Dancing woman charged after disrupting funeral, deputies say

Paul Alongi 

The Greenville News

STAFF WRITER

March 5, 2009

Tammy Fausel said Wednesday that she and her family were shocked at what happened during her uncle’s funeral in Gray Court.

A Candler, N.C., woman danced in front of the service, waved a wand around the casket, opened the lid, laid her hands on the deceased’s head and struck the body with a wand, according to an incident report from the Laurens County Sheriff’s Office.

Nicole Marie Loretta Leonard, 25, has been charged with disturbing a funeral and public disorderly conduct in Tuesday’s incident, according to tickets.

Fausel said she had never before seen the woman and had no idea why she would’ve been at funeral at Church of God on State 14.

"Everybody was just kind of flabbergasted," she said. "They didn’t know what was going on."

The woman took flowers from the top of the casket and threw them at the family before leaving in a burgundy Toyota, according to the report.

Fausel said she called the Sheriff’s Office.

A lieutenant intercepted a burgundy Toyota Corolla heading south on Interstate 385, according to the incident report.

When deputies asked the woman why she acted the way she did, the woman said "she felt that it was the right thing to do at the time," according to the report. The woman told deputies she knew no one at the church, according to the report.

Fausel said the deceased’s immediate family were in another room at the time of the incident and didn’t witness it.

Leonard, of 117 Davis Creek, was released from the Johnson Detention Center on Wednesday, according to jail officials and tickets.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Would-be robbers take note: Don't use your debit card during a holdup. A West Virginia man who police say attempted to rob a convenience store instead ended up buying a soft drink with his debit card - ultimately leading to his arrest.

Shawn Thomas Lester, 33, told the store clerk Monday he had a gun and wanted all the money in the register, police said. But the suspect got flustered when a customer walked in and the clerk told him to pay for the soft drink.

Lester handed over his debit card, then signed the receipt "John Doe" and left without any cash.

Police traced the debit card and found Lester, of Charleston. He told police he was only joking when he said he had a gun and demanded money.

He was charged with armed robbery in Kanawha County, according to a criminal complaint.

It was not clear whether Lester had an attorney. His phone number was unlisted.

---

Information from: WCHS-TV, http://www.wchstv.com

'Guard' gets away with $145K church deposit

LORI PILGER and COLLEEN KENNEY

Lincoln Journal Star

Police are looking for a brazen thief who went to Lincoln's Berean Church Tuesday morning dressed as an armored service guard and walked away with nearly $145,000 in cash and checks.

Lincoln Police Officer Katie Flood said a man who appeared to be a guard with the armored car service went to the church’s financial office Tuesday morning and told a woman he was there to pick up the deposit.

When the woman said he was a little early, he came back with a reason that sounded plausible enough, Flood said.

"'Carl' was handed the weekend offering of around $145,000, initialed the receipt and waltzed out," said Police Chief Tom Casady.

All but about $4,000 of the money was in checks.

The plot became clear 15 minutes later — when the real guard showed up to the church at 6400 S. 70th St.

The woman at the church told police the man who left with the deposit was white, in his late 20s, 5-foot-7 or 5-foot-8, around 150 pounds with short light brown hair, glasses and a couple of days growth of facial hair. He was wearing a dark baseball cap, dark pants and a shirt with an emblem that looked just like a security uniform.

She never saw his car.

"It sounds like he knew exactly what he was doing," Flood said.

Casady said the heist likely will go down as one of the most interesting of the year in Lincoln.

And, he said, he wouldn't be surprised if the same scheme doesn't show up elsewhere.

"Large congregations, beware," Casady said.

 Berean Church member Christina Peterson, an adjunct college instructor, hopes people don’t blame the church.

“I think it’s sad,” she said Wednesday morning by phone. “Berean is a wonderful church. They do a great job. I don’t feel like this is their fault at all. This man, he even had to know the routine. The people there (at the church) had no reason to believe he was anything other than what he presented himself to be.”

She wrote a $200 check on Sunday, so she’s pretty sure it was part of money stolen. Peterson said the church informed her by e-mail to call her bank.

“They’ve done everything within their power. It’s just sad that somebody decided to target a church that’s doing really well.”

While she’s being interviewed, another call comes in.

“Oh. That’s Wells Fargo.”

She calls back in a few minutes, says the bank told her they’re stopping payment on the check and are not going to charge her.

Neb. man says he put cat in bong 3 times

A man who stuffed his girlfriend's cat into a makeshift bong and smoked marijuana through it said Tuesday that he had done it on other occasions and that it calmed the cat down.

Acea Schomaker of Lincoln said he never intended to hurt the 6-month-old cat, Shadow.

Lancaster County sheriff's deputies responding to a domestic disturbance at the residence ticketed the 20-year-old Schomaker on suspicion of misdemeanor animal cruelty Sunday after catching him smoking marijuana from a boxlike contraption that had the cat stuffed inside its 12-inch by 6-inch base.

Schomaker's girlfriend, Marissa Vieux, also was ticketed for animal cruelty because she didn't try to stop Schomaker, Sgt. Andy Stebbing said.

Vieux, 22, said she took in the cat about two months ago from friends who abused it.

Schomaker said the cat would bite and scratch them but he didn't want to discipline it by swatting or squirting water at it. He said they didn't bring it to an animal shelter because they feared it would be put down.

So Schomaker said he decided to use the makeshift bong because he had heard about people calming their pets by blowing marijuana smoke in their faces.

"I know for sure this isn't the first time someone has done this," he said. "I'm just the first one to get caught."

He said he put the cat in the bong a total of three times and it seemed to calm the cat.

"Every time we took her out she would pretty much just lay down and proceed to clean herself and act like a stoned person," Schomaker said.

The bong had a foot-long piece of garden hose coming out of a Plexiglas box, with the top secured with duct tape. Schomaker said it was constructed in such a way that the cat did not get immersed in smoke to the extent some might believe.

Schomaker said law enforcement and animal specialists lectured him about why what he did was cruel, and that he learned from his mistake.

This March 1, 2009, booking photo provided by the Lancaster County Sheriff's Dept., shows Acea Schomaker of Lincoln, Neb. He was booked Sunday on suspicion of animal cruelty, after deputies caught him smoking marijuana from a bong contraption that had a cat stuffed inside its 12-inch by 6-inch base. Schomaker told Lancaster County sheriff's deputies the 6-month-old female cat named Shadow had been hyper and that he was trying to calm her. Shadow was taken to the Capital Humane Society, where she appeared to be in good condition. (AP Photo/Lancaster County Sheriff Dept.)

A homemade bong, consisting of a piece of garden hose attached to a duct-taped plexiglas box, is seen in this March 1, 2009, handout photo provided by the Lancaster County Sheriff's Dept. Deputies responding Sunday, March 1, 2009, to a domestic disturbance call at a Lincoln, Neb., area residence, cited a 20-year-old man on suspicion of animal cruelty after catching him smoking marijuana from the contraption that had Shadow, a six-month-old female cat, stuffed inside its 12-inch by 6-inch base. The man told deputies the cat had been acting hyper and that he was trying to calm her down. (AP Photo/Lancaster County Sheriff Dept.)

Shadow, a 6-month-old female cat, is seen in this March 1, 2009, photo provided by the Lancaster County Sheriff's Dept. Shadow was rescued by deputies, who discovered the cat trapped in a "bong" after responding to a domestic disturbance call at a residency that a 20-year old suspect shares with his grandfather in the Lincoln, Neb., area. (AP Photo/Lancaster County Sheriff Dept.)

A strange looking cat has been causing a stir at a veterinary hospital in America.

The cat's name is Ugly Bat Boy and he is bald apart from a furry chest.

Dr. Stephen Bassett was given the cat by a client and says Ugly is happy with the attention he attracts at his surgery in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the USA.

Hospital staff say the curious cat can scare and mesmerise people.

French Boy Stabs Sister Over Nintendo DS

Police: Rental company empties wrong apartment

Royston Sim
February 27, 2009

It was a shock when Edward Peterson returned to his downturn apartment last week to discover that it was stripped of everything, including shelves and drawers.

An hour or so later, police discovered that his landlord had cleaned out the apartment by mistake.

According to a Madison police report, Peterson, 36, returned to his apartment at 121 S. Han St. on Feb. 20 at 3 p.m. and found it emptied of all his furniture and belongings. He had left just five hours earlier, and everything was fine.

Peterson flagged down Madison Police Officer Nicholas Ellis in his squad car at 3:40 and he followed Peterson to his apartment to investigate what he assumed was a burglary.

The supposed burglar turned out to be Peterson's landlord at Hart Rentals, who had instructed a maintenance worker to clean out Peterson's apartment by mistake. Shirley Eckes, business manager of Hart Rentals, told Officer Ellis that the company wanted to clean out an apartment with the same number as Peterson's in a different building the company owns.

Maintenance man Dustin Sobacki told Ellis that he was already working in 121 S. Han on Feb. 20 when Eckes told him to clean out the apartment, the report said. Sobacki put all of Peterson's belongings into black garbage bags which he put into a trash bin on the east side of 121 S. Han.

Peterson recovered most of his property from the trash bin, the report said, and Hart Rentals returned Peterson's TV and TV remote, which Sobacki had kept in Hart Rental's maintenance office. Some items were still missing, however, including about 150 CDs with an estimated value of $1,500, a CD boom box, about $300 cash, approximately 100 astrology-related books; 10 DVDs, a cell phone and credit cards. Sobacki told Ellis that several people were outside the parking lot when he was moving items into the garbage and they may have taken some of Peterson's things.

According to the police report, Eckes told Officer Ellis that "whatever is missing from Peterson's apartment we will make him whole again." The report made no mention of criminal charges.

Peterson could not be reached for comment, and Eckes declined to comment on the incident when reached by The Capital Times.

Mich. woman with 2 wombs delivers twins

Bithika Khargarhia

March 2, 2009

Mother has a condition known as uterus didelphyswomen.

New York, March 2: In a strange delivery case, a woman with two wombs has given birth to two healthy daughters - one from each uterus.

The northern Michigan woman, named Sarah Reinfelder, delivered the twins seven weeks premature via Caesarean section on Thursday at Marquette General Hospital in the Upper Peninsula.

The 21-year-old mother and her twin girls, Kaylin Joy and Valerie Marie, are doing fine, Dr. Connie Hedmark and Dr. Breanna Pond, who delivered the babies, said.

Doctors first delivered Kaylin, who weighed 3 pounds, 15 ounces, and then Valerie, who weighed 4 pounds, 15 ounces.

Although the babies are healthy and doing well, they still need to stay in hospital for several weeks until their lungs start working properly, Neonatologist Julie Frei said.

Sarah Reinfelder, born with a condition called uterus didelphys, which means she actually has two wombs, learned a few years ago after a miscarriage that she had two wombs.

Doctors have been calling Sarah Reinfelder’s delivery “miraculous”, and the baby girls “rare twins”, as the chance of conceiving twins, with one baby in each womb, is considered to be rare, happening to an estimated one in 25 million women.

Reinfelder already has a healthy 10-month-old son William with her husband Shane. Not very long after the birth of William, she came to know she was pregnant again - this time with twins.

"They told me your birth control isn't working, guess what, you're pregnant!" Sarah said. "I was like okay. And then they did the ultrasound and said guess what you're pregnant twice! And that's when I almost wet my pants."

Reinfelder and Shane, who are originally from Sault Ste. Marie, have been living in Marquette for about two months to be close to the hospital.

Uterus didelphys is a condition in which the womb develops in two parts, each with a single horn linked to the ipsilateral fallopian tube that faces its ovary. The condition occurs in one per 3,000 women. Women with the condition may be unaware of having a double uterus.

Although delivering twins in such a way is rare, there have been several documented cases of a woman having two wombs giving birth to a baby from each uterus.

In 2006, a British woman with a double uterus gave birth to triplets, a pair of identical twins from an egg that had implanted in one womb and then divided, and an infant from a single egg that implanted into the other womb.

In 1981, another triplet pregnancy in a woman with uterus didelphys was reported from Israel. In this case, one baby had died in utero, and of the remaining babies, one was delivered at 27 weeks gestation and the other more than two months later.

The incident happened about 7:45 a.m. Thursday, Feb., 26, near the intersection of Far Hills Avenue and Dorothy Lane, Burke said.

A male motorist called the police department's non-emergency number to report that he had seen the woman breastfeeding and talking on a cell phone while driving, Burke said. The man reported that he also witnessed the woman driving a Honda minivan into the parking lot of a local school and saw some children get out of the van. The man then got the van's license plate number and called police.

"I'm following right behind her right now on Far Hills Avenue," the caller said as he spoke to a Kettering dispatcher in a recording of his non-emergency call that was released by police on Friday, Feb. 27.

"I tried to say something to her. She literally has the little girl on the steering wheel and I said, 'I can't believe you have that kid in your lap and she said, 'You want to pop your titty out and breastfeed this kid?' That's what she said to me. I'm like, 'You can feed your kid when you stop.' It's like wet out here. It's full of traffic. It's ridiculous. She's got like three other kids in the car."

The police came to the area and tried to locate the van, but could not find it. So they used the license plate number to track down her contact information, Burke said.

When a police officer spoke to her, she admitted she breastfed her child and also told police that she does not deprive her child when the child is hungry, Burke said.

The officer took the information and presented it to the city prosecutor's office. That's when Genine Compton, 39, of Elm Grove in Harrison Twp., was charged with a first-degree misdemeanor of child endangering and minor misdemeanor for unlawfully restraining her child, which Burke believes was under 2.

When police were unsuccessful with serving Compton her ticket and a court summons at her home on Friday, Feb. 27, an officer went to the school where the witness saw her drop off the children on Thursday morning. The officer used the descriptions the witness gave to locate Compton at the school and serve the tickets and summons, Burke said. Compton was not arrested.

When asked why the tickets and summons couldn't be mailed, Burke said, "It's legal documents. We have to personally serve them to the defendant."

If convicted of the child endangering charge, Compton could face up to 180 days in jail and fined between $1,500 and $1,800, Burke said. If convicted of the unlawful restraint charge, Compton could be fined up to $150.

"Our issue is not the fact that this woman was breastfeeding in public," Burke said. He added that Compton would have been charged even if the child was just sitting on her lap. "Our issue is that she created the condition that placed her child's health and safety at risk."

Disgruntled ex posts ad for hit man online

Police: Man who wanted former girlfriend beaten put contact info in post

CHULA VISTA Romeo Montillano wanted to be a Chula Vista police officer.

The Police Department wanted Montillano in handcuffs.

Police spokesman Bernard Gonzales said investigators identified Montillano as the suspect in a robbery at the Kmart on East H Street last Dec. 8. Then they learned he was signed up to take the police department's entrance examination two months hence, Gonzales said.

Then, even knowing he was wanted, Montillano showed up to take the test. Eventually.

In the robbery, a man stole a television set, DVD player and telephone from the store, then beat up store employees who confronted him in the parking lot.

Detective Ruth Hinzman telephoned Montillano. He told her he was in Las Vegas, but would be back in about three weeks to take the police exam, Gonzales said.

A skeptical but thorough Hinzman checked with her colleagues to confirm Montillano was signed up for the exam.

He was.

In a second call to Montillano, police Agent Henry Martin asked if he was planning on attending an orientation for police applicants on Feb. 18. Montillano said he would, Gonzales said, but he was a no-show.

End of the story? Not even close.

Montillano called police to apologize for missing the orientation, Gonzales said. He said his vehicle had been impounded in Las Vegas and he was trying to raise the cash to get it back.

At that point, detectives were convinced Montillano would realize he'd be arrested if he showed his face anywhere near police headquarters, and that they were now looking for a fugitive, Gonzales said.

Wrong again.

Five days after the missed orientation, police say the city got an e-mail from Montillano, saying he planned to catch a bus from Las Vegas to San Diego so as not to miss the entrance exam, Gonzales said.

Detectives doubted Montillano would show up, but they made plans to arrest him just in case.

So Hinzman and Martin were waiting at the registration table when one of the police hopefuls walked up and signed in: Romeo Ogilve Montillano.

The officers, momentarily stunned, called Montillano out of the exam room and into a nearby office, where they arrested him, Gonzales said. While he was being busted, Montillano asked two questions.

The first: Would he still be able to take to take the test?

No, he was told, his name was being removed from the list of applicants.

The second: Could he re-apply and maybe take the test later?

Montillano was booked into jail on suspicion of robbery, making criminal threats and grand theft in connection with the Kmart episode, Gonzales said. They later found that Montillano had been arrested in November on suspicion of a misdemeanor theft from another Chula Vista business

Deputy Accused of Using Excessive Force on Teen Girl

Saturday, February 28, 2009

SEATTLE —  A King County sheriff's deputy kicks a 15-year-old girl, slams her to the floor of a jail cell, strikes her and pulls her hair in violence captured on videotape.

Prosecutors released the surveillance video in Friday in the assault case against Deputy Paul Schene, who is accused of using excessive force on the girl.

The footage shows the attack beginning after the girl enters the cell at suburban SeaTac City Hall and kicks off one of her shoes toward the deputy.

http://video.ap.org/?g=0227dv_wa_jail_video

Schene, 31, pleaded not guilty to fourth-degree assault in Superior Court on Thursday.

The incident last November began after the girl was brought in for an auto theft investigation, according to court documents.

"We believe this case is beyond just police misconduct, it's criminal misconduct," King County Prosecutor Daniel Satterberg said. "This is clearly excessive force."

Satterberg added the case is uncommon because cameras captured the entire incident.

Schene was investigated previously for shooting two people — killing one — in the line of duty in 2002 and 2006. Both times his actions were found to be justified, said Ian Goodhew, prosecutor's deputy chief of staff.

Calls by The Associated Press to Schene's lawyer Anne Bremner were not immediately returned Friday. Bremner, however, released a statement to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in which she said the video does not tell the whole story. Bremner had asked Judge Catherine Shaffer to not release the video to the media.

"As we argued to the judge, it will inflame public opinion and will severely impact the deputy's right to a fair trial," Bremner said.

In the video, a deputy kicks the girl, pushing her back toward the wall. The deputy then strongly backs the girl against the wall, and slams her to the floor by grabbing her hair. A second deputy enters the holding cell, while the first deputy holds the girl face down to the floor. The first deputy appears to hit the girl with his hands. The girl is then lifted up and led out of the cell while the first deputy holds her hair.

The second officer shown in the video was a trainee at the time and is not under investigation, Goodhew said.

According to court documents, the girl complained of breathing problems after the incident and medics were called to check her. A short time later, she was taken to a youth detention center and booked for investigation of auto theft and third-degree assault, the latter accusation dealing with her conduct toward the deputy. The girl has pleaded not guilty to taking a motor vehicle without permission, Goodhew said Friday, adding she was never formally charged with assault.

Schene told investigators through an e-mail conversation with his lawyer that once he was assaulted by the girl kicking her shoe at him, he entered the cell to "prevent another assault," according to court documents. Schene also said that the girl failed to comply with instructions in the holding area.

Prosecutors said Schene did not explain why he struck the girl after he had her in a holding position on the floor.