Americans for Political Change

Street gangs had become so intimidating in Springfield that citizens stopped calling the police on them. And no wonder: gangs were so strong that motorcycle-riding members once cruised a neighborhood with military-style assault rifles strapped to their backs in a show of force. But crime in the gang-infested areas of the Massachusetts city has begun to drop after law enforcement started using a military-style approach of its own. As Lesley Stahl reports, counterinsurgency methods used in overseas conflicts are being employed in Springfield to take the streets back from the gangs. Stahl’s report will be broadcast on 60 Minutes, Sunday,

via Counterinsurgency methods used to fight gang crime – CBS News.

The innocent person that was arrested then let go reminds me of the anthrax attacks. Let’s hope it doesn’t end up the same way:

Federal officials have dismissed charges against Paul Kevin Curtis, a Mississippi-based Elvis impersonator originally charged in connection with mailing ricin to lawmakers, because an “ongoing investigation has revealed new information,” a federal official said in a court filing late Tuesday.

Curtis was released from jail earlier Tuesday. His attorney scheduled a press conference for Tuesday evening.

FBI agents were searching the home of another Mississippi man, Everett Dutschke, on Tuesday afternoon. Curtis’ lawyer said a grand jury had indicted Dutschke.

Is he to blame:

A former Republican candidate for Mississippi’s House of Representatives named J. Everett Dutschke expressed disbelief and dismay Tuesday shortly after a man he was accused of framing for mailing letters that tested positive for the poison ricin to President Barack Obama and other officials was released from jail. Dutschke has not been charged in the ricin case and has denied any involvement.

The FBI originally focused on Paul Kevin Curtis, a Mississippi Elvis impersonator, due to his initials and similar language to his many online writings that appeared in the poisoned letters. Curtis was released from jail on bond Tuesday and his attorneys have a joint press conference with federal officials scheduled for 5 p.m. Central time.

On Monday, Curtis’ lawyer, Christi McCoy, said she believed Dutschke could have been responsible for mailing the letters noting he had argued with Curtis over email.

Dutschke denied any involvement in the ricin case in an interview with a local newspaper, though he admitted he spoke with FBI agents on Thursday and allowed them to search his home. TPM spoke with Dutschke Tuesday shortly after the news of Curtis’ release.

…

Along with President Obama, ricin-tainted letters were sent to a local judge named Sadie Holland and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS). Judge Holland is the mother of the man who defeated Dutschke in his 2007 campaign.

A Myspace account linked to Dutschke shows his campaign posters and photos of him with other politicians including former President George W. Bush, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), who received one of the ricin-tainted letters. Dutschke also posted political statements on a YouTube account where he used the same internet alias that appears in his email address. He was also the frontman of a “loop oriented rock” band called Dusty and the Robodrum.

In a story with echoes of a young woman’s rape aboard a New Delhi bus in India, police in Brazil said Monday that an American woman was gang-raped and beaten aboard a minibus in Rio de Janeiro and her French male companion was beaten with a metal bar and made to watch. Then the attackers forced the pair to take out money from an ATM so they could rob them, police said. The 21-year-old woman was in Brazil on a student visa. Three suspects have been arrested in the case.

via American Student Gang-Raped on Brazil Minibus — Daily Intelligencer.

Credit-card fraud can strike anyone, anywhere. Ask Chief Justice John Roberts.

Roberts usually uses a credit card to buy his morning coffee at his local Starbucks in suburban Maryland.

But on Tuesday, when he needed to be extra sharp for the arguments that day over California’s ban of same-sex marriage, he had to pay in cash.

Seems someone had gotten his credit-card numbers, he told the cashier, and he was obliged to cancel the card.

via Chief Justice hit by credit-card fraud – In the Loop – The Washington Post.

Why would this animal have custody of children. Not to mention, why was he out on the streets:

A Tennessee man who is a registered sex offender and his girlfriend were accused of aggravated child abuse and neglect against their three children, including charges they disciplined their 5-year-old daughter by stuffing her in an unlit oven.

WBIR-TV reported on Saturday that 34-year-old Lavelldo Washington and 23-year-old Corneisha Wilkerson were indicted by a grand jury. Washington has at least 29 arrests on his criminal record. According to state records, Washington was registered as a sex offender in 2005 after being found guilty of sex acts to a minor.

The child and her two siblings, a 1-year-old boy and a 2-month-old girl, were taken into protective custody by authorities.

An elderly Delaware woman who was discovered wandering around a cemetery had been dumped there after teenagers abducted her and drove her around in the trunk of her car for two days, police said.

via Police: Teen carjackers lock woman, 89, in trunk for two days – U.S. News.

Source

Lawyers acting for George Zimmerman, who shot dead the unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin on a Florida housing estate, have abandoned their attempt to have his murder charge thrown out on the grounds of self-defence.

Neighbourhood watch leader Zimmerman, 29, had been expected to claim immunity from prosecution at a hearing in April under the state’s stand-your-ground law, which allows for the use of deadly force when a person feels their life is in danger.

via Zimmerman drops ‘stand your ground’ defense in Trayvon Martin murder case | The Raw Story.

A fourth teenage girl has been sentenced to prison in the videotaped beating of a mentally disabled woman as she sat on her stoop in a city outside Philadelphia.

Investigators say the six teens punched and kicked the 48-year-old Chester woman and hit her with a shoe and a chair in September, apparently for fun. One recorded the beating, which was posted online.

The Delaware County Daily Times reports ( http://bit.ly/Y69KXP ) 16-year-old Janyea Bell pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and conspiracy to recklessly endanger another person. She’s sentenced to 6 to 23 months in prison.

via 4th Philly-Area Teen Sentenced in Woman’s Beating – ABC News.

More than $105,000 in reward money is sitting, waiting to be handed out to the person who helps bring those who allegedly abducted and raped a 5-year-old Cobbs Creek, Pa., girl to justice.

After enduring what investigators called an “unspeakable experience,” the girl assisted police in their investigation. She met with experts who worked to recover her memories, was questioned by detectives and even took three walks through the neighborhood where she was allegedly held.

A day after the last neighborhood visit, police executed a search warrant at a home along the 6200 block of Walton Avenue. The next day, they questioned four people living in that home — eventually charging 19-year-old Christina Regusters with the crime a week later.

via 5-year-old sexual assault victim may get $105,000 in reward money – U.S. News.

Thousands of paroled child molesters, rapists and other high-risk sex offenders in California are removing or disarming their court-ordered GPS tracking devices — and some have been charged with new crimes including sexual battery, kidnapping and attempted manslaughter.

The offenders have discovered that they can disable the monitors, often with little risk of serving time for it, a Times investigation has found. The jails are too full to hold them.

“It’s a huge problem,” said Fresno parole agent Matt Hill. “If the public knew, they’d be shocked.”

via Paroled sex offenders disarming tracking devices – latimes.com.

The U.S. federal prison population has increased almost 790 percent since 1980 from about 25,000 inmates to 219,000 in 2012, according to a new Congressional Research report. Federal prisons make up the largest component of a U.S. prison system that dwarfs all others in the world. The agency tasked with providing policy analysis to Congress attributes the spike to a host of tough-on-crime reforms that include draconian mandatory minimum sentences, the elimination of parole for any federal crime committed after 1987, and increasing enforcement by federal officials…

via Federal Prison Population Spiked 790 Percent Since 1980 | ThinkProgress.

A computer virus attacked a turbine control system at a U.S. power company last fall when a technician unknowingly inserted an infected USB computer drive into the network, keeping a plant off line for three weeks, according to a report posted on a U.S. government website.

The Department of Homeland Security report did not identify the plant but said criminal software, which is used to conduct financial crimes such as identity theft, was behind the incident.

It was introduced by an employee of a third-party contractor that does business with the utility, according to the agency.

via UPDATE 1-Malicious virus shuttered U.S. power plant -DHS | Reuters.

Not only does Scarborough decry the need for assault weapons in our society. But he also blasted the violent culture that “desensitizes” our young. He also called for greater access to mental health access. It isn’t just one cause for what happened last Friday:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Attorneys for former neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman will argue for the right to subpoena the social media accounts and school records of Trayvon Martin and also ask for more time to interview state witnesses in the high-profile murder case.

Judge Debra S. Nelson will hear arguments on the several new pretrial motions Friday. It’s two days after she set a tentative June start date for Zimmerman’s trial in the February fatal shooting death of the unarmed 17-year-old.

Zimmerman’s lawyers want Trayvon Martin’s history of suspensions, his grades, attendance record and other information, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Martin’s parents called the effort an attempt to further victimize their son.

CBS affiliate WKMG reports Martin’s parents say if their son’s information is released, Zimmerman’s confidential medical records should also be made public.

Facebook is also against the release of Martin’s posts, citing privacy rights, WKMG reports.

The 29-year-old Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and is claiming self-defense.

Attorneys for more than a dozen media organizations will also be on hand at the hearing to fight efforts by the prosecutor to seal defense subpoenas and other case records.

via George Zimmerman lawyers seek Trayvon Martin’s school records, social media accounts – Crimesider – CBS News.

A teenager is recovering after

police say he shot himself in the penis and testicle while cleaning a gun he just bought.

It happened Thursday morning at a home on the 200 block of Verada Street in Port St. Lucie.

Police say 18-year-old Michael Smeriglio first lied to police saying someone shot him while he was walking down the street. After being questioned by police he admitted to accidentally doing it himself.

Doctors say the bullet went through his penis, his left testicle and then lodged itself in his thigh.

Smeriglio told police he bought the gun last month at a party.

via Police: Michael Smeriglio accidentally shoots off his penis and testicle; friend arrested on drug charge | wtsp.com.

An estimated 71 million people in the United States became cybercrime victims last year. According to the report, 1.5 million people are impacted every day across the world — close to 18 people per second. The highest numbers of cybercrime victims were found in Russia (92 percent), China (84 percent) and South Africa (80 percent).

Globally, each victim accounted for an average of $197 in financial loss. In the United States, this increased to $290.

According to the report, an estimated 556 million adults across the world have first-hand experience of cybercrime — more than the entire population of the European Union. This equates to nearly half of all adults online (46 percent), a slight rise from the 2011 figure of 45 percent.

There has been an increase in cybercrime which takes advantage of social networks and mobile technology. 21 percent have fallen prey to social or mobile crime. Specifically within social networking, the report found that 15 percent of users have had their account infiltrated, and 1 in 10 have been victims of fake links or scams.

via Norton: Cybercrime cost $110 billion last year | ZDNet.

Has it come to this? Yes it has, according to Joan McKenna, whose son Tim McKenna, 19, was shot while delivering pizza in Detroit.

In the wake of the shooting, a Jets Pizza franchise in Dearborn ruled it will no longer deliver to Detroit after dark. Before the shooting, they sent two drivers to every nighttime Detroit delivery, one of whom was armed, Joan McKenna said.

via Pizza Franchise Creates ‘Not After Dark’ Delivery Rule In Detroit After Driver Shot « CBS Detroit.

Source:

A fugitive doctor charged in the nation’s largest prosecution of Internet pharmacies is getting off in part because there’s just too much evidence in his case.

Armando Angulo was indicted in 2007 in a multimillion-dollar scheme that involved selling prescription drugs to patients who were never examined or even interviewed by a physician.

But a federal judge in Iowa dismissed the charge last week at the request of prosecutors, who want to throw out more than 400,000 documents and two terabytes of electronic data that they say is expensive to maintain.

Angulo fled to his native Panama in 2004. Panamanian authorities say they do not extradite their own citizens. Given the unlikelihood of capturing Angulo and the inconvenience of maintaining the evidence, prosecutors gave up on the long pursuit.