sting operations

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FBI: We Didn't Screw Up Van der Sloot Case

He had 'sting money' when he killed Peru victim

(Newser) - FBI officials yesterday denied they bungled a case against Joran Van der Sloot after paying him up to $25,000, which he apparently used to travel to Peru where he murdered a young woman. Investigators set up an extortion sting for Van der Sloot last month after he reportedly demanded...

Feds Charge Calif. Whale Sushi Joint

The Hump accused of selling endangered species product

(Newser) - Federal prosecutors filed charges today against the owner of a California restaurant and its sushi chef that marine mammal activists say served illegal whale meat. Typhoon Restaurant Inc., which owns The Hump restaurant in Santa Monica, and Kiyoshiro Yamamoto were charged with illegally selling an endangered species product, a misdemeanor.

Cops Bust Pot Grower With Fake Ransom Note
 Cops Bust Pot Grower 
 With Fake Ransom Note 
FOOL ME ONCE DEPT.
Jan 7, 2010 9:32 AM CST

Cops Bust Pot Grower With Fake Ransom Note

Florida police didn't think it would work, but then again...

(Newser) - Florida police burned an alleged marijuana grower twice, or perhaps thrice, when they confiscated his crop, left a ransom note, and then arrested him when he answered it. A citizen tipped cops to the six large plants growing on a vacant lot. They grabbed them, and hoping for a bit...

Patriots Mascot Busted With Hooker*

*Well, one of the guys inside the costume, anyway

(Newser) - A prostitution sting in Rhode Island netted an unusual John, or, rather, an unusual Pat—as in one of the men who plays Pat Patriot, the huge-foam-headed mascot of the New England Patriots. Robert Sormanti, 47, was among 14 charged; there was no indication he was wearing his costume when...

Letterman Reveals Extortion Attempt Over Office Sex

After grand jury testimony, late-night host says con man wanted $2M

(Newser) - In a highly unusual moment during the taping of last night’s Late Show, David Letterman confessed to his studio audience that he had had sexual flings with female staffers on the show, and that they had become the basis for a $2 million extortion attempt by a CBS news...

Feds Head Off Bombing Plots in Dallas, Illinois

Cases unrelated to each other; no link to Denver, NY terror arrests

(Newser) - A Jordanian citizen arrested in an elaborate FBI sting is to be arraigned today on charges of attempting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper. The court appearance comes a day after an Illinois man was charged with plotting to detonate a bomb near a Springfield courthouse, only to learn that...

ACORN Video Sting a Lesson in New Journalism
ACORN Video Sting a Lesson in New Journalism
opinion
Sep 24, 2009 2:50 PM CDT

ACORN Video Sting a Lesson in New Journalism

(Newser) - Andrew Breitbart may have an ideological ax to grind, but so what? The undercover ACORN videos he's posted illustrate a significant strength of 21st-century American journalism, writes Jack Shafer: "It will accept contributions from everybody from amateurs to entertainers (I'm looking at you, Jon Stewart) to gadflies to billionaires...

ACORN Sues Creators of Sting Video
ACORN Sues Creators of
Sting Video
Sep 23, 2009 6:21 PM CDT

ACORN Sues Creators of Sting Video

Recordings made without two-party consent, group says

(Newser) - ACORN is suing the makers of a hidden-camera video that showed employees of its Baltimore office giving tax advice to a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute. The liberal group contends that the audio portion of the video was obtained illegally because Maryland requires two-party consent to...

ACORN Sting Raises Media Ethics Questions

Hidden video subterfuge made news, but where was the reality check?

(Newser) - “You've got to give James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles credit for abundant chutzpah and guile,” writes James Rainey in the Los Angeles Times. The pair’s hidden camera ACORN takedown “likely will do for guerrilla video what Ashton Kutcher did for Twitter—popularize and expand the form....

ACORN Orders Investigation Into Programs

Group promises reform after 'sting' videos surface

(Newser) - ACORN is ordering an independent investigation into its community service programs after undercover videos exposed questionable behavior by its employees, the AP reports. The group also said it would put its programs on hold while it conducts staff training. A series of videos show ACORN employees instructing a fake prostitute...

ACORN May Sue After New Tape Emerges
ACORN May
Sue After New Tape Emerges
Sep 14, 2009 10:00 AM CDT

ACORN May Sue After New Tape Emerges

Second film shows staffers advising fake hooker, pimp

(Newser) - ACORN is weighing legal action after another undercover sting tape emerged, this time in Brooklyn, the New York Post reports. Like a tape made in Baltimore, the new footage shows a man and a woman dressed as a pimp and a prostitute getting advice on housing loans. “Honesty is...

US Census Bureau Axes Community Group ACORN

Group called 'distraction' after sting catches employees advising prostitute

(Newser) - The US Census Bureau will not allow community-organizing group ACORN to participate in next year’s national census, the Wall Street Journal reports tonight. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is a “distraction,” Census director Robert Groves writes, after members of its Baltimore and Washington offices...

Brit Envoy Quits Russia After Hooker Video

Officials accuse Russia of set up

(Newser) - A senior British diplomat was forced to resign his post in Russia after a video of him canoodling with two prostitutes was posted on the Internet, reports the Daily Mail. British officials were livid about the scandal, but also angrily accused Russian officials of a sting. The 4-minute video, called...

FBI Rescues Teen Hookers Across US

(Newser) - The FBI rounded up 48 suspected teen prostitutes and arrested 571 others on a range of prostitution charges this weekend, the AP reports. The nationwide offensive, Operation Cross Country, rescued girls as young as 13 years old. "The goal is to recover kids," one FBI official said. "...

Child Porn Found in Home of Suicide DA

Texas man shot self as NBC sex predator sting closed in

(Newser) - Texas investigators looking into the suicide of a former county district attorney found child porn in his home, reports the Dallas Morning News. He shot himself last year as a SWAT team closed in and a Dateline NBC camera crew covering internet predators waited outside. A search of laptops, a...

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