truesee's Blog

An attorney with an office in La Jolla who police said tried multiple times to hire someone to kill his wife is being released from jail, according to the district attorney's office.

Steven Liss, 53, was arrested Friday by San Diego police, who said Monday that he was booked on four counts of solicitation to commit murder, false imprisonment and spousal battery.

A day later, however, a spokesman said the district attorney's office did not feel it had enough evidence to prosecute Liss beyond a reasonable doubt. As a result, the case is being sent back to the police for additional investigation, according to the spokesman. It's not clear if Liss has been released from jail yet, but the Who's in Jail Web site run by the county sheriff's department still had him listed in custody.

Liss, a La Jolla resident, was taken into custody after his wife, Karen, and community members came forward with concerns for her safety, police said Monday. Investigators the same day said Liss sought the help of others multiple times in recent months to have his wife murdered.

The couple filed for divorce in February. Police said Karen Liss had a restraining order against her husband.

A law practice operated by Steven R. Liss is located on La Jolla Boulevard and apparently specializes in family law and adoptions. According to the state bar association’s Web site, he was admitted to the California bar in September 1987. State bar association records reveal that Liss has been disciplined for failure to perform competent legal services and failure to promptly refund unearned legal fees, but he is currently licensed to practice law in California.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Lawyer-Accused-of-Murder-for-Hire-Plot-Released.html

Liss was being held in lieu of $1,060,000 bail pending his release.

Children Arrested

The Baltimore Sun

July 21, 2009

                            RELATED STORY

Kids' case spurs debate over crime, punishment

By Peter Hermann

The Baltimore Sun

July 22, 2009

Here are two consistent complaints about Baltimore and why it seems to be a city out of control: Punishment rarely fits the crime, and parents don't take responsibility for their children.

So what do you do when three boys, ages 7, 8 and 11, steal a scooter, a wagon and bicycle parts from a neighbor's yard in North Baltimore's Medfield community?

The angry victim called police, who promptly came, handcuffed the youngest boy, got him to roll on his friends and then handcuffed them as well. The officer marched all three to the back of a wagon and took them to juvenile jail, where they stayed for at least two hours Friday before being retrieved by their parents.

Was the punishment too harsh and done without giving the parents a chance to act - as the mother of one boy complains - or just right to teach a valuable lesson about right and wrong in the absence of proper oversight, as police and some city residents suggest?

LINK TO VIDEO OF BOYS:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bal-md.hermann22jul22,0,269365.story

Toya Goodson said a second-grader is too young to be arrested for such a transgression. She readily acknowledges that her son, Ayize Massey, joined older kids and stole the man's scooter from Newport Street, then dropped it as the owner chased him to the boy's home on Falls Road and called 911. The officer came, and Goodson said the man "pointed to my son, [saying,] 'That's the one right here.'

"I said, 'Let's talk to my son,' " the mother added. "The officer said, 'I don't have time, I'm locking him up.' "

Goodson said Ayize, in tears, gave up his friends, was put in metal handcuffs and taken away in the wagon to the Juvenile Detention Center on Gay Street. She said her son is now grounded, has apologized to the man and is writing him a letter. "I'm not raising my son to steal," Goodson said. "But he's still a child, and we've all done things that we thought we could get away with. Our job as parents is to teach them. I have no problem with disciplinary action, but I think this could've been handled differently."

Baltimore police expressed little sympathy, other than to note that officers have few options in dealing with such a scenario. "Our position is that we have to hold people accountable," said the department's chief spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi. "In this case, we had a confession from a group of juveniles who stole property. It showed the kids the criminal justice system."

The spokesman noted that one of the kids told a television station that he would "never steal again." Said Guglielmi, "That is exactly what we want to hear." He said none of the children was charged criminally, but instead they were put into a program to help young offenders.

Two years ago, Mayor Sheila Dixon apologized to the family of a 7-year-old boy who was arrested after an officer saw him riding a dirt bike on a sidewalk. She called the bust "not consistent with my philosophy on community policing" and "a bad choice" on the part of the officer.

Dixon said Tuesday that in the earlier case, the boy "was on his own bike, he wasn't stealing." She refused to offer an apology in the present case, but she said that given that the youngsters' parents were home, "I might've handled it a little differently" and written the report inside the house instead of taking the children to jail.

Guglielmi said that in the 2007 case, the boy was arrested by a sergeant after the mother had complained about a warning her son had received from another police officer; as a result, the spokesman said, the child's arrest was alleged to have been what he called a "retaliation attempt." (The family has sued the city for $40 million, and the case is pending.)

"Things leading up to that arrest were very different" from what happened Friday, Guglielmi said.

The spokesman said the kids perhaps "learned a valuable lesson," not unlike the one he learned one day when he defied police in his hometown in Connecticut by playing hockey with his friends in the street. After repeated warnings, officers handcuffed him and took him in.

He was 6 years old.

Guglielmi said he wasn't criminally charged but afterward, "I didn't go near the street."

His parents had to collect him from the authorities. "The Italian form of discipline is much worse," Guglielmi said when asked about how his parents had reacted, before abruptly stopping in midsentence. He would only add, "It was a good learning experience for me."

In keeping with the mantra from the mayor and the police commissioner, who continually preach responsibility, the police spokesman said, "My parents never yelled at the police. It was my fault."

East Naples woman accused of being an illegal dentist

Naples Daily News staff

July 22, 2009 at 11:30 a.m.

Rosa Maria Toledo

An East Naples woman was arrested late Tuesday after an investigation revealed that she had been practicing dentistry without a license in her converted garage.

According to reports, investigators received a tip on July 21 that Rosa Maria Toledo, 56, 1065 Moon Lake Drive, was practicing dentistry illegally.

They obtained a search warrant, which was executed Tuesday evening.

Inside Toledo’s home they found that the garage had been converted into a dental office. In the room was a black reclining chair, a water-powered drill set, and a cabinet containing dental castings, molds, dental crown glues, crowns, partial dentures and bridges. Another cabinet contained novacaine and other substances. Several dental tools were hanging on the wall. Also in the office was a ledger containing information for hundreds of patients.

Deputies received information indicating that Toledo had been a practicing dentist in Mexico before moving to the United States.

Toledo was charged with practicing dental hygiene without an active license and non-licensed person leasing or operating dental equipment.

35 Million Joints' Seized in Gulf of Aden

July 22, 2009 11:58 a.m. EST

A British ship carried out the largest drug bust ever recorded in the Middle East this week, seizing an amount of cannabis sufficient to make 35 million marijuana cigarettes, the British Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.

The HMS Cumberland ship caught the drugs off the coast of Oman during a Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 patrol.

The seized drugs, comprised of 12.4 tons of cannabis resin, have a street value of $70 million.

"If you look at individual seizure cases, it's the largest seizure of cannabis resin ever, according to our databases," Thomas Pietschmann, a Research Officer at United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime told The Media Line. "The only larger seizures were in Turkey in 2001, when 19 tons were seized, and in Spain where we had 15.8 tons." Pietschmann explained that while in terms of global of seizures, this drug bust is equivalent to 0.9 percent of seized cannabis resin, a relatively low figure, the significance lies in the quantity seized in a single operation.

In 2007, the last year for which the U.N. drug office has complete information, only 11 countries seized more cannabis resin throughout the year than the amount taken in the one seizure this week.

The HMS Cumberland was examining a suspicious cargo vessel and found a secret compartment with large bales of narcotic material identified as cannabis resin. The drugs were later destroyed.

An engineering mechanic from the Royal Navy team that boarded the vessel was quoted as saying his team was well-trained in these kinds of operations.

"But you don't expect to find this quantity," he said. "Twelve tons is a huge amount of drugs and looked like bags of potatoes piled up when we got it on deck."

Officials believe the drugs were intended to reach the Europe and the seizure is seen as an important step in stopping the financing of terrorism.

"Typically, it seems that this would originate in Afghanistan, exported via Pakistan to the sea and exported from Pakistan onward, either to Europe or to Africa," Pietschmann said.

"We've seen for quite some time that Afghanistan is really expanding its cannabis resin production," he added. "The largest producers of cannabis resin in the world are Morocco and Afghanistan."

The CTF 150 is a multinational coalition naval task force which conducts maritime security operations as part of the war on terrorism. It operates southeast of the Strait of Hormuz, in the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean.

Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7015866315#ixzz0M15VXNMP

2:10 PM EDT, July 21, 2009

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/videobeta/watch/?watch=74285852-1de1-425e-9368-ea2b0123d18a&src=front

 Telegraph UK

Published: 7:00AM BST 21 Jul 2009

Lesley Dedman put her mangled Daimler ladies' push bike in the back of her car and drove home and called the police Photo: BNPS

Lesley Dedman, a former town mayor, spotted the man peddling off when she looked out of her bathroom window.

Although wet-through, she was so enraged that she threw on a pair of jeans and a sweater and jumped in her Jaguar car.

She drove for nearly a mile before over-taking and then swerving in front of the man, causing him to slam into the side of her car.

The offender gave her a mouthful of abuse until she told him he had stolen her bike, at which point he ran off limping from an injury caused by the collision.

Grandmother Mrs Dedman, of Longham, near Ferndown, Dorset, said: "I was shaking with a mixture of fear and rage and was soaking wet at the time, I must have looked like a wild woman.

"I was just so livid that somebody could take my bike that I was determined to get it back. I would do the same again."

Mrs Dedman, who is 5ft 5ins tall, was shocked when she realised the thief was not a youth as she had thought but a burly, middle-aged man.

She added: "Luckily he grabbed a bag he had put in the front basket and hobbled off."

Mrs Dedman put her mangled Daimler ladies' push bike in the back of her car and drove home and called the police.

The thief is described as being 6ft tall, had ginger and brown hair and was wearing a white baseball cap at the time.

Dorset police is now investigating the theft.

http://digg.com/people/15_of_the_Biggest_Bank_Heists_Ever

Pensioner reunited with wedding ring 33 years after she lost it under a hedge at her former home

Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:15 PM on 21st July 2009

Anthea Capewell had long ago given up hope of finding her wedding ring after losing it under a hedge 33 years ago.

The 60-year-old's wedding and engagement rings both flew off her finger as she swung shut her garden gate in 1976.

Despite conducting a thorough search involving a metal detector, Mrs Capewell and her husband David only managed to locate the engagement ring.

The couple moved out of the house in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, eight years later.

So Mrs Capewell was astonished to receive a call from her former neighbour to say the ring had been found buried in some garden weeds.

Long time coming: Don Rigby points to the spot where his wife found the wedding ring that former neighbour Anthea Capewell lost in 1976

'I was absolutely gobsmacked and, of course, I was ecstatic,' she said. 'I just couldn't believe it.'

The former shop assistant have kept in touch with neighbours Don and Carol Rigby - who lived on the other side of the hedge - in the 25 years since they moved four miles away.

It was Mrs Rigby who dug up the ring while gardening - prompting a jubilant call to the Capewells' current home in nearby Bilborough.

Mrs Capewell said: 'Carol phoned and said she had some news for me. She told me I had better sit down. I didn't know what to do expect.

                                                          

Together again: An overjoyed Anthea and David Capewell pose with the ring and a photo taken on their wedding day in 1969

'Then she explained she had been collecting the clippings after cutting the hedge and had decided to do a bit of weeding underneath.

'She pulled up a dandelion and noticed a piece of metal come up with it - and as soon as she shook the soil off she realised what it was.

'It must have worked its way down into the soil after we missed it all those years ago. It came up like new with just a bit of soap water.'

'When I used to walk through our garden gate I was in the habit of flinging my hand behind me to shut it,' recalled Mrs Capewell.

'That day, as I did it, I felt my rings go - not just my wedding ring but my engagement ring, too. They just slipped off and flew through the air.

'I was sure they had gone into the hedge. We looked for weeks and even used a metal detector, but we just couldn't find them.'

Mrs Capewell's husband David, now 62, finally stumbled across the engagement ring later that year while he was laying a new driveway but the wedding band had remained elusive.

Inspired by the extraordinary find, the Capewells are now set to renew their wedding vows next year.

The couple, who have three children and 11 grandchildren, married in 1969 and only recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.

Mrs Capewell said: 'I was devastated all those years ago. I didn't have a ring for quite a while, because we thought they would turn up.

'David bought me a new wedding ring after we gave up the search, but now I'll always wear the original. I kiss it every single morning.'

Mr Capewell added: 'We assumed it was lost forever until Carol called. I thought we had won the lottery when I heard Anthea's reaction.

'She was overjoyed, and you could have knocked me down with a feather. I couldn't believe it how well preserved it was. It's amazing.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201197/Pensioner-reunited-wedding-ring-33-years-lost-hedge-home.html#ixzz0LxFe02Os

Zephyrhills store offers drive-through weddings

Helen Anne Travis,

St. Petersburg Times

Staff Writer
Monday, July 20, 2009

Kimberley Estes, left, shows the Rev. Sharon Burnett, owner of Mother Earth Goddess, the digital mural she is affixing to the sliding glass doors where weddings will be performed.

ZEPHYRHILLS — Lining the main drag through town, signs advertise drive-though restaurants, drive-through ATMs and now, drive-through weddings.

The Rev. Sharon Burnett opened Mother Earth Goddess metaphysical store in a former dry-cleaning business on Gall Boulevard in early July.

Unsure what to do with the sliding glass doors where customers used to pick up their pressed and cleaned garments, Burnett, a notary public and minister, decided to officiate behind-the-wheel nuptials. Couples with a marriage license, a witness over the age of 18 and $20 can exchange vows without turning off the engine.

"It's no different than standing at the courthouse," said Burnett, 58.

Appointments aren't necessary.

"It would be nice, but I can get it done in no time," she said, snapping her fingers.

The sign on the side of the gray cinder block building at the end of the Zephyr Plaza strip mall hasn't attracted any couples yet, but plenty of curious passers-by.

"They ask, 'Are you for real?' " Burnett said.

That was the same response from the Department of State Division of Corporations, which oversees notaries in Florida, when asked if they had heard of any similar services.

"I don't know of any," said Karon Beyer, a bureau chief with the Department of State. "Because it's so unique, that would be something we would talk about."

Those seeking an exhaust-free ceremony can also wed inside the Mother Earth Goddess store. Burnett will push aside the bench where healers perform Reiki and chakra work in her back room and turn the small area into a sanctuary. But keep your guest list tight.

"I only have 28 chairs," she said.

In the back room or at the drive-through window, Burnett will also officiate vow renewals and commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples.

Mother Earth Goddess is Burnett's third metaphysical store. The former IT professional opened InnerLight Metaphysical Center in Zephyrhills in 1999, but had to close it after nearly four years to take care of her ailing mother in Georgia.

In 2008, the spiritual world called her back and she ran Mother Earth in Tampa for a year, before bringing it closer to her home in Zephyrhills.

The store sells candles, incense, dream catchers and books on Kabbalah and tarot cards.

When asked if the serene, reverent aura of the stores clashes with the Vegas-style weddings offered at the window, Burnett dismissed the notion with a flick of a wrist.

"Metaphysical people aren't always serious," she said. "They like to have fun, too."

Scholar's arrest raises profiling questions

LINK TO SLIDESHOW:

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Harvard-Scholar-Henry-Louis-Gates Jr/ss/events/us/072109henrylouigates

'Gambling Granny' sentenced to 14 months of house arrest

She left 2 grandkids in car while she played the slots

By Tonya Alanez

South Florida Sun Sentinel

1:14 PM EDT, July 20, 2009

FORT LAUDERDALE

A Broward County judge this morning sentenced a grandmother to 14 months of house arrest for leaving her two grandchildren unattended in a car while she gambled at a Hallandale Beach casino, a prosecutor said.

Jeanne Shahan, 54, of North Miami, pleaded guilty to felony child abuse, misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and misdemeanor leaving a child unattended in a vehicle, said Assistant State Attorney Mary Ann Braun.

On Aug. 19, 2008, Shahan left her grandchildren -- a 2-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy -- unattended in a vehicle for more than an hour while she played the slots at Mardi Gras Gaming, 831 N. Federal Highway, police said.

The car's air-conditioning was off, but the windows were down.

"She's a very good lady who just used poor judgment, and she's very sorry about it," Shahan's defense attorney, Chris Narducci, said today.

Circuit Judge Jeffrey Levenson also ordered three years probation upon completion of house arrest, Braun said.

Levenson also prohibited Shahan from entering any gaming institutions.

  World's Smallest Cell Phone Set to Hit Stores In Israel

July 20, 2009 6:37 p.m. EST

Jerusalem, Israel (MEDIA LINE)

Title doesn't mean much to Breuning

By KARL PUCKETT • Tribune Staff Writer • July 20, 2009

Walter Breuning of Great Falls, who is 112, downplayed being the oldest man in the world Sunday after 113-year-old Henry Allingham of England died Saturday, but others paused to acknowledge the milestone.

So you're the king on the hill," 95-year-old John Kenny kidded Breuning as they passed each other in the lobby of the Rainbow Retirement Home, where Breuning lives.

As Breuning sat in the sun room, other residents stopped to offer congratulations.

"It's not half as important as feeling good," Breuning said.

Breuning said he's most grateful for his good health, not a world title, noting that he still is hungry for breakfast when he gets up each morning.

"If you're in good health, you've got everything there is," he said.

Following Allingham's death, both the Guinness World Records and Gerontology Research Group Web sites listed Breuning as the world's oldest man, pending verification.

Longevity doesn't run in Breuning's family.

Breuning said his father, a civil engineer, died at 50, and his mother, a housewife, at 46. Two brothers and two sisters died in their 70s, he said.

Breuning credits his longevity to keeping busy and moderation.

He worked until he was 66, retiring in 1963 after a long career with Great Northern Railway, where

he began work at 16 in Minnesota before transferring to Great Falls five years later.

But he continued to serve as the manager-secretary of the local Shriner's Club until he was 99.

For the past 30 years, Breuning has eaten two meals a day, including good-sized helpings of fruit. The country's growing problem with obesity is easy to explain, he says. "They eat too much."

He takes no pills and still walks up the ramps to get to his second-floor apartment each day after breakfast.

When he was younger, Breuning said he enjoyed an occasional beer or "high ball," but he didn't drink in excess. He gave up his beloved cigars, which he had smoked all of his life, when he was 99.

Breuning was born in Melrose, Minn., on Sept. 21, 1896, the year William McKinley won the presidency. Breuning cast his first presidential ballot for Woodrow Wilson, who served from 1913 to 1921, and he's voted in every presidential election since.

As a young boy, the family moved to Minneapolis and later to De Smet S.D.

A lot has changed over the past century, he says. "I bet you never saw a horse pull a fire engine."

Walter Breuning, who is 112, has lived at the Rainbow Retirement facility in downtown Great Falls for 29 years. "It's not half as important as feeling good," he said of the possibility of being the world's oldest man. (TRIBUNE PHOTO/KARL PUCKETT)

LINK TO VIDEO OF WALTER BREUNING:

http://gannett.a.mms.mavenapps.net/mms/rt/1/site/gannett-greatfalls-094-pub01-live/current/launch.html?maven_playerId=immersiveplayer&maven_referralObject=960188957

Thieves prey on the grief-stricken at Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary

WHITTIER - Thefts of purses, laptops and other valuables from mourners' cars at Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary isn't rare.

But the number of such crimes, mostly from unlocked vehicles, have jumped. Now deputies and cemetery officials are warning people not to leave valuables in their cars.

There have been 26 thefts from cars at Rose Hills so far this year compared to the 11 last year, according to Sgt. Richard Hernandez. The sheriff's Pico Rivera Station handles crimes committed on the 1,400-acre cemetery at 3888 Workman Mill Road in Whittier.

"They take advantage of mourners," he said. "I think these burglars and thieves have found a rich target."

Because of the increased thefts, deputies have conducted surveillance and patrolled the cemetery. The cemetery said it started passing out fliers to drivers who stop at the information booth. The flier warns people to lock their cars and not to leave valuables in the vehicles.

The same flier is posted at the park's entrances, said Richard Hardy who is the park's visitor services manager. He is in charge of Rose Hill's park patrol.

"We try to get people to lock their car. This is the LA Basin. Whatever happens outside, happens inside a cemetery," Hardy said.

"People tell us, `Who would steal at a cemetery?' Thieves. They have no conscience. We really

despise these types of activities on our families. It's disgusting."

He suspected the culprits would pick a car and very quietly steal the valuables inside. He was told by deputies the thieves start using the victims' credit cards within a half hour.

Out of all the thefts, Hardy recalled only one case where a victim saw a man carrying her purse get into a gray sport utility vehicle. She ran after the man.

"She beat on the window, yelling, `Stop! Stop!'," Hardy said.

The thief got away. But that's the only description of a suspect vehicle they have, Hardy said.

"The difficulty is we don't know who we are looking for," Hardy said.

He said he heard similar thefts are happening at other cemeteries.

Sheriff's Sgt. Mark Guerrero said there's been a consistent problem with thefts at Rose Hills and there's been surveillance conducted before this year.

The current bumper crop of thievery are almost all whodunits, authorities said.

"It could be anybody," Guerrero said.

So far, deputies arrested three people. Two of them were in possession of stolen property and drugs, Guerrero said.

Two couldn't be tied to the thefts but had their parole violated.

"You have two parolees with prior theft convictions driving through Rose Hills," Guerrero said. He said the men told deputies they were there to visit the graves of "homeboys."

A third man was caught July 13.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1612804691?bctid=30016707001

Hernandez said deputies patrolling the cemetery arrested a parolee at the cemetery who allegedly had heroin, meth, a syringe, ammunition, a box of illegal fireworks, two envelopes with escrow documents addressed to others, an envelope with checks in other people's names, a new model iPhone, four iPods and a slim jim in his car.

Deputies are investigating whether Joseph Mayorga, 27, is involved with the thefts.

No charges have been filed yet against Mayorga related to the arrest. But he is being held at Men's Central Jail for parole violation.

"He was caught as he was driving. He said he was there to see a homeboy who had been shot and killed. He couldn't tell us what plot," Guerrero said.

Boy, 14, collapses after overdosing on nicotine gum handed out in school

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:19 PM on 20th July 2009

A boy of 14 collapsed after overdosing on nicotine gum handed out by school counsellors to help smokers quit cigarettes.

Aiden Williams was rushed to hospital after he chewed his way through 30 pieces of the tobacco substitute Nicorette during lunch hour.

His mother today hit out at the school, which allows children as young as 12 to be given up to a week’s supply - 105 pieces – without parental consent.

Caroline Williams said: ‘I couldn’t believe that this gum can be given out like this without parents knowing. It is then being passed around the playground.

‘The doctors said that he could have died and he had to be kept in for 24 hours for observation.

‘I know what my son did was stupid, but if anything it proves that these kids can’t be given responsibility for taking medication that could do serious harm.’

Aiden, a pupil at Menzies High School Science College in West Bromwich, West Midlands, said he was given the gum by a classmate who had allegedly been caught smoking.

Workers from Sandwell Council’s Drug Education, Counselling and Confidential Advice (Decca) had been into school that morning and given out hundreds of boxes of the gum to pupils who smoke.

Aiden was rushed to Sandwell General Hospital with stomach pains after he collapsed in the playground at lunchtime.

He admitted having eaten two days worth of the gum - 30 pieces - in just one hour, was kept in overnight for observations and allowed home the following afternoon.

Paul Harris, deputy head at Menzies School, said: ‘We have older teens in school who have issues with smoking and work directly with Decca, which offers support.

‘This is low-strength nicotine gum and there is nothing stopping youngsters from the age of 12 buying it over the counter.

‘Decca does not have to inform pupils’ parents about this.’

Margaret Storrie, from Decca, said: ‘Aiden overdosing on gum like this is the first time such an incident has happened and we are disappointed to hear about it.’

Quitting aid: Schoolboy Aiden Williams

 collapsed after chewing 30 pieces

 of Nicorette gum