Free Republic

CHARLOTTE, NC Inside the Mecklenburg County Jail, Zerrell Fuentes came up with a plan to have his wife, mother and three underage girls help him make bail, prosecutors say. Now all three members of the Charlotte family face an even longer stay behind bars. An eight-count indictment issued Friday accuses Fuentes, 22, wife Brianna Wright Fuentes, 24, and his mother Tanya Fuentes, 53, with conspiring to traffic the girls for commercial sex acts in Myrtle Beach. All three face multiple sex-trafficking offenses. The two-week operation involved three Charlotte girls, all under 18, whom Ferrell recruited while he was in jail,...

Man charged with setting fatal fire By Robert Kalinowski , Citizens' Voice Staff Writer 02/26/2004 "I definitely drink too much," said John J. Michaels at his arraignment on charges that he started Friday's fire at a Pittston apartment complex that killed a woman. Michaels told police he drank a 12-pack of beer and was "very drunk" just hours before he set newspapers on fire and tossed them through a window and onto a couch at 5 E. Columbus Ave., according to the affidavit of probable cause. Loretta Zampetti, 45, an occupant of the apartment building, died as a result of...