The Odd Truth, Dec. 21, 2002

The Odd Truth is a collection of strange but factual news stories from around the world compiled by CBSNews.com's Brian Bernbaum. A new collection of stories is published each weekday. On weekends, you can read a week's worth of The Odd Truth.

Bat-Burger Makes Bad Joke

JACKSON, Tenn. — What would you like on your burger? Lettuce? Mayo? Pickles?

Perhaps some bat?

A Lexington teenager faces up to six years behind bars for placing a dead bat on a bun as a joke and giving it to a man who took a bite, thinking it was a burger, police said.

The girl, whose identity is being withheld because she is a juvenile, will be charged with violating a new law that prohibits tampering with someone's food and giving it as a gift, according to Lexington Police Investigator Donna Hetherington.

"It appears to be a practical joke that went very bad. She just wasn't using a whole lot of common sense," Hetherington said Thursday.

Timothy Gooch, 21, went to a local hospital's emergency room after biting into the bat Tuesday night. He was not injured and the bat tested negative for rabies, state Health Department spokeswoman Diane Denton said Thursday.

Hetherington said the bat had been killed when someone ran over it and that the teen had never seen one before. "She thought this would be funny, but it wasn't," Hetherington said.

Embarrassed In Embarrass

EMBARRASS, Wis. — Whoever stole the baby Jesus from a church nativity scene in this central Wisconsin community apparently was too embarrassed by news reports to keep it.

After The Post-Crescent of Appleton ran a story on the theft Tuesday and area television stations reported on it, the Waupaca County Sheriff's Department called the Rev. Todd Jerabek to say the person who took the statue wanted to return it.

The statue and attached manger, a single unit that had been screwed to the floor of the nativity set outside Zion Lutheran Church, were delivered Tuesday evening. The identity of the thief wasn't made clear.

Jerabek, pastor of Zion Lutheran, said the church did not plan to pursue the case with the sheriff's department, making any legal charges unlikely. He said the theft was "a bit disconcerting to many people."

"Some people were really disappointed," he said. "They wondered why would somebody do this, especially with Christ in front of a church."

They'll likely hear about it. When asked if the incident would be the topic for his holiday services, Jerabek smiled and said, "I don't want to give my sermon away."

Dog-Killer Sentenced To 12 Years

NEW YORK — A man who threw his girlfriend's dog off her 23rd-floor balcony was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for animal cruelty and other charges related to stalking the woman.

John Jefferson, 43, pleaded guilty Dec. 5 to robbery, burglary, stalking, criminal contempt and animal cruelty. The judge said two of the 12 years were for the dog, Ribsy.

"I've had pets all my life," Justice James Yates said. "I was just as sickened as anyone else when I read the stories."

Jefferson tossed the 16-year-old black and white terrier-poodle mix to its death on May 26 during an argument with Miller. Ribsy landed in the concrete plaza below and died instantly.

Jefferson also barricaded himself inside the apartment and threatened Miller with a knife, police said at the time.

"I am sorry," Jefferson said in court Thursday. "I was totally messed up, emotionally disturbed. I just lost it."

Fourth-Grade Cannibal Play Halted

KENNEWICK, Wash. - The show must not go on. That's the decision of an elementary school principal in Kennewick, Washington. A fourth grade class at Cascade Elementary had been working on a musical since September. It was supposed to have been performed last night. That was until the principal found out the play was "Sweeny Todd." It's about a barber who cuts up people and makes them into stew. Parents want to know why it took so long to make the decision -- after months of preparation and expense. One father says the kids were crying when they were told there would be no show.

Pharmacist With Arm Fetish Back On The Job

NEWTON, Kan. - A Newton pharmacist with an arm fetish is cleared to practice again by the Kansas Board of Pharmacy.

Corey Penner gave up his license after being convicted in March of 16 counts of misdemeanor battery. He was placed on two years' probation after he drew blood from dozens of people for a bogus study

The renewal of his license has several conditions: He is not to practice as a pharmacist in charge, and is not allowed to do any medical work other than dispensing.

Prosecutors say Penner drew blood from about 200 people during a span of about seven years.

At first he mailed the blood to non-existent addresses in the Kansas City area. Later he simply threw the blood away.

Penner never explained why he collected the blood. Harvey County Attorney Matt Treaster has said the crimes resulted from an arm fetish.

Sex Guide For 12-15-Year-Olds Axed

MONTREAL - Officials at a Canadian teen magazine are red-faced over a blue issue. Montreal-based Adorable is pulling a sex guide, included in its latest issue, off the shelves. The guide is titled "99 Ways to Send Your Boyfriend to Seventh Heaven." It explicitly describes how to perform certain sexual acts. But the magazine targets readers just 12- to 15-years-old. A statement from the magazine says an "error in judgement was committed." And Adorable promises to "never again" expose its young readers to off-color material.

Would-Be Carjacker Pummeled

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Police don't recommend doing it -- but a Florida woman is a hero to her mother for pummeling a would-be carjacker.

It happened last week outside a Tallahassee fast-food restaurant.

Katrese Forbes was leaving the restaurant when she saw a gun-toting man with a stocking cap over his face pounding on her mother's car window, demanding that she open the door.

When the man noticed Forbes, he aimed the gun at her. Then her mother started honking the horn, and the man pointed the gun back toward the mother.

That's when Forbes balled up her fist and struck the gunman in the face. He ran, but she caught up to him and punched him some more before he got away.

A suspect was arrested later at a nearby fast-food restaurant.

Police advise against hitting an armed robber because of the potential for a violent reaction.

Debunking The Curse Of King Tut

LONDON - Don't sweat the curse of the mummy.

Those who disturbed Tutankhamun's tomb died all right, but no sooner than those who kept their distance, according to a study published in the British Medical Journal.

"It doesn't need to be scientifically debunked because it's rubbish really, but it's the first time I've seen it treated in this medical or scientific way," Neal Spencer, an Egyptologist at the British Museum said of the study.

When people associated with British archaeologist Howard Carter's 1922 expedition that unearthed the tomb began to die prematurely, their demise was widely attributed to the mummy's curse.

The death the following year of Lord Carnarvon, who financed the expedition, unleashed a sensation in newspapers worldwide. Carnarvon, 57, died of pneumonia and blood poisoning after a mosquito bite became infected, but the speculation was that he died because of a curse on Tutankhamun's tomb.

The study used Carter's diaries to select a group for analysis. Carter recorded the presence of 44 Westerners in Egypt at the relevant time, of whom 25 were potentially exposed to the curse.

Nelson defined exposure to the curse as those Westerners recorded in Carter's diaries as being present on any of four key occasions - at the breaking of the sacred seals in the tomb on Feb. 17, 1923, the opening of the sarcophagus on Feb. 3, 1926, the opening of the coffins on Oct. 10, 1926 and the examination of the mummy on Nov. 11, 1926.

"There was no effect on survival time for any exposure" to the curse, the study found.

Cold-Blooded Killers

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. - A camera recorded the attacks that can only be described as cold-hearted, if not cold-blooded.

The video shows a group of pen-wielding vandals repeatedly puncturing two inflatable snowmen in this Florida Panhandle resort city. A third attack was reported outside the camera's view.

"They stabbed Frosty in the heart," snowman owner Mike Mitchell said Monday. "To me, it's just totally against the spirit of Christmas."

Around Halloween, decorations in the yard of a neighbor across the street also had been vandalized. Upon putting up Christmas decorations, the neighbor installed a surveillance camera that caught the stabbings in both yards.

Mitchell suspects the same culprits are responsible for the Halloween and Christmas attacks, linking the two holidays in a way reminiscent of the 1993 fright-film "The Nightmare Before Christmas."

The tape has been turned over to Bay County sheriff's investigators. They had hoped to enhance the video to read license plate numbers and identify faces, but so far have been unable to do so, said sheriff's spokeswoman Ruth Sasser.

Mitchell is unsure of how he would like to see the snowman assassins punished.

"I just hope it's some lesson for them that vandalism is not cool, especially this time of year," he said.

Domino's Unfortunate New Topping

WATERTOWN, N.Y. - Two people claim their Domino's pizza had a truly disgusting topping -- pubic hair. Michael Widrick and Rhonda LaParr of Watertown, New York, are suing Domino's. They charge they got small, wiry hairs stuck in their teeth as they eat the pizza. Widrick had a previous run-in with a Domino's franchise employee, who's also named in the suit. Widrick and LaParr want DNA testing of the alleged pubic hair and the employee. The franchise owner isn't objecting to the DNA request. The suit asks for a total of $300,000 -- for mental distress and other damages.

Pentagon To Develop B.O. Identification

NEW YORK - You stink -- whether you know it or not. Now, the Pentagon wants to be able to ID people by their B.O. fingerprints. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency -- or DARPA -- is offering more than $3 million to develop a technology to identify people by their unique, genetically determined odor. The grant is to determine if such a device is technologically possible. Sound farfetched? Well, DARPA is the federal agency that developed the Internet.

Ex-Fans Struggle To Unload Bengals Tickets

CINCINNATI - How bad are the Bengals? So bad you can't even give away tickets. Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Monzel says he wasn't able to unload his family's tickets to the NFL's worst team -- and he's not alone. Now, the councilman is suggesting the tickets go to underprivileged youngsters. Team officials say more than 10,000 seats were empty last Sunday, as fans simply didn't show up for the game. The Bengals lost to Jacksonville, 29-to-15. Monzel is urging fans to donate their tickets to the last home game this weekend, so they can be distributed to local community centers. Of course, some wags suggest having kids watch the Bengals could be considered child abuse.

Holiday Guilt Gets The Best Of Jewelry Thief

LINCOLN, Neb. — A thief with a conscience mailed back a gold wedding band and earrings to the jewelry store where he or she stole them 34 years ago.

A letter to Sartor Hamann Jewelry accompanied the traditional woman's wedding band, size 7, and a pair of pearl earrings with gold posts, tiny diamonds and dangling pearls.

"Enclosed are two items that I stole from you in 1968. I'm very sorry and I should not have taken your property," it said. "The pieces belong to you NOT me. I was wrong and I want to apologize for my actions."

Store owner Don Hamann said the letter that arrived Tuesday did not have a signature. The only telltale sign was a Boys Town, Neb., postmark.

"It's kind of interesting," Hamann said. "What must have gone through the person's mind after what, 34 years?"

The package provided few clues. The 18-karat gold ring appeared worn even though it had been polished, he said.

The earrings on close examination appeared to be costume jewelry, a brand the store normally wouldn't carry.

It was the first time Hamann could remember a stolen item being returned voluntarily.

Swift, Decisive End For Burglar

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Mistake one: ripping off a house. Mistake two: ripping off the house of a police captain. Oklahoma City police Captain Rob Kemmet says he was relaxing on the couch after working the night shift, when he heard his front door open. Kemmet says he then saw someone going through the presents under his Christmas tree. That's when Kemmet jumped off his couch and grabbed Larry Powers. Kemmet says Powers tried to put up a struggle, but didn't get very far. Now, Powers faces a burglary charge.

'O Canada' Takes On Whole New Meaning

CALGARY, Alberta - Oh, no! That's not "O' Canada." Students at a Canadian high school got an unintended lesson in sex education during the national anthem the other morning. Someone spliced 30 seconds of hardcore porn into the "O Canada" video that plays on TV's in every classroom at Springbank high school in Calgary, Alberta. School officials are offering a $300 reward for the capture of the porno prankster. Principal Alf Gould isn't sure how the dirty deed was done, without anyone noticing the tape had been removed and altered. He says the prankster faces suspension if caught.

Convict Couple Gets Hitched In The Clink

LANDER, Wyo. - David Marple and Brenda Johnson won't forget their wedding night. No honeymoon suite for this couple -- they slept in separate cells. The couple is charged with running a drug lab and they've been held in the Fremont County, Wyoming, jail for nearly a year, while awaiting trail. But they did receive permission to get married. Sheriff-elect Skip Hornecker says marriage is a constitutional right which they try to honor, security permitting. But there are no conjugal visits for the newlyweds. Hornecker says the only time the bride and groom get to spend together is during the actual ceremony.

This Art Will Kill You

NEW YORK - The menacing boxes that led police to evacuate one of the city's busiest subway stations and call out the bomb squad were just part of an art class project, a student says.

Clinton Boisvert was arrested after admitting to police that he painted the word "FEAR" on 37 boxes and placed them inside the bustling subway station at Union Square.

It was his way of meeting an assignment for the School of Visual Arts, said Boisvert, who was released on his own recognizance Tuesday.

Boisvert, 25, was charged with reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, and disorderly conduct.

The scare happened Dec. 11 when a police sergeant spotted one of the shirtbox-sized boxes in a stairwell. Others — some painted black, some wrapped in electrical tape — were found on platforms, and attached to walls, benches and floors.

The station was closed for nearly six hours while officers determined that the boxes were empty.

"It's a case of an innocent art project going awry," Boisvert's lawyer, Bill Stampur said.

Sculpture teacher Barbara Schwartz wouldn't say how his effort would be graded, but told The New York Post he received an "A" for the semester.

The school probably won't discipline Boisvert, said spokesman Adam Eisenstat.

Senate Cable Pipes Porno Into Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON - Wait a Minute … Is That Dan Rather or Ted Koppel?

The internal Capitol Hill cable television system frequently replays the previous evening's national news programs, like "The CBS — Evening News" or "Nightline" - but on the morning of December 6, two Capitol Hill police officers noticed something else entirely … porn.

Roll Call reports that the cops turned on the tube and were greeted not by news anchors but by a pornographic movie that a technician in the Senate Recording studio was dubbing - and inadvertently broadcasting on the Senate cable system at the same time.

The Architect of the Capitol's office, which oversees the cable system, quickly stopped the surprise programming change by about 7:05 a.m., Roll Call reports. With the Senate on recess, very few people were likely watching television so early in the morning, the paper reports.

The Senate Sargeant-at-Arms, Alfonso Lenhardt, said the employee in-question has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

Roll Call's Ed Henry, like any good reporter getting to the bottom of a story, asked Lenhardt which pornographic movie had been piped through the august halls of the nation's upper legislative body. But Lenhardt, who says he "abhors" such films would only say: "I have no idea. I did not see the video so I couldn't speak to that."

Guinea Pigs Destroy Man's Home

ROYAL OAK, Mich. - It's the attack of the guinea pigs.

City officials in a Detroit suburb ordered a wrecking crew, after hundreds of guinea pigs had taken over a man's home. Monday, a demolition team leveled the house in Royal Oak.

City building department spokesman Robert Hudson says the owner had allowed more than 440 guinea pigs to run free in the house. Hudson says the animals did so much damage, the home couldn't be saved. According to Hudson, the smell of guinea pig pee was so strong, firefighters had to wear air tanks and hazmat gear.

The man is now reported to be in a nursing home. And almost all the animals were placed with pet stores or the local humane society.

Spitting Cobra Bite Ruins Vacation

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A Dutch tourist who tried to take a nap in his hotel room in Malaysia was attacked and temporarily blinded in one eye by a cobra that had slithered under his pillow, an official said Wednesday.

Jaroean Ferdinand, 27, spent two days in a hospital after the snake spat venom into his right eye, causing a slight laceration on his cornea, said Sim Tong Him, a member of the state legislature in the tourist city of Malacca, 95 miles south of Kuala Lumpur.

Equatorial spitting cobras are found in many old towns in Malaysia and Thailand. They prey mostly on rats and frogs and spit a powerful neurotoxic venom that triggers temporary blindness. They grow up to 5.3 feet long and their bites can be fatal.

Ferdinand, quoted by the Mandarin-language China Press newspaper, said he checked into his room Sunday and was settling into bed when he "felt something wriggling under the pillow."

A 24-inch cobra then lunged at him. He ducked, but the reptile's venom struck his eye. His screams alerted hotel staff, who rushed in and killed the snake, Sim said.

Death Gets A Little More Colorful

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - If the ink isn't black, your death certificate goes back, according to North Carolina law.

Mecklenburg County commissioners are trying to bury that archaic requirement, asking state lawmakers to expand the palette of colors that can be used to sign death certificates. Commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday for the change.

N.C. General Statute 130A-97, presumably a relic of the fountain-pen era, limits signers of death certificates to black or blue-black ink.

Sometimes, unknowing doctors sign in blue, and when the funeral director takes it to the county's Health Department, workers there reject it.

Funeral director Carletta Foster said the restrictive-ink rule sometimes makes it hard to meet the deadlines for filing death certificates.

"That puts a terrible imposition on us because we have to redo the death certificate again," Foster said.

County staffers initially proposed allowing doctors to use any color ink they wanted.

But commissioner Jim Puckett clamped down on that idea, warning of the noncopier-friendly perils of yellow highlighters and glitter ink.

Those who suggested the wide inking latitude, Puckett said, "obviously didn't have 12-year-old daughters."

Seven-Year-Old Crashes Second Stolen Car

MINNEAPOLIS - Authorities were trying to determine what to do about a 7-year-old Minneapolis boy who stole a car, drove around for a while and crashed — not just once, but twice.

Around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning, the boy drove a stolen car in reverse and smashed it into another car in the Powderhorn Neighborhood, slightly injuring a 10-year-old boy riding with his mother and younger sister in the other car, police said.

"He did it again? I can't believe it," said Debra Taylor, whose 1992 Jeep Cherokee was taken by the boy the first time, on Dec. 6. "Something needs to be done. This is the beginning of trouble in his life."

On Tuesday, officers arrived at the crash before the car had been reported stolen, according to police reports. Owner Laura Torres said she had just stepped out to start her car and warm it up. No more than three minutes later, it was gone.

Sandra Howard, who was driving the car the boy smashed into, said all she saw was a blue car coming her way.

"I kept beeping my horn but it just kept coming," she said. "That boy was going backwards so fast that if I had been someone walking, I would have been dead now."

The boy, whose name was not released, was taken to St. Joseph's Home for Children.

After the Dec. 6 crash, he told officers: "I just had to get to school and I don't know where it is."

Jailed Ex-Oil Exec Wins Essay Contest

MEXICO CITY - A defendant in a corruption scandal at the state-owned oil monopoly has won a writing contest for an essay he completed while in jail awaiting trial.

Manuel Gomezperalta, ex-director of administration for Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, spent seven months in a Mexico City jail but was freed last week on $3 million bail.

Gomezperalta is one of several former Pemex officials charged in the diversion of as much as $170 million in company funds to the presidential campaign of Francisco Labastida. Labastida, a candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, lost to President Vicente Fox in 2000.

While behind bars, Gomezperalta completed an essay called "Vivir La Vida," or "Living Life" under a pseudonym, and sent it to the Mexico City daily El Universal, which sponsors the Sonar las Letras essay contest.

Gomezperalta's essay, based on the work of Mexican essayist Sara Sefchovich, uses a frank, every-man narrator to tell the story of life's losses and misfortunes. In a report published in Tuesday's El Universal, its editors praised Gomezperalta's work as touchingly human and haunting.

Gomezperalta has not commented publicly since leaving prison Dec. 9, but has denied any wrongdoing in the Pemex scandal.

A Big, Long Mistake

REGINA, Saskatchewan - It took a trip to the airport for a Canadian woman to learn her surgeons had goofed in a big way. The woman set off the metal detectors at an airport in Regina, Saskatchewan. It turns out that surgeons had left a more than foot-long metal retractor in her abdomen. She had undergone surgery last June and had been complaining of stomach pain ever since. The woman was X-rayed following the airport incident and the retractor was discovered. The patient's lawyer says the woman was horrified by the doctors' mistake. The lawyer says they are now considering legal options.

The Quickest Path To Prison

KENOSHA, Wis. — A man who claimed he took money from a bank because he wanted to go back to prison may get his wish.

A jury convicted Dale L. Smith, 35, of theft on Dec. 12. Prosecutors said Smith took $9,815 from a teller's cash drawer at Bank One in February. A customer held Smith in a bear hug until police arrived.

The defense argued that Smith did not intend to keep the money but instead wanted to be re-incarcerated.

Defense witnesses said before the trial that Smith complained he was having trouble coping with life out of prison.

Smith now faces a possible maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine and 25 years in prison. Judge Michael Wilk scheduled sentencing for Jan. 23.

Smith's past convictions include resisting arrest in 1987, burglary in 1989, theft from a bank in 1992, battery and disorderly conduct in 1995 and postal theft in 1997.

Pot-Smoking Judge Returns To Bench

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - It's not quite the high court -- but a pot-smoking Michigan judge is back on the bench. Judge Tom Gilbert returned to work yesterday in his District Court that serves the Traverse City area. He had taken a leave of absence after being spotted smoking marijuana during a Rolling Stones concert. Gilbert says he checked himself into an alcohol treatment program during his month off work. Yesterday, Gilbert apologized to the community. But he won't be hearing cases involving drugs or alcohol.

4-H Bags 'Offensive' Traditions

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Traditions that offend American Indians are out at 4-H summer camps in West Virginia.

Children will stop painting their faces, wearing feather headdresses, chanting a tribal cheer of "Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!" and using "stereotypical motions and dances" next year.

Other traditions -- ones that are deemed respectful to Indians -- will continue, including joining the Mingo, Cherokee, Delaware or Seneca tribes at camp.

The changes were announced by the West Virginia University Extension Service, which sponsors 4-H clubs in the state.

University President David Hardesty ordered a review in April after one parent complained about some of the practices to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Civil Rights.

The USDA is a major source of funding for 4-H clubs in West Virginia -- and the Extension Service could lose $4.5 Million a year if the clubs' programs violate federal civil rights laws.

Junkie Santa Claus Robs Pharmacy

CHESTER, Va. — Police are looking for a man with a familiar description who robbed a drug store at gunpoint: long white hair and beard, a white-fur-trimmed red suit and hat, black boots, prominent belly.

Police Capt. Mike Spraker said the Santa Claus lookalike obtained an undisclosed amount of the painkiller OxyContin from the Eckerd Drug Store in Chester on Saturday night.

"An individual dressed as Santa — beard, hat, the whole works — just walked to the back of the store to the pharmacist, displayed his weapon and asked for the OxyContin," he said.

Spraker said the robber fled on foot. A canine unit tracked him to the parking lot of a nearby apartment complex, where police believe he got into a car and drove away.

"No reindeer or sleds were observed in the area," said Spraker, who said he wanted any children hearing about the incident to know "we immediately contacted the North Pole and verified Santa was there. This Santa was definitely an impostor."

Waitress Gets $10,000 Tip

QUINCY, Mass. - Waitress Sarah Nilsen got an early Christmas present in the mail this week: A $10,000 tip from one of her regular customers.

The check, made out to Nilsen's 11-month-old son, came from an older widower who patronizes the Newcomb Farms restaurant, where Nilsen, 22, waits tables twice a week.

The man, whom Nilsen would not identify, sits at the same table and orders the same meal every Wednesday.

Nilsen, who also works full-time at an insurance agency, said she's been talking to the man about her son Andrew since he visited the restaurant with her when he was 3 months old.

"I said, 'I don't know how I can thank you,'" Nilson recalled, according to The Patriot Ledger of Quincy.

His reply: "I just wanted to do something for you."

Nilsen and her husband, Jeffrey, plan to put the money in Andrew's college savings account. She says she's sure Andrew will meet his benefactor at the restaurant many times.

Guilt-Stricken Thief Returns Old Loot

CARTERET, N.J. — A man whose coin collection was stolen 20 years ago has received a $400 money order from the remorseful thief, who wrote in an anonymous letter that he was sorry for his youthful misdeeds.

Vincent Calabria, 73, of Carteret, said he didn't even know the coin collection was stolen, but was pleasantly surprised to receive the letter after so many years.

"I think it's a message from God that not everyone is bad or loused up," Calabria said last week. "There are good people, and there are people that have made mistakes and feel the need to atone."

The letter-writer wrote that he felt guilty about stealing the coins, which he found in Calabria's garage when nobody was home.

"I have grown up to be a good father and churchgoing man," the person wrote. "I know this money will never undo the pain I caused you, but I truly hope it will restore a small piece of your faith in humanity."

Calabria, a retired grandfather of five, said he had thought he simply hid the coins so well that he couldn't find them. He said the collection of coins was almost certainly worth less than $400.

DNA Saves The Day

LOS ANGELES - A judge dismissed drunken driving charges against a 20-year-old college student after DNA testing paid for by the young man's parents showed police had used the wrong blood sample.

The Los Angeles Police Department has also launched an investigation into the mix-up, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

The case began when Nick Bergamo was arrested May 25 on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. When blood test results came back they indicated Bergamo's blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit.

Bergamo disputed the results, hired a lawyer and paid $1,200 for DNA testing, an unusual step in alcohol-related court cases.

The DNA test showed the blood sample wasn't his, and the judge dismissed the charges earlier this month.

"I was floored," said attorney Lane Scherer. "A mistake like this is a big, big deal."

The implications could extend beyond Bergamo's case, since blood is typically tested in batches, Scherer said. The same police department has faced questions of its handling of blood evidence before, including during the O.J. Simpson's murder trial.

Obscene Message Lands Man In court

HOWELL, Michigan - Eric Wilmoth should have kept his thoughts to himself. He's to appear in court today, for writing an obscene message on a check used to pay a traffic fine. Wilmoth is facing a contempt of court charge in Howell, Michigan. His lawyer concedes the obscenity was hard to miss, because Wilmoth highlighted it with a yellow marker. The lawyer adds Wilmoth will apologize when he appears before the judge.