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IN BRIEF
Urbina's mother rescued from kidnappers in Venezuela
UNION-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICES
February 19, 2005
Venezuelan police stormed a mountain camp and rescued the mother of Detroit Tigers pitcher Ugueth Urbina from kidnappers yesterday after five months in captivity. The raid left at least one of her abductors dead, authorities said.
Officers from a special anti-kidnapping unit rescued Maura Villarreal, 54, from a remote area in the southern state of Bolivar, said Joel Rengifo, the chief officer in the division.
"It was a clean and well-planned operation," said Rengifo, who added that Villarreal was unharmed.
Villarreal, who was kidnapped from her home Sept. 1, told reporters the experience was "unexpected – I never thought they would kidnap me."
"You can't say they treated me either well or poorly. The most hurtful thing was having to bear them saying that my son didn't love me because he didn't pay," Villarreal said.
More sports and courts
Prosecutors in Iowa City filed tougher charges against former Iowa basketball player Pierre Pierce, 21, in connection with an alleged assault on his former girlfriend last month. The new charges, which supersede six previous counts filed last week, include two counts of first-degree burglary, one count of assault with intent to commit sexual assault and one count of fourth-degree criminal mischief. . . . A federal judge in Las Vegas sentenced former heavyweight boxer Thomas Williams, 35, to 15 months in prison for being paid to throw fights, including an August 2000 bout at the Paris hotel-casino . . . Former Washington State quarterback Jason Gesser pleaded guilty to a drunken driving charge in Honolulu.
Soccer
The U.S. women's team will play France on March 9 in the Algarve Cup in Portugal in the team's first game since the retirement of longtime stars Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett and the resignation of coach April Heinrichs. The U.S. team will also play Finland on March 11 and Denmark on March 13 in group play at the tournament.
Track and field
Yelena Isinbayeva set her second pole vault world record in a week and became the first woman to clear 16 feet indoors at the Norwich Union Grand Prix meet in Birmingham, England. In the 60 meters, Leonard Scott held off Kim Collins and Maurice Greene in 6.49 seconds for the victory in a race that had four false starts.
Boxing
Mexico's Antonio Margarito retained his WBO welterweight title, stopping Argentina's Sebastian Lujan in the 10th round at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. . . . Ernesto Zepeda defeated former WBC lightweight champion Cesar Bazan on a technical decision when the fight was stopped in the ninth round at Fort McDowell, Ariz.
Milestones
Retired Hall of Fame jockey Julie Krone, 41, of Carlsbad, and her husband, Eclipse Award-winning Daily Racing Form columnist Jay Hovdey, are expecting a child in September . . . Lou Welsh, captain of the 1952 USC team that beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, has died in Reno, Nev. He was 73. No cause of death was given.
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