A rare Stradivarius violin that went missing 35 years ago has reappeared, after someone happened to open a box in the attic. Here’s where we get the urge to start searching grandma’s attic. [More]
bad consumers
Reminder: An Airport Runway Is Not A Safe Place To Drive, Intoxicated Or Not
By 8.6.15
It might be a tempting stretch of road, but the only wheels that should be hitting the runway at an airport belong to planes. In a recent example of such unsafe behavior, police say a drunk driver drove through fences and onto an active runway at the Louis Armstrong International Airport near New Orleans on Wednesday afternoon. [More]
Disingenuous Shoplifting Suspects Claim They Misunderstood “Tax-Free Holiday” Concept
By 8.5.15
During back-to-school season, some municipalities have tax holidays, where sales tax isn’t charged on clothing purchases. Georgia is holding one right now, and some shoppers took advantage of the holiday to… pretend that they didn’t understand that the term doesn’t mean “grab everything you can and run out of the store.” [More]
Just Because You Find $150K Sitting Around Doesn’t Mean You Get To Keep It, Buy A New Car
By 7.31.15
One might think that the average adult would be aware that the playground rule of “finders, keepers” doesn’t apply to most situations in life that aren’t scavenger hunts. But one would be wrong, if the police investigating the theft of a bag filled with $150,000 in cash are correct. [More]
Police: Man Pretended He Was His Brother To Avoid $7,500 In Unpaid Tolls
By 7.31.15
It’s a classic caper: passing yourself off as your brother or sister to squirm out of trouble when you’re caught doing something you shouldn’t. But New Jersey police say one man didn’t quite pull off the sibling switcheroo when he was stopped for $7,500 in unpaid tolls. [More]
Judge Backtracks On Walmart Shoplifter’s Lifetime Ban From All U.S. Stores
By 7.29.15
Earlier this week a Walmart shoplifter said she likely wouldn’t follow a court order barring her from stepping inside any of the retailer’s thousands of locations. Turns out, that might not have been such a brazen statement after all, as the judge who handed down the lifetime ban clarified that he didn’t really mean to prevent the woman from entering all stores. [More]
Shoplifter Says Lifetime Ban From Walmart Won’t Stop Her From Shopping There
By 7.27.15
Much like there are people driving with suspended or revoked licenses, not everyone banned from life from entering a Walmart abides by that order. But most of these folks don’t go around brazenly telling reporters that they intend to violate a court order. [More]
Police: Man Who Called 9-1-1 Lied About Having Chest Pains, Just Wanted Help Fixing His AC
By 7.23.15
Despite the plethora of services that are available these days at the touch of a button, there are still those who seem determined to stick with calling 9-1-1 — even when there’s no actual emergency. Police in Pennsylvania say a man who called complaining of chest pains was fit as a fiddle, and actually just needed help fixing his air conditioning. [More]
Ex-Lottery Worker Convicted Of Rigging The System So He’d Win $14M Jackpot
By 7.20.15
There’s a very obvious reason why lottery employees aren’t allowed to play for prizes like the rest of the country in many states, as they could have an obvious advantage when it comes to figuring out how to reap big rewards. As such, one ex-lottery worker from Iowa (where it’s illegal for lotto employees to play) has been convicted of rigging the system, fixing it so he could buy the right numbers and win a $14 million jackpot. [More]
Shirtless Guy Climbs Two Fences At San Diego Airport, Runs Onto A Runway
By 7.17.15
Though it’s no easy feat to scale a fence (at least, not easy for me), authorities at San Diego International Airport say a man managed to climb not one, but two security fences and ran onto a runway Thursday night. [More]
Police Arrest Man On Suspicion Of Knocking Over Girls’ Lemonade Stand, Stealing $30
By 7.17.15
As any ambitious kid (or former kid) who’s tried to bring in a big haul from running a sidewalk lemonade stand knows, it isn’t easy to make a lot of money from selling drinks for a nickel (or $1, whatever a cup of lemonade goes for these days). Two young entrepreneurial spirits faced an even tougher situation for their fledgling business, after police say a guy overturned their lemonade stand and made off with all their profits. [More]
Police Asking People To Please Give Back Cash That Fell Out Of Armored Truck
By 7.17.15
It sounds like a dream come true: the doors of an armored truck fly open, and cash comes flying out, all over the road, just begging to be scooped up by passers-by. But even when dreams become reality, that doesn’t mean loose money is free money, which is why police in Baltimore are asking the public to return cash that spilled from an armored vehicle earlier this week. [More]
FAA Investigating Cluster Of 11 Laser Hits On Planes Flying Near Newark Airport
By 7.16.15
They might seem like harmless flashes of light to those of us on the ground, but lasers can seriously disrupt planes in flight, most notably when they hit pilots in the eyes, potentially causing injuries. That’s why the Federal Aviation Administration is taking reports of 11 separate laser incidents near Newark Liberty International Airport in one night very seriously. [More]
Couple Gets Stolen SUV Returned To Them With Repairs, Courtesy Of Thief
By 7.14.15
It goes without saying that finding your car has been stolen is not a pleasant experience. But one Texas couple was not only reunited with their vehicle, but had it returned to them in better condition than the last time they saw it, after the thief apparently had some repairs done on it while it was away. [More]
Storage Unit Auctioned Off For $80 Comes Complete With A Meth Lab
By 7.13.15
As anyone who’s ever watched reality TV shows where people try to outbid each other to buy storage units that the original owners have stopped paying for, you never know what you could get. There could be expensive art hiding in there, or maybe just three hundred empty bags of dog food. Or in one recent case, there could be boxes filled with equipment for your very own crystal meth lab. [More]
Police: Men With ATM In Back Of Their Pickup Truck Can’t Remember Where “Scrap Metal” Came From
By 7.13.15
Because it seems unlikely that large chunks of metal and plastic fall from the sky and land in the back of pickup trucks without anyone realizing it, police have charged two Florida men with the theft of an ATM, alleging that the suspects used a stolen backhoe to remove the cash machine from its rightful home. [More]
Police: Taco Bell Customer Upset Over Lack Of WiFi Dumped Water On Teens, Then Pulled A Knife
By 7.10.15
Having iffy WiFi service when you want to be online is surely a frustrating experience. But police say one Taco Bell customer went too far, taking out her anger at the restaurant’s lack of an Internet connection on a group of teens. [More]
Police: Robbery Suspect At Check Cashing Business Left His Pay Stub Behind
By 7.9.15
Though there is a decided lack of actual bread crumbs found at the scene of most crimes committed by consumers (outside the bread factory/sandwich shop), once in a while there are some pretty obvious clues available to investigators. In one such recent case, police say a man accused of robbing a Connecticut check cashing establishment left them a pretty big hint, by way of his paycheck stub. [More]
