Pillow Fight Lands Man In Court

South Burlington Vt. Man Charged For Inciting Pillow Fight


The man police say organized an impromptu pillow fight in front of a Vermont mall is being dragged into court to face charges.

Darin Cassler, 21, of South Burlington, Vt., was charged Friday by city police after he allegedly incited a pillow fight at the town center on Church Street. Police said his actions warranted a disorderly conduct charge.

The feathery fracas was organized by Cassler, police say, and included about 50 participants. A video of the pillow pounding appears on several Internet sites and shows about a two-minute scrum that began and ended with a whistle being blown.

Not long after the whistle sounded ending the puffy clash, Cassler can be seen in video footage of the event being taken away by a police officer.

The pillow fight was organized on the social networking site Facebook, which listed the following rules:

- Bring a pillow and a container in which to conceal it.

- Assemble on the street as if you were loitering, do not acknowledge anyone else participating.

- Our host will shout 'pillow fight' and we will all spontaneously break into a big miasma of feathers and pillows.

- Soft pillows only!

- Swing lightly, many people will be swinging at once.

- Do not swing at people without pillows or with cameras.

- Remove glasses beforehand!

- The event is free and appropriate for all ages.

- Wait until the signal to begin.

- This event is more fun with feathers!

Click For Facebook Post On Event

Courtesy of WPTZ.com

RCMP arrest Revenue Canada officials

Two Canada Revenue Agency employees have been arrested and two others suspended for their alleged roles in connection with a $4.5-million tax-fraud scheme, Revenue Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said Wednesday.


Blackburn said the two arrested employees were team leaders at the Montreal tax-services office of the CRA.

In an interview with CTV Newsnet's Power Play, Blackburn said his organization called in the RCMP after the CRA's investigation was underway.

"It shows that our own internal investigation works quite well," he said. "Our employees are professional, there's 45,000 of them, but sometimes (these) situations happen."

At a news conference in Montreal earlier on Wednesday, he referred questions about possible charges about the two employees to the RCMP.

Blackburn said the agency's investigation was originally looking into firms owned by businessman Tony Accurso, a leader in the Montreal construction industry.

The CRA alleges that three construction companies, Simard-Beaudry Construction Inc., Construction Louisbourg Ltee., and Hyprescon, funnelled nearly $4.5 million into two dummy corporations that were not involved in any commercial business. The agency says the dummy corporations were used to falsify invoices.

The CRA says that in these types of schemes, the invoices are fraudulently used to reduce individuals' or companies' revenues for tax savings purposes.

The four CRA employees, who are all suspended without pay pending an internal agency investigation, allegedly tried to hide the activities from the tax agency.

The investigation was launched as a result of regular internal audits into the agency's workings, Blackburn said.

"The system is well-protected," he said.

But opposition critics says that the audit system needs to be tightened, considering that there are billions going to be spent in infrastructure as part of the government economic stimulus plans.

"It's very troubling (and) it's not very good timing for Canadians who are struggling and trying to make ends meet," Liberal treasury board critic Dan McTeague said.

None of the allegations have been proven in court as of yet, and all persons under suspicion should be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Artist who created Obama 'Hope' posters arrested

A street artist famous for his red, white and blue "Hope" posters of President Barack Obama has been arrested on warrants accusing him of tagging property with graffiti, police said Saturday.

Shepard Fairey, 38, was arrested Friday night on his way to the Institute of Contemporary Art for a kickoff event for his first solo exhibition, called "Supply and Demand."

Two warrants were issued for Fairey on Jan. 24 after police determined he'd tagged property in two locations with graffiti based on the Andre the Giant street art campaign from his early career, police Officer James Kenneally said Saturday.

Fairey, 38, of Los Angeles, is scheduled to be arraigned on the misdemeanour charges Monday in Brighton District Court, said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney. Wark said Fairey would also be arraigned on a default warrant related to a separate graffiti case in the Roxbury section of Boston.

Fairey has spent the last two weeks in the Boston area installing the ICA exhibit and creating outdoor art, including a six-by-15-metre banner on the side of city hall, according to a statement issued Saturday by the museum.

The museum said Fairey was released a few hours after his arrest.

Fairey's Obama image has been sold on hundreds of thousands of stickers and posters, and was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington before Obama's inauguration.

The image is the subject of a copyright dispute with The Associated Press.

Fairey argues his use of The AP photo is protected by "fair use," which allows exceptions to copyright laws based on, among other factors, how much of the original is used, what the new work is used for and how the original is affected by the new work.

New Zealand police use Facebook to stop crime

Theft 101:

- When breaking into a premises, Wear gloves so you don't leave prints, and a mask, so you aren't recognized or recorded on camera
- DON'T take mask and gloves off!!!!!
- DON'T look up for camera's without a mask on!!
- If you find that you have been caught on tape... DON'T post images of yourself performing the theft or robbery on your Facebook page

Police in southern New Zealand nabbed a would-be burglar after they posted security camera images of him trying to break into a safe on the popular social networking site, Facebook.

The Queenstown police are calling it their first Facebook arrest. The police department created its online presence on the site just two months ago, said Constable Sean Drader.

"It's pretty popular, isn't it, this site?" Drader said Wednesday, surprised at the quick success.

The 21-year-old masked man allegedly broke into a local pub through a roof early Monday morning and spent considerable time trying to crack open a safe using an angle grinder.

"It's a very small room that he broke into, and it was hot weather. It's summer here," Drader said. "There are sparks flying all about him. And after about an hour, he gets too hot and takes his gloves and balaclava off."

Unable to break open the safe, the man gave up and got ready to leave, Drader said.

"He looks around to see if he's forgotten anything, and he looks up right at the camera. It was rather silly. We got a good look," he said.



The police department posted the surveillance camera photos on its Facebook page. By the next day, the man was in custody, fingered by viewers who recognized him from the images on the site, and from TV segments on the Facebook posting.

Police did not release the suspect's name, but said the Queenstown native is charged with two counts of burglary.

Facebook, the Web's most popular social networking site, allows users to create personal profiles. They can then connect with one another, upload photos and share links. The site boasts more than 90 million active users.

In November, Facebook helped a seafood restaurant owner in Melbourne identify five customers who dined on oysters, trout and expensive wine and then bolted without paying the US $323 bill.

According to media reports, the owner remembered one of the diners asking about a former waitress.

The waitress suggested the restaurateur look through her friend's list on Facebook. A quick scroll later, the owner spotted one of the bill dodgers.

Father arrested for throwing acid at kids

A man who was sought by police in Texas after four children were burned with sulfuric acid has turned himself in, authorities said Monday.

Tracy Lynn Escobedo, 27, called KXII-TV and asked that a crew videotape him as he turned himself in Sunday.

"I would never throw acid at nobody. It was an accident," Escobedo says repeatedly on the video as he surrenders to Cooke County sheriff's deputies. "I ran because I was scared. I hurt my kids. It was an accident. ... I would never hurt my kids. I love them."

Escobedo is charged with four counts of injury to a child, the sheriff's office said.

The children involved were ages 14, 7, 4, and 18 months, authorities said.

In the incident last week near Gainesville, Texas, a container of sulfuric acid ruptured in a pickup truck, police said.

Cynthia Stout -- a woman believed to be the mother -- and three of the children were left at a cafe by Escobedo, who took the baby with him, authorities said. Escobedo then gave the baby to another woman, believed to be a relative, at a residence, authorities said.

When police arrived at the cafe, Stout attempted to flee and resist arrest, but was taken into custody, authorities said. She was being held on suspicion of child endangerment.

It was still unclear at this time why sulfuric acid was in the truck.

Cooke County Sheriff Michael Compton said all four children are being treated at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Speaking to CNN early Monday, Compton said the condition of the 7-year-old "is not very good, I don't think. The others are stable."

The state has temporary custody of the children, Compton said.

Author jailed for insulting Thai king

An Australian author was sentenced Monday to three years in prison in Thailand after falling foul of a Thai law that makes it a crime to insult the country's royal family.

Harry Nicolaides was arrested last August over a 2005 book called "Verisimilitude," which includes a paragraph about the king and crown prince that the authorities deemed a violation of the Lese Majeste law.

Nicolaides, 41, was bombarded with questions from foreign journalists as he arrived at the court Monday, wearing shackles as he stepped from a prison bus. In tears, he said he would plead guilty.

"Truth is stranger than fiction," he said. "It's been an ordeal for months. It feels like a bad dream." Watch video of a shackled Nicolaides at court »

The Thai Criminal Court originally sentenced Nicolaides to six years in jail but cut the punishment in half because of the guilty plea. He stood and listened calmly as the verdict was translated to him.

After hearing his verdict Nicolaides said: "I wish my family the best." Nicolaides' brother's reaction »

One of his lawyers said no decision had been made about whether to appeal or seek a royal pardon. King Bhumibol Adulydej has pardoned foreigners in other similar cases in the past.

CNN's report of the proceedings had chosen not to repeat the allegations made by Nicolaides because it could result in CNN staff being prosecuted in Thailand.

Nicolaides had been living in Thailand since 2003, lecturing at two universities about tourism.

He was about to leave Thailand when he was arrested on August 31 2008.
It is not clear why the authorities waited three years after the publication of his book to bring charges against him.

"I think there are individuals who have exploited an obscure law for their own self-interest," he said.

Only 50 copies of the book were published, and of those, only seven were sold.

The law Nicolaides was convicted of breaking is section 112, known as the Lese Majeste law.

It says: "Whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir-apparent or the Regent, shall be punished with imprisonment of three to fifteen years."

Thailand's king is highly revered in this Buddhist nation, but even he has said in the past that he can be criticized.

Thailand's new prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, also told CNN he is concerned about the misuse of the Lese Majeste law.

Loser arrested

Sometimes news stories just write themselves.

Shanon Thomas, Shown here on the right with her mother Helen, a contestant on this season of The Biggest Loser, has been arrested for allegedly assaulting one of her tenants with a bag of flour, reports The New York Post.
This proves the theory that going on a diet, especially one on a weight-loss reality show, can really make a person cranky!

Apparently Shanon, 30, hollered at a man who was renting space in her Detroit house to turn the volume on his TV down. She allegedly "kicked open the door" to his basement apartment, threw flour in his eyes and broke Christmas lights. The man has moved out since the confrontation (well I wouldn't stay after that either, would you???).

Though the attack happened on Dec. 16 2008, police arrested Ms. Thomas with charges of domestic violence on Tuesday (The day the new season of The Biggest Loser debuted, coincidence?). She was arraigned and released on $2,000 bond shortly thereafter.

If convicted, the Pink Team member could face more than three months in jail.

Drunken incident on plane will cost passenger $30,000

$20,000 in restitution costs added to $10,000 fine

A Russian citizen whose drunken behaviour forced a transatlantic flight to make an emergency landing in central Newfoundland last week was ordered Friday to make amends.

39-yr old Sergey Kotsur was fined $10,000 in provincial court in Gander.

As well, he has been ordered to pay $20,000 to Delta Airlines, which made an emergency landing on Sunday when Kotsur became belligerent with other passengers and airline staff.

Kotsur plead guilty to assaulting a member of the crew and to interfering with a flight crew. The Crown dropped a charge of mischief that was laid earlier this week.

Witnesses to the incident said it took eight people, including both crew and passengers, to restrain Kotsur.

Police said Kotsur remained difficult when he was taken into custody and tried to beat the window out of a police car.

The flight had originated in Moscow and was heading to Atlanta.

Travelling to Miami for vacation

Court was told that Mr. Kotsur, who owns restaurants in Russia, had been drinking before he boarded the flight from Moscow to Atlanta, and that he continued to drink liquor that someone had brought on board. Kotsur and his family had been heading to Miami for a vacation at an upscale hotel.

Court was told that he started arguing with his family, and had been banging his head against the wall of the cabin.

A disclosure statement presented to the court said that Kotsur grabbed a flight attendant's thigh under her skirt.

Defence lawyer Juan O'Quinn said a combination of alcohol and medications led to the outburst, and that his client is sorry and embarrassed about his behaviour.

"Mr. Kotsur had been drinking on the plane and that there was some medication taken, some sleeping medication, I suspect, that had a reaction. It's not some kind of activity he would normally engage in," O'Quinn said.

"He's a fairly mild fellow but the concoction of the medicine he took and the alcohol, I suspect, probably had an impact on the way he behaved."

Kotsur has one year to pay the fine and the restitution.

Before Kotsur left the courtroom, Judge Bruce Short wished him a more uneventful flight.

The Delta Airlines flight was delayed through its unplanned, four-hour stopover in Gander on Sunday.

What I don't understand is, why do people feel they need to drink on the plane? The longest flight is what? A day at most? Do you really need to drink everyday? If you do, you "may" have a drinking problem.

Are there any of my readers that take flights, even occasionally, that also order drinks while flying that would like to perhaps enlighten me?

Iran jails Iranian-Canadian blogger

The long-suspected arrest of a controversial Iranian-Canadian political blogger has been confirmed by Iran.

Hossein Derakhshan, known in the blogosphere by the name of his controversial website Hoder.com, hasn't posted since October, prompting many to assume that he had been arrested.

Earlier in December, Derakhshan's family told The Globe and Mail that he had been locked up, and on Tuesday the Iranian judiciary confirmed Derakhshan was in custody.

Judiciary spokesperson Ali Reza Jamshidi told local media that Derakhshan is being held, and his case is under "preliminary investigation."

Jamshidi said the 34-year-old blogger was arrested over remarks he allegedly made about key Shiite Muslim holy figures.

No information was given about where or when Derakhshan was picked up, but earlier reports suggested he had been arrested on November 1, shortly after arriving in Tehran.

Some reports said he was accused of spying for Israel.

Derakhshan has been dubbed the "blogfather" for writing and distributing instructions in 2001 that allowed Iranians to create their own Persian-language blogs.

The movement caught fire in the restrictive Muslim country, with an estimated 70,000 Iranians now maintaining their own blogs, in Persian.

He has never been afraid to express himself freely on his blog -- usually from outside of Iran.

In many of his postings the former newspaper reporter turned "citizen journalist" criticizes Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But he also gives the controversial president credit for actions he approves of.

In the recent years leading up to his arrest, Derakhshan even seemed to lean towards supporting Ahmadinejad and his hardline stance towards the West. He also defended Iran's nuclear ambitions and criticized U.S. and Israeli opposition to it.

In 2006, Derakhshan described travelling in Israel on his Canadian passport, musing that going there could have serious consequences.

"This might mean that I won't be able to go back to Iran for a long time, since Iran doesn't recognise Israel... and apparently considers travelling there illegal. Too bad, but I don't care."

"As a citizen journalist, I'm going to show my 20,000 daily Iranian readers what Israel really looks like and how people live there," he said.

sex-on-beach offender's defense: I was naive

A British businessman jailed in Dubai after being convicted with a female companion for having sex on a beach said he had acted naively as he spoke publicly Monday for the first time since returning to the UK.

Vince Acors, 34, and Michelle Palmer, 36, were arrested on a Dubai beach in July and convicted to three-month jail terms in October on charges of public indecency and for having sex outside marriage. Their jail sentences were suspended on appeal and both returned to the UK last week.

Acors, a telecommunications executive, admitted to being drunk at the time of the incident after an afternoon of drinking but denied that sex between the couple had occurred and said that worldwide media interest in the case had given authorities no choice but to convict them.

"Sex in this country (the UK) is not the same as sex in Dubai," Acors told a news conference, adding that there was "physical contact but intercourse did not take place."

Acors said the Dubai authorities had confiscated his passport during deportation proceedings that took three months. He returned to Britain on Christmas Eve and is now looking to sell his story.

He said he and Palmer had since spoken only to discuss the case and don't have a relationship. She was not at the news conference.

Ok Mr. Acor, I have to ask this, because if I don't, It's just going to bug me every time I scroll past this article posting... you say (and I'll quote) "I was naive" "Sex in this country (the UK) is not the same as sex in Dubai," What do you mean by that? Do you mean that in the UK sex in public (in this case, on the beach) is "ok" and something common so you didn't think anything of it? Mr. Acor is a telecommunications executive, so by no means a dummy... not someone who wouldn't have an understanding of laws, customs, regulations or what have you...

Apparently, according to you, there was physical contact, but no sexual intercourse, you're sure of this, even though you were admittedly drunk? at best you'd be looking at public idecency and/or public lewdness charges (public intoxication as well maybe? I don't know, i'm no lawyer) .

Mr. Acor is also looking to sell his story? What sort of storyline would that carry? "lead character goes to a foreign country, parties with friends, gets drunk, fools around on a beach with his girlfriend, is arrested while intoxicated, comes back to his homeland, upset that he was arrested in the first place..

I don't see an Oscar winner with that one.....