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Stupid Case File for January 31, 2006

Arrested at the Capitol

!!Editor's Warning!!
Cindy Sheehan is a controversial figure. Regardless of your political views & opinions, this is a classic stupid criminal story: Don't follow directions, warnings, or orders given to you by a law enforcement officer. The minute I got a phone call from a friend of mine who works in Washington, I knew this story had to be posted. The contributors at SCF are laughing our heads off. We hope you do the same.

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Activist Cindy Sheehan Arrested at Capitol

Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq who reinvigorated the anti-war movement, was arrested and removed from the House gallery Tuesday night just before President Bush's State of the Union address, a police spokeswoman said.

Sheehan, who had been invited to attend the speech by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., was charged with demonstrating in the Capitol building, a misdemeanor, said Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider. Sheehan was taken in handcuffs to police headquarters a few blocks away and her case was processed as Bush spoke.

Schneider said Sheehan had worn a T-shirt with an anti-war slogan to the speech and covered it up until she took her seat. Police warned her that such displays were not allowed, but she did not respond, the spokeswoman said.

Police handcuffed Sheehan and removed her from the gallery before Bush arrived. Sheehan was to be released on her own recognizance, Schneider said.

"I'm proud that Cindy's my guest tonight," Woolsey said in an interview before the speech. "She has made a difference in the debate to bring our troops home from Iraq."

Woolsey offered Sheehan a ticket to the speech — Gallery 5, seat 7, row A — earlier Tuesday while Sheehan was attending an "alternative state of the union" press conference by CODEPINK, a group pushing for an end to the Iraq war.

Sheehan was arrested in September with about 300 other anti-war activists in front of the White House after a weekend of protests against the war in Iraq. In August, she spent 26 days camped near Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where he was spending a working vacation.


Stupid Case File for January 30, 2006

How Dumb Can One Be?

Thanks to readers Sue & David for the tip!

Courtesy of Bedfordshire on Sunday

AMBULANCEMEN had to release a man after he had stuck his head through the windscreen of a Vauxhall Astra.

The man had apparently headbutted the car and gone through the windscreen and was trapped by the inward-pointing sharp edges of the hole he had created.

He was found by police off Mile Road, Bedford, on Thursday night.

Several other vehicles in the area had also been damaged.

The man was apparently frustrated after learning he was a father but would not be allowed to see the child.

A large crowd had assembled to try and pacify him and an ambulance was called.

He was found kneeling on the bonnet of the car and was arrersted by a team of police officers.

The Astra's owner slept through the entire event as he was meant to have an early start for Friday.

The car-owner, who did not wish to be named, said: "Great. I am supposed to be doing a decorating job down south. I cannot work without it."

A man was arrested and faces charges of criminal damage.

Mugger Hides in Tiger Cage

Thanks to SCF reader Mr. Dodson for the tip!

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BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa — A suspected mugger being chased by security guards met a grisly end after he fled into a zoo and climbed into the tiger enclosure.

His mauled body was discovered Sunday by a visitor to the zoo in Bloemfontein, in central Southern Africa, prompting initial confusion as to how the man ended up in the enclosure.

Police said Wednesday the man and an accomplice had robbed a couple at knifepoint early Sunday. Security guards gave chase and one of the suspects jumped over the perimeter fence. He then apparently ran to the tiger's den in the middle of the zoo.

"What exactly happened we don't know and we won't ever know because the only person who could tell us is dead," police spokeswoman Else Gerber said.

She said there was an empty can of beer near the corpse and that the autopsy would reveal whether the man was intoxicated at the time.

Zoo officials have said the Bengal tigers will not be destroyed because they were blameless. The tigers had been fed on Saturday and so did not eat the man because they were not hungry, according to media reports.

SCF Tip: Ponzi Schemes Don't Work In The Long Ruin

Thanks to Johnny Undercover for the tip!

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When Gregory Setser's import empire came crashing down two years ago, little was left to pay back hundreds of investors and church groups who funded his International Product Investment Corp. with at least $160 million.

Big-name evangelists and everyday churchgoers are among those who were invited to invest in a plan to import cheap, foreign-made goods for pre-arranged sales to retailers like Garden Ridge, Kmart, Michaels and Pier 1.

But what remained after the Securities and Exchange Commission shut the company down serves as testament to the lavish California lifestyle of Mr. Setser, a former Canton, Texas, ceramic merchant.

Paid for by thousands of evangelical Christians:

A 100-foot yacht moored off Mexico, a private plane and helicopter parked at a Los Angeles airport, and a quartet of well-furnished homes in nearby Rancho Cucamonga.

This morning, jury selection is set to begin in a downtown Dallas federal courtroom to decide if the 49-year-old Mr. Setser, four family members and a German business associate carried off a massive Ponzi scheme from 2000 to 2003 that used religion as part of its sales pitch.

"That was the biggest betrayal of the whole thing," said investor Helen De Lemos of Houston. "The Christian affiliation was the big reason we took the risk in the first place."

Ms. De Lemos said she and her husband lost about $30,000 investing in an IPIC venture in July 2003. Th ey were drawn into the venture through a friend at church, who also lost his investment before the SEC shut down International Product Investment Corp.

"It sounded a little funny at first, but with a Christian organization we thought we could take that risk and maybe God would watch over it," Ms. De Lemos said.

Efforts to contact Mr. Setser in Canton, where he has been on home detention and electronic monitoring since early 2004, were unsuccessful. He and four other family members, including his wife and two adult children, have denied any wrongdoing.

The Trinity Foundation, a group that regularly blasts so-called prosperity gospel taught by many televangelists, has noted a growing trend in what's come to be called religious affinity fraud.

"It's part and parcel of the whole prosperity gospel deal," said the group's founder, Ole Anthony. "People like Setser get connected and close to spiritual leaders, who make money on the first one or tw! o levels of a scheme, and that gets approval of the fraud to believers," he said.

Over 100 witnesses

Court records suggest a complicated, confusing trail of Setser family spending and business deals that used IPIC money to pay for their homes, cars, a family member's wedding -- even cosmetic surgery -- instead of building its import business.

Lawyers on both sides of the criminal case filed thousands of pages of documents, and called for more than a hundred witnesses to stand by to testify in U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn's court. The trial could last for up to six weeks.

Among those who may be called to testify are evangelists Benny Hinn of Irving, Fort Worth's Kenneth Copeland and Florida-based Reinhard Bonnke of Christ For All Nations. Authorities believe they were duped by IPIC's scheme when the company paid them "profits" that turned out to be money taken in from new investors. In a Ponzi scheme, money from new investors is used to pay off old investors.

If convicted, the six defendants, each charged with 22 counts, could face statutory sentences of up to 45 years in prison.

Jurors may hear more than a simple accounting of how and where all the money may have gone.

Prosecutors plan to introduce evidence from court records filed last week that Mr. Setser and two family members threatened at least four people who may be called to testify against them.

In court records filed last week, prosecutor Jeff Ansley's filing wrote: "Gregory Setser threatened to have [the witness] and his family killed if he ever 'crossed' Setser.

"On numerous occasions, Setser claimed to [witness] that he had connections to organized crime, including the Mafia," Mr. Ansley wrote.

Another witness was told that he needed to be careful because he was being watched, and a third witness told authorities that "anyone who went against them in this case ... was going to go down," the document states.

The filing did not cite an exact time the threats were made, only that one threat was made after the Setser family members were indicted. No further charges of witness tampering have been folded into the criminal case.

Prosecutors also hope to introduce attempts by three Setser family members to bring in new investors in a diamond project linked to the United Nations -- long after their criminal indictment. The family would also get access to large stashes of money in offshore banks after the trial, according to court records.

Prosecutors also plan to tell jurors that all five Setser family members under indictment failed to file individual income tax returns since 1999.

Regardless of the outcome, those who lost money with IPIC have only a slim chance of collecting full restitution.

Mr. Setser promised investors returns of 25 to 50 percent in two or three months' time. Other investors were promised 6 or 7 percent returns each month for allowing IPIC or its subsidiaries to manage their money.

Accordi ng to court documents and interviews, goods were imported, including toys, knickknacks, decorative ironwork for gardens and electric scooters. Showcases were built in Los Angeles and Panama to allow IPIC employees to display to prospective investors warehouses stockpiled with mountains of cheaply bought bounty.

But such goods were "rarely" really purchased from abroad for resale to retailers as promised, according to Dennis Roossien, a court-appointed Dallas attorney who has spent more than two years tracking and selling off the remnants of IPIC to repay investors.

"It was simply stated that Setser and IPIC wanted to share the extraordinary blessing bestowed upon them with other like-minded Christian organizations," Mr. Roossien wrote in court documents.

His investigation involved a cadre of lawyers and forensic accountants who scanned bank accounts and offices from California to New York to Germany and Panama.

"Very little capital appears! to have been used to purchase merchandise," he wrote.

Investors who could prove they gave IPIC money claimed about $35 million in losses, but prosecutors believe IPIC took in at least $160 million -- no one knows for sure. The Setser family did not cooperate.

By last summer, Mr. Roossien's investigation had spanned the globe, but only a little more than $12 million was found to return to investors.

Documents show that almost $2 million came from investors who voluntarily paid back early "profits" IPIC had given them after the investors learned the money was really just new investor money.

Mr. Roossien also recovered about $6 million by selling Mr. Setser's personal estate -- which traced back to IPIC investor money.

Mr. Roossien never found any accounting by the Setsers of what was actually owed investors, should their business plans have actually worked.

Last summer, Mr. Roossien asked a federal judge to allow him to ap! prove refunds to be mailed out this fall -- when all is said ! and done payouts could be as little as 15 cents on the dollar.

Some items worthless

The rest of the missing IPIC money appears to have been squandered in grandiose, incomplete business ventures doomed to lose money -- or that would have required millions more in capital before they could be sold, court documents allege.

Much of the product lines actually purchased by the Setsers were part of the "elaborate sets" and couldn't be resold or were worthless, Mr. Roossien wrote.

Like the condoms and the corn liquor.

IPIC funds paid for millions of condoms from Brazil and thousands of liters of corn liquor from the U.S. -- all found in a warehouse in Central America.

"No one other than Gregory Setser appears to know how he envisioned selling the liquor or the condoms or why they were located in Panama," Mr. Roossien told the judge.

Ms. De Lemos remembered that her investment involved buy! ing a large shipment of latex condoms for a stateside buyer.

"I'm surprised to learn they ever bought any," Ms. De Lemos said. "I thought it was just another empty promise.

"Now, we can sort of laugh about it," she said. "It wasn't our life savings, but when you think about some who put in retirement savings, it's not funny at all."

Court-appointed lawyer Dennis Roossien has spent more than two years compiling a list of assets paid for by investors in International Product Investment Corp. Here's a partial list of what was found:

50,000 liters of corn liquor made in the U.S. and stored in a Panamanian warehouse, but no liquor sales permit for Panama.

7 million latex condoms from Brazil with a December 2004 expiratio! n date.

A 108-acre coffee plantation in western Panama bought for $200,000 that had yet to yield a bean.

A $1.2 million paint factory in Panama that never sold or manufactured anything.

Equipment for a bottling plant in Ensenada, Mexico, that sat in shipping crates.

A bottled water company with a few pallets of stock for show -- plans called for Panamanian tap water to be used as its source.

A $1.2 million "start-up" Internet service provider that never started up.

A worthless Tasmanian oil and gas project.

A record company to "ignite the singing career" of a Setser daughter. It lost $780,000.

450,000 gallons of obsolete, expired paint in a California warehouse used as a prop for investor pitches that cost $3 a gallon to dispose of under state law.

Hundreds of boxes of cheap toys from China with no interested buyers lined up.

A large extrusion machine that was bought despite its inventor's admissions that it didn't work.

An inoperable concrete building-block plant that never formed one concrete block.

Half ownership in an idle, steam-generated power plant near San Francisco that would cost millions more to be recommissioned, and required $6,000 a month to monitor.


Stupid Case File for January 29, 2006

Sometimes, It's The State Supreme Court That Is Stupid

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BISMARCK, N.D. — A judge has thrown out a Bismarck drunken driving case because the driver did not have the option of turning around at a checkpoint.

Brett Ehli was arrested in September during a checkpoint run by the North Dakota Highway Patrol. Ehli was charged with drunken driving and possession of contraband.

Drivers are pulled over at a checkpoint — and Judge Burt Riskedahl said the patrol did not run the operation correctly.

A North Dakota Supreme Court ruling says checkpoints have to be set up to let drivers avoid getting stopped without violating traffic laws.

In Ehli's case, the judge said the only way he could avoid getting stopped was to break another traffic law.

Highway Patrol Captain Mark Bethke said the ruling will change how drunken-driving checkpoints are run.

SCF Tip: Don't Rob Where People Know You

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Revenge is sweet, but laughing at dumb ex-boyfriends is even sweeter.

Colorado man Gary Belote allegedly robbed the bank where his ex-girlfriend works after she dumped him, where every single person knew him on sight, according to The Gazette.

"He robbed a bank where people knew him," Colorado Springs police Sgt. Scott Whittington told the paper. "Everybody was like, 'Oh, that's Gary.'"

The teller said he recognized Belote, 30, as he allegedly used a note to rob the USB Bank just west of Memorial Park around 1:45 p.m. on Thursday.

The alleged robber's ex was out for lunch during the stickup — after which Belote made his getaway on foot, later catching a ride with a stranger, cops said.

Officers found someone who knew the man Belote hitched a ride with while interviewing witnesses, called the driver and found out the intersection where he'd dropped the alleged ex-boyfriend bandit.

A man bolted for the exit the moment police Sgt. Bob Benjamin entered the nearby Salvation Army homeless shelter to ask if someone there knew Belote. A worker told Benjamin that was his man.

"I wasn't in there three seconds and he was out the door," Benjamin told The Gazette.

Belote almost smacked into Officer Eric Apodaca and Sgt. Angelo Butierres as he rounded the corner — and police said he had the loot crudely stuffed in his sock.

"It was hilarious. He didn't have a chance," Butierres told The Gazette. "I've been doing this for 24 years, and I've caught a lot of bad guys, but not that easily. It doesn't really get any easier than that."

Diner Robber Comes Back For Seconds

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Police say a robbery suspect held up a diner on Monday, went back for seconds on Wednesday and wound up shooting himself in the foot.

Police say they arrested Clayton Everett Teman, 23, who was hospitalized. A bullet had gone through his foot.

Springfield police Detective Tom Rappe said the robber encountered the same clerk in both stickups, and told her the second time he wanted more.

"He was a little upset due to the amount of money he got the first time, so he went back hoping to get more," said Springfield police Detective Tom Rappe.

As he left the diner, police said, the robber ran through a parking lot and fired several rounds from a handgun, hitting himself once.

Police said they weren't sure why he fired the gun, but said they suspected he was using methamphetamine.

Dealer Uses Business Cards

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The business cards got a response, but surely not what their owner had in mind when he had them printed up.

They came to the attention of Leavenworth police, who used them to make a drug arrest last week.

Sylvester J. Williams, 21, of Leavenworth, was charged Monday with possessing crack cocaine with the intent to sell it, Maj. Patrick Kitchens of the Leavenworth Police Department said.

Kitchens said Williams remained in custody Wednesday on $75,000 bond.

He said police had heard for some time that Williams had been selling drugs in the area. "Then we heard that he was handing out business cards," the officer said. "In the course of our investigation we were fortunate to come up with one, and we gave him a call."

Kitchens said the business card had an image of what appeared to be an alarm clock being hit by a boxing glove and said: "For a quick hit on time call the boss."

"When he answered, we agreed to buy some crack from him, we went up there, and we arrested him," Kitchens said.

The arrest was made Friday.

"It makes our job considerably easier when they advertise and let us know where to get ahold of them," Kitchens said.

Stupid Case File for January 26, 2006

Hiccups lead to two deaths

Thanks to reader Nelson Acuna for the tip on this story

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A Colombian man accidentally shot his nephew to death while trying to cure his hiccups by pointing a revolver at him to scare him, police in the Caribbean port city of Barranquilla said on Tuesday.

After shooting 21-year-old university student David Galvan in the neck, his uncle, Rafael Vargas, 35, was so distraught he turned the gun on himself and committed suicide, police said.

The incident took place on Sunday night while the two were having drinks with neighbors.

Galvan started to hiccup and Vargas, who works as a security guard, said he would use the home remedy for hiccups of scaring him. He pulled out his gun, pointed it at Galvan and it accidentally went off, witnesses told local television.

"They were drinking but they were aware of what was going on," one witness said.

Stupid Case File for January 24, 2006

Sometimes, There's No Need to Search For Evidence: Criminal Leaves His Name & Address

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A man who held up banks by claiming he had a bomb in a bag was arrested after police found the bag actually contained books, including a phone book that had a mailing label with the man's full name and address.

"It was clearly not his best move," Lawrence Police Chief John J. Romero said.

George Melendez was arrested Thursday at his home in Lowell and charged with the Jan. 6 robbery of a bank in Dracut. Police said he is also likely to face charges in bank robberies in Lawrence and Salem, N.H.

Investigators said Melendez would hand tellers a note claiming to have a bomb in his bag and demand large bills. As he left with the cash, he would leave behind the bag, prompting Dracut and Salem police to call in bomb squads as a precaution.

In each case, the satchel-type bags contained tangled wires and books.

After he allegedly hit a Sovereign Bank in Lawrence last week, police found a Lowell-area phone book in the bag the robber had left behind. They went to the address listed on the label and arrested Melendez, who also fit the bank tellers' description of the robber.

"It was so easy, so simple, it was hard to believe," Romero told The Eagle-Tribune.

Melendez was arraigned Friday at Saints Memorial Medical Center in Lowell, where he was taken after complaining of chest pains. He was held on $10,000 cash bail and is scheduled to appear in Lowell District Court on Feb. 16 for a probable cause hearing.


Sometimes, It's The JudgeThat's Stupid ... Not That The Criminal Is All That Bright Either

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Nearly 300 people who were awarded more than $450,000 in a class action lawsuit over jailhouse strip searches handed the money back to the state to pay child support and related debts.

Former prisoners who believed they were illegally strip searched between 1996 and 2004 at the York County Jail were awarded $3.3 million in the 1,350-member, class-action settlement.

State officials discovered that 284 plaintiffs owed child support, and working with the state attorney general's office and U.S. District Court, recovered $463,000.

Of the total, $240,000 went to the children's families, and the rest went to state and federal governments to help repay the cost of public assistance during the time that support payments were not available, state officials said.

In the York County strip-search case, plaintiffs objected to a policy of making all prisoners, even those facing misdemeanor charges, disrobe. Jail officials said the searches were to uncover hidden weapons or other contraband.

Editor's Commentary: Check out some previous posts about searches to uncover weapons and contraband. Why don't people understand that it is for everyone's safety that the corrections officers verify a person is not carrying such items?

Attention Criminals: Don't Leave A Note!

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A man on a weekend getaway was arrested after allegedly burglarizing the Fort Bragg motel where he was staying, then leaving a note indicating where to find him.

Enrique Rodriguez Vasquez, 37, was arrested on suspicion of burglary and possession of methamphetamine after police confronted him at the Best Western motel room he'd described in the note.

Police found a computer hard drive, television satellite device and $200 reported missing from the motel, said Fort Bragg Police Lt. Floyd Higdon. The stolen equipment was valued at $1,500.

Vasquez's poorly spelled note berated the motel manager for being absent from the office.

"There was no one here to attend us guest in rm427. You even left the office unattended. You could have been burglurized ... Your lucky I didn't steele," the note said in part.

Vasquez said his companion, Dana Lynn Jensen, 41, was unaware of the theft until afterward. She did however, admit owning half the methamphetamine and the stolen cash was in her suitcase, authorities said.

She was arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property and possession of a controlled substance.

Sometimes, It's The Cop That's Stupid

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A Chicago woman arrested for drunken driving slipped off her handcuffs and drove away in a police cruiser, police said on Saturday.

Chicago resident Veronique Armour, 22, was stopped early Friday as she drove in the wrong lane on a city street. While a police officer was removing Armour's 1995 Honda Civic hatchback from the street, she somehow escaped the handcuffs and drove away in the officer's cruiser, said police spokeswoman Joann Taylor.

Armour was caught a few minutes later in a parking lot about a mile away, police said.

In addition to charges of driving under the influence and related traffic violations, Armour faces charges of possessing a stolen vehicle and escaping from police.

Editor's Commentary: None of the contributors to the SCF have ever lost custody to anyone who was being detained.

Hit & Run Case: Victim is Ballot Box

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An angry man with a grudge against the government ran into a voting station in Canada on Monday, grabbed a ballot box and then drove over it with a truck before fleeing, officials said.

Police arrested the 56-year-old a few minutes later but would not confirm whether he was the same man who grabbed a ballot box and threw it in the river on election day in 2000.

The incident occurred as people were lining up in the Nova Scotia town of New Glasgow to vote in Monday's national election.

"The man ran in, grabbed the ballot box, then threw it under the wheels of his truck and took off ... the box was flat as a pancake," said Dana Doiron, a spokesman for Elections Canada in Atlantic Canada.

Despite the damage, local election officials managed to reconstruct the box and no ballots were lost, he said.

New Glasgow police chief Lorne Smith said the man would be charged with theft and damage to property.

"This is the result of an ongoing protest with the federal government over several issues," he told Reuters, declining to give further details.

Traffic Stop Leads to Man With No Legs

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An Oregon man hurled both of his prosthetic legs at a state trooper, striking him with one, after his son was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, police said on Monday.

The incident on Friday began when the trooper stopped a sport utility vehicle going the wrong way on a highway in southern Oregon.

The trooper at first detained only the driver, Adam Kackstetter, 26, after he became aggressive. But then his father, Joel Kackstetter, 53, a passenger in the vehicle, grew hostile, a police spokesman said.

The senior Kackstetter charged at the arresting officer several times before the trooper knocked him to the ground, according to the police report.

"Passenger removed a prosthetic leg and threw it at trooper, hitting trooper in chest. Passenger removed second leg, threw it at trooper but missed," the report said.

The father and son face multiple charges including assault on a public safety officer.

"It got to be quite a dangerous situation. I think the officer used a lot of discretion and restraint in the amount of force that he used in this situation," said Ed Caleb, Klamath County district attorney.

A lawyer for the Kackstetters could not be immediately reached for comment.

This crook gets an "A" for originality

Thanks to Scripturist for the tip on this story!

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Dutch police have arrested a thief they dubbed the "salamander man" who talked his way into the homes of dozens of unsuspecting people by saying he was looking for his lost salamander, hamster or iguana.

Police said Monday they had been hunting the 33-year-old homeless man for months and that he had admitted to about 60 thefts in towns across the country.

Once inside a house, the man stole wallets and loose cash. Police arrested him Friday after a tip off and found nine empty wallets in his car, which had been stolen the day before.


Stupid Case File for January 19, 2006

Another Would-Be Criminal Caught in the Act

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Workers arriving last month at the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in Bolivar, Mo., found a would-be prowler stuck in the air vent, his legs dangling on top of the roof, police told the News-Leader.

"He couldn't go backwards and he couldn't go forward," Bolivar Police Chief Michael Seibert told the paper. "You had to see it. It was quite intriguing."

Officers found tools such as a crowbar and pliers in his bag, and estimated Jason Bibeau, 23, had been dangling for 1½ to two hours before they found him and had the Bolivar Fire Department pull him out.

Bibeau told Bolivar cops he got up on the roof by putting a PVC pipe against the building and climbing it, according to a probable-cause affidavit. He then "ripped out a vent," tried to climb through it and got wedged.

"The guy was basically goofy," Seibert told the News-Leader. "He was like Santa Claus stuck in the chimney."

Police charged Bibeau with first-degree property damage and second-degree burglary


Man: I Needed The Insurance Money

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A man facing a big bill because he had blown the engine in his 1997 BMW decided to bury his car instead and collect $20,000 from his insurance company by claiming it was stolen.

Matthew Mueller rented a backhoe in October 2002 and buried the car on property owned by his father in rural northeast Ohio.

Police received tips last year and excavated the vehicle.

Mueller, 35, of Akron, was sentenced to a year in prison for insurance fraud, tampering with evidence, falsification and receiving stolen property.

He apologized in Portage County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday and paid restitution to Progressive Insurance along with $15,500 to state officials for their costs digging up the vehicle.

"It was stupidity and completely out of character," he said. "I broke the law and I tried to conceal it."


How Can I Pay Child Support If I Am Dead?

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Police arrested a man accused of faking his death more than 25 years ago to avoid paying child support.

Johnny Sterling Martin, 58, had a relative call Family Court in 1979 and report that he died during a bar fight in Alabama, authorities said. That call came a few months after he escaped from a work detail while serving a one-year jail term for failing to pay $4,120 in support for two children.

He was captured Tuesday and jailed, and now owes more than $30,000 in child support and faces an escape charge, authorities said.

"Johnny Martin is the ultimate deadbeat dad, faking his own death to avoid paying money to support his young children who were living in Lexington County," Sheriff James Metts said.

Martin has been living in Myrtle Beach, about 150 miles away, and had been using his real name for about 20 years, investigators. He has been married four times — twice since his disappearance — and has a third child, sheriff's Maj. John Allard said.

The investigation was reopened last week when police got a tip from one of Martin's ex-wives that he was alive and living in Myrtle Beach. A fingerprint analysis confirmed Martin's identity, investigators said.

They are working to identify the caller who told family court Martin was dead.


Woman: I Stole Money to Pay My Restitution

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A Greenville woman who admitted she was stealing money in part to pay restitution in two previous embezzlement cases was sentenced to 12 years in prison Wednesday.

Ramona Obera Tucker, 52, was the office manager of a local business. She would take company checks meant to pay invoices, obtain a certified check from Bank of America, then convert those checks to her own use, U.S. Attorney Johnny Gasser said in a news release.

Tucker has been convicted twice before of embezzlement in 1997 and 1998 and was using some of the money she took to pay restitution in those cases, Gasser said.

U.S. District Judge Henry M. Herlong Jr. said he punished Tucker harshly because it was the only was to safeguard businesses from a repeat offender.

Tucker pleaded guilty before Herlong in October, and the judge also presided over Tucker's two previous embezzlement convictions.


And look at what this guy stole..

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A bungling German thief left a Hansel and Gretel-style trail of feathers which led police from the crime scene to his front door, authorities said Tuesday.

Police in the western city of Bochum said the man ripped open his quilted jacket as he broke into a shop to steal a karaoke set and did not notice it was leaking feathers all the way home. A witness saw the break-in and quickly told police.

"Luckily they were able to act before the next story was played out -- "Gone with the Wind," said Bochum police spokesman Frank Plewka. "All they had to do was follow the feathers."

The 36-year-old was astonished when police came knocking at his door shortly afterwards to arrest him.


Stupid Case File for January 14, 2006

Warning Sign: Vehicles Subject to Search ... Yes, This Means We Look For Guns & Drugs

Courtesy of "Decision of the Day"

U.S. v. Prevo, 04-15310 (11th Cir., Jan. 11, 2006)

File this one under stupid criminal tricks. The Eleventh Circuit affirms a drug and gun conviction based on evidence seized from the car of defendant Arlease Prevo when she was visiting a friend in state prison. Despite signs clearly stating that all cars entering prison grounds were subject to search, Prevo showed up for a regular visit with crack, a crack pipe, a gun, and $22,000 in cash in her car. The Court concludes that the facility’s policy of searching automobiles that come onto prison property is constitutional, so the search in this case was reasonable.

Even Cops Briefly Think About Stealing Street Signs

Personal Blog Entry: If kicknit removes this post, I'll have to think of a creative use for his set of handcuffs. Any suggestions are welcome.

I saw this image on Generation XY. I wouldn't mind having these signs displayed in my home. Of course, I would never commit a crime.

Stupid Case File for January 11, 2006

Man sets self on fire in courtroom after fine

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SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean man was in critical condition after setting himself on fire Wednesday in a courtroom where he was sentenced to a $300 fine for disturbing the peace, a court official and an emergency room physician said.

The district court in Uijongbu north of Seoul had just upheld a fine he received in 2004 for causing a disturbance at a mobile phone sales outlet where he was demanding a new phone number.

The man walked out of the courtroom after the sentence, doused himself with heating oil, came back to the courtroom and set himself on fire, the court official said by telephone.

The man suffered third-degree burns all over his body and was being transported to a burn center in Seoul, an emergency room doctor at a Uijongbu hospital that first received him said.

"His life is on the line," the doctor said.

Nobody else in the sparsely attended courtroom was hurt, the court official said.


Woman poisons trees

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A Vancouver woman pleaded guilty on Thursday to poisoning several trees that border the city's downtown Stanley Park to improve the view of the ocean from her condominium.

June Matheson admitted she purchase herbicide in the United States and applied it to five trees in the spring of 2004 in an effort kill them. Three trees later died, according to a court document.

A witness told police that Matheson, a well known interior designer, had complained that the city-owned trees, which ranged in height between 25 and 45 feet, had grown too tall and she wanted to "get rid of them."

Prosecutors said Matheson may have felt an improved view of nearby English Bay would increase the value of her condo, which she sold in October 2004 for nearly C$1.7 million ($1.5 million), and called her actions "selfish in the extreme".

Matheson, 72, agreed last month to pay C$50,000 to the city to replace the dead trees and help plant others in Stanley Park, which is one of Canada's most famous urban parks. Local media reported she was given an absolute discharge by the court following the guilty plea.


Robbery Suspect 'Sings the Blues'

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Memo to robbers: If you disguise yourself as a Smurf, make sure you wipe behind your ears afterward. Anchorage police said a man painted his face and tried to rob a hotel, but was arrested when officers spotted residual blue stains on his neck, ears and forehead.

Daniel Peter Clark, 19, is charged with robbery and assault.

Anchorage police Lt. Paul Honeman said a clerk at the Super 8 Motel said a man with a blue face walked in and asked for money at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. When the clerk said no, the man pulled out a knife.

The clerk retreated into a hotel office and locked the door and the suspect fled on foot, Honeman said.

Police put out a description of the suspect: a man in his early 20s, thin, with short blond hair wearing a puffy red coat like a ski jacket. And a blue face.

Much of the description sounded familiar to Officer Kevin McDonald.

A day earlier, McDonald had responded to a disturbance call at the Chelsea Inn. He spoke to a young man with short blond hair who was wearing a puffy red coat.

McDonald and Sgt. Chris Sims drove to the Chelsea Inn and spoke to the desk clerk. Twenty minutes after the robbery call, Clark appeared. "In runs Mr. Clark, still wearing his blue face," Honeman said. "It was a clue."

Blue ink on his fingers also was a tip-off.

Police believe Clark ran from the Super 8, washed his face and walked to the Chelsea, where he was checked in. Blue stain, however, was prominent on his ears, neck and throat.

Police obtained a search warrant for Clark's room. They recovered a knife sheath and an ink blotter commonly used at bingo parlors for stamping cards.

"He appears to have cut it open and emptied the contents into an ice bucket," Honeman said. "He painted himself up good."

Police photographed Clark with the blue stains in place.

He is being held at the Anchorage Jail with bail set at $3,000, Honeman said.

Suspect Concealed $10K Up His Sleeve

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A man with a bulging arm was arrested after police found more than $10,000 in cash in his sleeve, money allegedly stolen from a Long Island post office, authorities said Wednesday.

John Howard, 36, of Coram, was stopped by police on Tuesday after he was observed behaving strangely on a street in Shirley, said Suffolk County Police Detective Lt. James Maher. Howard was wet and dirty and had a large bulge protruding from his left sleeve, he said.

In addition to finding $10,203 in cash — ranging from $1 to $100 bills — wrapped in a towel up his sleeve, Maher said police found crack cocaine and a BB gun that resembled a real firearm on Howard's body.

Howard allegedly robbed the Wyandanch post office of more than $12,000 on Monday, Maher said.

The robber entered the post office at 2:15 p.m., flashed a pistol and vaulted the counter. He then a displayed a note and forced employees to empty their cash drawers and open the safe. He fled on foot.

Howard was charged with two counts of first-degree robbery and one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance. He also could face federal charges because the robbery involved a federal facility, Maher said.

Howard was scheduled to be arraigned later Wednesday in First District Court in Central Islip.

Following an investigation, police said Howard also was charged in connection with two earlier armed robberies, said Lt. Gerard Gigante. The first occurred on Jan. 4 at the Fashion Bug store in Middle Island where $700 was taken, and the second was on Nov. 2, 2005, at the Town Express Mart in Mastic where he allegedly stole $500 and a cell phone.

defendant brings pot to court

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A Hungarian court has launched an investigation into how the defendant in a drug case could go through a trial carrying a pot of wild hemp, the national news agency MTI said Tuesday.

The growing of wild hemp (cannabis sativa) is illegal in Hungary as it can be used as a narcotic.

A Budapest court sentenced Peter Juhasz, the vice president of the Hemp Seed Association, to a 70,000 forint ($338.5) fine Monday for marijuana consumption.

The case started after Juhasz and several other Hemp Seed activists reported themselves to the police to protest against a legal ban on soft drugs.

Juhasz took the pot of hemp, which had no connection with the ongoing case, into the courtroom to demonstrate his resistance to the ban and to show soft drugs could be produced at home without payment to drug dealers, the group said on its www.kendermag.hu homepage.

The investigation is to unveil how he could take the hemp illegally into the building without being challenged.

A photo on the association's internet page showed Juhasz in the courtroom with a pot of hemp in his lap.

vandal photocopies face for cops

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Vandals who broke into and wrecked a northern Mexican primary school over the Christmas holidays were thoughtful enough to leave the photocopied mug shot of one of their gang at the scene of the crime.

Mexican television showed a black-and-white print on Tuesday of the squashed, chubby face and hands of a young boy. The photocopy was made at the school in the northern city of Monterrey and left among smashed chairs and torn books.

Headmistress Maria del Rosario Gomez told Televisa news it was the third time the school had been vandalized, and said some of her own pupils were likely to blame.

Stupid Case File for January 10, 2006

SCF Awarded "Blogs of Note" by Blogger Staff.

It's with great pleasure that we announce your favorite blog that brings giggles and chuckles has been awarded the honor of being selected as the Blog of Note for January 10, 2006. We are appreciative the staff at Blogger.com recognize the blog.

Everyone at SCF thanks you for keeping us motivated to share these amazing, albeit weird, stories of the stupid criminal.

Stupid Case File for January 6, 2006

Tip: Make Sure Getaway Van Starts Before You Rob!

Courtesy of


ROCKFORD, IL - This would-be robber probably is not cut out for a life in crime.About 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, Shawn D. Farr, 18, of Rockford parked his trusty getaway van outside the front door of the Stop-N-Shop gas station and convenience store, 2501 Huffman Blvd., and entered the business wearing a dark ski mask.

It wasn't clear what demands, if any, were made before a delivery man entered the store through a rear door and startled Farr. Police said Farr fled to his van only to find it wouldn't immediately start.

Employees at the store jotted down the van's license plate number and called police.

Police located Farr and his vehicle in the 1400 block of North Church Street where a short foot chase ensued. He was arrested on a charge of attempted armed robbery and resisting police. The armed robbery charge stems from the recovery of a knife.Farr also was found to be wanted on two warrants, and detectives linked him to a residential burglary that occurred in December in the 3000 block of Searles Avenue. In connection with that crime, Farr was charged with residential burglary and criminal damage to property. Farr was being held in the Winnebago County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond.

Stupid Case File for January 4, 2006

A man apparently looking for free lunch was arrested for allegedly assaulting a pizza delivery man.

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A man apparently looking for free lunch was arrested for allegedly assaulting a pizza delivery man.

Police say Virgil Dennis ordered three pies from Pizza Hut at lunchtime Tuesday and gave the address of a vacant apartment downstairs from his own. When the driver arrived, authorities say 22-year-old Dennis pressed a knife against the delivery man's neck and demanded the pizzas.

The crime was reported and police traced the number Dennis provided Pizza Hut to an apartment two floors up from the one where the pies were delivered. When officers arrived there, they said a young man and woman opened the door, holding a small girl who was eating a slice of pizza.

"That was our first clue," said Officer George Springer.

Officers said they found Dennis hiding in the bathroom. While police waited for an officer to return with the delivery driver to identify his assailant, Dennis bolted from the apartment barefoot, handcuffs still dangling on one wrist.

"This guy jumps across about six different balconies, and scales down to the second floor," said Officer Darin Snapp.

After a brief struggle in the parking lot, police got him under control, and the driver identified Dennis as the thief.

Jackson County prosecutors charged Dennis with first-degree robbery and armed criminal action. Police returned the uneaten slices to Pizza Hut.


Burglar Cooks, Makes Fresh Juice

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Apparently, you can build up quite an appetite breaking-and-entering. James Michael Fowler, 26, was arrested for burglary Tuesday after a neighbor watching the house found a pan of cocktail franks cooking on the stove and some freshly made orange juice nearby.

Anderson Police Lt. Layton Creamer says when the neighbor went to check on the home, she saw the food cooking and a black stocking cap on the kitchen counter.

Creamer said it looked like Fowler broke into the two-story house through a first-floor window.

Officers didn't find Fowler at first. But when authorities returned to collect evidence, the neighbor noticed the key to the patio door wasn't in the lock, Creamer said.

That's when police saw Fowler lying, coiled up on the deck floor, Creamer said.

After authorities surrounded the house, they arrest Fowler as he tried to get back in through the deck door.

"He heard us and was trying to make his escape," Creamer said.


"Hey! How'd you find me?"

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German police Thursday captured two men suspected of stealing from 15 cars and two garden sheds by following their footprints in the snow for several miles.

Policemen were checking up on a car whose alarm had been set off just after midnight in the town of Hoentrop when they found a smashed window and two sets of footprints which they followed more than ten streets.

"At one point the tracks disappeared because someone had cleared the pavement outside their home in the middle of the night," police said in a statement.

After this minor setback, the officers picked up the trail again. The two sets of footprints led them directly to the entrance of a flat where the burglars not only stored their booty but also left their shoes and gloves to dry.


Maybe you shouldn't answer a stolen phone..

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Swedish police caught a burglar after he answered a phone he had just stolen and did not hang up, letting them eavesdrop on his getaway ride in a taxi.

The man broke into a house in Overtornea in the far north of Sweden, stealing a mobile phone and other possessions.

The police rang the stolen phone and heard him swearing about the late arrival of a taxi which he had ordered to take him to neighboring Kalix, 37 miles away.

"The thief answered the phone but then just put it away without turning it off," said Overtornea policeman Kurt Paavola.

The police tracked down the taxi and arrested the man late Monday.