It's like Mom said: When you point a finger at somebody else ...

... a stripper in Cedar Rapids might bite it off.

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

KCPD investigate homicide in the 2000 block of E. Linwood

From KCPD: Officers were called on Sept 29th at 353 pm to 2017 East Linwood to investigate a disturbance call. When the officers arrived they found a 70-year-old male dead inside an apartment. 

While the officers were at the scene, the suspect returned to the scene and was taken into custody. The suspect is believed to be the victiim's son. The suspect is a male in his 30's.

Meet Pamela Ruth

Ruth, 47, of Mesa, is accused of chasing her live-in boyfriend with a hammer after he tried to break up with her. (He'd tried doing so over the phone earlier in the day, but it didn't take, the Arizona Republic reports.)

Ruth allegedly destroyed two model airplanes and an elephant statue before turning her attention to the 42-year-old man. He wants her prosecuted for the elephant.

Hat Tip: Many thanks, eephus!

Today's burning question from Arizona

Just because you have sex with a dog, does that necessarily make you a sex offender? I vote for YES, but a judge gets to make the call.

This is the guy who had intimate relations with a Labrador retriever, filmed the enterprise and left the photo (evidence) at the local Wal-Mart for processing. He pleaded to animal cruelty, but his case inspired Arizona to make bestiality a crime.

Also, he and his wife (!) have asked the judge to give them back their cats. The judge said no.

Mega-Hat-Tip to our Arizona correspondent, eephus, who resides in the middle of this craziness.

Grandview man charged in bicyclists' deaths

William K. Johnson, 49, faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of Larry Gaunt and his 14-year-old granddaughter, Sierra Gaunt. Snip from the prosecutor's release:

An accident reconstruction by Grandview police indicated that Johnson had been speeding at the time of the accident and that his vehicle drifted off the roadway due to driver inattention, and that Johnson overcompensated causing the truck to skid before striking the bicycles.

Quote of the day

“Well, then, why don’t you wipe the grin off your face and get serious. This is all going to get serious real quick.”

-- Wyandotte County Judge David W. Boal to Robert Haberlein, 19, who's charged in the 2005 beating death of Robin K. Bell. Haberlein was reportedly grinning during a hearing.

JoCo drops prostitution case against OP man

From Diane Carroll's report:

Johnson County prosecutors have dropped a case against an Overland Park man who had been charged with promoting prostitution.

Peng Zhang, 43, was scheduled to be tried starting Monday on a charge of maintaining or managing Lily Massage, which the complaint alleged was a house of prostitution. Instead, prosecutors dismissed the charge, a misdemeanor, on Sept. 21.

District Attorney spokesman Brian Burgess said today that prosecutors “didn’t want to go forward with the case we had.” Defense attorney Scott Toth said his client was innocent.

Zhang was one of six people charged May 12 in Johnson County District Court with alleged involvement in a prostitution ring. The charges were announced a day after federal prosecutors in Kansas City announced sex trafficking charges against four other people.

The federal prosecutors alleged those four were part of an operation that brought Chinese women to Johnson County to work as prostitutes.

Open Thread ... Weekend Edition

The Open Thread -- a sort of Batcave for the ornery and outspoken -- is up and running, despite this being a weekend. This is our spot for off-topic comments and discussion. If you've seen an interesting story elsewhere, feel free to post a link!

Please sign your comments, and please avoid profanity, as well as racially and sexually abusive language. I read the OT, but if you need to contact me directly, my email is jhart@kcstar.com.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police.” -- Keith Richards

Thanks again for hanging out!

The Great Grahamsville Tampon Protest

In Grahamsville, N.Y., students are wearing tampons pinned to their shirts, and girls are carrying purses made of tampon boxes. Why? Glad you asked.

Samantha Martin, 14, said she had a small purse with her at Tri-Valley High School in Sullivan County, northwest of New York City, when security guard Mike Bunce called her out of class Sept. 19.

She said Bunce told her she couldn't have a purse unless she was having her period, then asked her whether she was.

(Not even remotely crime-related, just too good not to share ...)

Robbers steal $1 million from armored truck in Florida

In Florida, robbers made away with $1 million when they held up a Brinks truck outside a Miami Shores grocery store Friday, station WPLG reports. This is the sixth such crime since May in south Florida.

Little girl on assault tape is OK

The little girl seen being sexually assaulted in a home video has been located, and she's safe, Nye County, Nev., authorities report. Investigators have named a suspect, and they're looking for him right now.

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

Crips in Wichita? Indictments against 28 people for alleged gang activity

Big news out of Wichita tonight -- a grand jury has issued indictments against 28 people for a series of crimes going back 17 years, including four homicides. The suspects are accused of being Crips or Crips associates. One defendant could be looking at a death-penalty case, the Eagle reports. The government is using RICO, and they're going to go after cars, houses and other property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Not so fast, Mary Winkler

Mary Winkler -- the Tennessee woman who shot and killed her minister husband with a shotgun -- won't get to see her three daughters on Saturday after all. A judge filed an order blocking the visit late Friday.

Colorado woman chases Hispanic children with samurai sword, police say

Amanda Jane Darling Harris, 21, is accused of chasing a group of Hispanic children and threatening them with an 18-inch samurai sword, according to police in Eagle, Colo. She's out on bond right now.

(I don't have permission to use the booking photo yet, but you need to see it.)

Some of the language in the story is very hateful, but basically, the woman accused the children of being illegal immigrants, police said. She allegedly put the sword to one boy's throat and threatened to cut off a girl's ponytail. She reportedly yelled, "If you're scared, then you're guilty."

What does Harris do for a living?

Harris is employed by Pooh Corner Preschool in Minturn, Colo., according to the arrest report. A spokeswoman for the preschool said she couldn't comment on Harris' current employment status.

Mental tests ordered for KS woman accused of killing baby

A Doniphan County woman accused of murdering her infant son will undergo a mental competency evaluation, the St. Joe News-Press reports. The baby's body was found in an apartment in Troy, Kan., back in June.

OK attorney, suspect in holdup, jumps from hospital

Robert Behlen, an Oklahoma attorney accused of robbing a pharmacy, jumped head first from the fifth floor of a hospital. He landed on a two-story building. His condition wasn't immediately known, the AP said, but he was alert and talking. He was in the hospital after he reportedly stabbed himself in the neck with a pencil.

Photo via The AP

Open Thread ... Friday

IMPORTANT NOTE: Typepad is acting up today. Sometimes, it's only showing 10 of our posts on the front page at a time. To see all of today's posts, please click on the calendar in the right-hand column. I am trying to reach Typepad so they can fix whatever their filthy, filthy software has done wrong this time.

PREVIOUSLY: Whew! We've almost made it through another week. The Open Thread -- our blog's space for off-topic discussion and bantering -- is here to help you make it until 5 p.m.

Please sign your comments, and please avoid profanity, as well as racially and sexually abusive language. I read the OT, but if you need to contact me directly, my email is jhart@kcstar.com.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "Make crime pay. Become a lawyer." -- Will Rogers.

Thanks again, and have a great Friday!

Bad news for people who love anonymous sex in public bathrooms

At the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, authorities are installing dividers between some of the bathroom stalls. Instead of a foot-tall gap, now it will only be two or three inches -- hardly any room at all for hand signals or toe-tapping.

The good news: It was probably a French kiss

A Chinese woman has been sentenced to death because she slipped a capsule full of rat poison into her lover's mouth while they were kissing. He swallowed it and died. The woman allegedly did it because she caught him talking to another woman.

Hat Tip: Excellent work, JUNGLE JIM!

The Arrowhead Report

Sorry it took me so long, but we do have a roundup on the arrests and incidents at Arrowhead Stadium last Sunday, courtesy of Sgt. Rick Sticken at KCPD. Overall, he said, the fans were well-behaved, and the atmosphere was good. They had ...

• 5 cases of trespassing -- One was a gentleman who had bought a stolen ticket. Another was the guy who ran across the field and got tackled by KC Wolf. Which was not terribly smart, Sticken said. The suspect was arrested by a deputy, so he'll be charged through the county, not the city, and face tougher penalties.
  
• 6 arrests for disorderly conduct -- Three groups of people got into a fight outside the stadium after the game. It reportedly started after one woman said something to another. Neither woman was there when police arrived.
  
• 1 minor in possession
  
• 1 ejection
  
• 1 assault
  
• 1 noninjury hit-and-run -- (Somebody hit a car and left without telling the other driver.)

Hat Tip: Thanks again, Sgt. Sticken!

What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully?

Somebody has stolen Francis Ford Coppola's laptop -- which happens to contain the script for his upcoming movie, "Tetro."

OK student accused of not-quite-ingenious blackmail scheme

An Oklahoma college student is accused of blackmailing his ex-girlfriend by threatening to post their old sex tapes on the Internet. What did he want from her? More sex, prosecutors allege.

NY woman tried to blame murders on daughter, police say

A New York woman is not only accused of poisoning her two husbands to death -- police also say she gave her daughter a drink designed to kill her. Mom then wrote a "suicide letter" in which the daughter claimed to have killed the two men, authorities allege.

The only hitch? Unlike the two husbands, the daughter lived. Mom's attorney has declined to comment.

NY police shut down alleged whorehouse that catered to high-school boys

Apparently, the pimps were trying to drum up business and offered lower-rate encounters, police said. It operated out of a ping-pong hall -- the Robo-Pong Training Center, the New York Post reports.

The men would try to lure students to the Robo-Pong Training Center by distributing business cards outside the school, sources said. The cards were printed only with a contact number, an image of a topless woman - and a word, "Good."

Zheng and Liuchang allegedly recruited immigrant women off the street to peddle flesh in hidden rooms at the center, whose hours were posted on a sign adorned with rulers and pencils and the words "School Days."

Police: Physical therapist stole meds from patient's purse while she exercised

In Utah, a physical therapist is accused of assigning a client some exercise -- then sneaking outside to her car and taking her prescription meds from her purse, police said.