Nation & World

Brazil police: Addicts getting tattooed for drugs

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian police say a suspected drug trafficker is giving crack cocaine addicts free drugs in exchange for tattooing his name on their bodies.

Police in the northeastern state of Bahia said Monday that upward of 70 people in the small town of Itapetinga have tattooed the surname "Freudenthal" on their bodies.

Police have also found corpses of suspected drug addicts with the same tattoo.

Lt. Jose Mello says the name is unique in the town — so they've got one suspect, Mario Freudenthal.

Mello says the suspect must be an "egotistical psychotic" for getting mostly young addicts to tattoo his name on their bodies.

Mello says Freudenthal is wanted for drug trafficking charges, but has not been located.

SKorea: Men arrested for smuggling gold in rectums

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean customs officials say they have arrested eight men over a scheme to allegedly smuggle gold out of the country by hiding it in their rectums.

The Korea Customs Service said Monday the men allegedly transformed $260,000 in gold bars into small beads and smuggled them in their rectums to Japan two times in 2010 to avoid import taxes.

South Korea says Japanese custom officials caught the men on their second attempt and sent them home after imposing fines. Later, one of the suspects allegedly orchestrated an unsuccessful bid to smuggle gold bars from Mongolia to Hong Kong using a similar method.

Meanwhile, South Korean officials gathered evidence against them at home. They say the suspects recently admitted to the smuggling after initial denials.

Principal warned over high-tech anti-cheating idea

SALZBURG, Austria (AP) — An Austrian high school principal narrowly escaped legal action after going after potential exam cheaters with a high-tech — but illegal — idea.

Gerhard Klampfer reportedly bought and mounted a jamming device strong enough to prevent graduating classes from doing Internet research on their smartphones during final exams last summer.

State broadcaster ORF said on its website Monday that the move was effective enough to arouse the attention of a phone service provider. The company alerted authorities in charge of monitoring radio traffic after noticing lack of service.

They then notified legal officials who threatened Klampfer with a misdemeanor. Under Austrian law only police, the military and others in charge of security can jam signals.

Klampfer says he didn't know he was breaking the law. He was let off with a warning, instead of a fine.

Poland slaps fine on singer for bashing Bible

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish court slapped a fine on a popular singer who bad-mouthed the Bible — the latest episode in which authorities grapple with religious defamation in a traditionally Catholic country that is growing increasingly secular.

Dorota Rabczewska, a singer who uses the stage name Doda, said in a 2009 interview that she doubted the Bible "because it's hard to believe in something that was written by someone drunk on wine and smoking some herbs."

A Warsaw court ordered her Monday to pay a fine of 5,000 zlotys ($1,450) for offending religious feelings.

The case comes months after another Polish court let off a death metal performer, Adam Darski, who tore a Bible during a 2007 performance. It deemed his act artistic expression.

Darski and Rabczewska once dated.

Bank foreclosing on O.J. Simpson's Florida house

MIAMI — Like tens of thousands of other Florida homeowners, imprisoned former football star O.J. Simpson is in danger of losing his house to foreclosure.

Miami-Dade Circuit Court records show that JPMorgan Chase filed for foreclosure in September on the four-bedroom, four-bath house south of downtown Miami. Simpson's attorney has since filed a motion to dismiss the case, but there has been no further action since November.

Simpson bought the 4,233-square-foot house in 2000 for $575,000, property records show. Its current assessed value is $478,401, with property taxes of about $9,000. The 2011 taxes were paid in December.

The 64-year-old former football star and actor is serving a nine-to-33-year prison sentence stemming from a 2007 armed confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas casino hotel room. Simpson was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and other charges. He is appealing the conviction.

Simpson was acquitted in 1995 in the Los Angeles slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. A civil jury in California later ordered Simpson to pay $33.5 million for Goldman's wrongful death. The attorney for Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, said Monday the bankruptcy case played directly into the Simpson foreclosure.

"No surprise at all," said David J. Cook, the Goldman attorney in San Francisco who has spent years trying to collect the judgment.

Simpson received $750,000 in 2007 for a book ghostwritten under his name titled "If I Did It," Cook said. A Florida bankruptcy judge eventually awarded rights to the book to Goldman, who released it. Cook said it sold some 150,000 copies.

About $350,000 of Simpson's money went to pay down a line of credit had tied to his Miami-area home. The bankruptcy trustee, however, filed a so-called clawback lawsuit against the bank that sought return of the money as ill-gotten gains. Cook said when the bank paid the money, Simpson's mortgage amount was raised to offset the cost.

"It was just a matter of time before he would lose the house," Cook said.

Even in prison, Simpson has income from his NFL pension and another retirement account that is shielded under federal law from creditors. Residual payments from Simpson's movies, such as the "Naked Gun" series and "The Towering Inferno," go to the Goldmans.

It wasn't immediately clear Monday if anyone is still living in the house. Simpson's attorney in Nevada did not immediately return a telephone call and email seeking comment.