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PagcA2
December 25. 2002
P olice
Tre Arrow Wanted
FBI posts $25,000 reward arson
(A P ) — T h e FB I has posted
a $ 2 5 ,(XX) aw ard for in fo rm a
tion le a d in g to th e arrest o f
M ic h a e l S c a r p i t t i , w h o is
ch a rg e d w ith startin g tw o arson
fires in O reg o n last year.
T h e F B I b e l i e v e s th a t
S carp itti, also k n o w n as T re
A rrow , started fires at the Ross
Island Sand and G rav el in P o rt
land on A pril 15,2001. T he fires
c au sed $2(X),000 in dam ag e.
T h e E arth L ib eratio n F ront
cla im e d resp o n sib ility for the
blaze in a w ritten m essage.
T h e a g en cy also said th at
S carp itti started a fire at R ay
S ch o p p ert L o gging C o m p an y
in E sta c a d a on Ju n e 1, 2001,
th a t d a m a g e d tw o lo g g in g
tru ck s an d a front loader. N o
o n e has cla im e d resp o n sib lity
fo r that fire.
T he F B I is also featu rin g
S carp itti on its “ m ost w a n te d ”
W eb site.
T h e U .S . D e p a rtm e n t o f
Ju stic e c o n sid e rs the E arth
L ib eratio n F ro n t to be a te r
rorist org an ization.
O fficer Sentenced in
Domestic Violence Case
(A P ) — A P o rtlan d police Ju d g e N ely Jo h n so n on T u e s
o ffic e r accu sed o f dom estic vio d ay.
lence w as sen ten ced to three
P im e n te l, a 1 0 -y e a r v e t
y e a rs' p ro b atio n an d 300 hours e ra n , w as a rre s te d o n Ju ly 2
o f co m m u n ity serv ice u nder a a fte r an a lle g e d a s s a u lt on
plea a g reem en t that also called h is g irlfrie n d . H e w as la te r
for his resig n atio n .
in d ic te d by a g ra n d ju r y on
M ich ael P im en tel, w ho had m o re th a n a d o z e n c h a rg e s ,
already resigned, p lead ed guilty in c lu d in g h a ra ssm e n t a n d a s
last m o n th to a sin g le co u n t o f sa u lt.
co ercio n . H e w as o rd ered to
H is g irlfrie n d did n o t c o o p
take a n g e r m an ag em en t c o u n era te in the p ro secu tio n o f the
selin g by M u ltn o m ah C o u n ty c a s e .
• i •
Airline Fraud Busted
V an co u v er p o lice served a
search warrant at the Timbers Apart
ments at 2519 E. Mill Plain Dec. 3
and arrested Tony Edward Heiman,
31, on multiple charges of theft and
identity theft.
D etectives recovered several
items o f stolen property, including
a high number of airline tickets
purchased on stolen credit cards.
Police said Heiman is accused
o f booking multiple overseas
flights for himself and associates,
using stolen credit cards. People
from Vancouver to Salem were al
legedly victimized.
Violence reached the schoolyard o f Harriet Tubman Middle School in north Portland Dec. 16 when gunfire erupted as school was
being let out.
photo by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Tubman Gunfire Called Isolated Incident
P o lice say a sh o o tin g last
w eek o u tsid e H arriet T ubm an
M iddle S chool in north P o rt
land w as an iso lated incident
that pro b ab ly w ill not be re
peated.
N e ig h b o r s , p a r e n ts a n d
school o ffic ia ls w ere tro u b led
D ec. 16 w hen gunfire eru p ted
o u tsid e the school, ju s t north
o f the R ose Q uarter.
P o lice b eliev e several teen s
that do not attend T ubm an cam e
lo o king fo r som ebody and got
into a c o n fro n ta tio n w ith som e
Mall Reopens After
Power Outage
7
o th e r students.
School officials said four shell
casings w ere discovered near the
m ain entrance o f the school, but
no one w as shot or injured.
'Deed!
Holiday shopping came to an abrupt
halt at Washington Square Mall Monday
when the shopping center lost power to
half of its stores for over two hours.
A transformer failure that services half
of the mall was suspected as the cause of
the failure, a mall representative said.
It took PGE crews around 2 hours to
restore power to the mall.
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Some banks still have hidden
fees and service charges on
their "free" checking accounts
The FBI says this store at 5626-A N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd was one o f two stores in
Portland that took goods stolen by professional shoplifters and shipped them to Florida to
be resold.
photo by M ark W ashington / T he P ortland O bserver
Million Dollar Theft Ring Busted
The FBI says it has broken a suspected
Portland theft ring that allegedly bought goods
stolen by professional shoplifters and shipped
them to Florida to be resold.
The ring allegedly stole about $1.3 m illion
worth o f over-the-counter pharm aceuticals,
film, batteries, health and beauty aids, preg
nancy test kits, diabetic test kits, stop-sm ok
ing aids, hair-grow th form ulas, CD s, DVDs
and other item s .over the past year.
N inh V an V uong, 37, and his wife, Thao
Phuong Vuong, 33, were arrested at their
V ancouver home; K hung Van Vuong, 44, was
arrested at his W ashington County hom e; and
Hoa Lam, 44, was arrested at his Portland
home. Investigators in Davie, Fla., also ar
rested Ilan A m ar, 32, w ho allegedly bought the
goods through his com pany, SM P W holesale.
Since April, investigators say they tracked 23
shipments weighing more than seven tons sent
from the Portland suspects to SM P W holesale.
A federal grand ju ry indicted all five on
charges that they conspired to ship and receive
stolen goods at tw o Portland stores.
The FBI identified the stores as the Happy
Deal at 14037 S.E. Start St. and the G ood Deal,
located at 5626-A N.E. M artin L uther King Jr.
Blvd.
Jogger Case Convictions Thrown Out
Councilman calls to investigate ‘miscarriage of justice’
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k
(A P) — A N ew Y ork judge dism issed the
convictions T hursday o f all five men who
served years in prison for the 1989 rape and
beating o f a jogger in Central Park, a crime
that exposed the c ity 's racial tensions and
m ade national headlines.
The prim ary evidence in the case had been
confessions that the five, all black and His
panic boys ranging in age from 14 to 16 at the
tim e, had made to detectives.
Supporters argued that the statements were
coerced. Prosecutors also had no forensic
evidence to link any o f them to the crim e scene.
New York City C ouncilm an Bill Perkins
and defense attorney M ichael W arren has
called for an investigation to determ ine who
was responsible for what the councilm an
called “this m iscarriage o f justice.”
A uthorities a year ago began investigating
claim s by a serial rapist who said he alone
attacked the 28-year-old woman as she jogged
in Central Park on April 19,1989. DN A testing
4
show ed sem en sam ples from the scene be
longed to M atias Reyes and new forensic tests,
more precise than those used a decade ago,
failed to link the five convicted m er *o the rape.
Tw o w eeks ago, D istrict A ttorney Robert
M orgenthau cited that evidence in recom
m ending that all convictions in the case be
dropped.
Prosecutors have said they have no plans to
retry any o f the five.
The five, now ages 28 to 30, com pleted
prison sentences ranging from 5*/2 to 13 years
on their convictions. T heir law yers have said
they are considering lawsuits.
At the tim e o f the attack, authorities said a
roam ing gang o f youths was in the park for a
night o f “w ilding" - random ly attacking anyone
who cam e into their path.
The jogger, a w hite investm ent banker, was
found near death in a puddle o f m ud and blood
in the north end o f the park. She w as in com a
for 12 days but eventually recovered.