Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know you Needed

Woman Accused in Porn Star Prostitution Ring
A woman is accused in California of making more than $8.5 million from an online prostitution business that claimed to employ porn stars and fashion models.
Michelle Braun appeared Monday in federal court in Orange County and was allowed to remain free pending her next pretrial hearing next month.
In Boca Raton, Florida, the woman is accused of charging clients $50,000 or more to spend the night with adult film stars, models, and actresses, The Orange County Register reported. Prosecutors say she used her travel business to launder the money.
Braun pleaded not guilty in March to money laundering and transporting someone for prostitution purposes. Prosecutors say she's expected to change her plea to guilty before her next hearing.
Braun and her lawyer declined to comment.
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Hacked ATMs Steal $500G From Bank Customers
A sophisticated band of thieves managed to steal personal information and more than half a million dollars from hundreds of New York City bank customers by rigging ATMs in what police say is further evidence of the continued assault on personal data by identity thieves.
Police said the identity thieves installed devices on ATM machines at Sovereign Bank branches in Staten Island that enabled them to collect account and PIN numbers, the New York Daily News reported Monday.
First they placed skimmers on the slots where customers inserted their bank card that could read and store the information. Then a tiny camera was hidden in the lighted sign on the ATM that filmed customers typing in PIN codes, the Daily News reported.
"This crew is sophisticated," Deputy Inspector Gregory Antonsen, head of the NYPD's special investigations division, told the Daily News. "And they are coming up with new ways to steal your identity every day."
The ATM-riggers managed to steal more than $500,000 from more than 250 victims.
They also created fake ATM cards with the same magnetic codes as the victims and used the cards at different banks, police said.
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You never know when you will become a Sitting Target
A Taiwanese man became a sitting target for a snake, which bit his penis as he sat on the toilet at his rural home, local media reported on Monday.
"As soon as he sat down, he suddenly felt a knife-like pain and reacted instinctively by standing up," the China Times said. "When he looked down, he saw the big snake."
The 51-year-old man, from Nantou County, was under medical care with minor injuries, a director at Puli Christian Hospital said.
"As soon as he has passed the risk of infection, he can go," the director, who declined to be named, said. "A snake's mouth isn't always clean."
Local television images showed the black and yellow reptile, reportedly a species of rat snake, being uncoiled and plucked slowly from the toilet bowl.
Snakes regularly enter rural homes in Taiwan and other sub-tropical regions of Asia.
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Brothers Born on Same Day Have Different Dads
Like most twins, 11-month-old Justin and Jordan have a lot in common. But it’s what they do not have in common that has a lot of people, including their parents, calling them a miracle of science.
"I have twins, but they’re by different fathers," said Mia Washington.
The twins' parents wanting to go public with their story. Washington admits she had an affair that resulted in two babies, born at the same time, fathered by two different men.
"Out of all people in America and of all people in the world, it had to happen to me. I’m very shocked," Washington said.
The parents went to Dallas DNA Lab Clear Diagnostics after noticing the twins have different facial features.
According to the paternity test, there’s a 99.999 percent chance Justin and Jordan do not have the same father, and zero percent chance they do. The lab has never seen this type of result, nor do they expect to see it again.
"It is very crazy. Most people don’t believe it can happen, but it can," said Clear Diagnostics President Genny Thibodeaux.
When twins have two fathers, doctors call it heteropaternal superfecundation. It’s so rare; there are only a handful of documented cases in the world.
"This is likely to be the only time that we will ever see this occur in the city of Dallas; it’s that rare," said Dr. Chris Dreiling, who has not met the family.
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