The college student, 21, had to be rescued yesterday afternoon off a Colorado mountain after she ingested mushrooms, stripped off her clothes, and scuffled with two classmates with whom she had been hiking.
After receiving a 911 call that a female hiker was “high on mushrooms and in distress,” Boulder County Sheriff’s Office deputies and other assorted rescue personnel (35 in total) responded to Chautauqua Park.
Powers, seen above, was located by a park ranger who discovered that the University of Colorado undergrad had “removed all of her clothing and was being restrained” by two male companions. Rescuers had to handcuff the unruly Powers, who struggled as she was placed in a rescue basket.
Cited for unlawful consumption of a controlled substance, Powers was transported to a Boulder hospital, where she was treated and released last night. “Further charges are pending against others involved,” deputies reported.
Powers, a communications major, has not commented on her weekend adventure on her Facebook page (which includes hiking and skiing photos).
A 23-year-old Ohio man is facing a child endangerment charge after allegedly allowing his nine-year-old daughter to drive the family car, a 1998 Honda that the child lost control of after “achieving excessive speed” and drove into a tree.
“However the child lost control of the car after achieving excessive speed, and drove directly into the large tree,” investigators reported. Before deputies arrived, the girl was driven from the scene of the accident by family members, who said she was not injured in the crash. Despite that assurance, investigators were checking on the girl’s welfare.
Seen in the above mug shot, McGee was booked into the county jail on a pair of misdemeanor counts. A check also revealed that McGee, who was also not injured in the accident, has outstanding felony and misdemeanor warrants in other jurisdictions.
A Florida man who fled the scene of a fender-bender explained to cops that he had consumed some “bad” Chinese food and was “on the verge of defecating in his pants” when he went in search of relief, police report.
Carlos Baca, a 27-year-old Honduran citizen, took off last Monday after backing his pickup truck into another vehicle on a Port St. Lucie road, according to an arrest affidavit.
Baca, seen above, returned to the scene soon after the 6:30 AM crash and apologized for leaving, but “believed he had no choice” due to gastrointestinal distress caused by the Chinese food (which is not further itemized).
Arrested for driving without a license, Baca was booked into the county jail on a misdemeanor count and later released on $375 bond.
Add Carl Bernstein to the growing list of “Guccifer” victims.
The Watergate sleuth’s e-mail account was breached by the hacker now being sought by federal investigators in connection with a spree of prior online incursions that have targeted a wide array of public figures.
The hacker illegally accessed Bernstein’s Verizon account and browsed through the journalist’s correspondence, which included bank and stock portfolio balances and e-mail exchanges with director Steven Soderbergh.
To memorialize the break-in, “Guccifer” made screen grabs from inside Bernstein’s account and sent them to TSG and several other news outlets. The screen grabs only show correspondence from 2009 and 2010, so it is unclear whether Bernstein, 69, still uses the Verizon account.
In a note apparently explaining (as it were) why the former Washington Post reporter was targeted, “Guccifer” wrote, “he is around these days. he is jew. But he fights the illuminati!” In prior correspondence to TSG, “Guccifer” has cited dark conspiracies involving the Illuminati, Rockefellers, bankers, and Bohemian Grove attendees.
Bernstein did not respond to phone messages seeking comment about the hack.
The 21-year-old was one of scores of men arrested in a prostitution sweep conducted last week by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Florida. According to investigators, the alleged john answered an online ad posted by an undercover detective posing as a hooker.
Seen in the adjacent mug shot, Ahmed was arrested when he arrived for his paid liaison.
Ahmed, an Illinois resident, was in the Sunshine State on his honeymoon when busted for soliciting prostitution and pot possession.
When Ahmed did not return to his bride at the Omni Hotel, she called police to report him missing. The woman was subsequently told by cops that her husband was not MIA, that he had been arrested. For seeking to pay for sex from a hooker while he was celebrating his nuptials.
5/13 UPDATE:In an interview today, Monifa Sims acknowledged her prior "Tonight Show" appearance, claiming that, "When it happened again, I said, 'I cannot believe it!'"
There is something fishy about that viral “Tonight Show” video starring a Los Angeles couple performing some purportedly impromptu karaoke at a Burbank gas station.
As Jay Leno tells it, Will Sims, 40, and his wife Monifa, 38, recently went to the Costco station to fill up. While there, they happened upon the filming of the program’s “Pumpcast News” bit.
The segment features actor Tim Stack portraying a news anchor who is seen on a TV screen above one of the pumps. After breaking away from his news reading, Stack engages (and jokes with) customers via a remote camera.
During the segment with the Simses, the couple sang (and danced) to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” (Will) and the Eurythmics’s “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” (Monifa) in exchange for gas money. Leno was so pleased with the feel-good bit, he had the married couple on the show last Wednesday and let them sit in with the house band.
Leno introduced Will as a bartender and Monifa as a fitness trainer, enthusing that “these people were so entertaining.” He then said, “You know, this almost seems like a plant,” before adding that staffers had no idea that the too-good-to-be-true duo were coming to the Costco station, which is less than three miles from Leno’s Burbank studio.
If the “Pumpcast News” skit was the Leno show’s attempt to create the kind of viral hit that has become the métier of the Jimmys Kimmel and Fallon, it was a grand success. The clip (seen below) has been viewed more than 7.5 million times on the “Tonight Show” page on YouTube--far exceeding any other “Leno” video--and it accounts for more than 25 percent of the program’s combined YouTube views.
Will and Monifa are both trained actors who founded a theater company in Chicago before relocating to Hollywood. Monifa, whom Chicagoist once described as a “Chicago actress of some reknown,” previously won a nationwide dramatic auditions contest by the cable network TNT.
More importantly, the “Tonight Show” never bothered to mention that Monifa appeared in a “Pumpcast News” segment broadcast more than two years ago.
In the original March 2011 segment, Sims is seen at the same Burbank gas station where she was filmed singing with her husband. In fact, Monifa conversed with Stack both times while parked at pump number 16, the area used for the “Pumpcast News” bits. On both occasions, Monifa was in the same Chrysler Pacifica (she drove during the first taping, while her husband was at the wheel during the recent shoot). Additionally, she is seen wearing identical workout pants in each segment.
When asked by Stack in the first segment (seen below) what she did for a living, Sims replied, “I am a fitness instructor.” After Sims flexed her toned arms and sprinted around the gas pump island, Stack rewarded her with free gasoline. “This is awesome,” Sims said, adding that she had picked the “right pump to take.”
Fast forward a couple of years and Sims and her spouse arrived again at the “right pump.”
After her husband finished his Bon Jovi impression, Monifa--seeming to be embarrassed--had to be coaxed out of the passenger seat to mimic Annie Lennox. With her husband adding background vocals, Monifa delivered an impressive performance, complete with several “dance breaks.”
As she shimmied, Monifa said to Stack, “Whoever you are, you can make me a star. I’m ready for my spotlight.” When Stack responded, “You’re gonna be on Jay Leno and The Tonight Show,” both Monifa and Will raised their arms in the air and squealed with surprise and happiness.
It was as if the couple, married 12 years, failed to recall that Monifa had been part of the previous “Pumpcast News” segment. Which she filmed at the same gas station. At the same pump. In the same car. Wearing the same workout garb.
In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Will said, “You never, in a million years, think you’re going to pump gas and be on the Internet, let alone ‘The Tonight Show.’” The May 10 story does not indicate whether he said this with a straight face.
For her part, Monifa (who is also known professionally as Monifa Days) told the newspaper that, “We weren’t expecting this at all. But it’s been a lot of fun. I’m happy that it’s made a lot of people laugh.” And as for the prospect that the viral clip could lead to something bigger, Monifa noted, “I hope and pray. We are in Hollywood.”
Asked why Leno made no mention of their thespian history, Will acknowledged that the show’s producers didn’t want viewers “to think we were actors and it was a ‘plant.’” Referring to Leno’s staff, he added, “They were like, ‘You’re a bartender and she’s a fitness [trainer].’”
5/13 UPDATE: In a TSG interview this afternoon, Monifa Sims contended that it was just a fluke that she appeared a second time on “Pumpcast News,” adding that, “When it happened again, I said, ‘I cannot believe it!’” Remarkably, the actress claimed that she and her husband never bothered to actually watch her first appearance on Leno’s top-rated program. “I’m not glued to my TV at night,” said Sims.
[Sims’s assertion that she had little interest in her initial appearance on the “Tonight Show”--which is watched by millions of viewers--is contradicted by a series of posts the actress made to her Facebook page. On the day the segment aired (March 31, 2011), Sims reminded friends, “Don’t forget to check me out on Jay Leno tonight! Let the laughter begin!!!” Then, before the program aired on the West Coast, she wrote, “East Coast and Mid West Peeps: Did you catch me on Jay Leno!!???” In an April 1 post Sims exclaimed, “Jay Leno was HILARIOUS!”]
Asked why no mention was made of her prior “Pumpcast News” appearance (or her and Will’s acting careers), Sims said “Tonight Show” producers “don’t want people to think that they planned this thing.” She added, “We have been honest with them the whole time.”
Sims said that it was only after she and her husband did their karaoke tunes that Will realized that this was her second time around. Sims recalled, “He asked me, ‘Is this what you did before?’”
“This really is a one-in-a-million chance,” said Sims of appearing on Leno’s show. Well, perhaps two in a million.
A Florida woman explained to cops that she stabbed her boyfriend after he purposefully passed gas in her general direction.
Deborah Ann Burns, 37, told police that she was watching TV Tuesday night in the Immokalee home she shares with Willie Butler, her boyfriend of six years. Burns advised that, at one point, “Willie walked by her and farted in her face.”
During the ensuing confrontation, Burns allegedly grabbed an eight-inch kitchen knife and threw it at the 53-year-old Butler, striking him in the stomach. Butler, who suffered a minor laceration, was treated at the scene by EMS personnel.
Pictured in the above mug shot, Burns was arrested for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. She was booked into the county jail, where she is being held in lieu of $50,000 bond on the felony count. Burns, a convicted felon, previously spent 21 months in state prison for aggravated assault with a weapon and battery on a law enforcement officer.
After bringing the vehicle to a stop, Zuniga--who was driving with a suspended license--allegedly bolted out the passenger door and escaped by kicking a hole through a nearby vinyl fence.
Zuniga’s escape, however, was marred when he crossed paths with an alligator near a water treatment plant about a mile from the traffic stop. The ensuing attack left Zuniga with “multiple puncture wounds to his face, arm and armpit.”
Deputies located Zuniga, seen in the above mug shot, at a local hospital where he sought treatment for the alligator bites. Upon release from the hospital, Zuniga was arrested and booked into the county jail on several counts, including a felony charge of fleeing a law enforcement officer.
Zuniga is being held in lieu of $6300 bond. His four-legged attacker remains at large.
Days after breaching online accounts of members of the Council on Foreign Relations, the hacker “Guccifer” this week broke into the e-mail and Twitter accounts of “Sex and the City” author Candace Bushnell, The Smoking Gun has learned.
After illegally accessing Bushnell’s Earthlink account yesterday, “Guccifer” rooted through it and located an e-mail the 54-year-old writer sent last week to her editor at Grand Central Publishing. The correspondence included a Word attachment containing the first 37,000 words of Bushnell’s next novel.
Armed with Bushnell’s manuscript, the hacker created about 50 screen grabs of the text, and then uploaded those images to a Google Drive page. In control of Bushnell’s Twitter page, “Guccifer” yesterday sent a tweet to the author’s 9100 followers announcing, “Here you can read my last book ''killing monica'' first 50 pages; enjoy as long as you can!” The tweet--which was resent earlier today--included a link to the Google Drive page.
In an interview this morning, Bushnell (seen above) said that her e-mail and Twitter accounts were broken into yesterday, and that she had no idea how they were breached. She added that a simultaneous attempt was made to compromise her Facebook account, but that she received an alert that someone was attempting to access it from an IP address in Albuquerque, New Mexico that was not recognized by the social networking firm.
“Guccifer!” Bushnell exclaimed when a TSG reporter first contacted her about the hack. “My e-mails are pretty tame. This is very odd,” she said. Bushnell noted that, “Yesterday I woke up and I couldn’t get my e-mails” adding that she had to repeatedly change her password while tussling with the hacker for control of the account.
The hacker appears to have been lurking in Bushnell’s account earlier today as the writer sent panicked e-mails to her editor and agent about the illegal incursion.
“Guccifer” disclosed the Bushnell hack in an e-mail sent this morning to TSG from an AOL account that the hacker said belongs to the British actor Rupert Everett.
The Bushnell hack came several days after “Guccifer” broke into various online accounts of two members of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), economist Adam Posen and Karen Johnson, a former Federal Reserve Board official. The hacker also broke into accounts of Posen’s wife, Jennifer Sosin, a Washington, D.C. research strategist.
While “Guccifer” has previously claimed that his hacking interest revolves around exposing members of the Illuminati, Bush administrations, CFR, Rockefellers, Bohemian Grove, etc., it is unclear how targeting the author who created Carrie Bradshaw fits into the hacker’s dark conspiracy theories.
So George P. Bush--son of Jeb and the political dynasty’s fourth generation standout--is making his Washington, D.C. debut this week. The 37-year-old lawyer is now running for Texas land commissioner, but his family reportedly expects bigger things from the telegenic offspring of the former Florida governor.
Which is as good an excuse as any to revisit a police report detailing George P.’s creepy, stalkerish behavior towards a former girlfriend.
Back when he was a Rice University student, Bush was investigated for burglary and criminal mischief related to a 4 AM visit to the Miami home of his ex, Cristina Cohen, and her parents.
According to Cohen, Bush--wearing black shorts and no shirt--arrived at the residence and “went to his daughter’s bedroom window,” pulled it open, and “pushed the screen inward.” As Bush was “climbing in the window,” Murry Cohen awoke and spotted the trespasser. A neighbor of the Cohens also spotted Bush trying to get into the residence and began to argue with him.
With his intrusion thwarted, Bush “backed out of the window.” Cohen reported seeing Bush then “jump into a vehicle and flee.” But he would not be gone for long.
Bush returned to the home 20 minutes later and drove his car through the Cohens’s yard, causing damage to about 80 feet of the lawn.
When police arrived at the residence, the Cohens identified Bush as the perpetrator. Cristina Cohen explained that she used to date Bush, but that they “have been separated for 1-1/2 years.” She added that Bush “has been a problem ever since they broke up.”
After the Cohens provided police with Bush’s home address, an officer went to the residence and “spoke to him and parents.” But since Murry Cohen did not want to press charges, Bush “was not arrested on the scene,” according to the police report.
When police checked back with Cohen several days later, he told a detective that he was not interested in pursuing charges against Bush, “and that he wanted the matter resolved.” Cohen then signed a non-prosecution form.
A month before his son attempted the illegal bedroom incursion, Jeb Bush lost the Florida governor’s race to incumbent Democrat Lawton Chiles (Bush won the governorship four years later, in 1998).
George P. Bush’s campaign web site describes him as “part of the next generation of Texas leaders…a successful businessman, philanthropist, civic leader and veteran dedicated to advancing conservative values.” The married Fort Worth resident and his wife are expecting their first child this summer.
During a domestic dispute early yesterday, a South Carolina woman allegedly clawed the testicles of her naked and drunken live-in boyfriend, who was left “bleeding from his genital area,” police report.
The confrontation between Nicholas Bailey, 31, and Sabrina Morton, 26, began after Bailey returned to the couple’s Spartanburg home intoxicated. The pair tussled when “Bailey went and laid down in the shower,” according to a Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office report.
Morton told officers that mutual pushing and shoving resulted in a chunk of hair being pulled from her head by Bailey. “In return she grabbed Mr. Bailey by the testicles causing laceration and bleeding,” cops noted.
When police arrived at the pair’s residence, Bailey, sitting naked on the couch, “advised that he was bleeding from his genital area due to Sabrina Morton clawing his testicles. EMS was called for Mr. Bailey’s injuries.”
Bailey and Morton were charged with domestic violence and booked into the county jail (where they posed for the above mug shots). They were each freed from custody yesterday morning after posting bond.
The 39-year-old was one of dozens of Florida residents arrested today on welfare fraud charges. Castner and his codefendants were swept up in “Operation Meal Ticket,” an undercover probe run by the Manatee County Sheriff's Office.
Castner, who is locked up in lieu of $5000 bond, was charged with felony welfare fraud for allegedly selling Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards to undercover agents. Some suspects used the proceeds of the illegal EBT card sales to purchase drugs and alcohol, according to investigators.
As seen above, when Castner was arrested today he was wearing a t-shirt with the message “Jail Sucks!” and a drawing of a stripe-wearing inmate behind a set of bars. Castner had to replace the shirt with a blue smock when he was subsequently booked into the county lockup (where he posed for the mug shot at right).
Castner’s disdain for confined spaces is likely a byproduct of his lengthy rap sheet, which includes collars for burglary; battery; drug possession; contempt of court; assault on a law enforcement officer; and domestic battery by strangulation.
Federal agents discovered ricin in the Mississippi martial arts studio once used by the man charged with mailing letters containing the poison to President Barack Obama and two other public officials, according to a criminal complaint unsealed today.
Investigators also reported that the deadly toxin was found on a dust mask that FBI agents saw defendant James Everett Dutschke place last week into a “public garbage receptacle” in Tupelo, where he resides.
Other items dumped into the garbage by Dutschke (seen at right) included latex gloves and a box for a Black & Decker coffee grinder, an appliance that “could be utilized in the process of extracting ricin from castor beans.” In a sworn affidavit, FBI Agent Stephen Thomason added that “latex gloves and and a dust mask could be utilized as personal protective equipment while the castor beans are being crushed.”
The FBI affidavit also quotes an unnamed witness who recalled a conversation years ago with Dutschke, who reportedly spoke of his ability to manufacture a “poison” that could be placed in envelopes and sent to elected officials (who would die upon opening the envelopes).
A search of Dutschke’s Toshiba laptop revealed that, several months ago, someone using the computer downloaded two ricin-related publications, including “Standard Operating Procedure for Ricin,” which Agent Thomason noted, “describes safe handling and storage methods for ricin.”
During an interview last week, Dutschke “stated that he had never purchased castor beans, nor had he ever seen a castor bean.” However, eBay records subsequently obtained by the FBI showed that Dutschke late last year twice ordered castor bean seeds via the online auction site. He paid for both orders via PayPal, and the second batch of 50 seeds was delivered to his Tupelo residence.
Investigators began focusing on Dutschke after the case they had originally brought against another Mississippi man, Paul Kevin Curtis, collapsed. After his arrest, Curtis pointed the finger at Dutschke, a rival with whom he has had a contentious relationship.
Dutschke, 41, was arrested Saturday morning and charged with knowingly developing a biological agent for use as a weapon. He faces life in prison if convicted of the felony charge.
In addition to Obama, ricin-tainted letters were sent earlier this month to U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, and Sadie Holland, a Mississippi county judge. In 2007, Dutschke, running as the Republican nominee, unsuccessfully challenged Holland’s son in a state representative’s race.
Along with the ricin charge, Dutschke is facing trial on a three-count child molestation indictment returned last month. He has been accused of fondling a seven-year-old girl at the tae kwon do studio he previously operated.
whom she had been hiking.
after “achieving excessive speed” and drove into a tree.
A Florida man who fled the scene of a fender-bender explained to cops that he had consumed some “bad” Chinese food and was “on the verge of defecating in his pants” when he went in search of relief, police report. 
Chinese food (which is not further itemized).
wide array of public figures.
Meet Mohammed Ahmed.
filming of the program’s “Pumpcast News” bit.
made a lot of people laugh.” And as for the prospect that the viral clip could lead to something bigger, Monifa noted, “I hope and pray. We are in Hollywood.”
A Florida woman explained to cops that she stabbed her boyfriend after he purposefully passed gas in her general direction.
A Florida man fleeing from cops following a traffic stop early today was attacked by an alligator during his escape attempt, investigators report.
Deputies located Zuniga, seen in the above mug shot, at a local hospital where he sought treatment for the alligator bites. Upon release from the hospital, Zuniga was arrested and booked into the county jail on several counts, including a felony charge of fleeing a law enforcement officer.
Publishing. The correspondence included a Word attachment containing the first 37,000 words of Bushnell’s next novel.
Which is as good an excuse as any to revisit a police report detailing George P.’s creepy, stalkerish behavior towards a former girlfriend.
area,” police report.
Meet Don Castner.
county lockup (where he posed for the mug shot at right).
receptacle” in Tupelo, where he resides.
