Category: Crime

Update: Police cleared Aurielle Tineo of charges she robbed this credit union and arrested another woman. Jennifer Sykes Deviller of Lake Charles, La., was arrested for the robbery discussed here. Repeat: Auriell Tineo has NOT been charged with any crimes. It must really suck for Ms. Tineo being charged with such a crime. She still might want to make some changes on her My Space page. The jist of this post on the rarity of women bank robbers. Apparently, they are not so rare where I live.

Before I start, I have to first say that having a fascination for a subject doesn’t mean one has to condone that subject.

I speak of bank robbery. It’s an odd crime and I am fascinated by the subject. It is odd because the chances are so meager for someone to get away with holding up a bank. FBI statistics indicate that only murders are cleared by arrest more often than bank robbery. Almost 60 percent of bank robberies are cleared compared to about 62 percent of murders. Then, when you throw in the fact that only about 5 percent of bank robbers are female, you might see how someone who is interested in the crime of bank robbery from a sociological standpoint such as I, might be even more interested in that rare bird, the woman bank robber. True.

So when a young, relatively attractive female was arrested yesterday for the robbery of a small-town credit union in my area, I found myself asking why? If this person indeed robbed this financial institution was it because she likes drugs, as she admits on her My Space page and seems to be the motive given the judgment of the sheriff whose jail now holds the young woman? Was it because, as famed bank robber Willie Sutton was supposed to have said: “Because that’s where the money is?” Was it excitement, prodded by small-town boredom? Was she just nuts?

These are all questions we won’t know, probably, anytime soon. We don’t even know if she is the robber. However, she was fingered by a phone caller who saw a robber fitting her description on a video of the hold-up during a local TV news broadcast.

Aurielle Tineo, 26, of Hamshire, Texas, is suspected of robbing the Texas Coastal Commercial Federal Credit Union — someone needs to look into abbreviating that name — in nearby Winnie on Feb. 4. The linked video in the paragraph above shows a woman who held a pistol by the barrel while telling employees to stuff money in a bag. Some of the still pictures in the news video, by Beaumont TV station KFDM Channel 6, also capture a nice-looking young woman with some evident quirks judging by her driver license photo. She admits to that quirkiness on her My Space page.

“Auri the renegade angel,” as she calls herself on the popular social media page, claims to be “a witch” and notes that she likes “racehorses … guns, marijuana …” as well as making her son laugh and watching him sleep.  She said she likes “speed” but so much so she had to quit and no longer “f**ks with it.” As well she admits enjoying shocking people to see the look on their faces. She might just be shocking some folks right now.

Although Tineo rambles on her My Space page, she isn’t alone in that respect, it is evident from some of her statements that she is of average or perhaps even above average intelligence. She is in that age range — from 18 to 30 — that FBI statistics say most commit bank robberies. This is, even though, the average yield on a forced withdrawal by armed robbery at a financial institution is upon average less than $5,000.

Tineo was just arrested. She is presumed innocent like everyone else. Above all, I would point that out because police say someone else is likely involved in the crime and when two play and are caught things can become all skewed in the legal process.

But if Aurielle Tineo, self-proclaimed witch, is convicted then perhaps some understanding of her specific reasons for committing a crime with such little chance for success will come to light. Until then, we shall see how things play out in her case.

Among the criminal of our species there are “bottom feeders” and then there is a whole class for below that division.

Right here in “River City” — to borrow from “The Music Man” — otherwise known as Beaumont, Texas, police are seeking a couple who fall somewhere in that class below the lowest.

The suspects are the couple in the picture. They look like Joe Bob and Tanya Jean Blow what with Joe Bob in the orange shirt pushing the baby while sweet little Tanya Jean in the black shirt pulls up her hair into a ponytail.

But police say the pair are actually a couple of thieves who use their baby as a distraction.

A Beaumont police press release said the man — who has a mustache and goatee — allegedly snatches and grabs the merchandise while the woman serves as a lookout. Here the alleged sticky-fingered duo at 4:56 p.m. on Nov. 23 search for a real steal at Radio Shack in the Parkdale Mall. They are also suspected of thefts at the Sunglasses Hut in the mall and at the H-E-B Plus on Dowlen Road.

Lowlife is a word that comes to mind when a couple uses a baby to steal or commit other crimes. I once had neighbors who used their kids as a shield for selling crack. The police would make a pass and Mrs. Not June Cleaver would grab up her older Roly Poly or the baby and rock-a-bye until the cops went bye-bye.

So-called adults putting truly innocent children — like a baby — into such a situation is bad enough. But such is the nature of this couple’s alleged crime that the baby himself or herself is a cause of concern for the police. Beaumont police told local media that they want to both collar the couple and check on the welfare of the child.

If you see this couple or know people like them, slap them silly call your local police or Crime Stoppers. In my nekkid of the woods, to lighten this piece just a bit and give someone a chance to say you misspelled “neck,” the phone number is (409)833-TIPS.

Seriously, people who do stuff like use their kids to steal really ticks me off. Of course, lots of things tick me off. But I don’t have time to get into all that, so I will just say “au jus,” dear friends.

UPDATE2: In another press conference about 8:30 p.m. Central, Fort Hood and the Army’s III Corps commander told reporters that the suspect in the shooting at the World’s largest military base on Thursday afternoon is not dead despite being shot multiple times by a female civilian police officer. Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said the suspect, Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was in “stable condition” and that  his death was not imminent despite being shot multiple times. Hasan is reportedly a U.S. citizen of Jordanian heritage who received his undergraduate degree at Virginia Tech. Cone said evidence does not rule out terrorism, but there is no evidence to suggest the shootings were terrorist-related. This is really going to help out the military’s mental health program at a time when suicides in the service are at an almost epidemic level. Prozac anyone?

UPDATE: Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, commanding general of the III Army Corps and Fort Hood, said at a short press conference that at least 12 people have been killed and 31 wounded in the shooting. Both those shot and the suspects are soldiers, Cone said.

As the hed said, media reports indicate perhaps nine people are dead and more than two dozen have been wounded in a shooting involving at least two suspects at Fort Hood, Texas. The massive military post lies about halfway between Waco and Austin, right smack dab in the heart of Texas.

So this means what to me? Well, Ft. Hood was part of my beat back in my days of employment as a newspaper reporter. I visited the post many, many times to cover not only military events but for events involving our most recent ex-president. I am watching CNN coverage. Once again, I think for all their shortfalls, CNN is still the best at breaking news.

I have little to add to the current news coverage except that I noticed during my time hanging around the Fort Hood area, an undercurrent or, vibe, if you will. One might say that’s to be expected since it is a Army base, the “free world’s largest,” as post officials liked to point out during my time covering the military.

But actually, I’ve been on other military posts including Army posts and didn’t get this same vibe.

Since the beginning of the so-called “War of Terror” there have been at Fort Hood as at other Army posts a number of suicides reported. Killeen, the city outside the post, seemed at the time I reported on the military at Fort Hood to have an extraordinary amount of violent crime. Even before the Afghan and Iraq wars there was the horror of the mass shooting at the Killeen Luby’s cafeteria in which 23 people were murdered after George Hennard drove his truck into the restaurant.

One suspect has reportedly been captured and another “cornered” in the Fort Hood incident. The big question is — since at least two people were involved — the motive. Are these guys just nuts or are they some  kind of jihadists? It will be interesting to learn more. My thoughts go out to those whose family members or friends were involved.

 Goodness gracious. Another bank robber in our fair city. One bad effect a city located on one of the nation’s most traveled Interstates — I speak of IH-10 — faces is bank robbery. It’s relatively easy for a committed bank robber to drive off the interstate, rob a bank and then hit the freeway in one direction or another. Police will not say whether this is the same bank robber who robbed a Houston bank and apparently looked similar to this fellow, according to a local media report. I wonder what that Houston bank robber’s nickname might be? You know they all seem to get nicknames, like the Grandma Bandit.

 Our  — as in Beaumont, Texas’ — bandit entered the Wells Fargo Bank at 595 IH-10 North on Tuesday morning and robbed the place while “displaying” a silver handgun, according to a Beaumont Police Department press release. Police like to use words like “display.” It’s like “Hey ya’ll, isn’t this the prettiest 9 mm pistol you’ve ever seen? Now how ’bout that cash?”

 Bank employees triggered the silent alarm and officers were told the suspect was last seen running on foot toward an apartment complex behind the bank. Police and a “K-9 Unit,” a.k.a. “a DOG and handler,” searched for the bandit to no avail.

 Police describe the suspect as a Hispanic male, 5 feet, 10 inches to 6 feet in height, 180 pounds, dark complexion, wearing dark sunglasses, a blue button shirt and having short black hair. I’m sure he wears those sunglasses and blue shirt everywhere — to bed, playing basketball, working on his car. Okay, I’m picking at the descriptions the police give out. I’ve written a hundred of these for news stories when I worked as a reporter, but they sound kind of funny out of context. This one is actually a better description than some I have seen on local TV reports, such as “a black male, between 5′ 11″ and 6 feet, 175-190 pounds.” Hmm. I bet there aren’t too many of those running around.

 Now I thought I had a suspect when I saw the shot below taken from a bank camera. Even though the police description lists him as Hispanic and dark-complected, he isn”t all that dark, at least in my opinion. Now, if you forget that the man is supposedly Hispanic and dark-complected, in this picture at least, doesn’t he bear a slight resistance to former Arkansas Governor and failed candidate for the Republican nomination Mike Huckabee? 

 

I mean, look at him. Maybe Huckabee  with a tan?

Perhaps a bit younger Mike Huckabee with a tan.

Oh well. That’s my contribution to the community today. That is partly why I try to write about things like this because I have a forum to do so and, who knows, maybe someone surfing blogs stumbles across this one and just might recognize the robber I now dub the “Senor Mike Huckabee-almost-look-a-like-bandit-if-Huckabee-was-Hispanic.” That person calls the police and clang, he’s behind bars. You know, someone might see this guy taking a nap out in his chaise lounge wearing his sunglasses, blue buttoned shirt and displaying his handgun.

Here is the kind of verdict that leaves me completely flummoxed.

A jury today here in Beaumont, of the Texas variety, sentenced suspended state trooper Jonathan Barnett to six months in jail and fined him $10,000 for running a family business that operates illegal gaming machines. Documents listed Barnett, 32, as president of a family-owned novelty machine company raided by authorities in 2007. The machines owned and leased by the company included so-called “eight-liners.” These are essentially slot machines which businesses award winning customers who play with cash.

Barnett, a trooper since 2001, testified that he began phasing out his oversight of the company to his mother after becoming a highway patrol officer. He also denied knowing the machines had been used for gambling. Jurors found Barnett guilty of engaging in organized criminal activity. Due to the gambling charges involved in the alleged activity, Barnett could have been sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison, according to local media reports.

So why am I flummoxed at this verdict, you might ask? He was found guilty. He was a state trooper he should have known better. Right and right. Thus is the reason for my bewildered state.

Was this man stupid, arrogant, greedy or all the above?

Local and state law enforcement, including Barnett’s soon to be former employer the Texas Department of Public Safety, continually make local headlines with bust of eight-liner arcades across the state. State laws in the mid-1990s provided the so-called “fuzzy animal” exception which allows a machine to pay out a non-cash prize for a play of $5 value or 10 times the cost of play, whichever is less.  Most cash prizes awarded illegally are done on the sly, which often necessitates undercover police operations to bust the eight-liner operators and owners.

In short, a Texan can’t walk down the street without being hit on the head by media reports of proud local law enforcers showing off the gambling machines they busted and money seized in the raids. Since I have seen cops of all stripe gambling illegally in all manners perhaps short of slot machines, and have even gambled with cops before, I don’t believe their fervor for busting eight-liners is rooted in religion or moral repugnance. Perhaps it has something to do with the money seized in the raids that go to the various police agencies. Could that be it? Surely not.

What irritates me the most about the Barnett case is the blemish he causes for the agency that employed him. In general terms, I have had more respect for the Texas Highway Patrol than any other law enforcement agency. Maybe he is just a bad apple or an ignoramus. He is not the only one I have seen in the DPS nor will he be the last. But the fact is eight-liner gambling is a very high-profile offense, though hardly the stuff of Baby Face Nelson, and this now convicted and sentenced former state trooper should have steered clear of his family ties to the “novelty” gaming business when he decided to don the gray suit and cowboy hat of the DPS.

I also feel that someday “real” slot machines will be tumbling their fruit in certain sectors of the Lone Star State. That is, if the money bagged folks who want gambling in Texas can outspend and outwit those who already operate casinos in neighboring states.  When that happens, and I believe it will, the eight-liners will be a relic of times past. Then, people like former trooper Barnett will be convicted felons despite the diminished nature of the crime.

Talk about your dumb crimes. This one rates way on up there.