By Larry Celona

August 13, 2001 — A gun-toting thug got shot in the foot when a livery cabby resisted a robbery attempt in Queens, police said.

Cops said Damien Vernon, 19, approached a Red Carpet Car Service cab on the corner of Farmer’s Boulevard and 114th Avenue in Jamaica at about 9 p.m. Saturday.

Vernon hopped in the cab, pointed a .357 handgun at the front seat, and demanded money from the 43-year-old cabby, police said. The driver resisted and struggled with Vernon, police said. As the men fought, Vernon’s gun went off, hitting him in the foot, cops said.

Vernon fled, and was being treated for a gunshot wound at Long Island Jewish Hospital when cops arrived and arrested him, police said. The Queens resident was charged with robbery.

The driver was not injured.

By Brian Kelly
Herald Writer

CAMANO ISLAND — A naked man found wandering around Stanwood Cinemas led police to his indoor marijuana garden after deputies asked the man what he did for a living, police said Wednesday.

Deputies from the Island County Sheriff’s Office said they removed more than 80 marijuana plants — including 50 or so mature plants — from a shed behind the 30-year-old man’s home on Maple Tree Lane, a dead-end road on the south end of the island.

The strange saga began Saturday night when moviegoers and diners in restaurants near the theater’s courtyard reported seeing a naked man walking around the complex in full view of families dining out.

When an officer approached the man and asked why he was walking around naked, the man reportedly said that he felt like it so he just did it. An officer writing the man a ticket for indecent exposure then asked the man what he did for a living, and he allegedly said he grew marijuana.

According to a police report, the man then asked for the officer’s help in harvesting the crop. The officer said he was too lazy to help but offered to go look at the man’s operation, and the naked man agreed.

In the outbuilding behind the man’s mobile home, police found what they described as a “sophisticated hydroponic grow operation.”

Deputies allegedly found numerous grow lights on timers, fans and a complicated watering system with a line running to each of the plants.

Police said the man seemed proud of his operation, telling them that the system used no dirt, just lava rock, and he picked a large bud from a plant and handed it to an officer.

In a written statement to police, the man allegedly said: “I grow marijuana for fun and profit, to support myself and my family, to help bring us a better life.” He also said he was growing marijuana for his father, who had a disease, and for other “medically ill people.”

The man’s wife told police she had never been inside her husband’s shed, but that was where her husband did his artwork and practiced with his yo-yo.

Deputies said they asked the man what he expected them to do after he showed them his garden, and the man said he didn’t expect them to do anything.

Police, however, confiscated the plants and growing equipment. The man was cooperative, they said, even helping to load the equipment into police vehicles.

The man may be charged with manufacture of a controlled substance, but he is not named because charges have not been filed.

BY DOUG PETERS
An accused car thief in Woodbury committed the cardinal sin of thievery last week by returning to the scene of the crime.

But 20-year-old Derrick Lee Spillman of Minneapolis put his own unique twist on the blunder — he returned to the scene after he had been arrested and the car had been returned.

Posing as his “identical twin” brother.

Asking for the return of the .38-caliber handgun he had left in the car.

Spillman’s saga began shortly after 12:30 a.m. Friday, when he slipped into a white Jeep Cherokee that was parked — unlocked and with the keys on the driver’s side floor — in a driveway on the 3200 block of Camelot Drive in Woodbury.

The Jeep’s owner was watching television on the living room couch when he heard a car running outside. He called police after seeing his car pull out of the driveway, and Spillman was pulled over just minutes later. He was arrested and released with the understanding that he would appear in court on Monday.

Since Spillman had only been in the car a short time, officers allowed the owner to inspect the car and take it home when no damage was found. That cursory search did not turn up the .38-caliber handgun that Spillman allegedly had stashed in the Jeep’s center console.

The Jeep’s owner found the gun the next morning and immediately called police, who picked up the gun.

Later Friday, according to a complaint filed in Washington County District Court, Spillman returned to the home from which he had stolen the Jeep less than a day earlier.

According to the complaint, Spillman told the Jeep’s owner that his twin brother had stolen the car and had left Spillman’s handgun in it. Could he, Spillman asked, have the gun back?

Spillman did not get the gun. He got an additional charge of possessing a pistol without a permit to add to the felony auto-theft count.

Spillman’s next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 12 at 9 a.m.

Story by Greg Rickabaugh of the Augusta Chronicle

Police arrested a 20 year-old burglary suspect Wednesday morning after finding several personal effects, including his identification card, at the scene of a store break-in.

Richmond County Sheriff’s deputies responding to an alarm at the Milledgeville Convenience Store on Milledgeville Road early Wednesday found a hole in the roof. They also found the suspect’s identification card, a wristwatch and a blue cap.

When deputies went to the address on the card, the suspect’s father said the ID, cap and wristwatch belonged to his son, Lt. Jimmy Young said.

Ulysses Jones II told deputies his son, Ulysses Jones III, was inside the home. Investigators found him hiding in the attic.

In another room, deputies found blue jeans covered with tar and a pair of tennis shoes that matched the footprints left in the store, Lt. Young said.

“The dad made it easy - ‘Yeah, that’s my son’s cap. Yeah, that’s my son’s picture,’ ” he said. “He gave us permission to search the house.

The younger Mr. Jones was charged with felony burglary.

Authorities said he got inside the Milledgeville Road Convenience Store about 3 a.m. by knocking a hole in the roof and climbind down a ladder.

Police suspect the target of the burglary was the store’s cigarette supply, because store managers found several packs - and nothing else - missing.

Mr. Jones previously had been jailed on charges of criminal trespass, possession of marijuana, obstruction of a law enforcement officer and a probation violation. He was being held at the Richmond County Jail without bond Wednesday.

MISSOULA, Mont. — Things just went from bad to worse for a pair of Missoula residents who left a black Labrador tied to an outside water spigot.

The dog ripped the pipe apart, flooding their basement. The landlord said he had to enter the apartment to reach the shut-off valve, and found a marijuana growing operation in the process.

Michael J. Staley, 23, and Jenna Lee Fetters, 22, were arrested on drug charges.

According to court documents, police who searched the house found 21 plants, harvested marijuana, equipment for growing marijuana, a digital scale, pipes, rolling papers and what was believed to be LSD.

On Tuesday, Staley and Fetters were charged in Missoula Justice Court with felony counts of criminal production of dangerous drugs and criminal possession of dangerous drugs. They also were charged with misdemeanor criminal possession of paraphernalia.

August 13, 2001 — A gun-toting thug got shot in the foot when a livery cabby resisted a robbery attempt in Queens, police said.

Cops said Damien Vernon, 19, approached a Red Carpet Car Service cab on the corner of Farmer’s Boulevard and 114th Avenue in Jamaica at about 9 p.m. Saturday.

Vernon hopped in the cab, pointed a .357 handgun at the front seat, and demanded money from the 43-year-old cabby, police said. The driver resisted and struggled with Vernon, police said. As the men fought, Vernon’s gun went off, hitting him in the foot, cops said.

Vernon fled, and was being treated for a gunshot wound at Long Island Jewish Hospital when cops arrived and arrested him, police said. The Queens resident was charged with robbery.

The driver was not injured.

LARGO, FL — Police Sgt. George Edmiston was heading home from work when he looked up and saw headlights.

The car barreling toward him was going south in the northbound lane of Highland Avenue.

Edmiston saw the headlights dart back and forth, an indication the car was fishtailing on the rain-slicked road.

The car swerved into the southbound lane, then whizzed past Edmiston’s take-home squad car at about 65 mph, he said.

Edmiston turned around to go after the black Honda CRX.

The driver flicked on his left turn signal, indicating he was going to turn left into the Highland Recreational Complex.

But instead, he steered to the right.

“I think he was trying to lose me,” Edmiston said later.

It was a brilliantly evasive move, except for one minor detail.

The driver turned right into the Largo Police Department parking lot.

Edmiston pulled into the parking lot, where he saw the Honda stopped near the department entrance.

The front of the Honda was smashed, and steam rose from under the hood.

The driver of the Honda spun his wheels and took off toward the parking lot entrance.

Edmiston flicked on his emergency lights.

The driver started jumping medians in the parking lot, then stopped near a light pole.

As Edmiston ordered the driver out of the car, a man in a white Hyundai drove up.

The Hyundai, which had damage to its back end, had been rear-ended by the Honda while stopped at Missouri Avenue and Rosery Road.

The Hyundai driver said he had tried following the Honda after the driver took off after the crash.

The Honda driver, Roel Pena Sevilla, 20, of 809 Turner St., Apt. 2, Clearwater, was arrested on charges of reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident with injuries, police reports state.

The Hyundai driver, John Walton of Clearwater, complained of a sore back. Sevilla suffered a cut lower lip.

Sevilla said he hit the windshield during the crash, police said.