If Only They Had A Gun

Toledo police have issued a warrant for the suspect accused of targeting women in five robberies, including one that escalated to rape. In at least two of the crimes committed in the last 10 days, the suspect hid in the backseat of the female victim’s unlocked car and ordered her at gunpoint to drive to an ATM and turn over cash, police said. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

Mexican authorities reported Monday they have found the dismembered, burned body of a Mexican journalist kidnapped in 2007. Officials believe the journalist, Rodolfo Rincon Taracena, was killed by members of the Los Zetas cartel killed Taracena for his reporting on drug activity in the Gulf Coast city of Villahermosa. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

A Woodhull, Illinois man is reportedly facing six felony counts for allegedly kidnapping and sexually assaulting two women March 1 on Big Island in Rock Island County. Jason W. Kugler, 29, was reportedly charged in Rock Island County Circuit Court with six Class X counts, which each carry up to 30 years in prison upon conviction. He faces two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, two counts of armed robbery and two counts of aggravated kidnapping. According to the charges, Kugler was armed with a weapon when he committed the crimes. The robbery counts allege that he stole each victim’s purse. The two women are 25 and 23 years old. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

A North Carolina man has been arrested and charged with raping a woman and carving the word “Mine” on her stomach, according to police. Keith Alan Campbell, 41, of Hickory, NC was reportedly charged with first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, assault on a female and two counts of communicating threats. The arrest warrant reportedly alleges that Campbell tied up the woman and used a box cutter to carve the word “Mine” on her stomach. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

One arrest has been made in connection with a woman who was drugged and gang-raped on Saturday morning in Soweto, Johannesburg police said. “The woman was at her home when a group of men took her and drugged her. They took her to a house in Dobsonville where they took turns raping her,” said police spokesman, Inspector Kay Makhubele. He said the woman had sustained head injuries and had bruises on her body. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

Spartanburg County deputies said that the victim said she was walking along Biblebrook Drive toward Sunnyglen Drive when a silver or gray, older-model car pulled up next to her. She said the two men inside the car asked her for directions. When she walked up to the car to provide directions, the men pulled her inside the car, drove to a dirt road off of Biblebrook Drive, raped her and then drove back to Biblebrook Drive where they put her out of the car, she says. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

Police are searching for two robbers who shot a 40-year-old man in the back during a robbery about 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The man was reportedly loading in his car at 1597 East 30th St. when two teenage robbers approached him. One of the robbers pulled out a gun and took the man’s wallet, but after opening the wallet said “that’s not enough. Get in the car. We are going to the ATM,” according to police. The suspect drove to East 30th Street and Payne Avenue, where he had to stop in heavy traffic. The victim jumped out of the car and ran. The robber fired, shooting the man in the back, and both robbers fled. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

A manhunt is under way in Bethany as Bethany police, Oklahoma City police and US marshals look for a man accused of kidnapping, beating and raping a woman earlier today. Ivan Harrison, 22, is believed to have kidnapped a woman at gunpoint on N Rockwell Avenue in Oklahoma City at 4:30 p.m., said Bethany police Lt. Phillip Wise. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

A 20 year old man from the West Side of Chicago has been charged in connection with a 3 day robbery and rape spree against unarmed victims. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

Chicago police are searching for a trio of suspects, including one that impersonated a police officers, in the rape of woman on the West Side.  The woman was driving down the 3400 block of West Chicago Avenue when a person impersonating a cop flashed his headlights and pulled the woman’s car over.  She turned over her driver’s license and followed the suspect to another location, as the fake cop demanded.  Upon arriving at that location, the woman was sexually assaulted by another suspect.  A third suspect was also involved, however his role in the crime is not clear.  More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

One of the victims was warming her car up in her driveway when two men armed with handguns approached her and forced her back into the house, and then they proceeded to torture her, while demanding money. One of the criminals boiled some water and poured it on one of the victims, who had to be transported to the local hospital’s burn unit.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

Judge James Hackett reportedly ordered Kevin Scott to serve 34 years for a murder conviction and seven years for aggravated kidnapping, with the sentences to run back to back. Earnest Walker of Alton, IL was found with his throat cut. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

DuPage County judge has reportedly sentenced a man to 13 years in prison for raping a Woodridge woman, then leading police on a car chase that ended when he crashed into an elderly couple’s living room in Hinsdale. The woman that 29-year-old former Aurora resident Joshua Colwell reportedly plead guilty to raping had an order of protection against him at the time he committed the crimes. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

An Amber Alert has been issued for a 6-year-old Las Vegas boy kidnapped this morning during a home invasion and robbery, Las Vegas Police reportedly said. The child, Cole Puffinburger, was kidnapped at gunpoint shortly after 7 a.m The crime appears to be random, police said, adding that the mother didn’t know the men. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

Georgia police reportedly arrested Eric Foster on Saturday morning and charged him with two sexual assaults that allegedly occurred on Oct. 2 and again on Oct. 8. Police reportedly said he was later transferred to the Fulton County, GA jail, where he is charged with rape, kidnapping, and criminal attempt to commit aggravated sodomy. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

Derrick Gosnell, 25, of Spotsylvania, VA is reportedly charged with two counts of attempted rape, one count of sodomy and one count of abduction in Spotsylvania, said 1st Sgt. Liz Scott of the Sheriff’s Office. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

Chicago Police detectives arrested and charged a man in connection with a home invasion and aggravated kidnapping. Tuyen T. Ngo, 31, of Yorkville, Illinois was reportedly charged with one count of home invasion, aggravated kidnapping and five counts of burglary. On April 28, 2008, Ngo allegedly entered the home of the 28-year-old female victim where the crimes were committed. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

A man on was reportedly sentenced to life in prison after he kidnapped and raped a 5 year old girl. Matthew Cook Casey, 37, kidnapped the child from her Williamson home on Dec. 14, 2006 and raped her in his car, accoridng to a release from U.S. Attorney Chuck Miller’s office. Earlier that day, Casey raped a 55-year-old woman in South Williamson, Ky., the same release indicated. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

An Oakland, California man faces life in prison without parole after being convicted of a brutal rape and murder more than a decade ago. Authorities connected Willie Latimore, 58, to the case after he was forced to give a DNA sample subsequent to a robbery conviction. The DNA proved to be a match DNA taken from the body of 35-year-old Gwendolyn Evans, who was found beaten, raped, and stabbed in an abandoned apartment on November 11th, 1994. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.

The Connecticut high court issued separate, unanimous rulings that rejected the appeals of Clifton Foreman and Alazaron Sargeant, who are both serving 85-year prison sentences for sexual assault, kidnapping and other crimes. The two men, both 22, were convicted in 2005 of kidnapping the former University of New Haven student at gunpoint in West Haven, putting her in the trunk of her car and sexually assaulting her in a secluded spot in Woodbridge on Sept. 26, 2003. Two other teens were arrested for taking part in the attack, which the woman, then 27, survived. After the gang rape, Sargeant tried to snap the woman’s neck and Foreman repeatedly hit her on her the head with a rock, according to court testimony. She pretended to be dead, then managed to make her way, bloody and naked, to a nearby house to get help after the suspects left. More information here.

Things might have turned out differently if only they had a gun.