Crime Time

Police: Sex assault suspect used victim's cellphone

Dallas police were able to locate the suspects in the alleged sexual assault of an SMU female athlete because one of the men had used the victim's cellphone, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Police tracked the signal to a neighborhood in south Dallas and arrested him as he walked along a street, the phone in his pocket.

Calls made with the phone led police to the other two men who had used a phone taken in a previous robbery, police said.

The newspaper reported that jail record show that all three men may be in the country illegally.

-- Lance Murray

Third man arrested in alleged rape of female SMU athlete

Dallas police said Thursday afternoon that officers have arrested a third man in connection with this past weekend's alleged sexual assault of a female SMU athlete.

Police identified the man as Luis Zuniga, 26.

Two other suspects were arrested in the case and all face aggravated sexual assault charges.

-- Lance Murray

Police fatally shoot gunman in Times Square

A gun-wielding CD seller was fatally shot Thursday in a police shootout in the iconic Times Square area of New York City, according to reports.

The man apparently ran from police when they asked for his permit to sell the CDs and then turned and fired at the officers, according to reports.

-- Lance Murray

10 slain Wednesday in cartel-war-ravaged city

Nearly every day I check the El Paso Times Web site for updates on the horrible conditions in its neighboring city, Juarez.  The Mexican border city is in the grip of a deadly war between drug cartels that has taken thousands of lives in the past several years, making Juarez one of the deadliest places on Earth.

Today, the Times reports that 10 people were slain in Juarez on Wednesday, including a 51-year-old woman who was shot to death in an SUV in the busy ProNaf tourist area. If you've been to Juarez, you know that for decades the ProNaf has been one of the most popular areas for American tourists looking for a memento or a meal.

-- Lance Murray

2 men arrested in sexual assault of female SMU athlete

Yesterday we told you about the alleged sexual assault Saturday of a female SMU athlete after she left a party in Dallas.

Police say they have arrested two men and that charges are still pending against a third man. Arrested on aggravated sexual assault charges were Arturo Arevalo, 28, and Alfonso Zuniga, 28.

Police say the woman was abducted by men as she walked to her car from the party and was sexually assaulted.

-- Lance Murray

Doughnut dispute leads to stabbing at high school

It seems these days that even something with a hole in it is worth attacking someone over.

That's what happened Wednesday morning at a North Carolina high school where police said a student stabbed a classmate over a doughnut.

The 17-year-old boy is charged with misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon against a 16-year-old girl. She was taken to a hospital, treated and released, police said.

-- Lance Murray

Dallas-Fort Worth now among top 10 terror targets

Dallas-Fort Worth -- home to Super Bowl XLV, former President George W. Bush and accused Fountain Place attempted bomber Hosam Smadi -- is now one of the nation's Top 10 terror targets, according to today's Dallas Morning News.

Houston was already on the list, which was created by the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that security dollars were distributed appropriately.

In September, the mayors of Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano asking that the Metroplex be considered for "top tier" status. It's not clear when the designation was made, and the government is saying little about precisely why it decided to add Dallas-Fort Worth to the list.

Report: Maverick player involved in fight at restaurant

Dallas Mavericks forward Tim Thomas was involved in a fracas last night at a Dallas Denny's restaurant, the Dallas Morning News is reporting.

According to the paper, Thomas uttered anti-gay epithets before the disturbance broke out and may have thrown a chair during it. The paper said he's been unavailable for comment.

Mavericks executive Donnie Nelson said that the incident has been overblown and that Thomas did not throw a chair before leaving the restaurant to avoid the disturbance, the newspaper reported.

KRLD sports reporter Roger Emrich was in the restaurant eating an All-American Slam breakfast, which the fighters destroyed when they landed on his table. Emrich said he didn't hear Thomas use any epithets and said in an interview on the station that Thomas was not among the men involved in the brawl.  He said that two men with Thomas were involved, however. Emrich said that when he got up and walked out of the restaurant to avoid the brawl that Thomas, in fact, walked out along with him.

-- Lance Murray

Horse and buggy driver arrested for DUI

This brings an image of a cop yelling "whoa!" instead of "pull over."

A 22-year-old Amish man in Pennsylvania was arrested for driving his horse and buggy while intoxicated after an off-duty police officer spotted the buggy heading up the middle of the road.

An occupant in the officer's car got and and apprehended the buggy on foot, only to find its driver asleep at the reins and smelling of booze, according to reports.

-- Lance Murray

City fears release of 100-year-old unrepentent child molester

An unrepentant 100-year-old convicted child molester will be released from prison soon and residents of Buffalo, N.Y., are concerned.

Officials say that Theodore A. Sypnier is healthy, active, able to walk for miles, capable of caring for himself and -- most of all -- likely to prey upon children again. He was sent to prison for molesting two young sisters who he was babysitting in 1999. He says his conviction was a miscarriage of justice and that he'd like to get to know his great-grandchildren, the Buffalo News reported.

-- Lance Murray

Alleged cartel gunmen captured, accused of 26 murders

Two reputed members of the Sinoloa drug cartel have been arrested by the Mexican army northwestern Chihuahua state and are accused of committing at least 26 murders.

When caught driving with no lights on a dirt road, the men had an AK-47, a revolver, two bulletproof vests and 166 pounds of pot, the El Paso Times reports.

Much of northern Mexico, particularly the city of Juarez, is in the grips of a war between drug cartels in which thousands of people have been slain.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Woman tried to cut baby from pregnant homeless woman

A 49-year-old woman in Maryland has been charged with attempted first-degree murder after police said she befriended a pregnant homeless woman and tried to cut the baby from her womb.

Authorities said the 29-year-old mother-to-be was kept bound by Veronica Deramous who tried to cut the baby out. The victim was able to escape her bindings. She later gave birth to a baby girl at a hospital.

-- Lance Murray

Men questioned in alleged rape of female SMU athlete

Police in Dallas interviewed three men in connection with the rape and robbery last weekend of a 20-year-old woman identified as a student athlete at SMU.

The woman was reportedly abducted near a house in Old East Dallas after leaving a party and was walking to a car with friends, police said. They said she was targeted at random.

Police said one of the three men was questioned and released, while the other two are being held on unrelated charges. You can read the Dallas Morning News report here.

-- Lance Murray

Woman's red meat assault a recipe for arrest

In a case that might be followed as closely on the Food Network as it is on True TV, authorities in Florida say they've charged a 53-year-old woman with abuse of a disabled adult after she allegedly smacked him a few times in the head with a raw steak.

Deputies said that Elsie Egan hit her live-in boyfriend repeatedly with the meat "so that he could learn" after he refused a piece of sliced bread.

He apparently told her he'd rather have a bread roll.

-- Lance Murray

Escaped child molester caught after week on the lam in Houston

Authorities in Houston say that an escaped child molester has been recaptured in north Houston, the Houston Chronicle is reporting.

Arcade Joseph Comeuax, 49, was arrested at a business where employees had let him in to get water. Police were called by an another business where he had tried to get in to use the phone, the paper reported.

The supposedly disable Comeaux, shackled to a wheelchair in a prison vehicle, was able to escape a week ago from guards by pulling a gun on them. He then took their weapons and fled on foot.

-- Lance Murray

Awaiting backup, police officer is fatally shot

In another reminder of the dangers of police work, an officer in Penn Hills, Pa., was gunned down Sunday night as he waited in his patrol car for backup to arrive at a domestic dispute.

Authorities say Officer Michael Cranshaw, 32, was the first to arrive at the scene where shots and screaming had been heard and dispatchers advised him to wait for fellow officers to arrive. Officials said the suspect in the domestic call approached Cranshaw's car and opened fire -- apparently with an assault rifle.

Police are searching for the suspect.

-- Lance Murray

Police seek bank robber with bad breath, yellow teeth

Police in Ferndale, Mich., are on the lookout for a really repulsive bank robber.

Witnesses say he has yellow teeth, bad breath and looks and smells dirty, witnesses told police. He's hit the same bank twice. Maybe next time he'll come back in disguise -- he'll brush his teeth!

-- Lance Murray

Man dies after parachuting from cell tower onto power lines

OK, add this to the things not to do.

A man in Arizona has died after parachuting off a cell tower and becoming tangled in live 12,000-volt power lines nearby. He was shocked authorities said, and only had a faint pulse after rescuers were able to cut the power and get him loose.

Officials said he and two friends had broken into the tower site so that they could parachute. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Woman tried twice to kill baby of husband's mistress

Police in Brooklyn, N.Y., say that a woman went to great lengths to try to kill the love child of her wayward husband.

They said she plotted a scheme involving a fake prescription to get her husband's mistress to take a medication that induces abortions. The woman took the drug and delivered a premature baby that ended up in a neonatal intensive care unit.

Then, police said, the wife took fake breast milk to the hospital in the guise of the baby's mother. Hospital personnel realized it wasn't breast milk and called the cops, the New York Post reported. Police are still trying to determine if that liquid was poisoned.

-- Lance Murray

Stolen phone automatically sends photo of robber to victim

Here's the story.

A kid robs a woman and takes her cell phone in Philadelphia.

The kid takes a photo of himself with the phone while holding a big gun.

The phone was automatically programmed to send photos to victim's home computer.

She gives the photo to police, who ID the kid.

Kid turns himself in and is arrested.

End of story. But, if you'd like to see the photo and read more then look here.

-- Lance Murray

Report raises troubling issues about Virginia Tech's 2007 shooting response

State officials in Virginia are upset over what has been revealed in a revised report on how campus officials at Virginia Tech responded to the 2007 shootings on campus in which 32 people were killed by a troubled student, Seung-Hui Cho, who officials were aware had psychological problems.

The new report says some university officials warned their own families and locked down the president's office at least 90 minutes before issuing a general alert on campus. That delay in notifying the vast number of students and faculty on campus to the deadly situation troubled the state's governor.

Gov. Timothy Kaine called those actions "inexcusable."

-- Lance Murray

Man arrested in Burleson rest stop sex assault

A Crime Stoppers tip has led to the arrest of a 22-year-old Joshua man in connection with the sexual assault at knifepoint of a woman at a south Burleson rest stop.

Police identified the man as Anthony Yates. Police had released a composite sketch of the suspect in the case and the tip led to Yates' arrest, officials said. We published the sketch here yesterday.

You can read staff writer Mitch Mitchell's full report here.

-- Lance Murray

Teen charged with murder in killing of nun on Navajo reservation

A teenager has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of a nun inside her home on the Navajo  reservation in New Mexico.

Sister Marguerite Bartz was found dead on Nov. 1. Reehahlio Carroll, 18, is accused of killing her during the commission of a burglary. If convicted of the federal charges, he faces a life sentence without parole, the Associated Press reported.

-- Lance Murray

Kids hurt as fleeing suspect's Jeep careens into daycare

Police in Indianapolis say that a robbery suspect fleeing police crashed during a pursuit and his Jeep went careening into a daycare center. Five children and an adult cook were injured, The Indianapolis Star reported.

None of the injuries are reported to be life threatening, thank goodness.

-- Lance Murray

Another 10-year-old Tasered by officers

We recently wrote about an Arkansas police officer who Tasered an unruly 10-year-old girl. He was fired for not turning on his dash camera before zapping the girl with her mother's permission.

Well, now there's word from the Associated Press that sheriff's deputies in Pueblo County, Colo., shot an "out of control" 10-year-old boy with a Taser before arresting him on a charge of menacing with a deadly weapon,

-- Lance Murray

Police release sketch of sexual assault suspect

Police in Burleson hope you know who the man is in this sketch.

He's a suspect in the sexual assault of a woman Friday at a rest stop on northbound Interstate 35 in Burleson. 

He's described as in his mid- to late-20s, about 5-feet, 10-inches tall. He has short blond buzz-cut hair, light-colored eyes, and wears a black open circle earring in his left earlobe. The man possibly has tattoos on his arms and hands, according to police.

Call Detective T. Catron at 817-426-9931 if you have information on the case. Tips can be called in anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 817-295-5323 or 1-800-794-8477. Here' more information from the Star-Telegram's coverage.

-- Lance Murray

Man who beat, robbed 101-year-old woman gets prison time

A man who beat and robbed three women -- one 101 years old and another 87 years old -- was sentenced Wednesday to 75 years in prison by an angry judge who said it was about one year for every dollar he got in his robberies, the New York Post reported.

Among Jack Rhodes' victims was then 101-year-old Rose Morat, who he punched so hard that it broke bones in her face. Morat, now 103, sent the judge a letter in which she described the brutal attack.

-- Lance Murray

Police arrest 'elf' who tells Santa he has a bomb

Nothing so merry about this elf.

Police in Georgia have arrested a 45-year-old man in an elf suit who they said told a mall Santa that he had dynamite. The Southlake Mall in suburban Atlanta was evacuated, but no dynamite was found.

Police said the elf, identified as William C. Caldwell III, was not a part of the mall's Christmas staff. He's being held without bail.

-- Lance Murray

Man shoots teen taking shortcut through yard, police say

Police in Gardena, Calif., have charged a 36-year-old man there with attempted murder after they said he shot a 17-year-old student who was taking a shortcut through his yard.

The student, who was struck in the upper torso, was treated and released from a hospital. Police said that Eiji Takara had found the teen on his wall and ordered him off. He then apparently shot the teen as he was on his driveway, the Los Angeles Times reported.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Man cracks baby's skull when it cries during TV soccer match

Police in New York say they've charged a man who fractured a baby's skull because she cried during a TV soccer match.

The man is the babysitter's boyfriend, police said. They said he picked up the baby seat and slammed it against the floor.

The baby's mother later noticed the baby's injury and took to a hospital. Officials there called police and the boyfriend was arrested.

-- Lance Murray

TV station's billboard has unfortunate Twitter message

If you'd like a good chuckle, check out this billboard for an Alabama TV station that puts live Twitter feeds next to photos of three of its news personalities. Oops!

-- Lance Murray

Dallas police: Missing woman's body found at motel

Dallas police were investigating missing persons report on a 38-year-old woman whose 2-year-old grandson was dropped off Tuesday at a police substation.

Now they say the case is a homicide.

The woman's body was found in a room at a motel at 7130 C.F. Hawn Freeway in Dallas, according to a DPD release. Her boyfriend has been charged with murder, said police, who have not released any other details.

The case is being investigated by the Dallas police and the Dallas County Sheriff's Department, according to the release.

-- Lance Murray

Former drug-addicted nurse gets prison for infecting patients

He infected 16 people with hepatitis C, and now a former drug-addicted U.S. Army nurse anesthetist will spend three and a half years in federal prison.

Authorities said that between July 2004 and April 2005, Jon Dale Jones, 47, used a contaminated needle to get fentanyl, a painkiller, from vials that later were used to treat patients at Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso.

Jones told a federal judge that he has been clean and sober for three and a half years and is trying to get his life back together, the El Paso Times reported.

-- Lance Murray

Serious questions face officials in escape of child rapist

There are plenty of questions to be answered by criminal justice officials concerning this week's escape of a convicted child rapist from a prison transport vehicle in Baytown, the Houston Chronicle reports. Arcade Joseph Comeaux Jr. was shackled to a wheelchair when he pulled a gun on his guards, took their weapons and fled on foot.

Among the burning questions are:

How did he get the gun he pulled on the guards?

How did he convince medical personnel that he was disabled for a decade?

Comeaux is still on the loose and authorities are offering rewards for information leading to his capture.

-- Lance Murray

Rewards offered for capture of escaped child molester

Escaped child molester Arcade Joseph Comeaux Jr. is still on the lam in southeast Texas and authorities are offering $10,000 in rewards for information that leads to the capture of the heavily armed fugitive.

Authorities say that Comeaux pulled a gun on correctional officers transporting him in a vehicle in Baytown and then fled with their weapons and a uniform. He hasn't been seen since.

The Houston Chronicle reports that beside the child molestation conviction, that Comeaux has been extremely violent in the past -- even stabbing his wife with a home-made knife when she visited him in prison. Authorities said that only the intervention of another visitor to the prison stopped Comeaux from killing her, the Chronicle reported.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Men stole watch from dying man's wrist

Police in Philadelphia have arrested a man who they said stole the watch off the wrist of a dying man in a hospital waiting room.

They're looking for two accomplices.

Witnesses said that when 63-year-old Joaquin Rivera stopped breathing and became unconscious in the waiting room, Richard Alten and two other men stole his watch.

Even though hospital workers came to his aid, Rivera later was pronounced dead, the Associated Press reported.

-- Lance Murray

Alleged cop killer shot dead by Seattle police officer

The search for the man suspected of killing four Lakewood, Wash., police officers in an execution-style attack ended with him being shot dead by police in Seattle.

Police said that Maurice Clemmons was still carrying one of the guns he'd taken from the slain officers when Seattle officers saw him near a stolen car. Clemmons was shot by one of the officers as he attempted to flee, police said.

Authorities said they plan to charge others who helped Clemmons while he eluded police.

-- Lance Murray

Officer who Tasered 10-year-old girl is fired

The Arkansas police officer who Tasered an unruly 10-year-old girl has been fired, not for zapping the girl but for not turning on his dash camera when he did it.

The mayor of Ozark, Ark., said that not turning on the camera violated city policy, the Associated Press reported.

-- Lance Murray

3 boys arrested in attacks on red-headed students

You may recall the story we had last week about the attacks on red-headed students at a middle school in Calabasas, Calif., that were part of the so-called Facebook-inspired "ginger attacks."

Word comes today that three boys have been arrested in the attacks on at least seven red-headed children at the school, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Two of the arrested boys are 12 -- facing suspicion of battery on school property charges -- and the other is a 13 year old who faces cyber-bullying charges, sheriff's officials said.  Eight other boys have been identified as suspects in the investigation, the Los Angeles Times reported.

-- Lance Murray

Armed child molester makes daring escape in Baytown

Authorities in the Baytown, Texas, area say that a manhunt is under way for a convicted child molester who escaped custody Monday morning armed with a gun.

Police say that Arcade Joseph Comeaux, 49, surprised the two correctional officers transporting him in a vehicle with the gun and then took the officers' weapons.

He fled on foot, according to the Houston Chronicle.

-- Lance Murray

Cartel war takes at least 23 more lives over weekend

Many people in Juarez, Mexico, must dread the weekends. It seems like every Monday a story is printed that details the double-digit murders from Friday to Sunday night in the cartel-war-ravaged border city.

This past weekend more than 20 people were murdered in that city. An 11-month-old baby was wounded in one of the incidents, the El Paso Times reported.

The paper reported that there were eight killings on Friday, 11 on Saturday and at least four on Sunday. The cartel war has taken more than 2,000 lives so far this year in Juarez.

-- Lance Murray

Man's only choice: Either save his son or his wife from drowning

In what had to be the ultimate horrible choice, a man in New Zealand was faced with the trying to save his son who was trapped in a sinking car or rescue his drowning wife.

Stacy Horton faced that dilemma when he arrived at the scene of where his wife's car had cartwheeled down an embankment and into the Whangui River. He dove after his son in the car, but couldn't reach him at first. He could hear his wife in struggling to stay above water.

What did he do? Read The Times of London report here.

-- Lance Murray

Suspect in officers' killing had 100+ year sentence commuted

The man suspected in the ambush slaying of four Washington state law officers has a long history of violent crime and had been sentenced to more than 100 years in prison in Arkansas. But in 2000, then Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a Republican, commuted the sentence of Maurice Clemmons, citing the man's youth. That made Clemmons eligible for parole.

Clemmons had been released on bond from jail just six days ago in Washington state, too, after having been arrested on a child rape charge.

Police are still looking for Clemmons. You can read more coverage in the Seattle Times here.

-- Lance Murray

Hanged census worker killed himself, authorities say

You may recall the story of the census worker whose nude body was found hanging Sept. 12 from a tree in Kentucky with the word "fed" written across his chest.

At the time, it appeared to be a homicide and the case made national headlines.

Authorities announced Tuesday that the census worker, Bill Sparkman, 51, killed himself and staged his suicide to look like a homicide. They said Sparkman, who had cancer, recently took out two life insurance policies that would not have paid in case of suicide.

-- Lance Murray

Red-headed students attacked on 'Kick a Ginger Day'

It was tough being a red head recently for students at a middle school in Calabasas, Calif., where dozens of students attacked their red-headed classmates -- apparently inspired by an episode of the television show "South Park," and a Facebook group.

The attacks happened on "Kick a Ginger Day" at the school, apparently inspired by a "South Park" episode titled "Ginger Kids," which used red-heads as a satire on racism.  That apparently led to the Facebook group "Natioinal Kick A Ginger Day," which includes message encouraging attacks on red heads.

-- Lance Murray

Man says his evil alter ego killed wife, son

A man in The Queens, N.Y., blames the murder of his wife and son on his evil alter ego whom he had ordered to go away. Really.

Otto Herrarte told police is was "Roberto," the alter ego that would take control of his body, who did the killing after arguing with Otto's wife over money.

Police said the man had slit the throats of the wife and son. Otto told police that although Roberto did the killing, it was Otto who wrapped the bodies in plastic and hid them in a closet, the New York Post reported.

-- Lance Murray

World's worst police sketch helps nab murder suspect

It looks like something an elementary school student would draw, and it is perhaps the worst police sketch of all time.

But, don't snicker when you see it, because authorities in Bolivia say that it helped lead to the arrest of a murder suspect in the brutal slaying of a taxi driver. Just go here to see the drawing and read Sky News' report.

-- Lance Murray

Police: Girl may have helped arrange gang rape of classmate

Police in Monroeville, Ala., say they may charge a 14-year-old girl as an accessory because comments she make in a TV interview make them believe she may have helped arrage the gang rape of a ninth-grade classmate.

Reportedly, the girl had told reporters last week that she and the other girl had planned to have sex with the three suspects in the alleged rape, but that all three began joining in. The suspects are 16, 17, and 20, police said.

-- Lance Murray

Elite paratroopers deployed to patrol deadly border city

The federal government in Mexico has sent another 2,500 soldiers to the violence-ravaged border city of Juarez, including the elite "Red Beret" paratroopers unit.

Battling drug cartels have made Juarez one of the deadliest places on earth with more than 4,000 murders since December 2006, the El Paso Times reports.

The newspaper reported that 11 people were murdered there over the weekend.

-- Lance Murray

Video: Bank robbery suspect eats evidence, police say

Here's a video from CNN that's pretty amusing. Police say it shows a suspect in a bank robbery eating evidence -- the note he allegedly used in the bank robbery -- while officers frisk him on the hood of a patrol car. Without the note, police say, they'll show the video as evidence.

-- Lance Murray