Breast milk facials; nude statue debate; Playboy mansion sold
- Updated
Odd and interesting news from around the West.
- Updated
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The deal is done, and the Playboy Mansion has a new owner.
Daren Metropoulos, who lives next door, said Tuesday that escrow has closed on his $100 million purchase of Hugh Hefner's man cave.
But the 33-year-old principal in investment firm Metropoulos & Co. won't necessarily be moving in any time soon.
Under terms of the deal, Playboy's 90-year-old founder may stay there for the rest of his life.
After Hefner leaves, Metropoulos plans to connect the 5-acre Playboy estate to his 2-acre digs next door.
The homes, built in the 1920s, were originally one estate.
Hefner bought the Playboy Mansion for $1.05 million in 1971, quickly turning it into a sexual playground.
In its heyday, it was the scene of countless celebrity-filled parties and innumerable tales of sexual shenanigans.
- Updated
HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — A Havre woman has pleaded guilty to charges that allege she embezzled nearly $130,000 from the credit union where she worked.
Peggy Teel pleaded guilty Monday to felony theft by embezzlement from Bear Paw Credit Union. District Judge Daniel Boucher scheduled her sentencing for Oct. 17.
Prosecutors initially said the thefts went as far back as 2003, but Teel pleaded guilty to stealing money between 2007 and 2015.
The credit union's executive vice president contacted Havre police in February to report that $63,000 had gone missing from automated teller machines from 2007 to 2015. Other money was missing from cash drawers, a cash machine, the vault and a coin counter.
A plea agreement recommends Teel be given a three-year deferred sentence and immediately pay just over $68,000 in restitution.
- Updated
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two men who were watched by police as they marched through Inglewood carrying assault rifles and wearing military-style gear were later detained after a standoff that occurred when their car was stopped in nearby Los Angeles, authorities said Tuesday.
Residents began calling 911 shortly after midnight to report that the two men, Inglewood police Lt. Greg Held said.
While the two carried weapons, they didn't threaten anyone and officers decided to avoid confrontation and just monitor them, Held told City News Service.
At one point the men showed their guns off to a television news cameraman. They said the weapons, which appeared to be AR-15 assault rifles, were not loaded. In California, openly carrying an unloaded firearm is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.
Broadcast footage showed the men, who are black, pacing through dark, empty streets, the guns slung over their shoulders, occasionally decrying racism and white supremacy.
"Let it be known that this is a peaceful protest and I'm within my constitutional rights," one of the men shouted at TV cameras. "So if they violate that, that just goes to show how phony they are."
Los Angeles police began monitoring the pair when they crossed into that city around 3 a.m.
After seeing the video of the men "with what appeared to be assault rifles, body armor, and Kevlar helmets," officials decided to detain and question them, LAPD Deputy Chief Bob Green told reporters.
Police in a half-dozen patrol cars tracked the men and pulled over their black sedan around 7 a.m. The men got out of the car, but initially failed to comply with the officers' commands. Police used a non-lethal device — apparently firing rubber bullets — in taking the driver into custody, according to City News Service. The passenger sat down on a curb and was also taken into custody.
The men, who were not identified, were not charged and the incident was under investigation, officials said. Detectives will try to determine what the pair's intentions were and whether their guns were legal, Green said.
- Updated
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Owners of a facial bar in Boulder believe their window was smashed in response to a sign advertising breast milk facials.
Mud Facial Bar co-owner Elizabeth Stachovic told The Daily Camera (http://bit.ly/2aXyOl1 ) that it doesn't look like anything was taken and only the window with the advertisement was damaged.
The window advertisement read "Introducing breast milk facial" next to a picture of a woman. Police say they have no suspects in the Aug. 3 or 4 vandalism.
Mud Facial Bar has offered breast-milk facials at its Chicago branch for some time, but the treatment was only recently added to the Boulder options. Stachovic says the ad has been a conversation starter since the beginning.
She says Mud Facial Bar isn't sure if it will replace the window advertisement.
___
Information from: Daily Camera, http://www.dailycamera.com/
- Updated
WILLIAMS, Ariz. (AP) — A California man on vacation with his daughter in Arizona says a local state trooper was out of line after pulling him over at gunpoint because the license plate on his rental car was reported stolen.
Ken Walton of San Francisco says the Thursday incident was overly aggressive and terrifying for him and his 7-year-old daughter. Walton and the girl were driving in Northern Arizona when an Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper pulled him over.
Walton says the trooper approached the car with his gun drawn and at one point pointed the weapon at his daughter. He was let go after police found his rental car had the license plate by mistake.
DPS says the trooper followed all protocols and that the stop was considered high-risk because of the stolen plates.
- Updated
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A doctor has pleaded guilty to two felonies involving removal of ancient Native American artifacts from public lands in California and Nevada.
Anesthesiologist Jonathan Bourne of Mammoth Lakes entered his plea Monday in Fresno federal court.
The Los Angeles Times reports (http://lat.ms/2b1RPPl ) federal authorities began investigating after a hiking club website published photos of Bourne digging a wooden bow out of a melting glacier in the Sierra Nevada.
Bourne was indicted last year on numerous counts involving archaeological resources crimes.
But under a plea agreement Bourne admitted to unlawfully removing glass trade beads from a site in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada.
He also admitted he altered a site in Death Valley National Park by removing a tool made from a bighorn sheep horn and three etched stone tablets.
- Updated
BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — A man whose gratitude for his wife's recovery from a serious illness inspired the creation of a 90-foot statue of the Virgin Mary on the Continental Divide overlooking Butte has died of respiratory arrest, Duggan Dolan Mortuary said.
Family members said Bob O'Bill died Sunday in Great Falls, where he had been hospitalized since Friday. He was 83.
O'Bill originally envisioned a 5-foot statute to thank God for his wife's recovery in 1979. His enthusiasm and the work and contributions of many others led to the much larger project being installed on the mountain a week before Christmas in 1985. A helicopter lifted each of four pieces of the statue in place.
"It was the work of many hands, but (O'Bill) made a promise to his wife," Sister Mary Jo McDonald told The Montana Standard (http://bit.ly/2bkEIMo). "I don't think he anticipated a 90-foot statue, though."
Our Lady of the Rockies statue is open for tours and is lighted at night.
"That night when the lights went on was the greatest day of my life," O'Bill said at the time. "That was pay day. We're elated."
Leroy Lee, who did welding work on the statue, said O'Bill "could get anybody and everybody to help. He had that chemistry to ask, 'Would you donate or help?' No one could say no to him."
O'Bill was a U.S. Navy veteran and retired electrician who also volunteered time at the Butte Emergency Food Bank.
"He ran the back warehouse, but he did so much for us," said Kathy Griffith, director of the food bank. "I don't think I can put into words how instrumental he was for the food bank."
Shawna Gibson said her grandfather "taught me how to love unconditionally all people. He instilled in me compassion. He was a big part of my heart and my life."
O'Bill is survived by his wife of 64 years, Joyce; two daughters, a granddaughter and a great-granddaughter.
"We are all better people in this world to have known Bob," Griffith said. "You'll never find a more generous man. We've all lost a good friend."
___
Information from: The Montana Standard, http://www.mtstandard.com
- Updated
SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (AP) — A new 55-foot-tall statue of a nude woman in the San Francisco Bay Area has neighbors questioning what is appropriate for public art.
KPIX-TV reports (http://cbsloc.al/2aYvL9m ) that so far only a pair of legs has been raised at the new San Leandro tech campus, but some neighbors are asking if the sculpture, called "Truth Is Beauty," is appropriate.
The statue is of a nude woman reaching skyward in a dancer's pose. It made its debut at Burning Man three years ago.
Area resident Sally Wrye says she likes the statue, but thinks it is better suited for a museum, where people have the option to stop their children from seeing it.
City Manager Chris Zappata says generally supporters of the statue have vastly outnumbered detractors.
___
Information from: KPIX-TV.
- Updated
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The last tower of the iconic Riviera Hotel and Casino came tumbling down along the Las Vegas Strip early Tuesday to make way for a convention center expansion.
The 2:30 a.m. demolition of the Monte Carlo wing came two months after the taller Monaco tower was leveled the same way.
The 2,075-room property closed in May 2015 after 60 years hosting headliners from Liberace to Dean Martin. It also was a backdrop for movies including the Rat Pack original "Ocean's 11" in 1960.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority now owns the property and is spending $42 million to level the 13-building site. The tourism agency plans to use the site to expand the Las Vegas Convention Center. The tourism agency bought the entire 26 acres last year for $182.5 million, plus $8.5 million in related transaction costs. The expansion is expected to be completed in January.
Unlike the previous implosion in June, there was no designated viewing area Tuesday morning. But a small crowd began gathering on Las Vegas Boulevard to witness the implosion, many of them snapping photos before blasts caused the building to collapse into a pile of rubble.
"This is like history right here," Dan Teson told the Las Vegas Sun as he pointed to the 17-story Monte Carlo tower and other remaining buildings. "It's got weird architecture compared to everything else on the Strip."
Once known as a classic mob joint, "The Riv" was used in three of the most famous movies ever filmed in Las Vegas, including "Ocean's 11," the 1971 James Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever" and 1995's "Casino."
It's also a setting for scenes in the latest "Jason Bourne" film.
- Updated
SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after he drove over dozens of gravesites at a San Francisco Bay Area cemetery.
The East Bay Times reports (http://bit.ly/2bkhc29 ) that Pierce Jagger was found on the grounds of Golden Gate National Cemetery inside his severely damaged vehicle Sunday night.
Police say Jagger drove through the gates to the closed cemetery and over dozens of gravesites on a grassy hill. He also attempted to drive up some granite steps, but his vehicle became disabled, the newspaper reported.
Jagger was also arrested for driving with a suspended license and could face felony vandalism charges.
Constructed in 1937, Golden Gate National Cemetery is the final resting place for scores of veterans and their family members.
___
Information from: Contra Costa Times, http://www.contracostatimes.com
- Updated
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A trial has begun for a California man accused of killing his wife after she filed for divorce.
The Fresno Bee reports (http://bit.ly/2bvich7 ) that the attorney for 53-year-old Todd Pate told the Kings County jury Monday that Pate did kill his wife, but should be on trial for a lesser charge.
Attorney Melina Benninghoff says Pate should be charged with voluntary manslaughter, not murder, because he "lost it" and was "completely out of his mind" at the time of the killing.
Pate called the Hanford Police Department in September 2013 and told them he killed his wife, 42-year-old Melanie Pate.
Prosecutor Nicholas Schuller says police found the woman's body in the backyard pool with her throat slit. Schuller says Pate purposefully stayed home from work to kill his wife.
___
Information from: The Fresno Bee, http://www.fresnobee.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The deal is done, and the Playboy Mansion has a new owner.
Daren Metropoulos, who lives next door, said Tuesday that escrow has closed on his $100 million purchase of Hugh Hefner's man cave.
But the 33-year-old principal in investment firm Metropoulos & Co. won't necessarily be moving in any time soon.
Under terms of the deal, Playboy's 90-year-old founder may stay there for the rest of his life.
After Hefner leaves, Metropoulos plans to connect the 5-acre Playboy estate to his 2-acre digs next door.
The homes, built in the 1920s, were originally one estate.
Hefner bought the Playboy Mansion for $1.05 million in 1971, quickly turning it into a sexual playground.
In its heyday, it was the scene of countless celebrity-filled parties and innumerable tales of sexual shenanigans.
HAVRE, Mont. (AP) — A Havre woman has pleaded guilty to charges that allege she embezzled nearly $130,000 from the credit union where she worked.
Peggy Teel pleaded guilty Monday to felony theft by embezzlement from Bear Paw Credit Union. District Judge Daniel Boucher scheduled her sentencing for Oct. 17.
Prosecutors initially said the thefts went as far back as 2003, but Teel pleaded guilty to stealing money between 2007 and 2015.
The credit union's executive vice president contacted Havre police in February to report that $63,000 had gone missing from automated teller machines from 2007 to 2015. Other money was missing from cash drawers, a cash machine, the vault and a coin counter.
A plea agreement recommends Teel be given a three-year deferred sentence and immediately pay just over $68,000 in restitution.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two men who were watched by police as they marched through Inglewood carrying assault rifles and wearing military-style gear were later detained after a standoff that occurred when their car was stopped in nearby Los Angeles, authorities said Tuesday.
Residents began calling 911 shortly after midnight to report that the two men, Inglewood police Lt. Greg Held said.
While the two carried weapons, they didn't threaten anyone and officers decided to avoid confrontation and just monitor them, Held told City News Service.
At one point the men showed their guns off to a television news cameraman. They said the weapons, which appeared to be AR-15 assault rifles, were not loaded. In California, openly carrying an unloaded firearm is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.
Broadcast footage showed the men, who are black, pacing through dark, empty streets, the guns slung over their shoulders, occasionally decrying racism and white supremacy.
"Let it be known that this is a peaceful protest and I'm within my constitutional rights," one of the men shouted at TV cameras. "So if they violate that, that just goes to show how phony they are."
Los Angeles police began monitoring the pair when they crossed into that city around 3 a.m.
After seeing the video of the men "with what appeared to be assault rifles, body armor, and Kevlar helmets," officials decided to detain and question them, LAPD Deputy Chief Bob Green told reporters.
Police in a half-dozen patrol cars tracked the men and pulled over their black sedan around 7 a.m. The men got out of the car, but initially failed to comply with the officers' commands. Police used a non-lethal device — apparently firing rubber bullets — in taking the driver into custody, according to City News Service. The passenger sat down on a curb and was also taken into custody.
The men, who were not identified, were not charged and the incident was under investigation, officials said. Detectives will try to determine what the pair's intentions were and whether their guns were legal, Green said.
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Owners of a facial bar in Boulder believe their window was smashed in response to a sign advertising breast milk facials.
Mud Facial Bar co-owner Elizabeth Stachovic told The Daily Camera (http://bit.ly/2aXyOl1 ) that it doesn't look like anything was taken and only the window with the advertisement was damaged.
The window advertisement read "Introducing breast milk facial" next to a picture of a woman. Police say they have no suspects in the Aug. 3 or 4 vandalism.
Mud Facial Bar has offered breast-milk facials at its Chicago branch for some time, but the treatment was only recently added to the Boulder options. Stachovic says the ad has been a conversation starter since the beginning.
She says Mud Facial Bar isn't sure if it will replace the window advertisement.
___
Information from: Daily Camera, http://www.dailycamera.com/
WILLIAMS, Ariz. (AP) — A California man on vacation with his daughter in Arizona says a local state trooper was out of line after pulling him over at gunpoint because the license plate on his rental car was reported stolen.
Ken Walton of San Francisco says the Thursday incident was overly aggressive and terrifying for him and his 7-year-old daughter. Walton and the girl were driving in Northern Arizona when an Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper pulled him over.
Walton says the trooper approached the car with his gun drawn and at one point pointed the weapon at his daughter. He was let go after police found his rental car had the license plate by mistake.
DPS says the trooper followed all protocols and that the stop was considered high-risk because of the stolen plates.
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A doctor has pleaded guilty to two felonies involving removal of ancient Native American artifacts from public lands in California and Nevada.
Anesthesiologist Jonathan Bourne of Mammoth Lakes entered his plea Monday in Fresno federal court.
The Los Angeles Times reports (http://lat.ms/2b1RPPl ) federal authorities began investigating after a hiking club website published photos of Bourne digging a wooden bow out of a melting glacier in the Sierra Nevada.
Bourne was indicted last year on numerous counts involving archaeological resources crimes.
But under a plea agreement Bourne admitted to unlawfully removing glass trade beads from a site in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada.
He also admitted he altered a site in Death Valley National Park by removing a tool made from a bighorn sheep horn and three etched stone tablets.
BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — A man whose gratitude for his wife's recovery from a serious illness inspired the creation of a 90-foot statue of the Virgin Mary on the Continental Divide overlooking Butte has died of respiratory arrest, Duggan Dolan Mortuary said.
Family members said Bob O'Bill died Sunday in Great Falls, where he had been hospitalized since Friday. He was 83.
O'Bill originally envisioned a 5-foot statute to thank God for his wife's recovery in 1979. His enthusiasm and the work and contributions of many others led to the much larger project being installed on the mountain a week before Christmas in 1985. A helicopter lifted each of four pieces of the statue in place.
"It was the work of many hands, but (O'Bill) made a promise to his wife," Sister Mary Jo McDonald told The Montana Standard (http://bit.ly/2bkEIMo). "I don't think he anticipated a 90-foot statue, though."
Our Lady of the Rockies statue is open for tours and is lighted at night.
"That night when the lights went on was the greatest day of my life," O'Bill said at the time. "That was pay day. We're elated."
Leroy Lee, who did welding work on the statue, said O'Bill "could get anybody and everybody to help. He had that chemistry to ask, 'Would you donate or help?' No one could say no to him."
O'Bill was a U.S. Navy veteran and retired electrician who also volunteered time at the Butte Emergency Food Bank.
"He ran the back warehouse, but he did so much for us," said Kathy Griffith, director of the food bank. "I don't think I can put into words how instrumental he was for the food bank."
Shawna Gibson said her grandfather "taught me how to love unconditionally all people. He instilled in me compassion. He was a big part of my heart and my life."
O'Bill is survived by his wife of 64 years, Joyce; two daughters, a granddaughter and a great-granddaughter.
"We are all better people in this world to have known Bob," Griffith said. "You'll never find a more generous man. We've all lost a good friend."
___
Information from: The Montana Standard, http://www.mtstandard.com
SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (AP) — A new 55-foot-tall statue of a nude woman in the San Francisco Bay Area has neighbors questioning what is appropriate for public art.
KPIX-TV reports (http://cbsloc.al/2aYvL9m ) that so far only a pair of legs has been raised at the new San Leandro tech campus, but some neighbors are asking if the sculpture, called "Truth Is Beauty," is appropriate.
The statue is of a nude woman reaching skyward in a dancer's pose. It made its debut at Burning Man three years ago.
Area resident Sally Wrye says she likes the statue, but thinks it is better suited for a museum, where people have the option to stop their children from seeing it.
City Manager Chris Zappata says generally supporters of the statue have vastly outnumbered detractors.
___
Information from: KPIX-TV.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The last tower of the iconic Riviera Hotel and Casino came tumbling down along the Las Vegas Strip early Tuesday to make way for a convention center expansion.
The 2:30 a.m. demolition of the Monte Carlo wing came two months after the taller Monaco tower was leveled the same way.
The 2,075-room property closed in May 2015 after 60 years hosting headliners from Liberace to Dean Martin. It also was a backdrop for movies including the Rat Pack original "Ocean's 11" in 1960.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority now owns the property and is spending $42 million to level the 13-building site. The tourism agency plans to use the site to expand the Las Vegas Convention Center. The tourism agency bought the entire 26 acres last year for $182.5 million, plus $8.5 million in related transaction costs. The expansion is expected to be completed in January.
Unlike the previous implosion in June, there was no designated viewing area Tuesday morning. But a small crowd began gathering on Las Vegas Boulevard to witness the implosion, many of them snapping photos before blasts caused the building to collapse into a pile of rubble.
"This is like history right here," Dan Teson told the Las Vegas Sun as he pointed to the 17-story Monte Carlo tower and other remaining buildings. "It's got weird architecture compared to everything else on the Strip."
Once known as a classic mob joint, "The Riv" was used in three of the most famous movies ever filmed in Las Vegas, including "Ocean's 11," the 1971 James Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever" and 1995's "Casino."
It's also a setting for scenes in the latest "Jason Bourne" film.
SAN BRUNO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after he drove over dozens of gravesites at a San Francisco Bay Area cemetery.
The East Bay Times reports (http://bit.ly/2bkhc29 ) that Pierce Jagger was found on the grounds of Golden Gate National Cemetery inside his severely damaged vehicle Sunday night.
Police say Jagger drove through the gates to the closed cemetery and over dozens of gravesites on a grassy hill. He also attempted to drive up some granite steps, but his vehicle became disabled, the newspaper reported.
Jagger was also arrested for driving with a suspended license and could face felony vandalism charges.
Constructed in 1937, Golden Gate National Cemetery is the final resting place for scores of veterans and their family members.
___
Information from: Contra Costa Times, http://www.contracostatimes.com
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A trial has begun for a California man accused of killing his wife after she filed for divorce.
The Fresno Bee reports (http://bit.ly/2bvich7 ) that the attorney for 53-year-old Todd Pate told the Kings County jury Monday that Pate did kill his wife, but should be on trial for a lesser charge.
Attorney Melina Benninghoff says Pate should be charged with voluntary manslaughter, not murder, because he "lost it" and was "completely out of his mind" at the time of the killing.
Pate called the Hanford Police Department in September 2013 and told them he killed his wife, 42-year-old Melanie Pate.
Prosecutor Nicholas Schuller says police found the woman's body in the backyard pool with her throat slit. Schuller says Pate purposefully stayed home from work to kill his wife.
___
Information from: The Fresno Bee, http://www.fresnobee.com
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