Gary Dourdan will avoid jail after pleading guilty to cocaine and ecstasy possession

00:51 California , Palm Springs 0 Comments

"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" star Gary Dourdan says, "Obviously, I am embarrassed to find myself in this situation and I am profoundly grateful to everyone for their support."
"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" star Gary Dourdan will avoid jail after pleading guilty to cocaine and ecstasy possession on Wednesday.The actor was arraigned in a California court after facing three felony counts for possession of a controlled substance, following his arrest on suspicion of possessing heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and prescription drugs last month.Charges of heroin possession have been dismissed and Dourdan has been instructed to complete a 16-class drug program, after which all remaining charges will be dropped.The 41-year-old was apprehended by police in Palm Springs, California after he was found asleep in his incorrectly parked car early on April 28. Cops then searched his vehicle, and arrested the actor on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance.Dourdan posted $5,000 bail and was released following the incident.And he is relieved he will not be spending time behind bars.

Sonisa confessed to police that she sold drugs across Asia for a South African man and in Thailand she has several famous Thai celebrity clientèle.

01:33 Thailand Crime Suppression Division 1 Comments

Several weeks ago, police from the Thailand Crime Suppression Division arrested Sonisa, a 19 year old former bar waitress in Patpong (Thailand’s infamous red light district) for possession of 78.6 grams of cocaine. Sonisa confessed to police that she sold drugs across Asia for a South African man and in Thailand she has several famous Thai celebrity clientèle. They range from a famous Thai model to a currently popular pra’ek and a male socialite. The young woman provided an abbreviation of the pra’ek’s name, which happens to be Puri’s abbreviated name. Now, the Thai media suspect that Puri brought drugs from this woman and is addicted to cocaine.

Lorenzo Sirignano headed a 17-strong gang involved in smuggling, storing, distributing and supplying the Class A drug.

23:13 Sussex 0 Comments

Lorenzo Sirignano targeted vulnerable people to do his dirty work for him and threatened them with violence if they did not follow orders.Sirignano, 51, was the mastermind behind the biggest drugs ring to be smashed in Sussex.He put up the money to pay for high purity cocaine to be smuggled from Brazil and Ghana in 2006 and 2007.
Sirignano headed a 17-strong gang involved in smuggling, storing, distributing and supplying the Class A drug.He is believed to have personally made at least £2 million before he was arrested in February last year.Detectives believe he made even more from cocaine smuggled into the country undetected.Undercover police bugged his cars and listened in as he drove around Brighton and Hove with other members of his drugs gang.In one chilling conversation he is overheard threatening to shoot or petrol bomb Robert Paige after they fell out and Paige quit the gang in fear.Sirignano and nine members of the drugs ring have so far been sentenced to a total of 100 years behind bars.Seven others will be sentenced at Hove Crown Court today.Judge Paul Tain told Sirignano: "The picture of you is one of a powerful Mr Big of the drugs world with links in Ghana, Brazil, London and locally.
"You were well versed in countersurveillance methods and the manipulation of others.
"You distanced yourself from the offences by getting others to take the risks and to do your dirty work."You were the organiser and controller behind these conspiracies and it is obvious that you were prepared to use the threat of serious violence to achieve your criminal objectives."Sirignano lived in a large detached house in Ferndale Road, Burgess Hill, and ran a property management business.But his drugs empire was based at a tatty semi-detached house in Carlisle Road, Hove, where police found cocaine and amphetamines hidden in garages and in a van. Sirignano used drug addicts, tenants or employees to do his drugs work for him.They included 64-year-old grandmother Patricia Edwards, from Lewes, who was caught trying to smuggle 3kg of cocaine from Brazil for Sirignano.She had no previous convictions but was desperate for money and allowed Sirignano to persuade her to become a drugs mule, making three trips to Brazil. Edwards is now serving four years in a jail in Sao Paulo for attempting to smuggle cocaine.Detectives smashed the drugs ring when they arrested Sirignano and his lackeys as they waited at Heathrow for 10kg of cocaine worth £1.3 million to arrive from Ghana on February 19 last year.Undercover officers had spent months following Sirignano and listening in to his conversations as part of Operation Nash.Anthony Glass, QC, prosecuting, said Sirignano's bugged conversations showed he was a professional drugs dealer. Detectives eavesdropped as he told one dealer: "I got me bloke from Ghana. We are trying to send someone over and collect 15 keys (kilograms), some shiny block."Drugs mules Gary Waterman, 41, of Bengairn Avenue, Brighton, and Dean Swaysland, 28, of Southall Avenue, Brighton, were arrested as they got off the flight from Ghana at Heathrow.Their minder Michael Mensa-Bonsu, 42, of Ashley Court, Hove, was also arrested as he disembarked behind themWaterman was jailed yesterday for seven and a half years and Swaysland for eight and a half years.Mensa-Bonsu, who has previous convictions for smuggling drugs in France and Switzerland, was jailed for 16 years.Crack cocaine addict Karen Colvin, 48, of Tilgate Close, Brighton, and drugs mule Adrian Hughes, 23, of Carlisle Road, Hove, were arrested as they waited with Sirignano in his car at Heathrow.
Colvin was one of Sirignano's tenants and was married to Darren Waterman who is already in prison for smuggling cocaine from France.Waterman, 43, of Albert Road, Brighton, will be sentenced today for transferring more than £46,000 to Brazil for Sirignano.Colvin recruited his brother Gary Waterman to make the drugs run to Ghana with Swaysland and was at Heathrow to identify him to Sirignano.Colvin also transferred more than £58,000 of Sirignano's money to Brazil, Ghana and Canada to pay for cocaine.She was jailed for 12 years.She got her son Marlon Colvin, 20, snared in the investigation by getting him to use his passport to transfer just under £2,000 to Ghana for her.A jury found him not guilty of money laundering last week after he said he was just doing a favour for his mother and had no idea the cash was to be used to buy cocaine.Robert Paige, 51, of Sackville Road, Hove, was was jailed for ten years for conspiracy to smuggle drugs and conspiracy to supply cocaine.
Michael Back, 49, of Carlisle Road, Hove, was given ten years for conspiracy to supply the Class A drug.Adrian Hughes, 23, who shared a flat with Back in Carlisle Road, was one of the vulnerable people targeted and groomed by Sirignano.He was jailed for two years for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine and conspiracy to supply cocaine.Sami Zarifa, 47, of Sussex Heights, Brighton, and Denis Mema, 22, of Montpelier Road, Hove, were given five years each for conspiracy to supply cocaine.
All the defendants had pleaded guilty to their roles in the cocaine conspiracy.Sussex Police welcomed the stiff sentences.Det Chief Supt Kevin Moore, head of Sussex CID, said: "Operation Nash was the highest profile case in recent years. It highlights perfectly the importance of policing an area at the very top of the tree when it comes to serious and organised crime."Det Insp Jez Graves, who led Operation Nash, said: "The sentences should act as a deterrent for others who plan to become involved in trafficking drugs into our communities."

Heroin addict pricked an LAPD officer with a syringe

23:07 LAPD 0 Comments

Heroin addict who pricked an LAPD officer with a syringe following an extended vehicle chase and needed to be subdued by a Taser was transferred from a hospital to jail today, police said.The suspect was on heroin when he crashed a van into several parked vehicles in Venice, then struggled with two LAPD officers, pricking one with a syringe, before they stunned him with a Taser and arrested him, police said.The 44-year-old, whose name has not been released, was arrested on suspicion of possession of heroin and resisting arrest, Los Angeles police Officer Ana Aguirre said.Three other officers were treated for minor injuries, Aguirre said. The officer who was pricked will undergo additional blood testing, she said.The crash near Strongs Drive and Washington Boulevard was reported around 10:10 p.m. Tuesday, said Officer Sara Faden of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Media Relations Section.A sergeant with the LAPD’s Pacific Station told an RMG News camera crew that a patrolling officer saw a white van traveling north on Strongs Drive, crossing Washington Boulevard and slamming into several parked vehicles. The officer called for backup, the sergeant said.With officers closing in, the man in the damaged van tried to drive away from the wreckage and would not cooperate with police, the sergeant said.Police subdued the man by shocking him with a Taser twice on his back, then took him into custody, the officer told RMG.He was transported to a hospital with facial injuries and bleeding to the head—both apparently suffered when the van crashed,

Lil Wayne entered a not guilty plea on charges of multiple drug possession charges

09:02 Arizona 0 Comments

Lil Wayne appeared in an Arizona courtroom on Tuesday (May 6) to answer to several drug charges, stemming from an arrest in January.As he has maintained since that arrest, the rapper (real name: Dwayne Carter) entered a not guilty plea on charges of multiple drug possession charges -- three being felonies -- and a misconduct involving weapons charge.He is scheduled to appear in court on May 19.Weezy was arrested at in late January, following a search of his tour bus during a routine stop at a Border Patrol checkpoint just outside of Yuma, Arizona.
During the stop, DEA found numerous narcotics -- including 105 grams of marijuana, 29 grams of cocaine and 41 grams of ecstasy -- and a 40-caliber pistol registered to the rapper.Wayne's legal team filed a motion in March asking for a lesser drug charge, claiming the amount of cocaine (29 grams) was incorrect. They claim that the rapper had fewer than eight grams of coke.He was subsequently arrested, along with two others, and booked into the Yuma County Sheriff's Department.A day after his arrest, he posted $10,000 bond and is currently free pending the outcome of his case.

mugshot of Lindsay Lohan who has been in and out of rehab after two arrests last year on drunken driving and cocaine charges,

10:30 Lindsay Lohan 0 Comments

Lindsay Lohan is not exactly toasting her latest public appearance.
A mugshot of the 21-year-old actress, who has been in and out of rehab after two arrests last year on drunken driving and cocaine charges, was prominently featured Friday in an advertisement attacking legislation for devices that measure a driver's blood alcohol level before their vehicle can start.
The full-page black-and-white ad appeared in USA Today on Friday and was paid for by the American Beverage Institute, a trade group that supports the interests of the alcohol industry. The ad reads "Ignition interlocks are a good idea for" above Lohan's mug shot from her July 24, 2007 arrest and "But a bad idea for us" above smaller photos of people drinking.
"The reason that we used Lindsay Lohan is because she's had multiple DUIs that have been high profile," American Beverage Institute managing director Sarah Longwell told The Associated Press. "We needed to create the distinction for the public what someone with multiple DUIs looked like versus a low blood-alcohol-level first-time offender."
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Lawmakers in several states have passed bills that would require drunken driving offenders to pay for and install an ignition interlock system. Under many such laws, the interlock requirement extends to first-time offenders driving while "highly intoxicated" - or with a blood alcohol level of 0.15 percent or higher.
The ad suggested that ignition interlocks were fine for "hard-core" drunk drivers, but suggested they would bring an end to champagne toasts at weddings, wine at dinner and ballgame beers.
"USA Today is idiotic to run such an irresponsible advertisement suggesting that drinking and driving is some kind of American 'tradition' we should protect," Lohan's lawyer Blair Berk said in a statement. "Not identifying that this ad was paid for by the liquor and restaurant industries is profoundly reckless.
"Drunk white businessmen, drunk housewives out for girls night out and drunk wedding parties should be kept off the roads of America," Berk continued. "Lindsay Lohan fully endorses ignition interlock devices, which have been well-proven to save lives."
The American Beverage Institute stood by its use of Lohan's image.
"People magazine, Smoking Gun and a lot of people have republished this mug shot," said Longwell. "It was publicly accessible. We're not using it for any kind of commercial gain. So we're well within our rights to use it."
Reached for comment about Berk's statement, USA Today spokesman Ed Cassidy issued the following statement: "Advocacy advertising is a big part of what we do. Our pages function as forum for competing views."

Tim Montgomery is scheduled to appear in federal court Monday for a bond hearing on charges of heroin distribution

09:06 New York 0 Comments

Former 100-metre world-record holder Tim Montgomery is scheduled to appear in federal court Monday for a bond hearing on charges of heroin distribution.
Montgomery, 33, was arrested Wednesday on charges of dealing more than 100 grams of heroin in Virginia over the past year.The former track star was taken by U.S. marshals to the Portsmouth city jail on Wednesday night, where he will stay until his scheduled hearing on Monday.Montgomery declined an interview request after his arrest but in a story published Friday in The Virginian-Pilot, he told the Norfolk-based paper that he knew nothing of the accusations and that his arrest was a surprise.The legal woes aren't the first for Montgomery, who is scheduled for sentencing on May 16 in connection with a New York-based charge.Montgomery has admitted that he helped his former coach, Olympic champion Steve Riddick, and others cash $1.7 million US in stolen and counterfeit cheques. He pleaded guilty in that case and faces up to 46 months in prison. Riddick is currently serving a five-year prison term.Montgomery's former companion, gold medallist Marion Jones, began her six-month sentence in a U.S. federal prison near Dallas in early March after being convicted of lying to investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs and about her role in the cheque fraud scam.Montgomery was banned from track for two years for doping and he retired in December 2005.In addition to the ban, all of his performances after March 31, 2001, were wiped from the books — eliminating his world record of 9.78 seconds in the 100-metre dash in September 2002.Montgomery will still retain his silver medal in the 400 relay at the 1996 Olympics and his gold medal from the 400 relay at the 2000 Olympics.