Atlanta, GA Psychiatrist Charged With Multiple Homicides By Negligent Drug Prescriptions

Mother-of-two Audrey Austin, 29, was among those who died

[From article]

A Georgia psychiatrist dubbed Dr Death has been charged with murder in the overdose deaths of three patients.
Thirty-six of Dr Narendra Nagareddy's patients died while he was prescribing them painkillers, court documents allege.
Twelve of them died of prescription drug overdoses, post-mortem examinations confirmed.
The doctor could face further charges for at least 30 other deaths, the Henry Herald reports.
Nagareddy - who was arrested in January - allegedly ran a pill mill out of his office in an Atlanta suburb.
In one 11-month period ending in July 2015, he prescribed nearly 500 times the amount of oxycodone prescribed by any other colleague at the Southern Regional Medical Center.
District Attorney Tracy Graham-Lawson said at least 11 of the counts Nagareddy faces include negligence to sign or date prescriptions.
He faces 59 other charges of unauthorised distribution of a controlled substance.
Nagareddy prescribed hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone, fentanyl and amphetamine salts to patients who were suffering addiction, anxiety and depression.
He is charged in the deaths of Cheryl Pennington, 47, David Robinson, 49, and 29-year-old mother-of-two Audrey Austin.
Ms Austin's mother, Ruth Carr, said her daughter was an addict who had died of a prescription drug overdose the day after she visited Nagareddy.
Nagareddy - who was arrested in January - allegedly ran a pill mill out of his office in an Atlanta suburb.


Nagareddy was arrested in January

In one 11-month period ending in July 2015, he prescribed nearly 500 times the amount of oxycodone prescribed by any other colleague at the Southern Regional Medical Center.
District Attorney Tracy Graham-Lawson said at least 11 of the counts Nagareddy faces include negligence to sign or date prescriptions.
He faces 59 other charges of unauthorised distribution of a controlled substance.
Nagareddy prescribed hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone, fentanyl and amphetamine salts to patients who were suffering addiction, anxiety and depression.
He is charged in the deaths of Cheryl Pennington, 47, David Robinson, 49, and 29-year-old mother-of-two Audrey Austin.
Ms Austin's mother, Ruth Carr, said her daughter was an addict who had died of a prescription drug overdose the day after she visited Nagareddy.
"He just overwrote prescriptions for my daughter that weren't necessary," Ms Carr told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"It's the medicine that he gave her that led to her death."
A probation officer raised the alarm after noticing that three people in her caseload who had died were patients of Nagareddy.
The Georgia Composite Medical Board suspended his licence after his arrest.
Prescription drug abuse has reached epidemic levels in the US.
Overdose deaths from opioids, including prescription drugs, have nearly quadrupled since 1999, with over-prescribing blamed as a key cause of addiction.
http://news.sky.com/story/1698872/dr-death-psychiatrist-charged-with-murders

'Dr Death' Psychiatrist Charged With Murders
Thirty-six of Dr Narendra Nagareddy's patients died - 12 from overdoses - as he prescribed them painkillers, it is alleged.
15:06, UK,
Thursday 19 May 2016

Atlanta, GA Lawyer, 59, Arrested In Mexico, After Suspicious Death of Disabled Model Girlfriend, 36

Happy: Tamra Turpin's sister said the 36-year-old was happy with her new boyfriend. 'He has a property by the river and he invited us all there for a party last summer. 'We went boating and he seemed nice.'

[From article]
The family of a disabled woman allegedly murdered in Mexico by her much older lawyer boyfriend are demanding answers - and have pointed to a number of discrepancies in his story.
Tamra Turpin, 36, from Union, Missouri, was found dead on Wednesday in her hotel room in the luxury Playa del Carmen resort near Cancun. Her death first ascribed to an overdose of prescription medication.
After an initial autopsy revealed she had been strangled, 59-year-old John Loveless was arrested by Mexican police as he attempted to board a flight to Atlanta.
Loveless, an attorney specializing in personal injury, remains in custody in Mexico and is being questioned by authorities about Turpin's death.
Now Turpin's sister, Jodi Turpin Mills, 43, has told Daily Mail Online the facts she has just 'don't add up'.

[. . .]


Remembered: 'She was a very strong personality,' Jodi Turpin Mills said. 'She was fun-loving, she had a band that she liked to follow and go and see. Tamra loved summer time. Boating, floating and riding motorbikes.'

The family also raised concerns over reports that Turpin had overdosed on prescription medication, telling Daily Mail Online that although she had attempted suicide once before, she was 'very happy' in the run up to last week's events.
'She did attempt suicide once but she said afterwards that she would never do something like that again,' said Mills, of Mexico, Missouri.
'I can't say that she would never have tried something like that again but she had been so happy, so loved. I think she had more friends than she ever realized.'
Mills said the first inkling she had that something was wrong came the night before Turpin's death, when Loveless called to say she was acting erratically.[. . .]
'He told me they had been arguing, and that she had got very upset and had taken a lot of pills. I think they had been drinking.
'He told me he was taking her to hospital, so I told him to look after her and to tell me what happened.'
The next morning, Mills received a further call from Loveless, this time to say Turpin was 'acting funny' and had had a series of seizures.
'I said he should take her to hospital again and he said he would. I asked to talk to her as well but he said she didn't want to.
'Forty-five minutes later, he called me back and said she was OK and was lying in bed, resting comfortably.'

[. . .]
Loveless and Turpin are thought to have known each other for around four years before becoming romantically involved 12 months ago.
Turpin, who was left with chronic joint pain and migraines following a car accident at the age of 16, was unable to work full time but did pose nude for art classes at a local university and, says her sister, was 'proud of her body'.
'She was a very strong personality,' says Mills. 'She was fun-loving, she had a band that she liked to follow and go and see.
'Tamra loved summer time. Boating, floating and riding motorbikes. She went to a lot of fundraising events too and she loved her pets – they were like her babies.'
Now Mills says she has been left 'numb' by her sister's death but is angry at the lack of official information – and at the surprise development that Loveless was allowed to request a second autopsy on Turpin's body.
'Right now, we're waiting to hear the results,' she said. 'It was done at her boyfriend's request. I don't know why he was allowed to do that.'
Loveless, who is divorced with two adult sons, is currently being held in Cancun, where he briefly appeared before a judge on Friday.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3484581/Tell-happened-Tamra-Family-disabled-woman-murdered-holiday-Cancun-older-lawyer-boyfriend-beg-answers.html

EXCLUSIVE: Tell us what happened to Tamra! Family of disabled woman 'murdered' on holiday in Cancun by older lawyer boyfriend beg for answers
Tamra Turpin, 36, was found dead in her hotel room in Cancun, Mexico last Wednesday of a suspected overdose
But an autopsy found she was strangled and her boyfriend, John Loveless, 59, from her hometown of Union, Missouri, was arrested
Now her sister Jodi Turpin Mills tells Daily Mail Online she wants Loveless to come clean about what happened because the facts 'don't add up'
Loveless, a personal injury attorney, has been given permission from his prison cell to have second autopsy performed
Mills says he told her about her sister's death by text message hours after documents show she was found dead
'If it was an overdose, then I want to know. If it wasn't, then I want to know that too,' she says
By RUTH STYLES IN UNION, MISSOURI, FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 15:52 EST, 9 March 2016 | UPDATED: 18:56 EST, 17 March 2016

Atlanta, Georgia Policeman Killed Serving Warrant

Killed: Authorities said Maj. Greg Barney (pictured) was taken to Southern Regional Medical Center in critical condition after being shot on Thursday. He was taken into surgery but did not survive.

[From article]
A Georgia police was gunned down during a drug operation in an Atlanta suburb on Thursday, before cops shot dead the suspect.
Riverdale police officers were assisting Clayton County police with an operation at an apartment complex in Riverdale late Thursday morning, Riverdale police Assistant Chief Michael Reynolds said at a brief news conference.
The officer has been identified as Maj. Greg Barney, who was reportedly not wearing a bullet-proof vest at the time of the incident, WSBTV reported.
He is the fifth cop to be killed in the U.S. in the past 24 hours, and the fifth this week.
Barney was part of a team serving a no-knock drug warrant around 11.15am at the Villages on the River, an apartment complex in the 6600 block of Church Street.
Instead of surrendering, the male suspect ran out a back door.
'He ran approximately 100 to 200 feet from the incident location and we had officers from Riverdale on the perimeter,' Clayton police Chief Michael Register told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
'He confronted one of the Riverdale officers and shot the officer in the torso.'
The Riverdale officer was struck twice by gunfire, police said.
The suspect then fled but was confronted at the front of the apartment complex by another officer.
The suspect was shot and subsequently died. He has not been named.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3443225/Atlanta-police-officer-gunned-serving-no-knock-drug-warrant-FOURTH-cop-shot-dead-24-hours.html

Atlanta police officer gunned down while serving a 'no-knock' drug warrant is the FOURTH cop shot dead in 24 hours
Maj. Greg Barney died in surgery Thursday after being shot
The Riverdale officer was serving a drug warrant at an apartment complex
The suspect fled the building and shot Barney twice in the torso
Another officer then shot and killed the suspect
Barney is the fourth cop to be killed in the U.S. in 24 hours, and the fifth this week
By DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTERS
PUBLISHED: 19:13 EST, 11 February 2016 | UPDATED: 20:25 EST, 11 February 2016

Atlanta Physician Found Murdered On Beach in Grenada

Murdered: It has been confirmed that Jessica Colker, (pictured here with her husband Brian Melito) was killed while she walked along a beach in Grenada on Sunday.

[From article]
The American woman thought to have been raped and murdered on the first day of her vacation in Grenada has been named as Jessica Colker, an anesthesiologist from Atlanta.
The 39-year-old was found dead on a deserted stretch of beach on Sunday near to the exclusive, La Sagesse resort.
She was attacked by a man armed with a cutlass while walking barefoot along the shore with her husband.

[. . .]
Colker's husband, Brian Melito, 62, who is also a physician, survived the attack and was the one to raise the alarm.
However his wife of one year was found dead in a mangrove.
Immediately after the murder was first confirmed, police in the tropical paradise claimed they had a suspect and that he is an ex convict, recently released from prison.[. . .]
According to online records, Colker is a registered pediatric anesthetist at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
She and her husband are both seasoned travelers and first met at a dance workshop in Costa Rica according to their wedding website profile.
They say they had a smoothie together on the second day of the class and then spent the rest of the week 'dancing, talking, surfing, eating great food, swimming in the ocean under the stars and generally falling in love.'
They became engaged in August of 2014 and wed in November of 2014 in Atlanta.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3416195/PICTURED-Atlanta-anesthesiologist-39-brutally-raped-murdered-man-armed-cutlass-day-vacation-husband-island-Grenada.html

Jessica Colker, 39, was found dead on a stretch of beach in Grenada
It is believed that she and her husband were attacked by man with a sword
The pair had only arrived at the La Sagesse resort on Saturday night
US Embassy confirmed her death and police in Grenada said they were questioning a man
By BEN ASHFORD FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 14:41 EST, 25 January 2016 | UPDATED: 18:22 EST, 25 January 2016

Atlanta Home Invasion Leaves Husband Injured, Wife and Toddlers Safe

Home invasion: Mike and Whitney Lash had just returned to their Atlanta home with their two young children - six-month-old Lucy and two-year-old Everson - when four men burst into the house to rob them.

[From article]
An Atlanta couple have told of the terrifying moment four men pretending to have had car troubles burst into their home and robbed them at gunpoint, shooting the father-of-two in front of his children.
Mike and Whitney Lash had just returned to their house with their two young children on August 16 when the men knocked on their door.
Mr Lash answered the door, and the men said they had just moved down the street but had a flat tire and wanted to borrow a jack, but Mrs Lash felt something was amiss from the start.
'I had a feeling that it was an excuse and we were about to be robbed. Right about that moment I saw them pull the gun on Mike,' she told ABC News.
As Mr Lash saw the gun, he tried to slam the door shut, but two other men suddenly appeared.
Mr Lash was shot three times in the his right leg as he attempted to keep the men out of his house.
The four men then forced their way in.


Arrest: Brandon Jerome Smith, 18, was arrested on Thursday in relation to the armed robbery. Police are still searching for the three others believed to be involved .

Mr Lash believed the gang were going to kill him and started praying.
'Lord, this is, I guess, the moment I will meet you today … if it is not your will, I am ready to stay,' he recalled.
Mrs Lash grabbed the couple's six-month-old daughter, Lucy, and the phone and ran into the yard calling 911.
Their other child, two-year-old Everson, was upstairs sleeping.
'I heard footsteps of someone running and two more shots that were aimed at me and my daughter,' Mrs Lash told ABC.
The intruder then caught up to her and the child and brought them back into the house.
[. . .]
The four men detained the family and proceeded to steal items from the house.
'It just went like a silent movie,' Mr Lash recalled.
'They started walking in and I remember them coming in and out multiple times, just bringing stuff from our house.'
[. . .]
The gang eventually left with the loot.
Mrs Lash and the children were not harmed, and Mr Lash was rushed to hospital to remove the bullets from his leg.
The couple were able to work with police to provide sketches of their alleged assailants.
The sketches lead to the arrest of Brandon Jerome Smith, 18, on Thursday.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3209571/Father-shot-three-times-wife-children-home-invaders-knocked-door-claiming-flat-tire-horror-home-robbery.html

Father shot three times in front of his wife and children by teen robbers who knocked on their door claiming to have a flat tire in horror ambush
Mike and Whitney Lash had their Atlanta home invaded August 16
Mr Lash was shot three times in the right leg by the four robbers
Mrs Lash and their six-month-old daughter were threatened with a gun as she ran away and called 911
The thieves detained the family and stole numerous items from the house
Police have arrested Brandon Jerome Smith, 18, in relation to the crime
By JOEL CHRISTIE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 18:42 EST, 24 August 2015 | UPDATED: 19:33 EST, 24 August 2015

Atlanta, GA Police Shoot Gentle Woman Under Arrest, Dead, Who Shot At Them From Inside Patrol Car

Christian was killed by police after she allegedly opened fire on them while sitting in the back of a cop car near the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta on Thursday.
[From article]

Authorities have released the name of a woman who was fatally shot when officers say she fired at them from the back of a patrol car in downtown Atlanta.
The Fulton County medical examiner's office identified the woman as 25-year-old Alexia Christian.
The incident happened on Thursday afternoon near the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta.
Major Darin Schierbaum said police were investigating a call about a stolen car when the two officers saw Christian sitting inside the vehicle in a parking deck.

[. . .]
Schierbaum said Christian was taken into custody and placed in a patrol car.
He said that at one point she fired at least two shots at the officers, and they returned fire, fatally wounding her.
[. . .]
Eyewitnesses said Christian had been handcuffed and must have somehow got one hand free to fire a gun.
Schierbaum said it was unclear how she was able to fire a gun while in the patrol car and that police are investigating whether she had been handcuffed.
Photos from the scene show a pair of handcuffs on the trunk of the squad car.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3063452/Arrested-woman-opened-fire-cops-POLICE-CAR-shot-killed-officers-downtown-Atlanta.html

REVEALED: Identity of woman, 25, who 'opened fire on cops from the back of a POLICE CAR' before being shot and killed by officers in downtown Atlanta
An unnamed woman was shot by police after she allegedly opened fire on them while sitting in the back of a cop car
The incident happened near the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta on Thursday
The woman had been taken into custody after being found sitting inside a stolen car
At one point the woman fired at least two shots at the officers, and they returned fire, fatally wounding her
By DAVID MCCORMACK FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 19:05 EST, 30 April 2015 | UPDATED: 09:13 EST, 1 May 2015

Updated: Eleven Atlanta Educators Jailed For Test Cheating For Bonuses, Eight Sentenced To Prison

Posted April 2, 2015 6:22 PM ET; Last Updated April 14, 2015 9:13 PM ET


Former Deerwood Academy assistant principal Tabeeka Jordan, center, is led to a holding cell after a jury found her guilty in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating trial, Wednesday, April 1, 2015, in Atlanta. Jordan and 10 other former Atlanta Public Schools educators accused of participating in a test cheating conspiracy that drew nationwide attention were convicted Wednesday of racketeering charges. 

(AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kent D. Johnson, Pool)


[From article]

Eight former Atlanta public school educators were ordered on Tuesday to serve between one and seven years in prison for their convictions on racketeering charges in one of the nation's largest test-cheating scandals.
The lengthy prison sentences, unusual for educators, contrasted to the treatment of two defendants in the case also found guilty by a jury this month. Both accepted responsibility under a deal with prosecutors that spared them significant time behind bars.
[. . .]
"There were thousands of children that were harmed in this thing," Baxter said during a rancorous hearing.
"It’s like the sickest thing that's ever happened to this town," he later said of the scandal that raised national alarm about high-stakes testing.
[. . .]
Erasing wrong answers was part of the cheating by the educators under pressure to meet test targets, prosecutors said during a nearly six-month trial.
Student achievement helped the former principals, teachers and administrators to secure promotions and cash bonuses.
A Georgia grand jury in 2013 roiled the community by indicting 35 Atlanta educators, including former school Superintendent Beverly Hall, on conspiracy and other charges.
[. . .]
While cheating has been reported in 40 states and Washington, D.C., in recent years, educators do not usually serve prison time,

http://news.yahoo.com/pleas-mulled-former-atlanta-educators-test-cheating-scandal-120733406.html;_ylt=AwrBJR8ROi1VG0YAVUTQtDMD

Prison sentences for eight former Atlanta educators in test-cheating scandal
By David Beasley
April 14, 2015

* * *

[From article]
A group of former Atlanta educators convicted in a test cheating scandal were locked up in jail Thursday as they await sentences that could send them to prison for years.
In one of the nation's largest cheating scandals of its kind, the 11 defendants were convicted Wednesday of racketeering for their roles in a scheme to inflate students' scores on standardized exams.
They include teachers, a principal and other administrators, who were accused of falsifying test results to collect bonuses or keep their jobs in the 50,000-student Atlanta public school system. A 12th defendant, a teacher, was acquitted of all charges by the jury.
The racketeering charges carry up to 20 years in prison. The convicted former educators are set to be sentenced later this month.
"This is a huge story and absolutely the biggest development in American education law since forever," University of Georgia law professor Ron Carlson said. "It has to send a message to educators here and broadly across the nation. Playing with student test scores is very, very dangerous business."
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/58447a404ff34413be536de642a38a99/former-atlanta-educators-jailed-test-cheating-scandal

Former Atlanta educators jailed in test cheating scandal
By KATE BRUMBACK
Apr. 2, 2015 12:21 PM EDT

Atlanta, GA Police Shoot Black Man, Who Was Acting Erratically, Dead

[From article]

This is at least the third African-American man to be shot dead by police since last Friday, who either was or seemed unarmed.
DeKalb County police have already faced protests after an officer shot dead a black man who had called 911 when his girlfriend was stabbed by an attacker in his apartment late last year, according to local media.
Alexander said he could “reasonably assume” the person was possibly suffering from mental illness, given his behavior. He declined to identify the victim, but the New York Times reported that he was 27-year-old Anthony Hill.
Alexander said the officer, who had been with the department for seven years, was equipped with a taser at the time of the shooting. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation would handle Monday’s incident, he said.
Police near Denver last Friday shot dead an unarmed man who was a wanted fugitive. On the same day, an officer in Madison, Wisconsin, shot dead a 19-year-old, prompting some 2,000 students to march in the state’s capital on Monday.

http://nypost.com/2015/03/10/police-shoot-naked-unarmed-black-man-dead-outside-atlanta/

Police shoot naked, unarmed black man dead outside Atlanta
By Reuters
New York Post
March 10, 2015 | 9:21am

Atlanta Fire Chief Fired For Religious Beliefs

[From article]
Six Georgia House members have jumped to the defense of the former Atlanta fire chief, claiming he was fired for believing in the Bible — and should be reinstated.
In a move that escalates the fight between Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and supporters of Kelvin Cochran, lawmakers led by Rep. Barry Loudermilk this week said the firing robbed the former chief of his religious freedom to speak and write his view.
[. . .]
While the city said Cochran’s religious beliefs had nothing to do with his November suspension and eventual firing last month, he and his supporters claim it was retaliation for a book he published over a year ago that, among other things, equates homosexuality with bestiality.
City officials said the book, Who Told You That You Were Naked? was published without prior approval from the city because it identified Cochran as the city’s top fire official. Cochran also didn’t abide by demands he stop talking about the controversy.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/lawmakers-atlanta-fire-chief-fired-for-believing-the-bible/article/2560364

Lawmakers: Atlanta fire chief fired for believing the Bible
BY PAUL BEDARD
FEBRUARY 18, 2015 | 12:29 PM

Mass Murder Near Atlanta, Georgia

Feb. 7, 2015: Police stand in the doorway of a home while investigating the shooting scene where authorities say five people are dead, including the gunman, in Douglasville, Ga. 

(AP)
[From article]
The shooter, whose name was not immediately released, appeared to have targeted his ex-wife and her household, shooting victims inside and outside the house, Daniel said. Several children were gunned down as they fled on a street, neighbors said.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/08/7-people-shot-5-dead-in-georgia-shooting/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fmost-popular+%28Internal+-+Most+Popular+Content%29

5 dead, including gunman, in Georgia shooting, police say
Published February 08, 2015

Associated Press

Mercedes-Benz May Move Headquarters to Atlanta From New Jersey

[From article]
If the reports are accurate, Mercedes-Benz would be the latest in a string of major companies to move their corporate headquarters from Bergen County to the South. The car-rental company Hertz moved from Park Ridge to south Florida, and the BubbleWrap maker Sealed Air is moving from Elmwood Park to Charlotte, N.C., both with the help of tax incentives from those states.
Montvale would be losing its second-largest private employer, behind the accounting giant KPMG, according to the Bergen County Economic Development Corp. Mercedes-Benz is among the top 10 corporate employers in the county and paid $916,700 in local taxes on its properties this year, according to the borough’s website.
[. . .]
Boyd pointed out that Mercedes-Benz and the rival German automaker BMW, which has its North American headquarters in Woodcliff Lake, are in heated competition to lure younger consumers, the so-called millennial generation, to buy their cars.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/business/mercedes-benz-reportedly-weighing-move-to-atlanta-from-montvale-1.1157006

Mercedes-Benz reportedly weighing move to Atlanta from Montvale
DECEMBER 16, 2014 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2014, 10:24 PM
BY LINDA MOSS
STAFF WRITER |
The Record

Three Atlanta Teens Beat Man They Call "Faggot"

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/atlanta-video-beating-765912

[video embedded]
Atlanta Street Gang Members Videotaped Brutal Hate Crime Attack On "Faggot"
SmokingGun.com
February 6, 2012

Mexican Cartels Plague Atlanta


http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-03-08-mex-cartels_N.htm

Mexican cartels plague Atlanta
By Larry Copeland and Kevin Johnson
USA TODAY
March 8, 2009

Atlanta Standards for Police Goes Lower

Atlanta Standards for Police Goes Lower

Atlanta now sets the standards for police vetting. No longer does an arrest keep people from serving as police officers. If you think that police with clean records abuse their powers, what can we expect from those who violated the laws before becoming a cop?

One in three recent Atlanta Police Academy graduates have criminal records
By TIM EBERLY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, October 12, 2008

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/10/12/atlanta_police_academy.html