STAR CITY, Ark. (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest has been charged with a felony for allegedly trying to smuggle tobacco to a death row inmate. Fifty-year-old Rev. Charles Thessing of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Morrilton was charged Wednesday in Lincoln County Circuit Court. He faces three to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine if convicted. Thessing did not return a phone call seeking comment. Administrative affairs chancellor Dennis Lee with the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that Thessing remains a priest in good standing. Lee was stopped at t ... Jump to full article >>

BROOKSVILLE – Two inmates were charged recently with possession of contraband – and one of them said he smuggled the tobacco into the jail by tucking them between his private parts. Derrick Joseph Loreto, 25, of Hudson, and John Michael Colon, 25, of Spring Hill, were searched by detention deputies – who discovered tobacco in their possession, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy said he searched Loreto on April 21 and discovered tobacco in a blue latex glove stuffed into his sock. Four days later, Detective Anthony Scarpati interviewed Loreto, who told h ... Jump to full article >>

No one gets between Coroberto Cordero and his weed. That’s what the assault suspect told cops after he was busted for stabbing a straphanger with a pen because she objected to his smoking, court papers show. “I was just trying to light my blunt and the b—- wouldn’t leave me alone, so I hit her,” Cordero told transit cops, according to the documents released Wednesday. Cordero, 35, faces felony assault and marijuana possession charges – and up to seven years behind bars – for the Tuesday attack on a southbound No. 3 near Chambers St. Evelyn Seeger, 45, ... Jump to full article >>

TALLAHASSEE — Inmates in Florida’s prisons will have to wean themselves off of tobacco. The Department of Corrections plans to make all of Florida’s prisons tobacco-free this year. The department began initiating a Tobacco Cessation Initiative April 1 to phase out tobacco usage by September 30. “The decision to eliminate smoking and tobacco use was made to reduce the medical cost associated with exposure to tobacco, and eliminate second hand smoke exposure to non-smokers,” According to a Department of Corrections release. Prisons will offer inmates a 14-day sup ... Jump to full article >>

A HAULAGE firm boss who tried to smuggle more than three million cigarettes through Dover has been jailed. Mamode Rafiq Allyman, 56, who runs Chatham-based Allyman Haulage, was stopped in July 2009 as he drove a lorry off a ferry from Calais. A search by the UK Border Agency uncovered 1,888,800 Raquel and 1,307,600 Gold Classic branded cigarettes in shrink-wrapped brown boxes. Allyman, of Copenhagen Road, Gillingham, first told officers he had loaded the trailer in Holland, but after the haul was found said he had swapped trailers with another driver. The duty due on the tobacco was estimated ... Jump to full article >>

VARNER, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas’ prison system said Monday it suspended visitation rights for a Roman Catholic priest after guards found a half-filled bag of tobacco under his clothing while he attempted to visit a death row inmate. The Rev. Charles Thessing, 49, of Morrilton was detained Wednesday but not charged. State police said an investigation continues, and Department of Correction spokeswoman Dina Tyler said Thessing is no longer welcome to visit — at least temporarily. “We frown upon that most heavily,” Tyler told The Lincoln American newspaper of Star City. “ ... Jump to full article >>

Two decades after a Pinellas County legislator first proposed it, the state of Florida is finally ready to outlaw smoking by prison inmates. That prisoners are still casually lighting up in the rec yard, years after many other states stopped the practice, is testament to the legacy of tobacco industry influence in Tallahassee and the reluctance of a rigid prison bureaucracy to change with the times. Gov. Rick Scott’s new prison boss, Edwin Buss, arrived in Florida from Indiana a few weeks ago and was shocked to discover a smoky haze in prisons he visited. His former state banned smoking in p ... Jump to full article >>

All Florida Department of Corrections facilities will be tobacco-free in six months — including a ban on inmate smoking. “Inmate smoking and second-hand smoking is costing millions in healthcare costs each year,” said Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Edwin Buss. “Eliminating smoking is a win for taxpayers, but it’s also a win for employees and inmates, making our facilities healthier places to work and live in, and making them a little safer too.” Smoking bans have long been in place in all of Florida’s public buildings and offices, over half of the state prisons in ... Jump to full article >>

A BAR OWNER has become the first person to be sentenced to jail for breaching the smoking ban in Ireland – but he didn’t know until he read his name in the papers. Paul Finnegan told the Irish Independent today that he had no idea he had been sentenced to jail until he saw his name in newspapers yesterday morning. Finnegan owns Shenanigans bar on the Castleblaney Main St in Co Monaghan. He faces three months in jail after a number of young people – including some who were wearing school uniforms – were seen smoking on his premises in 2010. Judge Sean MacBride described Finnegan as “ ... Jump to full article >>

Anne Calder claimed she thought she was only smuggling tobacco — not drugs — to an inmate, but a judge didn’t believe her. Calder, a former criminal lawyer, was convicted on all three trafficking charges at the Nova Scotia Supreme Court Thursday. She will be sentenced on April 4. Calder previously testified packages arrived in her mail box the summer of 2009. She said she thought it was tobacco tightly wrapped in cellophane. Her client, Thomas Izzard, called her and asked her to deliver them to him at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside. She testified she felt guilt ... Jump to full article >>

Eugene Grinberg got his cigarettes from China. Ordering online, he bought knock-off versions of Newport – tax-free – for $17 to $19 a carton. Once they arrived at his Northampton home, he’d smoke some and sell the rest to friends and acquaintances for $35 to $40. (Real cartons of Newport cigarettes sell legally for $60.) On Tuesday, Grinberg, 30, paid dearly for those smokes. A Bucks County judge sentenced him to 2 1/2 to five years in prison for possessing and selling untaxed and counterfeit cigarettes. That sentence was jacked up somewhat by Grinberg’s criminal histor ... Jump to full article >>