‘Railroad Killer’ executed
A train-hopping serial killer linked to at least 15 murders near railroad tracks around the country said “I deserve what I am getting” before he was executed Tuesday night.
Angel Maturino Resendiz mumbled a prayer, saying “Lord, forgive me. Lord, forgive me,” and acknowledged the presence of relatives watching through a nearby window.
“I want to ask if it is in your heart to forgive me,” he said as he looked toward the relatives of victims in another room. “You don’t have to. I know I allowed the devil to rule my life.”
The Mexican drifter known as the “Railroad Killer” was executed for the slaying of physician Claudia Benton 7 1/2 years ago. She was killed during a deadly spree in 1998 and 1999 that earned Resendiz, 46, a spot on the FBI’s Most Wanted list as authorities searched for a murderer who slipped across the U.S. border and roamed the country by freight train.
Washington
Plan would send IRS after pimps
Pimps and sex traffickers could soon find themselves being chased by tax collectors, not just the vice squad.
Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, wants the Internal Revenue Service to chase after pimps and sex traffickers with the same fervor it stalked gangster Al Capone for tax evasion.
Grassley, R-Iowa, would hit pimps with fines and lengthy prison sentences for failing to file employment forms and withhold taxes for the women and girls under their command.
The proposal would make certain tax crimes a felony when the money comes from a criminal activity. A one-year prison sentence and $25,000 fine would become a 10-year sentence and $50,000 fine for each employment form that a pimp or sex trafficker fails to file. Grassley planned to propose the penalties when his panel meets today.
Las Vegas
Police shoot man at airport
Police shot and wounded a man at the city’s international airport Tuesday after he grabbed a 3-year-old boy at knifepoint and ran through a security area, authorities said.
The child was unharmed and returned to his mother, who was at the airport. The man was taken to a hospital.
After the 25-year-old man grabbed the boy, he ran through an exit lane intended for passengers leaving the gates, officials said.
Three officers confronted him at the other side of the checkpoint, police said. One used a Taser to stun the man, police said.
He dropped the child and charged at the officers, police said. Two officers each fired once.