True Crime

[skippy]

Couple gets long sentence in finger scam Thu Jan 19, 9:12 AM ET

SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - A couple who planted a human finger in a bowl of chili at a Wendy's fast food restaurant was sentenced in California on Wednesday to nine years in prison.

"Greed and avarice overtook this couple and they lost their moral compass," Judge Edward Davila said of Anna Ayala and her husband Jaime Plascencia in handing down the nine-year sentence.

The scam caused a sharp fall in sales at the third-largest U.S. burger chain, resulting in millions of dollars in lost revenue and a lingering impact to this day, officials say.

Plascencia was given another three years and four months for not paying support for the five children he has with another woman in an unrelated case, giving him a total sentence of 12 years, four months behind bars.

Davila also ordered the couple to pay almost $22 million in restitution but Wendy's officials indicated to the court they would only seek to collect approximately $170,000, representing the wages lost by employees at the San Jose restaurant where working hours were cut back after a downturn in business.

"The crimes committed by the defendants have done immeasurable damage to Wendy's image, not only in northern California, but across the country," Denny Lynch, a Wendy's senior vice president, told the court.

"We cannot put into words how it feels to have the company you've devoted your career to be subjected to grotesque humor on the late night TV talk shows in front of a national viewing audience."

Investigators determined Plascencia obtained the piece of finger from a co-worker who had lost the top of a digit in an industrial accident at a Las Vegas paving company. The man had turned over the finger fragment to settle a $50 debt.

Wendy's International, based in Dublin, Ohio, paid a $100,000 reward for information to help establish the source of the severed finger.

"I am truly sorry. I owe Wendy's and its employees an apology," a sobbing Ayala told the court. "Wendy's had always been my family's favorite fast food restaurant."

She called her actions "a moment of poor judgment," and told her family: "For all the shame I brought upon them I am sorry, I am so sorry."

Ayala, 40, who had been a Las Vegas resident, had said that she discovered the finger after buying the bowl of chili last March. She complained about the experience on national television and hired a lawyer, attracting wide attention to the bizarre incident.

Ayala's attorney Rick Ehler accused prosecutor David Boyd of using the media attention to get a tough sentence. "It seems as though the prosecution tried to exert some judicial pressure through the media," Ehler said.

"I am extremely remorseful," said Plascencia, 43, who, like his wife, wore prison clothes to the hearing at which television cameras were permitted.

Plascencia's attorney Charles Kramer said the probation department's recommendation of 11 years for his client was excessive.

"I was quite surprised at the harshness of the probation department's recommendation," Kramer said. "Judge Davila going over and above that shocks me even more."

[skippy]

Search on for skinny prisoner after narrow escape Thu Jan 19, 12:41 PM ET

SYDNEY (AFP) - Red-faced officials were hunting a skinny Australian who lost some 14 kilogrammes (30 pounds) in a crash diet to enable him to slip out of a maximum security prison.

Robert Cole, 36, dropped his weight from 70 kilogrammes to 56 in a matter of weeks before making his narrow escape by chipping a gap in the brick wall beside the bars in his cell window.

Cole, who was being treated in the prison's hospital ward for mental health problems, was serving time for stealing and assault and has been described by officials as cunning and dangerous.

He was the third prisoner in a week to escape from jails in New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, and the state government has called top officials from all 30 prisons to an emergency meeting Friday.

Apart from failing to detect Coles' weight loss and the chipping away of the bricks, prison guards did not man the watchtowers at Sydney's Long Bay Prison during the night and he climbed over the wall undetected.

Prison officials said the watchtower at the hospital wing was only manned during certain times of the day after an agreement with unions representing the guards.

Corrective Services deputy commissioner Ian McLean said Coles' weight loss had been deliberate and the chipped brickwork had not been noticed.

"We are obviously very embarrassed by this," he said.

[skippy]

Woman arrested in "kill for a job" case Fri Jan 20, 1:56 PM ET

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian police have arrested a woman they believe ordered the killing of a female former co-worker and an attempt on the life of another to get a permanent job next to a man she loved.

A duty police officer in Cubatao, an industrial city next to Sao Paulo, said Carolina Farias Santos, 22, confessed that she had hired friends for about $1,300 to kill Monica Tamer, a full-time employee at an oil processing company where Santos had worked temporarily.

Santos told police she wanted to work next to a man she had fallen in love with during her stint at the company. She had been hired to temporarily replace another woman, Renata Boreli, who was filling in while Tamer was on maternity leave.

In November, Boreli was wounded as two assailants fired shots at her car, and then started to receive telephone threats warning her not return to work. The following month, Tamer, a mother of two, was killed.

Police traced phone calls to Boreli's house, which led them to Santos and four friends. Two were arrested along with Santos on Wednesday and two remained at large.

[skippy]

American Idol hopefuls face trouble back home Fri Jan 20, 1:53 PM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Twin brothers whose videotaped performance on Fox TV's "American Idol" earned them a trip to Hollywood face trouble back home in Memphis, with one of them in jail at the time the show aired, police said on Thursday.

It seems doubtful Terrell and Derrell Brittenum, 28, will make the next round of the top-rated show after their taped Chicago audition drew praise from "American Idol's" panel of judges.

Terrell could not even watch himself on the show that aired Tuesday because he was sitting in the Shelby County jail, where he has been held on charges of forgery and theft by deception since January 10, Shelby County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Shular said.

"Unfortunately, he didn't have access to the (jail) television at the time," Shular said.

The twins' mother called police to say Derrell would turn himself in, but he had yet to do so and was being sought by authorities, Shular said.

The charges relate to the purchase of a car in June in Rockdale County, Georgia, where the brothers are suspected of using another man's identity.

A spokesman for the television show would not comment on the "personal lives of their contestants," or on future episodes. Early episodes focus on tryouts around the country to select semifinalists who come to Hollywood to compete in weekly elimination rounds. The winner gets a shot at fame and a recording contract.

[skippy]

Suspected Robber Leaves His Name, Address

Fri Jan 20, 9:08 PM ET

LOWELL, Mass. - A man who held up banks by claiming he had a bomb in a bag was arrested after police found the bag actually contained books, including a phone book that had a mailing label with the man's full name and address.

"It was clearly not his best move," Lawrence Police Chief John J. Romero said.

George Melendez was arrested Thursday at his home in Lowell and charged with the Jan. 6 robbery of a bank in Dracut. Police said he is also likely to face charges in bank robberies in Lawrence and Salem, N.H.

Investigators said Melendez would hand tellers a note claiming to have a bomb in his bag and demand large bills. As he left with the cash, he would leave behind the bag, prompting Dracut and Salem police to call in bomb squads as a precaution.

In each case, the satchel-type bags contained tangled wires and books.

After he allegedly hit a Sovereign Bank in Lawrence last week, police found a Lowell-area phone book in the bag the robber had left behind. They went to the address listed on the label and arrested Melendez, who also fit the bank tellers' description of the robber.

"It was so easy, so simple, it was hard to believe," Romero told The Eagle-Tribune.

Melendez was arraigned Friday at Saints Memorial Medical Center in Lowell, where he was taken after complaining of chest pains. He was held on $10,000 cash bail and is scheduled to appear in Lowell District Court on Feb. 16 for a probable cause hearing.

[skippy]

Court Upholds Obscene Yogurt Conviction

Thu Jan 19, 4:11 PM ET

SEOUL, South Korea - The Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling convicting a dairy executive for an obscene event promoting his company's yogurt, a news report said Thursday.

The court upheld a lower court fine of 5 million won ($5,000) for the executive, identified by his family name Kang, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the top court's ruling.

It also upheld fines of between 500,000 won ($500) and 2 million won ($2,000) on three models for staging a nude performance with the yogurt at a crowded Seoul art gallery in 2003, Yonhap said.

The models, caked in wheat flour, used spray devices to squirt each other with yogurt, which washed off the flour to expose their bodies, Yonhap reported.

According to Yonhap, the court said the performance "was obscene as the event's main purpose was commercial and it went beyond the point necessary to promote the product."

Officials at the Supreme Court could not be reached after hours Thursday.

[skippy]

Police Arrest Man Wearing Only a Toga

Thu Jan 19, 10:01 PM ET

MORGANTON, N.C. - Police captured a man wearing only a toga while he sped away in a car with women's underwear inside. Michael Sean Ostrander, 33, was arrested Monday after allegedly breaking into the home of a Burke County woman and making off with some of her clothes.

The woman told police she was visiting a neighbor when she heard her burglar alarm go off and saw a man flee in a car.

The woman gave chase and called the police, with the state Highway Patrol and local officers joining the pursuit along North Carolina Highway 181.

According to the patrol, Ostrander was arrested near the Burke-Avery county line after stopping his car. The Burke County Sheriff's Office said it found panties and photos belonging to the woman inside Ostrander's car.

Ostrander is charged with breaking, entering and larceny, possession of stolen goods and speeding to avoid arrest — all felonies.

He spent four years in prison following a 2001 conviction in Catawba County on a second-degree rape charge.

A judge on Wednesday set a probable cause hearing for next month.

[skippy]

And look at what this guy stole..

Wed Jan 18, 10:59 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A bungling German thief left a Hansel and Gretel-style trail of feathers which led police from the crime scene to his front door, authorities said Tuesday.

Police in the western city of Bochum said the man ripped open his quilted jacket as he broke into a shop to steal a karaoke set and did not notice it was leaking feathers all the way home. A witness saw the break-in and quickly told police.

"Luckily they were able to act before the next story was played out -- "Gone with the Wind," said Bochum police spokesman Frank Plewka. "All they had to do was follow the feathers."

The 36-year-old was astonished when police came knocking at his door shortly afterwards to arrest him.

[skippy]

Suspect trying to make hash blows up Thetford Mines hotel room

Sat Jan 21, 6:49 PM ET

THETFORD MINES, Que. (CP) - A 29-year-old man trying to make hashish was one of three people slightly hurt Saturday following an explosion and fire in his hotel room, police said.

The blast at the Bal Moral hotel, in Thetford Mines in south-central Quebec, caused serious damage to the building.

It ripped through the man's room just after 5 a.m. He escaped by jumping out one of the blown-out windows.

A man in the next room was slightly hurt, as was a firefighter, one of about 40 called to put out the fire.

"I didn't have much, but now I have nothing. I have the clothes on my back and my car, which was far enough away," hotel guest Linda Rodrique told the all-news channel LCN.

Another guest, Simon Couture, said a TV set was thrown against him by the force of the blast.

"It's awfully stupid that a young guy who wants to make three or four hundred bucks has to put people in the street like this," he said.

A dozen rooms in the hotel were damaged by the blast, which tore a hole in the roof.

Police later seized drugs and drug-making equipment. The suspect is expected to charged in court on Monday.

Hashish is made by separating cannabis resin from marijuana plants, sometimes using chemicals.

Thetford MInes, once a hub for one of the world's largest asbestos-producing regions, has recently fallen on hard times.

[skippy]

Parole board denies release to B.C. man seen driving wildly in bait car

Thu Jan 19, 8:43 PM ET

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. (CP) - The National Parole Board denied parole Thursday to a man who gained worldwide attention for being involved in what police described the most chilling bait car theft they had ever seen.

The board denied parole to Robert Osborne, who was shown in a video police released to media outlets last June driving wildly and brandishing a handgun as he sped down streets in a stolen bait car. On the video, the hidden camera captures Osborne screaming "oncoming" as he speeds away from police.

He was caught driving through streets in the Vancouver-area municipalities of Langley, Aldergrove and Abbotsford at speeds up to 140 km/h.

Osborne hit three vehicles before police called off their high-speed pursuit.

Although the 29-year-old escaped in another stolen vehicle, police said the videotape led to his arrest several weeks later.

He was sentenced to four years in prison.

Osborne was a crystal meth addict and police said they decided to release the video to show the dangers the public faces from auto thieves.

"This video is the most chilling bait-car video that auto theft investigators from around the world have ever seen," a police spokesman said at a news conference last year.

[Gobbler's Knob]

Who misses skippy

[revnecro1273]

apparently you do seeing you dug up a thread of his that he created 3 years ago