Suspects threw more than $17,000 from car

Published: March 20, 2009 at 2:17 PM

SAN DIEGO, March 20 (UPI) -- Authorities in San Diego said drug suspects threw more than $17,000 out of a vehicle during a police chase on a highway in the evening commute hours.

Eileen Zeidler, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said the chase began at about 5 p.m. Thursday when two men who were under surveillance as part of "a significant drug investigation" drove off in a pickup truck and were pursued by San Diego police and DEA agents, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Friday.

The passenger in the vehicle began throwing money out the window of the vehicle, causing passersby to rush to recover the money. Agents and officers recovered more than $17,000 thrown from the vehicle and a 16-year-old boy later gave police $570 that he had picked up.

Zeidler didn't say how much money the suspects were carrying before they began throwing the cash. She said the suspects were arrested but didn't give any further information on the arrests or the investigation, the Union-Tribune said.

Surgeon keeps working through heart attack

Published: March 20, 2009 at 7:48 PM

NAPLES, Italy, March 20 (UPI) -- A neurosurgeon in Italy said he continued performing a brain cancer operation despite suffering a heart attack during the procedure.

Dr. Claudio Vitale, 59, of Naples, said he suffered an angina spasm about halfway through the procedure but he insisted on continuing to remove the brain tumor of his patient, ANSA reported Friday. Vitale's heart episode was confirmed by a blood test.

"I couldn't leave him at such a delicate moment," said Vitale, who underwent his own operation to clear an artery after he was finished with the surgery. "I'm not a hero, I only did my duty."

Vitale was scheduled to be discharged from the hospital Friday and said he hoped to resume work at Cardarelli Hospital as soon as possible.

"I'll have a week off and then I hope they'll let me get back to work," he said.

The surgeon said he was told the cancer patient was recovering.

Last Updated: March 20, 2009

Car that becomes a plane within 30 seconds.

Airport parking will become a thing of the past if the Transition flying car ever catches on.

Telegraph-UK-It can fly for 450 miles at more than 115 mph, can drive at motorway speed on the ground and launches from from road to air in less than 30 seconds.

It runs on unleaded petrol from any normal filling station.

  The first Transition took to the air a Plattsburgh in New York State.

 The "roadable aircraft" is categorised as a light sport plane and owners will need a sport pilot licence to fly it.

A £7,000 deposit will get you on the list for one of the first production versions being made by Terrafugia of Boston in Woburn, Massachusetts. The full estimated price is around £140,000.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid4464161001/bctid17003744001

• Click here for a guided video tour of inside the Terrafugia Transition

Published: Thursday, March 19, 2009

Arlington church theft blamed on devil

A woman who allegedly defrauded an Arlington church of more than $73,000 said Satan was involved.

Jackson Holtz
Herald Writer

ARLINGTON -- She said the devil made her do it.

An Arlington, Washington, woman, 62, told detectives evil was at work when she allegedly forged more than $73,000 worth of checks to herself from the church where she was an administrative assistant.

The woman "guessed that Satan had a big part in the theft," Snohomish County deputy prosecuting attorney Kathy Jo Blake wrote in charging papers filed Wednesday in Snohomish County Superior Court.

The woman worked for the Arlington Free Methodist Church from early 2000 until Feb. 2008 when she was fired, the court papers said.

On June 6, the woman left a teary message for an Arlington police detective admitting she had stolen money from her former employer. During an investigation, police learned that from Jan. 2005 until the end of Feb. 2008, the woman wrote 80 checks worth $73,575.18, the papers said. She allegedly forged the pastor's signature.

The finance chairman of the church had noticed irregularities with the checks and alerted the pastor. Church elders had been reviewing the matter when police contacted the pastor.

The woman told detectives she used the money to cover household expenses. She said she couldn't stand the thought of losing her home, the documents said.

Detectives said the woman seemed relieved the theft was disclosed and she appeared remorseful. She told police she was ready to face the consequences for her actions, the documents said.

The woman tried to enroll in a court program to pay restitution and avoid charges. But the amount she owed far exceeded what she would be capable of paying back in the short amount of time allowed, Blake wrote.

On Wednesday, the woman was charged with first-degree theft, a felony.

Wis. jewelry robbers fleeced as they flee

Principal in Providence bit, punched by mom, police say

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By Linda Borg

Providence Journal

Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — The principal of Roger Williams Middle School says he was punched and bitten by a parent in his office Friday afternoon after he told her that her son was being suspended from school.

Aleyda Uceta, 30, of 164 Gallatin St., was charged with assault on school officials, assault on police officers and resisting arrest.

The principal, Rudolph Moseley Jr., said he told Uceta that her 11-year-old son would be suspended for three days, according to a police report. Moseley told the police that she became angry and began yelling at him.

School Department spokeswoman Christina O’Reilly confirmed Monday that Moseley was allegedly assaulted by a parent but declined to provide details.

Moseley repeatedly asked Uceta to lower her voice but she refused, the police said, and Uceta then punched the principal in the face. When Moseley pushed the mother away, her son struck him, according to the police report. Next, Uceta allegedly grabbed Moseley’s left arm and began biting him.

A teacher intervened and began speaking to Uceta in Spanish but Uceta punched her in the face, according to the police.

When officers arrived, they attempted to escort Uceta out of the school but she continued to try to punch Moseley, the police said.

By then, a large crowd of Uceta’s family had gathered, making it difficult for the officers to take her into custody. During the struggle, Uceta bit a patrolman’s arm and struck a patrolman in the face, according to the police. She also kicked another police officer and ripped the pocket out of his jacket.

After Uceta was placed in custody she said, “I’m going to take your gun and shoot all of you,” according to the police report.

While handcuffed and seated on the floor of the school’s main office, Uceta attemped to kick the window panes out of a door, the police said.

Moseley was taken to a hospital for treatment, according to the police. One officer was bitten and another suffered a back injury, the police said.

Yesterday, Moseley said he was fine and that he had no idea what prompted the attack. The 11-year-old boy was suspended from school, he said, because he refused to go to a room where misbehaving students are assigned to cool down. The incident happened around 1 p.m.

“The school is OK,” the principal said. “We’re focusing on teaching and learning.”

Roger Williams is the school where an assistant principal, Robert Perkins, was suspended last week after he stepped on a Dominican flag on Dominican Independence Day. The students had reportedly been running up and down the hallways with the flag. The incident caused an uproar in the Dominican community, which felt that their flag had been dishonored

Courtroom Showdown: UTC Chair, Estranged Wife In Court Today For Divorce Battle

By MARYELLEN FILLO The Hartford Courant

March 18, 2009

100% wooden bicycle by a Shandong farmer

Believe it or not, it is made of 100% wood, there is no any other material at all

and it works!

This is from a shandong farmer, so amazing!

 wooden bicycle farmer

Senior fends off knife-wielding robber

Posted: March 13, 2009 05:03 PM EDT

Updated: March 13, 2009 03:53 PM MDT

 KOTA-TV

Unclaimed Lotto Money

Associated Press

Published: March 14 2008 - 11:39 am

Last Updated: March 14 2008 - 11:41 am

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - The Florida Lottery has made a lot of millionaires - some who don't even know it.
The Lottery says nearly $122 million in prizes have gone unclaimed since the games started in 1988. Winners have six months
to claim prizes.

The largest unclaimed payout was a $50 million Lotto ticket sold in a South Florida market in 2003.                         

The rest of the five largest unclaimed jackpots aren't chump change either - ranging between $10-$20 million.

Most of the unclaimed winnings benefit state schools. The rest goes back into the lottery till.

March seems to be the month when luck develops amnesia. Tickets for three of Florida's largest unclaimed jackpots - a combined $85 million - were sold in March.

Gouge tracks lead to Cape Coral robbery suspects

Dragged safe left trail, Cape Coral police say

News-Press.com

JL Watson 

March 7, 2009

Police had some help tracking down two burglary suspects this week.

Wayne Blanks, 19, of Fort Myers and Jarvis B. Bowens, 23, of Cape Coral were arrested after police followed a trail of gouges in the pavement left by a stolen safe. The safe had been dragged by a truck from a burglarized home and across several vacant lots to a residence at 2921 NW 27th St., according to Connie Barron, Cape Coral police spokeswoman. Police said Bowens lives at that address.

Bowens and Blanks were charged with armed burglary, motor vehicle theft, 15 counts of grand theft of a firearm and criminal mischief for stealing a large gun safe containing several firearms from a home at NW 26th Terrrace on Tuesday, police said.

A Yamaha dirt bike, flat screen television, laptop computer and a 2005 Ford SUV were also missing from the home, which is owned by Kenneth Staples, according the Lee County Property Appraiser. Staples could not be reached for comment.

Other items were also missing and possibly transported from the location, police said. Police recovered the SUV Friday in a wooded area in the 2900 block of NW 28th Avenue. Blanks and Bowens remain in custody at the Lee County jail.

"While our detectives are really great at what they do, the methods the suspects employed made our job easier," Barron said. She said detectives can't comment further because the investigation is ongoing.

According to reports, Bowens said that Blanks showed up at his home Tuesday dragging the safe behind the Ford SUV, according to police reports. Bowens said he helped unload stolen items from the SUV and placed them in his home.

Blanks initially said he found the SUV loaded with the stolen property in the road near the burglarized residence, with the key in the ignition. Blanks said he abandoned the SUV because he did not want to be caught with a stolen vehicle. He and Bowens broke open the safe and found that it contained several firearms, reports state.

Blanks then asked police if he could revise his statement. He said he acted as lookout during the burglary of the home, and that a third party was involved. Bowens then confirmed that another person was present at his home.

During the investigation, police found large scrape marks that led from the yard of the burglarized residence. The marks appeared to have been caused by dragging the safe from the home to Bowens' address. An independent witness later told detectives that the stolen safe was in the garage of Bowens' residence, police said.

Cape detectives are trying to determine if any other parties were involved.

 Wayne Blanks

Jarvis B. Bowens