Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know you Needed

Man Tapes Woman's Mouth To Make Her Listen
Authorities say a Port St. Lucie man bound a woman's hands and taped her mouth shut, claiming he only wanted to make her listen. The woman told St. Lucie County deputies that she woke up early Friday morning with Franco on top of her, binding her hands with plastic ties and putting duct tape over her mouth. When Franco got up to go to the kitchen, the woman told deputies that she used her cell phone to call 911. Franco was arrested on multiple charges, including battery and false imprisonment. He told deputies that he was not suicidal but didn't want to live without the victim. He said he was only trying to get her attention.
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Mistake leads to arrests
Police in Chandler, Ariz., say three men were arrested in a credit card scam after a Wal-Mart employee mistakenly sold them an empty computer box.
Wal-Mart officials called police after the men returned to the store claiming the computer box was empty when the opened it.
When the officers arrived, the three men fled while allegedly throwing a stack of 19 credit cards to the ground, said Detective David Ramer.
The cards were counterfeit -- made to look like cards issued by banks in Mexico and imprinted with valid U.S. account numbers, Ramer told the Republic, noting a Wal-Mart worker did inadvertently give the men an empty computer box when they made their purchase.
The men, Mexican nationals who entered the country legally, were charged with three counts of forgery and one count of fraud.
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Man takes combine on a destructive joyride
Police in McIntire, Iowa, allege a man who had too much to drink stole a combine and drove it over and into three yards, a garage and several cars.
Dominic Andrew Bjerke, 21, of LeRoy, Minn., allegedly stole the combine from a farm in the neighborhood and destroyed it by the time his several-block joyride ended.
Bjerke allegedly was so drunk "he couldn't talk, like he was a zombie or something," said Robert Starry, whose garage was damaged.
The combine also damaged several yards and street signs, part of a small bridge and 30 feet of fence, said police, who arrested and charged Bjerke with operating while intoxicated, third-degree theft, third-degree burglary and criminal mischief.
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Cat fight causes car crash
Colorado State Police troopers ticketed a woman for careless driving after she rolled her car while her two cats were fighting in her lap.
The feline fracas broke out as the woman was driving along Interstate 70 and caused her to lose control of the vehicle.
The swerving vehicle forced another car and a semi-truck off the road and sent the cat-loving driver to the hospital Monday with injuries police said were not life threatening.
As for the cats, they ran off, presumably in separate directions, and were still at large.
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Too much S-E-X can make you go blind.
Man loses vision after being punched in eye at bar
Police say a Lawton, Iowa, man is blind after he was punched in the eye for the second time in three months.
Sioux City Police Sgt. Tony Sunclades said Scott Bennett, 48, of Lawton was assaulted early Sunday morning at Mavericks, a men's night club at 416 Cunningham Drive, Sioux City. Bennett was taken to a local hospital for treatment, but Sunclades said Bennett's injuries were severe enough that he lost his eye. Sunday's assault left Bennett without any vision because he lost his other eye in an assault three months earlier at the same business.
Ryan J. Brodie, 34, of Sioux City was arrested in connection with Sunday's incident. Although he was initially arrested for public intoxication, Sunclades said additional charges are likely pending.
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Texas Sheriff Arrested in Large-Scale Cocaine, Marijuana Operation
FBI agents arrested a South Texas sheriff at his office Tuesday after he was indicted on drug charges alleging he was involved in a large-scale cocaine and marijuana smuggling operation.
Starr County Sheriff Reymundo Guerra was named in a 19-count indictment along with more than a dozen others people swept up in "Operation Carlito's Weigh." Guerra is charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana; accessory after the fact, for an alleged suggestion he made to a co-defendant to use false documents to avoid apprehension; and, facilitating the drug trafficking conspiracy through use of a telephone.
The first count alone carries a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life as well as a $4 million fine.
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Meth Lab Found in the Middle of a City Street
An abandoned meth lab was found in the middle of a city street, Tulsa police said.
An officer drove up on a traffic hazard in southeast Tulsa Monday night and found it to be a meth lab dumped in the street, Officer Leland Ashley said.
The chemicals had begun to burn into a small fire and the fire department and a hazardous materials unit were called.
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Boxer Wraps His Hands in Son's Used Diapers
Newly-crowned WBC champion Vitali Klitschko doesn’t pull any punches about the way he soothes his fists after a big fight.
The Ukrainian fighter, who won the title match Saturday after defeating Samuel Peter of Nigeria, admits that he wraps his hands with his 3-year-old son Max’s urine-infused diapers to reduce swelling. He says he got the idea from his grandmother.
"Baby wee is good because it's pure, doesn't contain toxins and doesn't smell," Klitschko told a German newspaper after Saturday’s bout.
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Couple sentenced to 7 years in prison after their dog kills neighbor
A couple whose pit bulls fatally mauled their 7-year-old neighbor were sentenced to seven years in prison, the first conviction under a new Texas law that holds owners responsible if their dogs injure or kill someone.
Crystal Michelle Watson, 28, and Jack Wayne Smith, 45, were convicted Thursday of a dog attack resulting in death. The law says owners are guilty if their unsecured dogs injure or kill a person in an unprovoked attack off their property; those convicted can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
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