‘Sexually abusing a teenager is less serious a crime if the girl is not a virgin, Italy’s higher court said on Friday in a controversial ruling that immediately drew a barrage of criticism.
The court ruled in favor of a man in his forties, identified only as Marco T., who forced his 14-year old stepdaughter to have oral sex with him after she refused intercourse.
The man, who has been sentenced to three years and four months in jail, lodged an appeal arguing that the fact that his stepdaughter had had sex with men before should have been taken into consideration during his trial as a mitigating factor.’
`An American pay TV boss accused of defrauding the Pentagon will be extradited from Australia to the United States to face fraud and money-laundering charges. [..]
Hermanowski allegedly siphoned more than million (.8 million) in an elaborate cable-TV racket during his time as chairman of US company Americable, court documents state.
He allegedly billed the US Department of Defence for TV systems on military bases that he never built, and is accused of laundering million (.1 million) in 1995 and 1996 by endorsing fake invoices and depositing cheques into his personal bank accounts.’
`Not only are physically unattractive teenagers likely to be stay-at-homes on prom night, they’re also more likely to grow up to be criminals, say two economists who tracked the life course of young people from high school through early adulthood.
“We find that unattractive individuals commit more crime in comparison to average-looking ones, and very attractive individuals commit less crime in comparison to those who are average-looking,” claim Naci Mocan of the University of Colorado and Erdal Tekin of Georgia State University.
Mocan and Tekin analyzed data from a federally sponsored survey of 15,000 high-schoolers who were interviewed in 1994 and again in 1996 and 2002. One question asked interviewers to rate the physical appearance of the student on a five-point scale ranging from “very attractive” to “very unattractive.”
These economists found that the long-term consequences of being young and ugly were small but consistent. Cute guys were uniformly less likely than averages would indicate to have committed seven crimes including burglary and selling drugs, while the unhandsome were consistently more likely to have broken the law.’
`For the second time in recent months, somebody broke into a 16-year-old girl’s home and stole her prosthetic leg — including one that had been donated following the first crime, authorities said.
The thieves took a $12,000 cosmetic leg and a donated $16,000 leg that Melissa Huff uses to play softball, her mother, Lisa Huff, said. She said a camera in the room was untouched.
“It’s insane. Who hates her that bad?” Lisa Huff said. “I went back to the girls’ room and the room was trashed. Mostly Melissa’s stuff.”‘
`The note inside the house made it clear to Cowlitz County sheriff’s deputies that they had the right place: “Do not open door & let anyone in! Stolen Stuff visable.”
Within a day, investigators confirmed that antiques, furniture, jewelry, credit cards and at least 19 guns found in the home of Gerald Levertt Mack had been stolen from at least 12 people, deputy Charles J. Rosenzweig said.
“Nothing like helping us figure out what’s going on,” Rosenzweig said.’
jhzhOP MfvPa`Police are searching for a burglar who was nice enough to leave a birthday greeting — albeit misspelled — while making off with cash from a store’s safe.
A manager at a Linens ‘n Things store arrived Tuesday to find someone had knocked a hole in the roof, gotten in through the ventilation system, cut open a safe and fled with some money, police said.
In the store’s break room, near a partially eaten birthday cake, police found a message on a bulletin board: “Happy B-Day, From Ur Friendy Rooftop Boogler, 2-14-06.”‘
`Denver prosecutors have charged a worker in an after-school program at Horace Mann Middle School with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly Tasing a student.
Shaun Ellis, 24, had worked at the school since September but was dismissed after the Jan. 11 incident, according to Denver Public Schools officials.
Ellis is accused of using a Taser stun gun three times on a 13- year-old boy who had been accused of tripping a girl in a hallway, said Lynn Kimbrough of the Denver District Attorney’s Office.’
`A former Houston school bus driver showed no reaction today when a Harris County jury sentenced him to 30 years in prison for raping his former girlfriend and branding his initials into her buttocks with a hot wire coat hanger. [..]
The victim testified that Reed raped her vaginally, anally and orally at knifepoint after becoming enraged with her during a discussion about his financial worries last year. She said he then heated up a wire coat hanger on a stove burner and used it to burn his initials into her buttocks before urinating on her head.
The jury rejected Reed’s claims that woman’s burns occurred during consensual sex play and bondage. He testified that the woman had branded her own initials on his skin as well, but prosecutors argued that Reed’s burns were self-inflicted.’
`Investigators found saws and chain saw oil at the home of a Sioux Falls woman suspected of killing and dismembering another woman.
Search warrant affidavits filed Wednesday list an inventory of items removed from the house where Daphne Wright was living.
“There was a wide variety of items taken from the house,” said Dave Nelson, state’s attorney for Minnehaha County.
Authorities asked for a search warrant for the house after determining Wright was the last person known to see Darlene VanderGiesen. The two had a conversation in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut where police later found the victim’s truck abandoned, according to court documents.
Wright is accused of killing VanderGiesen because she thought VanderGiesen had a romantic relationship with her girlfriend.’
xqg dQLyErH UDleXBLr j oHxfIyUW`A man accused of sexually assaulting an Amarillo woman was arrested when he called police to report being robbed of his wallet, which the victim said dropped from his pants during the attack.
Investigators had the wallet in hand when Boungkong Inthirath, 52, called about an hour after the assault of a 23-year-old woman Wednesday.’
T kfTREhzP L SG`A man who claims he is obsessed with doorknobs faces three years in prison for a burglary spree in which dozens of them were taken from construction sites, along with tools and other materials.
A criminal complaint said Thor Jeffrey Steven Laufer told police he took a variety of items from the construction sites in the Milwaukee suburb of Mequon to disguise his obsession, “so that it would look like a typical burglary rather than someone just stealing doorknobs.”‘
`Apprehending a notorious hacker rarely involves a car chase or a team of dedicated private investigators, but in the case of Vitek Boden, life imitated a Hollywood script.
Boden had waged a three-month war against the Scada (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system of Maroochy Water Services in Australia beginning in January 2000, which saw millions of gallons of sewage spill into waterways, hotel grounds and canals around the Sunshine Coast suburb. He was caught only after a team of private investigators hired by Maroochy Water Services alerted police to his location.
After a brief police pursuit from the Sunshine Coast towards Brisbane, Boden was run off the road. In his car was the specialized proprietary Scada equipment he had used to attack the system, and a laptop; however, it was a piece of $18 cable that ultimately led to his downfall.’
`It may have been a borderline call, but it was still a third strike. The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a ruling that sent Nicholas Meyrovich to life in prison under a 2001 three-strikes law. Meyrovich got his third strike, a felony sex offense, for delivering an unwanted kiss.
Meyrovich, in his appeal, claimed that a life sentence for the kiss violated the Oregon Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Meyrovich, 60, an exterminator, was inspecting the home of a Salem woman in October 2003 when he suddenly grabbed her and kissed her. The woman pushed Meyrovich away, but he took hold of her again and sucked her on the neck, stopping when a neighbor walked in.
Meyrovich was later convicted of first-degree sexual abuse, which under Oregon law requires the forcible touching of the “sexual or other intimate parts” of another person.’
`Two uniformed men strolled into the main room of the Little Falls library in Bethesda one day last week and demanded the attention of all patrons using the computers. Then they made their announcement: The viewing of Internet pornography was forbidden.
The men looked stern and wore baseball caps emblazoned with the words “Homeland Security.” The bizarre scene unfolded Feb. 9, leaving some residents confused and forcing county officials to explain how employees assigned to protect county buildings against terrorists came to see it as their job to police the viewing of pornography.
After the two men made their announcement, one of them challenged an Internet user’s choice of viewing material and asked him to step outside, according to a witness. A librarian intervened, and the two men went into the library’s work area to discuss the matter. A police officer arrived. In the end, no one had to step outside except the uniformed men.’
`A family sitting down to dinner had to call police and an ambulance after a man allegedly bit off the nose of his girlfriend, authorities said.
Jody Bennett came out of a back room of a north Tulsa residence on Thursday with a napkin over her face and said her boyfriend, identified as Greg Hill, had bitten her nose.
Medics responding to the house saw that Bennett’s nose had been severed and called police.
“We looked around and tried to find a nose but couldn’t find it,” Cpl. Larry Edwards, a police spokesman, said. “I think he swallowed it.”‘
`The age of the telescreen is upon us as surveillance cameras that festoon our streets, shopping malls and airports are now moving into our private homes as the panopticon prison is erected.
The Associated Press reports,
“HOUSTON Houston’s police chief is suggesting putting surveillance cameras in apartment complexes, downtown streets and even private homes.”
“Chief Harold Hurtt today said it’s another way of combatting crime amid a shortage of officers. [..]
In the meantime, Homeland Security grants are being used to blanket major cities and even small sleepy communities with arsenals of spy cameras.’
`A young girl is recovering after being attacked by a pit bull in West Atlanta on Thursday evening. The dog was owned by another child, who sicced the dog on the girl after getting angry. [..]
It started when a mother sent her kids to clean up some trash thrown into the front yard of their home on Simpson Road.
A group of kids on the sidewalk began poking fun.
“One of the children became upset, went into the house and turned the dog loose,” said D.A. Levine of Fulton Animal Services. “The dog did then bite another child.”‘
`A man who allegedly masturbated onto a computer screen, keyboard and chair in Morgan Library called the accusation against him a “witch hunt” by overzealous library officials.
A witness says he’s sure Fort Collins resident Larry Holgerson, 48, is the man who ejaculated in Room 165 in the library late last month, according to a police report. [..]
Holgerson says he was in Room 165 of Morgan Library on Jan. 27, but denies masturbating and says the accusation against him is ridiculous.
“For him to conclude that I have the ejaculatory capacity to hit the screen is ludicrous,” he said in an interview with the Collegian on Friday afternoon. “At 48, I don’t have the distance.” [..]
“What a nightmare this is,” he said. “This whole thing is turning out to be a nightmare for someone who just wanted to use the library.”‘
`A jilted romeo is accused of launching an elaborate land and sea operation to dispose of his male competition – breaking into the man’s luxurious canal-front home on the Gold Coast and stabbing him with a fishing knife before chasing the naked couple through the mansion. [..]
Corfield and Gentry, who became live-in lovers just weeks before the February 2003 attack and are now engaged, had been lying in bed about 10pm when Arroyo, dressed in a wetsuit and holding a large knife, allegedly appeared in their bedroom. [..]
Mr Fuller showed the jury what appeared to be a timeline, or to-do list, that was later found in Arroyo’s Main Beach apartment which contained a list of items including “crowbar for door”, “wetsuit” and “snorkel”. The word “kill” was among the jottings.’
`Treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay constitutes torture in some cases and violates international law, a leaked UN draft report says.
The document, seen by the Los Angeles Times, suggests that investigators will recommend the prison camp is shut down.
It also questions the legal status of the camp and the classification of detainees as enemy combatants.
US state department spokesman Sean McCormack criticised the draft report as “hearsay”.’
‘US Vice President Dick Cheney did not have a permit to hunt quail when he accidentally shot a 78-year-old hunting partner over the weekend, the White House says.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department informed Mr Cheney that he lacked a stamp for hunting “upland game birds” in the state when the shooting incident occurred, the Vice President’s office said in a statement.
Texas authorities said they would issue a warning citation to Mr Cheney but impose no penalty or fine for failing to have the stamp.’
followup to Dick Cheney misses bird, hits fellow hunter.
Update: here’s the official Incident Report Form.
`Two U.S. air marshals face federal drug charges accusing them of using their positions to smuggle narcotics through airport security and onto planes for transport, federal prosecutors said. [..]
Shawn Ray Nguyen, 38, and Burlie L. Sholar III, 32, were arrested Feb. 9 after an informant delivered 33 pounds of cocaine and $15,000 in “up front money” to Nguyen’s Houston home, authorities said. They were ordered to remain in federal custody until a bond hearing Thursday.’
`Ever see a guy at work or school who sends off creepy vibes, and you say to yourself “man, I know that guy rapes children”? Some mental health doctors claim that there’s no way to tell a pedophile apart from anyone else just by looks alone. Wrong. I scoured the FBI’s most wanted list and found some examples that confirmed my theory. Here’s what to look for [..]
On the left is Mark David Keller, wanted for paying young homeless boys for sex. Notice the telltale sign of a man who has a penchant for boy ass: the pedophile-smile or “pedosmile.” It’s part smirk, part grin, and all molester. It’s like he’s having a two-for-one sale on rape, no refunds or exchanges. On the right is John Henry Ramirez, wanted for plain old capital murder. Notice the cold gaze, and no smile. Definitely not a child molester. Probably. Here’s a chance to test your pedometer. Take this quiz to see if you can spot the pedophiles. Choose “yes” or “no” for each suspect; you will be graded at the end.’
Well, I got 12/19 (63.2%) which is better than the average of 53.3%. So there you go.. I’m safer than the average person from pedophiles. :)
`An 87-year-old grandmother was jailed this morning after being charged with shooting her 80-year-old caretaker. [..]
Police arrived and surrounded the home only to have 80-year-old J. Elmer Clark hobble out of the home. Clark had been shot in the lower left leg.
“We could tell he had been shot,” Krieger said. “Then we see this older lady come out of the house.”
Krieger said officers were stunned when Pauline Shelby Mattson told officers that she had shot Clark. Police confiscated a .38-caliber revolver believed to have been used in the shooting.’
`A transit bus driver grabbed a woman by the hair, knocked her head into a pole, opened the door and tossed her into traffic after she yelled at him for missing her stop, police said.
The 52-year-old woman, who was not identified, suffered a broken shoulder.’
`A 12-year-old Aurora boy who said he brought powdered sugar to school for a science project this week has been charged with a felony for possessing a look-alike drug, Aurora police have confirmed.
The sixth-grade student at Waldo Middle School was also suspended for two weeks from school after showing the bag of powdered sugar to his friends.
The boy, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, said he brought the bag to school to ask his science teacher if he could run an experiment using sugar.’
`An Australian tourist has been charged with assault after telling a Texas woman to stop talking on her mobile phone at the movies.
Pauline Clayton was enjoying a matinee screening of Brokeback Mountain in a Texas cinema when her day suddenly turned ugly. [..]
“I put one finger up to my mouth to shoosh her,” Ms Clayton said.
“She ignored me – I then leaned across and touched her with three or four fingers on the top of her arm.”
When the “very large” woman failed to end her call, Ms Clayton again touched her on the shoulder and that was when the woman exploded.
Ms Clayton said the woman stood up over her, started shouting expletives at her and then stormed out of the cinema, in the town of Webster, just outside Houston.
A short time later two Texas police officers walked into the cinema and escorted Ms Clayton out.’
`US immigration officials have arrested a Haitian woman after baggage screeners found a human head in her luggage at a Florida airport.
Myrlene Severe, 30, has been charged with failing to declare the head on a customs form and transporting “hazardous material”. [..]
Ms Severe said that the head was to ward off evil sprits, officials said.’
`A port Lincoln man was in hospital after crashing his car into the town’s police station causing several thousand dollars worth of damage, police said today.
A police spokesman said the vehicle smashed through a fence and hit the front wall of the station about 2am (CST) today. [..]
He has been charged and will appear in Port Lincoln court for driving without due care and on licence and drink-drive offences.’
`Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, told a grand jury he was “authorized by his superiors” to disclose classified information from an intelligence report to reporters, according to the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case.
In a letter to Libby’s lawyers, obtained by CNN, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said it is his understanding that Libby testified he was “authorized to disclose information about the National Intelligence Estimate to the press by his superiors.”
The letter does not name who the superiors are. But the National Journal, which first reported on the Fitzgerald letter, named Vice President Dick Cheney and other White House officials as authorizing Libby to disclose the classified material.’
