North Dakota

Warrant shows gap in suspect’s whereabouts

Investigators found about a three-hour gap between the time a North Dakota college student disappeared and the time the suspect in the case arrived home, according to a search warrant unsealed Thursday.

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. was at his Crookston, Minn., home about 8:15 p.m. Nov. 22, Dolores Rodriguez told police, according to the Dec. 2 search warrant.

Dru Sjodin, a 22-year-old student at the University of North Dakota, was last heard from about 5 p.m. that day in Grand Forks, about 25 miles west of Crookston.

An affidavit unsealed Tuesday showed Rodriguez told authorities he had watched a movie, “Once Upon a Time in Mexico,” at a mall during that time, but authorities said that movie was not playing at the mall that day.

Florida

Six Cubans convicted in plane hijacking

Six Cubans accused of hijacking a passenger plane to Florida were convicted Thursday after failing to convince a jury it was actually a “freedom flight” undertaken with the crew’s cooperation.

The federal hijacking charges carry a mandatory 20 years in prison, with a possible life sentence.

The March 19 hijacking was the first in a string of air and boat hijackings that strained relations between Havana and Washington. Cuba accused the United States of encouraging the seizures.

Virginia

Two face felony charges for spamming operation

Using the nation’s toughest anti-spam law for the first time, Virginia prosecutors have gained felony indictments against two men accused of sending thousands of unsolicited e-mails for investments, software and other products.

Prosecutors said Thursday that an alias of one of the defendants, Jeremy Jaynes, is listed as one of the world’s 10 biggest spammers by spamhaus.org, a group that tabulates complaints reported to Internet service providers.

The indictments, returned Monday by a grand jury in Loudoun County, Va., are based on Virginia’s anti-spam law, which took effect July 1.

Jaynes, 29, and Richard Rutowski each face four counts of transmission of unsolicited bulk electronic mail. Each count carries up to five years in prison.

Alabama

U.S. seeks death penalty in clinic bombing

Prosecutors said Thursday they would seek the death penalty against serial bombing suspect Eric Rudolph for a blast that killed a police officer at an abortion clinic.

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft authorized prosecutors to seek the death penalty in the 1998 bombing that also seriously injured a nurse, U.S. Atty. Alice Martin said.

“This is an important step toward seeking justice in this case,” Martin said.

Rudolph’s attorney, Richard Jaffe, said he was not surprised by Ashcroft’s decision. “Of course, seeking it and getting it are two different matters.”

Virginia

Bush to wrap up fund raising for year

President Bush rounded out his fund raising for 2003 on Thursday, picking up $1 million in a Republican stronghold outside Washington for a re-election campaign that already has raised more than $112 million.

The event at a McLean hotel was Bush’s 44th and final personal appearance at a fund raiser for his re-election campaign since he launched his bid for a second term in May. All together, the campaign has put on 99 cash-collection events.

The campaign’s final fund-raiser for the year comes today in Jackson, Miss., with Vice President Dick Cheney as scheduled speaker.

Florida

Car crashes into gate at governor’s mansion

Two men were arrested after stealing a car and crashing it through the gates of the governor’s mansion, authorities said. It did not appear they were targeting Gov. Jeb Bush or his family.

No one was injured in the incident Wednesday night.

The car had been stolen from a restaurant parking lot nearby. It smashed through two gates onto a street behind the mansion.

Steven Franklin Baker, 24, and Floyd Jesse Boggs, 19, were arrested.