25 years for sexually assaulting young girl

From The Star: A 34-year-old man was sentenced today to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of first-degree statutory sodomy, according to the Platte County authorities.

Thomas P. Brimmage was charged in July with sodomizing a girl on several occasions between August 2004 and May 2005. Brimmage lived in Platte City and the girl was 6 and 7 years old when the assaults took place, court records said.

Toddlers escape house, drown while babysitter slept

Sad story from Pennsylvania ... Two toddlers drowned in a nearby pond while their babysitter, a teenage girl related to one of the victims, took a nap. The teenager actually put the babies down for a nap before she laid down. The little girls apparently woke up and got out of the house. The coroner has ruled the deaths accidental.

Hat Tip: Thanks, Blondie

Open Thread ... Thursday

The Open Thread -- the blog's space for off-topic comments and general bantering -- is up and running on a soggy Thursday morning. The blog is always hungry, so if you've got links to interesting stories, please post them here.

Thanks again for hanging out, and have a great day. (I read the OT, but if you need to reach me directly, just shoot an email to jhart@kcstar.com.)

Iowa policeman sues over "special sauce"

An Iowa police officer is suing a local McDonald's after a couple of teenage employees reportedly spit on his chicken sandwich. (They said they were imitating a movie. "Super Troopers"?) The teens were fired, but the officer wants to make sure this doesn't happen again. From the story:

Douglas said it’s not about money but about accountability and to ensure the restaurant takes measures to ensure their employees are handling food properly.

Hat Tip: Many thanks to You're A Mean Drunk, R2D2!

Chicago firefighters save baby in nick of time

Chicago police say a woman being treated at a hospital left her newborn baby in a garbage bag in a closet -- but didn't tell authorities about the child for an hour. Firefighters went back to her residence, found the baby and resuscitated him. Police say he would've died soon if the firefighters hadn't saved him.

MO blacks, Hispanics stopped at higher rate than whites

From The AP: An annual report on racial profiling during Missouri traffic stops continues to find that black drivers are pulled over at a higher rate than white drivers, and the gap is growing.

The report, released Thursday by the attorney general’s office, found black drivers were 57 percent more likely to be stopped than whites, and Hispanic drivers were 15 percent more likely to get pulled over than whites. A year earlier, blacks were 46 percent more likely to be stopped, and Hispanic drivers’ rate was comparable to white motorists.

UPDATE: Here's a link to the AG's report; his office is required by a state law to compile one.

Still looking for a suspect

Reward sign on a light pole at Westport Road and Wyandotte Street.

The family and friends of Chris Bartholomew, a 21-year-old recently killed near 39th and Broadway, have put up fliers advertising reward money in his case. They've contributed $5,000 -- add in the TIPS Hotline money, and that's $6K available for info leading to an arrest. Call (816) 474-TIPS (474-8477) if you can help.

Wave of the Future: Micro-stamping

A lot of you might have heard about micro-stamping, but this is a new one for me. Apparently, there's technology that can imprint a gun's make, model and serial number on a shell casing every time the gun is fired. California's considering a bill to require micro-stamping on semiautomatic guns. There's even talk of a national law, too.

Supporters say it'd help police solve more shootings. Opponents worry that it'd make it easy to frame people by throwing down shell casings at a crime scene.

Help is on the way, Paris

Uh ... what? Local woman wants to serve Paris Hilton's sentence for her.

(Story is from Fox 4, but I saw it at Tony's Kansas City. The station's piece doesn't have much info, which might have been because of time limits. But it doesn't say if the lady actually has a plan, or if she just called up WDAF and said, "Yo, clear some airtime. I'm going to say some really wild crap.")

MA doctor secretly blogged about his own trial

Great story from Boston ... A pediatrician was being sued for malpractice, and a local blogger was writing about the trial. The blogger made fun of the plaintiffs, accused jury members of sleeping and even revealed part of the defense strategy.

Turns out the doctor and the blogger are the same person. And the plaintiff's lawyer -- who was one of his objects of ridicule -- made him admit to being the same guy on the stand. Next day? Doctor settles.

Hat Tip: Thanks, Blondie!

KCSD leader facing indictment in Texas

William F. Coleman III, the chief business officer at the Kansas City school district, has been indicted in Texas on "charges he helped arrange a multimillion-dollar computer contract in return for a Florida trip and thousands of dollars in bribes," Joe Robertson reports.

Coleman wasn't available for comment Wednesday night, but his attorney says he'll be fully exonerated. He's also cooperating with the FBI, the lawyer added. Since arriving in Kansas City, Coleman's taken a lead role in the district's budget and schools reorganization.

The superintendent had wanted Coleman to become KCSD's chief operating officer this summer. That might be up in the air for now, though the superintendent says Coleman has been doing good work. One of the school board members, Joel Pelofsky, agreed: "He’s done really fine work here. He has the kind of personality and diligence that this district needs."

I've got the money right here ... uh ... it's at the Price Chopper. Yeah, the Price Chopper, that's the ticket

UPDATED: She turned herself in this morning and has bonded out.

Remember Julie Ann Carr? She's the woman who pleaded guilty to stealing thousands from the Bluejacket-Flint Elementary PTA in Johnson County. On Wednesday, she was supposed to turn over a $21,348 restitution check and an apology. Except she forgot the check at a Price Chopper, she told the court.

The judge gave her time to get it, though the assistant DA wasn't buying it. “Judge, with all due respect to counsel … this sounds like a lot of hooey to the state’s attorney."

The assistant DA called it: Carr never came back. The judge has issued a bench warrant for her arrest.

(Laura Bauer's got a longer, more awesome story here.)

Good Samaritan gets stabbed in the lung

Outrageous story from St. Joseph ... Mikel Sansonetti sees a man beating up a woman in a Taco Bell parking lot, television station KQ2 reports. As he tries to pull the man off her, Sansonetti got stabbed in the lung. He's recovering in the hospital right now.

And the lady he tried to help? "She ended up telling the guy, 'let's go honey, the cops are coming and you have warrants' and ended up getting in the car with the gentleman anyway and actually driving around me while I was laying on the ground bleeding," Mikel said.

"Guru of Ganja" gets convicted, won't go to jail

A federal jury has convicted Ed Rosenthal -- aka The Guru of Ganja -- of growing pot, which he said was intended for sick people. That's allowed under California law, but not under federal law.

Rosenthal won't do a day in jail. That's because he was convicted of these charges a few years ago and served a one-day sentence. That sentence was overturned. The judge tried to convince the feds to not pursue the case again because he wouldn't give Rosenthal any more time.

It's all fun and games until someone loses a leg

A Pennsylvania inmate says guards confiscated his prosthetic leg after they found tobacco hidden inside, then threw the leg around so much that it broke. His lawsuit says he fell three times and fractured his stump because he didn't have the leg. (The guards wouldn't give it back.)

Mega-Hat-Tip to Doc!

Update on Jodi Sanderholm case

A preliminary hearing was held Wednesday in the trial of Justin Thurber, who's accused of killing college student Jodi Sanderholm. Thurber, right, talks to his lawyer. Photo via The AP, taken by Donita Clausen of the Arkansas City Traveler.

The Traveler also has an archive of its stories about the case here.

A kinder, gentler Wakarusa?

The Kansas Highway Patrol won't run a vehicle checkpoint at this summer's Wakarusa Fest at Clinton State Park, though they'll be on the site. Instead, security will check cars at the main entrance. And there won't be any hidden cameras. There were six last year, and nobody knew they were there until after the event was over.

Ex-wife tried to hire hitman over late child support

A St. Louis woman has admitted that she tried to hire a hitman to kill her ex-husband over delinquent child support. An informer got her on tape offering a share of the life insurance money; she even gave him a gun. (Story makes it sound like Dad's payments really were late, though it's not absolutely clear.)

KCPD identifies 17-year-old killed at 24th and Kensington

From KCPD's official statement: The homicide victim found yesterday near 24th and Kensington has been identified as 17-year-old Vonzall Temple Jr, of KCMO. It appears the victim was parked in the driveway of a residence in the 2500 block of Kensington when unknown suspect(s) walked up behind his vehicle and shot him.

There are no suspects in custody and detectives ask that anyone with information to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477. This is homicide 39 for the year compared to 30 at this time last year.

(KSHB reports Temple had recently graduated from Hogan Prep, where a vigil was held in his memory on Wednesday. His family said he wanted to go to barber school.)

Kansas to issue fines for booster seat violations

Starting in July, Kansas will begin handing out $60 tickets to anyone who ignores its law on child booster seats. Kids 4 to 7 have to ride in the seats unless they're taller than 4 feet 9 or weigh more than 80 pounds. (The law was passed a while ago, but officers have just been handing out warning tickets so far.)

Judge: New buffer rules for sex offenders aren't retroactive

From The Star: Certain sex offenders who were legally living near a school before Missouri tightened its sex offender law last year cannot be forced to move, a judge has ruled.

Making them move violates the Missouri and U.S. constitutions, which say laws cannot penalize people retroactively, Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce decided last week.

Forces of darkness win crucial battle in War On Pornography!!!

A video store in McDonald County -- literally, the southwestern-most county in Missouri -- was convicted of promoting obscenity. (Some informants from the local drug task force were allegedly able to rent some adult movies from the store.)

But the store's won an appeal because the probable cause did not describe the contents of the videos. From the News-Leader's story:

The state agreed with the attorney’s request for a new trial. “... Neither party wants to cause this Honorable Court to be required to review the six hours of sexually explicit ‘adult’ material” in the case, the state said.

(Pictured: Picture of naked people, not pictured.)

It's a beautiful day on the Internet

A federal grand jury returns a 35-count indictment against "one of the top 10 spammers in the world," a 27-year-old from the Seattle area, AP reports. (His public defender declined comment.)

Hat Tip: Many thanks, Doc!

New Mexico man stands trial on 28th DUI charge

He's been convicted at least 14 times. Police say they arrested him this time after he parked his truck and then fell out.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, John Boy and Doc!

Nursing aide gets 25 years for raping disabled woman

Awful case from Chicago ... A 20-year-old nursing aide was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to raping a woman with cerebral palsy and brain damage. The man, who was 17 when the attack occurred, told investigators he was "bored," a presentencing report notes.

The victim, who has the mind of a 3-year-old, got pregnant. Her baby was delivered by C-section and is being raised by the woman's mother. From the story: "Hale-Crom said she has taken the child to meet her mother, but the victim's mental and physical conditions prevent her from understanding who the child is."