Researchers at St. Mary's Hospital in London had been stumped how 10 British men had contracted a rare virus called human T-cell leukemia virus type 1. The men weren't intravenous drug users and hadn't had transfusions; none of them displayed any symptoms, but doctors had identified the virus through bloodwork. Dr. Divya Dhasmana, co-author of a study published March 13 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was eventually tipped off to the source of the infections when she saw scars on one of the men's back: The men participate in blood-shedding religious rituals, such as cutting or whipping themselves. The rituals the men reported include striking the forehead with a knife, then passing the knife to other men; or striking the back with a chain of blades. Dr. Dhasmana told the Associated Press that one infected man told her the blades were soaked in a bucket of antiseptic solution between uses, but that didn't prevent the virus' spread. "Our message is not 'Don't do it,'" said Dr. Dhasmana. "Our message is, 'If you do it, don’t share equipment.'" [Associated Press, 3/13/2019]

Lucky!

A 43-year-old man in Nimbin, Australia, has the proliferation of modern technology to thank for his life. Reuters reported that on March 13, the unnamed man arrived home only to find a 39-year-old man "who was known to him," waiting outside with a bow and arrow. As Man A raised his mobile phone to take a picture of Man B, Man B "engaged the bow and was ready to fire," according to a police report. Man B "fired the arrow at the resident, which pierced through the man's mobile phone, causing the phone to hit (Man A) in the chin. It left a small laceration that didn't require medical treatment." Man B was arrested at the scene, police reported. [Reuters, 3/14/2019]

The Litigious Society

Joanne Cullen, 64, of North Bellmore, Long Island, wants to make administrators of St. Charles Resurrection Cemetery in Farmingdale pay for the horror she experienced in December 2016 as she visited her parents' graves. On that day, Cullen was reaching down to straighten a bow on a wreath when the ground opened up beneath her and a sinkhole "caused her to fall forward and smash her head on the tombstone," cracking a tooth, her attorney, Joseph Perrini, told the New York Post. As Cullen sank, she grabbed the sides of the tombstone and yelled for help, but no one heard her. Cullen filed suit in March in Queens Supreme Court, asking for $5 million to overcome the nightmares and headaches she experiences, along with the fear of walking in open fields. "I will never go back there again," Cullen said. "Getting sucked into your parents' grave ... it's terrifying and traumatizing," Perrini added. [New York Post, 3/16/2019]

Criminal Ingenuity

Outside the North Fork Correctional Unit in Sayre, Oklahoma, Kerri Jo Hickman was arrested on March 10 for delivering contraband to prison inmates, reported the Associated Press. Hickman's clever delivery method was a T-shirt gun, used by sports team mascots to shoot promotional shirts at fans. Hickman, however, launched methamphetamines, cellphones, ear buds, phone chargers, digital scales, marijuana and tobacco to some lucky con on the other side, but police discovered the gun and another package in her car, and she was booked on charges of introducing contraband into a penal institution, conspiracy and drug trafficking in Beckham County. [Associated Press, 3/15/2019]

Oh, the Drama

Dog walker Michele Bilsland has become accustomed to strangers' alarm when her charge, Begbie, throws himself to the ground as they start out on their constitutional. Begbie, who lives with Roz Niblock and Matt Kennedy in Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland, stages his protest when Bilsland leads him on what he knows is the shorter route around the block, rather than his usual hour-long jaunt through fields. On March 15, two workmen stopped to see if Bilsland needed help: "I told them he was fine and just having a tantrum and sulking," she told Metro News. Begbie, a 4-year-old Old English bulldog, continued his charade for at least a minute before getting up and getting on with his walk. "Begbie just has a very strong personality," Bilsland noted. [Metro News, 3/19/2019]

Florida.

Arby's manager Le'Terria Akins, 21, was arrested in Royal Palm Beach, Florida, for aggravated assault, battery and criminal mischief on March 16 after an altercation with Ernst Point Du Jour, an employee. FOX 35 reported that trouble started after Akins asked Point Du Jour if he could work late that evening, according to police. When he refused, the two began arguing, and witnesses reported that as Point Du Jour got very close to Akins, she pepper-sprayed him. Point Du Jour ran out of the building with Akins in hot pursuit, wielding a long kitchen knife. Police said Akins did not stab Du Jour but did scratch his car with the knife. [FOX 35, 3/19/2019]

Bright Idea

Topeka, Kansas, police took the joy out of "joyride" on March 16 for Nicholas Hodgden, 40, who climbed into a forklift outside a Dillons grocery store that evening and set off down the road. The forklift, valued at $1,500, had been left outside the store with the keys in the ignition, The Topeka Capitol-Journal reported. A spokesperson for the police department said bystanders saw what happened and called police, who apprehended Hodgden as he drove along, holding an open can of beer. He also had a six-pack in the back. Hodgden was booked into the Shawnee County Jail on one count of felony theft and misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence and transporting an open alcoholic beverage container. [Topeka Capitol-Journal, 3/18/2019]

Government in Action

Ah, the winds of politics blow fickly. Mayor Jasiel F. Correia II, 27, watched his fortunes both fall and rise, all on one ballot, when residents of Fall River, Massachusetts, voted to recall him. Correia was charged last year with 13 counts of wire fraud and filing false tax returns, which he has denied, and on March 12, 7,829 citizens voted to kick him out of office, The New York Times reported. But of the five people vying for the mayor's job on the same ballot, Correia won a plurality -- about 35 percent of the vote. Looks like he can unpack his banker's boxes and hang his pictures back up -- at least until September, when a mayoral primary will give other candidates another chance. [The New York Times, 3/13/2019]

Insult to Injury

The last thing Ohio defense attorney Aaron Brockler remembers after hearing the judge pronounce a 47-year sentence for his client, David Chislton, 42, was a "swoosh" sound. That was the sound of Chislton's fist speeding through the air toward Brockler's face. On Feb. 19, Chislton had pleaded guilty in Cuyahoga County to domestic abuse, aggravated arson, felonious assault and cruelty to a companion animal, and Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Margaret Russo handed down his sentence as he stood handcuffed next to his lawyer. But before Brockler could tell him that he would try to get the sentence reduced, Chislton had knocked him to the floor. "All I remember is waking up on the floor underneath the table," Brockler told WKYC TV. Brockler suffered a concussion and a broken nose. Chislton faces additional charges. [WKYC, 2/21/2019]

I've Had It Up to Here!

It seems Cynthia Grund, 58, is not one to back down from a challenge. Particularly after her 37-year-old son had been drinking all day at her home in Salem Township, Minnesota. So when he lay down on the driveway and asked, "Why don't you just run me over?" she was happy to oblige, reported KIMT TV. "He didn't believe I would. He has been drinking all day. We gave him a chance," Grund told deputies who responded to her husband's 911 call on March 18. Grund said she had arranged for her son to stay with a friend and was prepared to give him a ride when he stretched out on the ground. He suffered significant injuries to his head and pelvis, and Grund is accused of second-degree assault and may face an attempted murder charge. Neighbor Samuel Haefner was shocked by the incident: "They were always friendly ... I would never describe them as off or malicious in any sort of way." [KIMT, 3/19/2019]

Brewery worker Del Hall of Newtown, Ohio, is taking an unusual approach to fasting for Lent this year. Hall, who works at the Fifty West brewery in Dayton, is going on an all-beer-only-beer diet until Easter. He told WKRC-TV that monks from the 1600s inspired him. "(T)hey would take a popular style of beer in Germany, bock beer, make it extra hearty and that would be their liquid bread, and that's what they call it," Hall said. He is, however, including all types of beer in his Lenten fast. "(T)his seems very daunting," Hall noted. "I'm just curious if I'm up to the challenge." He is planning to check in with his doctor during the fast. [WKRC, 3/11/2019]

Going Out in Style

Drivers along southbound Interstate 880 in Hayward, California, were pleasantly surprised on March 4 when they saw $20 bills flying through the air. Some motorists stopped to collect as many as they could, but the mystery lay in where they came from. The next day, members of a family, who wished to remain anonymous, admitted to KTVU that they tossed $500 worth of bills into the air as they drove back from a funeral; the unexpected windfall was intended to honor their deceased family member. It's an "Oakland thing," one person explained. [KTVU, 3/5/2019]

Scrooge Report

As Clayton Lucas, 25, was being transported through East Deer Township, Pennsylvania, from a halfway house to a treatment class on the morning of March 4 (69 days after Christmas), the van driver regaled him with Christmas songs. Turns out Lucas isn't a fan of holiday tunes, so he reached into the front seat and began choking the unnamed driver, who was strangled almost to the point of losing consciousness, according to police. KDKA reported that another driver flagged down a state trooper and alerted him about an altercation happening on the shoulder of the highway. After a struggle to get handcuffs on Lucas, the officer deposited him in the Allegheny County Jail, where he will face multiple charges. [KDKA, 3/8/2019]

Let's Make a Deal

In Granville County, North Carolina, Melissa Anne Godshall, 31, and her boyfriend, Robert J. Kennerley, 46, were minding their own business, panhandling at the side of the road, when a car pulled over and Godshall received an unusual proposal: Levan Lomtatidze, 44, from the nation of Georgia, would pay her $12,000, give her a car and make rent payments for her if she would marry him so he could stay in the United States. She agreed, according to U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon Jr., and Kennerley served as a witness at their nuptials. Alas, this romantic partnership was not to be: On March 7, Godshall and Lomtatidze were indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud, marriage fraud, visa fraud and making false statements in immigration proceedings, the Raleigh News and Observer reported. If convicted, the two face 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Best man Kennerley also faces prison time and fines for aiding and abetting marriage fraud. [Raleigh News and Observer, 3/8/2019]

Idiom in Action

In Ljubljana, Slovenia, an unnamed 21-year-old woman and a 29-year-old relative were arrested for insurance fraud, police announced on March 11, after the young woman cut off her hand in order to collect almost 400,000 euros in insurance payments. Two other relatives were released in the case. The four had recently signed up with five different insurance companies for life and injury coverage. "With one of her accomplices, she intentionally amputated the hand at the wrist with a circular saw, hoping to stage it as an accident," said police spokesman Valter Zrinski, according to the Daily Mail. The group left the hand behind when they went to the hospital, intending to ensure a permanent disability, said police, but doctors at the Ljubljana University Medical Center were able to retrieve and re-attach it. The woman and her accomplice face up to eight years in prison. [Daily Mail, 3/11/2019]

Anger Management: Wedding Edition

As a wedding party of 30 guests gathered on the beach at Oceanfront Park in Ocean Ridge, Florida, on March 3, Jeffery E. Alvord, 27, and his bride posed for photos before the ceremony. Trouble erupted instead when a 24-year-old man would not move from his spot on the beach to make way for the photos, the Palm Beach Post reported. In fact, Alvord told police, the man wouldn't relocate even after being offered $50 and became "very belligerent," so Alvord punched him in the nose. The victim told Ocean Ridge police a groomsman held him while Alvord punched him three times, and the police report noted that the victim's "nose appears to be out of place sitting more to the right of his face," and his glasses were broken. Alvord spent what would have been his wedding night in the Palm Beach County Jail and faces charges of aggravated battery and criminal mischief. He and his fiancee married the next day, shortly after his release from jail. [Palm Beach Post, 3/6/2019]

People Different From Us

He's been dubbed the Naked Carpenter for renovating his home wearing only a tool belt, but Robert Jenner, 43, of Snodland, Kent, England, seems to have crossed the line with local jurors. Jenner was convicted on March 12 of 10 counts of indecent exposure in Canterbury Crown Court. Jenner's nudist habits have put him on the wrong side of law enforcement before, reported Metro News, but this time his offenses included delivering packages for a courier service wearing trousers with a hole cut out of the crotch, exposing himself to a teenage girl, and running past a children's play area while wearing "see-through trousers." Jenner's attorney, Kate Chidgey, tried to explain her client's behavior: "It was not his intention that people were caused distress by what he did or didn't wear." She added that he strongly believes in "naturism." [Metro News, 3/12/2019]

Crime Report

Elysia Johnson, 21, apparently needed some alone time on March 9, so she took a full cart and a six-pack of Stella Artois beer into a dressing room at Target in Lathrop, California, where she hunkered down for more than an hour, according to police. Johnson finished all the beer and left the store -- with about $200 worth of unpurchased merchandise. A loss prevention officer stopped her and she was taken to the San Joaquin County Jail, where she was held on $60,000 bail. Johnson also had three outstanding warrants, reported KTXL News. [FOX40.com, 3/11/2019]

Bright Idea

Looking for a way to banish evil spirits? Check in to The Lighthouse, near Frome, Somerset, England, where a group called Universal Medicine will help you burp your troubles away. The Mirror reports that the group, founded by Serge Benhayon in 1999, ran up against the law last year in Sydney, Australia, where a civil court declared it a "socially harmful cult" and found that it makes false claims about healing. Members are told what to eat and who to associate with. A girl named Kasha told the BBC her mum joined the cult when the girl was 12. "She started burping ridiculously and she said, 'I'm just burping out bad spirits,'" Kasha said. "She's still my mum and I love her. But she's never going to be the person that she was." Benhayon, a failed tennis coach who claims to be the reincarnation of Leonardo da Vinci, still lives in Australia but visits The Lighthouse twice a year. [Mirror, 3/12/2019]

Unfortunately named Johna Martinez-Meth, 46, of Clearlake, California, was sentenced on Feb. 21 for involuntary manslaughter stemming from a delivery she made to Adrian Sepulveda, an inmate at California Medical Facility in Vacaville, in May 2018. Sepulveda, who died on May 28, 2018, was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder when Martinez-Meth visited him; an autopsy showed that shortly after her visit, Sepulveda had swallowed multiple balloons filled with methamphetamine, Fox News reported. A subsequent search of Martinez-Meth's home uncovered meth and balloons. She pleaded guilty to the charges and will serve two years. [Fox News, 3/1/2019]

Legal Shenanigans

San Juan County (Washington) Sheriff Ron Krebs is on the hot seat after Superior Court Judge Kathryn Loring accidentally discovered a disturbing video. On Jan. 31, Loring was sitting at the desk of the court administrator when she noticed video from a courthouse camera on the computer screen. As she watched, the camera panned and zoomed in on the jury box and counsel tables -- settling on Juror No. 3's notes and a legal pad belonging to Public Defender Colleen Kenimond -- right in the middle of a misdemeanor assault and trespassing trial for Lopez Island resident Dustin Schible. According to the Seattle Times, Loring alerted Superior Court Judge Donald Eaton to the video, and Eaton dismissed the charges against Schible, citing government misconduct. Krebs, who controls the cameras, said he was concerned about the defendant, who had threatened to stab a Lopez Island grocer. He claimed he didn't pass on anything he saw with the camera, and County Prosecutor Randall Gaylord said no one in his office received any information from Krebs. "We are independently elected officials," Gaylord said, distancing himself from Krebs. [Seattle Times, 2/7/2019]

The Continuing Crisis

Attorneys in Maryville, Tennessee, are debating the merits of a felony case brought against Howard Matthew Webb, 31, after he -- proceed with caution here -- dipped his testicles in a takeout container of salsa that his companion was delivering along with Mexican food. As the two ferried the food on Jan. 12, Webb took his boys for a swim while he recorded the act, and the driver laughed and said, "This is what you get when you give an 89-cent tip for an almost 30-minute drive." Webb is heard saying, "Oh, oh, it feels so good." The video made it to Facebook, and Webb was arrested on Feb. 22 for "adulteration of foods, liquids or pharmaceuticals," a Class C felony. But three local attorneys told the Knoxville News Sentinel that they don't think the charge holds up. "It's doubtful under these facts, no matter how outrageous, that this criminal offense could be proven," said attorney Gregory P. Isaacs. "It appears salsa man may have committed an act for which the legislature has not yet contemplated the absurdity of." [Knoxville News Sentinel, 3/2/2019]

Bright Ideas

-- The long, harsh winter must be getting to folks in Muskego, Wisconsin, to wit: Police were called to a home on Feb. 22 after "a big teddy bear" was reported to be at a neighbor's front door. As it turned out, the human-sized panda -- not native to the Badger State -- was a 48-year-old man who had been asked to check on the dogs and thought it would be funny to prank his neighbors through their security system. "I knew my neighbors had cameras, and I thought I was going to make the ordinary extraordinary and dress up in the panda suit," the unnamed man told CBS 58. Apparently he has also picked his daughter up at school and met her at the bus stop in the suit (pandas are her favorite animal). [CBS 58, 2/28/2019]

-- Neighbors of Michal Prasek, 33, of Zdechov, Czech Republic, were rightly concerned about the animals living on his property. In 2016, Prasek bought a full-grown lion, and two years later added a lioness, for breeding purposes. He built enclosures for them, defying government regulations, and would not allow authorities onto his property to investigate. BBC News reported on March 5 that Prasek's project had met a tragic end: He was discovered by his father in the lion's cage, mauled to death. The father said the cage had been locked from the inside. Police who were called to the scene killed the two lions in order to reach Prasek's body. Presumably grasping for a silver lining, Zdechov Mayor Tomas Kocourek commented: "Today's incident will perhaps finally help to resolve this long-term problem." Cold, dude. [BBC News, 3/5/2019]

-- Judith Streng and her son, Rod, traveled to Iceland in February, where they visited Diamond Beach, in Jokulsarlon. The tourist attraction features huge chunks of ice that have broken off a nearby glacier. The Texas grandma saw other visitors having their pictures taken on a beached iceberg that was shaped like a throne, so she climbed aboard for her turn. That's when a "sneaker wave" swept in and took Streng out into the lagoon. "A very large wave came in and kind of made the throne kind of rock," she told ABC News. Streng was rescued by a boater, Randy Lacount of Florida, who happened to be nearby when she drifted away from shore. "You know I always wanted to be queen," Streng said. "That was my chance." [ABC News, 3/1/2019]

Least Competent Criminal

In the category of Unnecessarily Calling Attention to Your Criminal Self, Trinidad J. Garcia, 26, of Forest Lake, Minnesota, wins the gold. On March 1, as Garcia motored his BMW north on snow-slick I-35, police say he fired a stolen gun, without provocation, into the passenger door of a pickup truck that was passing him on the left. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported he then veered into the median ditch. Luckily for him, a state trooper was close by and stopped. Garcia, who had stuffed the loaded gun in his front pocket, was arrested; in his car, officers found a shoebox with $11,481 in cash. He was charged with second-degree assault, drive-by shooting and being a felon in possession of a firearm. [Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 3/4/2019]

Recurring Theme

Mark Anthony Jones, 46, of Marion, Indiana, is probably in the market for a nice holster after his experience on Feb. 28. Jones told police he was walking along a riverside trail in Marion early that morning when his firearm began to slip from his waistband. As he reached to adjust it, the gun discharged and, according to the police report, "The bullet entered just above his penis and exited his scrotum." WISH-TV reported that Jones did not have a license for the Hi-Point 9mm weapon. Grant County prosecutors were considering whether to charge him with any crimes. [WISH-TV, 3/4/2019]

Drinkin' and Shootin'

Ah, the pregnant possibilities of combining alcohol and firearms. In Warren County, Virginia, Mariah Smith, 38, of Arlington, and another woman were enjoying a quiet horse ride through a cemetery in Middletown on the evening of March 2, reported NBC4. But when they were asked to remove their horses from the cemetery grounds, Smith fired her .38 Smith and Wesson pistol, according to Warren County sheriff's officers who responded to a call there. Deputies found the women nearby and charged Smith with three firearms charges, including possessing a concealed firearm while under the influence. [NBC4, 3/4/2019]