Karl’s Weird News

Child Porn Images Found At Park Bathroom

More than a dozen Polaroid pictures of graphic child pornography was discovered by a cleaning company in the bathroom of a local park.

Workers at R.B. Satkowiak City Sewer Cleaners of Carrollton Township found the photographs while clearing a sewer drain at Imerman Memorial Park in Saginaw Township on May 27.

Pat Kinney said his crew pulled about 15-30 pictures portraying sex acts between a middle-aged woman and a boy from a suction cleaning pump after the tool became clogged.

“They were tied together with a string,” Kinney said. “Just about everything you could think of was shown in the pictures.”

Chinese woman boiled man’s head to cure daugther’s psychiatric problems

Lin Zongxiu, from the southwestern province of Sichuan, heard in 2008 that soup made with a man’s head could help cure her daughter who had suffered from psychiatric problems for years, the Chengdu Commercial newspaper reported.

Lin and her husband decided to enlist the help of a man in December who knocked unconscious a drunk 76-year-old passer-by before beheading him, the paper claimed.

The couple then gave their 25-year-old daughter soup made from the man’s head, and duck. A local court sentenced the murderer to death with a two-year reprieve on Monday, and Lin was convicted of helping to destroy evidence that included the culprit’s bloody clothes and shoes, the paper said.

The murderer’s reprieve means that his sentence will likely be commuted to life in prison as long as he commits no further offences in the next two years.

Hat tip to Kara!

Police: Woman skinned puppy to make belt

A 23-year-old woman who got a friend to kill her Jack Russell terrier was charged with skinning the puppy to make a belt out of its hide.

Krystal Lynn Lewis and Austin Michael Mullins, 26, were being held Friday in the Muskogee County jail on $25,000 bail each. They were charged with one felony count of cruelty to animals. A Muskogee County judge ordered a mental competency hearing for Lewis.

Lewis wanted the puppy, named Poplin, killed because it was a gift from a female ex-lover with whom she doesn’t get along, said Muskogee County sheriff’s deputy George Roberson.

Detroit man confession: ‘I kill people for money’

Hours after police plucked him out of a suburban alley, Vincent Smothers dropped a bombshell confession: “I don’t have a profession,” he told an investigator. “I kill people for money.”

Then, police say, he laid out details of how each of eight hired hits happened. He stalked his victims before shooting them at close range. He killed some while talking on his cell phone and fired on others even when they appeared to lay lifeless on the ground.

 Even in Detroit, which had more than 300 slayings last year, Smothers’ case is notable: Rarely is one person charged in so many deaths. On Friday, his lawyers planned to ask a judge to have the confessions thrown out, arguing he was worn down while in custody. Police deny it.

 ”He’d been accused of doing so many, he just wanted to get it over (with),” said Detective Sgt. Ken Ducker of the Michigan State Police.

Police say the work paid $60,000 over two years, although Smothers did one job for as little as $50. All but one of his victims were involved in drugs. The exception was a police officer’s wife.

Mexico: Almost 1 ton of cocaine found in sharks:

Mexico says it found nearly one ton of cocaine hidden inside frozen shark carcasses.

Prosecutors say hundreds of packages stuffed in the bellies of dozens of dead sharks seized in the Gulf port of Progreso contained 1,965 pounds (893 kilograms) of cocaine.

The Attorney General’s Office says the sharks were found in two containers on Tuesday.

The containers had been shipped from Costa Rica. There was no immediate information on its intended destination.

The 870 packages were found wrapped in plastic and inserted in the sharks.

Man ‘cooked’ to death in Australian prison van:

The family of an Australian Aboriginal elder who died after being “cooked” in the back of a prison van on a scorching hot day is considering suing, they said.

A coroner Friday dismissed treatment of the 46-year-old man as inhumane and a “disgrace,” saying he would ask prosecutors to consider criminal charges over his death from heatstroke in Western Australia in January 2008.

The elder, known only as Mr Ward as his first name was withheld for cultural reasons, was transported 360 kilometres (225 miles) to jail in temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 F) in a van with faulty air conditioning.

Ward, who was arrested a day earlier for drink driving, spent four hours in the searing heat between the mining towns of Laverton and Kalgoorlie, suffering third-degree burns where his body touched the metal floor, the inquest heard.

Western Australia Coroner Alastair Hope found that Ward was effectively “cooked” to death and heavily criticised the state prisons department, the private security firm that operated the van and the two guards who escorted Ward.

Russian inventor ‘murdered five in home-made electric chair’

A serial killer obsessed with electricity murdered at least five people in a series of lurid experiments to test his home-made electric chair, Russian police said on Friday.

The 30-year-old electrician, identified only as Dmitry K, lured victims to his house by posting adverts for computer equipment on the internet. Police in Yekaterinburg, a city in Russia’s Urals region, tracked the suspect down after finding the charred body of a law student in a roadside ditch.

Dmitry K admitted murdering the student, investigators said, before claiming that he had also killed several other victims as he conducted experiments on an improvised electric chair that he had invented.

The suspect, who worked at a local power plant, told detectives he would confess to the other murders if they found the bodies.

Police say they are investigating at least four other incidents in which Yekaterinburg residents went missing after responding to internet adverts for computer supplies over the past 12 months.

NYC Teacher Busted Having Sex With Student In Class

A Queens teacher and her student were recently caught having sex in the classroom.

On Thursday she was behind bars, charged with rape, sexual abuse and child endangerment after the student’s mom tracked her down.

Her head hung low, Melissa Weber was ushered away in cuffs, no doubt thinking about the probable end to her teaching career and whether her alleged sexual rendezvous with her 14-year-old student had been worth it.

“It’s real disconcerting to find that,” said parent and school employee Stacy Gold. Gold works at I.S./M.S. 8 with Weber. “It’s extremely shocking. This is a teacher that teaches my son,” Gold said.

It was inside a second-story classroom where police said Weber gave one of her students an up close and personal lesson in sex education.

Witnesses testify in albino trial:

Witnesses have testified in the case of 11 men in Burundi, accused of the attempted murder of albino people and selling of their body parts.

Initial charges of murder have been dropped because the prosecution failed to produce enough evidence.

Police suspect the body parts are being sold in neighbouring Tanzania, for use in witchcraft.

Forty-six albino people have been murdered in Tanzania in the past 18 months, but no-one has been convicted.

Man Mows Down Traffic Cop to Avoid Parking Ticket

A man was so desperate to avoid a parking ticket that he ran over a NYPD traffic cop before she could write it, breaking her legs and causing a head injury.

The incident happened Friday afternoon on Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. The 26-year-old agent was about to write a ticket for a double-parked car when the motorist ran to the vehicle, got in and tried to drive away, police said.

As he made his escape, the car knocked the agent to the ground and then drove over her, crushing her legs. Police were trying to identify a suspect. They say the traffic agent is in guarded condition at St. Barnabas Hospital.

Surveillance video captures the suspect wearing a red shirt and dark pants running across the street to his 2002 black Ford Taurus. The suspect is described as a man who is about 5 feet 8 inches tall and 250 pounds.

Death sentences for Suzanne Tamim murderers:

An Egyptian billionaire and former top political figure has been sentenced to death in Cairo for the 2008 murder of Lebanese pop star Suzanne Tamim.

Hisham Talaat Moustafa was found guilty of paying $2m to an ex-policeman to kill the singer. The killer Muhsin Sukkari was also sentenced to hang.

Ms Tamim reportedly broke off a secret love affair with Moustafa months before she was stabbed to death in Dubai. The tale of sex, politics, money and show business gripped the Arab world.

Reports described “chaos” in the courtroom after the judge read out a short statement and ordered the sentences referred to the religious authorities for confirmation - as is normal in Egypt.

Sukkari’s face went pale and family members burst into tears as the sentence was delivered, news agency AFP said.

Statue of Former President Beheaded in Ohio 

Someone has beheaded a statue of President James Garfield that was installed last week at an Ohio college.

Hiram College spokesman Shawn Brown says the vandalism was discovered Friday morning, just a day after the sandstone statue was dedicated on the campus in Hiram, 30 miles southeast of Cleveland.

Brown says the college is hoping the head will be recovered so the 95-year-old statue can be restored, but police have no leads in their investigation.

Teen accused of strangling mother and sexually abusing corpse to appear in court June

A 17-year-old boy accused of killing his mother last week intentionally strangled her to death and sexually abused her corpse before dumping her body in a trash can, according to a juvenile court document released Monday.

Johnson City Juvenile Court Judge Sharon Green ordered Codey Wayne Miller, 17, held at the Upper East Tennessee Juvenile Detention Center pending a June 5 status hearing, when she will hear motions in the case, including prosecutors’ request to transfer the teenager to adult Criminal Court for trial.

Miller is charged with first-degree murder, felony murder and abuse of a corpse in the death of his mother, Sherry R. Cooper, 36, at her Lake Terrace housing development apartment on Thursday. Assistant Public Defender Ivan Lilly, appointed to represent Miller, waived the teen’s detention hearing after telling Green that details from the homicide had not been released to news media or Miller’s family.

Teen Accused of Banana Hold-Up Attempt:

Authorities say a North Carolina teen who was thwarted as he tried to rob a store with a banana ate it before they could arrive.

Winston-Salem authorities say 17-year-old John Szwalla held the banana under his shirt when he entered the store Thursday, saying he had a gun and demanded money.

Owner Bobby Ray Mabe says he and a customer jumped Szwalla, holding him until deputies arrived. While they waited, Mabe says the teen ate the banana.

4 US citizens found strangled in Tijuana:

The bodies of four U.S. citizens were found strangled, beaten and stabbed in a van in this border city, two days after they reportedly left their Southern California homes for a night at the Mexican clubs, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The victims, ages 19 to 23 years old, were found tied up on Saturday, but their deaths were not reported earlier because they were under investigation, said Fermin Gomez, an assistant state prosecutor in Baja California.

U.S. consular officials in Tijuana said the victims — two men and two women from the San Diego and Chula Vista areas — were U.S. citizens. The state attorney general’s office in Baja California said one of the women was Mexican.

Head Start teacher charged with kicking preschoolers

A teacher at a Head Start preschool in Miami has been charged with hitting three children in his care, including a 5-year-old girl whom police say he kicked in the face as she lay on her cot during nap time.

Jean E. Dorvil, 56, a preschool teacher at the Head Start program at Charles R. Drew Elementary in Miami, was charged Friday with aggravated child abuse with great bodily harm, three charges of battery and two charges of child abuse with no harm.

Four of the charges are felonies. Dorvil is in jail without bond.

Woman Says Waitress Shot Her in Dispute Over Food

A Clarendon County waitress is accused of shooting a customer at the restaurant after the two had a dispute.

Yakeisha Ward, 29, is charged with assault and battery with intent to kill. An early morning run for breakfast at the Waffle House on Paxville Highway in Manning turned terribly wrong for Crystal Samuel.

 ”I thought I was gonna get me an All-Star,” says Samuel. A popular meal on the menu. “Grits, sausage, toast, eggs and a waffle,” says Samuel. She didn’t get what she came for. Instead, she says while she waited for her order, her friends started eating.

That’s when Samuel says she was told they couldn’t eat from carryout trays inside the restaurant.

“I said what is your fuss about. I said we haven’t paid for our food. She (Ward) said well you all got to leave. How you want us to leave and we ain’t paid for the food yet,” says Samuel. That’s when it got ugly.

Samuel says she threw a waffle at the waitress. “I did actually throw some food but it didn’t hit her,” says Samuel. “That’s when she (Ward) jumped across the counter and we got into it,” says Samuel.

Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett says the altercation continued outside where he says Ward got a gun from her car and a gun magazine from her trunk.

Mentally Disabled Forced Into ‘Fight Club’ at Texas Home

Terrified residents at a Corpus Christi, Texas, state school for the mentally disabled were forced to be part of a brutal “fight club” operated by night shift employees, who made videos of the sessions with their cell phones, the newly released videos show.

Mentally disabled residents forced to brawl as employees prod and laugh. On the videos employees can be seen and heard laughing and prodding the residents to fight.

One resident is seen on the video trying to run away from his attacker and a large group of employees and residents tracking him through the halls. When cornered, he wails and moans and tells the employees, “I will behave.”

The videos were discovered by police in March when one of the school employees left his phone at a hospital and it was turned over to police. In an effort to find its owner, officers saw the disturbing videos.

Top kidnap expert becomes Mexico abduction victim

A US security consultant who negotiated the release of dozens of kidnap victims in Latin America has himself been kidnapped by masked gunmen in northern Mexico.

The gunmen abducted Felix Batista outside a restaurant last Wednesday in the relatively safe industrial city of Saltillo in Coahuila state, Mexican authorities and his employer, security consultancy ASI Global, have revealed.

“We have notified the FBI and Mexican authorities, and they are working on the case,” said Charlie LeBlanc, chairman of ASI. Mr LeBlanc said Mr Batista had his own security business and that “he was in Mexico for business that wasn’t associated with our company”.

Man Who Tried to Buy 9-Year-Old Girl for Sex Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison Without Parole

Kevin Moake, 50, of Flower Mound, Texas, was sentenced this morning by U.S. District Judge David C. Godbey to 10 years in federal prison, the statutory maximum, following his guilty plea in January to one count of possession of child pornography, announced James T. Jacks, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. Judge Godbey also ordered that Moake register as a sex offender and serve a lifetime of supervised release following his release from prison. Moake, who has been on bond, was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service at the conclusion of the sentencing hearing.

According to documents filed in court and public documents, Moake admitted that on May 30, 2007, he drove to a Burger King restaurant, on Mockingbird Lane near Love Field in Dallas, to meet an undercover officer in an attempt to buy a 9-year-old girl for sex. Public documents reveal that Moake gave the undercover officer $100 to spend the night with the nonexistent child, the cash representing a down payment in a “rent-to-own” plan. Moake was arrested on the spot and is presently facing charges in Dallas County related to this sting operation. Moake’s federal sentence will run concurrent to any state sentence he receives.

How can we ever trust an MP again asks Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury

THE moral authority of Parliament is at its lowest ebb in living memory. That, I’m sorry to say, is my inescapable verdict on Westminster’s great expenses scandal. Coming at a time of financial crisis and political betrayal of the Gurkhas, this threatens to be the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back.

Can public trust ever be restored? The whole nation has seen minister after minister on TV, cringeingly trying to justify their allowances and expenses claims.

And let us not forget there was a time when to become an MP was seen as a noble and honourable way of serving your country.

Ask yourself now whether men or women of integrity from whatever walk of life will want to touch political office? Our politicians of the future are all likely to have climbed the greasy pole from within by working as researchers or lobbyists.

Already our MPs are seeking a scapegoat. The first reaction was to shoot the messenger, blaming so-called chequebook journalism. Yet they’ve only themselves to blame.

It is not just the clawing greed of painstaking claims for such minor items as tampons, barbecue sets and bathrobes, but also the egregious way some have transferred allowances from one second property to another-enabling them to refurbish homes at public expense then sell at a profit.

Boy, 7, dies in apparent trespass shooting

A 7-year-old boy who was allegedly shot in the head by a couple who thought he and three other people were trespassing on their property died Saturday, authorities said.

Donald Coffey Jr. died Saturday morning at a Houston hospital, less than two days after the boy was struck in the head by shotgun pellets, Sheriff’s Cpl. Hugh Bishop said.

Sheila Muhs and her husband, Gayle Muhs, both 45, were charged with second-degree felony counts of aggravated assault in the shootings Thursday. They were being held at Liberty County Jail with bail set at $25,000 each and had not yet retained an attorney, Bishop said.

Police: Beer-pong + dare = homicide

After they got into a dispute over a beer-pong game, Joseph Jiminez, 24, and Scott Riley, 25, met in a Bridgeport alleyway and Riley made a dare, investigators said.

“Shoot me, shoot me,” Riley said to Jiminez and a companion. “You guys ain’t got the … ”

Jiminez accepted the challenge, police said, and today he is being held without bail at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on murder and related charges pending a hearing a week from now.

Many die in Turkey wedding attack:

At least 45 people have been killed in an attack on a wedding party in south-eastern Turkey, officials say. Mask-wearing assailants opened fire with automatic rifles and grenades, officials in Mardin province said.

The area, near the border with Syria, has been plagued by fighting between Kurdish separatists and government troops for 25 years. But Turkey’s Interior Minister Besir Atalay said the attack did not appear to be a “terror event”.

Local media have suggested the violence might have been the result of a blood feud or an argument between guests. Other unconfirmed reports said the wedding guests included members of a militia who help troops to fight Kurdish rebels.

Regulators Scrutinize Apple-Google Ties

The Federal Trade Commission has begun an inquiry into whether the close ties among the boards of two of technology’s most prominent companies, Apple and Google, amount to a violation of antitrust laws, according to several people briefed on the inquiry.

Apple and Google share two directors, Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive of Google, and Arthur Levinson, former chief executive of Genentech. The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 prohibits a person’s presence on the board of two rival companies when it would reduce competition between them.

The two companies increasingly compete in the cellphone and operating systems markets. Antitrust experts say the provision against “interlocking directorates,” known as Section 8 of the act, is rarely enforced. Nevertheless, the agency has already notified Google and Apple of its interest in the matter, according to the people briefed on the inquiry, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because the inquiry was confidential.

Austria: Suspect arrested in poisoning of 5 people:

Police in Vienna arrested a man suspected of slipping drugs into drinks at a crowded bar Sunday, causing five people to collapse. Authorities said all five victims were hospitalized in life-threatening condition.

Investigators said they were still trying to determine a motive for the attack, which happened on a sunny afternoon at a small bar packed with up to 50 people enjoying an “after hours” party.

Authorities were called to the scene when customers at a sidewalk ice cream salon across the street from the bar saw the five victims fall to the ground.

“We got an emergency call at 5 p.m.,” or 1500 GMT, said police spokeswoman Iris Seper. She said officers later took the unidentified suspect into custody after witnesses said they had seen a man offering the victims drinks.

Investigators said it was unclear exactly what substance had been added to the drinks, but that it appeared to be some kind of narcotic. Seper said the victims drank freely, apparently unaware that anything was amiss.

Woman Claims Her Father Was Zodiac Killer - News Story - KTVU San Francisco:

A woman stepped forward Wednesday to claim her late father was the infamous Zodiac Killer and that she as a 7-year-old wrote some of the letters that taunted local police.

Kevin McLean, the former law partner of the late Melvin Belli, said he has led a two-year investigation into claims by Deborah Perez that her father, Guy Ward Hendrickson, was the Zodiac killer. Hendrickson, who lived in Orange County, died in 1993 of cancer.

 “He was a Jekyll and Hyde,” McLean said of Hendrickson. “He was nuts. He set out to kill people. Some of these killings were not random.”

McLean said Perez came forward on Wednesday because another investigator in Sacramento was about to come forward with a different theory of the killings. She was also currently involved in making a documentary on the crime.

As a youngster, Perez said she sometimes accompanied her father on his killing sprees to the Bay Area. The family lived in Santa Ana, but McLean said Hendrickson may have worked at one time at the Mare Island Naval shipyard in Vallejo.

A Cyber-Attack on an American City:

Just after midnight on Thursday, April 9, unidentified attackers climbed down four manholes serving the Northern California city of Morgan Hill and cut eight fiber cables in what appears to have been an organized attack on the electronic infrastructure of an American city. Its implications, though startling, have gone almost un-reported.

That attack demonstrated a severe fault in American infrastructure: its centralization. The city of Morgan Hill and parts of three counties lost 911 service, cellular mobile telephone communications, land-line telephone, DSL internet and private networks, central station fire and burglar alarms, ATMs, credit card terminals, and monitoring of critical utilities. In addition, resources that should not have failed, like the local hospital’s internal computer network, proved to be dependent on external resources, leaving the hospital with a “paper system” for the day. In technical terms, the area was partitioned from the surrounding internet.

What was the attackers goal? Nothing has been revealed. Robbery? With wires cut, silent alarms were useless. Manipulation of the stock market? Companies, brokerages, and investors in the very wealthy community were cut off. Mayhem, murder, terrorism? But nothing like that seems to have happened. Some theorize unhappy communications workers, given the apparent knowledge of the community’s infrastructure necessary for this attack. Or did the attackers simply want to teach us a lesson? Although they are silent on the topic, I hope those responsible for emergency services, be they in business or government, are learning the lessons of Morgan Hill.

The first lesson is what stayed up: stand-alone radio systems and not much else. Cell phones failed. Cellular towers can not, in general, connect phone calls on their own, even if both phones are near the same tower. They communicate with a central switching computer to operate, and when that system doesn’t respond, they’re useless. But police and fire authorities still had internal communications via two-way radio.

Realizing that they’d need more two-way radio, authorities dispatched police to wake up the emergency coordinator of the regional ham radio club, and escort him to the community hospital with his equipment. Area hams dispatched ambulances and doctors, arranged for essential supplies, and relayed emergency communications out of the area to those with working telephones.

Hairdresser turns robber into sex-slave :

A hairdresser from the small Russian town of Meshchovsk has subdued a man who tried to rob her shop, and then raped him for three days in the utility room, Life.ru reports.

The incident occurred on Saturday, March 14. The working day was coming to an end at a small hairdressers, when a man armed with a gun rushed in and demanded the day’s earnings. The frightened employees and customers agreed to fulfill his demand, but when the shop’s owner, 28-year-old Olga, was handing the money to the robber, she suddenly knocked him down on the floor and then tied him up with a hairdryer cord.

The 32-year-old Viktor couldn’t have known that the woman was a yellow belt in karate. Read more Olga locked the unlucky robber in the utility room and told her colleagues that she was going to call the police – but didn’t do so. When everybody left home, she approached the man and ordered him to ‘take of his underpants’ threatening to hand him over to the police if he refuses to cooperate.

After that Olga raped her hostage for three long days. She chained Viktor to the radiator with pink furry handcuffs and fed him Viagra. She eventually let the man go on Monday, March 16, saying: “Get out of my sight!”

Viktor went straight to hospital as his genitals were injured, and then to the police.

Thug throws cat off roof :

A TEENAGER who laughed at a cat’s “screams” as he hurled it off a second storey rooftop into a swimming pool was fined $1000 in Cairns Magistrates’ Court yesterday. The court heard that Christopher Jeffrey James, 18, paused before throwing the cat - his ex-girlfriend’s mother’s pet - as his friend got his mobile phone ready to record the cruel show.

“The video footage clearly shows a man throwing a cat from the roof of a two-storey house,” police prosecutor Constable Siobhan O’Rourke said.

“There is the sound of a cat’s scream as he does this.”

“The cat lands in a nearby swimming pool and swims to the edge then runs into nearby bushes.

“Voices are heard laughing in the background.” 

Iranian nuke plot vaporized in the city: NY banks unwittingly aided in material transfers, says DA:

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has smashed a sinister plot to smuggle nuclear weapons materials to Iran through unwitting New York banks, the Daily News has learned.

Officials plan to unseal a 118-count indictment Tuesday accusing a Chinese national of setting up a handful of fake companies to hide that he was selling millions of dollars in potential nuclear materials to Tehran.

“This case will cut off a major source of supply to Iran and it shows how they are going ahead full steam to get a nuclear bomb. Long-range missiles they pretty much have already,” a law enforcement source close to the case said.

“We think it is one of the largest suppliers of weapons of mass destruction to Iran.”

Cops: Man who didn’t like sandwich attacks fiance

Feeding picky eaters can be a pain.

Just ask Lyndel Toppin’s fiancée, whose middle finger was almost chopped off when Toppin allegedly attacked her with a kitchen knife, according to Upper Darby police.

The reason for the assault, cops say, was a poorly made meatball sandwich. Specifically, the cheese placement was all wrong, which infuriated Toppin.

“That was the catalyst,” police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. The 44-year-old woman, whom cops did not identify, was preparing dinner last week in her Kingston Road home when Toppin “became enraged due to the victim not placing cheese on his hoagie roll correctly,” according to the arrest affidavit.

Former Alabama judge indicted on inmate sex charges 

A former south Alabama judge is accused of checking male inmates out of jail and forcing them to engage in sexual activity including paddling, according to officials and court documents.

Former Mobile County Circuit Judge Herman Thomas was arrested Friday after a grand jury returned the indictments against him. He was released on $287,500 bond later Friday. The indictments total 57 counts, and the charges range from ethics violations to kidnapping, extortion, sex abuse and sodomy.

If convicted on the most serious charge — kidnapping, a Class A felony — Thomas faces a prison sentence of 10 to 99 years in prison, Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. said Monday.

Officer, dog square off against Modesto mob of 60

A Modesto police officer had to pull his gun to keep a hostile crowd at bay early Sunday. The officer sustained minor injuries in the southwest Modesto incident, said police spokesman Sgt. Brian Findlen.

Police are not releasing the officer’s name. The officer’s dog was assaulted but not seriously injured, Findlen said. Police arrested several suspects in connection with the incident. A loaded assault rifle was found later at the scene of the struggle, which unfolded about 2 a.m.

Findlen said the officer pulled his gun only after other deterrents, including his police dog, failed to keep the crowd under control. “In a situation where you really feel that your life is in imminent danger, your options become very few,” Findlen said. Some members of the crowd told the officer that “he was not going to leave the scene alive,” according to police.

 The crowd of as many as 60 people included some known gang members, Findlen said. Police believe the group was gathered for a party in the 1700 block of Pelton Avenue. The officer happened upon the group when he was responding to another call in the area.

The officer saw several people assaulting one man, Findlen said. As the officer tried to break up the fight, the crowd’s attention shifted from the assault victim to the officer. The crowd surrounded the officer. The officer sent his dog into the crowd in an attempt to stop the group.

The dog apprehended one suspect, who police later identified as 18-year-old Alfredo Espinoza of Modesto. As the officer tried to arrest Espinoza, the crowd pulled Espinoza away from the officer.

19,000 UK credit card details posted on the Net … and accessible on Google

The credit card details of up to 19,000 British shoppers were published on the internet - where they could be found using a simple search on Google. The details apparently originated from the website of a criminal gang in the Far East.

The list, obtained by the Mail, includes the names, home addresses and full card details of thousands of Visa, Mastercard and American Express customers. Google’s high-powered search engine inadvertently picked up the list during a ‘crawl’ of the web - allowing it to be seen and copied.

More ‘fight club’ allegations at Texas school:

Nine employees are under investigation over allegations of new fights among mentally disabled residents of the troubled Corpus Christi State School, a state lawmaker said Saturday night.

State Rep. Abel Herrero said the workers are on leave while officials look into complaints that the staff members did nothing to intervene in the fights involving residents Wednesday and Thursday.

The new allegations follow six staffers being charged earlier this month with injury to a disabled person over separate fights allegedly organized for the staff’s entertainment. Videos of those fights were found on a cell phone.

“Appalling,” said Herrero, a Corpus Christi-area Democrat. “Completely unacceptable. It’s important that the state exhaust every resource to once and for all ensure the safety and well-being of our state’s most vulnerable population.”

Suspects toss thousands out windows during rush-hour pursuit:

Motorists stopped on freeways Thursday and scrambled to collect cash that drug suspects tossed like confetti from their pickup while leading police on a pursuit during the evening commute.

Police arrested two men on Interstate 5 in Carmel Valley while other officers collected more than $17,000 along the pursuit route. Drug Enforcement Administration agents took custody of the money, the pickup and the suspects.

Some civilians who got in on the cash-grab later handed it over to police. A 16-year-old boy turned over $570 at the department’s northeastern division station.

‘THEY SHOT ME WITH AN ARROW!’

A woman got a terrifying taste of the Old West this afternoon when she was struck by an arrow as she stepped out of a car at a Riverdale nursing home. Witnesses said Denise Delgado-Brown was dropping two friends off at the Schervier Nursing Care Center on Independence Avenue shortly after 1:30 p.m. when a black arrow with yellow feathers - apparently fired by an unknown archer - struck her mid-section near the heart. “They shot me with an arrow!” a stunned Delgado-Brown, who lives in Yonkers, told friends as she collapsed near her KIA SUV.

South African men are ‘raping women to cure them of being lesbians’

Lesbians living in South Africa are being raped by men who believe it will ‘cure’ them of their sexual orientation, a report has revealed. Women are reporting a rising tide of brutal homophobic attacks and murders and the widespread use of ‘corrective’ rape as a form of punishment.

The report, commissioned by international NGO ActionAid, called for South Africa’s criminal justice system to recognise the rapes as hate crimes as police are reportedly failing to take action over the spiralling violence.

Police: 81 cars missing from dealership; 3 execs in custody

The owner of a Nebraska car dealership and two executives were in police custody facing theft charges Thursday after 81 cars were taken from the dealership’s lot, authorities said. Alan Patch, 52, who owns Legacy Auto Sales in Nebraska is being held in Tooele County, Utah.

Rachel Fait, 37, Legacy’s comptroller, was arrested in Tooele County on Wednesday, and Legacy general manager Rick Covello, 53, turned himself in to Scottsbluff officials Thursday, Spencer said.

Police became aware of the case Tuesday, when they received a call from Toyota company officials, Spencer said. Toyota told police they had received a call that all of Legacy’s new Toyotas were gone from its lot.

Employees arriving at the dealership for work on Tuesday also found the three executives gone, police said. They had packed up their personal possessions. Some computers were gone, as well. Fait and Patch’s homes in Nebraska were on the market and empty, Spencer said.

Mexico blasts Forbes for putting drug lord on list

Mexico’s government condemned Forbes Magazine on Thursday for putting the country’s most wanted man, a violent drug lord, on its annual list of the world’s richest people.

Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman made the prestigious business magazine’s list for the first time on Wednesday, sharing the 701st spot at $1 billion in assets. The amount was based on his estimated share of drug shipments to the United States.

Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora accused U.S.-based Forbes of coming to the defense of a criminal and said it was “deplorable” for the publication to compare Guzman with honest and law-abiding business people.

Guzman, who is just 5 feet tall, escaped from prison in 2001 and set off a wave of killings across Mexico in an attempt to dominate the country’s highly lucrative drug trade into the United States.

PERV GROUP PUTS 10G ‘HIT’ ON ANDY

A $10,000 Internet bounty was placed on Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s head by a suspected agent of the North American Man/Boy Love Association, The Post has learned.

The shocking death threat by the infamous organization of pederasts was posted three weeks ago on an Internet news-group bulletin board that originated in The Bronx, law-enforcement sources said.

The threat, described by a source as “unprecedented” because it is believed to come from an organization, prompted a sweeping and ongoing criminal probe by the Attorney General’s Office and at least one other law-enforcement organization, and subpoenas were issued, sources said.

Woman, 70, Fights Off Intruders With Pan

A feisty 70-year-old woman who fought off four home intruders by whacking one with a signature Emeril Lagasse saucepan was upset when police took it as evidence after apprehending the suspects.

But now, Ellen Basinski, of Elyria, outside Cleveland, has lots of replacement Lagasse cookware coming her way, courtesy of the chef himself, and The Early Show Saturday Edition.

The feisty Basinski was on the phone with her husband, a local judge, when the would-be robbers entered the house.

“I was angry,” she says.

Police: Coed Slay Suspect Knox Did Cartwheels After Murder

Italian investigators testified Friday in the murder trial of an American student and her former boyfriend, with one saying the American turned cartwheels in the police station after the killing.
…
Profazio said Knox and Sollecito had a “strange attitude” when they were brought to the police station for questioning following the discovery of Kercher’s body. He said that on one occasion Knox sat on Sollecito’s lap.

“I told them it was not appropriate,” Profazio said.

He also recalled other officers reporting that Knox was doing cartwheels and splits in the police station.

Two Arizona Teens Ran Prostitution Ring, Police Say 

Two teenaged girls were arrested for allegedly pimping other students for prostitution, Phoenix police said.

Jazmine Finley and Tatiana Tye, both 16, allegedly used contacts from local schools and their friends to lure other young girls into prostitution, MyFOXPhoenix reported.

Investigators said the suspects recruited at least five girls, ages 14 to 17.

 Finley and Tye, who were allegedly involved in prostitution themselves, were responsible for recruiting, teaching and receiving money from the other girls who worked for them, police said.

Hong Kong chef jailed for meat-cleaver attack on grumbling diner

A Hong Kong chef on Thursday began a 20-month jail sentence for attacking a woman diner with a meat cleaver after she complained about his food. Cheng Chi-wai, 50, hit the 47-year-old woman on the head with the cleaver after she grumbled about the meal she was served in the seafood restaurant in the city’s Wan Chai district. He ran into the kitchen and emerged with two meat cleavers after she remarked on the poor quality of his cooking and hit the woman on the forehead with the blunt side of one of the cleavers.

2 Teen Girls Found in Wash. Army Barracks; 1 Dead 

A 16-year-old girl was found dead and another teenage girl was discovered unconscious in a barracks on this Army base south of Tacoma, the Army said Monday.

In a statement issued about 36 hours after base emergency personnel responded to a 911 call early Sunday morning, Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Piek said a Madigan Army Medical Center doctor declared one girl dead at the scene. The second teen was taken to Madigan for emergency medical care and was reported in stable condition Monday.

U.S. judges accused of jailing kids for cash

For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses.

The explanation, prosecutors say, was corruption on the bench.

In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.

Hamas Reinstates Crucifixions of Christians:

While the world focused on Hamas militants launching rockets from Gaza at southern Israel, the terrorist organization also voted quietly to implement Islamic law in the Gaza Strip, including crucifixion of Christians, according to reports in the Arabic press.

The traditional Muslim criminal code, known as Sharia law, includes penalties such as amputation of limbs for stealing and the death penalty, including crucifixion, for actions Hamas deems detrimental to “Palestinian interests,” including collaborating with Israel.

The new law was reported on the Al-Arabiya Web site and in the London-based Saudi-owned newspaper Al-Hayat, which wrote that the implementation of Sharia law has “brought criticism and concern from human rights organizations in the Gaza Strip.”

Angry Man Plants Nails in Neighbors’ Driveways

A frustrated man sought revenge on his neighbors in a unique manner: He planted nails at the ends of their driveways so their tires would bust whenever they pulled in or out. How cruel. Apparently this guy’s been booby-trapping driveways since 2006, according to the Journal News. That’s even crueler. Four people – two in Stony Point and two in Haverstraw – have called in more than 40 complaints over the last two years

Report: Mexican says cops threatened him with lion

A gardener detained along with more than a dozen members of an alleged drug trafficking ring testified that police threatened him to feed him to lions and tigers during a raid at a Mexico City mansion, a newspaper reported Friday.

The Oct. 16 raid — in which police seized exotic animals from a private zoo at a sprawling estate — has been marred by allegations of abuse and corruption against the police who conducted the operation.

 Mexico’s former acting federal police chief, Gerardo Garay, is under investigation for allegedly stealing money from the mansion during the raid. Garay is among several federal officers arrested for alleged collaboration with drug cartels in a corruption investigation known as “Operation Clean House.”

The Reforma newspaper says it had access to a court hearing Tuesday in which the gardener, Fernando Maya, testified that police beat him, gave him electric shocks and threatened to rape his wife if he did not reveal the whereabouts of the owner of the house, who remains at large. He claimed that police dragged him to cages with lions and tigers and threatened to throw him inside.

 Suspect in ‘Santa’ Slaying Reportedly Kills Self After Opening Fire at Christmas Party, Leaving 3 Dead

A man dressed as Santa Claus opened fire at a Christmas Eve party in a home that subsequently caught fire, leaving three people dead, police said. The suspect later killed himself, police said.

Police found the body of Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, at the home of his brother early Thursday in the Sylmar area of Los Angeles. Police would not say how he died.

Police said he was the estranged husband of a person who may have been at the party in Covina, a Los Angeles suburb.

“He was going through some type of marital problems, and we believe that this residence is a relative’s residence,” Lt. Pat Buchanan said.

 Mexican Beauty Queen Arrested in Gun-Filled Truck, Police Sa

A reigning Mexican beauty queen from the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa was arrested with suspected gang members in a truck filled guns and ammunition, police said Tuesday.

Miss Sinaloa 2008 Laura Zuniga stared at the ground, with her flowing dark hair concealing her face, as she stood squeezed between seven alleged gunmen lined up before journalists. Soldiers wearing ski masks guarded the 23-year-old model and the suspects.

Zuniga was arrested shortly before midnight on Monday at a military checkpoint in Zapopan, just outside the colonial city of Guadalajara, said Jalisco state police director, Francisco Alejandro Solorio.

Zuniga was riding in one of two trucks, where soldiers found a large stash of weapons, including two AR-15 assault rifles, .38 specials, 9mm handguns, nine magazines, 633 cartridges and $53,300 in U.S. currency, Solorio said.

‘Acid’ bottles hurt dozens in HK:

Forty-six people were injured when two bottles of what’s thought to be acid fell onto a busy street in Hong Kong. Police suspect the bottles were dropped deliberately from a high-rise building, an official told a local newpaper. Victims cried out as the liquid damaged skin and burned holes in clothing, witnesses said. Those taken to hospital were released the same day. Police searched the building, but no arrests were made following the incident late on Saturday.

Greek police run out of tear gas as rioting continues for a seventh day

Thousands of Greek protesters clashed with riot police yet again in Athens today, as police started to run out of tear gas after battling rioters day and night for a whole week.

 Police sources said their riot squads had fired 4,600 tear gas canisters this week as rioters torched hundreds of banks and shops and occupied their campuses, where police after forbidden by law from entering.

The police have asked Israel and Germany to send them emergency supplies, while protesters claimed that they had been using old stock from the 1980s in a desperate bid to contain the rioting. They claimed that corroded chemicals were causing some demonstrators to collapse and need medical attention.

?We found tear gas canister dated from 1981,? said one demonstrator, calling himself only GK. ?The old chemicals make us sick, people have fainted and have trouble breathing,? he said.

Driver of Silver Bentley Shot, Seriously Injured in Los Angeles Freeway Gunbattle

The driver of a silver Bentley was shot early Friday in an apparent car-to-car freeway shooting in the southbound lanes of Highway 101 in downtown Los Angeles.

California Highway Patrol and police officers responding to a 3:25 a.m. shots-fired call discovered the bullet-riddled Bentley stopped on the freeway near the eastbound Interstate 10 connector.

Police Lt. Paul Vernon says the Bentley driver, who has several bullet wounds, was found slumped over the steering wheel. The lieutenant says he’s hospitalized with serious injuries.

Vernon says no witnesses have come forward to the apparent car-to-car shooting. Investigators don’t know if the shooting is gang or narcotics related or the result of road rage.

The Bentley, which is peppered with bullet holes, does not have license plates.

Prominent Trader Accused of Defrauding Clients

Bernard L. Madoff, a legend among Wall Street traders, was arrested on Thursday morning by federal agents and charged with criminal securities fraud stemming from his company?s money management business.

The arrest and criminal complaint were confirmed just before 6 p.m. Thursday by Lev L. Dassin, the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, and Mark Mershon, the assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to the complaint, Mr. Madoff advised colleagues at the firm on Wednesday that his investment advisory business was ?all just one big lie? that was ?basically, a giant Ponzi scheme? that, by his estimate, had lost $50 billion over many years.

Related accusations were made in a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in federal court in Manhattan. That complaint accuses Mr. Madoff of defrauding advisory clients of his firm and seeks emergency relief to protect potential victims, including an asset freeze and the appointment of a receiver for the firm.

Albino girl killed for body parts:

A six-year-old albino girl in Burundi has been found dead with her head and limbs removed, in the latest killing linked to ritual medicine. Albinos in the region have been targeted because of a belief peddled by witchdoctors that their body parts can be used for magic potions. The girl, who was attacked on Sunday, was the sixth person with albinism to be killed in Burundi since September.

Drug Gang Hangs Beheaded Man From Overpass:

A beheaded man was hung from an overpass Thursday, a gruesome display even for this northern border city long used to drug-related violence. Shortly after the grisly sighting about 5 a.m., police found the victim’s head in a black bag in a nearby plaza, said state police spokesman Alejandro Pariente. Pariente said the body was wearing black jeans, a red T-shirt and white sneakers, and was handcuffed. A banner apparently directed at rival drug-gang members was hung next to the corpse. The victim’s father identified the 23-year-old man.

Police: Suspect Steals Cash, Leaves Thumb

A man was ordered to be held without bail after police tied him to a recent armed robbery. But at least he has his thumb back. Police said Bryan Perez, 22, and an accomplice made off with hundreds of dollars in cash in an Oct. 11 raid at an alleged brothel in Washington’s Columbia Heights neighborhood. According to charging documents, one of the victims took control of Perez’s silver machete during a struggle and hacked off his right thumb. About two hours after the robbery, a nine-fingered Perez went to an emergency room. Police found out about it, fingerprinted the thumb and transported it to the hospital for a comparison, according to a report in The Examiner.

Gunfight At Baby Shower; Four Hurt

Detectives on Sunday continued collecting evidence and interviewing people as they investigated a baby shower that turned into a gunfight at a union hall on Oakwood Avenue.

Four people were shot and are recovering at area hospitals, said police Det. Capt. Paul Melanson.

Police were called to the United Auto Workers hall at 666 Oakwood Ave. about 11:20 p.m. Saturday for a report of a disturbance. By the time the first officers arrived, two of the wounded were on their way to Hartford Hospital by private car. Another victim was taken by ambulance. It remained unclear Sunday morning how the fourth victim got to the hospital.

One of the victims taken by car to Hartford Hospital suffered a life-threatening wound to the abdomen, but was recovering after surgery, Melanson said.

In addition to collecting and cataloging evidence, police interviewed the approximately 60 people attending the baby shower.

“Some were very helpful,” Melanson said of those at the shower. “Most were less than forthcoming.”

Woman walks through market holding severed head of man who tried to rape her

Crowds in a busy market fled in terror as a woman walked among them holding aloft the severed head of a man who had attacked her.

Covered in blood, she held the head high like a trophy, said police - her way of showing that she had delivered her own kind of justice to her attacker.

The gruesome scene was played out in Makkapurva village, 170 miles south east of the Indian city of Lucknow, where, last night, the woman was being held behind bars.

According to police officer Ram Bharose, the unnamed 35-year-old woman had sliced off the man’s head with a sickle she had been using to cut grass near her village.

‘She was getting grass for her cattle when the man came up from behind her and tried to sexually assault her,’ said Mr Bharose.

‘In a bid to save her dignity, she turned on him and during a struggle managed to chop off his head with the sickle.

British Man Sentenced to Prison for Hacking Wife to Death Over Facebook Status

A British man who killed his wife with a meat cleaver because she changed her Facebook status to “single” was sentenced to at least 14 years in a U.K. prison Friday, the Daily Mail reported.

Wayne Forrester, 35, was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine when he drove to their family home and murdered his wife, Emma, as she slept in her bed. The couple had recently separated and Forrester felt humiliated when Emma changed her relationship status to single on Facebook.

The police were called amid Emma?s screams for her life. Wayne emerged from the house, drenched in blood and gripping a carton of juice when the police arrived. Holding his stained hands out for handcuffs, the Mail Online reports he told police, “Who called you? My wife is in there. I killed her.”

Teen Girl Allegedly Enslaved, Sexually Assaulted in Seattle

Five immigrants from Afghanistan enslaved a teenage girl they brought to the United States, with some forcing her to do chores and one ? her 37-year-old husband ? beating and sexually assaulting her, according to a federal indictment unsealed this week.

The girl is from an impoverished single-parent home in Afghanistan, and she was informally adopted by another family there that forced her to marry at age 13 in 2005, Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office, said Thursday. The girl’s husband is Mohammad Atahee, a friend of the adoptive family; U.S. officials don’t recognize the marriage.

1 in 3 ATL police academy grads have criminal records

Keovongsa Siharath was arrested in Henry County on charges he punched his stepfather.

Jeffrey Churchill was charged with assault in an altercation with a woman in a mall parking lot.

Calvin Thomas was taken into custody in DeKalb County on a concealed weapons charge.

 All three are now officers with the Atlanta Police Department.

 More than one-third of recent Atlanta Police Academy graduates have been arrested or cited for a crime, according to a review of their job applications. The arrests ranged from minor offenses such as shoplifting to violent charges including assault. More than one-third of the officers had been rejected by other law enforcement agencies, and more than half of the recruits admitted using marijuana.

O.J. Simpson Found Guilty on All Charges in Robbery-Kidnap Trial

O.J. Simpson, who went from American sports idol to celebrity-in-exile after he was acquitted of murder in 1995, was found guilty Friday of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room. The 61-year-old former football star could spend the rest of his life in prison. Sentencing was set for Dec. 5. A weary and somber Simpson released a heavy sigh as the charges were read by the clerk in Clark County District Court. He was immediately taken into custody.

Crikey! 7-Year-Old Breaks Into Zoo, Feeds Animals to Croc

A blank-faced 7-year-old boy broke into a popular Outback zoo, fed a string of animals to the resident crocodile and bashed several lizards to death with a rock, the zoo’s director said Friday.

The boy jumped a security fence at the Alice Springs Reptile Center in central Australia early Wednesday, then went on a 30-minute killing spree, using a rock to slay three lizards, including the zoo’s beloved, 20-year-old goanna, which he then fed to “Terry,” an 11-foot, 440-pound saltwater crocodile, said zoo director Rex Neindorf.

The boy, whose deadly acts were caught on the zoo’s security camera, also threw several live animals to Terry over the two fences surrounding the crocodile’s enclosure, at one point climbing over the outer fence to get closer to the giant reptile. In the footage, the boy’s face remains largely blank, Neindorf said.

“It was like he was playing a game,” he said.

System administrator steals almost 20,000 pieces of computer gear

Now this is some serious computer theft. We’re talking 19,709 pieces of stolen computer equipment from the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. The theft included everything from PCs and printer toner to hard drives, software and other office equipment amounting to over $120,000 according to court documents and published reports.

 The systems administrator, Victor Papagno plead guilty in federal court today to stealing the items in a period between 1997 and 2007 to benefit Papagno and his friends, reports said.

He took so much stuff that he stored some of it in neighbors’ houses, according to WTOP.com a local news outlet.

 Tenants Say Dead Cats Used To Try To Evict Them:

Tenants of a Brooklyn building say their landlord came up with a new idea for how to kick them out: Let the smell of the cats out of the bag.

 Dead cats, that is.

The stench from the carcasses did catch the tenants’ attention — but they stayed and sued.

One tenant, Daisy Terry, told a City Hall news conference on Friday it was so bad she had to hold her nose coming down the stairs.

 The building in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood was purchased last year by a company listed in court papers as Heskel. A call to Heskel Properties in Manhattan was not immediately returned.

Engineer In Deadly Metrolink Crash Sent Text Message Just Before Collision

Metrolink officials Saturday put the blame squarely on the engineer of the train for the deadly crash that has claimed at least 25 lives. They say he ran a red light.

But a group of local teens, train enthusiasts, who know the engineer well doubt that he was to blame.

 They called their friend professional and caring and said he helped them learn about trains and being an engineer. To a man, they said he would “never” have been reckless or unprofessional or run a red light.

But one minute before the deadliest crash in Metrolink history, one teen — Nick Williams — said he received a text message on his cell phone from the engineer, whom the teens identified as Robert Sanchez.

Nearly 125 Shot Dead In Chicago Over Summer:

An estimated 123 people were shot and killed over the summer. That’s nearly double the number of soldiers killed in Iraq over the same time period.

In May, cbs2chicago.com began tracking city shootings and posting them on Google maps. Information compiled from our reporters, wire service reports and the Chicago Police Major Incidents log indicated that 123 people were shot and killed throughout the city between the start of Memorial Day weekend on May 26, and the end of Labor Day on Sept. 1.

Italy horrified by ‘Clockwork Orange’ assault on monks

Italians have been left shocked by a ferocious assault on Franciscan monks by hooded thugs at a monastery in the foothills of the Alps, which has been compared to incidents seen in the film ‘A Clockwork Orange’.

Father Sergio Baldini, 48, the guardian of the San Colombano Belmonte monastery near Turin, and three elderly monks from the Franciscan order of Friars Minor, were having their evening meal when they were attacked by three hooded men who gagged and bound them before punching, kicking and beating them with clubs.

Father Baldini suffered severe head injuries but also has “serious respiratory problems” because he choked on his food while being assaulted, doctors say. He has had brain surgery and was in a coma.

The Name Fits The Crime

Following an undercover operation, Colorado police this month broke up a prostitution operation running out of a massage parlor known as Tokyo Sauna. Broomfield Police Department officers arrested a 54-year-old woman on a prostitution charge and a 65-year-old male customer for patronizing a hooker. But the big catch was the 48-year-old woman who allegedly ran the prostitution operation. She was charged with pimping, pandering, and keeping a place of prostitution. Mi Sook You is her name

A devastating report on France’s role

Is the defendant’s dock at the International Criminal Court reserved for leaders of small and poor countries that defy the West? Not if Rwanda has its way. It wants to charge some of France’s most celebrated leaders of the 1990s as collaborators in genocide.

Last week the government of Rwanda issued a damning 500-page report documenting France’s participation in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. This marks a remarkable turnaround in the deeply politicized world of human rights reporting. Usually, such reporting takes the form of governments or human rights groups based in the West condemning poor countries for having political or social systems that do not meet Western standards.

Now a wretched African country has turned the table.

All who study the Rwandan genocide, as I did while researching a book about that ill-fated country, come away stunned by what they learn about French support of mass murder. France was so eager to defend a client regime against English-speaking rebels that, as the new report asserts, it gave that regime “political, military, diplomatic and logistic support” and “directly assisted” its genocidal campaign.

The report names 33 present and former French politicians and military officers as conspirators, among them the late President François Mitterrand and other well-known figures like former foreign minister Alan Juppé and former prime minister Dominique de Villepin.

Records reveal Ford told FBI about JFK murder doubts

Former President Ford secretly advised the FBI that two of his fellow members on the Warren Commission doubted the FBI’s conclusion that John F. Kennedy was shot from the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository in Dallas, according to newly released records from Ford’s FBI files.

Ford, still a congressman at the time, also told a senior FBI official about internal panel disputes over hiring staff, Chief Justice Earl Warren’s timetable for completing the final report on the assassination and what panel members said about the FBI.

Greyhound scraps ads after Canada bus beheading

Greyhound has scrapped an ad campaign that extolled the relaxing upside of bus travel after one of its passengers was accused of beheading and cannibalizing another traveler.

The ad’s tag line was “There’s a reason you’ve never heard of ‘bus rage.’”

Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said Wednesday a billboard and some tunnel posters near a bus terminal in Toronto are still up and would be removed later in the day.

“Greyhound knows how important it is to get these removed and we are doing everything possible,” Wambaugh said. “This is something that we immediately asked to be done last week, realizing that these could be offensive.”

Officials: “Underwear Predator” Had 11 Victims

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters says a Springfield Township man, accused of running an “underwear con” to get near young children, is a predator who deserves to be locked up for a “very long time because he will continue to prey upon young children unless he is removed from the community”. Prosecutors today released new information in the case against 44 year old Ben Hawkins.

Hawkins allegedly conned parents into thinking their children were participating in an “underwear survey” in order to get close to them for sexual contact. Prosecutors now say Hawkins had “unpermitted contact” with 11 children, boys and girls ages 9 to 16, between March and July of this year.

Today a grand jury indicted Hawkins on 19 counts, including gross sexual imposition, importuning, and kidnapping.

Angry man hit by ricochet after firing five bullets into tractor

A Pickaway County man shot at a tractor mowing a ditch on his property last night and ended up hit by one of his own bullets, authorities said.

Randall Turner of Ashville threatened the driver of the tractor, which was pulling a mower, before firing five bullets into the tractor, Pickaway County Prosecutor Judy Wolford said. One of the bullets ricocheted and hit him, she said.

“So he went to the hospital and then he went to jail,” she said. Turner is charged with one count of felonious assault.

Wolford didn’t know the nature of Turner’s injuries but said he was released and booked into the Pickaway County Jail yesterday. He was released on bond, she said.

Australian Mother Charged With Placing Baby in a Fish Tank to Stop Its Crying

An Australian court heard testimony yesterday in a case invovling a mother who reportedly put her nine-month-old daughter into an aquarium filled with water after she was unable to stop the baby from crying.

The 22-year-old, who was not identified, has pleaded not guilty in the District Court to endangering the life of the baby at her Blakeview home in May, 2007.

The father, who also cannot be named, told the court he and his then-partner had been arguing on the night the baby was allegedly put into the aquarium.

He said the child had been crying and his partner was not able to make her stop. He saw his partner walk past their bedroom and then saw her walk back without the child.

“Five to 10 seconds later I heard coughing, spluttering, splashing and screaming,” he said. “I saw (the baby) face up on her back in the tank splashing, screaming, panicking.”

Mall officials consider changes after melee

As many as 300 people joined a melee that began inside a Raleigh mall and spilled outside the shopping center during the fight, police said Sunday.

Raleigh Police Department spokesman Jim Sughrue said the gang-related brawl began inside Triangle Town Center Mall on Saturday night at about 8 p.m. Off-duty officers working at the mall requested assistance, and Wake County sheriff’s deputies N.C. Highway Patrol troopers also responded

Sughrue said a 15-year-old was stabbed during the incident. He was taken to WakeMed and treated for non-life-threatening injuries. A police officer was also injured with a “significant” cut to his knee that he suffered during a chase. He was taken to Duke Raleigh Hospital for treatment and is expected to recover, Sughrue said.

South Africa tells Robert Mugabe to surrender

THE president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has been warned by Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, that he faces prosecution for the crimes he has committed during his 28 years in office unless he signs a deal to give up all effective power.

Mbeki, who has done all he can to shield and support Mugabe for the past eight years, has come under overwhelming western pressure and has had to tell Mugabe that he could no longer protect him and his key cronies from being charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The power-sharing talks between Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) are shrouded in secrecy. But The Sunday Times has learnt that Mugabe, who has vowed that Tsvangirai will never be in government and that “only God can remove me from power”, faces humiliation over the terms of the deal that he will be forced to sign next month.

R.I. police say man had 0.491 blood alcohol level

State police say they arrested a man early Tuesday whose blood alcohol level was 0.491 percent — the highest ever recorded in Rhode Island for someone who wasn’t dead.

Stanley Kobierowski was taken to a hospital, put in the detoxification unit and sedated, said Maj. Steven O’Donnell. He was arraigned Tuesday on charges of driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest, and he was released after promising to appear Friday at a court hearing.

Top war crimes suspect Karadzic arrested in Serbia

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, accused architect of massacres making him one of the world’s top war crimes fugitives, was arrested on Monday evening in a sweep by Serbian security forces, the country’s president and the U.N. tribunal said.

Karadzic is suspected of masterminding mass killings that the U.N. war crimes tribunal described as “scenes from hell, written on the darkest pages of human history.” They include the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica, Europe’s worst slaughter since World War II.

Zimbabwe introduces $100 billion banknotes

Zimbabwe’s troubled central bank introduced $100 billion banknotes Saturday in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages plaguing the inflation-ravaged economy.
A shopper displays a $500 million Zimbabwean bank note.

The bills officially come into circulation Monday, although they were on the foreign currency dealers market Saturday.

As high as they are, though, the bills still aren’t enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can buy only four oranges.

The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar.

Once-prosperous Zimbabwe has seen an unprecedented economic meltdown since it gained independence in 1980, with the official inflation rate now at 2.2 million percent.

Day of Reckoning? Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed

Hundreds of super-rich American tax cheats have, in effect, turned themselves in to the IRS after a bank computer technician in the tinyEuropean country of Liechtenstein came forward with the names of US citizens who had set up secret accounts there, according to Washington lawyers investigating the scheme.
Kieber

Heinrich Kieber, a bank computer technician in Liechtenstein came forward with the names of US citizens who had set up secret accounts there, according to Washington lawyers investigating the scheme. He has been branded a thief by the government of Liechtenstein for violating the country’s bank secrecy laws.

He is now in hiding but scheduled to testify to the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Thursday via a video statement from a secret location, according to Congressional investigators.

Neb. cop, family win $40K over urine-tainted food

A police officer and his family have won $40,000 in their lawsuit against a restaurant that had served them food tainted by an employee’s spit and urine.

A jury on Friday ruled in favor of Sidney police Officer Keith Andrew, whose two sons, then 4 and 7, were sickened by the food they ate at a KFC/Taco Bell in October 2005. Sidney is a town of about 6,000 in western Nebraska.

The younger boy became violently ill with gastroenteritis and dehydration, vomited for hours and was forced to spend time in a hospital, the family’s lawsuit said.

S.F. officials locked out of computer network

A disgruntled city computer engineer has virtually commandeered San Francisco’s new multimillion-dollar computer network, altering it to deny access to top administrators even as he sits in jail on $5 million bail, authorities said Monday.

Terry Childs, a 43-year-old computer network administrator who lives in Pittsburg, has been charged with four counts of computer tampering and is scheduled to be arraigned today.

Prosecutors say Childs, who works in the Department of Technology at a base salary of just over $126,000, tampered with the city’s new FiberWAN (Wide Area Network), where records such as officials’ e-mails, city payroll files, confidential law enforcement documents and jail inmates’ bookings are stored.

Childs created a password that granted him exclusive access to the system, authorities said. He initially gave pass codes to police, but they didn’t work. When pressed, Childs refused to divulge the real code even when threatened with arrest, they said.

Bizarre murder scene for US actress

For six days American actress Joyce Germain lay dead beneath a pile of towels, cushions, a foot spa and a construction hat, decomposing in the bathroom of her inner Sydney flat.

It was a bizarre scene, rivalled only by the cast of characters who will be called to give evidence about her unsolved death.

Opening an inquest into the 59-year-old’s death in Sydney on Monday, counsel assisting the coroner, Rebbecca Becroft, said the circumstances could only be described as “strange and bizarre”.

Ms Germain’s large frame was buried beneath various household items, including bedding, towels and a blue foot spa.

An electric iron cord was wrapped about her neck and a knife and razor were found near her body, but there were no discernible wounds, Sgt Becroft said.

Her dress was lifted above her head and a clothes peg had been attached to her genitals, with lipstick smeared over the vanity basin, walls and the body.

Houstonian sentenced to 35 years in killing over foot odor

A Houston man was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Tuesday after prosecutors said he fatally stabbed his roommate during an argument about foot odor.

William Antonio Serrano, 23, pleaded no contest to murder in May in the October death of Noel Quintanilla-Vaquero, 21.

During his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Serrano cried as he told state District Judge Mike Anderson that he had been defending himself against Quintanilla-Vaquero, his court-appointed attorney, Sid Crowley, said.

However, no evidence was available to show that Quintanilla-Vaquero had a weapon, Harris County Assistant District Attorney Joe Vinas said.

“The defendant said the victim had smelly feet,” Vinas said.

Waxwork Hitler beheaded in Berlin

A man has been arrested after tearing the head off a wax figure of Adolf Hitler at a newly opened branch of Madame Tussauds in Berlin.

The 41-year-old man was held after attacking the waxwork, only hours after the attraction opened on Saturday.

The inclusion of Hitler in the exhibition has aroused controversy in a country where Nazi symbols are banned.

More headless corpses found as Mexican drug wars rage

Three decapitated corpses were discovered in Mexico’s northwestern Sinaloa state Friday, bring to a total of seven headless bodies found and 11 police assassinated in a bloody week of often drug-related violence in the country, officials and news reports said.

The three headless corpses were found in a car in Culiacan, Sinaloa, together with a note critical of one of the Beltran Leyva brothers, heads of a faction of the divided Sinaloa drug cartel, state judicial officials said in a statement.

The Beltran Leyva brothers are in a fight with Sinaloa-based Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the country’s most sought-after drug kingpin.

A message attacking him was found with four decapitated bodies on Wednesday, also in Culiacan.

Carjackers’ nightmare: intended victims are two cops

A 22-year-old man is in custody after police said he and another man unwittingly tried to carjack an unmarked police car with two uniformed officers inside.

At 9:30 p.m. Thursday, the officers were investigating illegal fireworks activity in the 2200 block of Eastwood Avenue when a sports utility vehicle pulled up in front of their unmarked police sedan, said Santa Ana Police Department Comm. Steve Colon.

The two men got out of the SUV and took “an aggressive approach toward the officers,” Colon said. The driver acted as if he had a weapon in his waistband, police said.

At that point, the officers got out of the car; the two suspects ran back into their SUV and attempted to get away, Colon said. Police suspect the two men didn’t realize there were officers in the vehicle.

Three charged with murder after 17-year-old boy is tied to tree, forced to drink petrol and set alight

A teenager died after he was tied to a tree and made to drink petrol before being set on fire, police revealed yesterday.

Simon Everitt died from inhaling some of the fluid, a post-mortem examination found.

The 17-year-old engineering student had been missing for three weeks before his body was discovered buried in a ditch last Saturday.

N.C. Dem leader accused of satanism

A Durham, N.C., Democratic official and her husband face criminal charges in connection with alleged satanic rituals.

Joy Johnson, 30, a third vice-chairwoman of the Durham County Democratic Party and vice chairwoman of the Young Democrats, was charged Friday with two counts of aiding and abetting. Her husband, Joseph Scott Craig, 25, was charged with second-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon for incidents in January and May, the Raleigh News & Observer reported Tuesday.

Mark McCullough, an assistant district attorney, would not release details of the allegations. But in court on Monday, he acknowledged that “part of the allegations are that satanic worship is part of this case.”

Rescuers May Bore Hole in Capsized Philippine Ferry, 800 Missing

Rescuers in the Philippines may bore a hole in a ferry capsized by a deady typhoon in a desperate attempt to find survivors among more than 800 missing passengers and crew, an official said Monday.

A group of 28 ferry passengers and crew washed ashore after drifting at sea for more than a day from the site where their ship was capsized and left most of the hundreds aboard missing and presumed dead, officials said.

Manila’s DZBB radio said the survivors, 20 male passengers, four women and four crewmen, drifted at sea for more than 24 hours wearing their lifejackets, reaching Mulanay township in eastern Quezon province late Sunday.

Children fed ’silly pills,’ forced to perform sex shows

In the windowless front rooms of a former day care center in a tiny Texas community, children as young as 5 were fed powerful painkillers they knew as “silly pills” and forced to perform sex shows for a crowd of adults.

Two people have already been convicted in the case. Now a third person with ties to the club, previously known in town only as a swingers group, is set to go on trial Monday not far from Mineola, population 5,100.

“This really shook this town,” said Shirley Chadwick, a longtime resident of Mineola. “This was horrible.”

Patrick Kelly, 41, is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, tampering with physical evidence and engaging in organized criminal activity.

In all, six adults have been charged in connection with the case, including a parent of the three siblings involved.

Jurors this year deliberated less than five minutes before returning guilty verdicts against the first two defendants, who were accused of grooming the kids for sex shows in “kindergarten” classes and passing off Vicodin as “silly pills” to help the children perform.

Young Teen Runaway’s Alleged Pimp To Face Judge

A dwarf charged with prostituting an underage runaway will appear in Kings County Supreme Court on Monday.

Jacqueline Green, a.k.a. ‘Shorty,’ due to her 3 foot 9 inch height, is charged with promoting prostitution and child endangerment for allegedly pimping a 15-year-old that ran away from a troubled home.

According to published reports, Green is accused of using her Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment as a sex pad for clients who paid $250 per half-hour for intercourse, and $100 per half-hour of oral sex.

Clients were found using Craigslist.

Journalist ‘reported own murders’

Police in Macedonia have arrested a journalist on suspicion that he is behind three murders he reported on.

The journalist, Vlado Taneski, is accused of raping, torturing and killing three elderly women in the south-western town of Kicevo.

Macedonian police began to suspect him after he included details in his reports that they had not made public.

Other men have reportedly already been convicted of the first two murders. The third was committed last month.

Mr Taneski, 56, has not yet been charged with any offence, police said.

South Carolina Executes Inmate Who Killed 2 by Electric Chair

A South Carolina man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents 14 years ago was executed in the state’s electric chair after a last-ditch effort to halt the sentence was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court.

James Earl Reed was pronounced dead at 11:27 p.m. Friday in the state’s death chamber in Columbia. He did not issue a final statement.

The execution, first scheduled for 6 p.m., had been put on hold as defense attorneys successfully obtained a stay from a federal judge, only to see it vacated by the 4th U.S. Circit Court of Appeals. Their attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court to block the execution was subsequently denied.

Report: Ohio teacher burned cross on kids’ arms

A public school teacher preached his Christian beliefs despite complaints by other teachers and administrators and used a device to burn the image of a cross on students’ arms, according to a report by independent investigators.

Mount Vernon Middle School teacher John Freshwater also taught creationism in his science class and was insubordinate in failing to remove a Bible and other religious materials from his classroom, the report said.

FBI: Flight Diverted After NYC Woman Lights Up

An unruly JetBlue passenger from Queens who lit up a cigarette mid-flight Tuesday forced the 145-passenger flight to be diverted after she became violent and uncooperative when asked to stop smoking, CBS 2 HD has learned.

Christina Szele, 35, was arrested and charged with assault and interfering with a flight crew, and remains locked up in Denver until a detention hearing scheduled for Monday.

Szele’s brother told CBS 2 HD she is going through a tough time right now, having recently seen the end of a 10-year relationship.

“She does drink a lot. I think part of it is the breakup, and that’s what she told me,” Ladi Szele said. “She could use help.

“She was going to fly out a week ago, but she missed her flight. So they were going to put her on another flight. And they wouldn’t let her board because they said she was too intoxicated.”

Abu Hamza loses extradition fight

Jailed Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has lost his High Court bid against extradition to the US where he faces terror-related charges.

The Egyptian-born preacher is currently serving a seven-year jail term in the UK for inciting murder and race hate.

Abu Hamza, 50, from west London, is wanted by US authorities on 11 charges, including sending cash to al-Qaeda.

He has 14 days to decide whether he will launch a final appeal in the House of Lords against the judges’ decision.

The extradition order was first approved by City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court and ratified by the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith in February 2008.

War crimes warning to Robert Mugabe as terror grows

With just a week to go before Zimbabwe’s run-off elections – and with the body count growing – President Mugabe has been warned that he could be hauled before the International Criminal Court in The Hague over the atrocities inflicted on his opponents.

A key Western diplomat, speaking yesterday on condition of anonymity, said: “He needs to know he is moments away from an ICC indictment.”

Twelve bodies of activists, most of them showing signs of torture, were found across Zimbabwe yesterday.

In New York, Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, convened a crisis meeting at the United Nations. She said: “By its actions, the Mugabe regime has given up any pretence that the June 27 elections will be allowed to proceed in a free and fair manner. We have reached the point where stronger international action is needed.”

Martha Stewart refused entry to the UK

Martha Stewart has been refused a visa to Britain because of her criminal convictions for obstructing justice, the Daily Telegraph has learned.

The lifestyle guru, convicted four years ago in the US for obstructing justice, was planning to speak at the Royal Academy and to hold meetings with several figures in the fashion and leisure industry, including Jasper Conran, and was due to travel within the next few days.

The refusal by the UK Border Agency was sent to Ms Stewart, aged 66. A spokesperson for the business magnate said: “Martha loves England and hopes this can be resolved and that she will be able to visit soon.”

SUBPOENA BLITZ PUTS HEAT ON AL

The probe into the Rev. Al Sharpton’s finances intensified this week, with the IRS sending out a flurry of subpoenas to his most generous corporate donors, The Post has learned.

Anheuser-Busch, the brewer of Budweiser and Michelob, confirmed yesterday that it received a federal subpoena in connection to its charitable giving to Sharpton’s National Action Network.

“We have received a subpoena and are cooperating with the IRS,” the company said in a statement.

Morgan Stanley suspends London trader

Morgan Stanley has suspended a trader in London after the individual allegedly cost the Wall Street bank $120m (£60m) by wrongly pricing investments.

The employee has been reported to the City regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Morgan Stanley discovered the problem in the second half of May and believes it had been going on for at least three months.

The trader appears to have placed too high a price on certain investments which are currently very hard to value because there is almost no market for them. Banks are struggling with these types of investments and have to mark them to a model which they believe reflects a fair value.
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They have come under pressure to be very rigorous about these marks from investors who are nervous about possible new blackholes emerging in companies’ balance sheets. Morgan Stanley issued a statement saying: “The firm became aware of marks in a London-based trader’s book that were inconsistent with firm policies.

Man accused of kidnap to get ironing done

An Italian man was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend from a pub, taking her home and forcing her to iron his clothes and wash the dishes, police said Monday.

The 43-year-old man dragged the woman out of a pub in the port city of Genoa, shoved her into a car and took her to his home, where he made her iron and wash dishes after threatening her, they said.

Japan executes notorious cannibal killer

Japan on Tuesday executed three people including notorious serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki, a fetishist convicted of murdering four young girls and eating some of their bodies, officials said.

Miyazaki, 45, was nicknamed the “killer nerd” for his obsession with sexual cartoons and pornography. But defence lawyers contended he was mentally ill and could not be held fully responsible for his actions.

Japan is the only major industrialised nation other than the United States to apply the death penalty and has been stepping up the pace of executions, which enjoy wide public support.

“We are carrying out executions by selecting the people whom we can execute with a feeling of confidence and responsibility,” Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama told a news conference.

Hatoyama said he had signed the order to send the trio to the gallows to “realise justice.”