Adult male on house arrest for selling cocaine brings home 13-year-old runaway girl and molests her, police say



An adult male on house arrest for selling cocaine brought a 13-year-old runaway girl to his residence in south Florida earlier this month and molested her, police said.

What are the details?

Leonel Keenan Labranche, 27, was on house arrest when he drove up to the young teen who was walking along a street after running away Jan. 9 and invited her into his home on Northwest 83rd Terrace in the county’s West Little River area, WPLG-TV reported, citing Miami-Dade police.

Police said the pair smoked marijuana and performed sex acts on each other as she stayed at Labranche's residence, the station noted.

Labranche on Jan. 12 took the girl to Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines after he became concerned that she might have a sexually transmitted infection, WPLG reported, citing an arrest report.

Police added to the station that they located Labranche on Friday, and he confessed to the allegations during an interview with detectives.

Labranche was being held without bond in Miami-Dade’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Monday morning, WPLG reported.

More from the station:

Labranche, whose house arrest stemmed from charges of selling cocaine and misuse of a two-way communications device, now adds a charge of lewd and lascivious molestation to his slate of charges, which also include multiple domestic violence-related felonies in connection with separate cases.

According to jail records, Labranche's charge of selling cocaine included that it occurred within 1,000 feet of a school. Records also indicate that in another case he was charged with burglary with assault or battery.

How are folks reacting?

Commenters reacting to Labranche's arrest on Facebook and under the WPLG story were unified in their disgust at the suspect:

  • "Please keep him locked up!!" one commenter begged.
  • "POS," another commenter observed.

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Doughnut shop worker who fatally punched 77-year-old customer over being called N-word sentenced to two years of house arrest



A 27-year-old doughnut shop employee who fatally punched a 77-year-old customer last year over being called the N-word was sentenced Monday to two years of house arrest, WTVT-TV reported.

What are the details?

Investigators said Vonelle Cook went through a Dunkin' drive-through in Tampa, Florida, on May 5, 2021, and was angry about the lack of service, the station reported.

Employees said Cook was a frequent customer and "regularly troublesome and abusive," WTVT said, citing a state attorney's office release.

Cook then parked his car and walked into the restaurant, and prosecutors said he was aggressive and verbally abusive toward employees — including Corey Pujols, the station said.

When Pujols — who is black — asked Cook to leave, police told WTVT that Cook called him the N-word.

Pujols told Cook not to call him the racial slur again, the station said, but Cook did just that. WTVT's early reporting on the incident — citing investigators — indicated the victim repeated the slur after Pujols challenged him to do so.

After the second N-word utterance, Pujols punched Cook in the jaw, the station said. The blow knocked out Cook and caused him fall and hit his head on the floor, WTVT said.

Tampa Fire Rescue responded and took Cook to a hospital, where he died three days later, the station said, adding that an autopsy revealed he suffered a skull fracture and brain contusions from the fall.

What happened next?

Police arrested Pujols and charged him with aggravated manslaughter of an elderly adult, WTVT said. But prosecutors later made a deal with Pujols, who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of felony battery in exchange for a more lenient sentence, the station said.

In addition to two years of house arrest, a judge sentenced the former Dunkin' employee to complete 200 hours of community service and attend an anger management course, WTVT said.

"This outcome holds the defendant accountable while taking into account the totality of the circumstances — the aggressive approach and despicable racial slur used by the victim, along with the defendant’s age, lack of criminal record, and lack of intent to cause the victim’s death," Grayson Kamm, spokesperson for the Hillsborough state attorney's office, told the station in a statement.

Prosecutors also noted Cook's "very troublesome criminal history" and prison time — court records show he was a registered sex offender — which they said made him an "unsympathetic victim," WTVT reported.

Darrin Johnson, an attorney for Pujols, declined to comment after the hearing, the station said.

Here's a WTVT report that aired after Cook's death:

Accused Capitol rioter on house arrest for allegedly violating gun order in mountain lion hunt



A hunting guide accused of assaulting a police officer during the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol has been placed on house arrest by a judge, over allegations that he violated the terms of his release by allegedly shooting a mountain lion while under court orders.

Patrick Montgomery, 48, is not supposed to have a gun at all because of a prior felony charge, prosecutors say.

What are the details?

Montgomery runs a guide service called Pmonte Outdoors out of Littleton, Colorado. In January, he was indicted on 10 counts after allegedly entering the Capitol building and "kicking a police officer in the chest and trying to take his baton during riots," The Denver Gazette reported, citing court documents.

"Montgomery has no respect for the Court's orders, just like he had no respect for law enforcement at the Capitol on January 6," acting United States Attorney Channing Phillips wrote in court documents.

"Instead of peacefully protesting, he tried to grab a Metropolitan Police Department officer's baton, wrestled him to the ground for it, and then kicked the officer in the chest while wearing a boot," Phillips claims. "After the officer regained control of his baton, Montgomery stood up, and held up his two middle fingers at the officer. "

CBS News reported that since Montgomery's arrest, he has been free on pre-trial release, but prosecutors pressed Monday for him to be placed under house arrest over allegations that he violated the stipulation that he not "possess illegal firearms." The judge agreed.

The house arrest was sparked by a mountain lion hunt of which the U.S. Attorney's Office supplied a picture purportedly showing Montgomery on March 31 holding up a mountain lion kill.

Anything else?

Montgomery allegedly told an officer at a park that he had killed the animal with a .357 magnum handgun. After running a background check, the officer found that Montgomery was convicted of three counts of felony robbery from 1996.

But this was not the first time Montgomery violated his release, according to prosecutors who say he also "illegally hunted a bobcat in January, allegedly using a slingshot to knock it out of a tree and then allowed his dogs to kill it in violation of state law," ABC News reported.

When confronted about the past convictions, Montgomery "said he was granted a plea agreement that allowed him possession of firearms for the purposes of hunting and guiding," CBS reported.

Alleged U.S. Capitol Rioter Patrick Montgomery Faces Arrest After Hunting Mountain Lion www.youtube.com