truesee's Blog

Pilot suspended after landing at wrong airport
Burnley Express
Published Date: 24 April 2009
AN airline which is banned from flying to Europe has this week announced that it has suspended a pilot and co-pilot who landed at the wrong airport in Lusaka, Zambia.
The pilot for Angola's flag carrier TAAG landed the Boeing 737 at Lusaka City Airport when he should have landed at Lusaka International Airport during a stopover from Harare to Luanda in April.

"Because this is a serious incident, Angola's Aviation Authority and TAAG have opened an investigation into the matter," a spokesman said.

"TAAG regrets the grief this has caused to passengers and reiterates its promise to deliver a service with the highest security standards."

The state carrier was banned from EU airspace in 2007 but Angola expects the airline to be allowed to fly to Europe later this year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BlJiaOErzo

Man pleads not guilty to tattooing 7-year-old boy

Saturday, Apr. 25, 2009
The Associated Press
FRESNO, Calif. A Fresno man charged with tattooing a gang insignia Man a 7-year-boy while the father held him has pleaded not guilty.

Travis Gorman entered his plea Friday in Fresno County Superior Court. He faces felony charges of aggravated mayhem and street terrorism.

Fresno police say the 20-year-old tattooed the boy's belly with a dog paw. It is the insignia of the Bulldogs, who are Fresno's largest criminal street gang.

A warrant has been issued for the father, identified as 26-year-old Enrique Gonzalez.

Investigators learned of the crime Tuesday when the boy's mother brought the child to the offices of a multi-agency gang task force.

Information from: The Fresno Bee, http://www.fresnobee.com

kptv.com

 

Man Fired, Returns Home To Find House Burning
Fire Victim Worked As Emergency Counselor

POSTED: 5:20 pm PDT April 24, 2009
UPDATED: 4:16 pm PDT April 25, 2009

OREGON CITY, Ore. -- An Oregon City man just couldn't catch a break Friday -- first he lost his job and then he returned home to find his house on fire.

Victor Gonzalez said there was a silver lining to getting fired Friday.

"If I hadn't gotten fired from work, I wouldn't have come home, and I don't know how far the fire would've gotten. So I guess that's a good thing," he said.

The single father lost his job and his house in a matter of two hours Friday morning.

The fire broke out just after 9 a.m. at the house on Canyon Ridge Drive. Luckily, everyone got out safely thanks in part to Gonzalez's 12-year-old daughter.

He said he knew everything would be OK with his daughter there to help out.

Gonzalez said he worked as an emergency department social worker, helping people deal with traumatic situations like fires. His past work with emergency situations is helping him to deal with the situation.

"You can choose to laugh or you can choose to cry and I'm choosing to laugh because I don't want to know what's going to happen if I cry," he said.

Now half of his roof is gone, his top floor is charred and firefighters soaked every inch of his house. Gonzalez isn't sure what his insurance will cover or if the house can even be repaired.

For now, he's just grateful everyone's OK and proud to have his daughter Audriana in his corner.

"She's been my partner in raising the family since we went through a divorce, and we couldn't be where we are without her," he said.

Gonzalez said it all started at about 7 a.m. when he started a fire in his wood stove to keep his two daughters and his niece cozy. He was called into work unexpectedly, but then was told he was let go.

When he returned home, he saw smoke on the roof. Gonzalez made sure to get everyone out of the home and then told his oldest daughter, Audriana, to call 911.

 

Gonzalez tried to fight the fire with his garden hose, but it grew too big, too fast. Even when fire crews arrived, it took them 30 minutes to get the fire under control.

Fire investigators are still trying to figure out what caused the fire, but they believe it may have started from embers coming out of the wood stove chimney.

Link to 911 call and video

http://www.kptv.com/news/19276320/detail.html

Mom caught at home with meth and 3 kids

Kids were 5, 2 and 9 months old.
Updated: Friday, 24 Apr 2009, 9:58 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 24 Apr 2009, 8:46 AM EDT

WARSAW, Ind. (WANE) - Three Warsaw individuals were arrested Thursday afternoon after Sheriff Deputies located two meth labs with children present.

According to the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, officers responded to lot #678 in the West Haven Mobile Home Park on Thursday with Child Protective Services on a welfare check. Once inside, a working methamphetamine lab was found inside the mobile home where there were three children living with their mother.

As the officer's were awaiting the Kosciusko County Drug Task Force to arrive, the children's father was seen inside a vehicle driving by the residence. Sgt. Shaw pulled over the vehicle within the mobile home park and found a mobile methamphetamine lab.

Dale E. Shepherd Jr., 24, and Brittany M. Wright, 22, of lot #678, Warsaw, were both preliminary arrested on dealing/manufacturing methamphetamine, class B felony and neglect of a dependent, class D felony. The driver of the mobile meth lab vehicle, Toby D. Jackson, 27, of Warsaw, was also arrested and preliminarily charged with dealing methamphetamine.

All suspects bonds were set at $10,000.00 each. Shepherd was also found to have an outstanding civil body attachment warrant for $7097.01. Child Protective Services took custody of the three children at the residence who's ages were 5 years old, 2 years old, and 9 months old.

 

Link to pictures

http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/crime_wane_warsaw_meth_kids_at_home_200904240833#

dailypress.com
WVa mother charged with trying to sell infant son
By P.J. DICKERSCHEID

Associated Press Writer

April 24, 2009

CHARLESTON, W.Va.

A West Virginia mother was in jail Friday, accused of trying to sell her 5-month-old son for $10,000 to get money for a new apartment.

Rebecca Sue Taylor, 19, of Charleston offered to sell her baby to another woman identified as Leigh Burr after saying she was unable to bond with the infant and needed money for a new apartment, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.

Burr, no age or address available, said Taylor later cut the asking price to $5,000.

The women had been talking about Taylor serving as a possible surrogate mother for Burr when Taylor offered to sell her the baby she already had, police said in the criminal complaint.

Charleston Police Sgt. E. L. Hodges said Burr reported the offer to police on Sunday. Taylor was arrested Wednesday.

Hodges said the child is in state custody. He said he did not know anything about the baby's father.

Hodges said the two women were acquaintances, but he did not know the extent of their relationship. He also said he did not know anything about Taylor's financial situation or whether she was employed.

Burr does not have a published phone number and could not be reached for comment Friday.

Hodges said he's heard of similar cases across the country, but said such crimes are rare in West Virginia.

"We've been lucky," he said.

Taylor was being held Friday at South Central Regional Jail with bond set at $2,500. She has asked for a court-appointed attorney, though one has not yet been appointed, officials said.

A felony charge of offering the purchase or sale of a child carries a fine of $100 to $2,000 and one to five years in prison.

Wis. teen allegedly steals from cars to get money to pay lawyer to defend him on other charges
8:00 PM CDT, April 24, 2009

BELOIT, Wis. (AP) - A teen allegedly broke into cars to raise money to pay a lawyer to defend him on other charges. A criminal complaint said a resident caught the teen inside his Chevrolet Camaro in his garage about 4:30 a.m. April 16 and tackled him and held him for police.

Officers found a GPS system, nine CDs and seven video games in his backpack. The criminal complaint said he took the items to help pay for a lawyer.

He was charged with felony burglary, possession of burglar tools and bail jumping.

The teen was charged previously with drug possession, disorderly conduct and theft of movable property.

German doctors: 40-pound tumor removed from woman
By RACHEL NOLAN, Associated Press Writer

Friday, April 24, 2009

 

(04-24) 09:52 PDT BERLIN, Germany (AP) --

A German doctor said Friday that surgeons have successfully removed a 40-pound (18 kilogram) malignant bone tumor from a Saudi Arabian woman.

Dr. Heinz Zurbruegg, a surgeon at the private Capital Health clinic in Berlin, said the 35-year-old had only a few weeks to live when she arrived in Germany for care in September.

But he said that after five operations by the surgeons, no traces remain of the bone tumor that once ballooned from her pelvis and represented a third of her body weight.

He said she is now well enough to return home and that if follow-up exams continue to show no sign of any tumor, the next steps will be to reconstruct the partially removed pelvis and give her an artificial hip.

The woman, who spoke on the condition that her identity not be disclosed, said she traveled to Germany after doctors in Riyadh said they would have to amputate her leg to remove the bone tumor.

She said the tumor had kept her bedridden for five years, but she now can walk with crutches. She also said her husband and three young daughters are delighted by the doctors' success.

Link to picture of tumor area and other medical wonders

http://news.aol.com/article/german-doctors-40-pound-tumor-removed/444679?cid=14

Sex offender's promised gift of lottery winnings undelivered so far
April 25, 2009, 12:23AM
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska's first big lottery produced more twists than anybody anticipated, and it's not over yet.
The winner of the $500,000 jackpot in January was a convicted sex offender who said he intended to donate $100,000 to Standing Together Against Rape, the Anchorage-based charity that the lottery was intended to benefit.

But Alec Ahsoak didn't give any of his winnings - $350,000 after taxes - to STAR. The advocacy organization never heard from him, STAR executive director Nancy Haag said this week. She said the group is looking ahead and not dwelling on it.

"I know that probably in the moment he probably was very excited and probably thought he could do more with his money than he really was able to," Haag said.

Ahsoak, 54, was attacked on the street within days of claiming his prize. Authorities say the attacker's motive related to Ahsoak's history as a sexual offender.

Ahsoak was not obligated to give away winnings. It was lottery operator Abe Spicola who said Ahsoak intended to give the money to STAR, after news broke about his history as a repeat sex offender. Ahsoak never denied or corrected the statement.

STAR ended up collecting about $11,000 as its share of the proceeds from the Lucky Times Pull-Tabs lottery, Haag said.

Efforts to reach Ahsoak weren't successful. No one answered the door at the inn where he's living. A manager said he usually keeps to himself. An attorney for Ahsoak, Lance Wells, also didn't return a call.

Spicola, the Lucky Times owner, said he didn't want to put more attention on or bring any more hardship to Ahsoak, considering all he had been through. He said people need to remember that perpetrators of sexual abuse often have been victimized themselves.

He said he hadn't been able to reach Ahsoak, either.

"He's changed his number. He's not returning calls. ... ... cannot even get calls returned through his lawyer," Spicola said.

"He just wants to disappear for a while and live his life, I think."

Lucky Times withheld $150,000 of Ahsoak's winnings for federal taxes. Spicola said he was trying to reach Ahsoak to finalize some paperwork.

Alaska law requires operators of pull-tab, bingo and other games of chance to team up with charities and give them at least 10 percent of the take after prizes. STAR paired with Spicola's Lucky Times Pull-Tabs for Alaska's first big payout and is doing so again this year.

Spicola said Lucky Times is running two sizable lotteries this year. One, with a $250,000 prize, will benefit an organization called Veteran's Aviation Outreach. That drawing is now scheduled for Labor Day, he said.

The other, with a $500,000 prize, will benefit STAR. Spicola said the drawing will be just after midnight on New Year's Day. Lucky Times should sell more tickets this time around, with more time and more experience, he said.

Just days after coming forward to win Alaska's biggest jackpot, Ahsoak was targeted walking out of 5th Avenue Mall downtown.

Brandon Hughes, 20, of the Los Angeles area, is accused of beating Ahsoak with a metal pipe or tie rod. He is in jail awaiting trial on charges of first-degree assault and tampering with evidence. Reagan King, 18, who authorities believe helped Hughes flee and get rid of the weapon, was arrested over the weekend on a charge of evidence tampering. Hughes knew a relative of a victim or victims of Ahsoak, according to authorities.

Ahsoak was convicted in 1993 of molesting two girls and sentenced to four years in prison. Police arrested him again in 2000 for molesting a different girl he was baby-sitting. He was sentenced to six years in prison in that case.

Ahsoak is registered as a sex offender.

Some of his victims and their parents have said that they didn't think he should get the money and that it instead should go to his victims.

Ahsoak said in January that he had been in treatment and was trying to turn his life around.

He talked about buying a house or cabin as well as vehicles with his winnings. It's not clear that happened.

Lost $11K Rings Returned to Owner
Rings Found At Sterling Heights Restaurant

POSTED: Wednesday, April 22, 2009
UPDATED: 8:15 pm EDT April 22, 2009

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich -- The cleaning crew at Andiamo's restaurant in Sterling Heights returned two pricey rings to a Macomb Township woman.

Nadine Ventimiglia washed her hands in the restaurant bathroom and took off her rings. She had to go to a different sink to get a paper towel, and forgot about the rings.

When she realized what she had done, she called the restaurant the next day, but the rings were gone.

Then, the restaurant owner called her back, and said one of the people who cleaned the restaurant had found the rings.

Ventimiglia told Local 4, "I was stunned, absolutely stunned. My rings were very special to me, and to have someone actually find them and turn them in and be honest enough to do that with today's economic times is amazing to me."

Linda Preka owns Nobile Cleaning Services. She said she always encourages honesty among her workers and has rewarded the employee who returned the rings.
Link to Video

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/19254312/detail.html#video/

The Morning Sun

News

Two charged with burning child with blowtorch
Thursday, April 23, 2009

By SUSAN FIELD
Clare Managing Editor

Two Clare County men accused of punishing a 6-year-old boy by burning him with a blowtorch are scheduled to be in court May 5.

Gerald Hall, 36, and his brother, Glen Hall, 43, face a preliminary hearing in Judge Joshua Farrell's 80th District courtroom in Harrison to determine if there is sufficient evidence for the two to stand trial on first-degree child abuse charges.

Both men were charged on Wednesday.

The two are accused of burning Gerald Hall's son's buttocks on at least one occasion, police said.

Although first-degree child abuse is a 15-year felony, Glen Hall could face more time in prison if convicted.

Clare County Prosecutor Michelle Ambrozaitis put the elder Hall on habitual offender notice, meaning he could be sentenced to one and a half times the maximum if convicted.

Glen Hall is on parole after serving time in prison for a drunken driving causing serious injury conviction in 2003 in Isabella County, according to Michigan Department of Corrections records.

He also was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon in Clare County in 2008, according to MDOC records.

Both men remain in the Clare County Jail on $150,000 cash bonds, according to court records.

Troopers from the state police post in Mt. Pleasant launched an investigation into the two in October, following a referral from the state Department of Human Services, Sgt. Del Putnam said.

Warrants were issued for the mens' arrests based on one specific incident but police believe that the blowtorch was the "main act of discipline used" on the boy, who has recovered physically and is currently in protective custody, Putnam said.

It took some time to get much of the medical information for the investigation, Putnam said.

Putnam said the case is "one of the worst" he's seen.

Gerald Hall was arrested Tuesday, and his brother was arrested Wednesday afternoon at his place of work after a warrant was authorized, Putnam said.

URL: http://www.themorningsun.com/articles/2009/04/23/news/doc49f0bb7724728859845298.prt

Man, 84, fights off carjackers with groin kick

April 24, 2009
3:10 pm
TACOMA, Wash. - An 84-year-old man has a black eye, but he still has his car, after fighting off two would-be carjackers. Ted Mazetier said he stopped Wednesday night to help two men with a disabled car when one punched him in the face and demanded his keys. Mazetier said he kicked the man in the groin and the other in the belly. The two men fled as a passer-by stopped to help.

Police later arrested two suspects for investigation of assault.

Mazetier said he'll think twice before stopping again to help someone on the street. He'll be 85 in June.

Video Link to interview with Ted Mazetier

http://www.komonews.com/news/43601852.html

Fake dentist arrested after he removes nine teeth in one sitting
• 23 Apr 2009 •
The Euroweekly News

He admitted to having no qualifications when officers questioned him

Guardia Civil from Nijar have arrested a 27-year-old man from Motril (Granada) accused of practising as a dentist without the proper qualifications. Police officers launched the investigation at the end of March after being alerted to a dentist who had set up practice in San Isidro (Nijar). They were informed that a woman from Campohermoso had been recommended to him by a friend, and on March 29 he paid her a home visit. After one oral examination he extracted nine of her teeth, some of which were expensive implants that were in perfect condition.

After her painful ordeal, the bogus dentist did not provide any evidence of his qualifications, nor did he provide her with an invoice. Instead he made an appointment for the following day to collect the money. As a result of the physical trauma she was subjected to, the woman had to seek medical attention the following day at the casualty unit of the Campohermoso Hospital.

The Guardia Civil investigation led them to locate a converted garage that was being used as a makeshift clinic, and to the fake dentist. An inspection of the premises revealed how he had installed an old barber's chair, and officers found syringes, a drill and even a 50-kilogram bag of plaster. The site lacked all the necessary hygiene and sanitary facilities. During an interview with the bogus dentist, he started displaying signs of nervousness when attempting to answer officers' questions. His apparent nervousness increased even further when officers discovered business cards with his name on, claiming that he was a prosthodontist.

Faced with such a weight of evidence against him, the man admitted to have been practising without qualifications or professional title. He said he had learnt some of the basics from his brother who is a dentist.

Officers remanded him in custody to prevent him from carrying on with his dangerous pretence.

At the time of writing, officers are still waiting for a full statement from the victim, who due to the painful state of her mouth, is unable to speak.

Over 200 pot plants found in car after traffic stop

Posted: April 23, 2009 10:12 AM EDT

Updated: April 23, 2009 06:34 PM EDT

PORT CHARLOTTE, FL. - The Charlotte County Sheriff's Street Crimes Unit made a traffic stop on a driver who ran a stop sign Wednesday night and found 209 marijuana plants in the car.

According to the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, the incident occurred at Birchcrest Blvd. and Gibralter Drive in Port Charlotte.

When deputies approached the driver, 23-year-old Matthew Allen Ward, they observed a large plastic tray in the back seat with the pot plants.

Deputies said they detected the smell of recently burned marijuana coming from inside the car. Ward appeared nervous and was shaking, and then deputies saw a plastic baggie and rolling papers sticking out of his right front pocket in plain view.

Total weight of the marijuana seized was 43.2 grams. Based on the evidence collected, Street Crimes deputies had probable cause to charge Ward with Cultivation of Marijuana, Possession of Marijuana over 20 Grams, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Driving Without a Valid Driver's License. He was transported to the Charlotte County Jail with bond set at $9,000.

NY parents accused taking children on burglary
Wednesday, April 22 07:05 pm

A mother was accused on Wednesday of driving a getaway minivan with her two young children inside after burglaries at two New York City homes.

Prosecutors said Erika Santana, 23, drove the van with her four-year-old and five-month-old children inside after Hugo Lantigua, 22, who is the baby's father, and Pedro Camillo, 19, broke into two houses in the borough of Queens.

Santana, Lantigua and Camillo face charges including burglary, criminal possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of a child, and face up to 25 years in prison.

"It is unthinkable that a mother and father would put their children in harm's way while allegedly committing these crimes. It is even more unimaginable that they would allegedly do so with a loaded handgun in their vehicle," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by David Storey)