Kent Joseph Gockel, St Marys, Kansas, accused of stealing $890,000 from mother

ksn.com

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A St. Marys man has been charged with stealing more than $890,000 from his mother's trust funds. Prosecutors say Kent Joseph Gockel was charged Thursday with 11 counts of bank fraud stemming from actions in 2008.

Federal prosecutors say Kent Gockel started taking care of his mother's trust funds in 2002 after his father died...

what a jerk...read entire article here

Elderly women raped in Texas; Serial rapist on the loose

January 19, 2010

AP via ifpress.com

By Paul J. Weber, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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YOAKUM, Texas — ...A sexual predator has been assaulting elderly women in central Texas over the past year, terrifying residents and frustrating investigators who have only a vague description of the suspect...

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Beginning with the rape of a 65-year-old woman in Yoakum last January, authorities have linked eight sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults to the suspect, who has been dubbed the “Twilight Rapist” because most of the attacks occurred around dawn...

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The victims have all been women, ranging in age from 65 to 91...an 81-year-old woman scared off an intruder with a gun, firing several rounds for good measure...

The attacks occurred in seven rural towns, the largest of which has 6,000 residents. Two women were attacked — one of them twice — in Yoakum, a quiet town about 100 miles east of San Antonio...

Authorities say the attacks appear to have been planned — phone lines were cut and porch lights were unscrewed outside some of the victims’ homes. All the victims lived alone, and one had money stolen...

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Just across the interstate in Luling, where the last attack occurred in November, a neighbour said it’s no coincidence the victim was the only woman in his retirement village with a job. (?)

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A year into the case there is still no sketch of the suspect, only a vague description of a thin, young and dark-skinned man who is between 51/2- and 6-feet tall...
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read entire article here
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more on the Net:
Yoakum municipality: http://www.cityofyoakum.org/

Enid police taser nursing home patient

JESSE WELLS REPORTING
kfor.com

ENID, OKLAHOMA -- Police in Enid use a taser to subdue a 69-year-old nursing home patient.

Investigators say the elderly man, Lester Harris, had become disruptive over the weekend. That's when staff at Enid Senior Care called 911.

When officers arrived, Harris supposedly hit one of the officers in the stomach.

To get control of Harris, police twice used their tasers.

Harris' daughter says her dad suffered a stroke 2 weeks ago, and thinks police used excessive force.

"There's just so much that's wrong. Why taze a 70-year old man in a nursing home?" said Linda Ward.

Enid police defend their actions.

"We have to make sure the staff and officers are protected, and of course the person [we are] arresting," said Lt. Eric Holtzclaw.

Harris was arrested for assault and battery on a police officer.

He's since been released on bond and is being kept at a hospital in Enid where he's doing fine.

Read entire article here.
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We need to take these tasers away from the cops. They are taser crazy.

Man Sent to Jail for Grandmother's Beating Death

for full background, here is the Americas Most Wanted Site:

http://www.amw.com/fugitives/brief.cfm?id=41938

UTICA, N.Y. (AP) - After a testy exchange with a judge, a 35 year-old man was sentenced Monday to 25 years to life in state prison for beating his grandmother to death during an argument.

Scott Herman repeatedly denied that he intended to kill his 82-year-old grandmother, Louise Herman, last November in Rome, N.Y., and lashed out at the judge and prosecutor as he spoke on his own behalf.

"No one is this courtroom knows what happened in that house," said Herman. An Oneida County Court jury needed less than a half hour to find Herman guilty of murdering his grandmother, even though Judge Barry Donalty had allowed jurors to also consider the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Herman, who defended himself, argued during his trial that there was no evidence he intended to kill his grandmother and that he only meant to cause her serious injury when he slammed her head several times against a basement support pole.

He told jurors that he was defending himself after his grandmother came at him swinging a hammer and threatened to kill him during an argument at the home they shared. After the killing, Herman fled the state. He was captured in January in New Mexico after two months on the run.

Assistant District Attorney Dawn Catera Lupi described Herman's actions as a "rage killing" and noted Herman's lack of remorse and empathy about his grandmothers death. "The defendant took his frustrations at his life out on his grandmother," Lupi said. "She was there when he needed her and this was her reward."

Herman said he felt being sentenced to prison would be wrong. He said he planned to appeal the verdict because of media bias tainting the jury.

When Donalty spoke, he said he was "flabbergasted" by Herman's words. Herman constantly interrupted as the judge tried to impose sentence.

Donalty then imposed the maximum sent of 25 years to life, but he said he regretted not being able to give him more because of the violent nature of the crime.

Missing woman found; relative arrested

Update: Missing woman found Alive

BY DEB GRUVER AND HURST LAVIANA
The Wichita Eagle

Wichita police arrested a 48-year-old woman Saturday after a missing 89-year-old woman was found just after 3 p.m. at a relative's house in the 3300 block of South Chase, near 31st South and Meridian.

Virginia Judd, who has dementia, and her dog, Ruby, were reported missing from her home in the 6000 block of West School Street, near Sedgwick County Park, at 8:30 a.m. today.

"We're looking at a dependent-person abuse situation," Sgt. Steve Yarberry said. "She was basically left alone."

Yarberry said the arrested woman was Judd's relative, but he would not elaborate. He said police would release no further details this weekend.

A relative who was in Missouri when he heard that Judd was missing returned to Wichita and went to the home on South Chase, police said. The relative saw Judd's dog through a window, broke a window to get inside and found Judd lying on the living room floor.

She was taken to Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Joseph Campus for examination.

Search dogs had been out looking for her, and Wichita Fire Department emergency workers used a boat to check a lake behind her house, where Judd lives with her daughter.

Apparently this old woman's granddaughter meant to do her in! Can you believe the world has come to this, when an old woman isn't safe with her own grandchildren? We have plenty room in the jail for her. Throw the key away.