But investigators say Valdez admitted last month that she sold the girl to 35 year old Jason Carlile who took her to Mexico. Carlile was already facing charges of indecency with a child and possession of child pornography. He was also indicted Monday.
Valdez and Carlile are being held on $150,000 bond each. The girl is back in Texas and has been placed in foster care.
Drug Suspects Dial 911 By Mistake
POMONA, Calif.- Two men were arrested Tuesday after they mistakenly called 911 when they were trying to page a drug dealer, police said. Paul White, 38, and Ryan Ogle, 25, punched 911 as an urgent code to the dealer when they made the call from a pay phone around 3 a.m., Sgt. Michael Olivieri said.
"No one said criminals are smart," Olivieri said.
Police traced the call and directed a patrol officer to the pay phone. When he arrived, the officer saw two men standing near the phone and a parked vehicle. A run of the car's license plate showed it was reported stolen.
The officer searched the men and the car and found possible burglary tools, including saws, bolt cutters and a shaved ignition key. While in custody, officers also found a broken methamphetamine pipe hidden by one of the men, possibly in an attempt to destroy evidence.
"When they were interviewing afterward they admitted they were in a hurry for dope and made an error in dialing," Olivieri said.
WINSTED, Conn. - Bank robbers, terrorists and prowlers have given ski masks a bad name for years, but a Connecticut man is wearing them around town to prove that not everyone who dons one is plotting mayhem.
Kevin Lambert, 31, got the idea in 2005 after he walked out of a local package store and slipped on a ski mask for an impromptu photograph. A passer-by, fearing the store had been robbed, called police. Lambert was charged with breach of peace and had to perform 15 hours of community service.
Since then, he and his friends have worn ski masks in public places in an attempt to dispel the stereotype. Lambert has even launched a Web site dedicated to "Striving to keep America Warm By Combating Ski Mask Discrimination."
"This isn't something I do to go out and scare people," he said.
ROME - A novice teacher in Milan is under criminal investigation for allegedly using scissors to cut the tongue of a second-grader for talking in class. The 7-year-old boy needed six stitches in his tongue. The teacher, 22, was being investigated for suspected voluntary harm of the boy.
The mother has said in TV interviews that her son is exhibiting a fear of knives in the kitchen after his tongue was cut. "He's not eating, he's not sleeping, he doesn't want to go school. He cries a lot because of the pain," she said.
Italian news reports said the teacher, who was assisting the main instructor, repeatedly asked the child to be quiet when her colleague left the classroom briefly. When the boy continued to talk and move about the classroom, the teacher allegedly told the child she would take scissors to his tongue, then told him to stick out his tongue when he refused to quiet down.
"It's an absolutely unjustifiable act that calls for zero tolerance," said Anna Maria Dominici, the school superintendent for Lombardy, the region that includes Milan. According to Porciani, the teacher said she didn't mean to cut the tongue. Newspapers said the teacher claimed she was only joking by talking about using the scissors.
DETROIT - Don't clean your kids in the washing machine. Don't dry your cell phone in the microwave. And be sure not to read the phone book while driving. Those are among the winning entries in this year's Wacky Warning Label Contest, run by an anti-lawsuit group.
The contest is part of an effort to pass laws that shield businesses from liability for those they hurt. The top vote-getter was a warning tag from a front-load washing machine.
"DO NOT put any person in this washer," it read.
Dorigo Jones wrote the 2007 book "Remove Child Before Folding: The 101 Stupidest Silliest and Wackiest Warning Labels Ever."
Second place went to a warning on a personal watercraft that said, "Never use a lit match or open flame to check fuel level."
There was a tie for third place between a statement on a Super Lotto ticket that said, "Do not iron," and a warning on a cell phone that said, "Don't try to dry your phone in a microwave oven."
Honorable mention went to a telephone directory with the cover statement, "Please do not use this directory while operating a moving vehicle."
The photos released on NASA Watch website www.nasawatch.com showed three employees at the Huntsville, Ala., space center sleeping at consoles and a fourth playing an online card game. The employees of NASA contractor Teledyne Brown Engineering worked in the Payload Operations Center, which manages the science operations of the international space station.
NASA spokesman Steve Roy calls the pictures isolated incidents which are not indicative of the performance of the team. But Roy says managers are extremely concerned about what they saw.
He says only one of the employees in the photos is still on the job.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - A burglar who made himself at home after a break-in overstayed his visit, police said.
Larcellus Angelo Scott, 23, had ordered a pizza and was doing a load of laundry Wednesday when Denise Bealessio returned home from work. Bealessio arrived just as the pizza did. She turned the delivery driver away and was met inside the door by Scott.
Scott attacked, but Bealessio was able to escape unharmed. A neighbor called police, who found Scott rummaging through Bealessio's purse. He had written one of Bealessio's checks to pay for the pizza.
He was arrested on suspicion of burglary, robbery and forgery and was being held Friday in Kern County Jail in lieu of $85,000 bail.
Scott used to live next door, Bealessio said.
Journalists Fired for Taking Gov't Money
Ten South Florida journalists, including three with The Miami Herald's Spanish-language sister paper, received thousands of dollars from the federal government for their work on radio and TV programming aimed at undermining Fidel Castro's communist regime.
Pablo Alfonso, who reports on Cuba and wrote an opinion column for El Nuevo Herald, was paid almost $175,000 since 2001 to host shows on Radio and TV Marti, U.S. government programs that promote democracy in Cuba, according to government documents obtained by The Miami Herald.
Olga Connor, a freelance reporter who wrote about Cuban culture for El Nuevo Herald, received about $71,000 from the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and staff reporter Wilfredo Cancio Isla, who covered the Cuban exile community and politics, was paid almost $15,000 in the last five years, the Herald said.
The newspaper said Alfonso and Cancio were fired and Connor's freelance relationship was severed.
The director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting Pedro Roig, said he made a point to hire more Cuban exile journalists as contractors hoping to improve the news content of the shows. He said it is up to each journalist to follow his or her own ethics and rules.
"We consider them to be good journalists, and people who were formed inside that system who got out (of Cuba) and adapted and made good," Roig said. "In reality, I feel very satisfied."
FORT BELVOIR, Virginia -- The Army is considering a proposal to allow a private developer to build a military-themed park that would include Cobra Gunship rides and bars including a "1st Division Lounge."
Military officials said a massive entertainment and hotel complex built next to a national Army museum could draw more than 1 million people a year. But authorities in Fairfax County are objecting because of already traffic-clogged roads surrounding the proposed site.
"You can command the latest M-1 tank, feel the rush of a paratrooper freefall, fly a Cobra Gunship or defend your B-17 as a waist gunner," according to the proposal, which was obtained by The Washington Post.
County officials have no authority over the Army's decision because the site is federal property. County Supervisor T. Dana Kauffman said he thought the entertainment concept died last year and said he had no interest in turning a military museum into "Disney on Rolling Road."
ISTANBUL, Turkey - Chaos broke out at a shoe sale in Turkey this week, and one person got shot in the foot, a news agency reported.
The incident Friday occurred after people overloaded a two-story retailer that was selling pairs of shoes for as little as $6, the state-owned Anatolia news agency reported.
When customers rebelled against orders to close the store because of overcrowding and started to fight with one another and with salespeople, a store employee shot his gun into the air, Anatolia said. The bullet struck the foot of a customer, who was taken to a hospital, while the shooter was taken into police custody, the agency reported.
Shooting guns into the air is a not-uncommon method for dealing with emotional situations in Turkey, including weddings, soccer games, demonstrations and deals on shoes that are almost too good to be true.
RALEIGH, N.C....A Marine corporal who sang in a homemade video about killing members of an Iraqi family said the song was a joke and was not intended to offend anyone. Cpl. Joshua Belile, 23, said the video was his way of "blowing off steam to a bunch of Marines and soldiers." "It doesn't take a whole lot of common sense to realize it was a joke," he said. In "Hadji Girl," a four-minute video circulated on the Internet, Belile tells a cheering audience about a Marine who falls in love with an Iraqi woman and goes home with her. Family members shoot the woman and then confront him with automatic weapons, prompting him to retaliate. Belile's performance was filmed while he was stationed in Iraq and was posted anonymously on the YouTube Web site, but was later removed. Belile learned of the posting after returning from his deployment in March. He is now assigned to Light/Attack Helicopter Squadron 167 at Marine Corps Air Station New River, adjacent to Camp Lejeune. "I'm a very nonpolitical person. I know that sounds very strange coming from a Marine," Belile told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I know about me and my little world. I write music and I sing music. I never intended to hurt anyone's feelings." Marine Corps officials said Tuesday that Belile had not violated military law. He could face administrative action, which can include informal counseling, they said. Belile said in a statement Tuesday that he plans to release a professionally recorded version of the song within a few weeks. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which brought Belile's video to the attention of the Pentagon, cautioned against a release, spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said Wednesday. "It's a free country, but I don't know that it's the wisest choice. I would hope he would seek the advice of levelheaded friends and family and just put this sordid episode to a rest," Hooper said. Belile has said the video was not related to allegations that Marines killed two dozen unarmed civilians last year in Haditha, Iraq.
Cpl. Joshua Belile, 23, said the video was his way of "blowing off steam to a bunch of Marines and soldiers."
"It doesn't take a whole lot of common sense to realize it was a joke," he said.
In "Hadji Girl," a four-minute video circulated on the Internet, Belile tells a cheering audience about a Marine who falls in love with an Iraqi woman and goes home with her. Family members shoot the woman and then confront him with automatic weapons, prompting him to retaliate.
Belile's performance was filmed while he was stationed in Iraq and was posted anonymously on the YouTube Web site, but was later removed. Belile learned of the posting after returning from his deployment in March. He is now assigned to Light/Attack Helicopter Squadron 167 at Marine Corps Air Station New River, adjacent to Camp Lejeune.
"I'm a very nonpolitical person. I know that sounds very strange coming from a Marine," Belile told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "I know about me and my little world. I write music and I sing music. I never intended to hurt anyone's feelings."
Marine Corps officials said Tuesday that Belile had not violated military law. He could face administrative action, which can include informal counseling, they said.
Belile said in a statement Tuesday that he plans to release a professionally recorded version of the song within a few weeks.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which brought Belile's video to the attention of the Pentagon, cautioned against a release, spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said Wednesday.
"It's a free country, but I don't know that it's the wisest choice. I would hope he would seek the advice of levelheaded friends and family and just put this sordid episode to a rest," Hooper said.
Belile has said the video was not related to allegations that Marines killed two dozen unarmed civilians last year in Haditha, Iraq.
Leticia Cisneros, 35, was sitting on the toilet Wednesday, suffering from what she thought were cramps, when she gave birth, said a Sheriff's Department statement. Another inmate came to her aid and took the baby.
Soon afterward, a deputy came and wrapped the boy in towels until a prison nurse arrived and cared for him.
Subsequent inmate interviews revealed that while Cisneros thought she had recently gained weight, she did not know she was pregnant.
Authorities said they caught Thompson, 44, in the act of launching the second bottle rocket.
The helicopter was in the area searching for a suspect in a car theft.
The student tried, but instead of the folder, out came a sandwich bag filled with marijuana.
Authorities say the boy's father stashed the drugs there, unbeknownst to his son.
"Here's another tragic case where a parent's involvement in drugs has embroiled their children, adversely affecting them," said officer Pete Crum, St. Paul police spokesman. "Drugs and kids don't mix."
About 9 a.m., the student pulled a sandwich bag with 25 smaller bags of marijuana inside and handed it to his teacher, according to the complaint said. The boy told the teacher the marijuana came from home, the complaint said.
The teacher turned the drugs over to the school's assistant director, who called police. But before they arrived, Randle showed up at the school at 720 Payne Ave.
He was angry, took the backpack and his son, and quickly walked away from the school, the complaint said.
ROTTERDAM, N.Y. - While waiting for his friend to be processed on a drunken driving charge Friday morning at the Rotterdam Police Department, 21-year-old Adam Jewett picked up the gumball machine in the lobby and walked out the door with it, authorities say.
A dispatcher watching the surveillance system saw Jewett carry away the gumball machine. Patrolman Stephen Dixon found Jewett in the parking lot with the gumball machine.
VILNIUS, Lithuania - A Lithuanian restaurant chain now wants the intellectual property rights for the scent in the small Baltic nation, saying it is closely associated with its pizza pies.
"Opinion polls show that many consumers in Lithuania identify the pleasure of eating pizza with our trademark," said Mindaugas Gumauskas, marketing director of the Cilija company. "This makes us believe that the scent of freshly baked pizza is a subject to our copyright."
If the request is granted, it does not mean that other pizzerias would have to stop making the oven-baked dish, but only Cilija would be able to make the claim that its food smells like freshly baked pizza.
SPOKANE, Wash. - An elderly dentist who let a cat roam through his examination rooms has voluntarily surrendered his license.
Henry G. Kolsrud, 82, also agreed he will never practice dentistry in Washington again, rather than face the possibility of sanctions, the state Department of Health said Monday.
Among the allegations: Dental instruments were not sterilized between use; staff was inadequately trained; a cat was allowed to roam in examination rooms; cat food was kept in the same refrigerator as dental supplies and Kolsrud "scooped up feline feces and vomit with a spatula normally used for mixing dental impression fabrication material."
The CMS Energy Corp. subsidiary told Williams the power would not be turned on until the penny was received.
"I went down there, paid my penny and got a receipt," Williams told The Flint Journal.
"This was the first one I've heard about," said Terry DeDoes. He said the company has many programs to help people who fall behind in their utility bills.
Williams said she doesn't want to find herself in the same situation again.
"I'm praying to God I stay on top of my bills," she said.
Albright expressed regret and apologized for Maxwell's "lapse of judgment."
As they introduced the apparent expert, the cabbie scrunched his face up in a grimace and in panic tried to open his mouth as if to explain."Were you suprised by this verdict today?" "I'm very surprised to see the verdict come on me because I was not expecting that," he said in a heavy French accent, blinking in the studio lights.
Growing more confident, he gamely went on to deliver his opinion on the future of music downloads following the landmark verdict. Meanwhile, the real Kewney, who was waiting to be taken to the studio, looked up on a monitor and found another man ensconced in the interviewee's chair.
ROCKVILLE, Md. - Two teenagers were charged with setting fires in suburban Washington after they bragged about the blazes on MySpace.com, authorities said.
The 17-year-old schoolmates were involved in 17 fires in Montgomery County, fire officials said Friday.
Stores, vehicles, a bowling alley and two school buses were set on fire between Jan. 20 and April 16. Investigators got a tip to check out the online social networking site MySpace.com, where they found photos and descriptions.
"The significant thing is they posted on the Internet, and bragged about the fires, and that certainly allowed us to break the case," county Fire Chief Thomas W. Carr Jr. said. "They posted photos of these fires."
The company that developed the lyrics for a ringtone about deportation apologized Thursday after Cingular Wireless LLC pulled it for being offensive. Barrio Mobile said the ringtone "La Migra" _ a slang term for Border Patrol agent _ was satire and shouldn't be taken seriously. Mexican-American comic Paul Saucido wrote the ringtone that features a male voice, acting as a Border Patrol agent with a Southern drawl, saying, "I repeat-o, put the oranges down and step away from the telephone-o. I'm deporting you back home-o." "His position is that people of Hispanic background need to maintain a sense of humor about the immigration situation," said Jonathan Dworkin, a vice president of Cellfish Media, which distributed the ringtone. Cingular pulled the ringtone from its Web site Tuesday.
Barrio Mobile said the ringtone "La Migra" _ a slang term for Border Patrol agent _ was satire and shouldn't be taken seriously.
Mexican-American comic Paul Saucido wrote the ringtone that features a male voice, acting as a Border Patrol agent with a Southern drawl, saying, "I repeat-o, put the oranges down and step away from the telephone-o. I'm deporting you back home-o."
"His position is that people of Hispanic background need to maintain a sense of humor about the immigration situation," said Jonathan Dworkin, a vice president of Cellfish Media, which distributed the ringtone.
Cingular pulled the ringtone from its Web site Tuesday.
EAST WINDSOR, Conn. - A police officer was arrested Wednesday on allegations he accidentally fired his Taser gun and injured another officer at the police department this week.
Officer John Scavotto was charged with reckless endangerment and third-degree assault.
The injured officer was struck in the mouth and neck area by the Taser's two darts, which deliver electricial charges.
The accident happened during a roll call Monday afternoon. Police said Scavotto pointed the Taser at the other officer and it accidentally discharged.
A woman stole her employer's credit cards and identity to steal more than $12,000, some of which went for breast enlargement surgery, police allege.
Jerri Ann Cozza, 35 misappropriated $12,734 for breast implants, repairs to her Dodge Durango, new furniture, telephone bills and a variety of other purchases, Liberty Lake police Officer Erin Lance alleged in a report.
One of the Chamberlains' credit cards to charge $5,136 worth of breast implant surgery. The total came to $8,433 because 19.9 percent interest was added to the unpaid balance, Lance reported.
Cozza told Christy Chamberlain the breast surgery was being covered by insurance because one of her breasts had to be removed because of cancer, the police report said. But the Chamberlains later discovered there was nothing medically wrong with Cozza's breasts and the surgery was for cosmetic implants.
SKOWHEGAN, Maine - A 43-year-old woman is charged with helping her daughter and two other teenage girls bake cookies laced with a laxative that were then given to a teacher.
Julie Hunt was arrested Friday after a police investigation into the attempted prank at Carrabec Community School in Anson that sickened four seventh- and eighth-grade children.
The cookies, which were baked with Ex-Lax, were left on the teacher's desk on April 10 with a note saying, "We made these cookies just for you, hope you enjoy them."
According to a police affidavit, Hunt told the girls how to crush the laxative pills and mix them in with the cookie batter. The girls, who are 13 and 14, used an entire box of pills, the affidavit says.
"If you assist children with perpetrating these kinds of crimes, you will be charged," he said.
HANOVER, Pa. - A 13-year-old boy told police his mother required him to do his homework first thing when he got off the school bus, then smoked marijuana with him as a reward.
The mother said she had been smoking marijuana with her son since he was 11, usually as a reward, according to court documents.
The police interview came after officers executed a search warrant at the woman's home last weekend and seized marijuana, an array of drug paraphernalia and $600 in cash that she said belonged to a drug dealer, court documents said.
Amanda Lynn Livelsberger, 30, faces charges of marijuana possession, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children and possession with intent to distribute drug paraphernalia, police said.
TV station hires psychic
San Francisco TV station KRON as had a tough few years. It lost it's NBC affiliation , ad sales are down, ratings sag and the parent company is bloodied by red ink.
So a station exec's astrologer advised that an addres change could help. Seems the 1001 Van Ness Avenue was a bad number for business. East Bay astro-numerologist Jesse Kalsi suggested more numbers: 1001552.
"Obviously, there are skeptics who think it's a bunch of hooey, but I can tell you things seem to have improved since the change," says KRON Programming Director Pat Patton, who says he brought in the psychic with the approval of station management.
Others scoff at the suggestion that astrology is the answer to the station's woes. "It's nuts, what can I say?" says a staffer, who, like others who roll their eyes at the numerology experiment, insists on anonymity.
One person who doesn't mind being quoted, however, is recently departed former news producer Kevin McCormick. "It encapsulates the absurdity of the place that a numerologist could influence a decision to alter the street address of a television station," he says.
What started out as a possible child abandonment case in Omaha on Wednesday turned out to be a misunderstanding, police say.
Police received a call from a woman who said another woman she didn't know had driven up to her home, handed her a baby boy and a diaper bag and left.
It turns out, the woman was the baby's grandmother and thought she was dropping the baby off at day care, but she had the wrong address, officers said.
Police said the incident was a misunderstanding, and no charges will be filed.
The infant was placed in foster care for several hours until his mother showed up at police headquarters Wednesday afternoon after seeing pictures of her baby on television news.
Public Relations Award
To the PR experts who okayed the Michigan minor league baseball game promotion. Rent a helicopter, throw $1,000 in cash onto the field and let 5-12 year olds fight for the loot. After 2 kids were trampled, the PR response was: "hey, they signed a release." For this, the promotion should be repeated. But this time, that PR person should be forced on the field with the Detroit Lions football team. Let's see how she fares. Make sure she signs a release.
Principal is not you "pal"
To the principle at an Inglewood, California elementary school who locked down her school when 40,000 middle and high school kids walked out of class to protest immigration reform. This principal read the manual which called for the students to stay in class and not use the bathrooms. The kids were forced to pee in buckets in the front of the room behind the teachers desk. The principal mis-read the manual. The bucket procedure is intended for a lockdown in the event of a nuclear attack.