Crime Scene

NBC says No O.J.

NBC execs have shot down rumors that O.J. Simpson was in the running for a spot on an upcoming season of The Apprentice.

O.J. "has never been considered to join the cast," a network rep told reporters.

Oh well. Let's start a new rumor: O.J. and The Donald are in negotiations to star in a remake of Twins.

Late-night journey turns rocky

Rule No. 1 if you're taking out the company boat without permission: Avoid the rocks.

Apparently, a late-night thrill-seeker missed the memo.

The result: A 40-foot yacht that wrecked on a jetty -- and it was still stranded there 12 hours after the accident.

The Coast Guard and Sea Tow were called out to Government Cut about 2 a.m. Thursday, where six late-night yachters had missed a turn, and plowed into the rocks.

No one was injured -- except for the boat, according to Sea Tow Capt. Brian Hawthorne.

Hawthorne was sleeping when the radio he keeps by his bed sounded a distress call. He jumped into his boat, made the 10-minute trip south and found the stranded boaters.

Apparently the night voyage's ringleader worked for a North Miami company -- and hadn't asked his boss for permission to take a spin.

No one was charged in the accident, according to the Coast Guard. Sea Tow planned to have the boat removed by the end of the day.

Thanks to WSVN-7 for the picture.

'Bum Bot' patrols Atlanta bar scene

As you may have read Monday, advances in surveillance technology are making it easier to become a spy.

It seems advances in robotic technology have made it easier to battle, well, vagrants.

According to the Associated Press, Atlanta bar owner Rufus Terrill has built a robot that sweeps through his neighborhood, clearing it of undesirables.

The invention, affectionately known as 'Bum Bot,' even has a water cannon, poised to douse any dissidents.

Does this remind anyone else of Short Circuit? Number 5 is alive!

The Juice to The Donald: Hire me.

Those celeb sleuths at TMZ.com are reporting that O.J. Simpson is trying to land a spot on the next season of NBC's The Apprentice.

And, their sources in Donald Trump's camp say The Juice is "under thoughtful consideration."

It'd be good work for O.J., no stranger to both the small and big screens. Keep in mind, of course, he's due in Las Vegas in September for a lengthy trial on armed robbery and kidnapping charges that could send him to prison for decades.

Man makes grandma play thug

Obviously, Michael Alfinez (left) wasn't paying attention when Bird Road Rudy got busted for posting an Internet video of himself taunting cops.

Police say Alfinez, 18, of Lake Worth, made his 85-year-old grandmother hold a semiautomatic pistol and spew profanities while he filmed her. He wanted to market the clip for a video series called Gangstas & Thugs.

But when deputies recently pulled over Alfinez on a traffic stop, they found the footage in his car and watched it. The tape also included scenes of Alfinez and his buddies shooting a .22 caliber pistol in neighborhoods around Palm Beach County.

He's being charged with elderly abuse and discharging a gun in public. His family says grandma still loves him (video link also here).

Monkeys on the loose!

This blog has totally morphed into a weird-animal-news blog, and that's fine with me.

State workers are trying to round up 15 monkeys (11 adults, four juvies) that broke out of the Lowry Park Zoo near Lakeland on Monday night.

The monkeys - personal pets of zoo owner Lex Salisbury, according to the AP - escaped by swimming across a pond surrounding the zoo island where they live.

The Lakeland Ledger reports it will take another day or two for wildlife workers to capture the monkeys with feed traps.

8-foot-long alligator unwelcome house guest

This gets my vote for the 911 call of the month, placed by 69-year-old Sandra Frosti after she saw an alligator slithering from behind the freezer in her Central Florida home.

Here's part of the call that was posted on CNN:

Dispatcher: What's going on?

Frosti: There's an alligator in my kitchen!

Dispatcher: How tall, uh, how long do you think the alligator is?

Frosti: It's huge!

Dispatcher: Well how long is huge?

Frosti: I don't know. I only saw the first half of it, and that had to be at least three feet. ...

Dispatcher: Are you sure it couldn't be an iguana or a really large...

Frosti: Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

She stayed a lot calmer then I would have...if there was an 8-foot-long alligator in my kitchen.

Passover fire arson?

Police are now handling a fire at a Miami Beach synagogue as a possible arson.

An overnight blaze gutted the Chabad Shul and it appears someone ripped apart scrolls called torahs and prayer shawls called talises.

At the scene, we noticed a police crime-scene investigator examining a wrought-iron fence in the back of the synagogue. About a three-foot chunk was missing, but the broken pieces of fence were nearby. The CSI dusted them for fingerprints and also swabbed them with some sort of Q-tips for lab analysis.

Here's the story from our website, with video to be posted shortly, including interviews with Rabbi Zev Katz, Fire Chief Javier Otero and congregants. 

Yet another scheme up in smoke

Who doesn't love idiotic drug stories?

Here's the latest, from our good friends at the Times Record of Fort Smith, Ark.:

The manager of a Fort Smith Pizza Hut is accused of peddling marijuana from the restaurant’s drive-through window.

Aaron Massey, 28, was arrested at Pizza Hut, 1813 Grand Ave., Friday after Fort Smith and state authorities searched the pizza place and located several hundred dollars worth of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, according to a news release issued by Sgt. Jarrard Copeland, public information officer with the Fort Smith Police Department.

Narcotics officers with the Police Department began investigating the goings-on at Pizza Hut after receiving information that several employees of the restaurant had been smoking marijuana in the business and the manager, Massey, was not only smoking marijuana, but dealing it from the drive-through window, according to the news release.

A brilliant business model, if you ask me. Get your customers stoned, and when the munchies flare up, reap the profits.

No word if the pies come with extra mushrooms.

In other gator news...

Five Embry-Riddle Aeronautical students are behind bars after getting busted trying to steal a baby alligator from a mini-golf course in Daytona Beach Shores early Thursday.

Police say they caught the teens in the act, finding a roll of duct tape and a wood stick they used as tools. When asked what they planned to do with the gator, one of the teens told officers they "hadn't thought that far ahead yet."

The Daytona Beach News-Journal has the full story and booking photos. My favorite part is the kicker, which notes two other incidents when people have been busted stealing the gators at this mini-golf course.

"In 2001, a pair of tourists were arrested for picking up a gator at the golf course and taking it to their hotel pool where they were caught watching it swim..."