Crime

A woman who killed a pastor while drunk and high on drugs will only serve a one year prison sentence – in part because the pastor's family asked the judge to show mercy.

We’ve all done things we wish we could take back and start over. It’s harder for some than others – especially if that mistake involves a criminal conviction. But some people with a criminal past can wipe the slate clean if enough time has passed. Melange Health Solutions held a seminar on Tuesday to teach locals how to expunge their records in hopes of increasing their chances at employment.

Gaston County Commissioners voted 6-0 Thursday night in support of a resolution that calls for the General Assembly to make gun permit records secret. Commissioner Tracy Philbeck says the resolution was in response to news outlets publishing gun permit information after the shootings at Sandy Hook elementary in Connecticut.

"I'm a strong proponent of government transparency," Philbeck says. "At the same time, I think the press, in a lot of cases, have used the freedom of information act to bring forth an anti-gun agenda to criminalize those that own a gun."

It was a busy year for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.  The city's crime rate increased by nearly three percent – in large part because of jumps in robberies and domestic violence. But there was some good news in the numbers released Wednesday. 

First there was a significant decrease in burglaries. For example, west Charlotte saw a 20 percent decrease in residential burglaries compared to 2011. Captain Greg Collins credits its partnership with the community and new technology for helping bring that down.

Charlotte police and federal drug officials on Friday rounded up nine men and the matriarch of a family selling cocaine and marijuana in the Enderly Park neighborhood.  

Enderly Park is an old Charlotte neighborhood of small homes west of Uptown that's become rough over the years as original residents have passed away and their homes have gone up for rent. CMPD Lieutenant Blake Hollar says 70-year-old Mary Falls exploited that trend to move a bunch of relatives onto her block.

Suspended NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield has been out of racing since 2009, when he tested positive for methamphetamine. Mayfield wants to return to the track, and this week called in to a radio show to ask NASCAR CEO Brian France to give him a chance. 

City workers in Concord say they were really creeped out on Thursday morning.

At 11:30, a city employee who helps care for the Oakwood cemetery noticed something really strange. A teenager was pushing over tombstones in the furthest section of the 44-acre cemetery. The employee immediately called police.

David Ratchford is the city of Concord's director of building and grounds. He looks after Oakwood, which is one of the city's four cemeteries.

"This is just shocking, we've never had this level of vandalism," Ratchford says.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police arrested five teenagers early Tuesday morning in the shooting death of a 17-year-old boy in Northeast Mecklenburg County on Sunday night.   

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say that trouble started on Saturday. Five teenagers believed 17-year-old Kydaryune “K.C.” Curry disrespected them in front of a girl.

The Charlotte Observer spoke to Curry’s mother, Benita Turner. She told the Observer the girl was a friend of Curry’s. Curry and a friend were at the girl’s house on Saturday when one of the teens later charged with his murder arrived.