Posts belonging to Category Crime



News and Notes – 5/20/2009

STRANGE CRIME EDITION.

Hungry. An Indiana man was arrested following a 90-mph car chase when he suddenly stopped at a Taco Bell restaurant. The 36-year-old man told police he “knew he was going to jail for a while” and wanted to get one last burrito.

Deathbed Confession. A man who thought he was dying confessed to a murder he committed 38 years ago. Then he got better. He has now been arrested and charged with the murder.

Hungry 2. A 17-year-old attempted to rob a store while holding a banana under his shirt like a gun. Overpowered by the store owner, he ate the banana before the police could arrive. However, he didn’t eat all the evidence, and the deputies took pictures of the peel.

News and Notes – 3/4/2009

STUPID CRIME EDITION.

Forgot something. Go figure. A Florida man ran out of gas after robbing a gas station. The police picked him up down the road from the station.

Facebook addict. A 19-year-old man snatched a Starbucks customer’s laptop after being told he could not use it to check his Facebook account. He was caught in the parking lot and charged with felony robbery by sudden snatching.

Burgling the burglars. Patrick Rosario was in his basement when he heard a pair of burglars upstairs. He snuck outside where he found the burglars’ van with the motor running and the keys in the ignition, so he got in and drove away. When the burglars came out and found their van gone, they left Rosario’s belongings at the door and escaped on foot.

News and Notes – 7/1/2008

STUPID CRIME EDITION:

Not Houdini. A thief in Germany was caught breaking into a supermarket and handcuffed to a railing. He managed to escape from the railing but was apprehended a second time when he went to a nearby police station to get the cuffs removed. “It was stupid of him,” said a police spokesman. “They took the cuffs off, but they kept him.”

Gotta have my Starbucks. A Boulder, Colorado man robbed a Starbucks, and then later returned to the same store wearing the same clothes he wore during the robbery. He got in line for coffee where he was recognized and promptly arrested by police investigators who were in the store interviewing employees at the time.

Just wrong. A man in Indiana was arrested for stealing cash from a kids’ lemonade stand. The robber then ran into a house down the street where police later arrested him on a felony robbery charge. The amount stolen? $17.50. The kids will get their money back, but they’re just glad the thief was caught. “I didn’t think anyone would come up to a lemonade stand and steal money. That’s really low,” 12-year-old Fred Erskine said.

News and Notes – 4/9/2008

STUPID CRIME EDITION.

Dead giveaway. A man who broke into a funeral home tried to fool the police by playing dead. Unfortunately for him, two things gave him away. First of all, the corpses were dressed in suits while he was wearing street clothes. And secondly, he was breathing!

Big yellow taxi. A bank robber was arrested after using a taxi cab for his getaway car. The man had the cab pick him up at his apartment, take him to the bank for the robbery, and then take him home again. The cab driver gave the police the man’s address and identified him in the bank surveillance video.

Applying for jail. An armed robber in Georgia filled out a job application while waiting for customers to leave before robbing a convenience store. He put a fake address on the application, but police were still able to locate him because he used his real name and phone number.

Take my number, please. An armed robber entered a Chicago muffler shop wearing a mask and demanded they open the safe. When the workers told him only the boss had the combination, he gave them his phone number and told them to call him back when the boss got in. They did, and he came back to the shop still wearing his mask where the police promptly arrested him.

Mother Forgives Daughter’s Killer

Bobby Lee Cutts, Jr. was sentenced to 57 years to life in prison yesterday for the killing of his pregnant girlfriend, Jessie Marie Davis, and their unborn daughter, Chloe. Cutts and Davis also have a 3-year-old son, Blake, who is now being raised by Jessie’s mother, Patricia Porter. Through tears of grief Patricia spoke directly to her daughter’s killer in the courtroom, extending the following words of forgiveness before the judge imposed the sentence.

I have had this conversation in my head with you a million times. It is a day I will never in my life forget. When I walked in that room, the presence of evil was so strong in there you could hardly breathe, and I knew my daughter was dead. I never ever thought she walked out of that room. And when you walked up there that morning, Bobby, I never in my heart wanted to believe you could have hurt her, but in my soul I knew you had.

I remember pulling into the driveway the next day and asking God, “Where is my daughter?” and he said, “She’s with me, and she’s fine.” And I made up my mind that day that whoever did that, I would forgive them because I never wanted to allow that kind of hatred into my life. I would have never been able to raise Blake and hate you. And I’ve written a lot of things here, and none of them seem to make any sense. None of this makes sense. There’s mornings I have to cover her picture up or I can’t get out of bed. And I just move on. I pretend that one day she’ll walk through the door again, but you and I know she won’t.

I serve an amazing God, Bobby, a God that forgives and heals and restores people. And I want you to know today that I do forgive you. And I know that it’s only through him that I am able to do that, and I pray that you find him, and you find the forgiveness that nobody else in this room can give you. It doesn’t matter what anybody else in this room feels for you. And that one day you will tell the truth. I think you lied to so many people. I don’t think you know how to tell the truth. I think you’re going to have to learn all over again.

And, your Honor, I may not have a family to go home to after this, but I pray that you make a way for this man to someday be able to get out of there and begin a new life, and to hold his son, maybe as a man. And I hope you pray that I’m able to raise him to forgive you. He knows what you did. You would not believe the stories he’s told us.

In a press conference after the sentencing, Patricia was asked: “Not even just [during] the trial, but beforehand you were very forgiving. How are you able to do that?” Patricia responded:

I know it sounds very cliche, but it’s because of Christ, because I’m forgiven, because I remember when Jesus hung on the cross and he asked his Father to forgive people that killed him. Nobody understands what it’s like to lose a child more than God did. He was able to forgive, and because of that I am able to forgive.

What a tremendous testimony to the power of God’s forgiveness in the believer’s life through Jesus Christ. “Love your enemies, do good to them … Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful … Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6:35-37)

News and Notes – 9/27/2007

STUPID CRIME EDITION

Bad break. Two California men were arrested after they broke into a building full of police officers. They were planning on stealing some copper wire, but didn’t know that the local police K-9 unit was training there.

Double jeopardy. A New York man says he stole a car to turn himself in on a different charge. He claims he was on his way to the Geneva City Police department to turn himself in on a family court warrant when he was pulled over in the stolen vehicle.

Checkmate. A Colorado man robbing a bank was caught after he wrote the holdup note on one of his own checks. “We could still make it out even though he blacked it out,” FBI agent Rene VonderHaar said.

News and Notes – 9/4/2007

Return trip. A burglar in New Zealand broke into a family’s home through a window, stole some electronics and a credit card, and then came back later the same day to return the stolen goods – along with the new items he had purchased with the stolen credit card. He left everything on the kitchen table along with an apology note and a promise to drop off some cash later to pay for the broken window.

Grade inflation. Honors journalism students in Naples, FL are graded not only on how well they write, but on how many ads they sell for the high school yearbook. The syllabus says $600 will get you an A, $500 will get you a B, $400 gets a C, $300 gets a D and less than $300 worth of ads sold will earn a student an F on the assignment. Does anyone else think this is a bad idea?

Dog heir. Hotel operator and real estate investor Leona Helmsley, who died August 20, 2007, left $12 million dollars to her dog. The article doesn’t say who gets the money when the dog dies.

News and Notes – 7/25/2007

Keep the change (1). Thieves in Arkansas stole a two-ton vault containing $113,000 from a bank using a fork lift, then ditched it several miles north of the city — with $2 left inside. “We feel like that was a statement to mock us,” said Van Buren police Detective Keith Lindley.

Don’t rock the boat. Chinese police tracking a suspicious vessel on a border river in southwest China got a shock when they found 270 crocodiles on board. Apparently crocodile smuggling is big in China.

Spy squirrels. Fourteen squirrels have been accused of spying on Iran. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, the undercover rodents were found near the Iranian border, supposedly equipped with eavesdropping devices. I wonder if it was these squirrels here?

Keep the change (2). Jessica Osborne, a Pizza Hut waitress in Indiana, got a $10,000 tip from a family who ate regularly at the restaurant. The family gave her the check because they heard that she could not afford college.

News and Notes – 7/18/2007

Same time next year. A teacher from Toronto flew thousands of miles across the Atlantic to Wales to attend his friend’s wedding, only to discover he had arrived one year early. He had received an email from his friend earlier in the year saying the wedding was July 6th and assumed he meant 2007. The flight cost him $1,015.

Help! Police! A 38-year-old man was arrested after he called 911 to report that he was surrounded by police officers and needed help. He was charged with misdemeanor misuse of 911.

When it’s over . . . The White Stripes played the shortest concert ever on Monday, July 16 in St. John’s, Canada. The musical duo played a single note (a C-sharp) before hundreds of adoring fans. I have always heard that the secret to a good show is leaving the audience wanting more. (HT: Challies)

News and Notes – 6/29/2007

Gator golf. An 11-foot, one-eyed alligator grabbed a Florida golfer by the arm while he was retrieving his ball from a pond on the sixth hole. The golfer was taken to the hospital but not seriously injured. The pond has a “Beware of Alligator” sign posted. That’s what I call a water hazard.

Wrong pocket. A pickpocket got more than he bargained for when he tried to pick the pocket of 72-year old Bill Barnes of Walker, Michigan. Barnes is a former marine and Golden Gloves boxer who is retired after 20 years as an iron worker. When Barnes felt the hand in his pocket, he grabbed the pickpocket’s wrist and started throwing punches. The store manager also helped, and together they subdued the pickpocket until police arrived.

Surplus hearts. “Nearly 500,000 Purple Heart medals were manufactured in anticipation of the casualties resulting from the invasion of Japan. To the present date, all the American military casualties of the sixty years following the end of World War II — including the Korean and Vietnam Wars — have not exceeded that number. In 2003, there were still 120,000 of these Purple Heart medals in stock. There are so many in surplus that combat units in Iraq and Afghanistan are able to keep Purple Hearts on-hand for immediate award to wounded soldiers on the field.” (Wikipedia: Operation Downfall)

News and Notes – 5/9/2007

100th birthday present. Ten years ago Briton Alec Holden bet his bookie 100 pounds that he would live to see his 100th birthday. His bookie gave him 250-1 odds. On April 24, 2007 Holden turned 100 years old and collected on his bet to the tune of 25,000 pounds (over $50,000). Holden, still in good health, attributes his longevity to daily porridge, chess, and “remembering to keep breathing.” Nonsense, he just really wanted to collect on that bet!

Going up? Two not-so-bright men in Norway were arrested for vandalizing an elevator. How did they get caught? They damaged the elevator from the inside causing the doors to jam. Security guards then called the fire department who freed them while the police waited for them outside. Oh yes, a security camera also recorded the whole episode.

Rooftop PreacherRooftop preacher. The Rev. Alan Gibson of Evansdale United Methodist Church, NC, was scheduled to preach from the roof of his church last Sunday in celebration of his congregation reaching over 100 in attendance. His neighbor thought it might be a good idea to tie a rope to the pastor’s belt to keep him from falling.

HT: Justin Childers at CROSS-Eyed

News and Notes – 5/8/2007

Man throws pie at preacher. Last week it was peanuts – this week it’s a pie. A man was arrested in Colorado Springs on Sunday for disrupting a worship service by throwing a pie at the pastor while he was preaching. The pastor was preaching on the subject of loving your enemies.

Extreme population control. Paul Watson, founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, calls human beings a virus and recommends dropping the planet’s human population to fewer than one billion. Says Watson, “A virus kills its host and that is exactly what we are doing … We are killing our host the planet Earth.” So, who gets to stay, and who has to go? This is nuts.

Friendship fries. Remember the campaign back in 2003 to start calling French Fries, “Freedom Fries,” in protest of France’s refusal to help with the war against Iraq? Now that France has elected pro-American president, Nicolas Sarkozy, a new campaign has started to rename French Fries, “Friendship Fries.” I’ll just have a burger and fries with that please.