Carjacker Gets Lost, Calls 911 On Himself

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16380871/

Carjacker Gets Lost, Calls 911 On Himself

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Police said a man who carjacked an SUV in Boca Raton drove all the way to Palm Springs before becoming lost and calling 911 on himself. According to police reports, Claude King, 31, approached Caroline Funkey's black GMC Envoy while it was stopped at a red light on the Glades Road exit off Interstate 95 in Boca Raton. Upon stepping up to the car, King smashed the driver's side window and pulled the driver out of the vehicle. Once inside, police said King began to punch the other four passengers.

One of Funkey's friends, Kellina Beach, 18, struck her head on the pavement as she fell from the SUV and had to receive stitches at Boca Raton Community Hospital.

According to the report, once King removed the passengers from the SUV, he began to drive wildly around the area, finally heading southbound down I-95.

Police said that, while heading southbound, King struck a white Chevrolet pickup and decided to turn around and head north. According to the report, he then struck another vehicle along the way and decided to pull over in Palm Springs.

A few minutes after the carjacking, police said they received a 911 call from a pay phone at Second and Congress Avenues in Palm Springs. It was King.

"Um, I committed a crime," he told the dispatcher. "I stole a vehicle."

When the dispatcher asked for his name, King told them, "I'd rather do this: Could you just send the police over here?"

The dispatcher then asked where the stolen car was located, to which King replied, "I couldn't even tell you. I don't even know where I'm at."

Palm Springs police Officer Lt. Mark Hall said they found King sitting on the curb near the stolen SUV.

According to the police report, Boca Raton police arrested King and took him to the hospital for a swollen right hand. King was then booked into the Palm Beach County Jail, where he was being held without bail Wednesday night.

 

Woman allegedly calls 911 for ‘cutie’ deputy

Woman allegedly calls 911 for ‘cutie’ deputy
Faces jail after purportedly asking dispatcher to forward her number

ALOHA, Ore. - A woman who called 911 to get "the cutest cop I've seen" sent back to her home got a date all right — a court date.

The same sheriff's deputy arrested her on charges of misuse of the emergency dispatch system.

Washington County Sheriff's Sgt. David Thompson told KGW-TV of Portland it all started with a noise complaint called in last month by neighbors of Lorna Jeanne Dudash. The deputy sent to check on the complaint knocked on her door, then left.

Thompson said Dudash then called 911, asking that the "cutie pie" deputy return.

"He's the cutest cop I've seen in a long time. I just want to know his name," Dudash told the dispatcher. "Heck, it doesn't come very often a good man comes to your doorstep."

After listening to some more, followed by a bit of silence, the dispatcher asked again why Dudash needed the deputy to return.

"Honey, I'm just going to be honest with you, OK? I just thought he was cute. I'm 45 years old and I'd just like to meet him again, but I don't know how to go about doing that without calling 911," she said.

"I know this is absolutely not in any way, shape or form an emergency, but if you would give the officer my phone number and ask him to come back, would you mind?"

The deputy returned, verified that there was no emergency and arrested her for misusing the 911 system, an offense punishable by a fine of up to several thousand dollars and a year in jail.

Thompson said Thursday it was the first case he knew of in which someone called the emergency line for such a personal reason.

"That's taking up valuable time from dispatchers who could be taking true emergency calls," he said.

 

Christmas Brings Strange Seasonal Crimes

Christmas Brings Strange Seasonal Crimes

NEW YORK (AP) - There's nobody nice on this Christmas list: snowman stabbers, Grinch snatchers, wreath-robbing weasels. 'Tis the season for strange crimes by even stranger people, with police blotters expanding faster than a 6-year-old's wish list of gifts.

David Allen Rodgers, 42, was arrested Dec. 3 for driving while intoxicated - at the wheel of a float during the annual Christmas parade in Anderson, S.C. According to witnesses, Rodgers sped down Main Street in the Steppin' Out Dance Studio float with 19 people aboard, ran a red light and led police on a 3-mile chase.

Police said that when Rodgers finally stopped, they found an open container of alcohol in his truck. "I made a very bad judgment on my part," Rodgers said at a court hearing.

In Chicago, 32 plastic baby Jesus dolls were stolen from nativity scenes set up in people's front yards. The kidnappers then lined up all the dolls along the fence outside a Chicago woman's home; she rounded them up and turned them over to her parish priest.

Similar creche crimes occurred in 35 cities from Fayateville, N.C., to Mission Viejo, Calif., according to The Catholic League, which tracks nativity vandalism.

In Houghton, Mich., somebody stole an inflatable Grinch from outside an apartment complex. That was just one instance in the area's rash of seasonal thievery: Two brown plastic reindeer, a baby Jesus statue and several wreaths were also stolen.

In Ohio's Hamilton County, a pair of 18-year-olds were arrested for using screwdrivers to stab an inflatable 12-foot-tall Frosty the Snowman. "Why me?" asked Frosty's owner, Matt Williquette. "And why Frosty?"

The snowman had survived two previous stabbing attacks.

Two other local teens were arrested in an unrelated incident where they allegedly smashed a car with a large decorative candy cane, causing $1,000 worth of damage.

An Oklahoma woman was arrested after she visited the Delaware County Jail with a Christmas card for her incarcerated boyfriend. Police said the card held marijuana, leading to Dawn Smith's arrest.

A real-life Grinch in Yonkers, N.Y., made off with $14,000 in staff bonuses and money from the office safe during a Christmas party, police said. Daniel Rios, 38, spent $7,500 in cash but returned about $6,500 in checks, authorities said.

And then there's the case of the Santa Claus kidnapping.

A motorcycle-riding Santa Claus with a stuffed Rudolph in his sidecar was arrested after allegedly grabbing an 8-year-old girl from outside a South Carolina convenience store. John Michael Barton, 55, was in his Claus outfit filling his bike with gas when the girl's family stopped by the store.

The girl's father then saw Barton speeding off with her. After a chase at speeds of up to 80 mph, Barton pulled over his motorcycle and turned over the girl, police said.

Barton was arrested later, hiding inside a bar.

 

Senior's Picture with Sword Nixed Because of No Weapons Policy

Senior’s picture with sword nixed because of school’s no-weapons policy

The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The mother of a high school senior who posed in chain mail and held a medieval sword for his yearbook picture sued after the school rejected the photo because of its "zero-tolerance" policy against weapons.

Patrick Agin, 17, belongs to the Society for Creative Anachronism, an international organization that researches and recreates medieval history. He submitted the photo in September for the Portsmouth High School yearbook.

But the school's principal refused to allow the portrait as Agin's official yearbook photo because he said it violated a policy against weapons and violence in schools, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by the Rhode Island branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The lawsuit seeks an order that would prevent the yearbook from being published without Agin's senior portrait.

Agin's mother, Heidi Farrington, said she and her son believe the decision defies common sense.

"He doesn't see it as promoting violence," Farrington said Tuesday. "He sees it just as a theatrical expression of the reenactment community that he's involved in right now."

According to the lawsuit, principal Robert Littlefield told Farrington she could pay to put the photo in the advertising section of the book, but he would not allow it as Agin's senior portrait.

"That in and of itself demonstrates to us that there's absolutely no legitimate rationale for banning Patrick's photo," said Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island ACLU.

Littlefield said he thought there would be less editorial scrutiny given to paid advertising space, and that an ad would not be viewed as receiving the school's endorsement.

The complaint says there is nothing in the weapons policy that would apply to the picture Agin submitted. It also says the weapons policy is arbitrarily enforced, noting theatrical plays at the school have included prop weapons and that the mascot — a patriot — is depicted on school grounds and publications as carrying a weapon.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

 

School: Boy Put Bodily Fluid In Salad Dressing

School: Boy Put Bodily Fluid In Salad Dressing
Students May Have Eaten Contaminated Dressing

A senior at an Illinois high school is accused of contaminating food in the cafeteria.

The boy at Wheaton North High School ejaculated into a bottle of ranch salad dressing last week and left it on a condiments cart in the cafeteria for upperclassmen, school officials said Thursday.

Even though the school's food service provider requires that workers empty condiment containers and wash them every other day, Principal Jill Bullo said the company officials were not sure if the container was washed after lunch, according to the Post-Tribune.

If the container as not washed out, students would have been exposed to the ejaculate during two lunch periods Dec. 6, and five lunch periods on Dec. 7, the paper reported.

The principal said that after Dec. 7, seven lunch periods after the ejaculation, the container definitely would have been cleaned.

But, she said, even if the containers were washed properly and on time, students would still have used the bottle's contents during fourth and fifth period lunch on Dec. 6.

School officials said the boy confessed to contaminating the salad dressing bottle Tuesday, school officials said.

The paper reported that it is unknown whether anyone ate the salad dressing or become ill from it.

The student allegedly bragged to his friends during his lunch period Dec. 6 about ejaculating in the bottle. One of those students told school leaders Tuesday, Wheaton Warrenville School District 200 superintendent Gary T. Catalani said.

"I don't believe that they thought it to be true, but students were talking about this rumor," Bullo said.

The paper reported that parents of students at the school received a mailed letter which told them that the district is working with Wheaton police, who said an attempted aggravated battery arrest is imminent.

"An act occurred that could have physically harmed someone at the school, but no one was physically harmed," police Cmdr. Joseph Eversole said.

The school's punishment for the student was not disclosed.

"We've taken very severe measures against this student," Catalani said.

Sodexho, the food service company, has now discontinued its use of smaller bottles for condiments and has started using larger containers that would make it difficult for a student to steal.

The paper reported that several students were angry about the incident.

"I was very surprised and appalled and embarrassed that this could happen," senior Brian Corcoran said.

One freshman girl told the paper that she would never eat cafeteria food again.

"You're supposed to feel safe enough to eat at school, but this makes you feel disgusted," she said.

A statement was issued Thursday by the DuPage County Health Department, in consultation with the Illinois Department of Public Health.

"The risk of acquiring a sexually transmitted disease or other disease from the ingestion of food contaminated with semen is considered extremely low," the statement said. "We are not aware of any documented cases of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases that have been spread through this means."

The statement did say that the student responsible is undergoing medical testing and if he has an illness that may pose a risk to others, information will be provided to the parents of students who were potentially exposed.

 

Twelve Year Old Arrested for Opening Christmas Present Early

Twelve Year Old Arrested for Opening Christmas Present Early

COLUMBIA - A fed-up mother was angry that her 12-year-old son had rummaged through his great-grandmother's things and played with his Christmas present early.

So she had him arrested.

The mother called police Sunday after learning her son had disobeyed orders and repeatedly taken a Game Boy from its hiding place at his great-grandmother's house next door and played it. He was arrested on petty larceny charges, taken to the local police station in handcuffs and held until his mother picked him up after church.

The boy's mother says her grandmother had spent months paying for the gift. She says her son has a history of being disobedient "and getting away with it."

The boy's case will be presented to juvenile authorities, who will decide what happens to him..

 

Man Accused of Faking Retardation --- for 20 Years!

Click here for original story.

TACOMA, Wash. -- For nearly 20 years -- ever since Pete Costello was 8 -- his mother has collected disability benefits on his behalf.

In meetings with Social Security officials and psychologists, he appeared mentally retarded and unable to communicate. His mother insisted he couldn't read or write, shower, take care of himself or drive a car.

But now prosecutors said it was all a huge fraud, and they have video of Costello contesting a traffic ticket to prove it.

"He's like any other person trying to get out of a traffic ticket," Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman Barbosa said Tuesday.

Pete and Rosie Marie Costello were indicted in September on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government and Social Security fraud, and the case was unsealed Tuesday. The Vancouver pair were scheduled to appear in federal court in Tacoma on Tuesday.

Barbosa said he planned to file with the court two videos of Pete Costello taken this year: In one, he allegedly feigns retardation during an interview with Social Security workers; the other is of him contesting the traffic ticket in a courtroom earlier this year.

The indictment accuses Costello of faking -- or at least exaggerating -- retardation since August 1997, because that is what prosecutors are confident they can prove, Barbosa said. But the pair first received benefits 10 years before that.

The benefits cited in the indictment totaled $111,000.

Barbosa said the government does not know whether Costello is retarded to some degree, but he clearly has been "exaggerating whatever he may have, if any."

"This person isn't being honest with the government about his condition," Barbosa said. "It makes it impossible to sort out."

It was not immediately known if the Costellos had obtained attorneys.

 

Apparently, she Doesn't Like Warm Beer

A St. Louis man was shot to death Sunday night over a warm beer, police said.

St. Louis police say a woman shot her husband, who was about 70 years old, four to five times in the chest after he tried giving her a warm can of Stag beer.

Police said the wife admitted shooting him about 5:40 p.m. in the kitchen of their home in the 5100 block of Terry Avenue. Police said the home had no electricity at the time.

Homicide detectives would not identify the man. The woman, whom police also did not identify, was taken into custody.

Story here