Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: The Next Crime Scene is only a Phone Call Away

There is a scary new trend in the world of crime: bomb threat by cell phone. All week long, Walmart stores and other business across the United States have had some creep calling them via cell phone and demanding the manager wire money to an overseas account or a bomb will blow up in the store. The caller tries to terrify the customers and management of the store by making it seem like he is watching the store and is just outside in the parking lot with his finger on the detonator. He even got some people to remove their clothes because they thought he could see if they were obeying him.

Sure enough, some of the managers were frightened enough to wire money and so this scumbag is collecting off of his ruse. To think, this guy is just sitting in his living room (or bedroom if he is a young crook) in some country (and the last guess was Portugal), running down a list of store names on the Internet and making phone calls like he was a salesman cold calling his prospects. He doesn't have to actually walk into a store or physically threaten people or risk getting in a confrontation with the police. He just sits in the comfort of his home with a phone to his ear. and gets a darn good profit from his crime

Sadly, unless people stop falling for this ploy or some law is passed that makes sending money to the blackmailer a crime in itself (aiding and abetting a criminal), the number of these crimes may skyrocket. If it works well enough, think of all the criminals around the world who can copy this crime with just a cell phone and a computer and a way to retrieve the money (and not get caught). Already the Nigerian scams have netted god knows how much money with the fake checks they are printing and sending to their victims, and now we have a more frightening form of crime being perpetrated from overseas.

It is hard enough for law enforcement to deal with home grown crime. Just imagine what will happen if they have to work across international boundaries and get cooperation from foreign legal systems. With globalization and world wide communications, crime means offenders don't have to find victims just in their neighborhoods; they can find them thousands of miles away.

As Maxwell Smart would have said, "Too bad he didn't use his cell phone and the Internet for niceness instead of evil." The new technologies we now can't live without will be bringing us a whole bunch of crimes we wish we would never have to deal with.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Superbad is Superscary

I went to see the movie Superbad last night to see what all the fuss was about. The critics are raving, the public is raving; this movie is being called the most hilarious, accurate, teen raunch movie of the decade, destined to become one of the great all time classics. I have to admit, the audience loved it. I, on the other hand, found it only occasionally amusing, usually when the movie dealt with the boys inept handling of communication with females. The rest of the movie was filled with totally stupid humor one would think would only be funny for fifteen-year old males who find people throwing up a scream, and bad words hysterical. I could live with this and walk away thinking, "Let the kids have their fun," except for the fact that a lot of people in that audience were older than fifteen and they loved the movie. Worse, there were kids in the movie theater that were under fifteen and they loved the movie.

The movie was totally degrading to women and the importance of love in a physical relationship. The main character constantly talked about sexual acts and body parts in such a repulsive manner that I can't believe females in America accept this as a perfectly okay thing. Women essentially become sluts and bitches in this movie, nothing more than unimportant humans on the planet living only to serve the sexual needs and egos of these selfish, immoral creeps called teenagers.

The only boy in the film who starts off as seeming to actually like a girl as a real person and not just a sex object, still gets himself drunk to sleep with her when he is told he won't be a date rapist if he is just as inebriated as she is. He is even willing to provide the booze to get her there. Then, when the drunk girl actually drags him to the bedroom and rips off his clothes, all the while acting like the biggest ho in the world and talking as dirty as some 50-year-old sex pervert, he feels uncomfortable and stops her. Later, she thanks him for not taking advantage of her while she was drunk, indicating that she is really an innocent virgin. Please, give me a break. If this is the way decent schoolgirls act, we are in big trouble.

Actually, yes, we are in big trouble. The movie being acclaimed as so wonderful by so many is disturbing. We cheer for the foulmouthed, crude, repulsive, lawbreaking, annoying, disrespectful, misogynist slob and are happy when he finally gets his way with some brainless babe who rewards him with sex because she recognizes that underneath all of that repulsiveness is a really a great guy.

With this kind of attitude toward women (and we see it in other movies and music), I am surprised females want to date any more. Even if guys sometimes think about girls in a less than romantic way, wisdom says keep it to yourself. But, constantly informing women that they are viewed as meat seems horribly unappealing. Sadly, I think more and more females today have accepted this role as their lot in life, as just the way it is, and just the way guys think. They no longer believe that sex should be part of a love filled, passionate relationship. It's just about sexual release and thrills, mostly his. If you want to be accepted and you want a guy in your life, just don't say no to humiliation.

Respect for women is dead, and by the lack of bad reviews coming in about this movie, it isn't likely to return soon.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: 40 Children, 40 Days, No Adults

And 40 sets of parents who ought to be charged with child neglect and abuse.

Reality TV is bad enough for society as we watch adults who choose to humiliate themselves and each other for money or fame, and we as a country who get a kick out of watching adults make asses and fools out of themselves ought to be ashamed. But, at least we are talking consenting adults who lower themselves to be a part of such appalling circuses.

What about those children on talk shows? You know the ones I mean. "My Teenager Acts Like a Whore" and "My Grade School Kids are Brats." Shouldn't putting your children on display as failures and emotional disasters and victims of pedophiles be tantamount to abuse? I sure as hell think so. I would like to see it be illegal for kids to be paraded by their sick parents on such shows and I think we should all be writing letters to complain to the networks that promote this atrocity.

But just when I thought it couldn't get worse, now we have children turning into "Lord of the Flies" so we can get our fill of this sick thrill in the comfort of our living rooms.

Children are supposed to be nurtured, respected, and cared for by responsible adults twenty-four hours a day. Although "Kids' Nation" claims it is like summer camp, I don't know of any kid's camp where the ratio of adults guiding children is 0 to 40. Even if the children are in a "safe" setting with adults lurking on the outside of the performance ring, the purpose of parenting is not to watch your kids go at it with each other, fend for themselves, make their own rules, and only step in when your child has suffered enough emotional damage to be removed from the game.

I guess this is a "fun" experiment, to see if the children will become as deranged as those in William Golding's horrifying story. Woo-hoo! Wouldn't that make those TV ratings soar!

I feel ill.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: A Sow's Ear in Disguise

Bobby Cutts, the police officer who allegedly murdered his pregnant girlfriend, has now been charged with murder of the mom and baby. There is still much speculation as to what the motive was. Some think it was his rising debts and the fact this woman and child when born would add to them. Others think his motive was to eliminate a woman he was no longer interested in so he could spend more time with new females in his life. It seems that people feel more comfortable if there is a "reason" the character committed homicide. Unfortunately, this reason is what a defense attorney pushes to make the killer look more human, more understandable and forgivable. Even if the guy is a coldblooded serial killer, his bad childhood is the reason he ended up murdering people. If these desperate problems had not come into the killer's life, he wouldn't be a killer. In other words, he is not such a bad guy except for problems that pushed him over the edge.

While it may be true that an individual may not have sunk to the level of murder had not some issue upset him, we have to ask ourselves if it is ever an okay response to kill because one is having a bad hair day. Most of us go through life all the time getting pissed off and frustrated about what people and life has done to us. For all that I have been through, killing people to improve my circumstances, get rid of problems, or vent rage, has never occurred to me. Why is that? Could it be I think it is morally unacceptable?

Bobby Cutts apparently did not have this issue with right and wrong. And what kind of person doesn't have an issue with right and wrong? A psychopath. And what is the only thing that stops a psychopath who has no morals from committing crime? Getting lucky enough not to need to commit crime or being worried enough not to get caught.

Take this example: suppose a man decides his wife is becoming a problem to him. He plans to take her on a hike near some cliffs and push her over. But, before they leave for the weekend, the wife has a blood clot go to her brain and she dies. Woo hoo! The husband is happy he doesn't have to bother to kill her. Does this make him a nice man? Hardly. He simply got lucky. Or suppose a child molester wants to rape little girls but now everyone is watching him like a hawk. He doesn't do anything except fantasize. He also is hardly a nice man.

So, when someone does murder or rape or commit other heinous crimes, we ought to recognize that he is a dangerous animal. There is no excuse in the world that should make us view him in another way.

He is just a sow's ear we think might be a silk purse until we take the wrapping paper off.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

(photos courtesy of Yahoo News)

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Commit Crime and Collect Cash

What sentence do you think this guy got?

"My wife was falsely accusing me of having an affair with one of her friends. She pushed me and I pushed her away from me and I went to the kitchen to get a bottle of medicine because I had a headache. I was putting water in the glass when I heard her yell, "I am going to kill you, you bastard!" It just scared me because once before she had threatened me with a gun. It was just a spontaneous act. I grabbed a knife that was drying on a towel on the counter. I turned around just as she lunged. The knife just went into her chest and she collapsed and died. I loved her before I knew her and I will continue to love her for all my days."

After 11 months in jail during which time he completed his GED and went to Bible study and life skill classes, the judge said at his sentencing hearing, "I have come to find out that you are apparently a very decent person." He accepted the plea bargain that suspended a ten-year prison sentence and placed him on probation for five years. "I am giving you the benefit of the doubt."

Outraged? I bet. Eleven months for killing his wife?

Now, replace the he with she in this story and see how you feel. This two page story in The Washington Post was one of those human interest stories, this time about how a woman who had a hard upbringing accidentally killed her husband last night and is now back in the world and "Reclaiming a Life (hers apparently since hubby ain't coming back)." We are supposed to feel sorry for her struggles. She is having difficulties with work and finances (although that $400,000 she is about to pick up from the insurance company for stabbing her husband should help a wee bit - apparently an "involuntary manslaughter" conviction allows the killer to collect money on the victim).

I don't buy the woman's story. She uses the word "just" a few too many times for comfort as "just" is one of those words that sets up a red flag for a profiler; usually a lie follows.

But, ten months? The benefit of the doubt? If this had been a man, would the attitude be quite so lenient? I have much sympathy for battered women and realize that self-defense may be an issue, but this lady's story doesn't hold water. If she had been a guy, she would be doing all ten of those years. Instead, the woman gets nearly half a million dollars for committing a crime. Being female in this instance, paid off.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Update on Alien Apples and Offending Oranges

Rodolfo Godinez has just been arrested in connection with the Newark homicides. He is a legal U.S. resident and there goes the immigration argument in this criminal issue. Again, the problem isn't about the legality of the residency status but the fact that we let violent criminals back on the streets even when we know for sure they are dangerous to the community. Godinez got bail for stabbing two men in a robbery. Then he vanished.

Bail should be for nonviolent offenders. Yes, they have committed a crime and they should be prosecuted for it. But, you are more of an annoyance than a physical danger to the community. However, if you are the kind of guy who has no problem choking, stabbing, or shooting people, I really don't want you walking around on the streets while we decide what to do with you. Let's make sure the public is as safe as possible and then make sure we apply proper justice.

Having said all of this, it is important to look at the some of the kind of folks that sneak into the country. They are clearly not doing all that well in their own. Sometimes it is because economic opportunity is near nonexistent; sometimes it is because they are not the kind of people folks want to hire. In other words, they may be losers and they may be dangerous losers. The governments of their countries will be more than happy to get rid of them.

Many illegal immigrants are nice people trying to survive. But, some are scum who we should be keeping out of the country if we can. We have the right to refuse such folks entry and to track them down if they make their way in. However, moving from a general argument to this one incident is not useful as we can now see that one of the alleged killers is an actual legal resident. Let's focus on the most important aspect of this heinous crime: let's stop bail for violent offenders.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profing Topic of the Day: Mixing Alien Apples with Offender Oranges

Imagine this scenario: A man purchases an illegal fireman from a criminal on the street. He is a felon who has been released from jail after serving only half his sentence for armed robbery. He has broken parole five times but instead of being sent back to prison, he has just been given warnings. He walks down the street from his halfway house to the convenience store on the corner. He enters the store and purchases a Red Bull drink. He pays for it and drinks it while waiting for the store to clear of customers. Then, when only the clerk and the felon are left in the store, the criminal pulls out the illegally purchased handgun and holds up the store. When the community hears the story, they become incensed. Clearly, Red Bull ought to be pulled from the market because the excess caffeine in the drink made the man hyper and caused him to commit crime.

Ridiculous you say? Well, this is the same foolish thinking going on with the case of illegal immigrant, Jose Lachira Carranza, the alleged killer of three Newark teens. While illegal immigration is a major problem in our country and ought to be addressed for a number of perfectly legitimate reasons, the fact that this alleged killer of teens happens to be in the United States without a green card really is not an important factor in this case. The real issue ought to be the fact that Carranza got bail after being arrested twice for child rape and then let back onto the streets.

Illegal immigrants don't kill people, criminals do. Stop bail for violent offenders.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Shirking Responsibility for Criminal Behavior

In Virginia, another drunk teenage driver has killed herself and her three friends who were riding in the car with her. One of the fathers of the passengers made this statement: "A drunk driver killed my kid." I beg to differ, sir: a drunk driver and her drunk enabling passengers colluded to kill themselves. You can't blame the driver without blaming the passengers. There was an open gallon of vodka in the car, half of it gone, when the car crashed. This isn't like a drunk pilot killing his unsuspecting passengers. Every one of those kids knew the driver was drinking and likely passed the bottle to her while she was behind the wheel. In doing so, everyone shares the blame for the car crashing and the resulting deaths.

A while back, a Minnesota girl survived such a crash that killed her friends. Because she was the driver, she ended up getting charged. She admitted she was wrong but she stated that all of her friends knew darned well what they were getting into when they got into the vehicle with her and passed the bottle around. She got a lot of angry feedback from that statement; folks thought she was blaming the victims of her mistake. But, I agree with the girl. She was wrong but her friends were just as wrong.

In another horrifying Virginia story, a man left a cache of weapons around his mentally deranged son, took him to practice shooting at the gun range and gave him drugs. The son ended up taking his daddy's guns and murdering two police officers. The father ended up getting a few years for aiding and abetting, a sentence I thought was far too low, although I was happy to see him get nailed for something (unlike most of the parents of school shooters who get off scott free after their children take their father's or grandfather's guns and mow down their classmates).

Nancy Grace got sued by the family of Melinda Duckett for grilling her over the disappearance of her son. After Melinda made herself look really guilty with her poor answers, she went home and blew herself away with Granddaddy's shotgun. Her grandfather, however, instead of blaming himself for leaving his weapon around for his mentally unstable granddaughter to do herself in with, attacks Nancy for making his squirrelly grand kid feel bad about herself.

And let's not forget Madeleine. Her parents left her and their two little babies alone in a strange hotel room while they went off drinking. Now, they have collected two million dollars from caring people to find her. While I understand they are hurting, many parents have had their kids kidnapped through no fault of their own. Madeleine's parents should have been charged with child neglect.

What do all these cases have in common? Folks taking no responsibility for their behavior and blaming someone else for the results of it.

I would like to see people speak out and say, well, you brought it on yourselves and you need to either live with that fact or go to jail for your involvement with the crime. Let's stop making excuses for these individuals and expect and demand that they accept responsibility for their actions.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Defective Adults need to Grow Up

There is a new game coming in September to Toronto: Street Wars. This is a video game gone real time involving idiots posing as adults stalking each other on the streets until they can commit an assassination by water gun. Now, I will have to admit I can see the fun in it. Essentially, what these folks are doing is called "tailing" in the, private investigation industry. They are tracking down information on where the mark lives, works and hangs out, and then the mark is tailed until he can be "killed." The big difference is private detectives have a license for this because without one, it is rather concerning when one person stalks another.

The claim by the creator of this stupidity is that it is all in fun and no one is getting hurt. I beg to differ. While each contestant pays forty dollars to get in the game and knows he is the assassin or the target, the game is not being played on private grounds where no one else is being affected. This is not paintball at the paintball range or laser tag inside a laser tag facility. This game is being played out among other human beings who have no clue to what is going on.

If I see one of these fools skulking around acting suspicious, I am going to call the police. And, if one of these morons pulls out a water gun in a crowded location and aims it at me or someone near me, God help him, if it looks to real; he may get shot. These players by acting like criminals are going to cause fear in other people's lives and that will make their behavior no longer just pretend. They are crossing the line into true criminal behavior. In return, they may get treated like criminals.

I agree with the game creator that this game could be amusing, but so what? Lots of illegal things are fun and I don't do them. There are some things that are not illegal but morally or ethically questionable and I don't do these things either. As an adult member of society, I am supposed to be mature enough to figure this out. Apparently the game creator and his players aren't. Grow up, for God's sake....please.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiing Topic of the Day: Gerald Grinstein, The Great Satan of Delta Airlines

Delta: The Devil in Disguise


I will start with a disclaimer: until flying for the first time with Delta, I have been a fan of the airline industry. I travel a lot and I am not a whiner when it comes to weather and airport security. No one can help bad weather and airline security really isn’t such a big deal. In order not to get all bent out of shape, I do my part to be a good customer. I arrive early for my flights, usually more than thirty minutes before the recommended time. This allows for a sizable cushion for long lines and far off gates. I usually amble through the airport, smile my way through security, and then toddle over to the bar near my gate and have a bloody Mary. I buy newspapers to read and always have along a good book. It does not bother me that I have to spend a little extra time waiting; it saves me from having to panic as I watch the minutes run out if the airport is crowded or I have to have my carry-on luggage sifted through.

I bring my own food on the plane. Often I bring such good stuff I make the other passengers jealous. I brought two large pizzas on the last flight (my kids love New York pizza) and I enjoyed a couple slices while en route. When I flew home from Beijing, my daughter and I brought food from our favorite Chinese restaurant on board. We feasted on incredibly wonderful dishes while we watched those around us eating microwaved crap. Why more people just don’t bring their own food, I will never understand. Compared to the cost of travel in general, forking out a few more dollars for a good lunch one can enjoy while flying, hardly seems a big deal. This way, if there is an unpreventable delay and food is in short supply aboard the plane, one always has a stock of food to fall back on. I never go hungry on a flight.

I also bring lots of stuff to keep me busy and something warm to keep from freezing. I am pretty much the perfect passenger.

So, why am I about to skewer Delta? Because they damned well deserve it. There is no excuse for treating customers so abominably for a mistake of Delta’s (or possible planned fraudulent action -yes, fraud – the explanation coming up). And, as usual in the land of corporate giants, there is next to nothing the consumer can do about a company like Delta except refuse to use them again, which I can guarantee you, will be true in my case. Here is the short explanation ::laughing hysterically:: list of my Delta abuse as I experienced it:

Wed August 1: Arrive at JFK from Atlanta to find no luggage. Lost my evening in NYC trying to get answers. I was told the luggage would be sent over to the hotel after the next flight arrived from Atlanta at midnight. I was given a phone number to call to check on this and I also had them write down that, if, for some reason the luggage failed to arrive that night, to then send the luggage to my home in Maryland as I was flying out in the morning.

Thurs August 2 – Called that phone number all night but no one answered. Luggage did not arrive at hotel. Went on air without my suit. Flew home to Maryland in the afternoon. Called that number repeatedly and finally talked to someone. Asked them to be sure to contact Mumbai, India because I was guessing my luggage was never taken off the plane to JFK and it was going on to Mumbai. I was told there was no way I could know that and probably the luggage was in Birmingham, Alabama where my flight originated. I was also told the luggage may have been taken off because the plane was overweight. I was told that instead of losing money by taking customers off the plane, they fly the customers to their destination and then say their luggage was “accidentally” misplaced. I call this fraud as when I pay for a ticket, I am buying a space for myself and my luggage with expectations we are both arriving at the same time. This apparently is a dirty secret of the airline industry.

Fri August 3: I call all day and finally someone answers the phone at 5 PM and tells me the luggage will arrive at my Maryland home in the morning. I was offered no explanation or apology.

Sat August 4: The luggage does not arrive in the morning. I call the number and get a woman who tells me that all she knows is my luggage was coming in on a flight from Mumbai, India. I guess I wasn’t so wrong after all. She can’t tell me when I will see that luggage and is extremely rude to me. I reiterate that I am in Maryland and want to see the bag is routed properly. She continues to be nasty and tells me she will call me back within a few minutes when she finds out more information and, if I want, I can call her until 5 PM when her shift ends. I wait two hours and call back. The woman has already left for the day. I get another nasty human. I ask to speak to the supervisor. I am told to leave a number and he will call me back when he gets out of his meeting in five minutes. I wait one hour. I call back. I get a new abuser and I am told there is no supervisor there. This nasty creep says he has no idea where my luggage is and I should call the 800 number and not JFK. I was never told this previously. I ask for the number and he hangs up. I find it on the back of the luggage info which I never noticed because the original clerk wrote down the JFK phone number on the front and told me to deal with them. I also found a website to track luggage.

I call the 800 number. I am told the luggage is on route to NYC. I ask the woman why since I have repeatedly told Delta that I left NYC on Thursday morning. She doesn’t know why. I ask to speak to the supervisor. She is an equal rude idiot. She calls JFK and tells me she can’t get in touch with anyone, too bad. I call JFK myself yet again and get yet another person. She tells me not to worry; the bag is in the car and on its way to the Hilton in NYC. I asked her why it is going to the Hilton since I am not there. She checks the computer and lo, and behold, there is my Maryland address along with the NYC address with the note that I have not been in NYC for two days. She tells me she will have the bag brought back and sent down to DC. It will be there within about six hours, by 10 PM. 10 PM comes and goes and I check the computer listing and it now says my bag will be delivered between 10PM Saturday night and 10 AM Sunday morning; at least the address now says Maryland.

Yep, 10 AM comes and just at that time I get my first call from Delta who kindly wants to let me know they have the bag in Washington DC and it will be to my house by 4 PM. I am not holding my breath.

No one I talked to at Delta baggage sympathized with my plight. No one at Delta baggage apologized for Delta’s behavior. Everyone lied to me. Everyone told me that they were not lying and that no one at Delta lied to me. Everyone told me they were being nice to me and trying to help. Get back, Satan! I can recognize evil when I see and hear it.

So, what is wrong with these people? Does Delta make them into the devil incarnate or do they just hire the minions to do their dirty work? I don’t have a problem with mistakes (considering the mass of luggage they deal with and the craziness of dealing with all those flights and such). But, I do object to being treated like crap, being lied to, and manipulated. I object to Delta taking no responsibility for their behavior. I object to not receiving a full refund and compensation for my lost time, replacement purchases, and emotional suffering from their nasty treatment. If I were in a restaurant, I would refuse to pay the bill if I didn’t receive the dinner I expected and was treated rudely. I think Delta (and any airline) should have to fully compensate their customers if they do not provide the service paid for (whether due to mishandling or outright fraud).

So, Gerald Grinstein, CEO of this miserable excuse for an airline also known as Delta, what explanation do you have for accepting or encouraging such horrible employee behavior? If the minions you control are the little satans, does that make you the Great Satan?

As a criminal profiler, I would have to say yes.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

P.S. I finally got my luggage. It looked like it had been mauled. My tennis shoes and several Hindi music CDs were gone. Guess I was absolutely right that the bag went to Mumbai. Really, folks, I don't object to my bag going to India, but if it is going, I want to go with it.

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: If it walks like a Duck...

I have to hand it to the new Dear Abby with her answer to this question (7/30/2007):

DEAR ABBY: My soon-to-be-ex-husband's secretary keeps giving my 16-year-old daughter extravagant gifts for Christmas. One year it was a complete Tiffany jewelry set (earrings, necklace and ring). This past year, "Donna" gave my daughter a $200 gift certificate to an expensive clothing store and another $200 one at a trendy cosmetics store. Should I be suspicious? -- EAST COAST MAMA

DEAR EAST COAST MAMA: No, by now you should be convinced.

Good zing, Abby, and how right you are. It is funny (and sad) how often I have heard these kinds of questions concerning what species of animal a loudly quacking duck might be. Some women are upset that their boyfriends are turning out to be liars which surprises them since they gave them such a nice place to live when they came out of prison. Other women wonder why the married men who left their wives to marry them are now cheating on them. Then, there are the women who are treated like dirt while they are dating and yet are surprised after marriage that they are still treated like crap. While we human beings may minimize some less-than-perfect behaviors in order to have companionship or a mate, there should be some very clear signs that the duck is no songbird.

Save yourself a lot of problems, ladies. If he has acted like a creep, guess what? He’s a creep!

PS. To you men out there, reread the above statement, and substitute female ducks for male ducks.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown