Texting 101: Don�t send pot messages to cop
Kentucky teacher sent trooper drug-deal details intended for dealer

Updated: 3:35 p.m. CT Feb 24, 2007
MURRAY, Ky. - A middle school teacher trying to buy pot was arrested after she sent text messages to state trooper instead of a dealer, police said.

Trooper Trevor Pervine was at dinner with his wife and parents celebrating a birthday when his phone started buzzing with messages about a marijuana purchase.

At first, Pervine thought the messages were from friends playing a joke, Kentucky State Police spokesman Barry Meadows said. But a couple of phone calls put that idea to rest, and Pervine responded to set up a meeting, Meadows said.

Authorities say Ann Greenfield, 34, arrived at the meeting point and found Pervine and other law enforcement officers waiting for her.

�She learned her lesson. Program your dealers into your phone,� Meadows said.

Greenfield, a teacher at Murray Middle School, was charged with conspiracy to traffic in controlled substances within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, Meadows said.

She was suspended with pay pending results of an investigation, the Murray Independent School District said in a statement posted Friday on the district�s Web site. A message seeking comment left at a listing for an Ann Greenfield in Murray, Ky. was not returned.

If she is convicted, does she forfeit the pay? What usually happens in these cases?

JAS

Sheriff's say burglary suspects leave digital camera at scene of crime

01:42 PM CDT on Saturday, March 17, 2007

By KEVIN PETERS/KVUE News

Most people take pictures to mark a memorable occasion: graduations, holiday parties, special events � but a burglary? Travis County detectives have found some unusual evidence at a crime scene that they want the public to see.

What looks like scenes from a typical high school or college party, investigators say is actually photos from a crime scene.




Last month, at least nine people broke into private property at the end of Coldwater Canyon, near 360 and 2222. Police say pictures documented a party and crime in which $5,000 worth of expensive alcohol, including $800 bottles of wine and high-dollar scotch, were stolen.


Travis Co. Sheriff's Office

Pictures found on a digital camera left behind at the scene of a burglary
But what the group left behind at the party left quite an impression.

�During the investigation, we found a digital camera that didn't belong to the victim,� said Roger Wade, with the Travis County Sheriff�s Office.

On that camera, investigators found a clear picture of their suspects. Now, they need help in identifying who they are.

Legendary game designer Richard Garriott actually owns the property. He says it�s made up of a series of cabins and other buildings for special events.

�We were debating whether we would even report this to police until we discovered the digital camera sitting on the porch of one of the cabins broken into,� he said.

As Garriott looked through the pictures, they were even better than he could have hoped.

�We we're joking to ourselves about tomorrow morning, when they wake up with a hangover, they're going to wonder where that camera is,� he said. �This is one of those Darwin-style kind of awards, where people leave the self-incriminating evidence behind at the scene.�

This is the second break-in on Garriott�s property in two years. Now, he just wants people to leave his property alone.

�We have now stepped up and realize that we have to have electronic security and surveillance equipment around the site just to insure people don't come onto it in the future,� he said.

Travis County investigators say this ranks pretty high on their list of dumb criminals, nearly on par with leaving a wallet or driver�s license on the scene.

If you can identify any of the people in the pictures, call Crimestoppers at 472-TIPS. You can receive a reward of up to $1,000.

These folks make the Republic of Texas look darn near normal...

Not from here...

SPACE ALIEN DIPLOMATS: Local men claim immunity from U.S. laws; cops not buying it
03/15/2007

TRENTON -- Four men claiming diplomatic immunity as members of a "indigenous nation" that includes people from "the so-called planet Earth" and other planets such as Mars and Venus have been arrested and called frauds this week by Trenton police.


The four claim to be part of Abannaki Indigenous Nation, over which the U.S. has no authority, police said.

The group�s Web site links to the Universal Zulu Nation, which denounces the U.S. as a slave state (see sidebar).

Police said they�ve had "encounters" in the streets all week with the purported diplomats who claimed immunity from U.S. laws.

In each incident, the men presented diplomatic identity papers which investigators determined were fraudulent, police said.

The first incident occurred on Sunday in the 200 block of Stuyvesant Avenue in Trenton.

Police said Wilbert Harrington, also known as Ashir M. Bey, 27, of Willow Court, Hamilton, was arrested at 5:46 a.m. and charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance and related charges, obstructing the administration of law, resisting arrest, and displaying fraudulent documentation.

As of early yesterday, he was lodged at the Mercer County Correction Center.

Then at 9:29 p.m. Monday, Abdul Ali Amin, 33, whose last known address was in the 800 block of Carteret Ave., was the subject of a traffic stop at Perry and North Broad streets, police said.

He was issued traffic summonses, and also charged with displaying fraudulent documentation, police said. Bail was set at $2,500.

William McRae, also known as Born El-Rey, 33, was arrested Tuesday at 22 minutes after midnight on a local warrant following a traffic stop for fictitious tags at Stuyvesant and Hayes avenues, police said.

An arrest document provided by police gave McRae�s address as 824 Southard St.

But Assistant Municipal Prosecutor Lenore Hannoh said McRae would only give a post office box number in Philadelphia as an address at his arraignment yesterday morning before Judge Lawson McElroy. So stated his municipal court documents.

"The defendant did commit the act of exhibiting false government documents; to wit, knowingly exhibiting a false government document which was used as a means of verifying a person�s identity," court papers stated.

Police also they towed a car with phony diplomatic license plates from where it was parked at Anderson and Hewitt streets.

The vehicle was said to be owned by a Russell K. Davis, age unknown, of the 300 block Franklin Street, who was arrested.

Police kept the car hidden as evidence yesterday and wouldn�t identify the make or model, nor say what was on the plates or phony documentation.

The Trentonian unsuccessfully attempted to interview six men who said they were with "the diplomats" as they stood in the Trenton Police and Municipal Court lobby after McRae�s arraignment yesterday.

The men wouldn�t give their names, and turned down interview requests there in the lobby.

One of the two best-dressed men in the group, who said he was "a representative from Nation," said he and the group would visit the newspaper for an interview after court.

They did not appear, however.

Police told The Trentonian that the Muslim group first appeared in Philadelphia. Members were first recognized in Mercer County seven months ago, and authorities have had their eyes on them ever since.

For those organizations claiming exclusion from US law, the whimsical Conch Republic in the Florida Keys is the coolest one. They have no anti-law enforcement doctrine, they just pretend to be their own republic.

Not a bunch like the Republic of Texas guys, who missed out on some important lessons during civics and government classes in school.

It must be real. They have a website.

sounds like a radical sect of a jimmy buffett fan club.

[This message was edited by David Newell on 03-19-07 at .]

CAVE people = citizens against virtually everything.

JAS

quote:

---

Originally posted by David Newell:
sounds like a radical sect of a jimmy buffett fan club.

[This message was edited by David Newell on 03-19-07 at .]

---

Not like I'd be a member of that, Mr. N.

I'm told that the radical wing of the Parrotheads, the Parrothead Army for the Liberation of Margaritaness (PALM), concerns itself only with opposing tax labels on tequila, triple sec and rum bottles. Their flip-flops and sugar-laden hangovers keep them from being a particularly mobile force to contend with. At least, that's what I'm told.

Criminals leave behind a Kodak memory.

Nine who left pics at crime scene identified

Looking for a place to party, group broke into property owned by Austin game developer.

See story here:

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/05/5garriott.html

COMMENTARY: JOHN KELSO

Crime tip No. 1: after break-in, stick camera in pocket and take home
Click-2-Listen
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Stupidest stunt pulled so far this year by young folks in the state of Texas?

Right now I'd hand the trophy to those nine 18- to 22-year-old guys and gals who broke into Austin game maker Richard Garriott's property in the hills southwest of town, drank up his liquor, took pictures of themselves partying � and then left their digital camera behind.

Leaving the camera is the part that leads me to call them the Numskull Nine.

Oh, I suppose you could make the case that these youngsters did the civic-minded thing by making it easy for the sheriff's office to identify them.

Who needs a lineup when you've got this kind of quality help from the perps? Most kids this age are satisfied with being on MySpace. Sounds like this bunch wants a space in the county jail, too.

Garriott is a wealthy man who lives in an enormous, funny-looking house that some might describe as a compound. So I guess the kids could claim they thought they were checking into the Marriott and use that as their defense.

Some are charged with burglary of a building, others with criminal trespass. None is charged with being overly slick, however.

Kids, come on, use the old noodle next time, and take the evidence home with you. I can understand why you would break into Mr. Garriott's place because he's well-off, and I'm sure he has one heckuva hooch collection. At least y'all showed exquisite taste by not breaking into a South Austin trailer and stealing a 12-pack of Lone Star.

But why would you leave the digital camera with your pictures still on it? I know, you were probably thinking about how you were going to get lucky as soon as you got out of there. So you just forgot.

But why did you take these photos in the first place? You probably don't want to use them for your Christmas cards, and they don't really fall under the category of "what I did on my vacation."

You know, I don't expect youth to be careful and logical. I've done some pretty stupid things in my time. Like the evening I, uh � never mind, I'm not sure the statute of limitations has run out on that.

But at least I didn't bring along a film crew.

Several of the kids who were charged knew each other from Stony Point High School in Round Rock. Some wisenheimers refer to Stony Point as Stoner Point, and this won't help stop that.

Either way, you'd think the Stony Point teachers could teach their kids to be a little sneakier. How's a kid going to end up in the Legislature if he doesn't get a little guidance at the prep level?

One thing you can say about this camera that got left, though. Apparently it didn't have a video function, or there'd be footage on YouTube showing these kids pukin' in their Pumas.

I will give them a couple things, though. The pictures they took of themselves were quality and in focus, which made it easy for the law to track them down. And they broke into the right place. I hear Garriott had some pretty sweet bottles of port.

John Kelso's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 445-3606 or jkelso@statesman.com.

I'd give good odds that the two went back to get the camera so they could update their My Space sites.

This sounds like something from the Tattletale; even if it's not true, it's pretty entertaining...

LawDog Files

Monday, May 07, 2007
Tactical advice

By way of my friend Peter, we learn of the romantic adventures -- and tactical lessons -- of a Louisiana critter.

There is a Class 1 Beverage Alert in effect.

Enjoy.

A few tactical lessons learned from an incident this weekend:

1. If you're a young, horny teenage male who wants to get it off in the worst possible way, do not get a school 'friend' to introduce you to a pretty girl without checking on the background of said girl. In the absence of such checks a few salient facts might go unnoticed.

2. It is not a good idea to take your friend and said girl in your car to a 'movie', drop your friend at the door to buy tickets, and instead of parking the car, drive out of the cinema parking lot and down the road.

3. It's not a good idea to turn off onto a dirt road, stop the car, expose yourself and brag about how good a time you're going to give her.

4. It's an even worse idea to expose yourself when the girl in question has been well and truly informed by her parents of the effects of grabbing and squeezing (in a distinctly non-erotic manner). This error is compounded when she has naturally long, sharp nails.

5. When the young lady leaves your car and runs back to the main road, after you've unwrapped yourself from around the steering wheel and stopped crying, it's not a good idea to try to go after her by initiating a three-point reverse on a Louisiana single-lane dirt-track road when there's a bayou off to the side where you're reversing.

6. Having swum to shore and wrung your clothes out, it's not a good idea to go chasing after the girl screaming (at the top of your lungs) what you're about to do to her . . . particularly when the nice policeman (who happens to be her godfather) has just spotted her at the roadside, pulled up, got out of his car, and is listening to her tale of the night's adventures.

7. When said policeman remonstrates with you (as politely as possible under the circumstances) about your intentions and advises you to "cool it", it's a really, REALLY bad idea to tell him that he's a "****-sucking pig-*** mother******", that you know your rights, and that he can't do a ****ing thing to you. He may take this as an invitation to demonstrate to you the depths of your error of judgment.

8. When handcuffed and in the rear seat of the nice policeman's vehicle (once again in a pain-wracked state) it's the height of folly to inform the policeman and the girl (now sitting in the front seat) that your daddy's gonna fix his *** for him, but good. It's an even worse idea to tell him your daddy's name and address when he inquires about it. You see, your daddy has a string of felony convictions as long as you wish a certain portion of your anatomy was, and he's got an outstanding warrant right now.

9. When the nice policeman nods gravely at the flow of insulting comment and asks "Is your daddy home right now?", your daddy (under the circumstances) may not be too pleased if you answer "Yes".

10. When the nice policeman and the young lady in the front seats look at each other and break into hysterical laughter while the nice policeman reaches for his microphone and calls for backup, you might begin to get an inkling that you've just compounded your earlier errors.

11. After a brief interval, when your daddy's placed in the back seat alongside you (also in handcuffs) and, amid much profanity and muttering, wonders aloud how the "****ing cops knew he was at home", it's the crowning glory of your evening's errors to tell him that you told them he was at home.

12. This will lead to several large, hairy policemen standing around the patrol car having hysterics whilst your infuriated father tries to bite your ear off (with considerable, albeit only partial, success).

13. When you and your daddy have eventually been booked in at the jail, and both of you demand loudly to make bail, it's not polite to scream with horror when informed that the young lady's father is - guess what?- the judge who will be considering your bail application, but he can't come right now as he's listening to his daughter tell him about her evening. Don't worry - he'll be along shortly.

*gigglesnort*

Thanks, Peter.

LawDog

Police: Fake cop pulls over real cop
25-year-old with flashing lights, badge arrested after he stops wrong car
The Associated Press
Updated: 10:29 a.m. CT July 11, 2007

BOHEMIA, N.Y. - There were flashing lights atop his SUV and what appeared to be a police badge in his hand, but it was the man he tried to pull over who was the real police detective.

Robert Lane, 25, was arrested Tuesday on charges of criminal impersonation and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, Suffolk County police said.

Lane was driving an SUV fitted with flashing lights when he tried to stop the off-duty New York police detective on a highway on Long Island, Suffolk police said. They said Lane told investigators the detective had cut him off.

The detective got suspicious when Lane drove up alongside him, identified himself as an officer and flashed a small police badge, Suffolk police said.

The detective showed his own police ID and ordered Lane to pull over, then followed him when he didn�t and called in local police to arrest him, authorities said.

Lane could not immediately be located for comment.

'Duct tape bandit' charged in robbery
The Associated Press


'Duct tape' bandit charged in robbery

ASHLAND, Ky. -- A man accused of being the "Duct Tape Bandit" has gotten into a sticky situation. The man, who had his head wrapped in duct tape to conceal his identity, walked into a liquor store on Friday, Ashland police said.

Shamrock Liquors store manager Bill Steele had some duct tape of his own, but his was wrapped around a wooden club that sent the robber fleeing, according to a report by WSAZ-TV in Huntington, W.Va.

Store employee Craig Miller said he chased the man to the parking lot, tackled him and held him in a choke hold until police arrived. A customer also helped, police said.

Kasey G. Kazee, 24, of Ashland, was charged with first-degree robbery, according to Ashland Police Sgt. Mark McDowell.

Kazee, in an interview with the TV station, denied he was the bandit who robbed the store of two rolls of change. He pleaded not guilty Monday and bond was set at $250,000.

Writer convicted of murder he described in novel

1:15PM Thursday September 06, 2007
By Peter Popham

LONDON - A Polish author, travel writer and intellectual whose best-selling novel described a grisly murder has been jailed for 25 years for committing the crime he had so vividly portrayed.

The killing of Dariusz Janiszewski in 2000 was notably gruesome.

The victim - a successful, popular professional - was humiliated, starved and tortured, before having his hands bound with a rope that was looped around his neck in a noose.

When fishermen scooped the body out of the river Oder, it was stripped to shirt and underpants and the limbs had been distended and bore marks of torture.

The police had no leads and after six months the search for a culprit was abandoned.

But the murderer could not resist gloating over his cleverness.

During the investigation, anonymous emails were sent from South Korea and Indonesia to Polish television's equivalent of Crimewatch, describing the killing as "the perfect crime".

Those were just straws in the wind.

But fully five years after the killing, the detective in charge of the investigation, Chief Inspector Jacek Wroblewski, received an anonymous call suggesting he take a look at a novel entitled Amok, written by Krystian Bala and published two years earlier.

Ch. Insp Wroblewski read the book several times.

The similarities with the murder of Dariusz Janiszewski were too strong to be ignored.

In the book, a group of bored intellectuals finds distraction from the monotony of their lives in sex, drugs, alcohol n and murder.

Their victim is first tortured, then has her hands and wrists bound with a length of rope that is then passed round her neck.

Details of the Janiszewski murder that were never publicised were duplicated in the novel.

The victim's body was dragged from a river in Wroclaw.

The Oder, where Mr Janiszewski was found, flows through the city.

After Bala's arrest in 2005, friends and supporters launched appeals on the Web, claiming he had been "kidnapped and physically abused" by police and falsely accused of murder.

Amok, they said, was "strong" in language and content, and "there are several metaphors that might be considered against the Catholic Church and Polish tradition."Bala told police his inspiration for the story came from press reports, while the bits not mentioned in the media, which happened to be the most gruesome, came straight from his imagination.

After three days, the author was set free.

In outrage, Bala told his supporters that the detectives "seemed to know my book by heart.

The police were treating the book as if it was a literal autobiography rather than a piece of fiction."Ch Insp Wroblewski and his team of investigators were unconvinced.

Digging further they found new links between the crime and the author.

Bala, an experienced diver, had been on diving trips to South Korea, Indonesia and Japan when the mystery emails describing the murder as "the perfect crime" arrived in Poland .

Investigators found the victim's mobile phone had been sold on the internet four days after his disappearance, from an account in Bala's name.

The author had no answer to that.

Bala acknowledged he used the name Chris when outside Poland - the name of the murderer in Amok.

Judge Lidia Hojenska said Bala was driven to kill Mr Janiszewski because he believed he had had an affair with the novelist's estranged wife.

There was insufficient evidence to prove that Bala carried out the murder himself, she said, but sufficient to prove he "committed the crime of leading the killing ...

He was the initiator of the murder; his role was leading and planning it."

- INDEPENDENT

I'll bet he wishes he were Maxwell Smart ("Missed it by THAT much.")

Police: Man shoots himself in testicle during robbery

A man accidentally shot himself in the groin as he was robbing a convenience store Tuesday, police said.

A clerk told police a man carrying a semiautomatic handgun entered the Village Pantry demanding cash and a pack of cigarettes. The clerk put the cash in a bag and as she turned to get the cigarettes, she heard the gun discharge.

Police say surveillance video shows the man shooting himself as he placed the gun in the waistband of his pants. The clerk wasn't injured.

A short time later, police found 25-year-old Derrick Kosch at a home with a gunshot wound to his right testicle and lower left leg.

Kosch was released from the hospital Tuesday and booked into the Howard County jail on a charge of armed robbery, criminal recklessness and battery. He is being held on a $100,000 cash bail. A jail official did not know if he had retained an attorney Wednesday.