Free Republic

Authorities say Internet escort Amy Shoemaker and her friend, Thomas Hudgins, were hoping to repeat a previously successful armed robbery scheme: Shoemaker sets up a prostitution date and Hudgins robs the John. But their plans went to pot when they discovered their intended target was actually an undercover Gretna Police officer working a prostitution sting. "They didn't realize there was a police officer in the room and officers were outside conducting surveillance," said Gretna Police Chief Arthur Lawson. The date-turned-robbery-turned-bust occurred on July 11.Lawson said investigators were working an ongoing investigation into prostitution conducted via the Internet. They set up...

<p>PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A man armed with a banana robbed a convenience store in Philadelphia and rode away on a bicycle with cash and cigarettes, a security surveillance tape showed.</p> <p>The suspect strolled into Tejada Grocery and got in line behind another customer at the counter, where individual bananas were available for sale, according to the tape of Tuesday's robbery, which was released by police on Wednesday.</p>

Oregon woman arrested for 'zombie game' assault SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Oregon woman was arrested for breaking into a home and attacking a woman resident, while claiming she was playing a "zombie game," police said on Monday. Sheriff's officers arrested Jessica Rocha, 27, at a home in the coastal town of Lakeside, said Sergeant Kelley Andrews of Coos County, adding that she was charged with criminal mischief, assault, unlawful entry, harassment and attempted burglary. "She was making comments about playing a zombie game,'" Andrews said, "I've never heard of that." The Coos Bay World newspaper reported that Rocha pushed...

Thieves attempt carjacking, but can’t get away in a stick shift SEATTLE – A 70 year old woman is stopped by three young men with a gun right outside her Seattle home. They got her keys, but they didn’t get away with her car. That’s because when the would-be thieves got in Nancy Fredrickson’s car, they discovered it was a stick shift. None of them knew how to drive a manual, so they ended up ditching the car and running away. Nancy Fredrickson had just returned home yesterday afternoon, after buying some things at a garage sale. She was getting...

Man, 79, Beaten After Accidentally Bumping Into Car In Grocery Store Parking Lot APPLE VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — A 79-year-old man was attacked when he accidentally bumped into a car in a grocery store parking lot in Apple Valley. The incident happened Sunday at a Stater Bros. on Bear Valley Road. According to sheriff’s officials, Alfred McOsker was unloading his groceries into his car when his leg touched a newer Hyundai parked next to him. The car’s owner accused McOsker of scratching his vehicle and then punched the older man repeatedly in the face. The victim’s daughter, Alison Rennie, said the...

Boys hurt by razor blades planted in park SAN DIEGO – More than a dozen razors were discovered planted in the grass at a children’s playground near Mission Bay after two brothers slashed their feet Wednesday, police said. San Diego police received a call from a parent around 7 p.m. stating that her sons, ages 7 and 15, were cut by razors at Bonita Cove in Mission Bay Drive. One boy suffered minor injures that required stitches. “Paramedics were able to pull the razor blade out [of the 7-year-old boy’s foot],” SDPD Lt. Paul Phillips said. Investigators using metal detectors...

• The executions of Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner were put off until April 22 and April 29. The state has had difficulty finding the ingredients of the cocktail used to execute prisoners. OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma court on Tuesday rescheduled a pair of executions set for this week and next so state prison officials will have more time to find a supply of drugs for the lethal injections. The decision came in a lawsuit in which two inmates had sought more information about the drugs that would be used to execute them later this month. The inmates had...

Former HUD-OIG Special Agent In Charge Indicted on Mortgage Fraud Charges Herschell Harvell, Jr., 53, Conyers, Georgia, made his initial appearance in federal court on charges of making false statements to a bank to obtain a mortgage loan and conspiring to obstruct an investigation into his real estate transactions by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General (HUD-OIG). Until he was terminated in 2013, Harvell was the Special Agent in Charge of HUD-OIG’s Atlanta office, which encompasses several southeastern states. Harvell’s co-defendant and nephew, Tavus A. Wright, 32, Milledgeville, Georgia, also made his initial appearance...

LAKE ELSINORE: Girl Scouts receive counterfeit bills, woman sought Some Inland Girl Scouts got a hard life lesson this week when they discovered their cookies had been paid for with counterfeit bills. Scouts in Lake Elsinore received two fake $20s on Thursday, Feb. 27, and in Rancho Cucamonga on Saturday there were two reports of girls selling cookies who were paid with counterfeit $50s. Riverside County sheriff’s officials on Tuesday released surveillance images of a woman they described as a “person of interest” in the Lake Elsinore case and are asking for help from the public to identify her. The...

Lois Lerner fears for her life if she testifies openly before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Wednesday, according to her attorney. House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa announced Sunday that Lerner will testify at Wednesday’s hearing, but Lerner’s attorney Bill Taylor said that Lerner will seek to continue invoking her Fifth Amendment rights and will also seek a one-week delay of her testimony. Oversight members are reportedly open to granting Lerner a one-week delay if she petitions for one in person at Wednesday’s hearing. The delay would allow Lerner’s lawyers to continue negotiating for immunity, which they...

Man sentenced to 3 years for holding up bookies with cucumber hidden in sock Gary Rough claims he was 'only joking' when he tried to rob the Ladbrokes in Glasgow, England, with a cucumber hidden inside a sock, which he tried to play off as a sawed-off shotgun. Rough was given 40 months jail time for the incident. A British robber has been jailed for holding up bookies with a cucumber. Gary Rough, 28, stuffed the lengthy vegetable into a black sock to try and make it look like a sawed-off shotgun. He then demanded cash from terrified staff at...

<p>SAN DIEGO – An ice cream truck driver was robbed by a boy with a handgun in the Skyline area Thursday evening, police said.</p> <p>The robbery happened near the intersection of Black Oak Road and Meadowbrook Drive, according to San Diego Police Officer James Johnson.</p>

Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst issued a letter to Secretary of State Nandita Berry today urging her office to immediately turn over all complaints of Battleground Texas’ violations of election law to Attorney General Greg Abbott. The scandal was revealed after Breitbart Texas released the latest James O'Keefe undercover video on what appeared to be a Battleground Texas illegal voter data-mining operation to help elect Wendy Davis.

As predicted by Bryan Preston of the PJ Tatler, the supposedly non-partisan Texas Tribune downplayed the story about the Project Veritas video showing Battleground Texas illegally using voter registration information. How did The Texas Tribune do that? By bizarrely makiing the focus of their deflect story the Texas Secretary of State, rather than the video itself. Here is Preston's detailed analysis of The Texas Tribune's deflection:

A Woman Says He Broke Into Her Home, Did Something Very Creepy, Then Left (Also ... Why He Might Look Familiar To You) Denver police received some unsuspecting help in their efforts to catch an intruder — from the suspect himself. According to KCNC-TV, a man walked into a home through the back door about 9:20 p.m. on Jan. 29, took a selfie of himself on the woman’s phone, then left the residence without taking a single thing. Now, authorities are using the picture of the man — who bears an uncanny resemblance to “Breaking Bad’s” Walter White — to...

Brooklyn Cops Arrest Muslim Man & Charge Him With Hate Crime For Participating In Playing "Knock Out" The Jew Game Police in Brooklyn have arrested 28-year-old Muslim man, Marajh Amrit, 28. Police charged Amrit with two counts of a hate crime and third-degree assault in connection with the hate game “knock-out.” Amrit and four other men allegedly assaulted a man in Boro Park on Friday morning. The victim, Caucasian Jewish, age 24, told police that the suspects were discussing the knock-out game prior-to punching him in the face on 18th Avenue. Held also in connection with the assault are the...

3-year-old Saudi girl gang-raped • Girl still in intensive care unit Several men abducted a three-year-old Saudi girl and took turns in raping her before dumping the child near a hospital in a serious condition. Disclosing the crime on Monday, police said they had arrested three suspects and two women and that more could be arrested in connection with the rape. Doctors at the hospital in the Western Red Sea port of Jeddah said the child was found crying and in serious condition in front of the hospital on Ramadan 13, adding that she is still in the intensive care...

The following are photos taken on Friday, September 20, 2013 at the Ronald Reagan Sports Park in Temecula, California. The Reagan statue and monument was likely vandalized either the night before or in the early morning hours of Friday September 20. The cause of the damage appears to be vandalism by arson. Local police were called to the scene and an investigation is ongoing. - Photo of the Reagan Monument with missing damaged tiles. - The missing/vandalized tiles were removed by city staff ... notice the burn marks at the base of the structure. - Burned/damaged tiles on both side...

(Bob Filner says ... "Thanks") San Diego Sheriff Sets Up 'Filthy Filner' Sexual Harassment Hotline The San Diego County Sheriff has set up a hotline to deal with sexual harassment claims against the city's Mayor, democrat Bob "Filthy" Filner. The Sheriff's office announced on Friday that they will "be the lead investigative agency for any complaints against Filner and any information gleaned via the hotline would be turned over to the California Attorney General's office for possible prosecution." Filner responded: "I very much welcome the fact that some of these allegations will finally be addressed by an appropriate investigative...

Ex-IRS agent sentenced to prison in murder-for-hire plot A former IRS agent who opened a tax preparation business was sentenced Friday to nearly 24 years in prison for defrauding clients out of more than $11 million and then attempting to hire a hit man to kill four of them. Steven Martinez, 51, of Ramona was sentenced in San Diego federal court to 286 months in prison and five years of supervised release. He was also ordered by District Court Judge William Hayes to forfeit all the property, including a home in Mexico, and other possessions that he purchased with clients'...