BRASILIA, Brazil — An armed man in Brazil has heisted an 18-carat gold-plated vibrator selling for $4,000 at a luxury sex shop.

Police say he walked into the Erotica Luxo store in Brasilia, tied up a clerk and took the item from its display case. He stole nothing else.

It’s high season for erotic shops in Brazil as the nation celebrates its own Valentine’s Day in less than two weeks.

Store owner Vanessa Baldini tells the G1 news website the robber might get no satisfaction from Wednesday’s theft. She says the Swedish-made vibrator has a stainless steel core, making removing any gold plating extremely difficult.

And she notes the robber didn’t take the vibrator’s charger.

She says: “I really don’t know what he’ll do. I’ll leave it up to his imagination.”

huffingtonpost.com

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Police say a TV weatherman in Tennessee was wounded by a bolt from a crossbow during a break-in at his home by a man he once lived with who has been charged with attempted first-degree murder.

The Johnson City Press reports that police say 53-year-old Gerald D. Taylor was arrested in the Monday morning attack on Rob Williams, a weatherman at WJHL-TV.

Williams told police he ran from his Johnson City home after the 4 a.m. attack and said Taylor also fired a pistol at him, but missed.

Police said they found Taylor at a boat dock near Williams’ house with a pistol in his hand and arrested him.

Williams says he and Taylor had been living together until recently, and an order of protection had been served.

huffingtonpost.com

When it came to bugging the neighbors, this Florida woman had a really crappy idea.

Sharee Barnes, 32, was arrested on May 27 after allegedly threatening to “take a s–t” on someone else’s lawn.

At about 3:20 a.m. cops were called to the neighbor’s home in Vero Beach after receiving reports of a disturbance. Upon their arrival, Barnes was allegedly yelling obscenities at Elman Antonio Diaz, the owner of the house.

Diaz told the cops that he had noticed a motion sensor light on his property illuminate, alerting him to a potential trespasser. When he exited his house, Diaz reportedly saw Barnes squatting on his property, threatening to “take a s–t.” It was unclear whether Barnes actually defecated, WPTV notes.

Barnes also allegedly threatened Diaz physically, saying that she would have her cousins come to his house and rape his wife, according to a police report obtained by The Huffington Post.

The officer noted that he immediately smelled alcohol on the defendant’s breath upon his arrival. Cops warned Barnes that if she did not cease her shouting by 3:30 a.m., she would be arrested. In response to the ultimatum, Barnes reportedly moved to her own driveway, saying that she could not be arrested because she was now on her own property, and that she “didn’t like” the cop.

The officer then arrested Barnes. She was charged with disorderly conduct and public intoxication.

Diaz supposedly took a video of the incident on his cell phone, but authorities say that the footage is too blurry to be used as evidence.

huffingtonpost.com

A suspected north Idaho car burglar appears to have fallen asleep on the job.

Police say 33-year-old Jason D. Hill was arrested during the wee hours of Thursday morning after he was caught napping inside one of the vehicles he was trying to steal outside a Post Falls apartment complex.

According to authorities, Hill intended to hotwire the 1991 Honda Accord but his plan was foiled shortly after 4 a.m., when he was found asleep at the wheel by the vehicle’s owner, who then called police.

Hill was wearing gloves and police say he appears to have been removing the car’s stereo when he nodded off. He is suspected of breaking into four vehicles parked at the apartment complex.

Police say the vehicle Hill drove to the scene was stolen.

cbslocal.com

PHOENIX – A 19-year-old mother is under arrest on child abuse and aggravated DUI charges after police say she left her five-week-old baby strapped in a car seat on top of her car and drove off.

The child is said to be in good condition and now in custody of Arizona Child Protective Services.

At about 1 a.m. Saturday, Phoenix police officers got calls that a baby was in a car seat in the middle of a road.

Phoenix Fire Department officials found the baby and took him to a local hospital. He was “perfectly OK,” said Officer James Holmes, spokesman for Phoenix police.

Holmes said the mother, Catalina Clauser, had apparently been smoking marijuana late Friday night at a nearby park with her boyfriend. At about 11 p.m. they left the park to buy some beer. The boyfriend was arrested on aggravated DUI charges while on the way, Holmes said.

An upset Clauser then reportedly went to a friend’s house where, she admitted, she smoked more marijuana, Holmes said. By midnight, Clauser left the house with the baby asleep in the car seat.

She realized the baby was missing when she reached home. That’s when Clauser called her friends and asked them to trace the route she had taken. The friends ran into the officers who had already found the baby. Clauser arrived there shortly thereafter and was arrested, Holmes said.

usatoday.com

A BLACKPOOL fire bug tried to dig his way to freedom through a prison chimney breast after plotting a Colditz-style escape bid.

Easterleigh Animal Sanctuary arsonist Jordan Morgan and resort man David Crossfield kicked at a chimney facade at Preston Prison before using a drawer runner to scrape away at the mortar surrounding the brickwork of the original Victorian chimney underneath.

The teenagers hid the rubble in clothing, within a pair of tracksuit bottoms which had their legs and top tied in a knot.

The duo then placed the pieces of brick back into the hole they had made, along with a bucket of rubble.

Through the hole they could have gained access to an enclosed area, not far from the prison’s outer walls.

When shown pictures of the damage at Preston Crown Court, Judge Andrew Long said: “It looks a bit Colditz doesn’t it?”

Crossfield and Morgan shared the cell at the complex for two weeks earlier this year.

It is believed the pair of 18-year-olds carried out the digging over 24 hours, before Morgan revealed the “fanciful” escape plan to prison staff on April 7.

Silvia Dacre, prosecuting, said Morgan asked another prisoner to tell a prison officer there was a hole in the wall of their cell.

She said: “When they went in they found there was a large hole in the chimney breast, and that rubble had been removed.

“Behind the facade of the chimney breast, the original brickwork had been tampered with.

“It was then possible to gain access to the chimney and to an external area, which could have in theory enabled access to an enclosed area, not far from the perimeter of the prison.”

Crossfield was on remand in prison on an allegation of burglary, which was eventually left on file, and was soon set for release.

Morgan was awaiting sentencing for a series of drunken arson attacks across the Fylde, in which he and an accomplice started fires at locations, including Easterleigh Animal Sanctuary and Fylde Scout Headquarters, killing 26 animals and causing damage running into tens of thousands of pounds.

After the discovery was made, the two prisoners were taken from the cell and segregated.

Miss Dacre added: “They confirmed they had used bodily force to break through the chimney breast and removed rubble, and had hidden it.”

Both Crossfield and Morgan pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage, after the prosecution decided to drop a charge of aiding a prisoner to escape.

Miss Dacre said: “In interview, they both suggested they were under duress from one another.

“When possible pleas were considered, it was decided that in reality they may have had some rather Colditz-inspired notion of escape, but in reality this was so fanciful it was really not a realistic attempt.”

Crossfield, from Blackpool but whose address was given only as HMP Preston, was sentenced to two months in prison, less 37 days he had spent in custody.

Morgan, formerly of Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, was also sentenced to two months in prison.

His term will run concurrent to an existing indefinite prison sentence for the arson attacks carried out in March last year. He will serve a minimum of three years and two-and-a-half months in jail before he can apply for release.

A spokesman for HMP Preston said the incident was now the subject of an internal investigation.

Colditz Castle in Germany was used as a prisoner-of-war camp during the Second World War for Allied officers who repeatedly attempted to escape.

blackpoolgazette.co.uk

Talk about one crazy cat lady.

A man from southern Israel is divorcing his wife because she adopted 550 pet cats, the Times of Israel reported Wednesday.

According to the paper, the unnamed man complained in his divorce docs that the hundreds of kitties hindered his home life at every turn: they blocked the entrance to the bathroom, swarmed the kitchen, and stalked him at mealtime by stealing his food off the table.

And though the couple reportedly gave reconciliation a shot at the behest of the rabbinical court, the wife ultimately choose the cats over her husband, and the pair decided to go their separate ways.

huffingtonpost.com

A Henderson County woman has been arrested for allegedly stealing several random items from her next door neighbor’s home.

Cameron Holcomb said she came home from a trip and discovered her home had been broken into and her closet and drawers had been emptied. As she went through the house, the list of items missing just kept growing.

When investigators came to the scene, they discovered Holcomb’s next door neighbor Stormy Moody was wearing some of the clothes reported missing. Deputies said she later admitted to the break-in.

“My closet was emptied out, my dressers with all my bras and panties, my shorts my pajamas was all gone,” said Holcomb.

Moody was arrested and charged with aggravated burglary and theft over $1,000. She remains in the Henderson County Jail. No bond has been set.

Here’s a list of the items that were reportedly stolen:

-Laundry Detergent
-Panties and Bras
-DVDs – Multiple Movies
-Bag of Makeup
-Frog Shower Mat
-Clothing Items
-Black Sweat Pants
-Men’s Cargo Shorts
-Bob Marley T-shirt
-Dishes
-Fishing Equipment
-Lava Lamp
-Shark Steam Mop
-iPhone
-Flat Iron
-Curling Iron
-Tampons
-Race Car Rug
-Child Toys
-Child Seats
-Brooms and Dust Pans
-Blender
-Post and Pans
-Cleaning Supplies
-Picture Frames
-Various Jewelry
-Proactive Skin Creme
-Camcorder and Bag
-Deodorant
-Plastic Tote
-Hair Mousse
-Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee and Filters
-Band-aids
-DVD Sleeves
-Giant Coloring Book

wbbjtv.com

This is hardly child’s play: Randy Smith, 54, was reportedly found walking the streets of Fresno, Calif., Saturday night, carrying a Super Soaker that he had converted into a 20-gauge shotgun, according to KMPH.

Normally cops wouldn’t raise an eyebrow at someone waltzing around town with one of a high-powered plastic water guns, but an uptick in toy-to-gun conversions made officers more suspicious of Smith.

They stopped him and found that he had indeed fashioned a powerful weapon out of $30 worth of parts.

“He took the Super Soaker apart, was able to fashion a barrel to where he was able to make what’s considered a zip gun, where you can fire one round through it. In this case it was a 20-gauge shotgun shell,” Fresno Police Sgt. Mark Hudson told the station.

But as NBC pointed out, the conversion isn’t just illegal, it’s dangerous for the manufacturer. Makeshift barrels can explode under pressure, sending shrapnel and gunpowder flying.

“So they’re just relying on, maybe this [gun barrel] will hold up. Well, you could be putting a gun next to your head, or you could be putting a hand grenade next to your head,” Hudson said.

Smith was arrested Saturday night and released Sunday on gun-related charges. He’s been in and out of prison since 1994, police said.

huffingtonpost.com

The latest issue of Harvard University carries an update from one of its more ‘distinguished’ alumni — Ted Kaczynski — just in time for his 50-year class reunion.

The Unabomber bragged about being ‘awarded’ eight life sentences by a federal judge. He was convicted in 1998 of killing three people and injuring 23 others with a series of 16 mail bombs sent between 1978 and 1995.

The morbid entry lists Kaczynski’s address as United States Penitentiary-Max in Florence, Colorado.

Kaczynski is often cited as being a genius-turned madman. He went to Harvard at age 16 and later earned a PhD in mathematics from the University of Michigan.

His Harvard class of 1962 is meeting this week for its 50-year reunion.

One of his classmates, Gary G. Peterson, told the Harvard Crimson that Kaczynski remains the most famous member of the class.

Alex Taussig, a venture capitalist at Boston-based Highland Capital and a Harvard grad himself, posted a photo of the listing in the Harvard alumni magazine and tweeted a photo with the caption, ‘Ted Kaczynski’s alumni update for his 50 year Harvard reunion. Morbidly amusing.’

His name is nestled anonymously in with his other classmates, just above Joseph Born Kadane, a renowned statistics professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

Kaczynski lists his occupation, ‘Prisoner,’ and includes the title of his 2010 book ‘Technological Slavery,’ which includes his infamous anti-technology and anti-industrial manifesto, under ‘Publications.’

Under ‘Awards,’ he notes ‘eight life sentences, issued by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, 1998.’

Kaczynski isn’t allowed to attend the reunion, though Saturday Night Live imagined what such an event might be like.

In the 1996 skit, Kaczynski, played by Will Farrell, shows up shackled by chains and wearing a tweed jacket over his orange prison jumpsuit, flanked by two FBI agents.

When he learns that all of his classmates have become captains of industry, he leaves a mysterious ‘present’ for them and tells them to wait until he leaves to open it.

dailymail.co.uk