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3-day-old girl is kidnapped from hospital

By Times Wires
Published March 11, 2007

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - A woman posing as a medical worker kidnapped a 3-day-old girl from a hospital early Saturday, police said. Mychael Darthard-Dawodu was last seen at 1:20 a.m. at Covenant Lakeside Hospital when a woman wearing blue and flower-print hospital scrubs and a gray hooded jacket took her and drove off in a pickup, police said. It wasn't immediately clear if the kidnapper was wearing a hospital name badge, said Gwen Stafford, senior vice president of Covenant Health System. The newborn was wearing a monitoring device, but it was not clear if the device included a global positioning system beacon. In June, a newborn at another Lubbock hospital was taken by a woman who had visited the baby's mother. A tip led to the woman's whereabouts the next day and she took police to the 5-day-old girl.

Man pleads guilty in hospital fraud

GREENBELT, MD. - A man pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to participating in a kickback scheme involving contracts at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. According to the plea agreement, from June 1999 to March 2002, Leon Krachyna Jr., 39, and an unnamed accomplice conspired to give kickbacks to a civilian contract specialist employed by the Army Medical Command. The unnamed official was responsible for procurement for the medical center. The official helped Krachyna and his business partner secure government contracts worth as much as $1.4-million in exchange for a 10 percent cut, according to the plea agreement. Krachyna admitted paying the public official $10,000 to $30,000, according to the document. Krachyna faces up to five years in prison.

2 ex-Rangers plead guilty in bank heist

TACOMA, WASH. - Two former Army Rangers who were based at Fort Lewis, Wash., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Friday for their roles in an armed bank robbery in August. Alex Blum, 19, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm. Scott Byrne, 32, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery. Four men carrying automatic AK-47s and semiautomatic handguns entered a Bank of America branch Aug. 7 and stole $54,011 in a heist that investigators said was carried out with "military-style precision and planning." Chad Palmer pleaded guilty in December, and Luke Sommer, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen, is fighting extradition to the United States.

He absconded to the 'Springer' show

RACINE, WIS. - An accused child molester cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet, then took a limousine to Chicago to appear on The Jerry Springer Show, authorities said. A judge set bail Friday at $50,000 for Mario Sims, 21, who had been awaiting trial on 2004 charges of child enticement and first-degree sexual assault of a child. "A significant bond is legally necessary given the fact he absconded, admittedly for one of the more unique reasons I've heard in my time on the bench," Racine County Circuit Judge Emily Mueller said. According to court records, Sims missed a court date Sept. 6. Sims appeared on an episode of the show that aired last fall. A TV.com Web site teaser for it said: "Outrageous nuptials! Returning guest Mario is a proud father and is ready to marry his baby's mother - who's also his half-sister."

[Last modified March 11, 2007, 01:14:29]