The Stupid Crimes & Misdemeanors Thread

[TexasStooge]

Box of breath mints reveals "curiously strong" contents

ALLEGAN, Mich. (Court TV) - A 34-year-old Michigan man visiting the Allegan County courthouse for his son's probation hearing brought along a tin box of Altoids, but police say the contents of the box would not have done much for anyone's breath.

The box of breath mints contained 30 tiny plastic bags of meth.

According to Allegan Police Chief Rick Hoyer, the unidentified man stood in a line of people waiting to be screened before entering the courthouse on April 13. During the screening process, a deputy waves a metal-detecting wand across a visitor's body.

"You see 10 folks ahead of you going through this search process, I would think that should be an indication that things may not work out so well for you," Hoyer said.

When the wand went off, the man was asked to empty his pockets. He reportedly produced the Altoids can and willingly opened it at the officer's request.

A large sum of cash was also found on the man, who was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamines with intent to deliver.

Hoyer said the man was not allowed to attend his son's hearing.

[TexasStooge]

Man leaves photos of his genitals on cars

MESA, Ariz. (Court TV) - If a picture's worth a thousand words, several women in Mesa, Ariz., were definitely not interested in what Jeffrey Pritchert's photographs had to say.

According to police documents, Pritchert, 41, admitted to police that he left photos of his genitals on the windows of cars belonging to about 100 women in the Mesa area.

Police had received at least 30 reports since 1999 from women who found photos of a man's private part on their cars. But Pritchert became a suspect after he exposed himself to two separate women in late 2004 and left his DNA at the crime scenes.

The DNA from the two samples was submitted to the Combined DNA Index System, and last March investigators found a match that linked the samples to Pritchert, the report said.

Investigators placed the suspect under surveillance and caught him in the act of placing a photo on a woman's car April 12.

Pritchert was arrested and charged with public display of explicit sexual materials, public sexual indecency, and possession of dangerous drugs and drug paraphernalia. He is currently in the Maricopa County Jail on $18,000 bond.

[TexasStooge]

Man Freed From Prison Allegedly Steals Van

MADISONVILLE, Texas (AP) - A man released from prison Thursday after serving a three-year sentence allegedly stole a van just hours later and was soon back in custody.

Hector Zaragoza, 28, was arrested in Madisonville after leading police on a 25-mile pursuit in a service van authorities say he stole shortly after his release from the Huntsville Walls Unit.

Zaragoza had been imprisoned for driving while intoxicated and aggravated assault. He was being held Thursday night in the Walker County Jail, facing charges of felony theft of a vehicle, evading arrest and operating a vehicle with a revoked license.

Authorities said Zaragoza stole a van belonging to a Huntsville electric company that was repairing street lights.

"My guys were up in a bucket truck, there were cones all around and there was a city truck there," McCaffety Electric Vice President Robert McCaffety said in Friday's editions of The Huntsville Item. "This guy jumps in the service van, hops the curb and hauls butt."

Zaragoza had no further obligation to the prison system when he was released, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said.

[TexasStooge]

Juror Fined for Yawning in L.A. Court

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (AP) - Call it a rude awakening. A juror was cited for contempt and fined $1,000 by a judge for yawning loudly while awaiting questioning in an attempted murder trial. The fine later was reduced to $100.

The yawn came after the man, identified as Juror No. 2386 in an April 1 court transcript, had been sitting in a courtroom for two days as part of jury selection.

"You yawned rather audibly there. As a matter of fact, it was to the point that it was contemptuous," Superior Court Judge Craig Veals said.

"I'm sorry, but I'm really bored," the juror said.

"I'm sorry?" the judge responded.

When the juror repeated his statement, he was admonished by the judge for having a "lousy" attitude.

"Your boredom just cost you $1,000 I'm finding you in contempt," Veals said. "Are you quite so bored now?"

The judge later called the yawn disruptive.

"I can't run a court when I have someone behaving the way you did," Veals said.

The juror paid the fine after it was reduced to $100. Ultimately, he was questioned but not selected for the trial.

[TexasStooge]

Man Gets Jail Instead of Ride From Police

STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) - Sgt. Jason Kearney sat in his marked patrol car Thursday, waiting for his colleagues to join him for lunch when Ron Stone asked him for a ride.

The Bulloch County deputy agreed to take Stone to his car, but first he insisted on searching Stone for weapons, said Sheriff Lynn Anderson.

"Stone told Sergeant Kearney to go ahead," Anderson said.

But instead of packing a pistol, the 30-year-old Stone was packing pot — two small bags, Anderson said.

Stone told the uniformed officer he had spent the night at a friend's house and the marijuana was not his, police said.

Instead of a ride to his car, Stone got a ride to the Bulloch County Jail, where police later learned he was wanted in another county on an outstanding warrant for marijuana possession with intent to distribute.

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Information from: Statesboro Herald

[TexasStooge]

Man Pleads Guilty in French Fries Rage

DuBOIS, Pa. (AP) - A Burger King customer who berated the employees when a drive-thru clerk told him the restaurant was out of french fries has been convicted of multiple charges and sentenced to 45 days in jail.

Authorities said Gregg Luttman made an obscene gesture at the clerk, cursed staffers and nearly hit an employee with his truck. When police tried to arrest him, Luttman allegedly scuffled with an officer and kicked out the back window of a cruiser.

Luttman pleaded guilty to assault, resisting arrest, institutional vandalism and other charges stemming from the confrontation on New Year's Day.

Besides jail time, Luttman last week was fined $150 and ordered to serve two years' probation.

[TexasStooge]

Woman, 87, Faces Charges for Gun in Court

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - She's 87, and "a nice lady." She's also facing a weapons charge after trying to enter the Essex County Courthouse with a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson.

Rebecca Solomon was running late for a hearing at landlord-tenant court, and said she forgot to take the gun — which was still in its original box — out of her handbag last Wednesday.

A metal detector at the courthouse flagged the weapon.

"I asked the guard if he could just keep it until I got back from court," Solomon told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Monday's newspapers. "He said, `I can't do that, I'm afraid I'm going to have to call my supervisor.'"

Although the senior has a permit to own the gun, she does not have one to carry it in public. She was charged with unlawful possession of a handgun.

"We had no choice," said Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura. "We felt bad about it. But there was nothing we can do."

The sheriff said he hopes the prosecutor's office examines the case and either downgrades the charges or dismisses them entirely.

"She didn't mean any harm," the sheriff said. "And she's such a nice lady."

Solomon said she bought the gun — and a box of bullets — for protection. Within the past year, her home has been broken into three times, she said.

She had an appointment in landlord-tenant court for a case in which she is trying to have tenants of her duplex evicted, and thought she had left the gun in the trunk of her car, where she usually puts it when she goes out.

"I know I made a mistake," she told the newspaper. "I just get forgetful sometimes."

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Information from: The Star-Ledger

[TexasStooge]

Judge to Woman: Jail or Packers Tickets

OSHKOSH, Wis. (AP) - It's a choice that could give pause to some Green Bay Packers fans. A judge ordered a woman convicted of theft to decide whether to spend 90 days in jail or donate her family's Packers tickets next season to charity.

Sharon E. Rosenthal, 59, took more than $3,000 from labor union accounts before she left the organization, according to a criminal complaint. She was sentenced Friday in Winnebago County Circuit Court on one felony count of theft.

Judge Scott Woldt offered her the decision to either serve the jail time or donate her family's four seats in the Packers' three-game season package to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The jail time or the ticket donation will occur as part of Rosenthal's overall two-year period of probation.

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Information from: Oshkosh Northwestern

[TexasStooge]

Burglar With Conscience Returns Items

ENID, Okla. (AP) - There may be a burglar with a conscience in Garfield County.

A television, stereo, and VCR were stolen over the weekend from a house in the small town of Kremlin.

Undersheriff Jerry Niles said the woman who lives at the house called deputies Monday night to say that someone broke into her house again while she was away, returned the electronics gear, even restoring the wiring and repairing a door jamb damaged in the original break-in.

"It was spooky," Niles said.

He said it was the first time he has ever seen all of the property taken in a burglary returned like that. Deputies are still investigating the case

[TexasStooge]

Robbery Suspect Caught Checking Lawsuit

CHICAGO, Ill. (AP) - FBI agents didn't have to go far to find the alleged Bandaged Bandit.

Some agents spotted Keith Washington walking into a federal courthouse, where he was checking the status of a lawsuit he had filed against a former employer.

Washington is hard to miss — police say the man suspected in 13 bank robberies weighs 320 and has a shaved head and severe scars on his face. He was dubbed the Bandaged Bandit because he would sometimes wear bandages on his face.

The FBI says agents followed Washington and spent six days investigating to make sure they had the right man. He was arrested Thursday on charges of robbing a bank of $670 in February.

[TexasStooge]

Inmate Sends Judge a Letter With Marijuana

AZTEC, N.M. (AP) - An inmate's letter delivered Monday to a district judge tested positive for marijuana, authorities said.

Craig Hopkins, an inmate at the San Juan County Detention Center, apologized to Judge Thomas Hynes for violating his probation. At the bottom of the envelope were marijuana leaves.

The discovery prompted a 6-hour shakedown in Hopkins' cellblock, but no other drugs were found, said Corrections Director Tom Havel.

Havel suggested the marijuana could have been smuggled into the facility in an inmate's body cavity.

Hopkins, who already faces charges ranging from possession of a controlled substance to DWI and battery on a household member, isn't talking to jail officials.

"He's clammed up tight," Havel said.

[TexasStooge]

Dog Nabs Suspected Shoplifter at Meat Case

SLIDELL, La. (AP) - A man suspected of shoplifting at a supermarket tried to elude police by climbing above the store's false ceiling and scrambling about — before depositing himself in an open meat case where a police dog latched onto his leg.

"One of the officers said it was like chasing a rat through an attic," said police Capt. Rob Callahan.

Employees were closing the Winn-Dixie about 1 a.m. Wednesday when they noticed the last customer, who had picked up several items, leaving empty handed. When the employees asked him about the items, the man attempted to go through the door, but it had been locked.

The suspect was taken to the store office to wait for police, but climbed into a crawl space before officers arrived, Callahan said.

Police surrounded the store, and monitored the man as he scrambled above them. At one point, he smashed through a plasterboard wall and was about to jump down into a rear storage room, but turned back when police entered the room, Callahan said.

Callahan credited the police dog with staying focused on his job when the man fell into the meat, leapt to his feet and started running in the case, stepping on the meat as he went.

"With all those steaks and hamburgers and hot dogs, that dog must have felt like he was in canine heaven," he said. "But he did what he was trained to do and clamped down on the suspect's right leg instead of a mouthwatering T-bone."

About $60 worth of stolen merchandise was found on the man, police said.

Devyn Coleman, 19, of Slidell, was booked with shoplifting, felony criminal damage to property, resisting arrest by flight, possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting arrest by violence for allegedly hitting the dog.

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Information from: The Times-Picayune

[TexasStooge]

Men Who Claimed to Find Treasure Arrested

By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer

METHUEN, Mass. (AP) - Four men who made news by claiming they dug up buried treasure worth as much as $125,000 from one of their yards are now accused of stealing the cache of old currency while doing a roofing job at someone's home.

The arrests came after the men appeared on national television, and police noticed how the story was different each time.

"Had they kept quiet ... they probably could have sold the money and no one would have ever known," Police Chief Joseph E. Solomon said. "It just got away from them. Sort of like the snowball rolls down the hill and it keeps going and crushes you."

Barry Billcliff, 27, of Manchester, N.H., and Timothy Crebase, 24, of Methuen, Mass., pleaded not guilty after being arrested on charges of receiving stolen property, conspiracy and accessory after the fact.

Warrants were issued for Kevin Kozak, 27, of Methuen, and Matt Ingham, 23, of Newton, N.H., on the same charges. Kozak surrendered Friday night, posted bail and was to be arraigned Monday, said Police Lt. Thomas Fram.

Investigators said Crebase confessed under questioning. Crebase said he, Billcliff and Ingham — all roofers — found the money stuffed in rusting tin cans in the gutter of a barn they were hired to repair, and persuaded Kozak to go along with their story, authorities said. In the alleged confession, Crebase said Ingham planned to use proceeds to fund his rock band.

Investigators said they are not convinced it was found in a barn; they said it might have been taken from the barn owners' house.

Under Massachusetts law, "when you're working on my house and you find it on my property, you've got to tell me," the police chief.

Police declined to identify the barn's owners, and said they were not even aware the money was there. Solomon said most of the currency was recovered, but some was probably already sold.

Lawyers for Billcliff and Crebase said the men were sticking to their story of finding the box while digging under a tree in the backyard of a house Crebase rented from Kozak in the town of Methuen.

Billcliff's lawyer, Alexander Cain, said, "There is no evidence, none, that my client committed any crime."

The cache included 1,800 bank notes and bills dating from 1899 to 1928. The currency had a face value of about $7,000, but prosecutors said the men had been offered $125,000 by a collector.

Police received an anonymous call on Tuesday from a woman who said the story the men had been telling was a lie, according to court papers.

They interviewed neighbors who said they had not seen anyone digging in the yard. And a coin shop owner who examined the money told investigators the men gave him conflicting accounts of how they found it.

Police also noticed that the money appeared to be in remarkably good condition for being buried a foot below ground through decades of New England weather.

In addition, the men gave conflicting reasons for digging in Crebase's yard. They told one reporter they were preparing to plant a tree. In other reports, they said they were trying to remove a small tree or dig up the roots of a shrub that was damaging the home's foundation.

Even Billcliff's name was the subject of confusion. He complained that some media had misspelled it Villcliff, but told The Boston Globe that he had given the wrong spelling so that people would not come looking for him.

The arrest of Billcliff and Crebase forced the cancellation of an appearance Thursday night on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" because they were being booked by police around the time the show was airing. They were to have been interviewed from the yard where they claimed to have dug up the money.

The two had been fielding nonstop calls from reporters, bouncing between appearances on "Good Morning America" and CNN.

Solomon said the motive for calling the media about their find may have been to push up the price of the loot or publicize Ingham's rock band, which they mentioned in several interviews.

Crebase enthusiastically took all calls, and told one reporter how much he was enjoying the attention.

"It's all spectacular," Crebase said Wednesday. "I'm so beside myself, I don't know what to think."

Solomon said it doesn't appear the men planned to seek broad exposure, but when the national media came calling, they couldn't refuse.

[TexasStooge]

Cops: Man Tries to Pay for Pizza With Pot

FARGO, N.D. (AP) - Police arrested a 21-year-old man early Saturday after he allegedly assaulted a pizza delivery driver who refused to take marijuana as payment for a pie, police said. The man, charged with robbery, was released from the Cass County Jail after posting $5,000 bond.

Pizza Patrol driver Atif Yasin thought the man was asleep when he arrived to deliver a medium pizza and 20-ounce soda. After knocking a few times and calling the man on his cell phone, Yasin said he answered the door in his boxers.

The man took the pizza, spent a few minutes looking for money and then offered to pay with marijuana, Yasin said.

Yason said when he told the man that he either needed money or the pizza, the man began to yell and pushed him and punched him in the face.

After calling police and waiting for officers to arrive, Yasin delivered two more orders that were waiting in his car.

Officers who arrested the man said he was intoxicated, Sgt. Shannon Ruziska said.

Because the man is accused of assaulting Yasin while committing a theft, he was arrested on suspicion of robbery, Ruziska said.

Yasin did not seek medical attention for his injuries. The right side of his face was still red and swollen Saturday afternoon, he said.

Yasin, a 22-year-old Minnesota State University Moorhead student, said it is the first time he's been assaulted in three years delivering pizza.

He said he was a little nervous to work his next shift, which began at midnight on Sunday. Yasin said he'll handle it differently if he encounters a similar situation again.

"I won't argue to the people who took the pizza," he said. "I'll just leave right away."

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Information from: The Forum

[TexasStooge]

Wyoming Men Cited for Making Snow Phallus

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - Two men have pleaded not guilty to promoting obscenity for allegedly building a snow phallus in their front yard.

Brandon Arp, 20, and Aric Davenport, 19, were arraigned Friday in circuit court.

Police say Arp and Davenport built the sculpture April 21. Neighbors found the sculpture offensive and, although someone destroyed it, the two were cited.

Davenport's attorney, Michael Vang, said it's not clear how the sculpture was obscene. He accused police of selective enforcement.

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Information from: Laramie Daily Boomerang

[TexasStooge]

Polite Sisters Plead Guilty to Robberies

PITTSBURGH, Penn. (AP) - Two sisters pleaded guilty Tuesday to a series of armed, but polite, convenience store robberies.

Carrie Huchel, 33, and her sister, Heather Huchel, 30, robbed seven stores in Allegheny and Washington counties between March 31 and April 7 last year, netting about $1,250. In five robberies, Carrie Huchel wielded a BB gun while her sister drove the getaway car; in two other robberies, they reversed roles, police said.

The sisters were dubbed the "polite" robbers because they always said "please" and "thank you" when demanding the money.

The sisters have told police they were addicted to OxyContin and heroin and robbed to feed their drug habit. The women were arrested after police found them living in their car on May 14 and found clothing, the BB gun and other items tying them to the robberies.

Allegheny County Judge David Cashman told the women they face a maximum of 200 years in prison each when they return for sentencing Aug. 3.

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Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[TexasStooge]

Daring Robber Backs Truck Through Store

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Police are investigating a department store robbery in which a man backed a stolen pickup truck through the front doors to get to the jewelry. The robbery occurred about 10 a.m. Sunday at Costco Wholesale department store, police said.

When the driver stopped the truck next to the jewelry counter, a passenger smashed a case with a hammer and grabbed an undisclosed amount of jewelry, police said.

No injuries were reported.

The passenger then hopped back into the truck, and the driver sped away from the store, police said.

The men abandoned the Toyota pickup truck a few blocks away.

[TexasStooge]

Man Allegedly Steals $70,000 in Antlers

KENAI, Alaska (AP) - Just call him the antler bandit. Police arrested a man in connection with the theft of nearly $70,000 in moose, caribou and elk antlers stolen from a home.

The man's name was being withheld pending charges being filed with the Kenai District Attorney.

Police said the antlers were being stored in a 40-foot Conex container at the residence while the owner was in Cordova working on his commercial fishing boat. It looks like sometime during the past four months, the suspect has been hauling away truckloads of the antlers and selling them to area carvers and gift shops, police said.

A friend of the owner noticed the door to the Conex container open on Sunday and saw that much of its contents were gone. He contacted the owner in Cordova, who took the ferry home Monday and contacted police.

Soldotna Police Sgt. Tod McGillivray questioned neighbors who reported seeing the suspect taking the antlers in as many as four trips in one day. However, the neighbors did not suspect anything until police began asking questions.

McGillivray said the suspect and the owner had been friends several years ago.

The 45-year-old owner had been collecting the antlers, some found as seasonal dropped specimens and some harvested through hunting, in hopes of carving them as a retirement vocation in years to come, McGillivray said.

Through interviews with the suspect, McGillivray has been able to recover about one-fourth of the antlers as of Tuesday afternoon and expects to recover more, he said.

The owner's house also had been burglarized, according to McGillivray, and a TV, stereo, a rifle and a pistol were reported missing.

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Information from: The Peninsula Clarion

[TexasStooge]

Officer Stops Class on Drugs; Arrests Teen

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) - A state police trooper stopped a high school drug-awareness presentation to arrest a student in another part of the school on a charge of trying to sell marijuana.

Detective Darrell Thornburg was speaking Tuesday to a Delta High School health class when administrators alerted him about possible drug dealing in the school. Students told school administrators about the 16-year-old selling the drug, Sgt. Rod Russell said.

Thornburg found marijuana in the boy's pockets, packaged in bags for distribution, Russell said.

The student was taken to a juvenile detention facility and faces charges of possession of marijuana and juvenile delinquency.

He was suspended from school for 10 days and could eventually face expulsion, said Pat Mapes, assistant superintendent of the Delaware Community Schools.

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Information from: The Star Press

[TexasStooge]

Men arrested for obscene snow sculpture

ALBANY, COUNTY, Wyom. (Court TV) - There was nothing abstract about Brandon Arp's and Aric Davenport's artwork.

The two Wyoming men are accused of erecting a giant phallus made out of snow in their front yard. Police in Laramie say the six-to-eight-feet-tall sculpture was anatomically correct.

"They were pretty good artists," Police Commander Dale Staldar said of the two men.

According to Staldar, Arp and Davenport built the phallus on April 4 in the vicinity of children in the area. A neighbor contacted police to report the men.

Officers took pictures of the sculpture for evidence and then broke the object apart with snow shovels. Arp and Davenport were arrested and charged with promoting obscenity.

The two men were arraigned in the Albany County Circuit Court on April 29. They pleaded not guilty and were released on $1000 bond.