Rescuers save most of alligator victim

In Florida, you smoke some crack, throw off your clothes and fall asleep by the water - a nice night right? Wrong - an alligator drags you off, and it's all rescuers can do to save your naked self.

Hat tip to reader Betty D.!

DUI ignition-interlock called useless

In traffic safety, some truths are counter-intuitive. Driver education for teens, for example, is useless, and has been known to be useless since the 1970s, when federal authorities found out and ended funding for high school programs.

Not only did studies find that accident rates among young drivers were generally no different with or without driver education, but in some cases it was worse than useless, by giving young male drivers overconfidence.

Now prominent DUI defense attorney Lawrence Taylor has an opinion piece in Business Week magazine saying ignition-interlock devices to prevent drunk driving are useless. He cites a 2002 California DOT study that, although critical, doesn't sound conclusive to me. That study and follow-ups all seem to recommend leaving the IID legislation in place until the outcome of a long-term evaluation.

California may be the state to watch as MADD and its partner groups pursue a dramatic widening of the use of ignition interlock.

MADD cites a passel of studies saying IID devices are effective.

Hat tip to an anonymous e-mailer!

Parolee sought in KCK quadruple killing

Parole absconder Lorenzo Lloyd, 32, is being sought by KCK police as a "person of interest" in the quadruple homicide at 39th & Victory Drive Oct. 14. From his expression, I would say you shouldn't walk up and ask him about it; rather, call the TIPS Hotline 816.474.8477.

He's 5’11”, weighing about 175 pounds, black hair and brown eyes.

News release

Meth award to Kansas City police

A man from the White House ONDCP today presented an award to Kansas City police for their efforts in Midwest HIDTA. It's all about methamphetamine, and today is Methamphetamine Awareness Day.

Random website opposing the War on Drugs.

Feds: Home-builder 'can't stop being bad'

Already-indicted Johnson County homebuilder F. Jeffrey Miller began a new scam even while he was being watched by a court monitor, ginning up documents on the sale of his 45-foot Sea Ray boat, "Bling Bling", a new indictment alleges.

Death, destruction, chess drug tests

An Indiana woman whose dogs killed her 87-year-old mom was sentenced to four years in prison for covering up the crime; her husband was, too.

A California minister is charged with killing an 85-year-old multimillionaire parishioner by crashing his pickup truck - twice - with the parishioner in it.

In Tampa, FL, authorities say a man killed three cats he considered nuisances. They found a propane torch and an animal cage with scorch marks.

Hat tip to reader blondie2hot7!

Arkansas music store shoplifter tries to walk out with guitar in pants.

Big trouble for a North Carolina pastor who waved a gun around during a sermon -- turns out he's got a drug conviction from 1990, and felons can't own guns.

And now, drug-testing at international chess competitions.

Hat tip to reader DB!

Flatbed from AZ yields 150 lbs cocaine

Arizona trucker Guadalupe Rios-Pinela, 46, will spend at least the next 10 years in prison after a Kansas state trooper found garbage bags with 150 pounds of cocaine under the tarp of his flatbed.

Guadalupe lost many points in the drug-traffic lottery as he motored north on I-35 from Arizona:

• His truck had a high DOT number, indicating the company was recently created
• He was coming from Arizona to Chicago, a common drug-trafficking route
• His cargo bill was handwritten and vague
• He couldn't explain why a passenger was with him and only knew the passenger's first name

150 pounds isn't very much, as industrial-scale drug-trafficking goes. Perhaps that's why the shippers were so sloppy?

Worker fired for off-work smoking sues

Last year the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (2005 net sales: $2.3 billion) announced it would try to cut employee health-care costs by refusing to employ persons who smoke, either on or off the job. Now an employee fired after a test showed nicotine in his urine - he was smoking while away from work - has sued.

Hat tip to reader blondie2hot7!

I get spammed all the time by this professor who thinks you should be punished for being fat, too

Firefighter fed dog food loses $2.7m award

Interesting update on the case of the black firefighter in LA who won, then lost, a $2.7 million judgment after nine white colleagues put dog food in his spaghetti  as a prank:

• The black firefighter called himself "Big Dog"
• Photos prove he had engaged in other pranks with firefighters before

The 15 member city council, which originally  issued the award, refused to override the mayor's veto of it 9-6.  An override would have required 10 votes.

Hat tip to reader Shifty!

Homicide victim in double shooting ID'ed

From Kansas City police:

• The young man who was killed at 8:50 pm Tuesday at 4205 East 24th, has been identified as Taurean L. Stevens, black/male, 10/9/1992, of Kansas City. Stevens was with a 23-year-old male in front of a store when he was shot. He was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. The other male was shot as well, but his injuries are considered non-life threatening.
• TIPS Hotline 816.474.8477.

Judge signs mistress's divorce papers

Problem: He may have fathered her child:

NEW ORLEANS (AP)- The only judge in Jefferson Davis Parish should be removed for signing the divorce papers of the secretary with whom he had a nine-year affair, as well as a host of other allegations, the Louisiana Supreme Court was told.

7 million in jail, on probation or parole

There's no such thing as too many prison statistics, and there's a new batch of them from the fount of all such numbers, the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the U.S. Department of Justice.

• WASHINGTON - A record 7 million people — or one in every 32 American adults — were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year.
• More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of 2005. Prison releases are increasing, but admissions are increasing more.
• In the 25-29 age group, 8.1 percent of black men — about one in 13 — are incarcerated, compared with 2.6 percent of Hispanic men and 1.1 percent of white men. And it's not much different among women. By the end of 2005, black women were more than twice as likely as Hispanics and over three times as likely as white women to be in prison.

The BJS website does not have the new annual report yet.

Stripper sick of men mails condom bombs

BOSTON - A former strip club waitress was sentenced Wednesday to five years of supervised release after she pleaded guilty to mailing threatening letters and flammable material, including condoms filled with a potentially explosive mixture, court documents said.
Kimberly Lynn Dasilva, 49, of Hull, mailed the condoms to a television station, strip clubs where she had worked and other places, saying she was tired of being mistreated by men.

Hat tip to readers blondie2hot7, DB!

Seeing how the comment thread has turned to PMS, here's a Youtube educational video that I'll probably get killed for, but a female reader sent it to me.

Good students bring bomb to school

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - Two 14-year-olds arrested for taking a homemade bomb to their private school have been released on bond. The two were expelled last week for taking the bomb made of firecrackers, BBs and metal shavings to school.
The judge said the boys had good academic records, a lack of disciplinary problems and strong family support.

Hat tip to reader blondie2hot7!

Woman shoots up nephew, 12, with heroin

The defense attorney said basically "it was just that kind of home."

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. - A suburban Detroit woman who admitted injecting heroin into her 12-year-old nephew and giving him and her 15-year-old niece heroin and cocaine was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Hat tip to reader blondie2hot7!

Woman falls behind bookcase, dies

A petite 38-year-old Michigan woman apparently lost her balance and fell upside down behind a bookcase in her home, where she suffocated, police said. Her family, who thought she had been kidnapped and had reported her missing to police, said she may have been trying to adjust a television plug.

Hat tip to reader Traci W.!

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.

Today: Many thanks to my colleague James Hart for blogging here the past three days! How exactly does this work again?

Lawyer sentenced for enticing minor

This is the case in which the defendant, a Mission Hills attorney, argued successfully that "enticing" an undercover cop posing as a 14-year-old girl online was not a crime; an appeals court disagreed.

• Jan Pleasant Helder, Jr., 43, was sentenced Wednesday to five years in federal prison without parole.
• In April 2004, Helder chatted up the person he thought was a 14-year-old girl online, prosecutors said.  He suggested meeting for sex, and about an hour later drove from his office near the Country Club Plaza to the Northland apartment complex. Helder drove through the apartment complex, but left without stopping at the apartment.
• “What possesses a man upon whom life has bestowed so many personal and financial rewards to jettison virtually everything by engaging in such contemptible behavior? What a sad and pathetic stain on his life,” said U.S. Attorney Bradley J. Schlozman.
• News release

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, Nov. 19, through Sunday, Nov. 26. 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.

Download kccrime20061126.xls
Download kccrime20061125.xls
Download kccrime20061124.xls
Download kccrime20061123.xls
Download kccrime20061122.xls
Download kccrime20061121.xls
Download kccrime20061120.xls
Download kccrime20061119.xls

Shooting victim was 14 years old

From the KCPD: The young man who was killed on Tuesday, November 28th, at 850 pm, at 4205 East 24th, has been identified as Taurean L. Stevens, black/male, 10/9/1992, of Kansas City, MO. Stevens was with a 23 year old male in front of a store when he was shot. He was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. The 23 year old male was shot as well, but his injuries are considered non-life threatening. Anyone with information is asked to call the tips hotline at 816.474.8477.

Lawyer: Appleby didn't mean to kill Kemp

During opening statements this morning, Benjamin Appleby's attorney acknowledged that Appleby killed Ali Kemp at a Leawood pool in 2002. But, he added, Appleby didn't mean to kill her, so he shouldn't be found guilty of premeditated murder.

The prosecutor, meanwhile, says Appleby intentionally killed Kemp after she wouldn't have sex with him.

Diane Carroll's update from the courthouse is here.

Vandal gets his neighbor's goats

From MSNBC: MAHOPAC, N.Y. - A man broke into a barn on Thanksgiving morning, spray-painted three pet goats and scattered pages of pornographic magazines on the floor, apparently to harass the property owner, police said Tuesday.

Drew Gagnon, 37, of Mahopac, was arrested the next day and was charged with burglary, criminal trespass and animal cruelty, said Lt. Brian Karst, of the Carmel police force, which covers Mahopac. The man who drove Gagnon to the barn, Douglas Bisio, 34, of Mahopac, was charged with criminal facilitation, police said.

"Obviously it's not an occurrence you see every day," Karst said. "I think it was a situation where this harassment got out of hand."

(Hat Tip: BS Steve!)

Snoop Dogg arrested ... again

Snoop Dogg was arrested on drug possession charges -- weed and coke, if you were curious -- after he performed on The Tonight Show last night. I think he also got busted for gun possession. The man's getting busted every six months, it seems.

The burning question: Will Al Gore, tonight's guest, go quietly or resist arrest?

Update on microwaved baby case

From Fox News: One of the big obstacles for investigators looking into the death of China Arnold's one-month-old daughter was the fact that scientists haven't done a lot of research on how microwaves affect human beings. In this case, though, the child's injuries -- heat damage to internal organs, but no burn marks on the skin -- were the tell.

(Hat Tip: Thanks, Blondie)

Driver charged in fatal U.S. 71 wreck

From The Star: Cass County authorities charged a Mississippi truck driver with involuntary manslaughter Tuesday after two tractor-trailers collided. He is accused of violating sleep requirements before the fatal crash.

John L. White, 42, of Gulfport Miss., faces up to seven years in prison on the felony charge; he also was charged with two misdemeanors, one for exceeding his maximum drive time and another for careless and imprudent driving.

... According to court documents, White violated commercial truck driving laws requiring at least eight hours of sleep within a certain period of time on the road.