TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

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  • Kip Kinkel seeks new trial yet again

    Kip Kinkel’s Attorneys File Appeal, Seek New Trial:

    Kip Kinkel is asking for a new trial again.

    You remember Kip don’t you? He’s the soulless monster who killed his parents and two of his classmates from Thurston High in Oregon. The same 16-year-old who was sentenced to 111 years for the killings.

    Now the 26-year-old Kinkel is trying to get a new trial again using the insanity method. That request has already been denied once.

    Let’s hear from one of his attorneys…

    Dennis Balske: “Nobody’s trying to, quote, get him off in any sense of the word. And so what the case is about is whether or not he gets to have a trial at which a jury determines whether or not in fact he was insane at the time.”

    If Kinkel were to get a new trial and found insane he would be transferred to a state hospital. So basically since he can’t get out of prison he wants to stay in a cushy hospital.

    What I’d like to know has he been insane since the shootings? Or was this that legendary ‘temporary’ insanity we’ve heard so much about.

    And here’s another great case for bringing back asylums for the criminally insane. Don’t make the insanity plea an incentive. Make the places just as nasty as prison and we’ll see who is truly insane and who has a case of faker-itis.

  • Another reader sends in tutor scam

    I received the following e-mail from Ben who noticed an ad on craigslist about someone needing an English tutor…

    I didn’t fall for this scam, and it’s clearly a repeat or new take on an old theme, but here’s the email I got after replying to an ad asking for an english tutor on the Raleigh craigslist from johwilli03@gmail.com (“John Williams”)

    “Hello,

    Thanks for the email,my son will be coming for a vacation in the U.S,and i want him to be busy throughout because he is a bit playful.I just want to know maybe he can always come to you and you can be his tutor so he can learn from you.I want my kid to partake for a tutorial class.He is just 15 yrs old,I have told him concerning the arrangement of the tutoring and he told me it is okey with him.I want you to know that i am going to pay for 1 month,which should be $50.00/hr(which i have in mind).And i am planning that you will be teaching him 3 times a week,which is 1hr per day,so get back to me with the total fee for the subject English language, when you will be available to teach him during the week ?

    I also want to inform you that my son don’t live in the states, he live in Philippine. so my Son will be arriving the states on 10th of NOVEMBER 2008 then the tutorial class can start by 15th NOVEMBER.I want him to study more about what his needs to know while he is in the states. I will also like to inform you that my client in state will be sending you an Over-payment inform of Us money orders or Certified check for the lesson fee, and Also to inform you that i will be paying the Nanny that will be taking care of my son’s welfare while he is there forthe lesson, Please for the nature of your job and for the good relationship between Your self and my son i would want to entrust you with this money because am not presently in the States, i would have liked to take care of all this myself but since the payment would be coming to you from my

    associates , i want you to please kindly be of help by cashing the money and deducting only your teaching fee and send the remaining fund to his Nanny/ Guardian / house keeper so my son can be in good health and well taken care of before my arrival. Regarding this, kindly send your full information to receive the payment so it can be made out to you on-time. I hope i can trust you to be a very good teacher for my Son’s good academics performance.I hope i can count on you for the tutorial and the money to be sent to the Guardian.

    Please reply with

    Full Name On Payment,

    Full residential address,

    Phone numbers and email address, so that one of my client can issue

    the payment to you ASAP.

    Best Regards,

    John”

    Wow, this guy explains the whole scam up front. I’d like to know if some people from other countries actually do legitimate business using the third-party payment plan like this. Somehow I doubt it.

  • Central High shooter’s sister captured

    Ciara Siler
    Ciara Siler

    Knoxville woman wanted for murder nabbed in Atlanta:

    Ciara Siler was wanted in Knoxville, TN for the shooting murder of Jerri Lynn Goodman. US Marshals and Knoxville police have been looking for her for two months. Marshals finally apprehended her in Atlanta.

    Ciara Siler is the adoptive sister of Jamar Siler. Jamar Siler is in juvenile custody for the shooting death of 15-year-old Ryan McDonald at Central High in Knoxville.

    It seems the Siler family like to settle their disputes all in the same way, behind a coward’s gun.

    I guess the rest of the family will have to alternate which prison they have to go visit.

  • Reader almost robbed while car shopping

    I can’t believe the amount of reader e-mail I keep getting. For a small site like this, it’s a lot. I don’t mind at all. I’m just glad that people are becoming educated about craigslist scams.

    The following comes to us from Martin who was trying to buy a car off of craigslist…

    Hi there. I am glad I stumbled upon your site. I just wanted to post the worst craigslist experience I’ve had. Overall, I do get good experiences but this time was a run with a major con artist who advertised a vehicle for a price that was a bargain but not too cheap where it seemed too good to be true. In fact, he answered his phone and was ready to show the

    vehicle and his ad said he had the pink slip.

    I brought 6k in cash with me and met this seller who really played the part well as a rich early twenties kid who needed the money fast to fix his primary vehicle. I test drive the car and ask him if I could have a mechanic down the street take a quick look. This was not part of his plan

    but he agrees. I then ask him about the pink slip. He states to have left it at home (he now claims that his brother posted the ad for him)..and we could drive the car together and get the pinkslip at his house. While the car was in the shop, I told him instead of waiting, lets go get the slip…he agrees.. but once in my car, he demands the cash upfront and I resist. I believe his accomplices were worried on what’s taking him so long. He freaks out and tells me to turn around and cancel the deal.

    I am puzzled as to why he cancelled. I went home and lo and behold, I googled the name of the registered owner and turns out to be an older couple! The wife of the owner had a blog on myspace venting that their car (the car I was buying) was stolen that same morning.

    Turns out the crook responded to the owner’s sale ad and stole the car pretending he was going to test drive it but took off before the owner could get into the passenger side.

    Seems like I foiled his final attempt to swap the vehicle for cold hard cash that I had. I am shocked as to what my fate could’ve been if I did not delay him and took him to where he wanted me to take him. I could’ve been robbed, ambushed or shot just for my cash. I am working with law officials now to apprehend. We have surveillance and prints ready and ill keep you

    updated on our results.

    Thank you, Martin. Hopefully, now more people will be wary when buying a used car from craigslist and hopefully ask the right questions like you did.

  • Homeland Security predator ordered to undergo psych eval

    Accused Riverside MySpace predator to face psychological exam:

    I originally posted about Celestino Torres Paguyo here. He’s the 32-year-old guy who met a 16-year-old girl over MySpace, picked her up at school, and pressured her to ‘perform a sex act on him’. He’s also the guy who was busted by Homeland Security.

    Now he’s been ordered by a judge to undergo a psych exam to see if he’s likely to re-offend.

    Considering he told the girl he was 20 and in college, I’m guessing he’s already re-offended and no one knows about it.

    And check out these lame ass charges…

    Paguyo was charged with sending “harmful matter” through the Internet, a felony, and annoying or molesting a child under 18 years old, a misdemeanor.

    Um…shouldn’t they both be felonies?

    His next hearing is scheduled for December 1st.

  • A fake ad for rape

    Fake ads on Web site make woman a target:

    Complete craigslist anonymity strikes again.

    A woman by the name of Amber from Atlanta, Ga. had a harassing ad posted about her on craigslist. It wasn’t your typical ‘for a good time call’ type harassment either.

    Her name, address, and phone number were listed on the ad that said she was into rape fantasies. To make matters worse the ad said for guys to just come on in and ‘start the fantasy’. So whoever took out the ad was hoping she would get raped.

    Not only did she receive phone calls and text messages about the ad but she said she also had guys showing up at her house with some of them trying to get in.

    I don’t know which is scarier, the ad itself or the guys who actually believed it and tried getting into her house.

  • Was E.O. Green shooter a white supremacist?

    School shooting suspect had white supremacist material:

    To the surprise of no one with a half decent level of intelligence white supremacist materials were found in the home of 14-year-old Brandon McInerney. McInerney is accused of shooting and killing openly gay student 15-year-old Lawrence (Larry) King at E.O. Green Middle school.

    McInerney’s lawyer claims it was just material from studying about WW II in school. However, prosecutors contend that the material written by McInerney contained the number 88 which is code used by white supremacists for ‘Heil Hitler’ since H is the 8th letter of the alphabet. The material also contained references to the ’14 Words’. Neither of those symbols were ever used by Nazi Germany and were created by more modern white supremacists.

    These materials are what prosecutors used in part to establish hate crime charges against McInerney.

  • Indictments handed down in Brooke Bennett’s disappearance

    Jacques indicted: Brooke Bennett assaulted, strangled, smothered

    Michael Jacques was indicted yesterday in the disappearance of his niece 12-year-old Brooke Bennett. Jacques is facing federal charges so that makes him oh so eligible for the death penalty.

    A grand jury says convicted rapist Michael Jacques, 42, of Randolph drugged, sexually assaulted, strangled and smothered Brooke and placed a plastic bag over her head. The six-count indictment calls the killing premeditated, intentional and “especially heinous, cruel, or depraved.”

    This article states that Jacques has also been charged with her murder.

    To read the PDF of the indictment you can go here.

    Speaking of indictments, Jacque’s cohort, Ray Gagnon who is also Brooke Bennett’s ex-stepfather, has also been indicted. He was indicted in the state of Texas, where he lives on child porn charges. The U.S. District Attorney has dropped the obstruction charges against Gagnon so he could be easily extradited to Texas.

    Have fun in Texas prison, Ray.

  • Renee Bowman was collecting checks

    Renee Bowman
    Renee Bowman

    Police: Remains May Have Been Moved Several Times:

    More details about Frog Clown over there (Renee Bowman) and her adopted foster children whose bodies were found in Bowman’s freezer.

    Police are saying that they believed the girls died while the ‘family’ was living in Rockland, Md. and that the bodies had been moved multiple times.

    The one girl who was still alive had extensive injuries.

    Charging documents described the third girl’s injuries as “extensive open, infected sores and lesions” and “eyes scarred in the corners.”

    And this is how police were tipped off…

    Neighbor Phillip Garrett found the girl walking barefoot on a gravel road in a blood-soaked T-shirt. He said she was covered in bruises. Garrett, 21, who lives two houses down from Bowman, said he brought the girl to a neighbor’s house, called 911 and ordered her a pizza. She indicated she had last eaten on Tuesday when her father was at the home, said Garrett, who realized he had met her mother once and described her as “frazzled.”

    And as I predicted Bowman was still receiving a $2,400 stipend for the girls even after two had died.

    The D.C. Child and Family Services Agency is really feeling the heat now especially since this is not the first tragedy they’ve been linked to.

  • Bank robber uses craigslist to recruit decoys

    Bank car robber escapes on Skykomish River:

    A man who robbed a bank in Monroe, Washington used craigslist to set up an elaborate escape.

    He took out an employment ad on craigslist and told people who responded to it to all show up in the same clothes. They were all told to wear a safety vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask, and a blue shirt. That just happened to be what the bank robber wore.

    Police are investigating the craigslist link.

    However like I’ve said before it shows how unreliable even the paid job ads are.