Legal Juice

Only in New York? No, Juice readers know that weird things happen pretty much everywhere (see the 200+ archived Legal Juice posts). Back to New York. A robber (with a knife) in Westchester robbed an 18-year-old - but not of the $10 the young man had. Said Captain Joseph DeCarlo:

He tells the kid to go into the pizza parlor and get change. Then the kid comes out, he takes his $4 and he leaves.

Shazam! You can read more (not much) here.

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From the Santa Clara Police Department "Police Blotter"

The suspect parked his own vehicle at a car wash. He made contact with the manager and handed him his business card. The suspect got into a freshly cleaned customer's car that was coming out of the other end of the wash. He fled in the victim [sic] vehicle. A few hours later, S.J.P.D. located the car and the suspect. The suspect was arrested and booked into County Jail. His bizarre actions appear to be methamphetamine related.

Props to the Crime Blog for spotting this. You can read the "Police Blotter" here.

Have you ever been hit by a sausage? No? Then maybe you shouldn't be so quick to judge authorities in Manchester, England who are prosecuting a 12-year-old boy for throwing a cocktail sausage at a neighbor. And it hit him on the shoulder! And this crazy judge said he couldn't believe such a case had been brought before him! What the hell is wrong with those English judges? Clearly this boy must be stopped. To read more (though not much more on this story) click here.

No, you didn't say these things Dr. Lau, did you?

When asked by Patient A if the cramping she had experienced was normal, Dr. Lau said “I wouldn’t know, I’m not a woman.” [So I guess he would know if cramping is normal for insensitive, unprofessional clods?]

When asked by Patient A if the sex of the baby could be determined from the ultrasound, Dr. Lau said “I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been pregnant.”

Patient B said the only question Dr. Lau asked her was: “If she was pregnant, would she be keeping the baby?”

Oh, and Dr. Lau recorded that various tests had been performed on Patients A, B,C and D. Think they were done? Nope. And it turns out Patient A had chlamydia, which can cause eye infections and pneumonia in babies.

What do you think happened to Ontario, Canada Dr. Alvin Lau? He was suspended for a year. Just a bit light, I'd say. I'm sure Patients A, B, C and D would agree.

All Randy Miller ever wanted to be was a soldier. He achieved that in 2004, when he enlisted and was assigned to the elite 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He volunteered to be a paratrooper, not the safest of choices. He made 22 jumps and, along the way, picked up two Army Achievement Medals and a Combat Infantryman Badge.

One of the jumps didn't go so well. Miller's parachute didn't open, and the backup only partially opened. He hit the ground pretty hard after falling from 900 feet, but walked away, though not uninjured. He didn't know it, but he had torn the meniscus in his knee.

Then he was shipped off to Iraq, where he served from the winter of 2005 until the spring of 2006. Upon his return, his knee having gotten much worse (the meniscus tear increased to four times it's original size) he went to a bunch of military doctors, none of whom did anything.

One fateful night, Miller was in a gay bar when he was propostioned by a male soldier. When he rejected the soldier's advance, the propositioning soldier told Miller's superior that he was gay.

So Miller was left with a choice - lie about who he is, or tell the truth and see his career ruined, his life forever altered. There was never a choice as far as Miller was concerned. He admitted he was gay, and got booted just days before the completion of his second year. Because of this, Miller had to repay his signing bonus, which of course he'd already spent. Also, whenever Miller applies for a job, his employer will know the reason for his "honorable" discharge because it is stated within the discharge papers.

Miller's response? "I loved the Army. I've been trying to get back in, but I can't. I never got in trouble for anything." He's now working for the U.S. Census Bureau. Miller plans to enroll in college to become an emergency medical technician. I'm sure the people whose lives he saves will shudder at his sexual orientation. You can read more here in Joe Goldeen's piece for The Record.

Huh? What? Oh, sorry. I was sleeping, much like Rockingham County, New Hampshire Judge Patricia Coffey. She beat that rap, but won't be able to snooze her way through these latest allegations. See, her husband was disbarred in 2005, and the state has been trying to collect legal fees relating to his disbarment. The Judicial Conduct Committee filed a complaint against Judge Coffee alleging that she helped create a trust to put her husband's assets beyond the reach of creditors. Although she denied the charges, she did admit that the timing appears compromising. Really? There will be a hearing on the charges in late September. You can read more here.

Ocean City, Maryland resident Richard Brueckner disappeared 12 years ago, right when Richard Thelander was "born." Now these are just the allegations against Brueckner/Thelander (as reported in The Maryland Coast Dispatch), but it sure doesn't look real good:

The charges against Brueckner ... include about half a dozen cases where he forged his ex-wife’s name to obtain credit cards, which he quickly maxed out to their limits. The amounts ranged from around $5,000 on the low side to as high as $14,000 on another with several different amounts obtained in cash and merchandize on credit cards in between.

He also cleared out several of the couple’s other accounts and holdings, leaving his wife facing bankruptcy and a years-long struggle to clear up the financial mess.

Cash in hand, Brueckner (now Thelander) headed west. He ended up in Arizona, where he became the Superintendent and Chief Executive Officer of a new 3-campus charter school! The Superintendent and the CEO! Nice background check there, Pace Preparatory Academy. He also got remarried, and apparently started buying up some real estate.

Things either weren't going that well, or maybe it was just time to move on. Thelander applied for Panamanian citizenship - under the name "Richard Brueckner-Thelander" - and was accepted. It won't matter, though, because he was busted a month ago, and is in the process of being extradited back to Maryland to face a whole host of charges. I wonder what they'll call him in prison? You can read more (and there's plenty more) here.

For an update on this story, click here.

This poor woman, Philly family court Judge Lisa Richette, is really having a tough time. At right is her son, Lawrence Richette, who was arrested for assaulting his 78-year-old mother. Yup, that's Lawrence on the right there, letting it all hang out. Said Mr. Richette: "This is what I think of TV news."

As for Judge Richette, here are a few other incidents she's been on the receiving end of:

While sitting in her car last August, she was punched by a woman who said the Judge hit her vehicle (which Judge Richette denied).

A purse snatcher punched her and knoced her down in January 2005.

She was beaten and robbed in February 1987.

Damn, if it weren't for bad luck .....

Unless you're a shut-in, at some point in your life, you've probably been frustrated over an airport baggage issue. It is unlikely, though, that you reacted as Congressman Bob Filner allegedly did at Dulles Airport a couple days ago. Per the airport police, Filner, an 8-term Congressman who is Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, allegedly

attempted to enter an area authorized for airline employees only, pushed aside the employee’s outstretched arm and refused to leave the area when asked by an airline employee.

Per United Airlines, the incident took place after Filner "experienced a delay in claiming his bag." Because the employee took his complaint to a Loudoun County Magistrate, Filner must appear in court on October 2, 2007 to answer the assault and battery charges. And what does the Congressman have to say about the matter?

Congressman Bob Filner is on his way to Iraq, visiting our troops, and will have a full statement when he returns. Suffice it to say now, that the story that has appeared in the press is factually incorrect _ and the charges are ridiculous.

I'm guessing that, no matter what happened, nothing will happen.

Okay, so she didn't exactly marry the monkey (though she's paying $1,300/month to support him.) Rockville, Maryland resident Elyse Gazewitz was on trial yesterday for illegally having a monkey as a pet. Since the animal was taken from her in May, she has had to pay boarding fees of $1,300/month to the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve in Thurmont, Maryland. Don't worry, though, the judge granted her visitation rights. You can read more here.

They both sew with a steady hand, right? Somehow, a 30-year-old Indian man posed as a doctor for almost a year without raising even an eyebrow. So how was he caught? A security guard overheard the "doctor" telling a patient that he did not know the way to the pathology lab! And what did the man say when he was caught? He said he was a surgeon in India, had a applied for a job, and was just wandering around waiting for word on his application. But when the police checked him out, they learned that he works in a women's tailor shop! No doubt that's where he made (really) the doctor's uniform that he wore around the hospital.

Hawaiian mom Ijeva Matavele had not been pleased when her 14-year-old daughter failed 2 classes. The girl agreed to get tutoring, and things ... did not improve. As reported in the Honolulu Advertiser by Ken Kobayashi:

The daughter... skipped tutoring classes and hung out with friends. On the day her report card was due, the daughter — even though she was reminded by the mother to bring it home — said she forgot it at school, but eventually disclosed her grades included four C's, one D and one incomplete.

When the mother demanded to know why the grades hadn't improved, the daughter refused to answer. The mother then grabbed a plastic backpack containing a school folder and jacket and hit the daughter on the left arm as the girl tried to block the blow.

The daughter disclosed she had not been going to tutoring. When the mother demanded to know where she had gone instead, the girl refused to answer, prompting the mother to hit her with a plastic hanger about five times.

When the girl said she had been hanging out with friends, the mother felt deceived, got a small car brush and hit the daughter on the top of the left hand and on the knuckles with a plastic handle of a tool.

Ms. Matavele was charged with child abuse. So what happened?

Continue reading "You Do Not Want To Bring Home A Bad Report Card To This Woman" »

So the parent of a 5-year-old kid had an argument with another parent - on the playground, of course. As a result, Mr. Joseph Moldrich, one of the parents, hatched a scheme to get the kid of the other parent kicked out of school. He would make threatening phone calls to the teacher, pretending to be the other parent! Pure genius, no? No. Here are a few of the messages Moldrich allegedly left (he said he's going to plead guilty):

You fuck off Oakleigh South.

. . . We know where you live.

. . . Kill, kill, kill.

You fucking, you no leave and me kill you.

Some calls were made with a fake foreign accent, some with a woman's voice. Wow. Moldrich has been in jail since he was arrested on June 29th. He has not even asked for bail. Should've followed the Juice motto: What happens on the playground, stays on the playground. You can read more here.

So 12 years ago, a woman saw a man acting suspiciously in the Vanderbuilt Hospital parking lot. Said Kristi Wilson, "He looked like he had a wig. It was just really bizarre." The man was Dr. Ray Mettetal. As reported by NewsChannel5.com,

he was wearing a wig and a fake beard, and he had fake ID, a giant syringe, and was stalking another doctor, his former boss at Vanderbilt. Later, investigators discovered he had a stockpile of the deadly poison, ricin.

Dr. Mettetal was convicted of having ricin and fake IDs, and served 7 years in prison. His medical license was suspended. He was released from prison when an appeals court determined that the search warrant used by the police was no good. So now Dr. Mettetal wants his license back. What do you think the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners decided?

Continue reading "Ricin Doctor Wants Medical License Back" »

Former NFL superstar wide receiver Andre Rison, most recently of the Raiders, is a real "bad boy." Here are some of his off-the-field accomplishments:

He wrote bad checks totaling $167,627.46 to Elif Jewelry in Atlanta for a Rolex watch, diamond jewelry, and a gold necklace.

He owes his ex-wife $236,949.96 in child support (and legal fees).

He owes about $70,000 to three ex-girlfriends with whom he had a child.

In 1994, he must have really pissed off singer Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, because she burned his house down.

Regarding his candor about his assets, check this out. Per ex-girlfriend Raycoa Handley's attorney Randy Kessler: "One time when I was taking his deposition, he said he couldn't even afford a cell phone. But then all of the sudden his pocket started ringing."

And why has all of this come up? Because the Raiders owe Rison $100,000, which they want to pay him, but are reluctant to because of all of his creditors. So they have asked the court to determine how the money should be paid. To read more, click here.

Regular Juice visitors will recall this story, and this one too, about folks who claimed to have done things in their sleep. To read about a series of crimes alleged to have been committed while the perpetrator was sleeping, click here. You will be amazed at the crimes, and the results of the use of the automatism defense.

Deborah Rouvalis told the police that her boyfriend, Steven Pagels, got mad at her for leaving pizza crumbs on their motel room bed. (Apparently he would kick her out of bed for eating crackers. Sorry!) Then things got ugly. Pagels jammed his thumb down her throat [Who would think of that? I'm having trouble visualizing it.] He then dragged her down the hall, and tried to throw her from the motel balcony.

At his assault and battery trial, though, Deborah denied the whole thing. Unfortunately for Pagels, they record those phone conversations during jailhouse visits. Yup, and two of them caught Pagels ripping Deborah, and threatening her. So a charge of intimidating a witness was tacked on. The verdict? Guilty of the assault and battery, and the intimidation. Pagels is in jail now, and I'm sure he's much more careful when he talks to his visitors. You can read more here.

Lindsay Smith, a senior banker in the UK, was accused of cheating during a golf match, and was suspended from the Nairn Golf Club for a year. Of course, a decision of such tremendous importance was not made lightly. Evidence was presented to the appropriate committee at The Club. Declining to appear in person, Mr. Smith instead presented his side - that is, HIS LAWYER DID, in writing.

In an attempt to clear his name, which instead smeared it around the world, Mr. Smith took his suspension to court, claiming that it breached "the rules of natural justice." Cruel, cruel world. The court ruled that proper procedures were followed. Case closed. Oh, and Mr. Smith has been accused of cheating in a similar fashion twice before (no, not the hand wedge, but after marking his ball on the green, placing it closer to the hole than it had been). He came this close from losing his job, too. That would have given him plenty of time to practice his putting. You'll find the rest of the story here.

Maybe Wayne Simpson should have just called the customer who he said gave him her cell phone number. Said Wayne:

I honestly thought she fancied me. I certainly fancied her. She was gorgeous. She pulled up a chair very close to me and sat there staring into my eyes and fluttering her lashes.

Wayne then took a picture of himself in his bathtub, holding a glass of bourbon, surrounded by bubbles. He sent it to the customer's phone, with the message "Hi, do you fancy going out for a drink sometime?"

Apparently not. She called the cops, who did not charge Wayne. Then she called his job, and they canned him. Unfortunately for Wayne, he can't file an unemployment claim because he was with the company less than a year. He is going to sue them, though, for his lost earnings. If you want to read more, click here.

So, back in 2001, Canadian Waddah Mustapha saw a fly in a bottle of water THAT HE DID NOT DRINK FROM. Nevertheless, Mustapha claimed that he was so traumatized by the event that:

The fear of flies he developed killed his sex life.

He has nightmares about flies.

He lost his sense of humor.

Drinking coffee is difficult because it contains ... WATER!

Getting in the shower makes him anxious.

Old Mr. Mustapha sued Culligan of Canada, who bottled the water, and .......... won! $341,775 (Canadian). Not so fast, though. Culligan appealed and won. But wait, Mustapha appealed and .... won! The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Mustapha may appeal to have his damages reinstated. You can read more here. And if you're thinking about the McDonald's coffee case, that was REAL.

An English teacher (a teacher in England, that is) was fired, she claimed, because she is a Wiccan (a self-described "white witch"). But her boss says it was because of her poor attendance record. The teacher, Ms. De La Rosa, was hired to cover for sick teachers. Only one problem - she was off 21.5 days during her first 6 months on the job. And according to her boss, her attendance rate was 20%, equivalent to working one day a week during the school year. Her boss also said she had to bring in someone to cover for the coverer!

What do you think the unemployment tribunal decided? We'll never know, because the matter was settled after the hearing. You can read more, including Ms. De La Rosa's side of the story, here and here.

Adam Scioli, then an anesthesiology resident at Temple University, sold the date rape drug Ketamine to an undercover detective. Think about the lives that could have been ruined with that drug? Scioli should have lost the ability to ever practice medicine, and received a hefty jail sentence. Nope. He pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, obtaining the controlled substance fraudulently (from the hospital pharmacy), and violating the Controlled Substances Act. His sentence? Two months in jail! Cocaine gets you 5 years. This guy gets 2 months! Oh, and Pennsylvania suspended his medical license because of his felony conviction for violating the Controlled Substances Act.

So Scioli is done with medicine, right? Wrong. On July 1, 2007, the Delaware Psychiatric Center took him on as a resident despite the fact that his medical license in Pennsylvania is still suspended. And what does the Director of the Center have to say about this brilliant hire? Don't know. She didn't return a reporter's numerous calls and e-mails. I'm guessing Scioli will be looking for a new job soon. You can read more here.

You may have heard a lot of media noise about the potential bursting of the housing bubble. Well, a correction in the real estate market is the least of Kwaku Atta Poku’s worries.

Mr. Poku—a hard-working immigrant from Ghana and owner of a small taxi business—carefully paid and kept a record of every mortgage check. In fact, some months Mr. Poku paid more than was required on his mortgage. So you can imagine Mr. Poku’s surprise when he learned that his house not only had been put up for sale, but that it had been bought ten days later by a real estate investor.

The most tragic part of the story is that it looks like Mr. Poku never did anything wrong. He lost his house because his mortgage company couldn’t find key documents that would prove his initial loan had been paid, a bank didn’t have its paperwork in order, and the title company that handled Mr. Poku’s refinancing is now out of business. Even though Mr. Poku kept photocopies of all his mortgage checks, he couldn’t prove that the original check issued to pay off his first mortgage was accepted because he only had a photocopy of the front part of the $96,599.74 check.

So What Happened to Mr. Poku?

Continue reading "Can You Lose A House You Paid For?" »

To be fair, it's also clear that he dislikes gay men. Spanish Judge Fernando Ferrin was presiding over a custody case following a divorce. The divorced woman is a lesbian. After ruling that the mother lose custody of her daughters, Judge Ferrin then gave her this choice:

Choose between your daughters and your partner.

Damn! His justification? Said Judge Ferrin: "[a] homosexual environment is prejudicial to children, and notably increases the risk that they too become homosexual." Seems that Judge Ferrin forgot about the Spanish Constitution. The disciplinary board unanimously held that he had erred. He will be disciplined, and could lose his job. You can read more here and here.

This is the case of an unbelievable prick, and an incredibly vulnerable, naive victim. Scotland resident John Irvine, a 63-year-old married man, is a retired car mechanic. He managed to convince a 38-year-old Portuguese woman, through 50 e-mails that he translated into Portuguese on the internet, that he was an agent for the English Secret Police. He then convinced her that her family in Portugal would be killed if she didn't follow the orders in the e-mails - to engage in sex acts with Irvine. He also told her, through the e-mails, that she would be killed if she tried to leave Scotland.

She considered suicide, but instead went to the police, who charged Irvine with multiple counts of rape. His defense? It was a game, and she knew it. Irvine pleaded guilty to repeated indecent assault. He will be sentenced next month.

So this reporter went to the courthouse where civil cases are heard in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Here are a few of his observations:

Though the court's hours are from 7:30 - 2:30, by 8:00, neither the president of the court, nor the administrative manager was present.

If a plaintiff is not in court by 8:00, the case will be thrown out.

At 8:15, of the 23 judges, not a single one was in his office!

By 10:00, 9 of the 23 judges were there. The rest of the judges did not show up at all.

The following day, 8 of the 23 judges showed up.

Per the reporter, Amr Al-Faisal, "What’s nice about all of this is that if a judge is late or absent it means that the case has to be delayed a month, months or perhaps years." Ouch.

I'll let Mr. Al-Faisal have the last word:

I conclude this article with a request to my dear brothers and sisters. You must visit the general court in Jeddah to see for yourselves the truth of what’s happening there. And I’m sure that will only increase your trust in the judicial system and induce you to join me in my prayers for them to live long and remain always alert, concerned about people’s rights and making sure they are not denied justice. Amen.

You can read his article in full here.

Yes, I'm afraid it's true, much to the dismay of British Royal Navy Chaplain Mark Sharpe. So horrified was the chaplain by the "offensive and illegal" porn DVDs he says were shown on the ship, and all that sex talk, that he left the ship just 2 weeks into his training course. (continued below) He didn't go quietly though. He claimed that he had to leave the navy due to sexual harassment and religious discrimination. And he wanted money. And he got it! The Royal Navy settled with him, and admitted that Mr. Sharpe was exposed to a degree of sexual harassment. You can read more here.

So Kevin Costner was getting a massage at a hotel in Scotland. According to the masseuse, who later filed a claim of unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination, here's a highlight:

Throughout the massage he kept putting his hand underneath his towel but never kept it there long enough for me to suspect anything.” However, as she went to massage his head, he whipped off his towel and “performed a sex act to climax”.

Costner's friend said it was a set up. The hotel settled with the masseuse. You can read more here.

Uh. Sorry. A Rhode Island doctor was suspended for operating on the wrong side of a patient's brain! And the same thing happened at the same hospital (Rhode Island Hospital) in January of this year, and in 2001 (different doctors). Surgical protocol, anyone? Magic marker?

Actually, the Royal Mail said the week David Portman took off to mourn his dog's death was just the last straw. In his 5 years as a mailman, Portman missed 137 days. Claiming that his absences were either work-related or genuine injuries not of his doing, and that he shouldn't have been fired for mourning the loss of his dog, Portman filed a claim for unfair dismissal. (The injuries/illnesses included a broken foot, sprained ankle, whiplash, and asthma.)

Who do you think won? Wrong! (or "Right!"). Portman won - a sum in excess of £10,000 (over $20,000 US). Said the Sheffield tribunal:

The vast majoirty of the claimant's absence days were occasioned through injuries sustained in accidents at work' which should have been discounted by the Royal Mail... None of the claimant's absences were for other than wholly legitimate and genuine reasons.

Snap! To read more about David and Brandy, click here.

At least one of them, anyway. The allegations against Ohio Dr. Somnath Roy are as follows:

During the interview, Dr. Roy insisted on examining her breast and then fondled her. He also asked her to pull her pants down. (as reported by Brad Dicken of The Chronicle-Telegram).

Another woman said that, on her first day, Dr. Roy fondled her while demonstrating a breast exam that he said she would be assisting with as part of her duties. He also told her that she had small breasts and asked if that ran in her family. On her second (and final) day, he told her that she needed to wear a padded bra so she would “look bigger.”

Both of the above women have filed lawsuits against Dr. Roy. Here are a couple other allegations against the doctor:

A 47-year-old Elyria man said Dr. Roy rubbed his genitals on his knee and thigh during examinations about six times over the course of the eight years he was Roy’s patient.

A couple said that Roy had asked them explicit questions about their sex life that had nothing to do with the reason they were seeing him.

Posted by John Mesirow | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Doctor, Doctor

Washington DC Injury Lawyer John B. Mesirow represents injured accident victims in Washington DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia. His practice includes Car Accidents, Bike Accident, Boating Accident, Brain Injury, Construction Accident, Dog Bite, Medical Malpractice, Motorcycle Accident, Trucking Accident and Wrongful Death cases. John Mesirow was named a "Top Lawyer" by Washingtonian magazine and aggressively represents his clients. You can contact him online or by phone at 866-463-0303 or 202-463-0303.

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No amount of money can give these falsely convicted men back their lives (2 of them died in prison), but the $101,750,000 awarded by U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner certainly makes a statement. In 1965, a small-time hoodlum named Deegan was killed. One of those known by the FBI to be involved in the killing, Joseph Barboza, turned FBI informant. In order to protect him, with Barboza as the star witness, the FBI framed four innocent men. Louis Greco, Henry Tameleo and Peter Limone were convicted of Deegan’s murder and sentenced to death. Joseph Salvati was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted as an accessory to Deegan’s murder and two counts of conspiracy.

Tameleo died in prison after serving 15 years. Greco died in prison after serving 27 years. Salvati was released after serving 30 years, Limone after serving 33 years. The despicable conduct by the FBI is laid out in great detail (with key events and documents in a timeline) by Hans Sherrer in this article for Justice Denied. For a recent story on the Judge's award of damages, click here.