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
By Pete Kotz in Heroes, Video archives, robbery, unsolved
Friday, Nov. 20 2009 @ 5:39AM

He's not a very good robber, and he's just run into a very brave -- or very stupid -- clerk. But when all's said and done, the robber is forced to flee the store with nothing. Not even his gun.

By Pete Kotz in bizarre, robbery, unsolved
Thursday, Nov. 19 2009 @ 3:13PM
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The Geezer Bandit has taken down five banks since August, no doubt to fund his bingo habit
There seems to be a new trend afoot among robbers these days. Maybe it's the economy, but the most unlikely people are showing up in stores and banks with guns, moving in on what used to be the province of losers and dope addicts. Take the guy above, who looks so old he's practically skeletal...

Tags: California
By Pete Kotz in Stupid Criminals, drugs, robbery
Monday, Nov. 16 2009 @ 11:14AM
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Michael Noyer: Leaving your unemployment check at the scene of your burglary is estimated to make it 147 percent more likely you'll be caught
In today's episode of The Beginner's Guide to Crime, we introduce you to the concept of not getting caught. Though a basic proposition to the advanced criminal, it remains a rather elusive idea for remedial practitioners of the trade:

That would include Michael Noyer of Manchester, New Hampshire. Last week, police were called to an apartment where someone had broken in and was burglarizing a young girl's bedroom. The father went to investigate and found Noyer hiding behind a door.

Dad apparently had not kept current on his Bally's membership; Noyer managed to flee. But the bad guy left behind an important clue in tracing his whereabouts: A day planner, which included a handy unemployment check bearing his identity...

Monday, Nov. 16 2009 @ 5:18AM

Jackson Fernando Martins, a 21-year-old from Brazil, was accused of using a knife to rob a mother and young son in their home. He made away with just $100 worth of electronics. After police chased him on his motorcycle, he dove in the ocean and swam more than a mile out to sea. No, he's not very bright.

As you can see from the footage, police in a helicopter had to fire warning shots to subdue him before diving in to rescue the moron.

By Pete Kotz in Heroes, Video archives, robbery
Sunday, Nov. 15 2009 @ 5:15AM

In Karachi, Pakistsan.

By Pete Kotz in Video archives, bizarre, robbery, unsolved
Friday, Nov. 13 2009 @ 3:28PM
Friday, Nov. 13 2009 @ 2:08PM
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William T. Cole, prior to nose decapitation, decided to rob two men with a small screwdriver
Take note, aspiring criminals: When you want to do a robbery, make sure you have stealing something valuable in mind, and try to go armed with more than a screwdriver. Those lessons were apparently lost on William T. Cole, and it ended up costing him his nose.

According to police, two men were at home in Tuscumbia, Alabama when Cole walked into the house, went to a back room, grabbed a coat, and started walking out. One resident  confronted him. Though Cole had a knife in his back pocket, he decided to use a small screwdriver as his weapon of choice in this robbery. It didn't make him very scary...

By Pete Kotz in bizarre, robbery
Thursday, Nov. 12 2009 @ 3:46PM

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Neighbors believe she was driven to armed robbery to provide for her family
Roxanne Pennock, a suburban mother of five children, apparently took to robbing banks in Southern California to support her broke family. In a sign of the fiscal woes hitting middle class America, she was caught in a red minivan used to escape from her latest caper...

Tags: California
By Gary C. King in cold cases, homicide, missing persons, robbery
Thursday, Nov. 12 2009 @ 12:20PM

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Navy corpsman Crispino Buzon was supposed to fly to the Philippines to get his wife. He never showed.
Navy corpsman Crispino Buzon, 25, was supposed to get on a plane at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino on April 25, 1987 to fly to the Philippines to pick up his wife. When he failed to shop up in the Philippines, he was reported missing.

A few weeks after his disappearance, a bag containing Buzon's clothing, military identification and other belongings was found in a reservoir near Victorville. By then a full-blown missing person's investigation was underway, and it hadn't taken long for detectives to determine that the reservoir was near a home that Buzon's supervisor, Petty Officer First Class Robert Nydegger, 40, had rented for his wife...

By Pete Kotz in drugs, robbery, unsolved
Thursday, Nov. 12 2009 @ 9:08AM
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Speakeasies make a comeback in L.A., but they bring with them a few problems
This delicious Breakfast Reading is on us, courtesy of the fine men and women of the Village Voice Empire:

Chaos in the Casitas
Lawless, south of the border style speakeasies get a grip on L.A.

The Anti-Semites of Human Resources
A worker at Administaff says he was thrown in a dumpster, tied to a fence, and shot with BBs -- all for being a Jew.

Dude, Where's My VW Bus?
Van stolen in Washington 35 years ago turns up in Long Beach cargo container.