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Strange Crimes

This story is close to being a load of codswallop.
 
USA: Prosecutors in Montan say a man caught leaving a house he had apparently burgled apologised to the homeowner and offered him some heroin.

The Billings Gazette reports Christopher Dayell Bittner made an initial court appearance on felony burglary and drug possession charges.

Authorities say the homeowner and his seven-year-old son came home as Bittner was leaving on Saturday.

Yellowstone County Attorney Paul Adam says Bittner apologised and offered the drug.

He was found nearby, and court records say a search of his backpack turned up 31.5 grams of heroin, drug paraphernalia and items belonging to the homeowner.

Public defender, Roberta Drew asked that Bittner be released without bail because he wanted to attend his father’s funeral.

Bail was set at $7,500, but Bittner was allowed to attend the service.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 90481.html
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Plymouth woman uses disguises in fuel theft spree

A woman in disguise is being hunted by police, who say she is behind a two-year fuel theft spree.
The suspect donned a variety of different wigs and hats to carry out 29 thefts in Plymouth, say police.

They have now released CCTV images, showing the same silver Vauxhall Zafira car, which they believe has also been disguised using a mixture of cloned number plates.
Detectives say the woman has stolen "thousands of pounds worth of fuel".
In all of the thefts fuel between £55 and £85 was stolen.

Det Con Zara Payne, heading the investigation, said the same car had been reported each time.
She said the woman changed the number plates just before and just after taking the fuel.

"Sometimes she is in long blonde wig, or a short, bob-cut wig, or wearing a beanie hat or hoodie," she said.
"Seeing as this woman appears to go to great lengths to disguise herself, it may well be her impersonating a man.
"What is very clear is over the past two or more years, this woman has stolen thousands of pounds worth of fuel."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-29549771

The really strange thing is that the police have not yet solved this case! I don't know how many Vauxhall Zafiras there are in Devon, but surely in two years they could all have been checked out in various ways. It's probably time for the villain to get a new car!

PS: I've just realised this is another 'numberplate' story - I posted three yesterday!
 
FACING JAIL

ENGLAND: A labourer faces jail after pleading guilty to driving a Volkswagen Polo at high speed on to the Brands Hatch circuit during a race.

Jack Cottle, 22, hit speeds of up to 100m/h with two passengers on board after gatecrashing an endurance race at the famous track in Kent.

Maidstone Crown Court heard he performed the stunt after being dared by friends in a “foolish prank”, putting the lives of racers in danger.

Cottle pleaded guilty to “causing a nuisance to the public by driving on to the race track at Brands Hatch whilst an endurance race was in progress”. Judge Martin Joy warned Cottle, of Durgates in Wadhurst, East Sussex, that a “custodial sentence is on the cards” when he next appears in court on the week beginning November 17.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 90861.html
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The news photo I saw shows the statue sprawled face-down on a length of crowd barrier. Looked like an awful accident. :shock:
 
Man sues over Burger King onion ring attack

USA: A man is suing Burger King after he says a manager attacked him — for complaining about cold onion rings-

The lawsuit says Robert Deyapp was assaulted in June last year when he told a manager at the fast-food restaurant in the New Mexico city of Bloomfield about his cold order.

The lawsuit claims that when Mr Deyapp asked for a refund, manager Francisco Berrera lunged at him with a stun gun and flick-knife. Court records show Berrera later pleaded no contest to aggravated assault.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 90992.html
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When police in Daytona Beach, Florida, found a man covered in tar on the roof of a closed petrol station before dawn, he told them he was visiting family. They didn’t believe it.

The 30-year-old then tried to convince officers he was a repairman who was on top of the Sunoco station at 3am because he heard the air conditioners making noise. Officers didn’t believe that one, either.

Finally, police say he told them he had been sleeping on the roof and had smeared tar on himself so he wouldn’t be seen. Police say that since he had a prying tool with him, they think he was a would-be burglar and arrested him for attempted burglary of an unoccupied structure, possession of burglary tools and criminal mischief.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 90992.html
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I have been led to believe that the man who chopped Eric Morecambe down in the middle of the afternoon has now been sectioned, apparently.
 
My first thought was metal thieves, but it is all a bit inept for them, even by the standards of eptness that apply to the kind of people who think trying to cut through a power line is a good ideas.
 
Patient takes wheel of ambulance in Arizona

USA: Authorities say a patient wanting out of an Arizona hospital used an ambulance as his getaway vehicle. Goodyear police spokeswoman Lisa Kutis says Michael Lopez hijacked a parked ambulance on Sunday outside West Valley Hospital in metro Phoenix.Kutis says a firefighter sitting in the back was able to jump out safely. Police pursued Lopez, who failed to pull over.

Authorities used GPS to locate the vehicle and Lopez at his home in Avondale.

Kutis says he was arrested on charges of theft of means of transportation, felony flight, failure to yield to police and disorderly conduct. She said Lopez, who felt he was being hospitalised against his will, is being booked into a jail.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 91179.html
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Quite an odd thing to do, and also odd how archaic our laws about posting 'obscene material' seem now. I've come across some pretty nasty unlooked for things on the internet on a par with that... come to think of it, not long back I happened across a similar image of a decapitated child on Snopes that had no warning it was coming up.

MAN has appeared in court charged with posting an image of a decapitated man along with the words, ‘Oops, too late to save him’ to West Yorkshire Police’s chief constable.

Neil Pearson, 58, appeared at Wakefield Magistrates’ Court this morning to face a charge of sending an obscene or indecent article to the chief constable.
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Yorkshire Evening Pest
 
LEGGED IT

USA: A prosthetic leg reported stolen from a veteran in a wheelchair outside the Eagles-Giants football game in south Philadelphia was later recovered on a subway train, police said.

Sonny Forriest Jr, who is known for singing for fans outside Phillies and Eagles games, told officers that he had taken off his prosthetic leg during his performance.

He said he was packing up to leave when a woman in her 20s wearing Eagles gear who appeared intoxicated approached and took the leg.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 91324.html
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If it isn't legs, it's heads:

Statue's head thrown through Penryn bar window - landlord looking for body
First published 16:44 Thursday 16 October 2014

A Penryn bar owner is looking to reunite the body of a statue with its head, after the latter was thrown through his window on Tuesday night.
Ed Hartgill, owner of Number 20 on Lower Market Street, is trying to see the bright side after he arrived at work on Wednesday morning to find a large hole in the plate glass at the front of his bar.

He said: “I came in to tidy up at about 9am, and didn’t notice it until I pulled the curtains open and there was smashed glass at the bottom.”
After the initial anger had passed, Ed started to wonder where the head had come from, as he doesn’t recognise it from around the town.
“I would like to find the other half of the statue,” he said.
“I would like to make her the guest of honour at our Halloween party.” 8)

Ed added that he doesn’t think the attack was directed specifically at his business, or came from one of his patrons.
He said the bar had been “quite busy but quiet” with a “good atmosphere.”
“It’s more likely someone walking back home, quite drunk, with a statue head they picked up on the way.”

It is understood that a person has come forward and admitted throwing the statue, and the police investigation is ongoing.

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/11 ... dy/?ref=mr

Well, it wasn't a brick - I'd like to think there's a classier type of vandal in Penryn, but past history suggests not! :twisted:
 
MOP HANDED

USA: A Connecticut man is facing charges after police said he grabbed a mop out of a hotel employee’s hands and was "mopping aggressively" over the worker’s shoes.

John Thornton, 30, of Southington, was arrested and charged with breach of peace and threatening.

Officers responding to the Bristol hotel were told a man had become “unruly”, grabbed the mop, and swept it back and forth over the woman’s shoes. When the employee asked the man to stop, police said he turned his back and pushed her into a corner. Police said the woman was shaken and crying.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 91679.html
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OHIO MAN ACCUSED OF IMPERSONATING OFFICER

USA: Police in northeast Ohio say a man trying to impersonate a police officer got caught when he tried to pull over a real officer.

Akron police say a man driving a Ford Crown Victoria with a spotlight and made to look like a police car tried to block the path of a real officer on his way to work this week.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports that 50-year-old David Scofield had a rifle, shotgun, handguns, a bullet-proof vest, a silencer, and ammunition in his car. Police say Scofield is a firearms dealer from Lancaster.

He was arrested on charges of impersonating a police officer, carrying concealed weapons and obstructing official business.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 91679.html
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Devon shed thieves leave contents behind

Thieves stole a wooden shed from a home but left its contents in the garden.
They fled with the £600 shed measuring 6ft (1.8m) by 8ft (2.4m) from the back garden of an unoccupied house in Newton Abbot, Devon.
Acting Det Sgt Shane Robertson of Devon and Cornwall Police described it as a "very unusual crime".

Homeowner Nikki Brighton, who is selling the house, said: "I am pretty disgusted because it is quite a new shed."
She said she received a call from the estate agents saying the shed had gone.

"The stuff I had not taken with me, some shelves and bits and bobs including my daughter's Space Hopper, were out in the garden," Ms Brighton said.
"It was a bit of a mess."

She thinks the offenders must have dismantled the shed before taking it away.
"The thieves were brazen," she said.
"I am really hopeful that someone knows where it has gone."

Police said the shed was snatched some time between Friday 17 October and Wednesday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-29742052
 
Not so much a Strange Crime as a strange "Crime Alert"...

Domestic abuse victim alerts police to her ordeal with ‘pizza order’
A woman pretended to order a pizza when reporting her violent boyfriend to police
By Mark Molloy
1:36PM BST 24 Oct 2014

A domestic abuse victim alerted police to the danger she was in by calling 911 and pretending to ‘order a pizza’.
The unnamed woman asked for a ‘large pepperoni pizza’ before the operator realised the seriousness of the situation.
Recalling the extraordinary call, the operator said it “started out pretty dumb, but was actually pretty serious”.

...

The operator, who talked about the experience on Reddit, said an officer was dispatched to the address and found the woman had been beaten up.
“The officer arrives and finds a couple, female was kind of banged up and boyfriend was drunk,” the post adds.
“Officer arrests him after she explains that the boyfriend had been beating her for a while.

“I thought she was pretty clever to use that trick. Definitely one of the most memorable calls." 8)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... order.html
 
garrick92 said:
I'm trying in my head (and failing) to figure out how that conversation must have unfolded.
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The transcript is in the article!

Normally I would have given the whole thing, but since the annoying Fatwah against pasting complete articles from the Telegraph, I had to trim it.

Just shows that a paragraph or two and the link is not enough. :evil:
 
Yes, a paragraph or two and the link IS enough. Worked for me.
 
I suppose I could have tried this - the reader would need a good magnifying glass, or know how to resize the text! ;)

“911, where is your emergency?"

"*** Main St."

"Ok, what's going on there?"

"I'd like to order a pizza for delivery."

"Ma'am, you've reached 911."

"Yeah, I know. Can I have a large with half pepperoni, half mushroom and peppers?"

"Ummm… I'm sorry, you know you've called 911 right?"

"Yeah, do you know how long it will be?"

"Ok, Ma'am, is everything ok over there? Do you have an emergency?"

"Yes, I do."

"And you can't talk about it because there's someone in the room with you?" (moment of realisation)

"Yes, that's correct. Do you know how long it will be?"

"I have an officer about a mile from your location. Are there any weapons in your house?"

"Nope."

"Can you stay on the phone with me?"

"Nope. See you soon, thanks"

Would the DT catch on to that, do you reckon? :twisted:
 
rynner2 said:
I suppose I could have tried this - the reader would need a good magnifying glass, or know how to resize the text! ;)

“911, where is your emergency?"

"*** Main St."

"Ok, what's going on there?"

"I'd like to order a pizza for delivery."

"Ma'am, you've reached 911."

"Yeah, I know. Can I have a large with half pepperoni, half mushroom and peppers?"

"Ummm… I'm sorry, you know you've called 911 right?"

"Yeah, do you know how long it will be?"

"Ok, Ma'am, is everything ok over there? Do you have an emergency?"

"Yes, I do."

"And you can't talk about it because there's someone in the room with you?" (moment of realisation)

"Yes, that's correct. Do you know how long it will be?"

"I have an officer about a mile from your location. Are there any weapons in your house?"

"Nope."

"Can you stay on the phone with me?"

"Nope. See you soon, thanks"

Would the DT catch on to that, do you reckon? :twisted:
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They exist on low cunning.
 
TELETUBBY TERROR

USA: A student accused of breaking into a friend’s Pennsylvania home while wearing a yellow Teletubby costume and stealing leftover food is facing charges.

Police say the Lehigh University student was dressed as Laa-Laa from the BBC children’s series when he damaged a door on Sunday in Bethlehem. They say he went into the friend’s refrigerator and dumped Chinese food into a bag before leaving.

No charges were filed initially. But police Chief Mark DiLuzio told Easton’s The Express-Times newspaper the home’s occupants apparently changed their minds after the landlord became involved.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/world/quir ... 95766.html
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-29876001

An Australian man has been charged by police after driving a light plane down the street and parking it at a pub while he went inside for a beer.

Police in Newman, Western Australia said the 37-year-old man endangered the life, health and safety of residents.

The man had allegedly bought the wingless Beechcraft two-seater aircraft from a private residence and was taking it home when he stopped for a drink...
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There's a pic at the link. Drinking and driving two-thirds of a plane! Where was he planning to get the wings from to fix it, anyway?
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-29928698

The drummer of the hard rock group AC/DC, Phil Rudd, has appeared in a New Zealand court on charges of attempting to arrange a murder.

Mr Rudd, who was born in Australia, has also been charged with possessing the drugs methamphetamine and cannabis, and of making threats to kill.

The musician's waterfront house in Tauranga, on New Zealand's North Island, was raided on Thursday morning.

AC/DC are due to release a new album later this year...
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Was he rumbled because the money on offer was dirt cheap? AC/DC are certainly having a rotten time of it lately.
 
AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd murder plot charge dropped

The Australian drummer of hard rock group AC/DC, Phil Rudd, has had a charge of attempting to arrange a murder dropped in New Zealand.

He will still face charges of drugs possession and making threats to kill.

The U-turn by authorities, announced less than 24 hours after Mr Rudd appeared in court, was because of a lack of evidence, his lawyer said.
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