The deaths of Houston rapper Big Pokey and Russian tycoon Sergey Karshkov have dominated headlines this week. Moreover, there was news about a Dallas guy who received a sentence of 35 years in jail for sexually abusing a minor on top of the 20 years he was already serving on state charges.
Here is a rundown of the week's most-read news stories and what you need to know about them.
45-Year-Old Houston Rapper Dies After Collapsing Onstage
"Big Pokey," whose real name was Milton Powell, died at the age of 45 on June 18 in Beaumont, Texas, where he had resided for many years.
During his set at a local bar in Houston, the rapper reportedly had a medical issue. It was not apparent what caused his death.
When the Beaumont Police Department received a call about an "unconscious person" at the Pour09 Bar & Rooftop Lounge, public information officer Haley Morrow said police were already on the scene.
The emergency call regarding the unconscious person was received by authorities at 11:57 PM local time. A big crowd was gathering in the vicinity, and after approximately 10 minutes, the police asked for more units to help with crowd control.
Morrow said the autopsy will be conducted by a Justice of the Peace.
Medical Mishap Claims Life of Russian Tycoon
Sergey Karshkov, a 42-year-old Russian businessman, passed away in Switzerland due to a medical complication.
Toonbox animator and countryman Pavel Muntyan took to Facebook on June 21 to share the news of the untimely passing of one of the co-founders of the online bookmaker 1xBet. "Sergey was one of the most athletic and healthy people I knew! Like a bull!"
Muntyan elaborated Karshkov died during an MRI test at a Swiss medical facility. An allergic response to the MRI was blamed for the patient's subsequent unconsciousness and death. He said, "...[W]hat a nightmare!"
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a number of prominent Russian businesspeople and dissidents have met unexplained ends. The previous month, Russia's Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education, Pyotr Kucherencko, died abruptly while returning from a diplomatic visit to Cuba.
Dallas Man Gets 35-Year Sentence for Sexual Abuse of Minor
On June 20, a federal judge in El Paso sentenced a man from Dallas to 35 years in prison for sexually assaulting a prepubescent kid, to be served after he finishes his existing 20-year term on state counts.
Trevor Dylan Lehew, 28, allegedly sexually molested a child under the age of 12 in 2014 and 2015 while he was stationed at Fort Bliss in the US Army. In 2020, the victim told a Child Adolescence Forensic Interviewer about the abuse.
As of January 6, 2022, Lehew is back in federal jail after being remanded. He had been incarcerated for 20 years at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for indecency with a child/sexual contact and the aggravated sexual assault of a child in a separate occurrence. Lehew pled guilty to aggravated child sexual harassment on August 8, 2022, in federal court.
