Police seek Olathe Bally's locker thief

From Olathe police 4:07 p.m.:
(OLATHE, KS) – Wednesday, April 5, 2006, at approximately 11:00 AM, Olathe Officers responded to Bally’s Total Body and Fitness located in the 15200 block of W. 119th to investigate a theft from the locker room.
The victim, a 35-year-old Overland Park man, reported that after exercising he returned to the locker room and discovered the pad-lock missing from his locker. The victim stated that his pants and its contents were taken from the locker.
A short time later, the victim discovered that the suspect had already used his stolen credit card to make a large purchase at Best Buy in Overland Park.
A possible suspect is described as a light skinned black male, approximately 25 to 30 years of age, 5’10” to 6’0” tall, 260 to 270 pounds wearing a black shirt, black pants, and black do-rag style cap on his head upon entering and exiting the business.
The possible suspect briefly changed clothes into black shorts and a white athletic shirt with red on the shoulder area and sleeves while exercising. However, the subject continued to wear the black dew-rag style cap on his head.
Anyone with information regarding this case is encouraged to contact the Olathe Police Department at 913-971-7455 or 913-971-6950 or TIPS, 816-474-TIPS (8477).

Lee's Summit partiers: Keep it down

Police in Lee's Summit will add extra patrol cars to the streets Saturday night in an effort to combat drunken driving, especially among high school drivers.

The effort coincides with the high school prom season. Prom activities are scheduled at least one Lee's Summit high school on Saturday.

The extra units will answer calls about loud parties and be on the lookout for impaired drivers. A similar effort will take place May 6 in Lee's Summit.

This story

Daytona Beach shuns Spring Break

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Dana Wassum and Mary Jane Jackson brought their bikinis all the way from Maryland’s Towson University to party and soak up spring break sun.
So far, they’ve been disappointed.
“I kind of thought it would be more crazy,” the 21-year-old Wassum said. “Like wet T-shirt contests. We wanted to enter one but couldn’t find any.”
Three years after Daytona Beach stopped advertising aimed at pulling in the lucrative but sometimes rowdy spring break crowd, the number of students coming here has dropped from 400,000 to a trickle.

Beer, beads and bawdy Spring Break on the way out in Daytona, FLA. (AP story)

Picture: Don't blame me, it moved with the AP story

Teri Hatcher talks about abuse

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Teri Hatcher delivered a tearful speech in which she addressed being sexually molested by her uncle 35 years ago.
After Hatcher came forward, the uncle, Richard Hayes Stone, pleaded guilty to four counts of child molestation in the case of the 14-year-old victim and received 14 years in prison.

Tearful Teri Hatcher talks about sexual abuse as a child (AP story)

Deputy mayor guilty of oxycodone buy

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — The deputy mayor of the St. Louis County town Kirkwood will be supervised by a drug court for the next 15 months after pleading guilty Friday to two counts of drug possession and one count of attempted drug possession.
Thomas Noonan, 51, who is also a lawyer, was caught in a police sting in November. Authorities said he provided cash to a woman to illegally purchase the drug oxycodone, a painkiller.
If Noonan successfully completes the program which is aimed at ending his addiction, his criminal record will be erased.
The 42-year-old woman involved in the case was also arrested. Her case is pending.

Historic bad guy now a good guy?

This isn't a religious blog, but examination of 13 leather-pound papyrus sheets found in a cave in Egypt is apparently turning Judas Iscariot from a traitor to a hero.

USA Today has the story

This lead section of the pieced-together Gospel of Judas begins: "The secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot during a week, three days before he celebrated Passover." (Kenneth Garrett/National Geographic/KRT)

Olathe armed robbery suspect caught

Olathe police arrested a 20-year-old man near the scene of a robbery Thursday afternoon and charged him with holding up the Clothing Warehouse in the 100 block of South Clairborne at knifepoint.
The robbery occurred about 3:25 p.m. and was reported by the 59-year-old clerk, Sgt. Mike Butaud said. Anyone with information is asked to call the Olathe Police Department at 913-971-7455 or 913-971-6950.
"As soon as the suspect left the store, the clerk called 911," Butaud told me. "We had a good description of the person and there was an officer in the area of Lindenwood and Cedar, which is not far from store, who observed a male matching the description."

Update: Adell the non-felon felon

Plumbing contractor Adell Hardiman has homes in Blue Springs and Kansas City. Being a good citizen, he voted in Blue Springs. Being clueless (he said), he'd vote again in KC.
That habit - they called it vote fraud - got him put on probation in Jackson County in 2001 under a Suspended Imposition of Sentence (SIS).
This made the news in 2004 when I wrote that the assistant county prosecutor who prosecuted him, Phil LeVota, himself may have run afoul of voting laws when he voted in Independence after moving to Lee's Summit.
Nothing happened to LeVota, other than he was elected county Democratic chairman. Hardiman, naturally, felt a double standard was going on. But far-off legal experts told me "residence" is where one says it is, and no prosecution of LeVota would likely succeed.
That's where it rested, until Hardiman called me last month and said the county wouldn't give him a concealed-carry permit because that law - and state law - bar felons from owning firearms. I posted about his unsuccessful court fight for the permit.
In a comment to that post, sharp-eyed reader tex saw this in my 2004 story:

• He pleaded guilty to one felony count and was placed on probation. Hardiman said the case cost him "a tidy sum" of "less than $10,000" in legal fees. Hardiman was given a suspended sentence, which means that when his probation ends, he will have no criminal record.

Was that wrong? Yes and no. For purposes of a job app or almost anything else, Hardiman is not a felon. For "law enforcement purposes", however,  Hardiman is a felon, deputy prosecutor Jim Kanatzer told me. That's Missouri law. It's the same with SIS for DUI cases, he said.

8 days of Kansas City crime

These files are daily compilations, lists of all calls to Kansas City police that resulted in a case report. Files are ordered by street and house number, and cover Sunday, March 26 through Sunday, April 2. Key: CRN is case report number; PONUM is police officer number. REPORTAREA is the police beat. ADDRTYPE is A for address or I for intersection.

kccrime20060402.xls
kccrime20060401.xls
kccrime20060331.xls
kccrime20060330.xls
kccrime20060329.xls
kccrime20060328.xls
kccrime20060327.xls
kccrime20060326.xls

Mom who severed baby's arms insane

McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — A woman accused of cutting off her 10-month-old daughter’s arms and sitting by as the baby slowly died in a crib was found not guilty by reason of insanity at a retrial Friday.
Police had arrested Dena Schlosser in 2004 after finding her baby daughter Margaret near death and Schlosser, 38, covered in blood, holding a knife and listening to a hymn.
A jury deadlocked on the murder charge at Schlosser’s first trial in February, forcing a mistrial. Both sides agreed last week to have Judge Chris Oldner decide the case.
Oldner issued the verdict a brief hearing, and Schlosser is expected to be committed to a state mental hospital for treatment.
The case had hinged on whether Schlosser had severe mental problems that kept her from knowing her actions were wrong.

New in War on Drugs: Gold teeth seizure

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Talk about taking a bite out of crime.
Government lawyers tried to confiscate the gold tooth caps known as “grills” from the mouths of two men facing drug charges, saying the dental work qualified as seizable assets. They had them in a vehicle headed to a dental clinic by the time defense attorneys persuaded a judge to halt the procedure.
The customized tooth caps, popularized by rappers such as Nelly, are made of precious metals
and jewels and can cost thousands of dollars for a full set. Some can be snapped onto the teeth,
while others are permanently bonded to the teeth.

AP story

Above:
(NYT31) BRAINTREE, Mass. -- Jan. 31, 2006 -- HIPHOP-GRILLS-BOS-3 -- Willie Jones's grill features rose gold, white gold, and diamonds as seen in Braintree, Mass., in January 2006. "You gotta do what the women love," he says. Grills are teeth-shaped jewelry, some made of white or yellow gold, some sprinkled with diamonds and some sporting fangs. Once popular only in the Midwest and the South, the jewelry is now turning heads in other regions. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe)

Don't just get drunk, seek damages

Good front-page coverage Thursday between KCK and the Coyote Ugly saloon chain. The bar, now in 14 cities, wants its place among Village West retail shops, or $2 million back:

• A Wyandotte County jury may have to decide whether Coyote Ugly Saloon can bring its bartop-dancing women and hard-drinking atmosphere to the Kansas City area.
• The New York bar that inspired a movie wants to do in Kansas City what it has done in such cities as Denver, San Antonio and Las Vegas — put its choreographed version of a “raucous good time” on display in the Village West retail development.
• But officials in Kansas City, Kan., want to put a family-friendly face on their new crown jewel development, and for the better part of this year have kept Coyote Ugly at bay. Those efforts have now prompted a lawsuit that pits the county — still smarting from its bygone days of battling strip clubs — against a nationally known chain that is not shy about using sex as a marketing tool.

Photo credit: James A. Parcell, Washington Post

Platte justice: 12 years for $200

Poor, homeless career criminal Roger A. Beals got 12 years for stealing $200 in Platte County.

Prosecutor Eric Zahnd says he had it coming:

• "Twelve years may seem like a long sentence for a burglary that only netted $200, but this man has a criminal history dating back more than 30 years that includes attempted kidnapping."
• "When a career criminal has not learned his lessons from prior brushes with the law, it is time to get serious when it comes to punishment."
• Star story today

If Beals had been convicted in California, he could have been 3-strikes-and-out. Remember these cases?

• 25 years for stealing golf clubs
• 50 years for stealing $150 worth of videotapes from K-Mart

A sharply divided Supreme Court upheld that 1994 law in 2003:

• The court said neither sentence violated the 8th Amendment, against cruel and unusual punishment. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas added that the amendment didn't require sentences to be proportionate to the crime, it was only about the type of punishment.
• Good recap

All The Star's crime stories today

Links to crime-related stories in The Star today:

Car plows into Overland Park home  
Man gets 12 years in prison for stealing $200  
Prom season prompts extra patrols -
Reward increased in antique dealer's slaying
 Man gets three years in fatal Shawnee hit-and-run
Prosecutors drop charges in threat case
House passes prayer bill
Metropolitan Digest
Mental defect plea in murder, rape case

Verbal disturbance in Johnson County

Not to say it's a slow news day, but a "disturbance - verbal" tops today's list of Johnson County sheriff's office activity.

The noise occurred at 8:56 a.m. Thursday in the 13600 block of Lakeview Drive. Sheriff's office spokesman Master Deputy Tom Erickson said the event was HBO - Handled By Officer. That means no report was written.

A "harassment" case is also listed. That turns out to involve an 82-year-old complainant and the phrase "advised not to remove stakes placed by the surveyor."

Good advise advice, that.

Offenses April 6, 2006: XLS PDF

Also available at www.jocosheriff.org

Fights at Westridge Middle School

Four fights at Westridge Middle School appear in the daily offense report from Overland Park today:

The school resource officer, an Overland Park cop, finished the reports on April 5, but the incidents actually occurred on March 31, April 4 and two on April 5, said PIO Matt Bregel. All involved different groups of 12- and 13-year-old students, both boys and girls, he said.

The SRO handled the incidents and no cars were sent, Bregel said.

Offenses April 5, 2006: XLS PDF
Data also available at www.opkansas.org

Also see:
Interactive map of Overland Park crime data by local programmer Brett Rickman
Crime mapping by Overland Park police
Past Overland Park crime reports in this blog

today.
The Overland Park police officer serving