Small Bits of News You Didn’t Know You Needed

RI man's 1974 traffic violation dismissed

A Rhode Island man has finally settled a warrant issued for a traffic violation in Massachusetts nearly four decades ago.

Michael Young, of Warwick, R.I., asked a judge in Attleboro District Court on Tuesday to dismiss a driving to endanger charge issued in September 1974.

He was 23 at the time. The now 60-year-old told the court he found out about the warrant recently when he went to conduct business at the Rhode Island Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Judge Daniel O'Shea noted that half the people in court had not even been born at the time of the traffic violation. He granted Young's request, dismissing the case with payment of $100 in court costs.

Prosecutors agreed with the dismissal.

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Robber's outfit same as in Facebook

The FBI says a man charged with robbing five Detroit-area banks was caught after investigators matched him to photos on Facebook.

Anthony Wilson was indicted Tuesday, two months after his arrest on a criminal complaint. He's accused of stealing $6,300 during five bank robberies from October through January.

FBI agent Juan Herrera says a tipster called after seeing bank surveillance photos. The tipster offered Wilson's name, and the FBI found his profile photo on Facebook.

Herrera says there were Facebook photos of the 25-year-old Wilson wearing clothes that were worn during a robbery.

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Woman sues police after no-underwear arrest

A trial under way in Portland, Ore a woman is suing police who arrested her when she was not wearing underwear.

Sherri Sandau says two officers took her into custody at her home without letting her dress, and she says they wouldn't bring her clothes or a blanket.

The 47-year-old was wearing only a long tank top. She's seeking nearly $750,000 for post-traumatic stress in the federal court lawsuit.

Lawyers for the officers say they didn't initially know she was not wearing underwear because her top went to mid-thigh. They also say she was secure and out of sight in the patrol car.

Sandau was arrested in 2005 after confronting officers who responded to a complaint from a neighbor about a barking dog and other noise from Sandau's home.

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Man exposed himself at McDonald's

A registered sex offender is accused of exposing himself in the parking lot of a Newark McDonald's and again inside the restaurant.

State police say a woman reported that a man exposed himself to her shortly before 8 p.m. Monday in the McDonald's parking lot. The woman told police that the man then walked inside the restaurant with his genitalia still exposed. She wrote down his license plate number as he drove away on his motorcycle.

Police ran the tag and viewed surveillance video that showed the man making a purchase while exposing himself. They identified the man as 43-year-old Joel Stevenson of Newark and arrested him without incident at his home.

Already a Tier One registered sex offender, Stevenson is charged with lewdness and second-degree indecent exposure.

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Girl brings mom's weed to school for show and tell

An 8-year-old Lincoln Park Elementary School student brought marijuana to school Tuesday prompting a Sheriff’s Office and Department of Children and Families investigation.

The girl took what was described as a small amount of marijuana from her jacket pocket and gave it to her teacher.

“This is some of my mom’s weed, it’s what my mother puts in blunts,” the girl told school officials.

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No sex for dentists who treat spouses

Some Canadian dentists want changes to an Ontario provincial law that forbids them from having sex with their spouse if he or she is also their patient.

The "no sex with patients" decree is part of the 1993 Regulated Health Professions Act, which was crafted to address inappropriate relationships between psychiatrists and psychologists with their patients. However, dentists fall under the same rules.

Orthodontist Randy Lang wrote a tongue-in-cheek article for the Oral Health Journal suggesting how dentists could avoid prosecution.

"Have your spouse wear a disguise, like a moustache and beard, when she or he enters and exits your dental office," he wrote. "Also, at home, be sure to lock your bedroom door and cover all the windows with black paper."

In response to growing criticism from dentists, provincial Health Minister Deb Matthews said Monday she requested a review of the law by the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council, the Star said.

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iPhone app works to block drunk texts

A Florida woman said the iPhone app she created uses games to prevent people from sending drunken text messages they would later regret.

Samantha Deeter of Destin said she contacted an app development company with her idea and they made her a partner in the creation of the Textalyzer.

"This is to prevent people from doing the ultimate no-no," Deeter said. "I was briefly single and would run around from time to time bar hopping after work and would always tell people, 'I wish there was a Breathalyzer for phones.' That's when I got the idea."

Deeter said users of the app create "forbidden" lists of people likely to receive drunken text messages and their phone then forces them to play a series of four games to send the message.

Users who fail at the games are asked in 12 hours if they still want to send the message. Users can also program in reminders of why they might not want to text the intended recipients.

Deeter said an Android version of the app will likely be developed if the iPhone version, which was released Monday for 99 cents, proves successful.

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Man’s Tried to Swallow Flash Drive

As cops searched his home as part of a corruption of children probe, a Pennsylvania man attempted to swallow a flash drive that he had dropped into a glass of water, according to police.

While police executed a search warrant Monday at his Bushkill home, Harold Moser, 46, told officers that he was “really thirsty” and asked for permission to get something to drink. Accompanied by a cop, Moser went into the kitchen and retrieved an orange glass, which he then began to fill with water.

At one point, a Bushkill Township Police Department officer looked over Moser’s shoulder and “noticed something in the bottom of the glass.” That is when Moser reached into the glass and tried to swallow the black and purple item. A struggle between Moser and the cop, that who grabbed Moser’s arm “to keep the item from being ingested.”

The suspect had to be “taken to the ground and Tasered,” police reported, because he “was actively fighting the police, still trying to eat the USB drive.” As a result, Moser was charged with tampering with evidence and resisting arrest. He was booked into the Northampton County lockup, where he remains in custody in lieu of $15,000 bail.

The search warrant for Moser’s residence authorized investigators to seize computers, cameras, and any other items that can be used to take or store pictures. Moser was arrested two years ago for filming himself having sex with his girlfriend while his son watched from a nearby playpen. At the time, he was also reportedly being investigated for taking pornographic photos of a nine-year-old girl.