Heroin seized in Waterville

WATERVILLE -- A Connecticut man who showed up Wednesday at District Court to face an assault charge was arrested by police in connection with heroin found last month near the Head Start school in the South End.

As an added bonus, police said, Darryl Copeland, 25, of Hartford, had 98 bags of heroin on him Wednesday, adding new, more serious charges.

Police had been waiting for Copeland to return, Deputy Chief Charles Rumsey said.

Nine packets of Blue Magic heroin were found March 4 behind the Kennebec Valley Community Action Program building.

Police said the discovery could have saved the life of a child who might have found the pretty packets and tasted the contents.

"It didn't take us very long to discover that the night prior to that heroin being discovered, Waterville police had actually detained Mr. Copeland right there on that corner for suspicion of an assault that had taken place in a cab," Rumsey said.

Copeland was interviewed and issued a summons to appear in court related to a fight that allegedly took place in the cab that night.

"His court date was today," Rumsey said.

He said investigators "put two and two together" after realizing that police had spoken to Copeland near where the heroin had been found.

Police ran Copeland's name and found he had arrests and convictions in Connecticut in 2002 for possession and sale of heroin, Rumsey said. A search warrant for Copeland and the vehicle in which he was a passenger was secured and police waited for the court date to arrive.

"When he came back up to Waterville for his court appearance today, we were watching and waiting for him," Rumsey said. "When he left the courthouse this afternoon Detective Chris Paradis and Office Dwayne Cloutier and a number of other police officers tailed him in the vehicle he was in from the courthouse down to the South End."

The car was parked near The Chez on Water Street, where police converged on the vehicle and searched Copeland and the car.

"In his right front pocket officers located 10 bundles of heroin -- there was 98 bags of heroin -- they are usually bundled 10 bags to a bundle," he said. "All marked Blue Magic and all packaged the very same way as the heroin that was recovered by KVCAP, which is a very unusual method of packaging heroin. We haven't seen it like this before."

He said the heroin is packaged in small glassine bags and stamped Blue Magic, then are encapsulated in black plastic, almost like a bubble pack.

Each bag is about one-tenth of a gram and sells for $25-30. Ten bags make up one gram of heroin. Copeland is charged with aggravated trafficking in heroin, a Class A felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison for the 98 bags seized Wednesday. The charge is aggravated by the amount of heroin -- valued at about $3,000 -- and by its proximity to the Head Start school and the alternative education school on Silver Street, Rumsey said. He is charged additionally with possession of about three grams of cocaine and prescription pills. The charge related to the March 4 heroin case is Class B felony, furnishing drugs, punishable by up to 10 years. The charge is not aggravated further due to the relatively small quantity of drugs -- nine bags -- in that case, according to Rumsey said.

Bail was set at $31,500 cash.

Waterville Police Chief Joseph Massey said he was pleased with the resolution of the case. He said heroin found within 20 feet of any school touches a nerve.

"Officers Paradis and Cloutier have done a lot of work over the last month on this particular case and it all came together for them today," Massey said. "In addition, patrol officers were instrumental in being kind of the eyes and ears, relaying information to them as to what they were looking for -- how and who to identify when he came back to the city.

"What I like is the good, consistent effort to get drugs off the street, to arrest drug dealers and I think it's working," he said.

Copeland is scheduled to appear in Kennebec County Superior Court on July 8, but his initial appearance could be sometime this week.

Quoted from http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/4952592.html:

Heroin seized in Waterville

Technorati Tags: Justice,Maine,Sad

Officer Helps Stranded Motorist, Then Arrests Him

 

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- A Portsmouth police officer helped a stranded motorist get his car started, then arrested the driver for marijuana the officer said he found in the car.

Patrick Kimball, 21, of Eliot, Maine, pleaded guilty on Monday to two misdemeanor counts of drug possession. Prosecutors said that in November, an officer helped Kimball pour gas into his car, then got in and helped start it up.

While in the car, the officer said he saw a bag of marijuana in plain view. Police said several more bags were found in a later search of the car and of Kimball.

Prosecutors asked for a one-year jail sentence with six months suspended. A sentencing hearing will be held in one month.

Officer Helps Stranded Motorist, Then Arrests Him - Portland News Story - WMTW Portland

Technorati Tags: Justice,Maine,Sad

Man thrown through window of watering hole

By Bill Trotter
Friday, December 28, 2007 - Bangor Daily News

BAR HARBOR, Maine— A local man is facing a criminal charge after allegedly throwing another man through a window at a bar, according to police.

Marty Sherwood, 25, has been charged with aggravated assault, police Sgt. David Kerns said Thursday.

The incident occurred early Saturday at Little Anthony’s on Cottage Street. The victim, whose identity police did not disclose, was taken to Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor and treated for a laceration to his face. He was released later that morning, Kerns said.

Police were called to the hospital after the incident as people connected with the fight created a scene by allegedly refusing to leave, threatening staff and damaging doors, according to dispatcher records.

Kerns said both the victim and Sherwood were intoxicated at the time of the altercation. Police were told it had been precipitated by the victim allegedly knocking a drink out of Sherwood’s hand, then escalated, he said.

The officer said he did not have an estimate of the damage from the fight or of the cost of the victim’s medical treatment. Police still were trying to determine what, if any, relationship existed between the two men, he said.

Sherwood is scheduled to appear in court in Ellsworth on Feb. 15, Kerns said.

Quoted from http://bangornews.com/news/t/hancock.aspx?articleid=158272&zoneid=178:

Bar Harbor: Man thrown through window of watering hole

 

Technorati Tags: Justice,Maine

Officials to consider reforms in handling arrest warrants

Administration, DAs react to Tavares case

By Shelley Murphy Globe Staff / December 5, 2007

The state's top prosecutors and Governor Deval Patrick's administration will scrutinize the state's system of handling arrest warrants and consider statewide reforms after David T. Tavares Jr., a convicted killer, jumped bail in Massachusetts and allegedly killed a newlywed couple in Washington state last month.

 

Kurt N. Schwartz, the governor's public safety undersecretary for law enforcement and fire services, said there are no statewide standards dictating who should be returned to Massachusetts. He said the state cannot mandate the return of everyone who flees because there are so many of them. He said the administration and the district attorneys will look at who makes the decision on whether someone should be sought nationwide, and how it is made.

"The priority is public safety so we need to make sure that we have a system that ensures public safety," Schwartz said. "The priority isn't cost savings."

Michael O'Keefe, president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, said prosecutors grapple with limited resources and difficult choices each time they have to decide whether to seek the return of someone who has failed to show up in court after being charged. As of last week, there were 213,424 outstanding warrants in Massachusetts for people who had skipped their criminal hearings, according to court officials.

O'Keefe said the decision on who should be returned to Massachusetts to face charges is based on the severity of the crime they committed, with those wanted for murder, rape, and other violent crimes being the highest priority. When a warrant is issued, the district attorney's office that brought the case generally pays the cost of bringing suspects back and decides whether to seek their return if they are captured out-of-state.

"The cost is staggering to even think about getting them all back, even if you were to find them, so there has to be prioritization," O'Keefe said.

In Tavares's case, prosecutors indicated they would have sought his return to Massachusetts to face assault and battery charges only if he had been caught in New England, despite information he had taken a flight to Seattle.

On Nov. 17, Tavares, 41, who had already served 16 years in prison in Massachusetts for stabbing his mother to death, killed his neighbors, Beverly and Brian Mauck, in Graham, Wash., after bursting into their home, police contend.

"I hope that when we look at this systemically we'll be able to find some ways to shore up and patch some of the cracks through which this person fell," said O'Keefe, who is also district attorney of the Cape and Islands.

Instead of issuing a nationwide warrant for Tavares, the office of Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. entered Tavares's name in a national database. Early has said he thought that if police somewhere stopped Tavares, they would search the database, discover he was wanted in Massachusetts, and call Early's office. If that had happened, Early says, he would have dispatched officers to pick up Tavares.

But Washington police did not apprehend Tavares until the Maucks had been killed.

They say Early's office should have issued a nationwide warrant for Tavares, because of his violent history. He was found guilty of manslaughter in the killing his mother at her home in Somerset, Mass., and he was wanted on charges of assault against correctional officers. He also allegedly wrote letters threatening to kill his father, former Governor Mitt Romney, and other public officials while in custody.

Tavares finished his sentence for the slaying of his mother, then was released on personal recognizance in July while awaiting trial on the assault charges. The arrest warrant was issued when he failed to appear in court July 23.

Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the Pierce County Sheriff's office in Washington, which arrested Tavares in the double murder last month, said it was a mistake that Early's office did not issue a nationwide warrant.

"If he's dangerous enough not to be walking the streets of Boston or Massachusetts, he's dangerous everywhere," Troyer said.

Washington authorities also say Massachusetts State Police asked them to help look for Tavares a month before the Maucks were slain, but told them not to arrest him because the warrant had been issued only for New England.

Early has said he was unaware that Massachusetts authorities had told Washington police not to arrest Tavares. Last week, he defended his handling of the case, saying he had followed standard practice. He said that Tavares had been a priority, but that his office's best information was that Tavares was headed for Rhode Island.

"You can't get a manhunt for everyone," Early said last week. "With the resources that you have you are making decisions to evaluate cases and how to best use your resources."

O'Keefe defended Early's handling of the case and said the district attorneys association had launched its review of the warrant system at Early's urging.

"I know everybody likes bright line rules and standards, but that's not how it works," said O'Keefe, adding that this is not a problem limited to Massachusetts.

"I'll tell you another hard reality," O'Keefe said. "As you get to May and June of any given year when your budget is running into its last gasps so to speak . . . that's when the decisions become even harder because it's a very costly business to fly out to California or down to Florida with two armed police officers and bring people back."

Quoted from http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/05/officials_consider_arrest_warrant_overhaul/?page=full:

Officials to consider reforms in handling arrest warrants - The Boston Globe

 

Technorati Tags: Justice

Drunk drivers slam into same business

HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Police said two men face drunken driving charges after losing control of their cars and simultaneously driving into the same business.

WDIV-TV said the 21-and 22-year-old drivers were heading north on Milford Road in western Oakland County's Highland Township, when both lost control of their vehicles and drove into the Carpet Classic Floor Studio.

Police say the drivers ran from their cars, but deputies tracked them down at their nearby homes.

Authorities are still investigating.

Quoted from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071119/ap_on_fe_st/odd_slam_drunk;_ylt=Agd86SQ_x9BxEY7n8PEN9m0sQE4F:

Drunk drivers slam into same business - Yahoo! News

Technorati Tags: Justice,Weird

Tipster fired from job

By Holly Wagner, WINK News

EE COUNTY, Fla. - Fired for doing the right thing, that's what a Lee County man says happened to him after he turned in one of the county's most wanted fugitives.

"I thought I did the right thing," said Kirk Zahradka.

Newspaper photographs of Crimestoppers most wanted tipped Kirk Zahradka off. "Bunch of us seen the electricians name on it, picture on it," says Zahradka. The man in one of the pictures, Stanley Forcier, was his co-worker. "I called Crimestoppers reported him, got the case number," said Kirk Zahradka. That phone call did them both in. "He got arrested," said Kirk Zahradka. Zahradka got fired the same day. "She (his boss) handed me my paycheck said I was detrimental to the company and I shouldn't have done it like that. Her son said that I just should have keep my nose out of other people's business," said Kirk Zahradka.

Zahradka worked at Advanced Machine Repair off Metro Parkway in Fort Myers for six years. "I've never done anything to the company. She said I was fired. I told just her I can't believe you are firing me over this," said Kirk Zahradka.

He claims his boss knew about his co-workers trouble with the law and claims they even hung up the Crimestoppers photos at his work. WINK News wanted to know how a call to Crimestoppers justified firing someone. His boss, Linda Wright says they had other internal issues with Zahradka. Wright says Zahradka had also been bad mouthing management.

Attorney Dennis Webb who doesn't represent anyone in the story says right or wrong, Florida law can't help. "It's the classic no good deed goes unpunished situation, I don't think these people have any recourse," says Webb.

Now Zahradka is looking for a new job

 

Quoted from http://www.winknews.com/news/local/11214681.html:

Tipster fired from job | WINK News - Southwest Florida | Local & Florida

Technorati Tags: Justice,Lame,Scary

Police seek man after fight with sister in cat-shaving case

By Bangor Daily News Staff
Wednesday, October 24, 2007 - Bangor Daily News

SWANVILLE, Maine— Police continue to be on the lookout for a local man who fled into the woods after getting into a fight with his younger sister over shaving the family cat.

State Trooper Luke Cunningham said police were searching for Nicholas Palmer, 22, of Stevens Road. Police were called to the family residence at 1 p.m. Monday after Palmer’s 18-year-old sister claimed he choked and struck her. Before police could arrive, Palmer escaped into the woods. Using two tracking dogs, separate teams of officers searched unsuccessfully for Palmer for about four hours.

Cunningham said the sibling altercation began when Palmer attempted to stop his sister from shaving the family cat. The sister thought shaving would rid the cat of fleas and ticks. According to the sister, when Palmer attempted to cut the cord of the clipper she was using she responded by kicking him. The kick caused Palmer to cut himself with the knife he was using to sever the cord and he responded by choking and pushing his sister. He ran off when she called 911, Cunningham said.

"We’re still on the lookout for him," Cunningham said Tuesday. "We definitely want to get his side of the story."

 

Quoted from http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=155692&zoneid=500:

Police seek man after fight with sister in cat-shaving case

 

Technorati Tags: Animals,Justice,Lame,Maine,Sad,Weird

Swarm of Fleas Attack Police Officers

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Four officers investigating a burglary were attacked, not by a fleeing burglar, but a swarm of fleas in a filth-ridden vacant house.

The tiny, biting attackers were so overwhelming that the South Bend patrolmen had to be decontaminated and ended up being sent home early from their shifts.

"They were all over the place—in our socks and even in our shorts. It was disgusting," said Cpl. Ken Stuart.

To avoid infesting their squad cars, the police station or relatives, Stuart, Cpl. Chris Slager and Patrolman Paul Strabavy endured a lengthy flea decontamination process.

A van took them back to the station, where the men showered with flea/lice shampoo and soap. A wife of one of the officers brought them spare clothes.

As many as seven officers helped with the decontamination on Sunday.

"The guys were very angry. The last thing they wanted to deal with was fleas," said Sgt. Chuck Stokes. "That killed the whole shift."

Stokes said the house's tenants had recently been evicted, but returned periodically to feed a dog tied up in the backyard and allowed it to run around inside the garbage-filled house.

Swarm of Fleas Attack Police Officers

Technorati Tags: Justice , Scary

Alleged robber on lam

By CRAIG CROSBY

Staff Writer

FREEDOM -- Frank Morello figured he would be a good neighbor and offer to lend a hand when he looked down Goosepecker Ridge Road and saw a young man using a four-wheeler to pull a pickup truck from a ditch.

Morello got the shock of his life, however, when he got close enough to see that the four-wheeler, and the coins and jewelry scattered in the back of the pickup, were all his own.

"I went to call the cops and I saw he trashed my house," Morello said.

The Thursday encounter kicked off an intense eight-hour manhunt that involved the State Police Tactical team, the Maine Warden Service, and the Waldo County Sheriff's Department. Police believe the young man was Derek Creasy, 25, of Knox. Creasy is believed to have stolen guns, coins and the all-terrain vehicle from Morello's home before fleeing on foot to a Halldale Road home, where he allegedly rummaged through the house for valuables and stole another four-wheeler, according to police.

Creasy, who police say ditched the second stolen four-wheeler when confronted by citizens on Route 220 in Montville, was still on the loose Friday afternoon.

Morello was returning home for lunch around 1:30 p.m. when he saw the four-wheeler in the road and the young man talking on a cell phone. When confronted by Morello, Creasy said he had borrowed the four-wheeler from a homeowner at the end of the nearby driveway. The driveway happened to be Morello's.

Morello, who at that point did not know Creasy had allegedly broken into his home, told Creasy to wait while Morello went to the house to call the police.

"I hurried back and he was gone," Morello said. "I would have shot (him)."

Creasy fled on foot, leaving behind the pickup and most of Morello's guns, jewelry, and a stash of collectible coins worth about $1,000, Morello said.

"Most of the stuff was in the back of the truck," Morello said.

A loaded .22-caliber handgun is still missing, however.

Police searched the woods around the area of Route 220 -- where the second stolen four-wheeler was found -- until 11 p.m., according to Lt. Gerard Madden of the Maine State Police. Police obtained a warrant for Creasy's arrest on Friday and continued to search for him in the area.

It is the second time this year police have accused Creasy of robbery. He was free on bail after being arrested by Trooper Dan Webber in March and charged with stealing more than $1,000 from seven vehicles in Unity, Madden said.

Police believe Creasy still has at least one gun. Members of the public are urged to stay away from Creasy, but anyone with information is urged to call state police at (800) 452-4664.

Morello said it is going to take time and money to get things back to normal. The four-wheeler runs poorly now and his homeowners' insurance will not cover repairs. A door on the house was broken, Morello said, and repairs will eat up most of the $500 deductible. Morello said he and his wife spent about five hours cleaning up the mess left behind.

"He dumped every drawer and cabinet," Morello said. "He was looking for money hard.

"I guess it could have been a lot worse. How else can you look at it?"

Alleged robber on lam

Technorati Tags: Justice , Maine , Scary

Tipsy driver alerts police by mistake

 

VIENNA (Reuters) - An Austrian motorist too drunk to change a tire phoned a police emergency number by mistake instead of the breakdown service and wound up losing his license, police said on Thursday.

"He mixed up emergency service numbers," a police official in the central town of Andau told Reuters.

"On the phone it was clear he was highly intoxicated and we sent over a patrol car. He doesn't need his vehicle now because we took his license."

Tipsy driver alerts police by mistake | Oddly Enough | Reuters

Technorati Tags: Funny , International , Justice

Man sentenced in "pride" killing of ostrich

 

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. man was sentenced to five months in jail after he and a friend, acting on wounded pride, gunned down an ostrich that had kicked them as their female companions laughed, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

"This whole thing is about male pride," prosecutor Steve Wagstaffe said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The powerful flightless bird, named Gaylord, kicked Timothy McKevitt, 19, and Jonathon Porter, 21, last October when they trespassed on an ostrich ranch south of San Francisco after a night of drinking, the paper cited attorneys as saying.

As the startled bird attacked, the women began to laugh, prosecutors said. McKevitt was kicked in the ribs and knocked over, while Porter suffered scrapes and bruises.

The two men returned with a rifle and shotgun seeking revenge, the Chronicle said. They fired at least seven shots at Gaylord, according to a police report.

McKevitt, free on bail, was ordered to turn himself in on November 3. Porter was sentenced in March to seven months in jail after pleading no contest in the ostrich killing, the paper reported.

Man sentenced in "pride" killing of ostrich | Oddly Enough | Reuters.com

Technorati Tags: Animals , Justice , Weird

Cow in custody after traffic accidents

A COW is in custody after causing traffic accidents that killed at least six people this year, Cambodian police say.

The cow, described by police as white and 1.5m tall, was standing in the middle of a main road in the Cambodian capital of Phom Penh last night when a motorcyclist crashed into it and died.

Earlier this year, the cow was responsible for an accident that killed five people when a truck veered off the road and crashed as its driver tried to avoid the animal.

Police officer Pin Doman said he was holding the cow at his police station.

He said the cow's owner had been warned four times in the past to keep his cattle tied up and could face prison time, the Associated Press reported.

Quoted from http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,22557256-5005940,00.html:

Cow in custody after traffic accidents | Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania

Technorati Tags:Animals,Funny,International,Justice,Weird

52 cent doughnut may cost man 30 years to life

By Todd C. Frankel — ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

FARMINGTON, MO. — Shoplifters at Country Mart tend to favor cold medicines and packaged meats. They used to steal cigarettes, too, until tobacco was moved behind the counter. But the doughnuts were never a target for thieves.

Country Mart's doughnuts — fried fresh daily in the store — sell for just 52 cents each. That is why the "shoplifters will be prosecuted" signs are displayed in aisle 4 with the pricey pain and allergy pills, and not in aisle 5 beside the glass doughnut case with its tiger tails, jelly-filleds and eclairs.

Then one man's sweet tooth got the better of him. He stole a doughnut. A single doughnut.

Authorities called it strong-arm robbery. The "doughnut man," as the suspect is now known, faces five to 15 years in prison for his crime. And Farmington, a town of 14,000 people about 70 miles south of St. Louis, has been buzzing about it ever since. 

"That someone would take just a single doughnut, not something very expensive or extravagant, that's unique," supermarket assistant manager Gary Komar said, smiling.

Scott A. Masters, 41, is accused of shoplifting the pastry and pushing a store worker who tried to stop him. The worker was unhurt. But with that shove, his shoplifting turned into a strong-arm robbery. Masters, who appeared in court Friday, is stunned. The prosecutor shows no signs of backing down. In fact, because Masters has a prior record, he could get a sentence of 30 years to life.

Lanell Gibbs was there the day of the doughnut heist.

"That was a first," Gibbs, 68, said.

She has worked for 11 years as a cashier at Country Mart, a regional supermarket chain. Next to her register, she keeps a clipping from the local newspaper about the doughnut man's case. He was indicted just last month, although the theft took place in December. She likes to show the article to customers as she recounts the story.

It was about 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 6. The store was in a lull. Gibbs, who could see the doughnut case from her station, said she saw Masters slip the doughnut into the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt.

She turned to a co-worker and said, "I saw him take a doughnut. Let's see if he pays for it."

They watched Masters as he strolled past the seven green checkout lanes and out a side door between the customer service desk and the pharmacy, passing under a giant "Country Mart Thanks You" sign.

Gibbs' co-worker followed Masters into the parking lot. The co-worker, a 54-year-old woman, demanded that Masters come inside, according to the police report. He offered to give the doughnut back. She declined and grabbed his arm.

That is when Masters allegedly delivered "a backhanded punch to the chest" and took off running, police said.

"That made her mad," Gibbs recalled.

The woman, who was uninjured, jumped in her car and called police as she chased Masters. He was arrested minutes later.

Farmington Police Chief Rick Baker said the two incidents taken separately equaled two misdemeanors: shoplifting and minor third-degree assault. Together, they make for second-degree robbery, a class B felony, defined in state law as forcibly stealing property. The amount of force and the amount of property does not matter.

"It's not the doughnut," Baker said. "It's the assault."

Masters is a small man, wiry, about 5-foot-6, with short-cropped hair, a graying goatee and hound-dog eyes. He is a "frequent flier" at the St. Francois County detention center.

"Yeah, Scotty is well known," said Deputy Sheriff Dennis Smith, reviewing Masters' criminal history.

Masters, who lives in the nearby town of Park Hills, has been arrested more than a dozen times: for being drunk, for shoplifting, for missed court dates, for marijuana possession. He spent most of the 1990s and a stretch from 2000 to 2004 in state prison for the felonies of torching a car to collect insurance and possessing methamphetamine ingredients.

In a jailhouse interview last week, Masters admitted he had taken the doughnut. Masters said he had been taking a break from his roofing job when he stopped into Country Mart. He was hungry. He fled the scene, but he said he did not lay a hand on the woman.

"Strong-arm robbery? Over a doughnut? That's impossible," Masters said, exasperated. "I've never had a violent crime in my life. And there's no way I would've pushed a woman over a doughnut."

After his arrest, he forgot all about the case. He assumed it had been dismissed. He spent the summer in jail on outstanding warrants. Just before he was to get out, he was indicted Sept. 14 in the doughnut case. His bail was set at $25,000 — well beyond his means.

Masters briefly appeared in court Friday. His case was continued until next month. He is shaken by the possibility of a third felony conviction. A prosecutor could pursue an enhanced sentence. As a persistent offender, Masters could face a murderer's term.

"I can't believe this crap," Masters said.

A grand jury agreed with police on the strong-arm robbery charge. County Prosecutor Wendy Wexler Horn said that it was "way too early to know how it is going to play out" but that the charge seemed appropriate given the allegations. She was aware that some people seemed shocked by the case.

"People are missing the point," Horn said. "It is not about the doughnut."

But to many people here, it is all about the doughnut.

Still, for all the attention paid to the doughnut incident, one detail may never emerge: the kind of doughnut Masters stole.

Country Mart stocks everything from simple glazed ring doughnuts to gooey butter squares to filled cream horns and danishes. But the police report makes no mention of the doughnut style. Gibbs said she could not recall it. Other workers, too, drew a blank.

Even Masters, sitting in jail with only time to think, said he could not remember. It is a detail that seems lost to history.

And Masters never got a chance to enjoy that fateful doughnut.

He said he threw it to the ground when he fled.

 

Quoted from http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/2F37838AFD546C9A8625736D000B589F?OpenDocument:

STLtoday - News - Missouri State News

Technorati Tags:Justice,Lame,Sad,Weird

Assault suspect gives police officer ‘wet willie’ following arrest

By Tim Hudson E-E County Reporter
Friday, October 5, 2007 3:24 PM CDT

A Bartlesville man found that giving a police officer a “wet willie” after his arrest Thursday was not such a good idea.

According to court records, Louis Carlos Perales, 38, picked up an additional charge of assault and battery on a police officer after he put his finger in his mouth and then into an officer’s ear.

Perales was already under arrest for threats to kill and public intoxication at the time of the incident.

According to police, officers were dispatched to a residence on the 200 block of N.W. Mistletoe in reference to a domestic assault. Officers were told that the suspect was not currently at the residence but was on his way there.

Officers saw Perales get out of a white SUV and “immediately started crowding” an officer. The report indicates Perales was “loud, belligerent, and uttering a steady stream of profanity towards his wife.” Perales reportedly told his wife “You better be gone when I get out because I’m going to kill you,” in Spanish.

Perales’ wife told police that problems started when her husband was drinking at a party in Caney, Kan. He reportedly began threatening other party guests before going into a rage, pulling her hair and tossing her around. She said that she left Perales at the party. When she learned that another family member was bringing him home, she called police.

Bond was set in the case at $10,000.

Quoted from http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/articles/2007/10/05/news/news203.txt:

Examiner-Enterprise

Technorati Tags:Justice,Weird

Thief nailed selling a million stolen screws

 

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German factory worker stole over a million screws from his employer and skewed the market with his cheap stolen goods, police said Friday.

"In the end, it became obvious that screws were being sold for much less than they usually cost," said a spokesman for police in the southern city of Wuerzburg.

Over two years, the 33-year-old assembly plant worker smuggled between 2,000 and 7,000 screws out of work each night, and auctioned them on an Internet site, police said. The scheme cost his firm around 110,000 euros ($156,000).

The man confessed after officers raided his home.

Thief nailed selling a million stolen screws | Oddly Enough | Reuters.com

Technorati Tags: Funny , International , Justice , Weird

Grits for Breakfast: Dallas PD to participate in study of lineup procedures

From the "Grits for Breakfast" blog, Thanks to Scott Henson for this interesting post:

The new web poll I've posted for the week asks: "If a serious crime were committed and you were falsely accused, would you have an alibi for last night?" If your answer is "No," or "only part of the evening," how would you feel if a crime victim picked your face out of a photo lineup and insisted that you were guilty?

Quoted from http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2007/09/dallas-pd-to-participate-in-study-of.html:

Grits for Breakfast: Dallas PD to participate in study of lineup procedures

Technorati Tags:Justice,Scary

Shopper runs afoul of store's ID policy

 

By ELIZABETH COMEAU

Staff Writer

Barbara Skapa left the grocery store last week with three out of the four items she needed.

Milk.

Olive oil.

Tapenade.

But when it came to the fourth item -- wine -- Skapa left a Farmington Hannaford empty-handed.

Skapa, 65, was carded.

"Even though no one would mistake me for 30 or even 40," Skapa said, "I'll be bringing my driver's license with me from now on."

Normally, Skapa said, she'd have her ID on her. Last week, however, she was being driven around by a friend.

"I have a cast on my left leg, so I have to be driven places," Skapa said. "We had gone to the doctor's to check up on my knee and then decided to stop at Hannaford on the way home. I piled my cart up with milk, olive oil, tapenade, two bottles of Chardonnay, a bottle of Merlot and Cognac, and my friend, Brownie, picked up a six pack of beer."

"So (the cashier) starts ringing things in and comes to the wine and says 'you need a photo ID, Ma'am -- you're buying liquor and we have a new policy.'"

The new policy, Skapa said, wasn't posted anywhere in the store.

"I said to her, look, I didn't drive here, but my friend here is 58 and I'm 65 so how about if my friend buys this," Skapa said. "She told me that was third-party purchasing and not allowed either. So I asked to see the manager."

According to Rebecca Howes, a spokeswoman for Hannaford Supermarkets, the grocery store chain recently changed its policy surrounding the purchase of alcohol.

Howes said the corporation has begun asking people who appear to be under 45 to present proof of their age. In the past, the policy was to require those under age 30 to present identification.

Skapa, of Mount Vernon, said she told the store manager she was taken aback by the new policy.

"He then said he was sorry, but that they couldn't let me buy my wine," she said.

The manager then gave Skapa information for Hannaford's customer service department if she had more questions. He also told her the store would post something about the new policy right away.

Howes said all Hannaford stores in Maine have been asked to implement the new policy by mid-September. "Some stores have already begun to do so," she said.

Howes said signs alerting customers to the policy change will appear in checkout lines and liquor aisles next week.

Howes said Hannaford changed its policy because it can be difficult to judge a person's age.

At Shaw's Supermarkets, spokeswoman Judy Chong said if a person "appears to be under age 30, the cashier will ask for ID."

Chong said if an out-of-state ID is presented, it must be checked by a supervisor. "You also have to input the exact date of birth for verification," Chong said. "We provide training for all of our cashiers and our policy is reviewed twice yearly."

In 2005, Maine legislators passed a law that requires people who appear to be under 27 years old to present reliable photographic identification containing that person's date of birth. This law does not change the legal age for purchasing alcohol, which is still 21 years old, but does give stores and their employees the ability to require legal identification.

At Hannaford, Howes said, Skapa could have presented one of four accepted forms of ID in order to buy alcohol.

"Those are driver's licenses, state-issued IDs, passports, and military IDs," Howes said."

Instead, Skapa said, she and her friend "walked away without our booze."

Shopper runs afoul
of store's ID policy

Technorati Tags: Business, Justice, Lame, Maine, Sad

Pot-theft suspects didn't know plants were cops'

RUMFORD - One of two men charged Wednesday afternoon with stealing marijuana from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency said he grabbed a plant from the unmarked truck just to check out if it really was pot.

Travis Child of Peru and Jeremy Belskis of Rumford, both 20 years old, were taken into custody about 4:30 p.m. at Child and Sons Auto Sales on Hancock Street in Rumford by Rumford officers Matthew Noyes and Eric Lippincott while a plainclothes agent stood by, officers said.

Child said in a telephone interview late Wednesday night that he and Belskis saw an unmarked Dodge pickup truck driving through town about 4 p.m.

"It had a bunch of marijuana plants in it," and that looked suspicious, so the pair decided to follow it, Child said.

"We stopped at a stop sign, and I was going to go and grab one of the plants to see what it was. So I grabbed one of the plants. At first, I ran back to my buddy's car. I just wanted to know what it was," he said.

When the pickup truck driver started after them, Child said Belskis, who was driving, took off with the pickup in pursuit.

"He tries to ram our car. We didn't even know he was a cop or we would have stopped. We thought he was a dope dealer. It never crossed our mind that it was a DEA agent. We were just following him through town."

Child said it was a scary ride trying to get away from the pickup driver as they drove through streets and over curbs.

"We pulled into this garage on Hancock Street. I got out and was ready to fight him. I thought he was going to attack me. I thought it was a guy who was mad we stole his pot plant.

"He had a gun drawn on us and told us to get down. We got right on the ground, and he came over and did the routine and brought us to jail," Child said. "He never identified himself, no badges, no nothing."

He said after uniformed officers pulled into the garage he knew it must have been a drug agent.

Asked if he knew if the plant was marijuana, he said, "After I grabbed it I did. I didn't even keep it."

He admitted, "It was a bad decision on our part. It was stupid."

He said he and Belskis were just driving around with nothing to do and when they saw the truck driving all around Mexico and Rumford with the plants, he said he thought to himself, "You might as well check it out. I guess we just checked it out a little too much."

Bail commissioner Robert Grinnell said both men were released from the Rumford Police Station lockup Wednesday night: Child on $200 cash and Belskis on $100 cash. They are scheduled for arraignment at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 6 at Rumford District Court on a misdemeanor charge of theft of drugs, he said.

Rumford police and MDEA agents supervisor Tony Milligan deferred comment to MDEA Division I Commander Ken T. Pike in Portland, who did not respond to messages left on his cell phone Wednesday night.

Quoted from http://www.sunjournal.com/story/228395-3/RiverValley/Pottheft_suspects_didnt_know_plants_were_cops/:

Technorati Tags: Justice, Maine, Weird

N.H. Authorities Charge Maine Man With Attempting To Ram Cruisers

DOVER, N.H. -- A 34-year-old Maine man faces charges he tried to ram New Hampshire State Police cruisers in a wild chase off an interstate bridge, through Portsmouth and onto the Spaulding Turnpike.

Police first approached a man -- later identified as Kenneth Jones, of Berwick, Maine -- after a caller said someone was parked on the Piscataqua River bridge in Portsmouth and might be attempting to jump.

State troopers went to the bridge and saw a man get into a minivan and drive slowly south on Interstate 95 in the breakdown lane. He then led police on a chase before he spun out of control and was subdued by a Taser gun.

Jones is charged with felony reckless conduct, resisting arrest and operating after suspension.

 

Quoted from http://www.wmtw.com/news/14039705/detail.html:

N.H. Authorities Charge Maine Man With Attempting To Ram Cruisers - News Story - WMTW Portland

Technorati Tags:Cars,Justice,Maine,Scary

Man arrested after high-speed chase was late for appointment at Ga. State Patrol

The driver of a 2002 Suzuki motorcycle who led police on a high-speed chase through Floyd and Chattooga Counties this morning was on his way to get his motorcycle license, authorities said.

“There were no warrants out, no alcohol involved,” said Georgia State Patrol Trooper Joseph Hobbs. “He said he was 10 minutes late for an appointment here, at the post, to get his Class M license.”

Justin Patterson, 22, of 735 Roland Hayes Parkway in Calhoun was clocked at speeds of up to 154 miles per hour in Floyd County and more than 130 miles per hour in Chattooga County, Hobbs said.

Patterson was taken to the Chattooga County Jail after Hobbs and Trooper David Allen stopped him in a cul-de-sac near Richard B. Russell Regional Airport.

Patterson was charged with reckless driving, speeding 130 mph in a 55 mph zone, fleeing or attempting to elude police, failure to maintain a lane, leaving the scene of an accident and passing in a no-passing zone, according to Chief Investigator Eddie Colbert.

Hobbs said Patterson also will face state and Floyd County charges when he is released from Chattooga custody.

 

Quoted from http://news.mywebpal.com/partners/680/public/news835135.html:

Rome News - Tribune

Technorati Tags:Cars,Justice,Scary