Criminals have unintentionally turned themselves in by calling 911.
Just after midnight on 20 November 1986, in Kansas City, Missouri, Cell phone three policemen followed up on a mysterious 911 call. The emergency dispatcher had given them the address (traceable by computer) but was unable to describe the problem because the caller had hung up as soon as the 911 operator had answered the phone. Could it be a hostage taking? A medical emergency? The policemen dispatched to the scene had no idea what they might be walking into.
At the address they'd been sent to investigate, the officers found 1.25 lbs. of cocaine, more than 500 grams of crack, two pistols, and more than $12,000 in cash . . . as well as three very surprised crooks. Though the three people in the apartment fled, two of them (Pauline Webley, 27, of Florida and Geneive Hyde, 32, of New York) were later caught and charged with possession of cocaine.
What had happened to bring the police to the criminals' door? The ring members had called the cops on themselves. One of them had tried to dial 921, the first few digits of their leader's phone number, but had instead reached the police emergency number.
In October 2004, a quite similar incident occurred in the aptly-named town of Callaway, Florida.
Vicki Lynn Nunnery, 43, inadvertently dialed 911 when she was trying to call someone else and — unfortunately for her — rather than staying on the line to explain her mistake to a dispatcher, she quickly hung up. What Ms. Nunnery didn't realize is that standard procedure for police is to send an officer to investigate all 911 disconnections, and so a sheriff's deputy was routed to swing by her home address and check up on her.
When the investigating deputy arrived at Ms. Nunnery's house, he smelled the distinct odor of methamphetamines and contacted narcotics agents, who obtained a search warrant for the premises. The agents' search soon disclosed that the three-bedroom home was serving as one the largest methamphetamine laboratories ever found in Bay County, and officers arrested Ms. Nunnery and Vito James Knowles, 44, on several drug trafficking and weapons charges.
Were these crooks unusual? Far from it: crooks unwittingly call the cops on themselves with surprising regularity by connecting to 911 emergency services (and sometimes older cordless phones actually dial 911 themselves). Consider the following oddball cases:
* December 2008; Middletown, New York:
A trio of thieves intent upon stealing car parts from an auto body shop in upstate New York foiled themselves when the cell phone one of them was carrying "pocket dialed" 911, resulting in police overhearing their conversation as they were robbing the place: "You better come! We're getting the tires — just shut the car off. They're going to think we're stealing it!" The GPS function on the phone led police straight to the miscreants.
* April 2005; Rogersville, Tennessee:
Hawkins County authorities were tipped off to two would-be burglars' plans to steal a refrigerator from a mobile home dealership when a cell phone one of the crooks was carrying in his front pocket relayed a 40-minute-long discussion about the upcoming heist to 911 dispatchers. (The phone was of a type that automatically calls 911 when the '9' key is held down.) Sheriff's deputies hid in the woods near the dealership and nabbed the hapless thieves as they exited one of the mobile homes with a refrigerator and set it on the ground outside.
* March 1997; San Diego, California: Trying to call Mexico, a drug dealer dialed 911 instead of 011. Though he hung up when the emergency services operator answered, a police patrol was dispatched to his address. Four bad guys were arrested and 42 lbs. of marijuana and 2 oz. of methamphetamine were seized.
* February 1996; Frederick, Maryland: A lad called 911 to report the shed he was growing marijuana in was on fire. He got 60 days.
* August 1996; Los Angeles, California: Yet another failed attempt to call Mexico netted this drug dealer a visit from John Law. A gun, $15,000 and a 3 lb. bag of powdered cocaine were discovered at this fellow's house.
* February 1994; Laguna Nigel, California: A man programming his phone to speed-dial 911 (Huh? The number is that hard to remember?) was arrested when sheriff's deputies responded to his call. He and his two buddies appeared to be under the influence of crystal methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia was found in the apartment, so the three of them were placed under arrest.
* February 1990; San Diego, California: A phone programmed to automatically dial 911 when bumped or dropped gave this set of crooks away. Police discovered 250-300 marijuana plants growing in the house they'd been sent to investigate.
Showing posts with label dumb. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dumb. Show all posts
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Most Stupid New Zealand Criminals Revealed 2008
Source: NZ Herald
As well as the murders and assaults police investigated in 2008 they were also faced with less serious offences - some of which bordered on being down-right stupid.
Napier chef Sarron John Malot led the way when he was nicknamed "the Piddler on the Roof" after being caught on security camera urinating into parking meter on July 5.
He said he had been out with friends and wanted to urinate. When they wouldn't let him do it against their car, he chose the parking machine instead.
Police dubbed him The Piddler on the Roof because the meter was on the second-floor. They said in a statement: "He pees up in the air in a big arc, so it goes in the coin slot and out the hole where people collect their tickets".
Malot pleaded guilty in court to a charge of intentionally damaging the meter. He was offered diversion by police but had to pay $200 to the city council.
German tourist Jan Philip Scharbert, 28, was in trouble for a more traditional form of property damage after he was caught tagging the Franz Josef Glacier on the West Coast.
English tourists caught Scharbert on camera as he spray-painted graffiti on the rocks and ice face of the glacier in February.
Scharbert, from Munich, was arrested and ordered to clean up the graffiti. It took him one and a half days, but he escaped a wilful damage charge when DOC was satisfied with his repair job.
Motorists also provided periods of mental lapses - especially the drunk ones.
A Christchurch man denied being drunk in charge of his car after it became stuck in the sea. He said he had a few beers to "celebrate", after the car went in the sea.
Hayden Tibbotts, 29, and a friend became stuck in the surf at Canterbury's Waikuku Beach after taking his 1988 Ford Laser for a drive along the sand.
As the waves got bigger they left the car, rang police for help, and sat on the shore drinking and "watching the waves smash into the car".
"We had been there four or five hours. We thought we may as well have a drink to celebrate the sinking of the ship.
"We weren't doing anything stupid, it doesn't sound right that I'd ring the cops myself if I was drunk driving."
Getting in touch with the cops while drink-driving is exactly what one Hastings woman did.
Bridgil Bayliss, 57, was almost two-times over the legal alcohol limit on September 23 when she was arrested after driving to the police station to ask for help with a flat tyre.
Officers smelt alcohol on her breath and a breath test showed she had 700 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit is 400mcg.
She pleaded guilty to drink-driving when she appeared in Hastings District Court.
A Westport man's visit to the police station also landed him in trouble.
Eptai Taiwhanga, 19, walked into Westport police station drinking alcohol and carrying cannabis resin.
Unsurprisingly, except to him perhaps, he was hit with breaching Westport's liquor ban and possessing a Class B drug.
Judge Jane McMeeken said Taiwhanga was "incredibly stupid" and fined him $400.
"You had cannabis in your pocket and drew attention to yourself by drinking in a police station."
A Gisborne man did a better job of hiding the evidence of his crime - when faced by fisheries officers for paua poaching he ate all the paua.
Ivan Harrison, 51, was seen by fisheries officers carrying sacks of seafood to his vehicle at Kaiti Beach near Gisborne in July.
The officers visited his home, but Harrison had thrown the sack from his vehicle as he left the beach.
A search of the beach failed to locate the sack because Harrison had returned and consumed its contents while the fisheries officers were getting a warrant.
Harrison was convicted of obstructing a fishery officer, sentenced to 100 hours community service and ordered to forfeit his vehicle.
A Hawke's Bay man desperate to raise money to pay off a prostitute was less subtle; he thought flashing his erect penis at an unsuspecting woman would help bring in cash.
Matenga Timoti Mason, 25, a Dannevirke sickness beneficiary, knocked on a stranger's door on October 2 and when the 49-year-old woman opened it he began begging her for money.
Mason told the woman his gang was after him for not paying a prostitute and would slit his throat if he didn't come up with the money.
When she refused to let him inside he said "I want to show you something...I want to show you this," displaying his erect penis.
He pleaded guilty to indecent assault and obscene exposure when he appeared in Dannevirke District Court.
While a number of criminals made stupid decisions, often the police proved not so bright themselves.
A 25cm cannabis plant grew for two months outside Timaru's courthouse and police station before being discovered by a policeman.
It was growing at the base of a table, likely to have started life after someone lit up a joint and discarded the butt there. It was plucked and destroyed.
Note: 6.250 visitor to this blog, 18:39HRS, 27-December-2008. Please visit my blog at wordpress.com
As well as the murders and assaults police investigated in 2008 they were also faced with less serious offences - some of which bordered on being down-right stupid.
Napier chef Sarron John Malot led the way when he was nicknamed "the Piddler on the Roof" after being caught on security camera urinating into parking meter on July 5.
He said he had been out with friends and wanted to urinate. When they wouldn't let him do it against their car, he chose the parking machine instead.
Police dubbed him The Piddler on the Roof because the meter was on the second-floor. They said in a statement: "He pees up in the air in a big arc, so it goes in the coin slot and out the hole where people collect their tickets".
Malot pleaded guilty in court to a charge of intentionally damaging the meter. He was offered diversion by police but had to pay $200 to the city council.
German tourist Jan Philip Scharbert, 28, was in trouble for a more traditional form of property damage after he was caught tagging the Franz Josef Glacier on the West Coast.
English tourists caught Scharbert on camera as he spray-painted graffiti on the rocks and ice face of the glacier in February.
Scharbert, from Munich, was arrested and ordered to clean up the graffiti. It took him one and a half days, but he escaped a wilful damage charge when DOC was satisfied with his repair job.
Motorists also provided periods of mental lapses - especially the drunk ones.
A Christchurch man denied being drunk in charge of his car after it became stuck in the sea. He said he had a few beers to "celebrate", after the car went in the sea.
Hayden Tibbotts, 29, and a friend became stuck in the surf at Canterbury's Waikuku Beach after taking his 1988 Ford Laser for a drive along the sand.
As the waves got bigger they left the car, rang police for help, and sat on the shore drinking and "watching the waves smash into the car".
"We had been there four or five hours. We thought we may as well have a drink to celebrate the sinking of the ship.
"We weren't doing anything stupid, it doesn't sound right that I'd ring the cops myself if I was drunk driving."
Getting in touch with the cops while drink-driving is exactly what one Hastings woman did.
Bridgil Bayliss, 57, was almost two-times over the legal alcohol limit on September 23 when she was arrested after driving to the police station to ask for help with a flat tyre.
Officers smelt alcohol on her breath and a breath test showed she had 700 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. The legal limit is 400mcg.
She pleaded guilty to drink-driving when she appeared in Hastings District Court.
A Westport man's visit to the police station also landed him in trouble.
Eptai Taiwhanga, 19, walked into Westport police station drinking alcohol and carrying cannabis resin.
Unsurprisingly, except to him perhaps, he was hit with breaching Westport's liquor ban and possessing a Class B drug.
Judge Jane McMeeken said Taiwhanga was "incredibly stupid" and fined him $400.
"You had cannabis in your pocket and drew attention to yourself by drinking in a police station."
A Gisborne man did a better job of hiding the evidence of his crime - when faced by fisheries officers for paua poaching he ate all the paua.
Ivan Harrison, 51, was seen by fisheries officers carrying sacks of seafood to his vehicle at Kaiti Beach near Gisborne in July.
The officers visited his home, but Harrison had thrown the sack from his vehicle as he left the beach.
A search of the beach failed to locate the sack because Harrison had returned and consumed its contents while the fisheries officers were getting a warrant.
Harrison was convicted of obstructing a fishery officer, sentenced to 100 hours community service and ordered to forfeit his vehicle.
A Hawke's Bay man desperate to raise money to pay off a prostitute was less subtle; he thought flashing his erect penis at an unsuspecting woman would help bring in cash.
Matenga Timoti Mason, 25, a Dannevirke sickness beneficiary, knocked on a stranger's door on October 2 and when the 49-year-old woman opened it he began begging her for money.
Mason told the woman his gang was after him for not paying a prostitute and would slit his throat if he didn't come up with the money.
When she refused to let him inside he said "I want to show you something...I want to show you this," displaying his erect penis.
He pleaded guilty to indecent assault and obscene exposure when he appeared in Dannevirke District Court.
While a number of criminals made stupid decisions, often the police proved not so bright themselves.
A 25cm cannabis plant grew for two months outside Timaru's courthouse and police station before being discovered by a policeman.
It was growing at the base of a table, likely to have started life after someone lit up a joint and discarded the butt there. It was plucked and destroyed.
Note: 6.250 visitor to this blog, 18:39HRS, 27-December-2008. Please visit my blog at wordpress.com
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