Journalist
Journalist
I’ve been reporting in Denton for three years. Armed with a bachelor’s degree in print and digital journalism from the University of North Texas, I’ve learned how to cover a police beat and cultivate trust among sources at the Denton Record-Chronicle. It’s a small paper with limited resources, so I’m also a catch-all reporter when it comes to breaking news, enterprise stories in law enforcement and trends in murky crime statistics.
Crime is my specialty, but I’ve covered numerous other topics as an intern and general assignments reporter at the Record-Chronicle.
Homelessness is a particularly salient issue in the city because of the availability of social services and tolerance from local police. The Confederate monument in town, buttressed by a long history of local conservative office holders, has attracted more than its share of controversy in the last three years. And after Donald Trump’s election victory in 2016, Denton’s large immigrant population from Muzquiz, Mexico, craved answers to questions about their legal status – questions that remain mostly unanswered to this day.
Denton County Friends of the Family Awards 2018
Red-light cameras are designed to make streets safer, but they also have led to much larger paychecks for a few Denton police officers.
Denton Assistant Police Chief Scott Fletcher accrued $122,839 in overtime pay from 2014 to 2016 from the city's red-light camera program, which he oversaw at the police department since the program's inception in 2005, according to city officials and payroll documents obtained through an open records request.
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Denton County Precinct 4 Constable Tim Burch said he’s keeping his chief deputy on the payroll until “more facts avail themselves” in a first-degree felony case pending against the deputy in Hood County.
Barry Minoff, 43, was indicted May 9 by a Hood County grand jury after he was accused of gambling with money that belonged to a North Texas nonprofit.
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A woman’s ex-husband shot and killed her boyfriend and three children Wednesday before turning the gun on himself at a home in the 600 block of Lonestar Park Lane in Ponder, the Denton County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The woman, who suffered at least one gunshot wound, was still alive Wednesday afternoon at Medical City Denton, said Capt. Orlando Hinojosa, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office. He did not know the woman’s condition as of late Wednesday afternoon.
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A Denton County grand jury declined to press charges earlier this month against Denton police Officer John Landolfo for shooting and killing a man who swung a knife toward him on Feb. 19 in a wooded area off Spencer Road.
According to body camera footage released by the department Friday afternoon, Landolfo fired two rounds at 45-year-old Lawrence Shaw as Shaw swung a knife within 5 to 10 feet of the officer. Landolfo deployed his Taser twice before firing his weapon.
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About 59 opioid prescriptions were filled for every 100 Denton County residents in 2016, a drop from about 76 per 100 residents in 2011, according to Denton County Public Health statistics presented Tuesday to county commissioners.
The number of overdose deaths, however, has been steadily increasing from 25 in 2013 to 37 in 2017, the statistics show.
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The Confederate monument will stay put, but many questions linger about the proposed additions around the 100-year-old statue.
The monument advisory committee voted 12-3 Tuesday to keep the Confederate monument on the south side of the Courthouse on the Square lawn with an additional plaque and videos about the history of slavery in Denton. The plaque is supposed to include language denouncing slavery and segregation in Denton County.
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