People have been debating D.B. Cooper ever since his Thanksgiving 1971 leap into history and out of a commercial flight from Portland to Seattle with a whole bunch of money. The same, on a smaller scale, appears to be happening with North County’s own Geezer Bandit, so-called. He hit Vista — twice — Rancho Santa Fe, La Jolla — twice — Poway and 10 other…
Eight people were charged in a federal grand jury indictment unsealed recently, accused of participating in a criminal enterprise that has stolen millions of dollars from elderly victims in San Diego County and around the nation. The defendants swindled more than $2 million from 70-plus elderly victims across the nation, with at least 10 in San Diego County, by feeding them phony stories that their…
People Behaving Badly has seen more than its share of miscreants and foolish hooligans through the years. Now in its 10th edition at this quality online media outlet, this approach to crime, and sometimes punishment, focuses on the strange and unusual, gruesome and innocently hilarious, along with the usual share of death, destruction and eternal damnation. In the age of covid, a new category of…
We are going to consider a few outstanding three-dot items stripped from below, well below, today’s coronavirus headlines. But first, a reminder and salute about he who pioneered the three-dot way It’s been over 20 years since famed San Francisco journalist Herb Caen (1916-1997) died. For journalists and San Franciscans, Caen was a superstar. Known as “Mr. San Francisco,” his columns were a vital piece…
Stockton can be a mean town. Just ask Poway resident Cynthia Niswonger. Niswonger’s family vacation return trip from Oregon took a detour of the worst sort about 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 11 outside the McDonalds at 611 West Charter Way, Stockton. That is when a thief broke the lock on her green 2000 Ford Focus hatchback and stole the car. Complicating the theft was the…
A man who allegedly shot his friend three times in the back over a woman, then fled to Mexico and remained on the lam for three decades, is finally set for trial. Simon Loredo Mayo, 58, faces up to 14 years in prison if convicted of the Dec. 12, 1988, shooting at Luna De Miel in Rancho Santa Fe. Mayo fired at least five times…
Escondido mom Christie Donehue left her westside home the afternoon of Thursday, Nov. 29 for a North County doctor’s appointment. Donehue never got there. Nobody knew why the normally reliable 43-year-old woman missed the appointment or where she was although Escondido police initially said no signs of foul play were discovered. Donehue’s family was puzzled, however, by the fact she left behind her purse, wallet and…
Five years after his last reputed heist, could the Geezer Bandit have surfaced at a San Marcos Chase Bank around 5 p.m. Friday, June 3 armed with a money-demand note, black box he said was a bomb and a handgun? No telling, at least for now as Michael Lehman, 81, was arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery and terroristic threats, among other charges, on Palomar…