weird but true

Russ Spence

Commercial Pressure Wash Expert
Just call her the getaway granny.

Juanita Bland, a 75-year- old Pennsylvania grandmother, was having trouble shutting the sliding door of her minivan last week, so she asked a passing man for help.

The man pushed the door shut and then asked Bland for a ride. A few blocks later, he got out and drove off in a sedan.

Only later did cops inform Bland that the "good Samaritan" had just robbed a bank.
 
Two British brothers have been convicted of overfeeding their 10-year- old Labrador retriever.

The portly pooch, Rusty, weighed more than 150 pounds, but owners David and Derek Benton defended their treatment of the corpulent canine, saying he was man's best-fed friend.

"Rusty was overweight, we're not denying that," David Benton told the BBC. "But he was loved, you'll never get another dog like him
 
police in N.Y.

Not satisfied with stealing his prey's money, a robber shot a man in the buttocks yesterday in Jamaica, police sources said.

Two men confronted the 27-year-old victim in front of 153-6 112th Ave. at 3:30 p.m., rifled through his pockets and took an unknown amount of cash.

They then ordered him to "run off" - but as he fled down the block, one pulled out a gun and fired, the sources said.

The victim was listed in stable condition last night in Mary Immaculate Hospital.


A plumber was busted for stabbing a man in a Jamaica subway station, authorities said yesterday.

Christopher O'Keeffe, 23, knifed a 40-year-old man in the leg at the Parsons Boulevard stop on the F line at 4:40 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said.

After the bloodshed, the victim ran and got a cop, who found O'Keeffe nearby with an open razor knife, authorities said.

The victim was taken to an area hospital, where he required 20 stitches to close his wound.

O'Keeffe is charged with assault and weapons possession, according to a spokeswoman for DA Richard Brown.

Three thugs attacked a teenage boy with a knife in Corona, police sources said yesterday.

The 16-year-old victim was at Waldron Avenue and 106th Street when he was approached by the trio at 4:55 p.m. Friday, the sources said.

The thugs started a fight with the youth and one of them whipped out a knife and thrust it into the victim's left side.

The victim was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in stable condition.

MANHATTAN

A Harlem mom and dad were charged early today in the death of their two-month-old son, cops said.

Teresa Flores, 20, and Rufino Bedoya-Flores, 30, were charged with murder, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.

Demetro Flores was discovered unconscious in the family's West 135th Street apartment at 11:30 a.m. yesterday, and was pronounced dead at St. Luke's Hospital.

A spokeswoman for Administration for Children's Services said the agency was involved in the investigation.

BROOKLYN

Police yesterday identified the man gunned down behind an East New York building two days ago.

Odell Drayton, 22, was shot in the head in a rear courtyard on Lincoln Avenue near Blake Avenue at 10 p.m. Friday, cops said.

STATEN ISLAND

Narcotics cops raided an Oakland Beach couple's home and found $47,000 in cash as well as guns and drugs, authorities said yesterday.

William and Evelyn Steidell, both 46, were collared in their home on Hett Avenue near Navesink Place at 6:05 a.m. Thursday, authorities said.

Police found 500 glassine envelopes of heroin, a cache of pills and the money in their bedroom, authorities said.

A bag containing four loaded guns was discovered in the living room, the sources said.

The two are charged with drug possession and four counts of weapons possession, said a spokesman for DA Daniel Donovan.

A man was nabbed for drunken driving after he was caught asleep in his car in Bay Terrace, authorities said yesterday.

Calogero Lanza, 20, was getting some shuteye behind the wheel of a Cadillac at Hylan Boulevard and Keegans Lane at 5:10 a.m. Thursday, authorities said.

When a highway cop began talking to Lanza, the officer noticed he reeked of liquor and had a flushed face. He failed a Breathalyzer test, the sources said.

Lanza also had six Xanax pills in his pocket.

He is charged with drug possession and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, said a spokesman for Donovan.
 
KIDNAPPED KID HID IN PLAIN SIGHT FOR 4 YRS. AS KIN 'NEVER GAVE UP HOPE'
By LEELA de KRETSER, JANON FISHER and KATE JONES
'HE'S GROWN UP!' Miracle 15-year-old Shawn Hornbeck — who had vanished on Oct. 6, 2002...
January 14, 2007 -- "Oh, my God! That's my son!"

Those were the words Craig Akers cried as his stepson, who had gone missing without a trace for more than four years, stepped off a bus in Missouri and was reunited with his family - one day after cops tracking another kidnap victim found both boys in an apartment 48 miles from their homes.

Shawn Hornbeck - now 15 - was significantly taller, with darker, longer hair and a pierced lip, when his mom, Pam Akers, held him for the first time since he vanished while riding a bike in their St. Louis suburb of Richwoods.

"I still feel like I'm in a dream, only this time it's a good dream, not the nightmare I've had for 41/2 years," Akers said yesterday as the shy boy clutched her hand and buried his head in her neck during a press conference at a local high-school gym.

Hornbeck said all he wanted to do was play video games, ride four-wheelers and get a haircut, which he later did.

The weeping mother called it a "miracle" that cops tracking William "Ben" Ownby, 13, who was abducted Monday near his home in Beaufort, Mo., discovered the two boys together in the town of Kirkwood.

Michael Devlin, 41, a 300-pound pizza-parlor worker, is being held on $1 million bail. So far, he has been charged with one felony count of kidnapping, but cops anticipate more charges as the investigation continues.

As both sets of parents rejoiced yesterday, questions lingered as to how Hornbeck - whose picture was plastered on missing-person posters nationwide - could have played with neighborhood kids and even gone on camping trips with his kidnapper without anyone ever learning of the circumstances.

Early reports suggested that Devlin threatened to hurt the boy or his family if he tried to escape. It was also reported that Hornbeck may have been brainwashed.
 
January 14, 2007 -- Terrorists may be using Google to search and destroy.

They're pinpointing attacks on British bases with aerial and satellite images from the popular Google Earth software, intelligence sources told London's Daily Telegraph yesterday.

Printouts created with Google were seized during raids on terrorists' homes last week. "This is evidence as far as we are concerned for planning terrorist attacks," the Telegraph quoted an intelligence officer as saying.
 
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