Archive for the 'Crime News' Category

A young Nigerian man was taken into custody for an alleged attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded a plane flying into Detroit, Mich. carrying an explosive device.

According to a CNN article, he was arrested and now faces criminal charges of attempting to destroy the plane and placing a destructive device on the aircraft.

Abdulmutallab had a multi-entry visa into the United States. But the 23-year-old was added to a watch list of 550,000 potential terrorists.

Abdulmutallab’s father - Umar Abdulmutallab – stated he contacted the National Counter-Terrorism Center providing information about his son and shared his concerns of what his son was capable of.

Abdulmatallum’s family further stated that he was studying abroad in London when he disappeared and no longer communicated with them.

His father claimed Abdulmutallab’s new attitude was something the family had never seen before. He further claimed that Farouk was becoming “radicalized” and he felt that his son was planning something.

He also contacted the U.S Embassy in Nigeria to alert them of his son.

A U.S. official stated that the embassy flagged his visa so when he tried to renew it in six months they could investigate his visa renewal.

But he was never stopped or questioned before he boarded the plane.

When Abdulmatallum boarded the flight leaving Nigeria; he went through “regular screening.” He walked through a metal detector and his bag went through an x-ray machine.

He flew into Amsterdam and went through a second screening.

Next Abdulmatallum boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit. There were 290 passengers on board. He injected chemicals into the explosive device that authorities say he had hidden in his underwear.

The bomb device contained an explosive chemical called pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). He had enough of the explosive to blow a huge hole in the side of the plane.

According to a CNN article - passengers heard a popping noise on the plane and then saw his seat go up in flames.
The passengers were able to put out the fire and tackle him before any further issues could arise.

Abdulmutallab was taken to a nearby hospital to treat his injury burns and was released into the custody of a U.S. Marshall - as of now he has been taken to an undisclosed location.

The bomb is said to be from Yemen and according an LA Times article, the Yemen sector of Al Qaeda has claimed to be behind the bomb attempt.

In Covington, La., a dad gagged and tied up his daughter in the passenger seat of his pickup truck and drove down the highway.

Obviously he got caught - which is apparently what the pair was going for, alleging that the whole thing was a stunt - merely a practical joke, according to an Associated Press report.

Tim Williams, 45, bound and gagged his 12-year-old daughter with duct tape and drove down a Louisiana interstate, where other drivers were stunned by the sight and surrounded Williams’ car until a state trooper arrived.

Both Williams and his daughter were arrested, Williams on charges of criminal mischief and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and his daughter was cited for criminal delinquency.

The girl was later released to her uncle, and Williams was released on bond.

The sheriff’s department reportedly did not know whether Williams has a defense lawyer to help with his case.

According to the Akron Beacon Journal, an Ohio man arrested for allegedly robbing a bank actually consumed the evidence while officers were cuffing him.

A “DashCam” video shows the man munching on a piece of paper while the officers are searching his pockets and handcuffing him on the hood of their police cruiser.

John H. Ford, 35, allegedly handed a note to a bank teller in Streetsboro, Ohio that demanded she hand over some cash.

Ford was pulled over and arrested in Twinsburg, Ohio, where officers searched his pockets and threw their findings on the hood of the car. Later, the note was nowhere to be found, and officers reviewed the footage from the “DashCam.”

In the video, officers said they saw Ford lean over to eat something off the hood of the police car. “He grabbed it in his mouth, just like Pacman,” said Twinsburg patrolman Daniel Biada.

Authorities said a .38-caliber pistol was found in Ford’s vehicle. Ford is also a suspect for bank robberies that took place in Stow and Akron, Ohio.

Many fathers and daughters fight over typical issues like going on dates or extending a curfew.

Usually these disagreements between parent and child work themselves out in the end, but that is not true for all families.

According to a CNN article, Faleh Hassan Almaleki handled his situation differently when disagreeing with his daughter. He never approved of his daughter’s new westernized lifestyle. He claimed she abandoned her Iraqi roots while embracing the western culture.

Almaleki allegedly ran down his daughter - Noor Faleh Almaleki - and her boyfriend’s mother - Amal Eden Khalaf in a parking lot in Peoria, Ariz. with his Jeep Laredo.

Both women were walking across the lot when he struck them down with his vehicle.

Almaleki’s daughter suffered severe injuries and was “not responding” while in the hospital. She died shortly after the incident. The prosecutors called this an “honor killing.”

Eden Khalaf was hospitalized with serious injuries but she remained stable.

After the incident occurred, Almaleki drove to Nogales, Mexico where he abandoned the vehicle. He then flew from Mexico City to London, England. British authorities stopped him at the airport and denied him access to the country.

Almaleki was put on plane back to the United States. His plane landed in Georgia and he was then flown back to Arizona.

Almaleki and his family immigrated to the U.S. in the 1990’s. His daughter Noor had married an Iraqi man and moved to Iraq, but she left him and came back to the U.S.

Once Almaleki learned his daughter had left Iraq and her husband, he was very disappointed. But he was more upset to learn she moved back to the U.S. to live with her new boyfriend and his mother.

In an “honor killing,” the family gets together and appoints one member to kill a female relative who shamed the family’s honor in some way, shape or form - according to the Associated Press. This usually occurs when a woman has had an affair while married.

The county prosecutor – Stephanie Low – stated in the court that Almaleki, “by his own admission, this was an intentional act and the reason was that his daughter had brought shame on him and his family.”

Almaleki’s relatives spoke out about the incident and told the media that Amaleki claimed he was upset at his daughter because, “she had become too westernized and was not living according to the family’s traditional Iraqi values.”

Almaleki is currently being held in a county jail on two counts of aggravated assault, but he might face more severe criminal charges.

Popular blogging sites and social networks such as Facebook may now be portals for threats, according to a CNN article.

One man allegedly used social networking sites to threaten witnesses to keep silent after the recent murder of a young football player – Jasper Howard – at the University of Connecticut.

Christopher Mutchler - also a student at the university - wrote blogs online and allegedly made threats in attempt to keep witnesses from coming forward with any information about the murder.

On one site he allegedly posted, “”STOP the snitching and post the names of anyone you know who gave information to the cops.”

Howard and another football player – Brian Parker - were allegedly murdered by a small group of young men after a student dance at the campus. They were involved in an altercation with the men, and both student athletes were stabbed during the incident.

Parker suffered minor injuries during the fight. Howard was stabbed in the abdomen and taken to the hospital in Hartford. He later died as a result of the stab wounds.

Mutchler allegedly posted two threats online, one on the ESPNU sports network blog that posted the story of Howard’s murder. The second posting appeared on Facebook; a social group was started for the football player labeled “RIP Jasper Howard” and over 13,000 people joined to show support for family and friends.

CNN reported that Mutchler was charged with five counts including hindering prosecution, acts of terrorism and a few other misdemeanors. He has been released on a $15,000 bond.

The police stated Mutchler allegedly wrote, “Two separate internet postings that were threatening in nature and appeared to be directed at witnesses that either had or would provide information in conjunction with the investigation.”

The police stated that even though they had reason to believe that the postings were meant stop witnesses from coming forward, they now believe the postings are “empty threats.” Police continue to encourage anyone with information about the murder to come forward, CNN reports.

The men involved in the fight have been identified as 21-year- old John Lomax, 20-year-old Hakim Muhammad, and 21-year-old Jamal Todd. All young men are facing some serious criminal charges.

Lomax has been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit assault; Muhammad faces conspiracy to commit assault; and Todd faces charges of falsely reporting an incident and a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment. Todd pulled the fire alarm, causing the entire student body to leave the dance.

Police have not linked Mutchler with the other men involved at this point. The university is looking into the situation to determine if he violated any codes of conduct, and will then decide on the best action to take.

Jaycee Dugard, the 11-year-old girl who was kidnapped from a bus stop near her home in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. in 1991, is starting to speak out about her 18 years of captivity.

According to a CNN report, the now-29-year-old mother of two says she is glad to be back with her family.

Dugard was kept in a backyard compound at the home of Phillip Garrido and his wife in Antioch, Calif. Garrido is allegedly the father of Dugard’s two daughters, who are now 11 and 15.

The transition from living in captivity to leading a normal life has been a tough one for Dugard and her daughters, according to CNN - but Dugard’s step-grandmother says the family is living a, “surprisingly normal life, considering the circumstances.”

Criminal charges against the Garridos include 29 felony counts connected to the kidnapping and rape of Dugard. She will testify against her captors - and will have to relive the kidnapping and 18 years of her captive life when she shares her story in court, CNN reported.

According to an ABC report, one Chicago police officer has allegedly been making a significant number of fake DUI arrests.

So many complaints have been filed against Officer RIchard Fiorito, that the Chicago Police Department issued an investigation against him, and a lawsuit has been filed. So far, 21 people are part of the lawsuit, claiming they were had by a DUI scheme.

The lawsuit against Fiorito states that he has a pattern of making false arrests, and the committing perjury when he testifies in court, ABC reported. The officer has been making more than 300 DUI arrests per year, and received an award from M.A.D.D. for writing the most DUI tickets in the state of Illinois.

According to the ABC report, the more DUI tickets an officer issues, the more times his appearance is required in court - and the more times an officer appears in court, the higher his salary becomes.

At this time, Officer Fiorito has not been suspended from duty, and is still patrolling Chicago’s streets. Criminal charges are expected to come from the state’s attorney’s office.

When a private jet was stolen from Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho just across the border from Canada last week, United States’ law enforcement had a new lead on a few other burglaries that have recently taken place in the region.

According to a CNN report, a teenager known as the “Barefoot Burglar” is the prime suspect for a series of crimes that have happened in the state of Washington in the past few years.

Colton Harris-Moore was first arrested at age 12 for a burglary, and had been arrested nine times before he was 15 years old. In light of recent events, police in five Washington counties are looking for him.

After he dropped out of high school, police suspect he was preying on Camano Island, a vacation community off the Washington coast, where he burglarized homes wearing no shoes - hence the nickname “Barefoot Burglar.”

In 2007, Harris-Moore was caught and plead guilty to three burglary charges. He was represented by a criminal defense lawyer.

He allegedly left a juvenile halfway house less than one year later - and police on Camano Island started to hear of burglaries that fit the style of the Barefoot Burglar.

The criminal dropped off the radar for a while, until last November when a private airplane was stolen from the San Juan Islands. Harris-Moore again became a suspect, and authorities thought he might be island-hopping and committing these crimes, according to CNN.

After the most recent plane theft in Idaho last week, the plane was found crashed in a clearing in Granite Falls, Wash. Additional reports of petty theft have come to the police - just things like food, blankets and clothing.

As of now, Harris-Moore is considered a fugitive, and has not been taken into custody.

When nude videos of ESPN sports journalist Erin Andrews appeared, concern arose wondering how the video was captured.

According to a Los Angeles Times report, Michael David Barrett, 47, was charged with interstate stalking - following Andrews to hotels in different cities. While that charge may have been deserved, Andrews’ lawyer doesn’t think Barrett is solely to blame for his ability to find the journalist.

How did he know where Andrews was staying? How was he able to book a room right next to her? The Los Angeles Times reported that at a Marriott in Tennessee, the hotel staff honored Barrett’s request to room next to Andrews - begging the question: Just how private and secure are hotel guests, celebrity or not?

The peephole on Andrews’ hotel door had been damaged so a cell phone video camera was able to capture footage inside the room.

Of seven Internet videos posted of Andrews, six of them seem to have been taken at the Marriott in Tennessee. The same person who posted those videos also posted nude videos of other women in hotel rooms, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Barrett is scheduled for a hearing today that will determine if he is to be escorted in federal custody to California to officially face criminal charges for this case.

Tom DeLay, former U.S. House of Representatives majority leader, is a current competitor on the hit television series “Dancing with the Stars,” and according to an Associated Press report, DeLay is also dealing with criminal charges of money laundering and conspiracy.

The charges were originally brought against DeLay four years ago, based on state legislative elections from 2002 - and the case is now waiting to be determined by appeals courts in Texas. The case may never even go to trial, the Associated Press reported.

While the pending charges are somewhat of a nuisance for the former politician, he’s nothing but smiles when it comes to “Dancing with the Stars.”

According to the Associated Press, DeLay has a great time on stage, and even takes time to give extra attention to the judges.

Prosecutors in DeLay’s criminal case have allegedly not paid much attention to the TV show, and have said they don’t see that it would affect the case in any way.