Society's ChildS


Sheriff

Prostitute accepts undercover cop's invitation to meet inside police station

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© mug shot via KATU
Authorities say a 20-year-old Portland woman drove 50 miles to reach the man she thought was her client after being solicited for prostitution through phone and text messages.

But there was something unusual about the destination: It was the Salem Police Department.

Camcorder

CCTV reveals store's treatment of teenage shoplifter

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The CCTV footage shows Amine Ahnini being restrained after returning the food he had stolen
Asylum seeker says he bit Sainsbury's security guard because he could not breathe after being grabbed around the neck.

A teenage asylum seeker has said he feared he was going to die after he was pinned to the ground, grabbed around the neck and restrained by five people in a Sainsbury's supermarket after he stole a sandwich.

Amine Ahnini, from Algeria, who was 18 at the time of the incident in May last year, was challenged by a security guard as he left the Canterbury store with a sandwich and a few other food items. He admitted he had not paid for them, saying he was starving and had no money.

While there are no official figures, Data is not routinely collected but there is anecdotal evidence from charities and police forces that there has been a rise in thefts linked to hunger.

Ahnini agreed to go back into the store with the guard and return the items. CCTV footage shows that after he had put the food down the guard grabbed him and pushed him to the ground. Other employees and a member of the public helped the guard restrain him. The guard said he acted because he feared the 18-year-old was going to assault him.

Bad Guys

Feds: 'Ex-Marine' with 'right-wing' manifesto built bombs for cocaine, hoarded assault weapons

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A Colorado man, who said that he was an ex-Marine and claimed a "right-wing declaration of independence/constitutionalist political manifesto," built improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to trade for cocaine and hoarded several military-style assault weapons that may have been converted to machine guns, the Department of Justice said on Thursday.

According to an affidavit, federal agents with the Bureau of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) raided the home of Richard Lawrence Sandberg in Jefferson County on Thursday after he provided an undercover agent with homemade bombs.

After receiving a tip from a Denver Police Department detective, ATF Special Agent Shane Abraham contacted Sandberg and told him he needed an explosive device to protect a building. Sandberg, who claimed to be "former Special Ops Recon SS Marine Corps," allegedly said that he was in possession of "incendiary" or "napalm" explosives, but the devices were wrong for the job. The suspect then recommended a "frag" - or fragmentation device - and suggested that he could provide something that was also waterproof.

Cult

Scientology scion: 'Cult' uses the most 'devious, systematic brainwashing' ever

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Jamie DeWolf, grandson of Scientology found L. Ron Hubbard
The great-grandson of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard spoke to Current TV host Cenk Uygur on Thursday night and shared a stark warning about what he called one of the most "devious, systematic brainwashing systems that's ever been invented."

Claiming that Scientology is designed to play on the "narcissism" of supposedly intelligent people, Jamie DeWolf said members are taught to believe that they will soon be able to travel through space and time and remember all of their alien souls. "It's like a pyramid of self-mastery, and as you move up this pyramid you receive God-like status," he explained.

"And then as you continue up this pyramid you become more and more insulated, more and more watched, more and more guided by Scientologists themselves, and then they have handlers. They also specifically direct themselves to acquire celebrities, and that's been a policy ever since L. Ron first exploded with 'Dianetics.' Even Elvis himself turned down Scientology in its early days."

Passport

Tina Turner to become Swiss citizen and give up U.S. passport

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© AFP Photo
US pop legend Tina Turner, who has been living in Switzerland since 1995, will soon receive Swiss citizenship and will give up her US passport, Swiss media reported Friday.

"I'm very happy in Switzerland and I feel at home here. ... I cannot imagine a better place to live," Turner told German language daily Blick.

Turner, 73, who was born Anna Mae Bullock, lives in picturesque town of Kuesnacht, on the shores of Lake Zurich in northern Switzerland, and has passed a local civics test and interview, according to an official announcement published in the Zuerichsee-Zeitung daily.

Red Flag

Doctor accused of urinating on dentist office door

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Dr. Donald A. Holshuh charged with tampering with a witness
Keene police said a man was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly urinated on the door of a dentist office in August.

The Keene Police Department launched an investigation into the incident on Aug. 14. Officials said a man urinated on the employee door of a dental office on Court Street, occupied by Dr. Wirant. A surveillance camera recorded the incident and police identified the suspect as Dr. Donald A. Holshuh.

Arrow Down

Charges dropped against woman who said Durham police officer beat her

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© Takaaki Iwabu - tiwabu@newsobserver.com Stephanie Nickerson, center, a Chapel Hill woman who is at the center of a police brutality claim in Durham, gets a hug from Nia Wilson (wearing a hat) while Rev. Curtis Gatewood with the NAACP, left, shakes a hand of Daryl Atkinson, right, attorney representing Nickerson.
Durham - A Chapel Hill woman who says a Durham police officer beat her during an arrest last fall won a court victory this week, and the officer has resigned.

Charges against Stephanie Nickerson, a Navy veteran who has filed a police brutality complaint, have been dropped. The charges of resisting arrest and assault on an officer were dismissed Wednesday, according to attorney Daryl Atkinson of the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.

Nickerson and her lawyers learned of the development Thursday morning after more than 20 people rallied for her in near-freezing temperatures on the courthouse steps. She had been due in court later that day.

Meanwhile, Cpl. Brian Schnee resigned from the Police Department on Friday, according to Beverly Thompson, the city's director of public affairs. He had worked for the department since 2001.

Atkinson said he and Nickerson's other attorney, Geeta Kapur, would discuss possible next steps.

"The immediate goal was to get these charges dismissed," Atkinson said. "This case, though, speaks to some larger issues of racial injustice."

Kapur said she could not say whether Nickerson would sue the city, but said, "Our client's going to explore all of her options."

Kapur and Atkinson are representing Nickerson pro bono.

Heart - Black

70-year-old charity told to stop feeding homeless in Seattle

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Feeding the homeless is being banned in many major cities in America. Seattle is just the latest city to enforce restrictions on charities that feed the homeless.

The Bread of Life Mission has been feeding the poor in Seattle for 70 years, and now they are being prevented from doing so in public parks without the city's approval.

"It was a service we were offering free of charge to be a blessing to the homeless," Executive Director Willie Parish, Jr told MyNorthwest.com. "All we were doing was just a continuation of what we do on a daily basis."

Eye 2

Exterminator charged with murder in death of Philadelphia doctor

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© Matt Rourke / Associated PressHomicide unit Capt. James Clark speaks during a news conference in Philadelphia.
An exterminator has been arrested and charged with strangling a Philadelphia doctor who was found tied and burned in her home, police said on Thursday.

Dr. Melissa Ketunuti, 35, a second-year infectious disease fellow at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, was found Monday with her ankles and wrists bound and burned, police said.

Jason Smith, 36, was arrested Wednesday night at his home in Levittown, Pa., about 25 miles northeast of Philadelphia, homicide unit Capt. James Clark said at a televised news conference Thursday. Smith has been charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and other counts. There were no signs of sexual assault, he said.

Snowflake Cold

Ice from fire hoses threatens to collapse building

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© Scott Olson/Getty Images
Thick sheets of ice left on a Chicago warehouse are threatening to collapse the building after firefighters twice had to beat back flames there during a frigid cold spell.

The abandoned warehouse at the intersection of 37th and Ashland in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood burst into flames on Tuesday night. Firefighters succeeded in putting out the blaze - one of the city's biggest in decades - but it reignited a little more than a day later.

All the water poured onto the building meant more ice on the structure because of the frigid temperatures that have hit the city in recent days. All the ice has put more weight on the five-story warehouse.

"The last few days have been really tough. It's been really cold and really wet," Peter Vandorpe of the Chicago Fire Department told ABC News' Alex Perez.