(CNN) — Charges against the Mississippi man accused of sending ricin-tainted letters to President Barack Obama and other officials were dropped Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Felicia Adams said, citing “new information” that has been uncovered.
Authorities now are investigating whether someone may have tried to falsely implicate Paul Kevin Curtis, according to a law enforcement source, speaking to CNN on condition of anonymity.
Curtis said he wants to “get back to being normal” after being falsely accused.
“This past week has been a nightmare for myself and my family,” he said. “My mother has suffered as well as my children.”
Curtis, an Elvis impersonator from Corinth, Mississippi, was arrested April 17 and charged with sending a threat to the president last week after letters containing the poison triggered security scares around Washington.
Curtis’ attorney, Christi McCoy, said her client has been framed by someone who used several phrases Curtis likes to use on social media.
The letters read, in part: “To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.”
They were signed “I am KC and I approve this message,” a source told CNN.
They each had a Memphis, Tennessee, postmark and no return address.
McCoy said she was sure someone else was to blame.
“I do believe that someone who was familiar and is familiar with Kevin just simply took his personal information and did this to him,” McCoy said. “It is absolutely horrific that someone would do this.”
Curtis had been accused of sending letters containing “a suspicious granular substance” to Obama; Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi; and Sadie Holland, a Justice Court judge in Lee County, Mississippi. The FBI said the substance tested positive for ricin, a toxin derived from castor beans that has no known antidote.
The FBI said no illnesses had been found as a result of exposure to the toxin.
Those Elvis Impersonators are a wild and crazy bunch.
The Canadian Mounties, along with other law enforcement agencies, thwarted another nefarious plot by Muslim Jihadists. These Jihadists just won’t give up. Their war is going to be a long war. Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda screwheads used to make references to the bloody Crusades for Mohammad sake! But the Mounties stopped this latest batch of incompetent holy warriors. Throw the key away.
On a CNN chat section below the RCMP terror bust story the Americans were joking about Dudley Do Right. Well our Mouted Cops did it right!
I think a lot of these brainwashed Jihadists are in it for the Islamist Matyr heaven. It actually doesn’t look too bad.
(CNN) — The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are expected to announce Monday afternoon that Canadian law enforcement officials have “thwarted a plot to carry out a major terrorist attack, arresting suspects in Ontario and Quebec,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
An official with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police tells CNN that the plot intended to target “transport links,” but would not provide further details. The source confirmed that there is no link between the Canadian investigation and the Boston bomb attack, and added there was no known link with the Canadians involved in the terror attack on the Algerian gas plant in January.
The CBC, which is a CNN affiliate, quoted “highly placed sources” as saying the suspects were under surveillance for more than a year.
No connection exists between the disrupted plot in Canada and the Boston Marathon bombings, U.S. government sources told CNN’s Carol Cratty.
The CBC reported that the investigation was “part of a cross-border operation involving Canadian law enforcement agencies, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.”
This granny’s ganja wasn’t for glaucoma — turns out she might have been the biggest pot dealer in town.
When cops kicked down the door of an elderly woman’s Oklahoma home on Monday, they said they knew they’d find some marijuana. What they didn’t expect was that 73-year-old Darlene Mayes was packing 4 pounds of pot, $276,000 in cash, a semiautomatic pistol and a revolver, The Daily reported.
Investigators had been following Mayes’ alleged drug ring for years, but they didn’t know she was the kingpin until Monday, KJRH-TV reported. They believe she supplied about 40 percent of the marijuana circulating in the vicinity, which includes Tulsa and parts of Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri.
“That was quite a surprise,” Vinita Police Chief Bobby Floyd told The Daily, an iPad-only news site. “She is in very good shape for her age.”
Cops alleged that Mayes had plenty of dealers working for her — including her son Jerry, who was arrested Monday, accused of carrying thousands of dollars in cash and nearly 2 pounds of pot that he intended to sell.
In Mayes’ house, cops found the supply in her bedroom, which reeked of weed. A vacuum-sealed bag full of the stuff was found in the closet, and bundles of bills labeled “$15,000″ were found under her box spring. They found a pipe and another bag of weed in the bathroom, and a total of $200,000 in more vacuum-sealed bags in a guest room where Mayes’ grandchildren reportedly slept.
Mayes allegedly first told officers that the money was for her retirement fund.
Today the Winnipeg Police received an apology from some idiot who decided to make up a story that he was brought on a “starlight” ride by city cops. Evan Maude, a young Aboriginal male, claimed he was driven in a police car in the middle of winter outside city limits and told by the officers to walk back. It was just a made up stupid lie. Why this cretin decided to make up the lie is anybody’s guess. Maybe he had family, who in his mind, had been mistreated by the police. Or maybe he was acting out a fantasy based on the true “starlight” rides the Saskatoon police take intoxicated and troublesome Aboriginals on.
In my opinion the Winnipeg Police Service does an excellent job. Winnipeg is a rough and tumble city. Tough people from working class neighbourhoods who grow up not liking cops. Many immigrants from Africa and Asia who from experience in their homelands see police as corrupt thugs. And the huge Aboriginal population of Winnipeg. Almost every Aboriginal person knows some family member or friend who has had a run in with the cops or been arrested. Aboriginals make up 10 percent of the Manitoba population, but they make up 60 percent of the jail and prison population. Therefore Winnipeg police and Aboriginal people are very well acquainted indeed.
But except for a few rare cases that span decades, there has never really been animosity in Winnipeg between the Aboriginal community and the police. The Winnipeg police are never accused of blatant racism. Not so in the fair city of Thunder Bay, Ontario. On a CBC documentary the other night it was astounding how the large Aboriginal community in that city is terrified of the Thunder Bay cops. They don’t trust the cops, they are scared at the sight of police cars and they claimed that police physical abuse is rampant. Why is there this difference between Winnipeg and Thunder Bay? There could be hundreds of reasons. Suffice it to say Winnipeg police seem to have very sound tactics and strategies when dealing with minority groups. They appear to show respect and patience, thereby gaining confidence.
The Winnipeg police are also very good at solving crimes, especially homicides. There are very few cold cases in Winnipeg. The detectives find the killers. But the Winnipeg police get a lot of criticism.
On a local radio station talk show this morning the host was talking about the “starlight” accusation and subsequent apology. Many callers accused the police of abusing their power and being unfair in regard to charges being laid. For the record most of these callers sounded like rooming house low lifes who likely deserved to be roughed up by the cops when they were arrested for public drunkenness or some other petty nuisance crime. The criticism of the police also included speed traps, getting pulled over for a dirty license plate and other trivial nonsense. The ingrates who were making the criticisms should realize without the police there would be unmitigated chaos!
One buffoon who called into the radio station said the police should try doing what he does for a living, a garbage man. He says he really has to work, tossing those cans of garbage filled with very nasty things into the garbage truck. But what the idiot didn’t realize is that garbage is quiet. It may be heavy and smelly, but it doesn’t cuss at you, spit or vomit at you or take a blind sided swing at you. I would like to see that garbage cement head break up a house party in the North End of the city when five sisters from one family attack five sisters from another family during a an out of control booze fest. Now that must be fun!
A Winnipeg police officer makes a good salary when he gets to the five-year mark on the force. But for the first four years the newbies get all the bottom of the barrel assignments and likely work the worst shifts, I.E the Friday and Saturday night bring the inebriates to the drunk tank dance. Keep up the good solid work Winnipeg police. You keep the bad guys in their place and make Winnipeg a decent place to live.
Salary Level
The Winnipeg Police Service offers a competitive salary in comparison to other Canadian Police Services. Once an employee begins their career and training at the Police Academy, they start earning an annual salary of $46,835.38 as a Fourth Class Constable.
As a Constable progresses through his or her career and providing they have met all standards, their salary increases as follow:
CONSTABLE
YEARS OF SERVICE
HOURLY
BI-WEEKLY
ANNUAL
CONSTABLE
YEARS OF SERVICE
HOURLY
BI-WEEKLY
ANNUAL
4th Class
Starting
$22.52
$1,801.36
$46,835.38
4th Class
After 1 Year
$24.56
$1,965.12
$51,093.14
3rd Class
After 2 Years
$26.61
$2,128.88
$55,350.90
3rd Class
After 3 Years
$28.65
$2,292.64
$59,608.66
2nd Class
After 4 Years
$32.75
$2,620.16
$68,124.19
1st Class
After 5 Years
$40.94
$3,275.20
$85,155.24
*Above salary schedule is as of July 1, 2012.
Note: Fourth Class Constables are on probation for a two year period.
Winnipeg police tactical unit during a situation where a gunman was holed up in an apartment suite.
Brazil launches measures to tackle Sao Paulo violence
BBC
A new plan has been unveiled to combat rising violence in Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paulo.
More than 90 police officers have been killed in the city since the beginning of the year, many by a criminal gang calling itself First Command of the Capital.
Among the measures introduced are a new police agency, and the transfer of prisoners to more secure jails.
Police say jailed gang members plan many attacks from inside their cells.
Sao Paulo
Behind bars
Justice Minister Jose Eduardo Cardozo announced the creation of a joint intelligence centre which will co-ordinate the work of state and federal security forces.
Despite the sharp rise in violence in the greater Sao Paulo area, the government ruled out deploying the military to the most violent neighbourhoods.
Mr Cardozo said Sao Paulo’s 160,000 police officers would be enough to combat organised crime.
Under the new plan, security and surveillance will be stepped up at ports, airports and major highways, which are used to smuggle drugs into Sao Paulo.
Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin said inmates who were suspected of ordering attacks on police officers would be moved to maximum security prisons under federal control, from where they would be unable to communicate with their hit men.
It is not the first time the federal authorities have tried to break up the prison gangs by moving them to different jails.
In 2006, members of the First Command of the Capital gang unleashed a wave of violence and riots in almost all of Sao Paulo’s prisons to prevent being transferred.
Here is a brief video of the Winnipeg police services Chopper One. The police helicopter was hovering around the downtown area with its searchlight scanning the streets. Almost reminds one of Southcentral Los Angeles.
I apologize for the terrible quality of the video.
Travis Baumgartner must have really thought out this heist. He would get a job as a security guard for an armoured car company. Get to wear a uniform, holster a gun and more importantly be within touching distance of oodles of cold hard cash. He must have decided that an inside job would be foolproof.
He would kill his co-workers when they weren’t looking during a bank machine reload, grab the wads of hundred-dollar bills and flee the scene. He would then jump in his blue pick-up, and to confuse the authorities would change his plates with those of his mother’s vehicle, and then steam ahead at full throttle to the U.S. border. Make a clean getaway! Home free with $340,000! Move to southern California and retire at age 21!
Travis the bank robber
So Travis drives to British Columbia, all the while probably salivating as he glanced at his haul of fresh cash, and made an attempt to cross the border into Washington state. He never thought that his plate and truck would definitely be on the red alert watch list. And he didn’t even have a passport. A Canadian can’t cross into the States nowadays without the much coveted passport. Two small glitches in his plan.
Travis musing about his heist over some beers and a smoke?
Travis obviously played too many first person shooter video games. And he didn’t watch the Oceans Eleven movies. If he had watched those movies he would have realized a major robbery takes much planning down to the smallest detail to be pulled off successfully.
So three honest citizens just trying to eke out a living are dead and another one is in critical condition. Travis will be in prison until his late fifties more than likely, maybe longer. And the $340,000 of stolen loot will be returned to the bank machines. Travis will be able to sit in his cell and fantasize about guns, popping off people, frequenting whore houses in Mexico and sipping margaritas on the beach. With his brainpower those fantasies will likely be in black and white.
And just a thought, any person who applies for a position where that person will be carrying a firearm should automatically be given an I-Q test. If that would have been the case, Travis would be shoveling oil sands in northern Alberta and three good people would be alive.
The suspect in the killing of three security guards in Friday’s armoured car heist is co-operating with investigators, say Edmonton police.
Homicide detectives from Edmonton are questioning Travis Baumgartner who is being held in Langley, B.C., near where he attempted to cross the border Saturday afternoon.
Baumgartner is accused of killing three of his co-workers and wounding another in the heist at the University of Alberta early Friday.
The crime scene has been a challenge for some of his officers who will require counselling in the weeks to come, Knecht said.
“Our investigators have described the scene as one of unimaginable carnage.”
Baumgartner, who had only been on the job for a few months, faces three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and four counts of robbery using a firearm.
Baumgartner arrived at the border crossing in the same blue Ford F-150, with his mother’s licence plate on the back, that police had been searching for since he was identified as a suspect.
The licence plate was scanned by an automated system at the crossing and set off an alarm warning security that the driver was considered armed and dangerous.
“Sometimes you have to scratch your head and wonder why people [wanted by police] would knowingly come up and make contact with law enforcement,” said Tom Schreiber, chief border officer at the crossing.
“Maybe he thought he would be able to get through — I don’t know.”
