Duh" McGraw, who was with Adams when he shot Trapuzzano and Douglas, although it doesn't delve into the circumstances as to why that individual has not been charged with any crimes. Other media reports indicate that McGraw was already facing felony gun charges and resisting law enforcement for an arrest back in February. McGraw provided a sworn statement to police that Adams had ordered Trapuzzano to strip off his clothes after he forced him in between a tire shop and strip club on West 16th Street before shooting him. Court records also show that Adams had told Marvel Robinson that he had shot Trapuzzano "because white man tried to tussle with me."
The Star report includes the obligatory meme about how Adams was viewed by others around him as "likable", if a bit "mischievous." His former English teacher at the Math & Science Academy seemed smitten by him, who described him as being a bit chubby before his growth spurt. "I remember his eyes — hazel, light brown," Elaine Taylor said. "He was a short, chubby fellow," Taylor said. "He had personality. He was mischievous but likable. He liked to prank the girls. He'd make smart remarks on how they looked good or didn't look good." Taylor told the Star that he addressed her as "Ms. Taylor girl, despite her admonitions that he show more respect." "He acted up," she said. "I think he was seeking attention." He was a poor student, she said, often absent. "It was hard to get work out of him," she said, "but he was personable." The Star says Adams had his mother's name tattooed on his chest. She was pulled dead from the White River when he was a year old. His father, Robert Harvey, who signed his parental rights away, served time in prison for auto theft and robbery.
Showing posts with label Simeon Adams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Simeon Adams. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
Finger-Pointing Begins In Trapuzzano Shooting: Probation Officer First To Take The Fall
When police released the lengthy rap sheet detailing dozens of arrests involving the 16-year old accused of gunning down Nathan Trapuzzano on West 16th Street during the early morning hours of April 1, it seemed inexplicable that Simeon Adams could have been loose roaming the streets to commit even more crimes. Yet somehow he was. Today, we learn from an Indianapolis Star report that a probation officer assigned to keep track of Adams while he was supposedly on home detention awaiting an April 7 juvenile court probation hearing on 13 probation violations, including nine violations of his house arrest, has resigned in the wake of Adams' arrest earlier this week.
According to the Star's John Tuohy, Adams' probation officer could have requested an arrest warrant be issued against him after he committed his third house arrest violation on February 15 when he was not found at home during the probation officer's visit to his home. Adams could have been placed in detention at the juvenile detention center on the City's east side. Tracy McDonald, the probation officer in question, waited until March 5 to report Adams after his ninth house arrest violation. "And even then, McDonald recommended that Adams remain on house arrest until his April 7 probation hearing," Tuohy reports. The other three probation violations that occurred between February 11 and March 4 were for getting suspended from school and failing to participate in court-ordered programs.
Marion County's presiding judge, David Certo, confirmed to the Star that McDonald resigned his job yesterday, the same day that Adams made his first appearance in adult court to face charges related to the shooting death of Trapuzzano. The judge in charge of Marion County's juvenile court, Marilyn Moores, told Tuohy that she had "complained vociferously" about McDonald's failure to request Adams' arrest in light of the repeated probate violations. “I expressed my extreme concern to probation (department) about the handling of this case,” Moores said. “When I saw there had been nine violations I was very concerned and upset.” She told the Star that probation officers typically notify the court after three violations. “That wasn’t done here, I don’t know why,” Moores said, adding that she had never seen an officer wait until nine violations before reporting it to the court.
McDonald has worked as a probation officer since 1994 according to the Star. McDonald's superiors in the probation department refused to respond to the Star's request for comment on his resignation, as did Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry. Adams' April 7 hearing relates to a December 13 arrest for stealing a woman's car at a gas station and fleeing police. During the chase, Adams tossed a stolen gun, and when police arrested him he had marijuana in his possession. Curry's office later dropped the drug and gun charges and charged Adams with auto theft and resisting arrest.
The media continues to show little interest in the look-out accomplice who aided Adams in the April 1 shooting death of Trapuzzano who the prosecutor's office has declined to prosecute. Although local media has not identified him, the Daily Mail identified him as a 16-year old named Martez "Duh Duh" McGraw. Media reports indicate that Adams' accomplice had charges pending against him stemming from an arrest in February for felony gun charges and resisting arrest. Surveillance video showing the break-in of a gun store on Crawfordsville Road last month showed two black youths committing the break-in that resulted in the theft of $13,000 worth of guns. Police have told the media they believe Adams was one of the youths who committed that break-in. They have not identified who the second suspect was, although he matches the description of Adams' accomplice in the Trapuzzano shooting. The Daily Mail identified McGraw as also being with Adams during a confrontation with Erick Douglas when police allege that Adams fired three shots from a gun at Douglas, hitting him twice. Here's the timeline provided by the Daily Mail:
If the Daily Mail account is accurate, McGraw was with Adams during both shootings. Yet Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry is not charging him in either case. I've said it before and I'll say it again. My hunch tells me that McGraw has been acting as an informant for IMPD. If that's the case, then I repeat that someone has a lot of explaining to do, whether that's IMPD, the Prosecutor or someone else. If McGraw was also the accomplice in the gun store robbery, then my concerns are even further heightened. Just why was McGraw roaming the streets freely with Adams given his February arrest on felony gun charges? And just how did the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, manage to obtain more information about this case early on before our crack local reporters? Here's what WTHR reported on the prosecutor's decision not to charge Adams' accomplice:
On April 1, the same day that Trapuzzano was gunned down by Adams, the Indianapolis Star's Matt Tully ran a column spotlighting Rev. Harrison's work combating crime in an article titled, "Charles Harrison shines the truth on Indy violence." A picture that accompanied the column showed Harrison at the same Marathon gas station where he had his confrontation with Adams on March 30. "Every once in a while, when I'm trying to make sense of the violence in our city, I turn to the Rev. Charles Harrison," Tully wrote. "A crime-fighting truth-teller who is just as comfortable talking to gang members on the streets as he is talking to parishioners in church or followers on Twitter, Harrison has done more than just about anyone in recent years to shine a spotlight on the toll crime takes on many neighborhoods."
Last February, a story that almost seems forgotten, federal, state and local law enforcement officers participated in a raid on the home of the Ten Point Coalition's street outreach coordinator, Byron Alston, an ex-offender on probation with close ties to Mayor Greg Ballard who has had trouble himself with complying with the terms of his probation. IMPD Chief Rick Hite was called out for inappropriately interjecting himself into Alston's probation hearing by writing a letter of support to the court.
Fox59 News' Russ McQuaid reported at the time that Alston claimed that investigators seized his computer and financial records of the “Save the Youth” organization dating back to 2007 in an apparent search for his funding sources. Marion Co. Prosecutor Terry Curry confirmed to McQuaid at the time that a search warrant had been executed on Alston's home. The Ten Point Coalition has been the recipient of crime prevention grants provided by the City of Indianapolis. Alston told McQuaid that law enforcement searched his home for money. Alston claimed that investigators raised a figure of $3 million with him during the raid and asked him if he had been offered $3 million by an unnamed Republican. Alston claimed he was also asked about an extortion attempt and being asked by another ministerial group to split the money with them. Nothing further has been reported on that raid since that initial report.
UPDATE: The fired probation officer, Tracy McDonald, spoke to Fox59 News and indicated that he believed he was being unfairly singled out for the blame. "He said any perceived failure, shouldn’t only be blamed on him." "He said he felt forced out and believes that someone else should take the fall for it, too." "That’s all I’m going to say, yes," McDonald told FOX 59. "McDonald did not have many comments but said he was looking into hiring an attorney in the matter."
According to Fox59 News, both Moores and a magistrate signed off on the initial order setting Adams' probation hearing for April 7. The contention is that McDonald should have notified the court after Adams' third violation on February 15; instead, he waited until March 5. That's still more than a month before his scheduled hearing in April. The court seems to blame McDonald because he didn't request that Adams' home detention be cancelled upon reporting his repeated probation violations to the court on March 5. The question seems to turn on whether the court on its own should have reached the conclusion that an arrest warrant should have been issued for Adams' arrest without prompting by the probation officer.
According to the Star's John Tuohy, Adams' probation officer could have requested an arrest warrant be issued against him after he committed his third house arrest violation on February 15 when he was not found at home during the probation officer's visit to his home. Adams could have been placed in detention at the juvenile detention center on the City's east side. Tracy McDonald, the probation officer in question, waited until March 5 to report Adams after his ninth house arrest violation. "And even then, McDonald recommended that Adams remain on house arrest until his April 7 probation hearing," Tuohy reports. The other three probation violations that occurred between February 11 and March 4 were for getting suspended from school and failing to participate in court-ordered programs.
Marion County's presiding judge, David Certo, confirmed to the Star that McDonald resigned his job yesterday, the same day that Adams made his first appearance in adult court to face charges related to the shooting death of Trapuzzano. The judge in charge of Marion County's juvenile court, Marilyn Moores, told Tuohy that she had "complained vociferously" about McDonald's failure to request Adams' arrest in light of the repeated probate violations. “I expressed my extreme concern to probation (department) about the handling of this case,” Moores said. “When I saw there had been nine violations I was very concerned and upset.” She told the Star that probation officers typically notify the court after three violations. “That wasn’t done here, I don’t know why,” Moores said, adding that she had never seen an officer wait until nine violations before reporting it to the court.
McDonald has worked as a probation officer since 1994 according to the Star. McDonald's superiors in the probation department refused to respond to the Star's request for comment on his resignation, as did Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry. Adams' April 7 hearing relates to a December 13 arrest for stealing a woman's car at a gas station and fleeing police. During the chase, Adams tossed a stolen gun, and when police arrested him he had marijuana in his possession. Curry's office later dropped the drug and gun charges and charged Adams with auto theft and resisting arrest.
The media continues to show little interest in the look-out accomplice who aided Adams in the April 1 shooting death of Trapuzzano who the prosecutor's office has declined to prosecute. Although local media has not identified him, the Daily Mail identified him as a 16-year old named Martez "Duh Duh" McGraw. Media reports indicate that Adams' accomplice had charges pending against him stemming from an arrest in February for felony gun charges and resisting arrest. Surveillance video showing the break-in of a gun store on Crawfordsville Road last month showed two black youths committing the break-in that resulted in the theft of $13,000 worth of guns. Police have told the media they believe Adams was one of the youths who committed that break-in. They have not identified who the second suspect was, although he matches the description of Adams' accomplice in the Trapuzzano shooting. The Daily Mail identified McGraw as also being with Adams during a confrontation with Erick Douglas when police allege that Adams fired three shots from a gun at Douglas, hitting him twice. Here's the timeline provided by the Daily Mail:
THREE DAYS OF MAYHEM AND MURDER
Court documents provide a chilling account of the danger Adams inflicted on the community over a three-day period:
March 30: Simeon 'Red' Adams and Martez 'Duh-Duh' McGraw confront Erick Douglas and his brother outside steak house after Douglas 'bumped into' Adams. Adams shoots him three times - hitting him once in the groin and once in the left leg
April 1, 5.50am Adams and McGraw spot Nathan out for morning stroll. They ambush him and make his strip. As he goes to take off his pants and reaches for his shoes, he is shot once in the abdomen. Surveillance footage shows Nathan pleading for help. He dies later.
April 1, morning: Adams allegedly confesses to friend that he shot Nathan because 'white man tried to tussle with me'.
April 1, 11.30pm: Adams is shot in the neck and taken to hospital
April 8: Adams is arrested and charged.
If the Daily Mail account is accurate, McGraw was with Adams during both shootings. Yet Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry is not charging him in either case. I've said it before and I'll say it again. My hunch tells me that McGraw has been acting as an informant for IMPD. If that's the case, then I repeat that someone has a lot of explaining to do, whether that's IMPD, the Prosecutor or someone else. If McGraw was also the accomplice in the gun store robbery, then my concerns are even further heightened. Just why was McGraw roaming the streets freely with Adams given his February arrest on felony gun charges? And just how did the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, manage to obtain more information about this case early on before our crack local reporters? Here's what WTHR reported on the prosecutor's decision not to charge Adams' accomplice:
Alhough police initially identified a second suspect in surveillance video from the murder scene on West 16th Street, only Adams faces charges. Prosecutors know who the second person is - another 16-year-old. They've declined to file charges against him.
"They want to use him at the trial of Mr. Adams," said criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Jack Crawford. He says even though the second teen was feet away when the murder took place, prosecutors likely have decided to use him as a key witness rather than charge him with a crime.
"Clearly he knows who he's talking about. He was nine feet away. If he's telling the truth; if he's telling the truth, mind you,then he's a very important witness for the state," said Crawford. That 16-year-old faces felony gun and resisting law enforcement charges stemming from a separate incident in February.More troubling is a report by the Ten Point Coalition's Rev. Charles Harrison about an encounter he had with Adams and more than a dozen other teen-agers loitering at a Marathon gas station on March 30, two days before the Trapuzzano shooting. When he and volunteers approached Adams and the other youth and asked them to leave the property, a confrontation ensued. Harrison and his volunteers noticed that Adams and the other youth appeared to be armed with guns. Harrison told local reporters that he contacted 911 to report the incident. "We called 911 because we wanted to alert the police that this young man and some of the other young men that was with him had guns on them," Harrison told WRTV. That's the same day police say that Adams shot another man, Erick Douglas, in a dispute outside a steak house on MLK Drive. Harrison tweeted about shooting taking place in this area but indicated that no one was hurt. "A little after 8pm 7 shots were fired at 29th & MLK, Harrison tweeted on March 30. "Teenagers were shooting at each other, but no one was injured." Harrison posted a picture of the restaurant showing police cars in the parking lot. "There is a teenager gang problem n UNWA," Harrison tweeted. "These teenagers have guns on them."
On April 1, the same day that Trapuzzano was gunned down by Adams, the Indianapolis Star's Matt Tully ran a column spotlighting Rev. Harrison's work combating crime in an article titled, "Charles Harrison shines the truth on Indy violence." A picture that accompanied the column showed Harrison at the same Marathon gas station where he had his confrontation with Adams on March 30. "Every once in a while, when I'm trying to make sense of the violence in our city, I turn to the Rev. Charles Harrison," Tully wrote. "A crime-fighting truth-teller who is just as comfortable talking to gang members on the streets as he is talking to parishioners in church or followers on Twitter, Harrison has done more than just about anyone in recent years to shine a spotlight on the toll crime takes on many neighborhoods."
Last February, a story that almost seems forgotten, federal, state and local law enforcement officers participated in a raid on the home of the Ten Point Coalition's street outreach coordinator, Byron Alston, an ex-offender on probation with close ties to Mayor Greg Ballard who has had trouble himself with complying with the terms of his probation. IMPD Chief Rick Hite was called out for inappropriately interjecting himself into Alston's probation hearing by writing a letter of support to the court.
Fox59 News' Russ McQuaid reported at the time that Alston claimed that investigators seized his computer and financial records of the “Save the Youth” organization dating back to 2007 in an apparent search for his funding sources. Marion Co. Prosecutor Terry Curry confirmed to McQuaid at the time that a search warrant had been executed on Alston's home. The Ten Point Coalition has been the recipient of crime prevention grants provided by the City of Indianapolis. Alston told McQuaid that law enforcement searched his home for money. Alston claimed that investigators raised a figure of $3 million with him during the raid and asked him if he had been offered $3 million by an unnamed Republican. Alston claimed he was also asked about an extortion attempt and being asked by another ministerial group to split the money with them. Nothing further has been reported on that raid since that initial report.
UPDATE: The fired probation officer, Tracy McDonald, spoke to Fox59 News and indicated that he believed he was being unfairly singled out for the blame. "He said any perceived failure, shouldn’t only be blamed on him." "He said he felt forced out and believes that someone else should take the fall for it, too." "That’s all I’m going to say, yes," McDonald told FOX 59. "McDonald did not have many comments but said he was looking into hiring an attorney in the matter."
According to Fox59 News, both Moores and a magistrate signed off on the initial order setting Adams' probation hearing for April 7. The contention is that McDonald should have notified the court after Adams' third violation on February 15; instead, he waited until March 5. That's still more than a month before his scheduled hearing in April. The court seems to blame McDonald because he didn't request that Adams' home detention be cancelled upon reporting his repeated probation violations to the court on March 5. The question seems to turn on whether the court on its own should have reached the conclusion that an arrest warrant should have been issued for Adams' arrest without prompting by the probation officer.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
16-Year Old Killer All Smiles On The Way To First Court Appearance
 |
| Simeon Adams (WISH-TV Photo) |
UPDATE: I've been wondering why Adams' accomplice has not been arrested. WTHR reports that Marion Co. Prosecutor Terry Curry has made a decision not to prosecute Martez "Duh Duh" McGraw on felony murder charges for his role in assisting in the strong armed robbery that resulted in the killing of Nathan Trapuzzano. Criminal defense attorney Jack Crawford tells WTHR that the prosecutor's office has likely made a determination that they need McGraw's assistance to prosecute Adams.
Alhough police initially identified a second suspect in surveillance video from the murder scene on West 16th Street, only Adams faces charges. Prosecutors know who the second person is - another 16-year-old. They've declined to file charges against him.
"They want to use him at the trial of Mr. Adams," said criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Jack Crawford. He says even though the second teen was feet away when the murder took place, prosecutors likely have decided to use him as a key witness rather than charge him with a crime.
"Clearly he knows who he's talking about. He was nine feet away. If he's telling the truth; if he's telling the truth, mind you,then he's a very important witness for the state," said Crawford.
That 16-year-old faces felony gun and resisting law enforcement charges stemming from a separate incident in February.It only raises my suspicions more that McGraw may have been an informant for IMPD all along while Adams has been turned loose on the streets to terrorize Indianapolis neighborhoods at will. Who was the accomplice who aided Adams in the $13 million gun store robbery that police suspect that he committed last month? According to WTHR, McGraw was already facing felony gun charges and resisting law enforcement stemming from an incident way back in February. So he was released to roam the streets with Adams, who has been in and out of police custody multiple times for charges that included at least two arrests for unlawful gun possession over the past nine months? You would have to be a fool not to suspect something is amiss here. If anyone has more information on the role McGraw was playing for IMPD and when that role began, please share it. This must be exposed. A life may have been lost because of the crazy games our local law enforcement is playing with serious criminal justice matters.
Tuesday, April 08, 2014
16-Year Old Thug Arrested For Murdering Nathan Trapuzzano
 |
| Simeon Adams |
As it turns out, Simeon Adams had been on quite a crime spree before the shooting. On March 22, Adams allegedly robbed a gun store. On March 30, Adams shot Erick Douglas twice during an altercation outside a business in the 2900 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Adams used the same handgun he used on Douglas to fatally shoot Trapuzzano two days later. Police found Adams with a gunshot wound to his neck 17 hours after he shot Trapuzzano at a residence on West 35th Street, which had been the scene of another shooting only a week earlier. Adams has been transferred to the juvenile detention center where he is recovering from his own gunshot wound after he was treated at Eskenazi Hospital for his gunshot wound. News reports at the time of his shooting indicated that he was in critical condition when he was first admitted to the hospital.
IMPD credited assistance from the community with the murder investigation, which was coordinated by the Northwest and Southwest IMPD districts. Today's announcement made no mention of the second man shown on the surveillance camera approaching Trapuzzano at the same time as Adams right before he was fatally shot. Police Chief Rick Hite told reporters they know who the second man is but refused to identify him at this time. Adams, who is being charged as an adult, faces murder and attempted robbery charges for the fatal shooting of Trapuzzano, as well as attempted murder, aggravated battery and carrying a handgun without a license charges in connection with the shooting of Douglas. This Adams' kid already had a long rap sheet before these recent events, including gun violations, resisting law enforcement, burglary, auto theft and marijuana possession. Looks like our criminal justice system failed us again with deadly consequences. When will prosecutors and judges start taking responsibility for these senseless killings because of their refusal to deal appropriately with repeat criminal offenders, regardless of their age?
UPDATE: The British Daily Mail has more information than our Indianapolis news media. They identify Adams' accomplice as Martez "Duh-Duh" McGraw. They were also the first media outlet I've seen to find a photo of Simeon Adams, which was taken from a social media site. The story identifies Adams' nickname as "Red." The Daily Mail reports that Adams confessed to a friend that he shot Trapuzzano. He allegedly told the friend that he made Trapuzzano strip and that he shot him in the stomach when he leaned down to his shoes. Adams told his friend that Trapuzzano tried to tussle with him when he asked him why he was reaching for his shoes instead of stripping off his pants as he ordered him to do. That's when he said he shot him. "White man tried to tussle with me so I shot him," Adams told his friend. They had already stripped Trapuzzano of his sweater and t-shirt when they shot him. Adams' friend Marvell Robinson reported what Adams told him to police according to the report. When a good Samaritan responded to Trapuzzano's cries for help, the woman found him shirtless and shoeless, wearing only his jogging pants. He had fled from behind the tire shop building where his attacker forced him at gunpoint and then tried to make it to 16th Street to flag down passing motorists before he collapsed in the tire shop's parking lot. She described Trapuzzano as conscious but struggling to breath as he clutched his side where a small bullet entrance wound could be seen, but she said he was not bleeding much.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)