Posts filed under 'Weird Crime'
Dominican Republic - A politician in the Dominican Republic wants to ban the bikini - on television at least. Opposition congressman Nestor Julio Cruz Pichardo says the skimpy swimsuits are contrary to the tropical Caribbean country’s traditions and harm impressionable youngsters.
Yet Dominican resorts commonly lure visitors to the Caribbean’s top vacation destination with advertisements portraying bikini-clad women on white-sand beaches fringed with palms.
Bikinis also have become an increasingly common sight on Dominican television, whether in news shots of tourists sunning on the beach, daytime fashion shows or in soap operas. The bill would set fines of up to $15,000 for broadcasters who violate the ban.
Cruz said Monday that images of women in revealing swimsuits “are limiting the intellect and deforming the vocational interests” of children in the Dominican Republic. It was not clear if Cruz had significant support from other legislators and besides that many Dominican women look very hot in bikinis!
December 3rd, 2007
Cash raining down from the heavens might have seemed like a Christmas gift, but anyone in this western Massachusetts town who grabbed some of it is being asked to please give it back. The money, totaling $1,100 belonged to 83-year-old lady, Mary Olive Corbiere, who was banking on it to buy Christmas presents and lost it after a freak accident.
Corbiere had left a drugstore Tuesday and was putting her bags in her car when a wind gust pushed her shopping cart — still containing her purse and cane — into the back of a nearby delivery truck.
The cart somehow became stuck in a rear wheel well before the truck pulled away and disappeared into traffic. “Everything was normal, then I turned around and the cart had taken off,” said Corbiere, a retired English teacher and nurse.
The cart was dragged for blocks along one of the town’s busiest thoroughfares as the driver, oblivious to what had occurred, headed to the next delivery. Witnesses told police that when the purse finally burst open, strangers stopped and grabbed the fluttering currency, which Corbiere had withdrawn for holiday shopping and bills.
Officers found Corbiere’s tattered checkbook and cane — but little cash. They are urging people not to be Grinches and return any of the money they might have found. “We’re hoping people will do the right thing,” police Sgt. Charles Dodge said.
Corbiere, though, isn’t waiting around for the money’s return. She headed to the bank Wednesday to get a new checkbook and make another withdrawal. She didn’t even bother to retrieve the battered purse from police.
“That’s no use to me now,” she said. “What I really needed badly is my cane, and I am lucky I did get that back.” Well eventhough the season is upon us I don’t think much of this money will be returned.
November 30th, 2007
Weird crime shorts:
-A former bank executive who was said to have “Robin Hood” mentality has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for taking money from some accounts and repaying others, as well as pocketing some of the money for himself.
The judge at Friday’s sentencing hearing also ordered Thomas Mariotti, 37, to repay more than $691,000 to his former employer and to Tall Oaks Country Club, one of the affected accounts. Mariotti will remain free on bond until he surrenders himself to prison officials next month. A psychologist who testified at the sentencing hearing said Mariotti had a “Robin Hood” mentality because he took money from the bank to help support bad loans he had made. In one case, he paid off a $45,000 loan, said his lawyer, Ron Hamm. In June, Mariotti waived indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud.
-A man was in jail Saturday after refusing to sign a $15 jaywalking ticket two days earlier. Leroy Franklin Cladd Jr. was cited for not using a crosswalk late Thursday night. He balked at signing the ticket, a misdemeanor that landed him in jail. He was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time, police said. Cladd was being held at the Manatee County jail on $250 bond. What a fine waste of tax payers money and cops time!
November 19th, 2007
A 19-year-old German woman escaped from prison by hiding in a suitcase in Northwest Germany on Friday, according to the London Metro. A fellow inmate, 17, was being released from a youth prison and carried her friend out of the jail as her luggage.
Both inmates were serving time for theft and the 19-year-old was due to be released in two weeks. They are both still on the loose. I wonder if we will see this one on Prison Break?
November 7th, 2007
Here is a fellow with a strange and freaky fetish, he pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing more than 1,500 pairs of girls’ shoes from area schools in a deal that calls for prosecutors to recommend probation. Erik D. Heinrich, 26, of Kenosha pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary and was scheduled for sentencing Oct. 23. He told police he did it for sexual gratification.
He was arrested May 24 after a security video showed him entering North High School on May 20 and leaving with some items. Police tracked him through his vehicle registration, searched his home and a rented storage unit and found the shoes. Police have said Heinrich worked for a cable company and collected keys to the schools as he responded to calls. He used the keys to burglarize three Waukesha public high schools and one middle school six times during the past two years, according to a criminal complaint.
Police discovered the break-in at North High School after several female students reported that the locks on their lockers had been cut and their shoes stolen. Heinrich has a previous shoe-stealing conviction, in 2005, that was dismissed at prosecutors’ request after he completed a year of probation, counseling and 50 hours of community service.
October 18th, 2007
It’s a hefty price for a pastry: A man accused of stealing a 52-cent doughnut could face up to 30 years in jail. Authorities said Scott Masters, 41, slipped the doughnut into his sweat shirt without paying, then allegedly pushed away a clerk who tried to stop him as he fled the store.
The push is being treated as minor assault, which transforms a misdemeanour shoplifting charge to a strong-armed robbery with a potential prison term of five to 15 years. But because Masters has a criminal history, prosecutors say they could seek 30 years.
“Strong-arm robbery? Over a doughnut? That’s impossible,” Masters told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from jail. He admitted that he took the pastry but denying touching the employee. “There’s no way I would’ve pushed a woman over a doughnut.”
Farmington Police Chief Rick Baker said state law treats the shoplifting and assault as forcibly stealing property. The amount of force and value of the property doesn’t matter. “It’s not the doughnut,” Baker said. “It’s the assault.”
Masters said he didn’t even get to enjoy his ill-gotten gains: He threw the doughnut away as he fled. I have a sneaking suspicion this donut belonged to a hungry cop. Anyways if this guy tucked a donut into his sweatshirt and intended to eat it then he is probably not sane enough to stand trial.
October 11th, 2007
In France a woman who planted a lipstick-laden kiss on an all-white painting by the American artist Cy Twombly went on trial Tuesday, telling the court she had committed an “act of love” - not a crime.
Rindy Sam, a 30-year-old French artist, faced charges of “voluntarily damaging a work of art.” The painting is worth an estimated $2,830,000 and restorers have tried to remove the lipstick smudge from the bone-white canvas using nearly 30 products - to no avail.
Prosecutors, want Sam to pay a $6,400 fine and take a class on good citizenship. The verdict was set for Nov. 16. Sam was taken into custody after she kissed the painting July 19. It was part of a travelling exhibition on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Avignon. The painting is owned by collector Yvon Lambert. He was asking for $2,878,000 in damages, which included the value of the painting and the $47,000 restoration cost.
Twombly is known for his abstract paintings combining painting and drawing techniques, repetitive lines and the use of graffiti, letters and words. Born in Lexington, Va., in 1928, Twombly has lived in Italy for nearly a half-century. He won the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale in 2001.
Tuesday’s trial came as police in Paris jailed five people in connection with the weekend vandalism of a noted painting by French Impressionist Claude Monet, “Le Pont d’Argenteuil.” Intruders, apparently drunk, broke into Paris’ Orsay Museum early Sunday and punched the renowned work, leaving a nearly 10 centimetre tear. The five were tracked by evidence from museum security cameras, police said. One person admitted to putting a fist in the painting under the influence of alcohol.
The intruders had entered by a back door. Culture Minister Christine Albanel said that apparently one in the group had information about access to the museum for professional reasons and used this information to enter. The minister did not say if any of those detained worked for the museum. Why am I not surprised this happened in France, the land of love!
October 10th, 2007
