Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know you Needed

Store manager called robbers mom
A 20-year-old man was arrested after he allegedly robbed a North Naples cellular telephone store Wednesday... and the store manager called his mother to tell her what he had done, according to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. Douglas Conrad LaFrinier entered the Alltel Cellular Store on Naples Boulevard, Wednesday evening... pushed the 18-year-old manager to the floor and stole an undisclosed amount of cash from the business. LaFrinier then ran out of the store.
The employee told deputies she recognized LaFrinier because they had attended school together. She called LaFrinier’s house and spoke to his mother, telling her that he had just robbed the store, reports said.
A short while later she received a phone call from the suspect telling her she made "a big mistake … sleep tight,'' according to reports.
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Officer fired for demanding free coffee
An internal affairs report says a Daytona Beach police officer demanded free coffee and tea from a Starbucks and threatened employees with slower emergency response times if they refused.
Lt. Major Garvin, a 15-year veteran, was fired July 8. According to Chief Mike Chitwood says Garvin recently failed a polygraph test that he insisted on taking.
The coffeehouse's employees claim that since June 2007, Garvin had visited the store as many as six times a night while on duty. Besides demanding free drinks, workers complained that Garvin also cut in front of paying customers.
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Former FBI agent, accused of planning to commit murder-for-hire
A former FBI agent – arrested earlier this week and accused of suspicion of planning to commit murder-for-hire, home-invasion robberies and financial schemes – will return to court later this month for a preliminary hearing.
Vo Duong Tran and his alleged accomplice, Yu Sung Park, 35, were denied bail at a federal hearing Thursday at the Santa Ana Justice Center.
An FBI SWAT team arrested Tran and Park Monday night in the parking lot of the Ramada Limited hotel in Fountain Valley. The two were allegedly headed to commit a robbery targeting a drug courier
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Man accused of breaking into car… and then falling asleep
Fernando Adrian Rios, 33, of Anaheim, was arrested and arraigned Tuesday after police say he broke into a vehicle – and fell asleep inside it.
Police responded to a call about the break-in and found Rios in the vehicle, asleep, with the car's stereo in his lap. He was removed from the car and handcuffed.
"He could be one of the dumbest crooks we've ever run into," Police Chief Jim Anderson said. Then the chief couldn't resist a joke: "We read him his Miranda rights and asked him if he wanted to remain silent. Then we woke him up."
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Flowerpot blamed for fire
Fire investigators said a fire that destroyed a Mendota Heights home last week was caused by a flowerpot. Fire Chief John Maczko said a flowerpot on the home's deck spontaneously combusted.
While rare, spontaneous combustion can happen to pots with the right mixture of soil, moisture and heat.
Homeowner Dan Stoven said it's hard to believe, but said he's just glad his 17-year-old daughter was able to escape when passers-by entered the home to wake her up.
Investigators said the soil was in a plastic pot that had become hot after several days of high temperatures and humidity. It ignited July 8, and wind helped the fire grow and spread to the deck and then to the house.
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PETA Expands Ad Campaign to Push Pet Message
Animal rights group PETA is rolling out its controversial "Sex Talk" ad — in which two parents urge their daughter to have a lot of sex and "pop out all the kids you want" — in the top 10 teen pregnancy states to promote spaying and neutering of pets.
The 30-second commercial was launched in January in Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears' hometown of Kentwood, La., after news emerged of then 16-year-old Jamie Lynn's pregnancy.
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Mother Arrested in Toddler's Disappearance
A Florida mother described by friends as a "habitual liar" was arrested in connection with the disappearance of her 2-year-old daughter, who has been missing since June 9.
Casey Marie Anthony showed no emotion Thursday as she was ordered held without bond at the Orange County Jail. She was charged with child neglect and providing false information to law enforcement.
Anthony claimed she dropped off her daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony, at a friend's house but has since lost contact with the friend.
The judge scolded the mother, saying she had "no regret or concern for her actions."
"You left your 2-year-old child with a person who does not exist at an apartment you cannot identify and you lied to your parents about your child's whereabouts," said Judge John Jordan. "You cared so little about your child."
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Man Jailed for Possessing 31,000 Illegal Porn Images
Rodney Scott McLagan, 48, of South Arm, today was sentenced after pleading guilty to possessing 31,000 illegal images, most involving human female sex acts with dogs, ponies, snakes, tigers and an octopus.
Although 30 percent of the total images involved child pornography, Hobart Supreme Court Justice David Porter today said only 20 percent of those were actually viewed by McLagan.
McLagan's lawyer David Barclay told the court that his client had little or no interest in child pornography, and no relevant prior convictions. Those images were downloaded in bulk, Barclay said.
McLagan, a single man with no children, pleaded guilty on July 4 to possessing bestiality products and child exploitation material.