Free Republic

BARNEGAT, N.J. – Teachers unions during the past decade have known their share of scandal. Add the case of Wayne Wedderman Jr. to the list. This Monday, June 29, Wedderman, treasurer of the Barnegat Education Association, pleaded guilty in Ocean County, New Jersey Superior Court to theft from the union. He had been arrested last November for stealing roughly a combined $23,000 from two union accounts in the wake of a county probe begun the previous month. A grand jury in February subsequently indicted Wedderman on two counts of thefts and one count of computer theft. Sentencing is scheduled for...

An abortion rights activist stole the signs of a pro-life group and then threw them over the highway overpass where the demonstration was held. Members of Protest ABQ were attacked on Wednesday, July 1, 2015 in Albuquerque, NM while conducting a peaceful overpass demonstration to educate the public about abortion. The group uses posters of the abortion victims to show what abortion does to the unborn child in the womb. “Protest ABQ conducts weekly overpass protests to peacefully expose the violence that abortion inflicts on pre-born children in the womb,” Bud Shaver, Executive Director of Protest ABQ told Life Dynamics....

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says a program that lets the government take raisins away from farmers to help reduce supply and boost market prices is unconstitutional. The justice said Monday that forcing raisin growers to give up part of their annual crop without full payment is an illegal confiscation of private property.

Two men California were sort of shuffling around a supermarket without purchasing anything. One of the men was wearing very baggy pants, and store employees later told police that it was obvious something had been shoved inside his trousers. When the staff confronted him, his pants fell down, revealing ill-gotten hamburgers.

Lorenzo Ayala saved more than $16,000 to buy tractor parts while on a road trip to Montana to visit a woman he met online, but he ended up unwittingly contributing it to the state's first K-9 unit. Ayala forfeited his wad of cash after a state trooper became suspicious that the California farmer's generous amount of cologne, cluttered car and disputed criminal history were signs of drug trafficking. Ayala, of Palo Alto, was never charged with a crime — but Montana kept his money. This year, Montana became the fourth state to overhaul what activists call "policing for profit." Beginning...

Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottboro, Alabama, sells lost stuff Buys bags en masse from travel companies if they can't be returned Discounts 20 to 80 per cent from items spanning dresses to iPads It's a paradise for bargain-hunters - filled to the rafters with electronics, clothes, musical instruments and jewelry, sold with as much as 80 per cent of the value lopped off. Inside, crowds of shoppers pore over the gear - some of it practically brand new - in the hope of giving the best finds a new home. In an earlier life, all the items were checked...

Eau Claire County (WQOW) - A new week brings disheartening news to the taxpayers of Eau Claire County. The former Eau Claire County Treasurer and his assistant have been accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to the criminal complaint, they took more than $625,000 from the county between 2011 and 2013. Larry Lokken and Kay Onarheim have both been charged with 11 counts of felony theft, as well as three counts each of misconduct in the office. They were arrested by the Eau Claire Police Department on Thursday and have been in jail since then. The two...

Anyone who steals an Apple Watch can -- in about 20 seconds -- simply reset it and make it their own. That's because the way Apple designed the Apple Watch makes it surprisingly easy to override your passcode and completely wipe it clean. You can set up a passcode on the Apple Watch. But -- get ready for this -- anyone can just hold down the "Power Off" button, then select and erase all the data on the Watch. By contrast, the iPhone has certain features that make it less desirable for criminals. If you set it up just right,...

A North Carolina store owner is fighting to recover more than $100,000 from the IRS. The feds reportedly seized Lyndon McLellan’s life savings under a banking law designed to stop drug dealers and money laundering. The IRS accused McLellan of structuring – repeatedly depositing money in increments just under $10,000. The IRS had said it would no longer target deposits unless the money was involved in a separate illegal activity. McLellan, who owns L&M Convenience Mart in Fairmont, hasn’t been charged with anything, yet he hasn’t gotten his money back. “It took 13 years to get it and less than...

Embattled Clinton Foundation and Clinton Health Access Initiative its major health-related offshoot received over $7 million from the US government in recent years, according to an analysis of public records conducted by the Washington Free Beacon. The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), chaired by Bill Clinton and run by the former president’s long-time associate Ira Magaziner, has received $6,010,898 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since 2010. CHAI, the biggest arm of the Clinton family’s charitable efforts, accounting for 60 percent of all spending, received $3,193,500 in fiscal years 2010, 2011, and 2012, according to federal contracts,...

Woman steals $10k worth of mini alcohol bottles • An aeroplane cleaner working at JFK Airport has been arrested for allegedly stealing more than 1,400 miniature bottles of booze worth US$10,000. Juanette Cullum, 48, of Brooklyn, allegedly stole the alcohol over a three-year period from American Airlines planes in Terminal 8, reports the New York Post. Police were alerted to the thefts by an airport security guard, and uncovered 1,429 miniatures bottles hidden in a wardrobe at Cullum’s home. On average, the 50ml bottles have an RRP of US$7 each on flights. But while the loot is estimated to worth...

Is Jonathan Gruber — the MIT economist who seemingly dropped out of public view after he was caught on camera bragging about how he and other Obamacare architects misled the American public — now advising the Department of Labor? No evidence indicates that he is, but the authors of DOL’s sweeping new seven-part group of regulations that would sharply curtail choices of assets and investment strategies in 401(k)s, IRAs, and other savings plans appear to share Gruber’s mindset on the “stupidity of the American voter” (a revelation that Rich Lowry aptly described as “an unvarnished look into the progressive mind,...

MIAMI (CNN) - Inside a plane at Miami International Airport, baggage handlers are going on a shopping spree with passengers' bags. What they don't know is that they are being recorded on a hidden camera. The Miami-Dade Police Department set up the camera as part of an ongoing police investigation into luggage thefts by the very airport workers who are supposed to get bags safely onto planes. "It's a problem we all face," said police Lt. Pete Estis. "We will continue to be proactive until we can see that the claims of pilfering through luggage will actually decrease."And these insider...

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- Framing himself as a politician who's unafraid to share "hard truths" with the American people, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is proposing an income cap on Social Security benefits as part of major restructuring plan announced ahead of a likely presidential bid. The Republican is set to deliver a speech Tuesday in New Hampshire outlining his ideas on reforming Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — so-called entitlement programs. As part of the plan, he'll propose phasing out Social Security payments for those making more than $80,000 in other income and eliminating them for those making $200,000...

A New York Police Department detective has been suspended after a Brooklyn deli owner uncovered security camera footage that appears to show the officer pocketing nearly $3,000 in cash during a raid earlier this month, police said.The detective, Ian Cyrus, 49 years old, has been suspended pending an internal affairs investigation into the April 3 incident, NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis said Thursday.“That video combined with an allegation of theft is enough to warrant an investigation,” Mr. Davis said. “It’s good enough to support taking appropriate action at the time. The video is indicative of activity that requires more investigation.”Detective Cyrus...

IRS commissioner John Koskinen laughed at the idea that Congress could abolish the IRS. "The Tea Party types may have wet dreams over the prospect of eliminating the IRS, but it's not going to happen," Koskinen gibed. "Too many congressmen on both sides of the aisle want the funds our agency extracts from taxpayers. One of the big attractions to holding office is the ability to dole out money to favored constituents. Hampering the IRS in any way would put a kink in that pipeline." "The main gripe average people have with our agency is the complexity of the tax...

Man who stole wedding ring off dying woman’s finger at Taco Bell sentenced to 11 years A Wichita man will spend more than 11 years in prison for stealing a wedding ring and other items from a woman who was dying from a brain aneurysm in a Taco Bell drive-through in December 2013. Sedgwick County District Judge Christopher Magana ordered Daquantrius Johnson to serve the 136-month term consecutive to other sentences he received for crimes committed while on felony probation in a 2013 burglary case. The sentences in those cases totaled 111 months, which means Johnson, 21, will be incarcerated...

Riviera Beach man stole a Maserati, police said, and took his friends for a spin before being arrested by Palm Beach Gardens police. According to an arrest report, Byron Desravines, 19, was spotted by officers in a Maserati just after 1 p.m. Thursday on the corner of PGA and RCA boulevards after police got a hit on the car's license plate that it was stolen.

Can law enforcement seize an innocent person's property? If you think the answer is no, just ask David Laase. In May 2006, he received an unexpected phone call at 1 a.m. from his wife. She had been arrested for DUI, later pleaded guilty and paid all court-imposed fines. However, that punishment was not enough under the state's civil forfeiture laws. Isanti County sheriffs seized the $35,000 Chevrolet Tahoe she was driving at the time of the stop and refused to return it to Laase, even though he jointly owned the vehicle and had done nothing wrong. Laase became a victim...

Weeks before other Republicans are expected to announce their presidential candidacies, Ted Cruz has already injected a very nasty little virus into the right-wing primary process: the ridiculous idea that the IRS should be abolished.While some have been quick to conclude this idea indicates Cruz is truly stupid, I don’t think he is. You just have to understand that the real intent of the abolish-the-IRS campaign pledge cannot be publicly stated. As The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell notes, the IRS is a cash-flow-positive agency, generating around $255 in income for every $1 assigned to it in federal funding. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities adds...