Police Report
Police ID man killed in South Memphis shooting
Memphis police on Thursday released the name of a man found shot to death in a vacant lot in South Memphis on March 12.
Police said Tarion Houston, 24, was found lying in the grass of a vacant lot at Pillow and East Waldorf. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Police have made no arrests. Anyone with information about Houston’s death is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-2274.
Memphis man indicted in financial scheme
A Memphis man was charged this week with a scheme to defraud Memphis-area banks.
Talmadge Garner is charged in a federal indictment with participating in a scheme to defraud Orion Federal Credit Union, SunTrust Bank and Regions Bank between August 2011 and February 2016, according to the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.
“The fraud consisted of opening new accounts and/or using their existing accounts to deposit fraudulent checks,” according to a news release. “Nearly 200 fraudulent closed account checks totaling $110,831.95 were deposited into accounts at the banks.”
Garner is accused of stealing identities and giving proceeds of the fraud to co-conspirators. The indictment details 31 counts of fraudulent transactions over five years.
Man pleads guilty to raping 2 women
Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Lee Coffee sentenced a 52-yearold man to 30 years in prison this week for raping two women in southwest Memphis.
John Eskridge pleaded guilty to the rapes that occurred in 2001 in the area of Rivergate Road and Old Horn Lake Road, according to the office of the Shelby County district attorney general.
Sexual assault kits in the cases weren’t tested for years.
“DNA profiles were developed in both cases and entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) where they were monitored for a match,” according to a news release. “In August of 2015, the association of the two samples was developed indicating the contributor of the samples was the same man. A year later, DNA swabs taken from Eskridge confirmed that he was the person responsible for the two rapes.”
Girl, 11, grazed by bullet at Hickory Hill home
An 11-year-old girl is recovering after she was grazed by a bullet when someone fired into her family’s Hickory Hill home Wednesday night.
Police said they responded to a shots-fired call at 8:55 p.m. in the 3200 block of Hickory View Place.
The girl was in the residence when someone fired into the home. The victim was treated on the scene and not taken to the hospital.
Police said the suspect is believed to be driving a black Porsche SUV.
Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 901-529-2274.
Family sues over police-involved death
The family of a man shot and killed last year by Memphis police has filed a lawsuit in his death, according to court records.
Carla Allen Askew, the mother of Alexio Allen, has named the city of Memphis as well as Memphis police officers Leon Dickson, Joshua Crawford and Brian Moore in the suit. Oddly, the suit also names police director “Michael Winfrey” as a defendant; the police director is Michael Rallings while a former police director was named Walter Winfrey. Attorney Randy Fishman is representing the family.The complaint alleges that the officers used excessive force in killing Allen, 30, on the night of March 23, 2016, at a home in the 3400 block of Dillard Road in the Raleigh area. Dickson was the only officer who fired that night, and he hit Allen with four shots.
Officers responded after family members called to report that Allen was armed and had been behaving oddly. Dickson said he opened fire after Allen and a woman began struggling for the gun. Dickson said the gun barrel tilted toward him, leading him to open fire from a distance of 3-5 feet.
Family members have disputed the claim that Allen was pointing the gun towards Dickson. The suit is seeking damages, but does not specify an amount.