Vero Beach woman gets 55 years for writing bad checks

VERO BEACH — It was $1,900 here and $10,000 there.
On Friday, it all added up to a sentence of 55 years in state prison for 42-year-old Johnnie Miles, whose criminal record — of bad checks and financial fraud — dates to when she was 14 years old, according to court officials.
A month ago, a six-member Indian River County jury found the 29th Avenue resident innocent of the latest charges against her: defrauding a store out of $7,500 during a three-month period in 2007.
But under state rules, Circuit Court Judge Dan Vaughn was allowed to take another look at the facts in the latest case. That's because she was on probation for a 2003 conviction for grand theft and fraud in Indian River County.
Because of her record, Vaughn gave her the maximum for probation violation: 11 five-year state jail terms, all to be servedconsecutively, adding up to 55 years. Each five-year term is for the 11 offenses for which she served four years in state prison.
Her record goes back even further, including an additional 20 felony fraud and theft convictions, nine petty theft convictions and seven misdemeanor cases, according to county court records.
"She is one of the most notorious thieves" in the county, said Assistant State Attorney Adam Chrzan, who handled her latest case.
Her record, the attorney said, includes such things as making purchases using just credit card numbers. She told a store owner she was the victim of an identify theft and her card was stolen.
In the recent trial, Chrzan said the jury may have been swayed by testimony that a person identifying herself as Johnnie Miles called Riverside Bank claiming her checkbook and credit card were stolen, leading to fraudulent charges.
During sentencing on Friday, Miles made no comment.

Girl Accused of Seeking Hit on Father

A 15-year-old Hagerstown girl suspected of being part of a clique of teens who liked to suck one another's blood approached a friend on a crowded high school bus in October and asked him to kill her father, prosecutors say.
Prosecutors in Washington County in Western Maryland allege that she told the friend, a male classmate, that he could find her father at 5 a.m., climbing into the work truck he parked in the alley behind their rowhouse.
And that was where, on Halloween morning, her father's body was found in a pool of blood. He had been stabbed repeatedly in the head and neck.
This week, the girl was ordered held without bond on charges of soliciting murder.
In recent court hearings, however, this has become clear: The suspect charged in the man's death was not the male classmate she is accused of soliciting for the killing but another of the girl's friends, a 19-year-old accused of confronting the father because of the belief -- unsupported, prosecutors say -- that he was abusing his daughter.
John Dunlap, assistant state's attorney for Washington County, said police and prosecutors began investigating the man's daughter and her friends because the man "had no problems with nobody."
"The only thing he had a problem with was his daughter and her group of friends," Dunlap said. They were a goth "crew, sucking each other's blood, cutting each other."
The Washington Post is not identifying the girl because she is charged as a juvenile. The father is not being identified because he and his daughter share a last name. The male classmate has not been charged.
The 19-year-old, Alec S. Eger, has been charged with first-degree murder. more

Kentucky Fried Chicken fired for turning sink into hot tub

After putting the photos up on MySpace, one of the unidentified girls listed herself as a 17-year-old worker at the Anderson KFC near Redding.

Record Searchlight
LOS ANGELES - They serve fast food, but they're slow learners.

Four months after a Burger King employee lost his job for taking a bubble bath in a restaurant sink, three scantily clad teens were fired when they turned a basin at their northern California KFC into their personal hot tub.

They landed in hot water with the chicken chain's management when one of the bikini-clad dimwits made the same mistake as the Ohio Burger King employee - she posted photos of the dippy escapade on MySpace.

The photos included captions such as "haha KFC showers!" and "haha we turned on the jets," and were filed under a gallery called "KFC moments," according to the Record Searchlight newspaper in Redding, Calif.

The story broke before the unidentified girl could scrub public access to her profile. On her MySpace page, the girl listed herself as a 17-year-old worker at the Anderson KFC near Redding.

"I'm a KFC worker, they are my best friends and my family," she said on her site.

The three were suspended Tuesday - and have since been fired, said KFC spokesman Rick Maynard. more

Man walked in to Sheriff Department told him he was intoxicated and refused to leave.

HENDERSON CO., KY - The Henderson County Sheriff's Department told NEWS 25 that a man was taken into custody, after becoming belligerent once he walked into the sheriff's office under the influence of alcohol.

Steven Blevins, 33, walked into the HCSD office around 9:00am Wednesday. Police said he was intoxicated. Then, when deputies attempted to escort him from the building, they said he became resistive. He dropped to the floor and refused to move. At that point, a deputy used a taser on Blevins. He then was willing to comply with deputies.

Blevins was charged with intoxication, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Santa burglar stuck in chimney for 3 hours, arrested

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Santa aside, that trip down the chimney doesn't work so well after all.

So a man in St. Louis found out early Wednesday. Police say he was a burglar, and he was arrested after a harrowing three hours inside the chimney of a business.

Authorities were called at 3 a.m. to a pawn shop, where the man was wedged in the chimney, unable to move. After about three hours, rescuers were able to knock away bricks and free him.

He was taken to a hospital for evaluation. The man's name has not been released.

Man invents INVENTED a female ROBOT for compaions

A BOFFIN too busy to find real love has INVENTED his idea of the perfect woman – a female ROBOT.
Inventor Le Trung, 33, created Aiko, said to be “in her 20s” with a stunning 32, 23, 33 figure, shiny hair and delicate features.

She even remembers his favourite drink and does simple cleaning and household tasks.

"Fem-bot" Aiko, who has cost £14,000 to build so far, is a whizz at maths and even does Le’s accounts.

Le, a scientific genius from Brampton in Ontario, Canada, said he never had time to find a real partner so he designed one using the latest technology.

He said he did not build Aiko as a sexual partner, but said she could be tweaked to become one. more

Letter carrier stole more than 100,000 letters

MONTREAL - A Montreal letter carrier pleaded guilty Monday in what is being called the biggest case of mail theft in Canadian history.

Eric Belley, 34, stole more than 100,000 letters and packages over a six-year period.

The letters themselves were left untouched, and that’s the problem - the prosecutor believes Belley was simply too lazy to do his job.

Instead of delivering mail to his customers the Montrealer brought entire bags of letters home, hiding them in his Montreal-area apartment or at his cottage north of the city.

“It was a shock. We had never seen such a thing, 75,000 or 100,000 pieces of mail,” said Catherine Lortie, of Canada Post.

On Monday the former postman pleaded guilty to mail theft. It appeared he had little choice after being caught in the act red-handed.

In the corporation’s investigation of Belley, he was filmed removing bags of mail from the trunk of his car and bringing it inside his home. He now faces up to 10 years in jail.more