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Strange Crimes

ramonmercado said:
There's an epidemic of swatting at schools in the US.

AT 1:15 PM on September 15, a man who identified himself as Tom Gomez called Sangamon County Central Dispatch in Illinois to report that two gunmen had shot a dozen students at Springfield High School.

According to audio of the call obtained by WIRED, the man was specific. The caller, breathing heavily, told dispatchers that he was locked inside a math classroom with other students and that the two men, both dressed in blue pants and green jackets, were killing students in the adjacent classroom: room 219.

Within five minutes, Springfield Police were at the high school's second floor, descending on the room where they were told a mass murder had occurred. The problem is that, according to police records, Springfield High doesn’t have a room 219. In fact, there was no shooting at all.

The dangerous hoax call was one of more than 90 false reports of active shooter incidents at US schools made during the second half of September, WIRED found. From Lincoln High in Dallas, Texas, to Lincoln High in Des Moines, Iowa; McArthur High in Hollywood, Florida, to Hollywood High in Los Angeles, these false reports are part of a disturbing spree of recent swatting incidents that crisscross the United States. While experts who study violence at schools say that false reports of shootings inspire copycats, state and local law enforcement officials say that many of these swatting attacks seem to stem from a single person or group. ...

https://www.wired.com/story/swatting-schools-us-september-2022/
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The latest one .. today ..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-63375659
 
This San Francisco man's simple stupid act of opening a valve in his apartment high-rise caused an estimated $20,000,000 in damages, long-term evacuation by his building's tenants, and arrest for felony vandalism. A "mental health crisis" is alleged to have been involved ...
Resident reportedly caused $20 million in damage by flooding SF high-rise

A massive flood at San Francisco's 100 Van Ness apartment building could cost $20 million dollars to fix. The flood displaced hundreds and damaged 100 units in the 29-story Hayes Valley building.

The flood happened in the early morning hours of Tuesday, Oct. 11. According to police, a high pressured fire hose valve used by firefighters to connect to the building's water supply, was opened by a resident of the building, 46-year-old Michael Nien. ...

The high pressure stream blasted right through the walls of the 11th floor and sent water flowing down to the lobby. The District attorney's office charged Nien with felony vandalism and resisting arrest. ...

According to residents who attended Nien's first hearing, he bit one officer and threw urine in the face of another. The San Francisco Fire Department, who responded to the initial call, and Nien's attorney said Nien was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time he opened the valve.

Residents who attended the hearing say The Emerald Fund, the owners of 100 Van Ness, claimed the damage Nien caused will cost an estimated $20 million.

In the days following the flood residents were left without a working elevator, some had to climb 29 flights of stairs for days. According to residents, as of October 23, just one elevator is working, but they say it is still unreliable. Some who live in the building have been staying in hotels paid for by the Emerald Fund.

Nien was denied bail by the judge and will undergo a pretrial mental health assessment. ...
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FULL STORY (With Photos): https://www.ktvu.com/news/resident-reportedly-causes-20-million-in-damage-by-flooding-sf-highrise
 
ramonmercado said:
What I find most outrageous is the initial reaction of the police.

A man has described his shock at returning to his house and finding it stripped of all furnishings after it was sold without his knowledge.

Having been alerted by neighbours, the Reverend Mike Hall drove to Luton and found building work under way and a new owner who said he had bought the house.

A BBC investigation found Mr Hall's identity had been stolen and used to sell the house and bank the proceeds.
Police initially told him it was not fraud but are now investigating.

Mr Hall, who was away from the property and working in north Wales, said he received a call from his neighbours on 20 August, saying that someone was in the house and all the lights were on. The following morning, he drove there.

"I went to the front door, tried my key in the front door, it didn't work and a man opened the front door to me," he told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours. "I pushed him to one side and got in the property. I really didn't know what he was doing there.
"The shock of seeing the house completely stripped of furniture; all furnishings, carpet, curtains - everything - was out of the property."

The man said he was doing building work, to which Mr Hall replied: "I haven't sold the house. This is still my property."
Mr Hall phoned the police, but the builder left and returned with the new owner's father, who said he had bought the terraced house in July, adding: "It is now my property. You are now trespassing. Get out."

Mr Hall said: "We then tried to access the Land Registry documentation online to find out whose name appeared... and it is, in fact, as of 4 August, this man's name.​

"At that point the police said, 'Well, there's nothing further we can do here. This is a civil matter; you need to leave the house and contact your solicitors.'"

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-59069662
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The saga continues.

A man is still fighting to get his house back more than a year since it was sold without his knowledge.

Reverend Mike Hall previously told the BBC of his shock at returning to his Luton house and finding it stripped of all furnishings in August last year. He is still working to obtain compensation for the loss of his property and has been unable to regain formal ownership of his house. A Bedfordshire Police investigation remains ongoing.

Mr Hall, who bought the property in 1990, was working in north Wales on 20 August 2021 when he received a call from his neighbours alerting him that someone was in his house and all the lights were on. He drove home to find building work under way and a new owner who said he had bought the house.

"I tried my key in the front door, it didn't work and a man opened the front door to me - and the shock of seeing the house completely stripped of furniture, everything was out of the property."

BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme obtained the driving licence used to impersonate Mr Hall, details of a bank account set up in his name to receive the proceeds of the sale, and phone recordings of a man claiming to be Mr Hall instructing solicitors to sell the house. Once the house was sold to the new owner for £131,000 by the person impersonating Mr Hall, they legally owned it.

As well as Mr Hall fighting to regain ownership, the BBC has learned that over a year later, the new owners are contesting Mr Hall's appeal to have the house transferred back into his name, which may result in a legal tribunal before any decision is made. ...

Since the initial BBC report, further victims have come forward to share their experiences. Four weeks before Mr Hall's discovery, Angus Penfound's property in Southampton was also sold without his knowledge. Mr Penfound bought his late Victorian three-bedroom terraced house for £180,000 in 2018. After securing work in Cornwall, Mr Penfound took the decision to rent the property out via a local estate agent.
A criminal calling themselves Stephen Jones took up the tenancy and paid the rent and council tax. They never moved into the property, but used access to it to sell on for £196,000 - well below market value. ...

The BBC has seen Land Registry information which shows that in 2021-22 it paid nearly £7m for 598 claims to their indemnity fund, which is used to help compensate instances of fraud, compared with £5.44m for 540 claims in 2020-21. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-63392025
 
What is most surprising about all of it is this;

Have you tried selling a house? It isn't as easy as putting an advert on a card in a shop window and Joe Bloggs comes along, hands you some cash, and 'hey presto', he is the new owner.
No.
There are solicitors for both parties, mortgage companies, local council searches, etc etc etc, and on top of all that the banks themselves don't like to just allow you transfer some money over unless you answer a whole load of questions, and that's for anything more than a couple of grand!!!!
Something about the whole story just doesn't add up to me.
 
Trevp666 said:
What is most surprising about all of it is this;

Have you tried selling a house? It isn't as easy as putting an advert on a card in a shop window and Joe Bloggs comes along, hands you some cash, and 'hey presto', he is the new owner.
No.
There are solicitors for both parties, mortgage companies, local council searches, etc etc etc, and on top of all that the banks themselves don't like to just allow you transfer some money over unless you answer a whole load of questions, and that's for anything more than a couple of grand!!!!
Something about the whole story just doesn't add up to me.
Click to expand...

Corruption in councils and Land Registry, crooked solicitors.
 
Trevp666 said:
What is most surprising about all of it is this;

Have you tried selling a house? It isn't as easy as putting an advert on a card in a shop window and Joe Bloggs comes along, hands you some cash, and 'hey presto', he is the new owner.
No.
There are solicitors for both parties, mortgage companies, local council searches, etc etc etc, and on top of all that the banks themselves don't like to just allow you transfer some money over unless you answer a whole load of questions, and that's for anything more than a couple of grand!!!!
Something about the whole story just doesn't add up to me.
Click to expand...
Exactly. What solicitor/lawyer sells a house without the owner sitting front of him/her. It was transacted by phone call only?

Really the only time that I know this is possible is if you are co-owner. I have heard of spouses selling off homes without the other's knowledge.
 
This young woman made a bat-shit crazy scene at the Las Vegas airport in August. Two months later she's been arrested for murdering her mother.
Las Vegas woman who claimed she was under arrest due to good looks now accused of killing mother

A 28-year-old woman who previously told police she was too good-looking to be arrested is now accused of killing her mother.

Las Vegas Metro police said Hend Bustami killed her 62-year-old mother in a south valley neighborhood ... on Wednesday morning.

Officers began looking for the daughter after finding the mother’s body ... California Highway Patrol took Bustami into custody in Barstow, California around 5 a.m.

Police said in August they arrested Bustami for reportedly skipping out on a restaurant tab and violating airport rules at Harry Reid International Airport. Bustami told officers at the time that she was under arrest because she was so good-looking ...

“Soon after, officers working D gates were notified by TSA that [a] female matching that description was observed sleeping near the security checkpoint, hindering their operations,” the report said.

Officers later found Bustami in the baggage claim area where she was “belligerent with officers, saying she was being harassed because cops [had] never seen anyone as pretty as her,” police said.

While officers were arresting her, Bustami said “that she was going to spit on all [the officers] and that officers were perverts and were trying to rape her because they [had] never seen anyone as good looking,” the report said.

Police later learned Bustami had a warrant out of Las Vegas Municipal Court. She was booked into the Clark County Detention Center and later released. She will be brought back to Nevada to face a murder charge ...
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FULL STORY: https://ktla.com/news/las-vegas-wom...-to-good-looks-now-accused-of-killing-mother/
 
The story doesn't open for me. Is there a photo as I am curious now? :chuckle: Though truth may not be her strong suit. Murdering your mother then bringing yourself to the attention of the authorities could mean that brains are lacking also. Edit, though the mother may have been murdered after that.

(Suspect meth involved)
 
Min Bannister said:
The story doesn't open for me. Is there a photo as I am curious now? :chuckle: ...
Click to expand...

Well, since you asked ... Here's the photo associated with the article.

Bustami-2210.jpg

​
 
Scan and order a QR code. It has recently become so easy to get (designer) drugs in cities such as Amsterdam and Nijmegen. On lampposts there are stickers with a QR code that leads to a website where drugs are for sale. The new sales method is "brutal and provocative", according to criminologist Ton Nabben of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.

On a lamppost in the Bottendaal district of Nijmegen hangs a sticker of a woman with a pill in her mouth. If you scan the QR code, you will end up on a website where you can buy 3-CMC, 2F-Ketamine and 4F-Ritalin under the name research chemicals. Just like with the average webshop, you can pay here via iDeal. The website also promises "fast delivery".

https://nos.nl/artikel/2450563-brutale-stickers-met-qr-code-maken-drugs-bestellen-nog-makkelijker

1667244574979.png

Oh ... look this is the site:

(Link deleted - Violated forum rules (Terms & Conditions))

It says: This product should only be used for research purposes* - ok :)

1) This product is sold exclusively for research purposes and may not be used for any other reason, including but not limited to in vivo diagnostics, food products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and/or cosmetics for humans and/or animals.
2) Make sure you are well prepared for research chemicals and that your work environment is well ventilated before making your purchase.

Hazard statement:
1) Irritating to the skin.
2) It causes severe eye discomfort.
3) Harmful if swallowed.
4) When inhaled, it can cause irritation of the respiratory tract.
5) Drowsiness or dizziness may occur.
 
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Pole steals tram and picks up unsuspecting passengers

At 00.15 on Saturday morning, a 25-year-old man in Poland took a tram from a depot in Katowice. He assigned the tram the non-existent number 33 and drove it from Katowice to nearby Chorzów, picking up unsuspecting passengers on the way.

He raised the suspicions of a tram driver, who didn’t recognise the number 33 and thought the tram was travelling too slowly.

He notified his superiors, who cut the electricity supply. The stolen tram came to a halt near the market in Chorzów.

Police detained a 25-year-old from Świętochłowice. He was sober when he was detained and was not authorized to drive trams.

FULL STORY: https://www.polsatnews.pl/wiadomosc...ramwaj-i-zabieral-ludzi-dojechal-do-chorzowa/
 
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There used to be 3 cash machines at Bootle Asda. A few years ago they took 1 away and covered the hole with a metal plate. Someone has took the metal plate away last night, climbed through the hole and emptied the other 2 cash machines
 
Here's a very weird tale of pathological (and fatal ... ) pranking from Oregon ...

A tenant found himself menaced by an increasingly deranged landlord doing some Michael Myers Halloween cosplay and wielding weapons. The tenant then killed the invading landlord with a sword. Authorities have decided the tenant's actions were justified as self-defense.
Prosecutors Decide Portland Man Committed No Crime by Killing His Landlord With a Sword

The landlord, armed with a hammer and pellet gun, had snuck into his rental property in a Michael Myers costume. ...

In a scene befitting a horror film, a man was left dead in a September dispute with his tenants in Northeast Portland.

Justin Valdivia, 46, was fatally stabbed in the living room of a squat four-bedroom house in the Eliot neighborhood after sneaking into the home he owned dressed as Michael Myers, the villain in the slasher flick Halloween. ...

The origins of the dispute that led to Valdivia’s death Sept. 15 are not clear. But the memo lays out a bizarre story while explaining why prosecutors declined to charge anyone involved.

Valdivia, the owner of the property, lived with his wife in a second home recently built at the back of the lot. He rented the front house to four tenants ... The man who stabbed him was a former tenant who had just moved out and was now staying in the house as a guest.

The relationship between Valdivia and his tenants had deteriorated in the weeks prior to the killing. Valdivia had twice threatened them with a knife, according to police reports. Once, Valdivia tried to break into the house while drunk at 4 am. ...

The guest had filmed the incidents and was afraid that Valdivia was trying to steal his phone and the videos it contained, according to prosecutors. Another tenant moved out in early September, fearing for his safety “due to Valdivia’s escalating behavior.” The guest, however, stuck around.

But not without taking precautions. He kept a sword on hand and set up a “makeshift alarm” by leaning a painting against the back door and placing a shoebox on top so that “it would fall and create a lot of noise if the door was opened” ...

The sword he wedged into the couch for easy access. The memo does not specify the type of sword, but office spokeswoman Elisabeth Shepard said it was “saberlike.”

On Sept. 15, the guest was watching YouTube in the living room. It was around 1 am when he heard the shoebox crash to the ground.

Valdivia, dressed as Michael Myers, had entered the backdoor using his key. He was wearing Myers’ iconic mask and a “blue Dickie’s jumpsuit.”

In his left hand was a hammer. In his right, a handgun.

Valdivia advanced toward the guest, who was still in the living room on the couch. Valdivia was blocking the door. There was nowhere to run. The guest reached for the sword.

“A struggle then ensued,” according to prosecutors. The guest stabbed Valdivia, wrestled away his gun and threw it out of reach. Valdivia fell to the floor, unresponsive.

Another resident grabbed paper towels from the kitchen to stanch Valdivia’s bleeding and called 911. The two took turns performing CPR until the police arrived at 1:35 am. Paramedics pronounced Valdivia dead at the scene.

Near his body, investigators found a pellet gun painted black so that it “resembled a real firearm.”

Both the detective and county prosecutor assigned to the case agreed the killing was justified. Valdivia was committing burglary while “wielding what appeared to be two dangerous and deadly weapons” ...
Click to expand...
FULL STORY: https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2...ed-no-crime-by-killing-landlord-with-a-sword/
 
EnolaGaia said:
Here's a very weird tale of pathological (and fatal ... ) pranking from Oregon ...

A tenant found himself menaced by an increasingly deranged landlord doing some Michael Myers Halloween cosplay and wielding weapons. The tenant then killed the invading landlord with a sword. Authorities have decided the tenant's actions were justified as self-defense.

FULL STORY: https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2...ed-no-crime-by-killing-landlord-with-a-sword/
Click to expand...
Wonder if the landlord was experiencing psychosis related to alcoholism? The article does mention that more notable breakdown of the landlord and tenants relationship had happened fairly recent to his death and that he'd previously, and recently, tried to enter the premises with a weapon while drunk.
 

Mystery over freezer full of dead pigeons found dumped in back alley​

Council workers made the grim discovery in an area of Darlington, County Durham, that has been blighted by fly-tipping.
It is thought at least 100 wood pigeons were inside the freezer, and may have been destined for the food industry.

‘I think it’s been dumped by someone who goes shooting and when they have enough birds, they sell them on to a game dealer.
‘But on this occasion there’s been an issue with the freezer, perhaps it’s broken down and they’ve just dumped it.’

The freezer was likely left late on Tuesday before it was found yesterday.
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https://news.yahoo.com/ohio-man-kills-neighbor-because-204600966.html

Ohio man kills neighbor because ‘he thought he was a Democrat’​

Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News
Wed, November 9, 2022 at 3:46 PM·2 min read

A southwest Ohio man was killed by a neighbor who “thought he was a Democrat,” according to the victim’s shocked widow. Austin Gene Combs confessed to shooting Anthony Lee King “several times with a revolver” while the 43-year-old victim and his wife were doing yardwork shortly before noon on Saturday, The Journal News reports.

The victim’s son called police to report the 26-year-old alleged shooter had come over “multiple times making statements” before killing his father in their Okeana, Ohio backyard. “He’s insane,” the boy told a dispatcher, according to the Journal. The victim’s wife reportedly told the dispatcher, “He has come over like four times confronting my husband because he thought he was a Democrat.” She added that Combs had approached the victim four times before opening fire as she struggled to understand what had just happened.

“Why?” the woman asked. “Please, I don’t understand.”

The killing reportedly occurred when King’s wife came indoors to let the dog come inside. She heard gunshots, then saw Combs walking away as her husband laid dead. The Journal News said Combs was booked on a murder charge and is being held on $950,000 bond in the Butler County Jail. He will appear in court Thursday.
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Sex offender, 63, bled to death in abandoned estate after his genitals were sliced off

And it seems he did it himself..


Reginald Alan Roach, 63, was found by a dog walker on the Bryn Cegin industrial estate in Bangor on Sunday.

Mrs Sutherland gave the provisional cause of death as "shock and haemorrhage due to incised wounds removing genitalia”.

Roach had a court appearance listed at Llandudno Magistrates Court on October 31, about a week before his death, when he faced a charge of failing to comply with notification requirements in relation to the sex offenders register at Caernarfon Police Station on September 13, 2022.

In August Roach admitted exposing himself at a Travelodge Hotel after asking Travelodge staff to place a bet on for him while he was naked from the waist down, North Wales Live reported.
A spokesperson for North Wales Police said police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

"Following a Home Office Post Mortem, and to end unhelpful speculation, we can confirm that we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the death of Reginald Alan Roach, but would renew our appeal for anyone who saw an elderly man, approximately 5’8” tall and wearing blue jeans with a grey hooded top in the area between 10am on Saturday, November 5th and 9am on Sunday, November 6th to please contact us
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Arizona police pull over a man for DUI, find meth, owl in car

Arizona police were in for a "hoot" of a surprise when they pulled over a car for a possible DUI charge and found a live owl.

Payson Police said on Facebook that officers pulled over a man for a possible DUI and, to their surprise, found the live owl beside him in the car.

The man told officers that another driver found the bird along the road and sold it to him at a gas station.

The owl appeared to have minor injuries and could not be released, but Arizona Game and Fish were picking it up, police said.

"The Payson Police Department would also like to take this opportunity to encourage the public not to use methamphetamine, or you too may find yourself illegally purchasing a wild owl, for $100, in the middle of the night, from strangers, at a local gas station," the department said in the post.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/arizona-police-pull-over-man-dui-find-meth-owl-car

maximus otter
 
Dutch and Belgian authorities have busted multiple farm operators, food companies, and manure companies for fraudulently rigging records to permit more shit to be sold and applied as fertilizer than relevant environmental regulations permitted.
Follow the stink: police uncover cross border manure fraud

Dutch and Belgian police raided addresses in Noord-Brabant, Limburg, Utrecht, and East and West Flanders on Thursday in a major case of international manure management fraud, the NRC reports.

Some 17 people were arrested in Belgium, and documents and property confiscated in a joint operation which included Europol and Dutch food watchdog NVWA.

The Belgian prosecution office said 24 farms, food companies and manure processing companies near Antwerpen had been raided, one of which is active in the Netherlands as well. Eight of the raids took place in the Netherlands.

The farmers and the companies involved are suspected of colluding to falsify figures about the amount of manure that is being transported and used on the land.

By manipulating the figures, the amount of phosphor and nitrogen are kept within the proscribed maximum, the Belgian prosecutor said, but in reality farmers are upping production by using more manure that is allowed. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/11/follow-the-stink-police-uncover-cross-border-manure-fraud/
 
A case for Inspector Clouseau.

French police are convinced there has been a murder. The problem is, not only is there no corpse. No-one has even been reported missing.

In a mystery straight out of an Inspector Maigret novel, Normandy's state prosecutor has appealed to the public to help discover who it is that might be dead.

"In my 23 years as a magistrate, I have never seen a situation like this," said Rémi Coutin. "We don't have a body," he said. "And we don't have an identity for the person who we believe to have been killed."

What police do have is a suspect. He is a 46-year-old Polish man who has lived in France for many years, working as a carpenter. The unnamed man is currently in custody.

Police think that on 9 March, the suspect, driving a black Audi under the influence of alcohol, knocked over a woman cyclist on a road near the town of Grand Bourgtheroulde, 140km (85 miles) north-west of Paris. Thinking he had killed her, he went home to get a spade. But when he came back, he found she was still alive. So the police believe he "finished her off" with the spade, then buried her body. The bicycle he disposed of at a rubbish dump.

There is precious little material evidence that any of this actually took place. There is no body, no confession to police, no bicycle. Above all, there are no reports of a woman cyclist going missing.

The reason the police are sure that a murder did happen is that the man initially told people who were near to him that he had done it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63673923
 
Chilling if true. Definitely an ice cold killer.

For the past few days, India has been gripped by what's being described as a "murder most foul".

Police in the capital, Delhi, have arrested a young man - Aftab Poonawala - on allegations of murdering his live-in partner of three years. They allege that Mr Poonawala murdered 27-year-old Shraddha Walkar in May, chopped up her body into dozens of pieces, stored them in his home fridge and, over the past few months, went around disposing them off - a piece at a time - in different parts of the city.

Mr Poonawala is in custody and has not yet made any public statement, but on Tuesday, he told a court that "the information being spread against me is not correct" and that he was "fully cooperating with the police investigation".

The death came to light only last week after Ms Walkar was reported missing by her father. Since then, lurid details of the alleged murder have made daily headlines in India, with nuggets of unverified information being fed by unnamed policemen to local journalists. The crime has been dubbed "the fridge murder" and the huge interest in the case has seen news websites running live pages on the investigation that are being updated every few minutes.

And anger has spilled over onto the streets - protesters have burnt Mr Poonawala's effigies, demanding strict punishment for him.

Lawyers, activists and former police officials have expressed concern at the intense media coverage.

Vikram Singh, who retired as director general of police in the state of Uttar Pradesh, called it "extremely irresponsible. A ball-by-ball commentary is detrimental to the cause of the investigation and disrespects the deceased," he told the BBC.

The breathless coverage has also made it hard to separate the grain from the chaff - reports are mired in inconsistencies with little clarity on the facts of the case, including on how the couple met.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63739683
 

Brazen Burlington Thief About To Get Busted For Boosting Bags​


As store surveillance cameras recorded his felonious activity, a brazen shoplifter strolled out of a Burlington store in Florida on Black Friday with sacks of stolen goods and an array of purses and handbags that were daisy-chained and dragged out of the business.

burlingtonthief1.jpg

Police in Hialeah, a city 10 miles from Miami, are hunting the thief, whose face, forearm tattoo, and vehicle were clearly recorded by store security cameras.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/burlington/brazen-burlington-thief-382196

maximus otter
 
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