truesee's Blog

Would-be Reno carjacker can't drive a stick shift, returns victim's keys

Jaclyn O'Malley • August 4, 2009

Kent Howard Boedicker was booked Monday afternoon into the Washoe County Jail on suspicion of armed robbery, and remained in lieu of $10,000 bail.

A 57-year-old registered nurse called police at about noon on Monday to report that a man tried to carjack her four-door Hyundai, and ran off after he was unable to drive the stick shift. She had been parked in Borders Books parking lot in the 4900 block of South Virginia Street when he approached her with a gun. Officers found the weapon, which turned out to be a BB gun.

The woman was rolling her window down when she saw Boedicker, whom she said appeared pale, ill and had cuts on his body. Police said the woman asked him if he needed help. He then opened her car door and demanded she give him the keys. She said ‘no” and closed the door.

Again, police said Boedicker opened the door, demanding keys. The woman noticed he had a gun, and complied.

Soon after he got inside the car, he got out and gave the woman her keys.

“I don’t need these anymore,” the woman recalled him saying.

Reno police found Boedicker in the Save-Mart parking lot. He was identified by the woman and arrested. Police believe that Boedicker does not know how to drive a stick, which caused him to abandon his efforts.

Pricetag to raise a child in the U.S. -- $291,570

Typo Turns Woman's Life Upside Down

Posted: 12:57 pm PDT August 3, 2009Updated: 6:31 pm PDT August 3, 2009

"Basically, my life was put on hold," Ball said.

Ball started getting bankruptcy notices in the mail, her credit line dropped to $200 and the bank put a hold on her car loan. For two months, Ball was living on virtually zero credit.

"It makes your name look bad," Ball told Quinlan. "Having to deal with the embarrassment at the store by having your cards turned down."

Ball tried to fix the problem spending hours on the phone and meeting with people at her bank but it took a court order to straighten out the error.

"It's not an easy thing when you're cruising along and you think everything is going okay and the next thing you know your whole life is upside down," Ball said.

The FTC told Quinlan that there is little anyone can do to stop this from happening to them and Bob Schroder with the Federal Trade Commission said that what happened to Ball borders on identity theft.

"All your accounts get frozen because your social security number got misused," Schroder said. "It can happen to anybody."

Quinlan tried contacting the firm representing the Tacoma woman in the bankruptcy case whose number was switched with Ball's but they did not return any calls.

Experts recommend checking your credit report each year to try to avoid something like this from happening. You can check your credit report or find out what else you can do to stop identity theft by clicking on the links below.  This simple clerical mistake however, had a big impact on Ball's life.

"Basically, my life was put on hold," Ball said.

Ball started getting bankruptcy notices in the mail, her credit line dropped to $200 and the bank put a hold on her car loan. For two months, Ball was living on virtually zero credit.

"It makes your name look bad," Ball told Quinlan. "Having to deal with the embarrassment at the store by having your cards turned down."

Ball tried to fix the problem spending hours on the phone and meeting with people at her bank but it took a court order to straighten out the error.

"It's not an easy thing when you're cruising along and you think everything is going okay and the next thing you know your whole life is upside down," Ball said.

The FTC told Quinlan that there is little anyone can do to stop this from happening to them and Bob Schroder with the Federal Trade Commission said that what happened to Ball borders on identity theft.

"All your accounts get frozen because your social security number got misused," Schroder said. "It can happen to anybody."

Quinlan tried contacting the firm representing the Tacoma woman in the bankruptcy case whose number was switched with Ball's but they did not return any calls.

Experts recommend checking your credit report each year to try to avoid something like this from happening. You can check your credit report or find out what else you can do to stop identity theft by clicking on the links below.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.kirotv.com/money/20267306/detail.html

Police probe video of 7-year-old driving

Court Orders Graduate Student To Pay Nearly $700,000 For Downloading Just 30 Songs Illegally

August 3, 2009 9:28 a.m. EST

New York, NY (AHN) - A judge has ordered a graduate student to pay a total of $675,000 after he was found guilty of illegally downloading songs from a shared music Web site.

Joel Tenenbaum, the 25-year-old Boston University student, has pleaded guilty of the charges of downloading and distributing 30 songs.

He will be paying $22,500 per song to four record labels for willfully infringing on the copyright of the songs by bands, including Green Day, Incubus, Nirvana and Aerosmith.

The U.S. District Court jury could have ordered him to pay a maximum of $4.5 million in the case.

"We are grateful for the jury's service and their recognition of the impact of illegal downloading on the music community," a statement from the Recording Industry Association of America said yesterday.

"We appreciate that Tenenbaum finally acknowledged that artists and music companies deserve to be paid for their work. From the beginning, that's what this case has been about. We only wish he had done so sooner rather than lie about his illegal behavior," it added.

The recording companies are entitled for fines of up to $750 to $30,000 per infringement under the U.S. copyright law.

It is the second such case to go to trial in the U.S.

In July, a woman in Minneapolis was ordered to pay $1.92 million. Jammie Thomas-Rasse was fined $80,000 per song for copyright infringement for sharing 24 songs.

THETFORD, Vt. -- A Vershire man has been accused of digging up his father's remains and bringing them home with him because he missed his late father.

Vermont Man Charged With Digging Up Dad

Police Say Man Brought Remains Home

POSTED: 9:57 am EDT August 3, 2009
UPDATED: 11:54 am EDT August 3, 2009

WPTZ NEWS

Dominik A. Bailey Jr., 43, has been charged with felony removal of human remains after allegedly digging up the cremated man's remains from a Vershire graveyard.

Thetford police said they received a call from Bailey's mother on Friday telling authorities that she believed her son had gone and dug up her husband's cremated remains, taking the remains and the headstone home with him. The mother said she was going to check the grave site and later told police all she saw at the site was a hole in the ground.  THETFORD, Vt. -- A Vershire man has been accused of digging up his father's remains and bringing them home with him because he missed his late father.

Dominik A. Bailey Jr., 43, has been charged with felony removal of human remains after allegedly digging up the cremated man's remains from a Vershire graveyard.

Thetford police said they received a call from Bailey's mother on Friday telling authorities that she believed her son had gone and dug up her husband's cremated remains, taking the remains and the headstone home with him. The mother said she was going to check the grave site and later told police all she saw at the site was a hole in the ground.

According to court papers, Bailey phoned his aunt in Connecticut admitting he took the remains home. The aunt said Bailey had talked about taking his father's remains home for months, but said she did not believe he would actually do it. The aunt also told police Bailey has made several threats to shoot relatives.

The aunt said Bailey left a message on her answering machine Friday saying that he was "going to get his father" and that the family "didn't need to leave flowers there anymore," according to court papers. The aunt also told police Bailey phoned her again later in the day and spoke with her, saying "he's here with me now" and that his father's remains were in his living room, along with the father's headstone.

On Saturday, a man who lives near the cemetery said a man -- who police suspect was Bailey -- asked him to borrow his wheelbarrow, returning the wheelbarrow after taking it to the cemetery.  According to court papers, Bailey phoned his aunt in Connecticut admitting he took the remains home. The aunt said Bailey had talked about taking his father's remains home for months, but said she did not believe he would actually do it. The aunt also told police Bailey has made several threats to shoot relatives.

The aunt said Bailey left a message on her answering machine Friday saying that he was "going to get his father" and that the family "didn't need to leave flowers there anymore," according to court papers. The aunt also told police Bailey phoned her again later in the day and spoke with her, saying "he's here with me now" and that his father's remains were in his living room, along with the father's headstone.

On Saturday, a man who lives near the cemetery said a man -- who police suspect was Bailey -- asked him to borrow his wheelbarrow, returning the wheelbarrow after taking it to the cemetery.

Police searched Bailey's home and recovered the remains and headstone of his late father. Bailey was not home at the time, but was pulled over by police in Thetford and taken into custody. He is being held at the Orange County Sheriff's Office and is scheduled to appear in court Monday.

The charge of felony removal of human remains carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of not more than $10,000.  Police searched Bailey's home and recovered the remains and headstone of his late father. Bailey was not home at the time, but was pulled over by police in Thetford and taken into custody. He is being held at the Orange County Sheriff's Office and is scheduled to appear in court Monday.

The charge of felony removal of human remains carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of not more than $10,000.

Funeral Manager Resells Woman's Casket

Woman Cremated On Cot

LINK TO VIDEOS:

http://www.wsmv.com/news/20245036/detail.html

TULLAHOMA, Tenn. -- Madeline Coker of Tullahoma died in May 2007. Her family's wishes were for her to be cremated in a wooden casket, for which they paid more than $2,000.

"To prey on a person in their time of need is just not right," said Amy Palmer, Coker's niece. "You're hurt enough. Why does someone else have to hurt you?"

According to the state Board of Funeral Directors, the manager of the Tullahoma Funeral Home took her body out of the casket and resold the casket to another family..

The state suspended the license of Stephen Rees, the manager they said made the switch. He no longer works for the funeral home.

"I tried to follow what she had asked me to do very specifically," said Palmer.

"It's an unfortunate situation. We take our responsibilities to our families very seriously," said the current manager of the funeral home, Todd R. Howell.

The funeral home was fined $2,000.

"She was the ultimate gentile woman from the South -- just what you would think of the Southern belle," said Palmer.

Channel 4 was unable to reach Rees. A family member said he has moved to St. Louis, Miss.

The funeral home refunded the money to both families involved.

"To prey on a person in their time of need is just not right," said Amy Palmer, Coker's niece. "You're hurt enough. Why does someone else have to hurt you?"

According to the state Board of Funeral Directors, the manager of the Tullahoma Funeral Home took her body out of the casket and resold the casket to another family.

Coker was cremated on a cot.

"You're betrayed. I mean, the man had been so accommodating. You're hurt," said Palmer, who

lives in Ohio.

The state suspended the license of Stephen Rees, the manager they said made the switch. He no longer works for the funeral home.

"I tried to follow what she had asked me to do very specifically," said Palmer.

"It's an unfortunate situation. We take our responsibilities to our families very seriously," said the current manager of the funeral home, Todd R. Howell.

The funeral home was fined $2,000.

"She was the ultimate gentile woman from the South -- just what you would think of the Southern belle," said Palmer.

Channel 4 was unable to reach Rees. A family member said he has moved to St. Louis, Miss.

The funeral home refunded the money to both families involved.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2C2817%2C2350553%2C00.asp

JOBLESS GRAD SUES COLLEGE FOR 70G TUITION

KATHIANNE BONIELLO

NY Post

Last updated: 4:20 pm
August 2, 2009
Posted: 3:35 am
August 2, 2009

She has given new meaning to a class-action lawsuit.

Trina Thompson gave it the old college try, but couldn't find work. Now she thinks her sheepskin wasn't worth her time, and is suing her alma mater for her money back.

The Monroe College grad wants the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she hasn't found gainful employment since earning her bachelor's degree in April, according to a suit filed in Bronx Supreme Court on July 24.

The 27-year-old alleges the business-oriented Bronx school hasn't lived up to its end of the bargain, and has not done enough to find her a job.

The information-technology student blames Monroe's Office of Career Advancement for not providing her with the leads and career advice it promised.

"They have not tried hard enough to help me," the frustrated Bronx resident wrote about the school in her lawsuit.

"She's angry," said Thompson's mother, Carol. "She's very angry at her situation. She put all her faith in them, and so did I. They're not making an effort.

"She's finally finished [with school], and I'm so proud of her. She just wants a job."

The mother and daughter live together, but are struggling to get by. Carol, a substitute teacher, has been the only breadwinner.

"This is not the way we want to live our life," the mom said. "This is not what we planned."

As if being unemployed weren't enough, Trina's student loans are coming due, saddling the family with more debt, the mom said.

"We're going to be homeless, and we'll still have a student loan to pay," Carol said.

Monroe insists it helps graduates in their careers.

"The lawsuit is completely without merit," school spokesman Gary Axelbank said. "The college prides itself on the excellent career-development support that we provide to each of our students, and this case does not deserve further consideration."

The college's Office of Career Advancement advertises lifetime free service for graduates, and boasts on the school's Web site: "We have many resources available for students at any stage of their college career, and even after graduation."

Vermont man opens Recession Taxi

By Joel Banner Baird

Free Press Staff Writer 

August 2, 2009

ESSEX — You read it right the first time: the message on the taxi’s back window really reads, “Pay What You Want!”

Eric Hagen, 46, an Essex resident and the SUV’s owner (and sole proprietor of Recession Ride Taxi) smiles a lot, but he isn’t joking. He’s making a profit.

“Nobody has shortchanged me yet,” he said Saturday. “Nobody’s stiffed me. I’ve decided to empower the customer; they like the fact they can decide.”

Hagen, who still works full time at the American Red Cross in Burlington, hatched his improbable business model in June.

“I hadn’t thought about it before,” he said. “I was watching CNBC — the financial station — and it suddenly hit me: Everybody’s always hearing, ‘This is what your mortgage is going to be; this is what your car payment’s going to be.’ People want to get away from that.”

Low start-up costs and low overhead prompted Hagen to get a cabbie’s license and insurance.

He printed up some business cards with his cell phone number, and waited.

The first half of July, Hagen took far more questions than fares: “People were coming up to me in parking lots and asking, ‘Is this for real?’ I’d tell them, ‘This is for real.’ And I’d give them a card.

“After two weeks, business really started picking up,” he continued. “That’s the way consumers are: they’re curious at first, and then they gain trust. And I’m trusting that the consumer is going to be fair. Maybe that’s what people need right now.”

The New York Stock Exchange, where Hagen worked in the 1990s, shaped Hagen’s take on what he liked — and didn’t like — in the world of finance.

Stints at Putnam Investments and Bombardier Capital (now GE Commercial Finance) sharpened his search for a different way to do business.

“It caused me to be more empathetic: You’d see millions of dollars in losses. You’d see corruption, and then you’d talk to people who’ve lost their entire savings, lost their retirement,” he said. “It made me think there’s got to be a different approach.”

Hagen offers Recession Ride customers an expanding selection of what he terms “the fringe benefits” of his service.

Repeat customers get their business cards punched; every seventh ride is free — as long as it’s within Chittenden County.

He keeps a cooler in the Durango loaded with pay-what-you-can iced bottles of water, Gatorade and soft drinks.

Other benefits of “membership” are still in the development stage.

Hagen’s city of Burlington permit is still in the works, but he’s taking people’s numbers for future rides. He keeps his cell phone on, day and night.

So far, he’s taken no heat from cabbies who follow more traditional codes of commerce — just a few phone calls to satisfy a growing curiosity: Is Recession Ride legit?

He tells them business is good, and growing.

Like other cabbies, Hagen keeps a detailed log. He’s earned about $600 in two weeks, working Thursday nights through Sunday evenings.

Most, but not all of his transactions are in cash. One fare, a musician, gave him a newly minted CD. Another proffered a Hannaford’s Supermarket card.
“It had $10 on it. It was a fair trade,” he said.

“I believed from the start that this would work,” he continued. “I believed that people are going to be generous enough to make it worth my while, and I’m going to be generous enough to let them decide.”

Last Updated: 10:18 am | Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Cincinnati Enquirer 

 GREEN TOWNSHIP - Susan and Doug Hayes knew they had a problem with bees.

As far back as 2007 the parents of four saw a swarm of bees flying around the third story of their Green Township home. They made informal enquiries about removal, but the bees didn't bother them and they didn't bother the bees.

So, the bees stayed with the hope a harsh winter would kill them off.

Then their 7-year-old son was stung last Monday - by what turns out wasn't even one of "their" bees.

Still, it led the family to seek help removing the bees and to the jaw-dropping discovery that ten of thousands - possibly up to 70,000 - honey bees were living in the walls of their home.

"I love nature, bees are important to our ecosystem" Susan Hayes said. "It breaks my heart that I destroyed their home, but they were destroying mine."

Bill Jones, a beekeeper and owner of Loveland Honey, put her mind at ease.

The bees were honeybees and thus endangered. No killing allowed, Jones told the couple.

"The queen and the comb was everywhere," he said. "If anything was open they filled it."

Jones wasn't daunted by the scope of the job, even though it meant pulling off part of the roof.

Jones sucked them up with a bee-vac, a vacuum-like machine that sucks the bees into a box, outfitted with a cushion so the bees don't get hurt.

"It's not the biggest job we've ever done," said Jones, who has been in the bee business for the last four years. "But, it is the most intense, because they went behind the chimney."

The biggest job, at an apartment complex in Springboro just a couple of weeks ago, had about 80,000 bees, he said.

Jones and his crew took out 22 pounds of honey and comb, which Jones said he'll re-use as much as of as he can.

As for the bees, they're getting new home in rural Ohio.

"Right now there is a shortage of bees all over the world, so we're doing everything we can to help them along," Jones said.

Repairs will last through the first part of this week, Jones said.

The cost of removal, about $2,800.

But the Hayes did get something out of the honeycomb mess: a favorite new recipe.

Jones gave the family some honey and Hayes made honey pork chops.

"The kids ate every bite,'' Hayes said. "They said they want it again."

 

The Enquirer/ Ernest Coleman 

Rees Hayes, 7, left holds a honey bee cone that was inside the walls of his family home in Green Township. Behind him they are his father and mother Doug and Susan Hayes, and his three sisters Kyle, 11, Devan, 14 and little sister Lilyanna, 5.

 

The Enquirer / Ernest Coleman 

The exterior of the home had to be removed to extract the beehive.

Denture cream lawsuits coming together in South Florida

WPTV NewsChannel 5 l Paige Kornblue
Sunday, August 2, 2009

WEST PALM BEACH — NewsChannel 5 has learned how many denture cream lawsuits are coming together in South Florida.

A Suburban Boca Raton woman is one of many people who believes denture cream caused neurological problems due to a high concentration of zinc.

They are suing denture cream manufacturers Procter & Gamble and GlaxoSmithKline.

Boca Raton attorney, David Shiner, says 19 cases have been filed in the Southern District of Florida and are being consolidated in the multi-district litigation.

"The federal court looks at certain common issues and can sometimes put those cases together to expedite those cases and allow them to be worked more properly so there's not confusion with different rulings coming out of different states," says Shiner.

Shiner believes there are about 30 total denture cream cases filed throughout the country.

"We always recommend citizens, including employees of institutions, be good witnesses," said Seattle police Sgt. Sean Whitcomb. "When confronted by a violent criminal, it is best to comply unless they feel their personal safety is in jeopardy. It is possible that taking action and confronting the criminal may lead to the injury of the victim or other bystanders."

"You want tellers to be proactive, but you want them to do it safely," added FBI Special Agent Fred Gutt.

Craig Blacklock, whose Oklahoma-based Financial Institution Robbery and Security Training instructs employees in how to deal with robberies, agrees. But he also understands what may have prompted Nicholson to refuse the robber's demands.

"Fight-or-flight kicked in. It's the same response as if somebody stole your wallet," said Blacklock. "But by lunging at the guy he didn't just put himself at risk, but he put everyone else in the bank at risk. There's so many things that could have happened."

When the man came into the bank, at 434 Queen Anne Ave. N., dressed in a knit cap on one of the hottest days of the year, Nicholson says he was immediately uneasy. The suspicious-looking man walked in and out of the bank, then got in the teller line, then stepped out of line.

When he finally approached the counter, he walked toward Nicholson and said, "This is a ransom, fill the bag with money," Nicholson said.

Hearing the word "ransom," Nicholson stopped for a second and asked to see the man's gun.

The man said, "It's a verbal ransom." Nicholson then lunged over the counter at him.

"My intent was to grab his glasses off his face, or him," Nicholson said.

Fortunately for Nicholson, the man wasn't armed.

The would-be robber, a 29-year-old transient, has a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for theft and robbery, according to court records. When he was arrested Tuesday he was being supervised by the state Department of Corrections.

The Times is not naming the suspect because he has not been charged in connection with the Key Bank robbery.

Nicholson said he has run after shoplifters while working at retail jobs in New York and California. On Tuesday, as well as in past cases, Nicholson said he felt confident he could catch the person.

"It's something I almost look forward to. It's a thrill and I'm an adrenaline-junkie person. It's the pursuit," he said, adding that when he told Seattle police officers this, one officer suggested he apply to become a cop.

Crocodile causes panic as it wanders around plane in mid-air

 

Published: 10:12PM BST 31 Jul 2009

Baby Crocodiles like the one let lose on a plane from Abu Dhabi. Photo: Reuters

Passengers screamed as the wayward foot-long reptile made its way under seats and down the aisle.

Crew members on the flight, which originated in Abu Dhabi, managed to corner and capture the crocodile and handed it over to authorities when the plane landed in Cairo.

An airport security official said the animal, which none of the passengers claimed, would be given to Cairo's Giza zoo.

Transporting exotic animals in and out of the Egypt is illegal.

The airport official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

In August 2007 the authorities seized more than 250 baby crocodiles, snakes and chameleons which a Saudi man tried to smuggle out of Egypt. The menagerie also ended up at Giza zoo.

Police plotted to blame car accident on woman they hit    

Story By: Jamie Smith
Source: NBC

Published Wed Jul 29, 2009, 10:13 AM MDT
Updated Wed Jul 29, 2009, 10:13 AM MDT

A cop's dashboard camera is supposed to catch criminals in the act. But for four Hollywood, Florida cops, the dash cam may have foiled their plans to frame a motorist.

The four police officers -- three of them longtime veterans of the force -- were caught on one of the cop's dash cameras plotting to place the blame for a February traffic accident on a woman that one of them had hit with their patrol car. The disturbing video shows the woman, Alexandra Torres Villa, handcuffed in the back of the squad car as the officers get their stories straight on what they are going to say happened.

Officer Joel Francisco, 36, an 11-year veteran, crashed into the back of Villa's vehicle at a light on February 17 at midnight. The cop radioed to other officers who converged on the scene and hatched a way to bail Francisco out.

Officer Dewey Pressley, 42, arrives and questions Villa, who tells him that she has been drinking. The 21-year veteran officer seizes the opportunity and arrests her for DUI. But the plot thickens from there.

The cops begin to brainstorm believable excuses for the accident. "As far as I'm concerned. I'm going to put words in his mouth. She went to accelerate and a cat jumped out of the window at which point he thought it could have been a pedestrian, which distracted him," Pressley tells Sgt. Andrew Diaz, another veteran of the force. "I mean what's the chances of hitting a f---in drunk when a cat jumps out of the window?"

Still, the cops run with the half-baked idea and rush to get Villa to do a Breathalyzer test so they can officially say she was drunk. "I nailed her on the video. I already hung her on video. She said she has been doing a beer party," Pressley says. "She's gonna blow."

Then, another cop debates with Pressley on who is going to write up the fabricated report to clear their police comrade. "I know how I'm going to word this with the cat so we can get him off the hook. I'll write the narrative," Pressley says. "We're going to bend this a little bit."

Civilian Community Service Officer Karim Thomas joins the three senior officers and the four cops go so far as to change the angle of pictures of the accident to make it look like Villa swerved in front of the cop car and caused the accident, not Francisco.

Throughout the tape, the cops acknowledged what they are doing is illegal, but when you are the law, there is nothing wrong with bending it for a fellow cop, one says. "I don't lie and make things up ever because it's wrong, but if I need to bend it a little bit to protect a cop, I'll do it," Pressley tells Francisco after reassuring him no one will ever find out. "She's freaking hammered anyway."

The police officers are currently on administrative leave pending a state attorney's office investigation. Villa, who was charged with four counts of DUI and cited for improper lane change, is still fighting the charges in court.