Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know you Needed

Man Uses Permanent Marker to Fool Photo Radar
A 44-year-old Arizona man allegedly tried to fool the photo radars that record a vehicle's speed. It worked for a while — until the police caught up with him.
Timothy Welsh used a permanent marker to change both the 3 and the 9 on his license plate to an 8, so when his vehicle got nabbed for speeding, the ticket was sent to someone else.
At first, Scottsdale Sgt. Jim Butera thought it was a mistake when a Phoenix man called him complaining he had gotten two speeding tickets mailed to him, but he wasn't the one speeding.
When Butera looked at the photo and saw the man making an obscene gesture at the camera he thought, "[we] need to do some more investigating."
"He didn't think it was that big of a deal," Butera told the station. "But he admitted to everything that we accused him of."
Welsh allegedly was going 14 mph over the speed limit and would have had to pay a $175 fine, but now, he's facing a $1,500 fine and up to a year in jail.
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Ex-Diplomat: Sex With Teens OK in Brazil
An ex-diplomat convicted of having sex with teenage girls in the Congo and Brazil and taping the encounters is asking a judge for leniency, claiming that cultural differences in those countries make sex with girls more acceptable.
Gons G. Nachman, 42, pleaded guilty in April to possessing child pornography after admitting that he had sex with 14- to 17-year-old girls while serving as a consular officer in Brazil and Congo and documenting the encounters in pictures and videos.
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Tests Show No Drugs in Cookies; Teen Released
A teenager jailed on accusations that he delivered drug-laced cookies to a dozen police stations was released Thursday after tests showed no drugs in goodies taken to two departments.
Blue Mound and Lake Worth police said tests by the Tarrant County medical examiner showed there were no controlled substances in cookies delivered this week by Christian V. Phillips, 18, who had been jailed in Lake Worth on $75,000 bond on a charge of tampering with a consumer product.
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Man sues church over spiritual fall
A man says he was so consumed by the spirit of God that he fell and hit his head while worshiping. Now he wants Lakewind Church to pay $2.5 million for medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. Matt Lincoln says he is suing after the church's insurance company denied his claim for medical bills. The 57-year-old has had two surgeries since the June 2007 injury but still feels pain in his back and legs. He says he was asking God to have "a real experience" while praying. Lincoln says he has fallen from the force of the spirit before but has always been caught by someone. Lawyers for the church say other congregants saw him on the floor laughing after his fall. They say he failed to look out for his own safety.
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Police Officer Charged With Spanking Woman at Party
A central Florida police sergeant is free on bond after being charged with stripping, fondling and spanking a woman against her will. Ocoee police Sgt. Thomas Maroney was released from the Orange County jail late Thursday. His alleged victim told investigators the assault happened during a party earlier in the week.
The woman said she and Maroney were walking around an apartment complex pond when he asked her for oral sex, pulled down her pants, touched her genitals, pinned her across his legs and spanked her on her bare backside with his hand -- then a leather belt. A sheriff's report says Maroney admitted he spanked the woman but said it was consensual.
The woman's attorney, Mark Lippman, disputes that, saying: "He brutalized her."
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Man Impersonates Police Chief To Get Free Car Wash
A South Florida man is accused of impersonating a police officer in order to get a free car wash.
Investigators said Arthur Wollman, 61, walked into a Chevron station in Sunny Isles Beach on July 3 with a gun in his waistband and flashed a badge. Wollman claimed to be the city's police chief and threatened to have the clerk fired, police said.
When officers arrived, Wollman allegedly told the officers he was the commander of the state terrorism task force.
Police said they found several badges inside Wollman's car.
Wollman was arrested and charged with falsely impersonating a police officer.
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Police nab suspect in his skivvies
Police in Hartford, Wis., said they have arrested a man who allegedly ditched his clothes after a robbery to make a getaway wearing only his underwear.
Police said the 37-year-old man, whose name was not released, allegedly robbed a convenience store with a fake handgun after purchasing a pack of cigarettes, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Thursday.
The robber wore a pair of blue coveralls, but police said they discovered the man riding a bicycle wearing only his underwear, with the unopened pack of cigarettes and $412 -- the exact amount taken from the store -- stuffed inside.
In between the bike path where the man was found by police and the convenience store officers discovered a pair of blue coveralls and a fake handgun. Police said the suspect told them he was robbed by a man who only wanted his clothing and let him keep the money.
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Prison employee charged with bringing drugs into prison
An employee of the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison is facing charges for allegedly bringing drugs into the prison.Michael John Prado, 39, of Fort Madison was arrested Wednesday. He is facing a charge of conspiracy, a Class D felony that carries a possible five-year prison term, according to a news release by the Lee County Narcotics Task Force.
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Woman accused of altering license plate
A Clear Lake woman is accused of taping another car’s registration sticker to her own car. Police say 74-year-old Delores Opat-Ludwig was stopped by police on Wednesday. A check of state transportation records showed no record of the license plate that was on the car.
Police say officers also discovered the registration sticker had been attached to the license plate with Scotch tape. They also learned the tag had been issued to another vehicle registered to a Mason City couple. Police say Opat-Ludwig’s car has not been registered since 1998.
She was cited for drunken driving, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, no proof of insurance, no driver’s license, expired registration and improper registration.