Watercooler Stories

Trader allegedly considered washing cash

NEW YORK, April 8 (UPI) -- Authorities said a New York stock trader charged in a $32 million insider trading operation considered running his dirty money through a washing machine.

Paul Fishman, the U.S. attorney in Newark, N.J., said New York stock trader Garrett Bauer, 43, and former corporate lawyer Matthew Kluger, 50, face charges including securities fraud and obstruction of justice after they and a third man, whose name was not reported because he has not been charged, allegedly pulled off the $32 million scam over the course of 17 years, the New York Post reported Thursday.

Fishman said conversations recorded by the third man, who has been assisting authorities in the case, revealed how Bauer allegedly considered options including burning his cash in a fire and running it through a washing machine at his mother's house to remove his fingerprints after he discovered he was being investigated by authorities.

Fishman said the scam involved Kluger passing on information about clients of his law firm in New York and Washington to the informant, who would pass the information on to Bauer.

Woman faces charge after TSA egg incident

PHILADELPHIA, April 8 (UPI) -- A Kansas woman said she is scheduled for a court date in Philadelphia after she opened a confetti-filled plastic egg over an airport security agent's head.

Val Baul, a former radio DJ and traveling clown known locally in Roeland Park, Kan., as the "Bunny Lady," said a Transportation Security Administration agent confronted her about her confetti-filled eggs after she had already been through security at Philadelphia International Airport during Valentine's Day weekend in February, WDAF-TV, Kansas City, Mo., reported Thursday.

"She wasn't investigating my eggs, I had already been through the X-ray machine (with no problems)," said Baul, who commonly dresses in a pink bunny suit and performs for special events. "She said, 'What are those?' and I said, 'Well, they're eggs filled with confetti.'"

Baul said she proved her point by opening one of the eggs over the agent's head, causing confetti to rain down on the other woman. Baul said she "didn't think anything of it," but the TSA agent took her to the airport's jail, where she was held for 3 hours.

Baul said she must return to Philadelphia in September to face a misdemeanor harassment charge.

Man from YouTube pot videos gets jail

ROSEMOUNT, Minn., April 8 (UPI) -- A Minnesota man who posted videos of himself teaching his 15-year-old nephew how to roll and smoke marijuana to YouTube was sentenced to 20 days in jail.

Khari Jerome Anse Tillman Sr., 32, of Rosemount, who initially faced four gross misdemeanor charges, received the jail sentence and two years of probation as part of a deal when he pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a child, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press reported Thursday.

Police said Tillman was arrested after child-protection services brought a series of YouTube videos to the attention of authorities in January 2010. The videos depict Tillman teaching the teenager how to roll a blunt, a hollowed-out cigar filled with marijuana, and smoke the marijuana. Tillman had been the boy's legal guardian at the time the videos were made.

Transgender official accused of homophobia

LAKE WORTH, Fla., April 8 (UPI) -- A transgendered Florida city manager said claims she is offended by "men in dresses" stem from a misconstrued conversation she had with a bar owner.

Lake Worth City Manager Susan Stanton, who was born Steve Stanton, said Loretta Lufty, owner of The Cottage restaurant and bar, allegedly misconstrued statements she made to make it seem like Stanton had spoken against the drag show tea dances hosted at the establishment, the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post reported Thursday.

Lufty said she has collected 1,400 signatures on a petition against Stanton. She claims the city manager told her "men in dresses, and men dancing with men is offensive" and she would "suffer the consequences" unless she halted the tea dances. The petition accuses Stanton of abusing the city's noise ordinance to try to shut down the drag shows.

However, Stanton noted there have been no fines lodged against The Cottage under the noise ordinance and said Lufty misunderstood her words during a conversation about keeping the peace between downtown restaurants.

"I have never stated to anybody in my office that I'm offended with men in dresses -- certainly given the fact that I'm a transsexual," Stanton said this week during a city commission meeting.

The commission passed a resolution during the meeting reaffirming its support of equal rights for all residents, "regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."