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A wanted man taunted the authorities by sending in a picture of himself posing by a police van. Matthew Maynard, 23, texted the picture to a local newspaper from his mobile phone, commenting that he didn't like the photo issued by the police. The suspected criminal is being hunted following a burglary in Swansea in September. Mr Maynard was among eight people who were pictured in local media alongside a request for information from the public. Four were subsequently apprehended, but the rest – including Mr Maynard – remain at large. Police declined to comment on the provocative picture, taken on Mr Maynard's mobile phone and texted to the newspaper offices, but said that their recent drive to catch criminals was working. Acting Chief Inspector Nigel Whitehouse said the public had made a very important contribution to solving a number of recent crimes. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of Swansea for the information they have provided, which, without any doubt, was instrumental in enabling us to effect a high number of arrests." Source
SPOKANE, Wash. — A Volkswagen van stolen 35 years ago in Washington state has been found in a shipping container at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport. Customs agents found the 1965 van on Oct. 19 when they opened a shipping container bound for The Netherlands, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported. They ran the vehicle identification number and discovered it was listed as stolen. Law officers said the van, which is in great shape, was stolen from an upholstery shop in Spokane on July 12, 1974 — while Spokane was hosting the 1974 World's Fair. Authorities have not been able to find the original owner, whom they would not identify. The operators of a vehicle restoration business in Arizona were the latest to have possession of the van, which they refurbished and planned to sell overseas, said Michael Maleta, an investigator with the California Highway Patrol. Maleta said the shop is also considered a victim in the case, and he declined to identify it. The van now legally belongs to Allstate Insurance Co., which paid off the original owner's theft claim back in 1974. The Highway Patrol turned over the van to Allstate this week. Maleta said the van had been restored to pristine condition. "Now it's probably worth 27 grand," he said. "It's a beautiful van." Megan Brunet, a spokeswoman for Allstate, said the company is looking through old records trying to find the original policy and theft claim. "Trying to find paper files from that far back can be pretty challenging," she said. The company will likely have the van appraised and go through the process of getting a replacement title before selling it at auction, she said. Source
MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. — A Michigan judge says a man who claims he was chased, shot and beaten by workers at a store he’d just robbed can sue the men. But only if he comes up with $10,000 within two weeks. Scott T. Zielinski is serving an 8-year prison sentence after being convicted of unarmed robbery for the November 2007 heist at Nick’s Party Stop in Clinton Township. The 23-year-old filed a lawsuit against the store, its owner and three employees in April. Zielinski was shot twice and claims he was excessively beaten. Circuit Judge David Viviano ruled this week that although Zielinski is indigent and imprisoned, he must post a $10,000 bond to cover the store and employees’ attorneys fees if he looses the case. Zielinski is seeking $125,000. Source Have any interesting articles you'd like to share? Article Request Thread.
Mass. town: People with 4 or more felines must apply for kennel permit. DUDLEY, Mass. - A Massachusetts town has made it illegal to own more than three cats without getting a special license. Voters at a town meeting in Dudley added language to a town bylaw on Monday night that makes it illegal to own more than three cats without a $50 residential kennel license. The article was in response to a neighborhood feud over the 15 cats owned by Mary Ellen Richards. Story continues below ?advertisement | your ad here The Telegram & Gazette of Worcester reports that one neighbor claimed the cats have ruined his yard. Richards has put her home up for sale and says she plans to move to a "more cat-friendly community." Dudley is about 60 miles southwest of Boston. Source
A Buddhist bank robber has been refused permission for his cat to visit him in jail - even though he says it's the reincarnation of his mum. Peter Keonig, 46, is serving five-years for armed robberies in Whirl, Germany, reports the Daily Telegraph. He went to court to demand the right for his cat Gisela to be allowed to visit him in jail "because she is my dead mum". Buddhists believe that people come back as other animals after death. He said: "I know it is mummy. She looks after me just the way she did. I need to see her like other prisoners see their wives and children." The court ruling said: "While we respect the religious freedom of individuals, the accused has not been able to furnish proof that his deceased mother has been reborn in a cat. Therefore, the request for visiting rights for the feline is rejected." The court did say he would be allowed to write to the cat. Source
LONDON, -- A British company specializing in custom coffins said orders have been pouring in for caskets shaped like beer bottles, cell phones and other objects. David Crampton, managing director of Crazy Coffins, said the caskets, which cost between $3,280 and $9,840, inject a little light into the darkness of a funeral, The Sun reported. "We give families the option to try and make a difficult event more cheerful," he said. "It isn't for everybody but it's something people can choose if they want to do things differently and try and make a few people smile on the day." Crampton said many of his clients are people preparing for their own deaths. "One customer spent most of his holidays on the Orient Express with his wife. He decided when he dies he wants to be buried in a replica of the coach he always used," he said. "He has visited the crematorium to check it will fit and paid in full for it." Source
A case report was just published about a guy who took 40,000 MDMA pills over the course of nine years. That's nearly 4,500 Ecstasy tablets a year. That's an overall average of 12.18 pills per day. Funny enough, he's had some lasting side-effects, none of which sound particularly pleasant. The man, known as Mr A in the report in the scientific journal Psychosomatics, started using ecstasy at 21. For the first two years his use was an average of five pills per weekend. Gradually this escalated until he was taking around three and a half pills a day. At the peak, the man was taking an estimated 25 pills every day for four years. Surely the brain would have dumped all of its stored seratonin after the first pill or so? After that, he may as well have just been drinking Red Bull or swallowing diet pills. My brain hurts just thinking about it. At any rate, "Mr. A" says that he continued to feel the comedown effects for months after he stopped taking the E, similar to side-effects felt by lifelong alcoholics. While this is (obviously) an extreme case whose findings can't necessarily translate to occasional users, it's remarkable that this guy even survived. There have been deaths linked to MDMA use, but most of those are the results of water poisoning or impurities in the drug, as opposed to pure overdose. Meanwhile, the USA continues to research the use of MDMA in treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. There is no clear evidence that some people suffer allergic reactions to ecstasy. However, around 10% of Western users do lack a key liver enzyme CYP2D6 needed to break down MDMA. This may make them more sensitive to the effects and more prone to accidental overdose. "He came to us after deciding that he couldn't go on any more," said Dr Christos Kouimtsidis, the consultant psychiatrist at St George's Medical School in Tooting who treated him for five months. "He was having trouble functioning in everyday life." Source
A US wildlife officer's decision to bring a 5ft alligator into his daughter's school for a show-and-tell backfired when it escaped. Dave Brady had recently captured the reptile and thought he'd bring it into his daughters class, with its mouth taped shut, in Florida. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Stan Kirkland said it proved a hit with the class: "They were impressed," he said. Things started to go wrong when Mr Brady loaded the alligator back into his truck after the school visit in Panama City Beach. "Most people don't think they can jump, but they have an amazing ability to jump," Mr Kirkland said. "They can not only jump, they can run." The alligator successfully jumped out of the truck and ran off towards a local pond where it has so far managed to avoid recapture. Mr Kirkland asked people to keep an eye out for the alligator: "It's green, it's 5ft long and it was last seen on the lam," he added. Source
If we’re honest, this was bound to happen eventually. Last year, an Australian man put his entire life up on sale on eBay, and even found a buyer willing to pay $7,500 for the guy’s house, car, friends – everything he had except his wallet and passport. Now, trust the Chinese to go one better. An uncle in the city of Zhangsu in Jiangxi Province placed this ad on the online store aggregator Taobao.com last week. It seems innocent enough until you realise the lot up for auction is the baby. That’s right, and bidding starts at just ¥1, with shipping included. The man, identified in the advert as Mr Hu, explains he was prepared to send his niece into the unknown “because we want a boy, therefore decided to give (her) away to family of fate”. And he doesn’t stop there, the advert comes with a whole spec like a second hand car. We’re told the baby’s father has good health and a college education, and that the baby’s mother has fair skin and big eyes. The “kid’s also got the big eyes,” the ad continues, “very cute, hope everyone will think for the child”. Sincere buyers could meet the girl in person, it concluded. After the issue exploded onto the Chinese webverse, Taobao located the page, removed it and shut down the man’s account. Mr Hu, of course, was unrepentant. He told Chinese media that the family was extremely poor, and that they had always wanted a boy and his brother-in-law was the only son in the family. Before now, the 25-year-old said – without a shred of irony, we must assume – that he only used Taobao to sell household items he didn’t want anymore, like DVDs and alarm clocks. “I am not a human trafficker, it is adoption, and we do not require any money or material things in return,” he pleaded. Needless to say, even Chinese legislation is not that blind. Indeed, there are very strict rules governing adoption that state among other conditions that a child to be put up for adoption must first be an orphan. The rules further dictate that anybody who is not the legal guardian of such an orphan or a representative of a state social welfare agency faces being classified as a human trafficker and being hit with serious criminal charges. Of course, the advert did not go unanswered. Before the page was pulled a doctor from Anhui province contacted Mr Hu showing interest in adopting the girl. However the girl’s mother was reluctant (can anyone blamer her?) and matters did not go any further. You’re left wondering if there is anything sacred anymore that hasn’t already been placed at the mercy of the highest online bidder – at least until brain transplants become medically possible, that is. Source
FORT WORTH, Texas - A 39-year-old man has confessed to breaking into the home of an elderly woman early Monday in Fort Worth, Texas, and forcing her to watch as he performed a sex act on himself, police said. Mitchel Wayne Stewart also ordered the 77-year-old woman to make him a sandwich before he fled with her cell phone, police said. Stewart, 39, was being held Thursday at the Mansfield Jail on charges of burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault and theft of property. The burglary happened at about 1:30 a.m. CDT Monday, said Sgt. Pedro Criado, police spokesman. The woman, Criado said, awoke at the sound of her doorbell. She went to the front door, and it was suddenly kicked in by a man later identified as Stewart, who grabbed her by the arm and forced her to a living room chair. "After he committed the sex act," Criado said, "Stewart demanded that the victim make him a sandwich." She complied and then told the man to leave, which he did, but not before grabbing her cell phone, Criado said. At about 11 a.m. Monday, a police detective working security at a Walmart, stopped Stewart on suspicion of theft. Stewart still had the woman's cell phone, Criado said. "Stewart was subsequently arrested and taken to the sexual assault unit where he was interviewed and questioned," Criado said. He then confessed to the early-morning home invasion, Criado said. Detectives "believe that Stewart may be responsible for a similar crime that occurred back in August," Criado said. "That case is still pending criminal charges at this time." Bond for Stewart was set at $5,000 for the theft charge, but no bond was listed for the burglary charge, according to jail records. Source
