Free Republic

Good Samaritans, US Marine Recruiters, took down two smash-and-grab thieves at a Los Angeles mall. They tried to flee but didn’t get very far. Two thieves escaped, but they’ll get caught. They smashed the glass cases in a jewelry store, grabbing whatever they could. Sadly, they were minors. They were surprised when they picked a store next to a Marine recruiting station. VIDEO AT LINK.............

The death toll from an oil tanker fire in Pakistan has risen to 153, with dozens more in a critical condition, and the fatalities are expected to increase. The disaster happened when scores of people from a village raced with jerry cans to the spot nearby where the vehicle had overturned to collect the leaking fuel. The crowd screamed as the flames engulfed them, said Saznoor Ahmad, 30, whose two cousins were killed in the fire....

Intruder scared away by Big Mouth Billy Bass Score one for the fish. The crime scene of a break-in at a Rochester's Hooked on Fishing shop showed evidence that a burglar got scared off by a motion-activated, singing bass, authorities said. The novelty bass, which had been hung near the door and would start singing "Take Me to the River" whenever someone entered the shop, was found on the floor after the intruder knocked it down as part of breaking the door to get in, according to the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office. But the intruder appeared to have left in...

Alleged car thief found playing 'Grand Theft Auto' ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Sheriff's deputies in central Florida found a suspected car thief playing the "Grand Theft Auto" video game, and they later charged him with just that. Polk County deputies investigating the theft of a 1998 Dodge Durango arrested 30-year-old Michael Ray Ekes on Thursday. They found the SUV outside a Haines City home. Ekes was inside in the house, playing the popular video game. Ekes was charged with grand theft auto, burglary and drug possession. At the time of his arrest, he was out of jail on bond for...

Longview teen badly burned while siphoning gas By Erik Olson The Daily News Friday, January 1, 2010 A 17-year-old Longview boy suffered serious burns on his chest and abdomen early Friday morning after he lit a cigarette while attempting to siphon gasoline from a car in the Beacon Hill area, according to police and firefighters. The teenose name was not released, suffered first- and second-degree burns over 30 percent of his body and was transported to St. John Medical Center, Cowlitz 2 Fire and Rescue lieutenant Jason Sanders said. The burns extended to his pelvis, hands and feet, Sanders said....

MIAMI (Reuters) – Police in a Florida city used the promise of economic stimulus checks to lure 76 people to their arrest on a variety of outstanding warrants. The Fort Lauderdale Police Department set up "Operation Show Me the Money" to round up people wanted on charges ranging from second-degree murder to guns and drug charges to failure to pay child support...

Darwin Award nominees Shouldn't we just end the contest right now? GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — It’s a bad idea to burglarize a place marked "K-9 training facility.“ Police dog handlers arriving Wednesday at the abandoned nursing home where they hold training sessions discovered two men and a woman dismantling the building’s copper pipes and wiring, Hall County Sheriff’s Sgt. Kiley Sargent said. When the officers arrived, the three dropped their tools and ran. That was their second mistake. "For anyone to try to run from a whole unit of canines, it’s just a no-win situation,“ Sargent said.Pamela Puckett, 37, quickly...

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) - After demanding money, an alleged bank robber apparently had second thoughts because he asked the teller to call police and said he would be waiting outside on the curb, authorities said. When Philip Stuart Martin, 45, was arrested Wednesday outside First Financial Branch Bank, he had no weapons, was not physically or verbally abusive and appeared sober, said police Capt. Jason King. Martin apparently had walked to the bank and did not have a car, King said. Martin was charged with robbery and remained in the Erath County Jail in lieu of $30,000 bond Thursday. Police...

It never ceases to amaze me about how dumb criminals can be. Just a few weeks ago, a guy walked into the Bean Capitol Banking Center in Wayne City, Ill., pointed a gun at the teller and demanded money lots of money. She obliged, as any good teller would do under similar circumstances. This bank robber had thought about everything. He produced a carefully worded and grammatically correct note demanding money. He had taken the license plates off his getaway vehicle and picked a bank where there were at least three major highways to make his getaway. And whether the...

The thief almost got away, until he found himself on the receiving end of a sprinting, six-foot-tall, 180-pound Marine. “I don’t even think he saw what hit him,” said Dan Ruvo, a cell phone sales associate at the Marine Corps Exchange. Ruvo was working at his cell phone booth when he witnessed a man hustle by with his arms full of purses and shoe boxes. Then Ruvo saw two MCX employees shouting for the man to stop. “That was when I was like, ‘boom,’ over the stand and chasing the guy,” said an excited Ruvo. The suspected thief noticed Ruvo,...

A bar waitress checking to see if a woman was legally old enough to drink was handed her own stolen driver's license, which was reported missing weeks earlier, police said. "The odds of this waitress recovering her own license defy calculation," police Capt. Guy Turner said Monday. Maria Bergan, 23, of Lakewood, was charged Sunday night with identity theft and receiving stolen property. She was arrested at her home in suburban Cleveland and was jailed in Westlake to await a court appearance. The 22-year-old waitress, whose name was not released, called police last week and said she had been handed...

Mike Pingree has a fun article in every Sunday Boston Herald calledThrough The Looking Glass and it features Dumb criminalsand their even dumber crimes as well as oddball happenings from around the globe.Its usually good water cooler chatter or bar talk.Each column has about 9 stories. July 17, 2005HOPE I'M NOT IMPOSING: A burglar, apparently hopped up on methamphetamine,. broke into the home of a Baptist minister in Wichita, Kan., during church services,.and made himself right at home. He stayed for two hours during which he watched the movie. "The Karate Kid,'' spent time in the hot tub, and tried...

Police Officer Pulls Over His Stolen Car CHARLESTON, S.C. - An off-duty police officer on a Sunday drive saw something awfully familiar — his recently stolen Volkswagen Jetta. North Charleston patrolman Ethan Bernardi whipped his cruiser around and pulled over the stolen vehicle. He called other deputies, who arrested three suspects, police said. "One of the advantages to having off-duty police officers using their patrol cars while off-duty is that they are able to respond to crimes when needed," North Charleston Police Chief Jon Zumalt said. Investigators don't know how the suspects got the car, which was recently stolen from...

Missing: One three-bedroom brick house. Thieves have stolen a house in Lindale, Texas, in a piece-by-piece theft committed over several days. The house is owned by a real estate company, which reported the theft. Lindale Constable Dennis Taylor said he and other officers noticed some workers taking down the house brick by brick in broad daylight. They weren't suspicious, he said, because there's a lot of construction in the area. Authorities believe a dump truck was used to haul away the materials. No arrests have been made. Taylor said theft charges would apply if there are arrests.

CALLAWAY, Fla.-help, police, somebody stole my pot! A Panhandle couple is under arrest after notifying police Thursday that their quarter-pound stash of marijuana was stolen and that they needed the weed back, because they were going to later sell it.

Crime doesn't pay, but often the laughs are priceless Despite the continuing statistical decline in most categories of crime, we are happy to report there has been no correlating drop in the seemingly endless supply of dumb crooks. Herewith is part one of 2003's crop of smart-challenged lawbreakers and IQ-impaired felons. Part 2 appears Friday. Just put some oink-ment on the bruise: In January, a 21-year-old Stratford man was charged with assault of a victim over 60 after he belted a convenience store owner with a slab of bacon. The proprietor had refused to sell the bacon to the man,...