Arrests

HOUSTON - A paramedic who responded to the devastating fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, last month was arrested Friday after federal investigators said they discovered he had the makings of a pipe bomb. It was not clear whether the arrest was connected to the April 17 explosion, which killed 14 people and injured more than 160 others in the small McLennan County town about 70 miles south of Dallas. The explosion had been investigated as an industrial accident, but officials said Friday they had started a criminal investigation.

Two young women have been arrested on suspicion of being part of the Cali Female Bombers (CFB) graffiti crew responsible for hundreds of acts of spray-painted vandalism in the city of Vista in northern San Diego County. Ramona Montes, 18, and Elizabeth Marie Reyes, 20, face felony charges, the Sheriff's Department said. Reyes was identified by her tag DASE, Montes by her tag HAZE, authorities said. Reyes was arrested on suspicion of 523 incidents of graffiti vandalism, costing the city $154,000 to clean up. Montes was arrested on suspicion of more than 300 incidents, costing more than $105,000 to clean up. The Sheriff's Department uses a web-based service called Graffiti Tracker that keeps a database of graffiti incidents, enabling investigators to find patterns involving names, initials, places and other characteristics.

A 12-year-old boy was arrested Saturday in the stabbing death of his younger sister, Leila Fowler, inside their Northern California home. The arrest came after a manhunt for a supposed intruder who the boy had said committed the crime. "Citizens of Calaveras County, you can sleep a little better tonight," Sheriff Gary Kuntz told reporters. The boy, whose name was not made public, will be charged with murder, the county sheriff announced at a news conference, according to the Associated Press.

CAIRO -- Prominent youth activist Ahmed Maher was arrested on Friday as he sought to leave the Cairo international airport, members of his April 6 youth movement said. Maher, who helped lead the revolution that ousted longtime President Hosni Mubarak, will be held for four days pending investigations into charges of resisting authority, insulting the police, and disturbing traffic, the Middle East News Agency reported. He was arrested only minutes after returning from the United State.

A father and son were arrested Thursday in connection with separate fraud schemes -- one of them a shakedown that targeted small businesses -- moments before boarding a Russia-bound plane. Viktor Ryzhkin, 45, and his son Evgenii Ryzhkin, 22, of Los Angeles were arrested as they prepared to board a plane to Moscow with two other family members at Los Angeles International Airport. The pair face federal fraud charges for separate alleged crimes, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

HOUSTON--A local paramedic who responded to the massive fertilizer plant fire last month in West, Texas, has been arrested for allegedly possessing a destructive device. Bryce Reed, 31, was arrested late Thursday by officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to staff at the McLennan County Jail. Reed was booked at 2:40 a.m. and released to ATF custody about five hours later, jail staff said. Officials have not said whether Reed's arrest was related to the April 17 explosion at West Fertilizer Co. that killed 15, injured about 200 and destroyed hundreds of homes.

The "Arrested Development" frozen banana stand is open in London's Leicester Square! As fans of the comedy series know, there's always money in the banana stand -- if not a lot of chocolate-dipped frozen bananas. On Wednesday, fans lined up to take their picture inside the banana-shaped Bluth booth. The show's Twitter feed touted the banana stand queue Wednesday morning: You let fans take photos inside the #bananastand and baby, you've got a queue going. twitter.com/arresteddev/st… - Arrested Development (@arresteddev)

The arrest of the lead singer and co-founder of the heavy metal band As I Lay Dying on charges he tried to hire a man to kill his estranged wife began with a tip last week, authorities said.   Tim Lambesis, 32, of Carlsbad was arrested without incident Tuesday in Oceanside while shopping. He is accused of attempting to find someone to kill his estranged wife, who lives in Encinitas. Lambesis had tried to hire an undercover sheriff's detective for the killing, authorities said.

Former Detroit Lions receiver Titus Young has really bad luck. How else can you account for one guy getting arrested two times during a 15-hour period? The first incident happened at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, after he made an illegal left turn toward oncoming traffic right in front of a Moreno Valley police car, officials said. He was arrested on suspicion of DUI, booked at the Robert Presley Detention Center, then later cited and released. Later in the day, at 2:22 p.m. to be precise, police said officers responded to a report that someone had jumped over the fence of a towing company yard.

LONDON -- Authorities in three countries have arrested 31 people in connection with a spectacular diamond heist in February that saw robbers disguised as police steal an estimated $50 million worth of gemstones from a parked plane on a Belgian airport runway. Anja Bijnens in the Brussels prosecutor's office said Wednesday that at least some of the diamonds were recovered in Switzerland as well as a stash of money in Belgium. Police arrested 24 people in Belgium on Wednesday morning, plus one person in France and six others in Switzerland on Tuesday, authorities said.