Stupid Case File for November 26, 2007
Man Steals Printer, Calls Tech Support, Lands in
Jail
Courtesy
of
PC World
Here's a tip: if you steal a printer used to print
driver's licenses, don't call the manufacturer
asking for driver software.
It's a lesson that Timothy Scott Short learned all
too well this month, when he got arrested after
placing a couple of calls to Digimarc Corp.'s tech
support line.
Short, 33, is facing felony charges for possession
of "document-making implements," in connection with
the theft of a Digimarc printer used by the state of
Missouri to manufacture driver's licenses.
The printer, along with a PC, were stolen on the
evening of Oct. 5 from the St. Charles contract
office of the Missouri Department of Revenue, said
Trish Vincent, director of the department. These
offices are run by individuals who are subcontracted
by the department to issue driver's licenses,
Vincent said. The pilfered printer could be used to
produce a license, Vincent said.
The PC, however, was locked with a key and because
the key was stored in a secure location, the PC was
unusable to the thief, said Vincent.
So what do you do when you have a stolen driver's
license printer, but can't use the PC that goes with
it? Enter Digimarc's tech support line.
According to a sworn statement by Secret Service
Special Agent John Bush, someone who identified
himself as "Scott" called Digimarc two days later
and asked if he could buy printer drivers for the
model of printer that had been swiped from the St.
Charles office.
The Secret Service agent later listened to a
recording of this call and recognized Short's voice
from a prior investigation, Bush said. The caller
also gave Digimarc the same phone number Short had
used in an unrelated identity theft case, Bush said.
Short was charged on Oct. 11, and is facing 10 years
in prison and a US$250,000 fine, according to court
filings.
"The stolen equipment contains the identifying
information and photographs of between 200 to 500
Missouri residents," Bush said in the statement.
"The only use of the equipment is the manufacture of
state identification documents."
The state has sent notification letters to those
affected by the theft, Vincent said. The computer
contained name, address and date of birth data, but
not Social Security numbers, she added.
Digimarc declined to explain how the Secret Service
ended up listening to its customer support calls.
"Because of a confidentiality agreement with our
customer and because this is a criminal matter, we
are not able to comment on the incident,"
wroteDigimarc spokeswoman Leslie Constans via
e-mail.
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Stupid Case File for November 25, 2007
Man charged with DUI three times in 24 hours
Courtesy
of
PerthNow
A PERTH man has been charged with drink driving
three times in 24 hours, his menacing spree ending
with a bizarre incident at a police station.
The 46-year-old was first stopped by Boddington
police, in the Perth hills on Saturday night, and
charged with driving under the influence and driving
with a suspended licence.
He was spotted driving his car again a short time
later and arrested for drink-driving, police said.
The man's car was impounded in the Boddington police
station but early on Sunday morning, the man
allegedly jumped over the fence of the police
station, broke open a padlock on a back gate and
drove away in his car.
He was caught and arrested again three hours later
and charged with three counts of driving under the
influence; three counts of driving while under
suspension and one charge of trespass.
He's been refused bail and will appear in the Perth
Magistrates Court today.
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Stupid Case File for November 24, 2007
Police station no place to smoke weed
Courtesy
of
A man is facing drug charges after he allegedly
walked into the Danbury police station puffing on a
marijuana-filled cigar.
Capt. Robert Myles says Scott Snow walked into the
station early Saturday and blew smoke from his cigar
into a small opening in the bullet-resistant glass
separating desk officers from the public.
Myles says the 24-year-old man was told there's no
smoking inside the building and he allegedly stubbed
out the cigar on the counter.
Officers came out and smelled the distinctive odor
of marijuana and arrested Snow.
Police say they found more alleged marijuana in
Snow's pants. He has been released after posting
bond.
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Stupid Case File for November 23, 2007
Visitor to lawmen: I just smoked crack
Courtesy
of
Northwest Florida Daily News
SHALIMAR — A woman who came to the Sheriff’s Office
offering special information about drugs in the
county was booked and jailed after she told
investigators she smoked crack right before she came
in the building.
Investigators say 30-year-old Kristen Paige Lowery
“appeared to be under the influence of narcotics”
when she came inside the Okaloosa County
Multi-Agency Drug Task Force Office on Thursday.
When they asked her what type of drug she was using,
she replied, “Crack,” according to the Sheriff’s
Office.
When they asked her when she last used it, she said
she’d smoked some just before she arrived.
Lowery was arrested on an active warrant for writing
worthless checks. When deputies searched her car,
they found crack and paraphernalia, including scales
covered with cocaine residue.
She was charged with possession of cocaine and
possession of paraphernalia and taken to the
Okaloosa County Jail.
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Stupid Case File for November 22, 2007
Man Arrested After Reporting Pot Theft
Courtesy
of
McALLEN, Texas - A man was arrested for drug
possession after telling authorities that two masked
gunmen had stolen 150 pounds of marijuana from his
home.
Hidalgo County sheriff's deputies arrived at the
home near Penitas in South Texas to find the door
kicked in and nearly 15 pounds of pot lying on the
floor, Sheriff Lupe Trevino said.
Jose Guadalupe Flores, 35, escaped while the men
ransacked the house but returned later and told the
deputies he had been wrapping the drugs for shipment
when the intruders arrived.
"The guy walked right up and said the drugs were
his," Trevino said. "That's not the smartest move."
Flores, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was
charged with felony possession of marijuana at an
arraignment hearing Monday. Because of his
immigration status, Flores will be jailed until his
case is heard.
Authorities were still searching for the gunmen.
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Stupid Case File for November 21, 2007
Drunken priest punches cop
Special thanks to Leslie for the story !!
Courtesy of
Stuff
A Mexican priest briefly ended up behind bars after
punching a policemen who caught him driving
drunkenly through the streets of the northern city
of Monterrey.
Priest Manuel Raul Ortega, who was not wearing
clerical dress but was clutching a prayer book when
captured, launched himself at the traffic cop who
pulled him over earlier this week.
"The individual became very violent because they
were going to tow away his car.
He attacked a policeman and was taken away," said
transit department spokesman Hector Lozano.
Ortega's papers identified him as a priest. He was
released a few hours after his arrest after paying
the fines for his offenses.
Monterrey and Mexico City are in the midst of a
tough new drive to clamp down on widespread drunken
driving after tequila and beer-fueled lunches and
parties
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Stupid Case File for November 20, 2007
Child Charged for DUI w/ Dad in Passenger Seat
Courtesy
of
A police officer checking on a truck that got stuck
in the mud at a city park was startled to find a
13-year-old boy behind the wheel. The boy's father,
who was sitting in the passenger seat, told police
he had had too much to drink and let his son drive.
The boy had been drinking, too, police said.
"(The boy) even said he didn't want to drive because
he was too drunk," McLellan told The Flint Journal
for a story published Thursday.
Open containers of beer and liquor were found in the
vehicle, said Clio Police Chief James McLellan.
The father, a 41-year-old Flint-area man, is facing
several misdemeanor counts, including child
endangerment, allowing an intoxicated person to
drive his vehicle and allowing an unlicensed minor
to drive, police said.
The boy has been petitioned into juvenile court on
charges that include driving while intoxicated,
police said.
The two were arrested Nov. 8. They apparently were
trying to get home when they turned into the park to
turn around. The truck rolled off the pavement and
became stuck in the muddy soil.
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Stupid Case File for November 19, 2007
Police Use Oil To Free Suspect
Courtesy
of
Authorities used vegetable oil to free a man who
said he became trapped in the vent shaft of a
grocery store when he tried to rob it.
Adam F. Cooper, 19, was being held on $10,000 bail
Friday on charges including burglary and criminal
mischief.
Authorities said Cooper was found Tuesday night in
the shaft between the ceiling and the roof of the
store after someone heard him screaming for help.
Emergency workers cut Cooper's sweatshirt away,
poured vegetable oil taken from a store shelf down
the shaft and handed him a rope. Four men on the
roof then pulled him out, said Thorntown Deputy
Marshal Chad Clendening. He was trapped for at least
an hour.
"He's really lucky someone heard him yelling,"
Clendening said. "Otherwise, we probably would have
been removing a corpse the next morning."
Earlier that day, Cooper had been on a team that
cleaned the store's vent, authorities said. He
reportedly told police he was able to move through
the vent while he was working, so he figured he
could use it to rob the store.
The Associated Press left a message Friday seeking
comment from Cooper's attorney, Michael Gross.
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Stupid Case File for November 18, 2007
What?! A Politician Is A Crook?
Courtesy
of
A
southern Georgia sheriff faces federal charges
accusing him of billing inmates for room and board
and interfering with an FBI investigation of local
judges.
An
indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court
accuses Clinch County Sheriff Winston Peterson of
perjury, obstruction of justice, using forced labor
and extorting former jail inmates.
Peterson,
62, pleaded not guilty to the charges Thursday and
was released on $10,000 bond.
Investigators say the sheriff charged jail inmates
$18 per day for room and board. County officials
agreed in April 2006 to return $27,000 to hundreds
of inmates who paid the fees between 2000 and 2004.
Peterson also used an inmate to do work at a
business run by his wife, investigators say.
The
sheriff is charged with obstructing justice by
alerting an unindicted co-conspirator about the
identity of an FBI informant he believed was part of
a criminal investigation into courthouse activities.
He is also accused of lying during a grand jury
investigation of a Superior Court judge.
Neither
Peterson nor his attorney could be reached for
comment Thursday night. An after-hours call to his
attorney's home went unanswered, and the sheriff
could not be reached through the dispatcher.
Peterson
is the latest Clinch County official to be caught up
in investigations into the rural county's practices.
Superior
Court Judge Brooks E. Blitch III and Chief State
Court Judge Berrien Sutton face allegations by the
Judicial Qualifications Commission, a state agency
that investigates Georgia judges and has power to
recommend removing them from office. They have not
been charged with any crimes.
Blitch,
72, is accused of ordering illegal payments to
county employees, ordering the early release of
imprisoned felons and presiding over a case
involving his son.
Blitch's
attorneys have said an investigation will prove he
is innocent.
Sutton is
accused of appointing non-lawyers to hear criminal
cases, pressing a magistrate judge to help one of
his business associates and signing an illegal order
to collect court fees that were later distributed to
county officials.
Thomas
Whithers, an attorney for Sutton, said Wednesday the
judge looks forward to his day in court. "Judge
Sutton has done nothing wrong and will vigorously
defend these allegations," he said.
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When a
man attempted
to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a
Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained
for. Police arrived at the scene to find an ill man
curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage.
A police spokesman said that the man admitted to
trying to steal gasoline and plugged his hose into
the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner
of the vehicle declined to press charges, saying
that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.
A
woman was
reporting her car as stolen, and mentioned that
there was a car phone in it. The policeman taking
the report called the phone and told the guy that
answered that he had read the ad in the newspaper
and wanted to buy the car. They arranged to meet,
and the thief was arrested.
David
Posman, 33, was
arrested recently in Providence, R.I, after
allegedly knocking out an armored car driver and
stealing the closest four bags of money. It turned
out they contained $800 in PENNIES, weighed 30
pounds each, and slowed him to a stagger during his
getaway so that police officers easily jumped him
from behind.
Drug-possession
defendant Christopher Johns, on trial in March in
Pontiac, Michigan, said he had been searched without
a warrant. The prosecutor said the officer didn't
need a warrant because a "bulge" in Christopher's
jacket could have been a gun. Nonsense, said
Christopher, who happened to be wearing the same
jacket that day in court. He handed it over so the
judge could see it. The judge discovered a packet of
cocaine in the pocket and laughed so hard he
required a five-minute recess to compose himself.
Clever
drug traffickers
used a propane tanker truck entering El Paso from
Mexico. They rigged it so propane gas would be
released from all of its valves while the truck
concealed 6,240 pounds of marijuana. They were
clever, but not bright. They misspelled the name of
the gas company on the side of the truck.
Oklahoma City
-Dennis Newton was on trial for the armed robbery of
a convenience store in a district court this week
when he fired his lawyer. Assistant district
attorney Larry Jones said Newton, 47, was doing a
fair job of defending himself until the store
manager testified that Newton was the robber. Newton
jumped up, accused the woman of lying and then said,
"I should of blown your [expletive] head off." The
defendant paused, then quickly added, "-if I'd been
the one that was there." The jury took 20 minutes to
convict Newton and recommend a 30-year sentence.
R.C.
Gaitlin, 21,
walked up to two patrol officers who were showing
their squad car computer equipment to children in a
Detroit neighborhood. When he asked how the system
worked, the officers asked him for a piece of
identification. Gaitlin gave them his driver's
license, they entered it into the computer, and
moments later they arrested Gaitlin because
information on the screen showed that Gaitlin was
wanted for a two-year-old armed robbery in St.
Louis, Missouri.
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