Surgeon accused of sexually abusing boys may have paid victim $155,000

By Calvin Palmer
An orthopedic surgeon accused of sexual abusing prepubescent boys may have paid one of his victims victims $155,000 during 10 years of sexual abuse to keep the boy quiet.
Bernard Zacharia Albina, 69, of Houston, was arrested yesterday on charges stemming from years of alleged abuse of four boys.
“They were paid over time, from [...]

“Every person’s worst nightmare” gets 50 years in prison

By Calvin Palmer
A Wisconsin paper mill worker was sentenced today to 50 years in prison for abducting and sexually assaulting two young men he kept chained at his home.
Wood County Circuit Court Judge Greg Potter told Ed Lanphear, 47, of Saratoga, he was every person’s worst nightmare. The judge added that he was determined Lanphear [...]

Royal Navy and U.S. Coast Guard seize cocaine worth $55m

By Calvin Palmer
A vessel containing $55 million worth of cocaine was seized off the Venezuelan coast today by a U.S. Coast Guard team from Miami, says The Miami Herald.
A Royal Navy frigate has seized cocaine with an estimated wholesale value of £33 million from a speedboat off the coast of South America, says The Daily [...]

University of Texas graduates found shot dead in their apartment

By Calvin Palmer
Police in Austin, Texas, are looking for a killer, or killers, after two University of Texas graduates were found shot dead yesterday in their West Campus apartment.
Stacy Barnett, 22, and John Goosey, 21, both from Houston, were shot between 9:00 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. yesterday, said Austin Police Sgt. Richard Stresing.
The deaths are [...]

Three charged after six-week-old baby found with toes chewed off by rats

By Calvin Palmer
Three people appeared in court yesterday charged with felony child endangering after a six-week-old baby girl was found with her two of her toes chewed off by rats.
Pike County prosecutor Rob Junk says the baby’s toes on her left foot were gone when sheriff’s deputies went to the mobile home west of Piketon, [...]

Artist has no case to answer with his Nazi-saluting garden gnome

By Calvin Palmer
A German artist who created a golden garden gnome with its arm raised in a Nazi salute will not be prosecuted.
The public prosecutor’s office in Nuremberg announced today that it was not pursuing an investigation into 59-year-old artist Ottmar Hörl and the gallery showing his work.
Nazi symbolism is banned in Germany but after [...]

Man gets 30 years for trying to sell girlfriend’s daughter, 5, for sex

By Calvin Palmer
A Texas man was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison yesterday for attempting to sell his girl-friend’s five-year-old daughter to a pedophile.
Senior U.S. District Judge Harry Lee Hudspeth sentenced Sean Michael Block, 40, of San Antonio to the mandatory minimum sentence. He also gave Block 20 years for a separate child-porn charge and [...]