WATERLOO, N.Y. (AP) — Nicholas Cerino could have reached out and touched one of "America's Most Wanted" — the fugitive profiled on the show was sitting in his living room.
Mark Cerino, 41, was identified on the show as a contractor wanted in Florida for allegedly scamming elderly residents after last year's hurricanes.
Nicholas Cerino said he was "just dumbfounded" to hear a warrant had been issued in Brevard County, Fla., for his younger brother, who has been staying at his home in central New York.
Nine people called the show's tip line to report he was at his brother's home, and Mark Cerino was arrested within hours of the Saturday night broadcast.
"America's Most Wanted" officials won't reveal whether Nicholas Cerino turned in his brother because the tipsters are anonymous, said Avery Mann, spokesman for the Fox TV show.
Mark Cerino was wanted on charges of contracting without a license during a state emergency. He was being held without bail at Seneca County Jail.
Nicholas Cerino said his brother had a 90-day contracting permit in Florida, but couldn't get a license to work as a contractor when the permit expired. The older brother said his sibling repaid some customers and owes money to others.
He disputed allegations that his brother took money from unsuspecting victims and ran.
"This kid would give you the shirt off your back," said Nicholas Cerino, a quadriplegic who owns a motorcycle shop in Waterloo.
McLEAN, Va. (AP) — An infant born last month to a severely brain-damaged woman died Monday after emergency surgery to repair a perforated intestine.
Susan Anne Catherine Torres, born prematurely on Aug. 2 after her mother was on life support for three months, died of heart failure at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, a family statement said.
The infant's condition had deteriorated rapidly during the weekend, according to the family. The baby's prematurity led to an intestinal disorder and an infection that overwhelmed her body, and she died just after midnight, the hospital said.
Cancer patient Susan Rollin Torres, a 26-year-old researcher at the National Institutes of Health, suffered a stroke in May after melanoma spread to her brain. She was kept alive on life support so she could deliver the child.
A spokeswoman at St. Rita's Church in Alexandria said parishioners were told of the child's death during the morning Mass.
"After the efforts of this summer to bring her into the world, this is obviously a devastating loss for the Torres and Rollin families," Justin Torres, the woman's brother-in-law, said in the e-mailed statement. "We wish to thank all the people who sustained us in prayer over the past 17 weeks. It was our fondest wish that we could have been able to share Susan's homecoming with the world."
The baby's father, Jason Torres, had made the decision after his wife lost consciousness to keep her on life support for the sake of her fetus.
The pregnancy became a race between the fetus' development and the cancer that was ravaging the woman's body. Doctors at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, where the baby was born, had said at the time that Torres' health was deteriorating and that the risk of harm to the fetus finally outweighed the benefits of extending the pregnancy.
The mother died shortly after her daughter's birth when she was taken off life support. The baby was about two months premature and weighed 1 pound, 13 ounces.
After her birth, doctors said they saw no signs that her mother's cancer had crossed the placenta, and they described her as feisty and vigorous. In late August, the family said Susan had passed the 2-pound mark and had been taken off a ventilator, though she remained in neonatal intensive care.
English-language medical literature contains at least 11 cases since 1979 of irreversibly brain-damaged women whose lives were prolonged for the benefit of the developing fetus, according to the University of Connecticut Health Center.
Jason Torres had quit his job to be by his wife's side, spending each night sleeping in a reclining chair next to her bed. The couple had one other child — 2-year-old Peter.
A Web site was set up to help raise money for the family's mounting medical bills and people from around the world had sent in more than $600,000 as of early last month. Any excess money was to be donated to cancer research and to establish a college savings plan for the two children.
ROYAL, Neb. (AP) — Three chimpanzees from a small-town zoo were shot and killed after they escaped from their enclosure and could not be captured, the zoo director said.
The primates at Zoo Nebraska were able to get out of the cage Saturday when a padlock was not completely closed after cleaning, said zoo director Ken Schlueter Jr. He killed the animals with a deputy's service revolver after a tranquilizer gun didn't show any effect.
No people were hurt, state patrol spokeswoman Deb Collins said. The zoo is located in Royal, a northeastern Nebraska village of 75; one of its major donors was the late entertainer Johnny Carson.
After the chimps lifted the padlock and broke out, employees immediately moved visitors in an office area, but the chimps tried to get into the building, Schlueter said.
"When it became apparent there'd be danger here, they had to be destroyed," Schlueter told the Lincoln Journal Star.
Schlueter did not immediately return a message left for him by The Associated Press on Monday.
The Nebraska State Patrol and Antelope County Sheriff's Department were called to help capture the animals. A fourth chimpanzee also escaped, but quickly returned to its cage, officials said.
The zoo's board plans to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the escape Monday evening, board member and former zoo keeper Justin Jensen said. The chimp exhibit was a centerpiece at the small zoo.
"It's sure going to be a great loss," Jensen said.
The seven-acre zoo opened 18 years ago as the Midwest Primate Research Facility with one animal — a chimpanzee named Reuben, one of those killed Saturday. The other three chimps all arrived at the zoo within the last two years, Jensen said.
Carson, the late host of NBC's "The Tonight Show" who grew up not far from Royal, donated $55,000 to the zoo for the Carson Center for Chimps 15 years ago and an additional $20,000 more recently. He died in January.
Schlueter said the chimps weighed up to 300 pounds or more, and he shot two of them with a tranquilizer gun, but the tranquilizers had not taken effect after five minutes.
The danger chimps pose to humans was highlighted when a man and his wife were attacked by chimpanzees March 3 at the Animal Haven Ranch near Bakersfield, Calif. The man was severely mauled and the woman lost part of her thumb before the animals where shot to death.
The Nebraska animals' carcasses were flown Sunday to a zoo in St. Louis, where autopsies were planned.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — An FBI intelligence analyst with top secret clearance was charged Monday with passing classified information about Filipino leaders to current and former officials of that nation.
The analyst, Leandro Aragoncillo, sent some of the material to Michael Ray Aquino, a former deputy director of the Philippines National Police who lives in New York City, according to an FBI complaint made public Monday.
Both men were arrested Saturday at their homes.
Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury, was hired to work at the Army's Fort Monmouth in July 2004 and began sending classified information and documents in January, according to the complaint.
From May to Aug. 15, Aragoncillo printed or downloaded 101 classified documents relating to the Philippines, of which 37 were classified "secret," the complaint said. Details of the documents' contents were not disclosed in court papers or in court.
U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said there was no evidence that the administration of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was involved, but he would not say if the suspects were in contact with opposition factions. The Asian nation has been beset by persistent coup rumors since Arroyo was accused of rigging last year's elections.
Aquino is not related to former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.
Aragoncillo, a Marine for 21 years, and Aquino were ordered held without bail following an appearance before a federal magistrate.
After his arrest, Aragoncillo "essentially admitted that he took classified information," Assistant U.S. Attorney Karl H. Buch told the magistrate.
Aragoncillo, a Filipino who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, was suspended by the FBI on Monday. Leslie Wiser Jr., the special agent in charge of the FBI's New Jersey operations, said it was "disheartening" that one of the agency's workers faces such charges.
Christie would not say what motivated the suspects. In court, Buch said that Aragoncillo had $500,000 in debts and that Aquino had been investigated in the Philippines in connection with a conspiracy to murder two people.
The investigation began after Aquino, 39, was arrested in March, accused of overstaying the tourist visa he used to enter the country in July 2001.
The defendants face a charge of conspiracy and a charge of acting as unregistered foreign agents, the latter of which carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine. Aragoncillo also was charged with unauthorized use of a government computer, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine.
Both men were represented Monday by federal public defenders.
GLAND, Switzerland (AP) — Only 887 hippos are left in Congo, once home to the world's largest population of the water-loving mammal, and they will be extinct in the African country, an international environmental group warned Monday.
Hippos are being killed by government soldiers, local militia and poachers, the World Wildlife Fund said. The meat is sold as food while teeth end up as part of the illegal ivory trade. Hippos fetch around $50 per animal.
The latest aerial survey puts the hippopotamus population in northeastern Congo's Virunga National Park down to under 1,000 animals, compared to some 29,000 in 1974. The last survey in 2003 counted 1,307.
The continued presence of soldiers and armed groups in the park — a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a 400-mile-long boundary — has made it difficult to protect the animals, the WWF said.
"Soldiers are left in the park without being fed nor paid and that's a recipe for disaster," said Marc Languy, who heads WWF's regional program.
Following a five-year war in this central African country, the postwar transitional government has had little success in calming the east, where killings, looting and rapes continue almost unabated.
Conducted last month, the hippopotamus survey was carried out by the Congolese Institute for Conservation of Nature, the European Union and WWF.
The disappearance of hippos also triggers serious secondary effects for the population, the WWF said. Because hippo dung provides vital nutrients for the fish in Lake Edward, its absence has led to a rapid decline of the lake's fish stocks.
"If the government does not take the hippo situation in Virunga seriously, this will not only lead to an environmental disaster, but also to an economic crisis for local communities," said Languy.
HAYWARD, Wis. (AP) — A deer hunter testified Monday he never fired at a man accused of going on a rampage and fatally shooting six people in the woods after a confrontation over trespassing.
Terry Willers, one of two hunters wounded in the shootings Nov. 21, testified he was the only one in his group who had a gun when they confronted Chai Soua Vang.
"Who shot first?" Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager asked.
"Mr. Vang," said Willers, whose 27-year-old daughter was among those killed that day.
Willers testified on the second day of Vang's trial on six counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. He faces mandatory life in prison if convicted in the shootings. Wisconsin does not have the death penalty.
Vang, 36, of St. Paul, Minn., an ethnic Hmong who came to the United States from a refugee camp in Thailand in 1980, says he acted in self-defense after someone shot at him.
Prosecutors disputed that, saying the other hunter wounded in the shooting, Lauren Hesebeck, fired a shot at Vang with Willers' gun, but only after Vang fired first.
Defense attorney Steve Kohn told the jury in opening statements that Willers was "abrupt and antagonistic" and Vang came under a vicious verbal attack from the other hunters, frightening him and making him feel under siege.
Willers told jurors Monday the confrontation turned violent after Vang apologized for trespassing on their private land and the group threatened to report him to authorities.
Willers testified he found Vang in a tree stand, asked him to leave and then gave him directions to public property. Vang, who was wearing a camouflaged ski mask, started to leave, Willers said.
As Vang walked away, Willers said he used a radio to call one of the property's owners, Robert Crotteau, at a nearby cabin.
Crotteau drove up with other hunters on two all-terrain vehicles and angrily accused Vang of trespassing, Willers said.
The group unsuccessfully tried to get Vang to show identification, then flipped over the hunting tag on his back to get his deer license number, Willers said.
Crotteau hollered to Vang that the hunters would report him to authorities, Willers testified. Vang was walking down a path when he crouched, set down a bag and took the gun off his shoulder, Willers said.
He testified he believed Vang was to going shoot, so he took his gun from his shoulder and held it in front of him. "I said, 'Don't you shoot at me, you (expletive)"' he said. Willers then ran and dove behind a tree.
"A split second I felt a burning and felt a ripple through my body. I next thought about moving and I couldn't move," said Willers, who was wounded in the neck. "I was thinking this was it."
Killed were Robert Crotteau, 42; his son Joey Crotteau, 20; Al Laski, 43; Mark Roidt, 28; Jessica Willers, 27; and Dennis Drew, 55, all of the Rice Lake area.
Sawyer County Circuit Judge Norman Yackel agreed to allow two photographers into the courtroom as long as they made less noise and took fewer photos. He banned still photographers Saturday after Vang's attorneys complained about the camera noise.
CHOTEAU, Mont. (AP) — A former painter on David Letterman's ranch near here was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for overcharging the talk show host for painting work, as part of a plea agreement in which prosecutors dismissed more serious charges accusing Kelly Frank of plotting to kidnap Letterman's young son and nanny.
Reading from a statement, Frank apologized in court Monday "for the grief that this has caused," but again denied he ever intended to carry out the kidnapping.
"In no way, shape or form was (the allegation) true, but nevertheless, it was devastating," he said.
Frank, a convicted felon, was arrested in March after investigators said he told an acquaintance of his plan to abduct Letterman's then 16-month-old son, Harry Joseph, and the boy's nanny and hold them for ransom. The acquaintance told authorities that Frank said he believed he could extort $5 million from Letterman by holding the two for 48 hours.
Under an agreement reached with prosecutors in July, Frank pleaded guilty to felony theft for overcharging Letterman for painting, and a misdemeanor charge of obstruction for lying to investigators who initially questioned him about the alleged kidnapping plot. Frank also pleaded guilty to an unrelated felony charge of possessing illegally killed wildlife. In exchange for the guilty pleas, prosecutors dropped charges of solicitation to kidnap.
In addition to the 10-year sentence on the theft charge, District Judge Marc Buyske sentenced Frank to six months for obstruction and five years on the wildlife charge, all to be served concurrently. Frank also lost his hunting and fishing privileges for 25 years and was ordered to pay Letterman's ranch $1,500 and pay the state $8,000.
Letterman bought the 2,700-acre Montana ranch along the Rocky Mountain Front in 1999.
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — The body of missing Northern California man has been found after a four-day search in Sequoia National Park.
Forty-two-year-old Phillip Arens of Auburn was reported missing Wednesday by his brother while the two were on multiday backpacking trip in Sequoia National Park.
Arens' brother, who was not named, says the two ended their backpacking trip Wednesday near Crescent Meadows. He says after he hiked back to retrieve their car, his brother was missing.
Last week, a hiker from San Jose who was missing for three days in Yosemite National Park emerged from a trail with a minor ankle injury.
Twenty-seven-year-old Leon Zheng walked out of the park on his own Friday, three days later than expected.
REDLANDS, Calif. (AP) — The state medical board is poised to yank the license of a doctor it claims hastened a dying patient's death by giving him a massive dose of morphine.
But pain management advocates — and the dying man's children — have rallied behind Dr. Harold Luke, who says he was simply trying to make his 76-year-old patient, identified only as "Morris E," more comfortable.
"The state of California should focus on better things," said Lori McCorry, 47, one of the patient's three children. "What they're doing to Luke is wrong."
State Deputy Attorney General Samuel K. Hammond, who tried the case before an administrative law judge, said Luke acted "without medical necessity."
"Given the fact that the bulk of his practice involves taking care of terminally ill patients, the judge felt — rightly so — the only way to protect the public was to revoke his license," Hammond said.
Luke's case highlights the controversy over prescribing painkillers to dying patients. Although morphine eases pain, it can be fatal if administered in high doses, according to medical experts.
"Morris E." was near death when he was admitted to Redlands Community Hospital in September 2002, suffering from kidney and heart failure, emphysema, nerve damage and pneumonia.
After a few days, Luke increased his morphine dose tenfold. The patient died within an hour.
Such big dose increases are not standard, said June Dahl, a pharmacology professor at the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison who also heads the American Alliance of Cancer Pain Initiatives.
The Medical Board of California on Aug. 4 approved an administrative law judge's recommendation to pull Luke's medical license for "gross negligence."
Luke, who has practiced medicine for 32 years, is appealing that ruling. The medical board agreed to postpone its order until Friday so his request can be reviewed.
Luke declined to comment on the case while the board's decision was pending.
In an August letter to the board, he said that as a Seventh-day Adventist, he was opposed to physician-assisted suicide and that the patient's deteriorating state justified the big morphine dose increase.
POTHARAM, Thailand (AP) — Inside a dark room, realistic-looking "human body parts" are stacked on shelves and hanging on meat hooks. The place looks like a mortuary or the lair of a serial killer, but in fact, it's a bakery.
What appears to be putrefying body parts are the bread sculptures of 28-year-old art student Kittiwat Unarrom.
"Of course, people were shocked and thought that I was mad when they saw the works. But once they knew the idea behind it, they understood and became interested in the work itself, instead of thinking that I am crazy," said the fine arts masters degree student.
He hopes his realistic artwork will make people ponder whether they are consuming food, or food is consuming them.
"Everyone's life is rushed nowadays, even when it comes to eating," he said. "When we eat, we don't think about our health or safety, we only think of our taste buds."
As an undergraduate art student, Kittiwat started painting portraits. He then moved to mixed media and finally dough — a natural medium for him since his family runs a bakery.
Along with edible human heads crafted from dough, chocolate, raisins and cashews, Kittiwat makes human arms, feet, and chicken and pig parts. He uses anatomy books and his vivid memories of visiting a forensics museum to create the human parts.
He now is receiving regular orders from the curious and from pranksters who want to surprise their friends or colleagues, but that's a minor sideline.
By the end of the year, Kittiwat's confectionary slaughterhouse will go on display at Bangkok's Silpakorn University. It's his final dissertation, and he hopes it will secure him a master of arts degree.
"When people see the bread, they don't want to eat it. But when they taste it, it's just normal bread," he said. "The lesson is 'don't judge just by outer appearances."'
HAYWARD, Calif. (AP) — Two men who had sex with a transgender teen and then discovered she was biologically male were convicted Monday of her murder, but cleared of hate crime charges.
Michael Magidson and Jose Merel, both 25, face mandatory sentences of 15 years-to-life in prison for second-degree murder in the killing of Gwen Araujo, who was beaten, tied up and strangled.
The jury was deadlocked in the case of a third man, Jason Cazares, 25, marking the second time a mistrial was declared in his case.
There were sobs in the Alameda County courtroom as the verdicts were read and Merel held his head in his hands.
Araujo, 17, was born a boy named Edward but grew up to believe her true identity was female. The defendants, who knew her as Lida, met Araujo in the summer of 2002. Magidson and Merel had sexual encounters with Araujo, experiences that fueled suspicions about Araujo's gender.
The issue boiled over in the early hours of Oct. 4, 2002, in a confrontation at Merel's house in the San Francisco suburb of Newark.
Merel's lawyer, William Du Bois, said he was shocked by the verdict, especially since prosecutor Chris Lamiero said he didn't think Merel was the killer.
"I can't imagine what evidence they used to come to this decision," Du Bois said.
In the first trial, the three defendants stuck together, with their lawyers attacking the chief prosecution witness, Jaron Nabors, who was also at the house the night Araujo died but was allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter in exchange for testifying.
But in the second trial, the defendants' united front cracked.
Nabors testified at both trials that Araujo was savagely attacked after her biological identity was revealed when her underwear was pulled aside. He said he didn't see the killing but saw Magidson pull a rope toward the teen's neck.
Magidson testified that he beat and tied up Araujo but said he couldn't remember large parts of the night and was sure he had not strangled her. He said Nabors was the killer and his attorney asked for a manslaughter conviction.
But Merel, testifying for the first time, broke down and cried when Lamiero asked him directly if Magidson admitted strangling Araujo. He testified that Magidson had told him "if push came to shove" Merel should identify Magidson as the killer.
An autopsy found Araujo died of asphyxiation associated with head injuries.
Nabors testified that Merel smashed Araujo in the head with a can and also hit her with a pan. Merel acknowledged slapping Araujo and hitting her a glancing blow with the pan but said he only menaced her with the can and did not seriously injure the teen. Du Bois said if Merel was guilty of anything it was felony assault.
Cazares said he was outside the house when the killing took place and only helped bury the body in a shallow grave in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Cazares' attorney said he thought the jury didn't believe Nabors' testimony.
"We believe from the first instant that he wasn't telling the truth and what he was doing was trying to save his own skin," attorney Tony Serra said.
Cazares, who was free on bail, hugged his girlfriend and left the courthouse.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An elderly man died from complications of West Nile virus in the first fatality attributed to the disease in Utah, the state Department of Health said.
The man was identified only as being from Uintah County and older than 65. It is the first death confirmed by the state, although a woman who contracted the disease in Montana died in Salt Lake City last year of West Nile complications, according to her family.
Steve McDonald, a spokesman for the state Department of Health, said the state has been tracking West Nile virus for three years.
"As long as you see mosquitos in the morning and the evening, you need to protect yourself," McDonald said.
The Tri-County Health Department, which covers Uintah, Duchesne and Daggett counties, disclosed the death Monday but did not release the exact date.
Children and the elderly are more susceptible to the disease, which can be transmitted through mosquito bites. For most people, the risk of becoming seriously ill from the virus is low.
Symptoms of the disease in mild cases can include body aches and rashes. More serious cases can result in meningitis and encephalitis. In 2004, 11 people in Utah were sickened by West Nile virus.
As of last week, the state had 23 confirmed cases of the virus in humans and no fatalities. A Montana woman died of West Nile complications in Salt Lake City last fall. She had contracted the virus in her home state and was being treated in Utah for injuries suffered in a fall.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there had been 821 confirmed West Nile human cases nationally and 18 deaths in 2005.
MILTON, Fla. (AP) — Happy hour customers had just started enjoying themselves at Ollie's Neighborhood Grill when the room started getting funky — for real.
A sinkhole, likely caused by an underground spring, sent a steady stream of water flowing beneath the floors Thursday and caused the building to sink about six inches in some places, said owner Andy Leach.
"The floor seems to be moving," said Milton Fire Chief John Reble. "I've never seen anything the likes of this before. It's caused quite a bit of structural damage to the slab."
Reble initially suspected a broken water main but testing determined the flow was from a natural source because it lacked chlorine used to treat drinking water.
"This happened just in time for happy hour — unhappy hour now," Leach said.
Santa Rosa County building inspector Bobby Burkett said the building may have to be condemned and razed.
"You're not hardly going to stop an underground spring," he said.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Customers at the 3-D Kutz barbershop aren't just seeing double — they're seeing triple.
The shop is everything you'd expect from your friendly neighborhood barbershop. Everything, that is, except for the identical triplets — Damian, Dominic and Derrick Montoya — who run it.
"I was astonished," says Juan Gonzales, one of the first 3D Kutz customers. "It took me about six or seven months to figure out who was who."
Customers say a lot of the shop's entertainment comes from the chemistry of the brothers. Frequently while cutting hair, Damian and Dominic will secretly swap customers.
Damian and Dominic are fully licensed barbers, while Derrick helps clean and observes the process as he works to get his license through the Albuquerque Barber College.
Their mother, Diane, began the family's interest in hair.
"When the boys were young I would take them to the barbershop, and it was so expensive that I thought 'I can do that.' So I bought some shears and cut the boys' hair. Pretty soon they were cutting each other's hair," Diane says.
ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Hawkins County officials are taking a dim view of their emergency dispatchers using tanning beds.
The Hawkins County 911 Board voted Thursday that the tanning bed, which employees bought with their own money, must be removed from the Central Dispatch center. The center handles emergency calls for fire and law enforcement departments.
County Commissioner Syble Vaughan-Trent said she was concerned about taxpayer outrage.
"It's the impression it leaves as much as it is the money involved, but I think taxpayers are going to be highly upset to find out their money is paying utility costs for a tanning bed at 911," Vaughan-Trent said.
Board chairman Chili Sanders said he approved putting the tanning bed on county property.
"The employees paid for it, and I told them they could put it in there, but they cannot use it while they're on the clock," Sanders told his fellow board members. "Our employees sit for 12 hours, and they get kind of stiff, so they go in there after clocking out. They say it helps — the heat on their back."
LOS ANGELES (AP) — FBI Special Agents Michael Haas and Steve Morris made one of their biggest arrests while on their lunch break.
Haas and Morris looked up from their salads in a Brentwood restaurant Sept. 3 to see a man outside a Bank of America carrying a bank bag with red smoke billowing from it — a method often used to deter robbers.
The man ran as agents approached, but Haas caught him a few blocks later, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. The man was carrying $1,256 in cash, authorities said.
The man — identified by authorities as Peter Soren Walsky, 45 — was alleged to be the "Fanny Pack Bandit," a bank robber who carried out a nine-month crime spree. He got the nickname because he allegedly wore a fanny pack during some of the early robberies.
Walsky appeared Tuesday before a federal magistrate judge on a single charge of bank robbery and was held in lieu of $400,000 bail. Arraignment was set for Sept. 20.
Posted in Backpage on Tuesday, September 13, 2005 12:00 am
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