Three teenage girls in Palatine, Illinois were charged with armed robbery after allegedly assaulting a younger boy with glass ketchup bottles, according to a bizarre report from the Chicago Sun-Times.

According to sources, the girls will be forced to hire a criminal defense attorney thanks to the testimony of the victim, a 12-year-old boy who told police that the girls assaulted him and stole valuables from his home.

Sources say the victim claimed that the three girls, Vanessa Mejia, 17, Sendi Ocampo, 18, and an unnamed juvenile, came to his home asking for his older sister. The boy said she wasn’t home, and the trio left.

But minutes later, the teenagers returned to the home asking to use the restroom. When the boy allowed the girls to enter the home, they promptly struck him with a glass ketchup battle.

And while the weapon doesn’t sound particularly dangerous, a responding police officer said the boy suffered a “pretty big cut,” and the boy was later treated at a nearby hospital for “multiple” injuries.

And the girls’ legal troubles extend beyond the assault. Sources say, after they hit the boy, they also stole $50 in cash, two cell phones, and several pieces of jewelry from the home.

For their efforts, the girls were charged with home invasion and armed robbery, both felony criminal charges, and police are reportedly looking for a fourth suspect who accompanied the girls to the home.

Interestingly, while Mejia and Ocampo are being treated as adults, their underage accomplice is being treated as a juvenile, which leads to a wide disparity in their potential punishments.

Sources say the two older suspects are being held in a Cook County jail on a $200,000 bond. They are scheduled to appear in court later this week.

But the younger suspect is being held in Chicago’s Juvenile Justice Detention Center, and sources believe that she may be released soon.

The incident serves as a reminder that armed robbery does not require the use of a traditional deadly weapon, like a gun or knife.

If offenders steal something from another person with the aid of a dangerous weapon, like a glass bottle, or through the use of force, they may be eligible to face charges for armed robbery.

And the fact that the victim was a 12-year-old boy certainly gives a judge more ammunition to sentence the girls to longer jail terms, in addition to making the story fodder for national news.

By Mary Ann Pekara

Chaos continues in the Boston area, post-marathon bombings, as last night one of the suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed. The other suspect, his younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarneav, is still on the run.

The violence last night is believed to have begun with a robbery of a 7-Eleven in Cambridge, followed by a shooting on the MIT campus that killed an MIT police officer.

A carjacking occurred in Cambridge, and police discovered the vehicle in Watertown. As Watertown police pursued the vehicle, explosive devices were thrown at them by the suspects.

Gun fire was exchanged between the suspects and the police and it is believed that one of the suspects was hit, taken into custody and later died. A police officer was also hit by the gun fire and is in critical condition.

The second suspect is still at large and will certainly be facing several criminal charges once he is apprehended.

Police have the neighborhood on lock down and are going door to door in search of suspect number two.

By Mary Ann Pekara

Recently there has been an image circulating the internet of coordinates on Google Maps, in the Netherlands, that depict what resembles a bloody body being dragged to the end of a pier.

From the image alone, it is not possible to tell what is actually happening. Some people say it has to be the dumping of a body. Other people say it is a dog or other animal.

It is very possible that the reddish color seen in the image isn’t blood at all and is simply wet wood.

This story makes us wonder what else Google Maps, or Google Earth has seen. Satellite images are being taken all the time, making them bound to see something that someone does not want them to see.

Can Google products serve as evidence to help solve crimes? It is very possible.

In 2008, a 14-year-old’s bike was stolen. Several months later the boy came across an image of himself riding his bike on Google Street View.

Who was behind him in the image? The 2 men who stole the bike from him! Google worked with police to obtain clear images and the thieves ended up in jail (it wasn’t their first robbery).

Google Maps and Google Earth have helped police catch several other criminals in the past few years.

One man used Google Maps to map out his route for disposing of a body after committing a murder. Another man used Google Earth to locate and case a woman’s home before attacking and strangling her.

Just because you don’t see a person, doesn’t mean someone, or something, doesn’t see you. As technology continues to improve, Google will likely play a key role in assisting the authorities in solving crimes.

State and federal police have asked spectators and participants at the Boston Marathon for amateur footage that might offer evidence pointing to the culprit behind Monday’s bombings, according to a CBS News report.

Sources say two bombs, which erupted within seconds of each other, created havoc at the finish line of the venerable marathon this week, killing three people and injuring more than 170.

Photographs of the streets near the scene of the explosion show a sidewalk full of blood and shattered glass. To add to the tragedy, one of the deceased was an 8-year-old boy, whose sister was also seriously injured while waiting for their father to cross the finish line, sources say.

Police, of course, would like to level criminal charges against the responsible party or parties, but no arrests have been made thus far, according to sources.

Nevertheless, Richard DesLauriers, the FBI’s chief agent in Boston, promised reporters that he and his colleagues would “go to the ends of the Earth” to apprehend the people responsible for the violent attack.

According to one law enforcement official, the two bombs that exploded near the finish line had been disguised to look like trash. Sources note that one of the bombs may have been concealed inside a garbage can, while one may have been resting on the sidewalk.

Investigators note that no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has already labeled a “cruel act of terror.” Hagel also said authorities will “have to determine whether it was planned or carried out by a terror group, foreign or domestic.”

President Obama, mindful of the criminal law distinctions between terrorists and non-terrorists, used more measured language in a press conference, but also promised to use every available federal resource for the investigation.

Regardless of the legal significance of the word “terror,” the bombs could only be described as terrifying. Sources say they were full of sharp objects like ball bearings and nails, designed to inflict the most amount of human damage possible.

According to DesLauriers, investigators have already received “voluminous tips,” and have interviewed one Saudi national with burns on his hands who was found fleeing the scene.

This interview, however, did not lead to the labeling of the man as a suspect, and authorities have renewed their request to the public for any amateur photos or videos of the event, according to local sources.