Friday, June 29, 2012


State police catch California man transporting 400 pounds of pot to Scranton

By Denis J. O'Malley (Staff Writer)
Published: June 27, 2012


State troopers uncovered 400 pounds of marijuana, tightly sealed inside a wooden crate, headed into Scranton from California after they tailed it to the city from Bucks County.
The troopers caught up with the package in Bensalem Twp., where it arrived at YRC Freight, according to a criminal complaint.
In addition to the screws holding the crate closed, its seams were sealed with glue - an effort by drug traffickers to contain the odor from drug-sniffing dogs, police said.
Darin Gilbreath, 47, of Sherman Oaks, Calif., arrived to pick up the crate before the shipping company even had the chance to enter its arrival into the computer system to notify him, according to the complaint.
Another common trait of drug-trafficking via traditional shipping, police said, is for the traffickers to conceal a GPS unit in the package to keep themselves aware of its location at all times.
Mr. Gilbreath took the package and drove from Bensalem Twp. to Scranton, where he stopped at the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center on Adams Avenue, changed his clothes and walked over to Kildare's Irish Pub on Jefferson Avenue, according to the complaint.
When the troopers confronted him, Mr. Gilbreath explained that he was hired to personally deliver film equipment and was waiting to hear from its recipient. When troopers asked if they could search the package, he refused, citing his policy of not allowing searches of customers' freight, according to the complaint.
After noticing Mr. Gilbreath had two cellphones, one of which he used unsuccessfully to reach the recipient to corroborate his story for troopers, they asked to look at the other one. Though he said it was an extra phone he used to contact his girlfriend so that his wife wouldn't notice, the only communication on the phone was a text message to a man saying nothing more than "8:30," according to the complaint.
The troopers then called in Scranton police Officer Mike Marino and his K9, Justus, who indicated there were controlled substances in the crate. A search warrant was issued to the troopers, and they found 400 pounds of marijuana packaged in heat-sealed bags stored in cardboard boxes inside the crate, according to the complaint.
Mr. Gilbreath was charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and three counts of criminal use of a communication facility.
He was sent to Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $200,000 and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 5

Friday, June 1, 2012

Threatening Phone Calls Made Easy - Local News Story - KIFI Idaho Falls

Threatening Phone Calls Made Easy - Local News Story - KIFI Idaho Falls


RIGBY, Idaho --
Earlier this week, we learned a bomb threat that led to the evacuation of Rigby High School came from overseas.
Threats like these could be a growing problem, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
A similar threat was made to Bonneville County on Memorial Day, which, along with the Rigby threat, is being linked to threats being made in Florida.
Detective Michael Jensen said the calls are made as part of a network of pranksters, and that placing a threatening phone call is a pretty simple process.
The initial threat on May 4 in Rigby forced hundreds of people to evacuate Rigby High School and bomb sniffing dogs to scour the building. It was all because a prank phone call, which the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says was placed in Ireland.
“It’s very difficult for us to determine in a hurry what calls are not real and what ones are,” Jensen said.
Sheriff’s deputies subpoenaed several phone companies to try and trace the number and came up with nothing. Then, they went to Apple, Inc. They tracked the call not through a phone number, but through an IP address.
"If I wanted to change my number using one of these apps it would take all of about 30 seconds to do," said Apple Master Technician Jaared McDonald.
McDonald showed us just how easy it is to create a new phone number from anywhere in the world, using a voiceover IP, or “VOIP” service. It can be downloaded as a smartphone app, or accessed on websites like Google Voice.
VOIP services provide users with a phone number from anywhere in the world.
"I could say I lived in Dublin, it would assign me a number for Dublin, Ireland," McDonald said.
McDonald said that VOIP software was developed as an inexpensive alternative to phones, linking people and businesses together around the world and virtually eliminating the need for pricey long distance calls. But, he continued, there will always be ways to abuse technology.
"It's a really easy service to manipulate,” McDonald said. “But you will get found."
Jensen said the bogus calls are all for a website called pranku.net, which is dedicated to prank calls.
Now that local law enforcement is aware of the prank callers, Jensen said they’re easier to identify by, for instance, a foreign accent.
No arrests have been made in any recent cases.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is working with the Polk County, Florida Sheriff's Office along with the FBI to find out exactly who made those calls.