LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors on Tuesday dropped a criminal case against a self-described pedophile, a former Arlington resident, who was arrested last week, accused of violating a judge’s order that prohibited him from being within 30 feet of children anywhere in California for three years.
Prosecutors could not pursue the case against Jack McClellan, 45, after they determined the order was invalid because the judge failed to schedule and give McClellan proper notice of a hearing required to argue the merits of imposing such a long-lasting order before it is issued.
McClellan was arrested Aug. 13 for investigation of violating the statewide order when he was found near a child care facility at the University of California, Los Angeles. He had a camera with him at the time, but he told a local TV station that there wasn’t any film in it.
D.C.: Nazi archive records arrive
The keepers of a Nazi archive have delivered copies of Gestapo papers and concentration camp records — 20 million electronic pages —to museums in Washington and Jerusalem, providing Holocaust survivors a paper trail of their own persecution. But it will be months before the archive can be used by survivors or victims’ relatives to search family histories. Even after it opens to the public, navigating the vast files for specific names will be nearly impossible without a trained guide.
Michigan: Underwear spy fired
A state forensics scientist who said she tested her husband’s underwear for DNA to determine if he was cheating on her has been fired. Ann Chamberlain of Okemos testified in a March 7 divorce hearing that she ran the test last September on the underwear of Charles Gordon Jr. Asked by his attorney what she found, she answered: “Another female. It wasn’t me.”
Maryland: Colleges’ house fires
The number of fires reported in university and college housing has increased sharply in recent years as students plug in more electrical gear, including microwave ovens, federal officials in College Park said Tuesday. There were 3,300 college housing fires in 2005, up from 1,800 in 1998, according to a report by the National Fire Protection Association. Federal officials said the increase comes as students cram more electrical equipment into their dorm rooms, with microwaves and hot plates responsible for a majority of the fires. Most of the fatalities, however, were blamed on fires started by smoking or unattended candles.
Wisconsin: Flood toll up to 22
Water-weary residents across the Midwest began counting their losses Tuesday as damage estimates from this weekend’s deadly flash floods climbed into the tens of millions. The rain moved into Ohio, where roads flooded, schools canceled classes and residents were rescued from flooded homes by boats. The death toll from the two storm systems — one in the Upper Midwest and the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin in Texas and Oklahoma — climbed to 22.
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