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Deer rescues woman from attack

OXFORD, Ohio, March 1 (UPI) -- Police in Ohio said a startled deer became an accidental hero when it scared off a man who was attempting to choke a woman and drag her away.

Oxford Police Sgt. Jon Varley said the woman left a party early Sunday in the 500 block of Poplar Street and a man "tried to choke her and drag her" by her purse straps and "told her to be quiet," The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Thursday.

Varley said a deer that was apparently sleeping nearby suddenly jumped up and started running, causing the assailant to become spooked and flee.

Varley said the woman suffered red marks and bruising from being choked and punched in the forehead but did not require medical treatment.

Man scammed cash to 'launder' money

MALMO, Sweden, March 1 (UPI) -- Police in Sweden said they arrested a man who tricked two other men into paying him $408,000 to "launder" a supposed stained cash stash totaling $9.6 million.

Investigators said the 30-year-old suspect, a Malmo man whose name was not released, convinced a Pitea man he was in possession of $9.6 million in cash that had been colored black and he needed funds to "launder" the money, The Local reported Thursday.

The man and a friend gave the suspect a total $408,000 to have the cash cleaned with a promise of getting to keep some of the cash, police said.

Police said the men went to investigators when the suspect told them his "lawyers and U.N. officials" had vanished, taking the possibility of cleaning the cash with them.

The suspect is facing fraud charges, police said.

Couple, ages 98 and 95, set wedding record

INDIO, Calif., March 1 (UPI) -- A California couple calling themselves "the Romeo and Juliet of senior citizens" said they set a Guinness World Record with their Leap Day wedding.

Lillian Hartley, 95, and longtime sweetheart Allen Marks, 98, married Wednesday in a brief civil ceremony at the Riverside County Administrative Center in Indio, The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun reported Thursday.

The couple said Guinness World Records informed them they broke the world record for largest combined age of a marrying pair. The record keeping organization said the couple will officially take the title once they provide verification of their ages.

The previous record was set by a 96-year-old man and his 94-year-old bride in France in 2002.

"I don't know what will happen. I want to be together for all eternity, and I'm not taking any chances," Hartley said at her wedding. "We're the Romeo and Juliet of senior citizens."

Man registers dog to vote in N.M.

ALBUQUERQUE, March 1 (UPI) -- An Albuquerque man who successfully registered his dog to vote says his aim was to expose flaws in the voter registration system.

The man, who asked not to be identified, said he filled out Buddy the dog's information with a made-up Social Security number at a voter registration booth on the University of New Mexico's campus a few weeks ago and Buddy received his voter registration card in the mail Wednesday, KOB-TV, Albuquerque, reported Thursday.

"They should verify. Somebody should have verified this information and somebody should have come out and took a look at exactly who it was. But I made up a birth date, and I made up a Social Security number and I had a voter registration card in my hand for Buddy two weeks later," the man said.

The Bernalillo County Clerk's Office said it is rare that false applications make it through the screening process. Officials said the man could face voter fraud charges.

The man said he has no intention of voting under Buddy's name.