Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Bank Robber Sentenced After Sons Turn Him In; Witnesses Afraid to Talk about Milwaukee Mob Beating; Three Feared Dead in Nebraska Airplane Crash; Family Copes with E. Coli Tragedy

Aired December 29, 2005 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL LIN, HOST: From the CNN world headquarters, I'm Carol Lin, in for Kyra Phillips. And these are the stories that we're working on for you right now.
Sentencing for the bank robber dad. His sons turned him in, and now he's finding out what it cost him

And should you stash your cash? Well, where in 2006? And editor of "Smart Money" magazine is going to give us his tips on the hottest stocks.

And baby makes three, in bed. Should you share your bed with your child? A famous infant sleep expert has a change of heart.

All that and more, straight ahead. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

All right. We've got a breaking news story out of Omaha, Nebraska, right now. These are live pictures of a scene of a plane crash in a field at the intersection of 120th and Giles Street (ph) in southwest Omaha. There's a reporter on the scene, and we are going to have the latest for you. So far, reports of three people dead.

In the meantime, family man turned bank robber. Alfred Ginglen is headed to prison, likely for the rest of his life. He's just been sentenced to 40 years, just months after being turned in by his own three sons.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim investigated for the story for "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To most everyone in Lewistown, Illinois, population 2,600, it seemed Bill Ginglen was living the good life with his wife after bringing up a daughter and three sons.

(on camera) What kind of man was he?

GARRETT GINGLEN, TURNED FATHER IN: Well, he was a great father most of my life. When I was around him, especially as a younger person, he was -- you know, he raised me right. He raised us all right. OPPENHEIM (voice-over): But Garrett, Jared, and Clay Ginglen have been facing a difficult truth. In the fire station where two of them are volunteers, Bill Ginglen's sons told me that, while they thought their father was working hard to earn a living, he had secretly become a bank robber.

CLAY GINGLEN, TURNED FATHER IN: He did it well. He did hide it very well. In Lewistown, he was -- he was not that person.

OPPENHEIM: In Lewistown, Bill Ginglen was known as a former Marine, a well dressed business man, an upstanding citizen. Then a few years ago, he started asking family members for money.

G. GINGLEN: You're obliged to help.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): But that makes you trapped, doesn't it?

G. GINGLEN: It does, very much.

JARED GINGLEN, TURNED FATHER IN: We were raised to believe that family comes first, above all things. So we wanted to help as much as we could.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): What the brothers didn't know is as they were giving their father cash, police were looking for an older, well- dressed gentleman who had been walking into small town banks carrying a gun. The robber hit seven banks in nine months and got away with more than $56,000.

In November 2003 the spree began here in Kenney, Illinois.

(on camera) During the investigation, the problem for police was the banks either didn't have camera surveillance at all or the systems weren't good enough to get a clear picture of the suspect.

But after being hit once, the managers of this small bank did a smart thing. They upgraded to a digital video system to catch the robber if he were to ever come back. In July of 2004 he did.

SHERIFF ROGER MASSEY, DEWITT COUNTY, ILLINOIS: We felt after the second robbery at the Kenney Bank that we had such good video from their surveillance tapes that we could find someone from the public that could identify him. So we quickly put up a web site for our department and displayed about eight photographs of the suspected bank robber, as well as his car.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): That someone from the public turned out to be the bank robber's son. Jared Ginglen is a police officer in Peoria, Illinois. He read about the web site in a local paper.

J. GINGLEN: Soon as I read that, I went home and looked at the web site. And sure enough, those pictures -- I had no doubt that it was our father, wearing a mask and a hat and sunglasses. But we could tell it was him.

OPPENHEIM: He called his brothers to make sure there was no mistake.

G. GINGLEN: Panic hit me. And I, you know, got physically sick. Instantly threw up, started sweating, just -- just a violent panic reaction to what I'd seen. It was terrible.

C. GINGLEN: I went instantly cold. I guess when I told my boss that I was going to have to leave for the day, she says I was -- pretty pale.

OPPENHEIM: The brothers felt they had to take action immediately.

C. GINGLEN: We went to his house actually, thinking he'd be home, and we were going to confront him about it and turn him in or have himself turn himself in. He, however, was not home. So that's when we decided that we had to call the authorities and put a stop to whatever he was up to.

OPPENHEIM: The sons would learn their father was up to much more than they ever imagined. After the arrest, police recovered a detailed account of double life from Bill Ginglen's computer. He was having an affair, hiring prostitutes, supporting an expensive crack cocaine habit, and he was desperate.

He wrote, "The $500 that I spent on smoke during this visit was an incredibly stupid expenditure, and evidence that I truly am in over my head. There's also the mortgages, the car rental, the utilities, the phone bill. What the hell am I going to do?"

J. GARRETT: Very rarely in a crime where you get to look inside the mind of a person committing it. And with this journal, you can see everything he was thinking.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): But he's your father.

J. GARRETT: Yes. That made it 10 times worse.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): William Ginglen pleaded guilty to all charges, robbery and gun possession. His wife divorced him. His son Clay has spoken to him briefly on the phone. Nothing substantial. Jared and Garrett don't want to speak to their father.

G. GINGLEN: I'm still angry. I still feel angry. I kind of hope I get over that some day, but right now I'm just still angry.

OPPENHEIM: For all their anger and hurt, the brothers have no regrets about the toughest decisions they ever made.

(on camera) Do you have doubts? Are there moments where you just sort of say, you know, "Did I do the right thing?"

C. GINGLEN: I don't, no.

J. GINGLEN: No.

G. GINGLEN: Absolutely not. OPPENHEIM: Because?

G. GINGLEN: Because we had no choice. To us it was obvious.

C. GINGLEN: Right, it's right and wrong, very simple. Really.

OPPENHEIM: Is he the one who taught you that?

G. GINGLEN: Yes, he did. Yes, he taught us.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): And that's the irony of Bill Ginglen, the man who taught his sons right from wrong would go wrong himself. His children would have to make sure his crimes did not go unpunished.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Lewistown, Illinois.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Now, the fear that's gripping that inner city part of Milwaukee, scene of the brutal beating of 50-year-old Samuel McClain. Authorities say the attack by a vicious mob may have involved up to 15 young people. But three days later their investigation has stalled. People aren't talking. They're afraid.

With the story from Milwaukee, Bob Moore of CNN affiliate WITI.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB MOORE, WITI CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At least half the houses on this 4,700 block display signs of self-imposed isolation. Private property, keep out, no trespassing. Not a single sign announcing a neighborhood watch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very disturbed when we see people wearing "no snitching" shirts talking about don't talk to the police. We need people to talk to the police.

MOORE: Dozens of people may have witnessed Sam McClain's beating. But getting credible people to come forward is a difficult task.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When I called in a tip, usually it's taken but then the police come to my house after I asked them not to.

MOORE: That's the voice of a 29-year-old mother of five. She says coming forward is not always a wise action to take if you expect to live in peace in the same neighborhood. That's why we're not showing her face.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I asked them to keep me anonymous. And I tell them everything they need to know, but then they show right up at my door in front of everybody, in the middle of everything. And that makes me not want to call them again.

MAYOR TOM BARRETT, MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN: If they're afraid of people in the neighborhood and are afraid of retaliation from people in the neighborhood, it's only going to get worse if we don't get these perpetrators off the street.

MOORE: Mayor Tom Barrett used the bully pulpit of his office to compel people to share what they know.

BARRETT: If people are concerned about their safety, the only way for us to make this neighborhood safer is to have people Cooperate with the police.

MOORE (on camera): Milwaukee's latest holiday beating is setting a disturbing trend, so much so, the police chief is backing a new bill being drafted in Madison, the Mob Activity Enhancer Law, and that would add additional years behind bars for anyone convicted of attempted murder or assault.

In McArthur Square, Bob Moore, FOX 6 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And also, just in the last hour, an alderman in Milwaukee wants a new legislation, a new bill, a new law, to prevent loitering. This is what he had to say at a news conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's going to be, as the alderman mentioned, another tool for us to aggressively suppress any gang activity. The gangs in our city, they're predatory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: More on this story this afternoon.

In the meantime, the government listens in on your phone calls. Does it like what it hears? Arrests you, tries you, and convicts you, and never tells anybody what made you stand out in the first place.

The Bush administration and many others don't see a problem. But a few attorneys do. And we're going to look at the controversy from both sides when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: All right. Back to our breaking news. This just in. You're looking at a live picture of a plane crash in Omaha, Nebraska. And now the latest reports are that three people on board that plane may have survived.

Let's go to Todd Andrews. He's a reporter with our affiliate KETV.

Todd, what do you know?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD ANDREWS, KETV CORRESPONDENT: The Federal Aviation Administration has confirmed that the three people on board this aircraft did not survive the crash.

We took some shots earlier. Let's roll tape and show you some closer shots of the wreckage. You see it there next to the police car.

The FAA tell us this was a Piper PA-28. That is a single engine four place propeller driven aircraft, the type of which you often see flying into and out of Millard Airport.

We talked to Millard Airport. They weren't expecting any arrivals today. So this aircraft apparently was, at least according to Millard, was not going to them.

This aircraft was owned by Aerolease of America (ph), which is a company out of Carson City, Nevada. And the NTSB is now on scene. They have the -- they have the lead investigators of this crash as they do for all aerocrashes.

Alicia (ph), that is what we know.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: All right, that is the latest from Todd Andrews from KETV. Our apologies. We got different reports on the wire service. But the reporter on the scene says that three people did not survive that plane crash. We're going to be covering this story this afternoon to find out what happened.

In the meantime, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the most deadly strain of E. Coli bacteria infects about 200 people a day and on average there's at least one fatality every week.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim visits an Illinois family that's coping with a rare double hit. It's a story that first aired on "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In the small city of Effingham, Illinois, it's Christmas day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it time to go to Grandma Best's (ph) house yet?

OPPENHEIM: Tina and David Lustig (ph) are playing with their two oldest kids, 10-year-old Charlie and 7-year-old Michael. On the mantle, two stockings hang for their youngest, Claire and Christopher. They're not home. They're both in a hospital fighting for their lives.

TINA LUSTIG, MOTHER: Like the doctor said, you know, surely you can't -- this can't happen to two children in the same family and -- but it did.

OPPENHEIM: Two-year-old Christopher and his 4-year-old sister Claire got sick from a potentially deadly strain of E. Coli bacteria known as 0157-H7. It's a strain that can be picked up from unpasteurized milk or unpurified cider, but it's most often found in ground beef that hasn't been thoroughly cooked.

T. LUSTIG: I had made Hamburger Helper, but I don't undercook anything because I am a bad cook unfortunately. And...

OPPENHEIM (on camera): So you don't really have an idea of how they got it?

T. LUSTIG: No. No.

OPPENHEIM (voice-over): On December 2, Christopher became sluggish. There was blood in his stool.

DAVID LUSTIG, FATHER: I told Tina, I said, you know, "I haven't heard him talk -- he hasn't talked in -- all day."

OPPENHEIM: Doctors diagnosed Christopher with a condition called hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, where the toxins of the E. Coli strain cause red blood cells to rupture and kidneys to fail.

He was taken to Cardinal Glen and Children's Hospital in St. Louis, where he received dialysis. Then 10 days after he was diagnosed, his sister Claire started showing the same symptoms. She, too, was diagnosed with HUS.

While it's common for siblings or playmates of E. Coli-infected children to get exposed, it's uncommon the infection would progress to the point that both kids would get critically ill.

DR. ROBERT LYNCH, DIRECTOR OF INTENSIVE CARE: Very unusual. It's scary enough with one. To have both kids affected in this way is a catastrophe.

OPPENHEIM: Just as Claire was admitted to the same hospital, Christopher became unresponsive.

D. LUSTIG: His head was like locked to the right and his eyes were locked to the right. And he wouldn't -- you could talk to him and he wouldn't look at you. His eyes wouldn't follow you.

OPPENHEIM: Christopher had a stroke. Always a potential danger with HUS.

T. LUSTIG: I felt like in that room, in intensive care that death was in the corner and just -- you know, come out and take over.

D. LUSTIG: Yes.

T. LUSTIG: It was all I could -- I -- people say, I don't know how you do it. Well, I wasn't doing it that night. I wasn't...

OPPENHEIM (on camera): You were breaking down?

T. LUSTIG: Yes, I wasn't any source of strength for anybody at that point. OPPENHEIM (voice-over): In the following days, Claire and Christopher's condition stabilized. At the same time, doctors and health officials still don't know the original source of the E. Coli infection. But so far there have been no other cases reported. Authorities believe the Lustig case is isolated.

Still, for the children, there are questions about their recovery. Particularly for Christopher, who may suffer permanent neurological damage.

T. LUSTIG: I'm worried that he won't walk again. And that he won't talk.

D. LUSTIG: Won't talk. Won't see.

T. LUSTIG: And won't see.

OPPENHEIM: In the meantime, all David and Tina can do is go to the hospital and hope as the new year approaches both of their children will get a second chance.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Effingham, Illinois.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Last night on Anderson Cooper 360, Anderson had an E. Coli pop quiz with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": True or false: most people get E. Coli from eating undercooked contaminated ground beef.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That is true, Anderson. Most people do get it that way. There are other ways you can get it including swimming or drinking sewage contaminated water, drinking unpasteurized milk, as well. Those are some of the most common ways.

COOPER: You can actually get it swimming?

GUPTA: Yes, if the water is sewage contaminated, you actually get some of that water, you drink it inadvertently. You can get it that way, as well.

COOPER: OK, but not in a pool.

GUPTA: As long as the pool's not contaminated for some reason. Usually it's a lake.

COOPER: OK.

GUPTA: Or places where there's actually been sewage.

COOPER: OK. True or false: you cannot get E. Coli from anything that's been frozen.

GUPTA: That's actually false. And this is a common misperception. People think, you know, if it's frozen it's going to kill all the bacteria. Not necessarily so. Heat can often kill the bacteria but not cold. And if you get some contamination on ice cubes, people actually putting their hands in ice and then someone else does and their hands were dirty, you can get it that way, as well. It's pretty disgusting.

COOPER: Really? OK. True or false: you cannot get E. Coli from eating organic fruits and vegetables.

GUPTA: That is actually false, Anderson. In fact, you can get it from eating organic fruits and vegetables. Most people think of that bacteria with meat but it can actually live in the soil, as well. So if these fruits or vegetables come out of the soil, somehow they're contaminated with the bacteria, you can get it that way, as well.

COOPER: True or false, that all E. Coli is bad for you?

GUPTA: That is false. In fact, there's lot different variants of E. Coli that are, in fact, not only good for you but they're perfectly normal. They exist in your gut every single day. But this particular strain of E. Coli that we've been talking about is the bad one. That's the one that can get you quite sick.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: All right. Right now, we want to show you the latest pictures on the grass fires in Oklahoma. More than 50 homes have been destroyed by these grass fires so far. And reports are that temperatures will once again be rising today, and more fires are expected to be created under very dry conditions out there. We're going to bring you the latest on those fires throughout the afternoon.

And in the meantime, did the U.S. bungle the battle of Tora Bora, allowing Osama bin Laden to escape? We're going to get the inside story from a CIA operative who helped lead the hunt for OBL.

LIVE FROM returns in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: All right, you're look at new video just in to the CNN Center of the grass fire still burning in Oklahoma.

For two days now these grass fires have been burning across parts of Oklahoma and Texas. More than 100 homes have been destroyed. Five people so far died as a result of these fires. And the conditions are still pretty dry out there.

Chad Myers, our severe weather expert in the CNN Weather Center.

Chad, the helicopters are waiting to take off once again but the winds are picking up and it's still pretty hot out there.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LIN: That's what those firefighters were afraid of. Thanks very much, Chad. Thanks for the update.

All right. If you lost a loved one in 9/11 you might have qualified for a million-dollar payout. But more than four years after 9/11, questions are being raised about whether some loan recipients really qualified for government assistance.

Susan Lisovicz is live from the New York Stock Exchange with more on this story.

Susan, what happened?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE: Well, there are a lot of questionable loans that are made, Carol, to put it succinctly. The Small Business Administration set up a program shortly after 9/11 to give special loans to businesses financially hurt by the attacks. But why did loans go to more than 100 Dunkin' Donuts and Subway sandwich shops nowhere near New York City? Loans also went to a dog boutique in Utah, a radio station in South Dakota and a perfume shop in the Virgin Islands.

In fact, a new report says only nine loan recipients out of the 59 sampled were qualified for disaster relief. And many businesses that actually were affected by 9/11 were unable to receive any aid. But the agency's inspector general said that in most cases, recipients did not know they were getting special 9/11-related loans. One official quoted in this report said that there was a very generous definition of what businesses would be affected and that basically any business, really, in the U.S. could be said to be affected by the terrorist attacks after 9/11.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com