Congress comes to Charlotte to talk about violent crime (09-29-2025--Hour1)

What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to dpeakclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. I do want to start off just real quick with condolences to the family of Corey crow Smith. He was a listener of the station and he and his wife, both Jennifer, and he passed away from cancer. Attended his funeral service yesterday or Saturday, I guess it was. And this was over at Third Presbyterian Church in East Charlotte, and the pastor there, the Reverend Jay Weigel I think is his name. He I mean, the place was packed, absolutely packed, and he did something I have never heard of or experienced before. He told the story of how he had gone to the Gospel Music awards or convention. I think he said it was in pigeon Ford, Fords rather, and there was a singer there and she did this, and so he brought it to this service and it was and I've just offered this up if you ever are in a position to have this done, it's pretty remarkable, which was to have everybody in the church hum amazing grace and it was just it was beautiful and it was transcendent. And if you ever get a chance to do it, I highly recommend it. And so our prayers are with the Smith family and all of his friends. He had so many of them, and we'll miss you today in Charlotte Congresses in town. It's a subcommittee of the House Judiciary. So this is, yeah, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight. They are holding a field hearing. They're doing it at the Federal Courthouse in Uptown Charlotte, and the topic is victims of violent crime. I was watching it. It's still going on. It's happening. I think it's running for about another twenty minutes. Started at ten am. I pulled some audio, but just because of the nature of the it being a live event, that's still going on now, I'm gonna have like to get some of this audio queued up in the right spots. I haven't been able to pull a lot of clips because again the timing of it. Anyway, I want to start though with the victims families. The people that were invited by the Republicans were Mia Alderman. She was or is the grandmother of a woman who was murdered in Charlotte. Her name was Mary Collins and so Mia Alderman is her grandma. She spoke Steve Federico, the father of Logan Federico from Charlotte, who was murdered in Columbia, South Carolina while visiting friends. We covered this story when it happened as well. He was one of the witnesses to testify Officer Justin Campbell with Charlotte Mecklenburg Police. He was there and talking about the April twenty twenty four shooting that led to the deaths of for law enforcement officers while they were serving a warrant on a you know, repeat violent offender. And I was not aware of this, but Officer Campbell apparently lost his foot due to the injury he sustained at that at that shootout. And then there was Michael Woody, who is the owner and CEO of eight to eight Bail Bonds and he is the North Carolina representative for the National Association of Bail Agents, and basically his testimony can be summed up pretty simply, cashle's bail breaks the system. There's no reason to keep doing this. He makes the argument that secured bond puts people who are you know, friends and family, whoever it is that's posting the bond for the defendant. It makes them connected to the defendant and that case, and if you don't have the secured bond element, then they just walk and there isn't anybody there that's like, dude, you better go back to court, because like, that's my house that I'm gonna lose. That's my money that's on the line, right. So that was it. Just he was there to talk trash about the cash list bail system, which has been implemented across the country, including here in Charlotte, as part of the quote unquote reforms that Democrats wanted to see in the wake of the twenty twenty summer of fiery but mostly peaceful riots. Right like that, this is what these reforms have wrought. So a big focus also was on the court system, as it should be, because that's really where this is breaking down. You've got individuals of a particular ideology, who are making decisions that are allowing people to cycle in and out, in and out, in and out, repeat, repeat offenses. You also have. And by the way, I think that the criticism that the Democrats made at the hearing today against Republicans is legitimate for not funding more prosecutors in the DA's office. This has been a problem literally my entire adult life in Charlotte, going back thirty years. The das have always when it was a Democrat legislature. When it's a Republican legislature, the DA's office in Mecklenburg County has been understaffed. One of the stats. So Democrats, they brought two witnesses of their own. They didn't bring any victims. They brought Dina King, who was the former US attorney but she was a you know, Democrat appointee, so she's now out. Now it's Russ Ferguson for the Western District. And she got on. She got up there to talk about need more money, because of course, you know that's what Democrats are always saying, we need more money. And she talked about the burnout. Prosecutors get burned out. They have high case loads, which leads to plea deals cases getting dropped and that's a problem. So she was there, and then there was some other fella I think his name was Asher, his last name was Asher, and he was like some statistics guy from New Orleans, and he came in to talk about how crime stats are actually low, which I mean that is I guess that's it is relevant to talk about the crime stats. I don't know if that's like the best move to do when you're sitting next to families who have had their loved ones murdered in horrific manner. So like, I'm not sure that looks the way you thought it was going to look. But yeah, he came in and said, basically, you know, there was this like super large increase in crime around twenty twenty, but let's just skirt past that. Then after you know, twenty two and twenty three, now the numbers are dropping and we saw historic declines because we had an historic rise first, but we have the historic declines. Now. See everything's feeling safer, right, everybody feels safer. Now, Okay, that was there. That was the argument Democrats presented. More money, Republicans are just trying to score political points and crimes actually down, that's what they argue. Game on Week one starts now, and every touchdown brings you closer to a payout. With Drift King sports book and official sports betting partner of the NA, this isn't just football, it's first touchdown fireworks anytime TD rushes live bets that ride every momentum shift. At DraftKings, every play is your next shot to win. Will the Panthers win? Will we even get a touchdown? New customers bet just five dollars and get three hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly, plus get over two hundred dollars off NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. So your season starts now. 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Digital games and commercial use excluded. Restrictions apply additional NFL Sunday Ticket terms or at YouTube dot com slash go Slash NFL Sunday Tickets Slash terms Limited time offer. So the House Judiciary Subcommittee excuse me in town, wrapped up there or is wrapping up their hearing on violent crime. This was a field hearing. One of the witnesses that was called to testify was Yeah, was Steve Federico, the father of Logan Federico, who was murdered in Columbia, South Carolina while she was staying with friends overnight at their house, and some violent offender breaks into the house and murders her. The family, she and her father if the family is from Charlotte. So he appeared at this and here's what he said. How about y'all have kids. I'm just curious. Here's what I need you to do when I tell you this story. Think about your kids. Think about your child coming home from the night out with their friends, laying down, going to sleep, feeling somebody come in the room and wake them and drag her out of bed, naked, forced on her knees, with her hands over her head, begging for her life, begging for her hero. Her father me, that couldn't be there. She was five foot three, she weighed one hundred and fifteen. Bang dead. Gone. Why because Alexander Devonte Dickey, who was arrested thirty nine goddamn times twenty five felonies, was on the street. How about that? How good are we doing for our family? How good are you doing for your kids? He should have been in jail for over one hundred and forty years for all the crimes he committed. You know how much time he's spent in prison? A little over six hundred days in ten years. He's only thirty years old. He was committing two point sixty five crimes a year since he was fifteen years old. But nobody could figure out that he couldn't be rehabilitated. So you'd have to put him in prison to see if he could be rehabilitated. Isn't that the idea of prison? But no, my daughter wanted to be a teacher. She finally figured it out two weeks before she was executed. And I haven't heard a damn word from Byron Gibson in South Carolina, not one word, four months, no communication. His biggest concern was that he was pissed off about my interview and how I made him look on the Fox News channel with Trey Gowdi. How pathetic is that that we're letting our twenty two year old kid visiting friends. It's all she ever wanted to do is visit friends. And she literally was executed while on her knees, begging for her life. Her name's logan Federico, not irena. And you will not forget her. I promise you. You will be sick and tired of my face and my voice until this gets fixed. I will fight until my last breath for my daughter. You need to fight for the rest of our children, the rest of the innocents, and stop protecting the people that keep taking them from us. Please, you have the power. We put you in the power to do what you have to do. We're asking you, we're begging you all to stop this. Thirty nine crimes in ten years, twenty five felonies. Can anybody here explain to me? Well, how possibly he could be on the street, possibly be on the street. How is it possible? I could sit down a room and I can explain the whole process I have it failed? How South Carolina failed? Logan, Okay, how lack of communication? What y'all did? You woke up a beast and you pissed off the wrong daddy? Because I'm going to put it out there and I'm not going to be quiet until somebody helps. Logan deserves to be heard. Everyone on this panel deserves to be heard, and we will trust me. My daughter laid on the floor for seven hours before somebody in that house recognized that something was wrong and that cure criminal. An hour later, went on a spending spree with her debit card. When they saw his face on a video. They didn't have to do a check. He was arrested so many times. I knew who he was, They knew exactly where to go get him. Pathetic, absolutely pathetic that I'm here today. Thank you for your time. All right. So that's Steve Federico. That comment where he said her name was Logan, not Arena, that was a response to Congresswoman Deborah Ross from North Carolina Democrat from Wake County, who mistakenly thought he was a member of the Zarutzka family or something or saw the photo that he's got this big picture. It was hard to see just watching the live stream, but it seemed like she misidentified him and he interrupted her during her opening statement. So that's that's how this started. You know, stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. 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House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight meeting in Charlotte today at the Federal Courthouse. They brought in witnesses, family members of violent crime victims. You heard from Steve Federico, the father of Logan Federico. This is Mia Alderman and her granddaughter was Mary Collins. I'm the grandmother of Mary Collins. Mary Collins. Mary was sadistically tortured. She was tortured, She was brutally murdered in Charlotte, North Carolina, in twenty twenty. This is twenty twenty five and a half. Mary was only twenty years old when her life was taken in the most horrific way, imaginable, imaginable. She was bludgeoned in the head. She was stabbed over one hundred and thirty times. Mary was then bled out in a bathtub. All of Mary's blood went down into the Charlotte sewer system. Mary was then wrapped in plastic and hidden inside a mattress while myself and my family and then members of the community tried to get to Mary. I myself was inside the apartment yelling Mary's name to no avail we I'm sorry, this is very difficult. I have it written out. But then as I sat here, I sort of decided that I needed to go a little further. Our families now endured more than five years of waiting, and still her case has not gone to trial. Five years is not justice. Five years is torment. Every day of delay deepens the wound for our family and makes a mockery of accountability. What makes this even more unbearable is how the justice system has handled those accused of Mary's murder. Thank you. Two of them were released on bond. As if their crimes were minor, as if they stole a candy bar or you know, maybe broke in a car or something one in particular. Her name is America Ray Deal. She remains free on bond today. Despite repeated violations of her curfew and ankle monitor conditions. She has faced little to no consequence. We know she has broken curfew, left her home, pushed the boundaries of the very system meant to contain her. She basically thumps her nose at it, which you can see for yourself on the photos that she posted on social media. They've now been taken down, but we have copies. Nothing's been done. How can someone accused of such cruelty walk free? Why we Mary's family serve a life sentence of grief. The failures did not begin in the courtroom. They began when Mary was killed. For days, family, friends in the community pleaded for help, pleaded. I was pleading as Mary's. I don't know the right word. Mary had a disability, and an invisible disability. If you're familiar with invisible disabilities, that means that you can't really, you know, look at her and tell. Caregiver would be the right word. The police department and the detective would not comprehend what I was saying about Mary and how these people had her and they were hurting her, and I needed to get to her. It was long and it was torturous to even get him to go through that apartment door where she lay wrapped in plastic and concealed inside a mattress. It was eight days since Mary left home when they brought Mary out. It was finally the night of April fourth. She left the house on March twenty eighth. The next day was Mary's mother's birthday, April fifth. That delay costs precious time, and it compounded the horror of what we later learned had happened inside. I cannot speak everything that happened to Mary, because if I try to speak what happened to Mary, I will no longer be able to sit or stand. So you're gonna have to use your imagination on that part. Justice delayed is justice denied, and time is stealing our justice with the backlog court system for murder trials. And Mary is not the only victim. We're here because Irana Urania Zoruska was also brutally stabbed and killed in Charlotte. She now brings us here today. The same system that failed Mary failed to Irania. Our hearts are broken for her family and her friends, and we grieve with them. We carry the heavy knowledge of the continued agony, agony that they now face. This is not just about two young women. It's about the justice system in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina that is failing the very people it's sworn to protect. We need accountability, We need reform. We need to ensure that those accused of heinous crimes are swiftly prosecuted, that they're not allowed to be released on bond and just live their life. They get to go. Home and sleep in their own bed, and party and have Christmas. And I wondered when they released America, did her mom. Did her mom get to smell her hair. Did she know? Did she wrap her in in a warm blanket at night? Because I thought, I think about that sometimes Mary being in the ground, in the ground, in the ground dead. And she was so decomposed by. The time they got her out of that apartment that we never saw her again. We couldn't look at her, I couldn't smell her hair, touch her face, hold her. I didn't know what to do. Was I supposed to wrap her in a blanket for her to be buried or her siblings. You know, they wanted her to be buried in her favorite clothes. It was COVID, so only ten of us could go to a graveyard. We couldn't have a. Funeral for Mary has had no funeral, no funeral. None. Her murderers have not faced trial. They've been out free on bond. And we had to go to a cemetery where there was a casket that they told. Us Mary was in, and only ten of us could go. She said later on in this hearing that the DA is right now getting through the twenty nineteen murder trials. That's how far behind they are on taking murderers to trial. So when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's, and before he died, my mom and my dad took care of him as he got worse. Forty years ago, there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers and family. But things are different today because of the work of so many people, including the Alzheimer's Association of Western Carolina. It's a great organization with awesome people with huge hearts. I've been a supporter for twenty five years. This cause means a lot to me. I participate in the annual Walk to end Alzheimer's and I'm leading a Charlotte team again this year and it's called once again Pete's Pack. You can sign up and you can join the team and walk with us. It's on October eighteenth, that truest field. Sign up at alz dot org slash Walk and then you could search for my team name Pete's Pack. There's also a link at thepetepod dot com. There's also a link in the description of this podcast. Also, I'll be am seeing the Gastonia Walk on October eleventh, and so you can make a team and join that one too, or make a donation and help me hit my goal of five thousand dollars. If you do, I really appreciate it. There are a bunch of other walks all over the Carolinas. You can go to alz dot org slash Walk for all the dates and locations. We're closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's. Can you help us get there? Will you walk with me? For a different future, for families, for more time for treatments. This is why we walk. I mentioned when we played the audio from Steve Ferederico, the father of Logan Federco from Charlotte, who was murdered down in Columbia, South Carolina by a career criminal, repeat, repeat, repeat offender. And there was a moment where he points down. He brought a big picture of his daughter and put it in front of the table that they were sitting at, and at one point he's like, her name is Logan Federico, and he's pointing at the photo and he's yelling it's not Arena. And he's yelling that at Deborah Ross, the ranking Democrat on the committee from North Carolina. She's a former state lawmaker. She's been in Congress now, I think two or three terms, maybe longer. But this is what happened. When she was making her opening remarks, and you'll hear she doesn't know who she's pointing to in that photo. You'll hear her identify this photo of Logan Federico as Arena Zarutzka, and that's what ticked off her dad. I also want to express my deepest, deepest condolences to the family of Arena Zaruska. What happened to her is simply unimaginable and unconscionable, and I hope that we will take to heart her family's request not to remember her by her last moments or politicize her death, but instead to remember her as the vibrant and exceptionally kind person she was. And I'm thrilled that we have a picture of her in that state right in front of us. Finally, we're here in North Carolina and we had a tragedy yesterday. I want to express my prayers and my absolute heartbreak to the victims of the Southport mass shooting yesterday. I know our governor is there today, and I know our hearts go out to the victims and their families. So the majority has brought us here together. And I would say I went to the Philadelphia hearing. I've been on the Judiciary Committee since I was in ever in Congress. But to be honest and for our victims, this hearing is too little, too late. We should have been doing more to prevent crime and address the lack of mental health care long before this hearing. Particularly, Oh, I'm sorry, I am so sorry. I am so sorry. Thank you so much for bringing that. Thank you, thank you, sir. I am so sorry for you. I'm I am so sorry. I'm so sorry for your loss. And my heart goes out to you. My heart goes out to you. Oh, they did not know her. So we should have been doing things to prevent Logan's death and Arena's death. And I am so sorry to my Republican friends. And then she says, we shouldn't weaponize this, let's not politicize this stuff. And you guys need to spend more money on programs and services that we totally think will fix it. And you can trust us on this criminal justice reform stuff, you know, because we've got such a great track record. Yeah, so that's not exactly a great moment for Congressman Deborah Ross. This is from Rodney P. Do you think the mayor and all the other Democrats will be walking over their self if the Congress was controlled by Democrats and they were holding the hearings today, Yo, definitely, like all of the local Democrat officials would be. They would be at the federal courthouse for this hearing, no doubt about it. And you know, look, I've got more audio. You're going to hear Alma Adams from Charlotte, congresswoman from Charlotte, and she says that This is all just basically political theater. They're just trying to score points, trying to cast us as soft on crime Democrats and that we're to blame for this, Deborah Rossa, that they're going to tell you that Democrats are to blame. We're not to blame for this. You guys control the court system here, right. I mean, Rush Limbo used to talk about how the police departments like the only agency of local government left that is populated with conservatives, like all of the other all the other agencies are packed with Democrats. But like and so they're they're making these arrests, they're dropping them off at the jail, and the court system that's controlled by Democrats. You guys set these bail guidelines. The judges do this, the district court does this, they have the guidelines. That's not Republicans that did that. You guys have the control to do something differently. And all we hear about is you got to put more money into mental health, which is something that Republicans have been saying after mass shootings. And you guys are like, no, no, no, we're gonna talk about guns. This isn't the time to talk about mental health, all right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetekaalanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.