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Police Officer arrested for robbing undocumented Mexican immigrants

HPD officer arrested on theft charges

 

BRIAN ROGERS and JAMES PINKERTON
Houston Chronicle

May 4, 2011, 2:14PM

Houston police have suspended an officer accused of robbing undocumented Mexican immigrants he stopped while on patrol in the Galleria area.

Stefan Riha, 29, was arrested while on duty Tuesday night, snared in a sting operation as part of an investigation by HPD's internal affairs division. The patrol officer, who was charged with theft by a public servant, allegedly took $1,100 from an undercover officer, a police source familiar with the investigation said.

"He would stop someone on a traffic violation, search them, and take the money ... those are the allegations,“ said the source, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the inquiry. "It's not the first time he was accused. There were other complaints. There were allegations of $800 and other amounts ... it's quite a bit of money."

2 sustained allegations

Riha allegedly preyed on undocumented immigrants in his patrol area in the midwest patrol division, where many are known to carry large sums of money.

"If these people are here illegally and are working, many don't have a bank account so they carry the money with them," the source said.

Riha is Hispanic and speaks Spanish fluently, the source said.

Riha, who was suspended with pay after the arrest, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

The officer has two previous sustained internal affairs allegations against him, including a April 2010 violation for causing an accident and a January 2008 complaint for not completing an official report, according to a database of HPD complaints.

Riha, who became an officer in April 2007, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted of the third-degree felony. He is free on $5,000 bail.

Because Riha was arrested as part of an internal investigation, police authorities would not release details of the allegations, said HPD spokesman Kese Smith. In Harris County Court records, prosecutors allege he stole an unspecified amount of cash from a person, identified as R. Cruz, by using his status as a public servant.

Riha is a member of the Houston Police Officers Union. He has not contacted the union about legal representation, said union president Gary Blankinship. Court records do not show whether he has an attorney.

Last month, a Houston woman settled a civil rights suit against Riha and another Houston police officer related to serious injuries she received during her arrest by Riha in January 2008.

Araceli "Sally" Perez was awakened at 2 a.m. by officers who were looking for her boyfriend, who had been sent there from a bar in a taxi. The cab driver flagged down police when Perez's boyfriend could not pay the fare, and they refused her offers to pay the cabbie with a check.

'A broken-up face'

Police tried to collect the fare from the boyfriend, and when they detained him, Perez came outside her home to plead with officers not to hurt him, said her civil attorney, Bryan C. Mitchell.

"She had a broken-up face and her arm was snapped above the elbow,“ said Mitchell. "She was pushed against a brick wall, her face into a brick wall, and thrown to the ground, and officer Riha was on top of her."

During the arrest, Riha jumped on Perez and held her arms down, breaking one of them, Mitchell said. The officer claimed he had grabbed Perez in a bear hug and then slipped and fell on her, and the injuries to the woman were accidental, Mitchell said.

He said the charges against Perez of assaulting a police officer were dismissed, as were charges against her boyfriend.

The civil case was settled by the City of Houston after mediation.

LINK TO PHOTO:

Entry #4,544

Sarah Palin tells Obama to stop "pussy-footing round"

Sarah Palin tells Obama to stop 'pussy-footing around' with release of Bin Laden death photos

Bill Hutchinson
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published:Wednesday, May 4th 2011, 6:07 PM
Updated: Wednesday, May 4th 2011, 6:07 PM

President Obama's decision not to release the Bin Laden photos has riled up Sarah Palin.
Wollenberg-Pool/Getty and Martin/AP
President Obama's decision not to release the Bin Laden photos has riled up Sarah Palin

 

In a speech in Alabama, the Tea Party darling said denying the world a look at the ghoulish photos of the Al Qaeda chief was akin to "pussy-footing around."

"Don't do kind of that birth certificate whole mocking of Americans for asking for it," Palin said in a speech in Point Clear, Ala., hours before Obama put the kibosh on releasing the photos.

After resisting for years, Obama released his long-form birth certificate last week to silence those who doubted he is American born.

Earlier Wednesday, Obama told CBS "60 Minutes" that he's barring release of the Osama photos to avoid inciting "additional violence" or to have them used as a "propaganda tool."

"We don't trot out this stuff as trophies," Obama said.

White House officials added that soldiers abroad could be put in greater danger by releasing the photos.

But Palin, whose son served in the Army in Iraq. immediately countered the decision Wednesday by tweeting her disagreement.

"Show the photos as a warning to others seeking America's destruction," Palin posted on Twitter shortly after Obama revealed his final decision.

"No pussy-footing around, no politicking, no drama; it's part of the mission," wrote the failed 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate.

The night before her online tweet, she was giving a 50-minute speech at a fund-raiser for a group the helps special needs children when she spoke of Osama's death.

"No games. Just release the photos and get it over with," said the former Alaskan governor, according to  the website of the Baldwin Press-Register newspaper.

She added that the president was giving fodder to conspiracy theorists, "especially in some Arab nations."

"We are anxious for the photos, the proof, to be revealed so that we can show those terrorists and say, 'We contained [Bin Laden], we contained that hatred and that evil, and we have the pictures to prove it.'"

While she differed with Obama on the photos, she praised the president's chutzpah for getting Bin Laden.

"I think the president made the right call and knew that we needed to get in there and strike hard," Palin said.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/05/04/2011-05-04_sarah_palin_tells_obama_to_stop_pussyfooting_around_with_release_of_bin_laden_de.html#ixzz1LQjodxLk
Entry #4,541

Two grandmothers busted for growing pot

San Bruno senior citizens busted on pot-farming charges

 
Aleen Lam, 72, charged with growing hundreds of marijuana plants in her San Bruno home.

San Mateo County sheriff

Aleen Lam, 72, charged with growing hundreds of marijuana plants in her San Bruno home.

It's pretty common these days for robbers to target homes where marijuana is being grown.

Not so common: When the suspected pot growers are two women past retirement age.

Virginia Pon, 65, charged with growing hundreds of marijuana plants in her San Bruno home.

San Mateo County sheriff

Virginia Pon, 65, charged with growing hundreds of marijuana plants in her San Bruno home.

That was what San Bruno police uncovered Friday, according to San Mateo County prosecutors.

It all began when neighbors heard loud banging coming from the women's home on Valleywood Drive, nestled in between Skyline Boulevard and Interstate 280.

Then they saw two men, later identified as Kitae Chae, 38, and Kenny Kong, 34, breaking down the front door and lingering inside for a few minutes before driving off in a BMW, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

The neighbors called police, and officers who stopped the BMW in South San Francisco found the men with $12,000 in cash, marijuana packaging material and seven ecstasy pills, Wagstaffe said.

When they arrived at the Valleywood Drive home, investigators found a substantial pot-growing operation: more than 800 marijuana plants, $3,000 in cash and a bypass through which electricity was being stolen from Pacific Gas and Electric Co., police said.

In short order, officers arrested the occupants -- 72-year-old Aleen Lam and Virginia Chan Pon, 65. It's not Pon's first run-in with the law: She is already facing charges in Yolo County for allegedly passing more than $40,000 in bad checks over a three-day period at Cache Creek Casino.

"I have never seen or heard of women in their 60s and 70s running a grow house," Wagstaffe said. "I certainly hope it is aberrational rather than a trend. I suppose profiteering in illegal enterprises crosses all the generations."

The two women face a variety of drug charges, and Chae and Kong are accused of drug and burglary counts. Lam has not yet entered a plea, while the others have pleaded not guilty. All four are being held at San Mateo County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail each.

Prosecutors have filed a motion requiring that the two women show a legitimate source for any bail they post.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/crime/detail?entry_id=88229#ixzz1LOSR7Dvf

Entry #4,539

Student and school clash over patriotic face painting

Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA)
LARA BRENCKLE
May 3, 2011

Student, school clash over patriotic face painting

 
When Connor Tressler tuned in to watch his beloved Philadelphia Phillies take on the New York Mets on Sunday evening, he didn't expect to witness history.The game was interrupted by news that U.S. special forces had killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden during a raid in Pakistan. 

Likewise, when the Middle Paxton Elementary School fifth-grader's mother painted his face with an American flag, "USA" and the date of bin Laden's demise Monday morning, neither dreamed it would cause him to run afoul of his school's administration. 

"They told me it was against the school's code of conduct, that they're not against the patriotic display, but that the paint goes against the scholastic environment," Connor's mother,Jennifer Tressler, said. 

Connor, and then his mother, were notified he needed to remove the paint. When both refused, Tressler removed her son for the rest of the school day. 

Both sides agreed Connor was never asked to leave the school. 

Though the dress code does not specifically exclude face paint, the code states that students "have the right to wear such clothing or apparel as they choose, unless such clothing or apparel distracts from the educational program or constitutes a health or safety hazard." Middle Paxton's principal, Carol Lopez, referred a reporter who visited her Monday to the Central Dauphin School District's public relations official.

Shannon Leib, the district's spokeswoman, said face paint is never permitted. 

"In this instance, there was a disruption in the hallway, a reaction of other students pointing or laughing at this student," Leib said. 

When asked if a shirt, written with the same symbols, would have been more appropriate, Leib said each case of student expression is considered on its own merits. 

In this case, the face paint and the reaction to it drew Lopez's attention. 

Lopez acted correctly when she called district Assistant Superintendent Carol Johnson to proceed with a course of action, Leib said.

Mary Catherine Roper, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, called the district's response "an overreaction." "Just because a student's speech is effective does not make it disruptive," Roper said. "There's a difference between discussion and debate, which schools should encourage, and a breakdown of discipline in the classroom." Roper pointed to the recent federal court decision allowing students in the Easton Area School District to sport "I (Heart) Boobies" bracelets to support a breast cancer charity. "What the court said is that a couple of kids making remarks is not a disruption," Roper said. 

Remarks, Tressler and her son said, are the only thing that occurred Monday morning. 

"My teacher said it looks nice," Connor said. 

In fact, Tressler said, it was more disruptive to the school day to have Connor pulled out of class twice in about a half-hour than the brief laughs and stares he got in the hallway as he entered school. 

What's more, Tressler said, her son, who plays baseball, came to school last year with a temporary tattoo of a Pirates logo on his neck and a ring of Pirates-related symbols around it. 

That display drew no comments from anyone, she said, and was for less serious a reason. 

Connor, who was a baby on Sept. 11, 2001, said he was stunned and proud when the baseball game was interrupted by President Barack Obama's announcement. 

He has several friends whose parents served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq and he was partially thinking about them as he planned his patriotic display. He's happy for his country, he said. 

Connor and his mother said he plans to be in school today. 

"I guess I won't paint my face anymore," Connor said. "They didn't say anything about my shirt, so I'll stick to T-shirts.".

Entry #4,538

Woman loses cell phone nude pictures stored sent to contacts

Woman Loses Phone; Nude Pictures Sent To Contacts

Pictures Stored In Phone Sent To Contact List

POSTED: 1:28 pm EDT May 3, 2011
UPDATED: 2:12 pm EDT May 3, 2011

 

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. --A woman recently called the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office to file a police report about a missing cell phone, according to an incident report. 
 
The woman told police she lost her phone at a restaurant in Boiling Springs, S.C.
 
The woman told police she later learned that someone found her phone and was sending nude pictures she had stored in the phone to people in her contact list.
 
The woman told police she had the phone cut off.

Read more: http://www.wxii12.com/news/27760740/detail.html#ixzz1LNfdBsm2
Entry #4,536

Bus-jacking? Police say driver stole own bus

Bus-jacking? Osceola cops say driver stole own bus

 

Bus-jacking

Bruce Anthony Williams (Osceola County Jail, Osceola County Sheriff's Office / May 3, 2011)

 

Susan Jacobson

Orlando Sentinel

7:20 p.m. EDT, May 3, 2011

A tour-bus driver who claimed he was bus-jacked at gunpoint actually stole his own motor coach, drove around for more than 17 hours and used $400 of his employer's money to buy drugs and alcohol, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a tour group was left waiting for the bus, which was supposed to arrive Monday at 8 a.m.

Bruce Anthony Williams called the Sheriff's Office about 1:20 a.m. Tuesday to report that four men who identified themselves as members of the Bloods gang had robbed him at a Circle K gas station at 7626 W. U.S. Highway 192 and put him in the cargo area, deputies said.

Williams, 53, was pacing and changed his story several times, and investigators quickly decided that he had made up the story, they said. They contacted his employer in North Carolina, who had reported the bus missing after Williams left the tour group high and dry.

Williams told a deputy that he gave the bus-jackers a ride to either Winter Park or Winter Haven after they let him out of the cargo hold.

Later, he admitted driving the bus to parties and using $400 of his employer's money to buy cocaine and alcohol, a sheriff's report states. He also said he got drunk, fell asleep and forgot to pick up the tourists.

Williams, of Raleigh, N.C., is being held in the Osceola County Jail on charges of filing a false police report and grand-theft auto.

Entry #4,535

You are NOT allowed to commit suicide: Workers forced to sign pledges

You are NOT allowed to commit suicide: Workers in Chinese iPad factories forced to sign pledges

 

Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:37 PM on 1st May 2011

 

Factories making sought-after Apple iPads and iPhones in China are forcing staff to sign pledges not to commit suicide, an investigation has revealed.

At least 14 workers at Foxconn factories in China have killed themselves in the last 16 months as a result of horrendous working conditions.

Many more are believed to have either survived attempts or been stopped before trying at the Apple supplier's plants in Chengdu or Shenzen.

Appalling conditions: An investigation by two NGOs has found new workers at Foxconn factories in China are made to sign a 'no suicide' pledge

Appalling conditions: An investigation by two NGOs has found new workers at Foxconn factories in China are made to sign a 'no suicide' pledge

After a spate of suicides last year, managers at the factories ordered new staff to sign pledges that they would not attempt to kill themselves, according to researchers.

And they were made to promise that if they did, their families would only seek the legal minimum in damages.

An investigation of the 500,000 workers by the Centre for Research on Multinational Companies and Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (Sacom) found appalling conditions in the factories.

They claimed that:

  • Excessive overtime was rife, despite a legal limit of 36 hours a month. One payslip showed a worker did 98 hours of overtime in one month, the Observer reported.
  • During peak periods of demand for the iPad, workers were made to take only one day off in 13.
  • Badly performing workers were humiliated in front of colleagues.
  • Workers are banned from talking and are made to stand up for their 12-hour shifts.
Grim: Netting has been put up outside worker dormitories buildings in Chengdu and Shenzhen after a spate of suicides last year

Grim: Netting has been put up outside worker dormitories buildings in Chengdu and Shenzhen after a spate of suicides last year

The 'anti-suicide pledge' was brought in after sociologists wrote an open letter to the media calling for an end to restrictive working practices.

But the investigation revealed many of the workers still lived in dismal conditions, with some only going home to see family once a year.

One worker told the newspaper: 'Sometimes my roommates cry when they arrive in the dormitory after a long day.'

She said they were made to work illegally long hours for a basic daily wage, as little as £5.20, and that workers were housed in dormitories of up to 24 people a room.

In Chengdu, working between 60 and 80 hours overtime a month was normal, with many breaching Apple's own code of conduct with the length of their shifts.

And the investigation found that employees claimed they were not allowed to speak to each other.

Production line: The investigation found illegal amounts of overtime was rife and workers claimed they were not allowed to talk during shifts

Production line: The investigation found illegal amounts of overtime was rife and workers claimed they were not allowed to talk during shifts

Must have: High demand for iPods and iPads in the west has fuelled the tough working conditions for part suppliers in China

Must have: High demand for iPods and iPads in the west has fuelled the tough working conditions for part suppliers in China

Foxconn admits that it breaks overtime laws, but claims all the overtime is voluntary.

Some officials within the company even accused workers of committing suicide to secure large compensation payments for their families.

Anti-suicide nets were put up around the dormitory buildings on the advice of psychologists.

Foxconn said it had faced 'some very challenging months for everyone associated with the Foxconn family and the loss of a number of colleagues to tragic suicides'.

Spokesman Louis Woo, responding to allegations that staff were humiliated, said: 'It is not something we endorse or encourage. However, I would not exclude that this might happen given the diverse and large population of our workforce.

'But we are working to change it.'

He added that employees were 'encouraged not to engage in conversations that may distract them from the attention needed to ensure accuracy and their own safety'.

Sacom said the company initially responded to the spate of suicides by bringing in monks to exorcise evil spirits.

Leontien Aarnoudse, a Sacom official, told The People: 'They work excessive overtime for a salary they can hardly live on and are inhumanely treated.

'Conditions are harsh and they don't have a social life. Their life is just working in a factory and that is it.'

Demand for iPads and iPhones has soared, resulting in tough targets for workers in Apple factories.

Apple's supplier code of conduct demands that employees are treated with respect and dignity, but its own audit reports suggest suppliers in China may not meet up to these standards.

The global high-tech product manufacturer made profits of $6billion ni the first quarter of 2011.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382396/Workers-Chinese-Apple-factories-forced-sign-pledges-commit-suicide.html#ixzz1LK7OZ7Yd

Entry #4,532

Sarah Palin thanks former President Bush for bin Laden's death

Palin thanks former President Bush for bin Laden's death

 

FOX 31 Denver
Web Staff

9:58 p.m. MDT, May 2, 2011

LAKEWOOD, Colo. -- Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin addressed a crowd at a sold-out military appreciation rally in Lakewood Monday evening.

As Palin took the stage at Colorado Christian University she thanked the members of the crowd for their service.

“Freedom is not free,” said Palin. “I thank you for being part of the solution.”

She then addressed the death of Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US forces.

"Yesterday was a testament to the military's dedication in relentlessly hunting down an enemy through many years of war, and we thank our President and we thank President Bush for having made the right calls to set up this victory," she said to the crowd.

Despite the victory, Palin added that America’s war on terror is still not over.

“Those who would kill in the name of religion must be sought,” said Palin. "We are still at war with the brutal enemy that hates America and our allies and all that we stand for."

The program included a former Pentagon official who disparaged Islam while he was a senior military intelligence official.

"The Tribute to the Troops" event raised $40,000 for survivors of fallen soldiers.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.kdvr.com/videobeta/642d93d8-1236-476a-b661-c96ec2907baa/News/Palin-addresses-crowd-at-Lakewood-benefit

Entry #4,531
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