PENNSYLVANIA: Hannibal the cannibal? A man has been ordered to stand trial on charges he threatened a judge by sending her a letter with a picture of Hannibal Lecter – the cannibal played by Anthony Hopkins in “Silence of the Lambs.” Gregg Tchirkow, of the town of Monessen, told the court at his preliminary hearing that the cinematic threat against Westmoreland County Judge Meagan Bilik-Defazio was really only a “cry for help.” We learn that a motive for the threat may have been because the judge had sent Tchirkow to prison in 2005 on a drug possession conviction.
SRI LANKA: Suspicious movements? A Sri Lankan man was arrested trying to smuggle more than two pounds of gold through airport security in his rectum. The 45-year-old was headed to India via the Bandaranaike International Airport, when he was caught with the gold up his rear end. Custom agents said they were tipped off by the man’s “suspicious movements.”
NORTH CAROLINA: What a dummy! Teon Douglas, 21, believed he had found a safe place to stash his weed — in some weeds. Teon was outside of the courthouse in the town of Sanford waiting for his hearing on a probation violation when he decided that it would be foolish to bring his stash with him into the courthouse. So, he tried to bury it in some bushes outside the courthouse, but police officers spotted what he was doing and arrested him.
KENTUCKY: The headline read, “Call him a soda jerk.” A man held up a Henderson fast food restaurant on a Monday in late September dressed in a Coca-Cola bottle costume, police reported. The handgun waving robber threatened the manager of a Rally’s who was opening up and made off with $500. No arrest has been made.
NEW MEXICO: Yep, truth in advertising. Police and FBI agents broke into a meth, heroin and cocaine ring allegedly run out of a mechanic shop called “Get Your Fix Automotive” in Pueblo. Undercover agents bought drugs and guns from the shop owner Daniel Vasquez, 30, police allege.
