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Charles Montaldo

Charles' Crime / Punishment Blog May 2005 Archive

By Charles Montaldo, About.com Guide to Crime / Punishment

Identity of Watergate's 'Deep Throat' Revealed

Tuesday May 31, 2005
One of the longest-running mysteries of a generation was solved today when W. Mark Felt, formerly the No. 2 man at the FBI, revealed that he was the infamous "Deep ... Read More

Flashback: Fatty Arbuckle

Tuesday May 31, 2005
The scandal of American silent film comedian Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle whose career ended tragically after a questionable charge of rape, attempted rape and manslaughter in what became known as the ... Read More

FBI Cracks Down on BitTorrent Peer-To-Peer Network

Tuesday May 31, 2005
The FBI's Cyber Division last week took the first criminal enforcement action targeting individuals committing copyright infringement on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks using cutting edge file-sharing technology known as BitTorrent. Agents of ... Read More

Six People Killed in Ohio Murder-Suicide

Monday May 30, 2005
Six people, including two who were scheduled to graduate from high school later in the day, were found shot to death in two houses on the same Ohio farm Sunday ... Read More

Michael Jackson Trial Testimony Ends

Friday May 27, 2005
The child molestation trial of Michael Jackson ended suddenly today when, after the jury watched the "riveting" 68-minute videotape of the initial police interview with the teenage accuser in the ... Read More

Jackson Jury to Hear Police Interview of Accuser

Friday May 27, 2005
Judge Rodney Melville ruled that prosecutors can show the jury in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial a 2003 videotape of his teenage accuser's original police interview, but also ruled ... Read More

The Pizza Connection: Gaetano Badalamenti

Friday May 27, 2005
From 1975 to 1984, Gaetano Badalamenti (Don Tanino), a Sicilian mafia boss, was the ringleader of a $1.65 billion dollar drug smuggling operation that imported heroin from the Middle East ... Read More

'Gimmie Shelter' Case Closed 36 Years Later

Thursday May 26, 2005
It was a scene that dropped the final curtain on the love and peace 1960s -- a Hell's Angel security guard stabbing to death a man during the Rolling Stones ... Read More

Exposure to Gun Violence Increases Teen Violence

Thursday May 26, 2005
Exposure to gun violence makes adolescents twice as likely to perpetrate serious violence in the next two years, according to a University of Michigan study. Researchers found there is a ... Read More

Michael Jackson Trial: The Defense Rests

Wednesday May 25, 2005
Now that the show is over, the prosecution is presenting its rebuttal case to bring the jury's focus back to the facts in evidence. The defense objected to some of ... Read More

Runaway Bride Jennifer Wilbanks Faces Felony Charge

Wednesday May 25, 2005
A Georgia grand jury indicted runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks on two charges of lying to police about being kidnapped -- one a felony charge of making a false statement that ... Read More

Leno Jokes, Jackson Chokes

Wednesday May 25, 2005
The defense will rest its case in the Michael Jackson child molestation case today, after a star-studded list of last-minute witnesses testified yesterday, but the pop singer will not take ... Read More

Smart Kidnapper Disrupts Competency Hearing Again

Wednesday May 25, 2005
For the fifth time, Brain David Mitchell, charged with the kidnapping and sexual assault of Elizabeth Smart, was removed from a hearing to determine his mental ability to stand trail, ... Read More

Police Find Remains of Teen Missing Two Years

Tuesday May 24, 2005
Jonnie Moyer vanished from tiny Brownstown, Pennsylvania in March of 2003. But no missing-person report was even filed, not even by his family. No investigation was launched and no search ... Read More

Congress Getting Tough on Sex Offenders

Tuesday May 24, 2005
The U.S. Congress is in the process of developing a new federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act which would toughen penalties for sex offenders. The legislation would reward states ... Read More

54 Law Officers Killed in 2004

Tuesday May 24, 2005
In 2004, 54 law enforcement officers were intentionally killed in the line of duty, according to preliminary statistics from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Almost half of those deaths ... Read More

Judge Allows Previous Gun Use at Phil Spector's Trial

Monday May 23, 2005
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler ruled that four women who say that Phil Spector pointed guns at them during dates will be allowed to testify when the legendary ... Read More

Arthur Gary Bishop: Eagle Scout Pedophile

Monday May 23, 2005
Arthur Gary Bishop went from being an honor student, Eagle Scout and teenage missionary to an obsessed pedophile and child killer, which he later attributed to the pornography that he ... Read More

Child Witnesses Honest, But Less Reliable

Monday May 23, 2005
Children testifying in court are perceived to be more honest that adults, but their limited memory, communication skills and greater suggestibility may make them less reliable witnesses than adults. See Also: ... Read More

Mary Kay Letourneau Weds Former Student

Friday May 20, 2005
Mary Kay Letourneau, the elementary school teacher who served prison time for her sexual relationship with a 12-year-old, married her former student, Vili Fualaau, at a winery near Seattle. "Entertainment Tonight" ... Read More

Three Killed, Two Idaho Children Missing

Thursday May 19, 2005
An Amber Alert of two children, missing from an Idaho home which was the scene of a grisly triple-murder, is still in effect after police and FBI agents interviewed a ... Read More

Megan's Hometown Bans Sex Offenders

Wednesday May 18, 2005
Hamilton Township, NJ, the hometown of the seven-year-old girl whose murder prompted the passing of laws that inform residents when sex offenders move into their neighborhood, has passed an ordinance ... Read More

Klaus Barbie, The Butcher of Lyon

Wednesday May 18, 2005
A Nazi war criminal known as the 'Butcher of Lyon' who was personally responsible for the torture and death of thousands of Jews, Klaus Barbie managed to evade execution for ... Read More

Transcript Found of Emmett Till Murder Trial

Wednesday May 18, 2005
The FBI reported that it has found a long-missing transcript of the 1955 murder trial of two men who were acquitted by an all-white jury for the death of Emmett ... Read More

Witness: Jackson Employees Feared for Safety

Tuesday May 17, 2005
Michael Jackson's defense team put on a series of witnesses to counter the testimony of prosecution witnesses about the conspiracy to keep his accuser's family at Neverland Ranch, but one ... Read More

Ten Safety Rules for Kids Who Use the Internet

Tuesday May 17, 2005
If you have a child in the home who has access to your computer, these ten safety rules will help them enjoy the Internet safely. See Also: Home Computer Safety

Jury Recommends Death for Alejandro Avila

Monday May 16, 2005
The jury deliberated for seven hours over two days before deciding to recommend the death penalty for Alejandro Avila for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of five-year-old Samantha Runnion. The ... Read More

Flashback: Nathaniel Bar-Jonah

Monday May 16, 2005
Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, a/k/a David Paul Brown, is a convicted child predator who is in prison after repeatedly molesting, torturing, and attempting to murder children. He was also suspected of murdering ... Read More

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Cites Book on Elizabeth Smart

Monday May 16, 2005
One of the tragedies surrounding the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case involved prison parolee Richard Ricci who was wrongfully accused of being involved in the crime and died in jail before ... Read More

A Cure For Jennifer's Cold Feet?

Saturday May 14, 2005
We have long since become weary of the continued media coverage of Jennifer Wilbanks, the Duluth, Georgia runaway bride, who apologized for touching off a massive search when she disappeared ... Read More

Parole Denied for 'Fatal Vision's' Jeffrey MacDonald

Friday May 13, 2005
Former Green Beret doctor Jeffrey MacDonald lost his first-ever attempt to seek parole when two federal examiners decided to recommend to the U.S. Parole Commission to deny his parole and ... Read More

Serial Killer Michael Ross Executed

Friday May 13, 2005
Serial killer Michael Ross became the first inmate to be executed in New England in 45 years shortly after 2 a.m. Friday, May 23, 2005 after the U.S. Supreme Court ... Read More

Defense Pleads for Mercy for Samantha Runnion's Killer

Thursday May 12, 2005
The jury completed the first day of deliberations in the penalty phase of Alejandro Avila trial for the kidnapping and murder of five-year-old Samantha Runnion without reaching a decision on ... Read More

Macaulay Culkin: Charges 'Absolutely Ridiculous'

Wednesday May 11, 2005
Actor Macaulay Culkin of "Home Alone" fame became the latest in a string of defense witnesses in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial to testify that they never saw the ... Read More

Ranch Deaths Murder-Suicide, Police Say

Wednesday May 11, 2005
David McGowan, a 44-year-old investigator for prosecutors in California, shot his family members in the head as they slept in their rural Riverside County ranch home and left song lyrics ... Read More

Juvenile System Not Equipped to Handle Females

Tuesday May 10, 2005
Girls in the juvenile justice system exhibit more risks than do boys for problem behaviors that may lead them to serious trouble, according to new research. Girls had more problems ... Read More

Father Arrested in Murder of Illinois Girls

Tuesday May 10, 2005
An Illinois man with a violent past has been arrested for the Mother's Day murder of his 8-year-old daughter and her nine-year-old best friend. Jerry Hobbs, 34, "found" the bodies ... Read More

Six Bodies Found at Investigator's Home

Tuesday May 10, 2005
The bodies of three adults and three children under age 15 were found by police at the home of an investigator for the Riverside County district attorney's office in a ... Read More

FBI Wants to Exhume 1955 Murder Victim

Tuesday May 10, 2005
Fifty years after one of the most infamous murders of the civil rights era, the FBI wants to exhume the body of a 14-year-old boy who was killed, reportedly for ... Read More

New Mexico Mom Found Dead, Toddler Missing

Tuesday May 10, 2005
New Mexico has issued an Amber Alert for 16-month-old Justin Black, whose mother was found dead in her apartment just hours after police went to the residence in response to ... Read More

Police Chief to Reopen Atlanta Child-Killing Cases

Monday May 9, 2005
The Dekalb County Police Chief, who was an investigator in 1979-1981 when the Atlanta area was terrorized by the murder of dozens of young black children, has decided to reopen ... Read More

Two Second-Grade Girls Found Stabbed to Death

Monday May 9, 2005
Authorities said that two best friends -- members of the same second grade class -- whose bodies were found in a wooded area near a park in Zion, Illinois ... Read More

Flashback: Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme

Monday May 9, 2005
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme became the voice of cult leader, Charlie Manson when he was sent to prison. She also aimed a gun at President Ford, which got her a life ... Read More

Mother, Stepfather Changed in 'Precious Doe' Case

Friday May 6, 2005
'Precious Doe,' a three-year-old girl whose decapitated body was found near a road April 28, 2001 now has a name -- Erica Michelle Marie Green -- and her mother and ... Read More

Death Penalty Sought for Atlanta Courthouse Killer

Friday May 6, 2005
The Fulton County district attorney will seek the death penalty for the man accused of shooting his way out of an Atlanta courthouse, leaving four people dead and setting off ... Read More

Prosecutors Rest Case Against Michael Jackson

Wednesday May 4, 2005
After two months, 85 witnesses and 500 pieces of evidence, the prosecution rested its case against Michael Jackson with a final witness who was supposed to bolster its conspiracy case ... Read More

No Plea Deal for Accused BTK Killer

Wednesday May 4, 2005
Wichita prosecutors said they will not consider a plea bargain for Dennis Rader, the man accused of being the BTK serial killer who terrorized the community with a series of ... Read More

Last of 11 'Sex Tourists' Heads to Jail

Wednesday May 4, 2005
Operation Turn Around, a FBI undercover operation designed to stop sex tourists before they can leave the U.S., landed another victory last month when George Clarke was sentenced to a ... Read More

Jessica Lundsford Law Signed

Tuesday May 3, 2005
Gov. Jeb Bush signed legislation that beefs up Florida's laws concerning child sex abusers as the father of nine-year-old Jessica Lundsford, for whom the law was named, looked on. The Jessica ... Read More

Jackson Prosecutors Beef Up Conspiracy Case

Tuesday May 3, 2005
The prosecution in the Michael Jackson child molestation case put on several witnesses to document a pattern of dozens of frantic telephone calls surrounding the time of the documentary that ... Read More

The Monster of the Andes

Monday May 2, 2005
Pedro Alonzo Lopez, known as the 'The Monster of the Andes,' was one of history's most horrific serial killers. He was responsible for the brutal murders of over 350 children. ... Read More

Profile of Sadistic Killer, Charles Chi-tat Ng

Monday May 2, 2005
Charles Ng participated in the kidnapping, sadistic torture, slavery, rape and murder of numerous victims in one of the most infamous and costly murder cases in American history. See Also: Sexual-Related ... Read More

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