NEWSER REPORTS that to the sporting goods store, Jeeves! That may have been the directive a Minnesota woman gave Monday to the limo driver she reportedly hired to take her to a Rochester mall, where police say she then boosted $300 in headbands and clothing from Scheels All Sports and fought with security before calling the limo to take her back to the hotel she said she was staying at, the Post-Bulletin reports. After store employees called the cops to report the shoplifting, the limo driver spotted the police searching for the 22-year-old suspect in the area and pulled over to see what the deal was. The description they gave the limo driver matched the woman he had driven to and from the crime scene, so police followed him back to the drop-off spot and arrested her.
Los Angeles Times reports that Lawmen across the state are seeking to block the parole of a man who'd indirectly helped murder a Los Angeles cop in front of his 6-year-old son in a hail of machine gun fire in front of a Canoga Park church school. Unions representing Los Angeles police and California prosecutors this month joined with the widow of Detective Thomas C. Williams to attempt to block the recent parole of Voltaire Alphonse Williams (no relation), one of six men accused of killing the policeman 30 years ago to keep him from testifying in a murder trial.
OneNEWSER Reports that like some horrible combination of Veruca Salt and Vin Diesel, a 20-year-old Swiss man was sentenced last week for torching his $245,000 Ferrari so his millionaire father, who had already bought him 15 cars, would buy him a newer one. The New York Daily News reports the man, who said he wasn't brave enough to simply tell his father he was tired of his current Ferrari, was instructed on how to commit insurance fraud by a car dealer. He paid three people about $15,000 to set fire to the car across the border in Germany while he patronized a massage parlor as an alibi, reports the Daily News, via the French-language newspaper 20 Minutes. Police caught him thanks to surveillance cameras and intercepted phone calls, and he was sentenced to 22 months probation and a $32,000 fine. Oh, and these details seem important for further outrage: In addition to the 15 cars, the man's father gave him $30 million in property and a monthly $10,000 allowance.
Courthouse News Services reports that in SANTA BARBARA, a mother appealed a California court order to keep 100 feet away from her 4-year-old daughter for up to three years because she was charged with driving drunk with the girl in the car. Jennifer Leilani Darga was arrested in Santa Barbara County on July 16 and charged with driving under the influence and child endangerment. The county charged her with a misdemeanor and obtained a protection order preventing her from coming within 100 feet of her child of having any unsupervised visits with her, saying it was reasonable to expect she might continue to drink and drive with the girl in the vehicle. Her public defender said in his appeal that "protective orders like the one in this case are issued routinely without good cause or due process of law."
The Record reported that two grant renewals worth $740,000 to Stockton and San Joaquin County are aimed at furthering ongoing efforts to combat drunken driving in the region. The “Avoid the 10 Campaign,” worth $345,000 to the city and county for the year beginning Oct. 1, is a regional effort in which 10 law-enforcement agencies in the county work to reduce alcohol-involved fatalities and injuries and raise public awareness of the problem of drinking and driving. “Avoid the 10” is funded through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, with the actual administration of the funds through the state’s Office of Traffic Safety.
The Daily Pilot reports that Orange County sheriff's deputies cited four people Monday as authorities staked out the Newport Beach courthouse looking for drivers who got behind the wheel without a license or with a license that was suspended because of a driving under the influence case. Deputies followed 15 suspects from their hearings in Orange County Superior Court to the parking lot, according to a news release from the Sheriff's Department. Officials said they followed people who had already been warned not to drive. Five of the 15 got into cars and drove off as soon as they left the courthouse, sheriff's officials said. "Those who chose to drive were stopped near the courthouse by waiting deputies," the news release stated. Deputies wrote misdemeanor traffic citations for four of the drivers and impounded their cars for 30 days.
