Crimeconomics
What Do You Do When A Pornstar Uses YOUR Name?
HOUSTON -- A Houston-area woman filed a lawsuit against a porn star, claiming she stole her name.Lara Madden, 25, is an actress in the pornography industry, Houston TV station KPRC reported. She is a former Houstonian who has appeared in about a dozen X-rated movies under the stage name "Syvette Wimberly." That's the problem.
Man Arrested On His 28th DWI Charge ... Pleads NOT GUILTY.
An Albuquerque man arrested for the 28th time on a drunken driving charge has pleaded not guilty. Joseph Brill, 53, entered his plea Tuesday to charges of aggravated driving while intoxicated, driving on a suspended license and having an open container of alcohol in a vehicle.
Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies arrested Brill in an Albuquerque neighborhood on March 14. Deputies said they saw him park, then fall out of his pickup truck.
Man Who Faked Retardation To Get Disability Checks Gets Prison, Has To Repay $59,226
A Vancouver man was sentenced Friday to 13 months in prison for pretending to be mentally retarded in order to claim disability benefits.
Pete J. Costello, 28, pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to defraud the government and to Social Security fraud. He began receiving disability benefits when he was 8. He was ordered to repay the $59,226 he has received since turning 18.
Costello, who cannot read or write, dictated a letter to his public defender that was submitted to the judge before sentencing and filed in court.
Customers Accused Of Trying To Put $1 Over On Blind Operator Of Deli In Courthouse
Don't try to dupe Kent Parker just because he's blind and operates a deli in the Hamilton County Courthouse.
Every once in a while, somebody tries to cheat him despite the security cameras trained on the cash register and about a dozen sheriff's deputies a few steps away.
In the past two weeks, two women offered bills smaller than they claimed and were arrested within minutes.
"I have a lot of friends who watch out for me," said Parker, 43, who has been operating the Courthouse Deli for eight years.
Teacher Steals Little Girl's Coat, Sells In On EBay. This Teacher Isn't Underpaid Either, She Makes $69,000 A Year
A Hillsboro mother found her daughter's missing winter coat on eBay, and now a teacher at the girl's elementary school faces charges of theft and computer crimes.
Elizabeth Logan, 41,is on paid administrative leave from Jackson Elementary. She denies stealing the coat, saying she got it from a lost-and-found, Cmdr. Chris Skinner said.
The mother searched the school's lost and found for the coat, then decided to turn to eBay for a replacement. After finding a seemingly identical coat, she noticed that the seller was from Hillsboro.
The mother alerted another bidder that the coat might be stolen, and the other bidder relayed the information to the seller, Logan. Skinner said Logan asked the other bidder to outbid the girl's mother.
Man Ran Secret Bank From His Washington Home
A man operated a "warehouse bank" out of his suburban home in Washington, taking at least $28 million from people around the country who wanted a discrete bank account, according to court documents.
An IRS investigator said Robert Arant had hundreds of customers, many of whom apparently used his bank, Olympic Business Systems LLC, to conceal assets for the purpose of evading taxes.
On his now-defunct Web site, Arant advertised his services to those "who would rather not deal directly with the banking system," court records said.
Arant took customers' money -- promising to keep their identities private -- and pooled it in six accounts at Bank of America, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo Bank, IRS agent Susan Killingsworth said in court papers.
Robber Flushed Money Down The Toilet. Literally
CANTON, Ohio -- A sheriff said the evidence was exactly where a bank robbery suspect claimed it would be -- a toilet.
The suspect, who investigators believe took part in robbing the Bank of Magnolia on April 20, cut up stolen money stained red by an exploding dye pack and flushed it down a toilet at his parents' home, Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson said.
Acting on a tip, sheriff's deputies arrested the suspect on Monday while he was playing cards at a bar. The suspect told deputies where they could find the money, Swanson said.
Deputies with a search warrant removed the toilet from its plumbing and found shredded U.S. currency in the toilet trap, Swanson said.
The suspect was being held on a charge of aggravated robbery, a county jail officer said. Bond was set at $50,000.
The Dumbest Stripclub Visitor
A Wisconsin man used his cell phone to call 911 after paying the wrong woman for a lap dance.
According to the Dodge County Sheriff's Department log, the man called the emergency number early Saturday after he gave $20 to a woman at a Clyman, Wis. club. The woman did not work at the club and left with his money.
Failing to get a lap dance, the man called the sheriff's department. Officers are trying to locate the woman.
Dodge County is in southeastern Wisconsin with an estimated population of 88,105, according to the 2005 census.
[Via CBS Broadcasting Inc.]
Robbery Aborted When Employees Get Giggles
Police are searching for two would-be bandits after Postal Annex employees got the giggles and foiled an attempted armed robbery, reported television station KPTV in Portland, Ore.
Portland police said two men wearing red bandanas walked into the Postal Annex on Southwest Beaverton Hillsdale Highway around 9:30 a.m. Friday and told the workers to empty the register.One of the men had a fold-up knife and was having problems opening it. The employees, thinking the attempted robbery was a hoax, laughed at the would-be robbers, KPTV reported.
The assistant manager, playing along with what she assumed was a joke, picked up the phone and threatened to call 911. As soon as she said the three numbers, the two would-be robbers were gone, the employees said.
Colorado Inmates Sue Over Mosquitoes
The inmates at Walsenburg and Limon prisons sued, saying they were at risk of contacting West Nile virus or other diseases after they were bitten repeatedly by mosquitoes and suffered "the emotional and mental distress of whether or not each mosquito's bite would result in death or serious bodily injury."
Stephen Glover, Alan Smith and Michael Freeman said the bites caused high fever, headache, neck stiffness and muscle weakness.
But the Colorado Court of Appeals swat down their case and upheld a lower court's decision to throw their case out.
