Buster

A New York man was arrested today and charged with stealing a $6500 Rolex watch as he passed last month through a Transportation Security Agency checkpoint at a Fort Lauderdale airport.

Investigators released video (see above) of the brazen watch theft earlier this week, triggering an outpouring of calls to a Broward County Crime Stoppers hotline. The phone tips, investigators noted, confirmed that the Rolex was swiped by Igor Ramos, a 37-year-old businessman who travels between Florida and New York selling cars.

Pictured at right, Ramos was picked up today at his condo in Sunny Isles. Ramos was “wearing the prized Rolex watch on his wrist” when he opened the door for Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies, according to a news release.

A sheriff's spokesperson reported that when a deputy questioned him about the Rolex, Ramos replied, "It was a gift from God."

Ramos, who also maintains a residence on Long Island, was charged with the felony grand theft and transported to the county jail.

While surveillance video (and still photos) of the theft were broadcast/published nationwide, Ramos--“due to his heavy travel”--was apparently unaware that he was the subject of a manhunt.

A singer-songwriter with an ardent and growing YouTube following is the target of a federal child pornography investigation focusing on his alleged exchange of naked photos with underage female fans, according to an FBI affidavit.

In late-December, agents raided the upstate New York home of Michael Lombardo, a 23-year-old musician whom the FBI described as having a “following of female fans ranging from middle-school aged children through college-age students.”

The federal probe was triggered after a Boston University student told agents that Lombardo, pictured at right, had arranged a New Year’s Eve sexual liaison with a 15-year-old girl who was planning to travel from her Indiana home to meet him.

In an FBI interview, the teenager said she “received nude pictures of Lombardo and had, at his direction, sent nude pictures of herself to him.” When agents examined the girl’s cell phone, they observed “multiple nude images of Lombardo” and “multiple explicit text messages” between her and Lombardo. The messages included “plans to meet as well as explicit discussions of specific sexual acts.”

According to the FBI affidavit sworn by Agent Frederick Bragg, two other female minors, both 17, have told agents that they recently exchanged naked photos with Lombardo and engaged in sexually explicit discussions with him via Skype. Additionally, one of the girls “reported that Lombardo masturbated on a web camera and instructed her to masturbate on camera as well.”

During a December 30 raid at Lombardo’s Rome residence, agents seized four computers, his cell phone, a Motorola tablet and a variety of hard drives and computer storage devices, according to an FBI inventory. In seeking court authorization to search Lombardo’s home, Bragg noted that there was probable cause to believe that he had used the home to possess, produce, or distribute child pornography.

Lombardo, who has not been charged, did not reply to e-mail and phone messages. Mark Juda, who identified himself as Lombardo’s lawyer in a call to TSG, declined to answer questions about the FBI probe.

A Berklee College of Music graduate, Lombardo's YouTube channel is stocked with performance clips and videos shot while on tour. The pianist also maintains a Twitter account, where he notes, “I play songs on the internet. Some people listen to them.”

An active tweeter, Lombardo fell silent for ten days after the FBI showed up at his home just after midnight on December 30. “Hello all. Going off grid for a while… be safe and be well... we will talk soon. <3,” he wrote later that day.

Meet Taylor Burnham.

When Corpus Christi cops responded to a suspicious person call early Sunday, they spotted Burnham, 18, standing in an alleyway next to a Jeep Wrangler. The teenager was naked, except for a pair of cowboy boots.

After spotting cops, Burnham hopped in the Jeep and took off at around 3:10 AM.  She then led officers on a slow speed chase through a neighboring subdivision, where she drove on a sidewalk before coming to a stop, according to a police report.

Burnham appeared to be intoxicated, so she was subjected to field sobriety tests and two Breathalyzer tests, which recorded her blood alcohol content as more than twice the legal limit.

While officers noted that a female cop helped Burnham get reacquainted with her clothes, police reports offer no insight as to why she was driving while naked.

Along with a misdemeanor drunk driving count, Burnham was hit with an evading arrest in a vehicle charge, a felony. She was released from the Nueces County jail yesterday afternoon after posting $3500 bond.

Police early today arrested one of the gang members suspected of participating in the brutal beating of an Atlanta man, the harrowing video of which has gone viral.

Christopher Deon Cain, 18, was taken into custody around midnight and charged with aggravated assault and robbery in connection with the February 4 assault of Brandon White, 20, outside a convenience store in Atlanta’s Pittsburgh neighborhood.

Cain, pictured in the adjacent mug shot, is being held without bail in the Fulton County jail.

In announcing Cain’s arrest, Atlanta cops offered no further details about his alleged role in the attack on White, which is being investigated by the FBI as a possible hate crime since at least one assailant (and two bystanders) referred to White as a “faggot” during the assault.

Based on a review of the videotape, it appears Cain can be seen at the clip’s outset wearing a black ski cap and a gray hooded sweatshirt. He announces, “Jack City, no faggots,” prior to White being ambushed as he exited the store, which has long been a gathering spot for members of a local gang known as the Pittsburgh Jack City Gang.

During the assault, the assailant in the gray sweatshirt appears to pick up White’s cellphone, which was knocked from his left hand when he was initially struck in the face by another attacker. After kicking White several times while he was on the ground, the man in the sweatshirt punches him in the head with the phone clenched in his fist.

Aided by tips from the public, investigators have identified two other suspects in the attack, both of whom are the subject of arrest warrants.     

The Atlanta man seen being viciously beaten in a harrowing viral video today called his attackers “monsters” who left him with scars that “run deeper than anyone will know.”

Speaking at a press conference, Brandon White, 20, said that he “could have died” Saturday afternoon when he was assaulted outside a convenience store in the city’s Pittsburgh neighborhood. He added that nobody should worry that they will be attacked “for just being a gay male.”

One of White’s assailants referred to him as a “faggot” on the video (as did the cameraman and another onlooker). Atlanta police are hunting for White’s attackers, while FBI agents and federal prosecutors are examining the assault to determine whether a hate crimes prosecution is warranted.

The unemployed White said that he did not know his attackers and was unaware that the assault was being videotaped. “I was very violated,” said White, who added, "Who's to say they won't come after me again...Who's to say this time they won't try to kill me."

White said that the filming of the assault--and the subsequent uploading of a clip online--was his assailants’s way of trying to draw attention to their barbarism. However, by coming forward to cooperate with authorities, White remarked, “I’m the brave one.”