D E C E P T O L O G Y

Harry Blackstone, World's Master Magician

2013-06-18T11:00:00.000-06:00

A Blackstone souvenir program

Harry Blackstone was a famous stage magician in the middle part of the 20th Century. I think if you watch him perform, you might be able to figure out why.

Harry Blackstone's philosophy on magical deception:

“Magic overcomes frustration. It doesn’t need to be sleight of hand. It’s nothing but pure psychology applied in the right place."

One of his illusions, also known as the "Afghan Bands", is a topological magic trick based on the Möbius strip, a one-sided surface discovered by mathemeticians in 1858. It's what magicians call a "self-working" trick, which means that the magical part of the trick is so simple that pretty much anyone can do it. What makes it magical, however, is how it's presented. Blackstone called it "Santa's Necktie."

Harry Blackstone Sr. "Santa's Necktie"

During much of Blackstone's show he was silent while he performed larger illusions. Here's an example.

Harry Blackstone Magic Illusion

Blackstone's "Bunny Trick" showcases his masterful interaction with a young audience volunteer.

Harry Blackstone Sr. "Bunny Trick"

Here, Blackstone performs three illusions on the CBS TV show "It's Magic!" in 1956: "The Drum That Can't Be Beat", "The Dancing Handkerchief" and "The Buzz Saw Illusion."

Harry Blackstone Sr. - It's Magic! 1956

Harry Blackstone Senior's son, Harry Blackstone Junior, was also a magician. Both men have passed away.

- Möbius strip, Wikipedia>>
- Harry Blackstone, Sr. (1885-1965), All About Magicians>>
- How Harry Blackstone brought magic to Michigan, The Detroit News>>

Pixellated Minecraft costume

2013-06-17T13:00:00.000-06:00

Playing a bit too much Minecraft, maybe?

Writer Gloria Oliver took this photo at Animefest 2011.

GloriaOliver>>

Once a deceiver, always a deceiver?

2013-06-17T11:00:00.000-06:00

Jeremy Johnson

Maybe you shouldn't act like a deceptionist when you're trying to prove you're not a deceptionist.

I've mentioned the fraud case against Jeremy Johnson once before, over a year ago, when The Salt Lake City Tribune did an article on him. (He gave, and he took away - the fraud and charity of gambling addict Jeremy Johnson, Deceptology>>)

Mr. Johnson is accused of using his former company, called I Works, of scamming people who thought they were getting a cheap CD-ROM about getting government grants but instead were having their credit cards repeatedly charged with ongoing "membership fees."

He's accused of cheating people out of more than $275 million.

He also set up over 50 shell companies so that credit card companies investigating customer complaints (and there were many) would find it difficult to close him down.

Many people also see him as a very generous person. For instance, he flew his own helicopter on a personal aid mission to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

The New York Times updates the progress in the U. S. government's case against him.

The entire article is a great read, but I love the kicker at the end.

Mr. Johnson has tried to defend his worsening case and reputation by registering websites to defend himself and attack the government, including one named EvilFTC.com, saying it was going to uncover “Dirty Deeds by Big Government.”

Mr Johnson had registered 30 domain names (such as FTCscam.com and FTCCorruption.com). Government lawyers called his activities "shenanigans" and "harassment" and wanted a judge to shut the sites down.

Judge Roger L. Hunt refused, saying Mr. Johnson was free to express his opinions. However, he did offer some advice:

“You need to understand, sir, you are accused in this case of using the Internet to deceive people... When you use this procedure, process of multiple Web sites, which, in the court’s view, deceive or intended to misrepresent or deceive or mischaracterize the court, its appointed receiver or a governmental agency, it’s going to be difficult for you to convince me that you do not use the Internet to deceive at the time of trial.”

Read the article: In Utah, a Local Hero Accused, The New York Times>>

The live Photoshop bus stop prank

2013-06-16T13:00:00.000-06:00

I think someone might be messing with me...

If you want to prank innocent people at a bus stop, you'll need a camera with a telephoto lens, a screen disguised as an advertising billboard, a wireless connection, and a man in a van with mad Photoshop skills. At least, that's what these guys in Finland needed.

Photoshop Live Street Retouch Prank

Is a fake Loch Ness monster bad for business?

2013-06-16T11:00:00.000-06:00

An image of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster of Scotland

An article in The Christian Science Monitor examines whether it's good to promote a myth, or to tell the truth:

If you're selling a serpent, or rather a mythical serpent, how much spin is too much?

That seems to be gist of the latest Loch Ness monster spat.

Tourism is big business in the Scottish Highlands. And nothing draws folks to Scotland's second-longest lake like a good Loch Ness monster sighting.

But two local businessmen have set off a tempest in a serpent's teapot over how honest to be with tourists about whether there is – or isn't – a sea monster in Loch Ness.

George Edwards, who runs Loch Ness Cruises, complained that some of the other members of the Drumnadrochit, Scotland, Chamber of Commerce are leaving tourists - especially those visiting the Loch Ness Centre - with the impression that the Loch Ness monster is just a "myth."

That, in his opinion, is bad for business.

Read the rest ( I especially like the part about where many Nessie sightings have come from): Loch Ness monster: How much spin is too much spin? Christian Science Monitor>>

When the psychic word collides with the real world

2013-06-14T11:00:00.000-06:00

The media descended on the farm, looking for a story.

Joe Bankson and Gena Charlton live in a farmhouse in Hardin, Texas. In the early summer of 2011 they were away from home when they began getting calls from reporters asking for comment: Why were the police swarming all over their property?

It turns out someone had called police and claimed that there were dozens of dismembered dead bodies, including little children, buried in mass graves around their home, and police were searching for them.

The couple were a bit stunned.

They came home to find a trashed home as well as their reputation shattered. They were not serial killers, there were no dead bodies, and no arrests were made.

They sued the various news organizations who initially and erroneously reported that bodies had been found, and they also sued the Liberty County Sheriff's Office. The lawsuits against the media were dismissed, and they won a judgement against the police.

They also sued the person who called in the tip. For a while nobody could find her. All they knew was that she called herself "Angel."

And then they found their Angel.

Angel was a woman named Presley Gridley, who also goes by the name Rhonda. She lived 800 miles away in Stanton, Texas. She said she was a psychic and reverend and she was like the psychic Sylvia Browne. She called police and gave them the psychic tip that led to the police raid:

"These 32 souls are kids, and they said that's where they were actually killed. They were sacrificed there ... They said y'all would also find their bones there. They said their bones are like in the walls. Also if you'll look with some kind of light or whatever, there's stuff written all over the walls in blood."

Later, she said:

"I am a reverend. I am a prophet and I get my information from Jesus and the angels. I told them that I had 32 angels with me and they were giving me the information and then it went from there."

Ms. Gridley said that she's received these visions all her life.

She may not be as comfortable with other planes of existence. She did not show up after she was served with multiple subpoenas, or for her deposition, or for her court appearance.

Presley "Rhonda" Gridley is

served her first subpoena.

After she was served her first subpoena, she wrote a letter to the court:

"To whom it may concern, I have no knowledge and I am not aware of any situation or circumstance that would require me to appear, or give a deposition.

Can you please explain why? Can you give me an explanation concerning the matter?"

When the case went to a bench trial, the judge made a ruling.

Perhaps he was influenced by the fact that she never showed up at court, or that her psychic visions flew in the face of a more rational, logical and legal view of the world, or that her statement caused real consequences to an innocent couple. Whatever it was, the Honorable Carl Ginsberg made the ruling that Ms. Gridley made false and defamatory statements about Joe Bankson and Gena Charlton.

Although there is little likelihood that Ms. Gridley can ever pay, the judge awarded the couple $6.8 million.

- 'Psychic' who reported mass grave north of Houston must pay $7 million, Houston Chronicle>>
- Angel the Psychic, Wrong About All Those Bodies at a Liberty County Farmhouse, Has Been Located and Sued, Dallas Observer Blogs>>
- Couple Suing Over False Reports of Mass Grave Say After Police Raid, They Came Home To a Trashed House and No Friends, Dallas Observer Blogs>>
A tip of the brain pan to Simon Scott for the find.

A call from my credit card company

2013-06-13T13:00:00.000-06:00

They only call to sell you something, right?

But no, that's not the only reason you might get a call.

Hello. Are you Robert Brown?

Yes. that's me.

This is Mark Hanson calling from MasterCard's security fraud division.

Yes.

Do you have a MasterCard with the number: 5304-9892-7929-1807?

Wait, I have to get the card out. Hold on. Can you repeat the number?

It's MasterCard number 5304-9892-7929-1807. Expires 2/14. Issued by Flatirons Bank in Boulder.

Yes, that's my card.

Mr. Brown, we've noticed some unusual purchase activity on your MasterCard. Have you been traveling out of Colorado in the last week?

No, I haven't.

Have you recently purchased $549.45 in ammunition?

No.

Have you recently purchased $468.58 worth of baby formula?

No, not that I know of.

We've been monitoring certain companies for some time, and these specific purchases from certain companies have triggered our fraud pattern detection.

Your card was improperly charged for these two purchases. The money improperly charged to your MasterCard will be refunded to you before your next billing cycle. When you look on your next statement, you will see two charges:

$549.45 in ammunition purchased at a WalMart in Aberdeen, Idaho.

$468.58 worth of baby formula purchased at a Sam's Club in Eugene, Oregon.

If you see these purchases on your statement and there has been no refund issued to you before your next billing cycle, please call us.

You can reach us by calling the number on the back of your credit card. You can also go to our website at www.mastercard.us to visit our Fraud & Security page. You will find our email address and online submission forms.

Okay.

Mr. Brown, let me give you the control number for this security transaction. Can you write it down?

Hold on. Ready.

The control number is 56-6881.

56-6881. Okay.

Use that number to refer to this security call.

Okay.

If you have any questions, Mr. Brown, please do not hesitate to call or contact us via phone or email.

To verify that you possess the card, please read the three-digit security code on the back of your card. There is a four-digit printed number, and then a three-digit number just to the right of the four-digit number. We need your three-digit number.

Okay, wait. The three digit number. Hold on. Is it supposed to be a number?

Yes, it is a three digit number. There is a four-digit number, and then a three digit number. We just need your three-digit number.

Well, that's strange. I don't see any numbers. I just see letters.

They should be numbers.

No, no numbers at all. Just letters. Should I just read you the letters?

The numbers are located on the back of the card. They are to the right of the place for your authorized signature.

No, that's strange. They're definitely numbers. I can read them to you if you'd like.

Letters?

Yes, letters only. Let me read them to you:
F-U-C-K-Y-O-U.

(Click.)

The call was a scam. Do not give your three-digit security code to anyone who says they're from your credit card company. Scammers might be able to steal the information from the front of your card, so they already know it when they call you. What they're fishing for is the security code on the back.

Your credit card company already knows the security code on your credit card. That's why they'll never ask you for it.

Also, most authorities suggest merely hanging up if they ask for this information.

(And before anyone asks, no I did not use my real credit card number. I got my fake yet valid credit card number from here: GetCreditCardNumbers>>)

- Boulder DA warning residents of new scam to obtain credit card security codes, Boulder Daily Camera>>
- Security Guard, Snopes>>

The neighbors started screaming when they saw it

2013-06-13T11:00:00.000-06:00

They saw it lying on the ground.

When neighbors in Nottingham England saw a severed hand and finger lying on a walkway, they called police.

Police discovered the hand belonged to Patrick Plummer, a man who lived nearby.

He needed neither ambulance nor arrest.

Mr. Plummer makes props for theater groups, and he'd made the fake latex hand to scare his 15-year-old niece for her birthday party.

Unfortunately, the party-goers left the prop outside when they went inside to eat some birthday cake.

Said a Nottinghamshire Police spokeswoman:

"When officers arrived at the scene, a man, who was understandably red-faced, told us he was responsible for the practical joke.

"Instead of pointing the finger, we advised him about his actions. He promptly removed the hand and finger and apologised profusely."

The moral of the story: When your prank is done, always make sure your severed hand and finger are safely stowed away.

Fake severed hand party prank sparks police alert, Daily Mirror>>

How banks help scammers steal your money

2013-06-12T13:00:00.000-06:00

Crooks need help from real banks to rip you off.

Let's say a crooked telemarketer somehow tricks you into revealing your credit card information over the phone. Now that he's got that info, how does he get your money out of your bank and into his company?

What happens is the crooked company that calls you uses another crooked company to take the money from your bank.

Then that company funnels your money through a legitimate bank.

And, of course, that legitimate bank gets paid a little fee for helping to steal your money.

Now, closer attention is being paid to those legitimate banks.

Two of the banks involved in this type of fraudulent scheme were First Bank of Delaware and Zions Bank of Salt Lake City. First Bank of Delaware no longer exists, and Zions Bank is being sued.

From The New York Times:

In all, Zions in effect let roughly $39 million be withdrawn from hundreds of thousands of accounts from 2007 to 2009. Much of that money was ultimately transferred to bank accounts in Canada, India and the Caribbean, according to a Times review of court records. Many of the Internet merchants’ customers were older people and others on shaky financial footing. But that, too, worked in banks’ favor: the withdrawals set off a cascade of insufficient fund fees — more than $20 million in all, court records show.

Authorities say that the banks knew that other companies were using them to scam customers, but the banks did nothing because the banks were making money.

It's estimated that U. S. banks are helping fraudsters steal billions every year.

Read the complete article: Banks Seen as Aid in Fraud Against Older Consumers, The New York Times>>

The above image of a hand grasping cash was taken from a First Bank of Delaware commercial.

A cute Chinese girl's deceptive beauty

2013-06-12T11:00:00.000-06:00

What game is she playing?

She appeared in a post on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, and gained attention for her amazing makeup and costumes. Why?

Here she is, out of character.

Esuteru>>

The Annoying Devil pulls his pranks

2013-06-11T13:00:00.000-06:00

The Devil, of course, is the ultimate trickster.

Sometimes he works in IT.

I was looking for magic clips to include and instead I found these Annoying Devil segments, which appeared on Balls of Steel, the UK's "most daring and outrageous comedy quiz show." The pranks include fake poop and urine, angry cursing, and widely inappropriate sexual hi-jinks. Definitely not safe for work.

The Annoying Devil disturbs an office worker

The Annoying Devil disturbs even more people

Balls of Steel channel on YouTube>>

Find the people hidden in these photos

2013-06-11T11:00:00.000-06:00

Hiding in California No. 1 - Hollywood

I've mentioned him before, and here he is - or isn't - again: Chinese artist Liu Bolin.

There are 10 humans hiding in these five photos.

Hiding in the City - Beijing Graffiti No. 2

Hiding in the City - Mobile Phone

Hiding in the City - Sleeping Lion

Hiding in the City - Vegetables

Bon Jovi

See more here: Liu Bolin at Eli Klein Fine Art>>

An angel kills a man who has devil eyes

2013-06-10T13:00:00.000-06:00

Dr. Hutchison and Mr. Sommers.

It's the case where two diseases met, with fatal results.

Eighteen-year old Tim Sommers, seriously ill with paranoid schizophrenia, was running from the police and arrived in Britain after having killed a woman he met in a psychiatric hospital in Germany.

Dr. Douglas Hutchison was a 60-year old former chemist in the U.K. who had lost his sight in 2002 due to meningitis and shingles. His eyelashes would became ingrown and every month he had to have them plucked out, which led to his eyes being inflamed and red.

While Mr. Sommers was hiding in London, he smoked some marijuana and had a psychotic episode that was religious in nature. He imagined that he was an angel.

When he saw Dr. Hutchison's red eyes, he knew they were the eyes of the devil, so Mr. Sommers secretly followed him home.

When they arrived at his front door, he punched the blind man in the face so hard that he broke his own hand. Then he stomped on his head, over and over again.

Mr. Sommers tried a deception to escape. He stole an empty baby stroller from a nursery and was pushing it down the steet when he was stopped by police. He was wiping his hands underneath a baby blanket. When he withdrew them, police saw they were covered in Dr. Hutchison's blood.

Police said they knew it was him because "His eyes were vacant and crazy."

Dr. Hutchison died of his injuries, and Mr. Sommers pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Family of art writer fear red eyes triggered teenage attacker’s 'devil' delusion, Camden News>>

How fake pinkies help Japanese gangsters

2013-06-10T11:00:00.000-06:00

The yakuza members wanted custom-made

pinkies to replace the ones they'd cut off.

The prosthetic replacements are better then always trying to keep your hand in a fist. From ABC News:

Shintaro Hayashi never expected his job to lead him to the underworld.

The prosthetics maker built a career making silicone body parts for patients with breast cancer, or legs and arms for those injured in serious accidents.

But a decade ago, he started to notice a change in the clientele at his Tokyo-based company, Aiwa Gishi.

"I started to see a gradual increase in people who were asking for prosthetic pinkies," Hayashi, 39, said. "They weren't the standard small, medium or large, but custom-made pinkies."

In Japan, a stunted pinkie signifies membership in the yakuza, or Japanese mafia. In a ritual known as "yubitsume," yakuza members are required to chop off their own digits to atone for serious offenses. The left pinkie is usually the first to go, though repeated offenses call for further severing. As a result, those who get out, have a hard time finding work because of the stigma attached to those missing fingers.

That's where Hayashi comes in.

The doctor molds silicone prosthetic pinkies, made to seamlessly mask the amputation, making for a smoother transition to the outside world. Priced at nearly $3,000 each, the fingers are carefully painted, to match the exact skin color of the client. Former yakuza members, who make up 5 percent of Hayashi's business, often keep several sets of fingers for different seasons – the light skinned version for winter, and a tanned look for summer.

Denise Richards levitating - an optical illusion

2013-06-09T13:00:00.000-06:00

Is she floating?

A photo spread in The Daily News celebrates "Fit and fab celebrities over 40", but there's an optical illusion in one of the photos. Some see bikini-clad actress Denise Richards as having another amazing talent - she seems to levitate.

Did you see it, or are you disillusioned?

Fit and fab celebrities over 40, The Daily News>>

Idiot puts knife in toaster... really?

2013-06-09T11:00:00.000-06:00

"Oh my god!"

In the clip below, friends dare someone to put a knife into a plugged-in toaster. But besides the dubious judgement of all involved, and the exquisitely suspenseful editing, the real question is this: is the clip real or fake? (And for bonus points: was the woman in the vintage ad above really that ecstatic when she saw her new toaster?)

Idiot puts knife in toaster

The man who hoaxes reality TV shows

2013-06-07T13:00:00.000-06:00

Zozo, the creepy Gypsy clown

Do reality shows seem fake to you?

Ken Tarr knows that parts of them are definitely fake: he scams the shows by pretending to be whatever outrageous person he thinks they need. Here's how he pulled a hoax on the Judge Joe Brown show:

He made up a story that he was a Gypsy clown named Zozo who showed up two hours late and drunk to a kid's birthday party—then trashed the bathroom, causing $15,000 in damages.

Tarr pulled fake pictures of a damaged bathroom off the Internet and produced a bogus bill for "pigeon wrangling, snake charming, and an operetta" to back up his claims. J.B., an extra he met on the set of the TNT cop drama Rizzoli and Isles, played the aggrieved parent. They agreed to split their take no matter who won.

J.B. claimed that Tarr's clown outfit consisted of a fedora and a Greek tragedy mask much too scary for a kid's party. Nor was the clown in any state to entertain. "He's covered in water, he had vomit on his shirt, the toilet was overflowing, there was a vodka bottle in the toilet," J.B. told the judge. "He says 'I'm sorry, I'm stoned.'"
arr attempted to excuse away his tardiness. "I am color-blind and it was an ethnically diverse area," he told Brown. "So I started entertaining the wrong group of people. . . . Not every star can shine every night."

The audience seemed confused about whether to laugh or nod sympathetically.

As the judge listed the damages, Tarr donned his scary clown outfit. "Take that thing off!" Brown barked, before ruling in J.B.'s favor and awarding him the show's maximum, $5,000.

Read the entire article: Ken Tarr Launches a Hoax Campaign on an Industry Immune to Shame. Reality TV Insurgent, The Village Voice>>

The naked Durango train prank

2013-06-07T11:00:00.000-06:00

Click to enlarge and you might glimpse some

nearly naked people. (The photo was censured by the

newspaper for your protection.)

I was going to edit this down to a short blurb, but since some people are so stirred up by casual nudity that it warrants a full news story, I've decided to expose the full monty:

More than a dozen revelers who welcomed returning passengers on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad with bare butts and full frontal nudity last month irked a tourist and drew warnings from law enforcement.

The incident took place May 25 – the same day hundreds of bicyclists rode from Durango to Silverton for the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic. A photograph taken by the tourist shows naked men and women holding beers, whooping and hollering, and showing their backsides – and frontsides – for passengers aboard the train as it was pulling into town.

“It’s a shame that people do that stuff, isn’t it?” said Paul Schranck, general manager with the railroad.

Rafters have been known to “moon” the train, but full nudity is a whole new level, he said.

“People definitely moon the train, there’s no doubt about it,” Schranck said. “Most of the time, it’s been relatively minor things, but this sounds like it’s kind of amped it up a little bit.”

The train has reported similar incidents to the Durango Police Department, but it’s difficult to patrol.

“We can’t stop the train. If we do report them, by the time anybody’s able to respond, then whoever was responsible is usually gone,” Schranck said.

Jim Slavin, a passenger on the train, snapped the photo at 5:10 p.m. just north of Demon Bridge behind Durango High School.

“I found it quite offensive,” the Phoenix resident said during a phone interview this week. “Is this the way you want me to remember Durango? I don’t think it is.”

He sent the photo to Durango City Councilor Sweetie Marbury, who wrote Slavin an apology and then forwarded the photo to the Durango Police Department.

“I am deeply saddened by the picture you sent to Council,” she wrote to Slavin. “There is no excuse for rude behavior to the guests in Durango. ... I hope you will not judge all of our community by the acts of a few.”

Police were reviewing the photograph, but as of Wednesday, they had not identified anyone in the picture, said Lt. Ray Shupe.

If anyone can be identified, or if anyone is caught flashing the train, he or she can be cited for indecent exposure, a misdemeanor.

The police department has two bicycle patrol officers who will do extra patrol all summer along the Animas River Trail, Shupe said.

The river and the banks are considered a public park, he said, and it is illegal to have open containers of alcohol.

Slavin said he didn’t realize there were bare-breasted women and a fully naked man until he inspected the photo after taking it.

“I thought they were mooning the train, and I didn’t think it was going to be that bad,” he said. “I guess I didn’t realize how bad it was until I looked at the pictures and zoomed in on them.

“It’s pretty gross, depending on your taste,” he said.

Slavin, 77, said he doesn’t consider himself a “prude,” but this went beyond everyday sensibilities.

“Colorado is a pretty liberal area, and perhaps this is just a part of it,” he said.

It was Slavin’s first trip to Durango. He came specifically to ride the train. He was here for two days before going to Chama, N.M., to ride the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. In addition to riding the Durango train, he went for a hike, watched the bike races and ate dinner in Durango.

“I can’t say that I contributed significantly to the economy of Durango, but a little bit,” he said.

He didn’t notice if other passengers were taken aback by nudity.

“I got back and said, ‘Gee, this really isn’t right.’ I thought I’d at least give the people who are responsible an opportunity to see if they can do something about it,” Slavin said. “It will probably just embolden the people doing it to do it more brazenly in other places. But I hope not. I hope people understand that people are going away from Durango with an impression, and their rude, inconsiderate acts are contributing to a less-than-favorable impression.”

Jack Llewellyn, executive director of the Durango Chamber of Commerce, said residents should be considerate to tourists and offer directions if they appear lost.

“People are on vacation, there are kids,” he said. “There are people enjoying their vacation, and to see that – they don’t want to see that.”

He encouraged residents to report similar incidents, and, if they have photographic evidence, then turn it over to police.

“With today’s technology, if you’re dumb enough to do that, you’d better also be ready to pay the penalty,” Llewellyn said.

He also issued a warning to anyone thinking about baring it all for the train: “Be careful because they blow steam. You’re going to get scalded.”

In daylight, train riders see full moon. Partiers’ nudity not a pretty sight to all passengers, The Durango Herald>>

Deceptively blurry faces - three optical illusions

2013-06-06T13:00:00.000-06:00

Sorry sir, you're too disordered to drive.

Sarah Grass founded a company called Nikko & Camine that paints faces. Here are some of them.

Here's looking at you, kid.

Man, I didn't know I had that much to drink.

Nikko and Camine>>

Attend the tale of Sara's tragic life

2013-06-06T11:00:00.000-06:00

Ms. Ylen is 38 years old.

Sara Ylen said a stranger raped her in 2001 in a van in the parking lot of a store in Michigan. She said that besides the trauma of the rape, he also gave her a sexually transmitted disease.

When Ms. Ylen looked through police mugshots, she identified her attacker as James Grissom, who worked at the store of the parking lot where she'd been attacked.

Mr. Grissom, who had a previous sex-related charge on his record, was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to 15 to 35 years in prison.

That same year, Ms. Ylen impressed people with her courage when she went public about her ordeal in a prize-winning series of newspaper articles.

And then:

Two years after the conviction, Ylen called one of the detectives in the case and said she wanted to pursue sexual assault charges against her father and brother from when she was a child. She was told she needed to go to the county where she had lived at the time of the alleged assaults, which she did. Those investigators discovered that she had made additional rape allegations while on a trip to California in 2001—several months before she reported to police in Michigan that the attack in the Meijer parking lot involved a rape.

The California reports showed that Ylen had a history of making accusations of rape and kidnapping. She claimed to have been abducted and raped in 2001 in Bakersfield, but her father told police it was not true. He said that his daughter had been sexually assaulted by a female member of their church between the ages of 10 and 12 and that the assault had never been reported nor had his daughter received any counseling. The father told police that his daughter “likes to have a lot of attention.”

Police determined that the Bakersfield abduction was a fabrication—as were accounts by Ylen that she had once been raped in the parking lot of a restaurant minutes before she went to dinner with her family.

One police report said officers suspected she was mentally unstable after she reported various stories of rape, including that she had been gang-raped by her brother and his friends in Michigan and that her brother had been convicted and sent to prison, but was released and found her in California, where he raped her again. None of the accounts could be verified.

This information eventually led a judge to conclude that Mr. Grissom had not received a fair trial, and he might not have raped Ms. Ylen.

In 2009, Ms. Ylen said that she had gotten cancer due to the first sexual assault and was near death. An insurance company paid almost $100,000 for her hospice care.

In 2012, she said she was raped again, and she showed bruises from the attack.

Her story about cancer prompted a church to hold a spaghetti dinner for her that raised over $10,000.

Yet the names of some of her cancer doctors were fake, and the doctors and the cancer clinic that were real said they had never treated her.

Police determined that the bruises from her most recent assault were created with makeup.

Mr. Grissom was released from prison in 2012, after spending 10 years in prison.

Ms. Ylen, who has two young children, was arrested and is being charged with multiple felonies.

- James Grissom, The National Registry of Exonerations>>
- Cancer, rape fraud case bowls over Mich. community, The Big Story>>

Revealing the illusion of a very long arm

2013-06-05T11:00:00.000-06:00

Untitled (The Mouth of Truth)

by Jaqueline Cedar (2010)

Found at: joshuaabelow>>
Jaqueline Cedar>>

The thief who couldn't stop stealing

2013-06-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

Mark Anthony Brown

Mark Anthony Brown seems to have been born a thief. According to this article in The Spokesman Review:

Before he’d turned 18, he’d committed 13 burglaries, according to court documents, including one at a U.S. post office. He faced other struggles, including a suicide attempt, an escape from a juvenile detention center and temporary placement in a foster home. By 1982, he’d been involved in 60 known thefts and burglaries.

After he was on probation, he enrolled in college in 1978 to earn a computer science degree. But a search of where he lived discovered evidence that he'd committed dozens of burglaries.

Brown was diagnosed with kleptomania and borderline personality disorder. In a 20-minute, tearful statement to the court, he pleaded for leniency as the judge pondered a 20-year prison sentence.

“I’m not saying I don’t need to be locked up. If that’s what needs to be done to keep me from stealing, then that’s what I wish. At the same time, I feel I need something else. I honestly feel that the things I’ve done stem from things I was never in control of.”

When Mr. Brown got out on parole in 1994, he got a job in technical support. Yet it didn't last. A parole office had been set on fire, and Mr. Brown was caught with incriminating evidence at the scene of another potential arson. In his apartment, police found stolen items from a rash of business burglaries, including computer equipment and cages filled with exotic birds.

Mr. Brown was sentenced to 116 years in prison.

Years later, after Mr. Brown was transferred from one prison to another, a prison guard named Wesley Heckathorn noticed something odd. Mr. Brown seemed to be getting lots of legal mail, yet he was long past the time when he should have been filing appeals. Mr. Heckathorn convinced his superiors to let him start monitoring all of Mr. Brown's communications.

What Heckathorn uncovered was the inner workings of what appeared to be a remarkable scam in which Brown, typing away on an electric typewriter in his Idaho prison cell, filed allegedly false claims in major lawsuit settlements around the nation, collecting tens of thousands of dollars. One check alone, from litigation involving pharmaceutical powerhouse GlaxoSmithKline, was for $29,000 – mailed to Brown in prison.

Mr. Brown had fraudulently collected almost $64,000 and deposited it into his prison account, and then transferred it to an investment account.

Brown had no access to the Internet and appears to have had no accomplices or outside help. Instead, investigators believe he used a cherished electric typewriter that he was allowed to keep in his small, spare cell, and legal ads found in national newspapers including the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, to make fraudulent claims in big class-action lawsuits and bankruptcies.

He’s alleged to have typed up professional-looking legal documents, false letters from law firms and more, and made skillful use of the “legal mail” exception for inmates that allows for correspondence with attorneys and judges without review from prison staff. Big checks poured in – Brown’s take in multiparty lawsuits including a $70 million GlaxoSmithKline drug-pricing settlement and a $20 million IBM shareholders’ settlement.

Mr. Brown is now being indicted for mail fraud.

- Prison guard unravels con’s alleged mail fraud, The Spokesman-Review>>
- Idaho inmate accused of continuing fraudulent ways in prison, The Spokesman-Review>>

Do you know what drowning looks like?

2013-06-04T13:00:00.000-06:00

This kid is seconds away from starting to die.

You can be fooled into thinking someone is just playing in the water because real drowning does not look or sound the way that drowning is portrayed in TV or the movies. From an article in Slate on the Instinctive Drowning Response:

Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you all right?” If they can answer at all—they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents—children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

Read the article: Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning, Slate>>

Recognize the signs of drowning

News Video on Instinctive Drowning Response

Drowning signs aren't like the movies: wivb.com

Twins are not the same person

2013-06-04T11:00:00.000-06:00

Katie Parks and Sarah Parks

Do not be fooled - they are not the same.

Photographer Martin Schoeller shot a series of photos of people who look the same on the surface yet in close-ups reveal that they are indeed different people.

Mr. Schoeller is known for his intimate style of portraits with neutral expressions in front of unadorned backgrounds.

Marta Croll-Baehre and Emma Croll-Baehre

Ellen Starr and Helen Underwood

Nate Mueller and Kirk Mueller

In one set of twins, one of the twins, a man named Chris Tynski, changed gender from Chris to Kristi.

Daniel Tynski

Daniel Tynski's twin brother

became his sister, Kristin Tynski.

Forty of Mr. Schoeller's photos are featured in his book Identical: Portraits of Twins.
- Martin Schoeller>>

- Do These Identical Twins Look The Same To You? Fast Company>>
- Can you tell them apart? The identical twins captured by artist who says tiny irregularities in their faces betray personality differences, Daily Mail>>

Gun prank leads to multiple deaths

2013-06-03T13:00:00.001-06:00

Andrew Lobban did not have

a good sense of humor.

Andrew Lobban worked as a bouncer, and he and three other bouncers were friends who had gone out to shoot guns at a local shooting range.

The other three decided to pull a prank on him. They fixed his gun so it wouldn't fire and filmed him, then made fun of him afterwards.

The pranksters were Jerry Bynes, Jr., Josue Santiago and Benjamin Howard.

Later, Mr. Lobban told a friend he was sorry for what he had to do.

Just before one o'clock in the morning, outside an Ocala, Florida bar, Mr. Lobban pulled out a handgun and shot each man in the back of the head at point blank range, killing all three.

Police reported that Mr. Lobban had felt "ill will towards the three" since the prank.

He was held on three counts of premeditated first degree murder.

Ocala man denied bail after allegedly killing co-workers over prank, WFTV>>