oddly enough

oddly enough

Burglar caught in the act offers to share heroin

BILLINGS, Mont.

Prosecutors in Montana say a man caught leaving a house he apparently had burglarized apologized to the homeowner and offered him some heroin.

The Billings Gazette reports Christopher Dayell Bittner made an initial court appearance Monday on felony burglary and drug-possession charges.

Authorities say the homeowner and his 7-year-old son came home as Bittner was leaving Saturday. Yellowstone County Attorney Paul Adam says Bittner apologized and offered the drug. He was found nearby, and court records say a search of his backpack turned up 31.5 grams of heroin, drug paraphernalia and items belonging to the homeowner.

Public defender Roberta Drew asked that Bittner be released without bail because he wanted to attend his father’s funeral. Bail was set at $7,500, but Bittner was allowed to attend the service.

Hunt on for 1.5-ton gargoyles missing from Mass. church

WORCESTER, Mass.

Church officials and preservationists are trying to figure out what happened to several 1.5-ton gargoyles from a Massachusetts church.

The church in Worcester is a one-fifth scale replica of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was built in the 1890s and formerly was known as the Chestnut Street Congregational Church. It now is owned by an Assembly of God congregation and is on the market for $2.5 million.

The crumbling building was slated for demolition a decade ago but was saved with the help of Preservation Worcester.

The group’s director tells The Telegram & Gazette the 3,000-pound gargoyles were removed for safety reasons by a construction company that went out of business. The company’s assets were sold at auction, and the fear is the gargoyles were sold.

Errant Taliban tweet claims spokesman is in Pakistan

KABUL, Afghanistan

An apparently errant tweet by the Taliban’s spokesman in Afghanistan gave his location as being in neighboring Pakistan.

On Friday, a tweet by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claiming an attack included geolocation information that suggested he sent the message from Sindh, Pakistan.

Mujahid later sent a tweet Saturday describing the location leak as an “enemy plot.” He also offered his Afghan telephone number to confirm his identity and wrote: “With full confidence, I can say that I am in my own country.”

Twitter says such geolocation data is based on latitude and longitude data or other information provided by users at the time of their message.

In an explanation of geolocation, Twitter itself warns: “Remember, once you post something online, it’s out there for others to see.”

Associated Press