10/17/2012
Violent crime up for first time in years
(CNN) -- The rate of U.S. violent crime went up last year for the first time in nearly two decades due to a jump in assaults, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. Data collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in telephone surveys showed a 22 percent increase in assaults, pushing up the overall rate for violent crime for the first time since 1993. Crime rates have been declining steadily over the period and last year's increase compares with a record low figure for 2010. Statistics showed that the rate of assault victims increased from 19.3 per 1,000 persons to 22.5 per 1,000 last year. The statistics include 3.9 million simple assaults defined as crimes involving a threat but no weapon that resulted in relatively minor injuries. A second category described as serious violent crime include rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. An estimated 1.8 million such incidents occurred last year, but the increase from the previous year was calculated to be statistically insignificant. The results determined that the number of victims of the more serious crime category increased among whites and Hispanics, but not blacks, and among young men, but not among young women. The survey includes unreported crimes as well as those that were reported. Many citizens admit they didn't tell police about incidents in which they were victims. Roughly half of violent crime is unreported, according to the survey. The most closely watched annual crime statistics are scheduled for release on Oct. 29. The FBI's Uniform Crime Report is the most closely watched report of its kind and tabulates all reported crime nationally annually. Experts say they anticipate it will show a continued decline in overall crime. A preliminary report covering the first half of 2011 indicated total violent crime fell about 4 percent.   |
Cops: Florida woman bit boyfriend's 6-year-old son
 Palm Beach County Sheriff's Corrections Rachael Bohbot was arrested for allegedly biting her boyfriend's son. By NBCMiami.com A Florida woman was arrested over the weekend for allegedly biting her boyfriend's 6-year-old son in a contest to see who could bite the hardest, authorities said. Rachael Bohbot, of Boynton Beach, remained in Palm Beach County Jail on $3,000 bond on Tuesday. She faces a charge of child abuse without great harm after her boyfriend's son told his mother that Bohbot bit him several times over the course a weekend he spent with his father, a Boynton Beach police arrest report said. Read the original report | More from NBCMiami.com The boy was limping and told authorities Bohbot had bitten him on the leg while playing the "bite game," the report said. He said the game was a contest to see who could bite the hardest and that he lost the game when his thigh became bruised, the report said. He said that his reward for winning would be additions to his Halloween costume, the report said. When authorities met with Bohbot, she first denied biting the boy but later admitted to biting him on the shoulder harder than normal, the report said. She also said the boy cried uncontrollably and in an attempt to stop his cries, she offered him a toy sword for Halloween, the report said. Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter She told authorities that she bit him on the shoulder, not the leg, and did not have an explanation as to how he got the bruise on the leg, the report said. It wasn't immediately known whether Bohbot had an attorney. More content from NBCNews.com:
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Anti-military vibes emerge as thousands of vets go to college
| By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor The insult expressed in the Rutgers University class was aimed at the nearly 1 million veterans enrolled at U.S. schools under the GI Bill. And Scott Hakim, barely a year removed from combat, took the slam personally. "Why should we pay for these guys to go to college?" Hakim said he recalls a female student asking during a discussion on the nation's responsibility to service members returning from war. "Everybody who goes into the military is stupid – that's why they joined the military instead of going to college."  John Agnello Photography Scott Hakim, a Marine infantryman in combat, now attends Rutgers University. The school has a military-friendly reputation. But even there, Hakim says he heard another student bash enrolled veterans. Hakim at a recent wedding with girlfriend Emma Valenti. Hakim – a Marine infantryman in Iraq and Afghanistan – immediately vowed to out-study every classmate on the midterm exam and said he ultimately posted the highest mark: 98 out of 100. Later, he said, he overheard that same female student reveal her grade: F. "I guess I proved her wrong," Hakim said. "It wasn't a me-versus-her thing, more like: Maybe now she realizes how idiotic her statement was." Anti-veteran sentiments – though sporadic and scattered – are nonetheless emerging at some American colleges just as thousands of veterans enroll with their tuition fees fully covered by the post-9/11 GI Bill. In student gatherings or via anonymous posts in online forums, some university students are expressing open disdain for former service members now massing in academia. Student Veterans of America, a support network with more than 500 campus chapters, acknowledges the presence of some unwelcoming vibes. "It exists," said Michael Dakduk, executive director of SVA. "But, by and large, college students respect the sacrifices made by those who have served in the military." At Columbia University in New York City, a wounded Iraq War veteran was heckled and booed in February by fellow students as he argued for the return to that school of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, or ROTC, during a campus meeting. That reaction angered the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who openly questioned the school's leadership. At the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, student veteran Jason Thigpen said he has "personally experienced what seems to be 'anti-veteran' sentiment on more than a few occasions."  Courtesy of Scott Hakim Scott Hakim served with the U.S. Marines in Iraq and again in Afghanistan, where he was wounded by an IED in 2010. "I had a History 101 professor in 2011 actually refer to how much better he was than military service members," said Thigpen, an Army National Guard member who served in Iraq through January 2010. The UNC "system seems to disregard us in such a widespread manner, most student veterans no longer bother to even admit their time in-service, which is just sad." UNC, Wilmington spokeswoman Janine Iamunno responded: "UNC Wilmington proudly offers veterans, active-duty members of the military, and their families several programs and resources to support their unique educational needs. This is an extension of our commitment to the journey of learning, and to the premium we place on an open dialogue between faculty and students about the opportunities and challenges we face individually and as a community." At Rutgers, meanwhile, there is irony attached to the unfriendly dig uttered in one of Hakim's classes. That sort of behavior is well out of the norm, he said: "Other than that one time, Rutgers has been absolutely amazing." In Afghanistan, Hakim's vehicles ran over and detonated five IEDs. On a sixth occasion, he stepped on an IED, sustaining a traumatic brain injury. "If I have to miss a class (due to the injury), my professors are accommodating. The whole school itself is great with veterans." "Rutgers, like the rest of the country, has successfully been able to separate the warrior from the war," said Steve Abel, a retired Army colonel and director of the office of veteran military programs and services at Rutgers. "I was on a college campus around the time of (the) Kent State (shootings). I'm a product of the Vietnam era. So when I was driving here (a couple of years ago to start the job), I wondered: What is Rutgers going to be like from a staff and student body perspective, being a big and liberal university?" Abel said. "Any apprehension I had about that relationship absolutely dissolved when I got here. They could not have been more welcoming to me, my team and to the student veterans here." In fact, Rutgers was rated a "military friendly" school in the 2013 "G.I. Jobs" list of colleges where veterans feel appreciated and have an array of academic and social help available. Last month, when NBC News reported on the latest list of "military friendly" schools, several readers offered comments via newsvine.com that derided the nation's newest veterans. "This post-9/11 love affair with the military is disgusting. Paying people to illegally invade other countries and kill innocent men, women and children is immoral. Screw the military," wrote a reader who calls herself OVUgirl. "I have to agree with OVUgirl. Seeing the immoral military glorified on campus is disgusting," wrote another reader who uses the newsvine handle Gandhi Fan. Through newsvine, NBC News asked both of those readers to elaborate on their comments for this story. Neither responded. "I don't think you'll see (those types of feelings expressed) as overtly on the ground at college campuses," said SVA leader Dakduk. "But ... you can say things anonymously online – you can say pretty much everything – so that's where you'll see it most." Another leading veterans group suspects that some student veterans who blatantly grab GI Bill money with no plans to actually sit in a college classroom are further fueling that ill will. Under the post-9/11 GI Bill, the federal government directly reimburses colleges for a veteran's tuition fees. In addition, each student veteran receives a housing allowance that, depending on the university's zip code, can run as high as $2,040 per month if the veteran has dependents. They also each get $1,000 annually for books and supplies. "What happens is that too many of the people get the GI Bill and don't go to class. They spend the money elsewhere and the college has to cut them loose," said John E. Pickens III, executive director of VeteransPlus, a nonprofit that has offered financial counseling to more than 150,000 current and former service members. "That's one of the issues that kind of took us by surprise," he added. "When we go to these colleges and ask: How can we help? That's one of the things we hear from the student advisers: 'Look, I've got kids who come here and enroll to get their GI Bill and they end up not going to school.' "Unfortunately," Pickens said, "you have some folks who game the system." |
Five bodies found at scene of Denver bar fire
| By 9news.com and wire reports Firefighters responding to bar fire in Denver, Colo. discovered five people dead inside, officials said early Wednesday. Denver police Det. John White confirmed the deaths, at Fero's Bar & Grill, the Associated Press reported. No other details were immediately available, but a news conference was underway early Wednesday. The fire department was first called out to the scene at 1:47 a.m. local time (2:47 a.m ET) and was declared under control around 2:22 a.m. local time (3:22 a.m. ET) Follow this story with local affiliate 9news.com Colorado Blvd. is closed between E. Alameda Avenue and E. Viginia Avenue, local NBC affiliate 9news.com reported. It is unclear when and how the bodies were discovered inside and at what time police arrived on the scene. Police were on scene conducting an investigation and expected Colorado Blvd. will remain closed through the morning rush hour, 9news.com said. This is a breaking news story - please check back for further updates. |
Prisoner sues after inmate bites off part of his nose
 AP This photo provided by the Kentucky Equality Federation shows the injury to former Warren County Regional Jail inmate Brandon Milam's nose when he was attacked. A lawsuit Milam filed Tuesday claims that he lost his sense of smell and has to undergo extensive reconstructive surgery. By NBC News staff and The Associated Press A gay man sued a Kentucky jail and a fellow inmate Tuesday, saying the other prisoner bit off part of his nose after harassing him for days. The suit says that Brandon Milam, of Bowling Green, Ky., was sitting on his bed on July 2 when Timothy Schwartz, the other inmate, approached him, pinned him against the wall and began punching his face. Milam, 26, said that he "heard a crunching sound as Defendant Schwartz bit part of (his) nose off, severing it from (his) face," the suit claims. "Schwartz then spit the piece of (his) nose out onto the floor." Milam said he was disfigured, lost his sense of smell and was still in pain from the July attack in the Warren County Regional Jail, according to his lawsuit. Milam also claims that Schwartz, 41, and other inmates used gay slurs and threatened him for about a week before Schwartz bit off his nose. The men had been placed in a single cell with about 14 other men, according to the suit. The severed piece of nose was found by another inmate. Doctors at a hospital in Nashville, Tenn., tried to reattach it but were unsuccessful, the lawsuit said. Now Milam faces a series of reconstructive surgeries that could cost $26,000, according to The Daily News in Bowling Green. "It's a real tragedy that this would happen in a protective custody setting, this outrageously violent act," M. Austin Mehr, one of Milam's attorneys, said this week. "It was just like an animal." "I was also called queer several times," Milam said, according to a statement released by the Kentucky Equality Federation. "I was in jail for a probation violation over a shoplifting charge. I wasn't a flight risk and I had no violent history." The Kentucky advocacy group has assisted Milam in his suit and has urged federal authorities to pursue a case against Schwartz as a hate crime. "The deliberate indifference that the jail facility seemed to maintain when placing Mr. Milam in the cell with the attackers while being aware of his sexual orientation opens them to civil liability," attorney Jillian Hall, vice president of legal for Kentucky Equality Federation, said in the statement. The advocacy group says there has been a "growing trend" of gay inmates being harassed by Kentucky law enforcement. Schwartz was indicted on an assault charge and has pleaded not guilty. He was in jail for an alleged scheme to forge signatures of family members of disabled people, file false Medicaid claims and charge Medicaid for services not provided, according to the News. He remains in jail. His attorney, Walter Hawkins, did not immediately return a call. Milam was jailed for violating his probation for a guilty plea to felony theft, the suit said. He has since been placed on house arrest. NBC's Isolde Raftery contributed to this report. More content from NBCNews.com:
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Kids abused in home with strip club
(CNN) -- It started with a body on the front yard of a Southern California home. When detectives investigating that unsolved July homicide went with a search warrant this month, they said they discovered something even more shocking inside: seven adopted children who recounted incidents of sexual abuse and beatings -- all living in a home that had been converted into a strip club. Court documents called the pricey, two-story, terra-cotta-style home in the city of Perris' "Exotic Zone." The lower level, authorities said, had been converted into a strip club with a platform, a dancing pole and a private room. Five ecstasy pills lay on a kitchen counter within easy reach of the children, they said. The kids, ages 6 to 11, told child protection workers they had seen parties at the converted strip club that stretched into dawn. They said they were beaten with sticks, belts and a metal cane. They were locked in their bedrooms without food -- and threatened with a stun gun, authorities said. A 7-year-old girl told authorities she was sexually abused on a bathroom floor. Several of the children said they saw it happen. Police have arrested the home owners Gregory Bernard Lacy, 60, and LaQuron Lacy, 43. They will be arraigned later this month on multiple counts of child abuse. Meanwhile, the homicide that spurred the discovery remains unsolved. And Riverside County court documents do not say who is now taking care of the scarred children. Children, who despite the alleged beatings and the sexual abuse, told police they called the couple 'mom' and 'dad.' CNN's Rosalina Nieves contributed to this report. |
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