The Daily Dumb Crook Award (Scott Rodrigue)

METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Authorities in Louisiana say they tracked a man accused of stealing drugs from a pharmacy because he left behind a pickax he used to break in — and forgot to remove the price tag.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Col. John Fortunato says the sticker included a bar code indicating when and where the pickax was bought. The store had video of the purchase.

Fortunato tells The Times-Picayune (http://bit.ly/ZBcFaW ) that a store near the pharmacy had surveillance video from the night of the burglary, showing the same man and a vehicle license plate.
Fortunato says drugs from the pharmacy were found during a search of 43-year-old Scott Rodrigue's home.

Rodrigue was booked with pharmacy burglary and drug possession and freed on $70,000 bond. He does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached.  He does not have a fully functioning brain either and probably won't do any time.

New Jersey Roachmobile

Riders report New Jersey bus filled with roaches

Mar 15 2013 

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Riders on a New York City-bound bus from New Jersey are reporting an invasion of cockroaches.

A passenger on a Manhattan-bound bus from Atlantic City tells WABC-TV (http://bit.ly/ZGlkaD ) that roaches started coming out of the vents inside the bus just 15 minutes into their Friday afternoon journey.

The passenger reports roaches could be seen crawling on seats, windows, side panels and even on people.

Greyhound said the 48 passengers on board were moved to a new bus, and the bus they had been riding is being examined to determine where the bugs came from.

Caring, Sensitive Nurse Charged

ANACONDA — A former correctional facility nurse has pleaded not guilty to 53 crimes, including having sex with inmates.
Tisha Ann Brunell, 45, of Anaconda, appeared in court March 8. She is charged with four counts of felony sexual intercourse without consent, six counts of felony transfer of illegal articles and 43 counts of misdemeanor unauthorized communications, court documents said.
The alleged crimes involve three inmates, who under Montana law are incapable of consenting to sexual intercourse.

Nurse Suspect Brunell

The alleged crimes occurred about a year ago when Brunell was a licensed practical nurse for Community, Counseling and Correctional Services, or CCCS, and worked between the WATCh and START facilities near Anaconda, documents show. START is for felony offenders who violated parole conditions; WATCh is a treatment program for DUI offenders.
An internal investigation began in March 2012 when Brunell was suspended from work for violating a CCCS policy after she tried to visit a WATCh Program graduate who had moved onto Montana State Prison, court records said.
While suspended, court records said, START staff discovered Brunell had been in the facility’s medical area for several hours one evening, along with two inmates. After reviewing phone records and listening to calls, administrators overheard Brunell having a sexually explicit conversation with an inmate, documents show.
She resigned after being confronted about 67 phone calls that had been made from an inmate number to a number registered to Brunell. Shortly afterwards, Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Law Enforcement began a criminal investigation.
Charging documents state that, among other incidents, an inmate reported that he went to have a blood pressure check at the START facility and ended up having a sexual encounter with Brunell.
Further investigation revealed that over a one-month period Brunell routinely accepted collect calls from inmates that turned into sexually explicit conversations, court records said. The phone calls and interviews revealed she had sex with inmates and in some cases agreed to provide them with tobacco, prescription painkillers, antipsychotic medications, an iPod and other items.

Bikers Bring California Interstate to Standstill

WEST COVINA, Calif. (AP) — Four men — including the would-be groom — have been arrested for a marriage proposal stunt in which hundreds of motorcycles blocked a Southern California freeway.
The San Gabriel Valley Tribune (http://bit.ly/YpnIS8 ) reports four people were arrested last week on suspicion of being a public nuisance and taking part in an unlawful assembly. Three were released on bail and one remains jailed Tuesday.

As many as 250 motorcycles blocked the eastbound Interstate 10 in West Covina on Jan. 27 so that a biker could propose to his girlfriend. She accepted. At one point, a bike sent up a cloud of pink smoke.
The stunt was captured on video and went viral on the Internet.
It only lasted about two minutes but authorities weren't amused.  They are paid to act stiff and break up  any fun

Try going to Sturgis, South Dakota's annual biker gathering to see 1,000's of bikes coming from all over the country, and many sexist exhibitions (wet T-shirt competitions) which are still very popular among bikers and their women.

Chinese River a Pig Sty

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese officials say they have fished out 900 dead pigs from a Shanghai river that is a water source for city residents.
Officials are investigating where the pigs came from. A statement posted Saturday on the city's Agriculture Committee's website says they haven't found any evidence that the pigs were dumped into the river or of any animal epidemic.

The statement says the city and Songjiang district governments started retrieving the pigs on Friday night. By late Saturday afternoon they had recovered and disposed of more than 900.  The statement says the water and environmental protection bureaus are ramping up monitoring of the river's water quality.

Two Year Neglect of New Mexico Inmate

Man who spent two years in solitary confinement without trial awarded $15.5 million.

By Daniel S Levine, 3/8/2013

A man who spent two years in solitary confinement following a DWI charge without trial has been awarded $15.5 million.
Stephen Slevin, 58, was arrested in New Mexico in 2005 for driving while intoxicated and driving a stolen car, reports The Los Angeles Times.
The car belonged to a friend and was loaned to Slevin.  He was not released from solitary confinement until 2007.

While in solitary, his attorney, Matt Coyte, said that his health deteriorated and he was even forced to pull out his own tooth. After a year and a half, he weighed 133 pounds, had long hair and a messy beard.  His toenails had grown around his feet. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he was “almost back to being a normal human being” after two weeks, Coyte said. But for some unknown reason, in May 2007, he was sent back to solitary for another month before finally being released.

Prosecutors didn’t end up even charging him, finding him incompetent to go to trial, notes Coyte.
“He was a pretrial detainee the entire time,” his attorney told the LA Times. “He was never convicted.”
According to NBC News, Slevin was first in the news in January 2012, when a federal jury awarded him $22 million for the ordeal. Dona Ana County was appealing the ruling, but finally agreed to a $15.5 million settlement this week.  The photo on right is Mr.Slevin when first detained; the photo on left was taken after 2 years in solitary confinement

“The Board of County Commissioners deeply regrets the harm Mr. Slevin suffered during this period,” the county said Thursday.  In a self-serving statement a spokesperson for the County said: “Over the past seven years, Dona Ana County has made significant improvements to detention center staffing, training, facilities and procedures. Dona Ana County is committed to ensuring consistent and appropriate treatment of every detainee in its care.”

Severe Nicotine Addiction of Polish Man

Pole taken to hospital with screwdriver in head

Mar 08 2013 

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish doctors say a 25-year-old man has undergone a three-hour operation to remove a screwdriver lodged about five centimeters (two inches) into his head.
Dr. Jan Kochanowicz, one of the doctors who treated the man in the Polish city of Bialystok, said the man apparently fell and lost consciousness, but does not remember that.
When he regained consciousness he was at first aware only of pain in a hand before realizing something else was wrong. He walked to his car, looked in a mirror and noticed the screwdriver, penetrating his forehead just above his right eye.
Kochanowicz told the station TVN24 the man smoked a cigarette before calling a neighbor who got him to the hospital.

The screwdriver did not damage the man's eyes or brain.  The screwdriver was recovered in good condition.

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