Timothy Cunningham charged at Cork District Court with having more than £3.5 million in cash and cheques

Timothy Cunningham, 59, was charged at Cork District Court with having more than £3.5 million in cash and cheques from the audacious heist in Belfast, in December 2004.
The moneylender, known as Ted, from Farran, in Co Cork, was charged with trying to launder the money by disposing of it through friends and business associates.
The charges follow a massive cross-border police investigation lasting more than three years, which involved anti- terrorist units, fraud squads and the republic's dedicated Criminal Assets Bureau.Cunningham was accused of having £3.5 million in cash, 200,000 (£155,000) in cheques and three cars, all related to the bank robbery.
He was first arrested in February 2005 and questioned for two days after Irish detectives running Operation Phoenix raided his home and seized sackloads of cash.
A series of other searches in counties across Ireland recovered thousands more in cash as well as cheques allegedly linked to the businessman.Cunningham was arrested at his home yesterday and taken to a police station in Cork before his court appearance.The court heard he had made no reply when the charges were put to him.
One charge alleges he gave a cheque for 56,000 (£43,000) from the heist to his son, Timothy Junior.

Never Get Busted Again, Never Get Raided teaches viewers how to buy, sell and grow pot without going to jail.

Barry Cooper a fast-talking former narcotics cop, is best known for changing sides in the war on drugs in December 2006, when he released Never Get Busted Again. In the DVD, he offered marijuana users advice on how to avoid arrest during traffic stops.Police greeted the movie with sarcasm, but no real concern.
Now Cooper has begun shipping a new title, Never Get Raided, which teaches viewers how to buy, sell and grow pot without going to jail. He also gives tips for identifying undercover officers."Now that's getting a little close to home," said Richard Dickson, who served with Cooper on the West Texas Permian Basin Drug Task Force in the 1990s. "That kind of information affects all kinds of undercover agents. It puts all kinds of operations at risk, even on homeland security issues."
Cooper, who has filed as a Libertarian candidate in the 31st Congressional District in Central Texas, seems to have a talent for flaming the fuzz. Even so, his former colleagues concede he was a star narcotics officer.In eight years, Cooper claims to have taken part in 800 drug busts, 300 of them felonies, and seized more than $500,000 in cash. Photos tell some of the story.In one, with a buzz cut and overgrown mustache, he kneels next to a head-high heap of weed. The photo is marked, "230lbs." In another, a young Cooper stands thumbs-up by PVC pipes stuffed with marijuana and a thick stack of $100 bills. A sign reads: Permian Basin Drug Task Force."He was very good, no doubt," said Dickson, who now works as an investigator for the district attorney's office in Yoakum County, about 50 miles southwest of Lubbock. "Barry always liked to have his picture made with all the dope, even if somebody else knocked down a load. I remember him commenting one time, 'Twenty years from now I'll tell my grandkids I got all this.'"Cooper's former boss, Tom Finley, once called his protege the best drug interdiction officer in Texas, and perhaps the nation. Now a private investigator in Midland, he is more circumspect."He was one of the best we had, but we didn't have but two or three," Finley said last week. "Evidently things have changed a lot since then. He's just trying to make some more money."Cooper turned in his badge and grew his hair long about 10 years ago, after souring on U.S. drug laws and being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Agency for smuggling drugs out of Mexico.
He said he confronted DEA agents about the case."Let me tell you the drugs I smuggled from Mexico," he recalled telling an investigator. "The same drugs everybody smuggles from Mexico - the same ones your informant and my ex-wife smuggled from Mexico - they're called Valiums, and those little green pills that make you speed. Everyone grabs a box of those."
He was never charged with a drug crime. But over the years he has been arrested for allegedly making terroristic threats after a yelling match with a woman in a bar in Big Sandy, Texas. He pleaded guilty to making a verbal threat in that misdemeanor case. He filed for but did not complete Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 1995."The last three months of my law enforcement career, I had started smoking pot," he said recently, sitting at his kitchen table in Big Sandy, a small town east of Tyler. "And I noticed the people I had been arresting were nice people. They had a balanced checkbook, their kids made straight A's, and I was like, 'This drug is not making people crazy.'"He advocates the legalization of all drugs. If the laws changed, he said, addicts would receive better treatment, drug-fueled crime would plummet and illegal drug empires would collapse.It is similar to an argument advanced by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an organization of 10,000 members including former judges, prosecutors, federal agents and police officers that opposes the war on drugs."We don't agree philosophically at all on these issues," said Jack Cole, executive director and a 14-year undercover officer for the New Jersey State Police. "He thinks he should be able to school people on how to break the law; we believe in changing the law."Drug laws will be broken, whether or not the law is changed, Cooper said. He's simply trying to help people avoid jail time for non-violent crime:"Americans are not going to stop growing it, they're not going to stop buying it, they're not going to stop smoking it, even if you continue to put them in jail."He said the discovery of seven fields and more than 25,000 plants near Dallas last summer illustrates his point.
Dallas Police Department Deputy Chief Julian Bernal doesn't dispute the public's appetite for marijuana, but he condemned Cooper's tactics."I think it's unconscionable for an ex-law enforcement officer to give tips to criminals. I don't think there's any question he's putting officers in danger, and he bears full responsibility for that."

Roger Reese Kibbe state prisoner suspected of being the "I-5 Strangler" could face the death penalty if he's convicted of six murders committed more t

Roger Reese Kibbe, 68, was arraigned Friday in San Joaquin County on charges he murdered five women in 1986 and a Walnut Creek woman in 1977.He is currently serving a life term at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga (Fresno County) for strangling a 17-year-old West Sacramento prostitute and leaving her naked body in the mountains south of Lake Tahoe in 1987.Investigators have long said they suspected Kibbe in the other slayings.El Dorado County prosecutors presented some of that evidence at his 1991 trial for Darcie Frackenpohl's murder. The runaway from Seattle was killed after she disappeared from a West Sacramento street frequented by prostitutes.At the time, the state Department of Justice said fibers from nylon rope used by skydivers was among the microscopic evidence linking Kibbe to three of the other slayings. Witnesses alleged Kibbe, who was a skydiver, had a murder kit including handcuffs and scissors.But prosecutors previously said the multiple jurisdictions where the crimes occurred and complications in state law made it difficult to press other charges. California law has since been changed to let one county prosecute crimes from several jurisdictions.Only one of the victims' bodies was dumped in San Joaquin County, but investigators from Sacramento, Napa, Contra Costa and Amador counties all testified before the San Joaquin grand jury that indicted Kibbe on Feb. 25.He faces six counts of murder with special circumstances including rape, kidnapping and multiple murders that make him eligible for the death penalty.According to the indictment and media accounts, Kibbe is charged with the murder of Lou Ellen Burleigh of Walnut Creek in 1977 and five other slayings in 1986:
Stephanie Brown, 19, of Sacramento was sexually assaulted and strangled, her body dumped in a ditch. A crumpled map was found near her car parked along I-5.
Charmaine Sabrah, 26, a mother of three from Sacramento, disappeared after her car broke down along I-5 and she drove off with a strange man who offered to help. Her strangled body was found three months later.
Heedrick, 21, of Modesto, was last seen getting into a car. Her body was found along I-5 five months later.
The other two victims are Katherine Kelly Quinones, 25, and Barbara Ann Scott, 29.
Kibbe is being held without bail for a court appearance Monday.

Police have seized 255 kilograms (560 pounds) of heroin Iranian driver has been detained

Turkish authorities say police have seized 255 kilograms (560 pounds) of heroin hidden in a truck at the Iranian border.Police found the heroin with the help of sniffer dogs during a search after the truck crossed into Turkey from the Gurbulak border point on Sunday.The truck's Iranian driver has been detained.Turkey is a major transit point for drugs from the Middle East and Central Asia on their way to European markets.

"In my heart I knew that she was murdered." launched a murder investigation after the partially naked body of a British teenager was found .

Popular Indian resort state of Goa have launched a murder investigation after the partially naked body of a British teenager was found last month on a beach.The announcement came after doctors conducted a fresh autopsy and concluded 15-year-old Scarlette Keeling was murdered, and did not drown as local police had initially insisted. "We are investigating it as a murder case," senior Goa state police official Kishan Kumar said, after a panel of three doctors conducted a six-hour examination of the body. "There will be detentions now," he said, without providing details, though sources say the owner of a cafe on popular Anjuna beach where Ms Keeling was last seen alive is likely to be questioned. But Mr Kumar denied allegations by Fiona MacKeown, Ms Keeling's mother, that police had initially tried to hush up the murder. "Police never failed in their duty. They were right on the track," said Mr Kumar. Ms MacKeown pointed to the large numbers of bruises on her daughter's body to bolster her call for a second examination after an earlier autopsy concluded the girl drowned in the choppy Arabian Sea. The first autopsy found only five bruises on Ms Keeling's body, but yesterday's examination discovered as many as 50, with at least half of them believed to have been inflicted before she died. Ms MacKeown's lawyer also said the family suspects Ms Keeling may have been sexually assaulted. "When a 15-year-old girl is found with her panties and shorts pulled down by the sea and covered with bruises... there is a possibility of sex assault," Vikram Varma said. The autopsy panel did not confirm rape but said that some of the injuries indicated sexual assault, a Times of India report said overnight.Ms MacKeown welcomed the autopsy findings.
"We have been saying this since day one," she said.
"In my heart I knew that she was murdered."
Mr Varma also alleged police in Anjuna beach hid vital information about the circumstances in which Ms Keeling's body was found.
Local politicians have also queried the police, noting that an officer who initially investigated the case had been suspended for covering up a murder four years ago.
Ms MacKeown, from Devon in southwest England, brought her oldest daughter and five younger siblings to Goa for a six-month stay in November. Ms Keeling's body was found lying on the beach with her clothes partially removed on February 18 while the rest of her family was travelling in the neighbouring state of Karnataka.
Ms MacKeown had wanted her daughter to accompany the rest of the family on the trip, according to Mr Varma, but the two squabbled and Mr Keeling was allowed to remain in Goa. The month before Ms Keeling's death, the Federal Government asked authorities in popular tourist destinations like Goa to review security measures after a spate of highly publicised sexual attacks on foreigners. Goa receives about 400,000 foreign tourists each year.

Murder-suicide in Sydney industrial premises at Robertson Place, Jamisontown

An attempted murder-suicide in Sydney's west has left one man dead and another fighting for his life with a slashed throat, police say.Police called to industrial premises at Robertson Place, Jamisontown, at about 1.30pm (AEDT) Sunday found the body of a man believed to be in his 50s.A second man in his 30s, who police believe was attacked by the older man, was taken to Nepean Hospital for treatment of a slash wound to his throat.Police are investigating the matter as an attempted murder-suicide, and specialist forensic officers are examining the scene for clues.A post-mortem examination would be carried out within days to determine the deceased man's cause of death, they said.

William Donald Collins,arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine

William Donald Collins, 24, of Summersville, was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute (a class B felony) after deputies conducted a massive manhunt in the woods at the end of County Road 7400, south of Newburg.Phelps County deputies arrested a Summersville man Thursday morning after he ran into the woods with three other suspects who fled from a deputy who attempted to stop their car for a traffic violation in connection with a missing license plate.According to a spokesperson for the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, Collins was a passenger in a white, two-door, 1990’s model Chevrolet. A pursuit ensued when the car sped away, traveling south on State Highway T at 9:30 a.m.The deputy saw the occupants of the car throwing items out of the window.As the car turned off the highway and east onto County Road 7400, one passenger jumped out and ran into the woodsThree other passengers remained in the car and tried to outdrive the deputy, but the road came to a dead-end. The driver of the car tried to continue on an old fire trail, but the car became mired in mud.The remaining three suspects jumped out of the car and ran into the woods.The pursuit lasted 15 minutes.A massive manhunt followed the pursuit with up to 12 Phelps County deputies scouring the woods for the fugitives.In approximately one hour, deputies caught and arrested Collins as he walked through the woods.Of the remaining three suspects, two have been identified but not found. Warrants are being sought on Gregory Scott Bates, 40, of Alton, Mo. and Joshua Harris, 26, of West Plains.One suspect remains unidentified.The items tossed out the window included a plastic bag containing methamphetamine.Collins was released Friday to the Missouri Department of Corrections for a parole violation, pending Phelps County charges.The Phelps County Sheriff’s Department is asking for help in locating the three fugitives.

Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton recovered $55 million worth of cocaine

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton recovered $55 million worth of cocaine from the Eastern Pacific Ocean Feb. 29. An MH-65C helicopter crew from the Coast Guard's Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) in Jacksonville, Fla., underway with the Hamilton, spotted the bales while flying a patrol of the area.
The helicopter was on its first search pattern when one of the crew members saw six bales clumped together. The crew marked the position of the bales and vectored the boat in for recovery. The source of the cocaine was not found, but an estimated 1800 kilograms (nearly two tons) was recovered. The Coast Guard, along with the Navy, has been searching the Pacific waters of Central America for illegal activity, and it is believed the crew of a smuggling vessel fearing capture may have dumped the drugs.
This is the first time a Coast Guard vessel has used the MH-65C helicopter for drug interdiction operations during a patrol of Pacific Central American waters. The MH-65C is similar to the HH-65 helicopter that is most well known for its role in search and rescue missions. However, the MH-65C has been modified for use in counter narcotics operations and HITRON crews flying the helicopter are armed with a high-powered .50 caliber rifle used for disabling the engines of smuggling vessels.
The crew of the Hamilton began their patrol after leaving San Diego Jan. 29.
The Hamilton is a 378-foot high endurance cutter homported in San Diego.

Anthony Pellicano and Hollywood's rich and famous

Private investigator Anthony Pellicano was the architect of a corrupt, criminal enterprise that spied on Hollywood's rich and famous and was fueled by greed, a federal prosecutor said Thursday during opening statements in the wiretapping trial.
"This is a case about corruption," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Lally said while laying out the government's case against Pellicano and four co-defendants.
Clients "would pay a premium fee to discredit, and in some cases destroy, their adversaries," he said.Pellicano, 63, is accused of running a criminal enterprise that wiretapped phones and bribed police and telephone workers.Pellicano is acting as his own attorney and indicated he would give an opening statement.
Pellicano wore a prison-issued green jacket, gray shirt and green pants. As Lally spoke, the balding private eye watched through glasses with his head rested on his hand.He could provide some fireworks for the eight-man, four-woman jury when he cross-examines some of his former clients and employees who are expected to testify.
Federal prosecutors have released a list of 127 potential witnesses in the case that included Sylvester Stallone, Chris Rock and Garry Shandling. It was not clear, however, how many people would actually testify.The trial is expected to last about 10 weeks.One of the first witnesses will be retired baseball player Matt Williams, who had a bitter divorce battle in 2002 with his second wife, actress Michelle Johnson.Prosecutors said in a court filing they have an audio recording of Williams and Pellicano but didn't elaborate on its content.Prosecutors estimate Pellicano, retired Los Angeles police Sgt. Mark Arneson and former telephone company employee Rayford Earl Turner collected nearly $2 million from what they say was a racketeering scheme."At the end of the day I hope the jurors understand one thing - that I'm not a criminal enterprise," Pellicano told The Associated Press in an interview last month from federal prison. "If they understand that I'm ecstatic."
Pellicano and his co-defendants, including Kevin Kachikian and Abner Nicherie, have pleaded not guilty.Fourteen people have been charged, and seven already pleaded guilty to a variety of charges including perjury and conspiracy. Six of those seven, including film director John McTiernan and former Hollywood Records president Robert Pfeifer, were expected to be called as witnesses.Other prominent Hollywood players on the potential witness list include one- time Walt Disney Co. (DIS) president and agent Michael Ovitz; Brad Grey, chairman and chief executive officer of Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. (VIA); and Ron Meyer, president and chief executive officer of Universal Studios, a unit of NBC studios, which is a unit of General Electric Co. (GE).Stallone and Shandling were alleged victims in the case.Federal authorities previously questioned Ovitz, Grey and Meyer about their connections to Pellicano. Representatives of Rock retained Pellicano in a paternity battle, according to court documents.

Emperors Club VIP.seven-diamond woman arrested

Four organizers and managers of an international ring were arrested after they ranked prostitutes on a Web site with one to seven diamonds -- charging wealthy clients $2,000 extra for a seven-diamond woman, prosecutors said Thursday.U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia announced that charges were unsealed in Manhattan accusing the four of participating in a prostitution ring that called itself Emperors Club VIP.Authorities said the defendants arranged connections between wealthy men and more than 50 prostitutes in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Miami, London and Paris. Clients paid between $1,000 and $5,500 per hour for services.The defendants were charged with conspiracy to violate federal prostitution laws. Two of those charged were also accused of conspiring to launder more than $1 million in illicit proceeds from the prostitution crimes.All four were arrested Thursday morning and were expected to make an initial court appearance later in the day. Welcome to the only social introduction service providing exclusive, beautiful,
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Robert Matthew Bentley conspiracy to commit computer fraud and computer fraud

Pensacola, Florida - Gregory R. Miller, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, announced today the guilty pleas of Robert Matthew Bentley, 21, Panama City, Florida, to conspiracy to commit computer fraud and computer fraud.
Bentley was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pensacola, Florida in November 2007. The case originated in December 2006 when the London Metropolitan Police (“The Met”) Computer Crime Unit requested assistance from the United States Secret Service after European representatives of the United States-based “Newell Rubbermaid” Corporation and at least one other European-based company contacted The Met to report a computer intrusion against the companies’ European networks.
The indictment resulted from a multi-year criminal investigation by the United States Secret Service, primarily involving the London (England) Resident Office, the Paris (France) Field Office, the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Field Office, the Seattle (Washington) Field Office, the Jacksonville (Florida) Field Office, the Tallahassee (Florida) Resident Office, the Panama City (Florida) Field Office, the Santa Ana (California) Resident Office, the Los Angeles (California) Field Office, the Wilmington (Delaware) Field Office, and the CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).
Secret Service worked the investigation together with the Finland National Bureau of Investigation, the London Metropolitan Police, the Westminster (California) Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) Field Office.
Bentley agreed to a detailed factual summary filed at the time of his guilty plea outlining his role in the computer intrusions. Bentley and other unnamed co-conspirators infected hundreds of computers in Europe with “adware” that cost tens of thousands of dollars to detect and neutralize.
Bentley and others received payment through a Western European-based operation called “Dollar Revenue” for unauthorized intrusions and placement of the adware. Bentley used computers in the Northern District of Florida to accomplish the intrusions and to receive payment.United States Attorney Miller observed, “The identification, indictment, and conviction of Bentley constitutes a significant success in a complex international investigation, and resulted from the outstanding cooperation of the many participating law enforcement agencies. The use of “botnets” – a series of computers covertly controlled by Bentley and his co-conspirators to accomplish the intrusion of victim computer systems – is a major focus of computer-related criminal investigations worldwide.
Botnets are responsible for much of the malicious activity conducted on the Internet. “Botherders” or “Botmasters” operate within a group of computer hackers on a global scale, making this computer crime one of the most pervasive forms of organized criminal activity plaguing law enforcers in this country and abroad.”
Bentley is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Richard Smoak on May 28, 2008. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release for each charge. He must pay a special monetary assessment of $100 for each charge.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas P. (Tom) Swaim of the Pensacola Division.