The Stupid Crimes & Misdemeanors Thread

[TexasStooge]

College student rents house to grow pot

EUGENE, Ore. (Court TV) - Gardening is one pursuit Michael Brandon Malloy won't be listing on his resume.

The University of Oregon senior was cited on drug charges after police discovered that he had rented a house for the sole purpose of growing marijuana.

According to Eugene Police Detective Karol Herbert, Malloy's extracurricular activity came to light when she went to the house to serve legal documents to a former resident. She detected the smell of fresh marijuana and obtained a search warrant.

When Herbert served the search warrant at Malloy's second home, the 21-year-old student immediately confessed to growing marijuana. He took Herbert and other officers to the first house, where they found 365 marijuana plants growing inside two bedrooms and in the garage.

Malloy told officers that he tended the plants weekly and that he had already harvested 10 plants, which he distributed free of charge to friends in an attempt to start a customer base, Herbert said.

Drug charges aren't the only things Malloy has to worry about. Herbert said the physiology major racked up nearly $15,000 in credit-card debt financing his marijuana operation. The equipment to grow the plants cost $7000, and Malloy took out monthly cash advances to pay the $900 rent on the house.

Herbert said Malloy expressed remorse about his activity. She cited him and released him at the scene.

"I could have arrested him," Herbert said. "He felt pretty bad about it. He was also in the middle of midterms and I didn't want to keep him from graduating in the spring."

Malloy was charged with manufacturing, delivering and possessing a controlled substance within 1000 feet of a school. His case is pending at the district attorney's office.

[TexasStooge]

Man accused of speeding calls police after getting lost

MONROE, La. (Court TV/AP) — Jerry Wayne Till managed to get away from sheriff's deputies and elude them briefly — until he called them for help after he got lost in the woods.

A sheriff's deputy tried to pull over Till on Wednesday evening for speeding, but Till drove away, exceeding 100 mph at times, before eventually abandoning his vehicle and running into the woods, according to the arrest affidavit.

Deputies brought in search dogs, but couldn't locate Till until he called the sheriff's office from his cell phone asking for help because he was lost.

Deputies still couldn't find him, until a nearby resident heard Till crying for help and called the authorities.

Maj. Jay Russell said deputies believe Till was heading to his home, but got misdirected in the woods. Deputies took him into custody about a quarter mile from the house of the deputy who tried to pull him over.

Till, who was charged with aggravated flight and driving with an expired license, told deputies that he didn't pull over because he wasn't thinking straight.

[TexasStooge]

Man Accused of Sending Marijuana Via UPS

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Federal drug agents have accused a 25-year-old man of using UPS to send a happy birthday box containing seven pounds of marijuana.

Drug Enforcement Administration officers arrested McKindle Rondae Beler on Wednesday when he arrived at an Albuquerque UPS Store from which the package was sent. Authorities said they believe he was seeking a refund for the $87 paid to get the package to Illinois overnight, DEA spokeswoman Lou Kilgas said.

It wasn't delivered because DEA officers intercepted it after UPS employees alerted them to a man behaving oddly, she said.

Beler was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and conspiracy.

He is suspected of mailing at least four packages from the store over a 10-day period, Kilgas said.

Authorities suspect the names on the packages were not the real names of the recipients, she said.

[TexasStooge]

S.C. Teen Arrested for Spitting in Coffee

ROCK HILL, S.C. (AP) - A doughnut shop employee has been arrested after police say he spit into an officer's coffee.

Detectives think Chad Patrick Stalnaker, 19, of Fort Mill spit into the coffee before it was handed to Sgt. Keith Dugan in the drive-thru window at a Dunkin Donuts store earlier this month.

Dugan, a veteran Rock Hill police officer, was on duty and driving a marked patrol car at the time.

Dugan got the coffee on his way to the doctor's office for a checkup, so he took it with him and removed the lid to take his first sip as he sat in the waiting room. He noticed a substance floating in the cup.

It turned out to be a mixture of mucus and saliva, police say.

The cup has been sent to the State Law Enforcement Division for testing, said Lt. Jerry Waldrop.

On Monday, police arrested Stalnaker and charged him with misdemeanor assault and battery in connection with the incident.

A Dunkin Donuts manager said Stalnaker is no longer employed at the shop.

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Information from: The Herald

[TexasStooge]

Police: Suspect Left Teeth at Crime Scene

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Police used dental records to identify a man who broke into a cafeteria in southern Sweden — the suspect left his false teeth with his social security number engraved in them at the scene of the crime.

The 43-year-old man admitted to breaking into a hospital cafeteria in Karlshamn, 370 miles south of Stockholm, after being presented with the evidence, the newspaper Kristianstadsbladet said Sunday.

The man told the police he left the cafeteria in a hurry after failing to find anything of any value and dropped the teeth while fleeing the building.

The judge who ordered the man's detention was not available for comment Sunday.

[TexasStooge]

Ohio Man Accused of Stealing House

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) - Police accuse a man of stealing a house, after another man returned to his parents' home following his widowed mother's funeral and found someone living there.

Jon Thomas, 54, said the house in this Cleveland suburb was shuttered when his parents moved to an assisted living center in 2000.

Now living in New York City, he returned with his wife and teenage son two days before Christmas 2003 and saw lights shining inside, cars parked in the back and an elaborate Christmas display on the lawn.

"I was dumbfounded," he said.

Rather than confront the occupants, the Thomases went to police in this upscale community of winding, tree-lined boulevards.

"We've never had a case like this here before," said police Chief Walter Ugrinic.

After a year of tracing property transactions and rental agreements, police arrested Richard Lenard, 26, of nearby Richmond Heights, on a charge of grand theft.

Police accuse Lenard of stealing the house, which Thomas says is worth $300,000, and its contents. Thomas says Lenard allegedly sold $180,000 worth of furnishings in two 2003 estate sales.

Thomas has sued Lenard for compensation. He also has asked a probate court to return ownership of the home to him.

The four-bedroom house is currently in the name of Tara Vaden Williams, who bought the house from Lenard in May 2004, for $50,000, according to county records.

Lenard was released from jail last week after posting 10 percent of a $25,000 bond.

Lenard could not be reached for comment. A message seeking comment was left Monday at his phone number listed in court records. The only directory assistance listing under his name in the Cleveland area has been disconnected.

"There's no question that a fraud occurred," said Lenard's attorney, Jeffrey Saffold. "The question is whether Mr. Lenard was a willful participant or an unknowing victim of the fraud."

Lenard lived with his grandmother across the street from the Thomases in 2000, their son said.

Jon Thomas said he stayed in a hotel when he visited Percy and Regina Thomas at the assisted-living center because he thought their house was closed up. Percy Thomas died in 2000, his wife died three years later.

In November 2002, Lenard accompanied a woman who called herself Regina Thomas' daughter, Helen Thomas, to the Cuyahoga County recorder's office, where she presented a New York driver's license and a letter stating she had power of attorney for Regina Thomas, said Jon Thomas' lawyer, Dean Boland.

Jon Thomas, an only child, said the recorder's office accepted the documents and allowed the woman identified as Helen Thomas to sell the home for $25,000 to AMI Financial LLC, a security commodity brokerage whose registered agent is Lenard.

"To transfer the deed to a home based on a fake New York driver's license and a forged power of attorney, I find that unbelievable," Thomas said.

Williams could not be reached for comment Monday. Calls to the phone listed under her name at the disputed address went unanswered Monday.
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Information from: The Plain Dealer

[TexasStooge]

Man Fined $600 for Hurling Egg McMuffin

HOLLAND, Mich. (AP) - A man was fined $600 and put on probation for throwing an Egg McMuffin at a McDonald's restaurant manager after he said he didn't get what he ordered.

Scott Rodgers, 46, was convicted Thursday of misdemeanor assault and battery. Besides probation, he was sentenced to three days in a work program and a fine and is banned from the McDonald's.

Authorities said Rodgers and his 6-year-old son stopped to get four Egg McMuffins with ham on Oct. 9 but returned to the service window to complain that at least one of the sandwiches had sausage.

County prosecutor Craig Bunce said that when the shift manager asked him to give the sandwich back, he threw it through the window at her.

"The manager was picking egg out of her hair," he said.

Rodgers' attorney said he did not throw the sandwich, but rather returned it quickly.

[TexasStooge]

Man Duct-Tapes Nearly $55,000 to His Body

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - Add this to the many uses of duct tape. Ark-La-Tex Narcotics Task Force agents and Caddo Parish sheriff's deputies stopped a man at a Greyhound terminal Friday after they said he was acting suspiciously, sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Chadwick said.

While being patted down for weapons, Charlie Ross told officers it was a back brace they felt around his chest — not nearly $55,000 in cash stuck to him with duct tape.

Ross, 50, was not able to produce a transaction receipt required under federal law for anyone carrying more than $10,000 in cash, Chadwick said. He also would not say where he got the money, so he was booked with money laundering, she said.

Authorities learned later that Ross was a fugitive from Ouachita Parish.

[TexasStooge]

Police Search for Collection Plate Crook

CLOVIS, Calif. (KXAS NBC 5) - Police here are looking for a collection plate crook who swiped church donations during a funeral service.

The theft occurred Friday at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, where nearly 150 mourners attended memorial services for 85-year-old LeRoy Adolph.

The amount of money stolen is unknown, but Pastor Bruce Neff said the gold collection plate was overflowing with donation envelops for the church and notes of condolences for the Adolph family.

"It's a sad day when somebody has to steal from a church," Neff said.

Neff said two men in suits were seen near the collection plate as funeral services ended.

Ron Adolph, LeRoy Adolph's son, said he fears the theft is the work of scam artists who read funeral notices in the newspaper and attend services to steal money.

"Stranger things have happened," said Adolph, a retired sergeant with the Fresno County Sheriff's Department.

The Clovis Police Department has asked mourners to contact their banks and cancel payment on their donated checks.

[TexasStooge]

Man charged over "female athlete" scam

HARARE, Zimbabwe (Reuters) - Zimbabwe police have charged a man with masquerading as a female athlete after he competed as a woman at several international sports events, the official Herald newspaper has reported.

The paper said the man, a triple jumper and runner who also competed at javelin and shot put, faced charges of impersonation and offending the dignity of a woman athlete who undressed in his presence not realising he was a man.

The Herald said on Wednesday he won a gold medal at a regional tournament in Botswana last June and won five medals at a youth championship in Mauritius.

The man told the court at his first appearance that he had been born with both female and male organs, and that he lived as a woman after consulting a traditional healer. But the Herald said a medical examination had shown he was male.

[TexasStooge]

Idaho teen scalped by woman in act of revenge

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A 16-year-old girl was allegedly tied up and scalped in what police said may have been an act of revenge by a woman.

The girl, who had a punk-style mohawk haircut before the attack, is recovering at home. Doctors could not reattach her scalp, which was found near a hot spring. Police searched for Marianne Dahle, 26, who disappeared after the Jan. 18 attack at Kirkham Hot Springs, about 110 kilometres from Boise.

"When I say this gal was scalped, she was truly scalped," said Chief Deputy Bill Braddock.

"The top of her head, her hair, was completely cut off."

Dahle and the victim, whose name was not released, were longtime acquaintances and hung out with a punk clique, he said.

"The motive, as near as we've been told by witnesses, was retaliation for acting in a way that the adult perceived as being offensive to women as a gender," Braddock said.

"According to their creed, if you disrespect women you are not allowed to wear a mohawk."

[TexasStooge]

Michigan boy, 4, takes mom's car for middle-of-the-night video store visit

SAND LAKE, Mich. (AP) - A four-year-old boy with a hankering to drive took his mother's car to a video store in the middle of the night and back, police said.

Although unable to reach the accelerator, the boy managed to put the car in gear and make his way to the store, just under a half kilometre from his home, at about 1:30 a.m. Friday, said Doug Heugel, chief of the Sand Lake Police Department. Finding the store closed, the youngster began a slow trip home.

Weaving and with its headlights off, the car got the attention of Sgt. Jay Osga, who first thought he was following a car that had been left running at a gas pump.

He flipped on his lights when the car turned into the apartment complex and struck two parked cars. The boy then put the car in reverse and struck Osga's cruiser.

"He knew how to go from forward to reverse," Osga said Monday. "The mother said she taught him how to drive by letting him sit on her lap and steer."

No charges will be filed against the boy or his mother, Heugel said.

"He's four years old. His mom didn't even know he was up," Heugel told the Grand Rapids Press. "I don't think he even realizes what he did."

[TexasStooge]

Police Say Man Signaled Turns During Chase

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) - Deputies were taken aback during a chase involving a suspected burglar. He signaled his upcoming turns, Flathead County Sheriff's Sgt. Ernie Freebury said Tuesday.

Deputies were going to a residence Monday night to arrest a man on a probation violation and investigate some burglaries, Freebury said. A vehicle raced out of the driveway, nearly knocking down the deputies, and then struck a patrol car parked nearby to intercept him, he said.

Freebury said the chase never exceeded 70 mph, and the driver even signaled his turns.

Oliver Pearson, 28, was arrested and charged with probation violation, assaulting a police officer, eluding and having no insurance or driver's license.

[TexasStooge]

Husband and Wife Arrested Together for DWI

OWEGO, N.Y. (AP) - The couple that drank together could wind up in jail together. Authorities charged both a husband and wife with driving while intoxicated after their car smashed into a parked vehicle at a bowling alley.

Police said witnesses saw a car driven by Michael Wilbur crash into a vehicle in the parking lot of the bowling alley in Owego, 20 miles west of Binghamton. The suspect then sped away.

After the crash, police say Wilbur's wife, Brenda, got behind he wheel.

The Wilburs were stopped by a sheriff's deputy several miles away after a description of their car was broadcast over the police radio.

Police concluded the husband and wife were intoxicated, so each was charged with DWI.

They were given separate appearance dates, two weeks apart, in a town court.

[TexasStooge]

Police Arrest Postal Carrier for Peeping

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) - A U.S. Postal Service carrier was arrested after police say they caught him peeping into windows in a Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Matthew C. Stones, 29, was arrested by an officer who found him crawling in the concrete window wells of an apartment shared by several women in their 20s, police spokesman Dwayne Baird said.

Stones was charged Monday with lewdness, a class B misdemeanor. Police said he was dressed in his postal service uniform but hadn't yet started his shift.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune

[TexasStooge]

Robbery suspect left wallet in store

ARLINGTON, Texas (The Dallas Morning News/AP) - A robbery suspect was caught after leaving his wallet on the store counter -- and then going to the police station to pick it up.

Joseph Fahnbulleh, 22, of Arlington, remained in the Euless City Jail on Thursday night with bail set at $30,000. He faces a robbery charge.

A few days after the robbery, he walked into the Euless police station to pick up his wallet after a detective called to tell him someone had found it.

"Once we had the wallet, we called him to say it had been turned in to our lost and found," Euless police Detective Marco Valladares said. "We don't really have one."

A clerk told police that during a Jan. 29 robbery, a man gave him $5 for cigarettes. When the cash drawer was opened, the robber sprayed the clerk with pepper spray and grabbed about $200, police said.

[TexasStooge]

Woman jailed for ripping off lover's testicle

LONDON, England (Reuters) - A woman has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail for ripping off her ex-lover's testicle with her bare hands during a drunken brawl after he refused her sex.

Amanda Monti, 24, flew into a rage in May last year after Geoffrey Jones, 37, who had ended their long-term relationship, rejected her advances.

She grabbed him by the genitals, tearing off his left testicle, then hid it in her mouth before a friend of Jones handed it back to him saying "that's yours".

Monti, of Birkenhead, near Liverpool, pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding at an earlier hearing.

Her lawyer said on Thursday her client had little memory of the night.

[TexasStooge]

Police bust keg party in back of U-Haul

ROCK HILL, S.C. (Court TV/AP) — Police found more than they bargained for when they stopped a U-Haul truck with a burned-out taillight.

Instead of furniture in the back, police on Monday found a rolling keg party with about 20 people drinking whiskey and beer. Eleven people were charged with underage drinking.

"They all kind of froze and didn't know what to do, I guess," officer Robert Marshall said.

The partygoers told police they rented the truck for someone's 21st birthday party because the bars were closed. The moving party was traveling streets without a particular destination.

The truck's driver first told police he was hauling a couch for a friend, according to police reports. But Marshall said he became suspicious after hearing scratching noises in the back of the vehicle.

The truck's driver was charged with reckless driving because the people in the back could have been injured, police said. Officers allowed the partygoers to call for rides and no one was arrested.

[TexasStooge]

'Mr. DWI' Notches Another Arrest in S.D.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - Mr. DWI is in trouble again. Jerry R. Zeller, 64, who has been arrested multiple times for drunk driving, was arrested again on Tuesday. He's had so many arrests that law enforcement officials aren't sure of the total.

Ron Bedard, the police officer who arrested Zeller on Tuesday, said Zeller's criminal record "seems to indicate roughly 33 prior arrests for DUI."

"It's outrageous that Mr. Zeller is allowed to continue to flout the criminal justice system," Police Chief Craig Tieszen said.

"Right now it's an interesting news story, but we will all be outraged when he kills somebody on (DUI) number 35."

Some entries on Zeller's criminal record might be duplicates, said Kara Wood, deputy state's attorney in Pennington County. By Wood's count, Zeller has been arrested 16 times and convicted nine times since 1980.

But she added, "I just don't have an accurate number."

Zeller's latest arrest was his second in five months, she said.

A police report said a breath test on Zeller during Tuesday's arrest indicated a blood alcohol content of 0.286 percent. The South Dakota limit is 0.08 percent.

Even though he has a prior drunk driving charge pending and twice failed to show up for court on that charge, Zeller was released from the county jail on Wednesday after posting a $2,800 bond.

"I don't know what to say," said Lila Doud, president of the Pennington County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "We have just absolutely got to get him off the road so he doesn't kill someone, because we know it's going to happen, sooner or later."

Now, police want the state's attorney to charge Zeller's 84-year-old mother with allowing an unauthorized person to drive a vehicle registered in her name.

"I believe she's going to be charged with allowing an unauthorized driver to drive her vehicle," Wood said Thursday.

A notation in Zeller's file said his driver's license has been revoked for life.
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Information from: Rapid City Journal

[TexasStooge]

Wanted: Robber with a sweet tooth

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Court TV) - A snack break that was caught on tape may prove to be the undoing of two suspects wanted for a series of convenience-store robberies in Las Vegas.

One of the suspects gave investigators an unexpected but welcome lead during a recent holdup. The suspect revealed his face to the store's security camera when he swiped what appeared to be a Little Debbie brand cupcake.

According to a police document and video footage on the Las Vegas Police Department's Web site, the duo targeted a store on Jan. 21. One suspect approached the clerk with a gun and demanded money, while the other suspect covered the lower portion of his face with both of his hands and walked around the store to keep watch.

The lookout paced around the store a few times and then dropped his hands to take the cupcake. But the suspect failed to conceal his identity afterwards. Instead, he wandered around in full view of the camera for a few seconds before returning his hands to his face.

Las Vegas Police Lt. Ted Snodgrass said the men are wanted for three other robberies in the area, and are suspects in a fourth incident. But police have not received reports of subsequent robberies committed by the duo since the video footage was released to the local media.

The suspects are described as a black male in his mid-20s, about 160 pounds, and a white male in his late teens or early 20s, weighing about 140 pounds. Both are considered armed and dangerous.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police's CRIMESTOPPERS hotline at (702) 385-5555.