To Rape No More

This face tormented victims for decades (courtesy of AP/Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office)

After 35 years on the lam, it looks like luck has finally run out for convicted serial rapist Gary Irving—otherwise known as Gregg Irving in Gorham, Maine, where the fugitive has been hiding for more than three decades.

Now 52, Irving was 18 when he was convicted of raping three women in Massachusetts. On one occasion, he held a young woman at knife-point and threatened to kill her if she didn’t comply with his demands. On another, Irving knocked a woman off her bicycle, dragged her into the woods and raped her repeatedly.

We’re talking about a real “salt of the earth” kind of guy here. And yes, I am being quite facetious. He’s trash.

What happened in that Norfolk County court in 1978 boggles the mind. The judge—the Honorable Robert Prince, I’m supposed to say—in his profound judgment (facetious) saw fit to grant Irving bail after he was found guilty of raping those women. In his mind, he was allowing Irving and his family time to prepare for what was to come, possibly a sentence of life in prison.

In reality, he was providing Irving with exactly what he wanted: a get out of jail free card.

Irving obviously skipped bail, took off and successfully reintegrated himself into society up north. And despite changing only his first name—to something like Gregg, which seems kind of obvious to me—the authorities never found him, at least not until recently. How in the hell did they miss that?

For years, Irving worked installing telephones in Gorham businesses. And during his absence, he was added to the Massachusetts Top 10 Most Wanted list and even appeared on such shows as Unsolved Mysteries and America’s Most Wanted.

I guess the people of Gorham don’t watch much television. Otherwise you’d think someone would have recognized Irving after catching one of these programs.

Irving at the time of his arrest (courtesy of Reuters

Instead, he lived on and could have possibly repeated his criminal behavior in Maine. In the opinion of Louis Sabadini, the prosecutor in Irving’s original rape case, “rapists generally have a tendency to commit that crime over and over again, so I don’t know what he has been doing all those years.”

Just to be safe, the Maine police are reviewing unsolved rape cases to see if Irving could be connected to any of them. And based on what Sabadini said, I wouldn’t be surprised if he were.

Fortunately, this predator is now safely behind bars in Portland. And this time, he’s being held without bail, which is a nice touch. Irving is also getting a weapons charge since police found a number of illegal firearms in his home.

In other words, he could be going away for a long, long time. The unfortunate thing, though, is that even if Irving gets a life sentence, it can never compare to the time he spent free.

Time he stole from three young women—and maybe more—I might add.

Busted by Chewing Gum

Gary Raub captured by police, with a little help from Wrigley (courtesy of ABC News)

On June 12, 1976, the body of 70-year-old Blanche Kimball was discovered by police in her Augusta, Maine home. She had been stabbed more than twenty times and for more than three decades, her killer was never found.

That all changed on Monday evening when a 63-year-old homeless man named Gary Raub was arrested in Seattle by authorities.

Last July, detectives obtained Raub’s DNA in a most unconventional way: they asked him to participate in a chewing gum survey and later analyzed his saliva. Sure enough, his DNA matched that taken from blood found in Kimball’s kitchen. Now Raub, once known as Gary Wilson, faces murder charges that could result in as many as 25 years in prison. That’s essentially a life sentence for someone his age.

Raub’s arrest also ends one of Maine‘s longest unsolved murders. It just goes to show that even criminals from back in the day are not safe from prosecution thanks to modern-day technology and a little ingenuity.

Not to mention a piece of chewing gum!

Being good has its rewards

Abbie and the Rims. Photo courtesy of the Portland Press Herald

Maine Girl Returns Lost Money, Gains Awesome Reward | Parenting – Yahoo! Shine.

In Maine this week, an 8-year-old girl named Abbie Jacobson stumbled across a purse outside her local Sam’s Club store. Inside it were an ATM card, several rings, some foreign currency and more than $4000 in American dollars.

No one was around and in most cases, I feel like the cash would have been pocketed immediately. Such is not the case with this young lady.

Abbie knew this money was important to someone, so she asked her parents to help report it to the police. Fortunately, the name “Ra Rim” was on the ATM card and the foreign currency in the purse was from Cambodia. They provided this information and the purse to police and also left a number where they could be reached.

As it turned out, the purse belonged to a Cambodian immigrant and the money inside was to be used for a trip to her native country. She and her husband were actually planning to leave the next day.

The Portland Press Herald picked up the story and put it on the front page. This caught the attention of John Everets, CEO of the Bank of Maine, who decided Abbie deserved a reward for her kindness. So he purchased tickets to a sold-out Justin Bieber concert and sent them her way.

When asked about his daughter’s altruism, John Jacobson had this to say: ”A lot of people have asked us why Abbie gave the money back. But we always taught our kids, ‘whatever is in your heart, you do the right thing.’ And it has paid off.”

To me, this is the perfect example not only of good parenting, but also of the benefits of instilling children with a genuine care for others. It certainly warms my heart to know young people like Abbie are living by the Golden Rule and actually feel badly for the misfortune of their fellow humans.

Thanks for showing us how being a good person has its own rewards, Abbie. And I hope you enjoy the concert, too!

3 arrested in separate Dark Knight incidents – Yahoo! News

3 arrested in separate Dark Knight incidents – Yahoo! News.

It looks like the movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado is starting to produce more potentially violent and disturbing behavior throughout our great nation.

In Maine, for instance, a man was arrested when he told authorities he had just seen “The Dark Knight Rises” and was headed to shoot his former employer. The cops searched his car and found a number of weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle, several handguns and plenty of ammunition.

He also had news clippings of the mass shooting in Aurora.

Several other moviegoers have been behaving strangely and have scared the heck out of the people around them. And the shooting in Colorado always seems to be mentioned.

I am hoping there won’t be any copycats looking to gun people down out there, but if you go to see the new Batman movie, I suggest you sit near an exit, preferably near the main entrance. Since the front of the theater is more crowded and closely monitored, this just might save your life if another James Holmes comes calling.