Woman accused of selling sex via Web

Officers arrested a woman Saturday night and charged her with prostitution linked to the website Craigslist, police spokesman Eddy Chrispin said. Donna Rao, 20, told police that she flew in from her native San Francisco to meet with several clients whom she had met online over the popular Internet message board, he said. Rao initially reported that two men forced their way into her hotel room about 6 p.m. at the Sheraton Hotel on Dalton Street and that they robbed her of cash and a laptop at gunpoint. Police searched the area for the suspects, Chrispin said. Rao was arrested and charged with prostitution, while police are investigating the incident, Chrispin said.

Police are seeking the public's help in finding the suspects in two burglaries at a Dorchester middle school this month. The second robbery of the New Boston Pilot Middle School occurred yesterday at 4:22 a.m. Boston police are using surveillance cameras to investigate and said they believe at least two people were involved in this break-in, said Officer Eddy Chrispin. A flat screen television was ripped from a wall, and several new laptop computers were stolen. On Jan. 11, between 7:22 and 8:15 a.m., about three iMac computers, a MacBook, an iBook laptop, and a Dymo disk printer were stolen. The equipment was worth about $6,950. Several broken windows were discovered in the building. Authorities are unclear how many suspects were involved in that break-in.

Twenty members of the MBTA's Transit Police Department have been tapped to join the thousands of law enforcement officials heading to Washington to help provide security for tomorrow's inauguration of Barack Obama. The MBTA officers were set to leave Boston yesterday on an Amtrak train for the largest security operation for a presidential inauguration. Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan said he received a request last month from Washington's Metro Transit Police for help in providing public transport security during the events. A lieutenant, two sergeants, 14 officers, and three explosives detection K-9 teams will spend four days in Washington. (AP)

A trail at Cannon Mountain ski area has been renamed in honor of an Army National Guard medic who died in Iraq last year. Sergeant David Stelmat of Littleton had worked at the mountain as a snowmaker and on the trail crew. His former colleagues have renamed the trail under the ski area's tramway in his honor, and his family plans to place some of his ashes on the mountain. Stelmat died in March in a roadside bomb explosion. (AP)

A Vermont man paralyzed in a 2002 accident is suing Volkswagen, saying the Jetta he was riding in wasn't "crashworthy." Owen Milne's product liability suit goes to trial Wednesday in US District Court in Burlington. It says the Jetta had a faulty roof and seat-belt system. Milne, 29, of South Burlington, was left a quadriplegic in the crash, which occurred when his fiancee's 1999 Jetta flipped over after another vehicle swerved in front of it, collapsing the roof. Volkswagen says the Jetta was safe and denies wrongdoing. (AP)

A federal prosecutor is investigating whether staff at a Central Falls immigration detention facility will face criminal charges in the death of an inmate. The Providence Journal reported on Saturday that the US attorney in Maine will investigate after the Rhode Island federal prosecutor recused himself to avoid any potential conflicts of interest. On Thursday, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement terminated its contract with the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility after an investigation showed Hiu Lui Ng did not get use of a wheelchair and there was poor communication between healthcare and corrections staff. The Chinese immigrant was accused of overstaying a visa and died from cancer while in the facility's care. (AP)