Man charged with robbery while trick-or-treating
A Cincinnati man was charged with aggravated robbery last week after he helped his younger cousins steal another child’s Halloween candy. According to the Associated Press, 21-year-old Derrick Finn was arrested on felony charges for serving as a lookout for the youngsters activities; the alleged victim identified Finn to the police. Hamilton County prosecutors said that a 15-year-old and a 14-year-old had also been charged with misdemeanors. In response to a comment by Finn’s lawyer that stealing candy was not enough to justify felony charges, Municipal Court Judge Lisa Allen responded, “Depends on what kind of candy it is.”
Police recover stolen vehicle after wheel ignites
Just outside of Cincinnati, police officers stopped a stolen truck after noticing that its back wheel had caught on fire. Officers recognized the driver, 43-year-old Richard Waters, from previous encounters and knew that he shouldn’t have been driving a truck; Waters was charged with receiving stolen property and it was later found out that the truck had been taken from the city. The Associated Press reports that the wheel caught on fire after Waters left the vehicle’s emergency brake on while driving away.
After dispute, man charges son-in-law with al-Qaeda links
A 52-year-old Swedish man admitted to falsely accusing his son-in-law of having ties to al-Qaeda late last week. The errant warning forced the son-in-law to be detained for eleven hours at a Florida airport while waiting to travel back to Sweden. The man sent a warning to American authorities in anger after a dispute with the son-in-law who is divorcing the man’s daughter. According to the Sydsvenska Dagbladet, the protective father did not expect such a “paranoid reaction” from American authorities when he sent the email. The man has since been charged with defamation.
“Olympics” grows in popularity as a Chinese name
In preparation for the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, almost 3,500 Chinese children have been named for the event. According to a report in the Beijing Daily that examined China’s national identity card database the name “Aoyun,” meaning Olympics in Chinese has grown in popularity. The vast majority of children given this name are male. Other Olympic-themed names include the five mascots for the Beijing games; when put together the five names translate to the phrase “Beijing welcomes you!”