Coffee taster's tongue insured for $14M

"In my profession, my taste buds and sensory skills are crucial," Pelliccia said. "My 18 years of experience enable me to distinguish between thousands of flavors. My taste buds also allow me to distinguish any defects, which enables me to protect and guarantee Costa's unique Mocha Italia blend."

While competitor Starbucks has been forced to close hundreds of locations around the world, Costa officials said their company has thus far evaded any recession-powered downturn and reported positive sales growth this year.

A spokesman for Glencairn, the Lloyd's broker handling the policy, said Pelliccia's insurance trumps the $4.8 million policy taken out for singer Bruce Springsteen's voice.

"The taste buds of a 'master of coffee' are as important as the vocal chords of a singer or the legs of a top model, and this is one of the biggest single insurance policies taken out for one person. It shows how valuable Gennaro's tongue is to the Costa brand," the spokesman said.

WOODBINE, Ga. -- Police say a south Georgia inmate was arrested this morning as he tried to sneak back into jail with 14 packs of stolen cigarettes.

Camden County Sheriff Tommy Gregory said Harry Jackson, 25, was spotted and arrested as deputies investigated a 1:55 a.m. breakout and the burglary of a nearby convenience store.

Mr. Jackson was in jail on a variety of drug charges.

“We thought we had two separate incidents. By the time we locate this guy, he’s one and the same,’’ the sheriff said.

Jail personnel suspected someone had broken out when a detention officer routinely checking doors found one to be unlocked that had been secure a few minutes earlier. As officers tried to determine who was missing, patrol deputies responded to an alarm at the Snappy Foods store about a block away, the sheriff said.

Meanwhile back at the jail, a deputy saw the shadow of a man trying to stealthily get into the jail. The man was arrested and found to be an inmate carrying about 14 packs of cigarettes, Sheriff Gregory said.

“When I took office Jan. 1, there were rumors that inmates were using wire off brooms to pop these electronic locks,’’ the sheriff said. “It turned out to be true.’’

The inmates were suspected of leaving through a recreation room door and getting out into the exercise yard where they could pick up contraband tossed over the fence, Sheriff Gregory said.

In fact, the sheriff said he suspects that played a role in the breakout.

The inmate was to have gone into the exercise yard and picked up cigarettes which are no longer allowed inside the jail, but found none. Having been told by other inmates to not come back without cigarettes, he climbed the fence and made his way to Snappy Foods.

There he broke a window, got into the store and took the cigarettes. As he tried to get back with the cigarettes, he was caught.

Jail cameras showed other inmates acting suspiciously and investigators are interviewing other inmates to determine if others were involved in a conspiracy, Sheriff Gregory said.

Attorney: Mom recalled to Army duty is discharged

Lisa Pagan is shown at her home in Davidson, N.C., Friday, Feb. 27, 2009.

Fri Mar 6, 8:03 PM EST

A North Carolina mother who reported for Army duty with her two young children said Friday she is happy and relieved that the military granted her an honorable discharge.

Lisa Pagan was back home in Davidson on Friday after spending a week at Fort Benning, waiting to learn if she would be put on active duty, possibly facing a tour in Iraq or Afghanistan.

In her first interview since leaving Fort Benning, Pagan said it was "nice to be home."

"After I was told I could leave, my first thought was: God finally answered my prayers. I've been going to church every weekend and saying my prayers. I'm just going to let this set in. I know what I did was controversial, but it was something I had to do," she said.

Pagan had been fighting the Army since she was recalled to active duty in November 2007, saying she had no one to care for her children.

A former truck driver in the Army, Pagan was recalled four years after being released from active duty, which is allowed under the military's "individual ready reserve" program.

Attorney Mark Waple said Pagan was discharged due to family hardship. An Army spokesman at Fort Benning confirmed Pagan was discharged Friday, but declined to say what kind of discharge she received or comment on why the Army let her go.

Soldiers can appeal, and nearly a third have won permission to remain in civilian life. Pagan filed several appeals, arguing that because her husband travels for business, no one else can take care of her kids. Her appeals were rejected.

So she reported for duty Monday at Fort Benning, Ga., with her children, 4-year-old Elizabeth and 3-year-old Eric.

Her children spent the week in an Army day care center, while she was processed for active duty — filling out paperwork and undergoing medical tests. But from the time she arrived, she said she believed she would be discharged.

"My commander was very supportive," she said.

Waple agreed, saying the commanders at Fort Benning were "a breath of fresh air."

"When Lisa and her husband made the decision she would comply with her orders to go and report to Fort Benning, the jurisdiction in her case changed from the reserve command in St. Louis to the command at Fort Benning. And evidently, they took a closer look at the situation and made the right decision," he said.

Pagan is among thousands of former service members recalled after leaving duty since the Sept. 11 attacks because they're on "individual ready reserve" status, meaning they have time left on their original enlistment contracts and can be recalled at any time.

Master Sgt. Keith O'Donnell, an Army spokesman in St. Louis, has said that of the 25,000 individual ready reserve troops recalled since September 2001, more than 7,500 have been granted deferments or exemptions.

About 1,000 have failed to report, and most of those cases are still under investigation, he said. Another 360 soldiers have been separated from the Army either through "other than honorable" discharges or general discharges.

Pagan, who held the rank of specialist, said she was worried about receiving a dishonorable discharge.

On the roughly six-hour drive home, she said she so happy she called her husband, who was on a business trip in Ohio, to share the good news.

"He was excited," she said. "Now we can focus on other things. The whole thing has been stressful. I'm just glad it's over," she said.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Bookkeeper accused of embezzling $10 million

1:43 p.m. March 7, 2009

Idaho Statesman

March 6, 2009

HAYDEN, Idaho — A utility has reimbursed a northern Idaho couple nearly $2,000 after sending them someone else's gas bill for more than three years. Avista Corp. spokeswoman Debbie Simock said the company has also offered an apology to Don and Penny Fisher. "It was ridiculous," Don Fisher told the Coeur d'Alene Press. "Even in the hot months it was riding up and we were paying for it."

The Fishers said they built fires and bundled up but continued to get big gas bills for three years and three months. They said their inquiries to Avista didn't get results.

"Argue, argue, argue," the couple said.

They said they reported a fake gas leak in January to get a visit from a company representative, who discovered that meter readings in the subdivision had been crossed.

The Fishers said they had to skimp on three Christmases due to their nearly $500 in winter gas and electric bills.

"It was ridiculous," Don Fisher said. "We could not be using that much gas."

"We're very sorry that this happened," said Simock. "We're taking a look at our internal process to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Simock said the company didn't have a report of a gas leak at the home, but instead sent someone to check on problems with the meter after getting details of the problem.

The Fishers said one of their bills was for $238, while the neighbor who was paying their bill was charged $28.

"Everyone was wondering how they kept their house so warm," Don said. "And even they didn't know."

Simock said that under Idaho Public Utilities Commission rules, Avista could bill the second customer for the last six months for energy used but not charged for.

But she said the company is not going to bill that customer.

"Because the error was our fault, we are not going to rebill the customer for six months," she said.

Spokane, Wash.-based Avista serves 121,000 electric and more than 93,000 natural gas customers in Idaho.

In this photo released by Spanish Police, shows a 66-year-old Chilean man who tried to smuggle drugs into Barcelona airport with a cast made of cocaine is seen after his arrest in Barcelona Spain on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Spanish

MADRID - Spanish police have arrested a 66-year-old Chilean who tried to smuggle drugs into Barcelona with a cast made of cocaine fitted on a truly broken leg, an official said Friday.

The man also had cocaine hidden in six beer cans that had been emptied, packed with drugs and resealed, and inside the legs of two small folding stools, police said. Altogether, he was carrying about 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of the drug, police said.

The man was arrested Wednesday at Barcelona's El Prat airport after arriving from Santiago, Chile.

His left shin was broken, and investigators do not rule out the possibility that the injury was inflicted intentionally so he could smuggle with the cocaine cast.

Spain is a major European gateway for cocaine from Latin America and airport officials pay especially close attention to passengers on flights from Peru, Colombia and Chile, police spokesman Jose Antonio Nin said.

Nin said he knew of cases in which smugglers had concealed cocaine underneath casts but this was the first time officials had seen a cast made entirely of compressed cocaine. It weighed about a kilogram (2.2 pounds), he said.

Police detected the drug by spraying the cast with a chemical that turns bright blue when it comes in contact with cocaine, Nin said. The man was taken to a hospital after the cast was removed.

FAIRFIELD -- A sticky-fingered Stratford man has been charged with stealing hundreds of packs of a particular chewing gum from area stores.

Kenneth McManus, 21, of Kings Row, surrendered to police after being told there was a warrant for his arrest on a charge of fourth-degree larceny.

He is already charged with two counts of sixth-degree larceny for similar thefts in Bridgeport and Stratford.

He is free after posting $100 bond.

McManus appears to have a craving for Orbit gum, which he has allegedly stolen in each instance, police said.

In a Jan. 22 incident, McManus is accused of stealing 175 packs of gum valued at more than $500 from the Shaw's supermarket on Black Rock Turnpike here.

Police said McManus was recorded on the supermarket's surveillance camera stuffing the individual packs of gum into his coat pockets and then leaving the store.

Three days earlier, he was charged with stealing $200 worth of gum from the Shaw's in Stratford.

That was 12 days after he was arrested for stealing $75 worth of gum from the CVS store on Boston Avenue in Bridgeport.

Shawnett Backus

New Castle County police

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fausel said she called the Sheriff’s Office.

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

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

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

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

A woman bit off her boyfriend's tongue after asking him for a french kiss, a court heard.