This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Crime

  • Veteran arrested for warning shot

    ROS sends us a link to an article from Medford, OR about 36 year-old Corey Thompson, purportedly a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, who fired a warning shot at a wanted felon, 40 year-old Jonathon Kinsella, who was breaking into Thompson’s home and was subsequently arrested;

    Thompson says he grabbed his AR-15 assault rifle and told Kinsella to stop near his back door.

    “When I’m dealt with a stressful situation, being a veteran from Iraq and the Afghanistan war, it’s natural. I just jump into combat mode. I told him I’m going to give you a warning shot,” said Thompson.

    But police say that was not the right move.

    “There was nothing that the suspect was doing that was aggressive enough to justify the shooting. In fact, the suspect was walking away,” said Medford Police Lt. Mike Budreau.

    Thompson was charged with Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Menacing and Reckless Endangering.

    So, I guess that Thompson learned his lesson. Next time he should just drill the criminal and not waste his ammo on warning shots. It’s interesting that the article doesn’t mention the fate of the fleeing felon.

  • Gregory Schaffer, the phony SEAL, indicted on more sex charges

    Gregory Schaffer

    Fake Warriors Project and Chris sent us links to an article about Gregory Schaffer, who we nicknamed “Slats” when we first wrote about him last year. He was indicted for making child porn earlier this year. Now he’s been additionally charged with aggravated sexual assault, multiple counts of sexual assault by contact, two counts of terroristic threats, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of child abuse according to New Jersey.com.

    One of the girls, who authorities say are friends, was sexually assaulted when she was 8 and 9 years old and then again when she was 11 years old, [Hudson County Acting Prosecutor Gaetano T. ] Gregory said. The sexual assault that took place when the girl was 11 was recorded on videotape by Schaffer and seized by law enforcement officials, the proseuctor said.

    A second girl was sexually assaulted in 2008 when she was 12, officials said. Video footage of that naked victim was also recovered by law enforcement officials, Gregory said.

    According to Gregory, Schaffer used various social media sites, including Craigslist, to communicate with and coerce the young girls to meet him. An investigation revealed that Schaffer represented himself as many things, including a talent scout, producer, swim instructor, business owner, Navy SEAL and information technology specialist, officials said.

    Like our buddy, Doug Sterner, says, there’s always something else wrong with these guys besides just the Stolen Valor thing. When the President signs the new Stolen Valor Act, maybe some of these guys will be taken off the streets before they commit more heinous crimes.

  • Wednesday feel good story

    WOTN sends us the link to a story about Shirley Roberts, 52 who got her gun when she noticed three men attempting to break into her house after they saw her husband leave her alone;

    It was then that Roberts, home alone, grabbed a gun and fired a single shot through her glass back door, hitting one of the men in the chest.

    Her husband came home a short time later. He said he’s just glad his wife survived the ordeal.

    “I’m not bragging about it,” Oscar Roberts said. “I’m just glad she’s unharmed and, as I said, ‘Just protect yourself.’”

    Police say the robbers also fired back before they took off. The men were later arrested at Research Medical Center.

    Her husband, Ocar says he’s been training her for that moment. That’s what a good husband does, isn’t it?

    Apparently the perps have been apprehended and are in jail or the hospital, as the case may be.

  • Another feel good story out of Houston

    Chief Tango sends us a link to a story from Houston about Alejandro Arrona, a 19-year-old who was about to graduate from high school next week, well until he graduated to armed property crime instead

    After a closer look, Sosa recognized a young man wearing light colored clothes as one of his neighbors. The trouble? The house the young man was trying to get inside didn’t belong to him. Sosa called the property owner, who arrived with his own gun.

    “There were six, seven gunshots,” Payne said.

    Sosa ran across the street to join his neighbor when he arrived to confront Arrona. He said Arrona had a gun and pointed the weapon at the homeowner before shots were fired.

    “I really don’t feel bad for him because he had no business being over there,” Sosa said.

    Payne and Martinez are grateful their young children were inside, in bed and asleep. Arrona is now charged with aggravated robbery, attempted burglary, and unlawful possession of a firearm.

    He was turning his life around, I’m sure, despite the fact that he was already a convicted felon, and therefore ineligible to carry the gun he used for his crime. Unfortunately, none of his wounds were life-threatening, so I guess we’ll be taking care of him for the next several years.

    (more…)

  • Yer Saturday Afternoon Smile

    Two thieves in Stockton, CA, recently provided a new entry in “stupid criminal tricks”.

    Gabriel Gonzalez and Jeremy Lovitt decided to rob a Stockton, CA, area Burger King.  They pulled up behind the Burger King, went inside, and robbed the place.

    So far, so “good”.  But they’d made one teeny little mistake.

    Seems they left their getaway car behind the building.  They left it unlocked and idling, presumably for a quick getaway – and unattended.

    However:  during the robbery, one of the employees saw what was going on without being noticed by the robbers.  He quickly executed the maneuver called “slip out the back, Jack”.  And after he did, he spied their unlocked, idling, unattended getaway car.

    The departing employee then used said car for a quick getaway.  He drove the vehicle a short distance away, around the corner and parked it in a hidden location.

    Let’s just say our criminal “masterminds” weren’t exactly expecting that turn of events.  When the Dumbass Dastardly Duo ran out with their loot and found their getaway car missing, they panicked.  They then fled on foot to a nearby field, where they were later captured by police.

    The police recommend cooperation with the robbers in such a case.  Personally, I think the scared but quick-thinking employee who departed with the getaway car had precisely the right idea.

    The Refreshments were right – “. . . the world is full of stupid people“.

  • Because you can’t feel too good on Friday

    Paul sends us some more good news about a woman in Kansas who noticed a car backing into her driveway yesterday afternoon and then saw a man with Latex gloves at her backdoor preparing to kick the door in. So she fired her gun through the door;

    … at least one of the men fired back into her house. The woman was not hurt.

    The men then drove away.

    Three minutes later, police received a 911 call from a cellphone. The caller said, “My brother’s been shot,” but didn’t provide a location.

    About 12:20 p.m., a man shot in the chest showed up at Research Medical Center with two other men. Police arrested the three and questioned them about the attempted burglary and shooting.

    Along the same lines, UpNorth sends us the news from Fresno, that armed robbers in California can’t depend on people to be unarmed in their homes in the great socialist republic of California;

    The suspects, 34-year-old Aaron Baeza and 30-year-old Christopher Rupe, tied up the homeowner and his girlfriend and demanded money. They later freed the man to allow him to look for the cash.

    The homeowner then stabbed and killed Baeza with his samurai sword.

    Rupe escaped, remains at large, and is considered armed and dangerous. Investigators say he may be traveling with an unidentified Caucasian woman in a dark green Ford F-150 pickup, with a California license plate of 6T04402.

    Stu sends more good news from Arkansas;

    The Russellville Police Department (RPD) says just after four o’clock officers were called to the 1300 block of North Cleveland about a shooting.

    Police say the suspect was armed when he went into the home and was met by the homeowner who was also armed to defend his property.

    The injured suspect was first taken to Saint Mary’s Regional Medical Center before being airlifted to a hospital in Little Rock.

    The update to the story says that the poor misguided youth has passed on as a result of his wounds and Russellville is marginally safer tonight.

  • IRS Scandal Update – 23 May 2013

    Update on events in the ongoing IRS scandal over the last 24 hours:

    • The current head of the IRS Tax Exempt Divison, Lois Lerner, invoked the 5th Amendment in testifying in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee yesterday – but did so after making an opening statement giving her side of the story.
    • Making that statement may well have been a mistake, though.  There is substantial thought in legal circles that making an opening statement during testimony constitutes a waiver of 5th Amendment rights.  On further consideration, Chairman Dan Issa of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee apparently agrees.  He plans to recall Lerner to testify again.
    • Lerner’s conduct some 15 years or so ago as a chief of enforcement for the Federal Election Commission is now also getting fresh scrutiny.  The conduct of her subordinates then is also troubling, and may be relevant to the current IRS scandal.  In the 1990s, lawyers working for Ms. Lerner in one investigation of a conservative Christian group asked some irrelevant and troubling questions about religion and prayer while taking depositions.  Sound familiar?
    • The IRS’s internal investigation into discrimination against conservative groups by the Tax Exempt division was completed in May 2012, but apparently was deliberately concealed from Congress until after the 2012 elections.
    • White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler was briefed in general terms about the pending Treasury IG investigation of the scandal in late April 2013, and shared that information informally with the White House Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough and some others on the senior staff.  Senior White House staff had further discussions with Treasury department officials concerning the matter afterwards.  However, supposedly no one told the POTUS anything for about two weeks – allegedly because Ruemmler and McDonough agreed it wasn’t something that should be brought to the POTUS’s attention. (For what it’s worth, at least one person who’s previously worked in the White House Chief of Staff’s office for two years says the claim that the White House Chief of Staff and Chief Counsel would agree to keep the POTUS in the dark on such an issue “very odd”, going so far as to call that claim “the most curious whopper I’ve heard so far” about the scandal.)
    • Even Democratic Representatives appear to be losing patience.  Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, D-MA, indicated during the hearings yesterday that withholding information or dancing around questions would result in “hell to pay” and also stated:  “We know where that will lead. It will lead to a special prosecutor.”

    Oh well.  Bottom line:  it seems like nothing much happened yesterday except for rather infuriating obfuscation and tap-dancing on the part of Administration officials.

    I’d swear I’ve seen something like this before.  When was it?  What was that quote . . . ?

    Oh, yeah – I remember now.

    “I don’t give a shit what happens. I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover up or anything else if it’ll save it – save the plan. That’s the whole point . . . We’re going to protect our people, if we can.”

    But remember:  nothing to see here, folks.  Everything is fine; everything’s under control.  Move along.

  • IRS Scandal Update – 22 May 2013

    A quick update on events in the ongoing IRS scandal over the last few days:

    • The ex-head of the IRS personally knew that conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status were being discriminated against by IRS officials roughly a year before the matter became public, and apparently did nothing of significance.
    • The discrimination against conservative groups apparently began in 2010.
    • The POTUS met personally with the head of the NTEU on 31 Mar 2010 – about the time that the unlawful bias against conservative organizations by the IRS began.  The NTEU’s PAC reportedly contributed heavily to anti-Tea Party candidates in both 2010 and 2012.
    • And, finally:  the head of the IRS Tax-Exempt Division will reportedly invoke the 5th Amendment when called to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about the matter.

    And don’t blame the Administration for this unethical and unlawful mess.  According to Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee, an ambiguous tax code is to blame for the IRS selectively targeting the Administration’s political opponents here.  By that logic, I guess the tax code must also be to blame for giving the Administration’s political allies and the POTUS’s relatives expedited approvals.

    Nothing to see here, folks.  Move along.

    Yeah, right.  What’s next – are we going to see a prominent Administration official coming out and saying publicly, “I am not a crook”?