Free Republic

As the sheriff of Lincoln County, W.Va., Jerry Bowman is sworn to uphold the law. But the 58-year-old law enforcement veteran stood in a federal courtroom in Charleston on Wednesday and pleaded guilty in a shocking voter fraud case that has stripped him of his job and could send him to prison for a decade. Prosecutors say Bowman and former Lincoln County Clerk Donald Whitten, 62, were part of a scheme to steal the May 2010 Democratic primary by stuffing ballot boxes with illegal absentee ballots. Bowman admitted to falsifying more than 100 of the absentee ballot applications and even...

Three Occupy Oakland Protesters Charged with Hate Crimes (Reuters) - Three Occupy Oakland protesters accused of surrounding and taunting a woman before stealing her wallet were charged on Friday with robbery and hate crimes, authorities said. Michael Davis, 32, Nneka Crawford, 23, and Randolph Wilkins, 24, confronted the woman on the streets of Oakland in February after she told them not to riot in her neighborhood, the Oakland Police said in a written release. "She was surrounded by three protestors and battered as they yelled vulgar epithets regarding their perception of her sexual orientation," Oakland Police spokeswoman Johnna Watson said....

Berkeley victim's call for help went unheeded Thirteen critical minutes elapsed between the time a Berkeley hills homeowner called police about a trespasser and an attack by the intruder that left the man beaten to death, sources close to the investigation said Tuesday. Berkeley police have acknowledged they were keeping officers on standby for a lightly attended Occupy Oakland march, meaning no officer was dispatched when Peter Cukor, 67, first called at about 8:45 p.m. Saturday on a nonemergency line to report a suspicious person "hanging around" his property near Tilden Park. After phoning police, Cukor walked 160 feet from...

Father held for killing infant BEHRAMPORE: A man allegedly hurled his one-and-half- month-old daughter at Mangaljone Mathpara in Raghunathgunj on Sunday night. Manoyara Khatun's forehead was badly injured and she died of heavy bleeding. As the news spread, the villagers informed the police. Majibar Rahman was had been upset with his wife for having giving birth to a girl. Kohinoor Bibi, the baby's grandmother said, "When he came yesterday with some medicines and baby food, we forgave him. How could we suspect that he would kill his own child? Such cruelty is unacceptable to us and even to Allah! Allah...

Man arrested for 3rd suspected DUI in 1 week IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. -- An Imperial Beach man was arrested for suspected drunken driving three times in five days, deputies said Sunday. Sheriff's deputies were called to a report of a drunken driver on Seacoast Drive in Imperial Beach about 6:30 a.m. Sunday. When they arrived they found the driver, David Lakarnafeaux, 44, had walked inside a bar on Palm Avenue and Seacoast Drive, Sgt. Ted Greenwald said. When deputies arrested him, they discovered that Lakarnafeaux had already been arrested for the same charge twice last week: on Tuesday by San...

Afghan girl's 'horrifying abuse' exposed by video A video given to the BBC shows the extent of the injuries suffered by a 15 year-old Afghan child bride who was locked up and tortured by her husband. The girl was left starving after being detained by him and his family for several months. The case came to light this week when police rescued the teenager, Sahar Gul, who had been locked up in the basement of her in-laws' house. Police say that she had had her nails and clumps of hair pulled out. In addition they say she had chunks of...

Mother Arrested For Tattooing Baby So I’ve seen parents tattoo there child’s name on them that’s a common thing. I have also even seen portraits of their kids face, or even the baby’s footprint tatted on them. But this one definitely caught my attention to the point I had to ask myself ‘Is this chic serious’? A women from Albany, New York – A local New York State resident, Franny Trokerns was arrested early this morning after being turned in by her babysitter. After the babysitter noticed the child was constantly screaming as if the baby was pain she took...

QUITMAN, GA (WALB) - 12 former Brooks County officials were indicted for voter fraud. The suspects are accused of illegally helping people vote by absentee ballot. State officials launched an investigation after an unusually high number of absentee ballots were cast in the July 2010 primary election. "As a result of their grand jury findings 12 individuals were indicted in that particular matter and we will be trying that case in a court of judicial law instead of a court of public opinion so that will be pending this next year," said District Attorney Joe Mulholland

Man throws aluminum water bottle at UC Berkeley student’s face A man threw an aluminum water bottle at a UC Berkeley student Thursday evening on campus, causing minor injuries to the victim’s face. At about 5:09 p.m., the female student was approached by a man at “the northeast exterior of the Haas Pavilion,” according to a UCPD crime alert. The man asked the student if she was going to the protest on Sproul Plaza, and when the victim answered “no,” the suspect yelled at her. “People like you are the reason that California is in debt,” he said, according to...

The Planned Parenthood abortion clinic of Overland Park, KS, is currently on trial for 107 counts of falsifying abortion records and committing illegal late-term abortions, 23 of which are felonies. The charges were brought by former Attorney General Phill Kline in October 2007 following an investigation he launched in 2003.Today came the bombshell news that the administration of former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, now the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, destroyed critical evidence in 2005. The evidence was needed to compare records Kline acquired with records Planned Parenthood later submitted.From the Kansas City Star: Key evidence...

A state lawmaker who was a central figure this year in the drama over whether Maryland would approve same-sex marriage was charged Friday with stealing campaign funds to pay for her wedding. Charges brought by the Office of the Maryland State Prosecutor allege that Del. Tiffany T. Alston (D-Prince George’s) spent thousands of dollars of campaign contributions to pay for wedding expenses and for the salary of an employee in her law firm. In several instances, Alston wrote herself checks from the account of “Friends of Tiffany Alston” and then cashed the checks for personal use, according to the prosecutor’s...

Tombstone mystery in drug case San Bernardino County Sheriff's investigators are left with a mystery following the discovery of 24 cemetery headstones in the backyard of a Loma Linda home they were searching for evidence in a drug case Tuesday. One of the headstones was tentatively traced to Montecito Memorial Park in Colton, sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said. But a spokeswoman for the cemetery's parent company said workmen found a headstone in place on the grave in question. Lisa Marshall, spokeswoman for Service Corporation International, said no markers were reported missing and that the company is cooperating with investigators. Deputies...

PITTSBURGH (AP) An Allegheny County Democratic Committeeman has been jailed on charges he stalked, harassed and threatened a Pittsburgh tavern owner with a two-by-four. The owner of Alchemy 'N Ale in Pittsburgh tells city police that 71-year-old Byron Tielsch threatened him at the bar on Saturday. A police spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for more information. --snip-- KDKA-TV reports (http://cbsloc.al/puh6ub ) that Tielsch is the father of Steven Tielsch who was convicted of murdering a rabbinical student because he was wearing traditional Orthodox Jewish garb while walking in a Pittsburgh neighborhood in 1986.

JOHNSTOWN, PA — A candidate for Adams Township supervisor, 24-year-old Dustin Siplivy of Dunlo, is facing a felony rape charge in Cambria County court. Contacted Thursday, Siplivy would not discuss the details of the charges, referring all inquiries to Altoona attorney Thomas M. Dickey. Court papers show that Johnstown police arrested Siplivy in February 2010 on charges of rape, indecent assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated assault. All of the charges included the notation that the victim was unconscious. Siplivy spent more than three days in Cambria County Prison before posting $1,000 surety on his $10,000 bond, court documents...

In Tunica, Mississippi, ten guilty verdicts of voter fraud were returned yesterday against NAACP officer Lessadolla Sowers. She was sentenced to five years for each count without the possibility of parole and will serve the terms concurrently. Sowers manipulated the absentee ballot process in the 2007 election. Absentee ballots in Mississippi are notoriously subject to voter fraud. The District Court opinion in United States v. Ike Brown provides another outrageous example of systemic voter fraud in the casting of absentee ballots in Mississippi. Brown was also a NAACP and Democratic party official. The Tunica Times (subscription required) is the...

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- The mayor of one of New York City's largest suburbs resigned Friday, two months after his conviction on domestic violence charges brought by his wife. White Plains Mayor Adam Bradley, who is appealing, said he realized he needs more time to spend on personal matters than a mayor can afford.

After being brought into a Rensselaer County courtroom in handcuffs, Councilman Michael LoPorto and Democratic Election Commissioner Edward McDonough pleaded not guilty Friday to a combined 116 felony counts alleging they falsified dozens of absentee votes. The men were released on their own recognizance after being arraigned on an indictment handed up Friday morning. It charges McDonough, 47, with 38 counts of second-degree forgery and 36 counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument; LoPorto, 58, faces 13 second-degree forgery counts and 29 counts of second-degree possession of a forged instrument. The Democrats had been the targets of a grand...

While attending an event billed as "open to the public", conservative blogger Adam Sharp was harassed, roughed up and forcibly removed. His "crime"? Someone at the Washington University at St. Louis thought Sharp worked for Fox News, and didn't like the questions he was asking Van Jones - the main speaker at the event. Gateway Pundit reported that "several university officials harassed the citizen journalists at the event. One university thug even roughed up Sharp and grabbed for his camera." Van Jones was recently ousted from his White House position as the so-called "green jobs czar" after his admitted communism...

(Reuters) - The United States has dropped out of the "top 20" in a global league table of least corrupt nations, tarnished by financial scandals and the influence of money in politics, Transparency International said on Tuesday. Somalia was judged the most corrupt country, followed by Myanmar and Afghanistan at joint second-worst and then by Iraq, in the Berlin-based watchdog TI's annual corruption perceptions index (CPI). The United States fell to 22nd from 19th last year, with its CPI score dropping to 7.1 from 7.5 in the 178-nation index, which is based on independent surveys on corruption. This was the...

SAN GABRIEL -- The mayor of San Gabriel was arrested early Friday morning on charges of felony robbery and assault charges after he allegedly grabbed a woman's purse and sped away with her clinging to the side of his SUV. Albert Y.M. Huang, 35, was taken into custody around 1:15 a.m. after police received a call about a heated argument between Huang and a 33 year old woman over money, according to Sgt. Jeff Whitney of the San Gabriel police department. Detectives say Huang and the woman were arguing over money outside a restaurant in the 300 block of West...