www.tomsguide.com – “How to Hack Into a City's Power Grid” – February 28^th, 2014:

Employees are the weakest link when securing industrial control systems that run power plants, municipal water supplies, electric grids and other pieces of critical infrastructure, a professional hacker said at the RSA conference here in San Francisco.

"The objective is simple — to gain access," Andrew Whitaker, director of the Cyber Attack Penetration Division at the Reston, Va.-based Knowledge Consulting Group, told the audience of information-technology professionals. "We target SCADA engineers. You know how to get into industrial control systems."

“Then we need physical access,” Whitaker said. “We’ll hop fences or figure out ways to walk into buildings”

It’s also quite easy to create a fake corporate badge, Whitaker explained – and then “tailgate” a group of legitimate employees who will glance at the badge and let the wearer in. “Thanks to all the smokers out there,” he joked, “for leaving doors unlocked” and not looking too hard at a new employee who seems to cough a lot when he smokes.

www.kirotv.com – “Woman speaks out about backseat attack” – February 26^th, 2014:

Tacoma, Wash. — "I thought he was going to kill me," Marilyn Sirmans said as she described what it was like to get into her car and get attacked by a man hiding in the back seat. "The first thing is I'm dead", said Sirmans. "He's definitely going to rape me and kill me."

Sirmans said on the night of Feb. 13, just before 10, the man asked her for a light as she walked into a Safeway supermarket at 72nd and Portland in south Tacoma. She gave him a light, then went into shop. Sirmans said while she was in the store the man entered her car through an unlocked door and hid in the back seat. He tried to attack her as she was driving away and heading home. "He jumped in between the seats, so the only thing I could do was I slammed on the brakes as hard as I could and threw him into the dashboard. It kind of stunned him," Sirmans said. "I'm just screaming for him to get out. (I've) never been so scared." Sirmans said leaving the car unlocked was a mistake, but added she's always felt safe in the neighborhood where she grew up. "Bad mistake, big mistake," she said.

Lansing (Michigan) State Journal - "17-year-old accused of sexually assaulting woman in East Lansing while she slept" - February 25th, 2014: 

A 17-year-old from Commerce Township is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in her home early Sunday while she slept.

Darcel Johnson Jr. was arraigned Tuesday in 54B District Court on two sexual assault counts including first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He also is charged with possession of marijuana and being a minor in possession of alcohol.

Johnson is accused of entering the home in the 500 block of Evergreen Avenue through an unlocked door and sexually assaulting the female resident who was sleeping at the time, police said. Officers were dispatched to the home at about 5:30 a.m., said East Lansing police Capt. Jeff Murphy.

A preliminary hearing, which determines if there is enough evidence for a trial, is set for March 7. Judge Andrea Larkin set bond at $5,000, court records show. Larkin said Johnson must live at his parents’ home and ordered a 10 p.m. curfew. 

Youngstown (Ohio) Vindicator – “Man gets high bond in assault” – February 20^th, 2014:

A man charged with two misdemeanors was given a $40,000 bond Wednesday at his arraignment in municipal court.

Danny Trevathan, 44, of Youngstown, was arraigned before Magistrate Anthony Sertick on charges of assault and aggravated trespass for an attack on a former girlfriend Saturday evening at a West Side home in the 100 block of North Osborn Avenue.

City Prosecutor Dana Lantz asked for the high bond because of Trevathan’s lengthy criminal record and the injuries to the victim. She said Trevathan could not be charged with a felony aggravated burglary or burglary charge because he entered the home through an unlocked door. Lantz said recent appeals court rulings say some sort of stealth or force must be shown to file a burglary charge, and because Trevathan entered through an unlocked door, there was no force or stealth involved.

Lantz said the victim recently had broken up with Trevathan and that he continued to keep in contact with her. She did not want him in her house, but a family member left the door unlocked.

She posted a bloody picture of herself on a social-media website, which is when police were called by her sister just after midnight Sunday.

Reports said that besides cuts and bruises on her face, there also was a hole in the wall where her head was shoved through, and she also was choked. Lantz said the victim feared for her safety.

Lantz said Trevathan has past convictions for aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery, attempted felonious assault, being a felon in possession of a firearm and abuse of a corpse.

Corvallis (Oregon) Gazette-Times Police Log - Thursday, February 20th, 2014:

A man reported that someone stole about a dozen iPad Minis from his apartment, valued at nearly $6,000. He told police he was preparing to send them to his friends in China because the electronics are cheaper to purchase in the United States. He guessed that the burglar entered through his unlocked front door.

Daily Breeze (Torrance, California) – Police Log: Beach Cities – February 18^th, 2014:

El Segundo:

Residential burglary: Police took a report Feb. 12 from the 700 block of Lomita Street. Entry through an unlocked door. Firearms and jewelry.

The Journal Times (Racine, Wisconsin) - Mom charged with prostitution, child abandonment — left kids alone to meet 'john' – February 17^th, 2014:

A Racine mother spent her 22nd birthday on Monday being charged with prostituting herself so she could pay rent. Investigators said Brittney D. Booker allegedly left her 2- and 5-year-old children home alone to meet with her client, who turned out to be an undercover investigator posing as a john.

Booker allegedly told investigators she paid $3 to post the online ad and “intended to use the money she earned to pay rent.” The complaint didn’t state on which website her ad was placed.

Booker asked investigators to check on her two children, giving them two different addresses. She later said they were home alone, sleeping on the couch with the door unlocked, according to the complaint. At 1:55 a.m. on Sunday, officers found them asleep on the couch inside the home, which they described as “filthy.” They reported that the children “smelled unclean,” the complaint stated.

Booker was to appear in court Monday on the charges, but a woman with a similar name was incorrectly brought to the hearing room from jail. That woman is not charged with misdemeanor prostitution.

The Sharon (Pennsylvania) Herald – Men accused of targeting Amish home for burglary – Feb. 16^th, 2014:

Two men, including a former Amish man, have been charged with burglary for preying on an Amish homestead and stealing a number of firearms.

Emanuel S. Schwartz, 22, and Wendell J. Horst, 18, both of 1961 N. Perry Highway, Fairview Township, each have been charged with burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and criminal trespass.

The Amish victim who lives in the 1500 block of Airport Road, Fairview Township, reported Dec. 15 that a .270-caliber rifle, a muzzleloader, three other rifles, two shotguns and three pair of rubber boots were stolen from his home, state police said.

Schwartz said he and Horst entered an unlocked door and stole a muzzleloader, a .270 and other guns, police said.

Kansas City (Missouri) Star Magazine – “Why I love living in small-town America” by Cindy Hoedel – February 15^th, 2014:

At Strong City Grocery Store, the teenage clerks start carrying sacks of groceries out to my car before the cashier is even done ringing them up. The first time, the girl returned with a puzzled look to tell me my car was locked — a city-slicker mistake. It took several times of trying to tip the kids who loaded the sacks into my car to learn that they would not take the money. They were polite but firm in turning it down. “We do that for everyone,” one girl said. Another time a young man said, “Thanks, but I don’t need that.”

Unlike in Kansas City, I know the UPS guy in my town by name. We have an agreement that if I’m expecting a package and not home, I leave the kitchen door unlocked and he puts my stuff inside.



There are also a few teens in town who happily and competently do odd jobs. When word got out that I needed eight large, deep holes dug for planting fruit trees, a 15-year-old from down the street came driving up in his pickup truck with a rifle on the front seat, asked me to show him where I wanted the holes, and set to digging. He was done two hours later and asked for $14, but I gave him more.

But of all the great old-fashioned service experiences I’ve encountered in my corner of rural Kansas, my favorite is a couple in their late 80s and early 90s who still farm and keep a refrigerator full of fresh eggs in their unlocked detached garage. You drive out to their farm just past the cemetery on the outskirts of town, let yourself into the garage, take your cartons of eggs and drop the money ($1.50 per dozen) in a rusty coffee can. They reuse egg cartons that customers bring back, so it’s a zero-waste operation as well as the best orange-yolked farm eggs around.

Inland Valley (California) Daily Bulletin – “Man pleads guilty to sexually assulating woman in Ontario home” – February 14^th, 2014:

A man who armed himself with a replica gun and sexually assaulted a woman inside her Ontario home in 2012 is scheduled to be sentenced in March.

Earlier this month, Daniel Anthony Aguirre, 21, accepted a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to sodomy by force and rape by force or fear, according to court records.

Aguirre previously pleaded not guilty to those charges, as well as assault during the commission of a burglary, burglary, threatening a victim, and attempted burglary, according to court records. The remaining charges will be dismissed at time of sentencing.

Officers responded to the 200 block of North Vine Avenue in Ontario following a report of trouble at the residence.

They discovered a man, later identified as Aguirre, got into the home through an unlocked door and confronted a 41-year-old woman. Police say he pointed a realistic-looking handgun at the woman then attacked her.

PLEASE NOTE: I have reproduced the article as written, with the word "assaulting" spelled incorrectly in the headline.

Corvallis (Oregon) Gazette-Times Police Log - Thursday, February 13th, 2013:

Police arrested a 24-year-old Oregon State University student, Skylar Lorange Keith, for allegedly entering an unlocked apartment, knocking over lamps, breaking the glass window to the resident's microwave by punching it, and getting blood on the floor, walls, counters, sofa, kitchen table, chairs and door. Medics transported Keith to the hospital and police cited him at the hospital on charges of first-degree criminal trespassing and second-degree criminal mischief.

Orlando (Florida) Sentinel – “Naked attacker arrested after bizarre incident in suburban Lake Worth” – Feb. 9^th, 2014:

In a melee that lasted at least 10 minutes, a squad of deputies used batons, a police dog, a stun gun and all their might to subdue a male they said walked into a neighbor's house on Saturday and stripped off his clothes before attacking a teenager.

The incident marks the second time in less than a week that Palm Beach Sheriff's Office deputies have confronted a naked person who seemed to be on a violent rampage while displaying unusual physical strength.

The latest outbreak of violence began about 6 p.m. Saturday when police said they responded to reports of a burglary in the 9200 block of Bracelet Drive in unincorporated Lake Worth. A 15-year-old boy told two arriving officers that he was feeding the dogs at his aunt's house when Hopper walked through the unlocked front door.

Hopper touched the teen's face, the teen told deputies, and tried to remove the teen's glasses. Hopper then took all his clothes off while shouting nonsense, deputies said.

Jason Valentine, 35, the brother of the homeowner, said the teenager fled into the backyard, where he used a trampoline to elude Hopper by jumping over a fence and running for home a block away.

An arriving deputy said he could see Hopper "walking around completely naked inside of the residence in a menacing manner."

"He was breaking random things inside the house and still shouting nonsensical things such as, '5,6,7,8, grandma, girlfriend,1,2,3,4,'" the deputy wrote. "Conrad was moving erratically around the kitchen with clinched fists and pacing aimlessly."

When he came out the back door, armed with the clock, Hopper took a defensive stance, deputies said. Hopper refused to obey orders, so a deputy released the dog.

"Conrad immediately began to punch the dog's head with closed fists and attempted to gouge out the dog's eyes," deputies wrote.

Two more officers arrived. Hopper was hit with a baton and officers triggered a dart-firing stun gun, which knocked Hopper down, they said.

He was finally fitted with steel cuffs, but it "did not change Conrad's temperament as he continued to kick at deputies and thrash around violently," deputies reported.

"At one point Conrad was able to free himself from one of the handcuffs and continued to punch and thrash around," deputies said.

Officers put Hopper in a hobble leg restraint, but even then he got one hand free and "continued to punch and thrash around," the report stated.

Greenwich (Connecticut) Daily Voice - Police: Greenwich Robbers Who Tied Up Woman Entered Unlocked House – Jan. 31^st, 2014:

Two masked burglars who assaulted a 60-year-old woman and tied her up were able to gain entry into the Greenwich house because the front door was unlocked, according to police.

The woman was surprised by the two assailants, who were described as white and in their 20s or 30s and wearing dark clothing. They also threatened her with a gun in the home invasion on East Elm Street, police said.

The robbers demanded money from the woman and punched her in the face when she refused to cooperate.

Quincy (Illinois) Journal - Quincy Police Blotter for February 1, 2014:

Vehicle theft: April Sullivan of 812 N. 14th reports her green 01 Pontiac Grand Am stolen from her residence sometime between 1900 on 01-26 and 0847 on 01-27.  Vehicle was unlocked and keys in ignition.