"A 15-year-old Ohio girl was arrested on felony child pornography charges for allegedly sending nude cell phone pictures of herself to classmates. Authorities are considering charging some of the students who received the photos as well." [The Register]
"A federal grand jury has indicted the son of a Democratic Tennessee state lawmaker in connection with the hacking of the e-mail account of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. David Kernell, 20, of Knoxville, Tenn., the son of state Rep. Mike Kernell, was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Clifford Shirley, according to a statement from the Justice Department." [AP]
In August, Bloomberg News prematurely declared Steve Jobs dead. In fact, he was still very much alive, and Bloomberg had merely published the Apple CEO's 17-page obituary by accident. Nevertheless, it left employees, the technology community, and shareholders a bit jittery. Then last week, CNN erroneously reported almost the same thing! Except this wasn't a matter of Wolf Blitzer getting punk'd by a source — it was a matter of its citizen journalism site iReport.com posting an anonymous item claiming Jobs suffered a heart attack. Also not true. But that didn't matter to shareholders, who sent Apple's stock price plummeting when the tech blogs picked up on the rumor and before the company could shoot down the claim and reassure everyone. (Shares rebounded by day's end, though they ended down three percent.) As it turns out, a one "Johntw" posted the report, and now he's sort of in serious trouble. Because CNN, it appears, does not like being made a fool, so they've turned over Johntw's computer trail to the Securities and Exchange Commission. CONTINUED »
Mortals woke up Sunday morning to find out Heather Locklear was arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence, after a "motorist" called 911 to alert authorities to the actress' "erratic" driving. Cops showed up and, low and behold, so did the paparazzi.
That's because the photogs were dialed immediately after the 911 call, by the same person: a one Jill Ishkanian, TMZ reported (though the post seems to have been removed had its URL changed).
You remember Ishkanian as the former Us Weekly staffer who left to start paparazzi agency Sunset Photo & News, only to become the center of a FBI investigation that, depending on which account you believe, alleged Ishkanian was hacking into Us' computers or that Us was trying to sabotage its ex-staffer. Ishkanian, meanwhile, is no longer with Sunset, thanks to a bizarre scenario where her now-former business partner stands accused of fleecing the agency.
And now, here she is, at the center of Locklear's DUI arrest. So how did the industry veteran just happen to be driving near the actress one night this week? CONTINUED »
In honor of Fashion Week, may we present: Fashion Crime. This is not the typical Fashion Police item you see in the back pages of a celeb weekly, but an actual jailing — in an actual prison — for bad taste. Kirstie Arnold spent three days behind bars after appearing in court wearing "khaki shorts, and I had on a white baby doll tank top, and it was cute, and it had the little pockets, and it was really adorable." Well, that's according to Arnold, who was warned twice before about her courtroom attire, which once included a tank top and no bra. Shudder! This time around, her "khaki shorts" might have veered on the "too short" side. There's also the small matter that Arnold was in front of the judge for alleged drug use, harassment, and leaving the scene of an accident — after driving over tombstones in a cemetery. Just the sort of thing you'd expect from someone who shops in Kentwood.
Italian grifter Raffaello Follieri is reportedly close to reaching a plea deal in his federal criminal case. According to the Wall Street Journal, Follieri will plead guilty to fraud and money laundering, charges for which he could face four to five years in prison.
You'll recall that just two years ago, Follieri was living a life of milk and honey in WASPy yachts and luxury Manhattan apartments. He even got himself a famous girlfriend, actress Anne Hathaway, despite looking like a damn Disney-movie villain.
CONTINUED »
Kwame Kilpatrick might be the only person in Detroit who is either surprised or dismayed that he wasn't able to finagle a more friendly plea deal from the fed-up prosecutors in his fed-up city. The mayor, who was facing 8 felony charges in relation to a perjury scandal involving an extramarital affiar, wanted a deal that would require him to plead guilty to two felonies, step down from office and pay a six-figure fine in order to avoid jail time. What he ended up getting was a lot more serious than that.
'Officials on Tuesday said they charged two Malibu men for attacking a paparazzo who was snapping pictures of actor Matthew McConaughey as he was surfing in the Pacific Ocean in June. [...] Skylar Martin Peak, 24, and Philip John Hildebrand, 30, both of Malibu, were each charged with one misdemeanor count of battery for attacking Richid Altmbareckouhammou, who was working for a French news agency, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office said. Officials claim the two men threw Altmbareckouhammou into the water from where he was taking pictures on the beach. Each faces up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine.' [Reuters, earlier]
'Lawyers for disgraced real-estate whiz Adam Hochfelder argued yesterday that the coke addict and alcoholic must remain free because he's in dire need of outpatient rehab and sinus surgery. [His attorney told the court,] "He's completely blown out his nose."' [NYP]
If child pornography allegations didn't stick, this probably won't, but here goes: R. Kelly is wanted for questioning in a South African money scandal. He allegedly made $130,000 for a concert that he never gave.
Despite what the T-shirt says, Larry Mendte is a criminal. He's even admitted to it. The axed former Philly CBS 3 anchor today pleaded guilty to illegally accessing former co-anchor Alycia Lane's email and spreading around his findings to the gossip columns, all part of a plan to take her down.
Which he masterfully accomplished.
Except by reaching a plea deal with prosecutors, Mendte isn't going to have to pay for it — he's being handed a probation sentence, and isn't required to make any restitution.
And that, say some, isn't fair: CONTINUED »
'Conrad Black is lecturing fellow prisoners about his own life under the guise of a course on American history, it was revealed today. His highly anticipated talks to inmates and guards have been labelled "narcissistic" rather than educational. The peer and former Daily Telegraph publisher is five months into a six-and-a-half-year jail term at Florida's Coleman federal prison following his conviction for fraud and obstruction of justice. His talks have been so eagerly awaited they have been moved from the library to a bigger venue within the prison to accommodate demand. But sources inside the jail suggest his much-vaunted lectures are more an exercise in vanity. One inmate-student said they "frequently devolve into a lesson in narcissism as Black spends most of the class spinning yarns about his career accomplishments". [...] Dubbed "Lordy" by his fellow inmates, reports suggest he has organised his cellmate to act as his butler, gofer and cleaner. After initial jail work as a dishwasher, he has been "upgraded" to work in the library, where he has virtually unlimited access to newspapers and email. [...] A source said: "Conrad remains very snobbish, despite having the same daily routine as all the other prisoners. He said he was shocked by how uneducated most of his fellow inmates were.' [TIL]
"Federal wire fraud charges were filed Tuesday against a former La Crosse newspaper delivery man accused of bilking the New York Times for nearly $325,000 by submitting about 8,500 fake subscriptions. Martin T. Holtet, 50, of 235 S. 19th St., is accused of defrauding the company of $227,000 in delivery fees and $98,000 in printing expenses. Holtet was arrested Tuesday and made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Madison in the afternoon. According to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Holtet delivered papers for the New York Times from 2002 to April 2008. Holtet was paid for each paper delivered in Wisconsin and Minnesota. From 2007 to early 2008, the number of subscribers in the La Crosse area jumped from 65 daily and 103 Sunday to 2,781 daily and 2,818 for Sunday papers." [La Crosse Tribune via IIN]
A one Anton Dunn was arrested yesterday after a video he posted a video on YouTube — which claimed he poisoned bottles of Gerber baby food because he wanted to kill Hispanic and black babies — caught the attention of Manhattan prosecutors. Worth nothing: Dunn is black. Also worth noting: Dunn is the same wanker who previously claimed to have infected 12,000 girls with HIV, because he wanted to teach black and Hispanic women aged 15-30 about safe sex.
Shia LaBeouf was arrested early Sunday morning in Los Angeles on suspicion of being a young, entitled, self-absorbed Hollywood actor. [AP]
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