Free Republic

For Lora and Jamey Costner, a $7,854 federal income tax bill is the painful indigestion that followed two unsatisfying servings of identity theft cooked up by two former Koch Foods employees... The criminal cases involving the Newport married couple and the two illegal immigrants, who IRS records indicate worked for Koch Foods, have been resolved in the court system. The bitter aftertaste that remains is the unpalatable possibility of having their wages garnished to pay tax bills on income they never earned ... "The overall burden of it all is crushing us, please help," the Costners wrote in an appeal...

The federal government just made it a bit tougher for local jurisdictions to become trained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On Monday, Manassas police Chief John J. Skinner told the city council that the possibility of piggybacking the Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center's memorandum of agreement with ICE won't be possible. Manassas, Manassas Park, Prince William County and the sheriff's department will now have to apply separately for federal approval, Skinner said. The Department of Homeland Security said it "was not prepared to establish a precedent for the rest of the country." Manassas has received the paperwork on the...

A judge on Friday gave three consecutive life sentences to a man convicted of dragging a 10-year-old girl into the woods, choking her, and then raping her. A day earlier, a jury had found Antonio Rosales, 41, a homeless man who was living in those woods, guilty of child rape, kidnapping and attempted first-degree murder. Because of the girl's age, the rape charge carries a mandatory life sentence, but Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson stacked on two additional ones. She did not explain her thinking during the three-minute hearing, which had originally been set for next week. There was little...

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- First, a homeless child rape suspect turned violent in a Seminole County courtroom. Then he was forced to wear a mask on his face to keep him from spitting, before the jury returned a guilty verdict late Thursday afternoon. Antonio Rosales is accused of raping a 10-year-old girl. Before court could even begin Thursday, a judge had to decide if Rosales was competent to stand trial after a violent outburst Wednesday. After a brief hearing Thursday, Rosales told a judge he wanted to be left out of the courtroom because he said he might lash out...

The allegasd Mexican drug smuggler shot by Border Patrol agents as he tried to dodge arrest in 2005 will appear in federal court in El Paso, Texas, on Friday afternoon. Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, 27, was arrested Thursday on a drug smuggling offense at a U.S. port of entry. A federal grand jury handed down a sealed indictment on Oct. 17. Aldrete was granted immunity in 2005 in exchange for testifying against ex-border agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. The two Border Patrol agents were sentenced to 11 and 12 years, respectively, for shooting Aldrete as he tried to sneak about...

An illegal immigrant who previously had been deported has been ordered held without bond for allegedly trying to kill a Phoenix police officer. Thirty-5-year-old Jose Abel Cabrera is accused of shooting the officer after he'd been pulled over in northeast Phoenix for running a stop sign. Police credit the 22-year-old rookie officer's bulletproof vest with saving his life. The officer, who was treated at a hospital and then released, returned the fire as man who shot him sped away in a pickup. Cabrera was arrested seven hours later at his northwest Phoenix home. Police say he denied being involved, alleging...

Bush’s wristwatch disappeared while he shakes hands with Albanian citizen 11 June 2007 | 19:22 | FOCUS News Agency Tirana. US President George Bush lost his wristwatch while he was shaking hands with Albanian citizen yesterday on his visit to Albania, Spanish agency EFE informed according to local TV channels information. Televisions broadcast a video that shows that while Bush greeting Albanian citizens, his watch disappears. Although the White House denies information that US President has lost his watch.