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A man wearing a Darth Vader mask yesterday robbed a Toledo, Ohio bank, according to the FBI.
As seen in the above surveillance photo from a Huntington Bank branch, the suspect wielded a handgun. He escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash (which he presumably stashed in that backpack).
The suspect fled the scene, of course, on a BMX bike.
Perhaps this guy needs to be questioned by investigators.
In a bid to cut the line at a McDonald’s drive-thru, a Florida man allegedly pulled a gun on other motorists seeking some fast food, police allege.
According to a West Palm Beach Police Department report, James Lee Cruz, 58, flashed the weapon at a vehicle occupied by three women seeking some grub around 1:30 AM on May 13.
The fearful women told cops that they backed up and allowed Cruz--who was driving next to them in a silver Buick—to jump the line.
The women copied down Cruz’s license plate and later provided it to investigators.
Cruz, pictured in the above mug shot, was booked into the Palm Beach County jail Tuesday on three felony aggravated assault charges. He was released from custody last night after posting $7500 bond.
A man driving a phony United Parcel Service van tried to deliver 13 illegal aliens to southern California last week, according to U.S. Border Patrol agents.
As seen above (click to enlarge), the vehicle--disguised to look like a brown UPS delivery van--did not fool investigators, who spotted it “attempting to circumvent the Highway 111 Checkpoint,” according to agents who executed a traffic stop.
A search of the cloned UPS van turned up 13 Mexicans, who were arrested along with the driver, Daniel Lopez-Berenguer, a 21-year-old U.S. citizen. Lopez-Berenguer and a second man were busted shortly after they were spotted exiting a “suspected illegal alien stash house,” according to a U.S. District Court complaint.
During a post-arrest interview, Lopez-Berenguer claimed that he “met an individual who worked for UPS and offered him to drive a vehicle with illegal aliens north around the Border Patrol Checkpoint.” The license plate on the van was actually registered to a 1997 Ford F-150 truck.
One Mexican man found in the van told agents that he paid $5000 to be smuggled into the U.S. Two other men said they paid a total of $8000.
A pair of four-year-old boys were accidentally served daiquiris containing alcohol in a restaurant mishap that landed one child in a Florida hospital, police report.
According to a Clearwater Police Department report, the boys were eating lunch with their mothers last Sunday (Mother’s Day) when “two virgin strawberry daiquiri’s were ordered for their table.”
However, a waitress at Frenchy’s South Beach Café “incorrectly entered the order and two daiquiri’s containing alcohol were made and served to the table,” reported cops.
While one of the boys “tasted the drink and stopped drinking,” the other child “consumed more of the drink” and became intoxicated. He was subsequently evaluated by Clearwater Fire Department medics at the scene and transported by ambulance to a local hospital (where he was treated and released).
After questioning the waitress, Christine Johansen, police determined that there was “no intent involved on anyone’s part and was an accidental incident.” A visibly upset and apologetic Johansen explained that she “pushed the wrong button when she placed the order and mistakenly ordered ones containing alcohol.”
According to the Frenchy’s web site, the oceanfront eatery “boasts a Key West bistro atmosphere with open-air dining, a large sidewalk patio and an unbeatable view of the sparkling ocean.” No mention is made of its inebriated preschool clientele.
Included in police evidence photos released yesterday by the prosecutor handling the murder case against George Zimmerman is a chilling image showing the can of watermelon Arizona Iced Tea that Trayvon Martin was carrying in his Fruit of the Loom hoodie when he was shot to death in late-February.
As seen in the above image (click to enlarge), the 23.5 ounce can was photographed atop a medical blanket. What viewers of the photo might not realize, however, is that the teenager’s body was beneath that yellow covering.
“The victim’s body was covered with a yellow plastic blanket with an Arizona Ice Tea can on it,” according to a Sanford Police Department report. A detective noted that the can was “inside the victim’s Sweatshirt pocket and had come out while first aid was being given.”
The can was subsequently collected and logged into evidence along with other items recovered at the shooting scene.
A witness told Florida cops that he saw Trayvon Martin straddling George Zimmerman and pummeling the neighborhood watch captain “MMA style” shortly before the unarmed teen was felled by a gunshot to the chest.
The witness’s account was included in Sanford Police Department reports released today.
Interviewed by cops about 90 minutes after the shooting, the witness--whose name was redacted from police documents--said that he was inside his home when he heard a “commotion coming from the walk way” behind his residence.
The man recalled seeing “a black male, wearing a dark colored ‘hoodie’ on top of a white or Hispanic male who was yelling for help.” The black male, he added, “was mounted on the white or Hispanic male and throwing punches ‘MMA (mixed martial arts) style.'”
The witness--who was in his living room and about 30 feet away from the confrontation-- said he called out to the two men that he was dialing 911. “He then heard a ‘pop,’” police reported, and saw the black male “laid out on the grass.”
Zimmerman is pictured above in photos taken by police shortly after the February 26 shooting.
The police reports also include observations from two Sanford cops regarding Zimmerman’s physical appearance following the shooting. Officer Timothy Smith reported that Zimmerman was “bleeding from the nose and back of his head,” while Officer Jonathan Mead noted that he “appeared to have a broken and bloody nose and swelling of his face.”
Investigators also reported receiving medical reports from Altamonte Medical Practice “identifying the injuries sustained by Zimmerman on the evening of 2/26/2012.” The records indicated that he suffered an “open wound of scalp” and “Nasal bones, closed fracture.”
Incensed about the “messed up” cheeseburgers they purchased at a McDonald’s drive-thru window, two Tennessee men allegedly returned to the fast food joint and vandalized it, cops report.
The peeved patrons were apparently set off by the paucity of onions on their cheeseburgers.
According to a Murfreesboro Police Department report, Christopher Slate, 21, and Sean Mosey, 23 were collared in connection with Sunday’s early-morning attack on the McDonald’s. Each man was charged with felony reckless endangerment and vandalism.
Slate (left) and Mosey are pictured in the above mug shots.
In an interview with cops, Slate said that the duo was “upset with McDonald’s because their cheeseburgers had been messed up.” He then “advised that they went home and continued to drink beer and get worked up about the cheeseburgers.”
The men, Slate confessed, returned to McDonald’s and hurled a piece of concrete through the drive-thru window and tossed a brick through the eatery’s front window. An employee standing near the drive-thru window was struck by debris and suffered several lacerations on his left arm. The restaurant’s manager was struck in the leg by the concrete chunk.
Slate and Mosey were subsequently arrested when their getaway attempt was derailed after Mosey, running from the scene, tripped and fell. He landed in the street and was unable to get up. Mosey is also facing a public intoxication charge.
The alleged cheeseburger avengers, both free on bond, are due to appear July 11 in Rutherford County General Sessions Court.
Justin Bieber got a shout-out, of sorts, this afternoon during testimony at the federal criminal trial of James Rosemond, the hip-hop manager accused of running a cross-country cocaine trafficking ring.
Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Victoria Delollo told jurors about the execution of a search warrant last May at a Manhattan apartment that investigators suspected was being used as a narcotics “stash house” by the 47-year-old Rosemond and his cohorts.
While agents surely anticipated discovering drugs and/or cash in the East 65th Street one-bedroom, they only found a scale disguised as a CD case, some shrink wrap plastic bags, and various documents bearing the names of Rosemond, his mother, and an associate, Delollo testified. Two hidden compartments were found in a bedroom closet, but they were empty.
The DEA agent told jurors that federal agents also seized a “Justin Bieber concert pass” with Rosemond’s photo on it from Apartment 18. There was no further testimony about the chart-topping singer, who has never been represented by Rosemond or linked to the alleged drug conspiracy (though that would do wonders for the 18-year-old’s street cred).
Sitting at the defense table, Rosemond showed no emotion when Delollo linked him to the singer of such bubblegum hits like “Baby” and “Boyfriend.” Delollo is scheduled to be cross-examined by Rosemond lawyer Gerald Shargel when court resumes Thursday morning.
The driver whose weekend wipeout of his yellow Lamborghini has become YouTube gold is a 39-year-old Illinois business executive who “just lost it as he accelerated,” according to witnesses quoted in an accident report.
William Whitaker was cited for “failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident,” noted Wheeling Police Department officers. As seen in the above video shot by a highly amused passenger in a trailing vehicle, Whitaker lost control of his car after turning at an intersection (which, of course, was directly proceeded by Whitaker revving the Italian sports car’s powerful engine).
Whitaker lost control of the 2004 Gallardo and sandwiched it between a pair of lesser vehicles waiting at a red light--a 2006 Honda CR-V and a 2000 Mercury Grand Marquis. The drivers of those autos told cops that Whitaker took the turn “at a high rate of speed,” according to the accident report.
While none of the drivers were injured during Sunday afternoon's crash, the Lamborghini and the Honda sustained enough damage that they had to be carted away by representatives of Gene’s Village Towing.
Whitaker, president of Thiessen Communications, a commercial printing firm, did not return messages left at his office and on his cell phone. He lives about 15 miles from the crash scene in a gated community where he last year purchased a home for $650,000.
The lawyer for one of the masseurs who recently sued John Travolta for sexual assault today moved to dismiss his client’s federal lawsuit, according to court records.
The “notice of dismissal” by the masseur--identified only as “John Doe 1” in court papers--was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles by attorney Okorie Okorocha. The one-page notice offers no explanation for the dismissal of the $2 million complaint, which was filed just 11 days ago.
Days after Okorocha filed the May 4 lawsuit, the Pasadena attorney amended the complaint to add a second plaintiff--“John Doe 2”--who made similar claims that the 58-year-old actor groped him during a massage. Today’s dismissal notice does not affect the assault, sexual battery, civil rights, and emotional distress claims made by the second mystery masseur.
Travolta has denied the allegations leveled by the unnamed duo. The star also offered proof that he was not in Los Angeles on January 16, the date “John Doe 1” claimed he was manhandled in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Okorocha was subsequently forced to acknowledge that his client had botched the date of the purported hotel encounter.
Meet Roland Smith.
The Virginia man, 32, was arrested Friday for allegedly stabbing his girlfriend after discovering her cheating on him at an Econo Lodge motel. The 36-year-old victim, who told cops Smith stabbed her in the abdomen, was transported to a hospital for treatment of her wounds, according to a press release issued today by the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office.
Arrested at the scene, Smith “had blood on his hands and a knife was recovered from his person,” cops reported.
As seen in the above mug shot (click to enlarge), Smith appears to be something of a Latin enthusiast. His forehead includes the sayings “Cogito ergo sum” (“I think therefore I am”) and “Alis grave nil” (“Nothing is heavy to those who have wings”). And he also had the word “Articulate” inked below those phrases.
Now jailed without bond, perhaps Smith can shoehorn “Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea” onto his cranium before trial.
Meet Mark Allan Sperry.
The Ohio man, 45, has been incarcerated in the Butler County lockup since last Tuesday, when he was collared for failing to appear for a court hearing in a child support case.
According to the jail’s web site, Sperry is a 5’ 8” white male who weighs 168 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes.
However, based on the above mug shot--which is on the jail web site--Sperry appears to be about eight inches tall with black hair and black eyes. And he seems to have an affinity for acorns.
It is unclear how the cuddly squirrel puppet’s photo appeared in place of Sperry, who is next due in court on June 5. Ditto as to the identity of the unseen puppet master.
To review similar instances of mug shot hijinks, click here, here, here, here, and here.
5/15 UPDATE: Jailers have now replaced the squirrel image with an actual photo of Sperry (click here to view).
A Florida county’s decision to ban the “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy from its public libraries has prompted a variety of handwritten notes, phone messages, and e-mails from individuals either ridiculing the move or offering earnest support.
In response to an open records request, Brevard County officials released correspondence sent and received by library officials about the best-selling erotic novels. The ban was announced in an April 30 e-mail sent to library workers by Catherine Schweinsberg, director of Brevard County Libraries.
After news of Schweinsberg’s decision got out, she began receiving notes of support. Calling the book ban a “brave act,” one woman (who included a Ziggy cartoon with her handwritten note) wrote that “50 Shades of Grey is not the work of God.” A “concerned grandmother” called in to advise Schweinsberg not to be swayed by public opinion. A couple saluted the library boss for “keeping porn out of our libraries.” In an e-mail, a woman noted that if people wanted to read “trashy books,” they should go to Barnes and Noble, adding that she did not want tax dollars spent on such volumes. The Rev. and Mrs. David Cooper called in to salute Schweinsberg for protecting the “minds of children & adults.” And a woman who described herself as “just a Mother and Grandmother” who was not a prude remarked that literature like “50 Shades of Grey” glorifies “unhealthy behavior.”
Other correspondents were not as charitable. One wondered when the county’s “next book burning festival will be held,” adding that they “have a few porno books to burn: like the book of Genesis.” A Melbourne, Florida man, 72, wrote Schweinsberg to say he was opposed to the ban since “most of the interest in the book comes from the over-50 gals and they are perfectly able to decide for themselves.” “I know Florida is backwards,” a 59-year-old Orlando woman wrote, “but damn this is ridiculous. Erotica? Have you ever read a Silhouette or Harlequin Romance?” An Arizona photographer, 33, criticized the county’s “subjective interpretation of porn,” adding that, “You even carry Mein Kampf, which promotes the extermination of a race, yet you ban a love book?” And an Ohio man called on Schweinsberg to recognize that, as a government employee, her “public trust” included providing “a variety of materials to allow people to broaden their horizons and grow their perspective.”
The correspondence also reveals that about 200 people were on the Brevard library system’s waiting list for “Fifty Shades of Grey” when the book was yanked from shelves.
