Crime

The medical care fundraiser for Bethany MaGee exceeded $458,000 on Friday, less than a month after a stranger lit the 26-year-old on fire.

“We want to express our sincere gratitude,” Bethany’s tight-knit family wrote in an update.

“Whether you are a friend, our family or a stranger, your kindness toward Bethany — through prayers and such profound generosity — has been a daily comfort to us and will help smooth her way forward.”

The young Chicagoan suffered life-threatening burns late on November 17, after a fellow train passenger soaked her in gasoline and lit her on fire. Federal officials charged 50-year-old Lawrence Reed with Bethany’s attack the next morning.

Bethany had been sitting with her back to Reed, court documents allege, when he dumped a plastic bottle full of gasoline on her head. When she fled to the back of the train, her assailant lit the bottle on fire and threw it at her.

The 26-year-old collapsed on the train platform after several failed attempts to extinguish the flames.  A good Samaritan came to her aid, smothering the blaze with his jacket. Another reportedly kept Bethany calm while waiting for medics.

“In this season of Thanksgiving, we are so grateful for the chance to celebrate at Bethany’s side,” the MaGees wrote on Bethany’s fundraising page. “Thank you for keeping her and our family in your prayers.”

Bethany, described by her family as “sensitive, caring, intelligent and imaginative,” will spend at least three months in the hospital receiving treatment, The Daily Mail reported. The MaGee family asks for continued time and space to allow Bethany to heal.

The attack bears eerie resemblance to the murder of Iryna Zarutska in October. The 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee was stabbed to death on a train in North Carolina. Both women suffered unprovoked attacks by men with extensive rap sheets.

The man accused of killing Iryna had been arrested 14 times before. Multiple sources confirm Reed had been arrested 72 times before attacking Bethany. He had been convicted of eight felonies, including aggravated arson, and seven misdemeanors.

Reed was charged with aggravated battery in August after hitting a social worker, CBS News Chicago reports. Judge Molina-Gonzalez chose to release Reed with an ankle monitor, despite prosecutors’ objections.

“I can’t keep everybody in jail because the state’s attorney wants me to,” the judge said, per court transcripts obtained by The Daily Mail.

Perhaps not. But what if the offender routinely assaults other citizens?

The conditions of Reed’s release included a curfew. He violated it to travel on the train where he attacked Bethany.

Proverbs 31:8-9 commands Christians to “judge righteously” and defend the rights of all people. The justice system in Chicago prioritized Reed’s comfort and rehabilitation over the physical safety of everyone around him.

Americans opened their wallets to help Bethany and other victims of preventable crime. But how many more must be killed or injured for leaders and justices to start prioritizing the rights of all Americans, equally?

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Grieving father Stephen Federico demanded legislators hold career criminals accountable for their crimes Monday at a fiery House Judiciary Committee field hearing for victims of violent crimes.

Federico’s daughter, 22-year-old Logan, was murdered on May 3 while visiting friends in South Carolina. Her killer broke into the house where she was staying, dragged her out of bed, forced her to her knees, shot her dead and stole her belongings.

“My daughter wanted to be a teacher,” Stephen choked out at the hearing, which occurred in Logan’s native North Carolina. “She had finally figured it out two weeks before she was executed.”

Police arrested Alexander Devante Dickey, 30, for Logan’s murder after he used her stolen debit card. Stephen says police knew him on sight.

“When they saw his face on video, they didn’t have to do a check,” he fumed. “He was arrested so many times that they knew who he was. They knew exactly where to go get him.”

Police had filed criminal charges against Dickey 39 times before he allegedly murdered Logan. He pled guilty to multiple charges of grand larceny and burglary across three different cases between 2014 and 2023.

He was put on probation thrice during that time; twice, it was revoked.

“They cared more about making sure he wasn’t put in prison than worrying about whether or not he was going to hurt somebody,” Stephen told Fox’s Laura Ingraham.

Most, though not all, of Dickey’s offenses were reportedly nonviolent. But Stephen claims his crimes escalated in severity over time. In 2021, Dickey was granted supervised release after committing strong-arm robbery — a legal category of robbery in which an offender beats up or threatens to beat up a victim while robbing them.

Dickey’s extensive record alone should have precluded him from being released. But evidence uncovered by a local news outlet shows Dickey would likely still be in prison had it not been for a clerical error.

In 2023, Dickey finished out a five-year stint in prison for third-degree robbery — the maximum time an offender can receive for their first offense. But it wasn’t Dickey’s first offense. He had previously pled guilty to third-degree burglary in March 2015.

A subsequent investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) confirmed Dickey’s file did not include any information about two of the three cases brought against him between 2014 and 2015.

The error presumably occurred because the government brought more cases against Dickey while he was in custody. SLED didn’t book Dickey again for the new charges, so meant they weren’t added to his RAP sheet. The maintains prosecutors had access to Dickey’s full arrest record.

Regardless, if Hubbard had correctly charged Dickey with a second offense for third-degree burglary, he could have spent up to ten years in prison — and Logan would still be alive.

The case bears chilling resemblance to the murder of Iryna Zarutska in August. Decarlos Brown allegedly stabbed the 23-year-old to death with a pocket knife on a train in Charlotte. Brown had been arrested 14 times before — twice for assaulting women.

Stephen is determined to get true justice for his beloved daughter. He also wants to ensure elected officials hold offenders accountable for unacceptable behavior before they take a life.

“Stop protecting the people that keep taking them from us, please!” He begged the committee members.

“We put you in power,so do what you have to do. We’re begging you all to stop this.”

Laws and social rules enable humans to live together in a sinful world. God forbade murder and established court of law the the Noahic Covenant after the flood.

He provided the wandering Israelites with His divine law in Exodus and Leviticus. U.S. laws are rooted in the Ten Commandments given to the nation of Israel at Sinai.

In the New Testament, Paul explains that God gives governments authority punish wrongdoers and restrain bad conduct.

Clearly, South Carolina’s criminal justice system failed in its God-given duty to protect citizens.

Those who habitually harm their neighbors cannot be allowed to roam freely.  

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