Society's ChildS


Sheriff

Hawaii cops urge lawmakers to keep exemption that allows them to have sex with prostitutes

honolulu police
© Oskar Garcia/ AP PhotoA pedestrian walks in front of a Honolulu Police Department station in Honolulu's tourist area of Waikiki on Wednesday, March 19, 2014. As Hawaii lawmakers considered a measure that would crack down on prostitution, the Honolulu Police Department requested a change that has shocked human trafficking experts and victims rights advocates: Police wanted it to remain legal for undercover officers to have sex with prostitutes.
Honolulu police officers have urged lawmakers to keep an exemption in state law that allows undercover officers to have sex with prostitutes during investigations, touching off a heated debate.

Authorities say they need the legal protection to catch lawbreakers in the act. Critics, including human trafficking experts and other police, say it's unnecessary and can further victimize sex workers, many of whom have been forced into the trade.

Police haven't said how often - or even if - they use the provision. But when they asked legislators to preserve it, they made assurances that internal policies and procedures are in place to prevent officers from taking advantage of it.

But expert Derek Marsh says the exemption is "antiquated at best" and that police can easily do their jobs without it.

"It doesn't help your case, and at worst you further traumatize someone. And do you think he or she is going to trust a cop again?" asked Marsh, who trains California police in best practices on human trafficking cases and twice has testified to Congress about the issue.

A Hawaii bill cracking down on prostitution was originally written to do away with the sex exemption for officers on duty, but it was amended to restore that protection after police testimony. The revised proposal has passed the state House and will go before a Senate committee Friday.

Eye 1

Former cop convicted of FBI snooping now working plum job at IRS

fbi snoop Irs employee
Mohammad Weiss Rasool
New questions arise about background check system

The Internal Revenue Service, already facing accusations that its workers improperly snooped through tax files, has hired a former police officer convicted just a few years ago of illegally accessing FBI records and providing information to a subject of a counterterrorism investigation involving an infamous al Qaeda figure.

Mohammad Weiss Rasool, or Weiss Russell as he is known at the IRS, was sentenced to two years of probation in 2008 after pleading guilty in federal court to illegally accessing the FBI's National Crime Information Center database to run license tag numbers for a friend he thought was being followed. That friend, it turned out, was the subject of an undercover FBI operation and a close associate of the al Qaeda-linked cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the American Islamist militant who preached to three of the 9/11 hijackers and inspired the Fort Hood shootings, according to court records and interviews.

Government watchdogs told The Washington Times that Mr. Rasool's hiring by the IRS raises red flags about the quality of the federal government's background checks and is alarming given his previous admission that he misused a police database.

At the IRS, Mr. Rasool serves as a financial management analyst - three rungs away from the highest-level career position - working audit-related issues and matters. He was hired by the IRS after he served his probationary period.

"This is absolutely outrageous," said Chris Farrell, director of investigations at Judicial Watch, a government watchdog group. "Rasool has already demonstrated he's not worthy of a position of trust within the government - he's already broken one public oath - the last place you'd want him is at the IRS."

Judicial Watch has started its own investigation into the matter, demanding that the IRS explain how Mr. Rasool got his job and who at the agency, or within the Obama administration, made the final call on his employment.

Mr. Rasool declined to comment for the record when contacted by The Times.

The IRS told The Times that under federal privacy rules it cannot comment on individual employees within the agency, but that all workers undergo federal background checks and screening reviews as administered by the agency.

"It's astounding to me, with his activities at the police department, that he should have a position within the federal government that involves a matter of trust and responsibility," said Philip Manuel, a former U.S. counterintelligence agent and chairman of the investigative firm MBD International. "There's something fishy here as to how someone with his background could get cleared."

Light Saber

'Scum of the earth' who punched 8-year old boy, stole his iPad is chased down by good Samaritan

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© CBS
Police say cell phones and other mobile devices are being stolen more often, but a violent robbery involving an 8-year-old boy had some people shaking their heads and a Minneapolis man leaping to action.

Last Thursday, a boy was punched and the iPad in his hands was stolen outside a Minneapolis restaurant.

Aaron Stillday, 32, was arrested and charged with first-degree aggravated robbery. Police caught him after a good Samaritan chased him down.

"Poor kid," said Mohammad Armeli, the man who chased down the robber. "I can't believe it, the blood was all over his face. Could have broken his nose."

Surveillance video shows the 8-year-old following his aunt out of a day care building. What happened next left Armeli's blood boiling.

Handcuffs

New Mexico man in federal custody for threatening Obama over Medicaid card delay

Obama
© unknown
A 55-year-old homeless man from New Mexico pleaded guilty on Thursday to making a telephone threat against President Barack Obama in which he said he would shoot the president, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

Tracy York White of Las Cruces was arrested in October, four days after he is accused of telling a Social Security Administration employee in Ohio by phone that he planned to get a firearm, travel to the White House and kill the president, the statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Albuquerque said.

"In his plea agreement, White stated that he made the threat in frustration and knew what he was doing was wrong," U.S. Attorney's Office spokeswoman Elizabeth Martinez said of the plea in federal district court in Las Cruces.

White was accused of making the threat after he became agitated when he was told a new Medicaid card would take two weeks to reach him after he moved from Texas to New Mexico, according to the criminal complaint.

Bad Guys

Teacher arrested for cocaine ran $1.5 million coke lab out of his home

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© Wales News ServiceMacphallen Kuwale: Teacher turned drug dealer
A teacher turned drug dealer was caught when police uncovered a cocaine laboratory in his home worth around £900,000, a disciplinary hearing has heard.

Macphallen Kuwale was running a 'sophisticated' wholesale operation at his home in Llanrumney, Cardiff, a police officer told a General Teaching Council for Wales (GTCW) hearing today.

The technology whizz had cutting agents worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, as well as a pressing machine to make the cocaine appear to be of a higher grade, police say.

Detectives' investigations also uncovered further damning evidence in scenes reminiscent of hit TV show Breaking Bad.

Sheriff

Flashback Witness: Cops taunted pinned driver after fatal crash

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Oceanside police said they are investigating allegations that several officers laughed and taunted a driver as he was pinned in a wrecked car next to his dead friend.

The fatal crash happened early Friday after a high-speed chase that began on Highway 78 near College Boulevard when California Highway Patrol officers spotted a 1991 Honda Civic racing a dark sedan. The sedan slowed down, but the Honda sped off on northbound Interstate 5 with the CHP in pursuit, according to CHP Officer Jim Bettencourt.

The Honda exited the freeway onto Mission Avenue and eventually crashed into a parked pickup on Mesa Drive, Bettencourt said. The driver, 21-year-old Jorge Luis Lopez, survived the crash, but his passenger was killed, according to a CHP statement.

Eye 2

Flashback The Bad Seed? Boy charged with 2nd-degree murder in little sister's stabbing death

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Leila Fowler, 8, was stabbed to death inside her Valley Springs, California home on Saturday, April 27, 2013
A 12-year-old California boy accused of stabbing his 8-year-old sister to death was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder.

Appearing in a green jumpsuit in juvenile court, he said, "Yes" when asked if he understood the charges. He didn't enter a plea.

The boy didn't appear to be nervous, shocked or stunned. He smiled while talking with his lawyer and several times he looked back at his family.

He will remain in custody while he awaits his next court appearance on May 29.

The boy's younger sister, Leila Fowler, was stabbed multiple times in her family's home in northern California on April 27 while she was there with her youngest brother.

"He's holding up well under the circumstances," one of the boy's attorneys, Mark Reichel, said Tuesday.

The boy, who was arrested Saturday, told police a man broke into the family's home.

Stop

Criminal! Obese baby put on fruit and veggie diet

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© ABC NEWSBaby Santiago weighs 44 pounds - more than double the median weight for a baby his age
A 44-pound baby has been put on a special diet to slim his chubby frame.

The 8-month-old Colombian boy named Santiago weighs 44 pounds - more than double the median weight for a baby his age according to growth charts from the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to the Associated Press.

Folds of fat were hindering Santiago's ability to move - prompting his mother Eunice Fandino, to seek medical help.

"I'm worried about his obesity," Fandino said in an interview with RCN Television. "I don't want him to continue like this so, God willing, the treatment they're going to give him for his heart will work to reduce his weight."

The type of treatment Santiago will receive for his heart is unclear, but doctors are trying to get him down to 17 pounds by weaning him off formula and adding more fruit and veggies to his diet, the AP reported.

Pistol

Feds raid gun parts stores against protective court order

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With a search warrant in hand, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confiscated computers, customer lists and the questionable polymer 80 percent lower receivers from four Ares Armor store locations throughout San Diego County over the weekend.

"There were women and children inside our retail establishment when the (ATF) agents came in with guns drawn," said Ares Armor Executive Officer Dimitrios Karras. "They came into our manufacturing facility with their guns up like they were invading Iraq."

The raid happened three days after Ares owner was granted a temporary restraining by a judge to stop ATF agents from searching their stores.

The ATF confirmed they were investigating the stores for federal firearm violations.

The case stems from the sale of what is called an 80% lower receiver, which gun enthusiast use to build their own rifles and guns.

Cult

Westboro Baptist Church hatemonger, Fred Phelps Sr., dead at 84

Fred Phelps
© unknownFred Phelps, Westboro Baptist Church founder, dies at 84: he founded Westboro Baptist Church, the Kansas congregation known for its anti-gay picketing.
Fred Phelps Sr., a fire-and-brimstone preacher whose anti-gay picketing at military funerals inflamed the nation and drew international scorn but was protected by the Supreme Court as an exercise in free speech, died March 19 at a hospice in Topeka, Kan. He was 84.

The Topeka-based organization Rev. Phelps founded, Westboro Baptist Church, announced the death on its Web site but did not provide the cause. The message said he had "Gone The Way of All Flesh."

Rev. Phelps was an ordained Baptist minister, a disbarred Kansas lawyer and, according to a BBC documentary, the patriarch of the "most hated family in America."

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a prominent civil rights group, described his Westboro congregation as a "family-based cult" and "arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America."

The expression of Rev. Phelps's bigotry even managed to offend the conscience of the Ku Klux Klan, which staged protests to counter Westboro's demonstrations at military funerals.