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New Jersey man filmed shouting racial slurs at Black neighbors in viral video sentenced to 8 years in prison

In October, Mathews, 47, pled guilty to four counts of bias intimidation and possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute.

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Edwards C Mathews sentenced to eight years in prison

Edward C Mathews, the New Jersey man who was captured in a viral video in 2021 harassing his Black neighbors and hurling racial epithets, has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Sentenced

In October, Mathews, 47, pled guilty to four counts of bias intimidation and possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute.

The charges stem from a July 2021 incident in which viral video showed him repeatedly calling his Black neighbors the N-word and another offensive slur outside a home in Mount Laurel, N.J.

“Our office is committed to combatting bias crimes and sending a clear message that such actions will not be tolerated in our community,” Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw said in a statement. “Nobody should have to endure what these victims experienced.”

Mathews had been terrorizing his Black neighbors

Before the viral incident, a neighbor filed a harassment complaint against Mathews with the Mount Laurel Police Department. That same day, police received a report about a man who needed to be removed from the area.

When officers arrived to the scene, they found Mathews “using racial slurs while engaged in a verbal altercation with four residents,” prosecutors said. During a search of Mathews’ home, police found numerous psilocin mushrooms, which are known for their hallucinogenic effect, according to prosecutors.

Bradshaw said Mathews had been terrorizing his Black neighbors long before the viral moment, including a time when he allegedly left a threatening note on one of their vehicles. He was also accused of stalking, smearing feces on his neighbors’ windows and damaging their cars, NBC Philadelphia reported.

According to a report by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mathews apologized before his sentencing.

“Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future,” he told the judge, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I want to commit to rebuild the community.”

Mathews must serve at least four years before he is eligible for parole, NBC reported.


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Unheard Voices is an award-winning news magazine that started in 2004 as a local Black newsletter in the Asbury Park, Neptune, and Long Branch, NJ areas to now broaden into a recognized Black online media outlet. They are the recipient of the NAACP Unsung Hero Award and CV Magazine's Innovator Award for Best Social Justice Communications Company.

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Education

Meet 6-year-old genius Declan Lopez

Meet 6-year-old Declan Lopez who is now a member of Mensa, which includes the smartest of the smartest with an IQ of 138.

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Declan Lopez 6-year-old genius
Declan Lopez (Photo Credit: Glenn Maida Photography)

Meet 6-year-old Declan Lopez, who is now a member of Mensa, which includes the smartest of the smartest with an IQ of 138, that’s Einstein level.

Declan Lopez is a genius

To put this in perspective, the highest average score for people under 64 years of age is 109.

The gifted kindergartener reads on a third or fourth grade level.

She is interested in physics particularly “the force in motion”, Lopez told ABC7.

Lopez goes to school in Dover, New Jersey where she is a shining star.

Her parents started noticing Lopez’s intelligence when she was 18 months old.

“We were on a trip in the airport, and she just started to count in Mandarin,” Declan’s mom Meachel Lopez told ABC7.

Declan’s parents make sure she’s involved in social activities like karate, soccer and music theory. The family is also exploring coding classes.

All in the family

On top of raising an exceptional daughter, there is strong evidence showing Lopez’s little brother Maddox is following in her footsteps.

The Lopez family said they might get a DNA test to see if this level of genius runs in their family.


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Crime & Justice

New Jersey High School Basketball Standout Fatally Shot

Latrell Duncan, a high school basketball standout in New Jersey, was fatally shot shortly after leaving school.

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Latrell Duncan, N.J. Basketball Standout, Shot And Killed
Latrell Duncan

Latrell Duncan, a high school basketball standout in New Jersey, was fatally shot shortly after leaving school.

Basketball Standout Latrell Duncan killed

According to reports, Latrell – a sophomore at East Orange Campus High School – was shot four times at around 3:15 PM near his H.S. He was rushed to University Hospital in Newark where died just before 4 p.m.

No arrests have been made in connection to the fatal shooting. Investigators, however, are looking for “a group of people and a vehicle seen in the area at the time of the shooting.”

“Targeted”

In an interview with the New York Times, Latrell’s aunt Marsha Douglas, told the outlet her nephew and his friends were approached by a group of men after leaving school. The group exchanged words and then eventually dispersed.

Latrell Duncan

Latrell Duncan/Twitter

But minutes later, two people wearing ski masks and carrying a gun confronted the teenagers on a sidewalk, said Douglas, who heard the account from her nephew’s friends.

Latrell Duncan was well on his way

Duncan, a 6’1 point guard, was one of the top 10 basketball players in New Jersey. He scored 180 points last season as a freshman at East Orange Campus, helping the team to a 15-9 record in one of the most competitive conferences in the state.

His AAU team, Garden State Bounce, had described him as a “floor general, team captain, and the best point guard our program has seen.”

“He was an excellent teammate,” the team added in a social media post mourning his loss, “a great friend, and a coach’s ideal player.”

Loved ones and the community are reeling after Latrell’s murder

On Tuesday, grief counselors were sent to the 1,660-student high school campus, said Khalifah Shabazz, the district’s lawyer.

“He was a loved student,” Douglas, Latrell’s aunt said. “We’re just really saddened….He didn’t deserve this”

GoFundMe for Duncan’s family has been set up.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 877-TIPS-4EC or 1-877-847-7432.


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Crime & Justice

New Jersey woman sentenced to 95 years for shooting, strangling girlfriend, then burying her body

Jennifer Sweeney, 38, of Tinton Falls, N.J. has been sentenced to 95 years for the brutal murder of 41-year-old Tyrita Julius, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office announced Saturday.

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Jennifer Sweeney sentenced to 95 years
Photo : Envato Elements

Jennifer Sweeney, a New Jersey woman convicted of shooting and strangling her girlfriend to death then burying her body, has been sentenced.

Sweeney, 38, of Tinton Falls has been sentenced to 95 years for the murder of 41-year-old Tyrita Julius, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey announced Saturday.

“This sentencing is a fitting outcome to the prosecution of genuinely monstrous crimes,” Linskey said. “This defendant’s actions were callous, calculated, and vicious, and ended the life of a woman beloved by her family and friends. I sincerely thank the detectives and assistant prosecutors who worked so diligently over so many years to see that justice was done in this case.”

Jennifer Sweeney murdered Tyrita Julius

This horrific story all unfolded on November 24, 2015 when police were called to a home on Middlesex Street in Linden, N.J. on a report of a shooting.

Tyrita Julius Two Charged In Death of Linden Woman Missing Since March

Tyrita Julius

Responding officers found Julius, who had been shot eight times, sitting in her vehicle, which had crashed into a utility pole not far from her home, reported ABC 7 NY.

The woman’s 15-year-old daughter was in the front passenger seat of the car, also having sustained a gunshot wound.

Julius and her daughter were hospitalized and recovered from their injuries.

The investigation into the shooting was still in progress when on March 9, 2016, Julius’ mother reported her daughter missing.

Authorities learned that the night before, Julius had been with Jennifer Sweeney, whom Julius had met through a motorcycle club.

While Julius was recovering from being shot, Sweeney visited her in the hospital.

Six months after Tyrita Julius was reported missing, her body was discovered buried in a shallow grave at a home on Joline Avenue in Long Branch, N.J.

Julius had been strangled with an electrical cord and wrapped in two garbage bags, according to authorities.

House on Joline Avenue in Long Branch, NJ where Tyrita Julius body was found Jennifer Sweeney

House on Joline Avenue in Long Branch, NJ where Tyrita Julius body was found. Copyright : Unheard Voices Magazine

During the course of the investigation, detectives determined that Andre Harris, 37, of Long Branch was the gunman who shot Julius and her daughter in 2015 and that Sweeney set up the hit on her.

Arrests

Sweeney and Harris were arrested in August 2016 and charged in connection to Julius’ murder and failed murder attempt.

Authorities Say Tyrita Julius Was Murdered By Friends

Jennifer Sweeney (Left), 33, and Andre Harris, 32 (Right), Photo Source : New Jersey 12 News

Harris later reached a plea deal with prosecutors in exchange for a 16-year sentence in state prison and agreed to testify against Sweeney.

During Sweeney’s murder trial, Harris testified that the defendant was a “jealous lover” who suspected Julius of cheating on her.

Harris said Sweeney told him: “If I can’t have her, no one can.”

Harris accused Sweeney, whom he knew from high school, of threatening his life and the lives of his children if he did not kill Julius with the gun she had provided him.

Six months after the failed murder attempt, Harris said Sweeney drove to his house in Long Branch, N.J. with Julius dead in her Jeep Cherokee, and forced him at gunpoint to help her dispose of the woman’s body.

Jennifer Sweeney sentenced

Jennifer Sweeney must serve a minimum of 85 percent of both the 75-year life term for the murder and the 20-year term for the shooting, under the provisions of New Jersey’s No Early Release Act, meaning she will not become eligible for parole until she is more than 100 years of age.


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