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Jail inmate's alleged fraud foiled

NEW YORK, April 6(UPI) -- An inmate at New York's Rikers Island tried to scam his way out of jail by creating his own "Get out off Jail Card," authorities charged.

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City Investigation Department Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said in a release Dana Frontis, 46, of New York's Brooklyn borough, was indicted and arrested on charges of tampering with a court order by writing in lower bond and cash bail amounts, and forging a court official's initials. The unsuccessful attempt to gain release from jail allegedly occurred in February while Frontis was being held on burglary charges.

"This inmate concocted his own 'Get out of Jail Card,' according to the charges, but an alert correction officer spotted the ruse and thwarted that scheme," Gill Hearn said. "The Correction Department's immediate referral of the matter allowed DOI investigators to quickly uncover the facts that led to this indictment obtained by the Bronx County district attorney."

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Authorities allege Frontis lowered the court-ordered bond amount of $100,000 to $1,000, changed the $75,000 cash bail provision to $7,500 and forged a court official's initials on the document. If convicted, Frontis could receive up to seven years in prison.

He has pleaded guilty to the earlier burglary and was given an eight-year prison term on that conviction.


Child support 60 years late, woman sues

LOS ANGELES, April 6 (UPI) -- An 81-year-old woman is suing her ex-husband in Los Angeles for the $50-per-month child support she says he was supposed to start paying in 1950.

Rosemary Douglas, 81, said she became pregnant in 1950 and the father, Urban Joseph Grass, 52, to whom she was not married, wanted nothing to do with the baby and was ordered to pay $50 per month in child support. She says she never received the money, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday.

"He was ordered to do something. He didn't do it," Douglas said. "He didn't challenge it, not legally anyway. I'd always thought about this. It was never far from my mind. Finally I decided, why not? Why not try one more time?"

A lawyer for Grass, who now lives in Pearland, Texas, said the 82-year-old was unaware of the order until the lawsuit was filed. Attorney Pedram Mansouri said his client attended only one hearing on the subject before shipping to Korea with the Army and never received a child support order.

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The suit is seeking $57,000 in unpaid child support.


UFO hunter: Aliens killing sheep

CARDIFF, Wales, April 6 (UPI) -- A British UFO hunter said he is convinced extraterrestrials are behind recent sheep mutilations on the country's farms -- and claims he witnessed such an event.

Phil Hoyle, 53, of Shrewsbury, England -- who said he has been investigating British livestock mutilations for nine years -- said he and members of his Animal Pathology Field Unit team witnessed two UFOs using some sort of light to zap sheep and releasing smaller versions of themselves closer to the animals, The Sun reported Monday.

"For a short while it looked more like a Star Wars battle," he said of the purported incident at a Welsh farm near Radnor Forest.

"The technology involved in these attacks is frightening. These lights and spheres are clearly not ours. They are built by technology and intelligence that's not from here," Hoyle said.

Hoyle said he interviewed area farmers the following day and "all but one had had some type of unusual disappearance of animals or deaths with strange injuries."


Boy, 8, crashes van on gas run

BETHEL, Utah, April 6 (UPI) -- An 8-year-old Utah boy who tried to help his parents by gassing up the car before they woke up crashed the vehicle about 100 yards from home, the family said.

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Jordan Winters said his parents were sleeping just before 9 a.m. Friday at their Bethel home and he decided to save them time during the day by taking the family's 2003 Dodge Caravan to a nearby gas station for fueling, WLWT-TV, Cincinnati reported Monday.

Winters said he never exceeded 10 mph and was traveling about 5 mph when he crashed into a ditch.

"I kept on headed toward the ditch, so I had to turn and then I crashed. I almost crashed into the telephone pole," the boy said.

James Crouch, Winters' father, said police decided not to take any action.

"He wanted to get gas in the van for us, be nice," Crouch said. "He was still in his jammies."

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