Friday, March 31, 2006
MSNBC: Three men charged in sm dungeon castration
"CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Three men accused of running a sadomasochistic "dungeon" in rural Haywood County were in custody Friday, charged with performing illegal castrations.
Investigators from the office of Sheriff Tom Alexander said the men admitted performing at least eight surgeries on six consenting clients over the past year, including castrations and testicle replacements.
None of the men — identified as Richard Sciara, 61, Danny Reeves, 49, and Michael Mendez, 60 — is licensed to practice medicine, officials said.
It's extremely bizarre," District Attorney Michael Bonfoey said in a telephone interview Friday. "It's incredible the amount of ways that people can find to run afoul of the law, that's for sure."
The men were each being held on $150,000 bond at the Haywood County Jail in Waynesville, Bonfoey said. If they remain in jail over the weekend, he said, they will make a first court appearance Monday.
According to Alexander's office, detectives who searched the home Wednesday found medical supplies that included scalpels, sutures, bandages, local anesthetic and artificial replacement testicles known as "neuticles."
Also seized were videotaping equipment, videotapes, compact discs and DVDs that the sheriff's office said had recordings of the surgeries.
Two plastic containers holding what appeared to be frozen testes were sent to a forensics lab for testing.
The suspects were arrested Thursday without incident. Each man faces 18 charges — five counts of felonious castration without malice, five counts of felonious conspiracy to commit castration without malice and eight counts of misdemeanor performing medical acts without a license.
"This right here beats anything I have ever seen," Alexander told the Asheville Citizen-Times, which reported that victims may have come from as far away as South America.
Photographs and videos made at the "dungeon" south of Hazelwood were apparently featured on a locally produced sadomasochistic Web site, officials said. Alexander's office first investigated the house in 2004, but concluded there was nothing illegal going on because all the participants were over 18 and apparently willing.
Bonfoey said he urged the sheriff to take another look at the home after a recent conversation with a citizen who made "strange statements" about the place. The renewed scrutiny helped lead to the new charges, Bonfoey said.
Bonfoey said the law distinguishes between malicious and non-malicious castration, but that the consent of the castrated makes no difference.
"Assuming that the victims consented to this — and we don't know that for sure yet — that doesn't make it a defense," he said. "We can't have people who are not medical doctors lopping off limbs and other body parts."
Investigators said other surgeries performed at the home included urethra rerouting and penis removal.
Each of the felony charges carries a maximum sentence of three years, three months, Bonfoey said."
Investigators from the office of Sheriff Tom Alexander said the men admitted performing at least eight surgeries on six consenting clients over the past year, including castrations and testicle replacements.
None of the men — identified as Richard Sciara, 61, Danny Reeves, 49, and Michael Mendez, 60 — is licensed to practice medicine, officials said.
It's extremely bizarre," District Attorney Michael Bonfoey said in a telephone interview Friday. "It's incredible the amount of ways that people can find to run afoul of the law, that's for sure."
The men were each being held on $150,000 bond at the Haywood County Jail in Waynesville, Bonfoey said. If they remain in jail over the weekend, he said, they will make a first court appearance Monday.
According to Alexander's office, detectives who searched the home Wednesday found medical supplies that included scalpels, sutures, bandages, local anesthetic and artificial replacement testicles known as "neuticles."
Also seized were videotaping equipment, videotapes, compact discs and DVDs that the sheriff's office said had recordings of the surgeries.
Two plastic containers holding what appeared to be frozen testes were sent to a forensics lab for testing.
The suspects were arrested Thursday without incident. Each man faces 18 charges — five counts of felonious castration without malice, five counts of felonious conspiracy to commit castration without malice and eight counts of misdemeanor performing medical acts without a license.
"This right here beats anything I have ever seen," Alexander told the Asheville Citizen-Times, which reported that victims may have come from as far away as South America.
Photographs and videos made at the "dungeon" south of Hazelwood were apparently featured on a locally produced sadomasochistic Web site, officials said. Alexander's office first investigated the house in 2004, but concluded there was nothing illegal going on because all the participants were over 18 and apparently willing.
Bonfoey said he urged the sheriff to take another look at the home after a recent conversation with a citizen who made "strange statements" about the place. The renewed scrutiny helped lead to the new charges, Bonfoey said.
Bonfoey said the law distinguishes between malicious and non-malicious castration, but that the consent of the castrated makes no difference.
"Assuming that the victims consented to this — and we don't know that for sure yet — that doesn't make it a defense," he said. "We can't have people who are not medical doctors lopping off limbs and other body parts."
Investigators said other surgeries performed at the home included urethra rerouting and penis removal.
Each of the felony charges carries a maximum sentence of three years, three months, Bonfoey said."
Thursday, March 30, 2006
CNN: Police: Mom let man abuse son for cash
"NEW PORT RICHEY, Florida (AP) -- A woman confronted a neighbor accused of sexually assaulting her 7-year-old son and threatened to call police, but then accepted $600 in hush money and let the man molest the boy again, authorities said.
The 30-year-old woman was charged Tuesday with capital sexual battery and child abuse. The neighbor, Nicholas Quiles, 48, has been charged with capital sexual battery. Both are being held without bail.
The alleged sexual assaults happened the first two weeks of February, Lt. Jeffrey Harrington said.
The boy told his 11-year-old sister that Quiles did "bad things to him," the girl told detectives. An anonymous tip led investigators to the neighbor and mother.
The boy, his sister and their toddler brother were removed from their home, Harrington said. There is no evidence so far that the other children were sexually abused, he said.
"There are definitely oddities to this case," Harrington said. "I hope we never have to investigate anything like this again."
I hope they never have to investigate anything like that again either.
The 30-year-old woman was charged Tuesday with capital sexual battery and child abuse. The neighbor, Nicholas Quiles, 48, has been charged with capital sexual battery. Both are being held without bail.
The alleged sexual assaults happened the first two weeks of February, Lt. Jeffrey Harrington said.
The boy told his 11-year-old sister that Quiles did "bad things to him," the girl told detectives. An anonymous tip led investigators to the neighbor and mother.
The boy, his sister and their toddler brother were removed from their home, Harrington said. There is no evidence so far that the other children were sexually abused, he said.
"There are definitely oddities to this case," Harrington said. "I hope we never have to investigate anything like this again."
I hope they never have to investigate anything like that again either.
Monday, March 27, 2006
MSNBC: Shooter was called a 'teddy bear'
"
Updated: 4:40 p.m. ET March 27, 2006
SEATTLE - As Aaron Kyle Huff stalked through a house party with bandoliers of ammunition, firing his handgun and pistol-grip shotgun, he had a message for the young people he targeted: “There’s plenty for everyone.”
Several witnesses described the gunman making statements to that effect during the massacre Saturday morning, Deputy Police Chief Clark Kimerer said Monday. Huff killed six people and wounded two before taking his own life when confronted by an officer who arrived within 45 seconds of the first shots being fired.
Kimerer told a news conference that Huff, 28, was “clearly intent on doing homicidal mayhem,” but after searching his apartment and interviewing his twin brother, police still had no idea why.
“We may be asking these questions over the next year or two,” Kimerer said at a news conference. “Hopefully we will find some answers.”
Huff met many of the victims at an electronic-music dance rave called Better Off Undead on Friday night, and they invited him to an after-party at a home in the Capitol Hill neighborhood Saturday morning, Kimerer said. He left the party at about 7 a.m. and returned in a few minutes with a 12-gauge pistol-grip shotgun and a handgun.
Loaded with ammunition
At the news conference, detectives displayed a Bushmaster assault rifle, baseball bat and machete seized from the shooter’s black pickup truck. They said they seized other weapons from the apartment, but did not describe them.
Huff had more than 300 rounds of ammunition, Kimerer said.
Investigators also took a computer from the apartment, but had yet to analyze its contents, he said.
Interviews with witnesses revealed little else: They described Huff as edgy, but not unfriendly, and said there were no arguments or altercations that might have set him off.
“There was no note, no evidence that gave us insight into what possessed him to take so many innocent lives,” Kimerer said.
Huff lived with his twin, who police determined knew nothing of his brother’s intentions, and delivered pizzas during the five years he lived in Seattle. They were “twin teddy bears,” their apartment manager said.
“It’s a total shock,” Regina Gray, manager of Town & Country Apartments, said Sunday. “He and his twin brother are the kindest, sweetest, gentlest people.”
A nursing supervisor at Harborview Medical Center, who declined to give her name, said Monday that the two survivors had been upgraded to satisfactory condition after having been listed as critical and serious over the weekend.
Authorities have not released the victims’ identities, but relatives and friends of three — Jason Travers, 32, Jeremy Martin, 26, and Christopher Williamson, 21 — confirmed that they were among the dead.
Some of the partygoers were intoxicated, but there were no signs of significant drug use at the house, Kimerer said. Toxicology reports on the shooter won't be available for several days, he said.
Still, the attack was “clearly a premeditated and well-planned assault on innocent people,” Kimerer said.
“This would have been so far out of character,” Jim Pickett, the assistant manager of the Town & Country Apartments, said Sunday.
Shooter, twin described as 'very respectful'
The Huff brothers were “very polite. Very respectful. ‘Yes sir. Yes ma’am. Can I help ya?’ How am I doing today? ... You don’t find two boys as respectful as these two always were.”
The brothers moved into the third-floor apartment 4 years ago after leaving their family home in Whitefish, Mont., apartment managers said.
Pickett said he never saw either of the brothers with weapons, but he said he did see police carry three rifles out of the apartment after a search Saturday.
When he saw Huff’s brother as police were conducting the search, “He gave a look to me like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on,’” Pickett said.
Lt. Dave Leib of the Flathead County sheriff's office in Montana said he informed Huff’s mother Sunday that her son was dead.
Charged with felony criminal mischief
Leib said Huff had been charged with felony criminal mischief in 2000 after shooting a statue of a moose with a shotgun at an art exhibit in Whitefish.
In Seattle, Huff delivered pizzas and did odd jobs, Gray said. She said he also would go home to Montana from time to time to do some work for his mother.
Pickett described the brothers as private and good tenants. One of the brothers played drums, but was very careful not to disturb neighbors.
“He was really getting pretty good. He would practice at a respectful hour between 4 and 6 and would stop at 6,” Pickett said.
Several ravers gathered at a makeshift memorial near the crime scene Sunday, including Travis Webb, an area promoter of raves — parties that attract young people to dance to thumping, bass-laden electronic music.
Webb said he and other ravers fear officials will use the shooting as an excuse to shut down the parties.
Pickett described the brothers as private and good tenants. One of the brothers played drums, but was very careful not to disturb neighbors.
“He was really getting pretty good. He would practice at a respectful hour between 4 and 6 and would stop at 6,” Pickett said.
Several ravers gathered at a makeshift memorial near the crime scene Sunday, including Travis Webb, an area promoter of raves — parties that attract young people to dance to thumping, bass-laden electronic music.
Webb said he and other ravers fear officials will use the shooting as an excuse to shut down the parties.
..."
You think you know people.
Updated: 4:40 p.m. ET March 27, 2006
SEATTLE - As Aaron Kyle Huff stalked through a house party with bandoliers of ammunition, firing his handgun and pistol-grip shotgun, he had a message for the young people he targeted: “There’s plenty for everyone.”
Several witnesses described the gunman making statements to that effect during the massacre Saturday morning, Deputy Police Chief Clark Kimerer said Monday. Huff killed six people and wounded two before taking his own life when confronted by an officer who arrived within 45 seconds of the first shots being fired.
Kimerer told a news conference that Huff, 28, was “clearly intent on doing homicidal mayhem,” but after searching his apartment and interviewing his twin brother, police still had no idea why.
“We may be asking these questions over the next year or two,” Kimerer said at a news conference. “Hopefully we will find some answers.”
Huff met many of the victims at an electronic-music dance rave called Better Off Undead on Friday night, and they invited him to an after-party at a home in the Capitol Hill neighborhood Saturday morning, Kimerer said. He left the party at about 7 a.m. and returned in a few minutes with a 12-gauge pistol-grip shotgun and a handgun.
Loaded with ammunition
At the news conference, detectives displayed a Bushmaster assault rifle, baseball bat and machete seized from the shooter’s black pickup truck. They said they seized other weapons from the apartment, but did not describe them.
Huff had more than 300 rounds of ammunition, Kimerer said.
Investigators also took a computer from the apartment, but had yet to analyze its contents, he said.
Interviews with witnesses revealed little else: They described Huff as edgy, but not unfriendly, and said there were no arguments or altercations that might have set him off.
“There was no note, no evidence that gave us insight into what possessed him to take so many innocent lives,” Kimerer said.
Huff lived with his twin, who police determined knew nothing of his brother’s intentions, and delivered pizzas during the five years he lived in Seattle. They were “twin teddy bears,” their apartment manager said.
“It’s a total shock,” Regina Gray, manager of Town & Country Apartments, said Sunday. “He and his twin brother are the kindest, sweetest, gentlest people.”
A nursing supervisor at Harborview Medical Center, who declined to give her name, said Monday that the two survivors had been upgraded to satisfactory condition after having been listed as critical and serious over the weekend.
Authorities have not released the victims’ identities, but relatives and friends of three — Jason Travers, 32, Jeremy Martin, 26, and Christopher Williamson, 21 — confirmed that they were among the dead.
Some of the partygoers were intoxicated, but there were no signs of significant drug use at the house, Kimerer said. Toxicology reports on the shooter won't be available for several days, he said.
Still, the attack was “clearly a premeditated and well-planned assault on innocent people,” Kimerer said.
“This would have been so far out of character,” Jim Pickett, the assistant manager of the Town & Country Apartments, said Sunday.
Shooter, twin described as 'very respectful'
The Huff brothers were “very polite. Very respectful. ‘Yes sir. Yes ma’am. Can I help ya?’ How am I doing today? ... You don’t find two boys as respectful as these two always were.”
The brothers moved into the third-floor apartment 4 years ago after leaving their family home in Whitefish, Mont., apartment managers said.
Pickett said he never saw either of the brothers with weapons, but he said he did see police carry three rifles out of the apartment after a search Saturday.
When he saw Huff’s brother as police were conducting the search, “He gave a look to me like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on,’” Pickett said.
Lt. Dave Leib of the Flathead County sheriff's office in Montana said he informed Huff’s mother Sunday that her son was dead.
Charged with felony criminal mischief
Leib said Huff had been charged with felony criminal mischief in 2000 after shooting a statue of a moose with a shotgun at an art exhibit in Whitefish.
In Seattle, Huff delivered pizzas and did odd jobs, Gray said. She said he also would go home to Montana from time to time to do some work for his mother.
Pickett described the brothers as private and good tenants. One of the brothers played drums, but was very careful not to disturb neighbors.
“He was really getting pretty good. He would practice at a respectful hour between 4 and 6 and would stop at 6,” Pickett said.
Several ravers gathered at a makeshift memorial near the crime scene Sunday, including Travis Webb, an area promoter of raves — parties that attract young people to dance to thumping, bass-laden electronic music.
Webb said he and other ravers fear officials will use the shooting as an excuse to shut down the parties.
Pickett described the brothers as private and good tenants. One of the brothers played drums, but was very careful not to disturb neighbors.
“He was really getting pretty good. He would practice at a respectful hour between 4 and 6 and would stop at 6,” Pickett said.
Several ravers gathered at a makeshift memorial near the crime scene Sunday, including Travis Webb, an area promoter of raves — parties that attract young people to dance to thumping, bass-laden electronic music.
Webb said he and other ravers fear officials will use the shooting as an excuse to shut down the parties.
..."
You think you know people.
BBC: Drunk driver age 14 in court fracas
"Drink-driver, 14, in court fracas
A 14-year-old drink-driver punched a prosecutor and threw a jug of water at magistrates as she was jailed.
Leanne Black, of Thatcham, Berkshire, flew into a rage at Newbury Youth Court after being told she faced four months behind bars for driving offences.
Before the attack, the court took the unusual step of saying she could be named in the public interest.
She is thought to have become the UK's youngest drink-driver at age 12, when she was disqualified for two years.
Three cans of lager
The court heard that on the night of 13 February, Black drank three cans of lager and then stole her father's car keys before driving off in his car to her sister Lilly's house.
Her parents alerted police, who arrested her near her sister's home.
Black later admitted taking a vehicle without consent, driving without a licence, drink-driving and driving while disqualified.
She was also just three months into a court supervision order for other anti-social behaviour offences when the driving offences took place.
Sentencing her at youth court on Monday, Magistrate Margaret Bates banned Leanne from driving for a further three years - even though she is still under the legal driving age of 17.
She was also given an eight-month detention and training order.
Courtroom rage
But when she was told that half of that would be spent in secure accommodation, Black flew into a rage.
Screaming obscenities, she kicked over a chair and punched prosecutor Lesley Gilmore in the back.
She also hurled a jug of water at the three magistrates before being bundled from the courtroom by security guards.
Earlier, with her father, mother and sister by her side, Black told magistrates that she had mended her ways.
"I'm sorry for my behaviour and what I've done," she said. "I know what I have done to my Dad and stuff."
And she's only 14.
A 14-year-old drink-driver punched a prosecutor and threw a jug of water at magistrates as she was jailed.
Leanne Black, of Thatcham, Berkshire, flew into a rage at Newbury Youth Court after being told she faced four months behind bars for driving offences.
Before the attack, the court took the unusual step of saying she could be named in the public interest.
She is thought to have become the UK's youngest drink-driver at age 12, when she was disqualified for two years.
Three cans of lager
The court heard that on the night of 13 February, Black drank three cans of lager and then stole her father's car keys before driving off in his car to her sister Lilly's house.
Her parents alerted police, who arrested her near her sister's home.
Black later admitted taking a vehicle without consent, driving without a licence, drink-driving and driving while disqualified.
She was also just three months into a court supervision order for other anti-social behaviour offences when the driving offences took place.
Sentencing her at youth court on Monday, Magistrate Margaret Bates banned Leanne from driving for a further three years - even though she is still under the legal driving age of 17.
She was also given an eight-month detention and training order.
Courtroom rage
But when she was told that half of that would be spent in secure accommodation, Black flew into a rage.
Screaming obscenities, she kicked over a chair and punched prosecutor Lesley Gilmore in the back.
She also hurled a jug of water at the three magistrates before being bundled from the courtroom by security guards.
Earlier, with her father, mother and sister by her side, Black told magistrates that she had mended her ways.
"I'm sorry for my behaviour and what I've done," she said. "I know what I have done to my Dad and stuff."
And she's only 14.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Reuters: Undercover officers go into bars to arrest drunks
"SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.
The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission's Carolyn Beck.
Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkeness, Beck said.
The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.
"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.
"There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."
She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state."
Is there a violation of the right to privacy here?
The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission's Carolyn Beck.
Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkeness, Beck said.
The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.
"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.
"There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."
She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state."
Is there a violation of the right to privacy here?
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
CNN: Neighbor kills teenager who walked on his lawn
"BATAVIA, Ohio (AP) -- A man who neighbors say was devoted to his meticulously kept lawn was charged with murder in the shooting of a 15-year-old boy who apparently walked across his yard.
Charles Martin called 911 on Sunday afternoon, saying calmly: "I just killed a kid."
Police, who released the call's contents, said Martin also told the dispatcher: "I've been harassed by him and his parents for five years. Today just blew it up." (Watch for the 911 call from the accused shooter -- 1:46)
Larry Mugrage, whose family lived next door, was shot in the chest with a shotgun. The high school freshman was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Martin, 66, allegedly told police he had several times had problems with neighbors walking on his lawn. He remained jailed without bond Monday. His jailers said no attorney was listed for him.
Neighbors said Martin lived alone quietly, often sitting in front of his one-story home with its neat lawn, well-trimmed shrubbery and flag pole with U.S. and Navy flags flying.
Joanne Ritchie, 46, said Mugrage was known as "a good kid." She said she always also considered Martin to be friendly.
Union Township is near Batavia, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati, Ohio."
Charles Martin called 911 on Sunday afternoon, saying calmly: "I just killed a kid."
Police, who released the call's contents, said Martin also told the dispatcher: "I've been harassed by him and his parents for five years. Today just blew it up." (Watch for the 911 call from the accused shooter -- 1:46)
Larry Mugrage, whose family lived next door, was shot in the chest with a shotgun. The high school freshman was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Martin, 66, allegedly told police he had several times had problems with neighbors walking on his lawn. He remained jailed without bond Monday. His jailers said no attorney was listed for him.
Neighbors said Martin lived alone quietly, often sitting in front of his one-story home with its neat lawn, well-trimmed shrubbery and flag pole with U.S. and Navy flags flying.
Joanne Ritchie, 46, said Mugrage was known as "a good kid." She said she always also considered Martin to be friendly.
Union Township is near Batavia, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati, Ohio."
Thursday, March 16, 2006
MSNBC.com:Airline screeners fail government bomb tests
"By Lisa Myers, Rich Gardella & the NBC Investigative Unit
NBC News Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET March 16, 2006
WASHINGTON - Imagine an explosion strong enough to blow a car's trunk apart, caused by a bomb inside a passenger plane. Government sources tell NBC News that federal investigators recently were able to carry materials needed to make a similar homemade bomb through security screening at 21 airports.
In all 21 airports tested, no machine, no swab, no screener anywhere stopped the bomb materials from getting through. Even when investigators deliberately triggered extra screening of bags, no one discovered the materials.
NBC News briefed former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, chairman of the 9/11 commission, on the results.
"I'm appalled," he said. "I'm dismayed and, yes, to a degree, it does surprise me. Because I thought the Department of Homeland Security was making some progress on this, and evidently they're not."
Investigators for the Government Accountability Office conducted the tests between October and January, at the request of Congress. The goal was to determine how vulnerable U.S. airlines are to a suicide bomber using cheap, readily available materials.
Investigators found recipes for homemade bombs from easily available public sources and bought the necessary chemicals and other materials over the counter. For security reasons, NBC News will not reveal any of the ingredients or the airports tested. The report itself is classified. But Lee Hamilton, the vice chairman of the 9/11 commission, says the fact that so many airports failed this test is a hugely important story that the American traveler is entitled to know.
NBC News asked a bomb technician to gather the same materials and
assemble an explosive device to determine its power. The materials for the bomb that exploded a car's trunk fit in the palm of one hand. NBC News showed the results to Leo West, a former FBI bomb expert.
"Potentially, an explosion of that type could lead to the destruction of the aircraft," said West.
The Transportation Security Administration would not comment on the tests, but issued a statement to NBC News, saying "detecting explosive materials and IEDs at the checkpoint is TSA's top priority." The agency also said screeners are now receiving added training to help identify these materials.
That’s not soon enough for Tom Kean.
"They need to do it yesterday," Kean said, "because we haven’t got
time."
Given hardened cockpit doors and other improvements, experts say explosives now are the gravest threat posed by terrorists in the sky.
"
Great. Just great.
NBC News Updated: 8:00 p.m. ET March 16, 2006
WASHINGTON - Imagine an explosion strong enough to blow a car's trunk apart, caused by a bomb inside a passenger plane. Government sources tell NBC News that federal investigators recently were able to carry materials needed to make a similar homemade bomb through security screening at 21 airports.
In all 21 airports tested, no machine, no swab, no screener anywhere stopped the bomb materials from getting through. Even when investigators deliberately triggered extra screening of bags, no one discovered the materials.
NBC News briefed former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, chairman of the 9/11 commission, on the results.
"I'm appalled," he said. "I'm dismayed and, yes, to a degree, it does surprise me. Because I thought the Department of Homeland Security was making some progress on this, and evidently they're not."
Investigators for the Government Accountability Office conducted the tests between October and January, at the request of Congress. The goal was to determine how vulnerable U.S. airlines are to a suicide bomber using cheap, readily available materials.
Investigators found recipes for homemade bombs from easily available public sources and bought the necessary chemicals and other materials over the counter. For security reasons, NBC News will not reveal any of the ingredients or the airports tested. The report itself is classified. But Lee Hamilton, the vice chairman of the 9/11 commission, says the fact that so many airports failed this test is a hugely important story that the American traveler is entitled to know.
NBC News asked a bomb technician to gather the same materials and
assemble an explosive device to determine its power. The materials for the bomb that exploded a car's trunk fit in the palm of one hand. NBC News showed the results to Leo West, a former FBI bomb expert.
"Potentially, an explosion of that type could lead to the destruction of the aircraft," said West.
The Transportation Security Administration would not comment on the tests, but issued a statement to NBC News, saying "detecting explosive materials and IEDs at the checkpoint is TSA's top priority." The agency also said screeners are now receiving added training to help identify these materials.
That’s not soon enough for Tom Kean.
"They need to do it yesterday," Kean said, "because we haven’t got
time."
Given hardened cockpit doors and other improvements, experts say explosives now are the gravest threat posed by terrorists in the sky.
"
Great. Just great.
Friday, March 10, 2006
ABCnews: Man accused of illegally harvesting corpses
"March 9, 2006 — In the early morning of Nov. 21, 2005, New York City police officers exhumed a body from the Maple Grove Cemetery in Queens. What they found in the casket was horrifying — the bones in the lower half of the body were gone — replaced with plastic PVC pipe.
Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Josh Hanshaft took the body to the medical examiner's office to confirm the results.
"The first thing they did was take an X-ray of the whole body and you know, I'm … not being facetious, it looked like the underneath of a person's sink," Hanshaft said. "You had the elbow pipes, you had the leg pipes, you had screws that screwed the feet into the piping."
In what police say is one of the strangest cases they've ever seen, a New Jersey-based company called Biomedical Tissue Services is accused of illegally harvesting body parts from funeral homes across the city and selling them for big profits.
Physical and Spiritual Theft, Say Relatives
Authorities began their investigation when the new owner of the Daniel George funeral home in Brooklyn called the police to complain about the previous owner in an unrelated matter . In a visit to the funeral home, police found an upstairs room outfitted like a surgical suite.
Police say they also found cut-up cadavers, bones harvested, human hearts excised from chests — all taken without permission of the deceased's families.
The police and district attorney say they had stumbled onto a renegade tissue procurement operation, catering to one of the most important and fastest-growing businesses in modern medicine — supplying new tissue for transplants — such as skin for burn victims, new heart valves for patients with faulty ones, and ligaments and tendons for sports injuries.
To procure tissue legally, permission is needed from the donor (for example, in a living will) or the donor's next of kin before a company can harvest body parts. Under those circumstances, replacing bone with PVC pipe would be fine.
But investigators believed they had found the first signs of a criminal enterprise that they say will ultimately be tied to dozens of funeral homes.
Authorities needed to determine how the ring was acquiring bodies. After contacting funeral homes and subpoenaing records, the district attorney's office finally hit pay dirt. They found a signature on a next-of-kin consent form had clearly been forged, say prosecutors.
"It was almost the perfect crime. Who was going to complain? Families didn't know it was happening. The people or the deceased who it was happening to, obviously could not speak," said First Deputy District Attorney Michael Vecchione.
Investigators had to ask families of the deceased if they had donated the bodies of their loved ones. "Some of them were just devastated," said an investigator. "Some of them were even taking the position of, 'Where was the other half of my mother or father? How can I get it back?'"
Members of the alleged operation even took tissue from Alistair Cooke, the host of "Masterpiece Theater," say authorities.
His daughter, Susan, said it wasn't just a material theft, but a spiritual one. "To the families of people whose loved ones have been stolen, it is a desecration not only to the body of their loved ones but to their grief," she said.
Body Parts Are Big Business
It was a crime of appalling dimensions, with 1,077 bodies harvested, say prosecutors.
"Of all of the cases I've been involved with, child abuse and — and then bias attacks and the like, I mean this, this stands right at the top of the line for the debasement of humanity," said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.
Investigators say Michael Mastromarino, a former dentist who lives in a multimillion-dollar home, is the man behind the operation.
Prosecutors say Mastromarino formed a tissue procurement company called Biomedical Tissue Services and started visiting scores of funeral directors all over the Northeast looking for bodies.
And some funeral directors signed up. Mastromarino was offering up to $1,000 a body — and in turn selling them for $7,000. While it is technically illegal to sell a human body, fees to prepare, transport and process them are allowed.
Biomedical was considered one of the hottest procurement companies in the country, raking in close to $5 million. Tissue from Biotech was being snapped up by some of the biggest names in the tissue regeneration business.
Processing tissue for transplant is a billion-dollar business, said Annie Cheney, the author of the book, "Body Brokers." A single donation can be sold for as much as $100,000.
When the first warning came that something could be wrong, it would come too late for the hundreds of people who had already been harvested.
A doctor hired to check records for tissue processing company Life Cell had a small question about one of Mastromarino's forms. Every phone number he called on the forms was incorrect.
"I went through about 10 charts," said Dr. Michael Bauer. "That's when I was certain of only one thing. Those charts for those donors could not be trusted. And LifeCell needed to immediately quarantine whatever they had and issue a recall."
How Many Patients Affected?
The investigation eventually led police to Rochester, N.Y., where Mastromarino had had another office. Inside the office, they found a freezer with tissue in it, surgical tools and drawers and drawers of files.
Police say Mastromarino wasn't just forging the consent forms of next of kin. He was forging the vital medical records tissue banks rely on — changing the age, the cause of death and more.
Prosecutors say when the cause of death, such as cancer, would have ruled out tissue donation, often it was changed.
"They were all changed to cardiac attack. Bladder cancer was coronary arrest. So they all changed to be mostly heart attacks," said Hanshaft.
The tissue companies all say they have proprietary washes that are supposed to kill any disease. And there was another built-in failsafe: Each tissue was supposed to come with a blood sample that would be tested for infectious disease.
But the FDA has now announced that at least in some cases, Biomedical sent blood that didn't come from the donor. The FDA had already announced a massive recall of tissue, and thousands of people all across the country have received letters warning that they should get tested for potentially fatal diseases, including HIV and hepatitis.
The FDA says it is aware that there have been media reports of potential disease transmission in recipients of tissue recovered by Biomedical Tissue Services and is investigating.
There is no way to tell how many transplant patients could be affected. A single body can supply tissue to 50 or more patients. In this case, that's more than 50,000 possibly tainted tissue grafts, and no one knows exactly how many have already been implanted in healthy patients.
On Feb. 23, the Brooklyn district attorney indicted Mastromarino and three others in the operation. They are charged with 122 felony counts, including forgery and bodysnatching. Each of them has pleaded not guilty.
Days before the indictment, "Primetime" sat down for an exclusive interview Mastromarino, who denied he had done anything illegal. He says he believed consents had been obtained by the funeral directors.
"Who better than the funeral director to talk to the family, because they're already talking to the family about the arrangements?" Mastromarino said.
Assistant District Attorney Josh Hanshaft said he has no doubt Mastromarino knew the consent forms weren't legitimate. "You can look at the documents, and his name's on every, single document, in hundreds of places," Hanshaft said.
In the end, a jury will decide Mastromarino's fate. But what about the big tissue companies that accepted those documents and phony medical records for several years?
"It seems to me that if you continuously receive from a fellow like Mastromarino, bones and tissue with either the same or very similar causes of death…time and time and time again, that that has to raise some sort of red flag," said First Deputy District Attorney Michael Vecchione.
And Hanshaft said those companies complied by the regulations that are required of them. "We can say you know, 'Well, shouldn't they have looked into it a little further? Shouldn't they have done more here and more there?'" he said. "And it's everybody's opinion. It's individual."
Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Josh Hanshaft took the body to the medical examiner's office to confirm the results.
"The first thing they did was take an X-ray of the whole body and you know, I'm … not being facetious, it looked like the underneath of a person's sink," Hanshaft said. "You had the elbow pipes, you had the leg pipes, you had screws that screwed the feet into the piping."
In what police say is one of the strangest cases they've ever seen, a New Jersey-based company called Biomedical Tissue Services is accused of illegally harvesting body parts from funeral homes across the city and selling them for big profits.
Physical and Spiritual Theft, Say Relatives
Authorities began their investigation when the new owner of the Daniel George funeral home in Brooklyn called the police to complain about the previous owner in an unrelated matter . In a visit to the funeral home, police found an upstairs room outfitted like a surgical suite.
Police say they also found cut-up cadavers, bones harvested, human hearts excised from chests — all taken without permission of the deceased's families.
The police and district attorney say they had stumbled onto a renegade tissue procurement operation, catering to one of the most important and fastest-growing businesses in modern medicine — supplying new tissue for transplants — such as skin for burn victims, new heart valves for patients with faulty ones, and ligaments and tendons for sports injuries.
To procure tissue legally, permission is needed from the donor (for example, in a living will) or the donor's next of kin before a company can harvest body parts. Under those circumstances, replacing bone with PVC pipe would be fine.
But investigators believed they had found the first signs of a criminal enterprise that they say will ultimately be tied to dozens of funeral homes.
Authorities needed to determine how the ring was acquiring bodies. After contacting funeral homes and subpoenaing records, the district attorney's office finally hit pay dirt. They found a signature on a next-of-kin consent form had clearly been forged, say prosecutors.
"It was almost the perfect crime. Who was going to complain? Families didn't know it was happening. The people or the deceased who it was happening to, obviously could not speak," said First Deputy District Attorney Michael Vecchione.
Investigators had to ask families of the deceased if they had donated the bodies of their loved ones. "Some of them were just devastated," said an investigator. "Some of them were even taking the position of, 'Where was the other half of my mother or father? How can I get it back?'"
Members of the alleged operation even took tissue from Alistair Cooke, the host of "Masterpiece Theater," say authorities.
His daughter, Susan, said it wasn't just a material theft, but a spiritual one. "To the families of people whose loved ones have been stolen, it is a desecration not only to the body of their loved ones but to their grief," she said.
Body Parts Are Big Business
It was a crime of appalling dimensions, with 1,077 bodies harvested, say prosecutors.
"Of all of the cases I've been involved with, child abuse and — and then bias attacks and the like, I mean this, this stands right at the top of the line for the debasement of humanity," said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes.
Investigators say Michael Mastromarino, a former dentist who lives in a multimillion-dollar home, is the man behind the operation.
Prosecutors say Mastromarino formed a tissue procurement company called Biomedical Tissue Services and started visiting scores of funeral directors all over the Northeast looking for bodies.
And some funeral directors signed up. Mastromarino was offering up to $1,000 a body — and in turn selling them for $7,000. While it is technically illegal to sell a human body, fees to prepare, transport and process them are allowed.
Biomedical was considered one of the hottest procurement companies in the country, raking in close to $5 million. Tissue from Biotech was being snapped up by some of the biggest names in the tissue regeneration business.
Processing tissue for transplant is a billion-dollar business, said Annie Cheney, the author of the book, "Body Brokers." A single donation can be sold for as much as $100,000.
When the first warning came that something could be wrong, it would come too late for the hundreds of people who had already been harvested.
A doctor hired to check records for tissue processing company Life Cell had a small question about one of Mastromarino's forms. Every phone number he called on the forms was incorrect.
"I went through about 10 charts," said Dr. Michael Bauer. "That's when I was certain of only one thing. Those charts for those donors could not be trusted. And LifeCell needed to immediately quarantine whatever they had and issue a recall."
How Many Patients Affected?
The investigation eventually led police to Rochester, N.Y., where Mastromarino had had another office. Inside the office, they found a freezer with tissue in it, surgical tools and drawers and drawers of files.
Police say Mastromarino wasn't just forging the consent forms of next of kin. He was forging the vital medical records tissue banks rely on — changing the age, the cause of death and more.
Prosecutors say when the cause of death, such as cancer, would have ruled out tissue donation, often it was changed.
"They were all changed to cardiac attack. Bladder cancer was coronary arrest. So they all changed to be mostly heart attacks," said Hanshaft.
The tissue companies all say they have proprietary washes that are supposed to kill any disease. And there was another built-in failsafe: Each tissue was supposed to come with a blood sample that would be tested for infectious disease.
But the FDA has now announced that at least in some cases, Biomedical sent blood that didn't come from the donor. The FDA had already announced a massive recall of tissue, and thousands of people all across the country have received letters warning that they should get tested for potentially fatal diseases, including HIV and hepatitis.
The FDA says it is aware that there have been media reports of potential disease transmission in recipients of tissue recovered by Biomedical Tissue Services and is investigating.
There is no way to tell how many transplant patients could be affected. A single body can supply tissue to 50 or more patients. In this case, that's more than 50,000 possibly tainted tissue grafts, and no one knows exactly how many have already been implanted in healthy patients.
On Feb. 23, the Brooklyn district attorney indicted Mastromarino and three others in the operation. They are charged with 122 felony counts, including forgery and bodysnatching. Each of them has pleaded not guilty.
Days before the indictment, "Primetime" sat down for an exclusive interview Mastromarino, who denied he had done anything illegal. He says he believed consents had been obtained by the funeral directors.
"Who better than the funeral director to talk to the family, because they're already talking to the family about the arrangements?" Mastromarino said.
Assistant District Attorney Josh Hanshaft said he has no doubt Mastromarino knew the consent forms weren't legitimate. "You can look at the documents, and his name's on every, single document, in hundreds of places," Hanshaft said.
In the end, a jury will decide Mastromarino's fate. But what about the big tissue companies that accepted those documents and phony medical records for several years?
"It seems to me that if you continuously receive from a fellow like Mastromarino, bones and tissue with either the same or very similar causes of death…time and time and time again, that that has to raise some sort of red flag," said First Deputy District Attorney Michael Vecchione.
And Hanshaft said those companies complied by the regulations that are required of them. "We can say you know, 'Well, shouldn't they have looked into it a little further? Shouldn't they have done more here and more there?'" he said. "And it's everybody's opinion. It's individual."
Anderson Cooper: son still waits for father's kidney
"Imagine counting on your dad to come through for you. Sure, he hasn't been there for you most of your life, having been in prison for seven years on a bank robbery conviction. But now, he's promised to donate a kidney, raising your hope just a little.
That's how relatives of 16-year-old Destin Perkins describe the teenager's emotional predicament.
Last year, Destin's mother gave him one of her kidneys, but his body rejected it. His father, Byron Perkins, offered his, but is now on the run with his fugitive girlfriend, Lee Ann Howard.
So all Destin can do is wait.
If his father is captured or gives himself up and still agrees to donate his donate his kidney, Destin says he'll take it gladly.
If not, his doctors at Kosair Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, say they won't even consider a transplant for months. They would first look to other relatives. Mainly, they say, Destin needs a good dose of emotional strength to rebound.
"Right now, the family's gone through a lot of psychological strain," says Dr. Larry Shoemaker. "We"re trying to get Destin back to a regular dialysis program."
The fugitive father and his girlfriend are now on the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted List. There is a $25,000 reward for information leading to their capture.
Posted By Susan Candiotti, CNN Correspondent: 9:48 AM "
That's how relatives of 16-year-old Destin Perkins describe the teenager's emotional predicament.
Last year, Destin's mother gave him one of her kidneys, but his body rejected it. His father, Byron Perkins, offered his, but is now on the run with his fugitive girlfriend, Lee Ann Howard.
So all Destin can do is wait.
If his father is captured or gives himself up and still agrees to donate his donate his kidney, Destin says he'll take it gladly.
If not, his doctors at Kosair Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, say they won't even consider a transplant for months. They would first look to other relatives. Mainly, they say, Destin needs a good dose of emotional strength to rebound.
"Right now, the family's gone through a lot of psychological strain," says Dr. Larry Shoemaker. "We"re trying to get Destin back to a regular dialysis program."
The fugitive father and his girlfriend are now on the U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted List. There is a $25,000 reward for information leading to their capture.
Posted By Susan Candiotti, CNN Correspondent: 9:48 AM "
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Reuters: Farmer feeds corpse of family friend to his pigs
"BERLIN (Reuters) - A German farmer confessed to feeding the corpse of an elderly family friend to his pigs and then stealing from his bank account, police said Monday.
Police ruled out murder and the 29-year-old farmer has been charged with improper burial and fraud.
The elderly friend died in the farmer's yard in February 2005 and the farmer, through his mother, had power-of-attorney giving him access to the dead man's bank account and pension.
The farmer initially put the corpse in a deep freezer, police in the German town of Frizlar-Haddamar said, and told curious locals the old man was in a nursing home.
"From lectures about various religions the 29-year-old knew that Buddhists either burn the dead or allow wild animals to eat them. That was how he decided to feed the corpse to his pigs," the police statement said.
He let the corpse thaw, dismembered it and fed it to his pigs. He put the parts the pigs did not eat into a sack and buried it.
The farmer told police "it was a great act of stupidity" and said "the only explanation was his difficult financial situation at the time." "
Police ruled out murder and the 29-year-old farmer has been charged with improper burial and fraud.
The elderly friend died in the farmer's yard in February 2005 and the farmer, through his mother, had power-of-attorney giving him access to the dead man's bank account and pension.
The farmer initially put the corpse in a deep freezer, police in the German town of Frizlar-Haddamar said, and told curious locals the old man was in a nursing home.
"From lectures about various religions the 29-year-old knew that Buddhists either burn the dead or allow wild animals to eat them. That was how he decided to feed the corpse to his pigs," the police statement said.
He let the corpse thaw, dismembered it and fed it to his pigs. He put the parts the pigs did not eat into a sack and buried it.
The farmer told police "it was a great act of stupidity" and said "the only explanation was his difficult financial situation at the time." "
