Free Republic

MAYNARDVILLE — A man who allegedly stole a laptop from Union County High School and tried to cover his tracks with a fire was tracked down and arrested within minutes this weekend. Authorities first were alerted when the fire alarm sounded shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, just as some 170 people — including several law enforcement officers — were attending a National Wild Turkey Federation dinner at the school, . . .

KNOXVILLE — Deputies are searching today for the men who broke into an East Knox County home and dumped a wounded accomplice at a fast-food restaurant. The break-in happened around 12:30 p.m. at a home on Curtis Road, Knox County E-911 records show. The homeowner called E-911. Moments later, someone dumped a wounded man in the parking lot near the drive-thru of the McDonald's on Millertown Pike near Knoxville Center Mall. "He'd been shot in the butt, and they left him," . . .

There are unlucky thieves, and then there is Horatio Toure. According to San Francisco police, the 31-year-old city resident rode a bicycle up to a woman Monday afternoon in the South of Market neighborhood, snatched an iPhone out of her hands, and then pedaled away. Problem was, the woman was carrying the phone as part of a company's demonstration of a real-time GPS tracking program. If the bandit would have taken a peek at the screen, he would have seen himself traveling across a map of San Francisco. Toure was captured a half-mile away about 10 minutes later, at 4:01...

KNOXVILLE - A female clerk this morning gave an armed robber more than he bargained for during the heist of a North Knoxville convenience store. Authorities were alerted at 11:28 a.m. of the robbery at the Bread Box Food Store, 3101 Tazewell Pike, according to Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk. The robber was armed with a knife and demanded cash from the clerk. When the robber reached into the open cash drawer, the clerk slammed the drawer on his hand and then delivered several blows to him with her cell phone, . . .

Memphis police early today were waiting for a suspect to be released from the hospital so they could charge him in a string of events in East Memphis that involved a crash, an attempted break-in, a shooting and smashed windows. At about 3:30 the suspect crashed his vehicle into a pole on the 6500 block of Poplar Pike, then went to the nearby residence of an elderly couple. He started banging on the door, demanding to be let in. When the 83-year-old man inside refused, the suspect kicked in a window. The elderly man fired a shot at the suspect,...

ANTIOCH - A word to burglars: Don't break into a building full of police officers undergoing training. Two men learned the hard way in Antioch and ended up being arrested, police said today. James Ayers, 26, of Bethel Island and Frederick Guilliee, 38, of Antioch broke into a vacant building at 1700 West Fourth St. about 6 p.m. Tuesday in hopes of stealing copper wiring, police said. They had no idea that the Antioch police K-9 unit was due for a training session at the building, which once housed a cardboard-processing plant.

Port Arthur, Texas -- In the middle of Joshua Bush's forehead, two inches above his eyes, lies the evidence that prosecutors say could send the teenager to prison for attempted murder: a 9 mm bullet, lodged just under the skin. Prosecutors say it will prove that Bush, 17, tried to kill the owner of a used-car lot after a robbery in July. And they have obtained a search warrant to extract the slug. But Bush and his lawyer are fighting the removal, in a legal and medical oddity that raises questions about patient privacy and how far the government can...

Pittsburgh -- Police say they caught a serial burglar in the act — a sex act. Officers found Robert Calloway in the basement of an apartment building he had broken into, police said. Authorities said Calloway was having sex with a woman. He was charged with Monday's break-in in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, as well as in three others in recent weeks. The woman, Vera Morris, also was charged. Calloway, 40, matches the description of a man caught on surveillance tape breaking into the basements of other apartment buildings,

It was 11 p.m. when, prosecutors say, Derrell Lawson and his friend, carrying handguns, arrived at the Antioch apartment of the man they intended to rob of a few kilos of marijuana. The two banged on the door and then began kicking it in, awakening resident Steven Bodden, who was asleep on the couch. Bodden grabbed his handgun and fired three times at the door, hitting Lawson's friend, 20-year-old Romell Mostella. Mostella later died of his wounds and now prosecutors are holding Lawson responsible for his death. They have charged him with murder using the "provocative act" theory, a prosecutorial...

The case of the defaced Charlie Brown was not a difficult one to solve, as Santa Rosa police caught the misguided miscreant red-handed. Make that red-faced. What’s more, the culprit — a well-known character that locals say isn’t playing with a full deck — was kind enough to not only autograph his handiwork, but include his date of birth so even the greenest detective would have no doubt who to look for, police said. Just to make sure he got the credit he deserved, the vacuous vandal later confessed his crime, police said. And that is how it came to...

Officers investigating a grocery store burglary in Appleton, Wis., discovered that the suspects had done much of the groundwork for them. The suspects, Michael A. Graves and Steven W. Sleeter, left behind a trail of coins that led police to Sleeter's front porch. According to Appleton Police spokesperson Sgt. Pat DeWall, Graves, 25, and Sleeter, 19, broke into the store after it closed on March 21. They stole nine cartons of cigarettes and about $758 in bills and rolled coins. The duo placed the items in a milk crate, but when they fled, the wrappers fell from the coins, and...

Felon-turned-community activist Perry Redd pleaded guilty today to federal charges he had a gun and crack in his possession earlier this year. Redd was set to stand trial in U.S. District Court today on a three-count indictment but instead entered a plea agreement. Under the agreement, one charge — that Redd was a convicted felon in possession of a gun — was dropped. Redd admitted the other two counts in which he was accused of possessing three grams of crack and a gun in the commission of a drug trafficking crime. "I plead guilty, your honor," Redd told Senior Federal...

A thief broke into an ice cream store early today, knocked over a large container of strawberry syrup, dropped his wallet and apparently slipped in the goo. "It was kind of a give-away," Jackson County Sheriff's Capt. David Luce said this morning. A deputy responding to a 12:24 a.m. alarm at TJ's Dairy Freeze, 516 E. McDevitt Ave., located a wallet inside and found a jug of syrup spilled on the floor. It was unclear if anything was taken. Entry was through a side window. The deputy used an ID in the wallet to track down and arrest a 24-year-old...