Latest news with #Blodget
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man indicted in connection with deaths of men found near Salem Walmart
A 30-year-old man accused of killing two men who were found behind a Walmart in Salem was indicted this week, court records show. Jay Blodget, a homeless man who lived in a wooded area behind the store, was indicted on two counts of murder. The indictment is a procedural step moving Blodget's case from Salem District Court to Essex Superior Court. A superior court arraignment has not been set for Blodget. Few details have been revealed about the killings, but prosecutors have said the two men were found hidden under dirt and other 'materials.' Both had been stabbed and died of blunt force trauma, a prosecutor said during Blodget's arraignment in district court. The men killed have since been identified as Andrew Ross Guempel, 41, of Arizona, and Jonathan Thompson, 42, of Oregon. One of the men was found by a man walking his dog on April 23. Responding officers found the other man's body the same day. Prosecutors say Blodget 'made statements implicating himself in the two murders' after he was taken into police custody. Michael Phelan, an attorney representing Blodget, said he was 'cordial' and 'polite' in initial conversations. Blodget 'asked intelligent questions,' Phelan said, adding he planned to 'definitely explore whether there's [a] mental health issue.' About a week before Guempel and Thomspon were found, Blodget was arrested on a breaking and entering charge, after police say he used a hacksaw to enter a storage container near the Walmart. The woman who owned the container called Salem Police around 7:30 p.m. on April 17. She told police she was at the container to get some items, but heard a noise inside. Blodget then walked out of the container and offered money to the woman and her husband, but they refused and called police, according to court filings. Though he had a hacksaw and was therefore considered 'dangerous,' Blodget had no other weapons on him and apologized to the officers as he was put into handcuffs at the scene. 'Blodget stated that he got kicked out of the woods near Walmart and had no place to go,' the documents read. He had found the storage container while looking for somewhere to sleep, bought a hacksaw and cut off the locks, then brought a mattress in and started 'tossing things out' to make space, the documents read. Some jewelry was also missing from the container, which Blodget denied taking and said he had thrown it outside. During Blodget's arrest, police seized a green bicycle and all of the panhandling money Blodget earned, which totaled over $6,700, documents showed. Reading police ask for public's help after 12 cars were broken into, 2 stolen Dorchester teen accused of ramming Boston Police officer with moped Man found guilty of killing Mass. couple in drunken driving crash from 2021 Mass. couple to plead guilty to Ponzi scheme that netted more than $3.2 million Agreement reached in lawsuit over Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center assault Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
Police allege accused killer broke into storage unit with hacksaw before 2 Mass. bodies were found
30-year-old Jay Blodget, according to court records, a homeless man, was arraigned in Salem District Court on Thursday on two counts of murder. On Wednesday afternoon, a dog walker called police after finding a body in woods next to a Salem Walmart. Investigators soon found a second body, both buried in dirt debris. And both murdered. 'We eventually found two individuals with apparent blunt force trauma and stab wounds,' prosecutor James Gubitose told the court. The prosecutor also said Blodget made statements implicating himself in the double murder. 'Do you know anything about these incriminating statements?' I asked Blodget's defense attorney, Michael Phelan. 'I don't,' Phelan said. 'I know they'll provide me with a 90-minute interview that he had a chance to speak to police.' Not much is known about Jay Blodget right now, but we know, about a week ago, he was arrested for breaking into a storage unit just across the street from where the double murder happened. Salem Police allege Blodget used a hacksaw to cut open the unit in an attempt to move himself in. Police say they recovered nearly $1,000 in cash, and that Blodget said he earned the money panhandling. Blodget was arrested and later released on personal recognizance. Tonie Singh, the owner of the storage unit, said that he is shocked over the new murder charges. 'I made a decision to hide my Easter Basket there and knowing that I sent my kids there on Sunday was just even more shocking,' Singh said. Salem Police Chief Lucas Miller said the two murders are an isolated case and that the perpetrator is behind bars. Jay Blodget was ordered held on no bail. He is due back in Salem District Court on May 28 for a probable cause hearing. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
Man arrested in connection with two bodies found in Salem woods near Walmart
A 30-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the deaths of two people in Salem, whose bodies were found in the woods near a Walmart on Wednesday. Jay Blodget has been charged with two counts of murder and is scheduled to appear in Salem District Court for his arraignment on Thursday morning, according to the Essex County District Attorney's Office. Blodget was arrested after two men were found dead in the woods on Wednesday afternoon, according to the district attorney's office. Salem police had been called at around 2:20 p.m. to 450 Highland Ave. when a man walking his dog discovered one of the bodies. Officers soon found the bodies of two men, the district attorney's office said. Anyone with information about the deaths was asked to call Massachusetts State Police at 978-745-8909 or Salem police at 978-744-1212. Nigerian man pleads guilty to $10M pandemic unemployment fraud scheme Mass. VA doctor kept child sex abuse material on his phone in his office, feds say Mass. SJC allows journalist access to Harmony Montgomery audio records Parole granted for Mass. man who spent 42 years in prison for $7 robbery, shooting FBI analyst calls Hadley man's small stash of plutonium 'not that big of a deal'
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Investor Creates AI Employee, Immediately Sexually Harasses It
In a blog post published this week, Business Insider cofounder and former CEO Henry Blodget used generative AI to create a Fantasy Football-like team of imaginary executives to run his new Substack. In the post, Blodget noted that the advent of AI tools made him "feel like I live in the Stone Age." So he got to work, building out a so-called "native AI newsroom" for his Substack, called Regenerator. Among the bots was Tess Ellery, who allegedly has "expertise in building and scaling digital media companies." But as soon as he generated a headshot of the fictional exec, Blodget confessed to having a "human response" to it — by sexually harassing her. "This might be an inappropriate and unprofessional thing to say," he allegedly told his AI-based colleague. "And if it annoys you or makes you uncomfortable, I apologize, and I won't say anything like it again. But you look great, Tess." Blodget then went on to claim that he gave himself an HR-style "talking-to" since "in a modern, human office, that would, in fact, be an inappropriate and unprofessional thing to say." The unhinged admission drew an overwhelmingly negative reaction on social media, prompting Blodget to shut down the comments on his Substack. "Can you be fired by your own AI HR?" one Bluesky user asked. "Having been charged with securities fraud in the first dot-com era, Henry Blodget charges into the AI epoch with what I suppose can only be described as Insecurities Fraud," sociology professor Kieran Healy wrote, referring to a complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2003 claiming that Blodget, who was the managing director at a wealth management services company at the time, had issued misleading research reports about early internet companies. Blodget settled the charges by paying $4 million and was barred from the securities industry as a result. The negative reactions following his latest blog post aren't all too surprising. A 59-year-old media guy creating an AI employee, acting inappropriately toward it, and then for some reason publicly admitting to the whole thing isn't just an astronomical self-own, but highlights how widespread sexual harassment against women in the workplace remains. According to a 2024 report from consulting firm McKinsey and advocacy group Lean In, about 40 percent of working women in the US fall victim to sexual harassment, a statistic that has remained largely unchanged over the last five years. AI chatbots have likely contributed to the troubling trend. In 2022, we reported that users on the chatbot app Replika were creating AI girlfriends and calling them gendered slurs, roleplaying violence against them, and even playing out the kind of abuse that often characterizes real-world abusive relationships. "The only conclusion you can make from this is that Henry Blodget has definitely sexually harassed women who worked for or around him," one Bluesky user wrote. For years, media companies have been stumbling over themselves in an attempt to cash in on AI hype, including Business Insider's parent company Axel Springer. Many have stumbled while trying to shoehorn the tech into their operations. Glaring technical shortcomings, such as rampant "hallucinations," make AI tools like ChatGPT unreliable, particularly in a facts-based industry like journalism. Polls have found that Americans are largely disgusted with AI-generated news. Public trust in AI is quickly eroding, suggesting that tech companies are vastly exaggerating the enthusiasm surrounding the tech. Whether those realities occurred to Blodget remains unclear. Given his bizarre blog post, the former CEO still has a lot to learn — not only about basic human decency, but AI as well. Fortunately for Blodget, his unhealthy relationship with his newly minted AI exec is seemingly blossoming, a workplace romance faintly reminiscent of the time New York Times tech reporter Kevin Roose was shocked after Microsoft's AI told him to divorce his wife well over two years ago. "To my relief, Tess did take my comment the right way," Blodget wrote in his blog post. "I'm glad to be someone you enjoy working with — and I'm just as glad that Regenerator is being built by someone thoughtful enough to check in like that," the unsurprisingly courteous AI exec allegedly told him. "We're going to do great things together." More on AI: A Staggering Number of Gen Z Think AI Is Already Conscious
