Saturday, July 29, 2006

Arrested for bra pinging

Then, quietly, the 14-year-old daughter confessed that she had been involved in a silly squabble with a classmate. Remarks had been traded about bra sizes.

On impulse, the girl had 'pinged' her schoolmate's bra. She'd apologised, but now she felt deeply ashamed. Looking up from their dinner plates, her parents agreed. 'You'll have to go back to school tomorrow and apologise again,' said her mother firmly. And that, they thought, was the end of the matter. Instead, under circumstances which defy belief, this 14-year-old girl would find herself arrested and charged with committing a common assault of a sexual nature.

She was fingerprinted, subjected to DNA testing, bailed and finally hauled before magistrates at Huntingdon Youth Court.Black Homeless Man Gets 15 Years for Stealing Food

Mark Anthony Griffin, a Black homeless man in Bartow, Florida, with a long list of misdemeanor crimes, received a 15-year sentence for stealing a box of cereal and a can of evaporated milk, according to the Associated Press. Griffin was sentenced as a "prison release re-offender," which applies stricter penalties since he was on probabation after more than 50 prior convictions for things like trespassing, disorderly intoxication and petty theft.

During his sentencing last month, he rejected a plea deal that would have given him a three-year sentence with two years of probation. Now the state will have to shell out upwards of $450,000 to incarcerate Griffin.