Police: Burglary suspects pocket-dialed 911

MAPLEWOOD, Minn. (AP) — Two Minnesota burglary suspects are arrested after police say one of them accidentally called 911 and left the line open as the pair discussed the crime.

Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell says the dispatcher got a call and hang-up, then another call that stayed open.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press (http://bit.ly/1efCGsC ) reports the dispatcher overheard a conversation about where police were.

Schnell says the calls were made on April 1 using the phone's emergency-call feature. The dispatcher saw the location was a car-repair shop.

Officers arrived to see two men leaving the building wearing dark clothing. One carried a television, the other a box.

The men dropped the objects and ran, but were caught by police dogs. Thirty-two-year-old Todd Weiss of Minnetonka and 38-year-old Justin Evans are charged with third-degree burglary.

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Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com

Crime & JusticeSociety & CultureSt. Paul Pioneer Press

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Slimmed-down Oregon police horse collars suspect

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Murphy the horse, once a woebegone Oregon ranch animal, had to shed 200 pounds to make the Portland police force, and now he has collared his first suspect.

Murphy, carrying Officer Cassandra Wells, galloped six blocks to catch a break-in suspect last week. He kept the suspect trapped next to a building in the Old Town district until officers could cuff him.

"He did everything I needed him to do," Wells told The Oregonian (http://is.gd/eRgfbF).

The arrest caps a ripe-for-the-movies story about a horse that weighed in at 1,900 pounds after his owner, in financial distress, sold him off to a Portland officer searching the Internet for a new member of the city's popular Mounted Patrol Unit.

Murphy was undersize at birth, even though he was born three weeks overdue. He was easily distracted and not considered particularly handsome, unlike a younger half-brother who turned out to be a trophy winner.

So he was given the full name "Murphy's Law," the axiom that if something can go wrong, it will.

In a Nov. 15, 2013 photo, Officer Cassandra Wells takes Murphy the police horse out for a ride, in P …

"Being honest," owner Randy Snow told the newspaper last year, "we ended up with five horses on the ranch, and old Murphy was always low man on the totem pole."

Murphy got overweight because he wasn't being ridden and because the owners couldn't afford hay. So Murphy roamed the property feeding on grass, a diet The Oregonian likened to an all-pizza diet for humans.

The police bureau's horse trainer, Jennifer Mack, saw possibilities, though, and the city bought the gelding for $3,000.

Murphy went on a strict diet and an aerobic exercise regimen that included an electric walker, a kind of treadmill that prods a horse to keep walking in a circle.

After months of work, Murphy made the grade, and started patrolling in the city's upscale Pearl District.

In a Nov. 15, 2013 photo, Officer Cassandra Wells takes Murphy the police horse out for a ride, in P …

He's among the eight animals that patrol downtown to the delight of Portlanders. Budget hawks sometimes call for cutting the unit but get nowhere.

And Murphy has turned out right, judged perhaps the second best in the unit when he began patrol duty in January.

"He's awesome," Wells said then. "He wants to keep learning. I couldn't have a better partner."

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Information from: The Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com

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Utah police: woman said meth was a birthday gift

PROVO, Utah (AP) — Police in Provo, Utah, have arrested a 46-year-old woman accused of attempting to buy methamphetamine from an off-duty police officer and claiming the purchase was a birthday gift for her sister.

A police report shows Heather Rodriguez was arrested Monday evening after she approached the off-duty officer and displayed a glass pipe.

Authorities say she then told police she was trying to buy methamphetamine for her sister's birthday.

Records say she also told police the pipe was not hers and she was holding it for a friend.

The Daily Herald reports (http://bit.ly/TN5qPT) Rodriguez was arrested and booked into the Utah County Jail on several drug charges. Officials at the jail did not know if she had an attorney.

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Information from: The Daily Herald, http://www.heraldextra.com

Society & CultureCrime & Justice

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Police: Man stole because he wanted to be arrested

WESTFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Police in Massachusetts have arrested a man they say stole a pack of cigarettes because he wanted to go back to jail.

Officers responded to a convenience store in Westfield on Tuesday night where a clerk told them a man asked for the cigarettes, and then walked out without paying.

The Westfield News reports that when the clerk warned the man he would call police unless he paid, the suspect said "Go ahead."

Police found 40-year-old John Skowron Kirwan, of Springfield, at a nearby bus stop.

When an officer asked the suspect if he attempted to steal the cigarettes, the man replied: "I didn't attempt to steal them. I stole them."

Police say Kirwan told them he was on probation and wanted to go back to jail. He was arrested for shoplifting.

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Information from: The Westfield (Mass.) News, http://thewestfieldnews.com

Society & CultureCrime & Justice

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Police charge Pa. man found dribbling along I-78

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) — A 22-year-old Pennsylvania man faces charges after police encountered him dribbling a basketball along Interstate 78 near Bethlehem.

The Express-Times of Easton reported Monday (http://bit.ly/V4EZ9e ) that police said Marquis Johnson, of Hatfield, was found on Sunday with a Pennsylvania license plate sticking out from his shirt and shorts, and smelled of marijuana.

Police say a key in Johnson's possession matched a vehicle about 2 miles away that didn't have a license plate.

They say he wouldn't answer questions about the vehicle, and they found marijuana in the car. The vehicle had less than 700 miles on the odometer and was traced to a dealership.

Johnson is charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle, abandoning a vehicle and drug possession. Court records didn't list a defense attorney.

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Information from: The (Easton, Pa.) Express-Times, http://www.lehighvalleylive.com

Crime & JusticeSociety & CultureMarquis Johnson

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Police: Burglary suspect made getaway in kayak

AUSTIN, Minn. (AP) — Police used a boat to catch a burglary suspect who made his getaway in a kayak in southern Minnesota.

The 31-year-old man from Austin, Minnesota, was arrested Sunday as he tried to kayak away from a restaurant with allegedly stolen items.

Police say the restaurant was closed when an employee giving a tour interrupted a burglary.

Officers found two people in kayaks on the Cedar River and got one to talk to them. That information led police to believe the second man was involved in the burglary.

Police got a fire department boat and, with a firefighter driving, were able to catch the kayaker. Authorities recovered cleaning supplies and lighters apparently taken from the restaurant.

The Post-Bulletin (http://bit.ly/1rUWC6i ) reports the suspect faces burglary charges.

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Information from: Post-Bulletin, http://www.postbulletin.com

Society & CultureCrime & Justicekayak

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Police: Bank robbery note was on grocery receipt

BEND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon police affidavit says a robber at the Home Federal Bank two weeks ago demanded money by giving the teller a note written on the back of a grocery receipt.

It was only part of the receipt, Bend Detective Jeff Frickey said in the affidavit, but it had the last four digits of a food stamp account and the account balance — enough to get investigators going.

State records provided a name to go with the account number, the Bend Bulletin reported (http://bit.ly/RrIZP8), and an online search of the name turned up a pawn shop transaction with a telephone number.

A service provider then came up with the coordinates of the phone, the Stillwater Campground in Central Oregon.

That, the affidavit said, is where 54-year-old Robert Short was arrested on theft and robbery charges.

At an interview afterward, Frickey's affidavit said, Short denied the charges, saying he never keeps receipts and would have thrown it in the trash, where anyone could have picked it up.

He also said that a hitchhiker must have stolen a black stocking cap that police kept as evidence after it was knocked off when the robber and a bank client struggled during the April 24 holdup, the affidavit said.

Police told Short his DNA was on the cap.

A plea hearing is scheduled May 27.

Short was held without bail at the Deschutes County Jail. It could not be determined immediately Wednesday whether he has a lawyer.

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Information from: The Bulletin, http://www.bendbulletin.com

Crime & JusticeSociety & CultureBend Bulletin

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Severed finger leads police to Ariz. theft suspect

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — A severed finger left at the crime scene helped police in Arizona arrest a man suspected of trying to steal copper wire.

An air conditioning company employee told Glendale police someone tried to steal the wire from his truck on Oct. 7.

The spool of wire — worth more than $300 — had been pulled out about 20 feet from the truck, and what appeared to be a cut off finger was caught in the wiring.

Police retrieved the finger as evidence, and forensic technicians were able to match the fingerprint to 29-year-old Joshua Allen Goverman.

Goverman told detectives he lost part of a finger while working on a car. He was booked on suspicion of theft.

Authorities didn't know whether Goverman had a lawyer who could be reached for comment.

Crime & JusticeSociety & Culture

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Country star Alan Jackson's daughter charged with assault, accused of striking a police officer

Singer Alan Jackson performs during "A Concert for Hope" at the Kennedy Center in Washington September 11, 2011 on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.Reuters

The 20-year-old daughter of country star Alan Jackson has been charged with assault, underage drinking and resisting arrest. She is accused of striking a police officer and then invoking her father's name during a traffic stop in Nashville.

Alexandra Jane Jackson was a passenger in a car pulled over by Metro Nashville police on Wednesday. According to a police affidavit, Jackson was irate and refused to stay in the car. Police say Jackson raised her hand to an officer, then struck the officer in the chest.

The affidavit says Jackson resisted when officers went to handcuff her and she later told police she had been drinking. As she was being booked into the jail, she told the officer that her father "would do anything I wanted him to do." WSMV-TV reports she was released early Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for Alan Jackson says there's no comment.

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Seattle police to give Doritos to pot-party revelers

By Jonathan Kaminsky

(Reuters) - Police in Seattle have no plans to issue citations to dope-smoking revelers when the city's annual Hempfest kicks off Friday, but officers will be handing out Doritos instead.

The annual festival, billed as the world's largest pot rally, is being celebrated for the first time since Washington state voters legalized recreational marijuana use last year.

Officers will be distributing 1,000 bags of Doritos tortilla chips at the three-day bash with labels directing people to the department's online pot primer, "Marijwhatnow?"

The guide explains that while recreational pot use is legal under Washington state's new law, it remains illegal to possess more than an ounce of the drug, smoke it in public, drive under its influence or to sell it without a license.

"We thought, 'what's more ironic than police handing out delicious snacks at a festival that celebrates pot?'" said Seattle Police Department spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb. "It's a conversation starter."

The ground-breaking ballot measure approved by voters last year made the Pacific Northwest state one of just two in the nation - alongside Colorado - to legalize recreational marijuana use.

Hempfest organizers last year raised eyebrows by officially taking a neutral stance on the measure, which called for a state-regulated regime of marijuana growers, processors and sellers that is set to take effect next year.

This year, they hope the collegial approach by the police will be mirrored by attendees, some of whom had been concerned that the initiative could negatively affect the distribution and use of medical marijuana.

"It's going to be part ‘protestival' and part victory celebration," said Vivian McPeak, the executive director of Hempfest, which is to set to feature 117 bands and 105 speakers on six stages this year.

Police have taken a hands-off approach to marijuana use at Hempfest since at least 2003, when Seattle voters passed a measure making the enforcement of pot possession laws the lowest priority for city police officers, Whitcomb said.

"There's a degree of latitude that happens every year," he said. "Our number one priority is public safety."

(Editing by Tim Gaynor and Ken Wills)

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George Zimmerman pulled over by Texas police

By Karen Brooks

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - George Zimmerman, a volunteer watchman whose acquittal in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin led to protests, was pulled over by police in Texas on Sunday for speeding, officials said on Wednesday.

Zimmerman told the officer that he had a weapon in his glove compartment and was going "nowhere in particular," said Brian Brooks, city manager of Forney, Texas, about 25 miles southeast of Dallas, where Zimmerman was stopped.

The gun in the glove box is legal in Texas, and police routinely ask motorists if they have weapons in the car, Brooks said. He said the entire stop lasted less than five minutes.

"It wasn't for super-excessive speeds, they just got him on regular speeding," Brooks said. "It's a pretty routine stop except for the fact that it was George Zimmerman."

Zimmerman was released when it was determined that he had no warrants.

Zimmerman, 29, who is white and Hispanic, was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter on July 13 in Florida after a racially charged trial in the shooting of Martin in February 2012. Thousands of people demonstrated across the United States after the verdict.

Zimmerman, who was a volunteer neighborhood watchman in the central Florida town of Sanford, Florida at the time of the shooting, said he acted in self-defense.

(Reporting by Karen Brooks; Editing by Grant McCool)

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Students filming fake robbery almost get in real police shootout

Students filming a fake robbery looked a little too real to police, and their movie project almost turned into an actual shootout.

It all started, local station CBS2 reports, when passerby Linda Bergslien thought she was witnessing a robbery at Classic Coffee in Glendora, Calif., where the filming was taking place Thursday morning.

She immediately called 911.

“They had masks on, and the one had a gun in his hand, and it was clear they were ready to enter the building,” she told CBS2.

A sergeant and two officers arrived and they thought it was the real thing, too. They shouted for the students to drop their weapons and get down on the ground, but one student froze and didn’t drop his (toy) gun.

Capt. Tim Staab of the Glendora Police Department told CBS2 that one of the officers got ready to shoot just as his partner was able to take the gun from the student.

“When he didn’t drop the gun, one of the officers reached out and pulled the gun out of his hand,” Staab said.

Then one of the officers noticed a camera.

“You’re shooting a short film?” an officer is heard saying. “In a store with a man with a gun?”

Glendora police said the students had not obtained a permit to film, so the shoot was news to them.

“It was extremely reckless,” Staab says, “and thank goodness our officers responded in the right way.”

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German police warn of exploding ticket machines

BERLIN (AP) — German police are warning rail travelers to be wary when using Deutsche Bahn's automatic ticket machines because criminals attempting to break into them may have left them filled with explosive gas.

Hesse state police spokesman Udo Buehler says since April criminals have successfully blown open 10 ticket machines by taping closed all holes, filling them with gas and igniting it. They then steal the money and blank train tickets.

But in six cases the attempts have failed, leaving the explosive gas inside, most recently Tuesday in a train station in the town of Karben, near Frankfurt.

Buehler warns the gas could potentially ignite when an unsuspecting customer uses the machine though so far it has not.

He says incidents have also been reported in neighboring states Thuringia and Lower Saxony.

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Czech police seize 1 million liters of illegal booze

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech police found a million liters of illegal alcohol hidden in underground tanks in one of the biggest seizures of untaxed booze ever.

Police have been chasing a widespread web of untaxed alcohol makers and distributors since a batch that included poisonous methyl alcohol killed 45 people and forced the government to ban all liquor sales for several weeks in September last year.

A spokesman said officers found the illicit booze at several unused industrial sites around the steel-making and mining center of Ostrava, in the eastern Czech Republic near Polish and Slovak borders, and at a site near the northern German border.

"Under the floors, in some places under a two-meter layer of cement and rubble, tanks with illegal ethanol were found," the police said in a statement.

Video footage showed officers and firemen using an earth mover, pneumatic drill and steel cutters to reveal the storage places.

Tax evasion from the sale of the booze would amount to about 12 million euros ($15.45 million), the police said.

The Czech Republic is one of Europe's heaviest drinking countries, and the world's leader in per-capita beer consumption of around 140 liters per year. Hard alcohol made from flavored ethanol is widely available in bars, stores and market kiosks, and popular especially among poorer Czechs.

Industry experts have estimated illegal liquor make up 15-25 percent of the market.

Police said they have not charged anyone in relation with the case yet. Last year, dozens of people were charged when police traced poisonous illicit alcohol to producers.

($1 = 0.7769 euros)

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Viet Nam Police seize 53 king Cobra by car

HANOI, Viet Nam (AP) — The Vietnamese police have seized 53 says king Cobra, from a car in Hanoi and arrested the driver.

Dang Van Hanh official said Monday that the live snakes were taken to a center of wildlife rescue near the capital where they are treated before being released into the wild.

King Cobra are longest venomous snake in the world and grow up to 5.5 metres (18).

King Cobra meat is considered a delicacy by some in Viet Nam, where hunting is prohibited and trade of snakes. Snakes are also sometimes in traditional medicines.

The snakes, which were kept in green bags, were seized Friday.

Hanh said the official car driver who was paid for their transportation. Local Media reported that it was paid under $ 50.

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Police: Upstate NY man's bad idea results in crash

JAMESTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — It turns out coasting an SUV with no brakes downhill to a scrap yard isn't a good idea after all.

Police say a 28-year-old man found that out Tuesday evening when he attempted to drive an SUV to a scrap yard in Jamestown, 60 miles south of Buffalo.

Officers tell The Post-Journal of Jamestown (http://bit.ly/12m2F8K ) that the man told them he had disconnected the battery before coasting down a hill to get to a nearby scrap yard. Police say he also told them the 1995 Chevrolet Tahoe had no brakes.

Officials say he was unable to stop at an intersection and collided with another vehicle. He and the other driver suffered minor injuries.

The man was charged with reckless endangerment, failure to stop at a stop sign and having inadequate brakes.

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Information from: The Post-Journal, http://www.post-journal.com

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Ingested ring retrieved from the NH police

MANCHESTER, NH (AP) — police say they've got the engagement ring $ 3,200 in New Hampshire allegedly ingested during a jewelry store robbery attempt.

The authorities in charge of 52-year-old Ronald Perley theft and falsifying physical evidence after saying that x-rays showed the ring in 14 Karat white gold with princess-cut diamonds inside him.
WMUR-TV (http://bit.ly/15cl7n3) reports the Manchester Police had recovered the ring starting on Saturday.
Perley was presumably Bellman Jewelers on Thursday, calling for engagement rings. Workers said he grabbed a ring then swallowed it after being compared.
Police say surveillance video Shows Perley taking the ring and put his hand to his mouth.
Perley was being held on $ 50,000 bail. It is unclear whether he has an attorney.

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3 accused of smoking pot in NJ police parking lot

TOTOWA, N.J. (AP) — State troopers in northern New Jersey didn't have to go far to make a pot bust. They didn't even have to get in their cruisers.

Police say they caught three men lighting up in a car in the parking lot of the barracks in Totowa (TOH'-toh-wah).

What gave the men away? Police say a trooper setting out for night patrol caught a whiff of marijuana.

The three men were charged with drug possession. Police say they were waiting for another man who was inside the station picking up paperwork for an impounded car. He was also charged with drug possession.

Authorities say for some reason, the men didn't expect to see a trooper in the parking lot of the state police barracks.

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Tunisian rapper gets jail term for calling police dogs in song

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
The new trailer for Brad Pitt's long-in-the-works zombie flick, World War Z, features a lot of Brad Pitt—and his flowing mane—trying to figure out how to battle the swarms of nondescript zombies we've seen in earlier trailers. In this refreshed look (watch the full clip below), we see Pitt asking a lot of questions about how to target the creatures and how to get into Russia, while they do things like attack planes (in a scene that Entertainment Weekly points out will seem familiar if you've seen some of the newest Iron Man trailers). ...

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Police: Man found in cockpit at Philly airport

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A 61-year-old French man was arrested at Philadelphia International Airport and charged with impersonating a pilot after airline officials found him in the cockpit of a plane scheduled for takeoff, police said Friday.

The crew of a US Airways flight bound for West Palm Beach, Fla., found Philippe Jernnard of La Rochelle, France, in the jump seat behind the pilot on Wednesday evening and removed him after he became argumentative, police said.

Jernnard, who was a ticketed passenger, was wearing a white shirt with an Air France logo and had a black jacket with epaulets on the shoulders, police said. Officer Christine O'Brien said police also found him in possession of a counterfeit Air France crew member ID card.

It's not clear how Jernnard got into the cockpit, but police said there's no indication he meant any harm. A US Airways spokeswoman referred questions to the FBI, which confirmed it is investigating but declined to comment Friday.

O'Brien said Jernnard initially became upset at the gate when he asked to be upgraded to business class.

"The (US Airways) employee gate agent told the male there was no space left in business class. He became irate," then boarded the plane, O'Brien said.

Jernnard was charged with criminal trespass, forgery, records tampering, false impersonation of a person privately employed, and providing false identification to law enforcement. He remained behind bars pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for April 5. Federal charges are also expected.

Jernnard is represented by the Philadelphia public defender's office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In France, police in La Rochelle as well as the national police declined to comment, saying they are not allowed to disclose information about individuals.

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