Postal worker finds 2 children living in abandoned bus near Splendora

WASHINGTON POST:

SPLENDORA, Texas — Two children who were found living in a stench-filled abandoned school bus near Houston, its windows blocked and the lot around it covered in trash, are in the custody of Texas child welfare workers, officials said Thursday.

A postal worker discovered the children, ages 11 and 5, at the bus in Splendora about 10 a.m. Wednesday, officials said. Their parents are believed to be in prison for embezzling money from Hurricane Ike victims in 2008. The children are not enrolled at local schools.

The bus appeared to have electricity, an air conditioning unit installed in one window and bunk beds inside for the children. But several neighbors told the Houston Chronicle that the children typically looked unkempt and could often be spotted running around at night.

“They always had dirty clothes on (and) no shoes, even in the winter,” said nearby resident Gayla Payne, who said the 11-year-old girl told her daughter that she bathes twice a week.

Investigators told KTRK-TV that the children have been living in the bus since the beginning of the year.

The children told Texas Child Protective Services workers that they were home-schooled. A woman on the property — believed to be the children’s great-aunt — told CPS she worked 12-hour shifts Monday through Friday but that she stayed with the children at night.

“The aunt said that she does provide meals for them during the day,” Montgomery County Constable Rowdy Hayden told KTRK-TV. “Looking around the (the bus), we didn’t see a lot of food readily available. One of the neighbors had told us earlier that from time to time she will bring food over for the children.”

The children are in foster care pending an investigation by Child Protective Services, spokeswoman Gwen Carter said. CPS workers will appear in court Thursday to ask a judge for emergency custody of the children, she said.

Splendora is 35 miles northeast of Houston.

Kingwood teen dies in truck wreck ...

Fatal Pickup Tuck-Flatbed Truck Crash: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

KINGWOOD, Texas - A teen has died after the pickup truck he drove crashed into the rear of a flatbed truck in the Kingwood area.

The Isuzu flatbed truck was traveling northbound on U.S. Highway 59, the Eastex Freeway, near the North Park Plaza exit when the Isuzu driver determined one of the tires was flat. He began to decrease the speed of the Isuzu to move it to a shoulder lane.

The Toyota Tacoma following behind the Isuzu was traveling at a high rate of speed when the crash took place around 11 p.m. Tuesday.

A rescue crew removed the teen driver, later identified as 18-year-old Eduardo Garza, from the crashed Tacoma and he was taken to LBJ General Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Garza was a resident of Splendora.


Read more: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/traffic/120215-kingwood-fatal-vehicle-accident#ixzz1mSvK5KfJ

Humble Texas school plagued by bats

HUMBLE, Texas

Some unwelcome visitors have been on hand near the entrance to a Houston-area school.

The Humble Independent School District this week notified parents of a bat colony that has been discovered near an entrance to Humble High School.

Principal Charles Ned says no bats have been found in the building and no students have come in contact with the animals.

Ned says pest management specialists have been working to remove and block the bats, which were discovered Tuesday. Students have been advised to use another entrance during the bat removal process.

Severe weather expected today in Houston area

KRPC: You can see a wall of heavy rain," KPRC Local 2 meteorologist Anthony Yanez. "From 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock is the time to watch for these dangerous storms."

"Do not take these warnings lightly. Typically, whenever we get these and see a pattern like we had this morning, we'll see a handful of tornadoes," Yanez said.

Gusty winds and scattered showers moved through the area at 2 a.m., knocking out power to 30,000 CenterPoint Energy customers. As of 6:30 a.m., approximately 18,000 people remained without electricity.

"Earlier this morning, we had wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph," Yanez said. "That's what knocked down some of those trees and power lines. We could still see some 60 mph straight-line winds, hail and lots of lightning."

A low-pressure system is responsible for strong storms in central and northern Texas, which are expected to drench the Houston area most of the day.

"There's a couple of lines that we're tracking. The strongest one will arrive in Houston around noon. It's a concern for this morning until early afternoon. The radar is picking up a lot of twisting winds," Yanez said. "It's going to be wet from 8 o'clock all the way through 2 o'clock. By 5 p.m., this storm system will be in our eastern counties."

Yanez said south of Interstate 10 is not expected to see the strongest storms.

"It's a lot more scattered and not as well put together," Yanez said.

Power outages caused problems for some southwest Houston businesses.

Whataburger on the Southwest Freeway near Weslayan had to turn away customers when employees could not prepare food for the morning rush.

"Their lights just came back on (at 6 a.m.), but they weren't ready to serve yet," customer Carol Bennett said.

Many Houstonians were worried about flooding after severe weather left its mark on Jan. 9.

Houston firefighters performed about 140 water rescues when people became stranded in high water.

Officials warned drivers to "turn around, not drown" if they approached rising water.

Flooding is the most common hazard in Houston and many times, individuals are not able to judge the depths of water along roadways and find themselves in perilous conditions.

Officials said 6 inches of water can cause tires to lose traction and begin to slide, and 12 inches of water can float many cars. Two feet of rushing water will carry off pickup trucks, SUVs and most other vehicles.

Water across a roadway may hide a missing segment of road or a missing bridge, officials said.

In flash floods, waters rise so rapidly they may be far deeper by the time you are halfway across, trapping you in your vehicle.

Be especially cautious at night, when it's even more difficult to gauge the amount of water in a roadway.

The safest option is to simply avoid driving over water and find an alternate, safer route, or wait until the danger has passed.

Identity thieves sentenced

Two men who, along with other conspirators, used the personal information of dozens of victims to obtain fraudulent credit cards have been sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson has announced.

United States District Judge Melinda Harmon sentenced Richard Gaylon Conatser, 47, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Geoffrey Michael Wentzel, 34, of Kingwood, Texas, to 124 and 65 months without parole, respectively. Conatser and Wentzel both previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft along with Troy Jay Bird, 43, of Corpus Christi, who will be sentenced on Feb. 10, 2012.

Officers with the Houston Police Department (HPD) arrested Conatser and Wentzel at Wentzel’s home in Kingwood on Oct. 8, 2010. Officers had recognized Conatser from the surveillance video of a Best Buy, where items had been purchased using a credit card obtained in the name of a victim. At the home, police seized multiple laptop computers, flash drives, laminating machines, credit card magnet readers and other equipment used to make fraudulent forms of identification. Police also discovered the personal identification information of dozens of victims on the laptop computer and in credit applications from Kingwood Air Conditioning & Heating, which were also seized during a search of Wentzel’s house. Wentzel is a former employee of Kingwood Air Conditioning & Heating.

Conatser and Wentzel used the personal information and fraudulent forms of identification to open credit accounts in the names of at least 45 different individuals at more than a dozen different retail stores in the Houston and Dallas areas, including Kohls, Sears, Dillard’s, Home Depot and Bass Pro Shops. After being approved for credit in the victims’ names, Conatser, Bird and other conspirators purchased thousands of dollars of merchandise, often being captured on video surveillance in the process. In some cases, Conatser then sold the fraudulently-purchased items to Wentzel, who in turn sold the items within days using his eBay account.

Law enforcement agents connected Conatser and Wentzel to Bird, who was previously arrested on July 15, 2010, during a traffic stop in Coppell, Texas. Police in Coppell discovered several items related to identity theft in Bird’s vehicle and a hotel room where Bird and other conspirators were staying. Among the items discovered by police were fraudulent identifications and other person information belonging to victims whose information was later discovered at Wentzel’s home.
In addition to their sentences, the two men were ordered to serve supervised release terms of three years following their release from federal prison. They were also ordered to pay restitution to victims totaling $142,197.88. Conatser has been in custody since his arrest where he will remain pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility in the near future. Previously released on bond, Wentzel was allowed to continue on bond and voluntarily surrender.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the Houston Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant United States Attorney David Searle is prosecuting the case.

Identity thieves sentenced

Two men who, along with other conspirators, used the personal information of dozens of victims to obtain fraudulent credit cards have been sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson has announced.

United States District Judge Melinda Harmon sentenced Richard Gaylon Conatser, 47, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Geoffrey Michael Wentzel, 34, of Kingwood, Texas, to 124 and 65 months without parole, respectively. Conatser and Wentzel both previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft along with Troy Jay Bird, 43, of Corpus Christi, who will be sentenced on Feb. 10, 2012.

Officers with the Houston Police Department (HPD) arrested Conatser and Wentzel at Wentzel’s home in Kingwood on Oct. 8, 2010. Officers had recognized Conatser from the surveillance video of a Best Buy, where items had been purchased using a credit card obtained in the name of a victim. At the home, police seized multiple laptop computers, flash drives, laminating machines, credit card magnet readers and other equipment used to make fraudulent forms of identification. Police also discovered the personal identification information of dozens of victims on the laptop computer and in credit applications from Kingwood Air Conditioning & Heating, which were also seized during a search of Wentzel’s house. Wentzel is a former employee of Kingwood Air Conditioning & Heating.

Conatser and Wentzel used the personal information and fraudulent forms of identification to open credit accounts in the names of at least 45 different individuals at more than a dozen different retail stores in the Houston and Dallas areas, including Kohls, Sears, Dillard’s, Home Depot and Bass Pro Shops. After being approved for credit in the victims’ names, Conatser, Bird and other conspirators purchased thousands of dollars of merchandise, often being captured on video surveillance in the process. In some cases, Conatser then sold the fraudulently-purchased items to Wentzel, who in turn sold the items within days using his eBay account.

Law enforcement agents connected Conatser and Wentzel to Bird, who was previously arrested on July 15, 2010, during a traffic stop in Coppell, Texas. Police in Coppell discovered several items related to identity theft in Bird’s vehicle and a hotel room where Bird and other conspirators were staying. Among the items discovered by police were fraudulent identifications and other person information belonging to victims whose information was later discovered at Wentzel’s home.
In addition to their sentences, the two men were ordered to serve supervised release terms of three years following their release from federal prison. They were also ordered to pay restitution to victims totaling $142,197.88. Conatser has been in custody since his arrest where he will remain pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility in the near future. Previously released on bond, Wentzel was allowed to continue on bond and voluntarily surrender.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the Houston Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Assistant United States Attorney David Searle is prosecuting the case.

Houston skyscraper implosion ...

by KHOU
KHOU
Posted on January 9, 2012 at 7:57 AM
Updated today at 8:14 AM

HOUSTON — A big boom could be heard on Sunday at the Texas Medical Center in Houston as demolition crews brought down a 20-story building that was once the home of KVUE's sister station, KHOU-TV.