Stupid people of the week

Get a grip: Driver using vise grips as steering wheel crashes into wall

An Oklahoma driver had a unique — and unsafe — solution for getting around town last week.

Police recently called to the scene of an accident in Oklahoma City discovered that one driver had no steering wheel but was using a pair of vise grips attached to the steering column to guide the vehicle.

“There are all kinds of cars and trucks on the road today—different makes, models, and styles. But no matter how unique, every vehicle needs the same basic parts: a body, wheels, mirrors, a motor… and a steering wheel,” the Oklahoma City Fire Department wrote in a Facebook post on July 26.

Officials shared a photograph of a pickup perched on top of a highway wall after a crash.

While the driver may be given points for ingenuity, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said that person could receive driving points on their record. Operating a vehicle without a steering wheel is illegal, they said.

For those who may not know, operating a vehicle on public roadways with vise grips instead of a steering wheel is not just a bad idea, it’s illegal,“ state troopers wrote. Under 47 O.S. § 12?201(1)(a), it’s a misdemeanor to drive a vehicle “known to be in such unsafe condition as to endanger any person.”

At least in this case, no injuries were reported.

Grabbing these tools to help in a pinch might be a good way to improvise, but officials said “steering a two-ton vehicle on public roads isn’t one of their intended uses.”

“Someone out there said: ‘No steering wheel? No problem — I’ve got vise grips!” state troopers wrote. “And seriously … where did the steering wheel go? How do you lose a steering wheel?”

Good question.

“Vehicles should always be in proper working condition before hitting the road,” the Oklahoma City Fire Department wrote.

Source; WSOC

Slidell woman accused of buying Lamborghini while receiving fraudulent benefits booked into EBR jail

A Slidell woman was arrested and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison after she allegedly bought a Lamborghini and plastic surgery while receiving fraudulent Medicaid benefits, Attorney General Liz Murrill’s Office said Tuesday.

Candace Taylor, 35, is accused of underreporting her income to receive Medicaid benefits.

The attorney general’s office said Taylor was denied Medicaid in May 2019 after she applied under the alias “Candace Sailor” and reported her income as $1,900 bi-weekly with no dependents. She then reapplied and was approved in March 2020 under the same misnomer, claiming no income. She was also inconsistent with the years in which she claimed dependents, a news release read.

“You don’t often see this level of abuse in the system, someone who would lie over and over again about her eligibility and then go out and buy a Lamborghini and plastic surgery, that’s pretty flagrant fraud,” AG Liz Murrill told WBRZ in a phone interview.

According to the attorney general’s office, arrest documents reported that Taylor made over $9.5 million from her multiple businesses between January 2020 and December 2024.

The AG’s office said that in that time frame, Taylor:
– Recorded multiple deposits over $480,000 into her bank account
– Made more than $45,000 in vehicle payments to Audi Finance
– Made multiple six-figure withdrawals via cashier’s checks to fund property purchases
– Bought plastic surgery, high-end jewelry and “luxury services”
– Bought a 2022 Lamborghini Urus for more than $113,000

Taylor allegedly tried to renew her Medicaid benefits in 2024, just two months after buying the Lamborghini and claiming a monthly income of $2,000. On her application, she left out the fact that she was a business owner.

“We spend a lot of money on these programs, and they are supposed to be helping people who cannot afford that medical care on their own. This is someone who very clearly was making a lot of money and could afford to obtain insurance,” Murrill said.

Agents reportedly saw multiple social media posts by Taylor showing off her luxurious lifestyle, according to the AG’s office.

“No, you can’t buy a Lambo and plastic surgery while receiving Medicaid benefits,” Murrill said in a statement.

After an investigation, the attorney general’s office arrested Taylor in Slidell on Monday and booked her into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for government benefits fraud.

Source; WBRZ

Illegal immigrant caught working as police officer in Maine while attempting to buy firearm

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested a Jamaican national for allegedly attempting to purchase a firearm illegally while employed as a reserve police officer in Old Orchard Beach.

According to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Boston, Jon Luke Evans was taken into custody with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after his firearm purchase attempt raised concerns tied to his immigration status on July 25 in Biddeford.

Federal authorities say Evans legally entered the United States through Miami International Airport on Sept. 24, 2023, under a visa that required his departure by Oct. 1, 2023. He failed to leave as required and has remained in the country unlawfully since.

During the investigation, Evans reportedly claimed he was seeking to purchase the firearm for use in his role with the Old Orchard Beach Police Department.

ICE officials are now questioning how an individual without lawful immigration status was hired by a local police agency and possibly issued a department-issued weapon.

“This case raises serious concerns,” said Patricia H. Hyde, acting field office director for ERO Boston. “We will continue working to ensure that individuals who violate immigration laws and pose potential threats to public safety are held accountable.”

The Old Orchard Beach Police Department told Fox News Digital that Evans was hired in May as a seasonal officer and underwent a full background check, physical and medical screening, and law enforcement training.

As part of the hiring process, the department submitted his employment documents to DHS through the federal E-Verify system. According to police, DHS confirmed Evans’ eligibility to work, and his Employment Authorization Document showed an expiration date of March 2030.

“Our department and our community relied on the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify program to ensure we were meeting our obligations,” said Police Chief Elise Chard. “We are distressed and deeply concerned about this apparent error on the part of the federal government.”

Maine is one of about a dozen states that allows non-citizens with valid work permits to serve in law enforcement. Reserve officers in Old Orchard Beach are seasonal employees tasked with community patrols and do not take department-issued firearms home or carry personal weapons while on duty.

Evans’ probationary status is currently under review, and the department has launched an internal investigation to evaluate its hiring protocols and ensure compliance with all federal and state laws.

“We take our legal responsibilities very seriously,” Chief Chard added. “We intend to investigate this matter thoroughly and determine what additional steps may be necessary moving forward.”

The arrest of Evans follows a similar case from April, in which ICE officers detained another illegal immigrant law enforcement employee in Falmouth, Maine.

Gratien Milandou Wamba, a 32-year-old Congolese national, was working as a corrections officer when he was apprehended by ICE for immigration violations after allegedly attempting to purchase a firearm illegally.

“Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston field office arrested Gratien Milandou Wamba, an illegally present, 32-year-old citizen of Congo,” ICE Spokesperson James Covington, noting the arrest stemmed from an unlawful firearm purchase attempt.

ICE emphasized that it will continue enforcement efforts across New England, working in coordination with other federal agencies to identify and apprehend individuals in violation of U.S. immigration laws, especially those employed in sensitive public safety positions.

Source; Fox News

American father of three who joined Russian army to escape ‘woke’ US has been sent to the frontlines, wife says

A Texas father of three who moved his family to Russia and joined the military to escape “wokeness” in the US has been sent to the frontlines of Moscow’s meat grinder, his wife said.

Derek Huffman, 46, claimed he was being tossed under the bus after being deployed to the frontlines in Ukraine despite assurances from the Russian military that he would be serving in a non-combat role, his wife DeAnna said in a now deleted YouTube page, according to the Telegraph.

“He feels like he’s being thrown to the wolves right now, and he’s kind of having to lean on faith, and that’s what we’re all doing,” she said of her husband’s situation.

The Huffmans had moved to Russia in March, with the father-of-three celebrating what he called an escape from the LGBTQ “indoctrination” in America.

He was one of two families who reportedly answered American blogger Tim Kirby’s invitation to move to a village outside Moscow to be free of the “liberal gender norm.”

To secure an expedited citizenship process for his family and to earn the respect of his new countrymen, Huffman told Russian state media that he would gladly join the military.

“The point of this act for me is to earn a place here in Russia,” he told state media last month.

“If I risk myself for our new country, no one will say that I am not a part of it. Unlike migrants in America who come there just like that, do not assimilate, and at the same time want free handouts,” he added.

DeAnna, however, claims he was misled during the military recruitment process, where Russian officers allegedly promised him a role as a welder or war correspondent.

Instead, Huffman, who has no prior military experience, underwent training in a language he did not understand and was shipped off to fight in the frontlines, where hundreds of Russian troops are killed every week.

“Unfortunately, when you’re taught in a different language, and you don’t understand the language, how are you really getting taught?” DeAnna pointed out. “You’re not.”

“It seems as though he is getting one more week of training, closer to the front lines, and then they are going to put him on the front lines,” she added.

The confused wife also claimed that even after a month of service, the family has yet to receive any of the wages promised to Huffman.

Huffman was last seen on his family’s social media accounts during a Father’s Day message to his wife and kids in June, which showed him wearing camouflage and speaking to them directly.

“I miss you all more than you can imagine,” he said. “I can’t wait to see you, hopefully I get a vacation at some point and I get to go home and spend a couple of weeks with you.

“But man, you’re on my mind 24/7 and just know that what I’m doing is important to me and important to our family. Just know I will do whatever it takes to be safe and to come home to you. Take care of each other,” he added.

Source; NY Post

LA Squatter Dies Falling Out of Tree House He Built to Escape Eviction

California is a crazy place and it’s not just San Francisco where that is obvious. This story caught my attention today because the backstory to it is so long and so incredible.

It started way back in 1958 when the state decided to build a freeway that would run directly between Long Beach in south LA County up to the Pasadena area in north LA County. Most of the freeway was built in the mid-1960s but there was a section just about four miles long that never got completed. It was the northernmost section that would connect the freeway (now called the I-710) to an east-west freeway called the 210 freeway.

Because the state planned to complete the freeway eventually, it started buying up property it would need to build it. But resistance to the construction continued and about 8 years ago the state finally conceded that it would never happen. This created an unusual situation where CALTRANS, the state’s transportation agency, owned about 400 homes for which it was the landlord. For many years CALTRANS was renting out the homes at relatively discounted rates, but some homes remained empty and boarded up as the state considered selling them off.

And that’s where things got interesting. In March 2020, during the early days of the pandemic, a group of activists calling themselves Reclaiming Our Homes started moving into the empty homes claiming them for themselves.

On Saturday morning, the protesters and their families moved into a two-bedroom bungalow in El Sereno. They say they plan to remain indefinitely and potentially take over more houses.

They are calling on state and local governments to use all publicly owned vacant homes, libraries, recreation centers and other properties to house people immediately. They say the the region’s extreme lack of affordable housing and the threat of the novel coronavirus pushed them to act.

“I am a mother of two daughters. I need a home,” said Martha Escudero, 42, who has spent the last 18 months living on couches with friends and family members in neighborhoods across East Los Angeles. “There’s these homes that are vacant, and they belong to the community.”

As promised, they did seize more homes.

A group of homeless and housing-insecure Angelenos seized more vacant, publicly owned homes in El Sereno on Wednesday, arguing that government officials have failed to provide the shelter that’s necessary for them to remain healthy during the coronavirus pandemic…

The protesters have taken over 12 homes and plan to remain in the properties indefinitely, organizers said…

In El Sereno on Wednesday afternoon, the protesters acted quickly and stealthily to occupy more houses. They had directed reporters to a vacant home less than a mile away from the house that was taken over Saturday. But the occupation was being staged on another block.

It’s not completely clear when but one of the activists who seized a home was Benito Flores. Flores continued to stay in the home until last month when the police were finally scheduled to evict him. But Flores had a plan to make sure he couldn’t be removed from the home.

Flores, a 70-year-old retired welder, had illegally seized a home five years ago after its owner, the California Department of Transportation, had left it vacant. He’d been allowed to stay for a few months, then was directed to this nearby home owned by the agency, but now it was time to go.

Later in the morning, deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were scheduled to lock him out.

Flores clearly had other plans. Over months, he’d sawed wooden two-by-fours to use as a brace between the front door and an interior wall to make it harder to breach. He bolted shut the metal screen door. Once Flores was satisfied he’d secured the entrance Tuesday, he retreated to a wooden structure he built 28 feet high in an ash tree in the backyard.

If the police wanted him to leave, they’d have to come get him in his tree house.

“I plan to resist as long as I can,” Flores said.

More at the source; Hot Air

 

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Crime, Police, Stupid Criminals