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World's Oldest Criminals

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Anonymous

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Oldest U.S. bank robber gets 12 years

LUBBOCK, Texas (Reuters) -- The oldest bank robber in the United States, 92-year-old J.L. Hunter Rountree, was sentenced to over 12 years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to robbing $1,999 from a Texas bank last August.

Rountree, who goes by the nickname "Red", said he robbed his first bank when he was about 80 because he wanted revenge against banks for sending him into a financial crisis.

Rountree was sentenced to 151 months in a federal prison, which he will serve at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

He appeared in court in a loose-fitting prison outfit and shackles on his ankles. He had a cane to help him walk. Rountree listened to the proceedings through headphones because he is hard of hearing.

Police said Rountree, who was not armed, handed two envelopes to a teller at a bank in Abilene, Texas. One envelope had the word "robbery" written in red ink. Rountree told the teller to stuff money into the other envelope, or else she would get hurt.

After asking Rountree twice if he was kidding, she put the money into the envelope and Rountree then made off in a 1996 Buick sedan, police said.

A bank employee noted the license plate of the vehicle and Rountree was pulled over by police on a highway about 20 miles (32 km) from the crime scene, 30 minutes after the robbery.

Rountree left a prison in Florida, where he was the oldest prisoner in the state, about a year and a half ago after serving a three-year sentence imposed on him for a 1999 bank robbery in Pensacola.

He was caught holding up a bank in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1998 when he was 87, and given three years' probation.

Federal officials said they had no records to prove it, but they are fairly certain Rountree was the oldest person ever to rob a bank in the United States.

In a prison interview with the Orlando Sentinel in 2001, Rountree said he had been a businessman in Texas but had fallen on hard times. He also told the paper that prison food was better than what was served at some nursing homes.

"A Corpus Christi (Texas) bank that I'd done business with had forced me into bankruptcy. I have never liked banks since," he told the paper. "I decided I would get even. And I have."

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Southwest/01/23/oldest.bank.robber.reut/index.html
 
For misbehaving old folk (I'm sure I've post similar stories I'm just tyring to track them down):

92-Year-Old 'Career Criminal' Busted On Bourbon

TheNewOrleansChannel.com
Updated: 03:08 PM PT April12, 2004

5:02 p.m. CDT April 9, 2004 - A 92-year-old man with a rap sheet that dates back to the 1930s was busted Thursday for alleged illegal gambling and illegal distribution of prescription drugs in the French Quarter.

After a months-long investigation by State Police, Mitch Schwartz, who faces racketeering and other charges, was arrested at his T-shirt shop at 335 Bourbon St.

Police said Schwartz's operation involved a game called Razzle that lured tourists with promises of free gifts and left them with empty wallets.

Police said Schwartz, who once was pardoned by former Gov. Edwin Edwards, is a legend in New Orleans' criminal community.

"His arrests date back to 1930, and that's just his adult arrests," said Trooper Tony Graffeo, with the State Police Gaming Division. "His rap sheet is as tall as I am. He's got arrests for white slavery, machine guns, possible links to organized crime."

Graffeo said Schwartz used his shop as a front for a huge illegal gambling operation.

"It's approximately about, a little over a $1 million-a-year enterprise -- just at that little small 335 Bourbon St.," Graffeo said.

To win at Razzle, a player must get 100 points – something police said never happens because the dealers always miscount and manipulate the numbers, in effect stealing the player's money.

"I asked them how many people win, and the witness looked at me and said, 'Never. They never win,'" Graffeo said. "Some people lost up to $18,000. We have witnesses we have approached and interviewed that lost $1,500, $1,300 on a regular basis."

A source inside the operation told WDSU NewsChannel 6 investigative reporter Richard Angelico that Schwartz took in $144,000 during the Sugar Bowl and $90,000 the weekend before Mardi Gras.

The man State Police said ran Schwartz's Razzle operation is 62-year-old Terrence "Scotty" Borders, who was quietly arrested earlier this week.

"Directly under (Schwartz) was Terrence Borders, who took control of the money and gave out the payoffs to the dealers, to Mitch Schwartz, and gave everybody their little cuts," Graffeo said.

State Police also had information that Schwartz was dealing prescription drugs out of his shop, supplying all of Bourbon Street with sales approximating $7,000 a week.

Police allegedly found the pills concealed in a secret compartment under a rug in a platform behind the shop's cash register.

"We found a large amount of hydrocodone, we found some Vicodin, some Somas," Graffeo said.

More pills allegedly were found during a Thursday raid of Schwartz's home in New Orleans East.

Police said they have arrest warrants for five more people.

Meanwhile, 335 Bourbon Street is padlocked, and its entire contents have been seized in accordance with racketeering laws.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4702470/
 
If he was a 'Career Criminal' shouldn't he have retired by that age...
 
I have been scratching my head as to whether this fits under blasphemy, strange crimes or this category.


U.S. pensioner caught censoring libary books
Thu 24 June, 2004 03:31

ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - A decorated World War Two veteran has been charged with second-degree criminal mischief for crossing out swear words in hundreds of books at a New York library and replacing them with religious inscriptions.

Library employees at the Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls, New York, thought 79-year-old Raymond Barber was a retiree and avid reader. But over a three-year period, Barber defaced 373 library books, police said on Wednesday.

Barber, a former trucker and a great-grandfather, wrote "God is Enough" inside the front covers of the books and scribbled over expletives and added religious phrases.

Barber caused ,255 (6,300 pounds) worth of damage and was charged with second-degree criminal mischief, a felony, police said. He was arraigned in city court on Monday and released.

Library officials called police after visitors complained about the markings. Library director Christine McDonald would not comment on which books were defaced.

Barber could not be reached for comment, but his wife reacted angrily when reached by telephone at their home in Lake George.

"I am sick of these phone calls when murders and rapists get no TV coverage. He scribbled in some books and he gets crucified on TV," she said before slamming down the phone.

Source
 
Razzle........

That is pretty wild that the 92 year old had a Razzle game going.

Razzle is an old, old carnival game. It is ALWAYS crooked, and you can NEVER win.

I guess it is so old, that it became new again.
 
Update on the "Razzle Dazzle" guy

Dazzling old codger faces Louisiana jail
Thu 22 July, 2004 21:07

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (Reuters) - A little of the old "Razzle Dazzle" may land a 93-year-old French Quarter shop owner in jail, says a federal prosecutor.

Mitchell Schwartz has pleaded guilty to bribing New Orleans police officers to protect the tourist con game "Razzle Dazzle" he ran out of his Happy Days Gift Shop on Bourbon Street, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Al Winters.

Schwartz, who authorities said is a master safecracker with a criminal record dating back to 1930, could face up to five years in jail and $250,000 in fines when he and accomplice Terrance Border, 63, are sentenced on October 27.

They paid police up to $500 a day to talk angry tourists out of reporting the game to authorities by falsely telling them that under Louisiana law they could be arrested for gambling.

Razzle Dazzle, also known as Cajun Bingo, has been a longtime French Quarter favourite con game.

Winters described it as a board game where players roll marbles into numbered holes in hopes of winning a $1,000 jackpot. The board is set up in such as way as making winning virtually impossible.

"But if you even come close to winning, these guys talk fast, miscount numbers and everything else," he said. "It's a gambling game and it's also a scam."

Source
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Swindling great-granny busted
Sat 24 July, 2004 11:31

ROME (Reuters) - Italian police have arrested an 80-year-old great-grandmother suspected of drugging and robbing easily fooled victims for years to feed her gambling habit.

Vittoria Benetti was detained after her last victim, a 70-year-old woman travelling in the same train compartment, identified her in a photo, Italian media reported on Saturday.

Benetti drugged her with a cup of coffee and then escaped with 1,000 euros (660 pounds) which she promptly spent at a casino in neighbouring Slovenia.

Benetti's criminal record for a string of frauds and swindles and her obsession for gambling made it easy for the police to track her down, newspapers said.

Source
 
Elderly Driver Pleads Guilty To Bizarre Road-Rage Incident

Defendant Faces 120 Days In Jail

POSTED: 1:23 pm PDT August 3, 2004

SAN DIEGO -- An elderly San Diego man who threatened another driver with a spiked baseball bat pleaded guilty Tuesday.

Donald Rokos, 70, faces as much as 120 days in county jail for assault with a deadly weapon, Judge K. Michael Kirkman said Tuesday.

Rokos also allegedly poured some sort of an accelerant onto the car of Jeffrey Miller, who was trying to detain Rokos for hazardous driving on May 7 until police arrived.

Miller testified in court that he followed Rokos off Interstate 5 and onto Encinitas Boulevard after he called 911 about Rokos' driving. Rokos reportedly stopped his car several times on northbound I-5.

Miller testified that Rokos got out of his car, sprayed something onto Miller's vehicle and attempted to ignite it.

"I know I saw sparks," Miller testified. "I'm not sure I saw flame. I got the distinct impression he was trying to light my car on fire."

Miller told the court that he drove away from Rokos, then returned and again blocked Rokos' car. Rokos, however, managed to get away but fled into a cul-de-sac, where Miller again blocked his car.

Rokos then got out of his car and approached Miller's car with a baseball bat, said Miller. Soon afterward, sheriff's duties arrived. Officials searched Rokos' car at the scene and found a variety of items, said Deputy Jeffrey Ford in court, including a container of lighter fluid, a device capable of producing sparks, the bat with an inch-long spike at the tip, a knife that had a leather wrist strap and a gardening implement with sharpened prongs.

Rokos is due back in court on Oct. 7 for sentencing.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/traffic/3611480/detail.html
 
Conservative Club Crime Caper!

Pensioners' shoplift scam foiled

Two pensioners who ran a shoplifting ring from a Conservative club have been cautioned by police.

Rose Fitzsimmons, 70, and Jeanie Duckworth, 66, were caught with a haul including two stolen boxes of sweets.

Police in St Annes, Lancashire, arrested and cautioned the women for receiving stolen goods.

The women have been barred from St Annes Conservative Club for bringing it into disrepute. A 37-year-old man has been charged with shoplifting.

Police were called to the resort's branch of Woolworths where a man had been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting.

'Stolen sweets'

Believing the suspect was working to order they followed a trail which led them to the St Annes Conservative Club.

Inside the two women were found with large boxes of sweets and a bag of assorted meat.

The club's management committee said it had to withdraw the women's memberships.

"We can't have that sort of thing happening here, we are a Conservative Club and it brings us into disrepute," said secretary and treasurer June Wood.

The man accused of shoplifting will appear at Blackpool Magistrates' Court on 3 November.

Story from BBC NEWS

Bringing Conservatives into disrepute? Perish the very thought of it!

Old people today, don't know they're born. No respect...mutter, mutter...
 
There are so many comments that could be tagged on the end of this thread...

No.

It's just too easy...:p
 
Re: Conservative Club Crime Caper!

Threads merged.

StellaBoulton said:
Inside the two women were found with large boxes of sweets and a bag of assorted meat.

Big time criminals then? ;)

Perhaps they were making some kind of snack for the kiddies at Halloween? Like a pork chop wrapped around a mini Mars bar?

And I don't think this smilie has been used in this thread yet so.........

:_old:
 
Indian, 107, granted bail - for now
By Sutapa Mukerjee
Correspondent in Lucknow


A hospitalised 107-year-old Indian man who has been in and out of jail for 17 years over a fatal attack on a villager has won bail on the grounds of old age.

But his case is not over.

Nankau Prasad Mishra was convicted when he was a mere 90 of culpable homicide not amounting to murder for attacking Jwala Prasad in a land dispute in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Prasad later died.

Mishra only served 17 days before being bailed but spent the next 17 years with the case hanging over his head.

He thought it was all over in March last year when the High Court in Lucknow overturned a six-year jail sentence and freed him.

But the Uttar Pradesh state government appealed to the Supreme Court, which ordered him back to jail in August this year.

'Awfully sorry'

The old man, who his lawyer says is "barely in his senses", has won bail again but only until the Lucknow High Court rules on his case.

INS AND OUTS
Oct 1987: Jailed. Serves 17 days
1987-1995: Out on bail
1995: Sentenced to six years. Serves 20 days
1995-2003: Out on bail
Mar 2003: Conviction overturned and freed
Aug 2004: Conviction reinstated. Jailed Aug to Oct
Oct 2004: Sent to hospital
Nov 2004: Out on bail

"To my knowledge, never before in India has such an old man been arrested," Mishra's lawyer, IB Singh, told the BBC.

Mishra, suffering from severe health problems, has been confined to hospital in Lucknow for the past fortnight after jail authorities in Barabanki refused to keep him there.

Mr Singh said the latest bail was granted by the Lucknow court "on the basis of Mishra's age".

"We produced his passport before the judge and soon bail was granted," he said.

The passport puts Mishra's birth date at July 1897.

Two of his grandsons are taking Mishra to his village on Wednesday.

"At last our grandfather has been granted bail and we can take him home," said Sudhir Mishra.

Mishra's doctor, Pradeep Kumar, said: "He was brought here suffering from severe gastroenteritis. He is also suffering from hypertension."

Policeman Ram Lal, who had been guarding Mishra in the hospital, said he was relieved to see him go.

"I was asked to guard an old man who could not even move. I felt awfully sorry for him," he said.

Mishra's wife and two of his three sons are dead. His surviving son is a retired doctor in Liverpool. Mishra also has three daughters.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/3998659.stm
Published: 2004/11/10 11:43:02 GMT

© BBC MMIV
 
'Grandpa Gang' Busted in Alleged Drug Ring


Nov 10, 4:33 PM (ET)

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Austrian authorities said Wednesday they busted a group of older men dubbed the "Grandpa Gang" who allegedly were involved in selling cocaine.

An undisclosed number of suspects ranging in age from 55 to 70 were detained by police on suspicion of involvement in the ring, including the alleged leader, a 58-year-old man whose name was not released, Vienna police said in a statement.

Police arrested the suspects in a raid on a penthouse apartment in downtown Vienna, where they also seized cocaine with an estimated street value of more than 0,000.

Authorities said the drugs were brought from Belgium and the Netherlands for sale in Austria and had been hidden in letters and envelopes in the apartment. Police used drug-sniffing dogs to find the cocaine cache.

Several other suspected members of the group were arrested in May, and in September, authorities seized more cocaine that investigators believe belonged to the group, police said.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20041110/D8698IIO0.html
 
Grandfather escapes prison term

A great-grandfather who made his neighbours' lives a misery has escaped jail, but has been warned he will be locked up if he offends again.

Alexander Muat, 88, became the oldest person in the country to receive an anti-social behaviour order, which was imposed by magistrates in Merseyside.

The pensioner tormented his Huyton neighbours by filming, photographing, verbally abusing and threatening them.

On Monday, he was fined £750 and must pay £500 costs for breaching the ASBO.

The retired RAF engineer also deliberately blocked neighbours' drives with a wheelie bin smeared with grease.

A jury at Liverpool Crown Court last month convicted him of breaking the anti-social behaviour order on three occasions, twice by swearing at neighbours and once by threatening one with a chair leg.

Judge David Lynch said: "The only reason I'm not sending you to prison is because of your age.

"You have made the lives of your neighbours miserable for some considerable time by your constant bad behaviour.

"The cumulative effect was having a detrimental effect on their quality of life.

"Any further breaches of this order are likely to result in a custodial sentence and your age will not save you."

[...]

Muat's bail conditions had prevented him living at home but he
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/merseyside/4013221.stm
Published: 2004/11/15 13:02:40 GMT

© BBC MMIV
 
Nation's Oldest Known Bank Robber Dies

Mon Nov 22, 7:21 PM ET

U.S. National - AP

By BETSY BLANEY, Associated Press Writer

DALLAS - J.L. Hunter "Red" Rountree, the nation's oldest known bank robber, who turned to crime in his 80s and said the robberies made him feel good for days afterward, died in a prison hospital. He was 92.

A spokesman for the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo., said Rountree was transferred there shortly after his sentencing in January for a bank holdup in Abilene when he was 91.

He died Oct. 12, two months shy of his 93rd birthday.

The Abilene job was the last of three bank robberies Rountree began in 1998, when he was 86. In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this year, he said he walked slowly to a teller's window, handed over an envelope indicating his intent and was greeted with a surprised, "Are you kidding?"

The teller complied anyway, but Rountree was later caught and sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison — a death sentence for a man of his age.

"You want to know why I rob banks?" Rountree said in the interview. "It's fun. I feel good, awful good. I feel good for sometimes days, for sometimes hours."

Born Dec. 11, 1911, in his family's farmhouse near Brownsville, Rountree was once a successful businessman who made his fortune in Houston by building Rountree Machinery Co., a relative said.

Before that, he had a business bank loan turn sour and the bitterness stayed with him, he indicated in the March interview from his wheelchair in prison.

About a year after his wife's death in 1986, Rountree, then 76, married a 31-year-old woman and spent $500,000 putting her through drug rehabilitation programs, he said.

In 1998, Rountree robbed SouthTrust Bank in Biloxi, Miss., and was sentenced to three years probation, fined $260 and told to leave Mississippi.

A year later, he robbed a NationsBank in Pensacola, Fla., but this time he was sentenced to three years behind bars. He was released in 2002.

In August 2003, Rountree robbed First American Bank in Abilene.

No family member claimed Rountree's body, said Al Quintero, a prison spokesman. He is buried in a cemetery near the Springfield prison.

Source
 
Trial for 'Grandpa Gang' Opens in Germany

By DORO GORNIK, Associated Press Writer Tue May 3, 3:41 PM ET

HAGEN, Germany - Three elderly men who have been dubbed the "Grandpa Gang" went on trial Tuesday, accused of robbing 14 German banks and getting away with more than $1.3 million over the course of 16 years.

As the trial opened in the western city of Hagen, Rudolf Richter, 74, and Wilfried Ackermann, 73, admitted to participating in the robberies. The third defendant, Lothar Ackermann, 64, who is not related to Wilfried, remained silent.

The three could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of armed robbery.

The men are accused of robbing their first bank in December 1988 in Leopoldshoehe, stealing $77,700. They are accused of later robbing banks in other cities in northern and western Germany — allegedly taking their largest haul of $334,000 from a bank in Loehne-Halstern.

The two older men met while in prison on separate bank robbery charges, and after their release began meeting with their 64-year-old acquaintance annually to discuss robbery plans, Wilfried Ackermann testified.

Wilfried Ackermann was afraid of going into a rest home and hoped to save up enough money to buy himself a home in Bielefeld, he said. "But, that's not an excuse," he told the state court.

He testified that the group used to wait until shortly before closing time to enter the banks, because fewer customers were likely to be there. They were armed with handguns and automatic weapons, and sometimes with fake hand grenades, provided by Richter, he said.

Richter acknowledged that he took part, but denied leading the group. He testified he was falsely imprisoned for bank robbery the first time around, and when he got out decided he was owed.

He thought: "Now, I'll make up for it," he told the court.

He also said business was going well at his shop where he produced motor parts so he didn't really need the money, but he allowed himself to be swayed by the others.

"I was an idiot. I always let myself be talked into things," he said.

The men were arrested last year in a parking lot in the town of Wimbern, 20 miles east of Dortmund, where they allegedly were preparing another bank robbery.

Because defendants do not enter formal pleas in Germany, testimony continued although two have acknowledged taking part in robberies. A verdict was expected in June.

Source
 
Police say granny, 80, ran prostitution ring
Claims she needed to supplement Social Security checks

Monday, June 6, 2005 Posted: 3:26 AM EDT (0726 GMT)

LINDENWOLD, New Jersey (AP) -- Police made a surprising discovery when they busted the alleged madam of a prostitution ring called "August Playmates": The woman running the show was an 80-year-old grandmother.

Authorities arrested Vera Tursi last month during a sting operation to crack down on prostitution rings posing as legal escort services. Police say Tursi ran the business from her two-bedroom apartment, taking $60 of every $160 she charged clients for one hour with a call girl.

Law enforcement officials say Tursi admitted her role in the business, saying she took it over a few years ago from her daughter, who had died. Police say Tursi told them she needed money to subsidize her Social Security checks.

Undercover police first began to wonder about the age of their suspect when they called the escort service as part of their sting operation. They said she seemed to have difficulty breathing.

"You get a feel for how old someone is when you talk to them," State Police Detective Sgt. Thomas Cornely told The Sunday Star-Ledger of Newark. "She sounded like an 80-year-old woman."

Although police arrested Tursi when they came to her apartment May 2, they decided not to bring her to the police barracks because of her poor health.

Tursi has been charged with a a single count of promoting prostitution. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison. But because of her age and lack of a criminal record, she's more likely to receive probation, Cornely said.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/06/prost ... index.html
 
Elderly Ridgefield couple had stacks of guns, ammo

Thursday, June 2, 2005

By YUNG KIM
STAFF WRITER



Man with firearms cache served time over gun sales

Police officers had just walked a disoriented woman back to her Ridgefield home when they found a surprise: stacks and stacks - and more stacks - of high-powered weapons.

Nearly 500 guns in all, along with 100,000 rounds of ammunition and 500 pounds of gunpowder, were carted away Wednesday from the home of Sherwin and Elizabeth Raymond, both 82, police said.

The weapons included semiautomatic assault rifles, as well as firearms collected from throughout the world, they said.

So much firepower turned up that the National Guard was called in to haul away the ammunition, and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office was asked to help store the weapons, said Ridgefield Police Chief John Bogovich.

Authorities weren't sure what Sherwin Raymond - a former borough police surgeon who has twice served prison time - planned to do with the cache.

"People knew he was a [gun] collector, but no one suspected the magnitude of what was found," Bogovich said Wednesday. "This will be a monumental task to inventory."

The Raymonds live across Abbott Avenue from St. James Episcopal Church, which has a nursery school and a day-care center.

"If there was ever a fire there, it would have presented a serious problem for the neighbors or the emergency responders," Bogovich said.

Sherwin Raymond spent time behind bars for selling two submachine guns equipped with silencers to an undercover federal agent in 1975. He also served three years for participating in an illegal abortion ring in the late 1960s, newspaper accounts said.

Raymond was under police guard Wednesday at Hackensack University Medical Center, where he was receiving dialysis treatment, said Ridgefield police Capt. Richard J. Stoltenborg. He was charged with creating a hazardous condition, and bail was set at $25,000. Additional charges were expected, Stoltenborg said.

Elizabeth Raymond, who Stoltenborg said suffers from Alzheimer's disease, was not charged. Police took her to Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck because they didn't want her to be by herself, the captain said.

Summoned by neighbors on Memorial Day afternoon, officers found her wandering and disoriented a short distance from her home, Stoltenborg said. When they brought her back, all the doors and windows were open, he said.

After obtaining a search warrant, police sealed off the home Monday night. A search that began Tuesday afternoon continued into Wednesday, when they began carting off the guns and ammunition.

A final count tallied 477 guns that range from small-caliber handguns to semiautomatic AK-47s and high-powered rifles from China, Yugoslavia, Russia and other parts of the world, Bogovich said.

About 200 guns were found in the basement, about 100 more in the attic, about 100 in a garage, and 60 in the television room, the chief said.

Ammunition turned up for guns that weren't even found in the home, he said, adding that the Raymonds also had illegal, high-capacity magazine clips.

The Bergen County bomb squad determined that the gunpowder was volatile and had to be hauled away
, he said.

Neighbors - none of whom wanted their names published - said the Raymonds have lived quietly in the home for 50 years.

"He was always sitting on his porch, and when you walked by, he would wave," one man said. "I never had any problem with him."

Another man recalled that Sherwin Raymond for years had been known as the "town doctor," as well as a gun enthusiast. They knew he kept a collection of weapons, but no one considered him a danger, the man said.

"He does have the right to bear arms," the neighbor said. "He never bothered anyone."

Raymond, once a practicing doctor, served three years in prison for participating in illegal abortions done in motel suites and apartments that served as makeshift operating rooms, newspaper accounts say.

He later was convicted of selling guns and ammunition that one federal official said were common underworld-type weapons.


Raymond, who insisted that civilians be allowed to keep firearms, ran for a seat on the Ridgefield Board of Education in 1986. PTA members took issue with his past and Raymond eventually withdrew, citing personal reasons.

Investigators were looking into how Raymond, a convicted felon, was able to accumulate his cache, Bogovich said.

Elizabeth Raymond has a permit to own eight handguns, the chief said, adding that the weapons may have been purchased at gun shows.


The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is expected to begin tracing the guns to determine whether they were bought legally or were ever used in crimes, Bogovich said.

"We also found a bumper sticker," the chief remarked. "It says: 'The right to bear arms makes someone a citizen. If you are not allowed to bear arms, it makes you a subject.'"

Source

Sounds like he'd turned into a hoader.

[edit; Ah ha and lopaka has already posted this in the hoarders thread:

www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 325#544325

I'll have a ponder and sort things out when I can work out which is the best category for this ;) ]
 
80 year old Prostitute Arrested

June 10, 2005, 4:36:26


Thats bizarre: American police have arrested the oldest profession's oldest madam - in a raid on a brothel.

80-year-old Vera Tursi, was arrested in New Jersey, USA, on suspicion of running a prostitution ring.

Mrs Tursi, who reportedly uses an oxygen mask and a zimmer frame, was arrested as part of a vice crackdown.

Officers began to suspect her age when they spoke to her on the phone during the undercover operation.

She could be heard catching her breath and used old-fashioned language, they said.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger reported: "She used the word 'dear', as in, 'That's all-inclusive, dear'."

Authorities say Mrs Tursi has admitted running prostitutes, she is thought to be the oldest suspect in a US prostitution case.

Mrs Tursi faces up to five years in prison, but because of her age she is more likely to get probation.

Source
 
Granny shooting

July 13, 2005, 10:35:29


A great-grandmother was so furious her lover dumped her she shot him dead.

Lena Driskell, 78, gunned down her ex-beau, Herman Winslow, as he read the paper in an Atlanta senior citizens home, police said.

And the pistol-packing granny was apparently unrepentant, shouting to officers who arrived at her home: "I did it and I'd do it again!"

The pensioner is accused of plotting the shooting because she was angry their one-year romance had collapsed, and that Winslow, 85, had found someone else.

She was released on bail but Fulton County Magistrate Richard Hicks said she must wear an ankle monitor and live on house arrest.

He said: "I don't want her on the streets.

"Who knows how many other guns she has?"

Source
 
Another one that might best be put in the 'hoarders' thread, as the *criminal* aspect isn't so horrible and would appear to be the outgrowth of other, err, issues in this fellow's life. (OTOH, I'm at least a little sympathetic to the city/judge in this case too. At least a little.) Anyways...

Posted on Fri, Jul. 22, 2005


Man jailed for having messy yard

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SOUTH ST. PAUL, Minn. - A major cleanup got underway Thursday at the home of an 88-year-old man who was jailed for failing to clean up his extremely messy backyard.

Neighbors, friends, and Cub Scouts gathered to help haul away junk from the yard of Robert Schulze after a judge ordered him jailed for 30 days or until the mess disappears.

Mary Schulze, 84, said her husband has bad heart problems and has a defibrillator, so he would work on the yard when he could.

"He's never been in prison before," she said. "It will either kill him, or he's going to make a big story out of it later. I don't know which."

City officials said the tires, machinery, lumber and tools littering the yard violate an ordinance for unsheltered storage.

Assistant City Attorney Kori Land said Schulze was given several chances over the past two years to comply.

"The city tries to work with people as long as possible -- whether they are 28 or 88. And if they fail to comply there are only so many options, so the court had to impose its last resort," Land said.

Schulze used his backyard as an outdoor workshop, letting it get overloaded with saws and aluminum cutting machines, piles of planks, and an aging barn-board fence that city inspectors deemed unacceptable.

Despite the pressure, he had refused to allow an inmate work crew onto his property, family members said.

Schulze, who has appeared before Judge Leslie Metzen on a near-monthly basis since November 2003, had been wanted on a warrant after missing a court appointment July 14. He got his dates mixed up and went to the VA Medical Center that day instead, his wife said. After he showed up at the courthouse Tuesday, Metzen ordered him held in contempt of court.

Schulze's son, Robert Schulze Jr., who lives near Moorhead, said he hopes to have the yard cleared and his father free by Friday.

"South St. Paul hasn't been very cooperative with Dad, and Dad hasn't been cooperative with them," he said. "It's sort of a hate-hate relationship."

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/dulut ... 194322.htm
 
Good GOD. :shock:

Tasered Mo. Grandmother Gets Probation

Thu Jul 28, 4:42 PM ET

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A 67-year-old grandmother who was shocked with a Taser stun gun after she honked her car horn at a police cruiser has been given a year's probation for sparking a quarrel with officers.

A charge of improper use of the horn against Louise Jones was dismissed Wednesday in Kansas City Municipal Court. Her husband, Fred, 76, who became involved in the fray last year, also got one year of probation for the same charges — resisting arrest and attempting to inflict injury on an officer.

The only condition of the probation is that the couple obey all laws.

The incident, which resulted in a change in department policy and the disciplining of two officers, happened in June 2004 as police were responding to a disturbance call across the street from the couple's home. Officers said they approached Louise Jones after she honked her horn, thinking she had reported the disturbance or perhaps was in trouble. A defense witness testified the honk was accidental.

"She immediately became hostile to us," Officer Ryan VanDeusen testified. He said that she continued the verbal assault when the officers returned to their squad car.

"It was very loudy, it was antagonistic, it was very derogatory toward my partner and I," he testified.

Officer Cory LeMoine said he told Jones he could give her a ticket for honking the horn, and that a physical confrontation began after she wouldn't show him her driver's license. He said he and his partner struggled with Jones both inside and outside her house. The officers said that while VanDeusen was trying to handcuff her, Fred Jones came down the stairs and leveled his shoulder into him.

VanDeusen said he used the Taser on Louise Jones when his partner couldn't get her under control.

The Jones disputed the officers' account. Louise Jones and other defense witnesses said she wasn't confrontational and that the comments she made were directed to a friend, not to the officers.

"She says something to the neighbor across the street and the officer didn't like that," said defense attorney Basil North. "He decided he was going to teach her a lesson."

Louise Jones said she pulled away from the police when one of the officers grabbed her arm, and her husband said one of the officers had his knee on his wife's chest.

Municipal Judge Marcia K. Walsh told the couple they should fulfill their sentence easily, pointing out that Fred Jones' criminal history was perfect except for a traffic ticket.

"Your record is even better," she told Louise Jones. "You don't even have a ticket."

The couple's attorney said they plan to appeal the decision. North moved for dismissal of the horn-honking charges on grounds that the ordinance involved was worded vaguely, and the prosecutor agreed to drop it.

Source

Maybe I'm just being Canadian about this, but tasering a granny for honking her horn?! Ye gads. Maybe this belongs in the "dumb cops" thread?
 
Updated Dec. 15, 2005, 4:18 p.m. ET

Convicted hitman executed, becoming oldest person in nation to be put to death


PARCHMAN, Miss. (AP) — A 77-year-old convicted hitman was executed Wednesday, becoming the oldest person in the nation put to death since capital punishment was reinstated nearly three decades ago.

John B. Nixon Sr. still claimed innocence as he was strapped to the death chamber gurney, and blamed one of his sons for the 1985 murder of a Mississippi woman.

"I did not kill Virginia Tucker," Nixon said before he was given the lethal injection. "I know within my heart, and it hurts to acknowledge, that it was a son of mine and a Spanish friend and another man from Jackson."

Nixon, a former car mechanic, did not say which son he blamed.

Two of Nixon's sons -- John B. Nixon Jr. and Henry Leon Nixon -- along with Gilbert Jimenez were convicted in the killing but were given lesser sentences. Corrections officials said the sons, now out of prison, had not been in contact with their father.

According to court records, one of Nixon's accomplices wrestled Virginia Tucker to the ground at her Brandon home, and Nixon put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger.

Elester Joseph Ponthieux, Virginia Tucker's ex-husband and father of her son, Joey Ponthieux, is serving a life sentence for hiring Nixon for $1,000 to carry out the killing.

Gov. Haley Barbour refused Nixon's request for clemency, and the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to intervene.

Tucker's family did not speak to reporters after the execution, but Joey Ponthieux issued a written statement thanking "God for the opportunity to have lived long enough to witness this day."

www.courttv.com/news/2005/1215/execution_ap.html
 
Tuesday, January 10, 2006


99-year-old sex offender set to leave prison early

Board of Pardons to let him live with relatives

By Joseph M. Dougherty
Deseret Morning News

The Utah State Prison's oldest inmate will leave prison in February to serve the rest of his sentence on home confinement.

Bert Jackson, 99, has served three years of a possible 15-year sentence for sexually abusing at least two children.

"I don't want you to die in prison," Board of Pardons and Parole member Keith Hamilton told Jackson during a Jan. 3 parole hearing.

And he probably won't. The Board of Pardons decided Thursday that Jackson will be paroled Feb. 7 to live with his son and daughter-in-law.

The parole hearing lasted nearly twice as long as it otherwise would have because Hamilton, speaking in a raised voice, had to repeat nearly all of his questions to the hard-of-hearing Jackson.

"You're in pretty good health for a 99-year-old man," Hamilton said. "We don't want you touching anybody anymore, OK?"

Jackson was sent to prison in November 2002 at age 96 after he pleaded guilty to two counts of child sex abuse stemming from incidents in 1995 and 1996 in Lewiston, Cache County.

He was charged with the second-degree felony crimes in 2000 in 1st District Court and pleaded guilty after months of competency evaluations. He was sentenced to serve two one-to-15-year sentences concurrently in the prison, according to court records.

"Most people don't come to prison at age 96," Hamilton said.

Now, Jackson may be Utah's oldest inmate ever, said Jack Ford, spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections.

If he had been required to serve all 15 years at the Utah State Prison in Draper, he would have been 111 upon his release.

But Jackson will likely live the rest of his life outside of the prison's concrete and steel.

Hamilton, during the hearing, told Jackson that a violation of his parole will land him back in prison.

According to Jackson's parole agreement, Jackson may not leave his son's home except for a doctor's visit or for a medical emergency. He will wear an ankle monitor so an Adult Probation and Parole agent can check on him. Parole lasts at least three years.

He may not contact his victims and can't have contact with anyone under age 18.

In a letter to the board, Jackson's son and daughter-in-law promised to keep him away from children, Hamilton said during the hearing, adding that the board may allow Jackson out of home confinement if he abides by the parole agreement.

"You're too old for being interested in little kids," Hamilton said.

"I'm sorry for what I ever done," Jackson said.

That apology was the first time Jackson acknowledged his crimes and was listed among the board's rationale for Jackson's release.

The board also took into account that this was Jackson's first incarceration, that he has been well-behaved (he sleeps a lot) and that he is 99 years old.

The board also considered that he has a support system and solid release plans.

"We wouldn't keep anyone who did what you did to die in prison if you were younger," Hamilton told him. "I don't want any more trouble out of you, Mr. Jackson. You understand?"

"I understand," said Jackson, his voice sounding tired.

"Can you hang on for another six weeks?" Hamilton asked.

Doctors have pronounced Jackson in good health for a 99-year-old.

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635175145,00.html
 
Calif. Executes Oldest Death Row Inmate

By DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 17, 9:00 AM ET

SAN QUENTIN, Calif. - California executed its oldest death row inmate early Tuesday, minutes after his 76th birthday, despite arguments that putting to death an elderly, blind and wheelchair-bound man was cruel and unusual punishment.

Clarence Ray Allen was pronounced dead at 12:38 a.m. at San Quentin State Prison. He became the second-oldest inmate put to death nationally since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976.

Allen, who was blind and mostly deaf, suffered from diabetes and had a nearly fatal heart attack in September only to be revived and returned to death row, was assisted into the death chamber by four large correctional officers and lifted out of his wheelchair.

His lawyers had raised two claims never before endorsed by the high court: that executing a frail old man would violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and that the 23 years he spent on death row were unconstitutionally cruel as well.

The high court rejected his requests for a stay of execution about 10 hours before he was to be put to death. Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger denied Allen clemency Friday.

Allen went to prison for having his teenage son's 17-year-old girlfriend murdered for fear she would tell police about a grocery-store burglary. While behind bars, he tried to have witnesses in the case wiped out, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to death in 1982 for hiring a hit man who killed a witness and two bystanders.

"Allen deserves capital punishment because he was already serving a life sentence for murder when he masterminded the murders of three innocent young people and conspired to attack the heart of our criminal justice system," state prosecutor Ward Campbell said.

Allen expressed his love for family, friends and the other death-row inmates in a final statement read by Warden Steve Ornoski. Allen ended his statement by saying, "It's a good day to die. Thank you very much. I love you all. Goodbye."

The family of one of Allen's victims, Josephine Rocha, issued a statement saying that "justice has prevailed today."

"Mr. Allen abused the justice system with endless appeals until he lived longer in prison than the short 17 years of Josephine's life," the statement said.

Last month in Mississippi, John B. Nixon, 77, became the oldest person executed in the United States since capital punishment resumed. He did not pursue an appeal based on his age.

Allen's case generated less attention than last month's execution of Crips gang co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams, whose case set off a nationwide debate over the possibility of redemption on death row, with Hollywood stars and capital punishment foes arguing that Williams had made amends by writing children's books about the dangers of gangs.

There were only about 200 people gathered outside the prison gates before Allen's execution, about one-tenth of the crowd that came out last month.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060117/ap_ ... _execution
 
A bit of a misunderstanding with this one:

Frankly, this is no joke, say cops

MEET the 81-year-old man police believed was a dangerous bank robber.

World War II veteran Frank Hainsworth was given a dressing-down by the elite armed robbery unit after he wrote a tongue-in-cheek letter to a magazine about robbing a bank.

The Gold Coast man with dodgy legs was responding to an article in The Bulletin by convicted armed robber Bernie Matthews.

Mr Hainsworth wrote that he wanted to rob a bank before he died "because they have always robbed me".

Three days later police were at his door.

Mr Hainsworth, a loyal customer for 60 years, said the bank had apparently rung police to alert them.

"Two police knocked on the door and asked my wife if I had a gun.

"I had to call them when I got home. They told me I shouldn't have written the letter. It's a bit of an over-reaction."

Mr Hainsworth, a former economics teacher, objects to the fees banks charge.

A Queensland Police spokeswoman said police had to check out the bank's report.

A Commonwealth Bank spokesman said the bank's security section asked police to visit Mr Hainsworth "to ascertain the seriousness of the implied threat in his letter".

source
 
April 21, 2006, 2:28PM

San Antonio woman, 76, faces heroin charges

Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO --- A 76-year-old woman accused of producing and selling heroin from her home has been arrested.

Esther Gomez had allegedly been selling black-tar heroin out of her home for years, according to Bexar County Sheriff's Lt. Darrell Sanders.

On Thursday, Gomez was arrested after authorities received information that led to a search warrant. She was charged with possession with intent to deliver and released on a $20,000 bond.

Sanders said Gomez ran her business for about three hours each morning as she sat on her back porch.

"It's a good cover, right?" Sanders said. "Who would ever expect it?"

Officials said they saw "several transactions," and discovered inside her home 34 grams of black-tar heroin and six grams of cut heroin inside several plastic baggies in her purse. Officers also found a coffee grinder they said was used to cut the heroin.

Sheriff's deputies also seized a 2005 Lincoln Town Car, which had been paid for in cash, a 1983 Mercedes, and about $40,000 worth of jewelry, Sanders said. According to state law, any property purchased with illegal income is subject to seizure.

www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3810409.html
 
Police tackle pensioner bingo row

A group of 35 pensioners in Stoke-on-Trent were threatened with arrest after a row broke out at the start of a game of bingo.

Police were called to a community centre on Bordeaux Road in Meir on Thursday evening.

An argument had started between one of the bingo players and a member of staff. No arrests were made [...]

BBC

- I've seen similar kerfuffles occur at the OAP clubs my olds used to attend although they never resulted in the police being called. My dad used to be the caller for one group until he gave up in disgust at the grief he used to recieve! When the ladies got started between themselves over say, someone calling house when they hadn't filled their card then that was it, full scale war...
 
Meir's a bit rough, I'm not surprised really. :lol:
 
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