Sign Of The Crimes

Sign of the crimes Members of a citizens anticrime group in Linesville, PA., have a new mystery to solve: Who stole their crime watch signs? Five signs and poles were removed from roadsides around Linesville in Crawford County. "We don't know if it was somebody trying to get even," said Ed Barker, chairman of the North Shenango Township Crime Watch chapter. "We don't think it was kids, because the signs were gone, post and all."

You're under abreast Michael Copp, 18, Sheffield Lake, Ohio, was charged with stealing his mother's credit card to pay for his 18-year-old girlfriend's breast enlargement surgery. According to a police report, Copp's mother, Gaelene Pakrandt, told officers she had closed the account because her son charged $2,100 in car repair bills. Police said Copp reopened the account without his mother's knowledge after he found the card in a drawer. He charged $2,496 to the card to cover the surgery. Most items purchased with a stolen credit card are confiscated and returned by police. But this case is a little different.

Death race 2000 PHILADELPHIA, PA - Tamika Ross, 26, is being held for trial on charges of the murder of Nathaniel Davis. Apparently Ross ran over Davis' hat with her car. When Davis confronted the driver a dispute erupted and Davis allegedly hit Ross. That's when the mother of five took matters into her own hands and ran him over with her car, killing him. When questioned, police quoted Ross as saying, "He hit me so I ran him down."

Dead man gets 2 years A man was sentenced last week to two years in prison for faking his death three times to beat drunk driving charges. Peter C. Gentry was first arrested in 1991, but an official looking death certificate sent to authorities said he had died in a Los Angeles auto crash, and the case was dismissed. In 1994, he was arrested again and sent in another death certificate. A year later, Gentry was again arrested and supposedly died this time of "denzor hemorrhagic fever" in Africa. There is no such disease.

Soul-mate! not cellmate! Karim Lackey, Philadelphia, PA was acquitted last week of fatally shooting Phillip Shirdan, 42, after his lawyer claimed that Lackey had been the victim of "mistaken identity." Two of Lackey's alibi witnesses claimed they were with him watching the "Soul Train Music Awards" on TV at the time Shirdan was killed in a lounge. Lackey got off free despite the fact that the "Soul Train Awards" were not aired on TV that night.

Driving Miss Crazy Paris - After France's 3-0 victory over Brazil in the World Cup championship game, the whole city erupted in joy. So much that they scared the bejesus of a woman driving her car near the crowd. She panicked and plowed into a group of fans, injuring about 60 people, some seriously. "Apparently it was a crazy car, which drove for several dozen meters, knocking people over on its way," said Cmdr. Phillipe Lavoil, a rescue official. Witnesses said the woman cut down revelers over a 50-yard swath, and then dragged some of them for several yards. When the car finally stopped, the driver was attacked by the crowd before police intervened.

Easy target Brooklyn, NY - In an effort to crack down on the sale of cigarettes to minors. the city has hired about 100 teens to visit some 15,000 stores, licensed to sell tobacco, to check whether salespeople ask for ID. Last week Bernard Weinstein, a vendor at Board of Education headquarters was busted. City officials chuckled with delight when they caught him - until they learned the old guy is virtually blind. "He didn't look like no kid to me," Weinstein said.Inspectors withdrew the violation against the vision-impaired vendor.

"Whacky" news In Albany, GA, a 17-year-old boy armed with a .38 pistol approached car dealer Oran McGlamry, 74, and demanded his wallet, announcing, "Old man, I've got you now." Recognizing the youth as the same person who robbed him the day before, McGlamry grabbed his weed trimmer and rushed towards the robber. The surprised teen tried to run but fell, where-upon McGlamry gave the trimmer full throttle and began whacking him in the buttocks. "I was just trying to do what any other man would have done to protect his business, his wife and his life," McGlamry said.

Yeah! ok Robert Townes, a.k.a. - Hollywood, received 11 years, 4 months in prison for selling about 55 semiautomatic rifles from the trunk of his car on the streets of North Philadelphia. It took the jury only an hour to reject Towne's defense. Townes claimed that two drug dealers kidnapped his 2-year-old son and held the boy for 20 months while forcing him to supply them and their associates with firepower.

Lawn of the dead Sarver, PA - A man fatally shot his neighbor after the neighbor, who was angry over a damaged lawnmower, came into his house and wounded his wife with a shotgun, state police said. Jack Bouch was questioned in the killing of Robert George McCrea, 50.

Matlock made me do it! Jan Steffen, 33, a hair stylist in Anoka, Minn., got five years in prison for trying to hire a hit man to kill her husband after she allegedly botched two attempts of her own. During one of the attempts, Steffen used an exotic method of asphyxiation she saw on TV's "Matlock."

Disorder in the court West Virginia Judge Joseph Trosi is accused of biting the nose of defendant Bill Witten, 29, at a bond-reduction hearing in June after Witten reportedly made a derogatory remark against the judge. "Mr. Trosi stepped down from the bench, removed his robe, and there was a confrontation at that point," said State Police Capt. Terry Snodgrass. "During the confrontation, Mr. Witten's nose was injured."

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Not so lucky after all Ricardo Aldape Guerra, 35, who spent 15 years on death row in a Texas jail, several times coming within hours of being executed, was released in April after a judge ruled that six prosecution witnesses lacked credibility. He returned to Mexico as a folk hero and was signed to appear in a popular Mexican soap opera. Four months later, he was killed in a high-speed