Buster Archive

A New York woman is facing child endangerment charges after she allegedly hosted a “beer pong” party in her home for underage revelers, police report.

Responding to a telephone tip about a 9:30 PM rager underway at a Putnam Valley home, sheriff’s deputies arrived at a Sunrise Drive residence to discover “under-aged persons on the premises who were reportedly drinking from a large assortment of alcoholic beverages.”

Four of the nine minors imbibing were under 17, cops allege.

During police questioning, Laurie Kennedy, 50, reportedly admitted hosting the September 19 party and “knowingly approved of the minors’ consumption of alcohol.” Additionally, Kennedy “allegedly even encouraged the teens’ behavior by furnishing tables, cups, and ping pong balls for their use in a drinking game commonly known as ‘beer pong,’” deputies reported.

Kennedy was hit with 14 misdemeanor counts related to the beer pong party. Free on her own recognizance, she faces a maximum of a year in jail and a $1000 fine on each of the criminal charges. Kennedy is pictured above in a Facebook photo captioned, “Using my new wine glass, it holds 3/4 of a bottle!!!”

Police did not disclose which of Kennedy’s five children were present at the party, which came a week after her home was sold at public auction due to a foreclosure action. The Putnam County home is about 45 miles north of Manhattan.

A New York City mailman failed to deliver about 40,000 pieces of mail--some of which date back nearly a decade--and stashed the parcels and letters in his work locker, car, and Brooklyn home, investigators allege.

Federal agents this week began investigating Joseph Brucato, 67, after receiving information that there was undelivered mail in his personal vehicle.

When he was confronted Tuesday, Brucato told agents that he had been keeping undelivered mail in his car for the past six months, noting that “on some days he did not deliver the mail intended for his route for various personal reasons.”

Brucato, who has delivered mail since 2001, is assigned to Brooklyn’s Ryder Station.

According to U.S. District Court criminal complaint, Brucato consented to a search of his car, locker, and home. Agents recovered “approximately 2500 pounds of U.S. mail, some postmarked as early as 2005,” Agent Michael Wu reported. The seized material included “parcels, Priority, First Class and Standard Class” mail intended for Brooklyn residents and businesses.

If convicted of the felony mail hoarding, Brucato faces a maximum of five years in prison. He has been suspended without pay by the U.S. Postal Service.

After harvesting a small crop of marijuana plants found growing in a field, beneficent Pennsylvania police have offered to return the pot once its rightful owner contacts them.

Officers in York County reported finding the plants in Dover Township near Colonial Road. “If they are yours and you can prove ownership…please call to claim them,” investigators offered.

Police can be reached at (717) 292-3647. As of 4:20 PM Wednesday, the pot has yet to be claimed from the Northern York County Regional Police, according to Lt. David Lash.

Some of the seized plants can be seen in these evidence photos.

Conservative writer/filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza was spared prison time today when a federal judge sentenced him to five years probation for violating campaign finance laws.

For the first eight months of his probation term, D’Souza will have to live in a "community confinement center" in San Diego, ordered Judge Richard Berman, who also fined D’Souza $30,000 and directed him to undergo “therapeutic counseling.” D’Souza will also have to perform one day per week of community service during his probation term.

In remarks before announcing D’Souza’s sentence, Berman said that he did not believe the defendant had accepted responsibility for his crime. “I’m not sure, Mr. D’Souza, that you get it,” said Berman, who referred to D’Souza’s claim that he was a victim of selective prosecution.

During the sentencing hearing, Berman read from a blistering letter submitted to the court by D’Souza’s estranged wife. In the missive, Dixie D’Souza alleged that her ex-spouse forged her signature on one campaign contribution form, and that he had an “abusive nature.”

D’Souza, who was married to the defendant for 20 years, wrote, “In one instance, it was my husband who physically abused me in April 2012 when he, using his purple belt karate skills, kicked me in the head and shoulder, knocking me to the ground and creating injuries that pain me to this day.” Click here to download a PDF of Dixie D’Souza’s five-page letter to Berman.

Dinesh D’Souza filed for divorce in October 2012, and that case remains active in California’s Superior Court.

In May, on the eve of his criminal trial, D’Souza pleaded guilty to illegally arranging $20,000 in straw donations to the 2012 U.S. Senate campaign of Wendy Long, a New York Republican who was challenging incumbent Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand.

The 53-year-old D’Souza, a close friend of Long, personally reimbursed the straw donors, effectively allowing him to exceed the $5000 limit for individual donors. According to a probation report cited by Berman, D'Souza's net worth is in excess of $5 million.  

D’Souza, pictured above, was sentenced by Berman during a two-hour hearing in U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan. The 71-year-old jurist was appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton.

In a court filing, D’Souza’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, asked Berman to sentence his client, a first-time offender, to a probation term that would include a community service component. Brafman contended that D’Souza was singled out for prosecution by the Department of Justice due to his “consistently caustic and highly publicized criticism” of President Barack Obama.

In his own letter to Berman, D’Souza contended that, “No good purpose would be served by locking me up.”

In response to D’Souza’s plea for leniency, federal prosecutors asked Berman to sentence to the convicted felon to 10 to 16 months in prison. “The defendant’s crime is serious and strikes at the heart of our federal election system,” prosecutors argued.

A Rhode Island man was arrested four separate times in 30 hours for drunk driving, an unmatched criminal feat he accomplished while behind the wheel of four different vehicles, according to police.

John Lourenco, 53, was first arrested last Sunday afternoon when he crashed his Dodge pickup truck into an SUV carrying two children (both of whom were treated and released from a Providence hospital).

Lourenco’s next three busts occurred in Cumberland, the town outside Providence where he resides.

At 7:15 Monday morning, Lourenco--driving a Chevrolet Malibu--rear-ended another vehicle. Lourenco was subsequently arrested after his blood alcohol content was measured at .22, nearly three times the legal limit. He was later given a court summons and released into the custody of his 79-year-old father, Cumberland cops report.

Around 11:15 AM, a Cumberland cop spotted Lourenco--now behind the wheel of a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda--driving erratically. Lourenco, a general contractor, was pulled over and an officer determined he was intoxicated. He was transported to the Landmark Medical Center, where he “was released from police custody to the hospital.”

Lourenco’s fourth arrest occurred around 5 PM after he departed the hospital and got into a dump truck he owns. He eventually crashed the construction vehicle into “a tree and a wall doing heavy damage to all.” Lourenco “sustained minor injuries and was transported back” to the hospital for treatment of new injuries.

Remarkably, Lourenco was released on bail following each of the four arrests.

Lourenco did not respond to a message left by a reporter on his cell phone.