`A police officer in Maryland heard a surprising story when he found a 15-year-old girl and an adult male engaged in a sex act at 3 a.m. in a car in Takoma Park: She was a prostitute, the girl said, and her pimp was a coach at a high school in Prince George’s County.
Arron J. Burroughs, a junior varsity assistant football coach at Bowie High School, appeared yesterday in Superior Court in the District, where he was ordered held without bail on a charge of first-degree child sexual abuse, said Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.’
`A pilot faced reckless flying and other charges for landing a helicopter on a public street to pick up Tommy Lee and take him to a concert, prosecutors said.
David Keith Martz, 49, allegedly landed the helicopter July 7 outside a home in the Hollywood Hills.
He was summoned to give the 43-year-old rocker a 50-mile flight to a Nine Inch Nails concert in Irvine, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the City Attorney’s Office.’
`Two blue smurfs were left with red faces on Saturday night after they were arrested by police for stealing a trampoline.
Senior Sergeant Brian Benn told NZPA two drunk 19 year olds, “dressed as smurfs”, were seen carrying the trampoline along Richardson Street, Dunedin about 1am. [..]
“When they saw the police had noticed them they dropped the trampoline and took off.” [..]
“Two were located, but a third man got away,” he said.’
`Mel Gibson issued a lengthy statement Saturday apologizing for saying “despicable” things to deputies when he was arrested for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol.
“I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable,” the actor and “The Passion of the Christ” director said without elaborating.
Neither Gibson’s publicist, Alan Nierob, nor the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department would comment on what Gibson said when he was arrested early Friday on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.’
Followup to Mel Gibson arrested on suspicion of DUI.
`Transport authorities promised swift action Friday after discovering some New Zealanders have listed their cars as hearses to cut their registration fees.
The scam came to light when a Christchurch woman told a local radio station she had paid just 58 New Zealand dollars ($36) to register her car, instead of the usual NZ$183 ($113), by registering it as a “noncommercial hearse” to carry dead animals.
The woman’s definition of carrying dead animals: taking frozen chickens home from the supermarket.’
`Police in Chile are asking Paris to extradite a French woman after a massive pyramid-selling scam in which thousands of people were conned.
People were persuaded to buy a powder which they could allegedly turn into “Magic Cheese”, said to make skin look younger and to be highly valuable.
The powder, called Yo Flex and costing up to $500 (£270), turned out to be an almost-worthless food supplement.’
`The attacks started last August, but it has taken several months for the police to realise that there seem to be two separate assailants on the loose. [..]
Most local people believe the two killers are involved in a deadly game of one-upmanship. When one strikes, the other follows.
“The sooner they are caught, the better it is for this whole city,” says Justin Schneider, wearing a red beret as he patrols the park. The 21-year-old is a Guardian Angel – one of 30 volunteers now trying to restore calm on the streets of Phoenix. [..]
“You can’t have two guys on the loose, seeing who can kill the most innocent people,” Mr Schneider says.’
`A student who threw a cake at Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen last October has been charged with committing a crime against the Norwegian Constitution.
The cake attack occurred outside of the Finance Ministry on Halvorsen’s first day in office, and the new minister was hit squarely in the back of the head.
Afterwards the student came forward in newspaper VG and said he had thrown the pastry in order to stimulate debate about whether Norway was well served by having a minister of finance from the Socialist Left Party.
The question of what the 24-year-old student would be charged with has been left up to the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the final decision carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.’
`Actor and director Mel Gibson was arrested Friday in Malibu, California, on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.
Gibson, 50, was pulled over early Friday while driving on the Pacific Coast Highway, said sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore. Officers on patrol reported Gibson was driving at an “excessively fast speed,” he said.
Gibson was taken into custody and posted $5,000 bond for his release, Whitmore said.’
`Police in this Seattle suburb didn’t have to go far to arrest a man for investigation of car prowling. He was found sleeping in a special weapons and tactics van.
Officer Greg Grannis said a municipal worker reported someone breaking into cars, including his own, shortly before midnight Monday.
Officers quickly found burglarized cars, but couldn’t determine who might be responsible — until about 4:50 a.m., when two SWAT team members came to the police vehicle maintenance yard to get their van and found a 25-year-old transient asleep in the back, Grannis said.’
`A Japanese man has been found guilty of sexual harassment for forcing a female work colleague to pluck his beard.
“Asking a female colleague to pluck your beard is totally inappropriate and illegal,” media reports quoted the judge as saying as he ordered the man and the government, as his employer, to pay a total of almost $5,000 (2,700 pounds) in compensation.
According to the lawsuit filed by the woman, the man — an employee in his 30s in an office affiliated with the Labour Ministry — had repeatedly asked her to pluck his beard.
The woman, also in her 30s, told him he should do it himself but finally was forced to give in, Kyodo news agency said.’
`Town officials have nixed an idea for a jailhouse bar. The Select Board, acting as the town liquor board, rejected an inmate’s application to sell liquor from the state prison.
Paul Murphy of Worcester, Mass., is serving time at the Southern State Correctional Facility for aggravated assault, escape and passing bad checks.
He said in an application for a first- and second-class liquor license that he wanted to sell liquor from his home, which he listed as 700 Charlestown Road. That also happens to be the address of the state prison just east of downtown Springfield.’
`A Philadelphia family said they are outraged over the arrest of one of their family members. [..]
Cruz said police told him that he broke a new law that prohibits people from taking pictures of police with cell phones.
“They threatened to charge me with conspiracy, impeding an investigation, obstruction of a investigation. … They said, ‘You were impeding this investigation.’ (I asked,) “By doing what?’ (The officer said,) ‘By taking a picture of the police officers with a camera phone,'” Cruz said.’
`Three escapees from a western NSW correctional centre managed to effect their own recapture yesterday, when they inadvertently flagged down an undercover police car for a ride.
They also aided in their own recapture by still wearing parts of their green prison uniforms, which helped the officer in the undercover car, already alerted to their presence in the area, to identify them.’
`Authorities aren’t happy about yellow, smiley face gumballs.
The federal Drug Enforcement Agency is warning about so-called “Greenades,” which are marijuana-containing gumballs.
[..] The gumballs came wrapped in colorful tin foil labeled as “Greenades” with a marijuana leaf on the wrapper and detailed instructions for use. Instructions on the foil told users to chew for 30 minutes to 1 hour “before you would like receive your high” and to “chew for as long as possible, then swallow.” [..]
Each gumball contained approximately one gram of marijuana, and the total net mass of the two gumballs was 17.5 grams.’
`With Australian outback hero Crocodile Dundee as her inspiration, an 80-year-old British pensioner foiled a knife-wielding burglar with an even bigger blade of her own.
When woken by a masked man holding a knife, Winifred Whelan screamed and ran downstairs to the kitchen.
Grabbing a giant carving knife, she told the startled intruder “You call that a knife? This is a knife” in an echo of the famous scene in the Crocodile Dundee film when actor Paul Hogan confronted a New York mugger.’
`An Atlantic City man has been sentenced to three years of probation and community service at an animal shelter for beating a duck.
Donald Chapman pleaded guilty to animal cruelty a few months ago, saying he kicked the mallard and beat it with a broom March 15 in the parking lot of the Fox Chase development he worked at in Galloway Township. [..]
Beall’s organization retrieved the duck after the beating and took it to the Galloway Animal Hospital for treatment.
The duck is doing well, officials said.’
`A Ffemale driver has taken a wrong turn on her way home – and ended up following a train along a railway line.
Police in Brisbane said the woman, 52, had picked up her daughter from work and was driving home about midnight on Saturday, when she took the wrong turn at a level crossing.
She allegedly drove along the track, honking her car horn at the train as she followed it for 300m before being stuck on the tracks.
She has been charged with dangerous driving.’
`Police in France said they had thwarted an attempt by a group of marijuana smokers to roll the world’s longest joint by seizing a work-in-progress measuring 80 centimetres (32 inches) in length.
“At some point, these young people had wanted to craft a joint of 1.12 metres to beat the world record in the discipline and get it officially registered,” said a police officer in eastern France. [..]
During an investigation targeting a group of four smokers in the eastern Vosges area of France, police discovered the giant joint containing 70 grams of marijuana resin. It had not been finished because of a lack of tobacco.’
`Six friends spruced up in fake blood and tattered clothing were arrested in downtown Minneapolis on suspicion of toting “simulated weapons of mass destruction.”
Police said the group were allegedly carrying bags with wires sticking out, making it look like a bomb, while meandering and dancing to music as part of a “zombie dance party” Saturday night.
“They were arrested for behavior that was suspicious and disturbing,” said Lt. Gregory Reinhardt, a police spokesman. Police also said the group was uncooperative and intimidated people with their “ghoulish” makeup.’
`Israel’s bombing of a crowded Beirut neighbourhood where Hezbollah had its headquarters has breached humanitarian law, a senior UN official has said, as reports emerged of heavy fighting on Lebanon’s southern border.
“It is horrific. I did not know it was block after block of houses,” Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief co-ordinator, told reporters as he toured the shattered Haret Hreik district. “It makes it a violation of humanitarian law.”
Mr Egeland was visibly shocked by the devastation in the Shiite Muslim quarter where air raids have flattened a Hezbollah compound. He said it was hard to distinguish between military and civilian targets.’
`A jury acquitted a man who had been charged with assault after authorities said an assistant prosecutor, police officer and courtroom bailiff got sick after shaking hands with him.
John Curtis Ridgeway, 42, was seen pulling out a vial of liquid and rubbing his hands with the contents after a December jury trial in which he was found guilty of driving without insurance, authorities said. [..]
Ridgeway told The Associated Press after he was charged that the substance was olive oil. He testified that he used oil to anoint “corrupt buildings” and that it was meant to rid the buildings of demons.’
followup to Toxic handshake lands man in jail.
`A NSW Police trainee has been arrested and stood down after he paraded his personal collection of illegal replica firearms at the Goulburn Police Academy. [..]
The Sun-Herald can reveal the man brought a replica MP5 submachine-gun and other weaponry into the grounds of the academy, then provided a demonstration to classmates. When stunned onlookers reported his actions to academy hierarchy a raid was conducted at the man’s private residence, where a stockpile of other military-style equipment was uncovered.’
`If someone looks like he could use a meal, be warned: Giving him a sandwich in a Las Vegas park could land you in jail.
The Las Vegas City Council passed an ordinance Wednesday that bans providing food or meals to the indigent for free or a nominal fee in parks.
The measure is an attempt to stop so-called “mobile soup kitchens” from operating in parks, where residents say they attract the homeless and render the city facilities unusable by families.’
`Two inmates assigned to mow grass at a sheriff’s firing range escaped on a John Deere tractor. [..]
They left the jail on the tractor at noon Tuesday to mow the firing range across the street. About two hours later, they were reported missing. Authorities said the two left the tractor in the woods behind the firing range and took a 2002 Kia about a half-mile away.’
`A student at the University of Central Florida is accused of setting a fire on campus as a way to meet women, according to a Local 6 News report.
Police said Matthew Damsky admitted to lighting a couch on fire at the Academic Village Dorms last week.
Damsky told officers he hoped he would be able to meet women as the building was being evacuated.
He was arrested for arson and booked in to the Orange County Jail.’
`A 46-year-old man is accused of assaulting his wife with a carrot, causing her to lose sight in one eye. Roderick Vecsey is charged with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct.
Pamela Vecsey, 46, underwent six hours of surgery after being hit in the left eye with the vegetable Saturday night, but doctors were not able to restore her vision, prosecutor Stephanie Damiani said.’
`A customer at a city grocery tackled an armed robber and beat him with a can of applesauce when he refused to drop his gun, police said.
The suspect shot himself in the head during the struggle, and passed out after the 66-year-old customer administered four blows to the head with the Mott’s applesauce.’
`America’s Mattress co-owner Jim Sather is left puzzled after a rustler stole Serta Mattresses’ inflatable 14-foot sheep from their store here.
“I can’t figure out what someone would do with a 14-foot sheep,” Sather said. “It can’t go in your basement and if it’s in your back yard, your neighbor will notice. If it’s target practice, it only lasts once.”
All the thief or thieves left was a handwritten note at the scene of the crime that read: “For the sheep, bring peace to the earth.”‘
`Two Irish men who stole a fishing trawler after missing their ferry had to be rescued off the British coast where they were going in circles because they did not know how to sail.
After hours at sea, the men called what they thought was the Irish coastguard for help.
“They thought they were just off the coast of Ireland,” said Ray Steadman, press officer of the Holyhead lifeboat in north Wales, about 66 miles east of Ireland.
In fact, the two were just 12 miles north of where they started in Holyhead and had called the British coastguard, Steadman told Irish broadcaster RTE Monday.’
