Officers from Fuerza Publica, the national police force of Costa Rica, arrested a drunk man who, for some reason, was holding a baby howler monkey hostage in Liberia, province of Guanacaste. According to official press release CP-1602-2015 from the Ministry of Public Security, Fuerza Publica officers assigned to the main precinct in Liberia responded to reports of a threatening man who walked a...

Bogota, Sep 7 (EFE; additional reporting by the Costa Rica Star).- A joint operation conducted by police in Colombia and Mexico resulted in the seizure of two tons of cocaine hidden in a shipment of toner for printers and photocopiers, but no arrests were made, Colombian National Police chief Gen. Rodolfo Palomino said Monday. Police seized 1,070 kilos of cocaine in the cargo terminal at Bogota...

In her third murder trial, a three-judge panel in Perez Zeledon unanimously ruled on Monday morning to acquit Ann Maxine Patton, the US woman who stood accused of killing her wealthy husband John Felix Bender on January 8th, 2010. The same court dropped charges against Patton in January 2013 following her first murder trial, deciding it had insufficient evidence to convict her. Prosecutors a...

Source: Andrey Camacho Jimenez, PZNoticias After five years and three trials, the fate of United States citizen Ann Patton Bender has been decided in Costa Rica. She was found innocent of all charges, and is free to go on with her life and attempt to pursue the lawyer whom she claims absconded with her fortune. In her last statement before the judges at her final hearing on Friday, Septe...

Source: Flickr Commons San Jose, Sep 7 (EFE).- The body of an 85-year-old Cuban-American man was found inside a barrel over the weekend at his house in southern Costa Rica, the Judicial Investigations Agency said. The victim, identified only by the last name of Machado, lived in Coloradito de Corredores, a town in Puntarenas province, near the border with Panama. Machado lived alone and ...

Source: Andrey Camacho Jimenez, PZNoticias September 4, 2015, Perez Zeledon – Final arguments were heard today in the case of United States expat Ann Patton Bender, who is accused of killing her multi-millionaire husband in 2010 at their mansion Boracayan del Sur, in the Perez Zeledon municipality of Costa Rica. John Felix Bender was shot in the back of his head and died immediately. The prose...

Source: MSP A 49-year old male tourist attempted to leave Costa Rica with a belly full of cocaine, but his skittish and queasy disposition caused him to vomit 64 packets filled with cocaine, right in front of officers from the Drug Control Police (Spanish initials: PCD) at the airport. According to a press release from the Ministry of Public Security (Spanish initials: MSP), the incident oc...

Pixabay Commons More than 500,000 personal records managed by La Caja, the national public health and social security system of Costa Rica, were compromised by a network intrusion perpetrated by nefarious hackers. According to a news report filed by Lady Rojas for online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, officials from La Caja have identified the attackers, who are associates of a financial firm that...

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America Media Release - For several years, people in the Pavas district of Costa Rica were experiencing an increase in crime and in youth marijuana use. But after a coalition was formed, thanks to the training and assistance from CADCA, local citizens developed a planning process and began implementing evidence-based prevention strategies. CADCA began working i...

Ann Patton Bender uses a cane to arrive in court. Source: Carol Vaughn September 4, 2015, San Isidro de El General - Final arguments will be heard in the murder trial of Ann Patton Bender on Friday, September 4th, 2015, beginning at 7:30 AM, in the Poder Judicial Courthouse in San Isidro de El General, Perez Zeledon. The trial is public and open to all interested parties. Ann Bender stands ...

Source: OIJ Agents from the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ) raided two bars and arrested two male suspects under suspicion of operating underground brothels. The arrests and raids took place earlier this week in Guapiles, province of Limon, and Cartago, the former capital city of Costa Rica. The two men arrested are brothers aged 56 and 65. According to an official...

Source: Pixabay Commons Public Domain It took more than two officers from Fuerza Publica, the national police force of Costa Rica, to take down a naked man who -for some reason- was chanting one of the many names of the chief spirit of evil and adversary of God; tempter of mankind; master of Hell, at least in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic faiths. According to a news report filed by metro ...

Source: U.S. Embassy Officers from the National Coast Guard Service of Costa Rica recently arrested a fugitive tour operator who was wanted on a murder charge. According to official press release CP-1518-2015 from the Ministry of Public Security (MSP), the arrest took place in the coastal community of Quepos earlier this week. The MSP press release explains that officers assigned to the Coa...

A corporate officer from Banco Popular, one of the major banks that enjoy fiscal support and backing from the government of Costa Rica, has been accused of defrauding an elderly expat with a convoluted scheme to slip away with about $200,000. The officer has been identified as a woman who goes by the last name of Barahona, and her father has also been implicated in this alleged swindle. Accordi...

Source: OIJ Agents from the Misappropriation Crimes section of the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ), along with officials from the National Museum, raided a home in Tamarindo Beach and recovered various objects that belong to the archeological record of Costa Rica. According to a press release issued by the OIJ, the case dates back to November 2014, when field agent...

Source: Flickr Commons Four days ago, residents of a small community in the municipality of Nicoya, province of Guanacaste, were concerned about the whereabouts of a 75-year old neighbor, a Canadian expat who lived a serene life in Costa Rica. Yesterday, some of his neighbors decided that it would be prudent to force their way into the small apartment the man rented. Sadly, they found out that...

Source: Flickr Commons A male doctor employed by La Caja, Costa Rica's public healthcare system, is currently taking safety precautions after being accused of rape by the wife of an inmate serving a prison sentence at La Reforma, the nation's largest correctional facility. According to a report filed by Manuel Estrada of daily tabloid Diario Extra, a woman by the last name of Zeledon has filed ...

Emilio Canales Agents from the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ) assigned to the Liberia region recently arrested three men suspected to be involved in the disappearance of an expat businessman in Costa Rica. Furthermore, the dead body of a man was found near the banks of the Colorado River near the town of Curubande, which is part of the Liberia canton of Guanacaste. ...

Department of Justice Press Release -- A U.S. citizen charged in connection with the operation of a series of fraudulent business opportunities based in Costa Rica was sentenced to prison today in Miami, the Justice Department announced. John White, aka Gregory Garrett, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Seitz of the Southern District of Florida to serve 70 months in prison ...

Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Source: Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, Aug 13 (EFE).- Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman was worried about being extradited to the United States and had learned that "foreign mercenaries" had been hired by officials to kill him, his attorney, Juan Pablo Badillo, said Thursday. "There was an extremely worrisome situation in the sense that foreign m...

Source: OIJ Agents from the Office of Judicial Investigations (Spanish initials: OIJ) are currently looking for two female tourists in the Caribbean region of Costa Rica. According to a wire report published by online news daily CRHoy.com, the two women were last seen two nights ago at bar in the downtown district of Limon. One of the tourists has been identified with a last name of Martine...

Emilio Canales Author's Note: The following letter was penned by the father and sister of an expat businessman who has gone missing in Liberia, the seat of the Guanacaste province in Costa Rica. If you know of this man's whereabouts, please refer to the contact information at the end of this article. To whom it may concern: We are writing this heartbreaking letter to all the news media o...

2U.S. Department of Justice Press Release - A California woman was sentenced to 130 months in prison for her role in a half-million dollar Costa Rica-based “sweepstakes fraud” scheme that victimized hundreds of U.S. residents. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose of the Western District of Nor...

Ann Maxine Patton, the US woman accused of killing her wealthy husband John Felix Bender on January 8th, 2010, is scheduled to begin her third murder trial at 8 a.m. Monday morning. The trial will take place at the Perez Zeledon Criminal Court and is expected to last at least one week. The same court dropped charges against Patton in January 2013 following her first murder trial, deciding it...

Immigration officers stationed at the Peñas Blancas border crossing checkpoint between Costa Rica and Nicaragua detained a male traveler from the United States on Thursday. According to a news report broadcast by national television network Teletica Channel 7, the 30-year old man was coming from Nicaragua in what seemed to be a “visa run” to extend his status as a perpetual tourist. The U.S. ma...

Source: Flickr Commons A woman who has not yet been identified is believed to be the seventh victim of a serial killer who seems to be operating in the southern suburbs of the capital city of Costa Rica. According to metro reporter Manuel Estrada of daily tabloid Diario Extra, the latest victim was found naked and bruised in an empty lot in the Sagrada Familia district, a working-class neig...

Fuerza Publica guards the rescued sea turtles. Source: MSP Despite dangerous surf conditions off the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, law enforcement and environmental protection officers apprehended three men suspected of hunting sea turtles with harpoons. According to press release CP-1407-2013 of the Ministry of Public Security (Spanish initials: MSP), the incident occurred on Wednesday aftern...

United States Department of Justice Press Release -- An Ohio man was convicted yesterday after a two-day jury trial in the Western District of North Carolina for his role in a Costa Rican telemarketing scheme. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose of the Western District of North Carolina made ...

Source; Flickr Commons Washington, Aug 4 (EFE).- The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal probe into Deutsche Bank AG, suspected of operations that involved money-laundering trades worth billions of dollars for Russian clients, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday. By means of the so-called "mirror trades," clients have been able to move enormous sums from Moscow to London and from rubl...

Father and son at the beach in Jaco. "There is no grief like the grief that does not speak.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Nearly two months ago, deep heartbreak struck Britt Nelson at his home in Jaco Beach: The hardest part about Coady’s death, for me, was finding him dead in his bed the morning of June 8. He was just lying on his side with his head on his pillow. The TV was still on. He ...

Juliana Lopez Sarrazola. Source: Miss World Colombia 2015 Juliana Lopez Sarrazola, a 22-year old Colombian bikini model, could face the death penalty in China for the alleged crime of smuggling cocaine into the People's Republic of China. According to the online news daily El Mundo from Spain, Miss Lopez, who was also the 2015 Miss World Colombia candidate from Antioquia, a major coffee-pr...

Source. Go Fund Me A man from British Columbia was shot and killed during a home invasion gone wrong in Boquete, a community near the border with Costa Rica. According to Jon Azpiri, a journalist for Canadian online publication Global News, Mr. Potrebenko was 53 years old when he lost his life as he protected his wife and mother-in-law when three masked men broke into his home a week ago. A...

"48 Hours Mystery logo" by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia 48 HOURS: "Paradise Lost" was Saturday's #1 broadcast at 10:00 PM with the key adult news demographic and viewers, according to Nielsen live plus same day ratings for July 25. 48 HOURS was also the #1 program for the night in viewers. 48 HOURS (R) (10:00-11:00 PM) delivered 4.16 million viewers and a 1.0/04 with adult...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Three male suspects wearing black fatigues and armed with shotguns stormed into the Promerica Bank branch located inside the Office Depot store in the upscale community of Escazu, located in the western suburbs of the capital city of Costa Rica. According to a new report filed by metro reporter Jason Torres of online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, the suspects took 250...

Source: Instagram An attractive woman who is very fond of documenting her lavish lifestyle on the online social network Instagram was arrested earlier this month by agents from the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service. According to the British tabloid The Daily Mail, the 39-year old glamorous woman was trying to smuggle nearly six kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride in powd...

Wikimedia Commons New York, Jul 27 (EFE).- Thirty-five women who say they were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of Bill Cosby give details of their accusations in the latest edition of New York Magazine, published on Monday. The women's black-and-white photos of them seated in similar poses - and next to a vacant chair representing others who have not been able to make their accusations...

Source: Wikimedia Commons HSI Media Release -- The Court of the Union of Tres Ríos made a major ruling in favor of animal welfare in Costa Rica after convicting a person for breeding dogs in an illegal breeding facility, or puppy mill. Humane Society International /Latin America applauded the court for its historic ruling, the first against a puppy mill. HSI worked with the National Animal Hea...

Pixabay Commons Beijing, Jul 26 (EFE).- A passenger deliberately started a fire with a cigarette lighter and gasoline on board a Shenzhen Airlines plane while it was in flight over China, although the fire was quickly extinguished and the man subdued and later arrested, the official Xinhua news agency reported Sunday. The incident occurred about 1 p.m. local time on Sunday during a flight b...

Source: Flickr Commons A planned group sex party involving two expats and three citizens of Costa Rica was crudely disrupted by the shooting death of a 28-year old man. The ghastly incident took place in Tibas, a community located in the northern suburbs of San Jose, and it is currently being investigated as a contract killing. According to a news report filed by metro reporter Jorge Sancho...

Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Source: Wikimedia Commons Prison officials in Costa Rica are on high alert as intelligence reports suggest that associates of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel, could be plotting a daring escape. Such was the report published this morning by daily tabloid Diario Extra, which includes statements by Reinaldo Villalobos, Director of Social Integr...