12-06) 17:42 PST ANTIOCH --
Three men looking for clothes stolen from an Antioch apartment complex laundry room shot and killed a man who wasn't involved in the theft, police said Thursday. Boise Alexander Duggan and Jeremy Mark Griffin, both 24, and Johntue Felix Hinds, 28, have each been arrested and charged with murder and assault with a firearm in the Nov. 14 slaying of Juan Jose Hernandez.
Griffin, who lives in Oakley, was also charged by Contra Costa County prosecutors with being a felon in possession of a gun and dissuading a witness. He and Duggan, a Concord resident, are also being held on alleged parole violations.
The incident began when Griffin, Duggan and a third person found that their clothes were missing from a laundry room at the Delta Pines apartment complex at 2301 Sycamore Drive, said acting police Sgt. Santiago Castillo.
Griffin, Duggan and Hinds, an Antioch resident, then went to a unit where they believed the thief was staying, Castillo said.
"There were multiple people inside the apartment at the time, which included the victim, who had nothing to do with the theft of the laundry," Castillo said.
An argument erupted, during which Hernandez was shot dead.
All three defendants are being held without bail at County Jail in Martinez.
TEMPE, AZ - Tempe police have called off the search for missing Arizona State University student Jack Culolias.
Spokesman Michael Pooley with Tempe police said they didn’t find anything Thursday.
The 19-year-old ASU freshman was last seen Friday night leaving Tempe Marketplace after he was asked to leave the Cadillac Ranch bar, according to police.
His wallet and cell phone were left at the business.
But Pooley said Culolias was not seen leaving the bar or parking lot in surveillance videos.
Investigators have talked to fraternity members Culolias was with Friday night and say they've gotten conflicting information. Culolias was reportedly celebrating the start of ASU's Hell Week. He was a pledge for Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
Thursday morning’s search got help from four K-9 teams from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
The ground search went from around the McClintock bridge to almost Dobson Road along the lake near the ASU Tempe campus.
A shoe was found along the river bank the other day, and Pooley said it’s still being processed.
He said police hope to learn by next week if the shoe belongs to Culolias.
About 200 students and concerned residents came to the area near Tempe Marketplace late Wednesday night to hold hands and pray.
Anyone with any information regarding Culolias is encouraged to contact Tempe police by calling 480-350-8311, or you can submit a tip anonymously online on tempe.gov.
MOSCOW: A television news presenter aged 28 was shot dead in a city centre in Russia'svolatile North Caucasus, the latest deadly attack against a journalist in the region, officials said on Thursday.
Meanwhile a senior regional transportation official in the same region barely escaped an attempt on his life, authorities said.
The two incidents occurred within several hours of each other Wednesday in the city of Nalchik, the regional centre of the Kabardino-Balkaria region, although it was not clear whether they were linked.
The 28-year-old journalist Kazbek Gekkiyev was gunned down on Wednesday evening at about 9pm (1700 GMT) as he was returning from work, the regional interior ministry said.
Gekkiyev was a news presenter at the regional branch of state channel VGTRK, but shocked colleagues said he never covered any controversial subjects that could offend anyone.
Unknown assailants shot him three times, and the journalist died on the spot, said the Moscow-based Investigative Committee.
"The investigation considers ... this brazen crime was a warning to other journalists who are reporting on the results of the fight against the bandit underground groups operating in the region," the committee said.
Gekkiyev's employer said it was cancelling all of its entertainment and news programmes to mourn him.
"Today there will be no news on our channel," the head of the regional branch Lyudmila Kazancheva said in a special segment dedicated to Gekkiyev that broadcast his smiling photographs.
"He was young, talented, intelligent and beautiful. He is no longer with us," she said in a shaky voice.
VGTRK's federal news report shown in Moscow said Gekkiyev's assailants apparently made sure he worked for the news program before opening fire.
"Two men approached him and asked: 'Are you the television presenter?'" a woman introduced by the VGTRK channel as Gekkiyev's relative said, quoting a witness of the murder.
He answered affirmatively, and the men shot him with an automatic gun, the woman said.
Several hundred people gathered at the young man's funeral in his native village, it said, showing crowds of people mourning and praying in the countryside.
Two of Gekkiyev's former colleagues at the channel were threatened by militants in February, according to the Glasnost Defence Foundation.
On Thursday morning assailants also targeted the regional deputy transportation minister Vladislav Dyachenko, whose car exploded when he was getting into it to go to work at around 9am, regional police said.
The bomb that targeted his car contained about 200 grammes of TNT hidden in an empty beer can, police said in a statement.
Dyachenko was only lightly wounded, and his driver was unharmed.
The North Caucasus sees near daily attacks that officials blame on militants seeking to establish an Islamic state across the region.
In the past, Kabardino-Balkaria has been less affected by the violence than Chechnya and Dagestan, where a prominent opposition journalist, Khadzhimurad Kamalov, was murdered last December
Border Patrol agent in
Arizona allegedly smuggled drugs in patrol vehicle
BRIAN SKOLOFF,Associated PressAssociated
Press
Posted: 12/05/2012 08:24:08 AM MST
PHOENIX (AP) - A U.S. Border Patrol
agent has been arrested after authorities say he used his patrol vehicle to
smuggle drugs while on duty in southwest Arizona, according to a federal
complaint.
Aaron Anaya was on patrol Sunday evening when he stopped along the
international border, then loaded up several bundles of marijuana that had been
dropped over the fence from Mexico, according to the complaint filed this week
in federal court in Arizona.
Agents assigned to the Southwest Border Corruption Task Force had been
conducting aerial surveillance in the area between Yuma and Wellton, about 185
miles southwest of Phoenix, when they spotted Anaya stop along the fence and
retrieve the bundles, the complaint states. It does not say whether Anaya was
the target of the initial surveillance or merely observed during the overall
operation.
Authorities say the task force continued to track Anaya for several hours as
he appeared to return to normal patrol duties.
The complaint says the agent was later arrested with nearly 147 pounds of
marijuana found in three black duffel bags in his Border Patrol vehicle.
He is charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana and
carrying a firearm - his service weapons - while committing the crime.
Asked if he was willing to speak to investigators, Anaya responded with an
expletive, then said, "You guys got me on video," before asking for an attorney,
according to the complaint.
Anaya's federal public defender didn't
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immediately return a telephone message Tuesday. His telephone number
wasn't listed. Union representatives for the Border Patrol's Yuma sector didn't
respond to emails.
The FBI, which was part of the task force, declined to discuss the case.
Yuma Sector Chief Border Patrol Agent Stephen S. Martin said the agency will
fully cooperate with investigators.
"While I am sorely disappointed by the alleged conduct of one of our own, I
appreciate the efforts by our law enforcement partners and our own agents to
uncover those that violate their oath of office, and hold them accountable for
their actions," Martin said in a statement Tuesday.
The crowd at the base of the Space Needle in Seattle began counting down as midnight approached. It wasn't New Year's Day they were anticipating, but the moment that marijuana would become legal in Washington state.
As midnight hit, smokers hit their pipes and joints to celebrate.
Technically, what they were doing -- smoking marijuana in public -- was still a crime, but police looked the other way.
"It's amazing. I'm not a criminal anymore," one pot smoker said. "I can't go to jail for small amounts of marijuana. I'm free to be free."
But a legal haze still engulfed pot smokers Thursday, when possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by adults become legal, though growing and selling it remains a crime.
Initiative 502, passed last month by Washington voters, legalized recreational marijuana use starting December 6, but it will take a year before there are rules for growing and selling it.
"It begs the question, if they can't buy it through a medical marijuana shop, which only people with a prescription and medical marijuana license can, how do they get it?" Washington State Liquor Control Board spokesman Brian Smith said Wednesday.
Posted: Dec 6, 2012 8:52 AM by Associated Press Updated: Dec 6, 2012 8:54 AM
Rating:
Sample picture only (call police if you see anything like this )
TACNA, Ariz. (AP) - A southwestern Arizona man remained hospitalized Thursday with leg injuries in what authorities suspect was a pipe bomb explosion.
Yuma County sheriff's Capt. Eben Bratcher says 31-year-old Kobey Coulter was tinkering with explosives inside a shipping container Tuesday. Deputies arrived at his home to find him with severe leg injuries.
Bratcher says the Tacna man lost his left leg below the knee, and doctors were working to save his right leg.
Deputies serving a search warrant at Coulter's home Wednesday say they found items used to make pipe bombs.
It is illegal to manufacture improvised explosive devices. Bratcher says authorities will review the case to determine whether to file charges against Coulter.
Tucson Police are asking for help identifying a man who robbed a Pyramid Federal Credit Union this afternoon.
It happened around 1:30 p.m. at the bank at 2850 North Country Club.
According to police, the suspect showed a handgun to the teller and demanded money. He fled before police arrived and no one was injured during the robbery.
The suspect is described as Hispanic, 25-28 years old, 5'06" to 5' 10", 160-180 pounds, with dark hair and dark eyes.
He was last seen wearing a red and white striped polo-style shirt, jeans, and dark colored shoes.
Anyone with information on who the suspect is or his location call 911 or 88-CRIME.
12-06) 17:42 PST ANTIOCH -- 
