Wolf Blitzer the Latest in a case of “SWATing” … Hoax Sends Police to His Bethesda, MD Home (Update: Add Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) to the List)

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer is the latest to be drawn into the hoax, known as “SWATing”. According to the WAPO, Montgomery County police received an urgent message at about 6:25 p.m. Saturday saying someone had been shot at Wolf Blitzer’s home and responded by sending officers to his Bethesda, MD home.  It is unbelievable that individuals would act so irresponsible to make such faux calls that divert resources that might otherwise go elsewhere to respond and resolve an actual emergency.

Montgomery County police received an urgent message at about 6:25 p.m. Saturday saying someone had been shot at Wolf Blitzer’s home in Bethesda. Officers streamed toward the CNN host’s residence near Congressional Country Club. They set up a perimeter.

But a dispatch supervisor was immediately skeptical, and a call to CNN confirmed it: The message was a fraud. Blitzer was fine — was, in fact, out of town. The authorities were dealing with another case of “SWATing,” in which someone jolts police into action with a fake distress call and technological trickery.

Patterico’s Pontifications as a long list of others who have been “SWATTED”:

 roll call of the SWATted: Wolf Blitzer; Ted Lieu; Erik Rush; Ryan Seacrest; Russell Brand; Selena Gomez; Justin Timberlake; Rihanna; Sean Combs; Chris Brown; Tom Cruise; Paris Hilton; Clint Eastwood; Brian Krebs; the Jenners and Kardashians; Justin Bieber; Miley Cyrus; Ashton Kutcher; Simon Cowell; Aaron Walker; Erick Erickson; Mike Stack; and me.

UPDATE I: Add Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) to the “SWATTING” list via Twitchy.

Last night, SWAT-ting came to Congress. Via Wood TV:

The heavy police presence seen outside of Congressman Mike Rogers’ Howell home on Saturday night was called there because of an “unfortunate prank,” the congressman said in a statement.

The Livingston County Sheriff’s Department told Lansing affiliate WILX that it was “a high-priority situation.” Police cleared the scene by 10:45 p.m. Saturday.

Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican from Michigan, describes it as a “prank.”

28 Year Old Rachel Koechner and her 4 Year Old Daughter Zoee Sandner Reported Missing in Kansas City, MO … Could be with Ex-Husband Devon Sandner (Update I: Hoax, Missing Missouri Mom Faked Her Abduction)

28 year old Rachel Koechner and her 4 year old daughter Zoee Sandner were reported missing on Thursday, March 14, 2013. They were last seen leaving her mother’s home around 3:30 p.m. The mother and daughter are considered missing and endangered.  Police believe that they might be with Rachel Koechner’s ex-husband, Devon Sandner, who is also the four year old girl’s father. Rachel Koechner and her daughter are believed to be in a 2003 Ford extended cab F-150 with Missouri plate 09J-718 with dents on the tailgate. Authorities are saying that the last known cell phone signal from Koechner was in Kansas City, MO, on Friday.

Rachel Koechner (left) – Zoee Sandner (center) - Devon Sandner (right)

The Chariton County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday they are looking for a mother and her 4-year-old daughter who were reported missing on Thursday.

Rachel Koechner, 28, and her daughter, Zoee Sandner, might be in the Kansas City area, the sheriff’s office said.

According to Brookfield, Mo., police, Koechner and her daughter were last seen leaving her mother’s home around 3:30 p.m. Police are led to believe they might be with the ex-husband of the 28-year-old, who is also the girl’s father.

UPDATE I: Missing mother, daughter spotted with ex-husband in Blue Springs motel

According to the sheriff, Koechner called her current boyfriend Monday morning and said she was fine and that people should stop looking for her. However, the boyfriend said the answer sounded scripted.

The call was traced to the Nights Inn in Blue Springs. When the sheriff called the motel, the clerk said the family was in front of him checking out so he put the 28-year-old woman on the phone. She made it clear to the sheriff she could not talk freely.

The sheriff called Blue Springs, Mo., police, but by the time officers arrived the trio was gone.

If anyone has any information as to the whereabouts of Rachel Koechner and Zoee Sandner, please call the sheriff’s office at 660-288-3277 or your local law enforcement office.

UPDATE I: Case of Missing Missing Missouri Mom Rachel Koechner was a Fake.

A Rothville, Mo., woman, who had been reported missing along with her young daughter, allegedly faked her abduction, according to the county sheriff.

Rachel Koechner, 28, and her 4-year-old daughter, Zoee Sandner, were reported missing last Thursday night by Koechner’s mother and boyfriend after the boyfriend received a text that read “help me.” They had last seen the pair earlier that same day, Brenda Koechner, Rachel’s mother, said. [...]

Hughes said when he interviewed Koechner she admitted the initial text was a fake and alluded to the fact that she and her ex-husband had been planning to go off together.

She was being held in the Chariton County Jail and Hughes said he expected formal charges to be brought today.

Barack Obama Aides Call His Recent GOP “Charm offensive is a joke” … More to do With Tanking Poll Numbers

The ‘Smoozer” in Chief: Please tell me that you did not think that Barack Obama was being sincere with all this outreach and charm offensive?

According to Obama aides, President Barack Obama’s recent charm offensive with Congressional Republicans is nothing more than a joke. Wow, with former and current aids like this, Obama must be asking who needs the GOP?  The thought of Obama ‘s ”Charm Offensive” is being mocked by his own advisers makes one really want to be a fly on the wall in the White House at the next staff meeting. However, does it really come as a surprise to many, that the dinners, the lunches, all the recent “reaching out” were all for show? Really? Did Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Pat Toomey, Bob Corker, Kelly Ayotte and Ron Johnson actually think Obama was sincere? No wonder the GOP lost the last election to the worst president in modern time.

Ok, who let the truth out to my nefarious plans?

He is dining with Republicans after advisers openly mocked suggestions that he do so. He is visiting Capitol Hill after telling aides that such a gesture was beneath him and the dignity of his office. And, as an ultimate indignity, he is talking to reporters. What’s gotten into President Obama?

A better question might be what has left the president – and the answer would be: Much of his political capital.

Obama’s sudden burst of public outreach coincides with a drop in his approval ratings, noted first by Democratic pollsters advising the White House last week and now surfacing in a spate of public polls. This raises the uncomfortable question: Is this schmooze-a-thon a legitimate act of humility and leadership or a cynical public display?

I can’t answer that question because I don’t pretend to know Obama’s state of mind. I can tell you that some of his advisers are no more convinced that this strategy will work than they were a few days ago.

“This is a joke. We’re wasting the president’s time and ours,” complained a senior White House official who was promised anonymity so he could speak frankly. “I hope you all (in the media) are happy because we’re doing it for you.”

Another said the president was sincerely trying to find common ground with stubborn Republicans. “But if we do it,” the aide hastened, “it won’t be because we had steaks and Merlot with a few senators.”

Read more

The Woman Who Faked Rape … Infamous Hoaxster Tawana Brawley Court Ordered to Pay 431,492 for Her False Rape Accusation in 1987 … Maybe Al Sharpton Can Lend Her a Dime

It would appear it is finally time to pay the piper for Tawana Brawley …

After 25 years, the woman who  perpetrated one of the  most vile hoaxes upon the American people has been slapped with a court order to pay up for her crimes. For years  Tawana Brawley had been hiding from her lies and her past living under the assumed name of Tawana Vacenia Thompson Gutierrez in Hopewell, VA.  She was working as a licensed nurse at The Laurels of Bon Air, a nursing home in nearby Richmond. Hmm, how does one become a licensed nurse under an assumed name. I am sure no fraud or HIPAA violations were committed there. I wonder if her pal Al Sharpton will come to her aid? After all, it was the Tawana Brawley false accusation rape charges that fanned the flames of racial tensions in 1987 that brought Sharpton to national prominence. Its hard to believe that it has been 25 years since this rotten episode of deceit, lies, character assassination and slander took place.  Isn’t that something though, an incident of nothing more than lies, race baiting and racist accusations, and fraud is what is behind Sharpton’s fame. I guess that explains why he presently is employed at MSNBC. Only in America.

Infamous hoaxster Tawana Brawley — whose outrageous rape lie 25 years ago inflamed racial tensions nationwide — yesterday was finally slapped with a court order to settle a hefty defamation case against her.

“For at least 25 years, she has been living a major lie,” said former Dutchess County prosecutor Steven Pagones, who was falsely accused of raping Brawley in 1987 and finally tracked her down, thanks to The Post.

“To me, this has always been about responsibility and accountability,’’ added the former ADA, who won the $190,000 defamation lawsuit against Brawley, 40, now a nurse in Virginia, more than a decade ago.

At 9 percent interest, that debt, which Brawley never attempted to pay off, now totals $431,492, according to the wage-garnishment papers filed in Virginia’s Surry County Court.