The Reporter (Lansdale, Pennsylvania) – “State police investigating residential burglary in Skippack” – March 5^th, 2014:

Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a daytime residential burglary in Skippack Township in which thieves made off with nearly $30,000 in cash, jewelry and other items.

Authorities said that sometime between 9 a.m. and 5:20 p.m. on Sunday, March 2, the perpetrator or perpetrators gained entry to a couple’s two-story family home on the 4300 block of Gypsy Lane through an unlocked door and accessed two bedrooms on the second floor.

Taken from the residence were approximately $6,500 cash, the equivalent of $2,000 in Korean currency, approximately $20,000 worth of jewelry and a pink Prada handbag valued at around $1,000, according to police.

Business Management Daily – “OK to discipline disabled worker for rule-breaking” – March 5^th, 2014:

Don’t worry that you can’t discipline disabled workers—if you can show that you punish all em­­ployees equally for breaking the same rule. An employee’s disability is irrelevant as long as you don’t cut slack for other employees while punishing the disabled worker.

Recent case: William, who has bi­­polar disorder and suffers occasional depressive episodes, was hired as a corrections officer at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Dela­­ware County, a prison housing dangerous inmates.

When William ended a romantic relationship, he became depressed. He sat teary-eyed in his car, gained weight and generally seemed miserable. William then began taking vacation and other leave to cope, until he finally took big chunks of leave as a reasonable accommodation.

When William returned, he re­­quested and was placed in a light-duty position. Eventually, he returned to his former job. That’s when he left the door to a cellblock control room un­­locked and had to restrain an in­­mate who tried to gain access. William was fired for making a serious safety mistake.

He sued, alleging that he had been punished for being disabled and taking time off. He added that he had heard co-workers and even a supervisor call him “crazy” and “psycho.”

The prison countered that it had provided William with every accommodation he requested, including time off when he wasn’t eligible for FMLA leave. It also pointed out that William was fired for an extremely serious safety violation that could have resulted in a prisoner commandeering control of the cellblock locks. Plus, none of the individuals who supposedly called William names had been involved in his discipline.

The court dismissed William’s lawsuit. It reasoned that the prison had accommodated William every time he requested help. It had fired him for something entirely unrelated to his disability or leave requests. (Dove v. Community Education Centers, et al., No. 12-4384, ED PA, 2013)

San Antonio (Texas) Express-News – “Man held down, stabbed 11 times” – March 1^st, 2014:

A man was in critical condition Saturday night after being held down and stabbed 11 times.

Police responded to the stabbing around 8:30 p.m. in the 300 block of Eskimo Street, southwest of downtown.

The man, 28, had been at a party on Vincent Street earlier in the day. Two brothers, whom police said may have been in town to buy drugs, were also there. The man got into some sort of argument with the brothers, in their mid-30s, and left, police said.

The brothers, however, tracked the man to a home on Eskimo Street, entered through an unlocked door and pulled him outside, police said.

Once outside, according to officers, one of the brothers held the man down while the other stabbed him 11 times.

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.