oddly enough

oddly enough

Friends trying to hand off rice cooker cause scare at casino

LINCOLN, R.I.

Police say two friends trying to hand off a rice cooker at a Rhode Island casino caused a brief security scare.

The Twin River Casino in Lincoln wasn’t evacuated, but the parking lot was temporarily closed Saturday morning until police determined there was no threat.

WPRI-TV reports a man told casino security he saw the cooker next to a car in the parking lot at about 9:40 a.m. Casino security officers with the Lincoln and state police and the state fire marshal’s office responded.

Police reviewed surveillance video and located the woman who left the cooker. She said she was meeting a friend who wanted to borrow it.

The friend had already gone inside, so they agreed over the phone that she would leave the cooker next to her friend’s car.

State police said their story checked out, and the two friends apologized.

Florida man sentenced for having sex on the beach

BRADENTON, Fla

A man convicted of having sex on a Florida beach in front of families was sentenced to 21/2 years in prison Monday.

Jose Caballero, 40, and Elissa Alvarez, 21, were convicted in May of two counts of lewd and lascivious behavior in a case that drew international attention for the couple’s brazen act. They were videotaped having sex on a Manatee County beach last summer in broad daylight. Witnesses testified that a 3-year-old girl saw them.

Caballero told jurors that he and Alvarez were not having sex and that witnesses were mistaken. Jurors listened to graphic testimony from witnesses and saw a video of Alvarez moving on top of Caballero in a sexual manner in the middle of the day while others watched.

“We are grateful that the state has offered 21/2 years,” said Ronald Kurpiers, defense attorney for Caballero.

He said Caballero planned to appeal his case. Alvarez, who recently was sentenced to time served, filed an appeal in her case in June.

Prosecutors say they were tougher on Caballero because he previously served eight years for cocaine trafficking. Both must now register as sex offenders. The Bradenton Herald reports the jury found them guilty after deliberating only 15 minutes. The couple had faced 15 years in prison.

“If you think about 2:30 in the afternoon on a crowded beach, it takes a certain type of person to do that in front of children a few feet away,” said Assistant State Attorney Anthony Dafonseca.

Prosecutors said it was important that the community knew that wouldn’t be tolerated on public beaches.

Associated Press