Why Do You Think they Call it Dope?

Mar 6, 8:36 PM (ET) STEVENS POINT, Wis. (AP) - If only all criminals were this helpful. A 24-year-old man called police to tell them he was trying to break into a church, but he wasn't having much luck. Police said the found the man waiting at St. Paul's Lutheran Church. The man told them he had hoped to get married in the church and was trying to use a metal shovel to break through the doors. He told them he figured they could help.

Officers searched the man and found marijuana. He then invited them to his home, where he told them they would find more drugs. They did: He showed them his stash of marijuana and stolen prescription drugs. The man was arrested on charges of criminal damage to property, possession of drugs and paraphernalia, police said. Town officals were astounded. "There aren't many arrests like that," Police Chief Jeff Morris said.

Mar 6, 8:36 PM (ET) SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) - Too bad nobody told him his fly was down. A 22-year-old man was arrested for drug possession after police found a marijuana pipe and drugs stashed in his underwear. Police made the arrest after they found the man's car stuck in a ditch in Wilson.

According to a criminal complaint, the man's pants were undone and officers asked if there was anything illegal in his clothing. Authorities said they found a pipe and a small amount of marijuana. The Sheboygan man was charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia, felony marijuana possession and operating a vehicle after having his license revoked, police said.

Moose Downs Helicopter

Mar 5, 6:17 PM (ET) ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A helicopter is not necessarily a match for an angry moose. Instead of lying down after being shot with a tranquilizer dart, a moose charged a hovering helicopter used by a wildlife biologist, damaging the aircraft's tail rotor and forcing it to the ground.

Neither the pilot nor the biologist was injured, but the moose was maimed by the spinning rotor and had to be euthanized, wildlife officials said. "It just had to be one of those quirky circumstance. Even dealing with bears and goats and moose and wolves, this is pretty unusual and truly a very unique situation," said Doug Larsen, regional supervisor for the Division of Wildlife Conservation.

Biologist Kevin White was aboard the chartered helicopter on Saturday for a study of moose near Gustavus, a community of 459 people about 50 miles northwest of Juneau in southeast Alaska. Moose outnumber humans there 2-to-1. White has written in an essay for the Department of Fish and Game Web site. He shot the animal with a tranquilizer dart, Larsen said, and the pilot maneuvered the helicopter to keep the animal from slipping into a tight space or collapsing in water and drowning.

"The moose would start to move, and then the helicopter would back off and try to keep the moose out in the open," Larsen said. But instead of moving toward open space, the moose charged the helicopter. "As the animal got closer and closer to going down, an animal sort of loses its thinking - its ability to rationalize what's in its best interest," Larsen said.

Man Tells Police He's a Werewolf

Mar 5, 11:12 PM (ET) FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) - A former inmate told police that he was a werewolf and could change shapes after he was arrested for breaking into a woman's apartment. Robert Marsh, 39, appeared Friday in Fond du Lac County Circuit Court on charges of criminal trespassing, criminal damage to property, disorderly conduct and possession of marijuana.

A woman called police about 3 a.m. Thursday and said Marsh broke through the deadbolt on her door and grabbed her. Two men in the home stopped him, a criminal complaint said. The woman said she had been letting Marsh stay with her since his release from prison several days earlier because he was homeless, the complaint said. Marsh had been drinking heavily and claimed to be a werewolf and involved in a witch religion, the woman told police.

When police arrested Marsh, he told them he was a werewolf who could change forms, the complaint said. Marsh had a small amount of marijuana on him when he was arrested, the complaint said. Marsh was scheduled for a court hearing on March 14. Cash bail was set at $5,000.

Illinois Home Hit by Meteorite

Mar 5, 8:31 PM (ET) BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) - When Dee Riddle heard breaking glass inside her central Illinois home on Monday morning, she first thought a bathroom mirror had shattered. But what had broken was a bedroom window and what had caused it to break was an object that had fallen from space, scientists called in to investigate concluded.

The small metallic object found near the window was most likely a meteorite, said Robert "Skip" Nelson, a geology professor at Illinois State University. "In my 36 years of investigating meteorite calls, this looks like the real thing," he told the (Bloomington) Pantagraph. "The last confirmed meteorite to strike Bloomington was in the '30s," he said. The grayish object - about the size of a deck of cards - was less likely to have come from a satellite or spacecraft, said Nelson and other experts, who also ruled out that it was thrown by someone standing outside the house. It also crashed through a computer desk when it struck around 9:30 a.m., Riddle said

"We were just lucky no one was sitting at the computer when it happened," she said. The United State Geological Survey's meteorite center in Flagstaff, Ariz. also would take part in trying to positively identify the object," Nelson said.

This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/476/drug_police_corruption

Our "This Week's Corrupt Cops" feature may have been on hiatus while your editor was down South America way, but it's been pretty much business as usual. We're back now, and here's this week's edition with the usual cast of crooked cops and greedy guards. Let's get to it:

In Randolph County, North Carolina, a juvenile detention supervisor has been indicted on federal cocaine trafficking charges. James Ledwell, 37, who spent the last nine years teaching young people about the dangers of drugs, was arrested February 28 on federal charges. The indictment came three weeks after Ledwell was busted trying to sell more than a half-pound of coke to a Greensboro police officer.

In Hollywood, Florida, a veteran detective has surrendered after being charged along with three other officers in a sting where they thought they were protecting mob shipments of drugs and stolen art, diamonds, and watches. Hollywood Detective Thomas Simcox, 50, surrendered to federal agents February 28 and was released later that same day on a $350,000 bond. The four officers were charged with drug trafficking and other offenses after a two-year FBI sting in which they agreed to "protect and facilitate" criminal activities for what was supposed to be a "criminal organization based out of New York." Instead, it was feds posing as mobsters. Now the cops face up to life in prison.

In Scranton, Pennsylvania, a Scranton police officer was arrested March 1 after allegedly dealing drugs while on duty. Officer Mark Conway, 36, was in uniform when Lackawanna County detectives found five Oxycontin tablets and 33 methadone tablets in his car. Conway went down after an informant told police Conway had been addicted to heroin for more than a year and the informant had scored for him numerous times.

A second informant recorded a conversation with Conway in which the officer agreed to deliver Oxycontin and methadone for $780. Conway was charged with possession of methadone, possession of OxyContin, unlawful delivery of OxyContin and two counts of using a telephone for a drug transaction. He is out on $25,000 bail.

In Fishkill, New York, an Ulster County jail guard was arrested Monday after being caught with 10 ounces of cocaine. Shawn Forte, 30, faces a charge of first degree criminal possession of a controlled substance after he was stopped for "speeding" on Interstate 84 in Fishkill. According to state police, the charges stemmed from an investigation by the Ulster County Sheriff's Office and the Ulster Regional Gang Enforcement Narcotics Team. Forte was being held without bail at the Dutchess County Jail as of mid-week, and more charges could be pending.

In Beaver, Pennsylvania, an outside report has found that the Beaver County Jail is "tainted" with sex, drugs, and violence, and jail guards are involved. The report found guards having sex with prisoners, guards physically abusing prisoners, guards accused of providing drugs to prisoners, and nearly half of prisoners who had been in for at least 60 days and were tested for drugs came back positive. Beaver County Controller Richard Towcimak, who chairs the prison board, said board members were "completely disheartened" by the report, while Beaver County District Attorney Tony Berosh said he would turn it over to the state attorney general's office.