Free Republic

He battled the Viet Cong and infiltrated the Black Panthers, but ex-cop Athelston Kelson turned to crime after a yearlong struggle with liver cancer left him a beaten man, friends say. The 59-year-old NYPD hero and decorated Vietnam vet was arraigned yesterday, accused of being "the Bling Bandit" who raided banks across New York City and Long Island. "The cancer was really getting to him," said a former colleague. "He refused to fight it. He said that he didn't want chemotherapy, that he didn't want to put poison in his body. ". . . He helped so many people, in...

TACOMA, Wash. – Diners at Pacific Grill, an upscale downtown Tacoma restaurant, were confronted by a man who was dining alone Monday evening. According to Tacoma Police, the man sat down and ordered beer, then got up, went into a private dining area and demanded money from the diners. He told them this was a robbery and demanded their wallets. "He comes in the room and says, 'I want your wallet and your cash'," recalled Dr. Charles Weatherbee who was seated with fellow doctors and drug reps. Another doctor handed over his wallet, but when he only found credit cards,...

An attempted bank robbery in Canton played out like a scene from a movie Monday when a man who claimed to have a bomb was stopped by a customer armed with a pistol. According to police, the customer pulled out a .9 mm handgun (for which he had a CCW permit), racked a bullet in the chamber, pointed it at the man and announced, "You are not robbing this bank!"

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Surveillance video of a bank robbery surprised detectives when it showed the bandit holding a gun in a strange manner, even backward during the holdup. "(The robber) is holding it in a manner that he's probably not familiar with handguns and was afraid it was going to go off," Orange County sheriff's Detective Jason Sams said. "If that was a fake gun, he would be holding it normally because he wouldn't care." Investigators said the bandit was wearing a new Cleveland Indians baseball cap when he walked into the Fifth-Third bank on the corner of University Boulevard...

An act of bravery to defend a co-worker has cost a Minnesota gas-station attendant his job. Mark Beverly, an overnight shift supervisor at a SuperAmerica in Roseville, Minn., was fired in March after he jumped on a masked robber who he believed was attacking a fellow employee. SuperAmerica said

WEAPONS OF CHOICE Shopper pulls gun, stops robbery cold Held suspect at grocery store until police officers arrived A grocery store customer in Indianapolis is being credited with halting an armed robbery by pulling his own weapon and pointing it at the assailant until police arrived. According to a report in the Indianapolis Star, Charlie Merrell, 51, was in a checkout line at a grocery store called Bucks IGA on the city's south side when a "masked man jumped a nearby counter and held a gun on a store employee." The police report cited by the newspaper said the incident...

BOGOTA (AFP) - A feckless stick-up man chose the wrong target when he was beaten and hospitalized in an attempted robbery of a karate school in Bucaramanga in northwestern Colombia, police said. "The man entered the academy with a firearm, but could not intimidate the dozens of students, who fortunately reacted and disarmed him," said Colonel Julio Cesar Santoyo, police commander in the province of Santander. Police arrived at the scene only to take the would-be robber to hospital for treatment of multiple contusions at the hands of the karate students.

GLOUCESTER Gloucester County's sheriff and several deputies helped pull a Newport News man out of the York River on Monday before arresting him in connection with a lunchtime bank robbery on U.S. 17. Mario Anthony Orlikoff was arrested shortly after noon by Sheriff Robin P. Stanaway and several deputies, according to information released by the Gloucester County Sheriff's Office. He is a former assistant sports editor of the Daily Press.Employees of Chesapeake Bank in the Wicomico community called police at about 12:15 p.m. to report a robbery. The callers said the robber handed a teller a note demanding money. The...

EL DORADO, Ark. (AP) -- An elderly man beaten unconscious by an assailant wielding a soda can awoke and shot the man during an attempted robbery, police said. Willie Lee Hill, 93, told police he saw the robber while in his bedroom Wednesday night. Hill confronted the man and was struck at least 50 times, police said. He was knocked unconscious. Covered in blood, Hill regained consciousness a short time later and pulled a .38-caliber handgun on his attacker. Williams saw the gun and charged the man, who fired a bullet that struck Williams in the throat, police said. "I...

MUSKEGON -- A man who was shot in the forehead when he tried to rob a Muskegon Heights woman in her driveway early Wednesday has a long criminal record, according to police. Edtwon Magett, 32, of Milwaukee, remained on life support Thursday in Hackley Hospital, police said. Magett was shot by his intended victim about 1:30 a.m. in the driveway of a Riordan Street home in what authorities have called a drug-related robbery attempt. His record showed prior convictions for armed robbery and narcotics violations in Wisconsin and Michigan, police said. Authorities said a 27-year-old woman had just pulled into...

EL DORADO, Ark. (AP) - An elderly man beaten unconscious by an assailant wielding a soda can awoke and shot the man during an attempted robbery, police said. Willie Lee Hill, 93, told police he saw the robber while in his bedroom Wednesday night. Hill confronted the man and was struck at least 50 times, police said. He was knocked unconscious. Covered in blood, Hill regained consciousness a short time later and pulled a .38-caliber handgun on his attacker. The suspect, Douglas B. Williams Jr., saw the gun and charged the man, who fired a bullet that struck Williams in...

A Rock Island man with a history of mental health problems was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for robbing a Moline Kwik Shop of $22 while armed with a knife and a Winnie the Pooh doll. Robert Castleman, 48, was sentenced on felony counts of aggravated robbery and residential burglary in Rock Island County Circuit Court for two separate incidents that occurred in spring 2006. According to court records, he confessed to police on both crimes. The Kwik Shop robbery occurred in the early morning of April 1, 2006, at 1305 15th St., Moline. Castleman allegedly threatened at...

ARLINGTON -- A bank robber carrying a purse might not seem unusual, but this one is a man. Maybe.The official description from Arlington police says the suspect is a black “male” in his 20s, about 5-foot-10, 175 pounds with a thin build, but there’s no confirmation whether this is a man posing as woman or a woman posing as a man.Arlington police said the robber, wearing a bandanna on his/her head and carrying a purse, robbed the Wachovia Bank at 5615 SW Green Oaks Blvd at about 2:40 p.m. Thursday.Investigators said they believe this same suspect, dressed like a woman,...

WASHINGTON -- A congressman from New Jersey helped police catch a man who may have tried to pick his pocket Thursday night. Police said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen was walking in the Georgetown section of the city about 9:30 p.m. when he was approached by a group of young men. The congressman told officers he felt someone grab at his wallet. But when he turned, the person started running away. Frelinghuysen said the culprit first asked if he wanted to buy candy before robbing him. Frelinghuysen began chasing the man and was joined by two D.C. police officers who happened to...

Making a late, but impressive, bid for the title of 2006's stupidest criminal is the man who tried to commit an armed robbery in Des Moines on Thursday. The one flaw in his otherwise perfect armed robbery plan was that he wasn't armed. Instead, he'd gone for the time-honoured method of sticking his hand in his coat pocket, pointing his fingers, and claiming it was a gun. Unfortunately, his gun-impersonating skills left something to be desired. Terry Cook, the store clerk he was trying to rob, commented: 'I knew it was his finger. I could see his thumb sticking out...

CLIFFORD, Pa. (AP) - A 72-year-old Reading man was jailed on charges that he committed home invasions in far northeastern Pennsylvania in which other septuagenarians were struck on the head with a hammer and bound with rope and handcuffs. In the Susquehanna County home invasions, police accused James Edward Farley, of Reading, of striking and tying up Charlie Tyler, 71, of Auburn Township, on Sunday, taking about $500 in cash and two rifles, and striking and tying up Rolland Loomis, 75, of Bridgewater Township, on Oct. 27, taking about $2,800 in cash, according to a criminal complaint. Farley was arrested...

ATHENS (Reuters) - A Greek bank robber armed with ninja throwing stars finally ran out of moves on Tuesday when police arrested him after an Athens bank robbery. Petros Onen, 49, had held up 11 small suburban bank branches making away with 50,000 euros ($63,590) in recent months, threatening to throw his razor-sharp, palm-size stars -- made famous by the Japanese ninja warriors -- at cashiers, police said. His luck ran out when undercover policemen at the last bank he robbed followed him home and arrested him with his loot, his throwing stars, a fake gun and a list of...

A Brighton homeowner is in trouble with the city because an alleged break-in artist fell to his death early yesterday from a set of rickety exterior stairs attached to the man’s two-story house.

Published: 14th July 2006 11:50 CET Jackie Arklöv, currently serving a life sentence for murdering two policemen in Malexander in 1999, was charged on Friday with crimes against international law in Bosnia. "The crimes were committed during the spring, summer and autumn of 1993, mostly during the summer," said prosecutor Lise Tamm to TT. According to Tamm, Arklöv committed robbery and torture against prisoners of war as well as civilians, and demostrated 'particular brutality'. The crimes are said to have been carried out in different jails in Bosnia Herzegovinia where Arklöv was a guard. Arklöv was a mercenary soldier in...

CORE-COLUMBIA – A man walked into Bank of the West on Fourth Avenue yesterday and told a teller he had a bomb in his pants. It was an unusual tactic for a bank robber, but it worked. The teller handed him some money and he left about 3:45 p.m., San Diego police said. Police didn't report whether the teller kept a straight face.

LONDON, November 30 (IranMania) - An Iranian convicted of armed robbery has had his left foot amputated in a prison in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, the ISNA news agency reported. The man, identified only as Adel A., had been sentenced by a Revolutionary Court to have his right hand and left foot amputated in public. However only his left foot was cut off on Sunday inside a prison. Amputations are rare in Iran and usually only handed out to repeat offenders. The last reported case was in October 2004, when a man convicted of a series of robberies had...

A Baptist pastor who ministered in Bandon in west Cork is due to be sentenced later today after he pleaded guilty to holding up his local bank. 48-year-old Kieran Beville pleaded guilty last August to robbing more than €3,000 from the Bank of Ireland and to possession of a firearm. Sentencing in the case was adjourned until today so that the Circuit Criminal Court in Cork could hear evidence from the pastor's psychiatrist. Last month, his senior counsel, Pierce Sreenan, told the court that his client had been under the care of psychiatrist Dr Lucinda Scott at Cork University Hospital....

A man who allegedly robbed a bank of $1,100 yesterday made it easy on police. Authorities said that just minutes after Andre M. Ellis, 39, robbed an ESB Bank in Ambridge, Beaver County, they caught him standing in front of the bank trying to return the money. "He felt bad about it, so he tried to do the right thing," said Ambridge police Chief David Sabol. "I've never seen anything like it." The heist didn't appear to be the work of a hardened bank robber. According to police, Ellis walked into the bank just before 10 a.m. and slipped a...

Bank clerks in Moldova have been told not to make eye contact with customers after a string of robberies by a hypnotist. The robber reportedly puts cashiers into a trance before making them hand over tens of thousands of pounds. Local police said the criminal, who they believe is a trained hypnotist from Russia, begins talking to bank tellers and gradually hypnotises them. He then gets them to give him money before bringing them back out of the trance and leaving them with no memory of handing over the cash, Russian media reported. Officers, who are still looking for the...

CAMPOBELLO -- A 28-year-old Spartanburg man suspected of robbing the same bank twice in less than three weeks was critically injured Wednesday when he tried to elude police by running across two lanes of I-26 and was struck by an oncoming tractor-trailer.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- A pack of police dogs in training passed a vital test when they tracked down a bank robber in southwestern Sweden who had unwittingly dumped his car next to their canine compound. Police said the 42-year-old man, who was not identified, had robbed a bank Tuesday and made off with a small amount of cash. He abandoned the car in the nearby town of Jonsered and took off running, apparently unaware that he had parked near the police dog compound. As soon as police found the stolen car, they released a canine unit that quickly tracked down...

WEAPONS OF CHOICE Texan shoots robber in garage 'This is one homeowner that you ain't going to mess with' Posted: October 1, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Texan Danny Dunn fought burglar (KRIS-TV, Corpus Christi, Texas) Stabbed by a burglar in his own garage, a Texas homeowner fought back, shooting the suspect three times. Danny Dunn of Corpus Christi told local KRIS-TV that when an intruder entered his home just before 6 a.m. yesterday, he was determined to not go down without a fight. "This is one homeowner that you ain't going to mess with," Dunn said. "I'll...

SIERRA VISTA - When Fort Huachuca military police recognized a local man in a suspect photo, Wednesday's bank robbery investigation came together, according to Sierra Vista police. "Military police recognized the subject as someone who delivers pizzas on post," Sierra Vista police Sgt. Glenn Hillig said Thursday. The MPs then contacted city police detectives. James A. Vigg, 22, was arrested on a robbery charge shortly after midnight Thursday in connection to a silent robbery at Compass Bank, 211 S. Carmichael Ave. The alleged robber passed a note to a female teller at about 1:50 p.m. Wednesday and left with an...

Robbery Suspect Struck By Car, Killed Customer Following Suspect Hits Suspect With Car

BADGER BURGLAR COLLARED A badger broke into a house and woke up the neighbours by smashing a window during its bungled escape. A police spokeswoman said: "It is believed the badger entered the house via a cat flap and made its way up the stairs to a bedroom. "Once there it tried to jump through the window, causing the window to smash, and injuring itself." The 78-year-old woman who lived in the house, in Swindon, Wiltshire, was alerted to the break-in by a neighbour who was disturbed by the sound of smashing glass at about 1.30am. The neighbour told police...

A discount tobacco store owner shot and critically wounded a would-be robber after he took money from the proprietor at gunpoint Friday night, Fort Wayne police said. The gunman, whose name was withheld, approached the owner at his business, the Smokehouse Tobacco Outlet, 2217 S. Lafayette St., at 7:41 p.m., demanding money, Fort Wayne police spokeswoman Robin Thompson said. The proprietor gave the man cash, then pulled a gun while the would-be robber was walking away from the counter. The proprietor fired several shots, hitting the intruder, Thompson said. The would-be robber, who is in his 20s, was taken to...

DANVILLE — It wasn't an open-field tackle that foiled a suspected armed robber Friday from achieving her goal, but it was the fast thinking of former San Francisco 49er Brent Jones. The tight end happened to be nearby and nabbed Kimberly Pavlakis, 48, of San Leandro as she reportedly ran from the scene of an attempted robbery Friday morning, police said. At 11:21 a.m., police were alerted to an armed robbery at Escapades Clothing at 406 Sycamore Valley Road, said Danville police Sgt. Tom Padilla. The suspect was thought to be armed with a handgun but fled the store without...

Sterling, Va. (AP) - Loudoun County investigators are trying to find a bank robber - but this guy doesn't fit any typical description. The sheriff's office says the thief stood six-foot-three and was wearing a flowery dress, a dark wig and white gloves. He was also carrying a purse when he walked into the Washington First Bank in Sterling Tuesday. But the purse was empty on the way out, because despite passing a note to the teller and implying he had a weapon, the robber left without taking any cash. Anyone with information is asked to call the Loudoun County...

Crime doesn't pay, and apparently - neither does bragging about it. A Chicago man is facing bank robbery charges after authorities say he called into a Chicago radio station and bragged about the heist. The robbery at a TCF Bank in Chicago last April went unsolved until a bank worker heard the man's call to a popular confessions show. The caller bragged that he and five others tied up employees and got away with $81,000. A bank worker recognized details from the confession as matching the hold-up at her bank and called authorities. The FBI traced the call to a...

The SpongeBob SquarePants robber has struck again, this time hitting a bank at a Cub Foods store in Northfield, Minn., police said Saturday. The robber showed a gun after handing over a bag with the cartoon character on it. The robbery happened at 6:40 p.m. Friday at 2423 Hwy. 3 S., Northfield police said. Police said the man, who fled, is considered armed and dangerous, and a reward has been offered. It's believed to be the seventh time that the robber has hit using the SpongeBob bag. "We're assuming it's the same guy," said Northfield Police Chief Gary Smith. "He...

An armed robber with a proclivity for the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants struck his sixth bank Wednesday, working at what authorities call a "dramatic" pace and showing dangerous aggression. The suspect robbed the Hastings TCF Bank branch at Cub Foods, 1729 Marquette Blvd., about 7:10 p.m. He displayed a long-barreled handgun, demanded money and threatened to kill the teller, according to the FBI. He stashed an undisclosed amount of money in a SpongeBob gift bag and fled on foot. Authorities believe he is responsible for a string of robberies in the past three months at Cub Foods TCF banks in...

Police are searching for a pistol-wielding robber who stole female leather bondage gear and an inflatable sex doll from an erotica store in Milan Wednesday. The clerk at the "Night Shop" speculated that the kinky crook might have been unsatisfied with the payout of his hold-up, which only yielded him about 60 euros ($78). "There was just a little cash," the clerk, who declined to be named, told Reuters by telephone. "Then he took some stuff ... an inflatable doll and a leather outfit for a woman," he said.

By law, the Secretary of State (SOS) can only certify the results of a statewide election when that office receives a certified copy from each county of its abstract of votes containing specific information and an attached county seal for verification. Based on information provided by SOS in response to a public records request filed by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF), 24 of our 39 counties failed to provide all the required information for certification. Twenty-one didn't attach the county seal verifying accuracy of certification and three counties didn't even provide a sworn affidavit. Nonetheless, the Secretary of State certified...

The Fishing Hat Bandit's run appears to be done. FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe said that, based on the investigation to date, evidence has been developed that allegedly ties John Whitrock to multiple bank and credit union robberies in the Twin Cities area. While declining to elaborate, McCabe said, "We are confident that the suspect known as the Fishing Hat Bandit is no longer a threat to the banking community." McCabe wouldn't say how many robberies the FBI suspects Whitrock of committing or whether his girlfriend, with whom he shares a townhouse in Burnsville, had a role in any of...

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Gov.-elect Christine Gregoire on Tuesday urged her increasingly vocal critics to set aside their rhetoric and invited Republicans to "join me in the middle" to move the state forward.

LOWELL, Mass. -- Police continued searching Monday for a man who held up two Massachusetts stores using a syringe and claiming he had AIDS. Both of the holdups occurred Sunday before noon at a pharmacy and a doughnut shop in Lowell. In the first, a man entered a Brooks Pharmacy and pulled out a syringe filled with what appeared to be blood, threatening to infect the clerk with AIDS by stabbing her if she did not give him cash from the register. He ran away when the clerk refused. A short time later, a suspect entered Saints Memorial Medical Center,...

ALBANY, New York (Reuters) -- An Albany man turned himself into police after seeing himself on TV news robbing a bank but was turned away by officers who told him to come back the next day, police said on Tuesday.

KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) -- There is little money to be gained from attempting to rob a bank that is still under construction, police say a Marietta man learned on Wednesday. Michael Donald Marshall, 39, entered the Bank of America and demanded $500 from the tellers while threatening that he had a gun, according to the Kennesaw Police Department. The employees then told him the bank wasn't open for business and there was no money. Kennesaw Police arrived as Marshall exited the building empty-handed, officers said. The suspect is charged with armed robbery. During their investigation, police also learned that Marshall...

If you plan on robbing a gas station in Anoka County, you had better watch out for vehicles. The Anoka County Sheriff's Department is searching for a suspect in a Thursday night armed robbery at a store in East Bethel. The man may be nursing a sore knee after a somewhat overzealous store customer rammed into him with a Jeep.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - Minutes after a bank heist, the alleged robber walked into bar and ordered a beer. "One Budweiser draft," Ronald Langdale told bartender Martin Jimenez on Thursday after slapping a $5 bill on the bar at Mario's Restaurant, which shares the same strip mall property as the Bank of America. Langdale, 58, of Los Angeles only got to drink half of the beer.

<p>Los Angeles area police arrested a bank robbery suspect who had apparently strolled to a bar after the heist, ordered a beer and started counting his loot.</p> <p>Huntington Beach police said Ronald Langdale, 58, had walked across a parking lot from a Bank of America branch, taken a seat at a pub and ordered a beer, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.</p>

<p>A mugger yesterday fired two bullets into a defiant student who refused to turn over his cellphone, cops said. Even after Marcin Muchalski, 26, had been shot once, he grimly hung onto his phone and continued arguing with the gunman, who had accosted him as he bicycled over the Williamsburg Bridge.</p>

The suspect in the Lower Greenville and Deep Ellum robberies said Monday that he has been characterized unfairly as the ruthless, gun-toting thug who has robbed more than 20 people as they visited Dallas' entertainment districts. "It's not fair to me. It's not fair to my family for me to go through what I'm going through," said Guy Eugene Cobbs, 27. "What's my mom going to think?" In a brief telephone interview, Mr. Cobbs talked rapidly, sometimes jumbling his words as he spoke about his situation. When asked whether he is responsible for the string of robberies, he repeated, "It's...

FBI Releases Handwritten Note Found With Bank Robber Killed by Bomb By Judy Lin Associated Press Writer Published: Feb 10, 2004 ERIE, Pa. (AP) - A nine-page handwritten note found in the car of a pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank, then was killed by a bomb fastened around his neck, warned that he would be "destroyed" if police were notified of the plot. Portions of the note released Tuesday by the FBI contained detailed instructions, including a drawing of the McDonald's arches where the deliveryman was to take the money, and the warning: "Act now, think later or you...

A man in north St. Louis County was home watching "Death Wish," a movie about a vigilante who hunts down criminals, when he saw his wife held hostage by a robber holding shears at her neck. Allowed to get his wallet, the homeowner retrieved his pistol instead and shot the intruder to death, county police said Wednesday after sorting out details of the previous evening's incident. It happened about 8 p.m. Tuesday in the 11500 block of Lares Drive, a usually quiet neighborhood just east of New Halls Ferry Road and north of Interstate 270. The residents asked police not...