$210,000 penalty for hiring illegal aliens

From U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren's office in Kansas on Wednesday:

• A Wichita company, its owner and a manager pleaded guilty today to knowingly hiring illegal aliens and agreed to pay a total of $210,000 in fines.
• News release

Hat tip to reader Doc, who provided this link today!

You can love your dog, but not this way

I only wanted to feed him but...
'He wouldn't stop licking'
A 61-year-old Iowa man was charged with bestiality after a neighbor reporting seeing him with his pants down and,  um, well, you know, with the neighbor's dog, a 10-month-old Siberian Husky.

(Photo: Gorgeous but not necessarily sexy Shyla, KC Animal Shelter Pet of the Week, November 2000)

Hat tip to reader Sarah P.!

The do's and don'ts of cussing out a cop

Mostly don'ts, I would think
A judge has rejected a New York City man's argument that he had a First Amendment right to tell a police officer to perform an anatomical impossibilty. Allowing such language, the judge said, would amount to a verbal "open season" on cops.

I posted a link to this story in a  round-up earlier today , and it drew this comment:

• no lie - a friend of mine was arrested for "S[hopping]WB" and after showing he had nothing in his pockets by dropping his pants, he told the security guard (an off-duty KCMO police officer), "now, you can ..." immediate arrest, trauma to this day - and of course the judge laughed his butt off and threw the whole thing out of court.
• Posted by: kmb | Thursday, August 31, 2006 at 11:10 AM

China jails reporter on 'spying' rap

People wondered whether the Chinese government would crush Hong Kong's free press when they took over that island in 1999. Here's an answer:

Contact with Taiwan cited - that's bad
BEIJING (AP) - A Hong Kong reporter was sentenced Thursday by a Chinese court to five years in prison on spying charges in a case that prompted outcries by press freedom groups.
Ching Cheong's conviction came amid a government campaign to tighten media controls that has seen dozens of journalists jailed. A Chinese researcher for The New York Times was acquitted on spying charges last week but jailed for three years on a fraud claim.

Chinese proverb for the day: bai zhe bu nao (100 defeats no surrender)

Hat tip to reader Doc!

Elderly woman robbed over and over

A 91-year-old Kentucky woman has been robbed four times while sitting on her porch, but the last guy hit her in the head, this story says. She's OK, all things considered.

Hat tip to reader All in a Day's Work!

Medical cause cited in fatal crash

From Kansas City police:

• The man who was killed Tuesday near 26^th and Norton has been identified as Joe Tabon, black/male, 02/18/1944, of Kansas City MO. It is believed the accident was caused by a medical episode prior to the vehicle collision.  The exact nature of the medical episode will be determined during the autopsy.

KC homicide victim was Raytown man

From Kansas City police:

• The man who was shot at 3801 Wayne shortly midnight Wednesday and died about 12 hours later has been identified as Deandre L. Moore, black/male, 11/10/1977, of Raytown. The woman who was shot has been released from the hospital (date of birth 05/07/1972 of Kansas City.
• Detectives are asking anyone with information to call the TIPS hotline at 816.474.8477.

Defense attorney gone bad in Kansas?

Kansas AG Phill Kline says he will prosecute a 69-count criminal complaint against the chief public defender of western Kansas:
The charges  against Clay F. Hummer, 36,allege that he harassed, threatened and stalked another attorney in Garden City between July 2 and August 12. Hummer is the Chief Public Defender in the Western Kansas Region.
The charges include five counts of Criminal Threat, one count of Stalking, 44 counts of Harassment by Telephone, and 19 counts of Violation of a Stalking Order. 
Hummer was arrested Friday, August 18th, and made his first appearance this morning in Finney County District Court. Due to potential conflicts of interest, Finney County District Court judges have recused themselves from all future proceedings in this case.

No smoking rap against Stones guy

Journalists apparently snitched him out
GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) -- Keith Richards won't be fined for reportedly lighting up during a Rolling Stones concert in Scotland.
The stage at Hampden Park, where the band performed Friday night on their "A Bigger Bang" tour, is exempt from a new law that bans smoking in enclosed public places, the Glasgow City Council said Monday.
Violators of the new law, which took effect in March, can be fined up to $95. The ban includes theaters and sports venues.

Hat tip - finally - to reader Theresa M.!

Random crime-related wire stories

A round-up of crime-related links sent by reader blondie2hot7 in the last couple of days. Prodigious! I bold-faced my favorites:

Kind of local:
Drug suspect shot in southern Missouri
Arkansas lawyer tried to bribe witness

East Coast, boston.com:
Did neighbor kill over molestation suspicion?
Arrested cop charges police brutality
Babysitter admits killing child by fish-tailing
Connecticut serial killer suspect
Ex-cop guilty of child porn

Other:
Jailed killer nurse donates kidney
No, you can't tell a cop to do that
Lawsuit settled over $1M lottery ticket
Million child-porn pix on man's PC
DC police officer allegedly shoots wife
VA governor honors slain officers

'Kiss to rob' couple busted in Italy

'Bonnie and Clyde' arrested
A couple making out passionately in a car? That sounds like Italy. The guy jumping out and robbing  people at knifepoint? That sounds like...almost anywhere.

Hat tip to reader blondie2hot7!

2 wanted in slaying of Festus man, 73

Deputies in Jefferson County, Missouri were called to a home in Festus, MO, on a rep ort of a man sitting on a porch. They found a man, 73, covered in blood and dead, Sheriff Oliver “Glenn” Boyer said.
Wanted as persons of interest: Crystal York (photo), 26; Ryan Gross, 31

• Armed and dangerous
• 2006 Chevrolet Equinox White 4 door Sport Utility Missouri License 690-DSA
• Call the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office @ 636-797-9999 or your local Law Enforcement Agency.

(Please note: 1) She is white 2) No photo of Ryan Gross was made available). No, wait, one just arrived, but it's tiny:

Judges curb garage sale lawsuit award

KMBZ-AM's Jerry Agar made hay out of this Star story:

Garage-sale tumble award thrown out
The story of a giant rag doll in cowboy clothes — sold for $5 at a garage sale seven years ago — made legal history Tuesday though an appeals court ruling.
The Blue Springs woman who bought the doll carried it sideways so its boots would not fall off, but that meant the doll blocked her view of her feet. Jeannine McLaughlin, then 59, tripped over a rolled-up rug at the Independence sale, broke both her shoulders and amassed more than $100,000 in medical bills.
Last year a Jackson County jury awarded McLaughlin more than $67,000 in damages from the homeowners, Mack and Joyce Hahn. On Tuesday, a three-judge appeals panel in Kansas City overturned the verdict, ruling that the lower-court judge erred in jury instructions.

Hat tip to reader lr!

Open thread Thursday

This is the place to come for discussion of off-topic topics. It's also a good place to bring crime-related story ideas, especially with a link or hint to where I can find it. The blog is always hungry.

Firefighter hits 'stupid' DUI checkpoints

Firefighter Mike C. says he doesn't drink or do drugs. But he says he will be out with his girlfriend Friday night in the Northland, and he's concerned about the announced Kansas City police sobriety checkpoint there.

In an email last night, Mike C., an area firefighter, told me had been through the St. Patrick's Day checkpoint on the Plaza, and asked:

• If I run into this checkpoint this Friday, what are my options? I am told that the police are required to post that a DUI checkpoint is ahead. The checkpoint I went through on the Plaza did have that sign yet, it was just before you got to the checkpoint. If you did try to turn off or turn around, I noticed that there were motorcycle cops standing by to pull you over anyway. Is that legal? Aren’t you allowed to turn off the road prior to a checkpoint?
• As far as the unwanted literature. I didn’t want the printed materials that were put on my dash by the officer at the checkpoint. He told me that it would indicate to the other officers that I had been checked. When I get to the last officer at the checkpoint, am I allowed to return the printed materials to them?  Will they accept them? If they refuse to accept them and I throw them on the ground, will I get in trouble? Again, this is unwanted reading material that I will not read and I do not want yet is put involuntarily on my dash by the police officers.
• I am not a drinker so these checkpoints are not a concern for me. Just want to know where I might stand Friday if I am faced with this stupid checkpoint delay.

Mike and I exchanged a couple of emails, and I asked him why he didn't just pitch the printed material later. He answered:

• If someone were to throw garbage through your window and it land on your dash and/or seat, is it your responsibility to keep driving and find the appropriate receptacle to get rid of it?
• Full email exchange

Felony rap for killing of Melvin the Bunny

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - A man accused of killing his pet rabbit Melvin by putting it in a plastic bag and trying to break its neck has been charged with felony animal cruelty.
Austin Newport, of Lawrence, is the first person in Douglas County prosecuted under a new Kansas law that elevated animal cruelty from a misdemeanor to a felony.
Police said Newport claimed he killed Melvin the bunny July 27 because he couldn't care for it any more and planned to eat it. His former roommate, Jamie Nixon, who reported the incident to police, said she doesn't believe Newport's explanation.

(Photo: Digger, Pet of the Week, September 2002)

Teen's grave reported robbed in Bonner

Someone dug up the grave of a 17-year-old boy who died in a July 25 crash on I-70 and stole his ashes, according to this story by KMBC-TV reporter Peggy Breit.

Hat tip to reader OldMan!

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, Aug. 20, through Sunday, Aug. 27. 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.

TypePad says I loaded these files some time in the past, but neither reader Steve G. or I can find them, so here they are again, under shortened names:

Download 20060827.xls
Download 20060826.xls
Download 20060825.xls
Download 20060824.xls
Download 20060823.xls
Download 20060822.xls
Download 20060821.xls
Download 20060820.xls

Crime grips mid-sized cities. Ouch!

Another story about the mid-year FBI report on a whopping 2.5% increase in violent crime. Sadly, this one doesn't blame President Bush, although in fairness, one cop does blame the war on terror.

Communities grapple with crime wave
It's a 'perfect storm' of crime! It's a crime emergency! Mid-sized cities bloodiest! National law-enforcement summit is being held to discuss how to reverse rising crime.

Hat tip to readers All in A Day's Work, BS Steve!

Kansas home of Clutters to be sold

HOLCOMB, Kan. (AP) — The site of the infamous Clutter family murders near Garden City is up for sale through private auction.
The Clutter House in Holcomb is where Herbert Clutter, his wife and two children were found killed on Nov. 15, 1959 — the subject of Truman Capote's “In Cold Blood” and movies.
Richard Hickcock and Perry Smith broke into the home and shot Clutter; his wife, Bonnie; their daughter, Nancy, 16; and their son, Kenyon, 15. They were hanged in 1965.
The house is currently owned by Donna and Leonard Mader, who have said people from all over the world have shown up at the house after reading Capote’s book, prompting them at one point to charge a small fee for a tour.

Loving newlyweds now all snarly

Grope me once, shame on you
The groom was arrested for fighting at the wedding reception after accusing a guest of groping the bride. Out on bond, he called the bride that night to ask for a divorce, but was arrested again because she had taken out a restraining order against him after the first arrest.

Hat tip to reader You're a mean drunk R2D2!

St. Louis-area officer found shot to death

CRYSTAL CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 26-year-old suburban St. Louis police officer was found shot to death early Tuesday inside a home she apparently shared with the suspect in the shooting, also a police officer.
Amanda Cates was a four-year veteran of the Normandy Police Department.
Robert Brooks, 37, was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in her death, Jefferson County prosecutors said.
Brooks is an officer with the Calverton Park department and previously worked in Jennings. Normandy and Calverton Park are in north St. Louis County, while the home where the two lived is in Crystal City in Jefferson County.
Cates worked as a resource officer at Normandy Middle School and was trained in crisis intervention.

Fired worker's gun misfires

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A man fired from a university job tried to kill his former boss on the campus, but his handgun failed to fire and he was tackled by school employees, police said.
Richard Keith Hall was armed with two guns and had a ski mask in his pocket when he arrived on the University of Tulsa campus Tuesday, Tulsa police said.
He pulled the trigger on a .380-caliber pistol twice but the gun malfunctioned, and university employees and security officers tackled him and held him down until police arrived, said police officer Scott Walton.
Hall, 60, was arrested on complaints of shooting with the intent to kill, possession of a weapon on school property and possession of a firearm during a felony. Bail was set at $95,000.
School officials did not release the name of the suspected target or say why Hall was fired. He had been a custodial supervisor from January 1997 to April 2001.

Fugitive polygamist arrested in Escalade

This story's a couple days old now, but you can never get too much crime-related polygamy news:

Invincible leader arrested
LAS VEGAS - After three months on the FBI's Most Wanted List and two years on the lam, the fugitive life of the leader of a polygamist religious sect ended with a routine traffic stop.
Warren Steed Jeffs, 50, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was wanted in Utah and Arizona on charges of arranging two marriages between underage girls and older men. He was in a Cadillac Escalade that was pulled over Monday night by the Nevada Highway Patrol, authorities said.

• Has 40 wives, 60 kids
• Three wigs, 15 cell phones, $54,000 cash and $10,000 in gift cards in the vehicle.

Hat tip to reader Doc!

Teen soccer players hurt in crash

Teen driver blew a stop sign, police said
Three members of Sumner Academy’s boys’ soccer team were injured Tuesday when they were thrown from the back of a pickup truck on their way to the season opener.
One of the teenagers suffered life-threatening injuries. He was in critical condition Tuesday night at a hospital. The others were in fair condition.

Hat tip to reader blondie2hot7!