Teen strangled, slit 9-year-old's throat 1
Dad sets dog on fire for jumping on couch 2
Dad executes son accused of molesting 3
Wednesday, Nov. 18 2009 @ 8:00AM
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Ryan Sheckler's CFO allegedly helped himself to $365,000
Wednesday morning's Breakfast Reading from around the Village Voice Empire:

Accountants Don't Do Well in Prison
CFO Matthew Mercuro accused of helping himself to skateboarding star Ryan Sheckler's money.

The Problems with Being a Ninja
When you try to leap a fence, sometimes you get impaled.

A Serial Killer's Refuse
One of the last of Dean Corll's 27 victims is buried anonymously 36 years after his murder.

Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 9:00AM
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Reid Gray may be rich, but he's also confessed to cheating on his wife
Reader "Wise Mom" responds to Was Wealthy Wife Quinn Gray Kidnapped? Or Was it a Scam Concocted with Her Lover? She believes husband Reid Gray could find a much better wife -- like her, for instance:
 
"Just wanted to point out how very frustrating it is that there are soooo many wonderful, intelligent, caring, women with morals and values, not to mention class, out there waiting for a man like this and to be wasted on such a woman disgusts us..."

Tags: Florida
By Pete Kotz in Animal Cruelty, fraud
Tuesday, Nov. 17 2009 @ 7:01AM
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Game wardens say elk and deer were left to die and rot on the Turner farm
To real hunters, it's all about matching wits with nature, stocking the freezer with meat for the winter, and preserving the continuity of the natural world. But to game farm hunters, it's all about trapping an animal in a caged  area, mounting impressive antlers in their den, then pretending to be a real man.

So you might expect hunting farm owners to be a bit shady as well. That seems to be the case with Jannet J. Turner and her son Scott Turner, who operate Michigan Trophy Hunts. Last year, people passing by noticed wild boars feeding on dead animals at the Chapin Township preserve...

Tags: Michigan
Tuesday, Nov. 10 2009 @ 9:01AM
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Darryl Burton was wrongly convicted for 1984 slaying at St. Louis gas station
Tuesday morning's Breakfast Reading from around the Village Voice Empire, so chock-full-o nutrients that you're guaranteed to be 16 percent better looking:

Free After 24 Years
Darryl Burton spent two-dozen years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. He forgives you.

The Imposter at Yuma Union High
22-year-old Anthony Avalos fakes being 17 so he can play high school basketball.

The Pervert of Port Orchard
Washington city councilman, a fugitive in molestation case, is busted after getting married.

Thursday, Oct. 22 2009 @ 6:13PM
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Kate Waring vanished in June after dining with two friends

UPDATE: Police have made another arrest in the murder of Kate. See update after the jump...

After going to the gym, a drug store, and dinner at a Japanese steakhouse with friends, Kate Waring disappeared in the night of June 12. The well-to-do woman from Charleston, South Carolina had drug problems in the past, but this didn't look like a relapse. Her mom said she'd vanished without her clothes or her daily medicine.

When her father Thomas Waring filed a missing persons report, he said something strange had happened between his daughter and two friends, Ethan Mack and Heather Kamp. She was scared of the pair, but dad didn't say why.

Now it turns out that Mack and Kamp had dinner with her that night at the steakhouse. Though they claim to have dropped her off later in the evening, the evidence is starting to say otherwise...


By Joe Tone in Child Abuse, Creeps, Lists, Stalking, fraud
Monday, Oct. 19 2009 @ 9:02AM

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Demario Johnson
These fine citizens won't be welcome at their neighborhood block parties anytime soon. Our Creeps of the Week rarely are.

5. Demario Lamar Johnson and Lashaun Christopher Johnson
When two young, strapping men walked into a Michigan sportswear shop in the middle of a robbery, the owner's wife must have thought they were Godsends. Unfortunately for her, the only place God would send the Johnson brothers is to some really gnarly corner of hell, where the bar only served O'Doul's and the TV was stuck on St. Louis Rams football.
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Lashaun Johnson

Both in their mid-20s, there's a good chance the brothers could have helped the owner, who was wrestling with a robber on the floor when they entered. Instead, they went on a little shoplifting spree of their own, snaking a leather coat and other clothes while the owner and robber struggled on the floor.

The brothers were arrested two days later, and now face 15 years apiece. Oddsmakers say they will probably escape police custody sometime Monday, be arrested trying to return the leather coat to the store they stole it from on Tuesday, and lead our Stupid Criminals list on Wednesday.

By Pete Kotz in Stupid Criminals, fraud, fugitives
Wednesday, Oct. 14 2009 @ 2:00PM

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Sopo couldn't help but tell friends how fun Cancun was
People like Maxi Sopo give criminals a bad name. He used to sell roses at Seattle nightclubs, but decided that the late-night retail floral business wouldn't make him rich, so he graduated to the more profitable field of bank fraud.

Along with partner Edward Asatoorians, he convinced others to lie about their incomes to get loans for fake auto purchases, then used the money for more pressing things, like partying in Vegas. Asatoorians was convicted last week, but Sopo wisely decided to flee to Cancun, since Cancun is generally considered way more fun than most Washington prisons...

Wednesday, Oct. 14 2009 @ 12:02PM
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As everyone knows, it's way easier to steal a baby than go through the discomfort and weight gain of actually having one yourself
Though 25-year-old Trinity Vidal-Hernandez already had three kids, she badly wanted another. And the fastest way to get one, she figured, was to steal one.

Though she worked as a nursing assistant at a nursing home, Hernandez told relatives she worked at a hospital. So she routinely dressed in scrubs and trolled maternity wards around Albany, Oregon. Then she decided to launch a grand plot.

Hernandez showed up at Samaritan Albany General Hospital and told staff her friend had just given birth to triplets along the side of a road. The woman and her newborns would be arriving soon by helicopter. Staffers checked with dispatchers and found no such emergency. But Hernandez insisted the woman's arrival was imminent, contending she'd already received cell phone pictures of the babies...

Tags: Oregon
By Pete Kotz in bizarre, fraud, homicide
Wednesday, Oct. 14 2009 @ 8:00AM
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Kimberly Gutierrez lured a young software developer to his death
Today's Breakfast Reading from around the Village Voice Empire:

Pretty Bad Girls
Ashley Harrell unveils the tale of a trio of Bay Area femme fatales, who graduate from drug use and free sex to outright murder.

More Over-Priced Than Starbucks?
Inmates at California's Pelican Bay Prison sue, saying they're being gouged on coffee and other items, reports Joe Eskenazi at SF Weekly.

He Don't Party Like He Used To
From Richard Connelly at the Houston Press, a man is caught passed out in a closet after doing drugs with a dead guy.

Tuesday, Oct. 13 2009 @ 8:51AM
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Rumeal Robinson: From Sports Illustrated to strip club addiction
Good morning, dear reader. Here's today's fine Breakfast Reading from around the Village Voice Empire:

Send Lawyers, Guns & Strippers
Miami New Times' Gus Garcia-Roberts reports that former Michigan basketball star Rumeal Robinson went bankrupt after becoming a strip club addict -- and now he's indicted for fraud.

Haleigh Cummings and the Bad-Ass Bounty Hunter
William "Cobra" Staubs, the Forrest Gump of bail-bondsmen, could end up in handcuffs over his work in the missing 6-year-old's case. From the lovely and talented Lisa Rab at New Times Broward-Palm Beach.

Wisconsin Man Stalks Jewel
He stakes out the singer at her Texas ranch because God thought it would be a good idea, writes Matt Snyders of City Pages in Minneapolis.