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A lively discussion about justice, self-defense, property rights and the use of lethal force has erupted in Spokane this week in the wake of a fatal Monday morning shooting in which a recidivist car thief was fatally shot by his latest victim as he drove away in the shooter’s Chevy Suburban. The debate is on-going on this morning's Spokane Spokesman-Review's web page below a story that says police may turn over the results of their investigation to prosecutors today. Should car thieves risk getting shot dead? When Washington achieved statehood in November 1889, there were still places in the West...

Oakland Residents Upset Over Lockpicking Workshop OAKLAND, Calif. -- City leaders in Oakland have been getting some angry e-mails lately from some of the people they serve. Mayor Jean Quan is the major target after her newsletter appears to promote a class designed to teach people how to pick a lock. In a city with a crime problem, it's easy to see why they're not happy. The name of the class appears among 40 others in the catalog for the upcoming "Workshop Weekend" in Oakland, right alongside things like "robot building." It's a 3-hour class called "Introduction to Lockpicking" and...

Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was charged in federal court Friday with conspiring to use campaign funds for personal use -- in an alleged $750,000 spending spree that included purchases of a gold-plated Rolex and pricey children's furniture. It had been expected that a plea agreement would be entered into court Friday, but that agreement is apparently still pending. Instead, federal prosecutors charged Jackson Friday with conspiracy. Prosecutors separately charged his wife Sandi with filing false federal tax returns, but according to her attorney she has reached a plea agreement. In a statement, the former Illinois Democratic congressman said he...

A South Florida mom who brought her five young children along for the ride when she staged car crashes to make cash will spend even longer in prison because she put her kids in harm's way, a judge ruled Friday. Ana Ovando, was already looking at a four-year prison term. Instead, she'll spend 6 1/2 years in federal lockup, U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks decided.

Surveillance cameras captured an unusual robbery at a Miramar Liquor store. Earlier this week, the owner of County Line Liquors said a woman stole several bottles of liquor by concealing them in her skirt.

Homeowners in the Foxchase subdivision of Clermont have seen their packages disappear from their doorsteps and front porches as of late, suspecting a teeny thief was behind the pilfering. Tiffany Baggs had two packages go missing so she coordinated with her neighbor across the street, Tim Lebeda, and set up a camera and decoy boxes to bait the bandit. Their suspicions were confirmed when footage showed an 8-year-old girl walking up Baggs' driveway to the porch, looking at the door briefly and running off with the goods, according to a police report.

CLERMONT, Fla. - Authorities say an 8-year-old girl caught on camera stealing a package off the doorstep of her Clermont neighbor's home has prompted an investigation into a string of thefts. When residents on Briar Run Drive noticed the missing packages, Tim Lebede told Local 6 he put a camera in his office window and another neighbor put decoy packages on their front porch to catch the culprit. The video shows a child taking the boxes off the doorstep. Nobody would ever question a little girl walking around the neighborhood with packages in her hand," said Lebede. Jessia Araujo runs...

PUTNAM COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A deadly crash has been reported along Interstate 64 at the Hurricane rest stop. The wreck was reported just after 11 a.m. Thursday. Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards tells WSAZ.com Hurricane Police got into a pursuit with a driver that was allegedly wanted for taking items from a local store. The chase reached 100 MPH in the eastbound lanes before the driver tried to exit the interstate and crashed into a semi parked at the Hurricane rest stop, according to Mayor Edwards. Mayor Edwards says the man was killed in the crash. Emergency crews are on...

Melissa Hines was the first person through the door when home heating help became available Monday morning.Hundreds of people were bundled up behind her in the dark, hoping to get help paying their heating bills.The Macon-Bibb County Economic Opportunity Council accepted applications from the first 250 people in the line, which stretched around St. Paul AME Church at 7 a.m. It’s part of a nationwide energy assistance program.Each person approved for the assistance will receive between $310 and $350, depending on income and family size, said Jimmie Samuel, the council’s executive director.Hines camped out starting at 9 p.m. Saturday night....

A 43-year-old state trooper has been charged with larceny, accused of stealing jewelry and cash from the victim of a fatal crash on Route 15 in Fairfield on Sept. 22. Trooper Aaron Huntsman, an 18-year veteran of the department, has been suspended from the department, according to state police. Police began investigating when the victim’s family determined that jewelry, clothing and cash were missing, state police said. The Connecticut Post is reporting that Huntsman is accused of stealing $3,000 in cash and a gold chain from the victim's body. The family obtained the victim’s clothes from the hospital, but were...

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The woman named “Democrat of The Year” this year by the Jefferson County Democratic Party has been convicted of felony theft by a Jefferson County jury for stealing from a developmentally disabled 71-year-old woman. -excerpt- Nearly as bothersome as the theft itself to Maxwell and other supporters of the victim, is the fact the Jefferson County Democratic Party was made aware of the ongoing criminal investigation and honored Carson anyway.

The citizens of Seattle don't take kindly to crime in their city. Pedestrians in downtown Seattle jumped into action on Friday after an armed thief robbed a jewelry store - with a group of bystanders stopping the suspect and holding the man down in a scary sidewalk melee in front of the Hotel MAX until police could arrive. A hotel doorman was shot in the scuffle but the suspect was arrested and the loot he attempted to run off with was recovered.

The same day she officially became a candidate for House District 58, Tammy Theis was issued a citation on suspicion of shoplifting last week. The Democrat admitted to the Sept. 6 incident, saying she mistakenly placed a handful of items in an empty box she had under her cart and forgot all about them when she went through the checkout line. The Montrose resident said she was distracted at the time, trying to get boxes to help her father move into an assisted living center while doing her normal grocery shopping at the same time.

William Elkins, father of Emily Elkins, at Scott's Food Store in Rock Hill where a donation jar for his daughter with cancer was stolen Tuesday. ROCK HILL [SC] — Just when crime in Rock Hill didn’t seem it could get any worse, a villain drops to ugly depths uncharted in seas of maiming, shooting, stealing. A thief stole $70 from a kid with cancer. A man early Tuesday told a Scott’s Food Store clerk he needed water, got the water from the gracious employee, then stole the jar that had been collecting dollars to help for the treatment of 13-year-old...

One of two nurses' assistants charged in the thefts of wedding bands from ailing, elderly veterans pleaded guilty today in Roanoke Circuit Court to eight felonies. Ashley Michelle Sweeney, 23, of Ferrum admitted that in January she accepted rings taken from four patients at the Virginia Veterans Care Center on Shenandoah Avenue in northwest Roanoke. She also admitted selling them at two pawn shops along Williamson Road. Judge Clifford Weckstein found Sweeney guilty of four counts each of receiving and selling stolen property, offenses that carry a combined maximum penalty of 120 years in prison. She will be sentenced at...

ERWIN, TN — Unicoi County Sheriff Mike Hensley said the outcome of arrest could have been much worse for a Roan Mountain man taken into custody earlier this week after he allegedly picked the wrong group of hikers to attempt to take hostage. Marcus F. Birchfield, 40, 962 Hampton Creek Road, Roan Mountain, was arrested by the Unicoi County Sheriff’s Department and charged with four counts of aggravated kidnapping, impersonating a police officer, going armed, possession of a schedule II drug and possession of drug paraphernalia.

HOUSTON – Police say two suspects got away with a 71-year-old woman’s purse, but they didn’t get away with it for long. According to court documents, just 10 minutes after the theft, the same suspects were stabbed by another victim they were trying to rob. Now, Mitchell Womack and Ronnie Curry are facing aggravated robbery charges. It all started on March 30, 2012, around 7:15 p.m., when police said the suspects approached the 71-year-old victim as she walked to her car after work in the 7400 block of Harwin. The victim said she noticed the men pull up in a...

The dormant 2008 presidential apparatus of John McCain this year transferred nearly $9 million in old donations to an educational charity run by three major political supporters that bears the Arizona senator’s name, filings showed Tuesday. The big-money move stands in contrast to President George W. Bush, who found himself in a nearly identical financial position but gave the millions instead to the Republican National Committee. Party committees are a typical destination for excess political cash, and the money would have dramatically bolstered the RNC’s position as the chief financial resource of the party’s presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney.

A mom forced her daughter to wear a T-shirt detailing her crime.

Who said he hasn't done anything? Obama's impressive list of accomplishments · First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner . · First President to have a social security number from a state he has never lived in. · First President to preside over a cut to the credit-rating of the United States · First President to violate the War Powers Act. . · First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. · First President to defy a Federal Judge's...

A TRANSPORTATION Security Administration (TSA) worker at Miami International Airport in the US has been charged with grand theft after allegedly stealing from passengers' bags and hiding the items in a special constructed pocket added to his uniform jacket. Michael Pujol and his wife, Betsy Pujol Salazar, were released on bond today, the Miami Herald reported, after the pair were arrested yesterday and charged with grand theft and dealing in stolen property.

Fannie Mae Chief Executive Michael J. Williams announced his resignation on Tuesday and said he would leave the company as soon as the mortgage-finance giant's board names a successor. Mr. Williams was promoted to the top job at Fannie nearly two years ago, and became the second person to lead the company in the year following the government's 2008 takeover. His predecessor, Herb Allison, was installed in September 2008 but left the following April to oversee the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

In her first public comment since pleading no contest to misdemeanor shoplifting, Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi apologized today for "unintentionally" taking clothing out of a San Francisco store but shed little light on what sparked the theft. "I accept responsibility and I offer apologies, not excuses," Hayashi said in a written statement. She declined an interview request. Shortly after the Castro Valley Democrat's arrest in October on a felony charge of stealing nearly $2,500 in clothing, Sam Singer, Hayashi's spokesman, said she had been inside a Neiman Marcus store and walked out of the store while talking on her cellular phone....

Mayor calls on Thomas to resignFederal prosecutors on Thursday charged council member Harry Thomas Jr. with stealing more than $350,000 from the District and failing to report income on his tax returns, bringing closure to a drawn-out saga that reached unprecedented heights in the halls of D.C. government. Documents filed in U.S. District Court accuse Mr. Thomas, Ward 5 Democrat, is of intentionally redirecting $353,000 from youth baseball programs to his personal use from April 2007 to at least February 2009 and failing to report additional income on three successive tax returns. The pair of counts were outlined in a...

BUENOS AIRES–Argentina's senate passed a controversial bill Thursday that gives the government control over newsprint, boosting the power of President Cristina Kirchner's administration in its battle against the opposition media. The legislation gives the state control over Papel Prensa SA, the country's leading producer of paper used to produce newspapers.

..for those of us who must let gas attendants pump the gas in stations, watch for this ripoff. When you ask the attendant to pump a certain amount of gas you expect to get what you pay for...the ripoff works like this You ask for $30 regular, and then go about digging out the cash, retuning the radio, taking a sip of the morning coffee The attendant programs the pump for $28, the pump clicks off when programmed amount is reached, you hand the guy the $30 as requested, and drive off...UNLESS YOU CHECK THE PUMP FOR AMOUNT PUMPED you...

At 5:30 AM EDT, Occupy "Security" caught a theif red handed. Showed his face on camera, gave his name out of this Maryland ID'ed criminal, and supposedly used no violence, and escorted him out of the park...

(Reuters) - A New York pastor has been arrested and accused of fraudulently cashing pension checks worth nearly a quarter-million dollars sent to a school teacher who died more than a decade ago, authorities said on Thursday. Rev. Victor Rosa was accused of deceiving New York City's Teacher Retirement System into thinking that teacher Maria Sicardo was still alive and had her checks sent to a building he owns in the Bronx, investigators said. He would cash the checks, which amounted to about $241,000, often at a local bank, investigators said. Investigators said they interviewed bank staff, who recalled Rosa...

Complete title: Judicial Watch Obtains Documents Detailing the Cost to Taxpayers for Michelle Obama’s Family Trip to Africa Charges for the Aircraft and Crew Alone Amount to $424,142 Washington, DC -- October 4, 2011 Judicial Watch, the organization that investigates and fights government corruption, announced today that it has obtained mission expense records and passenger manifests from the United States Air Force related to the June 21-27, 2011, trip taken by First Lady Michelle Obama, her family and her staff to South Africa and Botswana. Judicial Watch obtained the documents pursuant to an August 19, 2011, Freedom of Information Act...

FYI – Yesterday, it was announced that an astounding 1 in 6 Americans are living in poverty. President Obama's response? To demand a tax on donations to soup kitchens and other charities that help people desperately in need. The President's proposal will impact approximately 40% of all the tax deductible contributions, and essentially penalize soup kitchens, hospitals, and churches that provide essential services to those who need them most. It’s no wonder this tax hike has been rejected on both sides of the aisle. Background: US Poverty Rate Swells To Nearly 1 In 6. The ranks of America's poor swelled...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Two people have been charged with burglary after police said they stole property but later returned it because they felt bad. According to arrest records, 24-year-old Eugene Carrier Jr. admitted to police that he unlawfully entered a home on Driftwood Drive and stole property. Police said 21-year-old Katherine Hunt waited outside. Carrier gave the stolen items to Hunt and they drove away together, police said. Hunt said that a few days later, they returned the stolen items to the victim because they felt bad about what they had done, according to arrest records.

LOGAN, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A community is split down the middle after a restaurant worker shot the man who robbed him. It happened last week at the Walmart in Logan. Click here to find out more! Police say David Abbott threatened to cut Jesus Canul's neck and demanded cash. Abbott took his wallet and was leaving when Canul took action. He is accused of shooting and killing Abbott. Canul was back in court Monday for a bond hearing, but the real story took place outside the courtroom. Dozens rallied the streets of Logan in support of Canul. “He is somebody...

Earlier this year, I wrote here about my experience as the victim of a burglary at my Uptown Dallas apartment. I was lucky that Dallas Police Officers Keith Coates and Christopher Hess caught Lamont Leone Lewis (right), 42, a short time after the break-in carrying my laptops and wearing my University of Maryland alumni T-shirt. Most of the thousands of property crime victims in this city don't get that kind of result. So I felt like I needed to say something to Lewis, a convicted felon, when he formally plead guilty to felony burglary and accepted a 15-year prison sentence...

President Obama has a new term for the people he wants to tax more: jet owners. In his news conference today, the president said: “I think it’s only fair to ask an oil company or a corporate jet owner that’s doing so well to give up that tax break….I don’t think that’s real radical.” (Courtesy of JetSuite Air) Asking private-jet owners to give up tax breaks may not be that radical. And it probably would be supported by the vast majority of the nonjet-owning voters. The problem is that most of the people that would be subject to the higher...

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police say there's a woman stealing from purses in the middle of church services all over the Houston area and some people may not even realize they've fallen victim to her. One of the churches hit by the thief is Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in northwest Houston, say police. But it's the video from another church that investigators want you to watch closely. Sheriff's deputies believe she has targeted victims across the city and as far away as Galveston -- and in a place those victim's least expected it. Cynthia Gonzalez, 43, also known as...

Considering the source, we do have to take this news with a gigantic grain of salt, but the National Enquirer (via the Daily Mail) is reporting that scandal-maker John Edwards is really down and out. Sadly, it's not really so hard to believe though. I mean, he'd have to be completely dead inside not to be depressed about the state of his life right now -- even if he did create a good number of his woes. I really want to be mad at the guy. To say he deserves everything he gets. But I just can't. And I hope...

Happier times... The National Enquirer -which first broke the Edwards/Hunter scandal in 2007- is now reporting that those close to the foolhardy egomaniac say he's lost 20lbs... is a "broken spirit" who's drinking heavily... and even entertains suicidal thoughts now that a trip to the Gray Bar Hotel seems possible- if not likely. Of particular concern is John Edward's former staffer Andrew Young, who's actually got an Edwards "sex tape" -for which Rielle Hunter is now suing- and wrote a book (published in February) regarding a cover-up that once had him claiming to be father of Edwards' and Hunter's love...

Last weekend on “ThisWeek” Senator Charles Schumer was cold busted using his Democrat Caucus talking points. He was caught by a reluctant Christiane Amanpour. Thus proving that everything that a Democrat says is, one, false and extremely coordinated and two, a Democrat needs someone or something to demonize. For eight years, it was George W. Bush now it’s the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Mike Pence and Michelle Bachman. Sen. Schumer uses the word extreme as a false adjective when talking about Republicans, according to Schumer as he was told to do this by the Democrat caucus. (see :59sec video)

DARLINGTON - A 21-year-old man and illegal immigrant might be deported, for posing as a teenage high school student for 17 months at Darlington in southwest Wisconsin. Darlington Police said they were tipped off about the situation – and federal immigration agents arrested the man. He claimed to be 16 – five years younger than his actual age – but it’s not like he got in trouble at school. In fact, Principal Doug McArthur tells the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald that the student was well-behaved, had a good attendance record, and was making progress with his studies. Darlington Police Chief Jason King...

ROME, Ga. -- Authorities said a north Georgia man was arrested after police said he stuffed a rotisserie chicken, chicken wings, a mouth guard and two toothbrushes down the front of his pants and walked out of a Walmart without paying for the items. Police said the man left the store through its Garden Center with the items in his pants on Tuesday afternoon.

Nice video of christmas lights on house.

FORTUNE -- A luxury suite at the W Hotel in Dallas is as good a place as any to conquer the world. At least it seemed that way in 2007 when Tobechi Onwuhara got the crew together. They'd meet there often, seven or eight of them. Some had nicknames from the Ian Fleming lexicon: C, Q, and E. Others were called Mookie, Orji, Uche. They would spread out on designer sofas and at the wet bar, open three-ring binders, and fire up laptops with hard-to-trace wireless cards. On a nearby table there'd be prepaid cellphones with area codes taped to...

As the film director Peter Jackson recovers from emergency surgery, it has emerged that he is the victim of a US$190,000 (£120,000) credit card fraud. Sir Peter, a keen collector of military memorabilia, used his American Express card online to buy items from the Michigan Toy Soldier Company, which specialises in historical miniature models and figurines. Richard Berry, owner of the company, is now facing up to 18 months in jail after admitting fraudulently using the director's credit card information to shore up his struggling business, based in Royal Oak, Michigan. Berry's lawyer, David Steingold, told a US court: "He...

Bathtub Troll Makes His Pitch Those among the FreeRepublic readership who, like me, grew up in the 60s or 70s, will likely remember the little toys we used to call “bathtub trolls.” Short and chubby, with homely little mugs, they stood on stubby legs with arms spread wide as though offering an embrace, brightly colored long hair flying wildly in all directions. If you were ever possessed of way too much free time, you might wonder what one of those bathtub trolls would look like fully grown. I just found the answer to that question. Dennis Kucinich. Congressman Kucinich was...

READING, Pa. -- 69 News has learned the local woman who is now drawing national attention for her videotaped fall into a fountain at the Berkshire Mall appeared in court Thursday for a hearing on criminal charges that were filed against her in 2009. Cathy Cruz Marrero, who appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" Thursday morning after granting her first TV interview to 69 News on Wednesday, is charged with five felony counts, including theft by deception and receiving stolen property. She's due back in court April 21. Police said Marrero, who used to work at Zales Jewelers at the...

East Oak Cliff pastor Sandy McGill denies burglarizing congregant's house The Dallas pastor facing felony charges of burglarizing a church member's home on Christmas Eve said Monday she had no criminal intent. Sandy McGriff, 52, said she was trying to protect valuables at the home of her longtime friend Serita Agnew and made a horrible mistake. Police accuse McGriff of stealing more than $10,000 worth of fur coats, designer purses and electronics from a home in the 2200 block of Village Way near Kiest Boulevard and Lancaster Road. She was also charged with resisting arrest. McGriff spent most of Christmas...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- An explosion was reported at a closed gas station in the 1400 block of Dixie Highway. Louisville police said several people reported an explosion at the corner of Dixie Highway and Standard Avenue around 12:15 p.m. Thursday. The explosion damaged a truck. Officials said a man was using a chainsaw between the gas station and another building and the sparks set residual gas fumes on fire. There were no injuries reported. According to Louisville police spokeswoman Carey Klain, Steven Askew, the man with the chainsaw, was there to steal piping. Askew, 48, is charged with first-degree wanton...

SANFORD, Fla. -- A woman walked out of a Subway restaurant to find a man inside her unlocked car, where she left her purse by accident, according to Sanford police. The victim scared the thief away, but not before he grabbed her Bible and ran off, police said. "Well, there's robberies that go on everywhere," a woman said. "As for trying to rob somebody and ending up with a Bible, no, I haven't heard that one before. God works in strange ways ... maybe (the thief) will pick it up and start reading it." Officers used a search helicopter and...

Battle-weary Bay State Democrats are getting squeezed by U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry this Christmas, as the nation’s richest senator puts the arm on cash-strapped party donors to fill his campaign war chest — even though he’s not up for re-election for another four years. “I think people feel very tapped-out,” said Phil Johnston, former Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman, who is helping to organize Kerry’s Dec. 13 gala. Johnston, who said he is seeing steady ticket sales, still expects a full house. “It’s a measure of John Kerry’s strength among Democrats that this event should be hugely successful,” he said....