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Ex-Detroit police chief a crime victim

DETROIT, July 17 (UPI) -- Former Detroit Police Chief James Barren's house was hit by burglars on the day he ended his 31-year career with the department, police said.

Barren, forced out by Mayor Dave Bing, told the Detroit Free Press the burglars took a television, camcorder, computer and jewelry.

"They got me pretty good," he said.

The burglary occurred July 9 while Barren was at work. He said during his years in Detroit, he has had cars stolen and one previous burglary many years ago, the Free Press reported.

"This is part of living in the big city," he said. "It goes with the territory."

Man who lost testicle may be spared jail

CINCINNATI, July 17 (UPI) -- An Ohio judge said he likely will not jail a man whose firearm possession violation cost the man a testicle.

Thomas Hatfield, 30, pleaded guilty Thursday in Cincinnati to being a felon with a firearm after he accidentally shot off one of his own testicles May 4 with a .38-caliber semiautomatic handgun. He had been banned from owning the gun because of his status as a convicted felon, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

Police said Hatfield was also in possession of a single-shot 12-gauge shotgun.

"Because you injured yourself, that's kind of bad enough right there, so I'll consider probation," Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Ruehlman told Hatfield after his guilty plea.

"Obviously," the judge told Hatfield, "you don't know a whole lot about firearms. You need to read the directions."

Hatfield, who has previous convictions for aggravated riot and attempted aggravated arson from 1997, is due to be sentenced Aug. 6.

Man alerts police to own bank robbery

WAYNESVILLE, N.C., July 17 (UPI) -- Police in North Carolina said they arrested a man who called 911 to report his intention to rob a bank.

Investigators said Terrence Joseph Germani, 52, told the dispatcher as he was walking into the Wachovia bank branch in Waynesville, he was wearing a black shirt with white shoes and was not carrying a weapon, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported.

He told the dispatcher he had been mentally unstable all his life and wished to be locked up.

"I've got a note. I am going to rob the bank," he said. "I need to go to prison. I can't live like this anymore."

A police officer arrived at the bank and, rather than draw his gun, calmly approached Germani and asked what was happening.

"You got me," the officer's report quoted Germani as saying. "I'm robbing the bank."

The officer said Germani demanded to be arrested.

"Arrest me," he said. "I did it. I robbed the bank. I just handed her a note."

Germani told police he wanted to be locked up because he believed he was a danger to himself.

He was arrested and charged with felony attempted common law robbery. He was taken to the Haywood County jail and held on $15,000 bond.

Bingo winnings check bounces

DETROIT, July 17 (UPI) -- A suburban Detroit woman said the winnings check she earned from the Bingo Club at the Ford Wayne Civic League in Westland bounced at the bank.

Misty Laturnus, a mother of three with a fourth child on the way, said she won a Bingo game July 11 and was awarded a check for $26,449, WDIV-TV, Detroit, reported.

"I was waiting for B6 for like seven numbers and it came," Laturnus said. "I jumped up, fell down and hit my head."

However, Laturnus said she received word Monday that the check, which she had used to open a new bank account the previous day, had been returned as uncollectable.

"The bank said they didn't have sufficient funds in their account to clear the check," she said.

The president of the Bingo Club said he called the bank to sort out the issue and had the funds transferred directly to Laturnus' account, the report said.

Laturnus said she did notice a pending transaction on her account Wednesday night, but she did not yet know whether that transaction cleared.