Crime & Arrests

Jorge Masvidal says he ain't getting a fair shake in his aggravated battery case ... claiming in new court documents, obtained by TMZ Sports, that Colby Covington received preferential treatment from cops during their altercation in Miami last year.

In the docs, Masvidal says he has evidence that on several occasions during their confrontation on March 21, 2022, outside of a popular restaurant ... Covington was treated with "favoritism" by the Miami Beach Police Department.

Specifically, Masvidal says after the alleged attack ... Covington did not call 911 -- but instead phoned a high-ranking MBPD sergeant who was the UFC star's "pal and training partner ... so he could receive concierge police intervention."

Masvidal claims after Covington called the sergeant, the officer then radioed the matter into the station as a "Code 3" -- which, according to Masvidal, is "reserved for shooting and active dangerous felonies." Masvidal also says the sergeant "made additional calls to individual officers to 'get over immediately' to the scene" -- while also diverting "over 20 officers from their duties and responsibilities" to make sure they got Covington help.

In addition, Masvidal says Covington made a statement during a podcast interview prior to the street encounter that he "rolls with the Miami Beach Police Department" -- which Masvidal claims further proves he may have gotten special treatment on the night of the alleged attack.

Masvidal's attorney, Bradford Cohen, now wants several things -- including Covington's podcast comment -- to be admitted into evidence for the UFC fighter's impending trial in the case ... believing it will help prove his client is getting a raw deal.

"From our investigation and witness depositions it's clear that protocol was not followed that evening and Mr. Covington received preferential treatment," Cohen said in a statement this week. "Sadly, the people of Miami Beach that needed an officer that night, at that time probably suffered due to over 15 officers responding to a misdemeanor offense."

We've reached out to the Miami Beach Police Department for comment -- but so far no word back yet.

As we previously reported, Masvidal is facing serious jail time in the case after he was hit with charges of felony aggravated battery and felony criminal mischief following allegations that he punched Covington twice in an ambush outside of Papi Steak.

Meanwhile, Covington -- who claims to have suffered a brain injury, a chipped tooth, and a damaged Rolex watch in the attack -- appears to have recovered from the altercation ... as he's been rumored to be the next opponent for UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards.

The daughter of late soap star Kristoff St. John and professional boxer Mia St. John got arrested in Idaho after allegedly stripping down in a supermarket ... and cops say she later tried to escape from jail.

According to the arrest affidavit, obtained by TMZ, cops in Boise were called to a WinCo around 8 PM Monday night for a report of indecent exposure, with a store employee telling police Paris St. John was naked in the store, praying and meditating.

When cops arrived, they say Kristoff's daughter was naked in the store's front office. The woman who called police ultimately convinced Paris to put her clothes back on.

Police say Paris was arrested for indecent exposure and transported to Ada County Jail ... where cops claim she stood up and ran out of the jail's sally port when the door opened for an entering officer.

Cops say they told Paris to stop, but she ignored them and continued fleeing ... with police running after her, grabbing her and bringing her to the ground.

Paris was booked on three misdemeanor charges ... indecent exposure, escape, and resisting or obstructing officers. We're told Paris is currently getting mental health treatment.

The St. John family has been through a ton of trauma ... Paris' dad died 3 years ago from heart disease triggered by alcohol abuse ... and in November 2014, her brother Julian died by suicide.

Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Perrion Winfrey -- a fourth-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft -- was arrested on Monday ... following allegations he got physical with his girlfriend during an argument.

According to court documents, obtained by TMZ Sports, prosecutors say the incident happened at around 7 PM in Harris County, Texas ... after Winfrey and his GF quarreled "over a dog and keys to a rental car."

Prosecutors allege that at one point during their argument, Winfrey grabbed the woman ... causing her bodily injury. According to the docs, bystanders actually had to intervene to break up the dispute.

Prosecutors say the woman told authorities Winfrey had assaulted her before during a previous incident.

Winfrey was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault-family member, records show. He's due for a hearing in the case next week.

Winfrey, who starred at the Univ. of Oklahoma in 2020 and 2021, played in 13 games for the Browns as a rookie last season, recording .5 a sack and 22 combined tackles.

Dramatic new video shows a white male security guard delivering a knockout punch to a black woman, who demanded reparations to cover her $1,000 grocery bill at Target -- and compared herself to Rosa Parks.

Surveillance video and body cam footage, first posted by the Daily Mail, showed security officer Zach Cotter clashing with customer Karen Ivery inside the store in Blue Ash, OH, last October.

As you can see, Cotter got into the middle of a heated argument between a store manager and Ivery, who allegedly asked for reparations to pay her eye-popping bill. Cops say Ivery told the manager she was "owed this" ... referring to the slavery reparations.

Police say Cotter told Ivery she needed to chill or leave the store because she was acting aggressively. Instead, she charged at him, backing him into his office.

That's when Cotter hauled off and socked Ivery in the face, knocking her to the floor. Cotter then called police, who determined he acted in self-defense and Ivery was the instigator.

Ivery was cited for disorderly conduct, served one day in jail and paid a $110 fine.

Ivery told police she wanted to have a larger conversation about "how money works" and "how it's been working in our community in a very wrong way."

Loads of homes connected to infamous names have been demolished over the years ... so take a look at some pads with dark, dark clouds that have been met with a wrecking ball.

Jeffrey Epstein's Florida mansion was razed in 2021 -- while other infamous names like Whitey Bulger and Jeffrey Dahmer had properties surrounding their names torn down, too.

Harvey Weinstein recently had his massive Connecticut house torn down -- it's located on one of the most expensive streets in Westport, CT and he decided to sell the place in 2018, just as he started catching heat over his misdeeds.

The redwood home where Sharon Tate and 5 others were murdered was turned into dust back in '94 ... eventually replaced with an enormous mansion.

Speaking of '94 ... O.J. Simpson's Brentwood mansion got bulldozed in the late '90s, only a few years after he was acquitted for the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

Pablo Escobar had a MASSIVE Miami compound smack on the water during his drug reign, but it was seized by the feds in the '80s ... getting razed in 2016.

Brittney Griner is ready to open up about her harrowing time spent in captivity inside a Russian penal colony.

The 32-year-old, 8x WNBA All-Star has inked a deal with publisher Alfred A. Knopf to write a still-untitled memoir which they say will take a deep dive into Griner's nearly one-year stay in a Moscow-area penal colony.

"For the first time Griner recounts the tumultuous events of 2022 that both reshaped her life and captured the world’s attention: Griner’s arrest at the Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on February 17, followed by her detention, trial, and imprisonment in Russia," Knopf says about the book, slated to be released mid-next year.

Of course, Griner, arrested and charged for bringing vape cartridges into the country, was ultimately found guilty on the drug charge, and sentenced to 9 years behind bars. But, after months of negotiation, the U.S. agreed to a prisoner exchange, sending back notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout for BG's release.

Knopf, publisher behind Andre Agassi's bio, Open, says Griner will discuss everything from being arrested to going on trial "in vivid detail." She will also write about her "surreal time living in a foreign prison and the terrifying aspects of day-to-day life in a women’s penal colony."

“I arrived in Moscow to rejoin the UMMC Ekaterinburg basketball team and was immediately detained at the airport. That day was the beginning of an unfathomable period in my life which only now am I ready to share,” Griner says of the project.

Brittney continued ... “After an incredibly challenging 10 months in detainment, I am grateful to have been rescued and to be home. Readers will hear my story and understand why I’m so thankful for the outpouring of support from people across the world."

In addition to the memoir, which will mark the first time Griner has talked about her harrowing experience in-depth, there will be a companion children's book released in the future.

NBA YoungBoy’s new album title "Don’t Try This At Home" apparently applies to everyone but him -- the prolific rapper’s throwing a huge party in L.A. while he's home ... on house arrest in Utah!!!

Sources close to the rap star’s camp tell TMZ Hip Hop the event goes down Thursday, April 20, and NBA’s team is paying $200K to rent party space at Elevate Lounge DTLA.

We’re told Team NBA is pulling out all the stops -- 50 Cent’s Branson Cognac is sponsoring, and there will be fully decked out with customized decor, sounds provided by DJ Carisma and a fan raffle. The winner gets to talk to NBA over the stream during the party.

Might sound like a standard Hollywood event, except the guy hosting will be several hundred miles away ... due to his lengthy house arrest for a gun possession charge.

NBA linked with Nicki Minaj for the album’s latest single “WTF,” which dropped last Friday and already has a couple million views.

Intruders beware at Leon “Roccstar” Youngblood Jr.'s home -- when the "Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood" star found some guy creeping on his roof, he handled it on his own ... according to law enforcement.

Cops say the platinum-selling Chris Brown producer told officers he was awakened a little past 5:00 AM Monday by an alarm alerting him someone was on the garage roof at his Chatsworth, CA home.

He says he went outside and, at gunpoint, ordered the guy off his roof ... but when he came down, an altercation broke out between them.

We're told Roccstar overpowered the guy, and then security for his gated community arrived to help detain the man until cops arrived.

The suspect was evaluated at the hospital for injuries before he was arrested for attempted burglary, vandalism, and possession of burglary tools.

There's now a parent being held responsible for their child shooting someone at school ... the mother of the 6-year-old who shot his teacher in a Virginia elementary school has been criminally charged.

Prosecutors in Virginia announced the charges Monday, with a grand jury indicting Deja Taylor with felony child neglect, plus a misdemeanor charge of recklessly leaving a firearm to endanger a child.

As we reported ... a first-grader at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News shot his teacher, Abigail Zwerner, back in January ... with the 25-year-old educator suffering gunshot wounds to her hand and chest.

Prosecutors say the 6-year-old student is not facing criminal charges but noted the mother's indictment follows a "thorough" police investigation.

What's more, prosecutors also say they are asking the court for a special grand jury to determine whether there should be additional charges over “any security issues that may have contributed to this shooting."

Matt Hardy is optimistic his brother, Jeff, will return to AEW sometime soon ... saying the wrestling star is doing well and taking care of himself during his time away from the squared-circle.

Matt gave an update on Jeff -- who resurfaced last week in a pic with a fan in North Carolina -- during a chat with fellow AEW wrestler Isiah Kassidy ... where he confirmed his bro is recovering from a recent eye surgery.

"His eyes were just a little off-set, probably from wear and tear and beating his body up," Matt said. "They had to work on some ligaments and tendons in one of his eyes."

"So they corrected that [with] surgery, and they said probably in five, six weeks, he should be okay."

As we previously reported, Jeff found himself in some trouble outside the ring lately -- he submitted a written no contest plea in his DUI case in February ... and was given a 38-day credit for jail time he already served.

AEW suspended Jeff following his DUI arrest last June ... but Matt believes Jeff's hard work outside the ring is positioning him to return to action in the coming months.

NASCAR driver Cody Ware was arrested on Monday ... following allegations he assaulted a female.

According to police records, the 27-year-old was booked into jail in Iredell County, N.C. at 7:38 AM on charges of assault by strangulation -- inflicting serious injury, and assault on a female.

The records show as of Monday afternoon, he was still in custody.

Specifics regarding the allegations against Ware have not yet been revealed ... though police documents, obtained by TMZ Sports, show the alleged incident initially happened on April 3 at a home in Mooresville, N.C.

NASCAR suspended the Cup Series driver indefinitely following his arrest.

Ware did not race in Sunday's NASCAR Cup event at Bristol Motor Speedway ... with Rick Ware Racing announcing earlier in the weekend that Cody would sit out while dealing with "a personal matter."

Cody began racing in the Cup Series in 2017. His best career finish came last season, when he came in sixth place at Daytona International Speedway.

Roger Clemens' 34-year-old son, Kory, has been arrested again for DWI, TMZ Sports has learned ... and the allegations against the MLB legend's kid are scary.

According to court documents, Kory was busted by the Houston Police Dept. in Texas at 2:22 AM on April 7 following a car accident.

In the docs, prosecutors allege Clemens struck another vehicle, which caused "heavy" front-end damage. They also say Kory was throwing up at the scene and was "unsteady on his feet." They added in the documents that he reeked of booze, had bloodshot eyes and slurred his speech ... and stumbled when he walked.

Court documents show he was booked into a Harris County jail ... before he was released after posting bond.

It's the second time in the last four years that Kory has been accused of DWI -- back in May 2019, he was also arrested in Houston after cops said he showed signs of intoxication during a traffic stop at 2:05 AM. The case was ultimately dismissed in 2020 after he entered into a pretrial diversion program.

Kory is one of four of Clemens' sons, who all have names starting with the letter "K" ... as a nod to the former Houston Astros pitcher's propensity to rack up strikeouts while on the mound.

Gucci Mane's former artist Ralo had a Happy Easter despite his ongoing prison bid for weed trafficking ... the Georgia rapper got to hug his daughter for the first time in 5 years!!!

Ralo posted pics of the father and child reunion -- showing himself and his daughter embracing. On IG, he compared their prison meeting to an out-of-body experience that lasts a lifetime.

He admitted current hip hop culture made him want to cut the "rapper" tag from his résumé, but says proceeds from his music are providing for his daughter and much more.

So, he's not bowing out of the game just yet.

Ralo was sentenced to 97 months last year after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute, but has released several projects while behind bars.

He's been teasing his upcoming "97 Months" album ... titled after the length of his prison sentence and dropped off its first single, "Street Honors" with Jadakiss, ahead of the project's April 21 date.

Donald Trump is doing what he tends to do best in times of crisis -- hitting the links to blow off some steam ... with this weekend being no different for him amid his criminal case.

The ex-Prez was playing a round Saturday morning at his hotel in Miami ... the Trump National Doral, which has four full-blown golf courses to choose from. Unclear which one DT was on in this instance, but he was out there with some pals ... and his MAGA hat to boot.

Dude looks pretty relaxed ... which makes sense, we suppose. This is sorta his happy place, even during the worst of times -- as we've witnessed throughout these past several years.

The only difference now, of course, is that he's under criminal prosecution by the Manhattan D.A.'s Office on 34 felony counts -- most of which stem from the Stormy Daniels hush money incident ... which law enforcement now alleges was directed to be paid at the behest of DT.

He's looked/sounded defiant in the wake of those charges -- especially when he was in NYC this past week to plead not guilty and get processed by cops ... putting on a brave face.

Here, the Don's more mellow, it seems, and there's another thing to consider with this appearance -- namely, the fact that it's Passover right now for Jewish folks ... and not just that, but his hotel there is actually hosting a whole slate of Passover events this weekend.

"Jersey Shore" stars Ronnie and Sammi were in one of reality TV's most toxic relationships, one that forced her away from the cast for years ... and now the two are shockingly back under the same roof.

We got pics of Ronnie at Margaritaville Resort in Orlando Friday -- the same hotel Sammi, Snooki, The Situation, JWoww, Pauly D, Vinny and Deena are all shacked up to shoot the new season of "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation."

Ronnie's presence is surprising for a multitude of reasons, including the fact Ronnie hasn't been a full-time cast member for several years after stepping away from the show following a string of arrests and domestic violence issues with his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child, Jenn Harley.

Of course, it's also surprising to see him reuniting with everyone while Sammi is around, as she's chosen to steer clear of him for years. Sammi was the only OG cast member who did not return for 'Family Vacation' in 2018 and many speculated she only returned now because Ronnie was no longer in the picture.

It's still unclear if Ronnie and Sammi will shoot any scenes face-to-face or if they'll do parts separately with the other cast, but we do know Sammi's boyfriend is also on the trip ... so it's absolutely not a rekindling type of thing.

Ronnie and Sammi dated off and on through the first 6 seasons of "Jersey Shore" and their fights were explosive -- with furniture thrown from balconies, and one instance where Sammi punched Ronnie in the face.

Harvey Weinstein took a trip from L.A. to New York after his conviction on the West Coast ... and he was flown out in first class on the D.A.'s dime.

Sources connected to the case tell TMZ ... Weinstein flew on a commercial airline Wednesday ... with investigators and medical personnel aboard. We're told he was seated in first, and the L.A. County D.A. is picking up the tab.

The D.A.'s Office tells us, "[Weinstein] was returned to New York via a method we typically use pursuant to our extradition agreement with New York."

For context -- the NY Department of Corrections and Community Supervision tells us he's been assigned to the Mohawk Correctional Facility to continue serving his sentence. He was originally at Wende Correctional, but after a review of his treatment needs, they made the switch.

According to its website, Mohawk specializes in sex offender treatment ... among other things.

As for having medical personnel on his flight, HW’s rep Juda Engelmayer tells us he received treatment prior to getting on the flight for medical issues he's had over the years.