Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Profiling Palin

Just as everyone is saying to drop the whole Sarah Palin fake pregnancy issue, I feel compelled to make a few points in defense of the rumor that so many say is disgusting and nothing but a leftist/Democratic smear campaign to make the new Republican VP pick look really bad.

For those of you living under a rock (or maybe living the better life of no television and Internet), The Daily Kos, a strongly left-leaning blog accused Alaska Governor Sarah Palin of faking a pregnancy to cover for her errant teenager, Bristol, and pretending the new addition to the Palin clan, little Trig (who supposedly has Downs Syndrome) is hers and not her daughter's. As proof, The Daily Kos provided a picture of Sarah Palin at six months pregnant with a stomach that is flat as a pancake. They pointed out that when Governor Palin announced that she was seven months pregnant and going to have a baby soon, her staff was floored. No one who worked with her had a clue she was pregnant. Finally, The Daily Kos offered the frightening story of Sarah Palin's abrupt return to Alaska via a ten hour flight, even though her amniotic fluid had started leaking and she was experiencing real labor pains. She didn't tell the flight attendants that she was that pregnant and in labor and they never had a clue this was her situation. The chances of Palin giving birth on the flight were relatively high and taking such a chance seemed so irrational that those at The Daily Kos felt Palin wouldn't have actually taken such a crazy risk. They felt it was more likely she only flew home because her daughter, Bristol was giving birth to the baby and because taking such a long flight while not pregnant was no risk at all.

So, that story multiplied on the Internet to the tune of over 2.000,000 references in just a few days. The story had very good running legs until Governor Palin and John McCain decided to clamp down on it by admitting Bristol was pregnant (five months pregnant) but had become pregnant before Trig was born, thereby eliminating her as the mother of the little boy. Now, Republicans and many others are embracing the pregnant teenager and her mom as just regular folk who have problems and telling those ridiculous gossipers and slanderers to shut up about this fake pregnancy thing. "Enough is enough!"

I beg to differ and I do so as a conservative who absolutely does not want Barack Obama in office. I do not like his ideology and I do not trust where he wants to take this country (keep in mind I have a biracial son that looks pretty much like Obama, so race is playing no part in this - I would love to see the color barrier erased in politics and would be thrilled if a black man or a man of Indian descent like Bobby Jindal or a man of mixed race like Obama made the big time). I also would love to see more women in high political office in the United States (I am a huge fan of the recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto) and I love renegades (look at me!). I am not to fond of McCain but I planned to vote for him if his running mate was someone I felt comfortable with. Now, I am stumped as to what to do come this election. Palin is a problem for me. I find her just as disingenuous as Obama.

Let me explain my position. First of all, I don't think she is ready to be vice president because she does indeed lack experience on the international front. I have no issue with Sarah Palin being mayor of a small town and being the new governor of Alaska. I think these are appropriate levels of government for a woman with her experience. I might have thought a number of years down the road, she would be a good VP. I don't think she is ready to be Vice President or, heaven forbid, the President should McCain croak.

But, even her lack of experience pales when it comes to Sarah Palin's character and choices. She scares me. Let's take a look at the "Whose Your Mommy?" scandal.

1) If Trig is her baby, why did Sarah Palin get pregnant at age forty-four and just when she became governor of Alaska? Does she not know the meaning of birth control, tubal ligation, or vasectomy? If she was planning on a full-time career in politics that leaves little time for young children, shouldn't she have made sure she would not jeopardize this venture by becoming pregnant?

2) If Trig is her baby, why did Palin, an ardent anti-abortion/pro life woman, get an amniocentesis? This procedure carries the risk of miscarriage; if she never planned to abort the baby even if he had Downs syndrome, why take this test? I refused amnio for this exact reason during my pregnancies; if I killed my baby for useless information, I could never live with myself. So why was the pro-life Palin willing to risk "aborting" her baby?

3) If Trig is her baby, why did Governor Palin keep everyone in the dark for seven months and then spring this news on them? Doesn't she think the people she works with and works for have some right to know what her situation is? One could say it is a private matter, but she is in public office and a change in her life circumstances can affect others, even if just because of the publicity. Furthermore, does she lie to them about her doctors appointments and come up with excuses for changes in exercise habits or diet, etc.? Isn't all of rather disconcerting behavior? If I worked with her and realized she had put up a big pretense for months, I wouldn't trust her much in the future.

4) If Trig is her baby, why in the heck would she risk the baby's life (and her own life) by getting on a long plane flight while in labor and leaking amniotic fluid? I myself am not fond of doctors and had a home birth the second time around (attended only by a lay midwife) and even I would not get on a plane with a high risk pregnancy and high risk birth (because of the Downs Syndrome) after my fluid started leaking and I felt labor pains. I would know that labor could increase quickly while airborne and the child could be born at any time during the flight. It would not fair to the baby or my family to take such a risk. It also wouldn't be very nice of me to put the flight attendants and the other passengers through such an ordeal. This to me is a huge red flag as to the judgment of Sarah Palin and what she considers important in making her decisions (you can decide for yourself why she got on this Alaska flight).

5) If Trig is her baby, why does Palin hide her daughter's pregnancy for so long, only telling the public about it she needs to squash this other story? Is it the lesser of two evils for her? Did she throw her daughter under the bus just to make herself look better? Shouldn't she have made the pregnancy known before she accepted the VP spot and when she accepted the VP spot? Why does it only come out to override the other scandalous story?

6) If Trig is her baby, why, oh, why didn't Sarah Palin just post a "Trig Birthday Page" with pictures of her holding Trig in her arms in her hospital bed, in her hospital gown? Why not show a picture of Palin being wheeled out of the hospital with Trig on her lap? Why not show a copy of Sarah/Trig's hospital record?

Some folks will say, "Why should Governor Palin have to do all this? Why should she have to respond to this smear campaign?" Under many circumstances, I would agree. I have suffered some amount of slander and libel in my career. Most of it I have ignored so as not to start a forest fire where there is only a small campfire burning that will extinguish itself in time. Sometimes one should not fan the flames even if the lies are unsettling and insulting. However, if there is a very damaging falsehood being spread about, especially the kind of stuff that would harm others I work with or work for, then I best deal with it. This story about Sarah Palin faking a pregnancy to cover for her daughter is not only bad for her reputation, but a huge liability for the Republican campaign for the White House. Why would she ignore such a nightmare when putting up one quick page on the Internet - a cheerful little piece with a happy tone, maybe even a slightly mocking tone - could solve the problem within minutes?

"To all my supporters out there, that silly story about me tossing on a fake belly for a couple months and pretending to birth Trig - here we are at the hospital! Yes, that baby at my breast is really mine and that ugly hospital gown was really on me that day. Check out this hospital record also! See my name associated with pregnant/birthing patient? Okay guys? Got it? Thanks! See you in the White House!" Simple to do and, in my opinion, necessary. Sarah Palin still hasn't responded to the allegations. All we have seen are a couple of new pictures of Palin looking pregnant in her eight month. Unfortunately, this is not proof of anything. If she announced she was pregnant in the seventh month (when she still did not look pregnant) and she was faking being pregnant, she would have to do something in the next month or two. She would have to carry through by adding a little tummy under her clothes as time went on. So the pictures don't prove she was pregnant; they just proved she looked pregnant.

7) If Trig is her baby and she knew her daughter was pregnant, shouldn't she have told John McCain that this was not an appropriate time to accept the VP spot, that a Downs baby and a young pregnant daughter will need a great deal of attention from her? Is it possible that a VP with exceptional life crises would not be beneficial to the Republican ticket?

So, I have no clue if the Palin fake pregnancy story was total bunk or not. While it has not be proven, neither has it been disproved - yet. If Bristol Palin has her baby (and doesn't have a "miscarriage" which would then make the original story possible again, or have the baby "so late" she would have had time to get pregnant again), then the Sarah Palin fake pregnancy story will have been proven a misinterpretation of "the evidence", but an understandable misinterpretation considering the series of events.

So even thought I am conservative and would have voted for the Republican ticket this time around, I can't entirely fault The Daily Kos for jumping on this bizarre story. I, too, have had the same thoughts, and although I haven't seen proof of the story being true, I haven't really seen enough proof that it isn't. I guess I will continue to wonder unless I see solid evidence that puts my curiosity to rest.

In the end, it doesn't matter a whole lot to me if the story of faked pregnancy is true or not. I am still uncomfortable with how Palin handles situations. She and John McCain won't get my vote at this point, and I am guessing, she has cost the Republicans the presidency in 2008. I think, regardless of the big effort being put forth to make Sarah Palin palatable, a whole lot of people won't want to vote for her or the fool who picked her.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: DISCLAIMER: Pat Brown does not work with Lawrence Moran

A new criminal profiler on the block, Lawrence Moran AKA Larry Moran, who got a bit of television publicity during 2007 on the Devlin case out in Missouri, contacted me sometime during that year to introduce himself and chat with me about working as a criminal profiler. He had opened up his own criminal profiling agency, informing me that he had a background in psychology and investigations. We talked a few more times by telephone, about cases and the future of profiling, and I commented on how I was looking forward to more criminal profilers in the field and perhaps having the opportunity in the future to collaborate with more of them, leaving asides the egos and territorialism that have plagued the field to date. I had no issue with Mr. Moran at the time because I am not one of those profilers who is worried about competition and, since I was neither working on any cases with him or bringing him on board my agency, I did not spend time doing a background check on him.

However, just recently I came across a concerning statement Mr. Moran had made on the Internet on a blog site:

March 26, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Kindra,
My name is Lawrence Moran. I am an investigative criminal profiler and I am interested in speaking with you about the disappearance of Colton.
I found this site as I am doing current research on the Michael J. Devlin case for a future book. I also work with another criminal profiler, Pat Brown who heads up the Pat Brown Criminal Profiling Agency and the Sexual Homicide Exchange.
I can be reached via my agency’s website http://www.moraninvestigations.com/
God Bless,
Lawrence

Why does Mr. Moran claim to work with me? Chatting with another professional in the field does not constitute a working relationship. I would never claim to work with other profilers unless we actually had an agreement and the other person knew I was working with him! I can only assume Mr. Moran wished to give himself credibility by saying he worked with me.

The following week I received an email from "Richard Cranium" who asked what I knew of Lawrence Moran and guided me to his blog where he had raised questions about Moran's credibility as a profiler. After I visited the blog, I decided to do some checking since I was concerned Mr. Moran was linking his name with mine professionally.

First I found a criminal record, a misdemeanor but still an arrest, fine and probation.

MORAN, LAWRENCE J
1967-08-28
33 ARNOLD DRIVEDUPO , IL 62239
IL - P.R.I.O.R.S.
MORAN, LAWRENCE J

P.R.I.O.R.S.
Offender ID: G-00117972820013536816
Address
33 ARNOLD DRIVE

DUPO
Saint Clair County, Case No: 06CM7709
Charge
MISDEMEANOR DISORDERLY CONDUCT
Date of offense
10/4/06
Filed
10/4/06
Disposed
11/29/06
Disposition
$300.00 FINE / 1 YEAR SUPERVISION / FILE DATE 10/4/2006
ID Number
G-00117972820013536816
Result Date
11/5/07
Method Verified
NAME,DOB
Search Type
COUNTY

Then I got blistering emails from Moran after he found I had publicly stated that he did not ever work with me. Some bits from his emails will give you an idea of his anger and mindset:

In regards to my honesty and ethics you have real nerve!
Retract those statements today as you and I both know they a completely false
if something happens again to my

property or my wife you will be sorry ... I better see a retraction.... within the next few minutes
I will take care of the potential damage you have so blatantly attempted to exact upon my livelihood based upon your own egotistical desires to equal yourself with male profilers.
Let me remind you of the psychoanalytical term, Penis Envy.
This all better happen this evening. And like I said before, if anything else happens to my family, I will present you with an entirely new meaning of damage control.

I then located a CV that Moran sent me last year and I started making calls to verify the information. What I found was a compilation of outright lies, exaggerations, and incredibly grandiose thinking. It is one thing to provide as positive a resume as can be constructed but complete falsehoods is another matter entirely. Moran exhibits pathological lying. I guess he can call himself a criminal profiler considering he has has obtained a Masters Degree from Capella University and has worked a couple years as a youth counselor because the field lacks any requirement for certification or specific backgrounds, but his outright fabrication of his work history and calling himself Doctor when his PhD comes from a "college" of absolutely no quality makes him unfit to call himself a professional in the criminal profiling field and certainly he is not someone I wish to associate with.

Below is the 2007 resume I received from Moran and in red you will be able to see how the truth does not often match the claims Moran makes as to his employment and education. For a comparison to the 2008 resume in which Moran creates a rather different background for himself, check out

"Richard Cranium's blog post on Moran's Resume."

Lawrence J. Moran
Summary of Qualifications

After a highly successful 17-year career as a professional actor in Hollywood LIE – Moran lists a number of appearances in television and film at IMDB which indicate he was an extra (roles as boy, boy, boy, boy....), not an actor. An extra is a person off the street who receives minimum wage and a free lunch. An extra is not allowed to speak, merely be background., I began a new career as a forensic psychologist fifteen years ago studying adolescent and adult sexual predators. Starting out in undergrad as a deputy sheriff in Tulsa, County, Oklahoma, I was responsible for developing and implementing the first inmate classification system for the jail. I am a certified courtroom expert (Illinois and Missouri) in both adolescent and adult sexual predation. I have taught psychology at the collegiate level for 4 years and currently speak to school administrators, teachers and parents around the country educating them on the prevalence and prevention aspects of child sexual predators. Commentary below.

Education

Porterville Community College (1988-1990) Certificate in Administration of Justice (60 hours)
Langston University (1991-1993) B.S. (124 hours) Corrections and Criminology. This is true.
Capella University (2001-2004) M.S. (48 hours) Clinical Psychology Semi-Lie – Moran attended the Masters program in Addictions Psychology at Capella from 01/07/02-01/08/03 when he received his Masters of Science (65 quarter credit hours/44 semester credit hours)
Capella University – 50 post-masters credit hours in Psy.D program in Clinical psychology (All doctoral-level coursework and seminars completed). (ABD). LIE – Moran enrolled to study in the doctoral program at Capella University from 01/08/03 to 9/30/07 but he only completed two courses.

Professional Experience

2006-Present
Founder and President, Moran Investigations
Investigative Criminal Profiling Agency

2003-Present
Adjunct Instructor (Psychology)
Southwestern Illinois College
Responsible for teaching introductory psychology, child-development, human growth and development, death and dying and personality theory – LIE I called the college and was given this statement “We can confirm he did work for us – but not the dates you gave me and not employed today.”

2001-2006
Founder and President, The Moran Clinic, Inc.
Outpatient adolescent and adult sexual abuse psychotherapy practice located in St. Louis, Missouri. LIE – Moran is not allowed to be in private practice as a psychologist in the State of Missouri without a PhD and a license. He has only a PhD from a unaccredited diploma mill and he has never been licensed.

2001-2002
Clinical Director/Program Development, Comtrea, Inc.
Responsible for development and daily operations of juvenile outpatient drug and alcohol abuse treatment program. Responsible for creating and maintaining annual budget; juvenile drug court treatment coordination; supervision of clinical staff. LIE - May 2, 2001-May 23, 2002 – “Moran was a counselor in the adolescent substance abuse program; he was not a director and would have needed higher credentials than he had. He answered to those above him. A BA in criminal justice and hopefully some experience counseling adolescents would have gotten him the job.”

2000-2001
Lead Therapist/Clinical Director, Preferred Family Healthcare, Inc.
Responsible for development and daily operations of juvenile outpatient and residential drug and alcohol abuse treatment programs. Responsible for creating and maintaining outside private funding streams and supervision of clinical staff. LIE – “Moran worked here from 6-5-2000 – 3-30-2001. He was a full- time therapist – not the lead therapist or clinical director.”

1994-1998
Founder and Clinical Director, Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene Community Outreach Mental-Health Clinic. Responsible for creating and maintaining annual budget; development of monthly training curriculum; training of all clinical and non-clinical staff-members; recruitment of all clinical and non-clinical staff-members. LIE – No one at the Oklahoma First Church of the Nazarene has ever heard of Lawrence Moran nor have they even had a community outreach mental-health clinic.

1991-1993
Deputy Sheriff
Tulsa County Sheriff's OfficeTulsa, OklahomaUniformed sworn employee responsible for enforcing the law in the unincorporated areas of Tulsa county. Responded to emergency calls for assistance; investigated complaints; investigated suspicious behavior; arrested persons suspected of committing crime; provided assistance in resolving problems; and patrolled urban, suburban, and rural areas. LIE – “Moran was a temporary civilian jailer, not a deputy. He was not certified. He worked here only six weeks from October 12, 1991 until November 28, 1991.”

1990-1991
Correctional Officer I - Dick Connor Correctional CenterMedium security correctional facility
Hominy, OklahomaDuties involved the supervision, custody, treatment, and training of inmates confined in the correctional facility. My duties as a CO-I were performed under the supervision of higher ranking staff and in accordance with operating procedures of DCCC. LIE – “Moran was here from April 17, 1992-October 12, 1992 in the Correctional Officer/Cadet training period – 6 months probation – he did not continue to work here after the probation period ended.

I left off the rest of the lengthy claims due to keeping this blog post at a reasonable length. But, I think you get the point.

Mr. Moran, I can only gather from your need to fabricate an entire work history in spite of obtaining a BA in Criminal Justice and an MS in Addictions Counseling that you have a problem with obtaining and keeping legitimate employment. Your need to lie and constantly change those lies exhibits a personality disorder of the type that should not be working in either criminal profiling or the psychology field. I hope you find gainful employment in some other profession.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Adultery IS a Big Issue and Not to be Taken Lightly

News of John Edwards' adulterous affair and now an Internet barrage of stories about John McCain's supposed affairs are seriously ticking me off. Not for the reason most people seem to be upset - that a cheating spouse is not that big a deal and it is a issue that should only matter to the parties involved - but, because adultery IS a big deal and I am sick of people making light of it.

Marriage is a commitment and a promise, and one of the major oaths taking during the marriage ceremony is one of faithfulness. What good is a relationship if the one you love is out screwing around and then lying to you every day and night? If this way the marriage is supposed to be, why bother with it? Just date and be clear that you have no intention of being monogamous.

Oh, what, but you want to have a family? Children? Sure, so lie about staying faithful so you can have the kids, then devastate your mate and break up the family, so your kids can have a rotten life. That sounds like a great plan. This way you can make all involved miserable including your in-laws, your friends, and the community you live in.

It should not be that hard to avoid sex outside of marriage. Finding a place to go alone with someone who is not your mate and getting naked with them doesn't happen by accident. It actually takes quite a lot of forethought and planning. Before one gets under the covers or into the back seat of a car, the thought has to cross one's mind that what one is doing is wrong, dishonorable, and downright cruel to one's mate. And one must know from that point on, a big fat lie is going to be injected into the marriage along with a lot of smaller lies such as "I had to work late," and "I really love you," and "I have no idea how you got that STD...have YOU been cheating on me?"

Worse yet, if you are in the public eye, your ethics and morals are a big issue to a great many. If you are lying to your spouse, you are also lying to the people who are electing you. Furthermore, you are putting yourself in a situation to be blackmailed which is a totally unacceptable position for an elected official to be in.

Finally, what is up with the inability of so many people to just be decent? So your marriage is having problems or your sex life is going through a bad spell. Aren't there many people who don't have sex for a long period of time because of religious beliefs or just a sense of pride? Do all single people have sex regularly or do some go without for years while waiting for the right person to enter their lives?

Here is where I stand: Anyone who commits adultery is a heel, plain and simple. Furthermore, I am sick of hearing that sex with someone other than one's spouse is acceptable during separation. Separated people are not divorced; they are married. Often one of the couple believes that the separation is a time for working out problems and that the marriage will ultimately survive. No one should be having sex with others until the ink dries on the divorce papers (and I am not going to argue in this post about various religious beliefs on divorce and sex outside of marriage). Only when both partners legally are no longer bound is moving on to another partner justified. For that matter, neither of the partners should even begin dating until the divorce is final and no single folk out there should take up with persons who are still married regardless of how long they have been separated .

Marriage is too important an institution to regard carelessly and treat as mere whim. I am saddened by how few seem to see it this way.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Breaking News! Smiley Face Killers Strike in Australia!

From the United States to Thailand and now Australia! The Smiley Face Killers are clearly no longer a national serial killer gang but international in scale. Using the Internet to communicate and plan their crimes, the latest male victim of the gang is 28-year-old Stephen King, an Irish man out drinking with friends at a bar in Melbourne.

Like the others, he separated from the group in the wee hours of the morning and ended up drowned in a river close to the bar. Police have not yet discovered the Smiley Face symbol which is left near the location the body entered the water, but I am sure it is just a matter of time before they discover its whereabouts.

It is clearly time for Interpol to get involved. This sick group of individuals who target innocent men out having a good time with their mates must be stopped before their membership increases and it becomes unsafe the world over for young men to party with their friends.

It is time to start documenting each and every drowning of a young male in a river near a bar and get these cases over to the two detectives, Kevin Gannon and Antony Duarte, so they can analyze them and include them in their investigation.

Thanks. They need your help!

(The above post is a parody, but I still would have no problem with you sending every drunk male drowning victim case over to the investigators.)

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Mayor's Dogs victims of PG County SWAT Team

It is a pretty strange story and it is even stranger for me because it happened pretty close to home. Berwyn Heights mayor,

Cheye Calvo

arrived home from work and found a big box on his porch with his wife's name on the label. Ah, maybe something she ordered for the garden. He picked it up and brought it in the house.

A few minutes later, he is upstairs changing his clothes, in his underwear and socks, when he hears crashing and a SWAT team blasts into his house. Guns go off, Calvo's two black Labradors are dead on the floor and he and his mother-in-law were cuffed and interrogated for hours.

Most everyone is outraged that the police busted into this home and killed the two dogs especially when no one can believe Cheye or his wife, Trinity, could be involved in drug dealing. Both work for the government and are highly respected and well-liked citizens; the town itself is quiet and unused to actions such as this. Besides, this is the MAYOR!

So, the question is, were the police completely wrong in their actions? Was such violent force necessary or could they have simply knocked on the door? Did they do a proper investigation before they decided to use a no-knock entry? Was there really probable cause enough that a judge signed the warrant? Or is there major misconduct here?

Before we conclude that the police were remiss, let's look at the other side of the equation. Is it possible they DID do a thorough investigation and had ample reason to believe Cheye Calvo and/or his wife Trinity Tomsic was involved in some drug transactions? The package would have netted them anywhere from say $60,000 to $100,000? Even if they appear to be upstanding citizens, does this mean that one or both of them might not have another side to them we have not seen? It wouldn't be the first time that government workers or politicians have been involved in some scheme to raise their standard of living.

I don't know this man or his wife so I have no idea if they are the most wonderful people on earth or not. I certainly think they are not the most typical people to be targeted in a drug bust. I feel sorry for the dogs, but if the no-knock entry was necessary for some reason, I can see that the cops have to protect themselves (and I would say the folks who believe the Labs would only lick intruders need to get a reality check).

Horrific as this event was, we will need to wait and see what led the police to resort to this kind of action. If the Calvos are totally innocent, I really feel bad for them. If the police did not have probable cause and busted in, thereby terrorizing innocent citizens and killing their pets for nothing, I can understand the purpose of a lawsuit.

However, if it turns out the police were justified, well, then I would say good, they did their job. I personally believe all drug dealing, including marijuana, does nothing good for a community and those people who feel free to break the laws to spread this stuff should get taken down. I wouldn't want the police to do less.

I am looking forward to the answers.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: I am an Animal Abuser

I am going to admit it to the world. I am an "animal abuser". This is what some animal rights people will claim and it is just possible the law might back them. If I am in jail at the end of the week, I will have my first criminal offense on record. I believe in following the law but the animal cruelty laws have gotten out of control in this country. How did I get into this position of possibly being a felon? I blame it on a cop.

My daughter, the police officer with a soft heart for felines (read: don't get the girl anywhere near little furry things) was told some kittens had been dumped behind a strip mall. She goes to check them out with plans to take them over to the shelter and, hopefully, get them homes. She chases them about and two of them slither under a fence and out of her reach. The third she catches because it is dragging one of its legs behind it. She plops it in my lap (the unlucky ridealong) and off we go. Later, when another officer pops his head in the window and asks what the kitten's name is, she replies snarkily, "Not mine." (she already has four cats), a name with such foreshadowing that the fool with the cat on her lap should have already seen how this tale was going to end.

Well, now the dilemma begins. One can't take a cat to the shelter with a broken leg because they will put it down. It is supposed to be the kind thing to do (yes, sure, but the little beast is now purring in my arms and looking up at me with its helpless little eyes). So, we take it to the vet and pay for x-rays. Yep, broken femur - really, bad, broken femur with two bones passing each other . The vet tells us it needs surgery to the tune of $1000 pocket change.

$1000 for a cat? A kitten? A homeless kitten? You have got to be kidding! Where are the old animal doctors - you remember them - the rough-and-tough fellow who would "do what he could for the little fellah" and charge you $20? Oh, yeah, he went away with ten years of school and a loan the size of the treasury of a small African nation. He went away with the doctors and veterinarians not run by insurance and drug companies so that there is no such thing as a reasonable price. He went away with a lawyer like Abe Lincoln who could learn law and then practice it for a price that meant regular folks could actually get some justice.

At some point in this society, we need put our foot down and say, "Let's be reasonable. Let's use common sense and not go broke with perfectionism and trying one more drug or trying to cure everything with science and money. Let's determine if this is something we can do ourselves (with tough parenting as in all those ridiculous ADD diagnoses), or not do at all (with some of those ridiculous expensive medical treatments that haven't a snowball's chance of doing more than torturing a person for an extra three months of 'life'), or do what we can without breaking the bank (as with an stray animal and its broken leg).

By now in this rant, all the animal advocates are going nuts worrying about the kitten's broken leg. I know this...because I googled "kitten, broken leg, heal naturally" and couldn't find one person who wasn't incensed that a person wouldn't pay that $1000 to get the kitty "proper" treatment. As a matter of fact, those who consider not forking out the cash are warned that they can be arrested for animal abuse, a criminal offense. At least, they demand, take the animal to a shelter and have it put down...it is the humane thing to do if you don't want to be a responsible pet owner. Anyway, I couldn't find an answer to how well the kitten might do without surgery, so I called the vet back.

I told the vet the $1000 was too much for me to pay for a stray cat and I was given an option to sign over the kitten and THEN they would do the surgery, rehab it, and get it adopted. How stupid do they think this criminal profiler is? Do they really think I believe that they are going to waste all their time and money on this kitten when there are god-knows-how-many other kittens about to be euthanized at the SPCA? I am not a fool. I sign the paper and when the door hits me in the butt, they tch-tch about how cheap I am and how if I am not willing to help the cat I should have been willing to do the "humane" thing and have it put to sleep so it won't have suffer with a broken leg. Now, they will do the humane thing behind my back while I go off thinking I have done something nice by giving it the vet.

Yeah, right. I said, "No, thanks." I told them I was keeping the cat and taking it to my vet; that way, THEY could think they had done the "humane" thing by getting me to pay for the operation, even if they weren't the docs making the money on it.

I decided to roll the dice on the kitten. From the moment I got it, it has never shown itself to be in any pain. It eats like a pig. It throws itself on me and purrs and purrs and purrs. I concluded it wasn't suffering and it didn't have internal injuries and the leg, even with the bad break, seemed to be in a good position.

A week has gone by. The kitten bolted out the library door yesterday on four legs and it took me thirty minutes to catch it. I dunno, maybe the thing will have a limp of sorts as it goes through life, but the critter certainly doesn't look like it isn't going to be perfectly mobile.

So, now I have joined the ranks of animal abusers because the choice I made for the kitten is probably considered cruel by many. I guess I just don't get the thinking of America. Are we so ridiculously arrogant about our wealth we cannot understand that spending money isn't the answer to everything and not everyone can do it and not everyone can do it all the time? Don't they understand we sometimes should do "less" than we could and just let life be okay, if not perfect? Are we that spoiled and do we need to spoil our children and pets this way as well?

We don't need to be perfect people. We don't need to look perfect until we die, we don't need perfect teeth, we don't need perfect educations, we don't need perfect...anything! We need "good" stuff. We need good health (by eating right), good teeth (by brushing them), good education (by learning what we need to know), and we need good services (that have a reasonable price). Most of all we need good behavior and good morals and good ethics. We can't buy these. And it shouldn't be a crime if we don't spend a fortune on our children and pets but instead opt for a little commonsense, hard work, and humbleness.

I am not an animal abuser. I am an animal lover who gave up her time and energy (and some money) to save a little kitten (who apparently can now be named "Yeah, it's mine"). I made those same tough decisions concerning my children as they grew up and I guess I could have gone to work full-time and spent my money on medical care and dental care and psychological care instead of staying home with the kids, homeschooling them, and seeing they had turned out to be good decent citizens. Perhaps, I was a child abuser as well (and I was indeed called this by certain doctors and dentists who wanted me to spend money I didn't have).

Money is not a cure for everything. Holding a friend as she dies from cancer is worth more than any medical treatment. Spending time with your kids is better than any after-school program. Teaching your children to be respectful and polite is better than any ADD drug. Saving a little kitten and accepting it might have a limp and spending the $1000 on something more reasonable is not animal abuse, but kindness and commonsense coming together to make a rational decision.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Smiley Face Killers Hit Thailand!

The Smiley Face Killers, that gang of serial killers who have been targeting strong, white, college students in the United States, have changed their modus operandi; they are now killing Asian men.

What attracted the Smiley Face gang to Thailand? A combination of heavy flooding and heavy drinking proved so alluring to the gang, they just had to commit their crimes overseas - at least until the water dries up. "Most drowning cases in flood-hit areas have resulted from drinking alcohol," the Public Health Ministry has stated, and the Thai police have ruled these deaths accidental. Yet these men have died in a similar fashion to the college boys in the US. It would seem reasonable that our law enforcement should be joining forces with the Thai police to investigate these deaths as well.

Just as is true in the United States, the Smiley Face Killers target men and not women. The drowned men of Thailand outnumber women six to one. Instead of painting the smiley faces on trees and buildings, the Smiley Face Gang operating in Thailand, leaves a cup of tea with the tea leaves arranged in the form of a smiley face.

When the waters recede, where will the Smiley Face Killers go next in search of drunk male victims? It is hard to say but we can only hope that Interpol can keep track of their movements and travel itineraries. Since they are getting bolder and bolder, hopefully they will get careless and slip up soon, so that young men will once again be able to binge drink in peace and without the fear of ending up a victim of the Smiley Face Gang

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Whatever Happened to Chandra Levy?

Remember Chandra Levy? The Washington Post just did a nice spread on the cold case, still ruminating about what actually happened to her and if the married Congressman Gary Condit really did have a hand in her murder. But, last we heard, police theorized some local serial killer was wandering about Rock Creek Park (where her body was finally found in a ravine) did her in.

The whole investigation was somewhat bizarre, with many choices that appeared not to make sense. Leads were not followed up and certain reasonable avenues of thought simply not pursued. One of the biggest questions was the issue of Chandra choosing to go jogging in Rock Creek Park. The location she was found at was four miles from her apartment. She was not an avid jogger and told friends she thought Rock Creek Park was dangerous. She could have jogged from her apartment to that location, but it is quite a distance for a person not into jogging, especially if she planned to run back. She could have taken the public transportation to get closer to that location and begin her jog or walk (as supposedly she checked the weather and it was going to be a beautiful day). The possibility can't be ruled out.

Of course, then there is Condit. The location where Levy was found in Rock Creek Park is pretty much a skip and a jump away from Condit's home. Did they meet and go for a walk? Or was she already dead (a woman heard a scream earlier in the day at her condo) and the searches on the computer were clever ruses to make it look like she was alive? Was she then driven over and dumped.

One of the most difficult things about analyzing a case at a distance is not being able to see for yourself the actual terrain. Was it possible for someone to drive near the site Chandra's body was found and dump her easily enough? Or would the person that killed her clearly need to be walking on the path as well because it was so inaccessible?

Condit is a pretty squirrelly character. He had affairs with numerous women, stringing them along, and attempting to keep their relationships secret. I believe Chandra was naive and foolish and thought Condit was really going to dump his wife and marry her. This is what she told a friend. If she stuck to her guns, she would become a massive liability for Condit, especially if she were pregnant and refuse to abort the baby.

Did he kill her? There is a good amount of evidence that makes one focus on him if she wasn't done in by a serial killer.

I doubt this case will ever be closed any good physical evidence is long gone. If Condit did her in, he got away with a "good enough" murder. If somebody else did it, nothing at this point is going to link him to the crime either.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Perversion, Porn, and Peter Cook

Unless you live under a rock (or spend your days reading good literature instead of reading tabloids and watching television), you probably know about the nasty divorce trial of Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook. Cook, as it turns out, is a sleaze of the nth degree, an adulterer, a liar, a pervert, and, did I miss anything? If you don't know what happened yet, here is the gist of it. He cheated on Christie with an eighteen-year-old girl from work who he gave $300,000 to keep quiet about the goings on. He also spent $3000 a month of Internet porn, going to sites for swingers and other lovely sites which allow Cook to jack off in front of a webcam while someone is watching or performing on the other end.

Now, spending $3000/month on porn is difficult unless you go to some "very special" sites. Cook clearly did. Christie eventually found out about her husband's bad behavior when the father of the young girl told her what was going on. Now the marriage is over and the courts are hearing the unpleasant details.

I spoke about this the other night on Nancy Grace and I admit I rather freaked out Nancy and the producers when I said I would be concerned that that could be a possibilty of sexual abuse between Cook and his older stepdaughter and/or his ten-year-old daughter. There absolutely have been no allegations and Nancy was quick to clear this up (and my apologies to Nancy for blindsiding her....I hadn't planned to say anything about possible sexual abuse of the girls). What happened was I got more creeped out as the show continued and I heard more and more details about this man's character and behavior. He seems very controlling, desperate for power, somewhat sadistic, not very trustworthy, perverted, and extremely narcissistic. Considering he is obsessed with porn, likes young girls, and has little morals, if I were divorcing him, I wouldn't want my daughter spending time alone with him.

One story that came up is how Peter Cook liked to keep his ten-year-old daughter to himself, not let her talk to her mother, and he gets her ready in the morning and gets her ready for bed at night (as in helping her dress and undress). Does this give anyone else the creepy crawlies and send up red flags? Sure, my husband changed our baby's diapers when they were infants and helped bath the little critters, but by the time my daughter became a real girl-girl, there was no way he would even think of being in the room with her while she was changing her clothes.

I felt bad about speaking so bluntly on Nancy's show and blurting that bit out without warning, but I still think those psychiatrists and investigators need to speak with the girls in that family and be sure that it is safe for them to be around Pervert Peter. Something about that guy makes me very uneasy and I sure hope it isn't what I think it could be. I would hate to hear about some untoward sexual molestation of the girls some ten or twenty years from now after it has done the damage.

One could ask, wouldn't Christie know? I doubt it. She seems to have blinders on when it comes to the men in her life, so she may well just not notice anything concerning.

I hope Peter Cook is just a pervert who likes legal age women. Sometimes it is a good thing to hope those bells ringing are just a false alarms.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: The Happening is Good Horror if not a Good Movie

I really loved The Sixth Sense. I liked the suspense and the Munchhausen Syndrome by Proxy in the plot and I thought it was very clever (and, no, I didn't figure out the twist, embarrassing though that might be for a profiler). I missed the next couple of M. Night Shyamalan films and then I went to see Lady in the Water. I sat in the movie theatre with my mouth hanging open (from disbelief), my eyes rolled until they hurt, and when the movie ended, I actually stood up and shouted, "Night! You've lost your mind!" Unquestionable, Lady in the Water was the worst film I have ever seen. True, I didn't walk out like I have other crappy films, but this was only because I couldn't believe the film could continue to be so bad and so I stayed just to see how awful it was actually going to get. It surpassed my wildest imaginings!

I will say, though, that I recommend the film for gatherings with friends - alcohol required - for mocking and popcorn flicking. With this in mind, I actually went to see Shyamalan's new movie, The Happening, in spite of all the bad reviews.

Though The Happening isn't a good film, I rather expected more people in the theatre would commit suicide watching the movie than died on screen. However, I actually found, to my surprise, the movie was actually quite suspenseful and it kept my interest. To be sure, I had to giggle and snicker now and again because the conversations between people were inane and there are just many really stupid moments that require viewers to question that Night should get a little help (no, a lot of help) with plot issues and presentation.

But, I found the horror aspect of the film actually admirable. Many people know I am strongly anti gore and slasher films which I consider to be sadistic, misogynist, and damaging to society. Because of the stance I take on this, some think that I am opposed to any film that includes violence or scary stuff. This is not true. While I am an advocate of clean, good fun, family films which I think should be the bulk of our fare, I do enjoy some art films and clever detective, adventure, mystery, and horror films.

The horror films I support are those that creep you out without making the bad stuff something to drool over, something to live vicariously through, and something that makes one laugh at the victims. One of my favorite creepy films of all time is The Haunting of Hill House, an old black and white film that justs gets to you with its spookiness. The Haunting had this quality.

For those of you not familiar with the plot (spoiler ahead), something like global warming is causing the trees to attack people by releasing some chemical into the air which causes them to commit suicide(snickering here is allowed as, yes, this is a very dumb plot). But, what makes this film a good horror film is the freakiness of whole bunches of people just suddenly stopping in the middle of their mundane activities and killing themselves off. The thought of this happening makes one skin crawl.

The methods which the people use to do themselves in also include some very simple but interesting ways of committing suicide. I think the most riveting part of the film is when the construction workers are chatting and suddenly one of their coworkers slams onto the ground beside them. They are horrified and while trying to tend to him, another coworker slams into the ground behind them, and then another and another. Then they look up and they see all of their friends just stepping off the top of the building they are working on. Great scene and totally creeped me out!

Then other people kill themselves in unsettling ways as well, like suddenly laying down in front of a mower or driving their family straight into a tree. A traffic cop suddenly stops what he is doing and pulls out his gun and shoots himself in the head. He drops to the ground. Then, the man in the car the cop had just been chatting with, gets out, walks over to the cop and picks up the gun from beside the body and kills himself as well. Then, a woman in high heels steps of the sidewalk, picks up the gun again and she drops to the ground. Later on we see the lawnmowers of a road crew abandoned at the side of the road and all the workers are hanging from the trees like big pieces of fruit.

Creepy! Creepy! Creepy! The protagonists attempt to outrun the areas which are being hit and everyone they meet or run with drop like flies.It made me rather tense and I was holding my breath as I hope they would make it, that the people with them would make it, that anyone would make it. It was good, good horror. The point of the film was to put you on the edge of your seat with concepts, not with overly graphic and overlong scenes of torture, dismemberment, and death. Shyamalan actually often moved the camera quickly away as soon as the death takes place and only a quick glance at the damage is seen. I have to really respect that. I got the point without being repulsed, sickened, or becoming some sort of sicko enjoying watching people die.

So, Night, thank you for proving horror films can be done decently, if not terribly well. I really appreciate it.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Hospital's Purgatory

As I watched the disturbing video of the collapse of Esmin Green, the 49-year-old Jamaican woman being ignored while she lay on the floor in the hospital emergency room, I felt sad. I also felt a bit mad at the hospital employees and I also felt a bit sorry for them.

I worked in a hospital emergency room for ten years. I have seen patients laying on the floor. The first time you see someone on the floor, you rush over to help the poor fellow. Then, you find out he is drunk off his butt. Even though he smells like hell and is reeking of urine, you try to help him back to his bed (or chair or stretcher). He tells you to "Fuck off, Bitch!" and throws a punch at your face. At this point, you let the nurse know he is still

laying on the floor and isrefusing help, and she grumbles, "Yeah, he has been tossing himself onto the floor all night." She finishes helping another patient and then ten minutes later struggles to get the man back into his bed, threatening to use restraints if he keeps up his antics. He can be heard telling her very loudly, "No, no, I don't need no tying down, I am going to stay in bed." Twenty minutes later he is on the floor again, only this time his pants are half down and his naked butt is hanging out.

Night after night, there are patients like this. Night after night, there are patients who use ambulances as free bus rides. Night after night, there are patients who come in and fake symptoms to get drugs. Night after night, there are drunk, drugged, violent, and belligerent patients who do all kinds of strange things including lying on the floor. From what I have seen, the staff tries to keep up with the prone patients, checking on their vitals, and hauling them off the floors (which often requires two or three of the staff to handle their dead weight or their feistiness).

But, sometimes, the staff becomes hardened, tired, fed up, and angry: sometimes they feel abused and they roll their eyes and don't bother to rush to check on the patient. The "Cry Wolf" syndrome gets to them and they stop hurrying over every time they see a patient lying on the floor.

Is what happened to Ms. Green acceptable? No, I can't say that it is. It is pretty terrible. But, it is somewhat understandable as well. The hospital staff failed Ms. Green (they should checked on her condition and not left her sitting for so many hours nor on the floor dying). The citizens failed Ms. Green (they shouldn't have such ill funded hospitals trying to serve so many people). The community failed Ms. Green (because there are a lot of messed up people abusing drugs, alcohol, their bodies - and the hospitals that they use excessively and overload the personnel and available beds). The insurance companies, the AMA, and medical bureaucracies failed Ms. Green (because they are crooks ...I won't get started on this). The church failed Ms. Green (because they left a member of their own congregation without anyone to help her which doesn't seem very Christian to me). The family failed Ms. Green (where were all the older kids and sisters and brothers and father/fathers of the children?). And, maybe, Ms. Green failed herself (because we don't know what choices she had made that brought her to this unfortunate moment we see on tape).

So, there is lot of blame to go around and a lot of considering all of us have to do when it comes to unhappy endings like this. Along with the knee-jerk reaction which is easy to experience toward the hospital staff, we need to look at the whole picture and see if what the video shows us is but a part of the whole dismal story.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Post of the Day: Murder of Cop Killer is not "Tragic".

"We all understand that the death of this kid is tragic," said Vince Canales, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 89.

I beg to differ. The correctional center homicide of the scumbag that murdered Corporal Richard Findley of the Prince George's Police Department (Maryland) by mowing him down with the vehicle he had carjacked, was wrong, not tragic. The brutal murder of a police officer, the father of two little girls, the beloved husband of a wife who always worried when her husband left the house to do his job protecting the citizens of the county, THAT was tragic, evil, and indefensible.

This piece of garbage, name not worth mentioning nor picture worth displaying, has a record of drug and gun violations and is the member of a vicious gang that preys upon innocent black citizens. But, because this worthless criminal happens to be black and the police officer happens to be white, the family is calling this a civil rights violation. Jack Johnson, Country Executive, while saying the police are not suspected in the death, says vigilante justice may be the cause of the death of the cop-killer.

I would say he is correct. Our criminal justice system allows the murderers of police officers to get far too many appeals and deals and the frustration and anger those in law enforcement feel when a murder of their own is taken lightly most likely boiled over, at least in some manner, within the correctional institution. The inmate was strangled and, while this was obviously wrong and whoever dispatched him must pay the legal price, I doubt the crime was racially motivated.

The family, of course, is upset, outraged, and indignant. Sorry, family of cop-killer, gangbanger, gun toting, drug dealing blight on our community. I don't feel for you. Do you want to know why? Because you never felt for the community when your son was out there abusing the citizens, terrorizing them, and destroying them. My guess is you posted bail for him, picked him up from jail, brought him home, and served him dinner. You didn't leave his butt in the slammer and go speak to the newspapers about the atrocities your son had committed and how he deserved a long prison sentence.

Now, you are upset. Well, too bad.I am upset too. I am upset that a good police officer was killed by your son. I am upset that my daughter, who works on the police force with him, is upset. I am upset my daughter will be going out tonight and may end up in the same condition as Corporal Findley when the next car gets jacked in PG County, Maryland.

God bless Corporal Findley for his dedication and my prayers go out to his family. I hope that your service and brutal homicide will not be overshadowed by the death of your murderer and that you, not the deviant that took your life, will be remember in the years to come.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Zodiac is Back! (not)

Amateurs really should not attempt to be clever because it is usually their downfall. Such is the case of the murdered seven month pregnant marine, Army Spc. Megan Lynn Touma. This poor woman, excited about her wonderful future life - engaged, pregnant,and a fine career as a dentist technician in the military - transfers to the base of her fiance and ends up day the next day.

She had not reported for duty but it took a couple of more days for the motel personnel to find her corpse in a bathtub in the motel room, a "Do Not Disturb" sign (I'll bet) hanging on the door.

Now, the story takes a turn toward the bizarre. The police receive a letter from someone claiming to be the woman's killer. He confesses to the crime and then goes on to say he is taking on the persona of Zodiac, the infamous serial killer of the 1960s who was never identified.

Yes, he is the next Zodiac, is using his trademark, and left that very same symbol in the room of the murdered marine.

All right, bub. The police are not impressed and neither am I. No serial killer did in Ms. Touma. First of all, serial killers don't go for big, obviously pregnant females. Secondly, where were you, Mr. Fiance, while all this was going down? Let me back up.

Ms. Touma arrives in Fort Bragg and doesn't let you know she is coming. She stays in a motel room near the base and you don't go and see her. She disappears and you don't notice. I find this a bit odd, don't you?

So, while you are oblivious to your fiance's arrival in town, Mr. Serial killer is writing a rather peculiar letter to the police. He can't spell and has atrocious grammar - as all uneducated serial killer losers do - yet, there are in this letter, two odd phrases which seem to be rather unusual for this dolt. The letter writer says, "The following is to inform...," language common to legal, police, or military statements to the public. Secondly, the letter writer gives the date as 17 June as opposed to June 17, indicative of someone who has spent time abroad, is from another country, or in the military.

My guess is Ms. Touma's fiance did go to the motel the night she arrived and he took care of a problem he found a bit annoying; a woman and a life long commitment to a child (or at least achild support payment).

Then, realizing that he was probably going to be the one and only suspect, he returned a day later to the motel room (ignored that Do NOT DISTURB sign) and scrawled the Zodiac signature in the room and then sent the letter to the police.

Law enforcement is now searching another marine's house. Is it the fiance's house? We still are not getting an answer on this.

But, I guess they think Zodiac hasn't come back.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: So My Wife Died Today, What's your Point?

One of the most amusing and condemning traits of the psychopath is having such shallow emotions that he has no clue what normal people act like under tragic circumstances(read: my wife just died).

Take the case of Gabe Watson, whose wife drowned while they were scuba diving on their honeymoon in Australia. He made the comment, "This sucks," while he was playing cards with his friends later that same day. It is unclear whether he was talking about his wife dying or the poker hand he had just been dealt.

Apparently, he didn't do so well either with the story as to how his wife had this bad scuba accident. An experienced rescue diver, he is last seen giving his wife a bear hug 15 meters under the water after which she is seen sinking straight towards the bottom of the ocean while he swims off in another direction.

"Ah, she weighed too much so I couldn't hold on to her," (in the weightlessness of water?), "My eardrum ruptured," (suffer the pain or let the wife die....easy choice...of course, his eardrum repaired itself within seconds of surfacing), and "My wife knocked my mask off and I had to get away from her because she might get me drowned."


If these three stories weren't enough, Watdon had thirteen MORE versions! For a likely premeditated crime, Watson sure didn't settle on one good explanation. Or, maybe he did, but when he gave the first one, everyone looked at him funny and he realized he hadn't picked the best scenario. So he tried again, and again, and again. Psychopaths don't seem to recognize that people actually remember what you said five minutes ago and changing your story doesn't erase the lie you just told.

At any rate, his sixteen stories and card playing grieving wasn't enough evidence to get the Queensland coroner to label the manner of death a homicide. It took five long years for the light bulb to finally come on and Gabe Watson is just now being charged with his wife Tina's murder. From the comfort of his armchair in good ol' Alabama, with his newer and still alive wife by his side, he got the long belated news.

I wonder what stories he is going to tell Wife Number Two. I am sure he will at least say, "This sucks," only he might simply be talking about his beer which had gotten warm while he was distracted by arrival of the coroner's decision.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Judge Colleen McCullough Gives Swindler His Freedom

Hey, Judge McCullough,

Let me see if I can understand your logic: Samuel Israel III, who scammed god knows how many people out of millions and millions of dollars is found guilty, receives twenty years in prison (which at his age of 48 pretty much means life)- this is someone you didn't consider a flight risk so you gave him a "stay out of jail" card for sixty days so he could wrap up business (read: plan his escape from the country, get forged documents ready, be sure the money he has in offshore accounts and hidden locations is available to him)?

Let me restate this: You believed, Judge, that a man who stole 400 million dollars over years and years, lying and lying to investors, was an honest man who, when he said he was willing to pay for his "mistakes," you actually thought was remorseful and would willingly show up to be incarcerated?

Now, the man has gone missing, after staging a suicide by leaving his car on a NY bridge with the words "Suicide is Painless" scrawled in the dust on the hood. His body, of couse, never turned up in the river. My guess is we will hear he is having a whale of a time in some foreign country living it up with his new well-paid hosts.

I am not sure why this man who screwed so many people over should be show kindness by the court. If the man were a petty thief, he would have gone directly to jail without passing go. Why does this white collar thief get the royal treatment?

Please explain to me, Judge, why he is missing from the criminal justice system and you are still in it.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Wanna be my Next Husband?

What do Scott Peterson,Mark Hacking, and Neil Entwistle have in common? They got caught on Wife Murder Number One. On the other hand, 76-year-old Betty Neumar had five dead husbands before the law caught up with her. Now, I am not saying she did in all five men as I have no proof yet that she even killed one. But, I am just a little more than curious how three of those husbands ended up shot to death and the other two died under suspicious circumstances!

Black Widows, as these serial killer women are called, get away with the murder of their spouses at a higher rate than men. One reason no doubt is that they don't mess with the bodies or run off and pretend they suddenly have psychiatric problems. No, they stand right in front of the police and shed tears and an awful lot of law enforcement agencies apparently fall for this act.

One of the reasons these women succeed in repeat homicides is they move from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Because there is no national suspect bank into which their names could go causing a red flag pop up if they are linked with another suspicious death, they slither under the radar. Each case is handled as a one-time event and the police in each jurisdiction are unaware of the widow's bad luck with husbands.

Betty will finally get her day in court but, at her age, all I can say is she sure had a good run of it.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

There is a whole lot of sympathy going around for Tatum O'Neal which I suppose shows that Americans can be very forgiving people and this is nice. What is not so nice is Ms. O'Neal playing us for suckers with her acting the role of the poor little very rich girl who fell apart after her dog died and is so thankful the police stopped her from falling off her very unstable wagon. From what I can see, the woman is a classic narcissist and drug abuser who story changes (read: lies) each time she is caught telling a less-than-true version of events.

One of the reason folks feel so sorry for her is they are familiar with her history from O'Neal's book, A Paper Life, in which she laments of her horrifying childhood of abuse from her drug-using parents and her terrible marriage to the vicious John McEnroe. They feel sorry for her because they believe her. I feel sorry for everyone who has had to come in contact with this woman because they are all to blame, pretty much each and every one of them, for her miserable life and decent into drugs.

The way to tell if someone is a liar is to see if they have lied. Simple, but effective. If they lie over here, they will lie over there. Tatum O'Neil lied to the police that she was researching an acting part by buying drugs (the stupidest lie I have ever heard) and when they found the drugs and crack pipe in her pocket, she claimed she had been clean up until that very moment, and since they just saved her and she was really thankful, could she just go home? Well, if she lied more than once here, my guess is her book is full of whoppers as well.

In the end, O'Neil is does not blame herself for anything and if she says she does at a press conference or when there is a microphone in her face, no doubt her manager or publicist has told her to "confess." She is lucky she is actually an actress or we might think she is just reading a script.

Tatum, let me give you some advice. Stop blaming everyone else for your mistakes. You are a drug addict because you choose to do drugs. It is that simple.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Parents Make Fat Kids

The Washington Post is running a series on the increase of obese kids in the country. There is the usual commentary on diets with too much fat and schools lacking physical education programs and kids watching to much television. But, I have a question for
parents: if your children are living with you and you make the decisions on food, how are they getting fat without you putting the food in their mouths?

Let's see. Your children get up in the morning and YOU give them breakfast; so you are responsible for the calories in the morning. YOU can send them to school with lunch or YOU can let them eat the garbage in the cafeteria; YOU are responsible for lunch calories.

You give them money and let them buy ice cream or candy in school or on the way home from school; YOU are responsible for allowing them to buy junk food. YOU give them snacks after school which means YOU are responsible for those calories as well. YOU make them dinner or take them out for dinner or order pizza, so YOU are responsible for the dinner calories. YOU let them eat until bedtime by allowing them free access to cupboards in which YOU put the chips and soda; YOU are responsible for the endless snacking.

Where in a normal day does your child have any chance of eating an unhealthy diet and gain weight unless you feed the child or give the child money to feed itself? Only when the child reaches the age of employment (and even then you should have some control over their diet) can one say the teen might make their own choices of food when out and about.

So, if YOUR child is fat, YOU have no one to blame but yourself. Now, that you know the truth, is should be easy for you to help your child return to normal weight. Stop overfeeding it!

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: What's Victoria's Secret?

I am going to be really politically incorrect today. I have been reading up on all the sympathy oozing everywhere on the Internet and in the media for the 16-year-old Victoria Lindsay, the girl who got her butt kicked by six of her friends. Yes, those girls were mean and nasty and deserved to get a jail term. But, for some reason - well, for a pretty good reason - I just don't feel that sorry for Victoria.

Why? First of all, these were her friends - not strangers and not some bullies from school she had tried her best to avoid. Friends - as in these are the girls I hang out with and live with. Water seeks its own level and I wonder that Victoria - were another girl being targeted - wouldn't have gone along with the group melee and thrown some punches herself.

Secondly, why were all these girls so ticked off at Victoria? It is said she talked smack on MySpace, saying some really vicious stuff and saying she was going to fight them. So, she flamed these girls publicly, possibly embarrassing them and humiliating them. Then she said she would fight them. Seems like they brought the fight to her and she turned out to be all bark and no bite; she didn't even throw one punch. She wimped out, took the beating, and begged them to let her go. She wasn't as tough as she tried to pretend to be.

But, regardless of her behaviors, because Victoria ended up the unhappy loser of this girl bashing, she is being made out to be a totally innocent lamb. I am guessing the trash talk she put on MySpace was just the tip of the iceberg for this girl's past behaviors. Apparently, she isn't living at home and her father states in an interview that she has had her share of problems. She clearly admits to her friends during the assault that she had been drunk (during one of the times the girls found whatever she did offensive) and said she had grown up since then.

Hey, this girl is barely sixteen. She has a problem with drinking and she isn't living with her parents. Apparently, Victoria's parents want to blame MySpace instead of their lack of parenting that surely contributed to Victoria ending up as a punching bag.

I bet we will find out there is more behind this story than we have seen on the video. Victoria and her girl pals seem to me to be a bunch of brats who have been left without decent parental guidance long enough to become the female version of Lord of the Flies. They are a pretty good example of the rising, antisocial and violent teens we are seeing more and more of today in the United States.

Victoria may have suffered a good deal of fear and pain during this slap down but, if she were my kid, the first thing I would have asked her is "Did you deserve it?" And if she did, I would have told her I hope she learned her lesson.

I hope Victoria learned hers.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: A Prayer for Jaipur

I just got back from a wonderful three weeks in India. I flew to Chennai in the south where I stayed with my son, David, for a few days. Then we went by train to Mysore, the city of sandalwood. We visited Bandipur, where the tigers and elephants roam and we were lucky the park had reopened in time for our trip. It had been shut down for quite a while until the murderous bandit, Veerapan, was hunted down and shot. Then we flew to Mumbai, the city of Bollywood, filmi stars, and exuberant energy.

Next, we flew to Kashmir and spent a couple of idyllic days (in spite of the heavy security) on beautiful Dal Lake and took a horseback ride into the Himalayas. Finally, we flew to New Delhi where we spent the last five days of our trip, where I did my presentation, and where the hosts of the event took great care of us, showing us around, helping us shop, and taking out for dinner. Of course, we spent one day over in Agra visiting the beautiful Taj Mahal and the dazzling Red Fort.

Then, I flew home and my son went on to his volunteer job in Jaipur.

Yes, Jaipur, where the seven bomb blasts just tore up the center of the Pink City, this lovely peaceful city which is the tourism capital of India.

It took me eight attempts to reach David by phone but finally the call went through and he picked up. What a relief it was to hear his voice. He told me he was all right and that he had been in his apartment at the time the bombs went off.

I have been in three locations in recent years where terrorists attacked but luckily I had come and gone before they did. London, England; Hyderabad, India, and Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt. It is always an odd feeling to realize that where you had were standing, innocent people were torn apart. I also live in Washington DC where the 911 plane crash into the Pentagon and shut down the city and where the DC snipers terrified everyone into dancing at the gas station pumps afraid to be a still target. I remember the palpable fear in the air and the many people who retreated into their houses, trying to decrease their odds of becoming a statistic. I remember how residents of the area stopped going downtown to DC to eat out and going to the theatre. I recall a number of restaurants when out of business because they couldn't sustain the loss of business.

I worry about my son but I also worry about the state of affairs in Jaipur and India. Terrorism takes lives but it also takes peace of mind and livelihoods. Will tourists now shun this lovely city and the rest of India because of the fear of terrorism? Will businesses fail and men become unable to put food on the table of their families?

I hope India goes after these bastards (and I would use another words but another one doesn't come to mind) with all they have got. I hope that the rest of the world doesn't decide to avoid doing business in India and that tourists don't decide to avoid the country as a travel destination.

My heart goes out to the residents of Jaipur. As for my son, I hope he continues to enjoy the hospitality of the area and the work he is doing. I hope he doesn't let terrorism dictate to him what he should do or where he should be.

Most of all, I hope we stop terrorism before it destroys the world we live in.


Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Narcissism Increasing the World Over

I just came back from a three week trip to India and while in New Delhi I gave a presentation on criminal profiling and its usefulness to investigations within the country. Psychopathy, I discovered, is on the rise and all one has to do is read the The Times of India to find out how bad it has gotten.

April 1 - Father bludgeons son to death when the latter resists his sexual advances towards his wife

April 6 - Drunkard gambler kills wife to clear off debt

April 7 - Businessman gets brother-in-law killed over Rs 300 crore worth of property

April 14 - Schoolteacher kills seven members of her own family who objected to her affair

April 18 - Son suspect father of having affair with his wife. Hacks wife and kids.

April 18 - Executive kills his adopted parents and pregnant wife. He was having an affair.

Frightening, isn't it? Indian sociologist Ravider Kaur notes that there is an increase in individualization of self: that individuals don't wish to be controlled by family. In other words, narcissism is rising within India and instead of cooperating with society and family, more people are simply killing off those who don't go along with their program.

Why is the self-centeredness becoming such a problem? Where does it come from? What is changing the world over that we should see so many people become victims because someone in their life objects to their existence?

One possibility is a change in attitude toward entitlement and expectations. The is an increased number of people one have very high desires and thinks other should give them what they want (or get out of their way if they are blocking their goals). If they fail to achieve their goals and quickly, they rage against society and any part of it they feel has a part in their failure.

It would be an interesting cross-cultural study to see how psychopathy is gaining inroads in other country. Meanwhile, I have joined forces with the Academy of Investigation and Intelligence Management in New Delhi to train detectives because there is surely going to be a big need to criminal profiling as the violent crime rate rises.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: The Wife Who Knew Nothing

I know I am supposed to feel sympathy for Joseph Fritzl's wife, but someh0w she revolts me instead. Fritzl, the Austrian monster who imprisoned his daughter, Elizabeth, for twenty-four years in a bunker under his home and fathered seven children with her, supposedly was one terrifying tryant who ruled his family with an iron fist. I guess the wife, Rosemarie, could simply have been scared of him but her sis talks of how she worked very hard to keep the family together. Then she gives some telling information.

As time went on, the relationship between Fritzl and his wife soured, the sister said.

"As far I know no sex took place in recent years," Christine R. said. "I believe it was because of his prior conviction, and because my sister had been getting bigger. And in any case he never liked fat women."

Let's stop and look at the "innocence" of Rosemarie, the wife who "knew nothing" of any danger to her children. Joseph Fritzl started abusing the daughter he later imprisoned at age eleven. He was visiting prostitutes and he brought them home to his dungeon. He is put away for a year and a half for rape and and threatening to kill his victim, a nurse who's apartment he broke into. When that happened says her sister, Rosemarie "reacted with "shock" but believed that "everyone makes a mistake" and focused on keeping her family healthy."

A mistake? Oh, please. Rosemarie has her sister snowed. Let's look at Rosemarie's ignorance of her children's nightmare. She has gotten fat (likely on purpose so she wouldn't have to engage in perverted and sadistic sex with her husband) and there is no sexual relationship any longer with him. Knowing his inclinations, she has to have some suspicion he is having sex elsewhere, like with the prostitutes and with his girl children. She knows he is a violent rapist. Yet she stays with him and allows her children to live with a violent sex offender and pervert. She has to know something bizarre is going on when hubby builds the bunker and spends an inordinate amount of time in it and will never let her enter. She has to be suspicious of what is going on down there when her daughter vanishes and three infant children arrived on her doorstep. So why does she stay with this man and endanger her children?

It is not uncommon for some wives who feel they benefit from some aspect of their relationship with her husband to look the other way when they suspect the husband is sexually abusing the daughters. For that matter, they may be relieved the pervert is no longer bothering them! They proclaim they were unaware of any misconduct but later it often comes to light that they were well aware of what was going on and simply looked the other way.

I believe this is likely true of Rosemarie. I hope the police do some very serious questioning of her and find out the truth. I believe Rosemarie knows more than she has admitted and she permitted her husband to abuse her children for her own gain. If this is true, she needs a prison cell of her own.

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: DC Madam Murdered?

Larry Flint thinks so and I can guarantee this will be a conspiracy theory for the next few decades. Deborah Palfrey was found dead in her mother's shed, hung by a nylon rope from the ceiling. Her mom claims she wasn't suicidal although Palfrey once told a friend she would kill herself rather than go to jail. A suicide note or two apparently was left at the scene. Flint states she was about to give up a couple more big names to avoid going to jail and this is why he thinks someone did her in.

Family reaction to suicide is an an odd thing. Many refuse to believe their child would do such a thing. Even if their loved one was severely depressed, left a note in their own handwriting, and is found shot with their own gun in a room locked from the inside, the parents may still believe their child was murdered! Perhaps it is the guilt of not preventing the death that makes them refuse to see reality or it is possible they feel guilty that they raised a child who did not value their life or their relationships enough to stay around.

Deborah Palfrey at the age of 52 may well have not liked the radical change in lifestyle her imprisonment would have brought. She lived quite the high life off of her prostitution service as the charges were no doubt quite high considering the clientele. Of course, if you believe Ms. Palfrey, she had no clue the women were providing sexual services to their "dates." These men just became repeat customers because the women were such charming conversationalists. This is ludicrous, of course, for no escort service or massage parlor keeps a girl in their employ who doesn't make their clients "happy" and so we know Ms. Palfrey is a liar.

But, liar or not, Ms. Palfrey's character at this point is not the question. If one were to look at the question of whether she took her own life or not, the important matter would be whether she could tolerate the thought of prison, whether she viewed going there as yet another game she could manipulate or whether she viewed the time inside as a total loss of control. Interviews and a study or her past behavior ought to be able to determine if she was the type to have taken her own life in this situation. Then the police will determine whether she had the ability to hang herself from the ceiling of the shed and the opportunity to do so. They will ascertain whether any one else could have hung her. The suicide notes will be examined to determine if she wrote them. Behavioral and forensic evidence should put the question of whether she was murdered to rest.

My guess is she killed herself. It is a rare occurrence when a hanging turns out to be a murder (although it has happened). But, because this is such a high profile case and Ms. Palfrey could have done more damage to her clients were she to give up certain names in the future, Flint's assertions that Ms. Palfrey was murdered will no doubt gain steam on the Internet and we will have a numerous sites claiming she was the victim of murder by people in high places. It will be interesting to read the scenarios of how this "murder" was carried out and what the "evidence" will be that proves she was the victim of knowing too much for her own good.