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Man Suspected of Rape Beaten Up; Obama Visits Site of German Concentration Camp
Aired June 05, 2009 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And now, we're pushing forward on a heinous story out of Philadelphia that's left a child traumatized and a city up in arms. You may have seen the surveillance video. A mob of people gang up on this man, a suspected rapist of a 11-year-old girl. Basically, they beat the crap out of the guy until Philly cops roll up. Here's how things all went down.
Monday morning, the fifth-grader's forced into a backyard and brutally raped. Police collect forensic evidence, and they release the photo of the person of interest, Jose Carrasquillo. That night is when they released it, and Tuesday, cops are looking for him, but the neighborhood finds him first. So, a local calls it justice community style. Then Wednesday, the little girl's released if the hospital after surgery to repair her injuries.
Well, yesterday, Carrasquillo's released from the hospital and held on a previous charge. That brings us to today's developments. Reward money goes out, and new surveillance tape is released.
Joining me from Philadelphia now, the father of that 11-year-old victim, Clifford Reynolds. We're also going to talk to John McNesby from the Fraternal Order of Police.
We appreciate you being with us, both John and Clifford. Clifford, this has got to be an extremely difficult story to talk about. I'll tell you what, we saw that video. We heard about what happened to your daughter. And we definitely wanted to bring all the details of it to everybody's attention. First of all, how is your daughter?
CLIFFORD REYNOLDS, 11-YEAR-OLD VICTIM'S FATHER: Well, she's managing.
PHILLIPS: She's managing.
REYNOLDS: You know? She has a lot of friends. She has a lot of support, and she's holding on. You know? She's holding on. She's a real trouper.
PHILLIPS; How did you find out after it happened? What did she do, and how did you finally get wind of everything?
REYNOLDS: Well, I was in the process of surprising my wife, a lunch date. And my wife wasn't at school because, you know, she found out before me. And I'm waiting at her school for my wife to come out, and one of her fellow students came to me and told me that I have a family emergency, I need to get home as quickly as possible. So that's how I found out. But I wasn't really sure what the matter was because she didn't go into details with me at the time.
PHILLIPS: So when you got home, did your daughter just want to run and jump in your arms and hold onto you? And what did she tell you? What was the communication between the two of you?
REYNOLDS: Well, my daughter was already in the hospital at this point in time.
PHILLIPS: So you went to the hospital to go see her, right?
REYNOLDS: Right.
PHILLIPS: Tell me, how did she look? What did she say to you? What did she tell you?
REYNOLDS: It's a look that you can never forget, especially if you're a concerned parent. And I never, ever want to see that look on none of my children's faces. But the fact of the matter is she was lost, she didn't know who to trust. She was very, very, oh, distorted. I mean, it was something I will never forget.
PHILLIPS: And Clifford, as her daddy, I mean, you always want to be there to protect your baby girl. I mean, what was going through your heart and your mind as you were sort of trying to process all of this?
REYNOLDS: Well, when I found out my daughter cried out for me and I wasn't there to protect her, believe me, it was a feeling that I can't even speak upon. But I have to live with this.
PHILLIPS: Well, then we find out that this mug shot is released of Jose Carrasquillo, and we see it happen on surveillance tape. The mug shot's put out there and a group of guys take it upon themselves to literally beat the crap out of him.
What's your feelings about that?
REYNOLDS: I feel that that was justice at its highest, you know what I mean, standard. Because believe me, when it comes down to it, it's just us.
PHILLIPS: And you have got to protect your own.
Did you know the guys that went after him?
REYNOLDS: No, I did not. Not at -- no, I did not.
PHILLIPS: Really? So these were guys that just heard about the story and were outraged and went after when him?
REYNOLDS: Yes. There were concerned parents, as well. They had children of their own and they felt my pain.
PHILLIPS: Wow. REYNOLDS: And my heart goes out to them.
PHILLIPS: Have you had a chance to thank them or talk to them?
REYNOLDS: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Yes?
REYNOLDS: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Tell me what you said to them. And what did they say to you?
REYNOLDS: Well, I was there when they were granted the reward money. I was there, you know what I mean, thanking them throughout this whole ordeal, because clearly I couldn't have done it all myself.
I tried. Lord knows I tried. I was out there for two days straight riding around trying to find this gentleman, but unfortunately it wasn't in the master's plan for me to capture this guy myself. But we all live here together, so it took an effort of other citizens to come forth to bring this man to justice.
PHILLIPS: It amazes me how calm you are being right now. It also amazes me that you call this suspect a gentleman. That's pretty big of you, because I think he's a pretty big piece of trash.
But I saw that you were able to meet these men that went after this guy. We just saw video actually of them.
Did they say to you we did this because we're parents, or did they say we just couldn't believe that someone would do this to a 11- year-old girl? Did they explain why they felt it necessary to do it, Clifford?
REYNOLDS: Yes. They were concerned behind the fact that it was a child. And our children are our greatest asset. And believe me when I tell you, when terrorists attack on our children, it's falling upon us, it is time to act. You ain't got time to think about it. We have got to do what needs to be done in order to make it right because our children is what we live for as parents.
PHILLIPS: Clifford, stay with me.
John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police, you know, John, you put out the picture. You put out the $10,000 reward to find this guy.
What did you think of the fact that he was mobbed and beat up and finally brought in to the police department?
JOHN MCNESBY, PRESIDENT, PHILADELPHIA FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE: Well, Kyra, I think that this heinous, despicable crime, that being an 11-year-old girl, the nature of it, the way it was done, I think it hit home with a lot of people in the community and it really touched the city. So immediately, we put up the reward. Within two hours, he was taken off the street. No matter how he was taken off the street, he's off the street, and so be it.
PHILLIPS: Is that the way to fight crime? You know? I mean, cops are strapped. There's not a lot of money. There's unfortunately a lot of really miserable men like this guy roaming the streets.
Is this the way to go after them?
MCNESBY: Well, we don't condone that, but I can tell you that I don't think -- I believe before this ever, God forbid, happens again to somebody in the streets of the city of Philadelphia, will think twice before doing it.
PHILLIPS: Now, let me push this forward for a second. This Jose Carrasquillo had 17 prior arrests. I mean, he's definitely no angel.
Are you possibly going to be able to tie him to other rapes, other attacks than -- in addition to what he's accused of doing to Clifford's daughter?
MCNESBY: This guy is a crime spree. He should have never been on the street.
He spent six years in jail. He's only out a month. He's committed other crimes they're looking at right now, another brutal rape that had taken place last week. The police department is still investigating and, you know, if it deems that he needs to be charged, then he will be charged.
PHILLIPS: Clifford, let's button it up. Your final message to Jose Carrasquillo?
REYNOLDS: Well, I told you I was coming to get you and hell was coming with me. It's time to ante up and pay the ultimate cost, because justice will be done one way or the other.
PHILLIPS: Clifford Reynolds, sure appreciate your time.
John McNesby, you as well.
Glad he's off the streets.
And I'll tell you what, Clifford, we lift up your little girl today. And she's in our thoughts and prayers.
REYNOLDS: Thank you very much.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Clifford.
Thanks, John.
MCNESBY: Thank you.
REYNOLDS: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Well, we know how Philly feels about the case. Why don't you tell us what you think. Tweet us at Twitter.com/KyraCNN. We'll try to read some this hour.
And you may remember the big Esperanza wildfire in southern California three years ago that killed five firefighters. The man convicted of setting that blaze, well, he now faces the death penalty.
Raymond Oyler was sentenced just a short time. He was convicted in March of five counts of first-degree murder. That blaze, 90 miles east of Los Angeles, destroyed 34 homes and 20 other buildings, and also scorched nearly 70 square miles. The flames were so intense at times that they were 70 feet high.
He laid a rose and planted a seed of remembrance. Just hours ago, Barack Obama became the first American president to visit Germany's Buchenwald concentration camp. Chancellor Angela Merkel joined him, along with Nobel Peace Prize winner and survivor of this vicious camp, Elie Wiesel.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These sites have not lost the horror with the passage of time. As we were walking up, Elie said, "If these trees could talk." And there's a certain irony about the beauty of the landscape and the horror that took place here.
More than half a century later, our grief and our outrage over what happened have not diminished. I will not forget what I have seen here today.
ELIE WIESEL, CONCENTRATION CAMP SURVIVOR: Mr. President, we have such high hopes for you because you -- with your model, vision of history, we'll be able and compelled to change this world into a better place where people will stop waging war -- every war is absurd and meaningless -- where people will stop hating one another, where people will hate the otherness of the other, rather than respect it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Here's some background on Buchenwald.
About 250,000 prisoners were held there over an 8-year period. An estimated 56,000 were killed.
Key parts of Buchenwald have been preserved as a memorial, including the main gate, two guard towers, and a hospital and a crematorium. Also, President Obama's great uncle Charlie Payne was among the American GIs who liberated a nearby labor camp just days before U.S. troops liberated Buchenwald on April 11th, 1945.
After the war, occupying Soviet forces used the camp to hold political prisoners.
Straight ahead, a man needs a job, he puts up a billboard. He becomes our first "30-Second Pitch." Wait until you hear what happened to him now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: New unemployment numbers out, and the news is pretty mixed. The jobless rate jumped to 9.4 percent last month. That's the highest in more than 25 years. But the pace of layoffs has eased, with employers cutting 345,000 jobs in May. That's the fewest since September and much lower than had been expected.
Six million people have lost their jobs since the recession began 18 months ago.
Well, one of those six million people was Mark Heuer of Wisconsin. The father of three was laid off and went to extreme measures to get his name out there. Well, back in March, he caught our attention with this billboard advertising his Web site, Mark4hire.com.
He became our first "30-Second Pitch."
Well, Mark joins us now live from Milwaukee with great news. He starts a new job on Monday.
Congratulations.
MARK HEUER, ORIGINAL "30-SECOND PITCH": Well, thank you. I appreciate it.
PHILLIPS: So, tell me, after you did the segment, did you get e- mails? Did you get calls? Did people recognize you?
HEUER: I got a number of calls, and a lot of opportunities were presented to me through the billboard. And I even had people recognize me in the airport as I traveled as "The Billboard Guy."
PHILLIPS: Were you handing out cards that, yes, that's right, I'm the billboard guy, now get me a job?
HEUER: Absolutely. It was a great experience.
PHILLIPS: Well, tell me what you learned from all of this. Before we get to your new job, just going through this whole process, I mean, is that the key, is you have just got to be creative nowadays?
HEUER: Well, I think the key is you do have to be creative. You've got to get away from the job boards of the Monsters, the Career Builders, the Ladders (ph) and all those other venues because they're just a big vortex and there's so many people applying for jobs.
And I knew this before I did this. I just wanted to make it even more extreme to bring more opportunity. But you've got to get out and talk to people. You've got to get in front of them. You've got to knock on the door.
Walk in firsthand or pick up the phone and call people. And that's exactly what I did with this particular opportunity, because it wasn't particularly from the billboard that landed me this one.
PHILLIPS: Well, tell me about the job. Tell me why you decided to take it and why you're excited about it.
HEUER: Well, I'm excited about it. Home Instead Senior Care. People can learn about it at HomeInstead.com.
And I'm going to be a director of client experience. And what I'm excited about it for is not only can I provide servitude of my skill sets to not only the elderly that need this type of service to stay in their homes, versus going into nursing homes or assisted living, but also, I can provide the assistance to help grow the employees within this organization from the support staff to the care givers. And it just really blends well with my attitude towards servitude, and that's where it really -- one of the reasons I chose it.
PHILLIPS: Well, we are extremely proud. We're so glad that you chose it, as well, because you are the perfect one to be able to give back like that. Congratulations.
HEUER: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right.
Mark Heuer going to start his new job on Monday.
Let us know how it goes, Mark.
HEUER: Thank you. I will. Stay in touch.
PHILLIPS: OK. All right.
Well, if you've lost your job in this bad economy and you want to be part of the "30-Second Pitch," get in touch with us. You can find it on our blog, CNN.com/newsroom, or via Twitter at Twitter.com/KyraCNN.
Well, if you're a self-starter with middle management written all over you, forget about this job. The Murphy-Goode Winery in Sonoma County, California, just needs one good Tweeter/Facebooker to get online and tell the world how great their vino is.
The pay? Ten grand a month.
Take a look at some of the nearly 800 applications so far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. My name's Elizabeth, and this is why I'm the person you're looking to hire.
Born and raised in northern California, I'm familiar with the lay of the land, its people and what it has to offer. As a former newspaper reporter and photojournalist, I have experience sharing these stories.
As for my own, I'm an active blogger for almost 10 years. I HTML, I MySpace, I Facebook and yes, I Twitter. Most importantly, I'm enthusiastic about wine and eager to expand my wine-making knowledge. I can thereby share a more genuine learning experience with the public. Also, it would be an honor to explore Sonoma County by your side.
I know I have the ability, knowledge and courage to do so. Together, we can spread some much-needed Murphy goodness.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Oh, wait a minute. This is the funny one. Let's roll this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the things I love the most is taking wine that so many people see as a complex subject and actually bringing the joy back into it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Number one. Good choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Sorry about that. We actually cut that wrong. We wanted you to get a spice -- or a feel, rather, for the very creative ones and also a little more straightforward. I think you got the feel for it.
So what would Martini & Rossi do?
OK. Now the downside here. There's no health insurance and the job only lasts six months. But if you get it, hey, that's $60,000 and a lot of good wine, probably.
Well, debris found in the Atlantic proves to be a false lead. We're going to talk more about the search for that missing Air France jet, with recovery less likely now with each passing day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, the mystery of Air France Flight 447 -- searchers thought that they had a breakthrough when they found some debris in the Atlantic, but the Brazilian Air Force says what turned up did not come from that plane. There's a deadline to find the wreckage. The batteries in the recorder boxes only last 30 days.
CNN's John Zarrella is on the story in Rio de Janeiro -- John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, that's exactly right. Certainly against the clock here trying to find the main body of the airplane and the voice recorder, cockpit recorder, and the data, the flight recorder. And they don't appear today to be any closer to that than they were the last couple of days.
As you mentioned, yesterday was the first day that they actually physically began plucking debris out of the water, because up until that time the priority was to look for potential survivors and to look for bodies. Well, they turned the attention to the debris yesterday, and the first piece that they went and recovered turned out to be a wooden pallet not from the plane. Then they picked up what appeared to be a buoy in the water. That did not turn out to be from the plane either.
Now, the Air Force says that they do believe that many of the other objects out there that they have spotted over the last few days, mostly on radar, some that they have been eyeballing, are from the plane. There was a lot of wiring that they saw on the surfacing of the water. They saw a seat on the surface of the water. So they believe those things are from the plane.
Now, of course the families, devastated as they have been, hit again even harder by the fact that this debris was not from the plane. So what the air force did was they brought about 10 family members up to Recife, which is a military base, and that's where the staging area is, where the press conferences are coming out of. And they allowed the family to talk with a pilot who told them about the difficulties involved in the search. And that all happened this morning and this afternoon at Recife.
So the military here is doing what it can to give the families an idea just how difficult and painstaking this effort is. And in fact, the search area covers a couple of hundred square miles -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. John Zarrella, we'll continue to follow the search for anything, that's for sure. Thanks.
Safety in the skies is a big concern for critics who are blasting a plan that would close weather offices now at most of the regional air traffic control centers in the U.S. That plan, part of an FAA cost-cutting move, by the way, calls for shutting down 20 offices, and it's relying on just two offices if it happens.
CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers is explaining it hasn't happened just yet.
Right, Chad?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Correct.
PHILLIPS: So what do you think? I mean, is it a smart thing to do if, indeed, it happens?
MYERS: I don't know. I think two's the wrong number. I think maybe four, five, six might be the right number. And maybe they started at two and then there'll be a bidding war for 12, and then we'll end up somewhere in the middle. I think that's going to happen.
I don't think two men -- two lead forecasters can cover the entire United States with severe weather when a plane is in trouble for some reason. There's Cleveland, there's Chicago, there's Memphis, there's Atlanta. This is the United States. This is a National Weather Service map here.
But these are all of the offices, one, two three, four five -- there's 20 of them out there. Just trust me.
They plan on taking it and cutting it in half. Maryland will cover the eastern half and Kansas City will cover the west half. One meteorologist in each one of those offices to cover big weather.
When a plane loses instrumentation, the weatherman has to be there, the meteorologist will talk face to face. This all happened over the years, 20 years ago, because, literally, Kansas City couldn't tell Maine or Boston what was going on 20 years ago over the Internet. They're saying, hey, with the Internet, we don't need all these offices, we can cut this back and rely on fewer people. Therefore, spend less money -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Got it. All right. We'll see what happens, Chad.
Well, an Indiana man pleaded guilty today trying to fake his death in a plane crash in Florida. Remember this story?
Prosecutors say that Marcus Schrenker was trying to escape financial and marital problems when he tried to fake his death in January. You remember he parachuted from the plane over Alabama after telling authorities it was about to crash. The plane ran out of fuel and crashed in the Florida Panhandle.
Need a chip to steer a missile? No. Now how about a switch that can detonate nuclear weapons? You won't believe what you can buy in the U.S. And you know what's scarier? Where this stuff can end up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, you won't believe how easy it's been for people to get their mitts on parts for potentially deadly weapons. The lack of oversight turning the U.S. into a kind of terror mart. Well, these are military parts that you really don't want in the hands of your enemies.
Pentagon Correspondent Chris Lawrence shows us when's been bought, sold and what's being done to close the store.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You don't need night vision goggles to see there's a problem here -- American companies selling these lenses and other weapons parts to potentially hostile governments and terrorists.
GREGORY KUTZ, GAO INVESTIGATOR: You have nuclear applications, guided missile applications, improvised explosive devices potentially being used in Iraq against our own soldiers.
LAWRENCE: The Government Accountability Office says American parts are bought, sold and sent who knows where.
KUTZ: They're items that were shipped to places like Pakistan, China and Iran, or Hezbollah. LAWRENCE: To prove the lack of oversight, GAO investigators set up a fake company, address and e-mail. They used a credit card to buy parts from American companies, like equipment used in smart bombs. These chips help steer guided missiles, and even after a real American company was punished for selling them to China, GAO's fake company got an order for 10.
KUTZ: We never really had to meet with anybody, talk to them on the phone.
LAWRENCE: Some parts were strictly military, others had dual uses. This high-voltage switch has medical applications, but it can also be used to detonate nuclear weapons. The GAO got approval for 100.
REP. BETTY SUTTON (D), OHIO: It's as if our own country has become a terrorist bazaar.
LAWRENCE: Some distributors do ask buyers to sign an end use agreement, which just state how you plan to use the equipment.
REP. GREG WALDEN (R), OREGON (via telephone): So if I wanted to do something bad, with what I got, I just sign this and say, "I promise not to use this to create a nuclear, biological or chemical weapon. Honest." Signed Osama bin Laden. It would be believable and enforceable.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We signed it in all cases. I don't believe there's any other checks, Don.
LAWRENCE: There are hardly any restrictions on buying this equipment in the U.S., so the distributors who sold to GAO's fake company didn't break any laws.
WALDEN: The scandal here may be what is legal, not what is illegal.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
PHILLIPS: Chris Lawrence joining us now from the Pentagon. That lawmaker calling the U.S. like a terrorist bazaar.
LAWRENCE: Yes, exactly. You know, the big question obviously, why? And one of the reasons that we found out was, you know, these laws are outdated. You know, nevermind September 11. Some laws haven't been overhauled in 20, 30 years. You have the jurisdictional fights between the departments that regulate this stuff, like commerce and state, and then just an overall lack of manpower to try to police this buying and selling.
PHILLIPS: So hard to believe that there's so few regulations. I mean, why is that?
LAWRENCE: Well, again, that's just it. It's all those reasons and the fact that the government has these laws that allow it to be bought and sold here in the U.S., but again, once it's sold, there's no controls over where it goes next.
PHILLIPS: Okay. But these companies are not allowed to actually export these parts to China and Iran, right?
LAWRENCE: Right. Technically, you're not allowed to export them but the GAO found out that security is laughable. Investigators packed up dummy versions of the chips and smart-bomb equipment they bought, and then they were able to ship it to a country in southeast Asia, a country that's known as a transit point for terrorists and they did it all from the post office and Fed Ex right here in Washington, D.C., Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Wow. Now, do you remember -- we were talking about this when the strike fighters got out of a junkyard and went on sale on Ebay for a million dollars or what. Everybody was freaking out and the military jumped in and got it off of there. So it's just so surprising there can be these kind of loopholes, you know?
LAWRENCE: Exactly. Especially because you have technology, like I said, as dual uses. It can be used in medical technology, but got the real weapons uses, as well.
PHILLIPS: All right. Keep your eye on it for us. Thanks, Chris.
LAWRENCE: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Dozens of people blown apart by while praying. Authorities believe that a suicide attacker set off bombs today at a mosque. The Swat Valley in Pakistan, at least 40 people were killed and 80 wounded. People were trying to stop the suspect from entering the main gate when the explosion went off. Well, yesterday, militants bombed a girls' school in the region, causing damage but no death.
Just hours ago, Mr. Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Buchenwald concentration camp. He said he won't forget what he saw there and neither should the rest of us. Joining him, German Chancellor Merkel. Also, Nobel Peace Prize winner and survivor of that vicious camp Elie Wiesel.
The president later rose for the thousands of victims at Buchenwald and noted that his own great-uncle was among the American GIs that helped liberate a nearby camp. The president also says that the Holocaust reminds us all of humanity's potential for evil, and no one should deny it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To this day, there are those that insist that the Holocaust never happened, a denial of fact in truth that's baseless and ignorant and hateful. This place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts. A reminder of our duty to confront those would tell lies about our history.
ELIE WIESEL, BUCHENWALD SURVIVOR: As I came here today, it was actually a way of coming and visit my father's grave. But he had no grave. His grave is somewhere in the sky. It's become the last cemetery of the Jewish people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: I mentioned President Obama's great-uncle, he's 84 years old. A World War II vet, and his name is Charles Payne. He'll be traveling to Normandy for the D-Day anniversary. Sixty-five years ago, he was part of the real thing, and his great-nephew paid homage to him today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I will not forget what I have seen here today. I've known about this place since I was a boy hearing stories about my great-uncle, who was a very young man serving in World War II. He was part of the 89th infantry division, the first Americans to reach a concentration camp. They had liberated Ordruf, one of Buchenwald's subcamps.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Great-Uncle Charles will see his great-nephew with a group headed by Veterans Affairs Chief Eric Shinseke (ph), and former senator Bob Dole is a part of that group.
One veteran was all set to go to the D-Day anniversary until he lost the passport. Don't worry, there's a reason we're calling this good news. Here's Anton Lewis of our Chicaco affiliate, WGN.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CARMEN MICELI: Passport. Passport. Thank this guy.
ANTON LEWIS, WGN CORRESPONDENT: With the replacement passport in hand, 87-year-old Carmen Miceli will get to the D-Day annivesary in France after being nearly MIA to this weekend's celebration. Miceli became separated from his original passport on Monday when the cab he was riding in drove off with his bags still in the trunk. Inside one of those bags was his passport.
MICELI: I paid him a $29 tab, I gave them $35, and he pulled an I way with my -- with our things in the trunk.
LEWIS: He notified the Chicago Carriage Cab Company, who frantically tried to find the driver. He never got his bags and then contacted Chicago police, some local friends and WGN TV. Enter alderman Bob Fioretti, who made a few calls of his own.
BOB FIORETTI, CHICAGO SECOND WARD ALDERMAN: Congressman Davis, because he rolled up his sleeves and got on the phone with me very early this morning. Senator Durbin's office was on top of it. They coordinated things.
LEWIS: That coordination paid off with the expedited passport Carmen is now holding, saying it would have been avoided if the cabby had only popped the trunk. A criticism that he can fairly make, because Carmen Miceli is a former cab driver himself. MICELI: After the war, 1945, I got a job driving a cab here.
LEWIS: Did you always open...
MICELI: I was a good cab driver.
LEWIS: Did you always open the trunk for your customers?
MICELI: Always.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
PHILLIPS: Good for you, sir. You'll be part of an international ceremony in Normandy, France, led by President Obama.
It's an awareness campaign for the United Nations. It is a personal mission for a CNN Hero. We're going to tell you what she's doing to save vulnerable children.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Reported rape cases have surged in Zimbabwe, prompting the U.N. to launch an awareness campaign to stop it. One woman has taken matters into her own hands. Betty Maconey (ph) is this week's CNN Hero.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN news.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He shoved me to the ground and covered my mouth with his hand. When the rape ordeal was over, he wiped me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Zimbabwe, young girls are raped because of the myth that virgins cure HIV and AIDS.
BETTY MACONEY (ph): Ten girls a day, they are raped. They are needing advocates to help them break silence
I formed this organization that rescues girls from abuse. I was sexually abused at six years and also lost my mother (INAUDIBLE). After my mother died from domestic violence, I told myself that no girl or woman would suffer the same again.
I started religious group provide a safe place for girls there from abuse. When a girl gets to the villages, she's provided with emergency medication, reinstated in the schooling, as well as counseling. This gives them the confidence to transform from the guilt to leader.
This is (INAUDIBLE) always something I wanted to do. This gives me fulfillment in myself every day.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
PHILLIPS: If you would like more information on the Girl-Child Network, or if you'd like to nominate your own CNN Hero, log on to CNN.com/heroes.
It's come and get it for the computer age. L.A. chefs on the move make diners track them down on Twitter. Their unusual recipe for success.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: We want to get you answers to your financial questions. Let's get straight to the Help Desk. Jack Otter is a financial journalist, and Ryan Mack is the president of Optimum Capital Management.
Okay, guys. Let's get right to the questions. First one from Cori in Chicago who asks, "My husband and I owe about 105 percent on our home, and we're about three years into a ten-year interest-only arm of six percent. We're doing OK in that we can make our mortgage payments every month, but we want to get into a fixed-rate mortgage. Can we take advantage of the current low rates?"
Jack? Help these people out. There's trouble a-coming if they don't make a change.
JACK OTTER, FINANCIAL JOURNALIST: Absolutely. I mean, good for them for trying. The guy who sold them that mortgage is going to come on this show to defend himself. If they're doing so okay financially, they can actually take a lump sum and pay down the principal. I would love them to go to the bank and say, "Look, here's what we're willing to do. Now we want a fixed rate, and we want you to give us no fees" or something, really drive a hard bargain.
If they can't do that, try to pay off every month a little bit of the principal. Eventually, they'll get down and get their head above water. Prices might rise a little bit in the next few years. Not a lot, but a little bit and be in a better financial situation and re-fi the normal way.
WILLIS: They need a new loan. That's for sure. That one will have problems down the road. Will asks, "My fiance and I are going to close on our new house in October. We are worried about the interest rates rising. Can you give us an idea as to whether the rates will jump higher than they are now by the time we can lock in our rates in late August?"
Ryan, if we can answer this question, we wouldn't be here. That's for sure.
RYAN MACK, PRESIDENT, OPTIMUM CAPTIAL MANAGEMENT: I think that their rates -- they're going to be -- they're rising. They have been rising and they're going to be slowly rising. Turning from an economy that's low interest rates and a lot of government expenditure to gradually increasing interest rates and less government expenditure, one of the things that comes with that is gradually increasing interest rates, but we have the look at the variables we can control as opposed to variables we can't control.
What is your FICO score -- is it 720 or higher -- to get your interest rate payments down? Do you have at least 20 percent down to avoid PMI payments in making sure that you can avoid that secondary loan. Maybe put an additional piece of moneys down on points -- you can -- to lower your interest rates that way. So, rates may be higher but make sure you're in the best position to put money down on that piece of property.
WILLIS: It is hard timing the rates here. Great answers. Difficult question, guys. Thank you for the help today.
The Help Desk is all about getting you answers. Send me an e- mail to gerri@cnn.com or log on to CNN.com/helpdesk to see more of financial solutions. And the Help Desk is everywhere. Check out the latest issue of "Money" magazine on newsstands now.
PHILLIPS: "Money" magazine is also on Twitter. In the meantime, folks have figured out how to make money on Twitter. Chefs behind Koji Barbecue have a huge following, and in the tweets and on the street. CNN'S Ted Rowlands explains.
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TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest L.A. must have that has people scrambling to find and waiting hours to buy is a $2 taco.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten tacos (INAUDIBLE).
ROWLANDS: Sold from a difficult-to-find food truck called Kogi. The tacos and other specialties are the creation of Chef Roy Choi, who, along with two business partners, started Kogi last November.
CAROLINE SHIN-MANGUERA, KOGI COFOUNDER: Doesn't make any sense whatsoever. We make our people wait in line for two hours. We make them wait in the rain. Don't give them chairs to sit on. No reservations. We are late half the time. You know? But we must be doing something right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Enjoy.
ROWLANDS: It is not just the food. Korean and Mexican cuisine. It's the chase. There's two trucks. One is named Verde, the other Roja. Finding either requires some work. Locations are posted online and updated on Twitter. Changes are frequent. The night we followed the Chef Roy, plans to go to orange county were scrapped at the last minute because they couldn't get a permit.
ROY CHOI, CHEF, KOGI: We sent out the Twitter age going right to the line of L.A. County and sell our food.
ROWLANDS: When the truck arrived, a line was waiting. Kogi is so popular that most nights the truck runs out of food. Kogi You Tube videos show how long the lines can get and what lengths some people go to find a Kogi truck.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, there it is. Yes!
ROWLANDS: There's even a rap song about Kogi. (MUSIC PLAYING)
Kogi fans run the gamut, from the professional lunch crowd to "Lord of the Rings" star Elijah Wood, who recently hired the truck for his birthday.
Business is so good, two more trucks are on the way for Los Angeles, and plans are being made for a possible truck in New York.
Ted Rowlands, CNN, Los Angeles.
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PHILLIPS: As always, Rick Sanchez back there working on the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. How about some tacos, Rick?
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I can't believe you said that. Speaking of Twitter --
PHILLIPS: They're good! Haven't you had them?
SANCHEZ: What?
SANCHEZ: The tacos. Oh, you weren't listening to the piece.
SANCHEZ: I'm Cuban! We don't eat tacos.
PHILLIPS: It wasn't anything to do with your ethnicity, ding- dong.
SANCHEZ: I know, I'm trying to put heat on you. You know? Trying to make sure you show up in some blog this weekend.
PHILLIPS: You would love that. What do you got going? I have a good interview coming up. Hurry up.
SANCHEZ: I love you like a sister. You were talking about Twitter? I'm talking about Twitter. This is "Time" magazine. And it's on the cover. Twitter. Which I think is fabulous, by the way. I just came back from hosting a convention for Time Warner in New York, where all the CEOs are trying to figure out how to monazite the social media thing. We're talking to the guy that wrote the article.
The other thing I'm talking about has to do with Adolf Hitler. New pictures. Nobody's seen them before. About 70, 80 years old, Gary? 70-year-old pictures. No one's ever seen before of Adolf Hitler.
And then finally, Bill O'Reilly. Bill O'Reilly has said some things that probably should be challenged. They have a lot to do with this particular place where we work right now. And --
PHILLIPS: Go get him, Rick.
SANCHEZ: That's exactly what I'm going to do.
PHILLIPS: Okay.
SANCHEZ: I am. And you want to know why?
PHILLIPS: I'll be standing by.
SANCHEZ: Because somebody has to.
PHILLIPS: And then have tacos together. See you later.
SANCHEZ: Love you.
PHILLIPS: Love you, too.
President Obama getting a chance to play tourist in Egypt, and he describes some of the sights as awe inspiring. I'm thinking he meant the pyramids and the tombs, but he was also awed by one unexpected hieroglyphic.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this is (INAUDIBLE).
OBAMA: That looks like me! Look at those ears.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was the overseer.
PHILLIPS: Right next to the president there is a Dr. Zahi Hawass, laughing with president Obama. Doctor Hawass is actually one of our favorite international archeologists. We always have him on talking about the King Tut discoveries and joins us on the line from Cairo. We thought you were playing a trick on him.
DR. ZAHI HAWASS, INTERNATIONAL ARCHEOLOGISTS: No. I tell you something. I spent one hour and a half with President Obama at the pyramids. And I was really impressed by him. I think his power because he's a symbol man, and he was really casual and for the first time inside the great pyramid. Inside the pyramid chamber, and I think there's no VIP visit ever did that. He was asking very smart questions, like building the pyramid. The secret doors make sounds (ph).
The -- I make jokes with him. I told him, you look like King Tut. And he laughed and he said, you know, everyone says I look like King Tut and why I gave him a statue, a replica of King Tut and I gave him my hat and I told him, "This is Indiana Jones hat." And he said, "My head is big." I said, "But this hat will fit you." And he was so happy with my hat. I told him, "This hat, we are selling it now $45."
And I said, the money that comes from sales of this hat goes for the Suzanne Mumbarak(ph) Children's Museum that Mrs. Mumbarak (ph) she's building for the children of Egypt. I did enjoy taking him in the tomb. He looked at hieroglyphic letter Irrrrh (ph). And it's a face with two big ears. He said, "Do you know -- I look like this one? More than King Tut."
PHILLIPS: More than King Tut, I love it. We are looking at it now. It is amazing. I hope I say it right. Irrrrh (ph). The hieroglyphic looks like the president. Can you give us the history behind this hieroglyphic that does look like the president?
HAWASS: No. This is a hieroglyphic sign called Irrrrh, means face.
Means face, The face. It shows a face of a human being with two big ears and this is a tomb of someone who was a -- that president Obama with me. He was joking all the time. He said, "I never in my life hope I would see the sphinx." I spoke about aliens and people thinking that aliens built the pyramids. He said, "I thought so but now with this -- and what I saw and very -- by the ancient Egyptians." I told him, I said I met you when you were a senator in Chicago and he went - he went to the exhibit and it was amazing visit.
PHILLIPS: Doctor Hawass, you are just a piece of work. You are brilliant. Have a great sense of humor. And you --
HAWASS: Great to talk to you.
PHILLIPS: Great to talk to you again, too. We're glad you had the fun with the president and know the meaning behind the hieroglyphic. No, it wasn't Obama. It means face. Thanks, Doctor.
Well, the tweeters have their say. We'll find out what you think about a story we told you early on out of Philadelphia where a justice came from the community and not the law. We'll read those in a second.
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PHILLIPS: Well, earlier in this hour we brought you that horrific story out of the Philadelphia. A 11-year-old was sexually assaulted, brutally raped. Police put out a picture of the suspect and then surveillance videos captured the citizens who spotted the suspect on the street, and they attacked him. Police took him into custody and you've been tweeting us your thoughts on the story. Thanks for all of you for writing in. Sure appreciate it. A great weekend. See you back here Monday. Rick Sanchez takes it from here.
