Crime

Reports of online crime jump 33% Reports of Internet-based crime jumped 33% in 2008, according to a group that monitors Web-based fraud. The Internet Crime Complaint Center said in its annual report that it received more than 275,000 complaints last year. The total reported dollar loss from such scams was $265 million, about $25 million more than the year before. About 1 in 3 complaints was for nonpayment or nondelivery. The other most common complaints were for auction fraud or credit and debit card fraud.

Re "Judging the war on terror," editorial, April 4 Questioning the Obama administration and its hesitancy regarding investigations about possible violations of our Constitution and the Geneva Convention is past due. Dick Cheney has openly admitted to waterboarding. Outing a CIA agent is also a crime. The invasion of Iraq, which has cost so many innocent lives, and the deceitful buildup that led to it also need to be fully investigated. If we allow the administration to sweep all of these possible crimes under the rug, it amounts to collusion -- and it will happen again.

After reading Jay Jones' article "On Dillinger's Trail" [June 28], I am reminded of an old saying: "Obviously, crime pays, or there'd be no crime." Evan Dales Santos Adelanto

Re "The right time to leave Opinion, Aug. 8 According to outgoing Chief William J. Bratton, there will never be a "good time" for him to leave the Los Angeles Police Department, but this is the "right time" for him to leave, "both professionally and personally."

The state Assembly will return Monday after adjourning late Thursday night without acting on a controversial bill passed earlier by the Senate to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in spending on state prisons. Legislative leaders are preparing a competing proposal to bring up for a vote early next week. The plan approved by the Senate, which was championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, would reduce the time lower-level inmates spend behind bars and on parole. It stalled as a host of Assembly members vying for higher office refused to vote in a way that could portray them as soft on crime.

Re "D.A. to retry Lisker in mother's 1983 slaying," Aug. 22 I am so happy to see that the district attorney has so much extra money that he can afford to retry someone who has already spent 26 years in prison for a crime he may or may not have committed. This is another milestone in political posturing. Surely he has more recent and pressing crimes to prosecute -- say something that happened in the 21st century? Pat Allison Ventura Except for an understandable "confession" made by a mere kid trying to secure a plea deal, Bruce Lisker has proclaimed his innocence all along.

A lead prosecutor accused a television crime-show host of attempting to have a Brazilian federal judge assassinated, adding to allegations that he set up killings to boost his TV ratings. Crime-show host Wallace Souza, a former policeman accused of setting up at least five killings, tried to have the judge killed in 2007, said Ronaldo Andrade, a prosecutor in Amazonas state. Souza's lawyer, Francisco Balieiro, said his client was not involved in any assassination plan. Andrade and investigators also say Souza ordered the killings of at least five competing drug traffickers and then got a crew from his "Canal Livre" crime show on the scene before police arrived to get exclusive video.

Three times during his nearly 27 years in prison, Charles Chatman went before a parole board and refused to admit he was a rapist. His steadfastness was vindicated when a judge released him because of new DNA evidence showing he indeed wasn't. The release of Chatman, 47, added to Dallas County's nationally unmatched number of wrongfully convicted inmates. "Every time I'd go to parole, they'd want a description of the crime or my version of the crime," Chatman said. "I don't have a version of the crime.

Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey on Thursday attacked plans to roll back the sentences of thousands of federal prisoners convicted under harsh crack cocaine laws, saying that the move could return many violent offenders to the streets and increase the crime problems of U.S. cities. Mukasey told the U.S. Conference of Mayors that about 1,600 convicted criminals -- "many of them violent gang members" -- could be released as early as March under a decision by the U.S.