It's considered a bad idea to alter headlines in posted articles, fidelio.
I'm sure he was a legal alien and all that..eh.
Tick, tick, tick
Well...I live in McAllen...this must be the other Anglo I saw here this week. Not a good idea for Anglos to get into crime here...easily spotted. 99.99% of the crime suspects are described as "...a man of medium build, brown hair, brown eyes, 5'9", 180 lbs..." I might here a knock on the door tonight
What is the importance of this petty crime?
Kerry Country!
The McAllen airport is where that S. African(suspected terrorist)lady was arrested. The border is full of pawn shops with lots of guns which triple in value just 8 miles south in Mexico. I moved away from there 9 years ago when things started going out of control.
GOOGLE Search Term: "Forghan"
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Forghan%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&filter=0
check this out
I have pawn shops for clients. I know a little about their security.
Even the dingiest pawn shop would be the absolute last place I would break into.
Maybe he'll return to Boston when he's 30.
Strange. If he was sent to set up a safe house, or procure supplies, he's a f*** up.
3K in cash, yet he's sleeping outside the shop, he has a laptop & leg irons. Bizarre.
Teen held in Texas planned to kill Swampscott classmate
By Debra Glidden and David Liscio
Saturday, September 18, 2004
From The Daily Item of Lynn
SWAMPSCOTT -- A Swampscott teen remains behind bars in Texas after allegedly breaking into a pawnshop and stealing semi-automatic weapons that police say he planned to use to kill a high school classmate.
Atbin Hoshang Forghan, 18, of 52 Eastman Ave., was arrested on Wednesday, Sept. 8, after police responded to a 2:15 a.m. silent alarm at Danny's Pawn Shop in McAllen, a small town on the Mexican border.
According to McAllen police, Forghan stole seven semi-automatic pistols, 10 boxes of ammunition, a bulletproof vest and other items. When interviewed by detectives, Forghan purportedly said he needed the weapons to slay another teen at Swampscott High.
Forghan is being held in the Hidalgo County jail in lieu of $500,000 bail on a burglary charge and $50,000 bail on a weapons charge, as ordered by Municipal Court Judge Kathleen Henley, according to McAllen Police Sgt. Joel Morales.
Swampscott Police Detective Ted Delano said Texas investigators were told by the youth that he planned to return to Swampscott with the weapons.
"During statements he made to investigators in Texas, he said he was going to bring the guns back to Swampscott and kill a student at the high school," Delano said.
Swampscott Police Chief Ronald Madigan described the threats as "serious."
"We have had a history with this kid and asked the authorities to notify us if he is released. He made a serious threat and for him to take steps to acquire weapons to carry out those threats is pretty frightening," Madigan said.
Delano declined to release the name of the Swampscott student who was targeted but confirmed that School Resource Officer Rose Cheever has notified the boy and his family.
Superintendent Brian Coughlin said Forghan attended Swampscott High School and was expelled last May.
" I can't release details but I am familiar with the young man and the situation that happened in Texas. The only good news in this is we had concerns about this young man in the spring and took the necessary steps - and he was expelled," Coughlin said.
Since the youth is of Middle Eastern descent and was caught carrying about $3,000 in cash, several high-powered weapons, handcuffs and leg irons, the FBI and agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have become involved in the case.
Texas police responding to the alarm saw a man wearing dark clothing and carrying a heavy travel bag outside the pawnshop. Forghan was holding the bag in one hand and a bulletproof vest in the other. He was initially charged with burglary of a building and possession of a switchblade knife, which is an illegal weapon.
According to Morales, Forghan took a bus from Boston to the Texas border town and visited the pawnshop prior to the burglary, when he tried on a police pistol belt.
"We don't know why he was in Texas but he was here a couple of days (in the Rio Grande Valley) before the robbery," Morales said.
Police said Forghan apparently slept two nights in an alleyway next to the pawnshop. Pawnshop owner Daniel Gallego told investigators he mistook Forghan for a homeless man and gave him $20.
Forghan told Texas police his ethnic background is Iranian. He gave a home address in Canton, Mass., where his father, Fariborz Forghan, has lived for about five years.
The elder Forghan, a thermal engineer for a Massachusetts high-tech company, apparently allowed his son to sleep at the home after being suspended from Swampscott High last May. However, neighbors on Eastman Avenue told The Item the teen lives with his mother, Banafsheh Salamant, and a younger sister, at the home in Swampscott.
Salamant, a mathematics teacher at Lynn Vocational and Technical Institute in Lynn, said the youth has been living with his father in Canton.She declined further comment.
One neighbor said she was "not surprised" to learn that the youth had been arrested in Texas because police have been seen at the home on several occasions since the family moved in about five years ago.
Texas police said the FBI agents were looking into the case for any potential links to terrorism against the U.S. Although McAllen police summoned the Joint Terrorism Taskforce to scrutinize the situation, Forghan has not been linked to any organized terrorist group or movement.
McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said investigators are still trying to find out why Forghan chose their small town and why he simply didn't buy the guns, considering he was carrying enough money.