Watercooler Stories

Ky. town has Peeping Tom in skull mask

FORT WRIGHT, Ky., Aug. 17 (UPI) -- A search was on for a peeping Tom in a Halloween skull mask who peers into windows at night, police in Fort Wright, Ky., said Thursday.

Two incidents were reported in July in the small town near Cincinnati, Ohio, authorities confirmed, adding that a third peeping case may have occurred but the victim said she did not get a good look and was not certain the suspect wore a mask.

No one has been injured in any of the incidents, police said.

Boy, 9, left at wrong bus stop

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla., Aug. 17 (UPI) -- A Florida mother said her 9-year-old son boarded the wrong school bus and was forced by the driver to get off the vehicle at a stop he did not know.

Donna Whalen of Estero said her son, Ryan Scott, 9, got on the wrong bus the afternoon of Aug. 10 at Pinewoods Elementary School and told the driver when he realized he was on the wrong vehicle, WINK-TV, Fort Myers, Fla., reported Thursday.

"She said I wasn't special, no one is special, so get off the bus," Ryan said.

Whalen said the driver left Ryan at the side of a road in Bonita Springs, more than a mile away from his intended stop at the Bonita Springs Rec Center.

Whalen said Ryan walked to a nearby post office and called her at the Naples post office, where she works.

The mother said she filed a complaint with the school district, but has yet to hear back.

"It's scary as a parent. You don't want to see any child go through this. I don't think the bus driver should have a job anymore," Whalen said.

District officials said the incident is under investigation.

Model sues after pic used for escort site

NEW YORK, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- A New York model filed a lawsuit after a picture she took for a car ad was used by a Web site that implied she was a Swedish escort.

David Jaroslawicz, a lawyer for Caroline Giles, 30, said his client is suing Volvo, Hertz and the Ford Models agency after a picture taken of her for a Volvo S40 promotion was used for Hertz advertisements in Argentina and a Swedish Web site that offers users the chance to "spend the night with a Swedish model of your choice," the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

Jaroslawicz said his client was paid a $1,000 one-time use fee for the photoshoot.

"I can't take Julia Roberts' picture and advertise soap," he said. "They started using her (Giles) as if they owned her."

Spokesmen for the plaintiffs declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Dead clown's money to heirs vanishes

TORONTO, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Four bank drafts worth $80,000 mailed to beneficiaries of a Canadian clown who died last year have disappeared in the postal system, the clown's executor said.

Lorrainne Pearce, 66, worked professionally as Buttercup the Clown until she died of cancer early last year. She bequeathed about $80,000 to four friends in the Toronto area, the Toronto Star reported Thursday.

Her executor, Mary Chmiel, obtained bank drafts this year and then mailed them to the beneficiaries using Canada's Post's next-day, computer tracked service. However, the drafts never arrived and Canada Post says there's no record of where they went.

Chmiel said the post office investigated for several days before calling to say the four envelopes were considered lost and the case was closed.

She contacted her member of Parliament and the post office reopened the investigation hours later, the Star said.

Meanwhile, the bank that issued the drafts said it can't re-issue the drafts until Canada Post officially declares the drafts lost.

The investigation into the clown's vanishing money was continuing, the report said.

Police: Bus driver used aliases for heists

GENOA, Italy, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Police in Italy said they have arrested a clever criminal comparable to French author Maurice Leblanc's gentleman thief Arsene Lupin.

Investigators said Davide Patti, 34, a bus driver in Genoa, used false identities to carry out heists reminiscent of the fictional thief's crimes, ANSA reported Thursday.

Police said Patti posed as a banker, a mail carrier and a business owner to gain access to credit and ATM cards from at least two banks and a post office.

Patti was stopped by police and arrested while attempting to gain access to official documents at the Ligura region's headquarters.