SCF Tip: In Jail? Remember, They're Watching You.

Courtesy of

A judge changed a sentence from six months in prison to eight years after a teenager convicted in a drive-by shooting wrote a letter asking a friend to take over his marijuana dealings.

Aaron K. Lawless, 18, agreed to testify against two men who prosecutors say set up the shooting that killed 19-year-old Alisha Quillen last July. The two men were sentenced to eight years in prison while Lawless got six months. He had only 20 days left to serve.

Knox County Criminal Court Judge Mary Beth Leibowitz gave Lawless the shorter sentence even after learning he lied about his role in the shooting.

Leibowitz changed her mind about the sentence last week after authorities intercepted a letter Lawless wrote to a friend about "pushing some weed" while he is on probation.

SCF Tip: Stealing Something? Make Sure the Getaway Car Is Big Enough!

Courtesy of

Police who charged a Cincinnati couple with stealing a big-screen television said they should have thought about a bigger car.

Police stopped Richard and Stephanie North early Wednesday when they noticed their Mercury Sable going down a road with one of the doors open. Police found a 55-inch flat-screen TV on the back seat, hanging out the door.

Earlier, police had responded to an alarm at a TV and appliance store where the window on the front door was smashed out and a Hitachi flat-panel television was missing.

Richard North was charged with breaking and entering and felony theft. His wife was charged with complicity.

SCF Tip: Running Away From The Law? Watch Where You Run!

Courtesy of

A shoplifter took a very wrong turn -- toward Rome's police headquarters -- while fleeing a supermarket with two stolen bottles of alcohol.

Hearing screams of "Stop thief!," heavily armed police just outside the building grabbed the 19-year-old, a police spokeswoman said Thursday.

Stunned, the crook immediately confessed and handed over the liquor.

"Yes, I stole the bottles. But not this chocolate," he said, pointing to a candy bar he had purchased earlier, according to Il Messaggero newspaper.

Three of his friends, spectators to the event, were arrested as accomplices, the spokeswoman said.

Who Hires These Idiots?

Courtesy of

A German policeman was nabbed for a bank robbery after he used his girlfriend's car for the heist, authorities said Thursday.

By using his girlfriend's car, he "might as well have left his business card, it was really stupid," said Horst Roos, spokesman for state prosecutors in the western city of Trier.

Police quickly discovered the boyfriend of the car's owner was on the Trier police force, and recognized their colleague's likeness in video footage of the masked robber.

When the 52-year-old heard he had fallen under suspicion, he confessed -- just a day after the armed raid.

He said he stole the money -- more than 10,000 euros ($12,430) -- because he was in financial trouble, Roos said. Armed robbery carries a minimum jail sentence of five years in Germany.

Who Hires an Idiot Like This?

Courtesy of

A deputy sheriff was suspended without pay for allegedly sending his neighbor a nude picture of himself and sending her messages saying he was naked in her yard, authorities said.

Anthony Fritz, 31, was suspended from the Dauphin County Sheriff's Office on March 23, when he was charged with stalking, open lewdness and two counts of harassment, county Sheriff Jack Lotwick said.

The woman, who lives across the street from Fritz in Highspire, told investigators Fritz began sending her sexually suggestive text messages from his cell phone in February, police said. She ignored them, hoping he would stop, but he continued sending her messages, "and their content got worse," police said.

On Feb. 9, he e-mailed her a photo of himself naked, police said. On March 4 and 5, he allegedly sent her text messages saying that he was behind her home naked.

Fritz has an unlisted telephone number and could not be reached for comment Thursday. His attorney, Jerry Russo, did not return a telephone message left Thursday afternoon.

None of the alleged offenses occurred while Fritz was on duty, Lotwick said.

Fritz was informed of the charges by mail and is awaiting a preliminary hearing, Dauphin County District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. said Thursday.

Empty Handed & Lost

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A would-be robber who came up empty at a sports complex struck out for good when he got lost searching for an exit.

The 61-year-old man, armed with what looked like a gun, entered the Uihlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee at 12:45 p.m. Thursday, police said.

He first tried to hold up a woman in an office, but she had no money, according to Capt. Darlene Jenkins. He then tried to mug a man who had a wallet — which turned out empty, Jenkins said.

The frustrated robber tried to flee but got lost and couldn't find the exit, Jenkins said.

People eventually realized the man's gun was fake and held him for police. When authorities arrived, the man complained of chest pains and was taken to a hospital before police brought him to jail.

Doc, Why Aren't You Wearing Latex Gloves?

Courtesy of

A 76-year-old man claiming to be a doctor went door-to-door in a Florida neighborhood offering free breast exams, and was charged with sexually assaulting two women who accepted the offer, police said on Thursday.

One woman became suspicious after the man asked her to remove all her clothes and began conducting a purported genital exam without donning rubber gloves, investigators said.

The woman then phoned the Broward County Sheriff's Office and the suspect fled. He was arrested at another woman's apartment in the same Lauderdale Lakes neighborhood on Wednesday, a sheriff's spokesman said.

The white-haired suspect, Philip Winikoff, carried a black bag and claimed to be visiting on behalf of a local hospital.

"He told the woman that he was in the neighborhood offering free breast exams," sheriff's spokesman Hugh Graf said in a statement.

At least two women, both in their 30s, let him into their homes and he fondled and sexually assaulted them, the investigators said.

Winikoff was not a doctor, Graf said. He worked as a shuttle driver for an auto dealership

Stupid Laws, Stupid Courts, One Free Man

Thanks again to Appellate Decisions for a story that really frustrates many law enforcement folks.

U.S. v. Herrera, 05-3057 (10th Cir., Apr. 19, 2006)

After a Kansas state trooper pulled over Robert Herrera’s pick-up truck, Herrera was arrested for driving without proof of insurance. In a subsequent inventory search of the vehicle, the trooper discovered 23 kilos of cocaine. Herrera moved to suppress the cocaine, arguing that the stop and subsequent search violated his Fourth Amendment rights, but the district court denied his motion. Herrera was convicted and appealed to the Tenth Circuit.

On appeal, the government argued that the trooper’s actions were lawful under a Kansas statute allowing random administrative searches of commercial vehicles. Here, the trooper believed that Herrera’s pick-up truck qualified as a commercial vehicle because it had a heavy hydraulic lifter on the back and a sign for a painting company on the side. However, the truck was only 10,000 pounds – one pound short of the statutory definition of a commercial vehicle.

Accordingly, the Tenth Circuit rejects the government’s administrative search rationale. It also rejects the government’s argument that the evidence need not be suppressed under U.S. v. Leon, in which the Supreme Court created a good faith exception to the exclusionary rule. The Tenth explains that it has only applied the Leon good faith exception to cases where an officer relied in good faith on a third party’s mistake. Here, the trooper who conducted the unlawful search was the one who made the mistake. Although there may someday be a case in which the Tenth Circuit decides that Leon should apply to an officer’s own mistake, this is not the rare case that justifies extending the good faith exception in this manner. Accordingly, Herrera’s conviction must be vacated, and he’ll likely go free.

Elaborate Explanations ... on Why I Want to Kill My Lawyer

Thanks toAppellate Decisions for the story.


U.S. v. Teague 04-2071 (10th Cir., Apr. 21, 2006)

Divorce proceedings are usually an ugly process for everyone involved, including the lawyers. This criminal appeal tells a scary story of a divorce client who went off the deep end and began threatening his former lawyer, James Locatelli. After a series of increasingly angry emails in which the ex-client, Anthony Teague, demanded that Locatelli refund his fees, the attorney reported the threats to the FBI. An FBI agent contacted Teague to suggest that he tone down his emails; the next day, Teague sent Locatelli a one-sentence email entitled "Sunshine and Rainbows," that read, "You and your family are going to die, Jim." At his subsequent criminal trial, Teague had an elaborate explanation for every threatening email. For example, the final threat was simply a "biological truth." Needless to say, Teague was convicted and the Tenth Circuit

Need a Place to Hide? Even the Ceiling Won't Protect You

Courtesy of

A woman apparently didn't want to leave a discount store on Thursday.

At about 11:30 a.m., authorities responded to a call from a Pamida store employee reporting that a woman was trying to pass a bad check, Fergus Falls Police Capt. Steve Adams said.

The 36-year-old woman was in the checkout line on Thursday when squad cars showed up. Rather than leaving the store through its front doors, she bolted for the back of the store, Adams said.

Using a police dog, police found her in the suspended ceiling around 4 p.m. The woman was taken to the Otter Tail County Detention Center.

SCF Tip: Growing Pot? Buy a Fire Extinguisher!

Courtesy of

Firefighters dousing a fire in a new home were confused when the man they thought was the owner suddenly left — until they found $700,000 worth of marijuana plants in the basement, officials said.

"It seemed so strange to me" that the man left, said Wadsworth Fire Chief Ralph Copley. "If it were my home burning, I'd want to be there."

After firefighters extinguished the fire, which started in the attic early Friday morning, they found 239 marijuana plants filling one-fourth of the basement, which was wired throughout for indoor plant growing, authorities said.

"It was unreal," Copley said. "In 24 years, I've never seen a fire quite like that."

The Medina County Drug Task Force and firefighters on Friday confiscated items from the home, including peat moss, 1,000-watt bulbs and large reflecting discs. The basement had no fire damage.

The marijuana-cultivating system was wired to the home's electrical system in a way that bypassed the meter, said Michael Barnhardt, acting director of the task force. Such wiring would help a grower avoid the large electric bills that clue in investigators, he said.

Copley said the cause of the fire was unknown, but it did not appear to be related to the marijuana operation or electrical wiring. It caused about $150,000 in damage.

The home, bought for $229,000 less than one month ago, is owned by a Lan Le. There is no telephone listing under that name in the northeast Ohio city 30 miles south of Cleveland.

Ooops! Forgot Something!

Courtesy of

A man accused of burglarizing a laundromat in Elko figured he made a clean escape over the weekend when he took off with the store's six video surveillance cameras.

But it turns out he left some rather compelling evidence behind — the video machine and videotape that recorded his face each time he stood in front of the cameras at the Southside Laundry.

Elko police said they came away with several close-ups of the suspect, Robert Lynn White, 52, Elko.

And even if the portraits were a little fuzzy, police said they would have been able to easily identify him because he was wearing cowboy chaps and a trench coat, the usual attire he wears around town.

Police are still working to recover the missing cameras but in the meantime they have arrested White on suspicion of grand larceny. The store is owned by Elko County Commissioner John Ellison

Yeah, I Stole It ... Now Help Me!

Courtesy of

A man who tried to steal an ATM with a backhoe was arrested when he asked police officers who were chasing him for help after he jumped into the Kansas River, police said.

Police said the man, in his 50s, used the backhoe to break into a convenience store in Kansas City, Kan., then tried to drive away with the Automated Teller Machine. As the man tried to flee, the machine and 12 packs of soda fell from the backhoe, police said.

Police followed the man as he took the backhoe through a wooded area before fleeing on foot.

After jumping into the Kansas River, the man swam out about 15 feet from shore, then called for help, saying he was drowning, the police department said.

Two officers jumped into the river, rescued him and arrested him, police said.

The man was taken to a hospital after complaining of an ankle injury, police said. The two officers were unharmed.

I Can't Come To Work Today ...

Courtesy of

Everybody’s had days when they felt bad enough to call in sick to work.

Then there’s the crowd — and you know who you are — who are prone to call in with so much as a hangnail.

But a particularly devious Iowa couple took it one step further. Since they couldn’t necessarily call themselves in dead, they killed their “son” instead.

The fictional fiasco started in December, when James Snyder and Mary Jo Jensen began telling their employer that their son was very ill and they couldn’t come to work, the Associated Press reports. But they technically didn’t even have a son.

Snyder, Jensen’s boyfriend, claimed that Jensen’s kid from a previous relationship was actually his own, so when the sort-of-son fell ill, the pair had to skip out on work to tend to him together.

But like any good soap-opera plot, this screwball scheme snowballed.

Police say the pair told their employer that the boy, after struggling on life support, died at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., so they submitted an obituary to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier to back their story up.

Only problem was, the kid was spotted chowing down at an area restaurant after his obituary ran — looking pretty good for a dead guy.

Police caught on, and Snyder was charged with tampering with records. Jensen was charged with being an accessory after the fact.

Records show the son told police about the pair’s plan.

Guy Buys Opticon on Ebay

Courtesy of

A man who said he bought a device that let him change traffic lights from red to green has received a $50 ticket on suspicion of interfering with a traffic signal.

Jason Niccum of Longmont told the Daily Times-Call that the device, which he bought on eBay for $100, helped him cut his time driving to work.

"I guess in the two years I had it, that thing paid for itself," he told the newspaper Wednesday.

Niccum was cited March 29 after police said they found him using a strobe-like device to change traffic signals.

"I'm always running late," police quoted Niccum as saying in an incident report.

The device, called an Opticon, is similar to what firefighters use to change lights when they respond to emergencies. It emits an infrared pulse that receivers on the traffic lights pick up.

Niccum was cited after city traffic engineers who noticed repeated traffic-light disruptions on certain intersections spotted a white Ford pickup passing by whenever the light patterns were disrupted.

City traffic engineer Joe Olson said traffic engineers plan to update the city's Opticon system this year to block unauthorized light-changing signals.

I Have the Right to Remain Silent ...

Courtesy of

A Serbian prisoner using needle, thread and safety pins stitched his lips and tongue together to avoid a scheduled court hearing in his robbery case, the Blic newspaper reported Saturday.

Zoran Raskovic, 27, in custody at Belgrade's central prison, is one of six people charged with a 2003 bank heist in the central Serbian town of Mladenovac, when the group allegedly made away with the equivalent of about $153,000.

A prison guard discovered Raskovic on Friday morning after he had apparently sewed his mouth together overnight.

The needle and the safety pins were likely smuggled into the prison, Blic said. A prison surgeon was called in and removed the self-inflicted stitches, but Raskovic, who had lost some blood, subsequently was too weak to appear in court Friday.

Raskovic's lawyer, Sanja Radenkovic, told Blic she was "in shock" as her client had never been a "psychologically unstable" person.

"He likely wanted to protest the unfair length of his imprisonment pending trial," she was quoted as saying.

These boots are made for ...

Courtesy of

A former worker at the Royal Australian Mint has pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of dollars from his employer by regularly hiding two-dollar coins in his shoes and walking out of the building.

Prosecutors allege 48-year-old William Bosia Grzeskowiak stole more than 155,000 dollars (112,580 US) from the Canberra mint between April 2005 and February 2006.

Coining hall worker Grzeskowiak literally walked out with about 600 dollars each time by secreting the two-dollar coins in his boots, and sometimes his lunchbox, under the eyes of watchful security guards, they said.

He admitted the theft charge but his lawyers said he would dispute the amount stolen during sentencing hearings later this month.

Grzeskowiak was arrested in southern Victoria state in February after he tried to change a large number of two-dollar coins for notes.

Police said they found more than 100,000 dollars in coins hidden in his mother's garage, and estimate more than 23,000 dollars had been converted into other forms of cash by the time of the arrest.

In Jail? Why Not Hire a Hitman?

Courtesy of

A man in jail on charges of threatening to blow up the county courthouse was accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill four people and beat up his brother, authorities said.

William D. Mayercheck actually contacted an undercover police officer, not a hit man, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Mayercheck, 63, of New Stanton, was arraigned on five counts of criminal solicitation and related charges.

According to court documents, an informant in the Westmoreland County Prison told county Detective Terry Kuhns in December that Mayercheck intended to hire a hit man to kill several people who were causing him legal problems.

Kuhns provided a telephone number to the informant and, the next day, Mayercheck phoned the officer from a pay phone inside the prison, according to court documents. Authorities allege that Mayercheck, who nicknamed himself "Bloodhound," gave the purported assassin a list of five people.

Prosecutors said he wanted the man to kill his ex-wife, his brother's girlfriend, his court-appointed psychiatrist, and another man whom Mayercheck accused of stealing his car and motorcycle. Mayercheck also wanted his brother's arms broken, prosecutors said.

Mayercheck's family said he isn't a criminal.

"He was just depressed and despondent over his divorce," said Dr. Joseph Mayercheck, who was allegedly targeted by his brother. "He needed some treatment. After he got that treatment, he was fine."

Mayercheck was jailed in October on terroristic threat charges, accused of threatening to blow up the courthouse with a pipe bomb. Prosecutors said he sent another man to buy dynamite to build bombs that would be placed at the courthouse and at the Greensburg law office of his ex-wife's attorney.

A judge in December committed Mayercheck to a state hospital for mental treatment for 60 days.

A preliminary hearing on the latest charges is scheduled for April 13. Mayercheck remains in the county prison.

Erasable Ink Fraud

Courtesy of

Prosecutors say a former deputy township trustee wrote checks in erasable ink to herself and her husband, then altered them after they cleared the bank.

Teresa Orsburn and her husband, former Keener Township Trustee Michael Orsburn, were named as defendants in a 15-count federal fraud indictment returned by a grand jury on Tuesday and sealed until the Jasper County couple surrendered two days later, the U.S. attorney's office in Hammond announced Friday.

Michael Orsburn was the elected trustee in northwestern Indiana township from January 1999 until his resignation on March 31, 2005, after the fraud scheme had been discovered by other trustees who examined bank records, prosecutors said in a news release.

Orsburn appointed his wife the deputy trustee, and beginning in 2000, she wrote 117 unauthorized checks from the township checking account payable to herself or her husband, prosecutors said.

"Most of the unauthorized checks were written in erasable ink. When the canceled checks were returned from the bank with the monthly statements, Teresa altered the checks to make it appear that they were payable to a township vendor. She also made false entries in the check registered to disguise the true payee," the news release said.

Prosecutors did not reveal the amount drawn from the checking accounts.

The Orsburns were released after turning themselves in, said Mary Hatton, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors. She said she had no other information the case.

Calls to a residential telephone listing for a Mike Orsburn in Keener Township were not answered Friday afternoon.

Another Stolen Police Vehicle ...

Courtesy of

A woman who stole a West Virginia State Police cruiser led officers on a high-speed chase through Virginia and three counties in West Virginia before the car ran out of gas and she was captured.

A little before 9 p.m. Thursday, officers from Frederick County, Va., pursued a stolen car into Berkeley County on Interstate 81. West Virginia State Police joined in on the chase.

The vehicle was stopped after Deborah Grace Williams, 37, allegedly rammed into the passenger side of a West Virginia cruiser. Williams' hometown was not immediately available.

Investigators said Williams was arrested, but somehow slipped out of her handcuffs and took off in the cruiser. She allegedly led officers on a second pursuit through Berkeley, Morgan and Hampshire counties and Frederick County, Va.

Williams was captured in the Bloomery area of Hampshire County at about 10:15 p.m. when the car ran out of gas after hitting two Virginia State Police cruisers.

Williams is facing various traffic charges as well as being a fugitive from justice. She is being held in the Potomac Highland Regional Jail near Romney.

A 2nd Conviction for Stealing Underwear?

Courtesy of

A 25-year-old man convicted of stealing hundreds of pairs of underwear was sentenced on Friday to one year in jail for his second conviction of stealing panties.

Anthony Allen Scholfield was also sentenced to 10 years probation on Friday in Dunn County Circuit Court, following his guilty plea to a felony burglary charge in February. He had faced more than 18 years in prison.

"It sure could have been a lot worse. It's a difficult crime," said Scholfield's attorney, Peter Morin.

Scholfield had been accused of stealing three pair of thong underwear from a woman last summer. He allegedly broke into the woman's home while she was out of town and stole what the woman described as "very distinctive-looking" underwear.

Scholfield was arrested a short time later after police found the underwear at his residence.

Scholfield was convicted of a similar felony burglary in 2003. Police had linked him to the theft of 854 panties.

His probation had ended days before the burglary last summer.

Scholfield will have to register as a sex offender because of his crimes, said Dunn County District Attorney Kris Cusick. He must also undergo sex offender treatment and pay a $2,500 fine.

The Postman Cometh and Not Deliver ...

Courtesy of

A mailman who hoarded thousands of letters and parcels at his home was jailed for four months on Friday. Christopher Meek, 19, admitted hoarding 13,819 postal items, saying he had taken them home because his mailbag was too heavy for him to carry.

He was arrested in December after the Royal Mail received complaints from people who had not received Christmas gifts sent through the mail, prosecutors told Sunderland Magistrates' Court in northern England.

Meek opened more than 1,400 of the items and stole the contents, including compact disks and DVDs, jewelry and gift vouchers, prosecutors said.

"When he was interviewed he denied any wrongdoing, saying the work was too heavy and he had always intended returning the mail," said prosecutor Paul Herron. "He admitted spending the money he had stolen and giving other items away."

Meek's lawyer, Peter Thubron, said his client — who is short and slight — had struggled to carry his mailbag and had taken the mail items home to deliver later but then let the situation get out of control.

Magistrate Alex Hendry told Meek he had "brought unhappiness to a lot of people."

One-legged woman in car chase with police

Thanks to SCF readers Sue & David for another tale from across the big pond!

Courtesy of The Telegraph

When police finally arrested a motorist who had ignored red lights, overtaken on dangerous bends and driven over pavements - but never exceeded the speed limit - they found that the culprit was not a teenage joy rider but a one-legged pensioner.

Officers pursued Sandra Siddle for almost an hour in a "low-speed" chase involving a fleet of police cars and a spotter plane. She refused to stop and simply looked the other way when a patrol car pulled alongside her at a junction. The traffic lights were on red but she pulled away.

She even kept going when a "stinger" was placed across the road and burst her front tyres.

The chase, which started when police were called to a dispute at a health centre car park, ended after 24 miles when she crashed her Vauxhall Corsa into a lamppost at Chawton, Hants. It rolled into a ditch and burst into flames.

Siddle, 60, who has an artificial leg, was found guilty of dangerous driving at Portsmouth Crown Court and is awaiting sentence. She had previously admitted harassment and common assault at the health centre in Fareham.

Charles Thomas, prosecuting, said the chain of events started when Siddle deliberately blocked in cars parked at the health centre.

When a police officer arrived, she drove at her and then set off.

"Police cars pursued the defendant with blue flashing lights and sirens on," said Mr Thomas. "It was absolutely obvious that she was being required to stop but she ignored these instructions."

He added: "There is no suggestion that she was driving above the speed limit."

Siddle, from Fareham, who has been banned from driving, was warned she could be imprisoned when she returns to court next month to be sentenced.

Look, Ma! The Camera Got a Good Shot of Me!

Thanks to BionicBuddha for the story!

Courtesy of The Standard

By the time it was over, the robber was just a loser stuck in a window.

He’d lost his knife.

He’d lost his mask.

He’d not even managed to steal a dime.

And the whole thing was caught on a security camera.

Police aren’t entirely sure what the man was trying to accomplish by jamming himself in a Tim Hortons drive-thru window in St. Catharines early Thursday. It certainly wasn’t the best-planned robbery attempt they’ve investigated.

Police said they have the bandit’s knife and mask and are reviewing the security footage of the failed robbery.

Niagara Regional Police spokesman Constable Sal Basilone said the bizarre incident happened around 12:30 a.m. at the Tim Hortons at 579 Carlton St.

An older-model, four-door blue car pulled up to the drive-thru window. The driver began to pay for coffee.

Basilone said the driver’s accomplice, armed with a knife and wearing a black mask, suddenly tried to leap through the tiny drive-thru window.

And got stuck.

Police said the man was suspended off the ground, half his body in the store, the other half dangling outside.

“During the course of this incident, while he is struggling in the window, he came into contact with a female employee,” Basilone said. “He was armed with a knife and managed to strike her with it. However, the injuries were so minor, they did not even require medical attention.”

The bandit tried to reach for the cash register, but was unsuccessful

Being stuck as he was, he couldn’t reach it, police said.

After a few minutes of thrashing about, the now-unarmed and unmasked felon freed himself from the window and was driven away in the blue car.

Police said the pair left without getting any money.

Basilone said the car was last seen heading toward Bunting Road.

He said the mask and knife have been sent to the forensics investigation unit for analysis. The NRP video unit and St. Catharines district detectives are reviewing the security tape.

Basilone said the driver of the blue car is described as a thin, white male in his 30s or 40s ,with dirty blond hair.

The robber who got himself stuck in the drive-thru window is reported to be 5-foot-8 and weighing about 140 pounds. He was wearing a blue or black jacket with white piping down the sleeves.

Police are asking anyone with information about the robbery to call the St. Catharines detective office at 905-688-4111, ext. 4272, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

SCF Tip: Don't Drop The Loot You Just Stole ...

Courtesy of

A Detroit man is in custody after a witness saw him drop a large wad of cash in the street and called police.

Police say Frankie Leon Morrison, 39, faces federal bank robbery charges and fleeing police after stealing cash at gunpoint from Fifth Third Bank in this northern Kentucky suburb of Cincinnati.

As police hurried to the bank, delivery man Kevin NiBlack watched a jaywalker cross the street in front of the bank.

"The wad of money I saw dropped in the street was large enough to choke a mule," NiBlack told The Enquirer of Cincinnati.

So NiBlack flagged down the next police officer he saw and pointed to where he saw the man run. Police officers chased the suspect and eventually forced him to surrender.

Bellevue Police Chief William Cole praised NiBlack for helping nab Morrison.

"I just did what I thought was right," said NiBlack, of Norwood, Ohio.

"I work — sometimes seven days a week — trying to make an honest living like every man pursuing the American dream, and someone had the audacity to rob a bank in front of me," he said.