Friday, February 22, 2008

Box Cutter Found in Passenger’s Luggage

Another TryTampa International Airport intercepted a box cutter when it x-rayed a passenger’s backpack. The metal shaft was obvious and the trip was over for Benjamin Baines:

If convicted, Baines faces up to 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine for a federal charge of attempting to board an airplane with a concealed dangerous weapon. He is currently serving a 30 day sentence after pleading guilty Monday to a state misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon.

About 7:30 a.m. Sunday, airport security ran Benjamin Baines Jr.’s backpack through an X-ray machine and saw the image of a box cutter, according to a report from the Transportation Security Administration.

When searching the backpack, a security officer found a book titled “Fear Itself.” The book was hollowed out, and the box cutter was inside.

After Baines was read his rights, he said his cousin had cut away the pages to make the hollow section in the book. Later, reports state, he said he had hollowed it out himself to hide money and marijuana from his roommates.

Baines told officers he was moving to Las Vegas and forgot the cutter was in the book.

Oh, yes…and the dog ate his homework…

But what else did they find in the pack? you ask. I’ll tell you…
- - - - - - - - -
Officers found books in the backpack titled “Muhammad in the Bible,” “The Prophet’s Prayer” and “The Noble Qur’an.” He also had a copy of the Quran and the Bible.

Several sheets of paper in the backpack included rap lyrics that referred to police, narcotics, weapons and killing. Baines told officers he is a rapper who writes his own lyrics and that rap music writers need to “play the part,” the report states.

And prisoners need a rap sheet, too. Now Mr. Baines has one as he sits in the local jail on charges of carrying a concealed weapon. When he gets out for that crime, federal marshals will be waiting for him:

The U.S. Attorney’s Office also filed a federal charge of attempting to board an aircraft with a concealed dangerous weapon. The federal charge against Baines was filed Sunday but was not announced until today, said Steve Cole, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa.

It’s a long way from where he sits now to any stage performances.

4 comments:

spackle said...

Either this guy is trying to get some hard earned publicity for his "rap career" or he is a complete idiot. Or maybe both.

Charles Martel said...

Or maybe a Muzzie on a test run or possibly one lone crazy jihadist trying to bring a plane down in the name of Allah.

Debbie said...

Is Tampa the new Dearborn? It sure does seem like a lot of terrorist activity is coming out of Tampa. Tampa is also known for its multitude of strip joints. Coincidence?

Zenster said...

Deep fry Baines' worthless @ss.

In other great and good news, while in conversation with an ex-San Quentin inmate and his parole officer, I found out that Scott Peterson seems to be having a rough go of it on death row. Evidently, his gait is no longer straight-legged and tends more towards a painfully crouched shuffle. Funny that.

Others here might be glad to know that Richard Allen Davis was the object of a well-orchestrated deception by his fellow inmates. After Davis' introduction into the general prison community, he was shown deferrence and goodwill to such a degree that, days later, he unhesitatingly strode out into the exercise yard where this particular specimen of pond scum—in the ex-prison guard's exact words—"got the dogsh!t beaten out of him".

Please rest assured that my personal lack of sympathy for both of these flaming rutbags is going to keep me wide awake during the long winter nights.