Stupid criminals of the week

My mailbox overflows with stupid lately. I have enough I’ll probably have to make a mid-week article to clear the backlog. I’ll get to the ones I find the most funny here this week.

Thanks to Jeff LPH 3, KoB, and AW1Ed for contributing to this week’s follies.

Driver in stolen vehicle gets vehicle stolen when helping another driver with flat

No good deed goes unpunished.

A driver in a stolen vehicle quickly had the tables turned against him when he stopped to help another driver with a flat tire, according to the Montgomery County Department of Police.

Police say the incident happened around 12:20 a.m. on March 10 on Layhill Road in the area of Longemead Crossing Drive.

According to the police department, Shamari J. Reid, 21, of Bowie and his friend were driving on Layhill Road in a Toyota RAV4 when they saw Tykel Wilson, 19, trying to change a flat tire on a Mitsubishi Lancer. Reid’s friend was driving and the pair stopped the RAV4 to help Wilson change the tire, police say.

As Reid and his friend helped Wilson change the tire, police say Wilson stole the RAV4 and the two ran after him after he started driving the car in reverse.

The car became inoperable when it hit a curb, police say, and Wilson told police that Reid had pointed a handgun and threatened him after he crashed the RAV4. Officers say they later found a discarded loaded handgun in the woods that Reid had disposed of.

Police also later discovered the disabled Mitsubishi Lancer and found out it had been stolen from Prince George’s County.

According to the police department, Wilson had an active arrest warrant from D.C. and Reid had an active arrest warrant from Worcester County in Maryland.

Both were arrested and sent to the Central Processing Unit.

Reid was charged with illegal possession of a handgun and Wilson was charged with motor vehicle theft offenses. Reid has been released after posting a $5,000 bond and Wilson has been released after posting a $3,000 bond, police say.

Source; WJLA

Handcuffed man escapes police SUV in TikTok from Clearwater Beach

The TikTok star du jour is a handcuffed Pasco County man seen escaping from the back of a Clearwater police SUV and running away on the beach while spring breakers cheer him on.

Oh no, oh no. Oh no no no no no.

He didn’t get far. Dominic Glass, 18, of Land O’ Lakes was taken into custody for a second time Wednesday evening. He was one of four arrests made as Clearwater police said more than a dozen officers dealt with an unruly crowd on Clearwater Beach.

There will soon be a fifth arrest: Police said they found and arrested the person who opened the SUV door. A TikToker claimed responsibility for that in another video, writing “I opened that door lol.” The name of that person was not released late Thursday.

The original TikTok video of the fleeing, handcuffed man garnered nearly 800,000 likes by Thursday. It was also shared on Instagram.

learwater police said officers were dealing with “disorderly conduct issues” involving a large crowd when a fight broke out at about 6:53 p.m. The officers said the young crowd was “non-compliant” and resisting efforts to “de-escalate the situation.”

While separating two groups, officers said they took a man into custody and placed him in the right rear of the SUV. But as officers walked to the left driver’s side, the TikTok video shows someone pulling on the right rear door handle and opening it.

The handcuffed man makes a break for it while dozens of spring breakers chase after him. They laugh and cheer and, of course, hold up their phones.

Glass was arrested on charges of escape, disorderly conduct and resisting an officer without violence. Clearwater police did not name the other three arrested, but said one of them assaulted an officer. Bail information for Glass was not available late Thursday.

Source; Tampa Bay Times

Florida principal, daughter hacked student accounts to rig homecoming queen votes, FDLE says

An Escambia County assistant principal and her daughter hacked into dozens of student accounts to cast fake votes to apparently help her daughter become homecoming queen, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Pensacola residents Laura Rose Carroll, 50, and her 17-year-old daughter were arrested by FDLE agents Monday after an investigation found they cast 246 votes in Tate High School’s homecoming court election. Her daughter was named homecoming queen in October, according to NorthEscambia.com.

Carroll is an assistant principal at Bellview Elementary School. A spokesperson for Escambia County Schools confirmed Tuesday that Carroll is suspended from work but declined to comment further, citing the ongoing case.

The Escambia County School District contacted FDLE in November 2020 after finding Carroll and her daughter accessed students’ FOCUS accounts through Carroll’s district-level access of the software, according to the FDLE.

FDLE agents found hundreds of votes in the October election for Tate High School’s homecoming court were flagged as fake, with 117 votes coming from the same IP address around the same time. Carroll’s cell phone and computers showed she accessed FOCUS accounts without authorization, the agency said.

Carroll’s daughter told other students her mother used the software to cast votes, according to an FDLE spokesperson. Further investigation found Carroll accessed the records of 372 high school students in the district since August 2019, 339 of which belonged to Tate High School students.

The mother and daughter face one charge each of unlawful use of a two-way communications device, criminal use of personally identifiable information, conspiracy to commit these offenses and offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks and electronic devices, an FDLE spokesperson said.

Carroll was booked into the Escambia County Jail Monday afternoon on $8,500 bond. Jail records show she bonded out shortly afterward.

Her daughter was taken to the Escambia Regional Juvenile Detention Center, according to the FDLE.

The First Judicial Circuit will prosecute the case.

Source; Orlando Sentinel

Chicago food truck owner admits to selling guns from eatery

The owner of a Chicago food truck admitted Friday he illegally sold guns from his mobile eatery along with sandwiches piled high with salami, roast beef and turkey.

Terry Ferguson, 56, of Willowbrook, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to narcotics and gun-trafficking charges that included the 2015 sale of two dozen guns from the back of his truck known as “Chicago’s finest Deli on Wheels.”

The gun transaction was captured on video by an undercover agent for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The guns, including 10 rifles, four shotguns and an array of pistols, were allegedly stolen by a Ferguson associate from a Chicago home.

Ferguson can be seen in the video arriving in his pickup truck at a residence and giving the key to the deli truck to an associate, who later handed Ferguson a bag of cash from the undercover agent who was posing as the buyer, according to court records.

The narcotics charges brought in 2019 allege Ferguson was captured on video arranging multiple sales of mostly small amounts of cocaine with an undercover agent between 2016 and 2018.

Court records show two others involved in the gun scheme, Jesus Dominguez and William Walsh, previously pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly set the sentencing of Ferguson for June 8.

In a separate case, Ferguson has pleaded guilty to attempting to intimidate a witness against him after the drug and gun charges were unveiled in 2018. Prosecutors alleged Ferguson visited a former business partner after he was released on bond and urged him to ignore a grand jury subpoena.

Source; My State Line

Man crushed to death by car in Anaheim while allegedly trying to steal catalytic converter

A man who was apparently trying to steal a catalytic converter in Anaheim died early Wednesday, March 17 when the car he was under fell on top of him, police said.

Employees of a industrial complex at 1631 Placentia Avenue called police at around 6 a.m. after the finding a man crushed under a Toyota Prius.

Sean Harp, who works in the complex at a construction company, told a reporter on scene that another employee alerted him to the man.

When Harp went over to see, he saw the man’s torso under the car and his legs sticking out.

“There was a little scissor jack there that obviously wasn’t secured well enough underneath the vehicle,” Harp said, adding that he saw a tool pouch and cordless saw near the man.

“My assumption is once he started jarring on the vehicle it slipped and fell on him.”

The employees called for help and firefighters on scene quickly pronounced the man dead.

“I really felt bad for the guy,” Harp said. “We don’t know his circumstances, you know.”

The dead man was later identified by the coroner’s office as Christopher Haas, 36, of Anaheim.

Anaheim police Sgt. Shane Carringer said the Prius belongs to a business at the complex. Carringer confirmed it looks like the jack, used to lift the car, failed and the vehicle fell on the man.

Source; OC Register

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Crime, Police, WTF?