KCPD seeks 7-11 gunman

By Greg Reeves
Threatening a convenience store clerk with a gun netted this robber (left) about $170, Kansas City police said. (Click picture for larger image)
The hold-up occurred shortly after 1 a.m. today at 7-11, 8105 E. Bannister Rd, police said.
The gunman brought a bottle of Mountain Dew Code Red to the counter, handed the clerk a $20 bill, showed a silver gun under his jacket, and demanded the contents of the cash drawer, police said.
The man fled in a car with Texas plates, police believe. They ask anyone with information to call the TIPS Hotline, 816-474-8477.

Crime Scene KC narrowly avoids 2-5-year prison term

By Greg Reeves
As we posted earlier, a drug-selling "Online Superstore" we visited was quicker in responding to our purchase inquiry than the DEA public information office today regarding the DEA's bust of online pharmacies.

Now we've heard from DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney, who tells us buying from that Online Superstore without a legit prescription can be worth 2-5 years in prison for possession of a controlled substance.

Federal law requires patients to physically see a doctor before receiving a prescription, he said.

"In this instance, that wasn’t happening," he said of the busted Websites. "They would just fill out a medical form or whatever else. There’d be a physician or doctor that would just look at it, give it a two-second glance, and then approve it. Which is illegal."

Online drug buyers buzzin' about DEA bust

By Greg Reeves
Online drug buyers are talking up a storm  about the DEA announcement today of a major drug bust of online drug sellers - doctors, suppliers and 4,500 Websites.

Drug-buyer bulletin boards we visited were full of worried discussions of NROPs and ROPs. An NROP is a "No Record Online Pharmacy", requiring no medical records or face-to-face meeting with a doctor before selling drugs. An ROP requires those records.

Here are some comments we saw (the names, obviously, are online monikers)

Jadi (left): "I know there are TONS of people who abuse this service and I don't feel bad for them. But I do believe there are many people here who legitimately NEED this service. I don't want to get into an argument with anyone about ROPs vs. NROPs, because we all know the ROP is the way to go IF it is an option."

mrsdoodle (left): "Trust me, Jadi, I do know the horrors of chronic pain. And the reason I do not need them now is only because I've been to heck and back finding an alternative...Just let me say that I've been in just about every position there is to be in when it comes to chronic pain."

bunnycats (left): "After what has happened, I cannot believe that anybody would still want to risk ordering from any of those sites that might still be out there.
Eventually they will all go down, if they weren't part of yesterday's batch of underground crime busts. And next on the DEA agenda, may be to start going after the idiots who persitently refuse to get the serious "message" sent out to
all of us yesterday. My God, get a grip, and get yourself a legitimate ROP as I have done."

 

Internet drug site faster than DEA in getting back to Crime Scene KC

By Greg Reeves

The DEA announcement today that it had disabled a major rogue pharmacy scheme on the Internet caused us to enter "buy Vicodin" in Google to see what would happen.
First hit: an Online Superstore at www.rxonlinecenter.net that offers a treasure trove of online drugs, including:

• Vicodin ES 7.5/750mg pills (30)  $199.00 Same Day Shipping

Wondering if the DEA bust would affect this site, we e-mailed Customer Service asking if we could still buy Vicodin. Moments later, (even though we'd never ordered anything from this site), this email response arrived:

Dear Valued Customer,
You can order a refill of Vicodin anytime.
ust for the record, right now we have some issues with the Manufacturers
due to a delay delivering shipments to refill the Pharmacy. Probably
shipping process will be re-started on next monday.

Thank you,
Internet Medications Customer Service
Damian Ortiz
1-800-643-4906

We called Damian, who actually answered the phone and identified himself. He said satisfaction was guaranteed, money-back offer, etc.

Is any/all of this illegal? We're waiting for a callback from the DEA.

DEA chills pill mills

By Greg Reeves
Armed with a dressy logo (left) and multi-agency law enforcement help, the Drug Enforcement Administration has busted 20 doctors, 22 online pharmacies and 4,500 Websites for selling Xanax, codeine, Vicodin and other narcotics.
"What these rogue websites peddle is illegal," DEA administrator Karen P. Tandy said in a press release.
"And today, with Operation Cyber X we show the website operators for what they truly are: a new kind of drug kingpin—operating not from jungle hideaways but from behind computer monitors in their mansions," Tandy said. "From suburbia, these e-trafficker kingpins command multimillion dollar nationwide pill empires. Today, we are moving against them in force."

AP story today
DEA announcement
DEA press release
Tandy's remarks

Raiders #1 fan problem: "One-game wonders"

By Greg Reeves
We don't know if the Oakland Raiders fans pictured here are season-ticket holders. But Oakland Police Sgt. Tom Hogenmiller says his job would be a lot easier if they were.
We spoke with Hogenmiller yesterday to get fan arrest results from the Raiders-Chiefs game in Oakland Sunday night. Those results showed 38 fan arrests - compared to only three at Arrowhead in the Sept. 11 Chiefs-Jets game.

• "The season ticket-holders are not the problem," said Hogenmiller, special-events coordinator for the Oakland PD. "It’s these one-game wonders that show up and think that to be a Raiders fan you’re supposed to act crazy and disrupt other people’s enjoyment."
• "A lot of the problems occur in areas that are not held by season-ticket-holders. Between the goal lines and lower 100-200 section seats, not a lot of problem there. But if you go up into the third deck and the end zones, these are the one-game wonders that come and think they can get stupid. Drink too much. They just act like idiots. Those are the ones that seem to eventually get in trouble."

Hogenmiller said that, unlike the Chiefs, the Raiders don't sell out every game. Sold-out teams have a hammer over season-ticket holders, he said - threats of revoking fans' tickets.
"When you have a waiting-list of people trying to get those season tickets, you wield a little bit more authority, because there’s always somebody willing to snatch them up," he said. "The Raiders don’t have that advantage. We get people there that sometimes don’t have respect for their neighbors who are sitting closeby."

KCPD seeks clues on man's death

By Greg Reeves
An autopsy didn't show any "obvious signs of foul play" in the death of Kyle T. Williams (left), Kansas City police said Wednesday.
Williams, 39, was found dead Sept. 14 in the weeds at 53rd and Bennington. His wife last saw him Aug. 18, police said. His car was found abandoned the next day on Eastwood Trafficway near I-435.
More details in today's METROPOLITAN DIGEST.
Detectives are asking anyone with information about Williams' whereabouts between Aug. 18 and Sept. 14 to call the TIPS hotline 474-8477.

All The Star's crime stories today

A rich trove today of criminal misbehavior and bad choices: Here are links to crime-related stories in The Star today, online and published. Warning: Clicking on a link below will take you to The Star's registration site unless you're already registered)

‘Shock time’ is part of Olathe sentence
Hunters charged in deaths of cranes
Missouri Democratic Party to pay $110,000 for violation
KCK police investigating carjacking
Gunmen invade home, shoot man, steal money
Pedestrian trips, falls into traffic
Crash kills 1, closes U.S. 169 near Olathe
METROPOLITAN DIGEST
Attorney: Parents not responsible for boy's death
Suspended officer resigns before start of Police Board trial
Owner infuriated after hearing courts decision
Judicial officials say independence threatened by "mistrust" of courts