Man beaten, left in Wisconsin woods for wolves: prosecutors

UPDATE 3-25: See last article "what beaten fellow said" -v- "What perpetrators claim"

3-21-2014 Wisconsin:

Two men and two women beat a man and left him to be attacked by wolves in the northern Wisconsin woods after accusing him of inappropriately touching a child, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Raymond Jones, 45, his wife April, 38, their son Justin Bey, 21 and his friend Samantha McClellan, 18, were charged with attempted first degree intentional homicide, kidnapping and several other felonies, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.

The four are accused of beating the man, age 40, at the Jones' house on March 10 and 11 in Wabeno, about 95 miles north of Green Bay, before hauling him to nearby woods and beating him again, the complaint said.

The man's name is being withheld because he is a victim of an alleged crime.

The man, who was a friend of April Jones and had been staying at the house, sustained fractures to his face, a broken nose and jaw, and two broken ribs, according to the complaint.

The group told investigators they left him in the woods where they hoped wolves would attack him, the complaint filed in Forest County Circuit Court said.

Bizarre Murder Plot Foiled By Tosa Police

1-8-2013 Wisconsin:

An East Troy man stands accused of attempted murder of a Wauwatosa resident after a caller warns police that a truck has been circling his block — and officers find the driver has hatched a strange plot to kill an old friend.

An East Troy man's obsession with protecting children and his delusion that an old friend was a child sex offender led him to plan to murder the man, according to Wauwatosa police, as detailed in a criminal complaint.

Daniel G. Plevak, 54, was charged Thursday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with attempted first-degree intentional homicide and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Although Plevak never actually confronted his intended victim, the complaint shows, police believe he had the ways, the means and the clear intent to commit the crime of murder, that he was about to do so, and that their actions stopped its commission.

FBI: Anniston man hired undercover agent to kill neighbor

9-2-2013 Alabama:

BIRMINGHAM, AL (WBRC) - A disabled Army veteran from Anniston has been charged in a murder-for-hire plot against his neighbor, FBI officials said Monday.

Allen Wayne Densen Morgan, 29, is accused of hiring an undercover FBI agent to murder a man he believed raped his wife days earlier, according to court documents filed by the FBI.

The affidavit says an FBI agent called Morgan pretending to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan on Thursday, Aug. 22. The agent called to verify that Morgan wanted to hire someone to kill his neighbor.

[READ THE FULL COURT DOCUMENT HERE]

Morgan told the agent that he had just confronted his neighbor in Munford and fired several rounds at the ground to intimidate him. He said he didn't intend to kill the neighbor then because "several people were present."

According to court documents, Morgan described how he wanted his neighbor murdered by stating, "I want this man hung like a tree like an animal. I want his [expletive] cut off and I want him cut...I want him hung from a tree and gutted...that's how I want him to die. Die a slow painful death and that's it."

Morgan said he would discuss payment with the supposed hit man when they met up on Sunday, Aug. 25.

Riverside Trio Ordered To Stand Trial In Baseball Bat Beating Of Accused Rapist

6-9-2013 California:

A Riverside County father and teen daughter Friday were ordered to stand trial in a vigilante attack on a man the girl has accused of rape.

Judge Michael Rushton ruled Friday that David Ray Mills, 36, his 16-year-old daughter and her friend Andre Edwin Dickerson, 20, will face attempted murder and mayhem charges, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.

“Obviously, vigilante justice isn’t a defense to a criminal charge,” Rushton said before wondering aloud how a jury would react to the case.

All three pleaded not guilty to the Jan. 13 attack, when investigators say Miguel Esteban Cruz, 21, was lured to a Temecula park and beaten with a baseball bat.

Dickerson beat Cruz with a baseball bat as the girl and her father watched, Cruz told sheriff’s investigators.

Cruz suffered skull fractures, a lung injury, broken bones and missing teeth, investigator David Gorlicki testified.

The girl’s attorney David Grande read a text message exchange between the girl and Cruz in court, in which Cruz invited the girl to drink, smoke marijuana and have sex.

After telling him she wasn’t interested, the girl sent Cruz a text asking why he wanted to have sex with a 16-year-old.

“It’s the thing I do,” he wrote.

Grande said the girl didn’t report the rape because she feared retaliation.

Dickerson’s attorney called Cruz a predator after Friday’s hearing.

Sheriff’s officials say Cruz was investigated after the girl’s allegations came to light. He was charged in May with sodomy with a minor. He was arrested Friday and is being held on $50,000 bail.

The girl told her father and Dickerson of the alleged rape on the day of the attack. She said Cruz raped her after she passed out drunk on Cruz’s bed in November.

Dickerson and Mills are jailed on $1 million bail, each. The girl is at juvenile hall, also on $1 million bail. ..Source.. by CBS Los Angeles

Man Sentenced For Offering Bounty For Daughter's Beau

8-2-2011 California:

Domingos Oliveira Offered $3,000 For Sex Offender Sean Kirk 'Dead Or Alive'

EL CAJON, Calif. -- A Spring Valley man who put up posters offering a $3,000 "dead or alive" bounty on his daughter's boyfriend, a registered sex offender, was sentenced Monday to seven years and four months in state prison.

Domingos Jose Oliveira, 49, was convicted last month of solicitation of murder and making a criminal threat against 33-year-old Sean Kirk, along with a hate crime allegation. Jurors deadlocked on a threat charge against the defendant's 20-year-old daughter, Samantha.

"This is a self-controlling father," Deputy District Attorney Curtis Ross told Judge William McGrath.

The prosecutor said Oliveira showed no remorse and told a probation officer that others were to blame for the bounty and threats against Kirk, who is black.

"He's still concerned about his safety," Ross said of the victim. "This was an attempt to have Mr. Kirk killed."

Ross said Oliveira was more than just a concerned parent, having his daughter sign a death contract saying that if she dated a black man, she and that person would be killed.

Oliveira wasn't even aware that Kirk was a registered sex offender until several months into the threats, Ross said.

McGrath said Oliveira had been law-abiding since a domestic violence and drug conviction 21 years ago, but "reoffended in an extraordinary way."

The judge said the defendant's actions were motivated by a racial bias and an attempt to control his daughter.

A young black Marine who also dated Samantha Oliveira testified that the defendant also harassed him.

McGrath called the defendant's actions "completely wrong."

"It was not done on a whim," the judge said. "He (Oliveira) knew what he was doing was serious stuff."

Defense attorney Michael Earle told reporters that Oliveira was a concerned father who, in his own way, was trying to do what was best for his daughter.

The attorney said Oliveira was remorseful, but not as remorseful as the court wanted to see.

"I think in his mind he was doing what was best for his daughter," Earle told reporters. "From his standpoint, it's difficult to be remorseful when you're trying to do the best thing for your kid. Whether it's right or wrong, to him it was the correct call to protect his daughter."

Kirk told police he received numerous threatening emails and text messages while dating the defendant's daughter earlier this year.

The victim said he was in class at Grossmont College when a teacher told him there were posters all over campus marked "dead or alive" and pointing out that he was a sex offender. Kirk admitted to being a registered sex offender, saying he pleaded guilty to having sex with a girl he thought was 18.

Samantha Oliveira testified that her father was a racist and often made threats against her black boyfriends.

The defendant was arrested the morning of March 25 at his home, several hours after a search warrant was served at the Roadside Place residence. La Mesa police said they found the wanted poster on the defendant's computer. ..Source.. by 10News.com

Man charged in attack on sex offender is released on bond

11-17-2010 Virginia:

HOPEWELL - A Hopewell man charged with attempted first-degree murder of a convicted sex offender was released on bond yesterday after a hearing at General District Court. Judge Kenneth Nye allowed Daniel Ray Narron, 19, to return home to stay with his family while awaiting trial after his father posted a $10,000 secured bond.

"Your father is now in charge of you," Nye told Narron. "He's got more power over you than ever before. He can put you [back] in jail anytime he wants.

Outside the courthouse, more than a dozen friends and supporters of Narron stood in protest, holding signs demanding his release from jail.

Narron was arrested Nov. 5 and charged with attempted first-degree murder, attempted aggravated malicious wounding by mob, misdemeanor hit and run and misuse of information on the Virginia State Police sex offender registry.

Police allege that on Oct. 16, Narron and three of his friends confronted and harassed a convicted sex offender, whose name was not disclosed, when he tried to enter a Hopewell convenience store. The individual left the store on a moped and police believe that Narron followed him in a 2000 Lincoln Navigator, with the three other suspects as passengers. Narron and the three men are accused of fleeing the scene after striking the victim near the intersection of Atlantic Street and Hill Avenue.

Narron's three friends - Damon J. Silvestro, 20, Eric B. Harris, 25, and Thomas W. McCall, 21 - were all arrested Sunday without incident, according to State Police. Each suspect was arraigned Monday and charged with felony attempted aggravated malicious wounding by mob and misdemeanor hit and run.

The victim, a 52-year old man from Hopewell, has been on the sex offender registry since September 2000 after two convictions of aggravated sexual battery and abduction for immoral purposes in Sussex County. In 2005, he was also convicted of failure to register as a violent sex offender.

Father Accused of Murder For Hire Plot

Police will go to any extent to protect the registry! Its hard to believe the police saying "they do not know if the fact that the boyfriend is a registrant, is the reason" when that is specifically stated in the flyer...

SEE UPDATE below:

3-26-2011 California:

SPRING VALLEY - A Spring Valley father is behind bars for a murder for hire plot. The target - - his daughter's boyfriend.

La Mesa police say 50-year old Dominigos Oliveira somehow posted flyers at Grossmont College. The flyer reads 3-thousand dollar reward for the body of convicted sex offender.

Oliveira's 19-year old daughter is going out with one. Detectives say it seems Oliveira wanted the boyfriend taken out.

Domingos Oliveira's, neighbors and friends, know him as an entrepenuer skilled in candlemaking. La Mesa police say the 50-year old Spring Valley man was looking for the skills of a brash hit man.

Vern Howe is Oliveira's neighbor. He said, "I can't believe that he would carry that out."

Howe has called Oliveira "neighbor" for the past ten years. Friday morning La Mesa police stormed a house where Oliveira lives.

Howe said, "I think it was mostly anger probably. Anger sometimes if you get into it alot will probably cloud your judgement."

The target -- a 33-year old convicted sex offender dating Oliveira's 19-year old daughter.

Detectives say the two alerted police of Oliveira's threat. The 50-year old posted flyers all around Grossmont College.

Lt. Dan Willis with La Mesa Police said, "We don't know all the specifics. We do know the boyfriend is a sex registrant. Out of the city of El Cajon. We don't know if that's the reason." ..Source.. by Antonio Castelan

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Man convicted of offering bounty for daughter's sex offender boyfriend

7-1-2011 California:

EL CAJON (CNS) - A Spring Valley man was convicted Friday of solicitation of murder for offering a $3,000 "dead or alive" bounty on his daughter's boyfriend, a registered sex offender.

Domingos Jose Oliveira, 49, was also convicted of making a criminal threat against his daughter's boyfriend, 33-year-old Sean Kirk, along with a hate crime allegation. Jurors deadlocked on a threat charge against the defendant's daughter.

Oliveira faces up to 12 years and eight months in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 1, said Deputy District Attorney Curtis Ross.

Kirk told police he received numerous threatening emails and text messages while dating 20-year-old Samantha Oliveira earlier this year.

The victim said he was in class at Grossmont College when a teacher told him there were posters all over campus marked "dead or alive," and pointing out that he was a sex offender.

Kirk admitted to being a registered sex offender, saying he pleaded guilty to having sex with a girl he thought was 18.

Samantha Oliveira testified that her father was a racist and often made threats against her boyfriends.

Oliveira was arrested the morning of March 25th at his home, several hours after a search warrant was served at the Roadside Place residence, according to La Mesa police.

Police said they found the wanted poster on the defendant's computer. ..Source.. by 760 Talk Radio

Crowbar attack leads to attempted murder charges

1-29-2010 Oregon:

A Shady Cove man has been charged with attempted murder after he allegedly beat an acquaintance in the head with a crowbar Monday evening.

On Thursday afternoon, a Jackson County grand jury indicted Julian Martin Tallman, 43, of the 400 block of Sarma Drive in Shady Cove, on charges of attempted murder, second-degree assault, first-degree burglary and menacing.

He remained in the Jackson County Jail, where he was lodged after Monday's attack. Bail is set at $250,000, Jackson County Circuit Court records show.

The assault was reported shortly after 5 p.m. Monday when the 54-year-old Trail man who was beaten ran out of a Trail home calling for help, said Jackson County Sheriff's Department Lt. Rich Fogarty.

Deputies and Shady Cove police responded to a home in the 23600 block of Highway 62 in Trail and found the victim with numerous cuts and bruises on his head and legs, as well as injuries to his hands and arms from trying to protect himself, Fogarty said.

No Bond For Man Who Shot Daughter’s Boyfriend

10-16-2009 Florida:

APOPKA, Fla. -- An Apopka man accused of shooting a teen that he caught having sex with his stepdaughter will not be allowed to bond out of jail. Wade Edwards is facing second-degree attempted murder charges after he caught the couple in the act.

The family of 18-year-old Julian Harp knows he's lucky to be alive.

“He could have told him to get out of his house instead of shooting him,” Harp’s brother Dmeric Collier said.

Thursday night, Wade Edwards arrived home to an unpleasant surprise. His 16-year-old stepdaughter daughter and Harp were having sex inside the family's Apopka home.

According to a police report, Edwards walked in on the two having sex. He left the girl's bedroom and Harp quickly threw on his clothes fearing something bad might happen.

Edwards walked into the room again, this time armed with .45-caliber handgun. Harp asked Edwards not to shoot, but police said he fired four times as he left the house.

Then Wade called 911 to report what he'd done (911 call).

"I saw someone.. someone was inside my house... with my daughter and I shot him, I feared for my life," Edwards told the operator.

“Is she a juvenile or teenager?” the operator asked.

“Yes.” He replied.

“And you walked in on them and they were there and he scared you?” asked the operator.

“Yes. I feared for my life, I didn't know what to do,” he said.

“But your daughter knows this gentleman?” asked the operator.

"I don't know ma'am, I don't know," he said.

Harp was hit in lower back, buttocks and twice in his left leg. Harp walked across the street and collapsed. A passer-by helped him until rescue crews arrived.

“It didn't take that many times to let him know something. Shot him four times,” Harp’s aunt Gloria Windom said.

Police arrested the stepdad and charged him with attempted second-degree murder. An Orange County judge denied Edwards bond so he will stay in jail.

Edwards’ criminal past includes weapons and assault charges in Saint Croix.

Apopka parent Bill Goff told Eyewitness News what he'd do if he found his child in bed with someone else.

“I think I would have been irate. I may have been physical and thrown the person out, but I don't think I would have shot him,” Goff said.

Harp's aunt Gloria Windom agrees.

“He could have popped him beside the head and said, ‘Get off the girl,’” she said.

His relatives said Harp and the girl have been dating for over one year and it is the first known time there's been a confrontation involving the stepfather.

Sex between a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old is legal in the state of Florida.

By law, an adult under 24 can legally have sex with a minor no younger than 16. That law is called the “close in age exemption."

However, if the adult is 24 or older, then sex with a 16-year-old becomes a second-degree felony. ..Source.. by WFTV.com

Beaten man accused of molesting Davie boy moves from hospital to jail

10-27-2009 Florida:

DAVIE - Luke Petruschke was so badly beaten after allegedly molesting a 3-year-old boy that when he was booked into jail this morning, he could only open one eye fully for his booking photo.

After spending the weekend in a hospital, Petruschke was released today and immediately arrested on a molestation charge. He is being held without bail at the Broward County Jail. So is the the father of the boy he is accused of fondling.

Petruschke's booking photo shows extensive bruising of the face from the right cheek to the forehead. Over the weekend, doctors at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood placed him in a medically induced coma after Davie police said two men nearly beat him to death with a concrete block.

Krish Carter and Manuel Vega launched the attack Saturday after Vega's son told his father that Petruschke had fondled him, police said. Now the two men each face one count each of attempted murder.

Carter and his wife, Dawn Dwyer-Carter, met Luke Petruschke at a homeless shelter earlier this year. They became good friends, she said, and introduced him to their new neighbor, Vega, at a barbecue on Labor Day.

Petruschke, 38, spent Friday night at Vega's home in the 5100 block of Davie Road after having dinner with the family, police said. The three men had planned to go fishing the next day.

The next morning, after the boy made his allegation, a witness reported seeing neighbors Vega, 27, and Krish Carter, 43, smash Petruschke's car windows with concrete blocks, drag him out and beat him, police said.

Court records show Petruschke has been arrested twice before on sex-related charges, but never convicted. ..Source.. by Rachel Hatzipanagos, Alexia Campbell and Jon Burstein South Florida Sun Sentinel

Two men arrested in beating of sex offender in Shasta County

7-25-2007 California:

REDDING, Calif. -- Two men are accused of attacking a registered sex offender they believe had sexually assaulted a woman who was skinny-dipping at a mountain lake.

Joshua Donald Rasmussen, 25, and Brian Steven Cole, 28, both of Anderson, were arraigned Monday in Shasta County Superior Court on charges of attempted murder, assault and other crimes in connection with the July 16 attack on Kenneth Vernon Robinson, 54, a transient.

The two are accused of cutting Robinson's neck with a broken beer bottle, beating him and hitting him with rocks and sticks. A sheriff's investigative report said the men later bragged to the woman about what they had done.

The woman, of Berkeley, told police that Robinson sexually assaulted her, punched her in the face and tried to drown her while she was swimming naked at Whiskeytown Lake, a national recreation area west of Redding in far north-central California.

Robinson, who has a long history of sexual assaults, told investigators he did not attack the woman. Rather, he explained that he was demonstrating lifeguard rescue techniques, the report said.

He pleaded not guilty to sexual battery and was being held in the Shasta County Jail. Rasmussen and Cole also pleaded not guilty and were being held in the same jail. ..more.. by Associated Press

Man Arrested After Shooting Alleged Molester

4-14-2007 Florida: (UPDATED 4-16)

The alleged victim of an accused child molester was arrested after shooting the man Friday.

A neighbor said the teen who shot the alleged molester is a hero, but police said otherwise, WESH 2 News reported.

Robert Koths, 72, was arrested a year ago and is charged with lewd and lascivious battery. His trial was scheduled for June. Now, doctors said, he may not live that long.

One of Koths' alleged victims is under arrest and charged with attempted murder, police said.

Karen Wright said she knows the two teenage boys whom Koths is accused of molesting.

"My heart goes out to them," Wright said. "They're wonderful kids. I've seen them at the pool; they're very polite, they're nice, they're genuine and they've been through an awful lot."

Wright said she knows firsthand what is in the court records. She said she read the records and that they said detectives claimed Koths enticed the two boys into his home and performed sex acts on them.

He was living in his Suntree-area home on bail when he was shot.

Detectives said one of the alleged victims, now 19, shot Koths in the stomach Friday. Wright said the teen is a hero, and that Koths had it coming. She said that Koths could be seen walking around the area and it was wrong for officials to subject the teens to be near him.

Detectives will not say much about the case; state law restricts them from saying anything that reveals the identity of a sex crime victim.

The 19-year-old accused of the shooting is at the Brevard County Jail. He's held without bail.

Police said that Koths was initially expected to survive, but now doctors are not so sure. His condition has worsened to critical. ..more.. by Dan Billow.

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Teen Arrested After Shooting Man Accused Of Molesting Him
4-16-2007 Florida:
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- A teen is in jail charged with shooting the man who is accused of sexually abusing him.

Investigators said 19-year-old Daniel Kelley shot 71-year-old Robert Koths, his neighbor and alleged molester, at his Brevard County home last week. Koths was just two months away from trial. He is accused of giving Kelley drugs and molesting him multiple times over the last several years.

Kelley was in jail on no bond and faces attempted murder charges.As of Sunday night, Koth was still in the hospital.

"It's absolutely justified. It's one less pedophile on the streets," said Karen Wright, Kelley's neighbor. "Danny is the victim twice in this case."

Kelley's neighbors were taking up a collection to help pay for his legal defense. ..more.. by WFTV.com

Men kidnap, beat and brutalize alleged molester

8-8-1997 Louisiana:

THIBODAUX, La. -- A teen-ager suspected of raping a boy was kidnapped, beaten, tortured and left hanging by the neck in the Louisiana swamp by the boy's father and another man, authorities say.

Adam Trahan Jr., 17, was hospitalized with two fractures of the spine and cuts and bruises on his face and body, including swollen testicles and whip marks on his buttocks. His condition was not disclosed yesterday.

John Bruce, 26, and Jeremy Billiot, 21, were arrested Wednesday and jailed without bail on charges of kidnapping and attempted murder. Investigators wouldn't say which man believed Trahan had raped his son, who is about 4.

"The torture went on for several hours," sheriff's spokesman Larry Weidel said.

Trahan will be charged with molesting the boy and having sex with his underage, 14-year-old girlfriend, the sheriff's office said.

Bruce and Trahan were half-brothers, and Trahan had been living with Bruce's family, Weidel said.

The sheriff's office gave this account of what Trahan said happened on Tuesday:

Bruce and Billiot hit Trahan, threw him in the trunk of Billiot's car and drove him to a sugar cane field, where Trahan was beaten severely.

Trahan again was thrown into the trunk and driven to a swamp, where his pants and underwear were torn off and he was sexually brutalized, punched and whipped with a tennis racket. He was then strung up with a rope tied to a fuel tank so that only the tips of his toes touched the ground.

The men threw bricks at Trahan's feet and continued to beat him until they saw a car's headlights approaching. The men fled, leaving Trahan hanging there in only a shirt.

Trahan worked himself free and caught a ride to the sheriff's office.

"If it wouldn't have been for those headlights, who knows what might've happened?" Weidel said. ..more.. by South Coast Today

Man defends attacks on sex offenders: Crusader gets jail term

12-5-2004 New Hampshire:

CONCORD, N.H. -- Lawrence Trant sees himself as a righteous crusader who put muscle behind his boiling outrage against pedophiles.

The state of New Hampshire sees Trant differently. He is serving a 10- to 30-year sentence in New Hampshire State Prison after pleading guilty to attempting to murder two convicted sex offenders whose names and addresses he found on an Internet registry posted by the state.

"I don't want people to steal the souls of little kids," Trant, 57, said in an interview in prison last week. "I'm doing 30 years for something I think is morally justified."

But prosecutor John Weld says Trant is one of the most cold-blooded criminals he has encountered. If Trant had not been arrested, Weld said, the native of Cambridge, Mass., probably would have killed someone convicted of a sex crime against children.

"He doesn't seem to have any conscience about violence to other people," Weld said. "These people have as much right to justice as anybody else."

The case has become more complicated than a simple question of right and wrong. The sordid histories of Trant's victims, his impassioned testimony on the witness stand, and his use of an Internet list to track down his targets have infused the case with controversy and conflicting senses of justice.

He is not considered the hero he thought he would become in April 2003, when he stabbed one man and lit fires at two buildings where at least seven convicted sex offenders lived. But he was able to persuade a Superior Court jury not to convict him of attempted murder in his trial on the stabbing charge, even after he took the witness stand and admitted he used a kitchen knife to assault Lawrence Sheridan, who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a child in 1999.

Three arrested in beating over false molestation allegations (Man Beaten Into Coma)

9-21-2006 Montana:

.GREAT FALLS - Three people have been arrested and a fourth is being sought for severely beating a man and rendering him comatose in the mistaken belief that he had molested a child. Police said the allegations are false and the victim, Ralph Landry, 58, remains in a coma. Doctors say if he ever regains consciousness, they doubt he would be able to live independently because he has severe brain damage from the Sept. 3 attack. David Awbery, 18, was arrested Tuesday morning at a relative's home in Billings, about the same time co-defendants Victor Snorsky, 18, and Jesse Valentine, 16, appeared in District Court in Great Falls.

Each teenager faces charges of attempted murder and aggravated burglary. Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Dominic Rose, 17, of Libby. Rose, also known as Trey-Trey, is wanted on an escape charge for walking away from the Youth Transition Center in Great Falls shortly before the attack, as well as for questioning in the attack. "It's not just another beating or assault," said Police Detective Bruce McDermott. "This could be a homicide." The attack occurred as the result of what police consider to be misconstrued bar gossip, McDermott said.

A 38-year-old man reportedly assured a woman that he would take care of the man who was alleged to have molested her daughter. That man turned to the four teenagers, police said. The four suspects are alleged to have knocked on Landry's front door and when he answered, the group repeatedly punched, kicked and stomped on him, police said. Landry's cell phone and wallet were stolen. "They thought they were doing some street justice," McDermott said. District Judge Kenneth Neil set Snorsky's bail at $250,000 and Valentine's bail at $100,000. ..more.. : by The Associated Press

Report describes how officer came upon scene of stabbing of sex offender

7-8-2004 Florida:

The stabbing of an 82-year-old sex offender was interrupted when police responded to a call about a plot to kill the man. David Powers, of 16 Daniels St., is in stable condition after being repeatedly stabbed at his home about 3 p.m. Sunday, officials said. Issac Seth Tate, 19, and Douglas Shawn Whitlock, 20, both of St. Augustine, were arrested on charges of attempted murder and home invasion robbery.

According to the St. Augustine Police Department's preliminary report, a call in the lobby reported information about a possible robbery and slaying. Officer L. Troscher stated he was getting ready to go home at the time. As he drove home, more information was reported about the men involved and the house's location. Troscher stated in a report, "I knew Mr. Powers to have been a child molester in the past and thought I'd ride by and see if I could see any bicycles outside."

When Troscher arrived at the pink house, he heard moaning. The officer ran to look inside. Troscher reported he saw two men holding an older man down in an easy chair while stabbing him. He called for back-up and grabbed at the locked screen door, he said. The officer punched the glass window of the door and entered the porch. The two suspects looked up and took off toward the back door. Troscher proceeded to kick the door open. Another officer arrived and they chased the suspects. ..more.. : by LORY POUNDER